Designed to improve all Classes interested in Soil Culture 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN — Washinqtoh 
OISANOE JUDD, A. HE., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
$1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. 
SINGLE NUMBERS 10 CENTS. 
VOL. xviii. No, 12 .] NEW- YORK, DECEMBER, '1859. [new series-No. 155 . 
flJiip’OS’l'icc lit 18!) Water- §t., (Near Fulton-st.) 
IlgPContents, Tcinis, <fcc., on pace 37G. 
[copy eight secured.] 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1859, 
hy Orange Judd, in the Clerk’s Office of the District 
Court of the United States for the Southern District of 
New-Ydrk. 
N. IS.—Every Journal is invited freely to copy 
any and all desirable articles with credit, and no use or 
advantage "ill be taken of the Copy-Right, wherever 
each - article or illustration is duly accredited to the 
American Agriculturist. ORANGE JUDD, Proprietor. 
American Agriculturist in ©erman. 
The AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST is published in 
both the English and German Languages. Both 
Editions are of Uniform size, and contain, as 
nearly as possible, the same Articles and Illustra¬ 
tions. The German Edition is furnished at the 
same rates as the English, singly or in clubs. 
December. 
'On blithesome frolics bent, the youthful swains, 
While every work of man is laid at rest, 
Pond o’er the river crowd, in various sport 
And revelry dissolved ; where mixing glad, 
Happiest of all the train 1 the raptured boy 
Lashes the whirling top. Or where the Rhine 
Branched out in many a long canal extends, 
From every province swarming, void of care, 
Batavia rushes forth ; and as they sweep 
On sounding skates, a thousand different ways, 
In circling poise, swift as the winds, along, 
. The then gay land is maddened all to joy.— Thompson. 
December is here knocking at the door. The 
new month comes ; not as in Springtime with its 
hesitating verdure and swelling buds ; not as in 
Summer with its garland of roses, its ruddy ber¬ 
ries, and its perfumed breath ; not as in Autumn 
with its purpling clusters, its golden harvest 
fields, and its bursting horn of plenty ; but with 
sere fields, gathered harvests, and threatening 
skies. The work of the season is finished, the 
forest has shed its leaves, and spread a thick 
warm covering over the tender plants and flow¬ 
erets beneath. Active labors in the field are end¬ 
ed, the potatoes are dug, and the corn is husked, 
and garnered. The stock are in comfortable 
quarters, and the fatlings, both in stall and sty, 
are waiting for the butcher. Chill winds, fierce 
storms, driving snows, have taken possession of 
the outer world. 
But there is an admirable compensation in all 
the arrangements of “ Providence,” and what 
we lose in one direction, we gain in another at 
this cheerless season. The frost works almost 
as charmingly as the sun, and the snow wreaths 
along every fence, and the glittering crystal by 
every Winter stream, open to us such worlds of 
beaut}’, as make us forget the garlands and glo¬ 
ries of Summer. 
At this season, too, social life puts on new as¬ 
pects, in city and country, and the flowers of the 
heart unfold in more than Summer beauty. It is 
a period of comparative leisure upon the farm, 
and the lads and lasses, rallying from many miles 
around, gather at apple parings, quiltings, bees, 
and social entertainments. Families, too busy to 
visit in Summer, form reunions at this season, 
and among the young folks unions of a more per¬ 
manent character often date from these Winter 
evening parties" 
Tliis month brings also the Christmas holidays, 
a season of social, as well as religious enjoyment, 
to a large class of our population. Whether we 
have the true date of the birth of Christ at this 
festival or not, it is well that we celebrate it now. 
The artificial Spring time, that the Christmas 
greens make in the old church, is all the more 
appreciated that it comes amid Winter snows. 
There is a charm about the box and the myrtle, 
the fir and the cedar that we weave into stars 
and wreaths to adorn the pillars and arches of the 
sanctuary, that they would not have amid the 
verdure of Summer. And the social enjoyments 
of the days that follow, are all the more appreci¬ 
ated, that they come when there is a dearth of 
out door delights, and a season of rest between 
the toils of the old year, and the labors of the new- 
There is an increasing attention paid to recre¬ 
ation in our country, that we regard with satis¬ 
faction. That wo have been behind the European 
nations, in this respect, is easily accounted for. 
