vol,. XIH. NO. as. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



COLIiEGTIOai AND DIPFCSIOIV OP USEFUL. 

 KNOWL.EOGE:. 



It is a saying sanctioiieil liy the authority of 



Bacon, tliat " knowledge is power." Of all tlie va- 

 rious sons of power, enurnci-ated by that great 

 philoso|>her, this seieiiis hy iJir the most important. 



What gives one man any real superiority over an- 

 other but the l^nowleflge he possesses? What 

 enables some individuals to produce abundant har- 

 vests, — to carry on a prosperous commerce, — to 

 establish successful manufactures, — to excel in 

 mechanism, or any other useful art, but the acqui- 

 sition and judicious application of that knowledge 

 in which others are deficient? 



That the jtower and prosperity of a country de- 

 pend on the diffusion of useful knowledge can 

 hardly be questioned ; and there is, probably, no 

 irt, in which a variety of knowledge is of more 

 sssential importance, than in that of agriculture, 

 rhe e.xtent of information necessary to bring it to 

 my thing like perfection is far greater than is gen- 

 irally supposed. To preserve the fertility of the 

 loil — to free it from superfluous moisture — to cul- 

 ivate it to the greatest advantage — to raise its 

 iroductions at the least expense — to procure the 

 lest instruments of husbandry — to select the stock 

 ikely to be the most profitable — to feed them in 

 he most judicious manner, and to bring them to 

 he most advantageous markets — to secure the 

 arvest, even in the most unpropitious sea- 

 ons, to separate the grain from the straw with 

 conomy and success, and to perform all the 

 ther operations of agriculture in the most judi- 

 ious modes, require a greater extent and variety 

 f knowledge, than might, at first view, be judged 

 jquisite. 



But though a geueral knowledge of agriculture 

 lay be diffused over a great country, it is found 

 y experience that it cannot be materially improv- 

 i, unless by comparing the various practices which 

 ibsist, in different parts of the same kingdom. 

 ne district has been led to pay a peculiar and suc- 

 issful attention to one branch of husbandry, or 

 f a fortunate accident, some important discovery 

 IS been made in it, while other districts excel in 

 her particulars of equal importance. Mutual 

 mefit is derived from the communication of such 

 cal practices. Of this, the improved modes of 

 iring by Elkington — the warping of land on the 

 inks of the Humber — the drilling of turnips and 

 itatoes in the northern part of the island, and the 

 ore geueral use of the threshing-mill, and vari- 

 13 other articles of agricultural machinery, may 



cited as examples. 



The advantages that may be derived, from the 

 suit of those inquiries which have been carried 



by the Board of Agriculture, in so far as re- 

 rds the culture of arable land, may thus be briefly 

 ited. The means have been explained, by which, 



fertile districts, and in propitious seasons, the 

 ■mer may, on an average, confidently expect to 

 ip from 32 to 40 bushels of wheat, from 42 to 



bushels of barley, from 52 to 64 bushels of oats, 

 d from 25 to 32 bushels of beans, Winchester 

 iasure, per statute acre. As to green crops, 

 rty tons of turnips, three tons of clover, and 

 m eight to ten tons of potatoes, per statute acre, 

 ly be confidently relied on. In favorable seasons 

 : crops are still more abundant ; but even these 

 srage ones, spread over a large proportion of 

 ■■ united kingdom, would produce more solid 

 alth than foreign commerce coidd ever furnish. 

 Sinclair. 



195 



MARINER'S COMPASS. 



A correspondent from East Bjidgewater, (Mr. 

 Samuel Rodgers,) has sent us a specimen of a tern- 

 porary compass, to bo used at sea, in case of acci- 

 dental loss of compass. It may be made in this 

 manner : — Take a i)iece of steel wire — a sail nee- 

 dle will do, after the point and eye are broken off: 

 liold the middle of it over a lamp, till the temper 

 IS taken out ; it then should be flattened a little in 

 the middle, and a puncture made to keep it steady 

 on the pivot : it should be bent a little in the mid- 

 'le so as to admit of its being balanced by its own 

 gravity; charge it with magnetism in the usual 

 manner ; poise it on the point of a common needle 

 and it will traverse freely, and point to the north. 

 — Centinel. 



STOCK. 



I do not think that farmers in this vicinity pay 

 that attention to improving the different breeds of 

 their neat cattle which it would be profitable for 

 them to bestow. And to what is this owing? 

 Is It not to the sceptical conclusions which they 

 have adopted concerning the practicability of the 

 subject ? The idea is prevalent that the breed is 

 nothing, feed every thing; that this in fact is all 

 that is necessary to make fine animals. But this 

 IS a very mistaken notion, and one which ought to 

 be exploded. Good keeping is an excellent thing, 

 It IS readily granted ; but it was never known to 

 reduce bone or offal, or to produce any ratlical 

 change in the animal physiology. It may serve to 

 perfect the nature, such as it is, and this is all it 

 can do; change it, it never can. 



Those who affirm that their disbelief in this mat- 

 ter is derived from nothing less than their own ex- 

 perience, cannot, to say the least, I think, have en- 

 joyed the benefit of an enlightened experience. 

