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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



THANKSGIVING. 



Before another issue of this paper this interest- 

 ing anniversary of the sons of the Pilgrims will 

 have come and passed avray; and as it is one 

 among the institutions of our highly favored land 

 which is quietly exerting an important influence on 

 the character and habits of our people, we im- 

 prove the moment to express some of its sugges- 

 tions, particularly in an agricultural point of view. 



If the day is observed according to the recom 

 mendations of our worthy Chief Magistrates, from 

 year to year, there can be no doubt but the moral 

 and religious influences will find their way to many 

 hearts, and the spirit of gratitude and thankful- 

 ness be greatly increased among the people. 



Last year our attention was particularly arrested 

 by the topics introduced into the proclamation, of 

 which, at present, we shall only notice one or two, 

 which we intended to do at that time, but which 

 it is equally proper to do now. 



The first of these is the variety and wealth of the 

 harvest. There is a peculiar significancy in that 

 little word, variety. We have only to go back a 

 few years, within our own memories, to find a 

 very meagre variety of meats, vegetables or fruits, 

 upon our tables. Salt pork and beef and rye and 

 Indian bread and potatoes constituted the staples. 

 Wheat cakes were reserved for extra occasions, 

 and even potatoes were a luxury lately introduced. 

 A little previous the variety was bean porridge, 

 in all its stages, "hot, cold, and in the pot," until, 

 like some other things, great age was its principal 

 virtue! 



But now what a variety of fresh meats are car- 

 ried to every man's door daily! What a rich va- 

 riety of vegetables, indigenous and imported, so 

 improved by culture and cookery as to bear scarcely 

 any resemblance to those that formerly bore the 

 same name. What an almost infinite variety of 

 delicious fruits of every species! If a choice pear 

 tree or two strayed from France with the Hugue- 

 nots, they were about as rare as Jews or Turks. 

 Now turn to some of the recent exhibitions of our 

 State Horticultural Society, to almost any of the 

 County Fairs in New England, or even to many 

 of the single towns, and behold the variety as well 

 as abundance of fruits presented. Take a single 

 fruit — the apple. Some hundred varieties — some 

 in perfection at every season of the year. If this 

 was the fruit that tempted Eve, her temptation 

 was certainly great. It well answers the descrip- 

 tion, "good for food, pleasant to the eye, and a 

 fruit to be desired." At an exhibition of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society there were 

 twenty individuals who exhibited from one to two 

 hundred varieties of pears each; many of them of 

 surpassing beauty and richness of flavor. In the 

 same proportion were all other varieties of fruits 

 and flowers. 

 Now this variety must forever prevent famines, 



which, in other ages, and in other lands, where 

 multitudes subsist on a single vegetable, — distress 

 and depopulate countries. A variety is also nec- 

 essary fur health. Our systems are composed of a 

 great many material elements, and they are better 

 supplied by a variety. 



It has recently been discovered that ripe fruits 

 have curative properties, and that by their agen- 

 cy many diseases have been cured ; we feel confi- 

 dent that by their judicious use, many will be 

 prevented. It is owing to this cause as much as 

 to any one other, perhaps, that the average of hu- 

 man life hag increased some 20 per cent. But it 

 is not the physical security and health and com- 

 fort alone, which this variety affords. Refinement 

 of the senses leads to a refinement of the soul. A 

 refined taste, an eye for beauty in one department, 

 leads to it in another, and these interests call men 

 away from the grosser engagements which occupy 

 too many on this interesting anniversary, to refin- 

 ing home-bred pleasures and pursuits. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ALEXANDER TROOP— SWALLOWS. 



Messrs. Editors: — A communication in your 

 last number, on the migration of swallows, called 

 to my mind a circumstance which is sufiiciently 

 amusing to warrant its preservation in your col- 

 umns. About twenty years ago an aged Scotch- 

 man, who was often employed by me as a car- 

 penter, asked me if I had seen any swallows that 

 morning. I told him yes, and pointedto several 

 then in sight. "Well," said he, "they will all 

 be gone to-morrow." "How do you know that?" 

 said I. "I have calculated it." "What do you 

 mean — how calculated it?" "The moon crosses 

 the earth's track to-night," said he, "and the 

 birds will take advantage of the occasion and go 

 to the moon. At the proper time," said he, "the 

 birds rise from the earth and wait for the moon 

 which passes in a few hours." "How do they 

 resist the force of gravity?" said I, "and in what 

 medium do they sustain themselves while waiting 

 for their omnibus to come along and take them 

 on?" "That is their look out," said he, "they 

 understand it and will all be off to-night." Next 

 day I took great pains to see a swallow, but not 

 one was visible after the old gentleman's an- 

 nouncement. About six months afterwards my 

 old friend asked me if f had seen any swallows 

 yet. I said "No." "Well." said he, "they will 

 come to-morrow." The nest day they did come, 

 and that day the earth crossed the moon's track, 

 and, on the theory of my old friend, the swallows 

 rose from the moon and waited a few hours, till 

 the earth come along, when they all got on. For 

 several years afterwards the exact time of the mi- 

 gration and return was indicated by him in the 

 same way, and certainly the coincidence, if it was 

 nothing more, was remarkable. 



The Old Carpenter had many other theories 

 that were curious, and one was particularly amu- 

 sing. Seeing me wind up my school clock one 

 day he asked if I knew his theory of the pendulum. 

 He took the pendulum and swinging it from left 

 to right he said it never swung back. "But I see 



