1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



93 



For the ISew Ens I and Farmer. 

 MODEL FARM AND GARDEN. 



Mr. Brown : — It would do you good to take 

 a look at Col. Pierce's farm in Greenland, in this 

 State. He cut about five hundred tons of hay 

 and picked thirteen hundred barrels of apples last 

 year, though not the bearing year. He winters 

 fifty-five head of horned cattle and thirteen horses, 

 and usually employs about twenty hands in the 

 summer. This is a model farm, being mostly 

 walled on all sides but that which skirts the salt 

 water. There I find all the improvements of the 

 age which do away with manual labor. With 

 money enough to farm to advantage, he makes 

 his improvements with a view by the future, as 

 well as present gains. I noticed that his fruit 

 trees were trained to limb near the ground, that 

 the fruit might be picked with greater facility, and 

 that they might not be exposed to heavy winds. 

 I saw no tools exposed to the weather ; all were 

 in their places. No rawny-boned porkers, but 

 small-boned ones. Slab-sided oxen he does not 

 keep, but those which look sleek and fat. Marsh- 

 es and bogs which are so well adapted to the rais- 

 ing of frogs, mosquitoes and snakes have been 

 drained and now produce heavy crops of hay. 

 Those waste places which will not pay to cultivate 

 nor are fit for grass bear the stately oak. The gar- 

 den shows that he has other thoughts than his 

 farm. Besides those vegetables which are for the 

 cook, one finds those fruits which tempt the palate. 



I would suggest to those farmers who buy hay 

 in the spring, that they would look at his fields, 

 and if they copy his modes in cultivating grass, 

 raise two tons to the acre instead of one, and not 

 have to buy. s. p. M. 



Newcastle, N. H., January, 1864. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 COMMON" SCHOOLS. 

 Some Studies 'which Should be Introduced into 

 the Common Schools. 



I have shown that a great deal of time now de- 

 voted to arithmetic and reading is wasted, and 

 might be saved, without any loss, but with great 

 gain to the power of ready reckoning, and to the 

 art of good reading. It would he easy to show 

 that the same is true of the time devoted to spell- 

 ing, and to the study of geography. What shall 

 be done with the time thus saved? 



Every child, by the time he finishes his school 

 education, ought to know what the air is which 

 he breathes, how essential it is, and why it is es- 

 sential, to man and all other animals, and to all 

 plants. He ought to know the conditions of the 

 air, and how it carries moisture to all parts of the 

 earth, and equalizes, or constantly tends to equal- 

 ize, the heat received from the sun ; and how it 

 affects the heat and light of the sun. 



He oujjht to know what water is, what it is 

 made of, how it is affected by heat, and what forms 

 it takes, what influence it has upon the air and the 

 earth, and upon everything that lives and grows. 

 He ought to know something of its motions and 

 its powers. 



He ought to know something about heat and its 

 effects upon everything in creation ; how essen- 

 tial it is to every form of life, and that it is, and 

 how it is, the most mighty of all forces ; that fire, 

 flame, blaze, are only some of its numerous forms. 



He oujrht to know something about light, and 



how essential it is to the health of all animal and 

 vegetable living things, and what effects it has 

 upon all colors and upon all surfaces, upon every- 

 thing that it falls upon. 



He ought to know what thunder and lightning 

 are, what storms are, their causes and beneficial 

 effects ; what rain is, what the rainbow is, what 

 dew is and what frost. About all these things, 

 little children, as well as grown children, are con- 

 tinually asking questions, till that sad time when 

 this beautiful and instinctive curiosity is repressed 

 by the ignorance or perversity of their teachers. 



This universal curiosity should be gratified. It 

 is not foolish ; it is not accidental. It is the prompt- 

 ing of nature. It is the gracious call of their Ma- 

 ker to all his children to study His works, made 

 for their examination, their use, their unfailing 

 gratification. 



. These perpetual questions ; What is it ? What 

 is it for? Who made it? How is it? are sug- 

 gested by One who would lead them up from cause 

 and through cause, to the First Great Cause ; lead 

 them up by this delightful, pleasant path. 



All these things may be introduced very early 

 into any school. They are easier, pleasanter and 

 more interesting than anything which is in the 

 schools now. 



Every child ought to be taught what the com- 

 mon metals are ; Iron, Copper, Lead, Silver, Gold, 

 Tin, Mercury, Zinc, Platinum, where and what 

 they come from, and what are their uses. These 

 need not be talked about all in one day, but only 

 one in one day ; and every teacher fit to take charge 

 of a child of six would easily find out what to tell 

 about these things and how to tell it. 



In speaking about air, the teacher would have 

 to talk about oxygen and nitrogen. In speaking 

 about water, he would have to talk of hydrogen. 

 These things the child cannot see, nor feel. Let 

 it not be imagined that he cannot therefore under- 

 stand about them. If you tell a child, in plain, 

 simple language, what these gases are, what they 

 do and how they act, he will understand the dif- 

 ferences between them as perfectly, at least, as 

 he can understand the difference between genius 

 and talent, between luxury and extravagance, be- 

 tween wit and humor ; things which he is con- 

 tinually hearing and reading about. He will be 

 able to comprehend far more easily the qualities 

 and character of all the simple substances, than he 

 can what relates to the religion, the character, the 

 laws, the government, the institutions of foreign 

 nations, which he has to learn about in his lessons 

 in geography ; with incomparably more ease than 

 he can the contests, the stratagems, the ambus- 

 cades, the councils, the conspiracies, the dissen- 

 lions, the revolutions, of which he has to learn in 

 his history. What carbon, sulphur and phospho- 

 rus are, lime, and potash, and soda, and flint, is 

 as easy for a child to understand, and to learn, and 

 remember, and talk about, as the subjects of any 

 of his reading lessons. 



So, nothing can be more easy than for a child 

 to learn what sand, and clay, and limestone are, 

 and what loam is — garden soil or the soil of the 

 field. Yet these are the elements of agriculture. 



Why should not every child learn the names of 

 the common stones and rocks, and the minerals 

 of which they are composed ? They are nowhere 

 very numerous, and never very difficult to learn. 

 Whv should he not learn what slate is, what 



