off at the time they begin to shed their feathers, It seems, then, that however desirable we are and supply their places with laying pullets. In in the habit of thinking a life of leisure to be, it the selection of pullets, get a good yellow-legged is not so under all considerations. Whenever the fowl, of medium size, (avoid large ones,) and make no inquiry about the breed. Setters should be time exempted from labor is occupied in the cultivashut in a lattice coop, open on all sides, and re- tion of the mind and heart, then is such time truly main in the enclosure with the rest, and have saved. plenty of food until she leaves the nest, when she will soon lay again. The mechanic, who by the aid of machinery, or by double effort, finishes his day's work, so The greatest nuisance that I have to contend with, and which I think is the cause of more that he has a long evening which he devotes to failures in the management of poultry than all the drinking saloon, or card table, has saved no other causes combined, is the vermin, or ticks, time. His condition would be better were he at that infest their roosts in warm weather. Many his task till bed-time, at his bench or anvil. The doubt their existence because they could never farmer, who on an easy soil, can earn his week's find any upon their fowls. When they get into a building, it is next to an impossibility to eradi- support by a day's labor, and give all his leisure cate them. Various means have been tried to to horse-racing and gambling, has saved no time. exterminate them, and all have failed because of A hard soil and a small return would be a bless their tenacity of life and small size. It is use-ing to him, if they kept him from evil companless to expect profit or pleasure while these pests ionship. are allowed to increase. As they do not remain upon the fowls any longer than to fill them, But when society has reached that condition, something must be done to keep them under in as it has in most of New England, that our young warm weather, and I have found nothing better men and women are really desirous to improve than the following: Have a smooth roost, and their minds; when they have arrived at the penail a lath or two to the under side of the same, riod, that they desire to increase their knowlto cover cavities previously made with an inch H. auger, where they can secrete themselves when edge, and will devote their leisure hours to books filled; then, once or twice a week, carry out the and the elegant and innocent recreation of music laths and saturate them with boiling water. and lectures and refined conversation, then a parAnother remedy is to smear with poor oil once a tial exemption from toil has become truly a week, or oftener if necessary. Every person who blessing. Severe bodily labor is hardly consisthas a family should keep half a dozen laying hens; they will eat every thing that a pig will, ent with the highest intellectual cultivation. To and, if well cared for, are more profitable. be be more explicit, it is rarely possible for a Concord, May 12, 1855. man to devote many hours in the day to hard work with his hands, and in the same day perform much labor in study, while considerable We have always been advocates for the intro-physical exercise daily is essential to intellectual duction of new machines and implements, for as well as bodily health and strength. Undoubtthe purposes of husbandry. We have often edly, most of our farmers, in the summer months, echoed the popular remark, "It will save time." work too hard for the best exercise of their menIt has sometimes occurred to us, that this tal powers. Ten hours of labor under our hot thought deserved a more careful consideration. sun, in the field, is too much of a tax on one's What is the object of saving time? Would it be vital energies to allow him to be a severe student better for us all, if we could have our labor per- the remainder of his waking hours. IT WILL SAVE TIME. formed entirely by steam and water-power, and Then let us endeavor to save time. Let us that we should be exempt from physical toil? make use of plows and harrows of the most apcertainly it would not. A certain amount of la- proved form. Let us introduce mowing mabor with the hands, as well as the head, is essen-chines, and horse-rakes, corn-shellers and potatoto health and energy of character. diggers; let us make the wind draw our water, Again, in a community where the laborers, as and the water drive our machinery, and the in the Southern States, are ignorant, so that they steam take its place at the wheel. Let us, by could not give their time to reading or writing all means, here in New England, where men deand the cultivation of the mind generally, ex- sire knowledge, and know the value of leisure, emption from labor would be followed by the do all we can to lessen human toil. Time saved from bodily labor, and given to ed worst consequences. In our New England cities, even, were em-ucation, is time indeed saved, and there