62 



®l)e laxmtv's JHontljlg bisttor. 



come, perhaps, from a part of the country where 

 he has seen great effects produced hy the appli- 

 cation oflime, -finding his land does not produce 

 well, and not possessing that scientific 01 ' book 

 knowledge,' that would discover to him that his 

 land is already sufficiently supplied with it, he 

 goes to much expense in giving it a coating of 

 that material, and to his surprise finds it produ- 

 ces but very little if any good effect— or perhaps 

 he has seen very beneficial results from the use 

 of ashes, and applies a coating with like success, 

 because the salts of potash were already in the 

 soil in sufficient quantity. 



" Thus, then, may he toil on with wealth ready 

 at his hand, only that he does not, like his scien- 

 tific neighbor, know how to take hold of it. 

 " As two such farmers once I knew, 

 Could I but fairly bring to view 

 IVhy one had ever good success 

 In raising crops, the other less: 

 Vnu'd see, perhaps, with some surprise, 

 Why ' one was foolish,' one was wise. 

 A trifling difference I could see, 

 Which made the reason plain to me : 

 One laughed at scientific men, 

 Who labor only with the pen, 

 Pretending that ihey understand 

 How working men should till the land, 

 And how they might improve the soil 

 With surer hope, and less of toil, 

 By help of analytic art 

 To show them each constituent part, 

 That forms the land and the grain, 

 That springs from out the ferlile plain, 

 And where there might for barren ground, 

 The lacking element be found, 

 And thus with scientific skill, 

 Their lengthened barns and grananeB fill. 

 The other deeming wisdom's part, 

 Would be, to give to every art 

 Relating to his avocation, 

 A little time and observation ; 

 That thus perhaps he might discover 

 That £11 improvement was not over; 

 And having early learned to read, 

 Within his mind at once decreed, 

 He'd baud some money to a friend, 

 And for a farmer's paper send, 

 And read its pages o'er with care. 

 To see if aught presented there, 

 Might to his bent-lit acrue. 

 And now. what I would ask of you, 

 Is just to come along with me 

 To these two neighboring farms and see 

 A working man, with pains and labor 

 Much greater than Ins bo >k learn'd neighbor, _ 

 Possessing, too, as good a soil. 

 Get fir less produce for his toil, 

 Merely because he does not know- 

 That not a plant on earth can grow, 

 To form a cn>p both I irje and good, 

 Without it,: own appropriate food, — 

 That never yet a plant was made, 

 By all the help of hoe and spade, 

 (So Nature's Auihor did provide,) 

 Unless its growth were well supplied 

 Both from the earih and from the air, 

 Ry help of man, or .Nature's care, 

 With every element we find 

 In every plant ' after its kind.' 

 If then a farmer still ' would thrive,' 

 Not only must he ' hold or drive,' 

 But wisely study Nature's laws, 

 And learn the ' wherefore and becausp.' 



"I had no thought of running into such a 

 1 doggerel ' strain as this. It come a little like 

 the hoy's whistling that ' didn't whistle— it whist- 

 led itself.' But as variety is said to he ' the spice 

 of life,' 1 thought I would not suppress it. It 

 may serve to ' please the buys,' and may possibly 

 catch some si-ant corner in their minds in which 

 to plant a new idea." — Michigan Farmer. 



The best snuff in the world is a snuff of the morning an . 



Choosing a Horse. 



There is much pleasure and profit in the ser- 

 vice of a good horse, but very little of either in 

 a bad one. There are many mean horses that 

 make a good appearance when taken from the 

 bands of a jockey. In purchasing a horse, then, 

 trust not to the seller's words ; lei your own 

 judgment, or that o 1 ' a friend, be chiefly relied 

 on. See that he has good fore feet anil joints, 

 and that he stands well on his legs. See that 

 his fore teeth shut even ; for tansy horses have 

 the under jaw the shortest: these will grow poor 

 at grass. See that his hair is short and fine ; for 

 this denotes a good horse. Observe his eyes, 

 that they are clear, and free from blemish — that 

 he is not moon-eyed or while-eyed ; for such are 

 apt to start in the night. A large, hazel-colored 

 eye is the best. 



Look at his knees ; see that the hair or skin is 

 not broken, for this denotes a stumbler. Take 

 care that his wind is good ; for a trial of this, let 

 him be fed on good hay for twenty-four hours, 

 take him to water, and let him drink his fill, pla- 

 cing him with his head the lowest; if, then, he 

 will breathe free, there is no danger. See that 

 his countenance is bright and cheerful : this is 

 tin excellent mirror to discover his goodness in. 

 If his nostrils are broad, it is a sign that he is 

 well winded ; narrow nostrils the contrary. 



See that his spirits are good, but that he is 

 gentle and easily governed ; not inclined to start. 

 In travelling, mind that he lifts his feet neither 

 too high nor too low ; that he does not interfere 

 or overreach, and that he carries his hind legs 

 the widest. See that he is well-ribbed back, and 

 not high-boned. The size may be determined by 

 the purchaser. Age from five to ten is the best. 

 There are many tricks practised by jockeys to 

 make horses appear young, but it is not consist- 

 ent with the size of my book to detect them ; till 

 I would say, is, that horses' teeth, when young, 

 are wide, while, and even ; the inside of their 

 mouths is fleshy, and their lips hard and firm. 

