1860. 



NEW ENGLAXD FARMER. 



573 



LAYING OUT GROUNDS NEAR THE HOUSE. 



I have a small piece of land in front of ray house 

 that I wish to lay out for a front yard. I want to lay 

 it out handsomely, and I am not used to such business, 

 nor is there any one here who docs understand laying 

 out grounds in good shape. I hope you will assist me 

 through the Farmer. e. h. p. 



Naugatuck, Conn., 1860. 



Remarks. — Send to "Luther Tucker & Son, Alba- 

 ny, N. Y.," for a volume of their Illustrated Rural 

 Register, in which you will find just what you want. 



REMEDY FOR CHOKED CATTLE. 



As soon as you discover that the creature is choked, 

 take hold of the windpipe, below the potato, or what- 

 ever it is, with both hands, having one thumb on each 

 side, and work out. If that fail,-, take a horseshoe and 

 put into the mouth to hold it open, then mm the hand 

 down the throat and take it out. 



I knew an ox once that was choked with a potato to 

 throw it out by giving him two or three spoonfuls of 

 Cayenne pepper. C. M. Fisher. 



Cahot, Vt., Nov. 5, 1860. 



A LARGE CALF. 



Mr. Benjamin H. Wilson, of Bristol, R. I., has a 

 bull calf born on the 8th of April, which now weighs 

 nearly 800 1I)S. At the age of four months it weighed 

 500 lbs.; at five months 595 lbs.; at six months 705 

 lbs. It is half Devonshire and half Durham, is of a 

 dark red color, well proportioned, and in every way a 

 very splendid animal. 



THE CLOSE OF THE YEAB. 



In the rapid march of Time, another of those 

 periods defined as a year has nearly run out its 

 last sands. The Seasons have succeeded each oth- 

 er in their regular order, bringing variety, beauty, 

 and unnumbered blessings to us with them. They 

 have brought the snow and rain and stormy 

 wind, as well as gentle airs, refreshing dews and 

 the grateful and all-invigorating sunshine. Each 

 season has performed its part in the wonderful 

 operations of Nature, filling the earth with glad- 

 ness, crowning it with beautiful objects for our 

 investigation and admiration, and providing every 

 needful thing for the teeming, animated life that 

 seeks support from her generous bosom. 



No influences assigned to these seasons have 

 been neglected, or left in an unfinished condition. 

 If there were apparent defects in the short or un- 

 ripened crops of some localities, — they vvere de- 

 fects in our own imperfect vision only, and not in 

 the Master Mind that controls and regulates them 

 all. Perhaps a closer investigation of the laws of 

 nature, and a more skilful management of the 

 soils under our care, might have given a more 

 gratifying result to our labors, and if so, it goes to 

 show what yet remains to be done on our part to 

 make the earth yield her full increase. Nature is 

 certainly true to all the duties assigned her, what- 

 ever defects may appear in man. 



Summer and Autumn have passed away. The 

 crops of the farm have been perfected and gath- 

 ered in. The leaves have faded and fallen, and 

 now float on the breeze, strew the ground, or are 



collected under fences and in corners whei-e they 

 will gradually decay. How emblematic of life ! 

 "Our earth at one season is clad in her beautiful 

 dress of living green ; the bright rays of a vernal 

 sun enrich, expand and beautify every scene in 

 creation. The soft warm air is filled with music, 

 sunshine and perfume ; and all nature shines out 

 in unrivalled beauty and splendor. But the with- 

 ering breath of a few revolving months robs the 

 fields of their blooming verdure and loveliness, 

 the forests and trees of their magnificent foliage 

 and causes the green-clad earth 'to lay her glory 

 by' until the time shall come for the reproduction 

 of flowers and plants, upon the face of nature. 

 Change and decay are unfadingly impressed upon • 

 all things earthly. The eye lingers not upon an 

 object, however beautiful and lovely now, but 

 what the breath of Time shall some day mar or 

 efface it." 



"Where now are all the blossoms fair, 



Flowers of the sunuy gleam, 

 Which grew profusely everywhere 



Along the forest stream ? 

 Ah ! their brief summer day is o'er ; 

 In these wild dells they bioom no more 1 



"Is not our day of life as brief? 



Do we not pass as soon away ? 

 Bsholdest thDuyon falling leaf, 



Traced with the lines of dull decay? 

 Such is our life — thus do we fade. 

 And falling, mingle with the dead." 



Truly such is our life ; the bloom of childhood, 

 the freshness of youth, the vigor of manhood, 

 the decay of age, and then the earthly drama is 

 closed ! 



But — thoughtful reader — is not this in exact 

 accordance with the other operations of nature, 

 and is there in it any cause for sadness or alarm ? 

 If we have rightly improved the past, this is but 

 the falling of the leaf, or the dropping of the 

 seed, to germinate again and come forth in a new 

 and higher life, and instead of oppressing us with 

 sadness, should be received as we welcome the 

 changing seasons, or the ripened harvests, with 

 grateful confidence and love. The Father has or- 

 dained this change in us, as our highest good ; it 

 is our own imperfection that gives it a seeming 

 evil. 



Surrounded with so many manifestations of 

 the Father's wisdom and love, as the farmer al- 

 ways is, he, of all men, should be filled with an 

 enlarged faith and confiding trust, — and in this 

 spirit he should sow and gather in his harvests, 

 and set an example to the world of an unquench- 

 able love and perfect obedience to the divine 

 will. He cannot be a good farmer, or husband, or 

 father, who is not a good man ; and though his 

 acres teem with fertility — and herds fill his stalls, 

 — though sons and daughters grow up about him 

 as the cedars upon Lebanon, he cannot be a true 