is a reployment suddenly to cease, though abundant ciprocal action which is working wonders in this means of sustaining life were provided, we should direction, and which is daily tending to relieve at once have among our citizens a most danger- the laborer. ous element, in a class unemployed in their ac- The farmer or mechanic feels the value of customed labors, and without the resources to time. He finds it necessary to have some hours preserve them in a life of leisure. for study. He finds the labor of swinging the scythe too hard. He sets his wits at work, and seventy occupations into which "mechanics" are the mowing machine is invented, and his horses, divided, I have selected the following from among with a tenth his own former toil, perform his the leading kinds as to numbers. daily task. And so of all other labor-performing machines. They merely illustrate how much better is the mind than the body-how much better educated labor than mere brute force. For the New England Farmer. COUNTRY FARMERS AND CITY MECHANICS. HEALTH. Occupations. Agriculturists.. No. of Deaths Average Age At 20 yrs. old, reported. at Death. may expect Shoemakers........ health?" is one of our first salu ..91.........36.46.. .......16.46 ..88.... .....53.87..........33.87 Tinsmiths.................52.........41.44..........21.44 In the table from which the above is extracted, "How's your tatory expressions as we meet our friends; though the deaths of 7,781 mechanics of all occupations I hardly know why it should be so, when so few are reported, (forty-six more than of farmers,) of us seem to care for health so long as we are whose average age is exactly forty-six years, getting rich. If money can be made rapidly in while that of farmers is a fraction over sixty-four any business or place, few stop to inquire into years-or a difference of eighteen years in favor its healthiness. If large wages are offered by the of agriculture. Accordingly, at twenty years factory or shop, who cares for the poisonous dust of age, a farmer may expect to live forty-four that may ulcerate the lungs, for the cramped po- years; a mechanic only twenty-six. But there sition that may inflame the liver, or for the appears to be a great difference in the health of heated atmosphere that must debilitate the whole the various occupations. Carpenters and masons system? The love of life is said to be one of the who work much in the open air, live nearly 50 strongest instincts of human nature, but the years, while machinists, operatives and printers preservation of health seems to be one of the fall considerably short of 40 years. last objects of our concern. We follow fashion But it is not my intention to go into the dein dress and diet, and run the race for wealth tails of this subject. My object is simply to urge utterly reckless of the dangers to which we ex- the many farmer's boys who are seriously thinkpose our health. ing of leaving the farm for a trade, to take into It is, therefore, with faint hopes of doing good account the subject of health, as well as that of that I commence this article. When I was at wages. I judge you, boys, by myself when I say tempting to show that, notwithstanding all the that you do not do this. When I was making glitter of large wages in the city, mechanics here up my mind to be a mechanic, I compared the in the long run actually come out poorer than ten dollars a month of the farmer with the ten farmers in the country, I expected to be heard. dollars a week of the mechanic-the hard work But now that my subject refers to the compara- and exposure to heat and cold, to dust and mud, tive health of the two classes, who will read of the one, with light work and comfortable shelBesides this general indifference, there is no chance ter of the other, without looking the fact in the for argument. There is no body to dispute with. face that, Every body that thinks at all admits farming to be "rather" the most healthy-every body knows that in-door confinement is less favorable to the development of the physical man, and to long Yet such is the fact, as appears from the publife, than out-door exercise; that caged men and lished returns of deaths in Massachusetts for the caged birds are inferior to those who enjoy the last ten years. Farmers at 20 years of age may expect to live 44 yrs. longer. 