368 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug 



fruit, of all sorts and sizes. I saw several stems 

 with fruit well worth cultivating, and from one root 

 he handed me, fruit which was famous in size, and 

 possessed in an eminent degree the peculiar flavor 

 and richness of the field or native fruit. He has 

 also a plantation of the Peabody, which were cul- 

 tivated in hills, and were well laden with noble 

 fruit. 



THE SCHOOL-ROOM. 



An invitation was proffered to visit the school, 

 at this season kept for the benefit of the younger 

 sisters in the community, but time would not al- 

 low me to indulge in this pleasure. I hope at a 

 future time to do so, as I am of the opinion, from 

 the general intelligence and noble deportment of 

 George's boys, that progressive education with 

 them is a fixed fact. They have introduced Harp- 

 er's series of readers, by Willson, into their school, 

 •which is evidence that they know what the best is, 

 and mean to make it available. W. Bacon. 



Richmond, June 24, 1862. 



THE HAYFIELD. 



What man amongst us all, if he will think the 

 matter over calmly and fairly, can honestly say 

 that there is any one spot on the earth's surface 

 in which he has enjoyed so much real, wholesome, 

 happy life as in a hayfield ? He may have won 

 renown on horseback or on foot at the sports and 

 pastimes in which Englishmen glory ; he may have 

 shaken oflT all rivals, time after time, across the 

 vales of Aylesbury, or of Berks, or any other of 

 our famous hunting counties ; he may have stalked 

 the oldest and shyest buck in Scotch forest, and 

 killed the biggest salmon of the year in the Tweed, 

 and trout in the Thames ; he may have made top- 

 ping averages in first-rate matches of cricket ; or 

 have made long and perilous marches, dear to 

 memory, over boggy moor, or mountain or gla- 

 cier ; he may have successfully attended many 

 breakfast-parties Avithin drive of May Fair, on vel- 

 vet lawns, surrounded by all the fairy land of 

 pomp and beauty and luxury which London can 

 pour out ; he may have shone at private theatri- 

 cals and at-homes, his voice may have sounded 

 over hushed audiences at St. Stephen's or in the 

 law courts ; or he may have had good times in 

 any other scenes of pleasure or triumph open to 

 Englishmen ; but I much doubt whether, on put- 

 ting his recollections fairly and quietly together, 

 he would not say at last that the fresh-mown hay- 

 field is the place where he has spent the most 

 hours which he would like to live over again, the 

 fewest which he would wish to forget. 



As children, we stumble about the new-mown 

 hay, revelling in the many colors of the prostrate 

 grass and wild flowers, and in the power of tum- 

 bling where we please without hurting ourselves ; 

 as small boys, we pelt one another, and the village 

 schoolgirls, and our nursemaids, and young-lady 

 cousins, with tlie hay, till, hot and weary, we retire 

 to tea or syllabub beneath the shade of some great 

 oak or elm standing up like a monarch of the fair 

 pasture ; or, following the moMcrs, we rush with 

 eagerness on the treasures disclosed by the scythe 

 stroke — the nest of the unhappy late-laying tit- 

 lark, or careless fieldmouse ; as big boys, we toil 

 ambitiously with the spare forks and rakes, or 

 climb into the wagons and receive with open arms 



the delicious load as it is pitched up from below, 

 and rises higher and higher as we pass along the 

 long lines of haycocks ; a year or two later, we 

 are strolling there with our first sweethearts, our 

 souls and tongues loaded with sweet thoughts and 

 soft speeches ; we take a turn with the scythe as 

 the bronzed mowers lie in the shade for their short 

 rest, and willingly pay our footing for the feat. 

 Again, we come back with book in pocket, and 

 our children tumbling about as we did before 

 them ; now romping with them, and smothering 

 them with the sweet-smelling load — now musing 

 and reading and dozing away the delicious sum- 

 mer evenings. And so shall we not come back to 

 the end, enjoying as grandfather the love-making 

 and the rompings of younger generations yet ? 



Were any of us ever really disappointed or mel- 

 ancholy in a hayfield ? Did Ave ever lie foirly back 

 on a haycock and look up into the blue sky, and 

 listen to the merry sounds, the whetting of scythes 

 and the laughing prattle of women and children, 

 and think evil tlioughts of the world or our breth- 

 ren ? Not we ! or, if we have so done, we ought 

 to be ashamed of ourselves, and deserve never to 

 be out of town again during hay harvest. 



There is something in the sights and sounds of 

 a hayfield which seems to touch the same chord 

 in one as Lowell's lines in the "Lay of Sir Laun- 

 fal," which ends — 



"For a cap and bells our lives we pay ; 



Wc wear our lives with toiling and tasking ; 

 It is only Heaven that is given away ; 



It is only God may be had for the asking. 

 There is no price set on the lavish summer, 

 And June may be had by the poorest comer." 



But the philosophy of the hayfield remains to be 

 written. Let us hope that Avhoever takes the sub- 

 ject in hand will not dissipate all its sweetness in 

 the process of the inquiry wherein the charm lies. 

 — Tom Brown at Oxford. 



Sulphur for Mildew. — Sulphur is a cure for 

 most forms of fungus or mildew, if applied in time. 

 The cracking of the pear is undoubtedly caused by 

 a fungus, and I have great hopes that it will check 

 this great drawback to the culture of the Virgalieu 

 pear. The difficulty is to apply it so that the fruit 

 shall be dusted over with the sulphur. Syringing 

 the trees with a solution of sulphur is probably the 

 best method. By boiling for some time lime and 

 excess of sulphur together in water, we get penta 

 sulphuret of calcium — a compound containing 

 about eighty per cent, of sulphur. If this is largely 

 diluted with water, and the trees are syringed with 

 it, as the -water evaporates the sulphur will be left 

 on the leaves and fruit. I have great faith in this 

 plan, and mean to try it thoroughly. I boiled eight 

 pounds of sulphur and one of lime for several 

 hours. I then poured off the clear liquid and 

 added another pound of lime to the sulphur left at 

 the bottom and boiled again. — Genesee Farmer. 



Mulch the Tomatoes. — The Gardener's 

 Montldij says : — "Tomatoes do best when suffered 

 to grow flat on the ground ; but in such cases the 

 soil should be covered with a mulch of straw or 

 litter to keep the tomatoes from getting soiled and 

 rotten by (lani]niess. Brushwood is an excellent 

 materal for them to lie on and they seem to thrive 

 well with it about them." 



