58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



that of the brain is greatly over-estimated. The 

 celebrated Scotch stone-cutter, Hugh Miller, con- 

 fessed tliat he found it far more difficult to put his 

 mind down to hard study and to keep it there af- 

 ter he entered upon the duties of bank clerk, than 

 it was while he worked steadily at his laborious 

 trade. The difficulties experienced in attempting 

 to study, after a day's labor with the hands, arise 

 less from the fatigue of the body, than from the 

 want of the habit of systematic application. The 

 formation of the habit of appljing the mind stead- 

 ily to any given object is the great design of the 

 whole "course and discipline" of our highest sem- 

 inaries of learning. Evejy moment, then, that 

 the mind of the laboring man is made to grasp an 

 idea or a thought firmly is so much gained to- 

 wards making the next attempt to study easier, 

 and the next grasp of the mind firmer and more 

 continuous ; so much, in fact, — though those mo- 

 ments may be employed in the humble dwelling of 

 the farmer, — towards an education. 



That it is not only the privilege, but the duty of 

 all, to take some time and some pains to improve 

 the mind, is most forcibly indicated by the well 

 established fact that the liability of sinking, in old 

 age, into that most pitiable condition known as 

 "dotage," or "second childhood," is pretty much 

 in proportion to the neglect of the exercise of the 

 intellectual faculties in middle life. But reading 

 and study alone are not enough. The current of 

 thought which they set in upon the mind must 

 flow out, or the stream becomes stagnant. We 

 must speak or write as Avell as read, or we tire of 

 the latter. 



"Mind with mind must blend and brighten," 



or it becomes weak and dim. At liis creation it 

 was said, "it is not good for him to be alone." It 

 is also a law of his nature that he should give as 

 weU as receive, and in the former he is often more 

 blessed than in the latter. 



Hence the necessity and advantages of social 

 intercourse in all its improving forms. Hence, 

 too, the necessity of farmers' clubs, which we have 

 so frequently recommended, and of that more fa- 

 miliar intercourse between neighbors, especially in 

 sparsely settled agricultural districts, which each 

 one probably desires, but which has been so long 

 neglected that all settle down in the conviction 

 that nothing can be done to make the neighbors 

 more social and friendly. Perhaps something can 

 be done this month to break up tliis stiff crust of 

 apparent indifference. 



But at present our object is rather to recom- 

 mend that some of the spare hours of February 

 be employed in the vigorous exercise of "speaking 

 with the pen." This has advantages over oral 

 speech which we shall not now stop to particular- 

 ize, furthci- ^han to quote the following lines : 



"To remember, write ; to be accurate, write ; to know your own 



mind, write ; 

 Hast thou a thought upon thy brain, catch it, while thou canst ! 

 The commonest mind is full of thought, some worthy of the rarest, 

 And could it see them once in words, would wonder at its wealth." 



One of the most effectual remedies for a poor 

 memory, so often complained of, is unquestiona- 

 bly the practice of writing. Franklin fixed his 

 style by reading a page or two of the Spectator, 

 then wTiting it from memory, and afterwards com- 

 paring it with the original. With such a purpose 

 in view, we shall read carefully, and the truth will 

 soon be discovered that it is owing to our bad 

 habits of reading, rather than to a poor memory, 

 that we forget so much. 



We believe, also, that the "commonest mind is 

 full of thought," and that the world has lost much 

 from the inability — which a little practice would 

 have remedied — of many a good man to put his 

 thoughts on paper in such a manner that the wri- 

 ter could see, 



"Smiling upward from the scroll. 

 The image of the thought within the soul." 



It has been observed, that to come into contact 

 with other minds — to move them by a silent influ- 

 ence — to exercise a spell over those we have never 

 seen and never can see, and when the hand that 

 wrote is still forever, — is a most wonderful prerog- 

 ative, and one well worth striving for. 



As an application of these remarks, we Avould 

 urge farriiers to write for agricultural papers. 

 Never mind if your expressions are not quite as 

 elegant as you could Avish. Don't give up on that 

 account. Practice makes perfect. The Editor 

 will correct any little verbal improprieties. Give 

 the facts. Give your experience. Give them as 

 briefly as possible. The value of the New England 

 Farmer has always been in a great measure de- 

 pendent on the contributions of practical, hard- 

 working farmers. It still depends on them. Many 

 may find leisure time for tliis purpose in the 

 Month of February. 



PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 



In the last number of the Marh-Lane Express, 

 London, the editor says that "the lung sickness 

 or consumptive disease is spreading among cattle 

 in Australia. M. Jourdier, a French agriculturist, 

 who has recently visited Russia professionallj-, 

 states that so great are the ravages committed by 

 this disease, that in one large village, which he 

 cites as a by no means uncommon instance, the in- 

 habitants had lost literally the Avhole of their stock 

 at the time of his visit. He was assured that in 

 1859, Russia lost upwards of 3,000,000 head of 

 cattle by this disease, and the official returns ad- 

 mitted that the loss amounted to 1,000,000 head 

 between January and November of that year. 

 M. Jourdier states that the disease may be greatly 



