1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



519 



We felt almost like trying it upon some of the 

 neighboring loaves of bread. 



We finished our hasty survey of the things in 

 the Hall, in the bread corner. There was some- 

 thing peculiarly suggestive about the nice cut 

 loaves. Laying down pencil and paper ,we thought, 

 vfill there be as many heavy, half-baked, sour 

 batches of bread made in Middlesex County the 

 next year as have been the past twelve months ! 

 Here were loaves something about what the "staff 

 of life" should be. Many were from w/i -married 

 women ; and, perhaps rather an important exhi- 

 bition for them ; for to many a young man, just 

 getting the nonsense out of his head, the fact that 

 she can make good bread, is not a small consider a- 

 tiorj in making a matrimonial arrangement. 



While upon our walk among the tables we heard 

 opinions from gentlemen who had visited the 

 State Fair in New York, and Shows in other parts 

 of the country. They all agreed that the fruits 

 and vegetables here surpassed all that they had 

 seen. 



I^* We would express our obligations to Dr. 

 Joseph Reyxolds, for valuable aid furnished in 

 giving the general description of the Show, and to 

 Wm. D. Bkovtn, for the comprehensive statement 

 and description of the fruits, &c., exhibited in the 

 Hall. We were obliged to leave early on the 

 morning of Thursday for Vermont, and thus the 

 reader gets a more poetic, if not graphic, account, 

 than our own pen would have afforded. 



One man, in a small wheat-field of perhaps five 

 acres, picked up eight bushel-baskets full of heads 

 gnawed off by them, and probably left as many 

 more on the field. In the cnrn-fields they attacked 

 first the leaves and tassels and then the ear, gnaw- 

 ing husks, kernel, cob and all. Nor did they neg- 

 lect the apple-trees. I saw some heavily loaded 

 with fruit, from which they have taken almost 

 every leaf, and in some few cases the bark of the 

 tender twigs. There will be comparatively few 

 apples this year, but has been, or will be, an abun- 

 dance of almost every other kind of fruit grown 

 here. 



Our potato crop will be fair, though very much 

 injured by the drought. As yet I have seen no 

 signs of rot, and the rust came so late as not to 

 trouble them much. The drought has been ex- 

 cessive, no soaking rain since J.Iay, and the inside 

 of the potato-hills is and has been very dry. Now, 

 our springs are well-nigh dried up, lower than they 

 have been for many years before. The hay-crop 

 was light, though somewhat better than last year, 

 where it was cut in July, before the grasshoppers 

 began to work in earnest. The quality could not 

 be better. 



Of corn, the yield is more than usually good, 

 and even the pumpkins, that the farmers thought 

 entirely destroyed by the bugs, are pretty fair, with 

 a superabundance of vines. Fall feed is very poor, 

 owing both to the drought and the grasshoppers ; 

 hence the amount of Ijutter made must be very 

 small. Indeed, the pastures have been so poor 

 that the cows have given but little milk through 

 the season , and now are nearly dry. w. c. b. 



GaysviUe, Windsor Co., Vt., Sept. 20th. 



Remarks. — " W. C. B." will accept thanks 

 for the above, and we hope, favor us often with 

 short communications. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SWALLOWS— GRASSHOPPERS—THE 

 CROPS. 



Mr. Brown : — Some weeks since in the Farmer, 

 you requested information in -regard to the swal- 

 lows' coming and going. 



The common barn swallows made their first ap- 

 pearance April 8th, but were not seen in numbers 

 till the last days of April. The chimney swallows 

 did not come till the middle of May. The barn 

 swallows nearly all left us the 3d and 4th of Aug., 

 though I saw a few after — a few the 30th. On 

 the evening of the 16th, the chimney swallows as- 

 sembled in numbers for a merry time, — a sort of 

 jubilee preparatory to leaving us for more sunny 

 climes, burying themselves in the mud or dispos- 

 ing of themselves in some other way for the win- 

 ter; the air was alive with them, and very plainly 

 they were having some excellent fun, for they kept 

 up the sport till the evening was well nigh gone. 

 The next day they were gone, and not even a 

 straggler have I seen since. Notwithstanding the 

 .authority of Mr. White and others, I am slow to 

 believe that they bury themselves in the mud thus 

 early in the season, to remain dormant till the next 

 May. Rather a sorry time of it the poor fellows 

 have, if that be true — three months of the very 

 busiest, joUiest life, and nine months of torpidity. 



The grasshoppers have been innumerable here- 

 abouts, eating up every green thing. Many fields 

 o^oats they entirely ruined, and the xoheat and rye 

 were considerably injured. 



THE WHITE CLOVER. 



BY A LADY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. 



There ii a little perfum'd flower, 

 It well might grace the loveliest bower, 

 Yet poet never deign'd to sing 

 Of such a humble, rustic thing. 

 Nor is it strange, for it can show 

 Scarcely one tint of Iris' bow ; 

 Nature, perchance, iu careless hour, 

 With pencil dry, might paint the flow'r ; 

 Yet instant blush'd, her fault to see, 

 - So gave a double fiagiancy ; 

 Rich recompense for aught denied ! 

 Who would not homely garb abide. 

 If gentlest soul were breathing there, 

 Blessings through all its little sphere ? 

 Sweet flower ! the Ie.sson thou hast taught, 

 Shall check each proud, ambitious thought. 

 Teach me internal worth to prize, 

 Tho' found in lowliest, rudest guise. 



Franklin County Snow. — The reader will find* 

 an interesting account of the Cattle Show at 

 Greenfield, on another page of this paper. We had 

 the pleasure of seeing how earnestly our friends 

 are engaged in the good cause in that part of the 

 State, and of enjoying their hospitalities. The 

 Show was a fine one. The address, by Dr. Lee, 

 was excellent, and was listened to with great in- 

 terest. Being in the vicinity of the Hoosac moun- 



