NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



285 



and fulfil your part in life creditably. To young 

 men who come to the city to escape hard work at 

 home, let me say, — if you learn a trade, you will 

 work as hard as at home; you can judge whether 

 toiling day after day in a close shop is more labo- 

 rious tluui the season of toil and the season of 

 pleasure of a former's life. But if you have a 

 stronn- inclination for a mechanic's life, gratify it 

 by all means, and, with industry and economy, 

 you must succeed. But perhaps you do not covet 

 so high a position as a mechanic's, — your highest 

 aspirations being, to stand behind a counter mea- 

 suring off tape, and retailing needles ! Such be- 

 ing the case, I would say, go do it; procure a tall 

 dickey — fancy pantaloons — an outrageous vest — a 

 mammoth neck-cloth and washed pin to match — 

 and so on, until dressed to your entire satisfaction. 

 Pilfer from your employer to pay for it, as many 

 do, though I am happy to say by no means all; 

 take the money due your landlady, to spend upon 

 some flaunting shop-girl, or, it may be, one worse; 

 defraud the poor washerwoman, to purchase cigars 

 and oysters, and cap the whole, by cutting the ac- 

 quaintance of some honest shop-boy, or some me- 

 chanic's apprentice from the same town as your- 

 self, because he will not, dishonestly, dress him- 

 self suitably to walk the streets in your company. 

 TiiTie, however, will show whichof the two will re- 

 ceives the most respect from his fellow-men. I 

 hope I shall not be understood as saying that the 

 above is a true picture of all and every boy, who 

 may go into a letail dry-goods store; but it is so 

 with too many of them; and their final bringing 

 up is not difficult to imagine. s. s. p. 



Remarks. — Our correspondent has not exagger- 

 ated the dangers of the city, to unwary youth, and 

 the subject is one of deep interest to the farmers in 

 the interior, whose well-bred and honest children, 

 (till brought within the influence of the snares of 

 a city life,) are a blessing to their parents, a fond 

 and lofty hope to themselves, and a fair promise of 

 being a blessing to society. 



There is one great evil which besets youth in 

 the city, in a most insiduous manner, to which our 

 correspondent has not particularly alluded, and of 

 which farmers generally think but little; and that 

 is the vast amount of deception in trade, as it is 

 generally done in cities, by which young men are 

 trained to deceive and take advantage of customers, 

 and after awhile they become so practised in in- 

 iquity, that they are hardened against all compunc- 

 tions of conscience, that they rob their employers, 

 and this is regarded as crime, and then they are 

 exposed, punished and ruined. 



a sixth part of a common brick. Any information 

 concerning the above case will be gratefully re- 

 ceived. W. T. Tainter. 

 South Carthage, Me., Aug. 2, 1851. 



For the Neiv Unsland Farmer. 

 CATTLE EATING BRICKS. 



Mr. Editor : — Sir, — I wish to be informed by 

 you, or some of your numerous readers, the cause 

 of cattle eating bricks, and whether it is injurious 

 or not. I have a pasture in which is the ruins of 

 an old chimney, and for a month past I have noticed 

 that my cattle are in the habit of going there about 

 every day. I went to see what was the cause of 

 their being there so much, and I found that they 

 were eating bricks. Some had pieces as large as 



Remarks. — We are not certain as to the cause 

 of cattle eating bricks, but we suppose that they are 

 confined to an old pasture where the feed is deficient 

 in some important ingredients that they need, and 

 that they seek to supply the deficiency by eating 

 bricks, which may contain the ingredients they 

 want. Cows afflicted with the bone disorder at- 

 tempt to supply bone earth, or phosphate of lime, 

 which is deficient in their food, by eating bones ; 

 and ground bones are given them as a remedy. 



As to the eating of bricks being injurious to cat- 

 tle, we think they may attempt to eat large hard 

 pieces, and thereby injure their teeth, or choke 

 themselves; but if the bricks were reduced to a fine 

 powder, perhaps they might eat them with advan- 

 tage. There are instances of sheep frequenting 

 old chimneys that are falling to ruins, and eating 

 the clay in which the bricks were laid; which is 

 probably owing to some deficiency in their food, 

 which the clay supplies. — Ed. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 INDIAN CORN. 



Mr. Cole: — I herewith send you a corn root 

 taken from amongst several others on one side of 

 a single stalk, all, from appearance, extending 

 nearly directly downward to the pan. This when 

 taken out measured 27 inches in length, and was 

 broken off by the removal of a stone. You per- 

 ceive that the main root has lateral roots extending 

 from the stalk and nearly to the lower end, and 

 probably would have had the whole length, had 

 they not been interrupted, by the stone removed in 

 taking it out. 



This root was obtained, and the examination of 

 the other roots made, by digging a hole some 18 

 inches or two feet from the stalk, to the pan, and 

 then carefully removing the earth by a sharp point- 

 ed stick, exposing the roots and examining them, 

 until the excavation was perpendicular with the 

 stalk. The conclusion to which I came from this 

 examination was, that when the soil will admit of 

 it, the principal roots, or at least the main part of 

 them, tend nearly downward, and that the most of 

 those near the surface are the laterals from the 

 main roots. 



The question may be asked, what advantage can 

 be gained by this examination ? What matter wheth- 

 er corn roots run near the surface or extend deep 

 into the soil and subsoil ? I answer, it settles a 

 very important point, viz : whether deep or shal- 

 low tillage should be practiced. It is true, that 

 corn will stand the drought better than many other 

 crops which we cultivate, yet in very dry seasons 

 it suflTers on the largest portion of farms in Massa- 

 chusetts, and sometimes the crop is entirely des- 

 troyed. The only reasons why it stands dry 

 weather better than many other plants, is from its 

 formation, to take in the dew, and extending its 

 roots deep into the earth. 



There may be locations where by shallow til- 

 lage good, and in some cases even large crops, are 



