1S62. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



445 



PliO-WEBS AND FABMING. 



In our late ramble into the Western portion of 

 the State, of which a brief account was given in 

 the last week's Farmer, we frequently noticed an 

 evidence of taste and refinement among the peo- 

 ple in the cultivation of flowers. We were often 

 pleasautl)' surprised to find so much attention 

 given to a matter that did not promise to place 

 cash directly in the pocket. The love of flowers, 

 and the cultivation of them, is not only an evi- 

 dence of taste and refinement, but an evidence 

 that a true sentiment is in the heart, that a love 

 for the beautiful has dawned there, and that a de- 

 sire for progress and the possession of a general 

 intelligence has been awakened in the mind. One 

 would scarcely love flowers, merely because they 

 look beautifully. He who could go no farther 

 than this, would scarcely have perception suffi- 

 cient to know that they were beautiful ! No. 

 There is a deeper and holier sentiment underlying 

 the love of flowers. It is, that attention to them 

 elevates and purifies the mind, softens asperities, 

 and gives the dusty walks of life many a charm 

 and grace that cannot be found where they are 

 lacking. They have a gentle and refining influ- 

 ence upon children, tending, somehow, to polish 

 their manners and inspire them with noble views 

 of life. "It is a law of our being that we become 

 attached to those subjects upon which we have be- 

 stowed labor, and over which we have expended 

 care. We love the trees our own hands have 

 planted, the vines we have cultivated and trailed 

 over our doorways, and over the trellis our own 

 hands have constructed, and our attachment be- 

 comes very strong." 



All along our way, for more than a hundred 

 miles through a broken and rough country, we 

 passed the most unpretending dwellings, graced 

 with a variety of seasonable and beautiful flow- 

 ers. Sometimes the dahlia was peeping through 

 the palings of the front yard fence, or some aspir- 

 ing member of this family looked gaily over it as 

 we passed along. The showy phloxes, with their 

 bright faces, spread themselves in profusion and 

 glistened in the sunshine which gladdened them, 

 while the less pretentious nasturtiums of various 

 colors kept nearer the ground, and opened a flower 

 wherever a stream of sunshine could find its way 

 in. So on the gate posts, in flower pots, or even 

 in rude wooden vessels set there, trailing plants 

 were growing, hiding blemishes in the wood work, 

 and making the dwelling a thousand times more 

 attractive than it could be without them. 



But this is not all. Where there were flowers 

 we thought we saw more order about the build- 

 ings ; an air of tidiness, thrift and comfort, and 

 better farming generally. Was it so, or was it 

 fancy ! At any rate, our way was made pleasant 

 by the flowers, and when we entered the dwellings 



of those who cultivated and cared for them, we 

 found their inmates intelligent, hospitable, and not 

 unfrequently imaginative and poetical. Strange 

 as it may seem to some, these are two qualities 

 greatly needed on the farm, and their growth 

 there would tend to keep a thousand sons and 

 daughters from deserting the old homestead, and 

 a soil that is capable and willing to yield a larger 

 per ccntage of proflt than is usually realized in 

 most other departments of industry. 



"No man can cultivate a love for the flowers 

 of the field,' breathe their fragrance, and admire 

 their beauty, without being the subject of that 

 softening influence necessary in forming a perfect 

 and symmetrical character. The refinement thus 

 secured does not at all diminish his mental vigor 

 and strength, but renders them more attractive, 

 and is essential to the perfect development." 



CUTTING TIMBER AND "WOOD. 



The durability of timber, all admit, is more or 

 less influenced by the time of cutting, but all are 

 not so well agreed what is the best time. Every 

 farmer must have observed that chestnut rails in 

 his fences, in some instances, remain entirely 

 sound for many years ; that there seems but little 

 difference in the durability of the sap, or outer 

 part of the tree, and the heart or inner part. All 

 becomes hard. The bark, in time, comes off", but 

 shows no decay or worm-holes. In other instances, 

 the sap soon becomes rotten and abounds in 

 worms, and the whole of the rail soon perishes. 



So of shingles. In some lots the sap will last 

 well, in others, the first shower will show a differ- 

 ence of appearance, and after a few months it will 

 let the water through the roof. 



Walnut and beech timlier sometimes become 

 worm eaten (powder post,) in a few months. Other 

 specimens will lie with them and remain untouch- 

 ed for years. In this market a load of wood will 

 be offered, beech, birch or maple, with split sur- 

 faces and ends bright and free from mildew, cor- 

 roborating the assurance of the owner that it has 

 been cut but a few months, and that it was piled 

 immediately where it had a feir ex])Osure to the 

 sun and air, and yet when you handle it you find 

 it light, when you saw and split it you find it 

 changed in texture and color, and its elasticity all 

 gone. In the fire it passes away rapidly with but 

 little blaze and but little heat. Other lots of the 

 same species of wood, cut an equal length of time, 

 and seasoned under the same circumstances, and 

 ahowing no better on the surface, will be found 

 much heavier on handling, unchanged in structure 

 and color and highly elastic as the saw and axe 

 expose fresh surfoces, and giving a bright, lively 

 fire when you burn it, and worth from a quarter 

 to a third, and sometimes a half more than the 

 first lot. These are all familiar instances, and all 

 depend on the season when the trees are cut. K 

 we are correct in ascribing such results to the 

 time of cutting the timber, it is a question of very 

 great importance, "What is the best time ?" 



We are not very confident of our ability to an- 

 swer the question, but will make one or two sug- 

 gestions and leave it for the present, asking for 

 facts from the observation of our readers. 



