220 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Mat 



spade, or scythe in hand. He should be able to spring season — the summer season — and the au- 

 do anything that is to be done on a form, and to tumnal season. 



give a reason for its being done in the right way. ' In other parts of the world, they have rainy sea- 

 And he should be an economist, capable of show- sons, when, although it does not pour down all 

 ing how the cost of production may be diminished, the time, yet there is more or less rain almost every 

 and how crops may be expended so as to give the day, and this is alternated with the dry season, in 

 best return, both in pecuniary and in fertilizing which no rain falls. In some latitudes, the wind 

 value. [sets in, and blows with little or no variation for 



The employment of sach a man would add some- months in one direction only, 

 thing to the annual expenditures of a college. Noj In Peru they have a cloudy season, Humboldt 

 other part of the aiTangement would. Lectures says, that for several months, a thick mist ob- 

 on botany, chemistry, geology, natural philosophy, | scares the firmament. Not a planet, not the most 

 vegetable physiology, &c., can be given as cheap- brilliant stars of the southern hemisphere, neither 

 ly to many as to few. It costs no more to keep up Canopus nor the Southern Cross, are visible. It is 

 cabinets in mineralogy, geology and natural histo- 1 frequently almost impossible to distinguish the 

 ry for five hundred students, than for one hundred. [ position of the moon. 



The same is true of nearly every appliance for col- 

 legiate education. The economy of uniting agri- 

 cultural departments with colleges already estab- 

 lished, is a matter of great importance. If it is the 



duty of a State to educate its youth, it is no less a 

 duty to educate them with a reasonable regard to 

 economy. Funds for this purpose, whether from 

 public or private munificence, should be applied as 

 advantageously as possible towards the accom- 

 plishment of the object. For these reasons I have 

 supposed that our colleges would do a work of im- 

 mense public utility by providing for instruction in 

 agriculture. There need be no rivalry between 

 them, unless it be the rivalry of doing good. If 

 each can furnish agricultural instruction for its 

 own region cheaper than can be furnished other- 

 wise, why should we not rejoice if the others can 

 do the like for their locations respectively? It is 

 infinitely better to sustain the institutions we have, 

 than to create new ones to languish for want of 

 support. Let the colleges of our country provide 

 for agricultural education in their respective re- 

 gions, and their own interests, if it be possible for 

 them to have interests distinct from those of the 



public, will not fail to be advanced. 



Why should not the young man, who can be Maine Farmer. 



spared from the farm for a single year, enjoy as| 

 rich privileges for that time, as those who pursue 

 a prolonged academical course ? Why should not 

 he he educated for his profession as well as they 

 for theirs? His profession is not unimportant ; it 

 is not more easily learned than all others ; it re- 

 quires a large amount of knowledge ; and the very 

 fact that, as a general rule, young men who are to 

 become farmers, will take but a short course of 

 previous study, seems to be a good reason why the 

 best pi ssible means should be furnished to them, 

 that they may learn much in little time. Such 

 means should be furnished at so cheap a rate, that 

 the son of the poorest farmer in the country need 

 not be debarred ; and our established colleges 

 should furnish them, because they can do it at 

 less than half the expense of supporting separate 

 institutions. — Journal. 



If by chance, the outline of the sun's disk be 

 visible during the day, it appears devoid of rays, 

 as if seen through colored glasses, being generally 

 of a yellowish red, sometimes of a white, and oc- 



casionally even of a bluish color. The mariner, 

 driven onward by the cold, south current of the 

 sea, is unable to recognize the shores, and in the 

 absence of all observations of latitude, sails past 

 the harbor's mouth which he desired to enter. 



Except the usual variations of spring, summer, 

 fall and winter, our latitude is not subject to such 

 periodical onsets of rain, or trade winds, or misty 

 and cloudy weather. It is as a general thing very 

 clear, and with the exception of occasional clouds, 

 and storms of compai'atively short duration, we 

 have no cloudy seasons, nor misty seasons, nor 

 rainy seasons. The light of the sun, and moon, 

 and stars, shines for the most part unobstructed, 

 and with beautiful brilliancy. This is as condu- 

 cive to health, as it is to the pleasure of the body, 

 and although we complain of occasional cold win- 

 ters, and backward seasons, these blessings alone 

 are sufficient to counterbalance all evils of that 

 kind. The health of both the animal and vegeta- 

 ble kingdom is intimately connected with light. 



CLOUDY SEASON. 



Every part of the globe has certain seasons dur- 

 ing the year, which come constantly, and regular- 

 ly, at certain periods of the year ; and which, al- 

 though variable in their daily characteristics, have 

 nevertheless a general character, which is some- 

 what uniform from year to year, and distinguishes 

 them from the seasons of other periods. Here, in 

 our own latitude, we have the winter season — the 



LOOK AT YOUR BEES. 



If you desire early and strong young swarms of 

 bees, you must see that they have plenty of honey 

 during the latter part of March and up to the mid- 

 dle of April. But honey alone is not sufficient. 

 The bees intend to lay up an abundant supply of 

 pollen, or bee-bread, but if their store is short, and 

 the season is backwai-d, they are unable to find it 

 in sufficient quantities for their own use and that 

 of their young, whose nourishment chiefly depends 

 upon it. 



On the 23d and 24th of JIarch, the days being 

 clear and warm, we placed West India honey and 

 loaf sugar melted together, before our bees, by set- 

 ting a feeding box containing the mixture on a flour 

 barrel, 20 feet from the hives. The feeding was 

 suggested because one or two of the swarms were 

 weak. Five swarms carried away a pint of the 

 mixture in a few hours. The next day the box 

 was replenished, and at the same time a tea-cup 

 full of flour was laid on a shingle near the barrel ; 

 when the bees very soon forsook the honey and 

 carried away the whole of the flour, and did the 



