1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



245 



ly, they become fat, but are unhealthy. It will 

 also teach us that the niiiik of cows, from which 

 butter is to be made, would be benefited by mix- 

 ■ng their food with steeped peas and beans. — Tof- 



ham. 



THE GOOD EFFECTS OF GARDENING. 



"Gardening is a civilizing and improving occu- 

 pation in itself; its influences are all beneficial ; it 

 usually makes people more industrious, and more 

 amiable. Persuade a i'areless, indolent man to 



take an interest in his garden , and his reformation ,j,q CORRESPONDENTS 



has begun. Let an idle woman honestly watch ^^^-it-a. 



over her own flower-beds, and she will naturally! Thanks to L. W. C, — Sovth/mdge, Mass. Shall 

 become more active. There is always work to be I be happy to hear from him again. 

 done in a "-arden, some little job to be added to m^ xr t> a/t o u mu i. ..-r i 



yesterday \s"task without which it is incomplete;! 1« N- P. M.,-&rnem//e. -The beautiful ap- 

 books may be closed with a mark where one left P;^^ *^'*^ '^J JO" are probably local. You must 

 off, needlework may be thrown aside and resumed give them such a name as your own fancy, or some 

 again ; a sketch may be left half finished, a piece peculiarity in their origin or growth, may suggest. 



of music half practiced ; even attention to house 

 hold matters may relax in some measure for 

 a while ; but regularity and method are constant- 

 ly required, are absolutely indispensable, to the 

 well-being of a garden. The occupation itself is 

 so engaging, that one commences readily, and the 

 interest increases so naturally, that no great share 

 of perseverance is needed to continue the employ- 

 ment, and thus labor becomes a pleasure, and the 

 dangerous habit of idleness is checked. Of all 

 faults of character, there is not one, perhaps, de- 

 pending so entirely upon habit as indolence ; and 

 nowhere can one learn a lesson of order and dili- 

 gence more prettily and more pleasantly than from 

 a flower-garden. 



"But another common instance of the good effect 

 of gardening may be mentioned : — it naturally in- 

 clines one to be open-handed. The bountiful re- 

 turns which are bestowed, year after year, upon 

 our feeble labors, shame us into liberality. Among 

 all the misers who have lived on earth, probably 

 few have been gardeners. Some cross-grained 

 churl may set out, perhaps, with a determination 

 to be niggardly with the fruits and flowers of his 

 portion ; but gradually his feelings soften, his 

 views change, and before he has housed the fruits 

 of many summers, he sees that these good things 

 are but the free gifts of Providence to himself, and 

 he learns at last that it is a pleasure, as well as a 

 duty, to give. This head of cabbage shall be sent 

 to a poor neighbor ; that basket of refreshing fruit 

 is reserved for the sick ; he has pretty nosegays 

 for his female friends ; he has apples or peaches 

 for little people ; nay, perhaps in the course of 

 years he at length achieves the highest act of gen- 

 erosity — he bestows on some friendly rival a por- 

 tion of his rarest seed, a shoot from his most pre- 

 cious root ! Such deeds are done by gardeners." 

 — Miss Cooper'' s ^^ Rural Hours. ^^ 



Equivalent Value of different kinds of Food. 

 — The following table gives a synoptical equiva- 

 lent value of different kinds of food ; albumen re- 

 presenting the flesh-forming principle, and unazo- 

 tized matter the fat-forming. — Play/air. 



Albumen. Unazotized Matter. 



Peas 29 5U 



Beans 31 52 



Lemiles 33 48 



rolatoes 2 24J 



Oais ICJ 68 



Barley Meal 14 68 



HHy 8 68i 



Turnips 1 9 



Carrots li 8i 



From the above table we see why pigs fed upon 

 potatoes and barley meal soon fatten and keep in 

 health ; whereas, when supplied with potatoes on- 



To G. N.,— Bedford, N. H.—The cause of your 

 plum tree peeling was undoubtedly extreme cold. 

 The sap froze, and in expanding, pressed the bark 

 from the wood, and as far as this extends the bark 

 will die. We have seen several trees affected in 

 the same manner. A too vigorous growth is apt 

 to induce this difiiculty. 



Danvers Winter Sweet Apples — brought in by 

 Dea. Fowler, as hard, fair and beautiful as they 

 were in December last. It is a valuable variety, 

 but does not succeed equally well in all locations. 



A Young Reader, — S., Mass. — If your grass 

 seed mostly failed, the best way is to plow and 

 sow again with an oat or barley crop. If killed 

 only in patches, clover seed should have been 

 sown in March. If the spots were sjirinkled now 

 with fine compost and herd's-grass and red-top 

 seed, raked in, it will make the field even and give 

 a partial crop this year. 



We cannot inform you what kind of bee-hive is 

 best. See notice in this paper of a new hive 

 which, to us, seems to promise more than any 

 thing we have seen or heard of yet. 



Make your soil deep and rich for strawberries. 

 Manure from the pig-pen or hen-house is excel- 

 lent. If your land is a stiff clay soil, horse ma- 

 nure, thoroughly incorporated with it, will be 

 good. Cut the runners about the stool with a 

 sharp spade, and pinch off the new ones until the 

 fruit is well set. 



To D. F. G., Woodstock, Vt. You must rely on 

 the natural resources of your farm to increase its 

 fertility. A little plaster, guano, bone dust, ash- 

 es or phosphate of lime may be tried on a portion 

 of your hill pastures, with propriety — or they may 

 be used on your corn or grain fields or garden, in 

 small quantities, and on small portions of land, 

 each year. It is unwise for the farmer to engage 

 in new and untried schemes with costly manures, 

 on an extensive scale. Use them moderately, if 

 at all, and with the most careful observation. The 

 whole subject has been repeatedly discussed in the 

 Farmer within the last six months, and prices giv- 

 en, both in advertisements and editorial columns. 

 "A reader of the Farmer''^ may obtain scions of 

 the Hunt Russet, of Capt. Nathan Barrett, Con- 

 cord, Mass. Don't know about the Pippin. 



