AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
303 
an enlivening and invigorating property which no 
other food contains. They are in their best con¬ 
dition for fodder when from six months to a year 
old. They should be plump, bright, and free 
from any offensive taste or smell. 
Carrots, turnips and potatoes all form an ex¬ 
cellent diet. Neither of them alone would an¬ 
swer for horse feed, but to alternate with other 
food, they are highly valuable. Tney aid in the 
recovery of an ailing horse, and tend to prevent 
the inroads of disease. Every farmer and keeper 
of livery stables, and indeed every owner of a 
horse should have on hand a supply of these veg- 
elables for use in his barn. 
We can not close without adding, that one of 
the most important things to be considered in 
feeding a horse is, that he be fed regularly. As 
it is not well to have his stomach overloaded at 
any time, so he ought not to go long hungry. 
Food and water given in suitable quantity and at 
regular intervals, contribute greatly to his com¬ 
fort and health. 
- «=►-» - ---- 
Blinks from a Lantern.. IV. 
BY DIOGENES KEDIVIVUS. 
THE FARM OF THE SLOTHFUL. 
My last blink had not more than fairly got be¬ 
fore the public, when I received the following 
letter from among my readers down south. I had 
never thought that my light would shine so far 
into the world. 
“ Bendover Hall, Md., Sept. 2, 1858. 
My dear old Greek: — I thought I had bid you 
faiewell forever, when I left the halls of Nassau, 
and quit college and the classics, twenty years 
ago. Who could have thought, that the crustiest 
of philosophers, caged in libraries and seats of 
learning for so many centuries, should re-appear 
among living things, and go around inspecting 
cabbage and turnips ! That last idea of yours— 
poking your lantern into a man’s brain in search 
of a farm—is of Grecian origin, and as racy as any 
thing you uttered, when you dwelt in the flesh. I 
am a convert to that Platonic notion, and should 
like a little light from your lantern upon the pe¬ 
culiarities of my case. 
I have just come into possession of a large es¬ 
tate, which is certainly too much like the garden 
of the sluggard to be called a farm, and I am by 
-o means certain that I have any map of a farm 
in my brain, that will ever be realized on these 
neglected acres. As mine is a fair type of many 
of the estates in th's region, and further south, I 
will make a brief statement. 
It consists of some 1,200 acres, half in nomi¬ 
nal cultivation, and half in excellent timber. It 
was once kept in fine order by its former owner, 
but since his decease some twenty-five years ago, 
it has run down under the management of ten¬ 
ants. When I came into possession, last year, 
buildings, fences, and all else were in a melan¬ 
choly condition. In the noble old mansion, sev¬ 
eral of the finest rooms were used as granaries 
decay had obliterated much of its beauty, and not 
one apartment out of ten had glass enough in the 
windows to keep out the rain or the snow. Re¬ 
pairs to the buildings haye done much to improve 
appearances, and after a while other things will 
be got in order. The land is a dark sandy loam, 
naturally a capital soil. It lies nearly level, is 
easily plowed, and is well drained by ditches. 
But the neglect of which I have spoken, coupled 
to the most careless and miserable “ farming ” 
gave briers and weeds full swing, and for 25 years 
they have luxuriated, with scarce a disturbance 
from the plow, or the harrow. True the fields 
have been cultivated, but of such cultivation it is 
difficult to give you any proper idea. Of course 
war has now been declared against the weeds 
and briers, and preliminary steps taken to carry 
it on vigorously. But the briers infest all the 
fields, and seriously interfere with our operations. 
We have cut, turned, and plowed a hundred acres 
or more, but still the roots are there, and thou¬ 
sands more of the same sort. It is the common 
black and dewberry. 
Now, O Diogenes, man of the lantern and the tub, 
permit me to draw a little upon your experience, 
gained in your modern search after farms. I want 
to get rid of the “ pests ” as soon as may be, and 
do not intend to spare any effort that can accom¬ 
plish that end. Tell me then, in reply, what meth¬ 
od you advise, as best calculated to rid the land 
of these nuisances in the shortest time, and what 
implement, if any, will eradicate them, root and 
branch. How shall my 1200 acres be made into 
a model farm 1 
There is manifestly too much of what is termed 
“ careless industry,” among the farmers of this 
county and State, and great would be the change 
if they would but turn over a new leaf. 
Yours Respectfully, 
Solomon Walker.” 
