■ — -- — * "- -yr 



STIjc farmer's iltontljhj btBttor. 



187 



till in some way or other, and thus in a fe . short 

 years their parents will Imve to suffer the heart 

 rending agony of seeing their children, who 

 they labored so hard to keep at the greatest pos- 

 sible remove from any thing like work, indulging 

 in gambling, drinking, licentiousness ami many 

 other vices to which the city subjects the unem- 

 ployed. And if they do not inn into these ex- 

 cesses, they rarely beeome celebrated men or 

 women. But let us see who the grenr, the en- 

 terprising, and the go-ahead men of our cities 

 are, and where they come from. Ill general you 

 will find they are those who come from the 

 country, and from the poorer classes of society. 

 The great professional men are those who work- 

 ed hard while young, anil had to educate them- 

 selves. They have constitutions like iron, good 

 foundations on which to build greatness. The 

 great, and wealthy business men, are those who 

 have hail to work almost from the moments of 

 their existence to the present time; and heuce 

 the) know the value, as well as the art of mak- 

 ing money. 



What young man who wants a prudent, affec- 

 tionate and industrious wife, one with perfect 

 health, and sound morals, would even think of 

 going to the city to search for her? None hut a 

 city simpleton. These city misses, with delicate 

 forms, and lily white hands, know comparatively 

 nothing about cooking, washing, mending, or in- 

 deed any kind of domestic work with which 

 they should he well acquainted. 



But if you want a plaything, to sit in the par- 

 lor, — to read novels — to talk nonsense, and — to 

 spend your hard-earned money as fast as you 

 can get it, the city is the place where, in all pro- 

 bability, you will find one peculiarly adapted to 

 your wants. 



AGRICOLA. 



New (jlouccsler, Maine. 



The late Geo. Stephenson--- Author of the 

 Railway System. 



from thp London Atheneum. 



On the 12th of August died Mr. George Ste- 

 plieiiMin, author of the railway system, the first 

 great practical improver of the locomotive steam 

 engine, the inventor (contemporaneously with 

 Davy) of the safety-lamp, and a man who dis- 

 play eil a vigorous and original genius iu every 

 thing which be undertook. lie was born on the 

 9th of June, 1781, [was consequently, at the time 

 of bis death, in his 68th year,] at a bale village 

 near Newcastle-on-Tyne, ot parents in the hum- 

 blest rank of life. His first occupation as a boy 

 was attending to the steam engines used at the 

 niouih of coal-pits. Eventually, be became a 

 coal-viewer, or surveyor and overseer; and distin- 

 guished himself in the coal district by an im- 

 proved mode of carrying on some great works at 

 Darlington. In 1812, a committee which bad 

 investigated the priority of the claims of [lie 

 discoverers of the safety-lamp, gave him a pub- 

 lic, dinner at Newcastle, at which he was pre- 

 sented with a silver tanka'd and a purse of a 

 thousand guineas. In returning thanks be an- 

 nounced bis intention of devoting that sum to 

 the education of his only son, Robert, at the Uni- 

 versity of Edinbui'g. The history of his em- 

 ployment to construct the Stockton and Darling- 

 ton, the first public railroad, and the Liverpool 

 ami Manchester, the first on which locomotive 

 engines wen- introduced for the conveyance ol 

 passengers — is well known. Frrun the first 

 journey of the locomotive built by the Stephen- 

 sons over the railroad constructed by ihein, dates 



the actual commencement of the greatest me- 

 chanical revolution effected since the invention 

 of the steam engine by Watt. Though self- 

 educated — scarcely educated at all beyond read- 

 ing and writing until he had attained manhood, 

 Mr. Stephenson took every opportunity of im- 

 pressing upon the young the advantages of sci- 

 ence and literature, lie related that at a public 

 dinner at the opening of the Birkenhead ducks 



how, in his enrly career, after the labors of the 



day, he used to wink iu the evening at mending 

 watches and clocks in order to earn enough to 

 send his child to school. He was the founder 

 and first President of the Society of Mechanical 

 Engineers; and was never better pleased than 

 when assisting by his advice and encouragement 

 the ideas of ingenious artizaus. Iu agriculture 

 and horticulture he made many curious and suc- 

 cessful experiments — and the study of geology 

 was a passion with him. It is feared that the 

 intermittent lever, of which he died, was occa- 

 sioned by the damp miasma arising from the 

 fertilizers which he employed with great success 

 in bis hot bouses. In a brief and hurried notice 

 it is impossible to do justice to so remarkable a 

 man. Iu the words ot a contemporary writer: 

 " His mechanical genius was of that order that it 

 may without exaggeration he asserted that if 

 Watt bad not previously invented the steam 

 engine he was capable of achieving it. Olhers 

 before him had prepared the way ; others since 

 have contributed valuable improvements iu de 

 tail; hut to George Stephenson unquestionably 

 belongs the proud title of the Author of the 

 Railway System. He gathered the many threads 

 of ingenuity and enterprise, and weaved them 

 into the wide-spreading net wurk which promises, 

 in its manifold extension, to envelop the whole 

 world in bonds of commerce, civilization and 

 peace. 



Farm Work for October. 



The latter harvest has come, and the fields are 

 white for the corn-cutter. The days have growl 

 shorter, and the farmer must not expect the 

 morning sun to rouse him to his labors. Shorter 

 and cooler days make labor more agreeable, and 

 more activity is demanded. 



Indian corn is now ripe enough to be husked, 

 and the late hosts have done hut little more than 

 to open the ears to the sun. Last year the husks 

 clung close till the second week in October, for 

 lack of frost, and the business of harvesting 

 commenced late. By commencing sooner we 

 save the husks better for the cattle. 



