24.8 
AMEKICAN AGrRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
Middle States, and is amphibious. This, also, is 
entirely innocent. A peculiarly interesting char¬ 
acteristic of the Tritons is the. ease with which 
thej'' break, and the facility with which the 
' wounded part heals, or is replaced. Amputated 
tails or limbs will grow again, and if these are 
cut off they will be soon replaced by others. 
Tim Bunker on the Eight Hour Law. 
BIG FERMENT IN HOOKERTOWN. 
Mr. Editor.—W e have been having consid¬ 
erable doings uji here lately, and as you wanted 
me to keei) you posted on Connecticut nc ws in 
general, and Hookertown in particulai’, I send 
you some notes I took on the Eight Hour Con¬ 
vention. It was got up by Cicero Smith, and a 
few of the fellows that work with him, when 
they do anything, which is not often. 
Big posters were stuck up on all the sign posts 
in town, calling upon mechanics and working 
people in general, to meet in the town hall, and 
assert their rights, just as if somebody had been 
tiying to take away their rights. There was a 
full house. Shadtown was well represented by 
the fishermen, and the White Oakes turned out 
strong. Kier Frink and the coal men came 
down in their carts, and Hookertown-street has 
not seen such a collection of broken down wag¬ 
ons, and gaunt, raw-boned horses, in many a 
day. It reminded one of tlie early days of the 
war, when they were holding big meetings to 
drum up recruits. 
Judge Loring was appointed chairman, and 
Cicei’O Smith introduced a long string of reso¬ 
lutions, recommending eight hours as a legal 
da)?’s work, and pledging the meeting to A?ote 
for no man that ivas not in favor of an eiglit 
hour law. He said the time had come for 
the heav)? burdens of labor to be lifted from 
the working classes; that they now did all the 
Avork, got poor pay, and liad to live in humble 
abodes, on scant fare, and endure all the ills of 
poverty. They Avere ground doAvn by capital 
to the lowest depihs, and liad no time for the 
cultivation of their minds, and for social enjoy¬ 
ments. He hoped to see the day AA?hen the men 
who did the Avork should have the monej?, and 
the fine houses, and the fast horses, and enjoy 
life like human beings. He Avas in faA?or of 
paying the laborer as much for his eight hours 
as he now received for ten, and if that Avas not 
enough, he would go as far as the fartherest in 
relieving his Avants, and meeting his Avishes. 
The only true foundation for a State AA?as to 
glorify labor. 
Seth Twiggs said he should like the latter 
part of the gentleman’s speech better, if he 
Avould illustrate it in his life. If any body got 
one hour’s Avork out of Smith, it Avould be so 
much clear gain. “ There is as many as two 
Avays of glorifying labor. One is to make 
stump speeches to Avorking people, and the oth¬ 
er is to pitch in and Avork yourself” He 
thought a •man Avho held a plow, or chopped 
^Avood all day, honored labor enough sight better 
than a man Avho Avas everlastingly talking about 
Avork and doing nothing. He didn’t value the 
AvOrking-of the jaAvs near so much as some oth¬ 
er parts of the body. * . 
Uncle Jolham SparroAA?grass said he didn’t 
know as he understood this eight hour move¬ 
ment, but as fur as lie did, he didn’t thinli much 
^Of it. “It ain’t anything new. It was tried 
over on the Island more than forty j^ears ago. 
Theie was a set of fellows then tiying to get rid 
of Avoik, and they come nearer to saying Avhat 
they meant than folks did now. They wanted 
to divide up property equally all round, and 
said nothing about working for it. When I Avas 
a boy, folks wdio got ahead any, used to get up 
early in the morning and work as long as they 
could sec, and milk the cows in the dark. If 
they got liie chores done by nine o’clock and 
got ready for bed, they did pretty well. They 
hadn’t much time to feel abused and talk about 
their rights. The main pint was to get a living 
and get ahead m the Avorld. They may have 
carried work a leetle too far, but arter all, they 
Avere firts-rate people, and better neighbors I 
never expect to find in this Avorld.” It seemed 
to him that the question Avas Avhether folks 
should AVork and thrive, or try to get a living 
without AVork. For one, iie Avas in favor of 
work, and if he could find any thing to do that 
paid, he shouldn’t be particular about the hours. 
George Washington Tucker said he was glad 
there was somebody to consider poor folks. He 
had always Avorked hard and had nothing to 
show for it. He never owned a foot of land, 
and couldn’t expect to without some change of 
times. He Avanted more pay and less AVork, 
and he thought the eight hour plan Avas the best 
one that had ever been tried to relieve poor folks. 
Jake Frink said he Avas a good deal bothered 
about the question. “HeaA?en knows I’ve hard 
work enough to git along. I’ve been trying to 
pay for my farm this thirty years, and hain’t 
made it eout yit. And I’ve Avorked like a dog 
a good part of the time. But hOAV Avorking 
eight hours instead of tAvelve is gAvine to help 
me, I can’t exactly see. I rather guess there 
Avould be less corn in my Inn, and pork in my 
cellar in the fall, than there is now?. I have to 
hire some help in summei', and if a man quits 
in the middle of the arternoon, and leaves me 
to git up the hay and grain, I don’t see hoAv I’m 
gw?ine to be benefited. It looks considerable like 
a humbug. I bo’t some patent manure onc’t.” 
