106 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



discouraged the aspiring genius, and impeded the 

 progress of the masses in other lands. 



France, if we except the ballads of the Trou- 

 badours and Trouveres, was entirely destitute of 

 a stock either of literature or legends, to com- 

 mence with ; and the literature of England — the 

 literature which we now enjoy — was fated to strug- 

 gle up through the chaos of Anglo-Saxon, Norman, 

 French and Monkish Latin. The young farmers 

 of New England possess, at this day, advantages 

 of the most inviting kind. Our literature is am- 

 ple, and while its cheapness brings it within the 

 reach of every one, the long evenings of winter 

 afford abundant opportunity for study and im- 

 provement. 



The science of agriculture may properly be re- 

 garded as a group of sciences, the theories and 

 applications of which the farmer must understand, 

 if he would be master of his profession. He 

 should possess some knowledge of chemistry, that 

 he may understand the constituency and treat- 

 ment of soils, and the composting and use of ma- 

 nurial agents. He must also be something of a 

 botanist, physiologist and physician, that he may 

 be able to manage his animals properly, and treat 

 them well, in health and in sickness. He should 

 also be something of a mechanic, and be versed 

 in the principles of motive power, as well as pos- 

 sess some knowledge of hydrostatics and hy- 

 draulics. 



AVhile agriculture is free from many of those 

 corroding and sickening perplexities which ob- 

 struct the path of the lawyer, the doctor and the 

 merchant, and does not necessarily demand more 

 severe physical effort than the mechanic is 

 called to exert, it does emphatically require that 

 he who would successfully engage in it should 

 possess as much intelligence, patience, persever- 

 ance, good sense and sound judgment, as those 

 engaged in any other profession or pursuit. These 

 qualities of mind are no less essential to him, 

 than the virtues of industry, perseverance and 

 sobriety. 



He must be a tliinker, as well as a doer. As 

 his labor is no more irksome than those which 

 are imposed upon men in other pursuits, he has 

 pleasures, bestowed upon him by the nature of 

 his duties, which are not to be found in other 

 avocations. He enjoys greater freedom, and more 

 relaxation of body and mind, than the denizen 

 of the crowded and dusty mart, who, confined to 

 sultry streets, during a great portion of his ex- 

 istence, and excluded from a communion with 

 nature and her sweet influences, is dependent 

 upon the masses for support — sighing often for 

 that repose which is denied him. and for thel)land 

 and blessed influences of the "balmy air" which 

 he is destined seldom to inhale. 



Perhaps no man ever wrote more feelingly, and 



at the same time, more truly, of rural life, and its 

 enjoyments, than the poet Burns. Bred himseL 

 to the pursuit of agriculture, and familiar witl 

 all its details — the most minute as well as tht 

 most complex — he touched the lyre of song witV 

 a master's hand, and a soul inspired by the pur 

 est love. Let those who would beget and cherisl 

 in their breasts a passion for rural pursuits, study 

 the pages of Robert Burns ; they will there find 

 pictures valuable for their truthfulness, as well 

 as for the exquisite taste and beauty exhibited ia 

 their finish. 



For the New England Farmer. 



HO-W CAW WE BEST SECURE THE DTJ- 

 KABILITY OF FENCE POSTS? 



Purposing to set some posts for fence, bars or 

 gates, my thoughts naturally revert to past expe- 

 rience, and the views of others I have met with 

 at various times, as to the most proper method of 

 preparing posts in order to secure the greatest 

 durability of material used. 



When in my teens, I got out for my father 

 five sets of bar posts from green yellow oak logs. 

 Each log was sufficiently large to split into two 

 posts, and long enough to change ends when the 

 end first in the ground rotted off. These posts 

 were made during the winter, and, (save one,) 

 set the following spring, consequently not much 

 seasoned. I took especial care to keep each set 

 together, by marking them, as all were from the 

 buts of trees, and I wished to test them in vari- 

 ous ways. 



The first set, I put but end in the ground, 

 charring one, the other not. The second set, but 

 end in the ground ; in one, I bored an inch and 

 a half hole just above the surface of the ground, 

 and filled with salt, plugging up the hole. The 

 third set, one post but end in the ground, the 

 other, the small end. The fourth set, small ends 

 in the ground, one salted, the other not. The 

 fifth, I used but one of the oak posts, putting in 

 a pine slab for the other, to test their comparative 

 durability. The oak Avas salted, and but put in 

 the ground. 



Result. — The first two posts both rotted off, the 

 third year after they were set. The small ends 

 were then set in t^e ground, and lasted seven 

 years. The second, the salted post, gave out the 

 second year, the other the fourth ; the ends were 

 then reversed, and lasted about eight years each, 

 after being reset. The third set, the but rotted 

 off the third season, the other the fourth ; the 

 ends were then reversed, and the but end of the 

 last one gave out previous to the small end of the 

 other, although the other had been in the ground 

 a year the longest. The fourth, both rotted off 

 the fourth season, and the buts lasted the same 

 length of time. The fifth stood five years, and 

 were removed, and I lost the run of them. 



Inferences. — It did no good to char the post ; 

 it lasted no longer than his mate. It is an injury 

 to salt green ])osts ; the one not salted lasted two 

 seasons the longest. The small end of a post will 

 last longer than the bi!t. 



When seasoned, posts last longer than when 

 set green. In the fourth experiment, we see the 



