146 



&l)c ifatmcr's ilTantl)lij ilisitor. 



family, to make her labors less arduous, that her 

 constitution may not be too early broken down. 

 He will instruct his wife to train up her 

 daughters to moderate labor, that they may be 

 prepared, like herself, to engage in the duties 

 which may one day be assigned them. He will, 

 too, have a properly cultivated flower garden, for 

 the benefit of his wife and daughters, deeming 

 it (as it actually is) a lasting benefit, inasmuch as 

 it is a place of resort and exercise in the open 

 air, which is necessary for the preservation of 

 health. 



Again, every true farmer will provide for his 

 wife and daughters a good, steady horse and 

 comfortable carriage, that they may attend meet- 

 ings, visit the sick, call on their friends, &c, &c. 

 To speak in general terms, the farmer's wife is 

 kept too closely confined in doors— is made too 

 much the slave of man : consequently is de- 

 prived of what is essential to her health and 

 happiness— exercise in the open air. The true 

 farmer is the true gentleman, and wherever such 

 a one is found, his worth ought to be duly ap- 

 preciated. 



A. TODD. 



Smithfield, R. 1., September, 1849. 



Uses of conversational meetings at Farmers' 

 Clnbs. 



Every one who has paid attention to the sub- 

 ject of education has found it difficult to induce 

 those to study in middle or after life, who have 

 not been accustomed to it in their youth. As a 

 geueral rule, those who arrive at the age of man- 

 hood without previous study can seldom be in- 

 duced to apply themselves to hooks, and there- 

 fore they pass through life without availing 

 at all of the knowledge of others. It is errone- 

 ously supposed by many that it is more difficult 

 to study, or rather to retain what we may learn, 

 in manhood, than in childhood: mere words, it 

 is true, may be more readily retained by a child ; 

 but the truths imparled by words can be more 

 easily understood, and therefore more perma- 

 nently impressed on the mind, in after life. 

 Such truths as apply to our business are seldom 

 or never forgotten ; and therefore we find our 

 greatest jurists, and indeed our most original 

 men of all kinds, among those who are styled 

 self-educated, having improved their minds after 

 arriving at the age of manhood. A child may 

 commit a whole hook to memory at the rate of 

 one or two pages a day, and thus in twelve 

 months be able to repeat the words. A man 

 may read the same book in one or two days, and 

 although he may not remember verbatim a single 

 passage, still his general knowledge of the sub- 

 ject of which the book treats, will be infinitely 

 superior to that of the child ; for impressions 

 made on the more mature mind of the man are 

 independent o the mere words by which the 

 idea was originally received. But notwithstand- 

 ing this fact, we are answered that men will not 

 read, and that it is even difficult to induce then) 

 to attend lectures. All this is true, and so far as 

 the lectures are concerned, we are not surprised 

 nt it ; for lecturers generally become tiresome 

 from their endeavor to exhibit their own erudi- 

 tion rather than to instruct their audiences. Un- 

 der these circumstances, the question naturally 

 occurs, How are we to induce men to improve 

 their minds? We answer, By inducing thein to 

 believe that they are instructing others; and the 

 plan is as follows: Suppose one hundred farm- 

 ers should meet together once a week, or once a 

 month, for the purpose of discussing the best 

 mode of performing any agricultural process, 

 and that, instead of its being a mere meeting for 

 promiseuous conversation, they would choose a 

 subject, appoint a chairman, and adopt the fol- 

 lowing rules of order : — 



1.. That a chairman, two vice-chairmen, and 

 two secretaries be appointed by the members at- 

 tending the third conversational meeting. 



2. That it shall be the duty of the chairman, 

 and, in his absence, of one of the vice-chairmen, 

 to preside at all conversational meetings held 

 during the win tar; and that the secretaries keep 

 minutes of all the important facts stated at these 

 meetings, in a book to be provided for the pur- 

 pose ; which book shall be the property of the 

 institute, and open to the perusal of all the 

 members. 



3. That no person shall be at liberty to speak 

 more than fifteen minutes at one time, without 

 permission from the meeting. 



4. That in no case will a member be permit- 

 ted to reply to remarks made by another mem- 

 ber ; it being understood that at these meetings 

 members are only expected to state such facts 

 connected with the subject of conversation, as 

 their experience or knowledge may suggest, but 

 not to encourage debate. 



5. That a list of subjects for conversation be 

 posted in the room, to which each member may 

 add such as he may be anxious to avail himself 

 of the information of members upon ; it being 

 understood that these meetings are intended to 

 disseminate any information possessed by one 

 member to the whole meeting. 



b'. That, previous to the close of each meet- 

 ing, the chairman shall propose three subjects, 

 (if so many remain undisposed of on the list,) 

 one of which shall be selected for the next eve- 

 ning's conversation. 



7. That the members shall he invited to at- 

 tend at seven o'clock, and employ their time un- 

 til eight o'clock in social intercourse, thus ena- 

 bling them to become acquainted. 



8. The chairman shall call the meeting to 

 order at eight o'clock, and in all cases adjourn at 

 half past nine o'clock, if not previously ad- 

 journed. 



