1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



433 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ADVANCE OR KETREAT? 



Mr. Editor : — It is admitted by all, I believe, 

 that we live in a remarkable age. But whether 

 our age be distinguished above all others for its 

 advancement and progressive improvement in all 

 departments of knowledge, or whether, in some 

 respects, we have receded and fallen behind other 

 ages, is a mooted question among farmers in our 

 vicinity. Farmer A, who stands at the head of 

 the alphabet, who is the oldest man we have 

 among us, and who ought to know as well as 

 others, boldly and confidently asserts, that our 

 age is more eminently distinguished for shams 

 and humbugs, than for any thing else. He says, 

 that his great progenitor and namesake, Adam, 

 exhibited more real scientific knowledge in giving 

 names to the animal creation, than is now pos- 

 sessed by any one man on the face of the globe ; 

 and, in fact, that it is quite doubtful whether 

 mankind, on the whole, have made any great pro- 

 ficiency in scientific knowledge. Farmers B and 

 C, his two nearest neighbors, and equally vener- 

 able for their age and sagacity, coincide with him 

 in opinion. Farmer D, like Wouter Van Twiller, 

 a former Dutch governor of the State of New 

 York, surnamed the Doubter, is not prepared to 

 give an opinion upon the subject, but, like his il- 

 lustrious predecessor, who, v,henever any question 

 of importance was proposed for his consideration, 

 would put on a mighty mysterious, vacant kind 

 of look, shake his capacious head, and having 

 smoked for five minutes with redoubled earnest- 

 ness, sagely observe, that "he had his doubts 

 about the matter." But D is not the only doubter 

 amongst us. There are others who, if they be not 

 doubters, are double-minded. They have no de- 

 cided opinion of their own ; but they sail with the 

 current of public sentiment in their neighborhood ; 

 and perhaps, as soon as they have given an opin- 

 ion, they immediately vote the opposite. 



Without pursuing this train of remarks further, 

 it does appear to me, that there is a straight for- 

 ward and progressive course ; and that there is 

 no room for doubt, for dogmatism, or for retro- 

 gression. In every department of knowledge, 

 there are works and improvements that, not many 

 years ago, were wont to fill us with trepidation and 

 awe at their boldness and costliness, but are now 

 dwarfed into absolute insignificance by the gigan- 

 tic projects that come teeming from the brain of 

 science, and the panting heart of enterprise. More 

 improvements have been made in the arts and sci- 

 ences, for the welfare and happiness of man, for 

 the adornments and accomplishments of life, dur- 

 ing the last fifty years, than during whole preced- 

 ing centuries. Tell me not, that we have made 

 no improvements since the days of Adam and 

 Eve, or any subsequent period. Tell me not, that 

 all our progenitors understood all the arts and 

 embellishments of life as well as we. Our age is 

 strongly marked with characteristic improve- 

 ments — improvements which were unknown to 

 the inhabitants of the world at any former period. 

 The present exceeds all former times in invention, 

 in intellectual, moral and physical power, and in 

 mechanical development. That fiery, iron-ribbed 

 camel, with its burden of thousands, dashing 

 along with the i-apidity of lightening — that migh- 

 ty leviathan of the deep, whose back is crowded 



with living souls, and whose belly is crammed with 

 the products of every clime and nation, marching 

 with the speed of a sunbeam over the pathless 

 ocean, in spite of storms and tempests, are the 

 rich fruits of the present era's intellectual gTowth. 

 And the time will soon come, when similar im- 

 provements will be introduced into all branches 

 of business. John Goldsbury. 



THE FAMILY. 



The family is like a hook — 



The children are the leaves, 

 The parents are tlie cover, that 



Protective beauty gives. 



At first the pages of the book 



Are blank anti purely fair. 

 But Time soon writeth memories, 



And painteth pictures there. 



Love Is the little golden clasp 



That bindeth up the trust ; 

 0, break it not, lest all the leaves 



Shall scatter and be lost. 



Country Gentleman. 



ITALIAN BEES. 



During the early part of last year the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents at Washington authorized Mr. 

 S. B. Parsons, of Long Island, N. Y.,to proceed 

 to Italy, and inquire into the habits of Italian 

 bees, and if, upon investigation, he found them 

 possessing qualities of value which our native 

 bees do not possess, to procure a certain number 

 of swarms and send them to the Patent Office. 



He entered upon the duties assigned him, and 

 arrived in the country of the Italian Lakes in 

 April, 1859, After wandering about among the 

 hills of that delightful region for some months, 

 his researches were arrested by the approach of 

 hostile armies, and he was not able to resume 

 them until the following September, when he met 

 an intelligent Bavarian who had established him- 

 self in the Orisons, and had devoted himself to 

 the culture of pure Italian bees. 



The result of his researches convinced him that 

 these bees possess qualities superior to those of 

 our own, and he ordered for the Department to 

 the full amount which he was authorized to ex- 

 pend, and directed them to be sent by the Arago 

 on the 18th of October from Havre, but by some 

 unaccountable delay they were not shipped until 

 December 28th, ft-om Genoa. 



In his investigations, Mr. Parsons says he came 

 to the following conclusions in relation to the 

 Italian bees ; 



1. That they will endure the cold better than 

 ours. 



2. That they swarm twice as often. 



3. That they are abundantly more prolific, 



4. That the working bees begin to forage ear- 

 lier, and are more industrious. 



5. That they are less apt to sting, and may be 

 easily tamed by kind treatment. 



