Vol. 1.— No. 31. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



243 



HIGH CULTIVATION. 



It is not an uncommon complaint among 

 farmers 'tbat the times are hard.* It is won- 

 derful that with some they are so ? I hey 

 are 'hard' because their crops are small, be- 

 cause they fail to bestow the proper cultiva- 

 tion upon them. Concentrated action is ef- 

 ficient action ; and it is this only which gives 

 large agricultural results. But to this an 

 obstacle presents itself nearly insurmounta- 

 ble. Our farms are in general too exten- 

 sive, and the labor of the farmer is spread 

 over too extended a surface. And yet in- 

 stead of selling a single acre, most of our 

 farmers covet many more. If farmers how- 

 ever, would thrive, they must change their 

 policy ; they must concentrate their labor ; 

 they must give to few acres the care, now 

 usually bestowed on many; and if necessary 

 lo this they must diminish their farms. Ma- 

 ny an acre of coin, and many of rye now 

 vield only 10 or 12 bushels and even less. 

 M any an acre is mowed, whose burden — if 

 it may be called a burden— amounts to scare- 

 ly half a ton. How much wiser — how much 

 more grateful to give these acres a proper 

 cultivation and gather bushels for pecks, 

 and nearer tons for hundreds ! This, I con- 

 ceive, is, at present, the great error of our 

 farmers generally. They adopt a diffusive, 

 desultory mode of operation, which keeps 

 their lands poor, and themselves poor also. 

 The only method by which the benefits of a 

 thriftv, productive husbandry can be enjoy- 

 ed, is to change the present system for one 

 more compressed and more vigorous. It 

 should be written on every farm house, and 

 in the centre of every lot, as a memento to 

 its occupier — '■Till but little, aid till thor- 

 oughly.' 1 — Rev. Mr. Goodrich. 



It has been justly said of the Farmers oc- 

 cupation, that it involves as much skill, as 

 much interest, and as much honor, as any 

 object within the range of the attention, or 

 the action of man. it was certainly man's 

 first employment, and without doubt, the 

 happiest in which it can be engaged. True 

 he labors hard, and by the sweat of his brow 

 earns his bread ; and this is common to most 

 avocations into which manual labor enters 

 But then he has his season of enjoyment, and 

 is at all times relieved from the responsibili- 

 ty, anxiety, and the risk of the merchant, or 

 the intense application and fearful solicitude 

 of the professional man. The occupation 

 of agriculture being more steady and less li- 

 able to the fluctuations experienced in al- 

 most every other vocation, more especially 

 to those immediately dependent on com- 

 merce, tends to a more regular, simple, and 

 consequently, to a more moral life. It is 

 this favorable tendency of their habits and 

 mode of living, which has entitled the yeo- 

 manry to that political importance, which 

 attaches to them in almost every other, but 

 more particularly in this country — our gov- 

 ernment being founded on equality of right, 

 and our institutions recognizing equity as the 

 rule of conduct. The yeomanry were the 

 instruments by which our Independence was 

 achieved — from their bosoms the republican 

 spirit was transfused into our political insti- 

 tutions — and with them by whomever assail- 

 ed will rest the defence of those privileges 

 civil and religious, which we now so emin- 

 ently enjoy — on their honesty, intelligence 

 and firmness we may always rely to perpet- 

 uate the enjoyment of these privileges. — 

 Bost. Pat. 



VEGETABLE LIFE. 



The first point that should engage the at- 

 tention of the enlightened agriculturist, is to 

 ascertain the nature and situation of those 

 minute vessels by which plants absorb water 

 from the soil and the atmosphere, and by 

 which these principles are modified and cir- 

 culated to every part of the vegetable, and 

 are converted into the plant itself. So mi- 

 nute are these vessels, that even microscop- 

 ic observation has not been able to detect all 

 their intricacies. But their general struc- 

 ture and arrangement have been ascertain- 

 ed. — And it is found that they bear a most 

 striking analogy to those vessels of animals 

 by which nutriment is conveyed, in cease- 

 less circulation to every part of the system 

 In every plant we find one set of small ves 

 sels running from the root to the extremi 

 ties, tlnought which the sap ascends, while 

 in its progress it is undergoing those chang- 

 es that will fit it for becoming a part of the 

 vegetable. These vessels resemble the ar- 

 teries in the animal system. When the sap 

 is thus conveyed to the leaves and other ex- 

 tremities of the plant, it there comes in con- 

 tact with the atmosphere, gives of the re- 

 dundancies, and absorbs water, and perhaps 

 other principles essential to the plant. The 

 leaves of plants, therefore, perform nearly 

 the same functions as the lungs of animals. 

 A second set of vessels, exterior to the first 

 and mostly confined to the bark, now con- 

 veys the food of the plant, thus prepared, to 

 every part that needs nourishment; even to 

 the very roots from which it proceeded. — 

 These vessels correspond to the veins. Oth- 

 er vessels are found in plants, corresponding, 

 probably, to those similarly situated in the 

 animal system ; yet too complicated for ex- 

 planation, that in vegetable, as well as in 

 animal economy we find the principle of 

 life — itself inscrutable — modifying and con- 

 troling every operation and keeping the 

 wonderful machinery in ceaseless play, — 

 Hitchcock's Address. 



