1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



67 



ance with the farms in "Worcester county, but 

 must conclude that if they are offered below their 

 real value, it is the result of some temporary local 

 cause,— a sort of selling fever or fashion, perhaps, 

 which prevails at times in all localities. 



Probably you will not be able to obtain a satis- 

 factory answer to your questions cheaper than by 

 a personal visit to Worcester county. 



The Massachusetts Register is a large volume, 

 and the price, we believe, some f 3.50, and prob- 

 aoiy it would not prove satisfactory to you. 



HAIR SNAKES. 



What is in the water ? About a month ago I 

 made a new water trough or tub for my cattle. 

 Yestertiay I noticed something white at the bottom 

 of the tub. On taking it out I found it looked like 

 a horse hair, and was about eight inches long, but 

 it soon began to move like a snake. Will horse 

 hairs l)ecome snakes ? If so, how soon after fall- 

 ing into the water ? o. h. 



WalUngford, Vt., Nov. 29, 1870. 



Remarks. — The natural history books spoil the 

 poetry of the popular idea that horse hairs turn to 

 snakes. These curious worms, like all other ani- 

 mated beings, are produced "after their kind." 

 The perfect worm lays its eggs in long chains in 

 water or moist earth. The young hatch in about 

 three weeks, and are at first of a very different 

 form from their parents. They are so small that 

 some 400 make an inch in length. The American 

 Cyclopajdia says their posterior portion is cylindri- 

 cal, rounded, and furnished with short spires at 

 the end ; the anterior is wider, the mouth having 

 two circles of retractile tenticles and a club-shaped 

 proboscis. These minute creatures are swallowed 

 alive by crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, &c., in the 

 bodies of which they are developed into long hair 

 like worms. A hair snake eleven inches long has 

 been found in a beetle only one inch long. Hence 

 they are similar to the intestinal worms which ex- 

 ist in all animals. The books give them the name 

 of Gordius aquaticus. 



Would it not be better if boys and girls would 

 read books which tell the wonderful stories about 

 animal and vegetable life, growth and develop- 

 ment, instead of those which deal in fiction ? 



A TRIBUTE TO THE FARM. 



Dear Parents :— It is the night before thanks- 

 giving. I Lave been thinking, all day, while so 

 busy with my bands, of those days years ago, 

 when we were all at home, getting ready for thanks- 

 giving. My memories of those seasons are very 

 pleasant; and I have been tninking if my child 

 could havosmh memories to bless him, should he 

 live, of his childhood thanksgivings, I should be 

 satibfied. 



Then the rfay itself. No memories of cloud or 

 storm, but swtet memories of the satisfaction and 

 rest within ; the final adjusting of everything, and 

 every body l)rigbt and clean and s.itisfactory. 

 Father going for our dear grandma, who was a 

 part of thanksgiving; the return ; Ler kind words 

 and attention to each one, so thoughtful for others 

 and happy in teeing all happy around her. Wo 

 were satiiified with each other, and sought no out- 

 ward pleasures beyond our own comfortable home. 



I have felt to-night, 'dear parents, bow much I 

 would like to live over one of those glad days be- 

 fore our full circle was broken, with^U those early 

 joys and feelings. Yes, "I would be a child again," 

 for one day — one thanksgiving day ! Not that I 

 wish to live my life over again ; but such an expe- 

 rience, seems to me, would be like stepping from 

 a stormy voyage, on to an evergreen isle baihedin 

 sunshine and unfading beauty. Not that my voy- 

 age in life has been rough, — far from it; but only 

 a very busy one. I do love to stop a morrent at 

 these mile stones, and recall my early fhildhood 

 days in the dear old home, with all the loving and 

 loved ones right there. And I bless my Father in 

 heaven that my life was cast in a quiet country 

 home, and that I was brought up a farmer's daugh- 

 ter. X. X. 



Xete Hampshire, Dec, 1870. 



Remarks. — We have been allowed to copy the 

 foregoing extract from a letter written by a daugh- 

 ter of a Vermont farmer, now the wife of a New 

 Hampshire clergyman, to her parents. How many 

 others have seen cause to bless their heavenly Fa- 

 ther that they were brought up in a quiet country 

 home, — that they were the sons or daughters of 

 farmers ! Do parents prize as they should such 

 an inheritance for their children, when comparing 

 the advantages of city and country life ? The de- 

 sire expressed by this lady that her child should 

 be blessed by the memories to which she alludes, 

 has been experienced by many parents whose 

 children were growing up under different circum- 

 stances. 



SEVERAL breeds OF HOGS. 



Will you give the characteristics of the breeds 

 of swine known as Suffolk, Essex, Mackay, Chee- 

 ter County or White Chesters and Plymouth, in- 

 cluding their peculiarities of growth, origin and 

 preference for farmers to raise ? I would like to 

 know if the Chester County and the White Ches- 

 ter are the same or diSerent breed of hogs. I no- 

 tice the breed called by some Chester County are 

 coarse, large and rawny, and another called the 

 White Chester are large, but not as coar.-e. D. A. 

 Brown of this place has two— sow and boar — pur- 

 chased of Mr. Baker, Barton, Vt., called full blood 

 White Chester, which are very fine, large, hand- 

 some hogs. Mr. Baker purchased his breed dir^t 

 from Pennsylvania. I notice in rending ihe pre- 

 miums on swine, the breeds are seldom pivrn. 

 Reader and Subscriber. 



Keene, N. B., Dec. 2, 1870. 



Remarks.- The Suffolk and Essex are perhaps 

 the two most popular of all the English breeds. 



The Suffiplk is white, with short heads, and long 

 cylindrical bodies upon short legs, fine, thin hairs. 

 By many English farmers this breed is regarded 

 as the best in England. The late AViliiam Stick- 

 ney, of Boston, imported and bred these hogs, and 

 in some sections in New England it is still known 

 as the Stickney breed. 



The Essex breed is black, and is said to have 

 been the result of a cross on the olJ-faihioned 

 black hogs of Essex County, England, with an 

 Italian breed known as Neapolitans. Early ma- 

 turity, and an excellent quality of ficsh are among 

 the merits of the Essex. The color is not popular 

 in this country. 



The Mackay is an American breed produced by 



