160 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



HEALTH. 



The subject of my song is }Iealth, 

 A good superior far towtalth. 

 Can the miud distrust its worth ? 

 Consult the monarchs of the earth : 

 Imperial czars, and sultanj, own 

 No »em so bright that docks their throne ; 

 Each for this pearl his crown would quit, 

 And turn a rustic, or a cit. 



Mark, tho' the blessing's lost with case. 

 'Tis not recover'd when you please. 

 Say not that gruels shall avail ; 

 For salutary gruels fail : 

 Say not, Apollo's sons succeed ; 

 Apollo's son is Egypt's* reed. 

 How fruitless the physician's skill. 

 How vain the pestilential pill, 

 The marble monuments proclaim ; 

 The humbler turf confirms the «ame ; 

 Prevention is the better cure ; 

 *a says the proverb, and 'tis sure. 



AV'ould you extend your narrow span, 

 And make the most of life you can ; 

 Would you, when med'cines cannot save. 



Descend with ease into Uie grave 



Calmly retire, like evening light, 

 And cheerful bid the world good night ? 

 Let Ttmp'rance constantly preside ; 

 Our best physician, friend, and guide .' 

 Would you to wisdom make pretence, 

 Proud to be thought a man of sense .' 

 Let Temp'rance (always friend to fame) 

 With steady hand direct your aim ; 

 Or, like an archer in the dark. 

 Your random shaft will miss the mark : 

 For they who slight her golden rules. 

 In wisdom's volume stand for fools. 



*In allusion lo 2 K'ings, xviii. 21. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



There is a propensity existing in the minds 

 of the most of mankind to resist the claims of 

 those who appear to think that they deserve dis- 

 tinction, and profess to be candidates for renown. 

 The best way therefore, to win applause is not 

 to court it. Persevere in the path of rectitude, 

 and if Fame follows you, very well, but never 

 run after it. 



Money laid out for the purpose of obtaining a 

 high standing in society, or in other words for 

 (he sake of out-dashing anrl out-shining one's 

 neighbors is generally thrown away. We live 

 in an age, when splendid furniture, glittering 

 equipage, and tine buildings arc groivn too com- 

 mon to attract much notice from spectators. 



There is no life more fatiguing and perplex- 

 ing than that of the subordinate votaries of (ash- 

 ion, who attempt to be siyliA by dint of extrava- 

 gant expenditure, and living beyond their in- 

 come. Splendid indigence, linery and want, ex- 

 pensive but temporary shifts to su[iport the ap- 

 pearance of plenty, when poverty oppresses and 

 debt menaces arc inlinitely more distressing than 

 open and avowed poverty. 



A life well employed is an agreeable as well 

 as an useful life ; but " the pains and penalties 

 of idlenes.s" make existence a burden, which, in 

 some instances has been found so insupportable 

 that (he wretched sufferer has sought refuge in 

 suicide. 



A man who has the appearance of order and 

 economy in his family, who does not permit his 

 sons to " hoe corn in silk breeches," nor to roll 

 logs in ruffled shirts, nor to wear their best clothes 

 on common occasions, nor sutler his daughters 

 to make butter and cheese in chintzes and mus- 

 lins, nor sweep the kitchen in silks and laces, 

 will sooner be trusted and stand higher in the 

 estimation of all sensible people than any other 

 man of equal property, who sets up for gentili- 

 ty, with a family of smart sons and dashing 

 daughters, the beaus and belles of the neighbor- 

 hood, the lormer calculating to live on their 

 wiU, and the latter expecting to be maintained 

 by their beauty, and all but worshipped for their 

 accomplisliments. 



A more costly dress than the occasion requires, 

 or the circumstances and station of the wearer 

 can justify, are proofs not only of the extrava- 

 gance, but of the vulgarity of the wearer. Many 

 a would be fine lady and fine gentleman have 

 thus made themselves ridiculous by the very 

 means they made use of to attract admiration. — 

 But parents, should, generally, permit their 

 children (o dress in a style somewhat similar to 

 that of the young persons with whom they com- 

 monly associate ; otherwise they will probably 

 be ridiculed by their companions, which will 

 make them feel undue inferiority, inspire them 

 with envy, and spoil their dispositions — Not that 

 their clothes should be equally expensive, but 

 their general appearance should be similar. 



No man can be called great, merely in con- 

 sequence of the station in which he is placed in 

 society. The highest honors are but the ped- 

 estal, and merit is the statue erected upon it. 



