GTIjc -farmer's iltcmtljhj iHsitor. 



io< 



For Hie Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 ■Scientific Agriculture. 



Mr. Editor : — We think that there is no busi- 

 ness which :i man can turn his attention to 

 both in mind and labor, which will pay him 

 more satisfaction than the improvements in ag- 

 riculture. A man may follow this business a 

 great length of time for mere profit without any 

 particular desire for its present or future im- 

 provement. Such men only know what binning 

 is by being engaged every day upon the farm, 

 and so far as good health, long life, anil a good 

 flow of spirits are concerned (items by the way 

 which are important,) they can enjoy a farmer's 

 life. But how much more satisfaction is there 

 produced when a man gives his mind to act, in 

 connection with bis labor in this business? The 

 truth may be, that the world may give a man 

 very little, if any credit for all the labor, care, 

 and anxiety of mind which he may have given 

 through a long or short life to this subject. We 

 are well aware, as are other men, that labors of 

 the mind are the poorest paid, and the least cared 

 tor of any other labor under the sun in all conn- 

 Vies. And why so? Because, in the universal 

 struggle of mankind after shining gold mind 

 thinkers are entirely forgotten ; so that this class 

 of men must not look for pay from this source • 

 if they do they will be disappointed. But the 

 best satisfaction that such men find is in know- 

 ing that they have used their efforts in trying to 

 improve the condition particularly of those men 

 engaged in the same calling. 



Twenty or twenty-five years ago, might have 

 been seen here and there a solitary man who 

 bad, unaided or cared for by other men, 

 been trying to improve the condition of far- 

 mers, as a class of men. For a long time it was 

 an up-hill business, as every one who was en- 

 gaged in it knows well. Alter a while the minds 

 of some other men of sterling worth were open- 

 ed to the subject, and when they saw its import- 

 ance they took hold of it iu good earnest. And 

 now agricultural schools are going into operation 

 in many sections of the country. Our colleges 

 of learning have taken hold of the matter and 

 are adding professors of agriculture to their in- 

 stitutions. This looks as though men had begun 

 to understand that it is as necessary that agr cul- 

 ture should he reduced to scientific principles as 

 that of any other business. This is as it should 

 be, and men cannot better employ their time 

 than by trying tu improve agriculture in all its 

 bearings. It is not an uncommon thing for those 

 who are not particularly interested or engaged 

 iu this business, to think it is a matter of little 

 importauceto them. But this is a great mistake, 

 as every one must see who is at all observing in 

 these matters. There is not an individual ill C'ty 

 or country, but what is or should he more or 

 hss interested in a prosperous agriculture. This 

 subject is beginning to be understood by the 

 mass of men, and when it is thoroughly so, it 

 will he better appreciated by them. Take any 

 one of the learned professions as they are called, 

 and let a man having o profession go into a com- 

 munity of farmers, and if he may have no prac- 

 tical knowledge of farming, if he has got a tol- 

 erable idea of the theory of improved farthing: 

 it will give him more influence in that commu- 

 nity than all the Greek and Latin he might show 

 off in years. 



These ideas have been thrown out as they 

 have occurred to us while musing on this sub- 

 ject, and if they are worth any thing, we hope 

 those men who are not fanners proper will not- 



withstanding give them some little attention. 

 Among the foremost as pioneers in this work of 

 reform are agricultural journals, which have for 

 the last twenty years been doing a steady bu 1 

 sure work. Beginning in a small way, and with 

 but little expense, they have increased and ex- 

 tended beyond the ideas of the most sanguine. 

 Much however remains yet to be done, which 

 will require all the energy that men interested 

 may give to this worthy object. 



Yours, &c, 



L. DURAND. 



Derby, Ct., July 20, 1819. 



P. S. Iii my last communication, the two 

 words that you could not make out are iyistance 

 and has. The original sentence reads thus : 

 "If meadows be deeply ploughed, they will last 

 much longer without re-seeding, and when both 

 subsoiled and deep surface ploughed, the in- 

 stance has not yet occurred where re-seeding 

 became necessary." Yours, 



L. D. 



From the Knickerbocker Magazine. 

 The Grist-Mill. 



BY R. H. STODDARD. 



The grist, mill stands beside the stream, 

 With bending root' and leaning wall j 

 So old. Unit when the winds are wild, 



The miller trembles lest It fall; 

 But moss and ivy, never cere, 

 Bedeck it o'er from year to year. 



The dam is steep, and weeded green ; 



The gates are raised, the waters pour, 

 And tread ihe old wheel's slippery steps, 



The lowest round fnreveruiore ; 

 Meilnnks they have a sound ol iie, 

 Because they cannot climb it higher. 



From morn till night, in autumn time. 

 When yellow harvests load the plains, 



Up drive the farmers Lo the mill. 

 And back anon, with loaded wains ; 



They bring a wealth ol" golden grain, 



Aud lake it home in meal again. 



The mill inside is dim and dark ; 



Bui peeping in the open door 

 You see the miller flitting round, 



And dusty bags along the floor ; 

 And by the shalt, and down l lie spout, 

 The yellow meal comes pouring out. 



And all day long the winnowed chad* 

 Floats tound it on the sultry breeze, 



And shinelh like a settling swarm 

 Of gulden winged and belled bees ; 



Or sparks around a blacksmith's door, 



When bellows blow and forges roar. 



