I860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



91 



■WINTER SUNSET. 



By graceful scrolls of ice like, pearly blue, 

 And streaks of violet-red, like new-born flame, 

 Damp heaps of gathered stubble leaping through, 

 Pale gold in lengthening bars, and many a hue, 

 Shifting too suddenly for eye to mark, 

 On leaden-colored wave-clouds, thick and dark, 

 As nearer still the hastening sunset drew, 

 I knew when dreary, wild November came. 



■With musing heart I watched the beautiful sight, 



While the coal brightened, while the young fire blazed, 



Till all had vanished, twilight sunk to night, 



And star by sta,r hung out its lonely light 



O'er fields of dark to stretch a raonarcli ray. 



Like beacon -light across the mariner's way ; 



But ere the evening glory took its flight, 



Some peaceful thoughts breathed on me as I gased. 



Dread not of earthly change the wintry night ; 

 Be faith in God thy bosom's constant guest ; 

 Go not self-panoplied to stormy figlit, 

 Xor stay encastled in presumptuous might ; 

 Thy God's pavilion stretches o'er thee still ; 

 lu coming darkness he will work Ws will ; 

 "With lifted eye behold the clouds now bright 

 Witli hues that harbinger the pilgrim's rest. 



Warm-housed, with curtains down and fresh-trimmed light, 



Or liurrying home with mantle-shielded eyes. 



Shivering and chattering, we miss the sight 



Of beauty in tlie wintry sky, more bright 



Than in the spring or summer-time we see ; 



And as a vision came these thoughts to me 



In the fair eve of that November night. 



When looking on that sheen of numberless dyes. 



Montldy RcUghtis Magazine for January, 



PBOPOETIONS OF THE HUMAJST FIGURE. 



The proportions of the human figure are strict- 

 ly mathematical. The whole figure is six times 

 the length of the foot. Whether the form be slen- 

 der or plump, this rule holds good. Any devia- 

 tion from it is a departure from the highest beau- 

 ty of proportion. The Greeks make all their stat- 

 ues according to this rule. The face, from the 

 highest point of the forehead where tlie hair be- 

 gins, to the end of the chin, is one-tenth of the 

 whole stature. The hand, from the wrist to the 

 end of the middle finger, is the same. The chest 

 is a fourth, and from the nipples to the top of the 

 head is the same. From the top of the chest to 

 the highest point of the forehead is a seventh. If 

 the length of the face, from the roots of the hair 

 to the chin, be divided into three equal parts, the 

 first division determines the point where the eye- 

 brows meet, and the second, the place of the nos- 

 trils. The navel is the central point of the human 

 body, and if a man should lie on his back with his 

 arms extended, the periphery of the circle which 

 might be described around him, with the navel 

 for its centre, v/ould touch the extremities of his 

 hands and feet. The height from the feet to the 

 top of the head, is the same as the distance from 

 the extremities of the other when the arms are ex- 

 tended. These are the general measures of the 

 species. 



Large Eaks of Corn. — A correspondent of 

 the Ohio Fanner says : "I shelled several ears, 

 and they produced as follows : One lOGO grains ; 

 another" 11 00 ; another 1100 ; and another 1164. I 

 have heard old farmers say that a paper, wrapped 



around an ear of corn, the ear then taken out, will 

 not contain the shelled corn of that ear. I tried 

 it with two. ears, and the paper would not hold th6 

 corn ; one of those ears had 9o6 grains on it, of 

 which 535 filled a pint cup. At this rate, it would 

 take 34,540 grains to make a bushel." 



Far the New England Farmer. 

 STUDIES OF THE SOIL— No. 1. 

 BY WILLI.AM EDSON. 



The two sciences, as such, geology and chemis- 

 try, from which must arise in a more or less direct 

 manner all theory in relation to the formation and 

 treatment of soils, are but little understood among 

 practical men, and are commonly treated by them 

 as subjects entirely aloof from their duties; yet 

 every intelligent working man, and especially the 

 farmer, is both a chemist and a geologist, and de- 

 pends, in a degi'ee, for his success, upon his prac- 

 tical knowledge of these sciences. 



Aside from the merely business view of this 

 knowledge, there is another in which its value is 

 greatly enhanced, — I refer to its efi'ect upon the 

 mind of the recipient. We all live in two worlds, 

 the world of mind and the world of matter. It is 

 the lot of most to labor in one or both of these. Ne- 

 cessity requires us to labor in one, the world of 

 matter, which is the labor of the hands. Manli- 

 ness and Christianity urge us to labor in the oth- 

 er, which is the work of the mind. Life cannot be 

 truly enjoyed independent of either health of 

 mind or health of body, and as health of body de- 

 pends directly upon bodily exercise, so health of 

 mind depends directly upon mental exercise. 



All agree that, in the duties of the intelligent 

 farmer, the labors of the hand and brain are most 

 harmoniously blended, and that it is for him to 

 enjoy that rarest of all blessings, a "sound mind 

 in a sound body." 



The farmer, as he follows the plow, may not be 

 wholly engrossed in mere manual labor — every 

 clod that the plow turns up, will give him a lesson 

 in geology, and every rootlet a lesson in botany ; 

 let him be ever so indiflerent, nature Mill insif t 

 upon his learning some one of her many secrets ; 

 she will give him something to treasure up for his 

 future use or pleasure. By this almost involunta- 

 ry study has the farmer's storehouse of knowl- 

 edge l)een filled, by it the rude chance farming of 

 the ancients has advanced to the present state of 

 intelligence and certainty. 



Until quite recently, the term "scientific farm- 

 ing" was not used, and we now hear it oftener as 

 a term of reproach than otherwise ; but it cannot 

 be denied that science, even as put forth by the 

 most impractical, has done the agriculturist great 

 good, and is destined to do still more. Perhaps 

 one of its greatest benefits, up to the present time, 

 is that arising from the strong feeling of emula- 

 tion among farmers of the old school, to prove by 

 their crops and profits that they can excel the 

 theorist ; urged by this feeling, they have eagerly 

 sought for improvements, and applied them with 

 a skill which only the good old-fashioned farmer 

 is capable of. It has also caused discussions, and 

 excited a thirst for experiment and inquiry which 

 cannot result otherwise than in good for all. 

 These are only some of the incidental benefits 

 arising fi'om the ap])lication of science to agricul- 



