98 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



gation, &c. Price, three dollars per year. It ranks 

 high, both as a work, of ornament and utility. 



Will the publishers send us Nos. 1 and 3 of the 

 History, and 2 and 3 of the Flora ? 



Address of E,. Fletcher, Esq., before the Windsor 

 (Vermont) Agricultural Society, October 5, 1848 ; — 

 a valuable extract from which is on this page. 



A Neav System of Vegetable Physiology, designed 

 to account satisfactorily for the Phenomena which 

 take place in the Vegetable Kingdom, and to show 

 the influence of liight, Heat, and Electricity on Vege- 

 tation, by Daniel Vaughn, Cincinnati. With much 

 interest and pleasure wc have been examining the 

 novel views of the able and intelligent a^lthor, but 

 arc not yet prepared to give an opinion on those 

 abstruse and difficult subjects on which scientific 

 doctors disagree. We are pleased to learn that Mr. 

 Vaughn will pursue the subject. 



IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



W^e copy the follo^Aang remarks on the importance 

 of agriculture, and its happy influence on those who 

 pursue it, from the Address of P. Fletcher, Esq., 

 before the Windsor (Vt.) Agricultural Society. This 

 prolific subject will soon be in the ascendency, as it 

 was in the days of Adam. 



Permit me to remind you of a well-known truth 

 — the importance of the art of agriculture. With- 

 out it, man is a barbarian ; a roaming savage, clothed 

 in the skins of beasts, deriving a scanty subsistence 

 from the spontaneous fruits of nature. We arc 

 indebted to this ai't for food and raiment, for the 

 necessaries, the comforts, and the luxuries of life. 

 It may then be termed the most essential of all the 

 arts, the basis of all others, the foundation and 

 support of society. Agriculture is important in a 

 political point of view ; it is the best foundation of 

 national greatness and power. The love of country, 

 the fii'e of patriotism, burns in no bosoms more in- 

 tensely than in those who own and till the soil. 

 The farmer identifies his possessions with his coun- 

 try, for which he has the strongest attachment, and 

 in whose defence the strongest arm. It is impor- 

 tant also in a moral point of view. Xo situation in 

 life is so favorable to habits of virtue, and sentiments 

 of devotion, as a residence in the country, and rural 

 occupations. He who cultivates the earth is removed 

 from a variety of temptations to which those in 

 other pui'suits are exposed. His habits, the calm 

 and peaceful character of his labors, are all so many 

 guardians of his virtue. The changes which the 

 face of nature is constantly exhibiting under his 

 eye, are adapted to promote his virtues : the fall 

 of the leaf in Autumn, the opening beauties of 

 Spring, the rich magnificence of Summer, and the 

 desolate dreariness of Winter, — these are calcu- 

 lated to produce good impressions, and exert a salu- 

 tary influence. The man who can witness them 

 without feeling his heart glow with sentiments of 

 love, reverence, and gratitude towards Him that 

 made him, must be perfectly insensible. Will any 

 deem these remarks inappropriate ? I should feel 

 myself wanting in faithfulness to the occasion if I 

 should omit, in sjieaking of the merits of agriculture, 

 a view of the subject so gratei'id and interesting. If, 

 then, agriculture is actually so important, it behoves 

 every class in community to aid in its impi'ovement, 

 and to take those measures best calculated to ad- 

 vance the art, and to stimulate the cultivators of the 

 soil to excel in every branch of husbandry. 



THE QUEEN BEE AT HOME. 



The community of bees is an example of pure 

 monarchy, unrestrained by any checks or power, 

 yet never deviating into despotism on the one hand, 

 or anarchy on the other. Some years ago, while 

 our gracious queen was making a royal progress 

 through her northern dominions, we witnessed a no 

 less interesting sight of the progress of a queen-bee, 

 in the glass hive of an ingenious friend and lover of 

 nature at his country retreat. The hive was of that 

 construction which opened from behind, and showed 

 the whole economy within. In a few minutes the 

 queen made her appearance from the lower part of 

 the hive. Her elongated body and tapering ab- 

 domen at once distinguished her. She moved along 

 slowly, now and then stopping to deposit an egg in 

 one of the empty combs ; and it was most interest- 

 ing to perceive how she was constantly accompanied 

 by nearly a dozen of bees, that formed a circle around 

 her, with their heads invariably turned towards 

 her. The guard was relieved at frequent intervals, 

 so that, as she walked forward, a new group immedi- 

 ately took the place of the old, and these, having re- 

 tru-ned again, resumed the labor in which they had 

 been pi-eviously engaged. Her appearance always 

 seemed to give pleasure, which was indicated by' a 

 quivering movement of the wings. The laborers, in 

 whatever way occupied, immediately forsook their 

 work, and came to pay homage to their queen, by 

 forming a guard around her person. Every other part 

 of the hive meanwhile presented a busy scene. Many 

 bees were seen moving their bodies with a tremulous 

 motion, by which thin and minute films of wax were 

 shaken from their scaly sides. Others were ready to 

 take up this wax, and knead it into matter proper for 

 constructing cells. Frequent arrivals of bees from 

 the field brought pollen on their thighs for the young 

 grubs, and honey, which they deposited in the cells. 

 All was activity, order, and peaceful industry. None 

 were idle but the drones, who seemed to stroU about 

 like gentlemen. — British Quarterly Review. 



MELON CULTURE. 



Hovey, in his Magazine of Horticulture for Decem- 

 ber, speaking of a visit to the garden of H. N. Lang- 

 worthy, Esq., on Genesee River, near Ilochester, says : 



AVe have stated that Mr. I^angworthy gives great 

 attention to the culture of the melon. The kinds he 

 cultivates are principally the Imperial and the Black 

 Spanish, bvit the greatest quantity of the former, 

 which, though so late a variety, that, in the latitude 

 of Boston, it will not come to perfection in the ordi- 

 nary modes of culture, by Mr. Langworthy's plan, 

 ripens an immense crop. His mode is to start the 

 plants in a hotbed — the same as for cucumbers: 

 the plants are removed to the hills where they arc 

 to grow, as soon as the weather is favorable, but 

 they are not immediately exposed to the Avcathcr : 

 boxes, covered with a coarse gauze or millinet, about 

 two feet square, are placed over each hill, and as 

 the plants become inured to the open air, the boxes 

 are removed, and the plants continue to flourish, 

 soon covering the ground. Melons of the Imperial 

 variety are produced, weighing about thirty pounds 

 each. This is a profitable crop as managed by Mr. 

 Langworthy ; and it is almost unnecessary to add, 

 that no crop, either of melons, cucumbers, or 

 squashes, can be grown Avithout a great deal of care, 

 especially in attending to the destruction of in- 

 sects, &c. 



WIRE WORMS. 



The Albany Cultivator states that a farmer near 

 Albany has preserved his corn from wire worms the 

 present season by rolling the seed in sulphur. 



