AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
377 
WHAT TOADS ARE MADE FOB. 
THE JEWEL FOUND. 
“Sweet are the uses of adversity ; 
1 Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” 
This old fable of the toad is exploded, and 
both jewels and venom are looked for in vain 
about his warty head. Neither for good or 
bad qualities is he celebrated, and he is looked 
upon as a reproach to the divine workmanship, 
a disgusting reptile without use, appreciable by 
man. But there was truth as well as poetry in 
Shakspear’s illustration. The toad has a jewel, 
but he was mistaken about its locality. It is 
seated in his stomach, instead of his head, and 
unlike the oyster, whose pearls are the result of 
disease, this comes of health and good digestion. 
We were walking in our garden the other day, 
and came upon one of these squatters, among 
our squash vines. He was seated near his hole 
in the wall, surveying the premises with philo¬ 
sophic calmness. Have you ever noticed, that 
there is a very benevolent expression in the eye 
of a toad? If it were not for that ugly-looking 
skin, we could call him a gentleman. His 
philosophic mien was catching, and we fell to 
speculating upon the value wrapt up in that 
carbuncle jacket. We asked that question so 
current in upper tendom, what is he worth ? 
not looking upon him, however, as a candidate 
for matrimonial honors, even if it should appear 
that he had a million of jewels in his head. 
Was there such painstaking in making him 
wide-mouthed, pot-bellied, moping and ugly, 
for no purpose ? Some pestiferous squash bugs 
were crawling upon a neighboring leaf, and we 
threw a couple of them within reach of his 
mouth. His eye flashed with intelligence, and 
quick as thought, his capacious jaws closed over 
the unlucky insects with a snap like that of a 
miser’s purse clasp closing upon mint drops. 
We saw at once the use of toads. The jewel 
was an appetite for bugs. 
-• •« - 
AGRICULTURAL SHOWS. 
Saratoga County (N. Y.) Agricultural So¬ 
ciety. —The next annual Show of this Society, 
will take place at Mechanicsville, on the 12th, 
13th and 14th of next month. A military 
company from Albany will be at the fair. 
The Hartford (Conn.) County Agricul¬ 
tural Society will hold their next annual Show 
at Hartford, during the first week in October, 
We learn that vigorous exertions are being made 
to get up a large exhibition of the products oi 
Agricultural and Mechanical Industry. 
Chester County, Pa. —This county has a 
flourishing Horticultural Society, which will 
hold an Annual Exhibition at Westchester, on 
the 7th, 8th and 9th days of September. The 
County Agricultural Society, will hold its annual 
Show on the 8th and 9th daj^s of the same 
month at the same place, making it convenient 
for visitors to attend both shows at one visit. 
Queen’s County (N. Y.) Agricultural So¬ 
ciety will hold their next annual Show at Ja- 
macia, on the 28th of September next. 
Oneida County Agricultural Society. —The 
annual Industrial Exhibition of the Oneida 
County Agricultural Society, will be held at 
Utica, on the 19th, 20th and 21st of September. 
From the list of premiums and directory, we 
should conclude that the Society were expecting 
a fine time on the occasion. The President is 
Levi T. Marshall, of Vernon ; Vice-Presidents, 
Horace II. Eastman, Marshall and Calvin Bish¬ 
op, of Verona; Secretary, J. Wyman Jones, of 
Utica. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
A LETTER FROM NEW-HAMPSHIRE. 
New-IIampshire has been for several weeks 
suffering from an unusual and protracted 
drought. Corn, in some localities, is entirely 
ruined, and potatoes are much injured. The 
yield of hay has not been as great as was an¬ 
ticipated. Much of the grass was winter- 
killed, and the dry weather also has operated 
to diminish the usual crop. Fruit is scarce. 
It is found difficult to procure laborers suffi¬ 
cient for the necessities of fanners, here, as in 
other places. I have seen fields of oats ready 
for the harvest, in danger of being lost, for want 
of reapers. 
It is astonishing, when such numbers of 
needy foreigners are constantly landing on our 
shores, that there should be such a destitution 
of men willing to plow, or dig, or mow, or do 
any thing which will give honest employment, 
and raise them above the fear of want, or dan¬ 
ger of starvation. Our cities are crowded with 
multitudes, who can scarcely procure the 
merest necessaries of life, and to whom the idea 
of comfort is as foreign as possible. They are 
many of them willing to work, but they know 
not how to procure it. It is always painful to 
see two classes in the community, each suffer¬ 
ing for want of aid from the other, and yet un¬ 
able, from the force of circumstances, or from 
want of energy to overcome those circum¬ 
stances, to render each other the good they need. 
