538 



XEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



by crowds as he rode through the streets of our 

 cities — ladies threw bouquets and waved handker- 

 chiefs at him — men cheered him — he was taken 

 sight-seeing — he Avas invited to lunch — balls were 

 made for him — and thus day after day — week af- 

 ter week — until, if we may venture to suppose 

 him made of flesh and blood at all similar to that 

 of other mortals, the brains of his Royal Highness 

 must have whirled in confusion. Now, in the 

 depths of our republican heart, we could not help 

 wishing that the programme might have been va- 

 ried a little. He can see at home more splendor, 

 more diamonds, and as many gay men and women 

 as we could possibly show him here. All this 

 was very well, but it could be no novelty to him. 



What idea could he obtain from it of the life 

 of the great multitude of the people ? Of that 

 wherein our great strength lieth ? We would like 

 to have had him make a "progress" through the 

 quiet villages of New England, to have had him 

 talk a little with our plain country people, as well 

 as dance Avith our city belles. He should have 

 seen the white church spire rising among the hills, 

 with the school-house and academy near by, and 

 the comfortable but unpretending dwellings of the 

 inhabitants. We could even wish that his Royal 

 Highness might have stepped his foot into one of 

 our meeting-houses, might have visited a district- 

 school — aye, and been introduced to its pretty 

 mistress — that he might have called at the house 

 of some untitled citizen. 



These things are American, these things are 

 characteristic, while a ball-room is a ball-room, all 

 the world over. 



He did go hunting on the prairies — we are glad 

 of that, and he saw our Falls of Niagara too, in 

 all the right royal majesty of nature, roaring and 

 dashing over their stony walls untrammelled by 

 etiquette, and not introduced by the "Mayor." 



Well, the year has almost gone by that brought 

 the young stranger to our shores, and his visit 

 will long be remembered by a friendly people, and 

 will go down to posterity as a matter of history, 

 and the year has made other records too — some 

 public, some private, — the first will find a place 

 in the archives of our country, the latter in the 

 hearts of individuals — but whatever its record has 

 been, it is almost finished now. A few weeks, and 

 ■we shall bid farewell to its departing footsteps, 

 and welcome the dawn of Eigliteen Hundred and 

 Sixty-One. 



Cats Free from Headache. — It is quite won- 

 derful to see a cat jump down heights. She never 

 seems to hurt herself, or to feel giddy with the 

 fall ; she always falls on her feet, and these are so 

 beautifully padded that they seldom or ever get 

 broken. I never knew of a cat breaking its leg 

 from an accident, but in one instance, and that 

 was a French cat, which fell down stairs in the 



most stupid manner. Why does not the cat get 

 a headache after her deep jumps ? — why does she 

 not get concussion of the brain, as a man or dog 

 would, if he performed a similar acrobatic feat ? 

 If we take down one of our dry cats' heads off" the 

 keeper's museum wall and break it u]), we shall 

 see that it has a regular partition wall projecting 

 from its sides, a good way inwards towards the 

 centre, so as to prevent the brain from suffering 

 from concussion. This is, indeed, a beautiful 

 contrivance, and shows an admirable internal 

 structure, made in wonderful conformity with ex- 

 ternal form and nocturnal habits. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 "SHINGLING." 



Mr. Editor : — One of your correspondents, un- 

 der the above heading, in answer to "What will 

 make shingles last longer," gives some instruc- 

 tions and reasons which you very justly call "cap- 

 ital ;" yet his methods, in part, by which he ar- 

 rives at those reasons, are not quite so clear as 

 they ought to be. 



Laying shingles as they should be requires more 

 mechanical skill or knowledge than it is often 

 supposed to, or else we should not so often see 

 inexperienced boys, and any Jonathans who may 

 happen to be procured for small pay and board, 

 shingling alone M'ith a few meagre instructions, 

 and those being mostly disregarded. But howev- 

 er properly laid, if not properly nailed, the de- 

 sired object is in a great measure frustrated. In 

 respect to the nailing, Mr. Emerson says : 



"However wide the shingles may be, I do not 

 allow the nails to be put more than two inches 

 apart." 



Query. — Where are the nails to be put in the 

 shingles ? I have seen those who would have but 

 one nail in a shingle of any width, and that near- 

 ly in the middle ; and those who would have but 

 one, and that in one edge ; and again, those who 

 would have in a shingle, say six inches wide, three 

 to four nails, and so on in propoition to the width, 

 making, if equally spaced, aljout as near as your 

 correspondent directs. From his reason, aided 

 by my own notion, I infer that he uses but two 

 nails in any shingle, however wide ; yet, one 

 holding to using more nails might prefer a nail 

 every two inches, perhaps. 



Again, he does "not want the nails drove quite 

 in, or so as to sink the heads," but to "hold up 

 the butts of the next row of shingles." True, it 

 will ventilate the roof, but will it not let the snow 

 and wind liberally through the roof or walls on 

 our New England hills, and increase the liability 

 to their being blown off? If sheathing paper is 

 used, or the interspaces are properly filled with 

 whitewash, paint, or cement, applied upon each 

 course as they are laid, this will be avoided, of 

 course, in a great degree. 



Would it not be much better to use a "straight- 

 edge" about as wide as the shingles are laid to 

 the weather, and thus avoid the "dirty work" of 

 which the carpenters complain ? But as it is not 

 intended to give my views and experience in this 

 article, but rather to call the writer's attention to 

 the matter so that he may give more light upon 

 this important subject, let this, for the present, 

 suffice. O. W. True. 



Elm Tree Farm, Maine. 



