158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Besides enthusiasm and variety, there is another 

 condition of pleasant or attractive labor ; and that is, 

 society. Work is always pleasant and easy -where 

 many persons can join together; especially where 

 men and women can engage in it. Rural life gives 

 us many illustrations of this principle. « 



For instance, there is not much harder work than 

 to sit down alone and husk corn, hour after hour ; 

 yet what is more pleasant than a husking ? Rolling 

 logs and lifting timber are hard work ; but a log- 

 rolling or raising is a festival. What a monotonous 

 and tiresome task it is to pare apples and prepare 

 them for drying ! yet what rustic scene is better 

 than a paring bee ? 



We may draw illustrations from our pleasures and 

 amusements. If a man were to go into a room 

 alone and dance all by himself four or five hours, he 

 would be very much fatigued, and would demand 

 good wages ; but give the same man a little music 

 and some agreeable company, and he will not only 

 dance six hours without thinking of fatigue, but is 

 very willing to pay a good day's wages for the priv- 

 ilege. 



There are not many kinds of work harder than 

 rowing a boat ; but give a man genial companions, 

 fine scenery, and a pleasant excursion, and he Avill 

 never think of fatigue. Dragging a fire-engine 

 through the streets, working the machine, and fight- 

 ing a fire, call forth great muscular exertion; yet 

 how nobly is it performed, without wages, by men 

 who are incited by enthusiasm, cheered by associa- 

 tion, and enticed by variety ! 



There is no kind of exertion that is not tiresome 

 by monotony and solitude ; there is none that can- 

 not be made delightful by variety and social enjoy- 

 ment ; and if we add to these the spirit of rivalry, 

 or honorable competition, we find enthusiasm and 

 pleasure. 



What kind of labor tasks the powers of exertion 

 more than a game of cricket ? yet cricket is play, 

 because it combines association and competition. 

 Reaping and mowing matches have a similar excite- 

 ment. 



In Europe, the harvest-time and the vintage are 

 seasons of joy and festivity, though they involve the 

 hardest labor of the year. The vintage especially is 

 a great festival. Men, women, and children Avork 

 from morning till night, day after day, gathering the 

 grapes and carrying them to the wine-press. Ladies 

 and gentlemen, from the cities, come to witness and 

 join in the labor. The laborers sing together in 

 chorus, and one group answers to another. At the 

 wine-press is stationed a little band of music, for 

 there the work is hardest ; but the strongest young 

 fellows leap into the press with their naked feet, and 

 dance the red wine out of the bursting grapes. The 

 labor would be terribly fatiguing without these 

 auxiliaries ; but with them it is mere sport. 



Children are never tired of their games, although 

 they involve great exertion. But oblige a boy to 

 play alone, or to continiie a game ten hours a day, 

 and he would be tired enough. 



Now, what is wanting to make industry attractive ? 

 Give variety, society, and rivalry, and all work is 

 but play. Is not this the solution of the problem r 

 — A'. F. Disp. 



THE ONION. 



Mr. Editor : There are three varieties of this 

 vegetable cultivated in this region. The allium ccpa 

 is a biennial, and is highly esteemed as a salad. To 

 insure a good crop, the seed should be sown early in 

 the spring. The soil selected should be of a light, 

 loamy texture, approximating to sand, and so pre- 

 pared as to enable it to retain a considerable degree 



of heat without becoming dry or excessively parched 

 during drought. There are, however, few vegeta- 

 bles which require less moisture, or to the full and 

 perfect development of which the principle of heat 

 is more strictly necessary or indispensable. About 

 midsummer, the onion pauses in its growth. At 

 this stage, it should be taken up and stored; for if it 

 is permitted to remain longer in the soil, its value 

 for culinary purposes will be deteriorated, if not de- 

 stroyed. 



The allium cepa is one of the few cultivated vege- 

 tables which admit of being changed from bien- 

 nials to triennials. This is effected simply by sow- 

 ing the seeds quite late in the season, and in close 

 proximity, the first summer, on poor or sterile soil, 

 and transplanting them in the spring of the second 

 season. Onions managed in this way are sometimes 

 called *' scaUions." They are much more mild and 

 agreeable to the palate, beside presenting a much 

 more symmetrical and perfect development in the 

 bulb. When treated in this way, they will not run 

 to seed till the fall of the third year. The best 

 manure for onions, with which I am acquainted, is 

 gypsum, soot, ashes, and charcoal. Stimulated by 

 frequent applications of these, the onion will succeed 

 well on the same soil for many consecutive years. 

 It is asserted, indeed, and on credible authority, 

 that a piece of soil was shown, some years since, in 

 Scotland, which had been cultivated in this plant for 

 a period of eighty years ; and the last crop taken was, 

 it is said, as good, to all appearance, as any of the 

 preceding ones of which the then proprietor had any 

 recollection. 



The Potato ONio>r, {allium aggregatam.') — This 

 is another species of the onion tribe. It is wonder- 

 fully prolific. It does not, however, like the allium 

 cepa, produce one large, distinct bulb, but radiates 

 into numerous offsets, each of which is nearly the 

 size of a small orange. This vegetable is perhaps as 

 extensively admired as the common onion, but is pre- 

 served with much greater difficulty. The rule com- 

 monly obsei-ved in cultivating it, by those who have 

 had the most experience in the business, is, we be- 

 lieve, to plant the smallest " cfoye,? "on the shortest 

 day, and to take in the crop on the longest. 



The Tree Onion, {allium Canadensis.) — This is 

 a " tall growing plant," and should be provided 

 with a support in order to prevent injury from winds. 

 Small bulbs arc produced both at the top and bottom 

 of the stems. The latter are said to be preferable to 

 the former in many respects, especially for pickling. 

 The small bulbs may be set either in the fall or 

 spring, and the crop, with proper care and attention 

 in cultivating it, will be ready for harvesting by 

 midsummer. 



In cultivating the common onion, I do not con- 

 sider it necessary to plough or dig the soil. With a 

 common u-on-tooth rake, I lightly stir the surface to 

 the depth of two inches, and, having formed the lines 

 with a common seed rake, sow the seed, and cover 

 it with the hoe or hand. The roller is then applied 

 to level and compress the surface soil, and a dressing 

 of gypsum, soot and house ashes, (equal parts,) ap- 

 plied at night, or just before a rain. As soon as the 

 plants make their appearance, another apjilication of 

 the same mixture is given ; a third follows after 

 weeding. The seed should be soaked from twenty- 

 four to thirty-six hours before sowing in house ley, 

 or water in which there is some principle capable of 

 softening the pericarp which is remarkably indu- 

 rated, especially when the seed is old. 



A NEW ENGLANDER. 

 — Gcrmaniown Telegraph, 



"While the earth rcmaineth, seed time and harvest 

 shall not cease. 



