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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Fran tlic JS'ev) Monthly Magazine, for Junt. 



AIR, " FLY NOT YET." 

 When eastern skies are tinged v.ith red, 

 And fairest mom with liasty tread 

 Upsprings to cpe Heaven's golden gate, 

 And chase the ling'ring stars that wait 



To spy the blushing dawn ; 

 \Vhilc rays from Fhoebui' glowing car 

 Gleam brightly on your casement's bar. 

 And pour a flood of glorious light 

 To shame the slothful sons of night, 



Oh haste — oh haste 

 To snatch the fresh and (letting hour 

 Ere noon has sipp'd each dewy flow< r 



That decks the spangled lawn. 



Oh shake off slumber's drowsy spell, 

 In morning's pleasant haunts to dwell ; 

 And haste to join the feathcr'd throng. 

 To greet the dawn with choral song. 



Or skylark's earlier lay : 

 With careless footsteps freely rove 

 O'er sunny plain, or leafy grove, 

 While new-mown hay its sweets bestowing, 

 Perfumes the air that's freshly blowing ; 



Oh haste — oh haste 

 To meet the bee on busy wing 

 O'er opening fiowerets hovering,' 



And watch the squirrel's play. 



To taste the gifts of earth and air. 

 That Phoebus' fiercer beam will scare, 

 On new-born buds of every hue 

 Tor trace the glittering drops of dew, 



The timid hare to spy, 

 Who stealing forth, now hopes unseen, 

 To banquet on the humid green. 

 And oft, the white she fearless graze?) 

 Admires her leveret's frolic mazes, 



Oh haste — oh haste — 

 Joys like these will never stay. 

 But melt like summer's mist away, 



From days too piercing eye. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



DOG-STAR AND DOV-DAYS. 



The ancient Ep;vptians, in their ohservation? 

 on the stars, noticed that when a certain star 

 of considerable mag-nitude first appeared above 

 the horizon in the mornina;, just before dawn — 

 the overflowing of the Nile immediately fol- 

 lowed. Beins; warned by this precursor, they 

 retired to the hiafhlands to escape the inunda- 

 tion, carrying with them thincfs necessary for 

 their retreat. As this star performed for them 

 the service of the house-dog, by warning them 

 of approaching danger, they called it the dog- 

 star, and supposing that this star was the cause 

 of the extraordinary heat, which usually falls 

 out in that season, tlicy gave the name of dog- 

 days to six or eigiit weeks of the hottest part 

 of the summer. They ascribed an extraordina- 

 ry influence to this star, paid it divine honors, 

 and from its color formed prognostics, what the 

 "cason would be. The (Ireeks and Romans 

 also held the opinion that the dog-star was the 

 cause of the sultry heat, usually felt about this 

 time. Its inlluence was esteemed so great by 

 the Romans, that they sacrificed a brown dog 

 to it every year to appease its rage. 



All these notions of the ancients, and all simi- 

 lar opinions that pi-evail at the present time, on 

 thi-: subject, are mere idle fancie?. The dog- 



star ha.s no more influence in producing heat or 

 sultriness, than any other star that decks the 

 sky, and the days usually denominated dog-days, 

 might with as much propriety be said to begin 

 on the 20th or 15th of July, as on the 25th. 

 The atmosphere sufl'ers no greater change on 

 the 21lh and 25th of July, nor on the 5th and 

 6th of September, than it does on other days 

 preceding and subsequent to those days. If the 

 term dog-days has any appropriate signification 

 it is because the word is intended to denote 

 forty or fifty days of the most hot and sultry 

 part of the year, but as these days vary almost 

 every year in their commencement tind termin- 

 ation, any notice in the almanack, or elsewhere, 

 pretending to define the time when dog-days be- 

 gin and end, is futile and of no more importance 

 than the predictions concerning the weather, 



PUT.K/iMS ROCK. 

 The last number of the American Journal of 

 Science, edited by Professor Silliman, of Yale 

 College, contains the following " Extract of a 

 letter from Professor Dana, of Dartmouth Col- 

 lege, to the editor, dated Feb. 5th, 1822.— "1 

 have received an account of Putnam's Rock, 

 which is in the river, opposite West Point. It 

 was given to me by my friend Col. Tucker, of 

 Gloucester, Mass. and the history, as connected 

 with the American Revolution, cannot fail to be 

 interesting. 



" This famous rock, originally a native of 

 the highlands above West Point, was situated 

 on the extreme height of Butter Hill;* when 

 the morning fog was descending from the hill 

 it had a very beautiful appearance not much 

 unlike a horseman's tent or hospital marquee 

 riding on the cloud. It was a common amuse- 

 ment for the oflicers when off duty to roll large 

 rocks from the sides of those hills. These of- 

 ten set others going with them, to the great 

 terror of those persons who were below. One 

 day when this laborious amusement was over. 

