mmamaaamm 



30 



®l)c JFarmcv's iHontljlij Visitor. 



The Faimer. 

 There is no class of men, if times are hut tol- 

 erably good, ih.it enjoy themselves so highly its 

 farmers. They are little kings. Their concerns 

 lire not ll mid led into a corner lis those of the 

 town's tradesman are. In town, many a man, 

 who turns thousands of pounds per week, is 

 hemmed in close liy buildings, mid nuts no figure 

 at all. A narrow shop, a contracted warehouse, 

 without an inch of room besides to turn in, on 

 any hand — without a yard, a stahle, or out-house 

 of any description — perhaps hoisted aloft, up 

 three or lour pair of dirty stairs — is all the room 

 that the wealthy tradesman can often hless him- 

 self with ; — and then, day after day, month alter 

 month, year alter year, he is to he found, like a 

 hat in a hole id' the wall, or a toad in the heart 

 of a stone, or an oak tree. Spring, and summer, 

 ami autumn, go round; sunshine and flowers 

 spread over the world; the sweetest breezes 

 blow, the sweetest waters murmur along the 

 vale- ; hut they arc all lost upon him; he is the 

 doleful prisoner of Mammon, and so he lives ami 

 dies. The tanner would not tnke the wealth ol 

 the world on such term". His house stands in 

 its own stately solitude; his out-houses stand 

 round extensively, without any stubborn and 

 limiting contraction ; his acres stretch over bill 

 and dale; there his flocks and herds are feed- 

 ing; there his laborers are toiling; he is king 

 and sole, commander there. He lives among the 

 purest air anil the most delicious quiet. Ample 

 old fashioned kitchens, with their chimney corn- 

 ers of the true projecting beams and seated con- 

 struction, still remaining ; blazing hies in winter, 

 shining on suspended hams and flitches, guns 

 supported on hooks above, dogs basking on the 

 hearth below ; cool, shady parlors in summer, 

 with open windows, ami odors from garden ami 

 shrubbery blowing in; gardens wet with purest 

 dews, and humming at noontide with bees; and 

 green field and vednrotis trees, or deep wood 

 lands lying all around, where a hundred rejoic- 

 ing noises of birds or other creatures are beard, 

 ami winds blow to and fro, full of health and life 

 enjoyment. How enviable do such places seem 

 to the fretted spirits of towns, who are compel- 

 led not only to hear their burden of cares, but to 

 enter daily into the public, strife against selfish 

 evils and ever-spreading corruption. When o»e 

 calls to mind the simple abundance of farm 

 houses, the rich cream anil milk, and unadulter- 

 ated butter, and bread grown upon their own 

 lands, their fruits ripe and fresh, plucked from 

 the sunny wall or the garden bed. or the pleasant 

 old orchard ; when one casts one's eye upon, or 

 calls to one's memory the aspect of these housu-s, 

 many of them so antiquely picturesque, or so 

 bright looking, by beautiful streams or among 

 fragrant woodlands, one cannot help saying, with 

 King James, of Scotland, when be. met Johnny 

 Armstrong: — ''What was these men that a king 

 should have ?" — .Maine Farmer. 



The Soil on which Plants Grow. 



What does the soil consist of? — The soil con- 

 sists of an organic or combustible, and of an in- 

 organic or incombustible part. 



How do you show this? — Hy heating a portion 

 of soil to redness on a hit of sheet iron, or on 

 the end of a knife, either in the fne or over a lamp. 

 The soil will first turn black, showing the pre- 

 sence of carbonaceous matter, and will afterwards 

 assume a grey brown or reddish color, as this 

 black organic matter burns away. 



Whence is the organic part of the soil deriv- 

 ed ? — It is derived from the roots and steins of 

 decayed plants, and from the dung and remains 

 of animals and insects of various kinds. 



Does this organic part form a large proportion 

 of the soil? — Of peaty soils it forms sometimes 

 three- fourths of the whole weight, but of rich and 

 ferule soils it dues not usually form more than 

 from a twentieth to a tenth of the whole weight. 



