“i AMERICAN AtJRIOULTUEIST. 393 
cial theme as are their own. Hence they state 
results briefly, which are beautiful in them¬ 
selves, but the beauty or value of which is un¬ 
appreciated by those who have not followed 
out the antecedent reasonings and causes, and 
who do not see the connection of these results 
with each other, or with any valuable practical 
end. 
There are in this work some mistakes, per¬ 
haps in part the result of typographical errors; 
such, for instance as the statement that the in¬ 
organic matter forms the smallest portion of the 
soil (meaning of plants)—that the ash of 100.- 
000 parts of dry wheat contain only 40 parts of 
phosphoric acid, while the same amount of 
wheat straw contains 170 parts, &c. 
The work is too abstruse to interest or in¬ 
struct the great mass of uneducated readers, 
though it abounds in practical hints highly 
useful to those who will search them out. 
But notwithstanding these objections, we 
think this book a highly valuable one. It is 
the most complete compend of such scientific 
memoranda as desreve the attention of agricul¬ 
turists, that has yet appeared in this country. 
The author must have expended much time in 
his researches and in its compilation, and we 
recommend its persual and its daily use as a 
reference book, to every one who has made a 
study of agriculture and the cognate sciences of 
chemistry, geology, physiology, zoology, botany, 
&c. "We know many such persons to whom we 
shall personally recommend this book as indis- 
pensible to their agricultural libraries. 
Chemistry of Common Life by James F. W. 
Johnston, Author of Lectures on Agricultural 
Chemistry and Geology &c. 
In the Agriculturist of we referred 
to this work in progress of publication in Eng¬ 
land, to be comprised in eight monthly num¬ 
bers. Since then we have received many in¬ 
quiries in respect to it, and we are happy to 
announce that Messrs. D. Appleton & Co., of 
this city, are issuing the work as fast as it ap¬ 
pears. They are diminishing the number of 
volumes so as to include the whole in about 
five, perhaps six, hand-books, about 100 pages 
each. It treats of the food we eat, drinks, stim¬ 
ulants, narcotics, &c., we indulge in, and in 
short, as it title indicates, it comprises the chem¬ 
istry of our whole common life. The style is 
so plain and simple, that a child may understand 
it, while the teachings are of the highest im¬ 
portance to all persons in every rank and situa¬ 
tion in life. No person can be destitute of it 
without losing much that is valuable and im¬ 
portant. Three numbers of the American edi¬ 
tion are already out. Price 25 cents each. 
Fruit the Proper food for Man, being an 
attempt to prove from History, Anatomy, 
Physiology, and Chemistry, that the Original, 
Natural and Best Diet of Man is derived 
from the Vegetable Kingdom. By John 
Smith, from the second London Edition with 
Notes and Illustrations by R. T. Trail, M. D. 
Published by Fowlers & Wells, New-York. 
For those who wish to investigate this subject 
this book is probably one of the best on one 
side of the question. After considerable read¬ 
ing and observation we are compelled to differ 
from the conclusions arrived at in the above 
work. We entirely agree with the author that 
a great majority of persons eat quite too much 
animal food, especially during hot weather; 
and we are not certain but people would be more 
healthy than they now are, were most kinds of 
flesh banished from the table; yet we are de¬ 
cidedly of the opinion that for a majority of 
persons, a mixed diet, consisting of vegetables, 
and a small amount of animal food taken in the 
early part of the day, is best adapted to keep 
the system in good repair, at least while the 
present overworking habits of the great mass of 
mankind are continued. One probably wears 
out faster under this system, but then he 
accomplishes more in a given space of time. 
Whether this is as well, each must determine 
for himself—at any rate it is American fashion 
to live faster, do more work, and die quicker, 
than people of any other nation—and still we 
have many very aged persons in the country. 
-- 
Written for the American Agriculturist. 
A HINT TO “NEW SETTLERS.” 
BY MINNIE MYRTLE. 
I have been thinking what a nice plan it 
would be to have in every village a public gar¬ 
den, at least a park, where all might find a de¬ 
lightful place to meet, and walk, and talk, and 
throw dull care to the winds. Many villages 
have a common , fenced around, but it is all one 
unvaried grass-plat, with no gravelled walks, or 
shady nooks, or even a resting place — it is not 
made attractive, and therefore never becomes a 
resort. 