 Col. Rufus Putnam proposed going up to take a 

 peep ofl' this curiously situated rock ; it was 

 found situated on a flat rock of great extent, 

 and near the brink of a considerable precipice, 

 ,ind hung very much over it. Col. Putnam be- 

 lieved that it was moveable, and if once moved 

 that it would roll over; and falling from twenty 

 to fifty feet, commence it rout to the river. A 

 few days after we formed a party of oflicers, with 

 our servants, who took with them axes, drag* 

 ropes, &.C. in order to procure levers for the 

 purpose of moving the rock, which we soon 

 found was in cur power. The levers being 

 tixed with ropes to the ends of them all, Col. 

 Putnam, who headed the party, ordered us to 

 haul the ropes tight, and at the word Congress 

 to give a long pull, and a strong pull, and a pull 

 altogether. This we did, the levers fell, the 

 rock rolled over, tumbled from the precipice, 

 and took up its line of march for the river ! 

 The party then had the satisfaction of seeing 

 the most majestic oaks and loftiest pines, bow- 

 ing down in homage and obedience to this 

 mighty traveller, which never stopped til! it 

 had reached the bed of llie river, where it now 

 lies on the edge of the flats and far enough 

 from the shore for a coasting vessel to sail 

 round it. The party followed after in its path, 

 and were astonisiied to see that rocks of many 



tons weight, and trees of the largest size, were 

 ground to powder. On arriving at the river, 

 the party embarked, and landed, to the number 

 of sixty or seventy on the rock, when Col. Put- 

 nam broke a bottle of wiiiskey and named it 

 " Pulnain's Rock.''' I may hare forgotten some 

 of the minutia; of the transaction in the lapse of 

 forty-three years ; but it is a fact that the rock 

 now in the river was removed from the ex- 

 treme top of the Butter Hill by the oflicers of 

 Col. Rufus Putnam's regiment, in the revolu- 

 tionary war, in the service of the U. States, some 

 time in the month of June, in the year 1778." 



From an Ohio Paper of July 2. 

 Petrifaction. — An elderly gentleman, who re- 

 cently died in Fayette county, Kentucky, pre- 

 vious to his death requested that his daughters 

 remains should be disinterred and deposited by 

 the side of his own. His daughter had been 

 buried about eleven years, in the county of 

 Bourbon, Ky. After his decease, the old gen^ 

 tleman's request was complied with. To the 

 great surprise and astonishment of those engag- 

 ed in raising the daughter's remains her body 

 was found to be entire, and of its full size. On 

 a minute examination it was discovered to be 

 perfectly petrified ; its specific gravity was a- 

 bout the same as that of common lime stone. — 

 The cofBn was entirely decayed. Her countC' 

 nance had undergone so small an alteration tha 

 her husband, it is said, on beholding her, fainted 



In Petersburgh, Va. a man is exhibiting ser 

 pents, and among them a rattlesnake four fee 

 in length, five or six inches in circumference 

 fangs ami rattles entire, which is complete! 

 domesticated, and as obedient and affectionat 

 to his master as a dog, and will coil himself up 

 on his shoulder, caress him, and kiss his cheek 

 There is no disputing about tastes. 



* This hill is 1520 feet above tide water, aud 1332 

 above ite ba^e, accordiiig to Capt. Patviilge. 



The sails and cordage of a first rate man < 

 war require 180,000 lbs. of rough hemp ff 

 their construction ; and it is said to average fiv 

 acres of land to produce a ton of hemp : thi 

 one of those monstrous towers of human ing( 

 nuity consumes a year's produce of 424 acres ( 

 laud" to furnish its necessHry tackle. 



The following curious circumstance, (says a Lond( 

 paper) which occurred during a fire at Bankside, ni: 

 be relied on as a fact :— In one of the houses thiit a 

 peared as one sheet of fire, the firenif n perceived a c 

 sitting on some bags which were in the midst of tl 

 flames ; the cat cried " mew ! mew !" most bitterl 

 finding her escape impossible. One of the firemen wl 

 saw aud heard htr, cried out to Solomon, a .lew, wl 

 assisted them to work at the engine, " ^^olomou, y 

 hear the cat calls out — -Tew '. Jew !" Solomon nn 

 emphHtically cried, " you shall not be disappoint( d 

 the Jew, if, at the risk of my life, 1 can save you." I 

 tlirew up a rope, to which there was a hook attachi 

 which fortunately stuck in the sack, and wilh a qui 

 jerk, he pulled the sack from the midst of the fiaDV 

 and also the cat, whose hair was all singed from 1 

 fire. During an hour afterwards, whilst he worked 

 the <'ngiMe, the cat never quilled him, but held fast 

 his shoulder, or sat near liim on the engine ; and 

 afterwards Ijrought his cat home to his own house. 



A German Priest walking in procession at the ht 

 of his parisliioners, over cultivated fields, in order 

 procure a blessing on their future crops, w ht ii he ca 

 to those of unpromising appearance, would pass i 

 saying, " here prayers and singing 'nHll avail uolhir 

 this must have manure." 



