&l)c farmer's ittontljln bisitor. 



79 



which his master is quite unsuspicious. In 1840, 

 a gentleman iu France was about to cross a 

 bi irlue in a cabriolet : the horse stopped — neither 

 \\lii|) nor coaxing would induce him to move, — 

 while urging the horse, the arch fell, thus saving 

 the life of the master. 



A few mouths ngd there died in my stahle a 

 horse by the name of Billy. He had carried my 

 wife, my children, my grand-children and my 

 great-grand children. He wasa white Canadian 

 pony, and as docile as ii child. One (lay, going 

 to a Tillage on Long Island, on a pari of the 

 road where I was obliged to pass, they were 

 making some stone fence, the road lay encum- 

 bered with oxcarts, chains, lime-barrels, large 

 stones, &c., so as to make it almost impassable 

 even in day light — 1 got detained beyond expecta- 

 tion. When returning it was very dark. 



When I came to the road-making department, 

 ] could not see my horse's head. He stopped. 

 It was the end of March, the frost coming out of 

 the ground. Had I stepped from the wagon, 1 

 would have sunk to the knees iu mud. "Now 

 Billy," says I, "1 can't see. 1 can't walk; you 

 must try not to upset me if you can." I slacked 

 the reins — "Now," says I, " Billy, ye may gang 

 ye're ain gait" — (he understood Scotch as well as 

 if he had been horn iu Scotland.) He put his 

 nose to the ground; he crossed; he tacked and 

 wore ship like an old sailor among breakers ; 

 he brought me out sale. " Well done, Hilly," 

 says I, "you shall get a bicker, (6 quarts) of oats 

 for this." He clapped his feet to the ground, 

 and in ten minutes we were at the stable door. 

 1 washed the mud from his legs, rubbed him 

 down, made a bed of clean straw, gave him a 

 drink, and then his oats, and bid him good night. 

 He returned a low nicker as i'' he said, " thank 

 ye." Last summer the wife of one of my sons 

 died. Hilly went with a man down to New 

 York and brought up the coffin. It was his last 

 load. He took sick that same hour, after coming 

 home, and died in three or four days thereafter. 

 He was buried in his skin iu a grave, neither dog 

 nor buzzard profaning his worthy carcass. The 

 man who would, iu his anger, heat or abuse his 

 horse, with the same brulal arm he will knock 

 down his wife." 



The Essentials to Productive Farming. 



The following essentials for productive fann- 

 ing are from the pen of the editor of the 

 American Farmer, which is, we believe, the 

 oldest agricultural paper in the United Stales: 



J. Good implements of husbandry, plenty of 

 them, which should always be kept in perfect 

 order. 



2. Deep Ploughing, and thorough pulverization 

 of the soil, hy the tree use of the harrow, drag, 

 and roller. 



3. An application of lime, marl or ashes, where 

 calcareous matter or potash may not he present 

 in the soil. 



4. A systematic husbanding of every sub- 

 stance on a farm capable of being converted 

 into manure, as a systamatic protection of such 

 substances from loss by evaporation or waste of 

 any kinds and a careful application of the same 

 to the lands in culture. 



5. The draining of all wet lands, so as to re- 

 lieve the roots of the plants from the ill effects 

 of a super-abundance of water, a condition 

 equally pernicious as drought, to their healthful 

 growth and proftable fructification. 



0. The free use of the plough, cultivator and 

 hoe, with all row cultured crops, so as to keep 

 down, at all limes, the growth of grass and 

 weeds, those pests which prove so destructive to 

 crops. 



7. Seeding in the proper time, with good seed, 

 and an equal attention as to lime, with regard to 

 the period of working crops. 



8. Attention to the construction and repair of 

 fences, so that what is made through the toils 

 and anxious cares of the husbandman, may not 

 be lost through his neglect to protect his crops 

 from the depredations of stock. 



9. Daily personal superintendence, on the pari 

 of th ■ master, over all the operations of the 

 farm no mailer how good a manager he may 

 have, or however faithful bis hands may he, as 

 the presence of the bead of a tin in, and the use 

 of his eyes are, worth several pairs of hands. 



