282 AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
A MAIN LAW CASE. 
15. We have thus learned something about 
these little atoms. We find that when in 
masses, that is, when a great number of them 
are together, we can see them,but that from 
some cause they separate, and being very 
small, float in the air, generally in an invis¬ 
ible state The cause of this change we shall 
learn hereafter. 
Please read this chapter over and under¬ 
stand it as thoroughly as possible, and in our 
next we will learn something more about 
these atoms, how many different kinds of 
them there are, how they differ from each 
other, and then take them up singly and ex¬ 
amine them. 
FARMERS’ LIBRARIES. 
Among the many aids employed to pro¬ 
mote progress and improvement in the art of 
tilling the soil, there are few, if any, more 
accessible to all than good periodicals and 
books. There is no more efficient agency in 
the universal diffusion of knowledge than 
the press. Books and periodicals are fur¬ 
nished at very low prices. Therefore, there 
is no good reason why every one should not 
be liberally furnished Avith good and suggest¬ 
ive reading matter, that will place before 
him the experiments and observations of 
multitudes of good successful farmers. We 
would, therefore, recommend to every farmer 
to furnish himself with a few good agricul¬ 
tural books, at least, in addition to his peri¬ 
odicals. “ But,” says one, “ I can’t afford it.” 
“ I have so many ways for money, that be¬ 
fore I get to books it is all expended or in¬ 
vested.” This may be true, but the difficul¬ 
ty is of a chronic nature, we fear, and lies 
deeper than you fancy—or in other Avords, 
it is not really so much the Avant of money, 
as the Avant of a taste for reading works that 
require thought, reflection and action in or¬ 
der to be really beneficial. Had you but the 
taste for reading and studying, for instruc¬ 
tion, improvement and furnishing the mind 
with useful knowledge, our Avord for it, you 
would find both money and time to read and 
study them, too. But if you have no taste, 
no desire for thus storing your mind Avitli 
useful and liberal knowledge, on matters 
concerning your noble vocation, it is the 
easiest thing in the world to make yourself 
believe that you have neither time nor money 
for such things. Cultivate, then, a taste for 
reading something besides newspapers, and 
you will soon find books accumulating until 
you have acquired quite a library, whose 
contents shall furnish and adorn the mind as 
the select volumes do your book-case and 
parlor table. 
In addition to these household collections, 
it would be well for every agricultural totvn 
to have a Farmers’ Library, which shall con¬ 
tain the more rare and costly Avorks Avhich 
are necessary for reference. This tOAvn li¬ 
brary would furnish a nucleus for a Town 
Farmers’ Club; or where the club has already 
been formed, will serve to give it efficient 
energy and vitality, such as knotvledge and 
the love of its acquisition always furnish. 
The town library should contain the annual 
volumes of transactions of the several Coun¬ 
ty and State societies, also those of neigh¬ 
boring States. Every farming totvn in the 
State should contain not only the volumes of 
our oavii State Transactions, but those of 
New-York, which are of great value. Such 
a library Avould in the course of a very few 
years, become of great value to every enter- 
prizing farmer within the tOAvn, and by all 
such be deemed indispensable. 
Every good farmer needs, lying constantly 
by him in his house, not to be lent, any more 
than his Bible, some one of the good Avorks 
on fruit trees—some good work on agricul¬ 
tural chemistry—Avhich treats of soils and 
the different modes of culture—a Avork on 
manures—on stock-breeding—and the dis¬ 
eases of domestic animals and the treatment 
thereof—on draining—on the best modes of 
reclaiming swamps, using muck, &c., &c. 
We hope these few suggestions will serve 
to awaken an interest among our rural read¬ 
ers on this important subject, that shall result 
in the procuring of a few books to be read 
and studied these long winter evenings now 
just before us. The stock of knowledge thus 
gained, Avill prove more productive than mon¬ 
ey stock—for it will serve to guide you in the 
better investment of both it and labor, than 
hitherto. Knowledge will give you power 
over the physical world no less than over 
things of a higher and nobler order. Now is 
the time to acquire knoAvledge. 
Credit Lost. 
“A little humor now and then, 
Is relished by the best of men.” 
GOING AHEAD, 
B V J . G . WHITTIER. 
I hear the far-off voyager’s horn, 
I see the Yankee’s trail— 
His foot on every mountain pass, 
On every stream his sail. 
He’s whistling round St. Mary’s Falls, 
Upon his loaded train ; 
He’s leaving on the Pictured Rocks 
His fresh tobacco stain. 
I hear the mattock in the mines, 
The ax-stroke in the dell, 
The clamor from the Indian lodge, 
The Jesuit’s chapel bell! 