The friend and admirer of my classic sayings, 
(who was formerly a member of Congress,) 
is asking more than I bargained for, when I be¬ 
gan to let my light shine in these pages. It 
is the office of a curt and crusty philosopher 
to point out the defects of what is, rather than to 
attempt to reform it. Modern philosophers have 
got so much off the track in this respect, and 
have made such a bungling piece of work in their 
reforms that it would be poorly worth while for 
me to imitate their example. Yet Mr. Walker, 
has done up the work of a cynic so well, and 
shown up all the bad points of his estate, and of 
kindred institutions in his neighborhood, that 
courtesy seems to require that I should, on this 
occasion, depart from my rule, and lend him a 
hand in his necessity. 
The estate, so graphically described by my cor¬ 
respondent, is a striking picture of the legitimate 
result of tilling the soil by tenant labor. How¬ 
ever profitable for a time, and under certain 
circumstances it may be, its tendency is all tow¬ 
ard that careless industry and consequent aban¬ 
donment of the soil to weeds and briers, which 
my correspondent describes. It has been well 
said that “ the best manure for a farm is the 
footstep of its owner.” Unless his tracks are 
around, seeing to every thing in person, it mat¬ 
ters very little what fertilizers you have, or what 
crops you plant. There is no thrift without in¬ 
telligent labor. 
The next best thing, to the foot prints of the 
owner, is the presence of skillful well paid labor¬ 
ers. It will not answer to have all the brains in 
one head. There are a thousand details, that the 
overseer can not attend to in person, and where 
skill and a sufficient motive for its application is 
constantly needed. Silver is better than a grind¬ 
stone to sharpen the edge of a hoe, or the teeth of 
a cultivator. It is astonishing to see what a 
clean cut steel thus sharpened will make upon 
weeds and briers. It is also quite as good to 
sharpen the eyes of the workmen, as their tools. 
There is no eye salve like it. It works like a 
charm upon the boy that rides horse between the 
springing corn. He sees every blade, and no hoof 
mars its beauty. It is better than spectacles to 
the man who follows with a hoe. Every bramble 
is cut, or snaked out by the roots, so that it will 
make no trouble in future. Clean, careful culii 
vation, thrift in the best sense of the term, is pos¬ 
sible under no other system. 
To come to the particular need of this estate— 
the subduing of briars ; it will taite several years 
of patient and intelligent industry to accomplish 
the work. Fall plowing is very important to 
give the frost a fair chance at the up-turned roots. 
The high blackberry, though a strong grower, is 
not so tenacious of life as many other plants. Its 
roots are tender, and greatly coveted by swine, 
which make a clean sweep of them, in any small 
lot where they are confined. Deep plowing is 
hardly less important, to cut off the roots so low- 
down, that they will not have time to send up 
shoots before the corn is ready for the cultivator 
and the hoe. This should be followed by thor¬ 
ough, and frequent cultivation with the steel 
toothed cultivator and the hand hoe. If the corn 
is furrowed botii ways, nine-tenths of the work 
may be done by horse power. 
This thorough treatment should be followed up 
until every vestige of brier is removed. The 
most of them will be killed the first season, and 
the strong temptation is to stock down to grass, 
which will give the briers a chance to revive 
again. Hoed crops for two or three years are 
the safest remedy. 
White Robins. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
In a stately willow in front of my farm house, 
two robins have domiciled for years. Their lit¬ 
tle brood for this year contained two white robins. 
One of them was caught by a passer by, but the 
other is at liberty and is indeed a beautiful bird 
—as white as the driven snow. I have heard of 
white crows, and have seen what they called 
white blackbirds, but I have never seen nor heard 
before of a white robin. Wm. J. Wilcox. 
Clarksville, Rock.and Co., N. Y., Aug. 21, 1858. 
Remark. —We have several times heard of 
white robins, but have never seen one.— Ed. 
— ^ < !■ I I HI 0 fill »l I i—- 
Gapes in Chickens again- 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
I have frequently noticed in your excellent pa¬ 
per a remedy for gapes in chickens, a complaint 
very common in some parts of our country. I 
have been in the practice of raising chickens for 
mo>"i than twenty years, and was never troubled 
with this complaint. My food for the chickens 
is common corn meal, wet with cold water, and 
lightly salted. My chickens are always healthy, 
and as hardy as pigs. If your correspondent, 
Mr. M'Comas, of Harford Co., Md., will take my 
mode of feeding his chickens, I think he will be 
able to dispense with his grease for all homing 
time. * S. Wright. 
Granville, 0., Aug., 1858. 
A would be Mormon —A physician at Bath 
lately remarked, in a coffee house in that city, 
that he had three fine daughters, to whom he 
should give ten thousand pounds sterling each, 
and no one had yet come forward to marry them. 
“ With your lave, doctor,” said an Irishman, who 
was present, stepping up and making a respectful 
bow, “ I'll lake two of them.” 
