138 



xsr.VT Ii,><»jii.AiNJj FARMER. 



May 



Well may the student of nature, impressed 

 ■with the magnificence and mystery of his subject, 

 inquire — 



"Are not the mountain waves and skies, a part 



Of me, and of my soul, as I of them ? 



Is not the love of them deep in my heart 



With a pure passion ? Should I not contemn 



All objects, if compared with these, and stem 



A tide of suffering, rather than forego 



Such feelings for the hard and worldly phlegm 



Of those whose eyes are turned below. 



Gazing upon the ground, with thoughts that dare not glow ?" 



It is at this delightfial season that we come into 

 closest contact with this principle. The farmer, 

 as he walks his fields, sees its operations in all the 

 varied form of beauty and utility which surround 

 him ; in the rock hidden in the soil ; in the slen- 

 der stalk and the tapering spire ; in the verdant 

 leaf and the iris-colored flower, as well as in the 

 insect, whose tiny form and iridescent wings glance 

 in tremulous beauty in the golden sunbeam — an 

 insignificant atom in itself, but a link, neverthe- 

 less, in the great chain of which even man him- 

 self, with all his boasted intelligence and godlike 

 powers of acting and reflecting, is but a perisha- 

 ble part ! 



Although we can necessarily know little of life, 

 as a principle, we may yet know something of its 

 laws, and the conditions of its development. In 

 it all the hopes of the husbandman are involved 

 and wrapped up. "Without it, his fields are bar- 

 ren, and all his costly acres unproductive proper- 

 ty. With it, he has more than the fabled power 

 of Midas, whose touch turned everything into 

 gold. On every acre he may open a mine quite 

 as productive as the plains of the Pacific shore. 

 How few of these have yielded a hundred dollars 

 to the acre ; yet this is no uncommon feat of hus- 

 bandry in the least favored of our States. The 

 dreams of poets and philosophers are more than 

 realized in modern agriculture." 



No employment bequeaths such placid and tran- 

 quil memories, filling the heart with quiet glad- 

 ness, and sufi'using the spirit with a holy atmos- 

 phere in which no corroding anguish — no distrust- 

 ing bitterness or regret can exist. All its images 

 retain through life, a pleasant and grateful hue ; 

 they are blended with no deep sorrow, no dark 

 remorse, no haunting shame, and are Imked with 

 those associations, which, if touched by a senti- 

 ment, are never blighted by a passion. 



Time fok Heifers to Come In. — An English 

 writer considers it a matter of importance that 

 heifers should be so managed as to have their first 

 calf late in the spring, when there is an abundance 

 of succulent food, inducing a large supply of milk. 

 This is much better than to have them come in 

 early in spring when they have dry food only. 

 The habit at first formed is apt to remain with 

 them, and if they commence by giving a good 

 supply of milk, they will be more likely to be good 

 milkers afterwards. — N. H. Jour, of Agriculture. 



CHILD LIFE AMONG THE BECHUANAS. 



Until the child begins to change its teeth it lays 

 from morning till evening, and has nothing to do 

 but to grow as fast as possible. We have noticed 

 among these little idlers many of the games of 

 our childhood ; for instance, two little girls will 

 seat themselves side by side in a very mysterious 

 manner ; one of them picks up a stone, and pass- 

 ing it rapidly from one hand to the other, presents 

 her two fists to her companion, that she may guess 

 in which hand the pebble is. If the guesser is 

 mistaken, the other exclaims triumphantly, "f7a 

 ya incha, kia ya kliovio" (You eat the dog, I eat 

 the beef;) in the opposite case she declares her- 

 self to be vanquished by saying "/u'a ya inclia, ua 

 ya kJiomo" (I eat the dog, you eat the beef;) and 

 she delivers the stone to her friend. 



Playing with bones, which they call kefa, jump- 

 ing, and at the same time passing a long cord un- 

 der the feet, are favorite sports of the African 

 children. Afterward come racing, wrestling and 

 sham fights. 



These latter exercises are more especially prac- 

 ticed in the fields, where it is the duty of e.ery 

 little boy of eight years old to drive daily the 

 sheep and goats of his father. These young shep- 

 herds contrive to pass their time as agreeably as 

 possible. In spite of the orders continually given 

 them to disperse themselves, so that the flocks 

 may find abundant pasturage, they invariably end 

 by getting together. There is always a chief of 

 the band among them, who presides at the games, 

 and prevents quarrelling. When they are tired of 

 running about, they sit down in the shadow of a 

 rock, or upon the banks of a stream, and amuse 

 themselves by making oxen of clay, or weaving 

 garlands of flowers, with which they adorn their 

 heads. The girls of the same age do not eijjoy so 

 much liberty. They go to the fields with their 

 mothers, and while the latter dig up the ground, 

 they pick up sticks, and make the faggot which 

 will serve to cook the evening meal. Sometimes 

 they are left at home to take care of a younger 

 brother. — Bev. E. Casalis. 



The Railroads of Massachusetts. — From 

 the abstract of the returns of the several railroad 

 corporations in Massachusetts for the year ending 

 Nov. 30th, 1862, prepared at the State House, 

 we learn that the total capital stock of the steam 

 railroads is $59,487,752, with a capital paid in of 

 $49,287,517, and a debt of $18,411,221. The 

 cost of these railroads and their equipments was 

 $66,793,574 ; their length 1608 miles. The trains 

 of these roads have run 6,561,854 miles during 

 the year, carrying 12,020,315 passengers aiid 

 3,877,717 tons of freight. The total income was 

 $9,933, 586 ; total expense of working $5,448,- 

 231, leaving a net income of $3,581,657 ; total 

 amount of dividends $2,397, 949 ; number of fa- 

 tal casualties 72 ; not fatal 15. 



The horse railroads of Massachusetts are twen- 

 ty-two in number, with a paid in capital of $2,- 

 582, 150, and a debt of $790,546.. The cost of 

 the various railroads has been $2,443,587, and of 

 equipment, $820,447. Their length is 87 miles. 

 Number of passengers carried, 14,854,885 ; total 

 income, $874,349 ; expenses, $663,152. Net in- 

 come, $200,345, of which amount $147,023 was 

 divided among stockholders. Three fatal acci- 

 dents have occurred, and 12 persons were injured. 



