544 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



wool-grower consists in keeping his sheep well 

 fed during the early part of winter, and also well 

 protected from storms, for it is plain from the 

 fact that wool begins to grow even on poorly kept 

 sheep, as soon as the temperature of spring per- 

 mits the animal economy to divert some of the 

 supplies from being consumed in keeping up the 

 mere vital organization, to the increase of the 

 fleece, that heat has as much to do with the growth 

 of wool as with the growth of plants. Hence we 

 say, give sheep protection at an early date in the 

 beginning of winter, if you desire to keep the 

 fleece in full growth during the cold season. 



THE HUMAN" BODY. 

 When we have gained some slight knowledge 

 of the wondrous mechanism we name the body, 

 how multitudinous its combined actions, how ea- 

 sily the disturbance of one will affect the the 

 healthy action of the rest, and how recklessly we 

 disregard the plainest rules of health, wonder 

 at a few men having succumbed in the course of 

 an intense intellectual life ceases at once, and a 

 new M'onder emerges — wonder that any man can 

 live this life, and retain his faculties in healthy 

 activity. The very predominance of the nervous 

 system implies a predominant activity, and this 

 is liable to be stimulated to excess by two potent 

 tempters : ambition, eager to jostle its way 

 through energetic crowds ; and fascination, which 

 lies in intellectual labor, the brooding storge of 

 creation, the passionate persistence of research. 

 These temjjters hurry men into excess. Men who 

 live much by the brain have seldom the cour- 

 age to be prudent, seldom the wisdom to be pa- 

 tient. In vain the significant words of warning- 

 become louder and louder ; in vain the head feels 

 hot, the ears are full of noises, the heart fluttering 

 and thumping, the nights sleepless, the digestion 

 miserably imperfect, the temper irritable : these 

 are nature's warnings to desist, but they are dis- 

 regarded ; the object of ambition lures the victim 

 on, the seduction of artistic creation, or of a truth 

 seen dancing like a will-o'-wisp, incessantly soli- 

 cits him ; he will not pause — at length he cannot 

 pause, the excitement has become a fever, the 

 flame tliat warms destroys him : madness arrives. 

 Sad this is, and would be infinitely sad if there 

 were no help for it, if the very glory and splen- 

 dor of the intellect were necessarily allied to its 

 infirmity and ruin. But it is not so. Men can- 

 not transgress nature's laws without incurring 

 nature's penalties. 



How TO Plant Willow. — Mr. Skean gives 

 the following directions in the Farmer and Gar- 

 dener. "The proper time to plant is before the 

 sap starts in the spring. Take your limb or pole, 

 point it with a keen hatchet, and having made 

 a hole with a suitable crow-bar, insert the pole, 

 tapping it on the top with a mallet to make it 

 firm ; or, what is equally good, ramming the 

 ground firmly around it with a common post ram- 

 mer. The pointed end should be inserted, if pos- 

 sible, until it reaches the water, otherwise they 

 will not thrive so rapidly. The willow succeeds 

 best where the water is fresh, and not stagnant." 



For the New Bngland Farmer. 

 COBN'-FIELDS AND THE BLUE JAY. 



Mr. Editor : — In perusing the communica- 

 tions of your ornithological correspondents it has 

 sometimes occurred to me as a little strange that 

 no one, so far as I have observed, has had anything 

 to say respecting one bird which, from its preda- 

 tory habits, is at this season a great pest to the 

 farmer. I allude to the Blue Jay or Jay bird, as 

 he is called by some. While the petty pilferings 

 of the robin upon cherries and currants have been 

 fully discussed and commented upon, the moi-e 

 important depredations of the Jay upon our corn- 

 fields have (perhaps from being considered an una- 

 voidable evil) been passed over in silence. I think 

 one bushel an acre is a low estimate of my aver- 

 age loss every fall by their plundering, — rather a 

 heavy per centage u])on the product of our light 

 lands hereabouts. Not content with the supply 

 of their present wants, they are said to lay up a 

 store for the v.'inter, which I believe to be a fact, 

 as, while at woi-k in the woods, I have found corn 

 stuck into holes and under the loose bark of dead 

 trees, which I set down as their place of deposit. 

 Just now, whole flocks of them are almost con- 

 stantly on the wing betwixt the corn-fields and 

 their haunts, filling the air with their discordant 

 screams, — and they keep steadily at work so long 

 as an ear remains unharvested. I consider them 

 a much greater plague than those who pull corn 

 in the spring, as I know how to prevent their op- 

 erations, but I confess I do not know how to 

 stop the Jay, unless by shooting, and it would 

 require three or four in different parts of the fit Id, 

 as he is by no moans bashful, and this would not 

 pay. If you, or any of your correspondents, 

 know of any redeeming points in his character, L 

 shall be glad to be informed of them. At present 

 I consider him an unmitigated thief. If every 

 one loses in proportion all over the country he 

 inhabits, the amount will be no trifling item. 



Rochester, Oct., ISGO. A Subscriber. 



Dead Horses. — From two to three hundred 

 horses are supposed to die in this city every week, 

 and the average value of the carcass is about $10, 

 yielding about 1-^ lbs. of hair for cloth, about 

 oO lbs. of hide, 6 lbs. of hoofs and tendons, for 

 glue and buttons, 100 lbs. bone, made into snuff- 

 boxes, knife-handles, jihosphorus and superphos- 

 phate of lime, and GO lbs. of blood, yielding prus- 

 siate of potash. In addition, it is suspected that 

 a portion of the meat finds its way into our mar- 

 kets ; that the baked heart and liver season a good 

 deal of coffee ; and that the intestines are used as 

 skins for sausages. Nevertheless, our city pays 

 a large sum annually for the removal of these val- 

 uable materials to Barren Island. — N. Y. Sun. 



Jerseys and Oxfords. — The sale of Jersey 

 cows and Oxford Down sheep, advertised in the 

 Farmer three or four weeks since, took place at 

 Mr. Fay's farm on the 5th instant. The Jersey 

 cows sold for $100 each, as an average, and the 

 grade Jerseys, $46. The sheep averaged .$10 per 

 head — one Oxford Down ram, three years old, 

 bringing $51. 