There is nothing more provoking than the 

 condolence of a pretended friend, who appears 

 to sympathize with you in your calamity, when 

 you have reason to believe that in his heart he 

 exults over your misfortunes. 



a 



Addison says that a dog has been the compan- 

 ion of man for more than 6000 years, and has 

 learned of him only one of his vices — that is to 

 worry his species, when he finds them in dis- 

 tress. Tie a tin canister to a dog's tail, and ano- 

 ther will fall upon him — put a man in prison for , , ... ,-,,.,- 

 debt, and another will lodge a detainer against T"*^ gunpowder will e.r;jWe ; and, if this mixture 

 him. This propensity to afflict the afflicted has' '"^T^ "sed merely as a train of communication 

 given rise to the vulgar, but we fear correct ad-i'" ^^^ powder withm the stone, what a national 

 age " When a man is going down hill every one I saving would it be in works earned on upon an 

 gives him a kick." 



O.V THE USE OF LIME. 

 Mixed with Gimpo-ssdcr, in rending rocks anc 

 stones. ^ By H. D. Griffith, Esquire., of Cacrhm 

 near Conway, A'orih M^ates. 

 From the letters and papers of the Bath and West o- 

 England Society. 

 Having been for .some time in (he habit of pe- 

 rusing your interesting papers on agriculture 

 and other subjects, I am induced to lay before 

 the society a circumstance, which, though per- 

 haps familiarly known to them, might, If more 

 generally divulged through the channel of their ' 

 publications, be of infinite advantage to the pub 

 lie. 



In clearing my lands of the heaps of stone with 

 which this country every where abounds, I found 

 the quantity of gunpowder used in the operation 

 to amount to a considerable sum at the end oi F 

 the year; and as the price of this article has beea 

 increasing of late to an enormous amount, I had '' 

 recourse (o an expedient, by which the expense 

 of it has been materially diminished. 



1 weighed out two pounds of gunpowder, and 

 one pound of quick lime, well dried and pulver- 

 ized; which, after having been thoroughly mix- 

 ed with each other, I delivered it to the blaster, 

 with directions to apply it, in similar quantities 

 as he would have done the gunpowder by itself. 

 I then selected six of the hardest granites I could 

 find for the experiment; and the effects of the 

 explosion where precisely the same as if gun- 

 powder alone had been used. It now occurred 

 to me, that this might be fallacious, and that a 

 smaller proportion of gunpowder would produce 

 the same efl'ect as a larger; I accordingly order- 

 ed the man to bore holes in a similar number of 

 stones, of the same texture and size with the 

 former, and to put in a less quantity of gunpow- 

 der, by one third, than he would have done if :* 

 had been left to his own management. Tii- 

 stones were separated by the shock; but th 

 difference in the effect was manifest to ever 

 person in the field ; those with the mixture o 

 lime and gunpowder having been much more 

 effectually broken and shattered than the other- 

 .\fter the success of this experiment, 1 have 

 constantly adhered to the practice ; and am so 

 satisfied of its utility, that 1 ivish to see it more 

 generally adopted. One thing is certain, that a 

 mixture composed of equal parts of quick-lime 



at 



The man who is the most careful in examin- 

 ing facts, and the most accurate in authentica 

 ting them, will, in general, form the most cor- 

 rect conclusions ; and him we call judicious. 

 He who is the quickest in comparing and com- 

 bining those which present themselves to him. 

 and the most rapid in deducing conclusions is 

 said to have talents. These two faculties are bv 

 no means necessarily conjoined ; and thus it 

 h.appens that men of talents are not always men 

 of solid understanding. 



The passion of De Luc, the natural philosopher, for 

 iniuic, was so predonjinant i.i his latter days, that ;i 

 piano was placed by his bed side, on which his daugh- 

 ter playtd great part of the day. The evening of his 

 death, seeiiij,- her father ready to sink into a slumber, 

 she asked him, " .Shall I play any more ?" "• Keep 

 playing," said he, " keep playing." He alcpt— but 

 awoke uo more. 



extensive scale, such as the numerous quarries 

 and mine works of this kingdom ! 



Swiftness of Men. — Men who are exercised in 

 running outstrip horses, or at least hold their 

 speed for a longer continuance ; in a journey 

 too, a man will walk down a horse ; and after 

 they have both continued to proceed for sever- 

 al days, the horse will be quite tired, and the 

 man as fresh as in the beginning. The king's 

 messengers of Ispahan who are runners by pro- 

 fession, go 108 miles in 14 houre. — Hottentots 

 outstrip lions in the chase, and sav::ges who 

 hunt the elk, tire down and take it, are said to 

 have performed a journey of three thousand and 

 six hundred miles in lets thaji six ■weeks. 



Coles, in his excellent history of plants, notices tho 

 virtues of lu mp thus laconically : " By this cordage 

 ships an guided, bell-, are ruflg^, beds areqcordcd, and 

 vogues are kept in awe." • 



