10 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



Ere the harvest is pathered in— 

 Be stout to toil, and steady to bear — 

 The heart that i3 true shall win,'' 



It is by the hearthstone of the farmer's home 

 that the education of the young mind that is to be 

 trained to the pursuit of agriculture, and its kin- 

 dred branches, should be commenced. Better 

 there than elsewhere can be laid the foundation 

 of future usefulness and success in ife; for there 

 the youthful student will be surrounded by the 

 influences which serve to attach his personal in- 

 terests and sympathies to the pursuit, and secure, 

 from surrounding objects, that healthy stimulus to 

 exertion which is always so essential to success. 

 Here he sliould read the writings of those who 

 have labored long, and, in too many cases, thank- 

 lessly, for the benefit of the husbandman, and 

 whose works are the richest legacy, if properly ap- 

 preciated, that they could have bequeathed to man. 

 AVhat would now be regarded as a fair equivalent 

 for the volumes of Von Thaer, or, in our own 

 country, of Prof. Johnston, or the eminently 

 practical volume of Judge BuEL, on common hus- 

 bandry, or of Judge French, on drainage, by 

 those who properly estimate the value of such 

 works in assisting the development of mind? 

 And Jtjstus Liebig has given to us, in his pub- 

 lished works, a legacy of wisdom for which em- 

 pires were, in truth, but a poor exchange ! 



Whoever can teach us the art of causing two 

 blades of grass to grow, profitably, where but one 

 grew before — who can instruct us in what way we 

 can most easily and economically redeem the pu- 

 trid swamp, tenanted by loathsome reptiles, and 

 noxious plants, and cause it to teem with nutri- 

 tious herbage, is a benefactor, whose achievements 

 entitle him to the highest praise, and whose name 

 deserves to be kept in remembrance by those for 

 whom he has "plied the task," and reaped the 

 sheaves whose golden glories gladden the earth 

 and strengthen the spirits of theu' fellow-men on 

 the battle-field of life. 



The good seed they scatter will spring up 



"in spite of cloud and blast, 



And sullen rain descending fast, 

 And pnow-wreaths thickly o'er it cast, 



And thunderous, darkening skies j 

 The very tempest roaring past, 



Strengthens it as it lies." 



So, let us begin this Nev^t Year with honest 

 intentions, with cheerful hopes, and with deter- 

 mined energy, notwithstanding that wicked men 

 ai* spreading death and ruin over the land, and 

 ever remember that if we 



"Be stout (o toil, and steady to bear. 

 The heart that is true shall win." 



FOKCE— MEN AND HORSES COMPARED. 



Uesagulier's Experimental Philosophy gives 

 much information on the subject. The horse 

 draws Avith the greatest advantage, when the line 

 of direction is level with his breast ; in such a sit- 

 uation he is able to draw 200 lbs. eight hours a 

 day, walking about two miles and a half an hour. 

 This, of course, does not relate to the weight of 

 the wagon, or load, but to the amount of force 

 he exerts upon the shafts. If the same horse be 

 made to draw 240 lbs., he can work but six hours, 

 and cannot go so fast. On a carriage, where fric- 

 tion alone is to be overcome, a middling horse 

 will draw 1000 lbs. If a weight be suspended in 

 a well by a rope, passing over a pulley, a horse 

 will lift, when attached to this rope, but about 200 

 lbs. His feet cannot hold on to the ground with 

 a force any thing equal to his own weight operat- 

 ing against his line of travel. 



Five men are equal in strength to one horse, 

 and can with as much ease pull the horizontal 

 beam of a mill occupying a circle of nineteen 

 feet, while three men will do it in a walk forty 

 feet wide. 



A horse employs much less force when required 

 to draw up hill ; if the hill be steep, three men 

 will do more than the horse, each man climbing 

 up faster with a burden of 100 lbs. weight, than 

 a horse that is loaded with 300 lbs. This is due, 

 of course, to the position of the parts of the body 

 being better adapted to climbing than those of the 

 horse. In a horizontal direction the quadruped 

 has the advantage over the biped. Thus a man 

 v/eighing 140 lbs., and drawing a body along by 

 means of a rope coming over his shoulders, can- 

 not draw above 27 lbs., or exert above one-seventh 

 part of the force of a horse employed for the 

 same purpose. 



The very best and most effectual force in a man, 

 is that of rowing, wherein he not only acts with 

 more muscles at once for overcoming the resist- 

 ance, than in any other position ; but as he pulls 

 backward, the weight of his body assists as a lev- 

 er for continuous labor. 



The horse is enabled to do more work on a sur- 

 face of variable figure, than in a very level coun- 

 try. Horses do not wear well if all the roads 

 they draw upon be on an inclined plane or a fixed 

 gradation. Every change of figure in the sur- 

 face, brings into action another set of muscles, so 

 that all the muscles of the horse are in turn called 

 upon to act on the varied surfaces, whereas those 

 of a continued figure appeal to one set of muscles 

 alone. — Working Farmer. 



It costs a great deal more to be miserable than 

 to be happy. 



Dry Food for Hogs. — A correspondent of 

 the Country Gentleman says : Many hogs are 

 kept comparatively poor by the high dilution of 

 their food. They take in so much water that 

 there is not room for a good su])ply of nutriment. 

 Hence the reason that those farmers who careful- 

 ly feed undiluted sour milk to their hogs, have so 

 much finer animals than those who give them slops. 

 The hog has not room for much water ; and if 

 food which contains much is fed to him, it makes 

 him big-bellied, but poor." Hogs, as well as all 

 other animals, should be allowed all the water they 

 will drink, but it should not be mixed with their 

 food in excessive quantity. 



