294 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JCNE 



Mississippi Farmers. — The following extracts of 

 a letter from a friend and correspondent, at Ed- 

 wards, Miss., will give some idea of the difference 

 in magnitude of their operations, and ours in New 

 England, as well as in the kind of crop cultivated. 

 The letter is dated the 13th of April. The wri- 

 ter says, I am now doing what is very unusual on 

 this place, plow and plant as I go. Generally I 

 am a long way ahead in plowing, but it has been 

 too wet to plow until April, and then it is time to 

 plant cotton. I have to-night 90 acres in corn, 

 and it is up — I intend to put in 50 acres more. I 

 have about 145 acres in cotton, and will put in 80 

 to 90 more. We usually plant corn about 1st of 

 March ; this year, though ready, could not plant 

 until 25th, and then the earth, where plowed, 

 was too wet. 



This year I hope to fruit 100 varieties of the 

 pear. I have seen blossoms on over 75. lean pro- 

 duce of this years' growth, about 12 inches, of the 

 "Horse Chesnut." We have had blooms of Hya- 

 cinth, Tree Peony, Purple Magnolia, Drummond's 

 Flox, Spirea, Iris, Weigela, quite a number of ro- 

 ses, and other flowers. Strawberries, also, are 

 about ripening. 



Bees and Hoxey. — I sometime since received a 

 pomological letter from a friend in Aroostook 

 County, Maine. He closes his letter as follows, 

 viz: "Before I close I must tell you about my 

 honey bees, in order to show you that this is a 

 great honey country. You will recollect when I 

 was at your store in Bangor last winter, 1851-2, I 

 had just returned from Piscataqua County, Me., 

 where I had purchased 28 swarms of bees, 22 in 

 the common box hive, and 6 in my improved hive. 

 I have kept them all on my place [in Amity, Aroos- 

 took County,] and have had fifty-one young 

 swarms, and have put them all in my improved 

 hives, and they are now worth ten dollars each, 

 (the cost of the hives being $2 each only) and I 

 have drawn off one thousand founds of very pure 

 honey in bores, and all without feeding the bees, 

 which shows that we have a very fertile country, 

 in flowers at least." 



This is certainly succeeding admirably. He writes 

 also of very good success in his nursery business. 

 Respectfully, Henrt Little. 



Bangor, April 25, 1853. 



Bon's ^Department. 



APPLES FOR MILCH COWS. 



Five minutes ago a gentleman, who deals in 

 facts and figures, as well as fine cattle, informed 

 us that he fed out last winter more than two hun- 

 dred barrels of sweet apples to his milch cows, and 

 that the increased quantity and richness in quali- 

 ty of 'the milk paid him better than any other use 

 to which he could have applied them. He states 

 that he is raising trees annually, for the purpose 

 of raising apples for stock. 



Another important statement of his, is, that 

 since he has fed apples to his cows, there has not 

 been a case of milk fever among them. 



FOLLY OR ANGER. 



If a provocation has been offered you, before 

 you fly into a passion remember the old proverb, 

 "If thou art vexed, thou wilt have two troubles." 

 A wise man once observed, "If I am angry, I 

 punish myself for the faults of another;" and 

 there is much good sense in the remark. I doubt 

 whether even the most irritable man really enjoys 

 a fit of anger. It is at best a painful passion. 

 In fact, the literal meaning of the word anger, is 

 pain, anguish, grief, &c. An irritable man has 

 been happily compared to "a hedgehog rolled up 

 the wrong way, tormenting himself with his pric- 

 kles." The sting of a single fit of passion some- 

 times lasts for years. Soon after Lord Byron 

 commenced writing poetry, he was sharply criti- 

 cised by the Edinburgh Review, which so excited 

 his anger, that he published a bitter satire, in 

 which he held almost all the prominent writers of 

 the day up to ridicule. Many years after, in 

 writing to one of the poets whom he had unjustly 

 abused, he made the following confession respect- 

 ing this famous satire : — "I can only say that it 

 was written when I was very young and very an- 

 gry, and has been a thorn in my side ever since, 

 more particularly as almost all the persons ani- 

 madverted upon became subsequently my friends ; 

 which is heaping coals of fire upon an enemy's 

 head, and forgiving me too readily to permit me 

 to forgive myself." 



The dreadful results which often ensue from 

 fits of anger, furnish another reason why we should 

 shun it. A man was once at work over a kettle 

 of melted lead, when a few drops of water acci- 

 dentally fell into it, and caused an explosion which 

 sent the burning metal all over his face and breast. 

 A single angry word, Mling into an inflamed heart, 

 will sometimes occasion an explosion even more 

 terrible than this. Thus it is that anger and 

 murder are often so nearly allied. Where there 

 are no angry words, there are seldom any angry 

 blows ; but with the passionate man it is a "word 

 and a blow." It is therefore well to avoid as- 

 sociating, as far as possible, with those who are 

 given to sudden fits of passion. Solomon says, 

 "Make no friendship with an angry man; and 

 with a furious man thou shalt not go." Prov. 22 : 

 24. — Boy''s Own Guide. 



Strike the Knot. — When we were boys, little 

 fellows, our fiither began to teach us to work, and 

 we were anxious to perform the allotted tasks. 

 We were splitting wood. A rough, obstinate knot, 

 tried all the skill and strength of a weak arm, and 

 we were about to relinquish the task, when ftith- 

 er came along. He saw the piece of wood had 

 been chipped down and the knot hacked around, 

 and took the axe, saying, "Always strike the 

 knot." The words have always remained safe in 

 my memory. They are precious words, brethren. 

 Never try to shun a difficulty, but look it right in 

 the face ; catch its eye, and you can subdue it as 

 a man can a lion. It will cower before you, and 

 sneak away and hide itself. If you dread difficul- 

 ties, difficulties will grow upon you till they bury 

 you in obscurity. — Cal. Ch. Adv. 



