NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



151 



vital parts, and disease follows, or a dull, uncom- 

 fortable, languid condition is the consequence, which 

 lessens the value and profit of the animal. 



Cattle and horses should be curried daily, while 

 they are kept in the barn or stable ; yet many farmers 

 neglect this useful operation, though it is almost as 

 essential to a high state of health as food, water, 

 pure air, or exercise. 



THE POWER OF THE MUSCULAR SYS- 

 TEM. 



The number, variety, and power of the motions 

 capable of being produced by these muscles are in- 

 deed most wonderful, as all have seen and experi- 

 enced. They enable us to climb the lofty tree, and 

 even the smooth pole of liberty ; to mount the tow- 

 ering mast, and not only support ourselves in the 

 rigging of the ship, but to put forth great muscular 

 exertion while she is tossing and rolling, and that in 

 the midst of the hurricane. Standing upon our feet, 

 we can toss our bodies, weighing from one hundred 

 to two hundred pounds, several feet upwards and 

 forwards, and in all directions, for many hours in suc- 

 cession, as in dancing and the circus. Or we can 

 transport it fifty or sixt)- miles between sun and sun, 

 and even carry many pounds weight upon our 

 backs. Or we can chase down the fleetest animal 

 that runs. Or we can labor brisklj- every day, for 

 scores of years. Or we can lift and carry several 

 times our own weight. Or we can accomplish a 

 multiplicity of powerful and protracted bodily exer- 

 tions, and do a variety and amount of things almost 

 without end. 



IMPORTANCE OF LABOR. 



It is a well demonstrated truth, that happiness can 

 be found only in the natural, proper, healthy action 

 of the powers and faculties which the Creator has 

 given, or in obedience to the laws written by the 

 finger of God on our physical, organic, and mental 

 constitution. These powers and faculties wore given 

 that they should be exercised prudently and judi- 

 ciously. Divine Wisdom never designed the human 

 being for a life of total inactivity and case ; and he 

 who seeks for happiness here will most surely be 

 disappointed. No man was ever born into the world 

 with a constitution fitting him naturally for such a 

 life ; and ho has sought in vain for the highest good, 

 and the perfection of earthly happiness and enjoj'- 

 ment, save when, in accordance with the divine 

 arrangement, he sought for it in vigorous action, in 

 labor, in the exercise and development of every 

 power and faculty of his being. 



The importance of labor is too little thought of 

 and regarded — labor with the hands, with every 

 muscle and sinew in this curiously wrought human 

 frame. The idea, too, has crept into some weak 

 craniums that it is disgraceful to labor ; that to work 

 is to stoop from superior dignity and excellence. 

 But God has not so said in the arrangement he has 

 made. It is an ordination of his, that he who will 

 not work shall not eat well, nor sleep well, nor feel 

 well — that his condition shall be the reverse of that 

 man, who, standing firmly upon the green earth, his 

 hands hanging carelessly by his side, and his eyes 

 wandering over space, is permitted to feel, thus 

 circumstanced, such agreeable sensation arising in 

 nis mere bodily frame, that he can raise his mind to 

 neavcn, and thank God that he is a living man. 



Not only do bodily health, and vigor, and conse- 

 quent enjoyment, depend upon labor, but also health 

 and vigor of mind, and the pleasurable emotions 



resulting from this mental condition. It has been 

 well asked, " What distinguished man in this coun- 

 try or age, or any other, but took a great amount of 

 exercise while young r " You can hardly point to 

 a great man, to one eminent in an)' department of 

 knowledge or letters, whose hands in his early years 

 were not hardened, his frame knit and rendered 

 sinewy, and his brow made dusky by manual toil. 

 No man, perhaps, of the present day, stands higher 

 as a scholar than Elihu Burritt, the learned black- 

 smith ; and the fact, that, while mastering language 

 after language, he was compelled to labor at the 

 anvil and forge eight hours every day, tells the 

 whole story of his intellectual growth, and the way 

 he climbed up to eminence and distinguished honor. 

 Henry Clay was once a poor boy, and knew what it 

 was to work with his own hands for a living. And 

 the immortal Shakspeare, whoso fame is world 

 wide, often laid aside his pen, folded the wings of 

 his genius, hushed the voice of his lyre, and went 

 out to labor in carrying brick and mortar. " Web- 

 ster was a backwoodsman, bom in a ' log cabin ' on the 

 borders of the unbroken forest," and was no stranger 

 to hardship, exposure, and daily toil. " Franklin, 

 the beacon star of his profession, was a practical 

 printer." Washington, whose " fame is eternity," 

 when not in the service of his country, was engaged 

 in agricultural pursuits ; and he received the news 

 of his election as president of the United States 

 while following the plough. And shall it now be 

 said that labor is disgraceful r that to work is un- 

 dignified, and is not indispensable to health and 

 vigor of body and of mind ? No — it is manly to 

 labor, and for six thousand years God has been ut- 

 tering it in human ears, that he who will not work 

 shall not enjoy. — Wisconsin Farmer. 



CULTIVATION OF TREES. 



Few persons have a correct idea of the rapidity of 

 the growth of well cultivated trees, and many are 

 deterred from planting them, b)"^ the consideration, 

 selfish at the best, that they shall not live to reap the 

 fruits of their labors. 



Such persons may derive encouragement from the 

 statement of a few facts. In the spring of 1836, I set 

 out, in front of my office, in Chester, two elm-trees. 

 They were then so small that I could easily carry 

 them, with the full top upon my shoulder, and were, 

 perhaps, two inches in diameter. I measured them 

 carefully in the fall of 1847, and found them of equal 

 size, and each measuring forty-five inches in circum- 

 ference. They stand abput eighteen feet apart, and 

 some twelve feet from the building, for which they 

 form a perfect protection from the summer's sun, 

 their branches being already interlaced. The ebn is 

 in that neighborhood of more rapid growth than the 

 rock maple, or indeed more than any other forest 

 tree. 



An apple orchard may be brought to commence 

 bearing in four years from transjilanting from the 

 nursery, which should be the second or third year 

 from the time of budding. By the eighth or tenth 

 year, your orchard, well managed, will jjay you an- 

 nually for all your trouble and expense in planting 

 it, and will continue productive as long as you have 

 any right to expect to live. Peach-trees usually bear 

 the third year from the stone, and the second year 

 from the bud. — IliU's Monthly Visitor. 



E.KMArLKS BY THE EdITOR NeW ExGLAXD FaRMER. 



Thousands of cases might be named of the rapid 

 growth of fruit and forest trees. In a short time, a 

 tree attains a large size under good management ; 

 and no one should be discouraged from planting 

 trees from their slow growth, as this is usually owing 



