572 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



of rocks and soils without any interference with 

 their regular studies. To them it is a pastime. 

 Now the same method may be adopted in agricul- 

 ture, when there is an oppnrhtnity to do it. I 

 have adopted the same plan on other subjects, and 

 have found it to work admirably. Some of your 

 most popular Boston teachers have in years past 

 received my instruction in this way with not a little 

 pleasure and profit to themselves. 



Sometimes a school may have a class of scholars 

 who can study chemistry, natural philosophy, 

 physical geography, or some other higher branch, 

 with great advantage. At other times it would 

 be impossible to do anything of the kind. I am 

 not now speaking of graded schools in our villages 

 and cities, but of those found in rural neighbor- 

 hoods among the farmers. The truth is simply 

 this. It is as much as the teacher can possibly do 

 to give sufficient instruction to meet the intel- 

 lectual wants of twenty scholars under his charge 

 in the studies usually taught, so as to keep their 

 minds vigorously employed and keep them out of 

 mischief. Advanced studies must generally be 

 attended to in the higher graded schools, and any 

 young man who has aml)ition enough to study 

 them, can, in this country, find some place where 

 he can gratify his inclinations. The common 

 school will become more and more elevated, but it 

 must be the elementary school to a large portion 

 of our youth, and elementary studies must occupy 

 the greatest portion of the teacher's attention. I 

 would gladly see agriculture taught wherever it 

 can do any good, but I think that we teachers, 

 who are compelled to give instruction in grammar, 

 arithmetic, geography, reading and spelling every 

 day, have but little time to devote to agriculture 

 in school or out. N. T. T. 



Highland Boarding School, } 

 Bethel, Me., Nop. 1st. ] 



AKT ICE PALACE ON THE ST. LAW- 

 RENCE. 



Mr. Edward Hassel, a Berlin architect, who was 

 employed for a number of years on the Petersburg 

 and Moscow Railway, and constructed many of 

 the far-famed ice palaces of St. Petersburg, propo- 

 ses constructing an ice palace on the river op])o- 

 site this city next winter, if he can meet with suf- 

 ficient encouragement from the citizens. The 

 building will be 40 feet high, 114 feet long, and 5(5 

 feet deep, and constructed much in the same style 

 as the Court House, but with this addition, that it 

 will be surrounded by a colonnade and topped 

 with a dome, all, witli the exception of the windows 

 and doors, to be l)uilt of ice. A large skating ring 

 will be annexed to the building. The rooms, 

 w^hich will include a large ball-room, ladies' and 

 gentlemen's rooms, halls, &c., will be all heated 

 by stoves, and warranted not to melt ! Mr. Has- 

 sel says that the climate is peculiarly adapted to 

 the erection of such buildings. He may well do 

 so. And that the palace would be built in three or 

 four weeks at a cost of $3,500. This sum he pro- 

 poses to raise in subscriptions of $10, which will 

 entitle the shareholders to have exclusive control 

 of the building. A building of this nature would 

 attract large numbers of visitors to the city. The 

 hotel-keepers and other interested parties would, 

 therefore, do well to look upon the scheme with 

 favor. — Montreal Herald. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 

 THE SEASON. 



Autumn, up to the sixth instant, was as fine as 

 could be desired. Crops of all kinds ripened fine- 

 ly and were nearly gatliered, in good condition. 

 In the forenoon of the 6th, we had a slight fall of 

 snow, which, in low lands, soon melted. Friday 

 forenoon was very chilly, and the heavy clouds 

 gave indications of a severe storm. Snow com- 

 menced foiling about one o'clock, P. M., and con- 

 tinued, with a northeast wind, until about eleven 

 at night. Saturday was mild, and the snow melt- 

 ed through the day. The storm commenced anew 

 about midnight Saturday, and the snov; fell rapid- 

 ly until nine o'clock, A. M., Sunday, when it 

 turned mist and rain, which continued at intervals 

 until four o'clock P. M., when the wind changed 

 to north-west, with snow squalls, continuing bois- 

 terous through the night. Monday morning, 

 snow covered the ground a foot deep, on an aver- 

 age, besides snow drifts that would be in charac- 

 ter with a February snov/ stoi-m. Tliis snow lay 

 very solid, and the quantity that naturally fell in 

 this storm, allowing for what melted, would not 

 have been less than eighteen inches. Notwith- 

 standing the heavy crops of forage gathered in, if 

 this should prove the comjnencement of a winter 

 to continue as late as the last did, there must be a 

 scarcity before spring, as nearly every farm is 

 stocked to its utmost capacity. The prices of 

 wool promise so well, that every one is keeping as 

 many sheep as they deem it possible to carry 

 through. 



Yet with the unfrozen ground beneath and ge- 

 nial skies above, the snow has rapidly wasted to- 

 day, and we anticipate its speedy departure, and a 

 fine turn of open weather, before the final setting 

 in of winter. The lowness of springs and streams 

 indicate that Avinter is not to come yet. 



liiclimond, Nov. 10, 1SG2. W. Bacox. 



STATE BOUNTY TO AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



In the monthly paper just at hand, I notice an 

 elaborate discussion of a suggestion that I threw 

 out a few weeks since, as to the expediency of 

 continuing the bounty of the State to our agricul- 

 tural societies — a privilege they have experienced 

 for forty years. If these societies cannot be 

 sustained under discreet management without this 

 bounty, I would continue it; but if they can, it is 

 very clear that the State will have for a long time 

 to come other and more pressing necessities de- 

 manding its attention. I say discreet vianage- 

 7neiit, for it must be apparent to all that the mon- 

 eys thus distributed to societies have often been 

 used without sound discretion. 



It is easy so to conduct exhibitions as to have 

 them sustain themselves. A small fee of ten cents 

 from each visitor, will give an income of $500, 

 when the show is held in the midst of a dense 

 population, as all shows should be held, and this 

 will cover all incidental expenses of the show. If 

 the society has a vested fund, let the income there- 

 of be paid out in ]n-emiums. If it has not such a 

 fund, let the members thereof raise one by volun- 

 tary contribution. A payment of one, two or 

 three dollars a year would not be seriously felt. 

 I wish some of the leading men of the State would 

 give their views on the subject. While we fight 

 the rebels with a vigorous arm on their own soil, 



