98 farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



the seed, take the tube in your hand, place one end on the spot in 

 which you wish to drop the seed, and taking one, two. or more of 

 them from your pocket, let them fall through the tube. By this 

 mode you avoid all stooping, and however light may be the seed, 

 or however strong the wind may blow, the seed is lodged where 

 you wish it to be. These tubes may be made, by tacking together 

 four pieces of lalh or clapboard, each about two inches wide. The 

 cost cannot exceed a four-pence half-penny. When it is desirable 

 to plant the seeds any particular number of inches apart, a piece 

 of thin stick, or shingle, may be tacked on the bottom of the tube, 

 (as long as the distance required,) making a right angle with it, — 

 placing the end of the stick on the place where the seed last drop- 

 ped is, will bring the other end of the tube the requisite distance 

 from it, and in this way, you can drop the seeds at any particular 

 distance apart, that you wish. 



But, say some farmers, what is the use of all this trouble ? We 

 raise corn, and wheat, and potatoes enough for our tables, and our 

 cattle have plenty of good hay, and now and then a nubbin* of 

 corn. Ye do well, but we would have you do better. The com- 

 fort, and we may say happiness of our cattle should be carefully 

 attended to. It is a duty which we owe to the Almighty, to make 

 every creature whatever, over which we are placed, as comforta- 

 ble as we conveniently can. In doing this, we should inquire into 

 the appetites and natural habits, which the animal possesses, and 

 should endeavor to let him live, according to these habits, as far as 

 would be consistent with the domestic habits, which man has es- 

 tablished in him. The natural food of cattle and horses, is green 

 and succulent herbs, and we find that nature originally placed them 

 in situations, where these could be always obtained. But man 

 has removed them from these situations. He has brought them 

 under his control, and made them dependent upon him for sub- 

 sistence. He has taken them from the perrenial pastures of the 

 tropics, and gradually habituated them to a colder climate, where, 

 for almost half the year, they are compelled to live on dry fodder. 

 It is true, they live, and even thrive on this. But is it natural to 

 them ? Ask the first ox that you meet. Place before him a lock 

 of the best hay, and a plat of the best grass, and he will tell you^ 

 in language that cannot be misunderstood, which he prefers. 

 Again, place before him the same grass and a quantity of succulent 



* Yankee term for a small ear of Gorn. 