10. Labor-saving machinery, so that any one 



may render himself as independent as needful 

 of neighborhood labor, as a sense of the com- 

 parative independence of the employer upon 



such labor begets a disposition of obedience 

 and faithfulness mi the part of the employed. 



11. Comfortable stabling and shoes, for ihe 

 horses and stork, all Necessary outbildings, for 

 the accommodation of 1'ie hands, and protection 

 of the tools and implements, as well as for the 

 care of the poultry. 



12. Clover and other grasses to form a part of 

 the rotation of crops, find these to he at proper 

 periods ploughed in, :o form pabulum lor suc- 

 ceeding crops. 



13. To provide a good orchard and garden — 

 the one to he filled w ith choice fruits, of all kinds 

 — the other with vegetables of different sorts, 

 early and late, so thai the table may, at all times 

 he well and seasonally supplied, and the surplus 

 contributed to incrcise the wealth of the propri- 

 etor. 



(U°* To the following tribute paid to one of 



the distinguished sons of the Granite State, we 



add our personal cognizance of the great merit 



of his services and generosity in ninny of the 



enterprises which do credit to ihe country. 



From the Boston Conner. 



Massachusetts Horticulture— Honor to its Ad- 

 vocates. 



The New York Trijume supplies the follow- 

 ing article, which will be acceptable to many of 

 our readers: — 



This May number of the Journal part of the 

 Farmers' Library opens quite appropriately in 

 reference to the season, with a well-executed 

 portrait anil a memoir of Marshall P. Wilder, 

 the distinguished President of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society. We deliberately say dis- 

 tinguished, for if a man may not worthily gain 

 distinction for zeal, science, and liberality, in the 

 practice and promotion of the beautiful and ben- 

 eficent arts of fruit and floriculture — contribut- 

 ing, as they do, to the most refined of our sen- 

 sual enjoyments, and to the highest moral culture 

 — Ibr what, we would like to know, should dis- 

 tinction he awarded by a virtuous and civilized 

 people? Should it be rather for eminence in the 

 arts of chicanery and accumulation of wealth ? 

 — or for success iu the great popular art of shed- 

 ding human blood? How this question will he 

 answered in every country, must depend, one 

 would think, on the education and capacity of 

 the people lo judge of their interests; and their 

 decision may he fairly taken as the lest of the 

 degree of civilization to which they have attain- 

 ed. Among barbarians, physical prowess and 

 success in warlike statagems naturally lead lo re- 

 nown ; while, in all circumstances, the noble art 

 of oratory, coveted hy so many, and acquired by 

 so few, secures popularity and power; but while 

 the former implies violence and bloodshed and 

 misery to conquerors and victims, the latter is too 

 often preverted lo making "the worse appear the 

 better cause," the charming pursuits to which 

 Colonel Wilder has dedicated a large portion of 

 the lime he could borrow from careful labors, 

 must he indulged in only in furtherance of ihe 

 most refining and commendable objects. Hence, 

 he who takes or gains the lead in ihem, has a 

 claim truly lo enviable destruction. 



Every one who is at all acquainted with the 

 history of such associations must know that, 

 however zealous and intelligent may be the 

 members generally, practical results always de- 

 pend very much on a few of the winking mem- 

 bers ; and although, in frankness, we apprehend 

 that if we look closely into such hives, ihe num- 

 ber of drones diminish in thein as lA go North, 

 ill proportion to the working bees — and although, 

 as we happen to know, there are many of Col. 

 Wilder's associates conspicuous alike for their 

 intelligence anil consistency; yet we hazard 

 nothing in saying that, under all circumstances, 

 the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, com- 

 posed as it is of many of the ablest horlieului 

 rists in the Commonwealth, has been especially 

 fortunate of late years in its presiding officer. In 

 this country, without any patronage from gov- 

 ernment, from wealthy corporations or powerful 

 patrons, great energy, unwearied perseverance, 

 and much skill and lad are necessary ill iis ex- 

 ecutive officers to maintain the influence, meet 



the large expenses, and justify ihe expectations of 

 the community regarding such institutions. All 

 these qualities are found singularly united in ihe 

 subject of the meinoir to which we refer. His 

 indomitable energy and large More of practical 

 knowledge, are only equalled hj ihe generous 

 and unselfish manner in which he gives every 

 possible moment m the duties of his position, 

 and the cordial urbanity and frankness with 

 which ihe inquiring stranger or the curious 

 friend is met who may visit the hall of the So- 

 ciety, or Ihe garden of its President, for the pur- 

 pose of learning ihe occult mysteries ol the 

 earliest of the arts. 