Can a soil bear good crops if it does not con- 

 tain, a considerable proportion of organic mat- 

 ter? — Not In our climate. A rich soil generally 

 contains at least one-twentieth of its weight (live 

 percent.) of organic matter. 



Does the organic matter increase or diminish 

 in the soil according to the way in which it is 

 cultivated? — Yes. It diminishes when the land 

 is frequently ploughed and cropped, or barely 

 manured ; and it increases when the land is 



planted, when it is laid down to permanent pas- 

 lure, or when large doses of farm-yard manure 

 or of peat compost are given to it. 



What purpose does the organic matter serve 

 in the soil ? — It supplies the organic food which 

 plants draw from the soil through their roots. 



Do plants draw much of their organic lood 

 from the soil ? — The quantity they draw from 

 the soil varies with the kind of plant, with the 

 kind of soil, and with the season; but it is al- 

 ways considerable, and is necessary to the 

 healthy growth of the plant. 



If plants always draw this organic matter from 

 the soil, will nut the soil become gradually poor- 

 er and less productive ? — It will, if badly mana- 

 ged ai (I constantly cropped. 



Then how can you keep the supply? — By 

 ploughing in green crops — hy growing "clovers, 

 and other plants which have long roots in the 

 snil — hy restoring all the hay and straw to the 

 land in the form of manure, or by laying down 

 to pasture. 



Whence is the inorganic part of the snil de- 

 rived ? — The inorganic part of the soil is derived 

 from the crumbling down of the solid locks. 



Of what do these rocks principally consist ? — 

 They consist of more or less hardened sand- 

 stones, limestones, and clays. 



Do all soils consist principally of the same 

 substances? — Yes. All soils consist principally 

 of sand, clay, and lime. 



How would you name a soil which contained 

 one of these substances in huge quantity ? — ll it 

 contained very much sand, I would call it a san- 

 dy soil ; if much clay, a more or less stiff clay 

 soil ; if much lime, a calcareous soil. 



Hot if the soil contained two or more of them 

 in hu'ce proportions how would you name it? — 

 A mixture of sand and clay with a little lime, I 

 would call a loam; if much lime was present, J 

 would call it a calcareous clay. 



What do urn understand by light and heavy 

 lauds? — Light land.- are such as contain a large 

 proportion of sand or gravel; heavy lands, such 

 as contain much clay. 



Which of these two kinds of lands is most 

 easily and cheaply cultivated? — The light lands, 

 are called often also barley or turnip soil. 



Why are these lauds called barley or turnip 

 soils? — Because they have been found to he 

 particularly fitted for the growth of barley anil 

 of turnip, and other green crops. 



Do heavy or light lands usually stand most in 

 need of draining ? — The heavy clay lands retain 

 water most, and should therefore he generally 

 drained first. 



Do light lands not require draining? — Yes. 

 Though dry at the surface, such soils are often 

 wet beneath, and would pay well for draining. 



To what depth would you drain your lauds?— 

 If 1 could get a fall I would never have my 

 drains shallower than thirty inches. 



Why would you put them so deep ? — Because 

 the deeper the i\ry soil is made, the deeper the 

 roots can go in search of food. 



How deep will the roots go in a favorable 

 snil? — The roots of corn, clover, and flaw will 

 go down three feet, and even turnip roots in an 

 open soil will go down upwards of two feet. 



Can you give me any other reason? — \ es. 

 When my drains are so deep I can go down 

 twenty or twenty-two inches with my subsoil 

 plough without any risk of injuring them. 



Does draining serve any other purpose be- 

 sides that of carrying oft' the water from the 

 land? — Yes. it lets in the air to the subsoil, 

 and allows the rain-water to sink down and 

 wash out of it any thing which may be hurtful 

 to the roots of the plants. 



Do such hurtful substances often collect in 

 the subsoil ? — Yes. Very often, and crops which 

 look well at first, often droop or fail altogether 

 when their roots get down to the hurtful mat- 

 ter. 



Why are many of the heaviest clays in the 

 country laid down to permanent pasture? — Be- 

 cause the expense of ploughing and working 

 these soils is so great, that the value of the corn 

 reaped from them is often not sufficient to pay 

 the farmer lor his trouble. 