9. All questions of order shall be decided by 

 the presiding officer. 



10. Members may invite their friends to at- 

 tend these meetings. — Working Farmer. 



A Plea for the Cow. 



In our rambles about the city, we had the 

 good luck to fall in with Davis, the man who 

 keeps better cows, and has poured out more 

 quarts of milk to the good people of Detroit, 

 than any other man in it. And he knows some- 

 thing about cows, too. He says that you farmers 

 in the country hardly know the meaning of a 

 good cow. He brings against you the grave 

 charge of" scrimping " your cows, and well nigh 

 starving them ill the months of February, March 

 and April, so that there is nothing left of them 

 but a " rack of bones;" and then they are good 

 for nothing for the whole season. For a while, 

 after being turned to grass, they are reduced to 

 mere shadows by the scours, and by the time 

 they begin to recover from this back-set, the flies 

 are ready to tackle them ; and thus the poor 

 creatures are kept down the whole summer 

 through. That, he says, is bad economy, and it 

 is too. Verily, this is a great evil under the sun, 

 and if we knew what to say or do to correct it, 

 most gladly would we set ourselves to the task. 

 If scolding would do any good, for humanity's 

 sake, or the poor cows' sokes, we would scold 

 until you cried, "Enuf!" And now, in the name 

 of these poor, mute, suffering, meek, uncom- 

 plaining, unoffending creatures, we would ask 

 what you mean by sueh treatment. Do they not 



reward you fourfold tor all you do for t'lem? If 

 you have no conscience then, no sense of justice, 

 no humanity, no cow-inanity, where is your self- 

 ishness ? Where is your love for money, as well 

 as of milk, butter, and cheese? Surely it must 

 be stone blind. 



We heartily wish that those poor creatures 

 were gifted with the power of utterance, and 

 could speak in their own behalf; that they would 

 get up a sort of public sentiment among them- 

 selves, have a great cow convention, discuss their 

 wrongs, peaceably petition for a redress of griev- 

 ances, and, if denied, turn their horns against 

 their oppressors. That would be right, and the 

 whole world might be invoked as a witness of the 

 justice of their cause, and the coi»-ardly bipeds, 

 who have grown so insolent in the exercise of 

 their long-abused authority, would turn pale 

 with affright, and be glad enough to come to 

 terms. But we must restrain our indignant 

 pen. — Michigan Farmer. 



From Die New England 1'armer. 

 Hen Lice. 



Mr. Editor: I notice that in the Massachu- 

 setts Ploughman of the I lib inst., a correspon- 

 dent makes an inquiry, What will destroy hen lice ? 

 The editor, in answer, gives no specific remedy, 

 but recommends to give them liberty to range 

 through the fields, and wallow in sand, ashes, 

 &c. He also says, " When chickens are covered 

 with lice, the best way to rid them of the plague 

 is to catch them and smear them over with oil 

 or greasy matter." 1 was much troubled with 

 these minute insects on my hens and chickens 

 last year ; so much so, that one fine hen died 

 while sitting, just before the time for her to 

 hatch. The lice were so plenty, that I could not 

 put my hand or a finger upon their roosts, or 

 timber in connection, half a minute, but thar my 

 hand would be immediately covered with them, 

 crawling ahead as fast as possible; and if" not 

 immediately brushed off, would extend over the 

 whole body. 



Being at East Foxboro' railroad depot, last fidl, 

 some person mentioned that a man was there a 

 short time before from Vermont, who stated an 

 injiiUiUe remedy for hen lice, as follows: — 



Buil up a quantity of onions in water. When 

 the onions become soft, mash them up, and with 

 he water stir in Indian corn meal till sufficiently 

 thick to give out to the liens and chickens when 

 cool. They will eat it, and not a louse will be 

 found on them twenty-four hours after, and they 

 will cease \o infest their roosting-places after. 

 We made a trial of the above remedy late last 

 fall, and have not been troubled with lice since. 

 ISAAC STEARNS. 



Mansfield, August 20, 18-19. 



A docile, sagacious Bull. — Boys, when you 

 come to be grown men, and have stallions, bulls, 

 and rams for breeding on your farms, among 

 other good points, or qualifications, don't forget 

 what we think the most important, namely, a 

 gentle disposition, or, in other words, kind temper. 

 Many persons have been killed by ferocious 

 males, and even females ; you will see, therefore, 

 that in propagating sueh animals, you endanger 

 your own lives as well as those of others. Our 

 rule is, however good an animal may he in other 

 respects, if wanting in docile disposition, not to 

 breed from it. 



We will now tell you a story of a Durham 

 bull which belongs to Prince Albeit, the hus- 

 band of Queen Victoria, of England. This bull 

 is kept in the little park at Windsor, so called, to 

 distinguish it from the great park, at the head of 

 which stands Windsor Castle, one of the largest 

 and most magnificent buildings in Europe, and 

 j the principal summer residence of the Queen 

 and Prince. This animal, possessing a kind 

 temper, had been taught to work alone in » — 



