352 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



the practical application of those studies carried 

 out and exemplified sucesssfully in the field and 

 the garden, as there is every reason to believe 

 they will be, we may hope for great results. It 

 would be a sad disappointment, if, after many years 

 of toil and patience and hopefulness, and the out- 

 lay oT large sums of money drawn from the pock- 

 et of the tax payer, together with extensive grants i 

 and endowments, it should fail to meet the expec- 

 tation of its friends — fail to be of any practical 

 utility to the farmer — fail to teach the agricultural 

 student the lessons he has reason to expect when ' 

 he enters its enclosure ; but if, on the contrary, it 

 should, after a few more years of preparation, mod- 

 erately realize what its friends so anxiously anti- 

 cipated, what a triumph it would be for Michigan ! 

 She would then rank among the first of States for 

 her Agricultural College, as she does for her truly 

 noble University and Primary School system." 



THE ■WORKING FARMEK. 

 This well known paper, long conducted with de- 

 cided ability by Prof. Mapes, is still made attrac- 

 tive by its new editor, Wm. S. Allison, Esq. 

 The September number, which we have just laid 

 down, is filled with valuable articles. Those from 

 the pen of the Editor are written with freshness 

 and taste, while they are plain and practical. In 

 an article on "The love of the Beautiful" he says : 



"The great and pervading want of the farmer's 

 life is the cultivation of a love of the beautiful. 

 The actual necessities of labor, the incessant de- 

 mands upon his time and strength in performing 

 the duties of the farm, have too often monopo- 

 lized his thoughts to the exclusion of that love of 

 the beautiful without which his soul is denied the 

 very pabulum of its growth in all that is noble 

 and refined." 



In another pleasantly written article upon 

 "Shade Trees," he says : 



'iNo other section of our country is so grandly 

 provided with shade and ornamental trees as the 

 Eastern vStates. There the elm, the oak, the hick- 

 ory, the maple, the horse-chestnut and the willow 

 — the natural growth of the land, transplanted by 

 the careful hands of the forefathers, in the very 



{)iaces where they are most wanted — \5ill be found 

 ending their beauty and grandeur and welcome 

 shade to every landscape, to the streets of every 

 village, city and town, rendering the most dilapi- 

 dated tenements and farm-houses comely and in- 

 viting to the wayside traveler. How fortunate 

 for the loveliness of the New England landscape 

 that those majestic shade trees were fixed in their 

 places before the noxious Ailanfhus was introduc- 

 ed into this country ! Every village or city which 

 has sprung up during the last few years, and many 

 isolated dwellings in the country, it pains us to 

 say, are disfigured and cursed by that pestiferous 

 visitant from foreign parts, which has no single 

 quality to recommend it except that of shooting 

 up like the poisonous Upas, with a rapidity that 

 none of our indigenous shade trees can compete 

 with. We advise every man who has them on 

 his premises to cut them down at once, and substi- 

 tute others which will not breed worms to drop 

 down upon him unawares, or send forth a disgust- 

 ing fragrance, or diffuse a deleterious atmospliere 



about his premises. Let every man, citizen as 

 well as farmer, plant shade trees everywhere for 

 man and beast, but not the Ailanthus. Let that 

 be banished, from American soil." 



We agree with him in regard to the Ailanthus. 

 It affords a poor shade compared with our grace- 

 ful elms, or the more compact but majestic rock 

 maple. When in blossom, the Ailanthus diffuses 

 an odor so sickening as to become a decided nui- 

 sance to many persons. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEE. 



This paper is always welcome. It comes printed 

 on large type, and with its cheerful and instruc- 

 tive editorials and judiciously selected articles, 

 never fails to be attractive. It is published at 

 Springfield, 111., and is edited by M. L. Dcxlap. 

 We take the following from the August number : 

 Preserving Frviit in Cold Air. 



A late number of the Gardener's Monthly con- 

 tains a report of the experiments of Fletcher, 

 Williams and Van Camp, of Indianapolis, with 

 Nice's patented method of preserving fruit in air 

 kept by ice within a few degrees of freezing, and 

 rendered dry by chloride of calcium. About a 

 thousand bushels of apples were experimented 

 upon the first winter. They kept till the follow- 

 ing June in perfect condition. The following 

 summer small fruits were tried. Raspberries and 

 blackberries kept eight weeks, and then lost their 

 flavor without decaying. Peaches, after ten weeks, 

 showed evidences of decay ; gooseberries, cur- 

 rants and cherries kept much longer. Of pears, 

 two hundred and fifty bushels were tried, of such 

 sorts as Bartlett, Seckel and Flemish Beauty, 

 which, it is thought, may keep the winter through. 

 Grapes, as might be expected, kept a year, but 

 they should, of course, be well grown and thor- 

 oughly ripened. 



The same number contains a beautiful and glow- 

 ing tribute to the late Dr. JoHX H. Kennicott, 

 of Cook County, 111. The writer says : 



"A loving husband, a fond father, a truthful 

 brother, a kind friend, an obliging neighbor and 

 one with a heart and hand for the general good, 

 has gone home — his name needs no other monu- 

 ment than the living, waving, leafy treasures that 

 have been his care. His many virtues shall not 

 die, for his name is on the first page of the histo- 

 ry of rural progress in the Northwest, and shall 

 he handed down to the time whcH floral decora- 

 tions and love of home shall have ceased on the 

 prairie and wof d-crowned slopes of the west." 



Advices received at the Agricultural Bureau 

 since the occurrence of the frost, show that the 

 damage done to crops is not so great as at first 

 anticipated. The injury to the sorgo is compara- 

 tively slight, and proves that the plant is more 

 hardy than corn and tobacco, with which it has 

 hereiofore been classed. 



Test for Genius. — The great and decisive 

 test of genius is, that it calls forth power in the 

 souls of others. It not merely gives knowledge 

 but it breathes energy. 



