62 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



pended in the pamphlet contaming that address, 

 from Brande's Manual of Chemistry, by which it 

 appears that strong cider is composed of about one 

 fifth alcohol — p. 43. Brandy and gin are said by 

 the same author to contain almost one half alco- 

 hol. "A bottle of Madeira," said M. Brande, " has 

 in it nearly a pint of proof spirit ; a quart of strong 

 cider, more than six ounces ; and a bottle of ale, 

 about four ounces." Alcohol is the evil spirit with 

 which the advocates of temperance are contend- 

 ing ; and whether the demon puts on the shape of 

 wine, rum, gin, brandy or cider, is a matter of little 

 comparative consequence. Alcohol, however, is 

 of use in the arts, and perhaps sometimes in med- 

 icine, and the same may be said of arsenic and 

 other poisonous substances. We do not always 

 refuse a glass of wine, nor a tumbler of beer or 

 ciiler, (though of late years we never take ardent 

 spirit) but we believe that abstinence from ferment- 

 ed liquors, including cider, as well as distilled 

 spirit, is alone consistent with the genuine canons 

 of temperance. If an old farmer, like us, the 

 wrong side of 50, wishes for a little cider, let him 

 have it; and if he does not drink more than a pint 

 a day, we won't put him in the newspaper. But 

 the young folks are better off without it. In the 

 cider counties in England, the farmers in the habit 

 of drinking cider, are visited with gout as decid- 

 edly severe and genteel as ever twinged the great 

 toe of a nobleman. 



4. We doubt whether the people in wine coun- 

 tries are so very temperate. We have testimony 

 that intoxication is common in France. See a 

 letter from J. F. Cooper, Esq^ — N. E. Farmer, 

 vol. xi. p. 413. 



5. The Editor's p-actical knowledge of hus- 

 bandry was obtained from hard work on a farm, 

 from infancy till he was nearly twenty-one years 

 of age ; and since that time, he has always been 

 sonTfewhat attentive to agricultural pursuits and 

 improvements. Every sort of work performed in 

 the ordinary routine of flirm. cultivation, is as fa- 

 miliar to us as to any other farmer who ever fol- 

 lowed that occupation (as we once did) in New 

 Hampshire — in which State, and near Connecticut 

 river, we had the lienor to be born and brought 

 up. 



Why shouldn't a Farmer know a thing 

 OR two ? — Why should not a farmer know more 

 than other folks ? They certainly ought to, for 

 they have in this country more 16 do than others. 

 They have to make more use of the powers or 

 laws of nature than other folks; they have to use 

 the elements for tools — they are indeed practical 

 chemists (whether they are aware of it or not,) 

 for they have to make use of the various substances 

 which nature gives them — they have to combine, 



separate, modify, and change, both simple and 

 compounds. Their farm is at one and the same 

 time a laboratory and a workshop, and in propor- 

 tion as they operate in such a way as to afford 

 the several elements of which the substances are 

 composed, and upon which they are operating, to 

 disunite or combine will be their success. They 

 depend upon the vegetable world for subsistence 

 — their labor is among and upon the plants of the 

 earth — why should they not know the proper 

 name and nature of every tree and herb and plant ? 

 They have to contend with inseets and animals — 

 why should they not know the habits and the na- 

 tin-es of these as well or better than any other 

 class of people ? They have to work upon the 

 earth, they have to put it into a condition to bear 

 a good crop, they have to change the state of it 

 and adapt it to the various purposes and crops, — 

 why should they not know more and better re- 

 specting the ingredients of their soils — the va- 

 rious mineral or fossil substances which they may 

 find either upon their own or other's farms ? They 

 have to " discern the face of the sky," and watch 

 the changes of the atmosphere, and regulate their 

 movements in accordance to the changes of the 

 weather, temperature, &c. Why should they not 

 know as much or more of the composition of the 

 air or atmosphere, and the science of meteorology, 

 than anj'^ other people ? They must use tools or 

 implements of labor. They must take advantage 

 of the principles of mechanics, and the applica- 

 tion of mathematics to practical life. Is there 

 any good reason why they should not know as 

 much or more than others, respecting the science 

 of Mechanics or Natural Pbilosojihy. In this 

 country they have to contribute largely to the sup- 

 port and formation of the government, and upon 

 them depends the election of rulers and lawmak- 

 ers — why should they not understand the funda- 

 mental principles of national law — political sci- 

 ence, and political economy ? They have to ad- 

 minister to the sickness of animals under their 

 charge, — heal wounded and restore health, — why 

 should they not perfectly understand compara- 

 tive anatomy, at least, and also physiology and 

 treatment of diseases, as well as any others? In- 

 deed, 50 wide is the field of his labors, so numer- 

 ous the objects with which he is connected, so 

 various the operations which he has to perform, 

 that we verily think a farmer ought to be the most 

 learned man on earth. 



Farmers' Prospects. — The gloom and long faces so 

 manifest among this class of our fellow citizens, is, we 

 are happy to observe, rapidly passing off. Never was 

 there better weather for the crops of grass, corn, oats, 

 and potatoes, than we have had for a week or two past^ 

 and these and most other kinds of crops now look very 

 promising. — Rutland Herald. 



