VOL. XV. NO. 33, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



2.51 



We learn from this that there is an art in this 

 business, and that science may he of the greatest 

 advantage in its direction. With tlie fifty years 

 preceding 1814, about 500 vohimes were published 

 in that country on agricultural subjects, and the 

 titles of books appearing in the quarterly lists of 

 new publications since that time, would seem to 

 indicate that the annual numbers have increased. 

 This contrasts strongly with the small catalogue 

 hitherto published in the United States upon sim- 

 ilar subjects, as contained in your pamphlet of 

 1834. 



In New England, the landholder and the labo- 

 rer are united in the same person ; and in order 

 to the highest improvement of agricidture, he 

 should combine the industry of the British laborer, 

 which he already possesses, and the philosophy 

 of the British landlord, of which it is to be feared 

 he is sometimes deficient. In this mode only can 

 it be practically elevated ta the rank of a science ; 

 and by this mode the exr.mple of England teach- 

 es us that labor may be facilitated, products in- 

 creased in amount and value, and new worth given 

 to lands. 



It is admitted, indeed it is enforced as a truth 

 necessary to be understood, that all our other in- 

 stitutions call for the exercise of mind, and in 

 most others a part of the fruits of success will be 

 some degree of intellectual distinction. Agricul- 

 ture has often been suppo.sed to be a trade which 

 a man tnight follow without much, if any previous 

 training, in which success de|)ended on the bones 

 and sinews alone, and in its piiisnit knowledge, 

 beyond a very limited extent, would be useless. 

 That however widely or brightly the raysof science 

 might shine, into this broad department of human 

 life they need not, and could not penetrate. Per- 

 ha|)S it has been owing, in no small degree, to 

 opinions like these, that this avocation has lost 

 some of the favor which it enjoyed. If it were 

 once well established that it affords a field for 

 mental effort, the mind would here seek for dis- 

 tinction. It would then be a part of the business 

 of the farmer to cultivate [irecisely the same fac- 

 ulties, and to exercise the same powers of mind 

 that in other lines of life lead to elevation. The 

 effects of such a conviction woidd be alike favor- 

 able to the general interests of husbuulry, and 

 beneficial to the character of the cidtivators. 

 (Concluded next weelt ) 



AGRICUL-TrRAIi PROSPERITY. 



Never since the first settlement of the country, 

 were farmers in circumstances so easy and pros- 

 perous as the present time ; and if they are not 

 paying off their debts, improving their lands and 

 buildings, and making provision for the education 

 and settlement of their children, it is because they 

 are indolent, or inattentive to their affairs. It is 

 true some crops, in some parts of the coun'ry, 

 have been less abundant than in former years; — 

 but others have been more so, and it is believed, 

 taking the whole into consideration, the fruits of 

 the earth have not fallen iimch short of its average 

 annual increase ; — and as for prices of all kinds 

 of agricultural productions, they are unpreceden- 

 ted in our history. Without detailing present 

 prices, it may safely be stated, that farmer's pro- 

 duce, especially articles in<lispensable to the up- 

 holding of life, has advanced at least 50 per cent, 

 within the last eighteen months ; and it is fair to 

 infer that their lands have advanced in the same 

 ratio — for real estate, like stocks, rises and falls 



in market with the amount of income it yields, or 

 with good management may be made to yield, its 

 cultivator. If this be so, it follows that every far- 

 mer is actually worth at least fifty per cent, more 

 than he vv.as a year and a half ago, and more than 

 he may suppose himself to be worth at the pres- 

 ent time. 



Thoiigli the causes which have produced this 

 astonishing advance in the prices of farmer's pro- 

 flu(!e, while those of the manufacturer have renjain- 

 ed nearly stationary, may be concealed from his 

 view ; yet he may rest assured they are of such a 

 nature as to warrant him in increased exertions in 

 the cultivation of his farm, and product of such 

 fruits of the earth as are necessary to sustain life. 

 While the present disjiosition to exchange the la- 

 bors of the field for those of the workshop, the 

 factory and the learned professions continues — 

 while the present mania for the construction of 

 canals, railroads and other public works rages — 

 and while the present tide of foreign population 

 flows in upon us, the present disproportion be- 

 tween production and consumption will exist and 

 prevent a material reduction in present prices. — 

 Though agricalture is imquestionably the most 

 profitable business which is pursued under exist- 

 ing circumstances, yet many farmers are camf)lain- 

 ing about hard times. They claim that the pres- 

 ent high prices afford them no facilities for the 

 acquisition of wealth, and assign as a principal 

 reason the high price of labor — but they forget 

 that their labor is an impoj-tant part of their capi- 

 tal, and that a; it advances in value their capital 

 is increased in amount. This remark, it is true, 

 is more peculiarly a|'|ilicable to practical farmers 

 — men who labor with their own hands, and such 

 are ordinarily the only men whoaccumtdate wealth 

 by agriculture. 