1 see the swarthy trappers come 
From Mississippi’s springs; 
And Avar-cliiefs Avitli their painted botvs, 
And crests of eagle’s wings. 
Behind the squaw’s birchen canoe, 
The steamer smokes and raves; 
The city lots are staked for sale 
Above old Indian graves. 
By forest-lake and water-fall, 
I see the pedlar’s show; 
The mighty mingling with the mean, 
The lofty Avitli the Ioav. 
1 hear the tread of pioneers 
Of nations yet to be ; 
The first low Avash of Avaves Avhere soon 
Shall roam a human sea. 
The rudiments of empire here, 
Are plastic yet and Avarm ; 
The chaos of a mighty Avorld 
Is rounding into form ! 
Each rude and jostling fragment soon 
Its fitting place shall find— 
The raw material of a State, 
Its muscles and its mind ! 
And westering still the star Avhich leads 
The neAv Avorld in its train, 
Has tipped Avith fire the icy spars 
Of many a mountain chain. 
The snoAvy cones of Oregon 
Are kindled on its way, 
And California’s golden sands 
Gleam brighter in its ray ! 
“ Deacon, Deacon!” said a roguish boy 
one day to a man bearing the above appella¬ 
tion, “ Deacon I wish you Avould let me 
take your horse to ride home ; I am so tired 
I don’t Avant to Avalk.” “ But,” said the dea¬ 
con, “ how Avould you get the horse to me 
again ? “ Oh,” said the urchin, “ I Avould 
bring him right lack. We expect that boy 
come to something. 
“ If the court please, the matter to be 
passed upon is one in relation to the unlaw¬ 
ful sale of one lot of imported spirits. We 
shall prove that Stebbins, the defendant, 
deals in liquor, that he has sold liquor, and 
that the money for that liquor is now in his 
possession. The first and only witness I 
shall call is James Dubious. Kiss the book, 
Mr. Dubious. Do you knotv the defendant, 
Stebbins ?” 
“Yes, sir.” 
“ Where does he reside ?” 
“ On the top of Main street.” 
“ What’s his business ?” 
“I can’t say exactly. Ail I knoAv is, that 
I bought an article of gin from him yester¬ 
day.” 
“ Did you pay for it?” 
“ Yes, sir,” 
“ Hoav much ?” 
“ One hundred and twenty-five dollars. ’ 
“ That’s enough, sir. The Avitness is 
your’s Mr. Dash.” 
Dash accordingly cross examins Dubious. 
“ Mr. Dubious you say you bought the ar¬ 
ticle of gin of the defendent ?” 
“ Yes, sir.” 
“ And Avhat kind of gin was it ?” 
“ A cotton gin, for my brothers plantation 
in Georgia!” 
“ That will do, Mr Dubious.” 
Cheesey. —A young Englishman stopped 
at a tavern in Nashville, Tenn., where he got 
into conversation with a native. As usual 
he boasted of every thing English in com¬ 
parison with Yankee products. Finally he 
got to talking about English cheeses. He 
said it was not uncommon to see cheeses in 
England weighing one thousand pounds 
each. 
“ Poll,” said the Tennesseean, “ my father 
keeps a dairy ten mile from this place, and 
supplies all the large taverns. He never 
thinks of making cheeses of less Aveight than 
a ton. 
“ You can’t put that on to me,” said the 
Englishman, laughing. 
“ Ask the landlord,” said the Tennesseean. 
The landlord Avas accordingly applied to, 
avIio replied. 
“I never weighed any of his cheeses, but 
I knotv the old man has at the bottom of the 
hill on his place, two satv mills, Avhich are 
run the whole year round by the whey that 
runs from his cheese press.” 
“ Will you have the kindness to order up 
my horse,” quietly remarked the English¬ 
man. 
The Plea of Insanity. —The following is 
about as reasonable as the plea of insanity, 
so frequently set up notv a days for the per¬ 
petrators of crime. 
“ Well,” said his honor to a negro Avho had 
been hauled up for stealing a pullet, “ Avhat 
have you to say for yourself?” 
“ Nuffin but dis, boss : I was as crazy as a 
bedbug when I stole dat ar pullet, coz I 
might hab stole de big rooster, and I neber 
done it. Dat shows ’clusively dat I Avas un¬ 
der delirium tremendous.” 
A celebrated toper, intending to go to a 
masked ball, consulted an acquaintance as to 
what character he should disguise himself. 
“ Go sober,” replied his friend, “ and 
your most intimate friend will not knoAv 
you.” 
Difficulties are whetstones to sharpen our 
fortitude. 
Poverty Avants some, luxury maiay, and 
avarice all things. 