I love our pleasant, quaint old milt ! 



Il minds me ol' my e.irly prime ; 

 'Tls changed since then, but not so niuch 



As I am, by decay and tune ; 

 Its wrecks are mossed from year to year, 

 But mine all dark and b ire appear. 



1 stand beside the stream of life j 

 The mighty current sweeps ah ng : 



billing tlie flood gates of my heart, 

 It turns the m.ii;le wheel ol song, 



And grinds the ripened harvest brought 



From out the golden held of Thought. 



him to the city, declaring that ihe army was 

 overwhelmed with terror. Iu a ship prepared 



at the public expense, Quinetius and his three 

 sons are conveyed to Home: his relatives and 

 friends, anil all the nobles go forth to meet him. 

 Surrounded by an immense multitude, and at- 

 tended by lictnrs, he i.s conducted to his future 

 abode. Having met and overcome the enemy, 

 and restored peace to the city, he resigned the 

 ofiice of dictator at the close of the sixteenth 

 day, although elected for six months, choosing 

 to cultivate his humble farm, and abide in his 

 humble cottage, rather than control the destinies 

 of the Roman people. 



Let those who cultivate the soil with their own 

 hands, reflect upon the following fads in the 

 story of Cinciniiatus : He was a humble farmer 

 — possessed only four acres of land — dwelt in 

 an humble hut or cottage — was found by the 

 commissioners actually employed in labor — was 

 covered with ilust and sweat, the necessary ac- 

 companiments of rural toil ; and yet even this 

 man, by the unanimous voice of the people, was 

 placed at the head of the Roman Empire, with 

 absolute power over the property and lives of 

 his fellow-citizens. Having accomplished the 

 object for which he was elected, he most readily 

 and cheerfully resigns his office and retires to 

 the shades of private life. The name of Cin- 

 cinnalus will never die; while simplicity and 

 virtue remain on earth, it will stand emblazoned 

 in characters that "can be seen and read of all 

 men." 



Gems from Longfellow's Kavanagh. 



Spring. — Ah ! bow wonderful is the advent of 

 the Spring! — tiie great annual miracle of the 

 blossoming of Aaron's rod, repeated on myriads 

 and myiiads of branches! the gentle progression 

 and growth of herbs, flowers, trees, — gentle, and 

 yet irrepressible — which no force can stay, no 

 violence restrain, like love, that wins its way 

 and cannot be withstood by any human power 

 — because itself is divine power. If Spring 

 came but once in a century, instead of once a 

 year, or hurst forth with the sound of an earth- 

 quake, and not in silence, what wonder and ex- 

 pectation would there be in all hearts to behold 

 the miraculous change? 



Night. — How absolute, and omnipotent is the 

 silence of the night! And yet the stillness 

 seems almost audible! From all the measure- 

 less depths of air around its comes a half sound, 

 a half-whisper, as if we could hear the crum- 

 bling and falling away of earth and all created 

 things, iu the great miracle ol nature, decay, 

 and re-production, ever beginning, never ending, 

 — ihe gradual lapse and running of the sand in 

 the great hour-glass of time! 



Common School Dqtiirtiuciit. 



CONDUCTED BY PROF RUST. 



Cinciniiatus. 



Let those listen to the story of Cincinnalns, 

 who despise every thing when Compared with 

 riches, aud who deem the poor neither virtuous 

 nor honorable. Lucius Quinetius, the only hope 

 of the Unman Empire in the hour of peril. Cul- 

 tivated four acres of land upon the hanks of the 

 Tiber, He was there found by the commission- 

 ers dispatched for this purpose, while engaged 

 iu ploughing. Having exchanged salutations, 

 they besought him for his own sake, and from 

 his regard for the Republic, to listen to the com- 

 mands of the Senate. Amazed, and anxiously 

 inquiring, " if all was well," he desires his wife 

 Kaeilna to bring his gown from the cottage with 

 all possible haste. No sooner had he wiped 

 away the dust aud sweat, aud thrown around 

 him his garments, than the ambassadors, with 

 congratulation, salute him dictator, and invite 



National School Fair. 



Many of our renders are doubtless aware that 

 some of the leading friends of education in the 

 United Suites contemplate holding a " National 

 School Fair" hi the city of Washington dining 

 the session of the next Congress. Efforts are 

 making lo secure a general interest in ibis most 

 laudable enterprise. 



Already have thousands of the children of the 

 Empire Slate commenced preparations lor this 

 object. A few weeks since, they " extended the 

 hand of fraternal amity and kind regard lo their 

 brothers and sisters of the Old Dominion, by 

 ihe presentation of' beautiful specimens of draw- 

 ing, painting, minerals, w riling and composition, 

 together with various articles of interesting 

 workmanship prepared by the pupils of the In- 

 siitutiun tor the Blind. 



The children of New York have been invited 

 by Mr. Selon, the Agent for ihe Public Schools 

 of thai city, lo prepare "specimens of artistic 

 .-kill from the pen, the pencil, and the penknife ; 

 Slate maps, with staple commodities unci pro- 

 ducts pictured on their margins; county maps, 

 in the same manner, surrounded with interest- 

 ing and remarkable natural scenery, representa- 

 tions of organic remains ; geological profiles, 

 with synoptical descriptions of their groups, 