How could these heavy clay lands be rendered 

 lighter and more cheap to work? — By draining, 

 subsoil ploughing, ami by the addition of lime 

 or marl when it is required. 



Would the 



ifte 



treatment also give 



greater crops of corn ? — Yes. Not only would 

 it be more cheaply worked, but it would yield a 

 greater number of husliels of wheat per acre 

 than before, and would grow green crops in ad- 

 dition. 



Would this increase be sufficient to pay the 

 cost of draining? — Ye^. The cost of draining 

 clay lands is generally paid back in three, or, at 

 the utmost, in five, years, and the crops still con- 

 tinue greater than before. — Johnston's Catechism 

 of Chemistry and Geology. 



The ice crop which has been secured at Fresh 

 and Spy ponds, is handsome to look at, and to- 

 gether wilh a desire to witness the carrying on 

 of the work, has attracted many visiters to the 

 ponds. The ice houses are tilled, and the deal- 

 ers are now engaged in slacking the ice — to be 

 covered, unless exported hereafter. A stack of 

 clear, blue, transparent i^e, of the size of a meet- 

 ing bouse, is no ordinary sight, but is a sort of 

 J'unAee pyramid, worth going to Fresh pond to 

 behold. To show the rapidity with which the 

 ice is taken from the water, under favorable cir- 

 cumstances, we are told that Mr. Wyelh has put 

 into bis ice house, with the aid of a steam en- 

 gine and his machinery, no less than eight hun- 

 dred tons of ice in one hour and a ha'f! This is 

 a degree of expedition in the work, that has 

 probably never been exceeded.— Bunker Hill 

 Aurora. 



Now I Lay me down to Sleep. 



There are probably no four lines in the Eng- 

 lish language that are repeated so many times 

 daily as the following : 



" iSnw I lav ine down to sleep. 



I pray lilt: Lord my soul lo kf ep J 



It' I should die b toie J wake. 

 1 pray the laird aiy soul to take.*' 



And it is not only children and youth that re- 

 peat them. Many v hose heads are "silvered 

 over with age," have been accustomed to repeat 

 them as their last prayer hefbre closing their eyes 

 to sleep, every fright since they were taught them 

 in inlancy. The late ex- I're.-iilent of the United 

 Stales, John Qiiiucy Adams, was among the. 

 number. A Bishop of the Methodist church in 

 addressing a Sabbath School, told the children 

 that he had been accustomed to say that little 

 prayer every night since his mother taught it to 

 him when he was a little buy. 



In conversing recently wilh a ship-master, over 

 seventy years of age, and w ho has been lor many 

 years a deacon in the church, he said that when 

 he followed the seas, and even belore he indul- 

 ged a hope that he was a Christian, he never lay 

 down in his berth at night without saying with 

 great seriousness, and he thought sincerity, 

 " Now I lay me down to sleep," 



He felt so strongly his need of religion, and 

 his danger without ii, that he used always to 

 read his Millie, and place that precious bonk un- 

 der his pillow at night, and often to kiss the sa- 

 cred volune, trusting, no doubt, in this reverence 

 lor the word of God, instead of trusting alone 

 in the Saviour. 



Let every reader learn, and every night repeat 

 that little prayer, 



'• Now 1 lay me down to sleep. \ &ic. 



Slow motion of Oxen. — .Mr. J Re) nobis, ofSotilli 

 Strafford, Vi., makes the following judicious re- 

 marks on the cause of a slow motion in oxen : 



One of the principal causes of the slow mo- 

 tion of oxen is ill the motion of the man who 

 trains or drives them. I have noticed that a slow 

 mull always has slow oxen, and on the contrary, 

 a man of quick motion has quick oxen. Anoth- 

 er thing, 1 think many teamsters talk too loud to 

 their oxen. They w ill hear as quick as a man 

 when called to their fond, which proves that 

 their bearing is good. Why, then, should the 

 teamster scream so as to be beard half a mile, 

 or more. ? 



