m 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 211 
be of use to them some day, and also laying up 
a store of pleasant associations, which would be 
like oases in the dull desert of toil through 
which they would some day have to pass. 
Then I must go and see Molly the milk-maid 
milk the great, white, mooly cow, who stands 
patiently chewing her cud. How rich the new 
milk looks, foaming almost to the top of the 
pail. A little way off are the ducks waddling 
down to the water, saying qua, qua, qua; and 
the geese, with their yellow goslings, how proud 
and stately they march along! All the little 
boys and girls have something which they call 
their own, and which it is their duty to provide 
for; and thus they learn to think for others, 
and to plan and fit themselves for the great bu¬ 
siness of life. 
I remember one morning in the city, the little 
girl where I was staying came running in, her 
cheeks glowing with delight, to tell us there 
was a little flower on the grass-plat in the front 
yard. We went to see, and behold there was 
one solitary dandelion opening its golden petals 
to the sun, and the grass-plat was scarcely larger 
than her apron! What would be her ecstacy 
could she see this whole hill-side one mass of 
dandelions and violets already in full bloom! 
and this big pear-tree, almost as large as an elm, 
covered with blossoms; the willows with their 
golden tassels, gracefully drooping over the 
water; the peach, and apple, and apricot send¬ 
ing forth the rich fragrance of their many-tinted 
buds, and all the hills and valleys beautiful with 
their variegated hues! How I wish I could 
transfer a whole troop of those little folks who 
are driving their hoops upon the side-walk, for 
one day to this pleasant spot, for it would 
brighten all their life-time. 
They have all learnt to repeat, 
“ How doth the little busy bee 
Improve each shining hour, 
And gather honey all the day 
From every opening tlower. ” 
But here they should see a thousand bees al¬ 
ready at work from morn till night, building 
their cells, and “ neatly spreading their wax.” 
The birds, too, are just as busy gathering sticks, 
and picking the bits of dry grass and moss to 
make their nests, and here and there among the 
branches and trellised vines may be seen a wren, 
or robin, or yellow-bird, industrious as the bees, 
all the day long, preparing a soft bed for the 
little nestlings, who will soon be hopping among 
the boughs, and add their low, chirping notes 
to the rich chorus of the morning warblers. 
The butterflies, too, have come, and are flut¬ 
tering to and fro with their painted wings 
gleaming in the sunshine ; and far away on the 
waters I see a little boat, with the oars dipping 
gracefully among the ripples, whose gilded 
crests look like myriads of stars sending forth 
their flickering rays. 
God has indeed given us a beautiful world ; 
the air, the ocean, earth, and sea are full of 
beauty; it is only the sin of those to whom he 
gave it, that has marred its loveliness. Oh! 
that the little children who are now so full of 
life, and joy, and happiness, could grow up with¬ 
out the dark sin, the corroding passions which 
make them a blight upon so fair a scene. A 
very deep interest do I feel in those who are 
every week expecting me to tell them a story. 
I feel as if I were really talking with them. I 
wander in my mind all around among their plea¬ 
sant homes, and see their rosy cheeks, and 
some whose cheeks are not rosy, because they 
need to run and play in just such a place as 
this; and I doubt not, if I were to come and 
see them, especially those who live in the coun¬ 
try, they would make me as happy as these little 
boys and girls have made me, showing me all 
their ducks, and chickens, and rabbits. Oh! 
what a nice time we would have! I cannot 
come to see you all; but I hope the letters I 
write will make you better love all that is good, 
and pure, and holy; and if we should never 
meet in this world, may we meet in one which 
is flir more beautiful, which God has prepared 
for those who love him, and who put their trust 
in the Saviour, whom he sent to wash with his 
blood our sinful hearts, and fit us to dwell with 
him forever. 
--- 
A COUNTRY HOME. 
Oh ! give me a home iu the country wide, 
And a seat by the farmer’s wood fireside, 
Where the fire burns bright, 
On a frosty night, 
When the jest aud the song, and laugh are free, 
Oh! the farmer’s home is the home for me, 
Oh! give me a home in the country wide, 
When the earth comes out as a blushing bride, 
With her birds and flowers, 
In the bright spring hours, 
Her bridal songs ringing from fresh-leaved trees, 
And melody floats on the perfumed breeze. 
In summer, a seat in a shady nook, 
And close by the side of a cooling broolr, 
Where the violet grows, 
Or the pale swamp rose, 
Fainting and sick, ’neath the sun’s scorching beam 
Dips her fair petals in the cooling stream. 
Oh! give me a home in the country wide, 
In the golden days of the farmer’s pride, 
When his barns are filled 
From the fields lie’s tilled, 
And he feels that his yearly task is done, 
Smiling at winter, he beckons him on. 
Farmer’s Daughter, in Tribune. 
- >-- 
THE POTATO A HEATHEN. 
A correspondent, more hurt than indignant, 
writes to us upon our recent disparagement of 
the potato—declaring it to be a household god 
which wc have rudely thrown from his pedestal 
to set thereon the new idol of Hominy. This 
finding of a fictitious, yet plausible substitute 
for so genuine and valuable a staple of feed, will, 
he thinks, tend to lessen the interest in the 
growth and scientific study of it, and so diminish 
the prospect for the one indispensable dish on 
every table. We sit rebuked. Praised be po¬ 
tatoes for ever. But, in claiming any manner 
of pious standing —household godliness — for 
this vegetable, does our correspondent know 
that he errs, and that the potato is a heathen ? 
