370 
ROUGH NOTES BY THE WAY.-NO. 4 . 
duced a new variety ? But I hope we are in 
an improving condition. “ The schoolmaster is 
abroad” and giveth much good teachings in many 
papers in our blessed country, to those who cultivate 
the soil and should save and plant good seed. 
Reviewer. 
ROUGH NOTES BY THE WAY.—No. 4. 
Finding my business likely to detain me a day 
or two at Philadelphia, and not relishing the heat¬ 
ed air of that city, I took an early boat and had a 
delightful sail up the Delaware to the memorable 
old town of Burlington, in order to pass a day with 
my venerable friend, Captain Richard Cleveland, 
who published, some years since, an account of 
his voyages and travels in the south seas, a second 
edition of which is shortly to be issued from a Bos¬ 
ton press. He and his good lady are residing with 
their son, H. W. S., in a beautiiul cottage on a 
highly improved farm on the banks of the Dela¬ 
ware, eking out a “ green old age.” 
Not having seen his son since quite a youth, and 
knowing that he had been tenderly reared and 
educated, I inquired of him, after witnessing his 
improvements on a worn-out, sterile soil, by what 
fortuitous circumstances he had been thrown into 
so delightful an occupation, upon which he related, 
as near as I can recollect, the following incidents 
of his life, which I will give to the public for the 
good of thousands of our young men, who know 
not how to employ their time :— 
Until the age of 28, he had never done a day’s 
work on a farm, and was ignorant of all rules of 
husbandry. He never even imagined that he had any 
taste for the business, having always been used to 
an active life, and for several years had been en¬ 
gaged in surveying in the wild parts of the coun¬ 
try, living in a tent, and subject to such constant 
fatigue and exposure, that the hard labor of a farm, 
instead of being so severe, as it is generally found 
by men bred to more sedentary pursuits, was rather 
less so than he had been previously accustomed. 
Having decided to make a farmer of himself, if 
possible, he went into the western part of Massachu¬ 
setts, where he was an entire stranger, and “ hired 
out” to one of the hard-working yeoman of 
county Berkshire. He told him he wanted to make 
himself familiar with the manual labor of a farm, 
and that if he would let him work for him a month 
he could then decide what his labor was worth, and 
pay him accordingly. At the end of the month, the 
farmer said he would give $8, which was better 
than he expected. He worked the whole season at 
all kinds of labor, and felt at the end of it, that, in¬ 
stead of losing a year’s time, which some of his 
friends told him he would do, he had gained much 
more than its value. He then began to look about for 
a farm 5 and, in the course of the following winter, 
was engaged in making enquiries and examina¬ 
tions, and also in studying carefully the best works 
he could procure on agriculture. In the spring of 
1842, he purchased the farm which he now occupies. 
Its natural capacities were good, and some portions 
were in excellent condition; but much of it was 
light land, in consequence of which he had to incur 
heavy expenses, for fences and repair of buildings. 
In the first summer, he hired a couple of Irishmen to 
clean out a small pond, on his place, from which 
they procured 500 loads of rich muck, or marl. 
This he hauled upon the hill in the rear of his farm, 
in the fall, and let it lie in small heaps till spring, 
where, by the action of the frost, it had crumbled 
like fallen lime. He then spread it evenly, and mixed 
it with the soil by a light plowing. The hill was 
so light that he was told, when he bought the farm, 
he would see it all blowing away in a high wind, 
and he believed nobody had previously thought of 
cultivating it; but after this dressing, he found no 
difficulty in raising 35 bushels of corn per acre, and 
has continued to cultivate it annually to advan¬ 
tage, and with manifest improvement. 
He soon decided, however, that by far the most 
profitable use he could make of his land would be in 
the culture of choice fruits. Situated as it is, di¬ 
rectly on the river, and also on the Camden and 
Amboy Railroad, its products may be sent to Phila¬ 
delphia in an hour, and to New York in four hours. 
With such facilities, and such a favorable soil and 
climate as ours is for horticultural operations, he 
could not but see the advantages thus offered; and, 
from the first, he began planting fruit trees to such 
extent as his means would allow, and is gradu¬ 
ally increasing them and diminishing his agricultu¬ 
ral operations. He has already received sufficient 
evidence of the correctness of the experiment, and 
feels perfect confidence that the purchase of his farm 
was a good investment; and, for the further en¬ 
couragement cf such of your readers as may be 
deliberating upon the expediency of turning far¬ 
mers, I will add that I do not know a position in 
life in which one could be so happy as in being ac¬ 
tively engaged in the labors of the farm. Still, I 
must say, from all I have seen, I think it a danger¬ 
ous experiment for any one to try, who has been 
accustomed entirely to a city life. 
Samuel Allen, 
Burlington , N. July 25th, 1848. 
THE STRIPED BUG. 
I believe most of the tillers of the earth 
in this section, have often suffered the loss of 
their melon and other vines, from the rava¬ 
ges of a small, active, striped bug, that destroys the 
young germ as soon as it appears. If any one is 
willing to take the trouble and expense, which is 
comparatively trifling, of following my plan, I 
think they may “ beat the bugs.” Make a box 
about three inches high and ten or twelve inches- 
square, of strips of boards, and cover the top care¬ 
fully with millinet fastened to the sides. By pla¬ 
cing this carefully over the young plants, the bugs 
cannot gain entrance, and I believe, at the same 
time, it will assist the growth of the plants. If 
part of the melons or cucumbers are planted two 
weeks earlier, the same box may serve for both, 
and then, after the vines have no further need of 
protection, it may be stored away for another year. 
Boxes of this description, which may be made 
by almost any one in the winter, can be made for 
two or three cents each. I. 
Westbury , L. /., 10 mo. 25th, 1848. 
How to Bleach Honey. —Dark-colored honey 
may be bleached by exposure in the open air 
for several days and nights, during cold and frosty 
weather. 
