428 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



DEVHi'S DAKNINQ-NEEDIiE. 



This insect is known 

 throughout New Eng- 

 land as the "Devirs 

 Darning Needle," and 

 many children suffer 

 much from fear of its 

 sting. They are some- 

 times told that if they 

 say naughty words this 

 "critter" will come and 

 sew up their mouths. 

 This is not only a reg- 

 ular ghost story, but it 

 is a slander on the 

 poor innocent Darnin"^ 

 Needle, which, in fact, can neither sting nor 

 bite, and may be handled by the most del ■ 

 icate fingers with perfect safety. Still many 

 children are really afraid of it, and watch 

 its flight with emotions of pain and dread, 

 instead of admiration and pleasure, which 

 it should excite. It is not only entirely harm- 

 less, but it is as useful as it is busy and 

 active. If the children, in place of running 

 from it, would invite it into their houses, in- 

 stead of being pierced by its ugly looking jav- 

 elin, they would wake up in the morning with 

 fewer " skeeter bites," and their mother's 

 breakfast table and their own noses would be 

 less troubled with flies. But the poor thing 

 has got a bad name, and so it is shut out of 

 our dwellings and out of our society. 



But, laying aside our fears and our preju- 

 dice, let us some calm summer afternoon, at 

 about five or six o'clock, sit down on the bank 

 with our face to the west and a hill of corn or 

 some other growing plant between us and the 

 setting sun. Now look ! What do you see ? 

 Why, there is the Dragon-fly poised in the air, 

 apparently as motionless as death, with wings 

 outstretched, just as they are i-epresented in 

 the engraving above. What can he be doing, 

 so motionless, hanging in the air ! He is — but 

 he is gone ! What could have struck him out 

 of existence so suddenly ? Look on the other 

 side of the corn. O, there he is, just as still 

 as ever. He is watching his prey. Now look 

 between yourself and the sun, and you sec in- 

 sects darting off from the hill of corn, so small 

 that the eye would not discern them unless in 

 that peculiar light. They dart from the corn, 



make a few gyrations and back again, that be- 

 ing the boundary of their travels, and, alas, 

 too often the boundary of their little life. The 

 dragon-fly does not rest suspended in the air 

 without an object — and every time he passes 

 back and forth, one of the tiny dwellers upon 

 the corn goes to make up his evening meal. 



Will not these suggestions induce many to 

 study the habits of, and become more familiar 

 with, the beautiful and harmless dragon-fly ? 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "WHY THE BOYS LEAVE THE FAKM. 



It is well known that in the fiirming por- 

 tions o^ New England the farmer's sans, in 

 perhaps most instances, forsake the occupation 

 of their fathers, and leave the old homestead 

 to be tilled by strangers. Many reasons have 

 been given for this unfortunate circumstance, 

 none of which seem to me to go to the root of 

 the matter. 



The true reason lies here. Regular, legiti- 

 mate fanning pays perhaps the suiallest profit 

 of any business requiring equal capital and 

 skill ; hence, active young men are a[)t to go 

 where they can or may do better. The profits 

 of a farm arise from two sources : interest on 

 the caj)ital invested, and return for the labor 

 expended. The first will be low, because of 

 the entire absence of the element of lisk ; and 

 the second will be moderate, because it is the 

 return ibr — in great degree — unskilled labor. 

 JMoueyed men will tell you that tiie interest 

 paid lor the use of money is regulated by two 

 considerations, — the actual worth, and pay for 

 the risk tlic lender rims of losing tlu' principal. 

 The way the low interest on the value of a 

 farm is brought about is by its cost being high 

 relatively to the profit realized. Property is, 

 of course, valued high or low, according to the 



