45 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



HOMt:. 



Home ! His the name of all that sweetens life, 



It speaks the warm affection of a wife ; 



The lisping babe that prattles on the knee, 



In all the playful grace of infancy ; 



The spot where fond parental love may trace 



The glowing virtues of an infant race ; 



Oh, 'tis a word of more than magic spell, 



W hose sacred power the wanderer best can tell. 



He who long distant from his native land, 



F'eels at the name of home his soul expand ; 



Whether as patriot, husband, father, friend, 



To that dear point his thoughts, his wishes bend ; 



And still he owns, where eV-r his footsttps roam. 



Life's choicest blessings centre all at home. 



From the Conneclicut Agricitttural Almanack. 



THK FARMER'S CREED. 

 Let this be held the Farmer's Creed— 

 For stock, seek out the choicest breed ; 

 tn peace and plenty let them feed ; 

 Your land sow with the best of seed ; 

 Let it not dung nor dressing need ; 

 Inclose, plough, reap, with care and speed, 

 .4nd you will soon be rich indeed. 



iince perfectly similar to the corn winch 1 rirsi 

 romemljered to have seen. I then selected 

 some of the ears from the suckers, which were 

 sufficiently ripe, uiitl served for seed, mul found, 

 that on the ne\t year's planting-, I had repro- 

 duced corn, at the least ten years' retrograde ; 

 and have since then aiuiually !«aved a portion of 

 seed in that mode. The fact will be obvious 

 to any one who is in the practice of gathering 

 the corn, that the ears which are produced on 

 the suckers, though small, retain the milk long- 

 er, and are suitable for the table longer, than 

 those that are produced o;i the leading stalks. 

 If these iiuits can give any satisfaction to your 

 querist, or can, in your opinion, be the occasion 

 of eliciting any further information on the natu- 

 ral history of sweet corn, you will please give 

 them a ])lace in your vehicle of agricultural 

 and historical information. Yours, 



PLYMOTHEUS. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Yrom tlie Old Coleny Memorial. 

 To the Editor.— Sm, 



In your last paper, a correspomlent inquires, 

 " from whence came the sweet corn, and at 

 what time was it introduced here ?'' 



Of the natural history of the sii:eet corn, it is 

 presumed, that, with all the other species of 

 the Indian corn, it is indigenous to America. 

 Of this particular species, nothing was known 

 in this section of the country (if in New Eng- 

 land) before 1779. In that year an expedition 

 under the command of General Sullivan, was 

 sent against the Six nations of /ni/ians, inhabit- 

 ing on the borders of the Susquehannah. Poor's 

 brigade made a part of that expedition. A gen- 

 tleman from this place,* then im officer in that 

 brigade, on his return, after the expedition, 

 brought some ears of that corn.t That was the 

 tirst a '(he species ever seen here, and has, 

 since that time, been more and more diffused ; 

 and I believe within a fe-u:^ years oatij, has been 

 generally and extensively cultivated for culina- 

 ry purposes. The species ha.s undergone some 

 change since it was tirst introduced — then the 

 core was a bright crimson, and at'ter being boil- 

 ed, and the corn taken off, if the core was laid 

 in contact with any linen (the table cloth or a 

 napkin,) it communicated an indelible stain. 

 This inconvenience has disappeared. This spe- 

 cies also, like what is distinguished by the ap- 

 pellation of southern or Hat corn, by repeated 

 planting here, assimilates it to our local corn — 

 for a number of years I was careful in selecting 

 the largest and fairest ears for seed, until it 

 grew nearly as large and fair as the common 

 corn, and at the same time lost much of its pe- 

 culiar qualities, softness and sn-eclness ; and 1 

 concluded it would, in process of cultivation, 

 become assimilated to the common corn of New 

 England, although I accidentally discovered that 

 the ears which were produced on the suckers 

 (and it is very much disposed to sucker,) were 

 smaller, much more shrivelled, and in appear- 



* Captain Richard Ragnal, then a Lieutenant, 

 t There called the I'npoon -corn, probably from its 

 tenderness and sweetness made tlie food of chitdrin. 



THOUGHTS O.V JV.IR. 

 It is wonderful with what coolness and indif- 

 ference the greater part of mankind see war 

 commenced. Those who hear of it at a dis- 

 tance or read of it in books, but have never 

 presented its evils to their minds, consider it as 

 little more than a splendid game, a proclama- 

 tion, an army, a battle and a triumph. Some 

 indeed must perish in the most successful field, 

 but they die upon the bed of honor — resign 

 their lives amidst the joys of conquest, and filled 

 with their country's glory, smile in death. The 

 life of a modern soldier is ill represented in 

 heroic fiction. War has means of destruction 

 more formidable than the cannon and the sword. 