I have been gratified as I have driven about 
this delightful country, to see labor-saving ma¬ 
chines introduced, where once it would not have 
been supposed they could have been used. The 
scarcity of laborers will, undoubtedly, eventu¬ 
ally be supplied in this way. 
I have no sympathy with those who believe 
the world is constantly growing worse and 
worse, for it seems to me to be constantly im¬ 
proving. Man is continually becoming less and 
less of an animal, and more of an intellectual 
being. Though he must earn his bread by the 
sweat of his brow, he begins to have a higher 
purpose than merely to supply the wants of his 
physical nature, and every new machine which 
is invented, that gives him leisure for mental 
improvement, raises him in the scale of being, 
and places him a little nearer the angels. 
There are many good people who feel that 
Christians should deny themselves all the ele¬ 
gancies, and many of the comforts of life, and 
who would confine them to that which is neces¬ 
sary to sustain their existence. What an unin¬ 
teresting, and unattractive world would they 
have made! Every one moulded after the 
same pattern as his neighbor, they would be as 
pleasing as a community of Shakers, and would 
all grow up as much alike as a grove of pines. 
Smiles and laughter would be driven from the 
world, and sighs and tears hold undisputed 
sway. I know there is sorrow enough in this 
world to make any heart sad and desponding, 
that only looks on the dark side, but there is 
also mellow moonlight, and bright, cheerful 
sunlight for those who lift their eyes to the 
blue heavens, and even “darkness shows us 
worlds of light, we never saw by day.” Clouds 
and storms sometimes apparently blot out the 
sun, and hide the moon and stars from our 
view, but they are shining on forever the same, 
and our faith and hope need not falter, even if, 
for a time, they are utterly obscured. 
Those tenement houses in New-York, which 
are crowded with occupants from attic to base¬ 
ment, afford us an example—an extreme one 
perhaps—of the results of being confined to the 
mere necessaries of life. These people are not 
placed in circumstances to improve, and they 
rarely do hnpi'ove; but increase their comforts, 
give them three rooms instead of one, their 
feeling of respectability is developed, and they 
are really more respectable. Place these same 
individuals in the country, in a cottage beneath 
the shade of some friendly tree, with a few 
flowers and shrubs about them, and they are 
still further elevated above their former posi¬ 
tion, and desire that their children should be 
educated and prepared to act well their various 
parts in life. 
All leveling in society should be a leveling up¬ 
ward. We should have no desire to bring others 
down, but it is always laudable to wish to rise 
ourselves, and to give our children advantages 
which we have never possessed. Too many re¬ 
formers, seek to foster prejudice against cultiva¬ 
tion and refinement, and represent these graces 
as opposed to republicanism and democracy. 
They are entirely mistaken, for these should be 
as much a theme in the farm-house, as in the 
palaces of Fifth Avenue, and will be found every 
where, when cordially received, pleasant and 
agreeable guests. 
There are no poor in the country as there are 
in the city. Man’s independence is not crushed 
out of him, and he looks a man, not an animal. 
Why will not some of the grief-stricken child¬ 
ren of unremunerative toil, leave the hot, fever¬ 
ish, over-crowded cities, and come among these 
noble hills, whose very air is freedom ? 
It is interesting, as one travels through the 
country, to observe the different growth of the 
same plants, in different soils and climates. I 
have seen corn at the West, so high that a gen¬ 
tleman riding in among it, could not reach the 
top even with his riding-whip, while here in 
New-IIampshire, I have seen it in blossom, and 
perfecting its golden grain, when not more than 
two feet high. The trees, too, seem like babies, 
when compared with those magnificent forests, 
which tower aloft in their grandeur, on the 
deep, rich soil of Ohio. 
If New-Hampshire cannot boast of the fer¬ 
tility of her soil, and the abundance and luxuri¬ 
ance of her vegetation, she can show us her 
grand old hills, which have borne the storms of 
centuries, and she can point us to her sons who 
are known in all lands; and who, “ where’re they 
roam, whatever clime they see,” cherish a warm 
love for the mother that bore them, and whose 
hearts, untraveled, fondly turn to the scenes of 
their childhood. Why is it that the inhabitants 
of a mountainous country have so strong and 
true a patriotism? The Swiss mountaineers 
weep as they listen, in foreign lands, to their 
national songs, and Yankee Doodle has power 
to quicken the pulse of any child of New-Eng- 
land. 
“ Land of the forest and the rock, 
Of dark blue lake, and mighty river, 
