24 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ February, 



First, when a man speaks to another upon 

 any topic wliich has not received a great deal 

 of previous thought at his hands, his talk or 

 speech will he very likely to have in it a con- 

 siderahle quantity of crude, undigested, hast- 

 ily-prepared substance. With some grains of 

 good wheat there will, and must be, necessa- 

 rily, more or less chaff. And sometimes the 

 proportion of the chaft' to the wheat is very 

 large. The man, perchance, is on his feet be- 

 fore an audience. He is compelled to think 

 rapidly and speak correctly. What time has 

 he then to weigh matters or canvass probabil- 

 ities, or look upon different sides of any sub- 

 ject? None whatever. He must speak the 

 thoughts that come first to him, whether val- 

 uable or worthless. 



But when a man sits down to write, on the 

 other hand, he has time and opportimity for 

 the most careful reflection and consideration. 

 He must think before he can write to any ad- 

 vantage or profit to himself or others. Be- 

 sides, in writing, the mind seems to be raised 

 to its highest power of productiveness. It 

 condenses and intensifies itself. Consequent- 

 ly, whatever is good in writing is doubly 

 good, whatever is bad is doubly bad. And, 

 furthermore, what is written can be changed, 

 if necessary, befor.^ being sent out, but spoken 

 words can never be recalled. 



A second reason for this judgment lies in 

 the fact that when a man sits down to listen 

 to a speaker, the speaker's personality and 

 his own come into collision with each 

 other. The hearer is either moved to sym- 

 pathy and admiration for the speaker person- 

 ally, or else aroused to secret or open antag- 

 onism. In both cases, the presence of theman 

 himself detracts from the force of his words, con- 

 sidered per se. 



Quite frequently, the influence of the man 

 is much greater than that of his words ; in 

 which case we are sure to remember the per- 

 son, and equally sure to forget what he said. 

 But, on the contrary, when a person sits dowu 

 to read, the attitude of his mind is more pas- 

 sive than active, more receptive than ener- 

 getic. He feels the need of information or 

 guidance. He longs for principles and ideas 

 on which to build. And so he throws open 

 the doors and windows of his nature to what- 

 ever book or paper is before him, aud says 

 practically, "Come in and occupy." Hence 

 the contents of a book or paper fall into the 

 soul, as seeds into the soil ; and after the pro- 

 per time they germinate, spring up, bear fruit 

 and cover the ground, and the result is that 

 indestructible thing we call character, 

 which consists in part of mental thrift and 

 healthy growth. So much for the mere in- 

 fluence of reading. 



^ 



TOBACCO. 



A Legend Concerning its Introduction in 



Europe— What the \A^eed Has Been 



Known to Do. 



An Irishman who had a termagant wife, 

 quieted an outbreak of ill-humor by presenting 

 the lady with a short pipe, of which the cost 

 was one half-penny ; and as he did so he re- 

 marked, with Quaker-like simplicity, that 

 peace was a good thing at any price. There is 

 much peace in tobacco. A legend even relates 

 that it was introduced into Europe by a man 

 whose profe.?sional business was peace-seeking. 

 It was, or was not— for doctors difl'er— a cer- 

 tain M. de Nicot, French Embassador at the 

 Court of Portugal, who brought tobacco under 

 the notice of Catharine de Medicis, in the year 

 1560, or thereabouts ; whereas, it was proba- 

 bly known in London 1585. In France tobacco 

 was therefore called nicotiane, or " the Queen's 

 weed ;" in England it got its more enduring 

 title, because, says tradition, Francis Drake 

 carried away the first samples from Tobago. 

 It was the wild man who taught his civihzed 

 brother the calm delights of smoke. 



The Best Tobacco 

 in the world for cigars is, perhaps, that found 

 in Cuba, and the best tobacco in Cuba is grown 

 at Yuelta de Abajo. The best snufi' comes 



from Macouba, a village at Martinique, where 

 the Empress Josephine was born. The best 

 Turkish tobacco is that raised in Macedonia. 

