62 
REVIEW OF THE JANUARY NUMBER OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
sufficient reason with you to furnish them that 
information in a succession of articles like the 
present. Besides information concerning the 
economy of human food, let us be told what is 
the most digestible in the human stomach; for, 
after all, no matter what the food costs, that is 
the most economical, which has the best effect 
upon the economy of human life. 
Raising Geese .—“A goose is more easily 
raised than any other domestic bird of our ex¬ 
perience.” Exactly; but a greater goose is he 
who raises them; and a still greater one is 
either he or she, who sleeps upon their feath¬ 
ers. 
Economy of Using Mules. —“ It is still a mooted 
question”—yes, and always will be. However, 
let us have the arguments. Only don’t get 
mulish about it, gentlemen. 
Steam Plowing. —Every inventor, or rather 
every blundering fellow, who has attempted 
steam plowing, must have had the safety valve 
of common sense hermetically sealed in his in¬ 
fancy ; for amidst all the smoke and fog with 
which the world has been darkened, there has 
scarcely been a gleam of light scintillating 
from the brain of all the authors of these won¬ 
derful inventions which were about to astonish 
the world, break up the plow makers, and turn 
the horses out to grass. The reason is pointed 
out in this article. Steam cannot be applied to 
flowing —it may be to digging. 
<*' A Day in Westchester County. —I am vexed 
with you, Mr. R., to think you should find time 
to spend so many days here and there, and 
come so near without even giving me a call. 
Mary says: “ It is too bad, don’t you think so 
father, after so many promises, and when we 
want to see him so much ?” Come and make 
us a visit, my dear sir, and I will give you 
a ride over the hills, and through the crooked 
lanes, among the stone walls and old orchards, 
and gambrel-roofed houses, and talk dog to you • 
and if you will convince me that the least sus¬ 
picion of sheep killing rests upon the reputa¬ 
tion of Old Bose, overboard he goes, without 
the least hesitation, with a twenty-pound shot 
tied to his neck. It is truly surprising to think 
the owners of these fine old hills, fit only for 
pasturage, are deprived of half their value an¬ 
nually, on account of a horde of miserable curs, 
more worthless than any other worthless dogs 
—the owners always excepted. J 
Stealing Fruit .—This statement which aston¬ 
ished you so much, does not surprise me in the 
least. Even here, we occasionally feel the 
effects of the same intolerable system of pilfer¬ 
ing, which is second only to the dog nuisance. 
There is but one way to put a stop to both. 
Authorise every person who is trespassed upon, 
to flog in one case, and kill in the other—not 
much matter which—and sheep killing and 
fruit stealing, in the vicinity of New York, will 
cease to be an every-day occurrence. 
Coloring Green Tea. —None but the outside 
barbarians you speak of, who are already, by 
nature or education, colored that verdant hue, 
would buy such tea ; so it is of no consequence 
how much indigo and gypsum they swallow, 
under the impression that they are taking tea. 
Ladies ’ Department. —The valuable recipes 
upon this page every month are worth more 
than you charge for the whole volume. It is 
surprising where you pick up so many. 
Foreign Agricultural News. —This is another 
page that is always interesting. How advan¬ 
tageous it would be to all of us to read a little 
more of what our neighbors are doing in the 
way of scientific improvement of their lands. 
Trimming Box Borders with a Scythe .—Why 
has not this been thought of before? How 
many just such simple little things like this we 
might learn every day, if we would only look 
around among our neighbors with an observing 
eye. What a volume of truth in the remark of 
Mr. Hope—“ if we expect to be made wise by 
hearing the opinions of others, we should also 
be willing to communicate our own opinions.” 
If we do not thus communicate, how can we 
expect to have our errors corrected ? If we do 
not tell our own practices, how can we ask 
others to tell us theirs ? If we tell nothing, one 
to another, what a stupidly ignorant set of mor¬ 
tals we could make ourselves appear. Most 
unfortunately, this is the very character of a 
majority of American farmers. They are like 
the lilies of the valley—they toil, but they read 
not, neither do they think. You need not fear 
that these remarks will offend them. They 
will never see them. It is only twenty thousand 
out of twenty millions of those who are directly 
interested in the improved cultivation of the 
soil, who ever read the Agriculturist, and there¬ 
fore none of that class, who never think, will 
take offence at what may be said by your 
Reviewer. 
Effects of Irrigation.— Water, applied to 
the soil by irrigation gives many other things 
besides humidity; it manures, consolidates, 
deepens the staple, or surface mold, and guards 
against cold—effects as obvious in a northern 
as in a southern climate. 
