206 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAMJART a tHM, 



AND gardener's JOURNAL. 



Boston, Wednesday, Jandabt 2, 1839. 



NOTrCE. 



Tlic subscriber, Coinniissionur of Agricultural Survey, 

 has taken, for tlie winter, an office at IVo. 32 North Mar- 

 ket street, over the office of the New England Fanner 

 and Agricultural Seed store, where he will be happy to 

 see his agricultural friends on the business of his appoint- 

 ment. HENRY COI.MAN. 



Jan. 1, 1839. 



Thi 



THE CLOSE OF THE YEAR. 



1 number, though it does not complete our volume, 



yet closes our labors for the year eighteen hundred and 

 thirty eight. We beg leave to offer to our readers our 

 cordial congratulations that Divine Providence has hith- 

 erto spared their lives, and gives them the prospect of en- 

 tering upon a now period of active duty and sanguine 

 enterprise. 



We,are not disposed to moralize on this occasion far 

 tiler than to remind our readers of the great truth that 

 experience should serve as the guide of the future ; and 

 that to the sagacious and intelligent mind the lessons of 

 memory arc great and certain sources of discretion and 

 wisdom. He is blind to his highest interests, he has yet 

 to look for the substantial elements of future happiness 

 and progressive improvement, who does not make the 

 teachings of his experience the beacons to warn him of 

 dangers which surround his path ; stimulants to increased 

 activity in duty ; mementoes of the rapidprogressof time, 

 and familiar instructors as to the true and best ends of 

 life. 



The inquisitive and reflecting mind, becomes early im- 

 pressed with the great truth that this world is not under 

 the dominion of a blind and capricious chance, as though 

 every man's fate or fortune were placed in a sealed paper 

 in a ioltcry wheel promiscuously with the fortunes nf all 

 other men; and to bo selected from ihence in the form 

 of a blank or a prize as some boy with his eyes bandaged 

 may happen to draw this or the other number. TIktc 

 are fixed laws and principles active in the constitution of 

 external n-iture, and in man's own phyoc^d, mental, and 

 moral constitution, whose operation is determined, inex- 

 orable, and irresistible ; which cannot be transcended, or 

 violated, or neglected by man with impunity ; and a con- 

 formity to which is ultimately and always certain of its 

 compensation. 



The highest wisdom of man is to eonform his purposes 

 and actions to these laws ; and thus make them available 

 and subservient to his honorable and just designs. The 

 greatest folly and madness is to act iio defiance of them, 

 a struggle in which man is sure of defeat and loss and 

 ruin. The courtiers of king Canute in their debasing 

 sycophancy assured him that even the ocean would bow 

 to his command. To demonstrate their folly and mean- 

 ness he ordered them to place his chair on the beach 

 when the tide was at the ebli ; and seating himself in it 

 comrnandeil his flatterers to stand by and see if at his 

 edict the flood tide would refuse to come back at the pro- 

 per hour. But it is not in any earthly despot, let him be 

 ever so strongly entrenched in power, to put aside the 

 course of nature, or with barriers mountain high to check 

 the gentlest risin,, of the returninn wave. 



The Creator in his beneficence has given us sagacity 

 and experience to reveal to ns those great laws of our 

 constitution. Eet us bo thankful that we can avail our- 

 selves of their aid and power. 



The most remarkable feature in the prospectus is tl 



announcement that " the Boston Cultivator will conta 



a quarter more matter than the New England Fan 



We sincerely hope that the matter which it v^ill contai 



will be three quarters better ; and that of course wi 



make tlie Boston Cultivator twice as good as the Ne 



England Farmer. Now as we mean to do our best wil 



the N. E. Farmer, we hope we do not presume too muc 



in predicting that the Boston Cultivator will be highl 



deserving of public patronage. We trust, however, w 



We have been favored by a friend with the following shall be pardoned for saying that this announceinei 



beautiful epitome of a sermon to which we had the plea- sounds a little too much like the cracking of the whip ( 



sure of listening on Sunday afternoon. It was at the an opposition st:ige driver. The respectable Editor < 



close of the year, and the preacher urged upon his hearers i the Boston Cultivator may be assured that we drive n 



"There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

 If taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, 

 But if omitted, all our life is bound in shallows 

 And in miseries." 



" Let's take the instant by the forward top 

 For we are old and our quick'st decrees 

 The fnaudible and noiseless foot of lime 

 Steals, ere we can effect them." H. C. 



like Paul on his arrival near Rome, " to thank God and 

 take courage," to look back with gratitude for the good- 

 ness, which has brought t'lem thus far on their journey ; 

 and to enter upon a new year with courage and hope j a 

 courage resting upon a consciousness of their own strength 

 to do what Gid requires of them, and a hopeful and firm 

 trust in his beneficent providence to order the future with 

 a wise and merciful regard to their highest good. 



SERMON FOR THE NEW YEAR. 