 On the contrary, the month of an old horse is 

 lean above and below; the lips are soil and easi- 

 ly turned up; their teeth grow longer, and are 

 of a yellower color. —Selected. 



the house s eye. 

 I will now inform you how, for certain, you 

 may know whether a horse has a strong and 

 good eye, or a weak eye, and likely to go blind. 

 People in general turn a horse's head to a bright 

 light to examine his eyes. You can know very 

 little, by this method, what sort of an eye the 

 horse has, unless it be a very defective one. You 

 must examine the eye first, when the horse 

 stands with his head to the manger. Look care- 

 fully at the pupil of the eye, in the horse ; it is of. an 

 oblong form ; carry the size of the pupil in your 

 mind, then turn the home about, bring him to a 

 bright light, and if, in the bright light, t he pupil 

 of the eye contracts, and appears much smaller 

 than it was in the darker light, then you u.ay he 

 sure the horse has a strong, good eye ; but, pro- 

 vided the pupil remains nearly of the same size 

 as it appeared in the darker light, the horse has 

 a weak eye ; therefore, have nothing to tin with 

 him. — from an old Almanar. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 Drill Planting. 

 Some of the most prominent benefits to he 

 gained by drill husbandry, are — a saving of about 

 one-fourth in seed ; the regular distribution of 

 seed in rows lo a uniform depth; the free ad- 

 mission thai is given to the air and rays of the 

 sun, between the lows of the plants: the excel- 

 lent opportunity that it affords the fanner for the 

 eradication of noxious weeds that may appear in 

 the growing crops; and for the use of the horse 

 hoe in the early spring and summer months, by 

 which a lunch larger growth of straw and yield 

 of grain will be produced on most soils, and 

 besides the ground will be thoroughly cleansed 

 and improved in texlure fur the succeeding 

 crops. 



When the seed is sown in rous, the roots of 

 the plant.-, especially of winter wheat, become 

 interwoven in each other and hence are not so 



likely to be thrown out and destroyed by the ac- 

 tion of winter and spring frosts as if sown 

 broadcast, and besides the tops of the plants 

 spread and cover the roots, which afford a natu- 

 ral protection to them during the most critical 

 period in the growth of the wheat plant, in the 

 northern sections of our country. 



If a portion of a field be sown with a drilling 

 machine, and another portion be sown broad- 

 cast, that which is drilled will not suffer nearly 

 as much hy severe frosts as that sown broadcast. 

 After an extremely cold winter or a cold back- 

 ward spring, wheat sown in the ordinary method 

 will in most cases have a sickly and stunted ap- 

 pearance, ; whereas that sown with a proper 

 drilling machine will scarcely ever be affected 

 by the frost. 



The regular width between the rows should " 

 not be less than nine nor more than twelve inch- 

 es. Where drilling grain crops is practised with 

 a view of employing horse hoes to clean the 

 gn und, the rows should be about eleven inches 

 asunder; a less distance than this would be ad- 

 visable, if the crops are not intended to he hoed ; 

 but if the rows be much less than a foot apart, it 

 will be found difficult to efficiently work the land 

 with hoes while the crops are in a rapidly grow- 

 ing state. Horse hoeing a crop of wheat or other 

 grain, once or twice in the early part of sum- 

 mer, will promote a strong and healthy growth 

 of plants, and land that ordinarily produces only 

 fifteen or twenty bushels per acre, will, under ' 

 favorable circumstances, yield from thirty to 

 thirty-five, and even as high as forty bushels per 

 acre. While this statement will he found to fully 

 accord with the practice of most of those who 

 adopt drill husbandry and horse hoeing, yet it 

 must not be forgotten that soi.s which do not 

 possess a sufficient amount of the requisite ele- 

 ments of food for the wheat plants, to produce 

 so large a product, and hence a much less aver- 

 aged increased yield must he taken in the aggre- 

 gate. 



A smart plough-boy, with the aid of a horse 

 and a single thill horse hoe, will find no difficul- 

 ty in cleaning three acres per day, in the long 

 days of the month of ftlay or June. Two such 

 hoeings would not cost more than one dollar per 

 acre, which is a very trifling expenditure, when 

 the advantages resulting therefrom tire carefully 

 taken into account. By the use of the improved 

 English self-expanding horse hoe, one man and 

 a horse will clean in a more perfect manner than 

 can be done by employing hand hoes, from eight 

 to ten acres per day ; hilt as these machines, be- 

 ing constructed entirely of wrought iron and 

 steel, are very expensive, their use in this coun- 

 try is not likely to become very general. 



The increased quantity of straw produced by 

 horse hoeing a crop of wheat, barley, peas, oats 

 or rye in the manner described, may he salelj' 

 calculated at an average of thirty per cent, on 

 the amount that would he produced by the ordi- 

 nary method of sowing those grains broadcast. 



Although horse hoeing is not indispensable to 

 drill husbandry, still, on the score of economy, it 

 should rarely, if ever be neglected, and hence, in 

 discussing tlie merits of the latter, we shall in- 

 variably press upon the attention of our rentiers 

 the importance of the former. 



Clay as an Absorbent. — Miv Teschemanker 

 of Massachusetts, thinks clay is equal to char- 

 coal in its power to absorb and give out the am- 

 monia and other alkaline elements of manure. — 

 .V. Y. Independent. 