Does he know that it has been battled against 
by the church, as an unworthy infidel? We 
must inform him that Scotland at one time made 
the growth of the potato illegal, because it is not 
mentioned in the Bible ! In an article on the 
history of it, (which we saw some time since in 
the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture ,) this 
fact is stated among the hindrances to its intro¬ 
duction into Great Britain. It was first culti¬ 
vated in the fields of England in 1739. But, for 
years afterwards , it was not admitted into Scot¬ 
land, from the zeal of preachers in declaring it 
an unholy esculent, blasphemous to raise, sacri- 
ligeous to eat. “ Famine, at last,” says the his¬ 
torian, “ gave an impulse to the innovation, and, 
during the latter part of the eighteenth century, 
the excellent qualities of the potato became 
generally understood.”— Home Journal. 
—-—♦-»«- 
FEEDING STOCK. 
We have frequently shown the intimate con¬ 
nection between the production of fat animals 
and the growth of corn. It seems, as far as our 
present knowledge is available, that this con¬ 
nection is so intimate that either the relation of 
stock and corn must be kept up, or the differ¬ 
ence will have to be made out of the staminal 
energy of the soil itself. In other words, when 
a considerable quantity of stock is not fatted on 
a farm, the soil will have to suffer in fertility, 
unless the loss is made up by the purchase of 
artificial manure. Nor are we sure that for any 
great or even considerable length of time, the 
purchase of any one artificial manure will en¬ 
tirely supply the place of keeping stock. We 
know an instance where this was attempted. 
Some land near a town was annually denuded 
of its straw, when artificial and purchased ma¬ 
nures were very liberally applied ; but the re¬ 
sult showed a falling off in fertility, which was 
soon restored by the renewal of applications of 
farm-yard manure. 
We again are cognizant of an instance where 
the most important evidence of the connection 
between stock and corn—between cattle fed 
and crops produced—is afforded; and this is the 
estate of Mr. John Hutton, of Sowber Hill, near 
Northallerton, who has been taking into hand 
for some years, poor, wild, worn-out farms, as 
his tenants dropped, until he has about fifteen 
hundred acres or more—a large quantity for the 
district—and has followed out the system of 
steam-boiling linseed and meal, combining this 
with chaff, and so feeding a large number of 
cattle. He has thus renovated the poor, worn- 
out soils, and reduced the whole to a state of 
garden cultivation, combined with the success¬ 
ful feeding of prime Short-horn steers. 
His habit is to make no secret of his proceed¬ 
ings ; but, year after year, invites large parties 
of his neighbor'llood, and of the most spirited 
farmers from different localities, who inspect 
the whole of his proceedings, and are invited to 
offer remarks on his plans, and to whom he 
gives every information. A party of some 29 
agriculturists of this class lately inspected his 
farming operations, and the clean, healthy, and 
happy condition of fifty well-fed Short-horn 
steers ready for market, the sleek and almost 
fat condition of the straw-fold or store cattle in 
his yai'ds—many worse are sold for fat—the 
healthy condition of his draught horses, arc ev¬ 
idences of the value of the linseed compound 
on which are fed—the fat cattle to the utmost 
limit, and the store stock and horses once a 
day. To suit the expenses of the times the 
following is the formula of his feed, and, as will 
be seen, the cost of feeding is at this dear sea¬ 
son not more than six shillings per week. We 
think the fact is well worth communicating; 
and as he has no objection to his plans being 
widely known, he will not object, we are sure, 
to us giving it to our readers. 
COST OF KEEPING A FAT BEAST FOR ONE WEEK. 
(English Currency.) 
April 18, 1854. s. d. 
2G lbs. of meal at Id. per lb . 2 2 
13 lbs. of linseed at 1^-d. per lb. 1 7{- 
Turnips (from 70 lbs. to 80 lbs. per day) 1 6 
Coals. 0 
Labor on each beast . 0 7 
6 0 
The food given to the draught horses, 1 lb. of 
linseed and 3 lbs. of meal, at noon, at a cost of 
4£d. per day. 
The value perhaps of this in promoting the 
digestion of nourishing food at a time of day 
when it is important to get the work as rapidly 
done as possible is incalculable, and the healthy 
coats of the horses showed that it was suited to 
their animal economy. 
We cannot help thinking that this mode of 
economizing root crops, and so getting the 
largest amount of fed animals from the smallest 
quantity of green crops, using up all the straw 
most carefully and most favorably for its conver¬ 
sion into manure, is a vast desideratum to the 
cold-clay farmer. How, he asks, can he get 
good manure with his small quantity of roots, 
or how keep stock in any quantity so as to have 
his manure made by those who are fattening ? 
This plan seems to be a solution, and ever since 
its introduction by Mr. Marshall, has Mr. Hutton 
followed it out, feeding or keeping, we believe, 
something like a hundred beasts per annum. 
The small quantity of roots per day—taking 
the minimum of 70 lbs.—would in twenty weeks 
amount to some four and a half tons only, thus 
finding all the roots necessary for feeding four 
cattle on one acre of a twenty ton per acre 
crop. 
