1862. 



N GLAND FARMER. 



35 



he -would thereby obtain into the operations of 

 nature Avhich are daily going on around him. 



Botany, althou^^h not so appropriate for winter 

 study, and perhai^s verijini;- more toward the orna- 

 mental, may still come in for a share of attention, 

 now and then j with its pii-iciples acquired, no time 

 need be lost in going into the practical part when 

 sprinif arrives, and while it is a valuable aid to the 

 strictly practical farmer, and well worth the trou- 

 ble necessary to its acquirement, it is absolutely 

 indispensable to the hi_i;;hest success in horticulture 

 and its kindred branches. While the ])ractical ag- 

 ricultiuist, Avho, through ignorance of its jn-inci- 



files, exposes himself to derision if not serious 

 OSS, by belief in such doctrines as the transmuta- 

 tion of wheat to chess, the mixing of potatoes in 

 the tubers, &c., the horticulturist and seedsman 

 are liable to serious mistakes at the very founda- 

 tion of their business, unless a knowledge of bot- 

 any is included in their education. 



But there is another view of the subject which 

 I consider especially important. In every Avell 

 organized mind, there is more or less love of the 

 beautiful, and this almost exhaustless source of 

 innocent pleasure is more fidly brought out and 

 directed to its proper channel, the vegetable crea- 

 tion, by this study, than it can be by any other 

 means and at the same time, the close attention 

 to the minute organs of flowers, required in prac- 

 tical botany, tends to develop the perceptive fac- 

 ulties. 



In this, +00, it is sufficient compensation for the 

 knowledge-loving student to be able to name the 

 plants and trees which groAv along his path, to 

 know their uses and their origin, habits of grov/th, 

 &c. William F. B.vssett. 



Asl>field, Dec. 2, 1861. 



RYE FOB SHEEP. 

 Rye is one of the most valuable of the green 

 feed for sheep. A friend of ours, an amateur far- 

 mer, Avho has liis nieans all locked up in real estate, 

 but who is determined to make it ])ay his expen- 

 ses in spite of the hard times for all the real estate 

 speculators, enclosed four hunch'ed acres, wliich he 

 rents out on shares, the most of which has been 

 cultivated in corn since the crash of 18j7. Begin- 

 ning to fear that his third of the corn crop would 

 not pay his taxes on some thousands of acres of 

 wild land, with his other expenses, he applied to 

 his arithmetic, which convinced him that a thou- 

 sand good mutton sheep would help him out ; so 

 after the corn was laid by, he persuaded one of Iiis 

 tenants to allow him to sow some tliirty acres of 

 rye among the corn. His thousand sheep Avere 

 purchased in August, herded wherever he could 

 find feed until the corn was ripe, Avhen they were 

 turned on the yoiyig rye, Avhich was their principal 

 feed until the first of June, wdren it was turned 

 under and planted to corn. A portion of the crop 

 was well fed doAvn, but had it not been for the 

 standing corn stalks, a respectable crop could have 

 been harvested from a part of the field. Here Avas 

 the large part of the feed of a thousand sheep for 

 eight months, costing .$12 for the seed and about 

 the same for labor, and returning the land in tar 

 better condition than it was before, no doubt to 

 the extent of the seed and labor. We have never 

 seen a lot of sheep and lambs at this season in so 

 good a condition as tliis rye fed flock. 



The flock if* now on the prairie, and will remain 

 there until liis meadoAv is ready to turn into, Avheu 

 the rye pasture Avill be repeated. He will clear at 

 least $l,o()0 the first yeiu- in this operation, the 

 result of brains in fanriins:. — Illinois Farmer. 



MAISrUAL OP AGRICUIiTTJRE. 



This is a ncAV work on agriculture, especially 

 designed "to supply an important defect in the in- 

 struction of youth," but there are fcAv formers who 

 may not fuid in it stores of wisdom and page.n of 

 facts, a knowledge of which is important to success 

 in their business. It has been prepared by two 

 persons as competent as any in the State to sup- 

 ply such a Avork, viz : — Mr. George B. Emerson, 

 author of a Report on the Trees and Shrubs of 

 Massachusetts, and Charles L. Flint, Secretary 

 of the State Board of Agriculture, and author of a 

 Treatise on i\lilch Coavs and Dairy Farming, and 

 Grasses and Forage Plants, 6cc. Mr. Emerson 

 prepared the first thirteen chapters, and the twen- 

 ty-first chapter upon the Rotation of Crops, and 

 Mr. Flint the remainder, commencing Avith the 

 fourteenth chapter. We have read eveiy page of 

 the Avork with minute attention, and are free to 

 say that Ave behcA-e it to be the most vahiable 

 work yet published, not only for the "instruction 

 of youth," but for the instruction of our flmners 

 generally. In order to shoAV the nature of the 

 Avork better than Ave can show it by any explana- 

 tion, Ave Avill extract a few paragraphs, and begin 

 Avith the first three in the book. 



1. Agi'i culture is the art of cultivating the earth. 

 It includes Avhatever is necessary for finding out 

 the nature of the soil, clearing up the land, ren- 

 dering it healthy, and ])reparing it for tillage, and 

 jfloAving it, and the soAving, Aveeding and harvest- 

 ing the crops. 



2. The object of agriculture should be to enrich 

 the earth, and make it produce the largest crops, 

 of the greatest value, at the least expense of land, 

 time, and labor. 



3. In order to attain this object, the husband- 

 man must have capital, — that is, money for the 

 necessary expenditures ; labor, or hands for the 

 operations required ; knoAvledge of the best Avays 

 of Avorking ; and intelligence, in order to dh'ect the 

 application of the capital and laboi\ 



This is sufficient to show the reader the pleas- 

 ant and familiar stA'le of the Avork. In clearing 

 the way to speak of the subjects Avhich he must in- 

 troduce as he advances, Mr. Emerson is obliged 

 to speak of that bugbear Avord science, and he does 

 it in so plain and attractive a manner that all Avill 

 be charmed, rather than repulsed by it. 



"Science," he says, "is exact knoAvledge, ob- 

 tained by the observation and experience of many 

 observers." 



"You see, then, Avhat is the vse of a scientific 

 knoAvledge of the principles of agriculture. It pre- 

 pares a person for the practice of agriculture." 



