MH 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



Octobers, 1831. 



of his family who were connected with him, 

 left him, by his advice, to sustain the burden 

 alone. In order to obtain ample supplies of 

 manure, he commenced the system of stall- 

 feeding, with a large number of cattle, which 

 were constantly supplied with fresh grass, 

 instead of being suffered to feed in the pas 

 tures; and erected ample reservoirs for solid 

 and liquid manure of every kind, the care of 

 which occupied a pait of every day's labor. 

 A system of four years' cropping, with deep 

 ploughing, and the invention of superior ma- 

 chines for breaking up the soil, weeding and 

 sowing, insured him success; and the lands 

 of Hofwyl have been made to yield fourfold 

 their former produce,, ith an uniniermitted 

 succession of crops. The labors of the plough 

 require only half the number of animals for- 

 merly used, and the fields of grain produce 

 nineteen fold the amount of the seed sown. 

 The system of agriculture has been fully tes- 

 ted, by repeated visits of distinguished men 

 of science, and the commissioners of various 

 governments of Switzerland and Germany, 

 and itsecnnomical results fully ascertained, 

 as exhibiting, in a striking manner, how 

 much larger an amount of nourishment may 

 be drawn from a given portion of soil than 

 has been generally supposed. Hofwyl has 

 furnished experimental farmers to a number 

 of princes and noblemen, of various parts of 

 Europe ; and its pupils have been employed 

 in the formation and direction of some im- 

 portant agricultural institutions. An estab- 

 lishment was also formed for the manufac- 

 ture of his improved instruments of agricul- 

 ture, which have been sent to every part of 

 Europe. At successive periods, additions 

 have been made to the domain of Hofwyl, 

 increasing it to about 600 acres, which have 

 furnished all the varieties of soil and situa- 

 tion necessary to render the w hole a complete 

 experimental and model farm. But Fellen- 

 berg occupied himself in improving agricul- 

 ture only as a means to the more important 

 end of improving man himself; and during 

 the whole period that he was thus actively 

 engaged in this subject, he was not less en- 

 gaged in organizing the institutions of edu- 

 cation, which form the great object of his 

 life, and the chief glory of Hofwyl. 



American Silk. — The Editor of t'e A- 

 merican Farmer has had the pleasure within 

 a few days, of receiving half a dozen skeins 

 of sewing silk made by Miss Belinda Grigs- 

 by, of Rockbridge county, Va. She ob- 

 tained the eggs of the editor of the Farmer 

 last winter, with brief directions for their 

 management ; fed the worms on the common 

 mulberry of the adjacent forest, reeled the 

 cocoons with a common country cotton reel, 

 doubled and twisted the silk with a common 

 cotton spinning wheel, and dyed it with such 

 domestic materials as were at hand. The 

 gentleman who was a bearer of the speci- 

 mens, is a merchant of that neighborhood 

 and when asked his opinion of the silk, he 

 said it was as good as any Italian silk he ev- 

 er sold, and that he wanted no better; that 

 it would sell readily, and jhat he would pur- 

 chase all the young lady could make at g8 a 

 pound. It is Miss Grigsby's first attempt, 

 never having even seen a silkworm previous 

 to this summer, nor received any other in- 

 struction in any branch of the ait than that 

 contained in our brief directions. Her suc- 

 cess in this trial has determined her to pur- 

 sue the business regularly, — finding it, as 

 one says, both pleasant and profitable, and 



by no means difficult. The quality of the 

 silk is really excellent — its only faults being 

 in the dying and fineness. The pink and 

 red are rather dull, but the green is very 

 beautiful ; none of the colored skeins, have 

 the rich gloss of which silk is susceptible. — 

 Four of the skeins are of a good sized thread 

 for common use, but two of them are al- 

 most as fine as the Spider"s " attenuated 

 web." And yet it had been twisted, doubled 

 and twisted again on a common wheel. — 

 These, however, she only made thus fine to 

 see how delicate a thread she could make. 

 We have called the silk excellent, by which 

 we mean that it was perfectly evenly reeled, 

 properly twisted, and of good strength, and 

 not inferior in any quality except the colors 

 to any silk we ever saw. These samples of 

 silk may be examined at the office of the 

 Farmer by any one who may take an interest 

 in the matter. — Amtr. Far. 



CEMETERY AT MOUNT AUBURN. 



This place was consecrated on the ilth 

 inst. bv solemn and appropriate services; 

 but a pressof avocations prevented our being 

 present till the ceremonies were nearly con- 

 cluded. We therefore copy the lollowing 

 notice of the proceedings on this occasion, 

 from the Boston Courier. 



Consecration of Modnt AolftiRN. — 

 The following was the order of serv ces at 

 the consecration of Mount Auburn as a place 

 of sepulture, on Saturday last. 



1. Instrumental Music, by the Boston 

 Band. 



2. Introductory Prayer, b the Rev. Dr. 

 Ware. 



3. Hymn, written by the Rev. Mr. Pier- 

 pont. 