In countries where kings and princes rule, 
public grounds and all manner of public amuse¬ 
ments are more abundant, because the power 
is in the hands of one—he decreess that a thing 
shall be done, and it is done forthwith—the 
people are taxed to provide the money, but 
their consent is not first asked—there is no 
council held to decide the matter—the will of 
the majority does not rule. I am not going to 
imply that I consider this a better state ol 
things, on the whole. I am thoroughly repub¬ 
lican, and not at all desirous that a king should 
wave his sceptre over our fair land. But I do 
wish that republics would do some things that 
kings alone seemed inclined to do. 
When our fathers came to this country, in 
abjuring monarchy, they seemed determined to 
abjure the good as well as the evil which they 
had experienced under monarchial govern¬ 
ment—they would leave behind every thing 
that could remind them of the land of their 
birth and their oppi’ession. How easy it would 
have been in this great land of ours, for those 
who marked out cities and villages, to have 
created boulevards and plazas by merely leav¬ 
ing the trees of the forest unfelled. They need 
not have expended a cent in planting, they only 
needed to exercise taste in permitting those 
which nature had perfected to remain in rows 
and in groups, in order best to adorn and beau¬ 
tify the grounds they selected and devoted to 
public health and pleasure. What a beautiful— 
a magnificent appearance our great cities might 
have presented, where brick walls and filthy 
streets now greet the eye, if those who built 
them had looked forward into the future, and 
thought with a little more complacency of mere 
animal enjoyment. 
Healthful pleasure is as much a necessity as 
religious teaching. So much does the health of 
the mind and soul depend on the health of the 
body, that sound religious doctrine and correct 
religious feeling cannot exist without it. The 
religious man or woman who is bilious, or has 
a deranged, nervous system, becomes morose, or 
gloomy, or irritable, and his religious fervor is 
tainted with the unnatural hue of his diseased 
animal being. Religion in itself never makes 
any body gloomy or morose, neither does it for¬ 
bid animal enjoyment, because it cannot forbid 
what is necessary to health. 
Every city, as well as every village, should pro¬ 
vide for the public health by providing for the 
public enjoyment. Republics should prove 
their efficiency for all good purposes, by carry¬ 
ing into effect all good measures, as thoroughly 
as monarchies do, and thus recommend them¬ 
selves to all people. 
It is the universal accusation brought against 
Americans, that they are too wholly absorbed 
in business—that they grow old before their 
time—they wither —dry all up —while they 
should still be full of life and elasticity. They 
amass great fortunes, but never enjoy them, be¬ 
cause they destroy their capacity for enjoyment 
before they take time for rest or pleasure. 
It is too late now to remodel our cities or vil¬ 
lages. There is no room for the bright oases 
which would prove such delightful resting- 
places for the weary, but those who are going 
forth into the wilderness should profit by the 
wisdom of those who have learned from experi¬ 
ence, and never plan a settlement , where there 
is not room for the park—let it be deeded to 
the public, with no reservation, through all time, 
and let provision as formal and ample be made 
for the play-ground, as the church and the 
school-room. Neither of these can thrive alone. 
It is a great mistake to confound pleasure with 
vice, and there are many who think all animal 
enjoyment degrading — that there is nothing 
really worthy of man but intellectual pursuits, 
and the elysian delights of the soul. This has 
arisen, no doubt, from the fact that animal plea¬ 
sures have been indulged in to the detriment of 
the mind and soul, and because a great proportion 
of the world are more decidedly animal than in¬ 
tellectual beings. But the separation has been 
too marked; the intellectual have shown too 
great a neglect and often contempt for every 
thing that was not tending to contribute di¬ 
rectly to intellectual growth, and thus im¬ 
pressed, those who were inferior to them in this 
respect, with the idea that the two were incom¬ 
patible—if they cultivated the intellect and 
heart, they must renounce all in which they 
had most delighted. It is in this way that reli¬ 
gion has been made repulsive. God gave us 
three natures, and never intended that the plea¬ 
sure and best good of one should interfere with 
the pleasure and best good of the other. Each 
has its necessities and each its duties—each its 
sphere, which is honorable and useful. If in 
every city and village there were a general ren¬ 
dezvous for all classes, where the intellectual 
and cultivated could meet on common ground 
with the more decidedly animal and unculti¬ 
vated, there would take place a fusion which 
would benefit all. 
Poets and hermits talk of the delights of soli¬ 
tary walks in groves and shady lanes, but it is a 
morbid appetite that craves solitude, and that 
the multitude do not prefer it, is good evidence 
that it is not natural. 
Physicians tell us that the spring which is 
