96 



NEW ENGLAND FAIIMER. 



Feb. 



Lonir, Ki-aceful at his boar! preside, 

 Arnl, thrifiy, for tiiat board prepare 

 Th ; produuis of hiS toil ami care, — 

 Herhutttr come wilh little chrrninir, 

 Her j lint neVr crifp f r lack of turning, 

 ■\Vitli •.'oI'.Il'd cheeses all iiro'.v, 

 And shining pans li'jr sli;lves still jrlow, 

 And thuslhr.m>.'h all the household border 

 Be seen the rei^n of law and order. 

 May she be blest with sense and skill 

 To rule and jfuide her household well, 

 Preserve her pll;ihted bmiajide. 

 And keep her husband neat and tidy. 



ThT farmer's boy,— that sturdy fellow, 

 No pale-top, prowinji in the cellar, 

 No fop, unwishing hijiher bliss 

 Than measuring tape for simperinfj miss, — 

 The summer sun his face embrowned. 

 But ruddy left his cheek and round. 

 His youtliful arm, — toil -nerved with strength. 

 Stalwart shall swir? (he scythe at length. 

 And so wht n old King Labor f.iils. 

 Here is your Nature's Prince of Wales. 

 Ere the bright sun at rosy dawn 

 Had kissed the dew drops from the lawn, 

 Fresh as a lark he left his bed, 

 "W. nt furlh the fragrant swath to spread, 

 Then found at nii;ht that sweet repose 

 Which useful industry best knows. 

 Through all New England's rock bound coast. 

 Such youth her rugged hills can boast, 

 Trained to intelligence and toil ; 

 'Tis these that freedor 's foes shall foil, 

 And cause her as of yore, to be 

 The dwelling of the brave and free ; 

 Still to like hands, through every age. 

 Transmit the f lorious heritage, 

 And, blest of heaven, see that she stands. 

 Through time the glory of all lands. 



The farmer's daughter — last not least, 

 As the best wine concludes the feast, — 

 In vain my pen its task essays 

 In fitting words to speak her praise. 

 If Nature e'er herself surpasses, 

 And " 'prentice han' made not the lasses," 

 If Eve came, after man's formation. 

 The ne plus ultra of creation. 

 Of Eve's fair daughters since the fall. 

 Behold the cap sheaf of them all ! 

 No Miss MacFlimsey, caught by glare, 

 With forty robes, yet none to wear, 

 Be-ringed, bedecked in gay attire, 

 While wise men weep and fools admire. 

 Living in pleasure — truly dead, 

 Trusting some moustached ape to wed, — 

 (Perhaps my simile a breach is 

 Of justice to the baboon species,) — 

 Not such our maid ; — to nature true, 

 Fresh as the morn, than early dew 

 More sweet, more pure, her fair cheek glows 

 With tints which quite outvie the rose, 

 She, graceful as the springing fawn. 

 Half flying trips across the lawn. 

 Yet beauty is but half her praise, 

 Not useless pass her gladsome days ; 

 With ready hand her part she bears. 

 Helpful, in all the household cares, 

 Well fills her mind with useful store 

 Of gems of thought, and craves yet more. 

 Heaven's choicest blessings on her rest — 

 With visions bright her dreams be blest; — 

 Should the blind god with soft thoughts fill her. 

 The robe she dons, be a mantilla, [man-tiller,] 

 And then she finds in due progression. 

 The union that knows no secession. 



But I must stay my errant pen, — 

 The longest sermon has Amen, — 

 And so your servant here presents 

 His most devoted compliments : 

 Please find enclosed herewith two dollars, 

 (The quid precedes, the quo it follows, 

 And still for aye with double zest 

 The thing that's paid for is possessed,) 

 And, that we have llirough all the year 

 Your teachings wise our path to cheer — 

 Your sun, by which to light our taper. 

 Please send Tht Unabridged the paper. 

 Springfield, January 8. 



Why do Animals need Salt? — Prof. Jas. 

 E. Johnston, of Scotland, says : Upwards of 

 half the saline matter of the blood {51 per cent.) 

 consists of common salt ; and as this is partly 



di-scharged every day through the skin and the 

 kidneys, the neces.sity of continued supplies of it 

 to the healthy body l)ecomo.s sufficiently obvious. 

 The bile also contains .soda (one of the ingredi- 

 ents of salt.) as a special and indispensable con- 

 stituent, and so do all the cartilages of the body 

 Stint the supply of salt, therefore, and neither v.il'l 

 the bile be able properly to assist digestion, nor 

 the cartilages to be built up again as fast as they 

 naturally waste." 



It is ];ettcr to place salt where stock can have free 

 access to it, than to ^ive it occasionally in large 

 quantities. They will help themselves to what 

 they need if allowed to do so at pleasure ; other- 

 wise, when they become "salt hungry," they may 

 take more than is wholesome. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 SQUASHES. 



The 7th of 5th month, (May,) I planted in my 

 garden ten hills of Autumnal Marrow squash 

 seeds on two square rods of ground, which allowed 

 fifty-four square feet to each hill. I manured 

 with a compost of night-soil and fine chip dung, 

 about a peck to a hilL About the time they began 

 to run, I thinned to three or four in each hill, and 

 through the season whenever a vine overran the 

 fixed bounds, I cut it off. I harvested the pro- 

 duce the 26th of 9th month, (Sept.,) a day or two 

 before frost killed the leaves. I found sixty-five 

 in number, weighing loO pounds, at the rate of 

 twenty-nine tons per acre. A pretty good yield, I 

 thought, and one which would pay well if a per- 

 son lived near a market, but here they are worth 

 nothing except to use in one's familj', and to feed 

 to cows. Several of them weighed 20 pounds, 

 and two weighed 21^ pounds each. 



A week or two later I planted a few hills of 

 seeds given to me by a friend, and said to have 

 been taken from a Hubbard squash. I planted 

 them in my field, at a considerable distance from 

 any other vines ; manure similar to that used for 

 the Marrow. There was a pretty good growth of 

 vines, but the squashes were smaller than the 

 others, only two or three weighing as many as 

 fourteen pounds. Was this as large as usual ? 

 The color was various, generally of an ashy or 

 pale green, a few were quite dark, and one or two 

 had yellow stripes. Shell very hard, quaHty ex- 

 cellent, very dry and rich. 



Are they probably, the real Hubbard squash ? 



L. Varney. 



Bloomfield, G. W., 11 Mo., 1860. 



Remarks. — The true Hubbard is not a large 

 squash — not weighing more than six to ten 

 pounds. Oblong, color dark green, with a rough 

 or knobby surface. 



Surplus of Wheat in one State. — A com- 

 mittee appointed by the Wisconsin State Agricul- 

 tural Society to canvass the grain districts have 

 estimated the wheat crop of Wisconsin at twenty- 

 two millions of bushels, and the home consump- 

 tion at six millions, leaving a surplus for export 

 of sixteen millions of bushels. 



