2 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



"Grand Turk," our first edict should be that 

 "those who are able, and will not work, sliall not 

 eat." 



"With all the means at our command we ought 

 to become the people spoken of in our caption, 

 taken from the Holy Writ, — when "our daughters 

 may be as corner stones," — our "garners full, af- 

 fording all manner of store" — "our sheep bring- 

 ing forth thousands and ten thousands" — "our 

 oxen strong," and no ^^comiylaining heard in our 

 streets." 



Let us, attentive reader, strive, this year, to do 

 what in us lies, to bring about such a blessed 

 state of society. It might, exist in January, 1865, 

 if all were true to duty. Let integrity, sincerity, 

 patience, reverence, faith and charity ever be our 

 aim, and all that happiness intended for us in this 

 mortal state will be attained. Let us remember 

 that "truth, in thought and sentiment, leads to 

 truth in action," and that what we do now is to 

 have its influence on future ages of the race, as 

 "men of all time, from the remotest antiquity, 

 have done a part in making our condition and 

 character what it is to-day." 



January has its appropriate and important du- 

 ties as well as the other months. They are great- 

 ly varied from the mid-summer or autumnal 

 months, and they are all the more pleasant for 

 that. 



" 'Tis now the time from hoarding cribs to feed 



The ox laborious, and the noble steed ; 



'Tis now the time to tend the bleating fold, 



To strew with litter, and to fence from Cold, 



The cattle fed, the fuel piled within, 



At setting day the blissful hours begin j 



'Tis then, sole owner of his little cot, 



The farmer feels his independent lot ; 



Hears with the crackling bUize that lights the wall, 



The voice of gladness and of nature call ; 



Beholds his children play, their mother smile, 



And tastes with them the fruit of Summer's toil." 



HOMPHETS. 



We wish there were among us more cases of 

 "the crackling blaze that lights the wall," for 

 then there would be more voices of gladness, and 

 more roses on the cheeks of our young women. 

 In that exceedingly interesting book — "My Famn 

 of Edffewood" — the author says : "The days of 

 wood fires are not utterly gone ; as long as I 

 live they never will be gone. * * Coal may 

 belong in the kitchens of winter — I do not say nay 

 tothis ; but I do say that a country home without 

 some one open chimnej^ around which, in time of 

 winter twilight, when snows are beating against 

 the panes, the family may gather and watch the 

 fire flashing and crackling and flaming and wav- 

 ing, until the girls clap their hands, and the boys 

 shout in a kind of exultant thankfulness, is not 

 worthy the name." We wish that in every farm- 

 house this beaiitiful picture might become a real- 

 ity. In the long run, we thinii it would be econ- 



omical, at least for the evening fire, when the 

 whole family is usually assembled. 



But we must pause. And, 0, if we have touch- 

 ed one chord that will vibrate in sympathy with 

 any poor sufl'erer, and lead you to protect, to ad- 

 minister to, or comfort with kind words, then our 

 New Ye.ar's salutation will not be in vain. 



FOKMOSAN TORTOISES. 



A list of fifteen species of reptilia has been m 

 contributed to the Annals of Natural History by ^ 

 Mr. R. Swinhoe her Majesty's Vice-Consul at 

 Formosa. Three living tortoises (Eniys Simen- 

 sis, of Grey) have been presented to the Zoolog- 

 ical Society, and are now exhibited in their gar- 

 dens. Other dead specimens haae been deposit- 

 ed in the British Museum. We give a few notes 

 respecting them. The Trionyx Simenis is a tor- 

 toise with a long projectile neck and very sharp 

 teeth. When once it seizes an object it is with 

 the utmost difficulty that it can be prevailed upon 

 to let it go. The Chinese boil it into sonp, and 

 esteem it a great delicacy. Another tortoise, the 

 Cisto Clemmys Flavormarginto, is the prevailing 

 species about Tamsuy, north-west of Formosa. 

 Mr. Swinhoe frequently observed it in ponds about 

 the rice-fields, with its round back showing above 

 the surface of the water and its head peering out. 

 At times several might be seen together on the 

 tops of stones in the water, basking motionless 

 with limbs extended. On being alarmed they 

 would shuffle ofl" the stones with all the energy in 

 their power, and, plunging into the water, sink 

 immediately. If the observer kept quite still, 

 after the lapse of a few seconds they would again 

 appear on the surface. The green turtle of Euro- 

 peans (Chelonia Virgata) is of frequent occurrence 

 in the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, east of 

 Florida. The fishermen regard it with great rev- 

 erence as an emblem of longevity. When acci- 

 dentally entangled in the fishing-nets, it is car- 

 ried to the nearest large town and exhibited for a 

 short time. It is then usually j)urchased from its 

 captors by some well-to-do native, who has a few 

 "good words" carved on its back, in company 

 with his own name and the date, and fills in the 

 inscription with vermillion. The animal is then 

 decked with ribbons, and carried in a boat with 

 much ceremony out to sea, where it is consigned 

 with state into its native element. Some very 

 large specimens were brought from Sawo to Tam- 

 suy. They were kept in a boat filled with water 

 during the day ; in the evening they were brought 

 out on the deck of a vessel. One of them for sev- 

 eral consecutive evenings at eight o'clock precise- 

 ly would commence scratching the deck with her 

 fore flappers, and then set to laying eggs, usually 

 twelve in number. She would then turn round, 

 and commence pushing and scraping with her hind 

 flapper — evidently the manoeuvre she was in the 

 habit of going through on the sandy beach : first 

 scratching a hole for the reception of the eggs, 

 then filling it up. Mr. Swinhoe had one alive for 

 some time in the yard of his house. It used to lie 

 motionless in the rain puddles, with only the tip 

 of its head uncovered. When the thermometer 

 fell below 50° it would sally out of the water and 

 not return till it grew warmer. 