Indeed, the Massachusetts Society, of late, has 

 begun to exert an influence far more powerful 

 than that of mere local societies devoted to Ihe 

 improvement of the arts of culture; and what, 

 truly, may we not hope from its effect, when 

 Mich men as Abbott Lawrence are heard pub- 

 licly to declare that even in the act of choosing 

 a mechanic, he would go out of his way lo find 

 one who "had been seen on Satlud y night tak- 

 ing a Jlowcr-pol under his arm." The usual ex- 

 hibitions of ihe Society, perhaps ihe largest, in a 

 pomological point of view, in the world, are 

 now visited by delegates and committees as well 

 as by great numbers of strangers, from all pans 

 of the Union. The first desire for an orchard of* 

 fine fruit, the first yearning for a beautiful gar- 

 den, have been awakened, while the beholder of 

 some rudely-cultivated farm has gazed on the 

 paradise of perfect productions assembled at its 

 September shows, lis weekly exhibitions are 

 also frequently the elegant nilnions of miich of 

 the intelligence, wit and beauty of the splendid 

 metropolis of New England, as well as of the 

 working gardeners themselves, in whose deport- 

 ment and conversation, by-lhe-by, ihe most care- 

 less observer must perceive a marked degree of 

 propriety and intelligence, referrahle not only lo 

 the educational system of the stale, which 

 makes its impress alike on the mechanic in his 

 shop and the victualler iu the market, but so 

 even more pointedly iu ihe practical garde' i, i 9 

 lo indicate, unmistakably, the refining nature of 

 his occupation. We are inclined to the I, (diet 

 that as it has heen said of good Naturalists gen- 

 erally, so it may he said that a good Horticulturist 

 cannot be a bad man ! 



The taste for flowers and fruits, and for all 

 that is attractive in rural life, is thus begotten 

 and diffused in all classes of society. The New 

 England character, which has already made its 

 mink upon the age, by iis energy, euterprise and 

 thrift, will soon also he (bun I laboring every- 

 where in the good work of making the wilder- 

 ness lo blossom as Ihe rose. Not content with 

 clearing forests, planting new slates, and diffus- 

 ing Education as freely as ihe sunshine itself, it 

 is easy to see that it also sli ives lo lie foremost 

 iu teaching the elegancies of life, especially in 

 ihe knowledge ami love of gardens, which we 

 see in progress about Boston. Do we need a 

 belter and more elevated Future for the. rural 

 life of all America? May we, under her exam- 

 ple, live to see our whole country, unrivaled as it 

 is in natural advantages of soil and climate, 

 overspreading with smiling gardens and Iriiilful 

 orchards— spells thai hind men strongly to their 

 homes— filled with the choicest productions of 

 Flora and Pomona; and these loo, not held for- 

 ever by a lew great and privileged landlords, but 

 the property of the numberless cultivators of the 

 soil, a soil where truly every man may "sit un- 

 der his own vine." 



The editor was fortunate in (indind a true 

 likeness of Colonel Wilder in the colletion of 

 the artist, Mr. Marc-haul of the city, by whom it 

 was taken ; and lor the brief memoir of the 

 original, that accompanies it, a slight acquain- 

 tance with the annals and the progress of Amer- 

 ican Horticulture, with which his name is so in- 

 timately associated, was all-.-ulticU ut. 



The steel plates and impressions, used for this 

 issue of the Journal, for which Ihey were en- 

 graved, could not have cost less than $300, and 

 well evince the admitted liberality of the pub- 

 lishers of The Farmers' Library, the eostlinces 

 and elegance of its embellishments alone ac- 

 counting for the price of work, so much more 

 voluminous and expensive than any of i.s kind 

 ivliicb has appeared in our country. 



