1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



513 



a market as they do of the opening of a store, — 

 the "goods," in either case, being previously ar- 

 ranged in order for the reception of customers. 



But this is quite incorrect. Dealers in stock at 

 this market do not wait for the "clerk" to open 

 the gates, nor even for the cattle to be yarded, 

 but are always ready for the first chance to trade, 

 whether occurring Tuesday, Wednesday or Thurs- 

 day, or whether presented in the cars, at the land- 

 ing-places, on the highway, or in the yards, at 

 Medford, Cambridge or Brighton. 



To watch well the market, therefore, one must 

 needs post himself at the several steamboat 

 wharves in Boston, at the cattle-stations on the 

 Lowell and on the Eastern railroads, as well as at 

 those in Cambridge and Brighton, besides keep- 

 ing a look-out for droves by land ; and this not 

 for a single day only, but for the three market- 

 days above-mentioned. 



A business "opening" upon such an extent of 

 territory, and continuing through one-half of the 

 working-days of the week cannot of course be 

 seen in its full proportions from a single point of 

 observation, nor is it strange that its amount and 

 importance should be underestimated. 



From such a field are the materials which make 

 up our weekly reports of the cattle markets 

 gleaned ; and a year's experience therein, it is be- 

 lieved, will enable our reporter to make his labors 

 for the future more satisfactory to himself, and 

 more valuable to others, than those for the past 

 year have been. 



FB.UIT AS A MEDICINE. 



Ripe fruit is the medicine of nature. Nothing 

 could be more wholesome for man or child ; and 

 although green fruit, of course, almost as fatal as 

 .so mucli poison, the ripe is fully as thorough a 

 health restorative and health preserver. Straw- 

 berries are favorites with all classes, and constitute 

 a popular luxury. But who can compute the 

 amount of general health promoted by this relish 

 for strawberries ? Wlio can imagine how many 

 pills that relish throws out of the market ; or, in 

 other words, to what extent these pills prepared 

 by mother nature, and sugar-coated, as it were, to 

 render them more palatable, crowd out of use 

 those ))repared by the chemist and the apotheca- 

 ry ? Who can tell the number of disordered liv- 

 ers, deranged stomachs, and afflicted digestive ap- 

 paratus generally, the grateful acid of that deli- 

 cious fruit gradually restores to a sound condition, 

 mocking at all the skill of the ablest physician ; 

 vindicating the simple laws of Hygiea by their 

 radical action, and teaching us how often a pan- 

 acea for some of the most painful of human mala- 

 dies lies directly at our feet, and is contemned be- 

 cause it is so unassuming? 



After strawberries, we do homage especially to 

 peaches and apples. They are the kind of drugs 

 that cost comparatively little and do comparative- 

 ly much, when the patient is not too far gone for 

 the use of such pleasant medicaments. We knew 

 a person once who, believing himself in a decline, 



and having been completely worn out in patience 

 by the experiments of his doctors, determined to 

 eat from four to six ripe apples every day, and 

 note the result. In three months he was well ! 

 We know of another who, without being afflicted 

 with any particular disorder, was never in good 

 health, and for twenty-five years could scarcely be 

 said to enjoy a single week's exemption from suf- 

 fering. He then commenced the nabit of drink- 

 ing a glass of plain cider every morning, and for 

 the next twenty-five years never had a single day's 

 illness. Such remedies are simple enough ! 



For the A'eu? Ennland Farmer. 

 NOTE YOUR PROGKESS— SHEEP. 



The yellow leaf betokens that the close of our 

 tilling the soil is drawing near for this season. 

 When that period arrives, would it not be well for 

 our brother farmers who have made note of their 

 progress through the year, to give us the advan- 

 tage of their experience, so those of us who are 

 unlearned, can learn. In my turn through the 

 orchard I find that those branches of the fruit 

 trees that run up, take up most of the sap at the 

 expense of those running downward ; the latter 

 consequently languish. I also remarked certain 

 trees which seemed as if they possessed some 

 knowledge, for they were careful to guard and 

 protect their fruit, as a woman does her little chil- 

 dren. Among the vines and gourds certain leaves 

 had grown and arranged themselves so as to cov- 

 er the fruit, lest, perchance, the cold might de- 

 stroy them. The rose tree and gooseberry bushes, 

 to defend themselves against any who might 

 wish to strip them of their buds, had put forward 

 defences of sharp spines. But I marveled not at 

 the foresight of God, for He said, that even the 

 birds have their share in His protection, and fall 

 not without His will. 



In the meadow I see the lambs frolicking and 

 kicking, leaping and sporting, also the shorn 

 sheep, but their inferiority in point of size to those 

 of the time of Heredotus, the historian, leads me 

 to think that, perhaps, they of that time might be 

 better posted, than we of the present day, although 

 Vermont boasts of her superior breeds of sheep. 

 Raising flocks was one of the first employments 

 that our progenitors followed, we are to infer, for 

 it says. Gen. 4 : 2, that Abel was a keeper of 

 sheep. Of the importance of sheep, no one ques- 

 tions. In sacred history, as well as profane, this 

 is duly noted (down to the present day.) In no 

 place do I find much as to the form and size of 

 sheep until the time of Heredotus, who speaking 

 of the sheejj of Arabia, says they have tails not 

 less than three cubits in length, in breadth nearly 

 a cubit ! I have not the skill to tell the exact size 

 of an animal by one part, as some have, but I am 

 part Yankee, therefore I am allowed to guess ; but 

 before proceeding further, let us see what the 

 word cubit implies. The word cubit is derived 

 from the Latin word Cuhitns, (the lower arm;) 

 it used to denote the distance from the elbow to 

 the end of the little finger. The length differs in 

 various nations according to the stature of the peo- 

 ple. The distance in men of average size is the 

 one in use. The lesser, or common cubit, is 18 

 inches, the Egyptian, or which is probably the 

 Hebrew, was 21. Now take the least, 18 inches. 



