1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARJIER. 



211 



thrust it under the skin of the wings. This wire, 

 which is to support the wings, may be omitted in 

 very small birds, and pei'haps in all, except those 

 which it is desired to put into very rampant atti- 

 tudes, the skin of the wing being strong enough, 

 when dry, to keep the wing in place. Open the 

 skin of the wing underneath, and remove the 

 flesh, and apply arsenic to the bones and skin. 



Finish stuffing, and sew up the cut in the skin, 

 and any other accidental holes, with a fine needle 

 and thread ; find some sprightly posture in an en- 

 graving, or imitate nature, if you can, and having 

 smoothed his dress, and arranged him to your 

 fancy, on an artificial stone made of a pasteboard 

 form, sanded, or on a twig, or block, you may 

 consider him finished, except the eyes. These are 

 of glass, and can be procured, of all sorts, in 

 Boston. They may be put in at any time, by 

 moistening the eyelids. 



In arranging birds in a cabinet, of course, one 

 will put the he-d side out, just as the ladies put the 

 trimming on the congregation side of their bon- 

 nets, and thei'e are various other little innocent 

 "tricks of the trade," such as supplying a few 

 feathers from another bird of the same species, or 

 even a wing or leg, if necessary, that will occur 

 to a youth of genius. 



As food for reflection to those who see in such 

 pursuits — pursuits which filled the soul of such 

 men as Wilson and Xuttal and Audubon — noth- 

 ing worthy of the attention of rational men, let 

 me quote, in conclusion, a few lines from Boker's 

 "Calaynos :" 



"He I why to him the gay are butterflies. 



Flitting around a light, of which they died. 



He looks on pleasure as a kind of sin ; 



Calls pastime waste-time. Kach to his trade say I. 



I heard a man who spent a mortal life 



In hoarding up all kinds of stones and ores. 



Call one, who spitted flies upon a pin, 



A fool, to pass his precious life-time thus 



What might delight you, lady, may not him ; 



Aiid uet yourjileasures an^ue you no foot. 



Nor his grave broics prore a pttdosopher, 



Exeter, N. IL, June, 18j2. h. f. f. 



Fur the Netr England Farmer. 



THE T"WO LABOR SYSTEMS OF OUK 

 COUNTRY. 



Mr. Editor : — If there has ever been any con- 

 spicuous difference in regard to the advantasres 

 between Northern and Southern methods of la- 

 bor, it is certainly manifested at the present time. 

 "While the prices of products of all kinds, at the 

 South, are now enormous, and of many necessary 

 articles there is an utter destitution, at the North 

 ])lenty abounds, and although thousands of those 

 who have been accustomed to labor in the field 

 have joined the army, yet the necessaries of life 

 are with us comparatively cheap. But, how is it 

 with the South ? True, although few laborers 

 hai-e been taken away, yet even of those products 

 which they raise upon their plantations, there 

 seems to be but a small supply, and in many places 

 actual starvation is occurring. Steadily and sure- 

 ly, within the last twenty-five years, has Northern 

 labor shown its superiority, and the gap between 

 it and slave labor has become more and more per- 

 ceptible. While the Southern States have re- 

 mained at a stand, emigration has been pouring 

 into the Northern. The vast West, a few years 

 ago a wilderness, has now many large and flour- 

 ishing cities, and all over that part of our country 

 the true signs of prosperity are apparent in the 



energy and thrift of the population. The one 

 system is degrading in its influences, brutalizing 

 in its effects, bringing out all the lowest passions 

 of man's nature. The other seeks to develop our 

 higher faculties, brings forth the latent powers of 

 our minds, and places man where man should be. 

 The one system is never found but in the midst 

 of poverty, vice and ignorance. The other en- 

 courages education, the establishment of institu- 

 tions of learning and liberally patronizes science 

 and the arts. The Soutli realized this, and com- 

 prehending in some measure, the inferiority of 

 their labor system, thought fit, before it was to- 

 tally destroyed by the advancement of Northern 

 enterprise, to secede from the Union. But the 

 day of its death is not far away, its doom is sure- 

 ly recorded. As long as the American farmer 

 can maintain the proud position he now possesses, 

 of being an intelligent, active, patriotic man, who 

 not only can understand the nature of the soil he 

 tills, the ingredients of which it is composed, the 

 remedies for its renovation, but also the workings 

 of our government, and is prepared to do his part 

 in the solution of national and practical difficul- 

 ties, as we find is the case in our Legislatures, he 

 need be under no apprehension that the Southern 

 system of labor can compare with the Northern. 

 If the South should at last be recognized, as the 

 Southern Confederacy, the advantages we now 

 possess would still remain stronger than before, 

 and deprived of the aid of the Northern States, 

 with their commerce paralyzed, and the prepon- 

 derance of trade with European powers carried 

 on by us, very soon their corrupt government 

 would fall to pieces or become of insignificant im- 

 portance. Then, may the cultivated intelligence 

 of the North, uphold the same noble principle of 

 our fathers, which took years to gain, and which 

 they transmitteil, a priceless legacy, for the gener- 

 ation to cherish and protect. ^GIS. 

 Norih Weymouth, Feb. 1, 1863. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FLESH AS FOOD. 



Messrs. Editors : — It has been a question 

 among moral philosophers, whether it was lawful 

 to kill animals and eat their flesh as food, to sus- 

 tain their own lives, but the argument has gener- 

 ally turned in favor of meat-eating. I believe 

 that the eating of animals is justified by the Bi- 

 ble, custom and natural desire. The appetite of 

 all animals indicates what is most suitable for 

 food for each variety of grade, from the lowest 

 that moves in and under the waters of the ocean, 

 up to the highest orders of animal creation ; thus 

 every degree of animal vitality in and under the 

 waters, as well as above the waters, is left by in- 

 stinct (except man) to select that kind of food 

 most congenial to its own requirements. Canni- 

 bals eat those they lore, their enemies ; all carniv- 

 orous animals will eat those of other s])ecies, if 

 not their own ; very few of them, except fish, are 

 so revolting to nature as man, who has had the 

 reputation of eating his own wives. Mankind, 

 j in a reputed civilized state, eat the creatures they 

 ' love, like the cannibals; their pet chickens, pigs, 

 lambs, kids, calves, and many other little innocent, 

 jjlayful creatures, which their wives and daughters 

 j have nursed with the tenderest love and care, and 

 I which we delight to exhibit to our friends, are 

 ' surrendered to the remorseless butcher, and tbea 