SILK FILATURE. 



We have been gratified with seeing the 

 progress of the silk culture in this neighbor- 

 hood. Mr Cobb has the silk reeled with 

 great evenness in his own family ; and sev- 

 eral families in the neighborhood have been 

 engaged in rearing silk worms for him this 

 season, and as he reels all that comes, to 

 advantage, it is probable this useful branch 

 of industry will be rapidly extended. We 

 understand that when Mr. C. buys the co- 

 coons he pays from 25 to 50 cts. per pound 

 — and that the silk as it comes from the reel 

 fetches from 4 to 6s. per pound. Mr. C. 

 has in press a manual on the culture of silk 

 which is to be distributed to each of the 

 towns in the commonwealth, at the public 

 expense. This manual is calculated to give 

 plain practical directions on the subject SO 

 that a person who never saw a silk worm 

 may take it up and with proper attention 

 may proceed in the business with advantage. 

 He has lately introduced to his garden from 

 New-York the morus multicaulis — a kind of 

 mulberry tree bearing leaves one foot in 

 length, and which is said to be superior to 

 all others for the nursing of the silk-worm, 

 and which he recommends to general culti- 

 vation in the state of Massachusetts. We 

 saw at Mr. C.'s house five varieties of the 

 cocoon. It is said that the large white co- 

 coon, of the French insect is the most rich 

 and ought to be preferred by the cultivator, i 



on account of its being best for white silk ; 

 of the small Chinese worm, from four to 

 five crops can be raised in a season. Mr. C. 

 has these worms now which three weeks 

 since were in the chrysales of the cocoon — 

 the moth having eaten out, deposited her 

 eggs and the eggs having hatched, the 

 worms are now eating the leaves, and the 

 whole has been done in the short space of 

 three weeks. Mr. C. obtained this vaiiety 

 of the insect from Baltimore. — Oedham Pol- 

 itician. —— 

 MAXIMS FOR MARRIED LADIES. 

 The following maxims, if pursued, will 

 not only make the men in love with mar- 

 riage, but cause them to be good husbands j 

 — the first is, to be good yourself. To a- 

 void all thoughts of managing a husband. 

 Never try to deceive or impose on his un- 

 derstanding, nor give him uneasiness; but 

 treat him with affection, sincerity and res- 

 pect. Remember that husbands, at best, 

 are only men, subject like yourselves to er- 

 ror and frailty. Be not too sanguine, then, 

 before marriage, or promise yourselves hap- 

 piness without alloy. Should you discovet 

 any thing in his humor or behaviour not al- 

 together what you expected or wish, pass it 

 over, smooth your own temper, and try to 

 mend his, by attention, cheerfulness, and 

 good nature. Never reproach him with 

 misfortunes, which are the accidents and in- 

 firmities of life — a burden which each has 

 engaged to assist the other in supporting, and 

 to which both parties are equally exposed — 

 but instead of murmuring and reflections, di- 

 vide the sorrows between you; make the 

 best of it, and it will be easier to both.- It 

 is the innate office of the softer sex to soothe 

 the troubles of the other. Resolve every 

 morning to be cheerful all day, and should 

 any thing occur to break your resolution, 

 suiter it not to put you out of temper with 

 your husband. Dispute not with him, be 

 the occasion what it may ; but much sooner 

 deny yourself the trifle of having your own 

 will, or gaining the better of an argument, 

 than risk a quarrel or create a heart-burn- 

 ing, which it is impossible to foresee the end 

 of. Implicit submission in a man to his 

 wife, is even disgraceful to both ; but im- 

 plicit submission in the wife, is what she 

 promised at the altar, what the good will re- 

 vere her for, and what is, in fact, the grea- 

 test honor she can receivr. Be assured a 

 woman's power, as well as her happiness, 

 has no other foundation than in her hus- 

 band's esteem and love, which it is her 

 interest, by all possible means, to preserve 

 and increase. Study, therefore, his temper, 

 and command your own. — Enjoy with Dim 

 satisfaction, share and soothe his cares, and 

 with the utmost assiduity conceal his infir- 

 mities. — Amer. Farmer. 



Dress. — After the success of Edward I. 

 most of the English ladies were provided 

 with foreign dresses, and as might be ex- 

 pected, we are informed by Stow, that "the 

 matrons being proud in their French appar- 

 elle, did brag." In Henry IV's time, says 

 the same authority, "was excessive pride in 

 dress; gowns with deep and broad sleeves 

 commonly called poke sleeves, which might 

 be called recepticles of the divel, for they 

 did hide what they stole in their sleeves 

 whereof some hung down to their knees full 

 of cuttes and jagges." 



From this it appears that the quartcr-of- 

 mutton sleeves of oar day are not without 

 reason and example* 



