No. 3. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



39 



ral supply of straw of the difierent kinds scattered 

 about the yards." ,■ .. 



Perhaps some of your readers may at hrst object to 

 this manner of feeding sheep, thinking the expense 

 greater than to feed on hay. But suppose we make an 

 estimate for KM days, aay i'roni Ist. Dec. to Ist. April. 



130 pecks of corn, or 3aj bushels, at 4s $16 25 



195 bushels turnips. Is 24 38 



Total expense of keeping 100 sheep 130 



days • $106 37 



It is generally estimated that ten sheep will 

 consume as much hay aa one cow, and 

 some think more, which, at li tons for 

 every ten sheep, would require filteen 

 tons for every 100 sheep, which, at $10 

 per ton, is 150 00 



Then woidd there not be a saving of $106 37 



in the keeping of 100 sheep for one winter? 



Again. Suppose we compute the quantity of land 

 which would be occupied in these two cases. Fifteen 

 tons of hay, at an average yield of one and a half tons 

 per acre, would require ten acres of land to furnish 

 bay for the hundred sheep. But at a very moderate 

 calculation, one acre of coi n will furnish the 32J bush- 

 els, and the corn fodder into the bargain. And one- 

 fourth of an acre of turnips will furnish the 195 bush- 

 els. Thus have we not HJ "'•''''■■s "^ '"''"i appropriated 

 to other purposes ? Or, it you please, let us put eight 

 of the teii acres to corn, and the other two acres to tur- 

 nips, ancl we shall have the means of keeping eight 

 hundred sheep from the same quantity of land which 

 would be required to keep one hundred upon hay; and 

 the manure of the eight hundred sheep will keep the 

 ten acres of land in good condition. 



But enough lor the present. Should you deem such 

 communications conducive to the agricultural habits of 

 the fanning community, you may expect again to hear 

 from your friend, NIAGARA. 



Who is Independent! 



Is that person independent who cannot satisfy the 

 demands of a rational appetite without having half a 

 dozen persons employed half ot each day in torturing 

 nature's plain, simple, healthy viands, into instruments 

 of dyspepsia, fever, liver complaint and consumption? 

 Is he independent who cannot eat bread unless it is 

 just from the oven, hot enough to burn out his very 

 vitals; or meat unless it is rendered diseased by stall 

 feeding and cramming, swine in gravy, and is covered 

 with mustard and pepper 1 



Is it a mark of independence when a man cannot 

 drink nature's purest, simplest, best — nay her only 

 beverage — until it has been poisoned by a foreign 

 narcotic herb or embittered by some filthy drug, or 

 mixed with from four to fifty per cent of rank poison ? 

 Is he the independent man — whether he ploughs or 

 preaches — who cannot speak until his sounding box 

 has been besmeared with snuff, both internately and 

 exactly; or until he has cenverted his mouth into a sty, 

 his nose into a chimney, and his lady's parlor floor and 

 atmosphere into something which has no name in the 

 English language ? 



Is he the independent young man, or she the inde- 

 nendent yovng lady, who cannot forego the delights of 

 celibacy, till able, not only to ride to church, but into 

 the garden, in a coach and six, maintain a dozen do- 

 mestics, and dwell in a palace 1 



Is he independent who cannot walk on the legs 

 which nature gave hiin, except in dog-days, four rods 

 without being clad in a Greenland dress, for fear the 

 air should hnld in solution some staggering particles of 

 moisture, which might reach his lungs, or without In. 

 dia rubbers to keep the dew fmm the thick cuticle of 

 his feet; nor ride, unless tha cr.rringe is so tightly cov- 

 ered as to entirely exclude the air ! 



Is the robust young man of eiglhteen or twenty, in- 

 dependent, who cannot go abroad in winter without 

 wrapping himself up like an Egyptian mummy in a 

 cloak without sleeves, or cannot walk in summer with- 

 out an nmbiella ? 



Is she the independent mother who has so much to 

 do of greater importance, that she cannot find time to 

 take care of her own babe; but must leave it to the 

 disposal of those who will only take care to ruin it ? 



Is she the independtnt, valuable and happy house 

 wife, who cannot for the life of her, break an egg 

 without her husband to help her; or above all, stoop so 

 low as to wet her delicate hands in dish water ? 