 Tombeki, which is exclusively smoked in 

 narghilehs. comes from Persia. When good, 

 it looks like new shoe leather used for soles. 

 Tombeki should be washed at least three times 

 before smoking. It is diflicult to understand 

 the source of pleasure derived from tobacco. 

 If it came from the sense of smell, we might 

 engage servants to smoke for us and preserve 

 the vvhiteness of our teeth, as well as the inof- 

 fensiveness of our hair and clothes. If it de- 

 pended on taste, we should get more joy out 

 of a quid than out of a cigar. It cannot be- 

 long to the touch, because chocolate pastiles 

 and some needle-cases feel like cigars in hand. 

 The sight seems to have part in our delec- 

 tation, because tobacco is almost deprived of 

 its perfume by darkness ; yet if its savor de- 

 pended wholly on light, suggests a sage who 

 has lost all mental coherence of smoky thoughts, 

 tobacco would give more pleasure in the sun- 

 shine than in the shadow, and no true smoker 

 has ever piped assent to such a statement. 



Von Helmont, traveling in desert places, 

 avers that tobacco protected huu for long 

 periods 



Against Hunger or Fatigue, 



and he declares that he could make immense 

 journeys on foot with no other sustenance. 

 Dr. Stephenson, an American physician, ob- 

 served that tobacco may be almost counted on 

 as a specific in certain forms of inflammatory 

 erysipelas. He covers the iuflamed surface 

 with wet tobacco leaves, and keeps them there 

 till nausea supervenes. A member of the 

 College of Medicine at Stockholm avers that 

 the dried leaves of the potato plant would 

 answer the same purpose, and that far better 

 smoking ingredients may be made from them 

 than from the coarser kinds of tobacco in 

 common use. Much of the tobacco sold at 

 Hamburg and Bremen is mixed with potato 

 leaves. The tobacco which comes from Mary- 

 laud is the only sort which can be smoked in 

 short pipes without danger to the mucous 

 membrane of the mouth. It mingles imper- 

 ceptibly with the potato leaf,and the adultera- 

 tion can hardly be detected. A learned man 

 declares that we are grievously in error who 



talk of 



"Meerschaum" Pipes, 



we should say "Kummer" pipes, and com- 

 memorate perpetually our obligations to the 

 discoverer of a compound which has nothing 

 to do with the sea nor with its foam. Anselm, 

 who has written a profound work on pipes, in- 

 structs mankind that they should be of the 

 simplest forms, so as to be easily cleaned, and 

 that there never should be any wood, metal, 

 caoutchouc, or horn connected with them. 

 Kummer pipes may be discreetly cleansed by 

 pouring streams of boiling coffee through 

 them. It is a wise course to bake clay pipes 

 in a hot oven— after the dinner has been taken 

 out of it. Pipes have their names, hke swords 

 —names born of love or glory ; and one is 

 known to history as "Ahastasia;" one as 

 "Paradise." The first belonging to a poet, 

 the other to Omar Pasha, who had a name to 

 conjure with among the Turks. Tobacco is 

 believed to have destroyed the art of conver- 

 sation ; but perhaps it has only improved it. 

 Smoking 



does not render talk impossible, or even diffi- 

 cult; but it condenses it and makes it senten- 

 tious. Tobacco compresses a long winded 

 discourse into an epigram. It is at the bottom 

 of the diflerence between the Welchman's 

 prayer and that of Mawworm. "Good night, 

 sir," he remarked to his patron saint, "few 

 words are best," whereas Mawworm has nev- 

 er done with words, and would let his pipe out 

 in more ways than <me, while that of the more 

 ancient and acute Briton would keep alight. 

 The smoker wants no other furniture than 

 some German tinder. If he begins to burden 

 himself with amber mouthpieces, clips, and 

 pincers, he ceases to be a man, and becomes a 

 cupboard. Directly the first ashes falls oft' it, 

 the flavor is impaired, and the smoke becomes 



hot, acrid, and unwholesome. Smoking, 

 which has greatly increased in recent years, 

 is, at all events, much better than 



Taking Snuff, 

 which disgraced the very waistcoats of our 

 forefathers. "Had our noses," mused a phi- 

 losopher, "been intended tor dustholes they 

 would have been turned the other way." 