A century is but a short time in the life of a 
nation, and we are not yet out of this period of 
infancy. It was natural and right, that we should 
regard the necessities of life first. Our fathers 
were busied in laying the foundations of an em¬ 
pire, and in making their own pecuniary fortunes. 
They had the forests to clear, the marshes to 
drain, the school houses and churches, the high¬ 
ways and bridges to build, and all the necessa¬ 
ries and conveniencies of their social and religi¬ 
ous life to create. There was no aristocracy 
among us, and very little hereditary wealth, 
even in the oldest part of the country ; for the 
wealth of every generation mainly went to es¬ 
tablish a second generation in a new region 
where the same difficulties were to be encounter¬ 
ed. A people thus situated are almost inevitably 
overworked. The sharp features and care-worn 
expression, the imperfect physical development 
in man and woman, which are our national char¬ 
acteristics, are in part the result of our circum¬ 
stances as pioneers.—But we begin to see our 
shortcoming in that respect, and to inquire for a 
remedy. Young America will not long be content 
to go through life with dyspepsia, and to anticipate 
decrepitude and old age at fifty. He will profit 
by the experience of the past, and husband his 
energies for the future. He will not live so fast 
in youth, that he may live a little less fast in old 
age. A change has already come over the popular 
mind in this respect, and has taken strong hold 
of our cities, villages, and seats of learning. A 
gymnasium, with all its appliances of physical de¬ 
velopment and training, is becoming an essential 
appendage of every well appointed college. 
There, the men who are to control public opin¬ 
ion a few years hence, are taught systematical¬ 
ly to develop their muscles, and to take care ol 
their bodies. The importance of this four year’s 
discipline upon the future professional men of the 
country, can hardly be over-estimated. The 
farmers’ sons who go up to these institutions, (the 
great majority of collegiates hail from the farm) 
are enabled to retain that stamina and vigor 
which they have gained upon the soil, and to car¬ 
ry it with them into professional life. All the 
students, from city and country alike, find their 
health conserved by these exercises. 
The gymnasium and riding schools are becom¬ 
ing city institutions; and lean mechanics, and 
cadaverous clerks are cultivating wicket and 
base ball in the suburbs. Out door sports and 
amusements are becoming fashionable, and the 
gentler sex are aspiring to thick soled shoes, long 
walks, horsemanship, boat rowing, and skating. 
This increasing taste on the part of our women, 
for out door exercise in broad day light, is one of 
the most hopeful signs of the times. The distaff, 
the spinning wheel, and the loom are gone ; and 
our daughters may no more strengthen theit own 
muscles as they beat up the woof of homespun. 
It will be some compensation for the loss of that 
golden age, if amusement can be made to do for 
them, what work did for their mothers. Outdoor 
recreations must be pursued in daylight^ and 
this will have a tendency to draw them away 
from the midnight parties and dissipation which 
are the bane of our social life. Late hours, las¬ 
situde, and liquors, are a trinity hard to be sep¬ 
arated. Any thing is welcome, that will draw the 
young to rational amusements, to the pure air 
and sunlight, to the associations of the day, and 
not of the night. 
There is no cordial to sound lungs, like that 
of the atmosphere, no tonic like sunshine, and 
woman needs them quite as much as man. 
Skating was largely patronized the last season, 
and we trust it will have a still better run among 
the ladies the present Winter. There is no more 
charming sight in the whole circle of our social 
enjoyments, than a company of skaters gaily, but 
chastely, and appropriately attired on a bright 
Winter’s day. The crystal pavement reflecting 
happy faces, the circling throng on wings of 
wind, the flashing steel throwing jets of powdered 
ice from the skater’s heel, rival any picture of 
joy in the more genial season of Summer. 
Preserve the Numbers. 
The Index necessarily occupies considerable space 
in this number. It is so arranged that it can be taken 
off, and laid away for binding, when it should be placed 
on the front of the volume. (Seepage 376 for notes on 
binding) Fora small sum any book-binder will stitch 
and put a good cover upon the numbers for a year, and 
you will then have a neat volume of 384 large pages, filled 
with a great variety of information, and ornamented with 
a large number of beautiful engravings. The engravings 
alone in a single volume, if preserved, will be worth more 
than the cost of the whole. One can hardly appreciate 
the vast amount of articles and illustrations there are in 
a single volume, until they are all brought together. 
