NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



THE CLOSE OP THE YEAR. 



"Time runs his ceaseless course ; the men of yore 

 Who diiiiced our infancy upon their knee, 

 And told our wandering boyhood legends store 

 Of Iheir strange ventures, happ'd by land or sea,— 

 How are they blotted from the things that be. 



A cheerful heart and pleasant countenance are 

 like green trees and fertilizing streams in the land- 

 scape ; they impart health and vigor to the physi- 

 cal powers, and sustain the soul in serene and pe- 

 rennial beauty. Heaviness and despondency are 

 contagious, and, upon those who indulge them 

 hang like a heavy mist upon the saturated hills 

 God loves a cheerful giver ; and vre give and re 

 ceive, in all our associations with each other. We 

 give to other hearts joy and gladness, filling them 

 with delightful anticipations and encouraging 

 hopes, or shroud them in doubts and gloom, ac- 

 cording as our own hearts may be attuned. 



But there is a season when the thoughts may 

 be turned within, events summed up, and the past 

 reviewed, most appropriately and profitably by all. 

 This season occurs at the dose of the year; that 

 marked boundary of time when the vegetable king- 

 dom is checked in its course, the leaves fade and 

 fall away, and there is an impressive change in the 

 aspects of nature all around us. 



It IS wise, then, to "look about us, or rather 

 within us, to ascertain, if possible, whether the 

 necessary preparations are made, or being made, 

 for our great and last change; uncertain indeed, 

 is the time of the call." 



"We know when moon* shall wane, 

 When summer birds from far shall cross the sea, 



When Autumn hues shall tinge the golden grain,— 

 But who shall teach us when to look for thee?" 



This self-examination and retrospect will be 

 profitable, "though we may be suffered to labor 

 and enjoy the fruit of our labors for many years to 

 come ; for when we are best fitted to die, we are 

 best fitted to live." 



Contentment and gratitude will greatly become 

 U3 now. During the past year we have literally 

 sat under our own vines and trees in peace. No 

 wars have scourged the land and decimated the 

 people ; no plague has entered our homes and 

 borne away with unrelenting hand the loved ones 

 of our households. Men have pursued their avo- 

 cations with success, in the fulness of strength 

 and joyful hopes. The elements have been kind- 

 ly tempered for the growing crops, so that the 

 months have dropt fatness for both man and beast. 

 The late harvest has been gathered in abundance, 

 BO that our garners are full and overflowing. Our 

 Institutions have been sustained, and remoulding 

 the minds of the young into habits of industry, 

 frugality and virtue, and thus fitting them to con- 

 trol and guide the future destines of this glorious 

 Republic ! God's hand is apparent in every thing 

 —in Him, we live, and move, and have our being. 



How wonderful are the minutest of His works 

 how past finding out the most common objects 

 about us, as we have attended to our daily duties 

 about the farm ! How admirably has every thing 

 been adapted to our wants, convenience and com- 

 fort, in all the works of the omnipotent Architect, 

 the framer of them all ! What could we spare of 

 the humblest of them — for none are mean — op 

 what desire that his goodness has not supplied'? 



How greatly it becomes us, then, to use these 

 blessings as trusts in our hands ; to use them as 

 blessings to others, if we would have them bless 

 ourselves, and fill our hearts with gratitude that 

 we are the constant recipients of such unbound- 

 ed love. May they teach us to apply our hearts 

 unto wisdom, and 



•''So lire that when our summons comes 

 We may go, ***** ii 

 * * * * sustained and soothed 

 By an unfaltering trust." * * * 



For the New England Farmer. 

 OOB-MEAL AND HAY. 



Mr. Brown : — I wish to inquire through the 

 columns of your valuable paper, how many bush- 

 els of cob-meal are equivalent to one ton of hay or 

 of clear meal, likewise how many bushels oat-meal 

 are equivalent to one ton of good hay. Will you 

 please send me an answer in your next paper, and 

 oblige a subscriber. 



Respectfully yours, Benj. F. Lyman. 



Loivell, Vt., Nov.2Zd, 1853. 



Remarks. — We know of no person in New Eng 

 land capable of answering the above questions from 

 experiments under his own supervision. These 

 questions, with a great many others, show the 

 necessity of some institution where experiments 

 can be made that would be reliable. Individuals 

 will not do it. We will do the best we can for 

 you, at present, friend Lyman, by inserting in an- 

 other column an article by Solon Robinson, of 

 New York, describing a visit of his to the farm of 

 Henry L. Ellsworth, formerly the commissioner 

 of patents at Washington. We could lay before 

 the reader plenty of general evidence of the value 

 of cob-meal, but that does not answer the ques- 

 tions definitely, as they ought to be answered. 

 We hope to know more of the subject, and to hear 

 from our correspondents who have given their at- 

 tention to the subject. 



j^ Human Freight.— A family of nine persons 

 passed through Dayton , Ohio, last week, on their way 

 to Iowa, on a freight train and as freight. At Bel- 

 lefontaiue they were put upon the scales and weighed 

 like dead shoats, and a regular bill of lading was 

 made out for them at 16 cents a hundred, after which 

 they were stowed away in a freight car and locked 

 up, like so many bales of merchandise or so many 

 tubs of grease. 



