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REVIEW OF THE NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER NUMBERS OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
Village Lectures .—Go on; give us plenty of 
such excellent reading. Your selections from 
European journals are always valuable. How 
is it that these agricultural papers rank so 
much higher than our own—more elevated in 
tone and character of composition—full of 
science and instruction ? By the bye, you need 
not be afraid to give us a little scientific agricul¬ 
ture now and then, for the boys are beginning 
to learn this at school. As for their fathers, they 
never will learn, for they never read; so you 
will lose no subscribers by the operation, but in 
my opinion gain many [We had anticipated 
Reviewer, and determined upon this course be¬ 
fore his article came to hand. —Eds.] 
The Hog. —Verily the Doctor has given us a 
blast indeed! I suppose what he says is true 
enough, for he has scripture for most of it. He 
has made one convert, and that is myself, for I 
have now sent all my pigs to the butcher, and 
there is an end of one torment. I never fancied 
the unclean beast at best, and now I trust I have 
done with him forever. I find there is no econ¬ 
omy in keeping pigs, in our section of Old Con¬ 
necticut; for my cows and calves eat greedily 
all my house slops, sour milk, and vegetables 
we formerly gave the pigs; and the dog and 
chickens pick all the bones. The horrid diseas¬ 
es or rather disease the Doctor speaks of, is true 
enough. It has often originated among the low¬ 
er classes of the southwest, whose principle 
food the year round is hog and hommony. My 
advice is, avoid pork and fat meat, gravy and 
lard, as much as possible; more particularly in 
the hot months of summer. From the pigs, I 
will make a long stretch to windward and 
heave to among the birds in the 
DECEMBER NUMBER. 
What are Birds Good for ? —Turn back to this 
article—read and reflect? and ye shall learn 
why these good gifts of God were given. “ One 
never tires of listening to such sound doctrines.” 
That is true. I would make it a part of the ed¬ 
ucation of every boy to whom it is desirable to 
give an agricultural education, that he should 
be taught what birds are good for. 
Shorthorn Cattle. —Here is a correspondent 
bearing down upon country gentlemen, with all 
sails set; yet I do not see from his own show¬ 
ing, that he is a single rope yarn better than 
they are, in the way of improvement nor liber¬ 
ality. Take care my friend that the recoil of 
your gun don’t knock you over. First remove 
the beam out of thine own eye. However, I do 
think that country gentlemen, and for that mat¬ 
ter, country farmers, too, one of these days, will 
be quite as much ashamed of having a poor 
breed of cows or sheep on their premises, as a 
poor horse, poor carriage, or poor house. In 
my poor opinion, all hands need piping up from 
forecastle to cabin; and what is more, I hope 
they will get it. So bear ahand here with your 
editorial hardspike, and rope’s end ! 
How to Mismanage a Garden. —Upon my word, 
I always thought the public knew enough about 
mismanagement, without any instruction. But 
“ Live and learn,” is a good old proverb. 
Village Lectures. —These two, one in Novem¬ 
ber, containing a series of propositions, and one 
in December, giving answers, afford much valu¬ 
able information, although somewhat carelessly 
written. I hope you will give us a few more of 
the same sort, so that everybody and his wife, 
and certainly everbody’s children will read and 
profit by it. 
The proposition that the substance of wheat, 
butter, cheese, and woody fibre comes from the 
atmosphere, I shall not controvert; but I should 
like to see this writer growing wheat upon land 
destitute of the phosphates; or making cheese 
upon soil deficient in casein , like that of some 
districts of England, which failed producing grass 
a few years ago, until the exhausted principle 
was restored by ample dressings of bone meal. 
Maryland Farming. —Cows may be milked up 
to the day of calving, but is it policy ? It is the 
opinion of breeders in this country and Eng¬ 
land, that they should go dry one month before 
calving, at least; else the foetus suffers, and the 
qualities of the stock deteriorate in the first or 
second generation. 
The Philosphy of Human Life. —The advice of 
Mr. Tomlinson, though good, is not suited to all 
latitudes nor all constitutions; because there is 
a higher governing power. Half meals may do 
for some. I have always found my own health 
promoted by whole meals; and if the food is 
mostly vegetable, or plain cooked, not overdone 
meats, particularly beef and mutton, belching 
and indigestion never ensue. I eat as much of 
such food as the appetite naturally craves; 
without which I feel uncomfortable, uneasy, and 
unfitted to perform my laborious duties. With¬ 
out such diet, I could not withstand the rigors 
and variations of some sixty degrees of latitude, 
and still maintain my robust health. I am as 
much opposed to stuffing as Mr. Tomlinson; 
I am equally opposed to starving, man or beast. 
Ohio Cattle Show. —Very good, Mr. Visitor; I 
hope the sketches you promise will be still 
more interesting. Ohio is a great state—some 
Down-Easters know what made it so—and her 
spirited stock breeders and improving farmers 
