276 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
“FATHER IS COMING HOME! 
(Engraved for the American Agriculturist.) 
Evening comes and the labors of the day 
draw with the day to a close. Quiet reigns; 
the poultry seek their roosts, the cattle compose 
themselves for the night; and men whose days 
are spent in labor, whether of the hands or the 
brain, gladly leave their work to enjoy their 
rest. The weariness produced by labor only 
hightens the pleasures of home; tired hands toss 
the plump baby into the air, and catch it again 
as if it were of but a feather’s weight—and the 
back which ached well in the hay field is only 
invigorated when the boy is lifted upon the 
shoulders for a turn in the yard. A man has 
no right to work so hard, with either brains or 
body, that he can not enjoy the prattle of his 
children, or a good talk with his wife. It is a 
waste of life to live without enjoyment, and 
what enjoyment is comparable with that which 
parents have in their children, and each other 
in the quiet of their own homes. A happy 
home is a near approach to heaven upon earth, 
and it may as well be enjoyed in the cottage as 
in the palace—in fact, when we consider how 
much oftener real happiness dwells in the 
humble cottage, we give hearty preference to the 
wealth of the poor man, rather than to the gold¬ 
en store, houses, lands, and perplexing cares of 
the rich. Happy is he who returns at evening to 
give joy to so happy a family group as we have 
presented in the engraving before us. How the 
expressions of “Welcome home,” and of sym¬ 
pathy with the children, mingle in the face of 
the wife, and how natural and exuberant the 
joy of the children’s greeting! One at least 
will doubtless assure his readers that while there 
is always joy to the father in coming home, 
this feeling is rendered inexpressibly intense 
upon returning from a sojourn in distant lands. 
Farmers, Write. 
Yes, write for this or 
some other paper. Not, 
if you please, with the 
intent to make a display 
of learning or fine writ¬ 
ing, but to communicate 
facts, and notes of expe¬ 
rience that will be use¬ 
ful to others. The ap¬ 
proaching season of 
comparative leisure, 
while results are fresh 
in mind, is the time to 
write. Take up any crop 
or crops of the year, and 
give us the history. The 
land was high or low, 
wet or dry, drained or 
undrained, poor or rich, 
old or new. It was 
plowed in this or that 
month, and thus or so. 
The manure was of this 
or the other kind, and 
was hauled out at such 
a time and applied in 
such a manner. The 
seed was sowed or plant¬ 
ed on a certain day of 
the month. The grow¬ 
ing crop was managed in 
a certain way, and when 
ripe was gathered and 
measured or weighed, 
and its value esti¬ 
mated, above expenses. 
Now, give us such sim¬ 
ple and minute histo¬ 
ries, in plain language, 
and they will be well 
worth recording. It is 
taken for granted, how¬ 
ever, that everything is 
done accurately , else all 
inferences and estimates 
will amount to nothing. 
And not only the opera¬ 
tions of the field, but 
notes on stook-breedlng 
and raising, and on the 
orchard and garden, are 
worth writing out for 
publication. As we 
look abroad over the 
wide parish of our read¬ 
ers, we feel that there is 
much useful information here and there, which 
might profitably be sent to us for dissemination. 
A New Foe to the Pine. 
We have spoken of insects on the White Pine, 
looking like mildew, but which, on close inspec¬ 
tion, proved small bugs. And now we report a 
new foe, thus far appearing only on the Scotch 
Pine. In June last, we observed what seemed 
little bits of froth, of the size of a walnut, found 
to contain, in each case, a very active grub, of 
the size and shape of a large grain of wheat— 
the forward half was black, the after part brown, 
shaded with red; he was found chiefly on wood 
of last year’s growth; there was a hole in 
the bark of the size of a pin, and exuding sap 
produced the foam. Hand-picking failed on 
large trees. Whale oil soap and similar reme- 