 Their mode of operations must have been defec- 

 tive, and the error probably lies in not conforming 

 their practice to a rule, the observance of which 

 in every particular is necessary to ensure complete 

 success. It consists simply in breeding from dams 

 and sires of distinct blood, who possess themselves, 

 and are descended from ancestors who possessed be'- 

 fore thein,the peculiar attributes and properties which 

 it is sought to perpetuate in the progeny. An ad- 

 herence to this rule, so far as it is practicable, 

 would be productive of results with which I am' 

 persuaded, farmers would have no reason to be 

 dissatisfied. It is important always to know what 

 is the proper course to be pursued ; and in the 

 present case, such knowledge may serve to guard 

 us from two very common errors, viz. first that of 

 breeding from near relatives, according to the "in 

 and in" system, as it is called ; and secondly, thai 

 of disregarding ancestry, and forming our expec- 

 tations of the character of the progeny solely from 

 that of the parents. 



I cannot but think, were all farmers hereafter 

 carefully to eschew those fatal errors, and to reg- 

 ulate their practice according to the foregoing sug- 

 gestions, we might confidently anticipate a speedy 

 arrival of the period when there would be no 

 longer occasion for the old saw, " a good cow may 

 have a bad calf." — Old Colony Democrat. 



A hint to the rich. Mrs. Carter declares that liv- 

 ing money is a very inconsiderable part of charity ; 

 " but," she adds, " my wretched inactivity seldom' 

 allows me to do any thing more, and therefore I al- 

 ways feel it a duty to do in this instance what 1 

 can." 



From the Boston Courier. 

 I A CHRISTMAS TAI.E. 



En!(Mii)g our private room a few days since, we 

 noticed on the table, a stone pof, of the capacity of 

 about two gallons, with a clean bit of brown tow- 

 cloth tied very securely over the top, and a card 

 sewed thereon, bearing the following superscrip- 

 tion :— " Editor of the Courier, Boston." " What, 

 in the name of wonder, have we here," was our 

 first and very natural exclamation : on which the 

 clerk placed in our hands a letter — a beautiful 

 sheet of straw-colored letter-paper, having a super- 

 scription similar to that on the card above mention- 

 ed. The contents afforded a specimen of chirogra- 

 phy, which Mr. Bristovv himself would not be 

 ashamed to acknowledge. We will not attempt to 

 epitomize the contents, for we are confident they 

 would suffer by the process. Here they are in full, 

 verb, et lit. et punct. etc. etc. 



Mrs. " Cobm Yerks" has the pleasure to present 

 her most resjiectful compliments to the Editor of the 

 Boston Courier for the very kind and honorable no- 

 tice he has taken of her dear husband's recipe for 

 making apple-sauce out of pumpkins. And agreeable 

 to his (the Editor's) suggestion, she herewith sends a 

 pot of the '• rael gemvine" pumpkin apple-sauce— one 

 half of which is, bona fide, pumpkin. 



And she hopes, that after this testimonial of her 

 personal regard— and after he has proved it by the 

 bestof experiments— a dish of it along with a turkey, 

 duck, or chicken— or a spare-rib, sirloin or mutton 

 leg— on a Christmas or New Year's day, he will, as 

 he has promised, "give his opinion of its merits" to 

 the public, in his usual felicitous manner. 



And fur:her,she would not consider herself entitled 

 to the hoiiniy he so kindly offered— a copy of the 

 Courier gT«<iS,— for she has been a reader and ber 

 husband a paying subscriber of his excellent paper 

 for several years past. M as. " Cobus Yerks " 



Bernardston, Dec. 6th, 1834. 



Now we think this is one hair slicker than any 

 thing that our fashionable blue-stocking ladies can 

 write, though we would not insinuate that many 

 a farmer's wife in New England would not write 

 as well. 



But our pot of pumpkin applesauce: It was 

 carried home, and has proved genuine. The first 

 day after its arrival it was duly honored, not only 

 by the approbation of our little family, consistin«- 

 in round numbers, of fifteen, but also by the en- 

 thusiastic approvance of two or three gentlemen 

 who were providentially with us to take dinner' 

 One of them, a bachelor, after eating of the deli- 

 cious sauce, and hearing the letter of Mrs. Yerks 

 —which we read to the company for their edifical 

 tion,— inquired very seriously, if the lady had nuy 

 daughters that were marriageable .'—an inquiry 

 which we regret it was not in our power to answer 

 The other, who is also a bachelor, and soinethin.^ 

 of a chemist, and withal, pretty well acquainted 

 with the domestic economy of our Yankee Farmers 

 said that so delightfully were the ingredients min- 

 gled and so happily were the respective flavors of 

 each run into the other, as it were— the sweetness 

 of the pumpkin subduing and mollifying the tart- 

 ness of the apple, and the acid of the apple, im- 

 parting sprightliness and pungency to the saccha- 

 rine heaviness of the pumpkin— that the delicious 

 compound was like— like— nothing on earth but 



PUMPKIN APPLE-SAUCE. ' 



(C?°The recipe for making this new and econom- 

 ical article, will be found in the Courier of Nov 22 

 under the title "Geoponics," which see. ' 



See likewise N. E. Farmer, p. 146 of the cur- 

 rent volume. 



