AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
303 
For the American Agriculturist. 
The Rogue’s Gallery—Foul Seeds. 
In the City of New-York, and some other large 
places, I believe, there is kept by the police what 
is called the “ Rogues’ Gallery,” in which are 
preserved tire daguerreotypes of criminals of va¬ 
rious grades, who have been detected from time 
to time. Its use is quite apparent, and many of 
these gentry are kept in eheck, or found when 
wanted, by means of these pictures. The culti¬ 
vator can take a hint from this institution. In his 
fields are many depredators, vile weeds, that 
teal in, often in company with the good seed he 
is sowing, and purloin the fat of his land, to the 
serious damage of the crops and their owner. 
Let each fanner and gardener make a collection 
of seeds of the various weeds that infest his lo¬ 
cality, label them distinctly, and preserve for ex¬ 
amination arid reference, until so familiar with 
their appearance, that he can recognize them at a 
glance, in any company. Then he may depend on 
his own eyes when he visits the seed store, and 
secure himself from the disasters occasioned by 
the ignorance, carelessness, or dishonesty of deal¬ 
ers, To make this plan fully effective, seeds 
gathered thus in various localities, could be ex¬ 
changed by means of Farmers’ Clubs or otherwise, 
and thus all be on the look out for the arrival of 
any new and unwelcome visitors. A. D. M. 
Tim Bunker on the Shadtown Parsonage 
—and a Grandson. 
Mr. Editor :— I told you at the time we fixed 
Sally out for housekeeping, that I should proba¬ 
bly have something to say about the young folks 
after the wedding, when the writers of stories 
generally say good bye to their heroes. I did not 
think then, that I should have any thing special 
to say so soon, but this is a fast age of the world, 
and any writer who keeps up with the times, 
will not have a chance for his ink to get dry in 
his quill. 
Mrs. Bunker and I were sent for last week, to 
come down to Shadtown and make a visit, not 
thinking at all what honors awaited us. Shad¬ 
town lies on the river, a few miles from here, 
and is one of those homely names that stick to a 
place forever. They have a good many such 
names up here in Connecticut, and the folks, or 
at least a part of them, seem to glory in them, as 
if they were the right things in the right place. 
They were suggested by the character of the 
country, or by some incident in their early histo¬ 
ry, and the necessity of a change has never been 
felt. Break-neck hill took its name from its dan¬ 
gerous character, and from the fact that a man 
was once thrown from his wagon and killed 
there. Hard-Scrabble is a very poor, rough re¬ 
gion, and both men and animals have to scrabble 
to get a living. Bean Hill was so called from the 
fact that that esculent grew in great perfection 
in the vicinity, and was greatly delighted in by 
the inhabitants. It was the invariable Sunday 
morning breakfast, the year round, and to pro¬ 
fessors even, was a reliable indication of the day. 
Tradition relates that the Deacon was once sad¬ 
ly misled by the failure of his usual dish, the 
bean bag having been exhausted unexpectedly. 
He had already ground his scythe, and would have 
gone to mowing, but for the timely remonstrance 
of his good wife. This may have been a scan¬ 
dal, but the bean eating is still kept up by the peo¬ 
ple, in all its early vigor. 
They undertook to alter the name of the place 
some years ago, and call it Myrtleville, but they 
could not make it go. The old inhabitants said 
that “ beans grew there and Myrtles did not; and 
they could not see the use of putting a name to 
a place that did not belong to it.” Bean Hill they 
could see the reason of, for every body in the 
place ate baked beans, and the crop was natural 
to the soil. 
Shadtown was so called from the abundance of 
that fish caught at the landing—a name handed 
down from the first settlement. It is a staid par¬ 
ish, and the people boast that they have never 
dismissed a minister. A few have filled up their 
half century of service, and all have died among 
them. They are about as proud of this, as they 
are of the name of their place. Shadtown was 
the name given by the fathers, is honorable, and 
is therefore to be honored, and had in reverence, 
for all coming time. The man that should pro¬ 
pose to change it to Tivoli, Arno, or any other 
euphonious name would be mobbed, if that thing 
were possible in this Commonwealth. 
At the time Josiah was settled here a couple 
of years ago, the people made a stir, and built a 
new parsonage. The old building had stood over 
a hundred years, and had accommodated their 
last three ministers. The good old practice of 
furnishing the pastor with a parsonage, and glebe, 
has always been kept up here. As the country 
filled up with people, and land became more val¬ 
uable, they sold off a part of it, but there are still 
ten acres left of this fat valley land, and I guess 
better soil does not lie out of doors. 
They built the new parsonage a little nearer to 
the meeting house, setting it back further from 
the road, and throwing a part of the fruit trees 
into the front yard. They made the house every 
way convenient, put in a furnace, a range, a 
bathing room, and all the fixings that a woman 
needs to keep house easy with. They enclosed 
a large yard, nearly an acre, with a nice fence, 
and planted it with evergreens and shrubs, so 
that it looked about as inviting as any house in 
the village. 
