1863. 



XEW ENGLAND F.\IIMER. 



95 



ges, if a cow, feeding in an adjacent pasture, es- 

 capes through a defect in the fence, and is run 

 over and killed by the cars, •without proof of due 

 care on the part of the owner to prevent such an 

 escape." 



For the Xew England Farmer. 



liZFE OP ASA Q. SHELDON. 



Mr. Sheldon, the Wilmington Farmer, SiS he is 

 called, is widely known, not only by his brother 

 farmers, but by merchants, lawyers, mechanics, 

 railroad contractors, bridge builders, &c. He has 

 been engaged in almost all kinds of business that 

 directly produce permanent prosperity, wealth 

 and power. He has always been eminently prac- 

 tical in whatever he has said or done ; and what 

 is infinitely more to his credit, his words and his 

 acts have sprung from a pure desire to benefit his 

 kind — to make the world better and happier for 

 his having lived in it. What mortal man can do 

 more I 



"We have before us a sketch of his life, prepared 

 by himself, which is filled with its every day inci- 

 dents, including accounts of many of his business 

 transactions of a public nature, family incidents, 

 agricultural operations, anecdotes and amusing 

 stories. It is also full of sensible facts and sug- 

 gestions, and aU told in the very vein and humor 

 of Asa G. Sheldox, and nobody else. It is a 

 better book, by far, to go into the hands of young 

 people, than the life of Amos Lawrence, because 

 that excellent, but mistaken man, sacrificed every 

 thing but honor to business — health, happiness, 

 social relations, and that culture of the mind and 

 soul without which all else is naught. 



Mr. Sheldon's life has been emphatically a use- 

 ful one — useful to himself, as well as the world, 

 for at the age of seventy-five, he is as sound as a 

 rock, with a mind as elastic and cheerful as that 

 of a girl of eighteen ! 



While preparing this notice, we received the 

 following from our old friend and correspondent, 

 Dr. Silas Brown, a townsman of Mr. S. He 

 says, " Mr. Sheldon belongs to a class of men who 

 ■will think for themselves. No one will have the 

 presumption to accuse him of plagiarism. His 

 book is replete with valuable and useful hints on 

 various subjects, it is a practical work and shows 

 him to have been a critical observer of men and 

 things, and is to be the more esteemed for its hav- 

 ing been written on a plan peculiar to himself. If 

 there is a manifestation of self-esteem, let it be 

 considered that a man must esteem himself, be- 

 fore he can have confidence to venture to gain the 

 esteem of others. His age is his evidence of ex- 

 perience." 



We shall be happy to transfer some of his pages 

 to our columns at a future time, when they are 

 less crowded. 



YOKES. 



Mr. Editor : — Hoping the burdens of the ox 

 may be made lighter and his value enhanced to 

 his owner, I desire to communicate to the readers 

 of your paper my convictions and experience on 

 yokes. 



It has been my painful conviction that oxen ex- 

 ercise their muscular strength, and tax their noble 

 powers to a great disadvantage. There is a fear- 

 ful waste of muscular exertion to the ox. and a 

 consequent loss to its owner in the use of improp- 

 ^ er yokes and bows. Owners of working oxen, m 

 : the majority of cases, I believe, pay indifferent at- 

 1 tention to the shape of their yokes and bows. 

 I The bulk of farmers, in many places, subject 

 their oxen to enormous outlays of strength, in the 

 use of too straight yokes. Iii the use of a straight 

 yoke, the ox is obliged to awkwardly exert the mus- 

 cles of the upper part of the shoulders and chest 

 to the exclusion of the use of the powers that lie 

 at the base of the chest and neck, llie weight or 

 load attached, is too high. A yoke that is deep 

 ' through the staple holes and crooked, brings the 

 load doirn to the power of the ox. By bringing 

 the load down to the middle of the neck, which is 

 done by a crooked yoke, the yoke firmly rests on 

 , the heaviest part of the neck, and as the ox 

 , straightens his legs in moving, the incalculable 

 ' power of the strong muscles of the middle part of 

 the shoulders and the lower part of the chest 

 i are f7i';vd/y applied to the yoke, and the load moves. 

 I In the use of the crooked yoke, the fulcrum is 

 I brought near the weight, and in the use of the 



■ straight yoke, the fulcrum is removed further from 

 ' the weight. 



i As regards the bows worked on oxen, I have 

 known them so tight on the upper portion of the 

 neck as to inflict injuries on the ear and neck, in 

 the act of backing, or holding a load down hill. 

 Let your bow holes be eight and a half inches 

 apart, for good sized oxen, and the yoke wide in 



I the neck, then the bows will slip by the ears, and 

 the yoke strike the bonis, and then the ox will 



j hold his load easily and willingly. As a general 

 rule, make bows the shape of an eg^. 



Quid Nirxc. 



1 Film on a Horse's Eye. — A correspondent of 



' the Country Gent, says : " About three months 



since I discovered a serious film on the eye of a 



mare belonging to me, which made the eye totally 



■ blind. I was advised to tr\- different remedies by 

 1 different persons — the first was to put in burnt 

 I alum powdered, twice a day for several days. 



This had no beneficial effect, but rather the con- 



■ trary. I then tried bathing with cold water three 

 times a day, taking the water directly from the 

 well. In a week or ten days it began to get bet- 



I ter : in two months the sight was restored, appar- 

 ' ently as well as the other. 



Blistered Hands and Feet. — As a remedy 



apainst blistering of hands in rowing or fi'shinu. 



ice, or of feet in'walking. the quickest is, lighting 



a tallow candle and letting the tallow drop into 



'' cold water, (to purify it, it is said, from salt,) then 



' rubbing the tallow "on the hands or feet — mixed 



with brandy or any other strong spirits. For 



mere tenderness, nothing is better than the above, 



1 or vinegar a little diluted with water. 



