370 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SI Ay 6, 1840. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



Boston, WedsespAy, May 6, 1840. 



FloRLLA BosTONiENSis — A Collection nf Plnnts of Bos- 

 ton and its Vicinity, &c. By Jaioli liigelow, M. D. 

 Publislied by Charles V. Liiile nnd Janus Brown. 

 This is the third edition of a work published some 

 years since, and adapted to the present state of the sci- 

 ence among us. We shall allow the author to speaU for 

 himself in the preface ; lor wc could not say what he 

 eays so well as he has done it : 



" The taste for botanical studies which for many years 

 iias prevailed in this quartei of the Union, may with 

 some truth be said to have had its origin about the lime 

 of the publication of the first edition of this work. The 

 principal use of a local Flora is, that it enables botanical 

 inquirers to direct their attention chiefly to the objects 

 with svhich they are most likely to nreet in their resear- 

 ches about home, and saves them from the moree.xtended 

 labor of searching for the names of these objects through 

 the pages of general works. 



" Since the publication of the former editions of the 

 Flonila Bostoniensis, much progress has been made in 

 the knowledge of the structure and reliitions of plants. 

 A revolution appears to be taking place in , regard more 

 particularly lo two things. Firstly, the fci minology of 

 the science lias been greatly extended byithe introduc- 

 tion of more precise and definite terms to express the nu- 

 merous forms of vegetable organic structure. This is 

 rendered necessary by the vast additions which are con- 

 tinually making to the catalogue of known plants, to 

 distinguish and describe which, language itself is often at 

 fault. Secondly, a preference among botanical writers 

 greatly preponderates at the present day, in favor of the 

 arrangement of plants by natural orders and systems, rath- 

 er tlnn by the artificial metliod of Linnaeus. To those 

 who rullivate botany extensively as a science, there can 

 be no question that the natural method is far more exact 

 and satisfactory. On the other hand, to beginners, in 

 study, the artificial mode is more easy of comprehension, 

 and is more readily made available for the first steps in 

 the identification of plants.'' 



The book is well printed, and will be duly valued by 

 those interested in the science Our regret is that it 

 should not be accompanied by plates. There should in 

 such a work have been given at least a few colored plates 

 of some of* the principal plants described. This would 

 have increased the expense, but the class of readers who 

 use the book would gladly pay the additional cost for the 

 Talue which they would have added to the work. 



We cannot too strongly express the satisfaction which 

 we feel in observing the strong impulse willi which the 

 public mind is now setting towards the study of the natu- 

 ral sciences — botany, geology, mineralogy, chemistry, 

 zoology and yarious popular branches of natural philoso- 

 phy. They make the whole world, the inanimate as 

 well as the animate, alive to man. The intelligent in- 

 quirer and student of nature is never less alone than when 

 alone. All nature is full of religious instruction. Here 

 is God's earliest revelation ; and every thing discdoses to 

 the inquiring mind the wonders of his creation and provi- 

 dence. As to mere controversial tlieoltigy, most of it — ■ 

 we say it with all due respect to the opinions of those 

 much better informed — is a perfect waste of the mind 

 As to politics, who is the belter in them for knowledge, 

 or wisdom or truth.' Here party and passion, not prin- 

 ciple, regulate every thing. As to metaphysics, who 

 cares to wander in their intricate mazes blindfold, in end- 

 less labyrinths lost ; or go upon a Quixotic expedition 

 and lun a tilt with windmills? But every fact in the 

 natural world is interesting, impoitani, and iistrnctive ; 

 and the deeper we dig into this mine, the more precious 

 stones we throw out. Some of your wiseacres, the peo- 

 ple who belong to the family of the Knowalls, speak with 

 disdain of the study of nature in its minute departments. 



and laugh at gathering daisies and running after butter- 

 flies. If such conceit deserved 'notice, we would throw 

 it back upon them. But we say that the man who can 

 pluck the humblest flower that springs out of the earth, 

 or gather the smallest shell that is thrown upon the 

 ocean's shore, or inspect the minutest insect that the mi- 

 croscope can bring within its ken, and not see in them 

 with profound amazement, delight, and adoration, the 

 infinite skill, wisdom and benevolence of the Creator, is 

 sadly deficient in the highest qualities of the mind and 

 heart. 



Education cannot, in respect to the young, too much 

 bu.sy itself with these branches of knowledge. The 

 child taught to know, to study, and to recognise every 

 object in nature which comes in his way, will find in the 

 wt)rld a continual " feast of reason and flow of soul" — 

 will be inspired with an indomitable thirst for knowledge ; 

 will never be at a loss for recreation and for consolation ; 

 and will, in a high and spiritual .sense, "have meat to 

 eat which others know not of" H. C. 



A M.\NUAL, or an Easy Method of Managing Bees in the 

 most profitable manner to their owner, • with infallibh'. 

 rules to prevent their destruction by the moth. IJy 

 John M. Weeks, West Faims, Salisbury, Vt. New 

 edition, revised and enlarged. 



