498 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



piness, most of us must live in the country and i cliamiing flowers, keep the garden in a fresh 

 labor there. It is the yeomanry of the country, | condition, and to sustain nearly all the crops 

 the tillers of the soil, who are the nation's excepting the grass. 



strenoth ; what they draw from the soil must 



sustain us or we die. And yet, it is so ordered, 



that in securing those supplies we are in the 



midst of the most fruitful sources of happiness, 



and under those conditions where we can be 



most useful to the world. 



Old Nathaniel Cotton was right in saying, — 



If Bolul happiness we prize, 



In 01/?' oini bj-ca-Hs the jewel lies, 



Nor need we ronni abroad. 



"Who will become the great reformer in this 

 matter, and like Israel's leader, bring out our 

 people from a state of discontent in their voca- 

 tion ? Who shall be clothed with the power of 

 the Grand Turk for a season, to change the 

 conditions of men, so that each shall realize 

 the responsibilities, cares and employments of 

 the other ! — the citizen to rural life, and the 

 farmer to the city. The experiment is going 

 on daily in a small way, but is needed on a 

 grander scale. 



We do not mean to say that farmers should 

 sit down or labor on without sometimes gratify- 

 ino- a desire to see how people live and prosper 

 in other avocations, and by visiting other locali- 

 ties than their own, learn more of the wisdom 

 and power of the Great Cause of all things. 

 It is a duty to learn all we can of the wonder- 

 ful operations with which we have to deal, and 

 of ever) thing which influences them. 



So, when the hay harvest is over, and the 

 weeds are under subjectioi., it will not be ex- 

 travagant for the farmer to "harness up," and 

 with as many of the family as the faithful 

 steed can comfortably take along, spend a 

 •w-eek or more, or less, in visiting relatives or 

 friends. By mingling freely, taking a lively 

 interest in their afTairs, putting a good many 

 questions and exercising a lively observation, 

 health will be promoted, the spirits made more 

 buovant and hopeful, and the mind filled with 

 new'and agreeable to])icsf or reflection or discus- 

 sion at a future time. Such journeyings for 

 the family do not, in the long run, lessen the 

 profits, but rather tend to increase them, while 

 thev certainly are days of recreation and high 

 enjoyment. 



The weather during the summer has been 

 delightful. A little too dry, perhajjs, but 

 sufficiently damp to produce an abundant fo- 

 lia<'e on fruit and forest trees, to bring out 



Last year, in Jmie and July, the elements 

 seemed to be greatly disturbed. We were 

 melted with fervent heat, drenched with pour- 

 ing rains or pounded with hailstones of alarm- 

 ing size. We looked through a powerful 

 telescope to see if there were not some unusual 

 commotion in the elements of distant worlds, 

 or in those of our own, but all seemed as calm 

 as the beautiftd mornings of some of our sum- 

 mer days. We peered into the face of the 

 planet Saturn, took an imaginary walk all 

 around his rings, called at two or three of his 

 eight moons, and indulged our curiosity so 

 much as to stroll a few millions ot miles down 

 the road between the rings and the planet, but 

 discovered nothing which would seem likely to 

 disturb our mundane affairs. 



The latter part of sunmier brought plentiful 

 rains, so that the earth is crowned with glad- 

 ness. The hay crop is light, but all other 

 crops are promising well. The soil is now in 

 condition to bring an abundant second crop 

 on the mowing fields, and to secure good feed 

 in the pastures. If frosts are delayed, a good 

 corn crop may be expected. Wheat, oats, 

 barley and rye, have yielded well, and have 

 been harvested in good condition. Let us 

 all labor on with pure and cheerful hearts, and 

 all will be well. 



■WEEDS AND ■WEEDIWG. 



As a sort of mtroduction to two or three 

 short articles on weeds, which follow, we give 

 some experiments which were made in Eng- 

 land a few years ago, to test the 

 Value of Weeding. 



On some of the large estates in England, 

 experiments of much value are made with 

 great fidelity and cost, which have not been 

 entered into, as yet, among our people. 



1. Seven acres light soil were sown to wheat 

 broadcast ; one acre was measured and not a 

 weed pulled out of it ; the other six were 

 carefully weeded. The unweeded acre pro- 

 duced eighteen bushels ; the six weeded acres 

 averaged twenty-two and one-half bushels per 

 acre — a clear gain of 25 per cent. 



2. A six-acre field was sown with barley. 

 The weeding, owing to the great abundance 

 of charlock, cost $3 per acre. The produce 