" Take courage" — and the onward road — 

 Nor cast one lingering look behind ; 



Let hope be with thee — " trust in God," 

 And thou that onward path shalt find 



A way of happiness and peace, 



Of present good— of future bliss. 



Oh ! think how many perils thou 



Hast vanquished by thine energy. 

 And say if thou wilt meet them now 



Determined they shall bend to thee. 

 Or if thou wilt prefer to live 

 Despondency's unpitied slave. 



What though misfortune's heavy hand 



Hath struck thee with unerring aim, 

 "Take courage"— for thou still dost stand j 



As rich, in all, but in the name, 

 As ere thy wealth— so long thy st.ay. 

 By one rude breath was swept avvav. 



And what tliough sickness — ay, and death 



Have o'er thy threshold wildly trod. 

 Hear what the great apostle saith, 



" Take courage— place thy trust in God," 



Press omcard- though thy heart be riven 

 With pain and woe— press on to Heaven ! 



Thy home is Heuven! — then why should earth. 

 And earth-born cares, molest thy peace ': 



Let buoyant Hope, and gentle Mirth, 

 Thy soul sustain— thy joys increase. 



From doubt and error, still keep free, 

 Nor listen to Despondency. 



THE BOSTON CULTIVATOR 



We see announced a new agricultural paper to be is- 

 sued weekly; to be called the Boston Cultivator, and to 

 be edited by the veteran farmer, Wm. Buckminsler,Esq. 

 of Framingham. Mr Buckminstcr is the inventor of a 

 corn planter, which performs its work admirably ; and of 

 a grass-eed sower, which bids fair to prove useful. Time 

 will show what it is worth. He now proposes to sow 

 the seeds of agricultural knowledge and improvement in 

 the public mind. We sincerely wish him an abundant 

 harvest; but whether he has any improved machinery 

 for doing this is matter of inquiry for the Board of Edu- 

 cation. 



opposition line ; and shall not race with him ; nor cros 

 his path ; nor steal the names from liis passenger book, 

 gentlemanly trick, which some persons may possibi 

 have heard of; nor carry for less than he docs for Ih 

 sake of underbidding him. This stepping upon anotho 

 man's shoulder, when a crowd are pressing into a dooi 

 with a view of getting in advance, certainly marks apr< 

 ficient in gymnastics; and is doubtless to be receive 

 with all due gratitude by the individual whose shouldt 

 is used for a stepping stone to another man's cnierprisi 

 We take this occasion to inform the public that the Nev 

 England Farmer does not contain as much by one quarte 

 as a week's numbers of the New York E.\press or th 

 New York Courier and Inquirer. 



NOTICE. 

 An adjourned meeting of the Committee of the Mass 

 Hort. Society on Fruits, will be holdcn at the hall of th 

 Society on Satuiday, the 5th inst. at 10 o'clock A. M 

 for the purpose of awarding the premiums on fruits foj 

 the present year. A punctual attendance is requested. 

 For the Committee, 



WILLIAM KENRICK, Chairman. 

 Jan. 1, 1S39. 



THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER AND GARDEN 

 ERS JOURNAL. 



Volume Seventetnth, — commencing July 11, 1838*1 



Back numbers can hefw-iiished. Published h. 

 Joseph Breck & Co., Xo. 52, Xorih Market 



Street, Boston. 

 To TiiK Public, — 



'I'he proprietors and publishers of the New England 

 Farmer ask leave respectfully to present their claims up- 

 on the continued patronage of the agricultural community. 



" Sliall auld acquaintance be forgot.'" The New Eiig. 

 land Farmer was commenced sixteen years ago by the 

 late lamented Mr Fessenden. The project of a newspa- 

 per devoted exclusively to the concerns and interests ol 

 agriculture was at that time a project entirely novel in 

 New England; the success of which was altogether ques- 

 tionable. He brought to it the treasures of his practical 

 knowledge ; his careful observation ; his varied experi- 

 ence ; and his persevering and exact inquirv. It soon 

 rose into public esteem, and continued a tiivorite of the 

 public until his death. The vast amount of learned, 

 practical, and useful information contained in its volumes 

 fully justify the patronage, which it has received; as it 

 is confidently believed tliat in this respect no work has 

 been iiiore distinguished; and the same number of vol- 

 umes is not to be found, which are richer in varied, sound, 

 useful, and practical knowledge. 



No pains or labor have been spared since the death of 

 this excellent friend of the farming interest, this friend of 

 every social interest, and every useful enterprise, to 

 inaintain the high character of this journal and to extend 

 its usefulness. These efforts, from the approbation gen- 

 erally exprejssed, have not been without success ;°and 

 this success is an encouragement to persevere and to re- 

 double these efforts. This we promise ; and respectfully 

 ask therefore the continued patronage of a rcadin", a 

 working, and intelligent public. "' 



The proprietors of the N. E. Farmer would scrupu- 

 lously avoid any invidious comparisons with other agri- 



