498 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



light burdens compared with your grandmothers. 

 The only piano they ever knew was the spinning 

 ■wheel and loom, the only seraphine the wash-tub 

 and churn, and, in fact, no music sounded sweet- 

 er to the ear of our mothers and grandmothers, 

 than the cackling of the hens, ducks, turkeys and 

 geese, when mingled with the lowing of the herds 

 and squealing of the pigs ; and they were thought 

 to be far below the generality of women, unless 

 they raised from ten to fourteen fat and rugged 

 girls and boys, and provided them all with cloth- 

 ing, both summer and winter, and spun and wove 

 with their own hands. They were educated as 

 farmers' wives should be educated ; not to play on 

 a piano, or make pictures, but to spin and weave, 

 "hake and hrew, make and mend" while their hus- 

 bands would plow and sow, mow and rake, reap 

 and thrash ; and in nine cases out of ten, they 

 were contented Avith their lot ! 



If the farmers' daughters of the present day are 

 afraid to marry farmers because there is woi-k to 

 be done, they ought to remain single, like this 



Old Spinster. 



Claremoat, N. H., Sept. 24, 1860. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 RUSTIC PICTURES. 



It is a frequent complaint that a farmer's house 

 must be destitute of many of those "adornings" 

 which make home cheery, "for want of profits." 

 Pictures are referred to. It is a fact that fine 

 paintings or engravings are so high-priced that 

 many families, farmers and others, are unable to 

 purchase them. Yet I think there are several 

 ways by which we poor unfortunate ( P ) farmers' 

 daughters may obtain substitutes, quite as pret- 

 ty, and with trifling expense. Have you ever 

 preserved autumn leaves ? Now, while the trees 

 are in their glory, try it. Gather fair leaves of 

 many varieties and colors, and press them until 

 perfectly dry. Then arrange them in wreaths or 

 bouquets upon fine drawing paper, fastening with 

 gum avabic, and varnish them with white varnish. 

 A picture is of little value unless it brings the re- 

 ality to the mind's eye. What a panorama of life- 

 scenes this simple autumn wreath calls forth ! 



Here is a golden hickory leaf — do you think of 

 those mornings, those chill, cold mornings, when 

 we climbed the hill, the grass crisp with ft-ost, 

 crackling with every step, — to the walnut trees 

 upon the summit, and how we watched for sun- 

 rise ere we filled our baskets, and wondered why 

 we were in the sunlight first, while home, in the 

 valley, lay sleeping in shadow ? 



A crimson maple — a May day scene, when wist- 

 ful, longing eyes have vainly searched for violets 

 and wild-flowers, and a maple is discovered with 

 its red banner unfurled. Were ever flowers so 

 beautiful P Yellow birch — with one consent, we'll 

 pass it by, with its unwelcome visions of un- 

 learned tasks and broken rules ! Brown oak, — 

 the proud old oak by the school-house, — would 

 you like to swing on its branches now ? Ferns, — 

 how they bend to kiss the water which goes 

 laughing on over the stones ! But I am writing 

 too long. Just try it, farmers' girls — and mark, if 

 you have not pictures upon the walls that will 

 talk to your hearts through the winter days, of 

 which these autumn leaves are "avant couriers." 



Sept. 26. . Anna. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 SMYRNA, OR BEARDLESS 'WHEAT. 



Mr. Brown : — Enclosed with this I send you a 

 sample of my Smyrna wheat, grown the past two 

 years on the town farm under my care. 



I found the land of a light, sandy loam, with a 

 subsoil of loose gravel and coarse sand, 4 1-5 

 acres. It had been planted and sowed alternately 

 with corn and rye, with no manure except that 

 which was put in the hill, and that rather spar- 

 ingly. I plowed twice one year last April, and 

 top-dressed with meadow mud and lime, 2 1-5 

 acres last year, and 2 acres the present year, al- 

 lowing 3 casks of lime and 3 cords of mud that 

 had been exposed to the action of the frost the 

 previous winter, to the acre. This compost, af- 

 ter being mixed three times "in ten days, was 

 spread evenly on the land before sowing the 

 wheat. I then sowed 2 1-5 acres thus prepared 

 with 5 bushels of Smyrna, or beardless wheat, and 

 in August I gathered what yielded 47^ bushels of 

 the best wheat I have ever seen. I had from 5 

 bushels and 11 qts., 201^ lbs. of superfine exti'a 

 flour. I have managed the other two acres the 

 past season in the same way, and have 42 bush- 

 els of clean wheat, like the sample I send you. I 

 would state that the Middlesex South Agricidtural 

 Society, last year, gave me a premium of ten dol- 

 lars for my experiments with manure as shown by 

 the above results. Isaac Osgood. 



Marlboro', Sept., 1860. 



Reil\rks. — We thank you for the wheat and 

 for the good example set your brother farmers, 

 and especially for the detailed account sent us. 



SLEEP. 



There is no fact more clearly established in the 

 physiology of man than this, that the brain ex- 

 pends its energies and itself during the hours of 

 wakefulness, and that these are recuperated dur- 

 ing sleep ; if the recuperation does not equal the 

 ex])enditure, the brain withers — this is insanity. 



Thus it is that, in early English history, persons 

 who were condemned to death by being prevented 

 from sleeping always died raving maniacs ; thus 

 it is, also, that those who are starved to death 

 become insane ; the brain is not nourished, and 

 they cannot sleep. The practical inferences are 

 these : 



1. Those who think most, who do most brain 

 work, require most sleep. 



2. That time saved from necessary sleep is in- 

 fallibly destructive to mind, body and estate. 



3. Give yourself, your children, your servants 

 — give all that are under you the fullest amount 

 of sleep they will take, by compelling them to go 

 to bed at some regular, early hour, and to rise in 

 the morning the moment they awake ; and, with- 

 in a fortnight, nature, with almost the regularity 

 of the rising sun, will unloose the bonds of sleep 

 the moment enough repose has been secured for 

 the wants of the system. 



This is the only safe and sufficient rule — and 

 as to the question how much sleep any one re- 

 quires, each must be a rule for himself — great na- 

 ture will never fail to write it out to the observer 

 under the regulations just given. — Dr. Spicer. 