This book has been recently republished by Messrs 

 Weeks, Jordan & Co., of this city. It is a capital little 

 volume, and condenses much useful matter in a very 

 small compass We have had several hives of bees at 

 different times, but cannot boast much of success in tlieir 

 management. This did not arise from neglect, but from 

 ignorance f»f the best treatment of lliein, and from ill- 

 constructed hives. This little book furnishes the most full 

 and satisfactory information on the subjects on which it 

 i treats ; and does it in a simple, concise, and perfectly in- 

 telligible manner. There is added at the end a series 

 of questions, with references to different parts of the 

 book, which are well adapted to test the reader's know- 

 ledge and understanding of what he has been over. Mr 

 Weeks professes to give a perfect remedy against the 

 bee-moth, which has proved so destructive to the bees, 

 and so discouraging to the bee raisers. It certainly 

 promises to be effectual and supplies a great desideratum. 

 Mr Weeks' hive,- of which we spoke not long since, is 

 an admirable construction, built as then remarked, not 

 upon the assassin and piratical principles, but upon the 

 principle of give and lake ; and live and let live. 



Mr '' eeks discourages the practice of giving the bees 

 a large room in the house or out buildings. Several es- 

 tablishments of this kind have come under our ob- 

 servation ; but, in the majority of cases they have proved 

 failures VVe understand it lo be Mr W.'s opinion that 

 bees requires occasionally to swarm or be colonized, when 

 the young are sent out to provide for themselves, where- 

 as if they all remain at home constantly with the old 

 folks, and are continually marrying and intermarrying 

 within, there is a tendency, not unobserved, we believe 

 in other races of animals, to deteriorate, or as the phrase 

 is to run out. We are not responsible for Mr Weeks' 

 philosophy in the case; and wo know no one better en- 

 titled to speak with authority than a man, who, with so 

 much intelligent observaticm and success, has devoted so 

 much time to Ihe habits of this little, but most industri- 

 ous ;ind useful animal The bee and the silk-worm, they 

 put us quite to shame ! H. C 



indispensable. The measure then taken was to in- 

 quire what extra wages should be paid to the laborer to 

 induce him to abstain entirely from the use of ardent 

 spirit; and many were unwilling to come into such an 

 agreement upon any terms. The next step in the pro- 

 gress was for the hinvd men, when they applied for em- 

 ployment to commend themselves by stating that they 

 did not use any ardent spirit. Now no^man makes any 

 stipulation about it. The farmer gives none; and he 

 givi-'s no increase of wages. The hired man expects 

 none ; and in many cases so far fmm making any stipu- 

 lation, he would be surprised if any thing should be 

 said by his employer on the subject. He feels that 

 his own character is in danger, if he sliould use it 

 or express any complaint at being denied it. This 

 shows an immense gain to the cause of Temperance; 

 and we can say with as much truth as pleasure, that of 

 the hundreds of farmers whom we have visited in our 

 explorations in diflerenl parts of the Commonwealth, not 

 one farmer in fifty permits a drop of ardent spirits lo 

 come on to his premises. What greater blessing can 

 coiiie from heaven than is such an improvement in pub- 

 lic sentiment and public morals, indicated by such facts. 



H. C. 



ERRATA IN THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE 

 ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SO.flETY. 



We are requested to make some corrections in this val- 

 uable pamphlet which are deehned material. On page 

 38th, line tenth from top, the no is to beomitted. In the 

 12th line of the same page for 1G6 lbs., you must read 

 one pound. 



These errors occur in a most valuable paper by Dr 

 Nichols, of Danvers on the subject of manures, which 

 we give to our readers in this number. 



It may seem extraordinary to those not familiar with 

 jhese matters, that such errors should occur, and escape 

 an earlier detection. But such persons know very little 

 of the various passages which the author has to make be- 

 fore he presents his offspring to the public. Sometimes 

 his own manuscript is not plain. Then the compositor 

 may err; or the proof reader may err; or the proof cor- 

 rector may fail in his duty ; or the letters may drop out 

 of the form after all is done. As to proof readers and 

 compositors, the poor author must make up his mind in 

 the beginning, that they may be very acute and clevei 

 fellows out of the office, yet as proofreaders and compos- 

 itors they do not know any thing, and it is not to be ex- 

 pected that they should know any thing beyond seeing 

 that all the ems, and ens, and points, and leads are in the 

 right place. We confess it is mortifying enough to be 

 made to say what you did not intend to say ; and espe- 

 cially to be made to use a negative when we mean an 

 affirmative. W'e sympathise with the Doctor in this 

 case. Plague take the printers, we say ! no longer ago 

 than last week, instead of saying three full gown pat- 

 terns, they made us say three full grown patterns; after 

 all, it might have been much worse — or no might have 

 been put in a much more inconvenient place, as for ex- 

 ample had a certain lady of our acquaintance a few years 

 since have put in a negative instead of an affirmative, 

 certainly our friend the Doctor would have had much 

 more cause to complain than if No had been thrust in 

 witliout reason upon every page of his communication. 

 VVe cannot say who is responsible for these errors, but 

 'we know who ought lo f"uo(c the bill. H. C. 



PKOGUESS OF TEMPERANCE. 



Twenlyfive years ago, and within the compass of a 

 pretty extensive acquaintance, we knew of not more than 

 two farmers, who were not in the habit of giving ardent 

 spirit freely to their hired men ; and considered its use 



Soda. — A few ounces of soda will soften a hogshead of 

 the hardest water It is greatly superior to either pot or 

 pearlash giving a delicate whiteness to the linen, without 

 the slightest injury, and it never, unless excess is used, 

 in the least afl'ects the hands. 



