266 



NEW ENGLANfl FARMER. 



June 



it suits liim, write again to oi'der the article. — 

 This causes unnecessary delay and expense. 



(b.) If a farmer hasn't a head of his own, and 

 ^r'ill not think and investigate for himself, he has 

 no cause to blame the books or newspapers. He 

 should not go into large outlays for manures or 

 any thing else upon the declaration of any book or 

 newspaper in existence. Let him begin moderate- 

 ly, "try all things and hold fast that which is 

 good." There are so many varying circumstan- 

 ces, that no set of rules will be applicable to all 

 farms. The cultivator must learn this, and then 

 exercise his own judgment, after such discussions 

 with his neighbors as he may always be able to 

 have. As a conductor of a public Journal, we feel 

 bound to give our best energies to the vyork in 

 which we are engaged ; mind and body, and if 

 need be, a portion, at least, of our estate. No 

 part of life ever found us a more ardent student 

 than in your service now ; no heart beats more 

 responsive to the calls that come up from every 

 part of the land for "more light," in the great art 

 which sustains us all. This application of the 

 mind, together with the daily application of the 

 hands to the cultivation of the soil, ought, and 

 does give us confidence in a great many particu- 

 lars in relation to the art. But after all, we are 

 fallible, and mean to be cautious. 



(c.) No ! A skilful chemist and practical far- 

 mer, for instance, states that he has prepared a 

 valuable fertilizer, and desires to make it known 

 through the columns of the Farmer. Are we 

 bound to refuse him that right until we have ex- 

 perimented on his article two or three years, or 

 incurred an expense of $25 to procure a chemical 

 analysis ? Certainly not. The advertising depart- 

 ment is out of our province. We sometimes re- 

 fer to advertisements when we are confident the 

 article spoken of is worthy public attention ; be- 

 yond that, we have nothing to do, confident that 

 the publishers will admit nothing having an im- 

 moral tendency, or in any way injurious to the 

 public welfare. Our correspondent is referred to 

 another article in this number signed "A Reader." 



{(!.) We agree with the genei-al proposition of 

 this sentence, but its connection is unfortunate. 

 Because we refrain from speaking of an article ad- 

 vertised, it cannotbyanyfair process of reasoning, 

 be supposed that deception is intended. Then the 

 word patronage, as used in this sentence is not 

 known to us. We have no patrons. When the 

 reader of the Farmer thinks he does not get an 

 equivalent for his money, we advise him to seek 

 some other source of benefit. So long as we have 

 hands and feet, and a modicum of sense to guide 

 them, we shall have no patrons. The farmer has 

 his cust07ners for his wheat, corn and cattle, and 

 the printer his for the articles he has to spare, but 

 they are neither of them patrons. 



(e.) This, too, is correct doctrine, but placed in 

 juxtaposition with foregoing remarks, admits of 

 different constructions. But the premises being 

 wrong in supposing that we are bound to approve 

 or condemn whatever may be found in our adver- 

 tising columns, the deductions that follow are also 

 wrong. 



We wish this matter understood. Unless we ap- 

 prove an article advertised, the fi^ct that it appears 

 in the columns of the Far^ncr, is no evidence of 

 commendation from us. The article in question, 

 super-phosphate of lime, has-been spoken of by 

 others, in our columns, and analyses have been 

 given by distinguished chemists which we will in- 

 sert. The price of the super-phosphate is about 

 $55 per ton. 



GRECIAN FARMERS". 



Professor Felton, of Cambridge, is delivering a 

 course of lectures at the Lowell Institute, in thi» 

 city, on "Life in Greece." From his third lecture, 

 as reported in the Traveller, we take the follow- 

 ing interesting description of rural life among the 

 ancient Greeks. 



The love of rural life was one of the deepest pas- 

 sions of the Grecian heart, beyond the realm of 

 Arcadia, real or ideal. Wliat lovely touches of 

 nature adorn with their exquisite beauty the dia- 

 logues of Plato and even the comedies of Aristo- 

 phanes. Through the whole compass of Greek 

 literature, the sights and sounds of the country, 

 the sweet, calm sunshine, the fleecy cloud, the 

 song of the lark and the nightingale, the rising 

 sun, the rich meadow, the cattle feeding in the 

 pastures, furnished thoughts which moved harmo- 

 nious members. When the Peloponnesian war 

 opened, the plains of Attica were covered with 

 residences, elegantly furnished, which the inhab- 

 itants with regret and tears looked back upon from 

 the walls of the city, while the Spartan armies 

 were laying all waste with fire and sword. The 

 country was tastefully decorated with little tem- 

 ples or chapels, consecrated to the nymphs and ru- 

 ral deities; and the lands were made holy ground, 

 because in them were buried the ancestors of the 

 families residing in the mansions. 



The Greek gardens were laid out with lawns, 

 groves, thickets and avenues ; while fountains fed 

 meandering rivulets. Beds of asphodel, hyacinth 

 and violets, roses, myrtles and pomegranates, di- 

 versified the scene, or wafted perfume to the senses. 

 Here Athenian taste and luxury displayed itself. 

 The Greek as a farmer or city gentleman, is not 

 the Greek of classical associations ; and yet, per- 

 haps, just in these relations, he was most intense- 

 ly Greek. 



Homer gives a lively sketch of the primitive 

 country life. Ilcsiod was a Boeotian fiirmer, and 

 gives precepts which seem to have been drawn 

 u'om his own experience, concerning lucky and 

 unlucky days, weather, &c. The early Greek phi- 

 losophers carefully observed the phenomena of the 

 heavens, and were skilled in the arts of the seasons. 

 The habits of animals, the properties of soils and 

 their adaptation to different kinds of crops, were 

 matters of which they knew. Wagons, carts, 