As highly as we estimate the profession of an 

 agriculturist, and as profitable as we believe the 

 business to be at the present time, we woul I ad- 

 vise no man to engage isi it whose hands aiv too 

 delicate to handle the hoe without gloves. To 

 insure the fanner success he must labor, more or 

 less, with his own hands, and be cajiable of judg- 

 ing whether his work is well or ill done. He 

 must also know whether his hired help perform 

 that amount of labor which they are in duly bound 

 to render him, and whether the results of it will 

 leave him a profit after their wages are deducted. 

 Gentlemen who have acquired fortunes by com- 

 merciil and professional business, and who may 

 be disfiosed to retire to rural life, will find much 

 amusement in agricidture: but they must not he 

 disappointed if they find but little profit. The 

 profits of a farm are in i)roportion to the amount 

 of labor bestowed upon it : and the farmer who 

 performs it principally with his own hands and 

 those of his family, generally grows richer and 

 richer, while one whose hands are too tender to 

 endure the rays of the stm, and whose children 

 are too good to work, almost invariably grows 

 poorer and poorer. — Silk Cult. 



Domestic Medicine. — The castors on a din- 

 ner table, are said, by a late London work, to he 

 a kind of medicine chest containing drugs of 

 great virtues. 1. Salt. — This is a decided cath- 

 artic in the dose of half an ounce. It is also a 

 vermifuge in large doses. Criminals in Holland 

 were formerly sentenced to live without salt, and 

 became terribly afflicted with* worms. 2. Vinegar. 

 — This is refrigerent and diaphoretic, and applied 



externally, is moderately stimulant. If an over- 

 dose of soda has been taken, or if any other al- 

 kah, it is a certain antidote. 3. Mustard. — Mus- 

 tard emetic is said to be infallible in the cholera ; 

 a mustard poultice is almost equal to a blister 

 plaster. 4. Olive Oil. — This says the dispensa- 

 ries, is "demulcent, relaxant and laxative." It is 

 an antidote against acrid poisons, and seems to be 

 obnoxious to worms, killing them it is supposed, 

 by stopping some of their breathing holes. Be- 

 sides, it relieves the pain occasioned by the appli- 

 cation of pungent acrid substances to the skin. 

 5. Pepper. — '1 his relieves diarrhoea and the re- 

 laxed sore throat. Peperin, the alkaloid extract 

 from the i)epper, has cured the ague in the hands 

 of Dr Meli and others. 



Experiments tried in a well or drill hole, 800' 

 feet deep, at Monr|ielier, Vt., have shown that the 

 increase of ln^at in descending, is at the rate of 

 one degree for every 80 feet. Such an increasj 

 would indicate that in descending towards the 

 earth's centre, at no very great distance from its- 

 surface, the heat must he such as to hold in a 

 state of fusion, any body with which we are ac- 

 quainted, and would seem to prove that the globe 

 is in fact in the depths of its interior, a large mass 

 of materials, heated to melting. How far the 

 above experiment may go to account for the exis- 

 tence of the hot springs whicli are found in va- 

 rious countries, we leave it to the scientific to de- 

 cide ; one thing is certain, that whatever may be 

 the state of thing:- at the centre of our hall, peo- 

 |)le on its outside, are too often apt to get into hot 

 water. 



Extraordinary Operation. — Last week a 

 young lady, the only daughter of one of our most 

 opulent citizens, in endeavoring to pick a knot out 

 of a thread with a fine needle, it broke and the 

 pointed part flew with violence into her eye, 

 where it penetrated to some depth, causing incon- 

 ceivable agony. The most eminent physicians 

 were immediately sent fi)r, who ess.iyed in vain to 

 extract the needle, and finally gave it up. Dr. 

 Scudder was then si'iit for, who first made an in- 

 cision with a delicate instiume'it, and then, by 

 means of a powerful magnet, drow the needle so 

 far out that he grasped it with a pair of magnet- 

 ised foice|)S, and in an instant it was out. The 

 young lady, we are happy to learn, is now as, heal- 

 thy and happy as if nothing had occurred. — Sun- 

 day JVeivs. 



Vermont Mangeni.se. — A gentleman of Chit- 

 tenden, Vermont, writes to the Editor of a Wind- 

 sor paper, that Mangenese is found very ])lentifully 

 in Chittenden, and tliat this is the only bed in 

 America from which it is obtained at jiresenf. — 

 The owner of the bed has supplied the New York 

 Market for two or three years past, and is furnish- 

 ing several hundred tons for exportation to Eng- 

 land this winter. Geologists, who have seen only 

 such specimens of Mangenese as are generally 

 found in cabinets of minerals, are invited to take 

 a ride up to the mountains and supply them- 

 selves. 



Vohmtaiy thoughts are the best indication of the 

 frame of our minds. As the nature of the soil is 

 soil is judged by the grass which it brings forth, 

 so may the disposition of the heart hy the predom- 

 inancy of the voluntary thoughts. — Owen. 



