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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



those •which one feels while listening to the sound 

 of an organ in some grand old cathedral, with the 

 purple glories of a summer twilight around him. 

 Artists have frequently made attempts to repre- 

 sent the different phases of the Indian Summer 

 on canvass, but as yet their attempts have been 

 attended with but partial success. Neither the 

 colors of the painter nor the descriptions of the 

 poet can do justice to it, or place it adequately 

 before the vision of one who has never beheld its 

 glories. The air, too, during its prevalence, is 

 balmy, still and voluptuous, almost beyond the 

 breath of June, and one almost feels disposed to 

 regret, while enjoying it, that the economy of na- 

 ture requires a change, and that such a halcyon 

 period of quietude and beauty must give place 

 even to the wanton and wild display of the flower- 

 enamelled June herself. 



But November is, after all, by many oonsidered 

 a gloomy month, and even the most elastic and 

 cheerful minds are sometimes tinged with sad- 

 ness by its clouds and general aspect of decay. 

 Hood, whose pictures are generally true to nature, 

 represents it in a strong light : 



"No sun — no moon — 



No morn — no noon — 

 No dawn — no dark — no proper time of day — 



No sky— no earthly view — 



No distance looking blue — 

 No road— no street — no 'tother side the way'— 



No end to any 'row' — 



No indications where the crescents go — 



No top to any steeple — 

 No recognitions of familiar people — 



No courtesies for showing 'em — 



No knowing 'em." 



But if, as we hopefully trust is the case, we 

 have been "blessed in our basket and our store," 

 — if our granaries are well supplied with the le- 

 gitimate fruits of honest industry, we can look 

 out upon the dimly-lighted and dismantled land- 

 scape, and the denuded fields begemmed with the 

 "sere and yellow leaf," and rejoice over the home 

 comforts our labors have secured to us, and which 

 impart, in the possession and enjoyment, a new 

 sanctity to the domestic altar, and new bliss to 

 the delights of Home. Let us, however, remem- 

 ber that there are those who tremble at the voice 

 of the "storm-king," and who have not the where- 

 withal to protect them from his windy and pierc- 

 ing wrath. The farmer should be charitable, and 

 while he reprimands idleness and vice, both in 

 precept and practice, he should ever be ready to 

 succor and assist the needy. Sweeter will be the 

 relish of enjoyment for the bread given in secret. 



Salt for Swine. — A correspondent of the 

 Annalen der Landwirthscha ft states some inter- 

 esting experiments to test the use of salt in fat- 

 tening swine. He selected two pairs of barrow 

 hogs weighing 200 lbs. apiece. One pair received 



with their daily allowance of food two ounces of 

 salt ; the other pair similarly fed, none. In the 

 course of a week it was easily seen that the salted 

 pair had a much stronger appetite than the oth- 

 ers, and after a fortnight the salt was increased 

 to two ounces apiece. After four months the 

 weight of the salted hogs was 350 lbs. apiece, 

 while that of the unsalted, five weeks later, had 

 reached only 300 lbs. This experiment was re- 

 peated with almost precisely the same results. 

 The author feeds young pigs, according to their 

 age, a quarter to one ounce daily, breeding sows 

 very little during pregnancy, and during the heat 

 of summer withholds it in a great degree from all, 

 as it induces thirst and liability to disease. 



BACTRIAN CAMELS AS BEASTS OF 

 BURDEN". 



The Bactrian camels imported here from the 

 Amoor river, about two years since, have shown 

 and are proving themselves serviceable as beasts 

 of burden. It had been so often reiterated that 

 the double-humped camel could not be packed, 

 and would not carry freight, that the timid here, 

 as elsewhere, doubted their adaptability to high- 

 way transportation. Hence Mr. Frisius, to whom 

 the Siberian quadrupeds were consigned, failed 

 for some months in getting an off"er for them ap- 

 proximating to their true value. Finally, Mr. 

 Julius Bandmann purchased the lot, ten in num- 

 ber, being convinced from observation that they 

 could be advantageously employed as beasts of 

 burden in California. 



While in the possession of their proprietor, the 

 camels have been constantly packed with im- 

 mense loads. The ordinary pack saddle fits in 

 finely between the callous protuberances, and on 

 this, barrels, bags, packages and miscellaneous 

 articles are bound, the girths about the neck and 

 under the belly tightly drawn, and the animal thus 

 laden, walks or paces ofi" as easily as the best 

 trained mule. Yesterday, by way of experiment, 

 one of the larger camels left the yard of Mr. 

 M'Donald with bags of sand weighing at least six 

 hundred and fifty pounds, and with this immense 

 load, footed it over the precipitous and deep sand 

 hills of the Presidio Plaza. 



On their return from the day's pasturage, the 

 camels are driven into the inclosure at M'Don- 

 ald's, where at sunset they lie down to sleep all 

 in a heap. They rise about four o'clock, seek the 

 sun and shelter when the winds arise. A tub of 

 fresh water always stands in the yard, but it is 

 seldom visited. When well, a camel goes to the 

 tub but once in ten days, and then quenches his 

 thirst with two buckets of water. 



It is believed that for transportation of goods 

 between points in the interior counties, over the 

 Sierras, or through the Carson Valley region, the 

 Asiatic camel would be found preferable to the 

 mule. The experiments here tried by Mr. Band- 

 mann demonstrate that they require less food and 

 water, no care, can bear heavier burdens, and 

 travel faster, and more than all, are neither sus- 

 ceptible to disease, nor sudden fits of frenzied' 

 wrath. Traders in the country, and particularly 

 merchants forwarding extensive consignments 

 over the mountains, would do well to try the ex- 

 periment of introducing these animals to the tri- 

 als of the Sierra Nevadas. — Alia California. 