Is she the independent female, who, (worse than 

 the ladies of the Celestial Empire, that only brace 

 their feet, or the parents of Charles II., that only 

 braced — with stcelboots — his feet and legs,) under the 

 idea of affjrding support to her chest, dresses so tight- 

 ly as to restrain the motion of those vitnl organs the 



lungs, and thus prevent free circulation of the crimson 

 tide whose purity is indispensable to cheerfulness, hap- 

 piness and health 1 



Are they independent pupils at school who cannot 

 study unless their books are prepared in the way oi 

 quistion and answer; — and unless, to prevent mistake, 

 the questions and their appropriate answers are marked 

 by the kind, indulgent, and excellent teacher; and who 

 cannot read either at home or at school, a book that is 

 not presented in language so plain as to save all trouble 

 of looking into a dictionary 7 • 



Are they independent, in short, who, though they 

 cannot deny themselves the smallest gratification, in 

 compliance with the requisition of God's laws, or to 

 promote the happiness of their neighbor, will yet sub- 

 mit to die by thousands and tens oi thousands, the 

 willing martyrs to the tyrant /asAwi, however uniea- 

 sonable may be her mandates, or hewevcr arbitrary 

 her decrees i — Moral Rtformer. 



Speculation. 



This word has become absolutely odious to almost 

 all the sober and retlecting part of the community, 

 and cannot sound very melodiously in the ears of many 

 who can lay no claim to being either sober or reflect- 

 ing. It is no better in general than arrant gambling; 

 and its tendency is to disturb all the common pursuits 

 of fair trade, and stop the operations of wholesome in- 

 dustry. A man who lives by specidation entirely, is 

 in general living upon the necessities or weaknesses or 

 ignorance or follies or vices of other men. This is a 

 poor trade; and such men are commonly the curse of 

 the community. A man buys a piece of land to-day, 

 ond sells it to-morrow for twice as much as he gave. 

 The next purchaser gets an advance upon it, and so 

 it passes on through successive hands, without any 

 improvement of any description whatever being made 

 on it. Now who is benefitted by such an operation? 

 The community is not, most certairdy. 



A man buys into some public stock. He to-mor- 

 row sells his shares to another man at an advance; and 

 so it goes on, passing through various hands without 

 any change whatever in the property disposed of. — 

 Now who is benefitted by this operation 1 Certainly 

 not the community, for not a cent of intrinsic value is 

 added to the property. No wealth is created; and no 

 increased value is given to the property in question by 

 the operation, let the transfer of the property pass 

 through ever so many hands. But there is a serious 

 injury to the commuuity by all such operations. They 

 excite extravagant expectations. They induce men 

 to desert their farms ond their trades, that by some 

 chance adventure they may get rich without the slow 

 processes of frugality and labor. Successful specula- 

 tions of this nature, too often ruin the operator himself, 

 either by inducing him to hazard every thing in a sin- 

 gle cast of the die, or hurrying him on in his miscal- 

 led prosperity into deeper kinds of gambling, and too 

 ofteii impelling him into courses of extravagance, lux- 

 ury, dissipation and profligacy, absolutely ruinous and 

 dreadfully fatal. — Nao Eng. Farmer. 



From tlte New Tork Sun, 

 Important Facts, 



We observe with astonishment and regret, the con- 

 clusive evidence which appears in every direction, that 

 the business of agrictdture does not receive the atten- 

 tion due to it in this country, but is treated with abso- 

 lute neglect compared with other pursuits. This 

 ought not to be, and the inhabitants of this country will 

 yet learn, that they have committed a gross error by 

 abandoning the cultivation of the soil, for less indepen- 

 dent and more precarious modes of obtaining a liveli- 

 hood. 



Who has ever heard of such a state of things as now 

 exists here? We have a soil as fertile as the sun ever 

 i^hone upon: a country almost boundless in extent, and 

 so cheap that any man may purchase a farm with the 

 proceeds of a few months labor, yet we are actually 

 importing for eonsumptinn, immense quantities of ag- 

 lucultural products from foreign countries ! A people 

 thinly scattered over a land unequalled in fertility, and 

 exhaustless in its resources, are buying their bread at 

 enormous prices, from countries so overburdened 

 with inhabitants, that political economists have feared 

 that the earth would fail to produce sufficient to sup- 

 port them. Such an extraordinary and unnatural cir- 

 cumstance should excite attention and awaken the in- 

 quiry as to its cause. 



