320 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JULT 



LIVING IN CLOVER. 



That there is considerable difference between 

 "seed-time and harvest," is sometimes evident to 

 the "meanest capacity." In the spring of prom- 

 ise the demagogue, the humbug and the specula- 

 tor, incontinently make up their minds that there 

 is "a good time coming." The demagogue as- 

 sures his supporters that his plan will hasten it, 

 but "the good time" is his own electicm to a fat 

 office. The humbug lectures, sings, spouts and 

 prints, and the "good time" comes to him in large 

 subscriptions and accumulating pence — the "isms" 

 and'^'ites" and "titcs" and "bites" sell to advan- 

 tage, and the seedy old coatapnds itself in "high 

 grass." Tlie speculator acts more directly to the 

 purpose ; he forms his theory, keeps it secret, sows 

 his seed and awaits the harvest ; but, alas, many 

 a blight defers the fruition of his hopes, and in 

 some cases, when he has determined to "live in 

 clover," and make seed rise without sprouting, he 

 finds, too late, that he has only been going through 

 a "course of sprouts," and that it is the free sell- 

 ers and not the monopolizers who "live in clover." 



Daring the last summer, when money was 

 plenty, the sun bright, the harvest abundant, hay 

 fragrant, yellow corn waving, and yellow gold on 

 the waves, soine half dozen sagacious gentlemen 

 ofNcvv York, in connection with a profound direc- 

 tor of a Philadelphia bank, formed an association 

 for motives which must have puzzled a Philadel- 

 phia lawyer to divine. This association being of 

 that class who know everything, "who never want 

 nobody to tell them nothing, because they know 

 more about their business tiian* anybody else," 

 nevertheless received accurate information that 

 the crop of clover-seed was short in Germany, 

 with chances of short comings in England, and 

 possessed of this information, they straigh.twmjs 

 concluded to make a "ten strike" and go to grass 

 for the rest of their days. Seed was about 8^ to 

 9 cents per lb., say $5,50 per bushel, and they 

 began to buy with a degree of shrewdness, prompt- 

 ness and sagacity worthy of a better cause. But 

 to buy is easy — that is, when you have got the 

 money — and if you have got a bank, you have got 

 the money. Cassar said, "Give me money and I 

 will have men ; give me men and I will get 

 money." The purchases went on to the extent of 

 60,000 bushels, and the price gradually rose to 13 

 cents per pound. The Ohio formers and the Wes- 

 tern growers opened their eyes and opened their 

 granaries, getting a pretty good yield from that 

 seed. But the blasted Dutch did not buy. They 

 are proverbiiilly a slow race, and had not found 

 out how much they wanted "clover-seed." Like 

 the stupid English at Waterloo, who didn't know 

 when they were Ijeaten, they were tremendously 

 in want of clover-send and didn't know it. So 

 phlegmatic were they, that wlien the great asso- 

 ciation had, f(ir the relief of the Dutch, sent out 

 cargoes, tlicse Flemings absolutely allowed it to 

 be re-shipped to London to compete there with 

 direct shipments hence, for the relief of the Eng- 

 lish, and these Eaglish, wlio, as everybody knows, 

 have some .Saxon blood, absolutely sent some of the 

 seed back here. 



Here is a pretty kettle of fish ! Tlie great as- 

 sociation, wich the Philadelphia Bank President 

 at the top of it, as Nick Biddle was formerly at 

 the top of the cotton market, is, with the New 

 York Shipping List for an organ, stuck at the 



close of the season with 50,000 bushels clover- 

 seed at 13 cents, with interest, storage, commig- 

 sions, and deterioration, to hold over to another 

 season, when the high quotations of the last six 

 months will stimulate an unheard of production. 

 Fresh seed pouring on the market to compete with 

 this old seed, will probably knock it out of the 

 shell, and low prices may be looked for. It is 

 always the case with these violent vacillations that 

 the market goes lower in consequence of a rise, 

 and we should not be surprised if the present 

 stock, say 30,000 bushels here, a good deal of it 

 in Ohio, and 15,000 bushels in Europe, did not 

 bring 13 cents, involving a loss of $150,000, all 

 because the Dutch don't know what they want. 



The New York Shipping List had the exclusive 

 information in relation to the course of the seed 

 market, and imparted its useful information gene- 

 rally. If its readers didn't know all about it, 

 "hadn't they oughten" to have known all about 

 it ? The seed did not finally go to that "bourne 

 from whence no traveller returns ;" it came back, 

 and like modern spirits, to rap — rap the speculat 

 tors over the knuckles. And the epitaph on Hones- 

 John's horse will apply to the dead speculation : 



"If he'd of lived, he'd of lived in clover, 

 But as he died, he died all over." 



Philadelphia Paper. 



IMPORTANT TO FARMERS. 



Every article which can aid the farmer in devel- 

 oping the agricultural treasures of the earth, is of 

 consequence to the world at large. Such an arti- 

 cle is asserted to have been found on the Island of 

 St. Vincent, one of the West India Islands, in 

 what is known by the name of "pozzolano." It 

 is said that the island abounds in a kind of earth 

 of the most peculiar properties. It has been an- 

 alyzed by English chemists, who pronounce it su- 

 perior to guano as a manure. It is also an excel- 

 lent cement for use under water. Webster de- 

 fines "pozzuolana" or "pozzolana," as "volcanic 

 ashes, used in the manufacture of mortar which 

 hardens under water. They are from Pozzuoli, in 

 Italy." Webster makes no mention of its nutri- 

 tive properties, if such it possess. The only par- 

 ticulars Ave have in regard to the extent to which 

 it is being applied, are contained in the following 

 extract from the Mirror, published on the Island 

 of St. Vincent : 



"We are glad to find that the peculiar proper- 

 ties of this description of earth, with which our 

 island abounds, of quality far superior to what 

 may be had from any other island, are now being 

 very generally understood, and that the article, 

 from the increasing demand fjr it, is likely to be- 

 come before long one of regular exportation from 

 St. Vincent. Nearly 2000 tons have been exported 

 hence to Bermuda during the last three years, 

 where it is used by government upon the erection 

 of an extensive breakwater at Ireland Island, and 

 is found to be very far superior to anything hith- 

 erto used for simihar purposes. It has also been 

 recently analyzed by eminent chemists in England, 

 and pronounced by them as invaluable manure, 

 superior to guano. In Trinidad, and several oth- 

 er colonies, it has been tried successfully for vari- 

 ous purposes, and we have the attestations of rep- 

 utable scientific men that, for every description of 

 constructions under water, the pozzolano from this 

 island is far preferable to Roman cement." 



