456 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



Oct. 



THE LANDO'WNEB. 



When I come within sight of my farm, after 

 having been away, a plea^^ant sensation rises 

 within me, that no other feeling can equal. I 

 -am at home — on my own land. These are my 

 acres, which the combined power of the coun- 

 try has guaranteed to me. It is mine, and my 

 heirs forever. Here is security. If there is 

 anything stable in the world, this is it. My 

 fireside is therefore built upon a firm founda- 

 tion. I and iny children are safe. AVe are 

 not intruded upon ; no one has a right to do 

 this ; the strong arm of the law is ever ready 

 to defend us. Here I have my worship un- 

 disturbed ; I attend to my concerns unmolest- 

 ed. In a word, I am at home. 



And when my acres wave with grain — that 

 grain and those acres are mine. I own them, 

 and I feel them. They are part of myself. 

 My cattle — not the cattle of a thousand hills — 

 are mine ; / have raised them, and I know 

 every one, as I know mv household — "Boss," 

 and "Brindle," and "Kitty." They come at 

 my call — they know me. The old cow has a 

 face as intelligent as many a person, and much 

 more sympathy in it — honest old face ! 1 could 

 not well do without it. 



Thus my fields are stocked with this intelli- 

 gence, and the gleeful antics of the heifers and 

 steers remind me of my own youthful days. 

 And for "innocence" the lambs, and the quiet, 

 inoffensive sheep. Even the "grunter" has 

 something I do not want to dispense with. 

 And the chickt-ns, and the stately rooster who 

 is lord of the barnyard, as 1 am of the prem- 

 ises. — T. G. in Rural World. 



ALPHABETICAL INDEXES. 

 To the charge of a friend who recently ac- 

 cused us of a mania for alphabetical indexes, 

 we must plead guilty. As editor we use books 

 chiefly by way of reference, and the want of 

 what the great Unabridged calls, "that which 

 guides, points out, or informs ; any table for 

 fat-ilitating reference to topics, names, and the 

 like in a book, usually alphabetical in arrange- 

 ment," has caused our madness. We may re- 

 gret this derangement of a naturally serene 

 and t.'asily sati^fled disposition, and try to for- 

 get the subj«'ct, but a ghiiice at the choice vol- 

 umes which fill the shelves of our desk, and 

 from which we have so of len 



— "Knton of the insnno root 

 That takes ihu reason prisoner," 



and at once the worst symj)toras of our mono- 

 mania return. 



Side by side on our shelves stand two vol- 

 umes, wonderfully alike in many respects : 

 '■'•Dairy Vows and Dairy Farmiiiy — Flint,'''' 

 and ^'Cattle and their Diseases — Jennlntjs.'''' 



The first has a full alphabetical index, in some 

 cases citing a dozen pages on which informa- 

 tion upon a particular topic can be found. 

 The other volume has a mere table of contents. 



There, too, are the "■Practical Shepherd — 

 Randall,'''' and the ''American Shepherd — 

 Morrill ;" volumes similar in size and style. 

 The first has an alphabetical index which the 

 wayfaring reader, though in a terrible hurry, 

 can use with perfect satisfaction ; the latter 

 has a bulky table of contents which only serves 

 to make confusion worse confounded. 



Between the degree of perfection which 

 marks the indexes of these volumes, and the 

 degree of pc pularity which they have secured, 

 there is, to say the least, a striking correspon- 

 dence. 



During his residence in New England, Dr. 

 G. H. Dadd wrote books enough to make a 

 man rich, but they were generally sent out 

 with poor indexes. We are not well informed 

 as to the degree of his success, but our im- 

 pression is that for every dime he put in his 

 purse from their sales he ought to have had a 

 round dollar. Here, for instance, is his Amer- 

 ican Reformed Cattle Doctor, published in 

 1851, "containing" — so reads the title page — 



The Necessary Information 



for 



Preserving the Health and curing the Diseases 



of 



Oxen, Cows, Shepp, and Swine, 



■wi'h 



A great Vfiriety of Original Recipes, 



and 



Valuable Inform .tio i in reference to 



Fanii and Dairy Minagcmunt; 



wh -reby 



Every Man can be his otvn Catile Doctor. 



And yet, notwithstanding that we are put to 

 our Avit's and memory's end almost every week 

 for suitable replies to the inquiries of the read- 

 ers of the Faiimer, for advice as to the proper 

 treatment of the various ills by whirh their 

 stock is from time to time afflicted, we so sel- 

 dom refer to this volume that } ou can now 

 write the word "Index," or your own name, 

 in the dust which has settled undi-turbcd upon 

 the head of the very pages ou whicli all "the 

 necessary information whereby every man (,'an 

 be his own cattle doctor"' is spread out in de- 

 tail. Tlion^ih the volume has stooil for years 

 vvitliin a loot or soot the spectacles which dig- 

 nify our anxious countenace, we are sti'l un- 

 able to unloose the seals of that book True, 

 there are six |>ages of "contents;" but they 

 are just about as u.-eful for the purposes of an 

 iiidi;.\, as si.x piles of I'lusli would be to a 



