1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



60 



It is one of the greatest matters of importance, 

 in relation to society, morality, relii>;iun, or even 

 patriotism, that our young men should be more 

 attached to agriculture and its kindred arts ; to 

 home and its ass jciations. This will never be 

 brouglit about by accusing the young men of be- 

 ing reckless and unsteady. The mind of a noble 

 youth is to be captivated, not chained. 



To look upon a blighted and leafless tree, and 

 upon a family where the young men have fled 

 from home to trade or speculate, and the young 

 women to the factory, leaving matron and sire to 

 die alone, produces a similar sensation. 



To carry our agricultural matters to the proper 

 and desirable elevatit)n, we must have a deep in- 

 terest existing in the minds of the intelligent and 

 enterprising sons of farmers. 



To have our young men attached to home, their 

 beautiful and lovely sisters must be there, and 

 happy in the circumstances which surround them. 

 A home where the girls are not contented, has a 

 cold and vacant air, like an old bachelor's hovel. 

 They fill a large place in th6 world of life. And 

 the very tone with which a young woman says 

 "Tiiat is my home," describes the scenery without 

 and the spirit within that dwelling. 



There is a growing complaint that young peo- 

 ple are becoming indiflerent to home and parental 

 love. It is of little use to grumble and complain. 

 The remedy is an easy one. Let the young be 

 supplied with well chosen, interesting and in- 

 structive reading matter, every week, and let at- 

 tention be given to the surrounding scenery, ac- 

 cording to the common idea of all ages, and God 

 will bless the bowers and smile on those who 

 dwell happily among them, and age will renew its 

 youthful ji)ys, and the rose and the myrtle will 

 beautify each other, and love and hope and joy 

 shall be there ; while birds shall sing in the spring 

 time, a cooling and refreshing shade be felt in sum- 

 mer's sultry day, a golden harvest be gathered in 

 autumn, and a happy group and a bountiful board 

 within and the merry bells without will cheer up 

 the wintry day, and the good old song of "Home, 

 sweet home," shall warble with melting melod^'. 



Mason, N. H. 



How THEY Used to Plow. — In some parts of 

 Scotland, in former times the plows used to be 

 drawn by four horses abreast, and required the 

 assistance of three men. The Itusiness of one 

 man was to drive. For that purpose he placed 

 himself between the middle horses, with his face 

 towards the plow, to guide it straight, and in this 

 position he stepped backwards with the reins in 

 his hand. Another walked behind the horses 

 with a cleeked staff, which he fostened in front of 

 the beam, and by means of it regulated the depth 

 of the furrow by raising or lowering the plow, as 

 occasion requires. The plowman followed with 

 hold of the stills ; and in this formidalile and ludi- 

 crous manner they repeated their attacks on the 

 soil. 



In harvest, a basket machine was placed on 

 horseback for carrying home the grain ; and per- 

 sons were employed on each side with forks to keep 

 it in a proper poise. It is said that the practice 

 is yet ti) be met with in Galloway. 



Many practices subsisting even at this day in 

 Ireland are still more ridiculous. Mr. Arthur 

 Young tells us that in Donegal he has actually 

 seen horses plowing by the tail ! — Exchange. 



ORGANIC ELEMENTS. 

 Vegetation is composed principally of the four 

 organic elements, yet the relative proportions in 

 which they occur in plants, are by no means uni- 

 form. Still they are all alike, equally indispensa- 

 ble to the growth and development of the system; 

 they are by no means necessary in an equal degree. 

 In most crops, when artificially deprived of their 

 moisture, an analysis of the remaining solid parts 

 ordinarily gives from forty to fifty per cent, of car- 

 bon — nearly or quite one-half of the actual weight — 

 while the oxygen constitutes not far from thirty- 

 three per cent., the hydrogen five, and the nitro- 

 gen seldom more than two and a half. This is 

 very nearly the relative proportions in which these 

 organic elements exist in most of the farm products 

 applied for the sustenance of animal life. In one 

 thousand parts their proportions are as follows : — 



1000 1000 lOUO 1000 1000 1000 1000 



The quantity of water present in most vegeta- 

 bles is generally large. Exposed to a temperature 

 of 230* fahrenheit, the loss was as follows, viz : — 



So far as regards the form, or state of combina- 

 tion in which carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxy- 

 gen, minister to the growth of plants, I refer the 

 reader to the following extract from a lecture de- 

 livered by Prof. Johnston upon the subject. He 

 says : — 



"Neither of these elementary bodies is likely to 

 enter directly, or in a simple state, into the circula- 

 tion of plants. The former (carbon) being a solid 

 substance, and insoluble in water, cannot obtain ad- 

 mission into the pores of the roots, the only parts of 

 the plants with which, in nature, it cannot come in 

 contact. The latter (hydrogen) does not occur either 

 in the atmosphere or in the soil in any appreciable 

 quantity, and hence, in its simple state, forms no 

 part of the food of plants. Oxygen and nitrogen, 

 again, both exist in the atmosphere in the gaseous 

 state, and the former is known to be inhaled, under 

 certain conditions, by the leaves of plants. Nitrogen 

 may also in like manner be absorbed by the leaves 

 of living plants, but if so, it is in a quantity so small 

 as to have hitherto escaped detection. The two latter 

 substances (oxygen and nitrogen) are also slightly 

 soluble in water, and, beside being inhaled by the 

 leaves, may occasionally be absorbed in minute 

 quantity along with the water taken in by the roots. 

 But by for the hirgest proportion of these two ele- 

 mentary bodies, and whole of the carbon hydrogen 

 which find their way into the interior of plants, have 

 previously entered into a state of mutual combination 