It was curious to see what a great variety of 
fruits had been planted in the garden and or¬ 
chard, by the good men who had lived and died 
upon this spot. There is about an acre devoted 
to apples, and some of the trees, I guess, are a 
hundred years old, for they have been old trees 
ever since I can remember. Then there are per¬ 
haps twenty old pear trees, and a good many 
younger ones, just beginning to bear, to say 
nothing of the dwarfs that Josiah has just put 
out. All the small fruits, currants, gooseberries, 
strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, have 
their appropriate place. Grape vines run along 
the sides of the barn, and on arbors built on pur¬ 
pose for them. Plums seem to flourish here, 
the soil being a little clayey. The peaches have 
declined, though there are the remains of famous 
trees, at least forty years old. There are cher¬ 
ries and quinces in abundance, and along under 
the wall, pie plant and asparagus enough to stock 
the neighborhood. 
I learned, from Josiah, that his predecessors had 
been in the habit of doing this, the parsonage 
garden being a sort of free nursery for the par¬ 
ish. Seeds of flowers and vegetables, and grafts, 
and young plants of the smaller fruits were freely 
distributed every Spring ; so that almost every 
garden in the parish had its mementos from the 
parsonage. It was a literal sowing of good seed 
on good ground, for it almost always bore fruit to 
the minister’s advantage, as well as to the peo¬ 
ple’s. The whole region is noted for its good 
fruit, mainly originating from the parsonage. The 
finest peaches I have ever seen in any of the 
markets came from Shadtown. The parish has 
always been remarkable for its peaceful char¬ 
acter, and for its religious prosperity. The un¬ 
selfish example of the minister seemed to be con¬ 
tagious, and there was a “ provoking to love and 
good works,” not always manifest among good 
people. The minister took an interest in the 
bodies of his people as well as their souls, and 
diligently looked after their temporal prosperity. 
All appreciated these labors, and somehow, what 
he said on Sunday struck in all the deeper, for 
what he did on week days. The children might 
not understand his theology, but they did under¬ 
stand his strawberries, and thought that the doc 
trines that kept such company were good enough 
for them. The hardest, points in the catechism 
were taken on faith, and Shadtown has always 
been as orthodox as it has been peaceable and 
united. 
Now, I am not much of a philosopher, but 1 
guess tiie characters of the past ministers, being 
lovers of good fruit, as well as of good men, have 
had somethihg to do with the prosperity of the 
parish. Their theology grew where their fruit 
did, in the open air, and sunshine ; and I guess 
light, and air are about as necessary for sermons, 
as they are for strawberries. Bad digestion 
makes a man’s thoughts about as sour as his 
stomach, and the acidity of the pulpit often leav¬ 
ens the whole parish. 
The folks in Shadtown say that Josiah is walk¬ 
ing in the footsteps of his predecessors, only a 
little more so, that he gets all the new pears 
and strawberries, and as soon as he finds they 
are worth cultivating, he sends them out to his 
neighbors. I found John’s milking stools had 
come in play, and the butter and cheese which 
Sally had made with her own hands, were about 
equal to any thing we have in Hookertown. Mrs. 
Bunker says, that she will have to own beat on 
housekeeping and butter-making, but it is much 
safer for her to say that, than it would be for any 
body else—in my hearing. She was very much 
pleased with her visit, but most pleased with her 
first grandson, whom they have named, “Timothy 
Bunker Slocum.” Whether the child, or its name 
made her absent minded, I am unable to say, but 
I noticed her spectacles on wrong side up, twice 
in one morning, and that the knitting was entire 
ly forgotten. Yours to command, 
Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Hookertown , Ct , Sept. 1, 1859. 
•- » o- 
Give the Boys a Chance. 
One of the surest methods of attaching a boy 
to the farm, is to let him have something upon it 
for his own. Give him a small plot of ground to 
cultivate, allowing him the proceeds for his own 
use. Let him have his steers to break, or his 
sheep to care for. The ownership of even a fruit 
tree, planted, pruned, and fyrought to bearing by 
his own hands, will inspire him with an interest 
that no mere reward or wages can give, In ad- 
diton to the cultivation of a taste for farm life, 
which such a course will cultivate, the practical 
knowledge gained by the boy will be of the high¬ 
est value. Being interested, he will be more ob¬ 
servant, and will thoroughly learn whatever is 
necessary for his success. Another and equally 
important advantage will be the accustoming him 
early to feel responsibility. Many young men, 
though well acquainted with all the manual oper¬ 
ations of the farm, fail utterly when entrusted 
with the management of an estate, from want of 
experience in planning for themselves. It is much 
better that responsibility should be gradually as¬ 
sumed, than that a young man should be first 
thrown upon himself on attaining his majority. 
- •-< - — --- 
Diet cures more than tire doctor. 