The fault, as we have seen, is not in the soil, nor is 

 the country overrun with inhabitants. It is, there- 

 fore, evident that thecnltivotionof the soil is neglect- 

 ed, otherwise we should be exporting agricultural pro- 

 ducts; but it is easier to show the fact, that agricul- 

 ture is neglected, than to find a eufiicient reason for 

 this neglect. We apprehend, however, that it will be 



found to spring, in a great measure, from the same 

 causeswhich have produced much evil in this country, 

 and the bitter fruits of which we are now reaping. — 

 The first and chief of these causes is the inordinate 

 thirst for wealth, which pervades every class of socie- 

 ty, and induces men to abandon their legitimate busi- 

 ncss to engage in some wild, hazardous sjieculaiion, in 

 the hope of becoming suddenly rich. It is also too of- 

 ten the case that the farmer becomes tired of the moaS- 

 rato and gradual accumulation of property by the pro- 

 ducts of his land, and leaves the cultivation of it to 

 engage in the tiusiness of commerce or manufactures. 

 lie finds out his egregious mistake when it is too late. 

 The iiroperty he had accumulated is often squandered 

 and lost in cunsequenoe of his ignorance of his new 

 burfincds, and he again sighs for the cheerful and inde- 

 pendant mode of life which he has abandoned, when 

 it is out of his power to resume it. We have in our 

 mind numberless instances of this kind, where indus- 

 trious and prosperous formers have been lured to their 

 ruin, by being induced to lay aside the implements of 

 husbandry, and engage in the universal scramble af- 

 ter sudden wealth. 



There is another great error prevalent upon this sub- 

 ject, and that is, the business of agriculture is gener- 

 ally looked upon as less respectable than that of com 

 merce, manufactures, or the professions; and wealthy 

 farmers, instead of teaching their sons their own bu- 

 siness, most usually transform them into merchants, 

 lawyers, doctors, or dominees. This is all wrong. — • 

 Agriculture is the very back-bone of all business, 

 the main-spring of all wealth, and should be regarded 

 as a profession of the highest respectability. It gives 

 those who are engaged in it a feeling of independence, 

 genuine nobleness without ostentation, honor, honesty, 

 and firmness, well calculated to perpetuate the free in- 

 stitutions of our happy country. "The truth of the el- 

 oqiu^nt panegyrics of the ancients upon this employ- 

 ment, moy be more cosily realized here, than in any 

 other country upon earth. We confidently hope to see 

 public opinion speedily righting itself upon this sub- 

 ject, and to find people seeking their permanent inter- 

 ests, and advancing .the prosperity and glory of our 

 wide domain, by engaging more generally in this 

 healthful, hone st and independent business. 

 Balkey Horses. 

 "A truckman in Boston, that had a refractory horse 

 that would not draw or move foi-ward, beat him most 

 unmercifully. A gentleman came along,- who told 

 him he must not beat him any more. 'What shall I 

 do ?' said the man, 'my horse has stood here thcEC two 

 hours. Shall I stand here all the day ?' 'Oh no, 

 the horse must go, but you must not beat him any 

 more. Get me a rope, twice as long as the horse.' — 

 The rope was got, secured to his tail, and then passed 

 between his legs forwards, then a smart pull on the 

 rope was given. The horse was frightened and show- 

 ed symptoms of kicking, but tlie pulling was continu- 

 ed. Suddenly he started forward, and went off with- 

 out any more beating. The gentleman had seen that 

 method tried on that most refractoryof animals the 

 Jackass of South America. If you question this, you 

 that have obstinate horses, try it for yourselves." 



GOOD SENTIMENTS. 



Agriculture is the nursery of patriotism. 



Agriculture, aided by science, will make a little na- 

 tion a great one. 



Science must combine with practice to make a good 

 farmer. 



A wise government will not be slow in lostering the 

 agricultural interest. 



Let every farmer who has a son to educate, believe 

 and remember that science lays the foundation of eve- 

 ry thing valuable in agriculture. 



The opposition against book farming rests on tha 

 shoulders of two monsters, ignorance and prejudice. 



If you separate science from agriculture you lob a 

 nation of its principal jewel. 



All the energy of the hero, and all the science of the 

 philosopher, may find scope in the. cultivation of ono 

 farm. 



Kings never hear the voice of truth until 'they are 

 dethroned, nor beauties until they have abdicated their 

 charms.' 



A gentleman observed upon an indilterent pleader 

 at the bar, that he was the most affecting orator he ev- 

 er heard — for he never attempted to epeak but he ex - 

 cited general sympathy. 



The most foolish thing in the world is to bow to the 

 rich till you're unable to stand hefiire an hone.n man. 



Honest industry is, after all, man's only sure depen- 

 dence for the double blessing of a contented mind and 

 a comfortable livelihood 



An humble man is like a good tree, the more full o. 

 fruit the branches are, the lower they bend themselves. 



