526 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



longer ! On a little shelf between the studding 

 is the remnant of an old grease-pot, which, whil- 

 om, produced a supply of lubricating matter for 

 the ox-cart or old chaise wheels — but its day 

 has long since departed, and it should have slept 

 quietly with its mother earth many years ago. 



Intermingled with these interesting relics of 

 husbandry are bits of old harness, as dry and 

 hard as the heart that never softens at the suffer- 

 ings of others or at children's sweet words ; here 

 a broken hame, and there a ruptured collar, with 

 the rye straw protruding, showing that "all is not 

 gold that glitters." 



After all, there is something interesting in such 

 a "curiosity shop" — it may not be a "practical 

 grain-keeping" place, but we never saw a person 

 enter such an one without lingering there and fin- 

 gering the various articles, as though he had 

 found something that belonged and did service to 

 another age of the world. To ihe naturalist, as 

 well as the antiquarian, such a place must possess 

 a rare interest, — for up among the rafters and on 

 the cross-beams, suspended in webs such as loom 

 of mortal never produced, are various entomologi- 

 cal specimens prepared with more than human 

 skill ! Here is a great black cricket, from his 

 size, evidently a "fall-fed" one. How perfect he 

 is. His "feelers" are projected, and look as 

 though they would move in a moment. The soft 

 hair on his legs is as perfectly adjusted as when 

 he played his last evening tune to the listeners 

 on the warm hearth-stone above him ! And now 

 that we blow the dust from his body, see what a 

 perfect form and coloring are presented! No ar- 

 tist can equal it. See how it bides the "tooth of 

 time." It may have been here ten years, or longer, 

 for these lofts are sacred, as no sacrilegious broom 

 ever aspires to these heights — and yet it seems 

 as perfect as though it were the work of yester- 

 day ! Ten years ago, perhaps, the insatiate 

 spider lured the unsuspecting victim to his toils, 

 fastened him there with his strong cables and 

 philosophical appliances, and then quietly sat 

 down and dined upon him, feasting upon the rich 

 juices, but leaving the external form as perfect as 

 when it came from the hand of the Great Architect 

 himself! Here are, also, flies, — for we are in the 

 "corn-barn" still, — grasshoppers and a variety of 

 other insects, in which the eye of the entomol- 

 ogist would find delight. 



That a "corn-barn" on every productive farm is 

 useful and economical, is clear ; but when it is 

 diverted from its proper purposes, and is the 

 lumber house of all sorts of cast-off and unclean 

 things, it becomes an expensive adjunct to the 

 farm. 



Who will look into the Corn Barn, and see 

 whether it is worthy to receive the present year's 

 crop ? 



STRENGTH AND SEAIiTH. 



It is quite a common idea that health keeps 

 pace with strength. I know intelligent persons 

 who really think that you may determine the com- 

 parative health of a company of men by measur- 

 ing their arms — that he whose arm measures 

 twelve inches is twice as healthy as he who meas- 

 ures but six. 



This strange and thoughtless misapprehension 

 has given rise to nearly all the mistakes thus far 

 made in the physical- culture movement in this 

 country. 



A friend of mine can lift nine hundred pounds, 

 and yet is an habitual sufferer from torpid liver, 

 rheumatism, and low spirits. I know many sim- 

 ilar cases. The cartmen of our cities, who are 

 our strongest men, are far from the healthiest 

 class, as physicians will readily testify. 



On the contrary, I have many friends and ac- 

 quaintances who would stagger under three hun- 

 dred pounds, that are in capital case. 



But I need not elaborate a matter so familiar 

 with physicians and other observing people. 



No tests of health would prove more faulty than 

 a tape-line, or a lift at the scale beam. 



Suppose two brothers, twins, bank clerks, in 

 bad health. They are measured around the arm. 

 Each marks exactly ten inches. They try the 

 scale-beam. The bar rises at exactly three hun- 

 dred pounds, with each. Both seek health. 



John goes to the gymnasium, lifts heavy dumb 

 bells, and kegs of nails, till he can put up one 

 hundred and twenty-five pounds and lift nine hun- 

 dred, and his arm reaches fifteen inches. 



Thomas goes to the mountains — fishes, hunts, 

 spends delightful hours with the young ladies, 

 and plays cricket. Upon measuring his arm, we 

 find it scarcely larger than when he left town, 

 while he can't put up sixty pounds, nor lift five 

 hundred. 



But who doubts Thomas will return to the bank 

 counter the better man of the two ? 



John should be the better man, if strengih is 

 the principal and most essential condition of 

 health ! 



And here I must introduce, for the second 

 time, an illustration which is quite in point. 



A circus usually contains among its performers 

 a man who lifts a cannon, weighing nearly or 

 quite half a ton. Then there are half a dozen ri- 

 ders and vaulters, who have comparatively little 

 strength. If any body supposes that the strong 

 man has better health than the flexible, elastic 

 ones, he has but to make in (uiries of circus man- 

 agers, as I have done, and he will learn that the 

 balance is found almost uniformly with the latter. 

 Agility and flexibility are far more important 

 than strength, and that the fine silken quality of 

 the muscular fiber, which comes only from an in- 

 finite repetition of light and ever-varying feats, 

 far more important than size. — Lewis' Gymnastics, 



Animals becoming Parents too Early. — 

 Victor Gilbert never allowed ewes to have lambs 

 until they passed their third year ; and the bucks 

 were not used until they had arrived at full ma- 

 turity. He, as well as many other sagacious 

 stock-raisers that we might name, are probably 

 conversant with the fact that during the period of 

 growth and development up to maturity, the re- 



