538 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



eral ovations, they acknowledged the goodness 

 of a bountiful Providence. Our forefathers, in 

 imitation of their example, instituted an autum- 

 nal festival, which, from that day to the present, 

 has been observed as the hoIi/-(\ay of the year. 

 These occasions, with their accustomed gatherings 

 of scattered households and reunions of near rel- 

 atives, with the promptings of dependence and 

 gratitude which they excite, have a salutary ef- 

 fect upon the heart by leading it to the Source of 

 all our blessings, and by awakening the better 

 impulses of our nature. 



In these times of making haste to be rich, when 

 eagerness to see and enjoy the "good time com- 

 ing" seems almost to obliterate all recollections 

 of, and destroy respect for, the good times and 

 customs of the past, it is gratifying to reflect that 

 this precious relic, this good old puritanic festi- 

 val, denominated "Thanksgiving," is still hailed 

 with joy, and duly observed by all of New Eng- 

 land extraction. Very far distant be the day, 

 when the shadows of Thanksgiving luxuries and 

 Thanksgiving gratitude shall be less. 



The dark clouds, cold winds and forbidding as- 

 pect abroad, make more grateful the Jireside com- 

 forts within. All our ideas of pleasure are re- 

 ferable to the principles of contrast. Had we 

 never felt the cold, we should remain ignorant of 

 the genial and delightful influences of warmth. 

 Hence the pleasure we feel, in witnessing the 

 progress of a storm, when we can look out upon 

 it, secure from its piercing winds or driving 

 sleet, and feel that the social hearth and com- 

 fortable bed are ours through the dark and 

 dreary night. 



This, too, is emphatically the season for culti- 

 Tating the social affections. Family gatherings, 

 social parties, calls and hymeneal embarkations, 

 are matters of every-day occurrence. Now is the 

 time for mental culture. No longer called by 

 cares in the external world, the mind naturally 

 turns in upon itself. Exemption from labor and 

 the division of time both favor literary pursuits, 

 and make this the season for study. Vigor of 

 body, imparted by rest from exhausting labor, 

 and by cool, bracing weather, gives activity to the 

 mind, and fits it for the acquisition of knowledge. 

 Schools, lyceums, institutes, and all the machi- 

 nery of popular education, are now in full opera- 

 tion. And those who would become wiser and 

 better, as they grow older, should improve the 

 golden moments as they pass. 



December is the fit time to make a settlement of 

 arrearages, to take a retrospect of the past, and 

 plan for the future. As the merchant, the manu- 

 facturer and the mechanic close up their accounts 

 and balance their books, at the close of the year, 

 80 should the farmer adjust his accounts and make 

 out his balance sheet, that he may know the re- 



sult of his labors, and understandingly plan for 

 the coming season. 



The close of the year is a fitting time for all, 

 of every vocation, to review the past — to take a 

 faithful inventory of their mental, moral and phy- 

 sical possessions, and see what progress they are 

 making in preparation for the closing scenes of 

 life. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 QOSSYPIUM AHBOREUM. 



Is this plant a new species of Tree Cotton, pe- 

 culiar to Chili and Peru, or is it the old species 

 Gossypium Arboreum introduced into Great Bri- 

 tain from the East Indies as early as 1694 ? It is 

 now cultivated in India, near temples and habita- 

 tions of Fakirs, and is said to be sacred to the 

 Hindoo deities, and therefore only employed for 

 making muslin for turbans. It is found in all 

 ])arts of India, Arabia and Egypt. I cannot find 

 that it has attracted much attention in England, 

 and is not enumerated among the plants described 

 by Loudon, as now cultivated in Britain. The 

 genus of Gossypium contains seventeen or eigh- 

 teen species, and the Cotton Tree of India is the 

 only shrubby plant which is noticed by botanists, 

 so far as I now can discover. I hope and trust 

 that this plant will prove to be as valuable as 

 Mr. Kendall supposes it to be, and will not here- 

 after be classed with the China tree corn, China 

 sorgo, morus multicaulis, and other vegetable 

 novelties. S. P. Fowler. 



Danversport, Oct. 26, 1861. 



The Human Hair. — It would appear that the 

 beautiful golden hair owes its brightness to an 

 excess of sulphur and oxygen, while black hair 

 owes its jetty aspect to an excess of carbon and a 

 deficiency of sulphur and oxygen. Vanquelin 

 traces an oxyd of iron in the latter, and also in 

 red hair. The coloring matter, however, forms 

 but one portion of the diff'erence existing between 

 the soft luxuriant tangles of the Saxon girl, and 

 the coarse blue-black locks of the North Ameri- 

 can squaw. The size and quality of each hair, 

 and the manner in which it is planted, tell pow- 

 erfully in determining the line between the two 

 races. 



An eminent German has undergone the enor- 

 mous labor of counting the number of hairs in 

 heads of four diff'erent colors. In a blond he 

 found 140,400 hairs ; in a brown, 109,440; in a 

 black, 102,962 ; and in a red one, 88,740. What 

 the red and black heads wanted in number of 

 hairs was made up, however, in the greater hulk 

 of the hairs individually ; and, in all probability, 

 the scalps were pretty equal in weight. It is to 

 the fineness and multiplicity of hairs that blond 

 tresses owe the rich and silk-like character of 

 their flow — a circumstance which artists have so 

 loved to dwell upon. 



A Large Turnip. — Mr. B. F. Ellis, of East 

 Bridgewater, has left with us a turnip of the Pur- 

 ple Top variety, which weighs, without leaves or 

 roots, ten and a quarter pounds, and is nearly a 

 Sabbath day's journey around it. 