 Possibly. And it is by no means clear to logi- 

 cal intellects that our mouths were intended 

 for chimneys, or could with more fitness have 

 been opened at the top of our heads, and every 

 man might have served as a barometer to his 

 neighbor, who could have forseen the state of 

 the weather by noting whether his neighbor 

 was blinded by his own smoke or otherwise. 

 Youth and love depart from us. Tobacco re- 

 mains, and perhaps it consoles us. It is the 

 only form of happiness which is left to some 

 whom the world has treated unkindly. Je te 

 laise mofemmeet mapipe; jeterecommande 

 bien ma pipe," were the last words of Gavar- 

 ni's vagabond. 



1 



LETTER FROM DANIEL WEBSTER TO 



THE FARMER IN CHARGE OF HIS 



MARSHFIELD PLANTATION. 



This fine letter of Daniel Webster, writ- 

 ten 44 years ago, and just now in season, will 

 be welcomed as a most agreeable and instruc- 

 tive lesson by city as well as country 

 TP3,d.Grs * 



Washington, March 13, 1822. 

 John Taylor : I am glad to hear from you 

 again, and to learn that you are all well, and 

 that your teams and tools are ready for 

 spring's work, whenever the weather will al- 

 low you to begin. I sotnetimes read books on 

 farming, and I remember that a sensible old 

 author advises farmers "to plow naked and 

 to sow naked." By this he means there is no 

 use in beginning the spring's work till the 

 weather is warm, that a farmer may throw 

 aside his winter clothes and roll up his sleeves. 

 Yet he says we ought to begin as early in the 

 year as possible. He wrote some very pretty 

 verses on this subject, which, as far as I re- 

 member, run thus : 



"While yet the spring is young, while earth unbinds 

 The frozen hosom to the western winds; 

 While mountain snows dissolve against the sun, 

 And streams yet new from precipices run — 

 E'en in this early dawning of the year, 

 Produce the plow and poke the sturdy eteer, 

 And goad him till he smokes beneath his toil, 

 And the bright share is buried in the soil." 



John Taylor, when you read these lines, do 

 you not see the snow melting and the little 

 streams beginning to run down the southern 

 slopes of your Punchbrook pasture, and the 

 new grass starting and growing in the trick- 

 ling water, all green, bright and beautiful ? 

 And do you not see your Durham oxen smok- 

 ing from heat and perspiration as they draw 

 along your great breaking-up plow, cutting 

 and turning over the tough sward in your 

 meadow in the great field ? The name of 

 this sensible author is Virgil, and he gives 

 farmers much other advice, some of which 

 you have been following all this winter with- 

 out even knowing that he had given it. 

 "But when cold weather, heavy snows and rain 

 The laboring farmer in his home restrain, 

 Let him forecast his work with timely care, 

 Which else is huddled when the skies are fair ; 

 Then let him mark the sheep, and whet the shining 



share. 

 Or hollow trees for boats, or number o er 

 Hie sacks, or measure his increasing store ; 

 Or sharpen stakes, and mend each rake and fork, 

 So to be ready in good time to work ; 

 Visit his crowded barns at early morn ; 

 Look to his granary, and shell his corn ; 

 Give a good breakfast to his numerous kine, ^^ 

 His shivering poultry and his fat'ning swine." 



And Mr. Virgil says some other things 

 which you understand up at Franklin as well 

 as ever he did : 



"In chilling winter swains enjoy their store, 

 Forget their hardships, and recruit for more ; 

 The farmer to full feasts invites his friends. 

 And what he got with pains, with pleasure spends, 

 Draws chairs around the fire, and tells once more 

 Stories which often have been told before ; 

 Spreads a clean table with things good to eat, 