HYMN. 

 To thee O God, in humble trust, 

 Our hearts this grateful incense burn 

 For this thy word — "thou art dust, 

 And unto dust shalt thou return." 

 For what were life, life's work all done, 

 The hopes, joys, loves that cling to clay, 

 All, all, departed, one by one, 

 And yet life's load borne on for aye ! 

 Decay ! Decay ! 'Tis stamped on all ! 

 All bloom, in flower, and flesh, shall fade: 

 Ye whispering trees, where we shall fall, 

 Be our long sleep beneath your shade ! 

 Here, to thy bosom, mother Earth, 

 Take back, in peace, what thou hast given : 

 And all, that is of heavenly birth, 

 O God, in peace, recall to Heaven. 



4. Address, by the Hon. Joseph Story. 



5. Concluding Prayer, by the Rev. Mr 

 Pierpont. 



Music by the Band. 



An unclouded sun and an atmosphere pu- 

 rified by the showers of the preceding night, 

 combined to make the day one of the most 

 delightful wc ever experienced at this season, 

 oi the year. It is unnecessary for us to say 

 that the address by Judge Story was pertineiv 

 to the occasion, for if the name of the orator 

 was not sufficient, the perfect silence of the 

 multitude, enabhng him to be heard with dis- 

 tinctness at the most distant part of the beau- 

 tiful ampitheatre in which the services were 

 performed, will be sufficient testimony as to 

 its worth and beauty. Neither is it in our 

 power to furnish any adequate description of 

 the effect produced by the music of the thou- 

 sand voices which joined in the hymn, as it 



swelled in chastened melody from the bot- 

 tom of the glen, md, like the spirit of devo- 

 tion found an echo in every heart, and per- 

 vaded the whole scene. 



The natural features of Mount Auburn 

 are incomparable for the purpose to which it 

 is now sacred. There is not in all the un- 

 trodden valleys of the West, a more seclu- 

 ded, more natural or more appropriate spot 

 for the religious exercises of the living; we 

 may be allowed to add our doubts whether 

 the most opuient neighboihood of Europe 

 lurnishes a spot so singularly appropriate for 

 a 'Garden of Graves.' 



In the course of a few years, when tnc 

 hand of taste shall have passed over the lux- 

 uriance of nature, we riioy challenge the ri- 

 valry of the world to produce another such 

 residence for the spirit of beauty. Mount 

 Auburn has been but little known to the cit- 

 izens of Boston ; but it has now become ho- 

 ly ground, and 



Sweet Auburn, loveliest viliage of the plain, 



— a village of the quick and the silent, where 

 j nature throws an air of cheerfulness over the 

 i laborsof death, — will soon be a place of more 

 j general resort, both for ourselves and stran- 

 gers, than any other spot in the vicinity .— 

 j Where else shall we go with the musings of 

 Sadness, or for the indulgence of Grief; 

 where to cool the burning brow of Ambition, 

 or relieve the swelling heart of Disappoint- 

 ment ? We can find no better spot for the 

 rambles' of curiosity, health, or pleasure: 

 none sweeter for the whisper of affection a- 

 mong the living; more lovelier for the rest 

 of our kindred. — JV. E. Far. 



Cheat or Chess. — Of all the popular 

 errors of the world, probably the most singu- 

 lar and glaring is that current among farm- 

 ers, that wheat turns to cheat — that an un- 

 propitious winter, a continued northeast 

 wind, or too much or too little snow, causes 

 wheat to degenerate into cheat. It is in vain 

 that you tell them it is inpossible ; that it is 

 as easy for a beet to become a carrot, for an 

 apple tree to become a pear tree, or an oak a 

 chesnut tree, as for wheat to become cheat. — 

 The cause of this eiror is very plain ; — farm- 

 ers are too superficial in their observations — 

 they are by no means wanting in observation 

 but they content themselves with looking at 

 the surface of things. Man is also fond ot 

 the marvellous, and hence, any thing not 

 palpable to the grosser senses, is more apt to 

 be attributed to some magic influence, than 

 traced through an intricate analysis to its 

 true and natural cause. 



Many persons do not believe that any in 

 telligenl person believes in the degeneracy 

 of wheat to cheat ; but this is an error. — 

 There are thousands of old and experienced 

 and intelligent farmers that believe it as 

 thoroughly as they do that the planting of 

 corn will produce corn. We have had ma- 

 ny arguments with such men on the subjec 

 and we always found them so well convin- 

 ced of the correctness of their opinions that 

 we abandoned the field after the first fire. — 

 A few days since, being anxious to obtain 

 some fine seed wheat for a friend, aud know- 

 ing that a very respectable farmer in our 

 neighborhood usually had the kind we want- 

 ed, and that of the first quality, we paid him 

 a visit. He had threshed and cleaned all 

 his wheat and had it ready for market ; 

 " but," said he, ' it will not answer your pur- 

 pose—Me very hard irintcr has (wnr.d a gren! 



