1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



45 



In a Shaker community, you have the matei'ial 

 below the general average ; but made the most of 

 in certam du-ections. Agriculture and domestic 

 manutactures, carried out thoroughly, with the 

 most important objects, temperance and frugidity, 

 •will make them rich. 



In England, farmers prefer to lease farms rather 

 than buy them. They prefer to expend their cap- 

 ital in stock, manure and labor, rather than shut 

 it up in the land. But the man who wants a home 

 for his family and his posterity, must own the land 

 he cultivates, and then every acre he drains, every 

 tree he plants, every load of manure he plows into 

 it, will add to its permanent riches. 



At the creation, man's appointed work was the 

 cultivation of the earth, and tlierc are many whose 

 talents are inferior in this respect. I tliink it will 

 be so until all the other works are subordinate to 

 this. Canals are dug, raih'oads are constructed, 

 cities are buUded, warehouses, manufactories and 

 ships are all constructed for the sole purpose of 

 benefiting the lords and cultivators of the soil. 

 All the pursuits of civilization rest upon this one. 

 Perfect independence is impossible, but the old- 

 fasliioned farmer, who is able to produce for him- 

 self all the real necessaries, comes very near to it. 



A bed of muck or marl on a farm is better than 

 a gold mine, in a long run : when the gold is ex- 

 hausted, that is the end of it ; but the enriched 

 farm will pour out crops for a century. 



AVhen a fruit tree has exhausted its fruit-form- 

 ing material, it must stop bearing. Trv a load of 

 muck or ashes, bone dust, &c., dug in from six to 

 tAvelve feet from the trunk, and you will be satis- 

 fied. _ / 



Every dead animal on a farm which is not eaten 

 as food, should be stored with loam, rotten leaves, 

 old plaster, poAvdered charcoal, leached ashes, or 

 other absorbents, so as to make a compost of ma- 

 nure that will be worth, in the long run, more than 

 it would have sold for when living. 



The science of agriculture is to know how to 

 convert the waste and apparently valueless mat- 

 ters around us into the richest and most impor- 

 tant production of life. The business of the far- 

 mer is one of the greatest dignity. It is to assist 

 the Almighty in His work of creation. It is to in- 

 crease the beauty and fertility of the earth. 



North Charleston, N. H. H. B. 



GREAT EXPEDITION. 



Our readers will perceive by the new raUroad 

 schedules published to-day that, actuated by a pub- 

 lic spirit M'hich gives them fresh claim to the grate- 

 ful consideration of the entire community, the sev- 

 eral railroad companies on the seaboard line have 

 united in adopting a rate of speed on then- respec- 

 tive roads wliich actually reduces the time of travel 

 between Wasliington and Boston within ticcntij 

 hours ! Thus, a person leaving Boston at 2 P. 

 M., arrives at Washington at 9i o'clock next 

 morning. We have heard of an ancient personage 

 who, in the fervor of faith, said he beHeved a cer- 

 tain dogma because it was impossible ; but here is 

 an achievement in transportation which we can 

 scarcely believe, although it is proved to be possi- 

 ble. We remember hearing a gentleman of this 

 city, many years ago, before the happy introduction 

 of railways, relate how, on entering the hall of the 

 Exchange Hotel, in Boston, one evening, and stat- 



ing that he had left AVashington five days before 

 — travelling by stage and steamboat — he Avas lis- 

 tened to M'ith some incredulity. Was it possible ; 

 only five days from Washington to Boston ? What 



was the world coming to ? And now . Has 



any man ever tried seriously to estimate the debt 

 of gratitude which the world owes to the jniblic 

 spirit that has blessed it with railroads ? Not in 

 comfort alone to the traveller, or even in their in- 

 calculable benefits to commerce, but in the saving 

 of precious time. It is only those who are aged 

 enough to have been trundled and jolted along 

 three miles an hour, in the former old vehicles of 

 travel, that can begin to appreciate the blessings 

 of raikoads. — National Intelligencer. 



A TIGER KILLED BY BABOOWS. 



The following account of a tiger chase is ex- 

 tracted from the North Lincoln Sphynx, a regi- 

 mental paper published at Graham's town^ Cape of 

 Good Hope. The writer, after alluding to his 

 sporting experience of all kinds and in all quarters 

 of the globe, declares that he never witnessed so 

 novel or intensely interesting a chase as that about 

 to be described : 



"Not long ago I spent a few days at Fort Brown, 

 a small military post on the banks of the Great 

 Fish river, where my friend W. Avas stationed. 

 One evening, as my friend and I Avere returning 

 home after a somcAvhat fatiguing day's buck- 

 shooting, Ave Avere startled by hearing the most ex- 

 traordinary noises not far from us. It seemed as 

 if all the demons in the im'ernal regions had been 

 unchained, and Avere amusing themselves by trying 

 to frighten us poor mortals by their horrid yelling. 

 We stood in breathless expectation, not knoAving 

 Avhat could possibly be the cause of this diabolical 

 roAV, Avith all sorts of strange conjectures flashing 

 across our minds. 



Nearer and nearer the yelling and screaming 

 approached, and presently the cause became visi- 

 ble to our astonished eyes. Some three or four 

 hundred yards to our right, upon the broAV of a 

 small hill, a spotted leopard (commonly called in 

 this country a tiger, though much smaller than the 

 lord of the Indian jungles,) came in vieAV, bound- 

 ing along Avith all the energy of despair, Avhile 

 close behind him followed an enormous pack of 

 baboons, from Avhose throats proceeded the demo- 

 niacal sounds that had a fcAV seconds before so 

 startled us. Our excitement in the chase, as you 

 may suppose, Avas intense. On AA'ent the tiger, 

 making for the river, the baboons foUoAving like 

 avenging demons, and evidently gaining ground 

 upon their exhausted foe, though then- exultant 

 yells seemed each moment to increase his terror 

 and speed. They reached the stream, the tiger 

 still in advance, and with a tremendous bound he 

 cast himself into its muddy Avaters and made for 

 the opposite bank. The next moment his pursu- 

 ers, in admirable confusion, Avere struggling after 

 him, and as the tiger, noAV fearfully exhausted, 

 clambered on the land again, the largest and 

 strongest of the baboons Avere close at liis heels, 

 though many of the ])ack, (the old, the very youug 

 and Aveakly,) were still struggling in the Avater. 



In a fcAV moments all had passed from our sight 