Corn-forks are now quite common, and they 

 facilitate the business of loading on the cart very 

 effectually. Those having handles like a manure 

 fork are the best ; and lour tines — two below 

 and two above — are most convenient. We have 

 seen good ones made wholly of wood — hut iron 

 tines are better. Some of the very hardest 

 work on the farm is avoided by the use of corn- 

 forks 



Potatoes, too, are now dug with hoes made 

 purposely fur that business. A common hoe 

 goes hard into a hill that has been consolidating 

 for two or three months past. The lines of the 

 potato digger enter the ground better and haul 

 out less earth with the -potatoes. Potato ploughs 

 might be made to stir up the earth in plain fields 

 and leave less digging for the man with the hoe. 

 Such ploughs would need no cutter or mould 

 plate ; but a share that should raise the earth 

 and the potatoes four or five inches, and effectu- 

 ally loosen the potatoes without burying them 

 anew with turned earth. We have not seen 

 an implement of this kind that precisely suited 

 us. 



'Buckwheat should he carted to the barn as soon 

 as it is dry enough to be threshed, and the flail 

 should he going concurrently with the carl, for 

 the straw has too much moisture in it to be 

 packed before threshing. 



Winter apples ought to picked early iu October. 

 They have now drawn from the tree all the 

 juice that is of value, and they waste and lose 

 their goodness by lying out in the weather. Ap- 

 ples lor cider or vinegar gather no goodness b\ 

 lying out on the ground. And they deteriorate 

 by lying long in heaps, out or iu doors. Tins 

 rotten ones are worse than a dead loss. All 

 hut the hardest should he ground during this 

 mouth. 



Manures from the cowyard ought to he cleared 

 out ere they are frozen. Such as are to he spread 

 on glass lauds will do more service if applied ill 

 October than in November; they w ill not he so 

 liable to he washed away for they will he par- 

 tially incorporated with tlie soil before winter 

 frosts set in. Coarse manures that are intended 

 for planting next spring, ought to lie piled in 



large heaps. 'I ,, j . 



when they are put in small piles as for spread- 

 ing. 



After the yards and pens are cleared of their 

 manures they should be replenished at once from 

 muck meadows or from soil that lies where it is of 

 no use. Old walls that have stood for a century 

 have often an accuinlation of loose and vegeta- 

 ble matter that is more valuable lor the cowyard 

 than the peat I bat we usually find iu the mea- 

 dows, though it may not look so rich or so black. 

 This matter by the wall side should be removed 

 it lor no other purpose than to show up the wall 

 higher and make it a better fence. 



But the matter gathered here, the leaves that 

 have lodged and rotted, and the abrasion from 

 the rocks make a good material for mixing with 

 the animal manures. On some farms there is a 

 lack of this material ; but on many it is found in 

 abundance where the owners neglect to use it. 

 A good supply should always be procured in 

 tlie fall ; there is no better mode of increas- 

 ing and preserving this important article of ma- 

 nure. 



Dry wood for winter is a luxury not to be dis- 

 pensed with. If your year's stock was piled in 

 the wood-house last spring, you have no care of 

 ibis kind at present, but must look out for a fur- 

 llier supply in the winter. If you have not a 

 stock of dry wood, October is a good month to 

 he collecting where it has lallen and lies spatter- 

 ed over the farm. Those who use green wood 

 need a pile of dry for kindling. After the snow 

 appears it is too late to pile up i\\) wood. 



Wells are sunk best in September and Octo- 

 ber. The under ground springs are then lowest, 

 and there is a good chance to secure a perma- 

 nent supply. Not half the wells in the State are 

 dug deep enough lo supply water through the 

 whole year. 



October is one of the most busy months lor 

 the farmer. Much depends on bis attention now 

 to secure the fruits of his summer labors. Let 

 no person neglect the duties of October. 



Preserving Butter. 



It is a valuable art to know how to make good 

 butter, and it is also a valuable art to know how 

 to preserve it when it is made. The last named 

 art must depend first on extracting every thing 

 that will ferment or become rancid by absorp- 

 tion of the oxygen or acidifying principle of 

 the air, and on excluding air as much as possible 

 from it. 



We will relate a method which was last year 

 adopted by Colonel Daniel Craig of Readfield. 



1 he Colonel's lady makes excellent butter, to 

 begin with, and part of bis success must be at- 

 tiihuted to thiii. 



The butter was packed down solidly and care- 

 fully in firkins, and a clean cloth fined on the 

 top of each before the covers of the firkins were 

 shut on. He then look a (dean hogshead, or 

 large cask, and placed a layer of salt on its 

 bottom. He then put in one or more firkins, iu 

 such ;i position as not in touch each other, and 

 then poured in salt until the firkins were cover- 

 ed. In this way hi.* butter kept as sweet and as 

 sound as a nut lor several months, and when be 

 came lo overhaul il for the purpose of selling it, 

 he found every ihing as pure and nice as when 

 it was first packed away. This bint is worth 

 following by trailers and olhers who may wish 

 lo preserve good butter any length of time. — 

 We do not know that poor, half-made butler 

 can he kept from In coming rancid by being 

 managed iu this manner, and it is no" matter 

 if it cannot, lor such butter is not worth the 

 I rouble.— Maine Farmer. 



Great Ohio Dairy —Father Cisjgtells the fol- 

 lowing " big one" iu bis Advcitisef, which we 

 would not believe if told by any body else. 

 What a host of "Milk Maids" the individual 

 must employ : 



"We have one individual who supplies Cin- 

 cinnati with cheese, who bas a dairy nt which 

 lie makes* cheeses, from eleven hundred and 

 filly cows. As the cheese season lasts seven 

 months, this is a product of four hundred and 

 ninety-seven thousand pounds, which, tit six 

 cents per pound, is worth almost thirty thou- 

 sand dollais. 