Dea. Little said he didn’t like the looks of this 
question. “ They tried the same thing in Sodom, 
and it didn’t work Avell. The land Avas rich 
and produced big crops, and they had nothing 
to do but look on and see ’em grow?. They come 
very near getting rid o’ work, and took to serv¬ 
ing the devil so that no decent man could live 
among them.” Work Avas a good thing for sin¬ 
ners, and he neA?er expected to live Avithout it. 
He thought if his friend Tucker Avould pull 
harder at the hoe handle, and not so much at 
the bottle, he would be able to OAvn land and a 
house, and to be quite comfortable. Idleness 
clothed a man in rags in Solomon’s time, and 
he didn’t expect to see a lazy man’s Avardrobe 
improve any in our day. “ If you w?ant any 
thing, w?ork for it, and if you Avork long and 
hard enough, you are pretty sure to get it.” 
Kev. Mr. Spooner said he w?as troubled about 
the moral aspects of this movement. It was 
nothing neiv that men tried to escape the curse 
of toil. Nothing has called forth more ingenui¬ 
ty, but the curse still.remains, and lie doubted 
if man would ever be able to repeal the law, 
‘ Six da 3 ?s shalt thou labor.’ Eight hours w?as 
not a day’s Avork under this law?J AvhateA?er the 
civil statute might make it. The average length 
of the day Avas about tAvelve hours. Men Avere 
able to work more than eight hours, and did 
generally, Avithout injury to health, and Avith 
much advantage to their fortunes. That Avas 
pretty good eA?idence that they ought to w?ork 
more. Some people, he supposed, Avorked too 
long and too hard, but there was a far larger 
number w?ho Avere ruined by idleness, and the 
•vices that greiv out of it. He thought the great 
Avant of the country noAV Avas moi'e labor. If 
this measure Avas made a practical thing, it 
Avould take one-fifth from all the labor in the 
country,.and that meant, Avhen w?e come to sift 
it doAvn, a deduction of one-fifth from every 
man’s income. It Avas labor that gave value to 
capital. Men Avho had money could not loan it 
unless its use could be made productive by la¬ 
bor. The country w?as not ready for any such 
reduction of production and of Income. The 
agitation of the question he thought Avas mis¬ 
chievous, and Avould only tend to embarrass the 
relations of capital and labor. 
Last Sunday, Mr. Spooner preached a Sermon 
from St. Paul: “ Neither did we eat any man’s 
bread for nought, but Avrought Avith'labor and 
travail, night and day, that Ave might not be 
chargeable to any of you,” in which he laid out 
the eight hour laAV in its grave clothes. Paul 
was a gentleman and believed in paying his 
Avay, Avhich the eight hour folks don’t. If w?e 
are going to have any thing besides victuals and 
clothes, w?e’ve got to Avork more than eight 
hours for it. Quitting work the middle of the 
arternoon in haying time Avon’t go dow?n. 
Even Jake Frink can see the bearing of that 
nonsense. 
Hookertown, Conn., ) Yours to command, 
June 15 , iset. f Timothy Bxjnkbb, Ebq. 
Raise Your Own Wheat, 
With the best brands of family flour at $20, 
and a large importation of Avheat from Califor¬ 
nia, it becomes the farmers of the sea-board 
States to inquire if they cannot get their flour 
cheaper at home. We knoAV some fiirmers can 
do better than to raise their ow?n flour, even at 
the present high prices, but the great majority 
cannot. Wheat, at $2 a bushel even, Avould 
pay as Avell as anything else they raise, if they 
Avould only prepare the soil properly. On 
manj? of these farms Avheat has not been raised 
for the last 30 or 40 years, and the present OAvn- 
ers have come to regard it as an unprofitable 
crop. Yet these same farms formerly produced 
fine crops of Avheat, and this grain was a prime 
article for export in all the sea-board States. 
The soil and climate have not changed, and the 
winters, as meteorological records clearly shoAV, 
furnish about the same amount of cold and 
snoAV as they did a hundred years ago. With a 
suitable preparation of the soil, these old fields 
and meadoAVS w?ill produce this grain as Avell as 
they ever did. It is not true, as is too often sup¬ 
posed, that AA?e must have a new? soil to produce 
this crop to advantage. In England, there are 
farms that have grown Avheat for a thousand 
years, and the yield is as bountiful as ever. 
There they haA?e a regular rotation, and bounti¬ 
ful manuring, and get 40 bushels to the acre. 
There are some farmers at the East that keep 
up the good old custom of making their oaaui 
breadstuff’s, and thrive by it. We A?isited such a 
district at the east end of Long Island, w?here, 
as a rule, the farmers grovA? Avheat enough for 
the supply of their OAvn families, and the crop is 
found to be about as sure as anything they can 
raise. Their soil is not particular!)? rich, or bet¬ 
ter adapted to Avheat than other sections. Their 
only advantage is ready access to sea manures, 
especially fish guano and the refuse of the oil 
fiictories. But Avith any other good manure, 
Avheat may be raised to advantage. Tiy a sim¬ 
ple acre, and make yourself independent of the 
West for your flour. Do not sow upon poor 
exhausted meadoAv, and fail, and say it is impos¬ 
sible to groAV wheat. If 3 ?our soil is not already 
rich enough to produce 50 bushels of corn to 
the acre, manure Avith fine compost. Get the 