 Of the thousands ami tens of thousands that per- 

 ish in war, a small part feel the stroke of an 

 enemy. The greater number languish in ships, 

 in tents or hospitals, amidst damps and putre- 

 factions ; pale, torpid, spiritless and hopeless, 

 gasping and groaning, unpitied among men made 

 obdurate by long continuance of hopeless mise- 

 ry, and at last are buried in pits, or heaved into 

 the ocean, without notice ;mhI without remem- 

 brance. By incommodious encampments, and 

 unwholesome stations, where courage is useless, 

 and enterprizc impracticable, fleets are silently 

 dispeopled, and armies sluggishly melted away. 

 Thus is a people gradually exhausted, for the 

 most part with little efi'ect. The wars of civil- 

 ized nations make very slow changes in the 

 system of empire ; the public perceive scarcely 

 any alteration but an increase of debt, and the 

 few individuals who are benefitted, are not sup- 

 posed to have the clearest right to their advan- 

 tages. If he that shared the danger enjoyed 

 the profit, and after bleeding in the battle grew 

 rich by tlie victory, he might show his gains 

 without envy. But at the conclusion of n ten 

 year's war liow are we recompensed for the 

 death of multitudes, and the expense of millions, 

 but by contemplating the sudden glories of pay- 

 masters and agents, contractors and commissa- 

 ries, whose equipages shine like meteors, and 

 whose palaces rise like exhalations. These 

 are the men, who, without virtue, labor or haz- 

 ard, are growing rich as their country is im- 

 poverished. They rejoice when obstinacy or 

 ambition adds another year to slaughter and 

 desolation, and laugh from their desks at brave- 

 ry and science, while they are adding figure to 



figure and c\pher to cypher, hoping for a new 

 contract from a new armament, and computing 

 the profits of a siege or a tempest. 



Dr. Johjison. 



He who goes to bed in anger has the devil 

 for a bed telloiv. 



All antiquary has been said tcr esteem every 

 thing a.s Dutchmen do cheese, the better for 

 being mouldy'. 



A good character is the greatest of temporal 

 blessings, with the exception of a good con- 

 science ; and good health stands next on the list 

 of sublunary enjoyments. 



Knaves live upon fools as naturally as spiders 

 prey upon flies. But there is nothing worth 

 being dishonest. Crimes, though secret, are- 

 never secure, for Providence has set up racks 

 and gibbets in the consciences of transgressors, 

 and they all carry Cain's fears about them. He 

 that deserves punishment, expects it, and is ever 

 in apprehensions until detected; his very sleep 

 is painful, and his life a terror. 



How sweet in the moment of afHiction is the 

 exercise of the social affections ! they are the 

 balm which, mingled in the bitter cup of grief, 

 allays its harshness, and subdues its venom. No 

 human being can be perfectly miserable so long 

 as he can enjoy the sympathy of one kindred 

 soul ; and even when that is denied, the Chris- 

 tian knows tljcre is an ear open to the sorrow- 

 ful sighings of every afflicted heart. 



THE PROGHESS OF LOVE. 



Love makes it? way insensibly through res- 

 pect and gratitude, as a flower, which in order 

 to blow, opens the slight texture in which it 

 is enfolded. 



N.iTURE's MISTAKES. 



Dame nature is liable to errors as well as 

 other geatle folks — although, in general way, 

 it must be acknowledged that the old lady is 

 pretty correct in her conduct, yet she some- 

 times takes steps, which in demi-reps would be 

 deemed very disreputable. She makes calves 

 with two heads,, snakes with two bodies, &,c. 

 and these are called lu.n naiurw., or amusements 

 of nature. But her greatest error lies in the 

 mode in which she forms some people's heads 

 and hearts, by making their heads soft and 

 their hearts hard, although good workmanship 

 requires exactly the reverse. 



Age and love associate not ; if they arc ever 

 allied, the firmer the friendship, the more fatal 

 is its termination ; and an old man, like a spi- 

 der, can never make love, without beating his 

 own death-watch. 



[Note. — It may not be generally known that 

 the male spider is supplied with a little blad- 

 der, somewhat similar to a drum, and that tick- 

 ling noise which lias been termed the death- 

 watch, is nothing more than the sound he makes 

 upon this little apparatus in order to serenade 

 and allure his mistress.] — l''orlland Gazette. 



Joking Dialogue. — Would you believe it? Mr. 

 B. tells me ho has written a comedy, but I sup- 

 pose he was joking. By no means, for 1 have 

 seen it, and I assure you there is no joke in it 