66 66 open fields; that men who work in the shade, Nor is this all. Short life is not the only like potatoes which grow in the cellar, have a penalty for violating the laws of health; but all sickly, unnatural look, and are in fact sickly, the ills "that flesh is heir to" when abused, folunnatural things. The fact, then, being admit- low close upon the heels of the transgressor. ted, we have only to consider the magnitude or To wear out in twenty years a constitution that degree of this difference :- How much more healthy was made to last forty, requires no small amount is the farmer than the mechanic? of headaches and foul stomachs, of darting pains Fortunately we have the means for a reliable and twitching nerves. The full-blooded, stalwart answer to this important question. The Secre- country boy is not transformed into the pale, detary of the State of Massachusetts compiles an bilitated, city mechanic, without admonitory abstract of the returns, which by law are re- remonstrances of his physical system, by pains quired to be made to him, by each town in the and lassitude, that ought to be heeded as "warnState, of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. This ings," but which he too often attempts to allay abstract is published annually. These statistics by stimulants. And here, by the way, we find are probably collected and arranged with greater perhaps the reason of a fact that has excited some care and accuracy than any others of the kind wonder, viz: that the more unhealthy and shortin this country. The Twelfth Annual Report, or lived any class of mechanics, the more dissipated that for 1853, is before us. We make a few ex- they are. The causes which shorten life produce tracts from "Table X.," which gives the result a condition of the nervous system that can scarcely for nine years and eight months, of persons who be endured, but which stimulants will for the have died over twenty years of age-those dying time being greatly relieve. Glass-blowers, prinyounger are not included. From something over ters of morning papers, and others who work nights, as they rouse themselves from their morn-tained in the volume of Massachusetts Agriculing nap, experience feelings of real misery, which, ture, recently published, the writer, after running if they were not the result of a criminal abuse of down the Devons (first introduced to our shores health that ought to be abandoned at once, would by the Plymouth pilgrims,) to the lowest point seem to justify them, if any thing can, in taking of degeneracy, remarks, "our native cattle are "a little something" to steady the nerves and to not without great merit." If it be true that, wake them up. The doctor has no patient that amid all the deprivations and hardships they had needs it more. Here is indeed a real "case of to encounter, they still retain "great merit," sickness." But as the remedy touches not the why deny them the power of perpetuating their disease, the patient finds that the more he doses own characteristics? This power is claimed exthe more he must, to keep comfortable. Poor clusively for animals recently imported. Is there fellow, what are large wages to him, now that not something arbitrary in this pretension? I his medicine has become his master? have not in mind so distinctly the history of these Since I commenced these articles, one corres- races, as to speak with entire confidence; but, pondent of the Farmer has asked, and probably judging of a New England cow as I would of a great many readers have thought of asking, any other class of animals, I should say, under Why do not city mechanics oftener try farming, a proper care and keeping, with due regard to if all I say of their hard lot is true? There are her associates, she would be as likely to rear a undoubtedly many reasons for it, but the want good calf as any other breed of animals. Posof sufficient health and strength is the most con- sibly she may have been so overfed, to increase clusive. Look at a sedentary city mechanic,-a her milk, as to impair her procreative energies; jour. tailor, jeweler, engraver, or painter,-what but such overfeeding does not in the least imcan he do at farming? His hands are small and pugn the principle for which I would contend. delicate, his sinews are unstrung, and every way Equality I readily grant to foreigners-—superihis physical system has become unfitted for farm-ority never. ing, in proportion as it is fitted and conformed to the necessities of his trade. He can perhaps sit REMARKS. As we understand it, purity of blood all day long bent nearly double, and by much comes from long and careful breeding of the same practice he can ply the needle, the brush, or the graver, with wonderful dexterity: but give him type; if of Devon, then of the best blood of the an axe or a scythe, or set him at the plow or at Devon, on both sides, for several generations, and building fence, and you will soon discover a sat- so of any other breed. Our common cattle are a isfactory answer to the question proposed, and mixture of various breeds, but that this mixture see why it is very dangerous if not very foolish is not as profitable stock for us as any of the for such mechanics to attempt the realization of their agricultural dreams, although the distance pure breeds, we are not ready to assert. between them and Kanzas "lends enchantment to the view." For the New England Farmer. We close this article with a brief summary of our argument. Mechanics live some eighteen SHORT HISTORY FOR YOUNG MEN. years less than farmers; many are half dead MR. BROWN:-Having been a constant reader while they do live; and their systems often be- of the N. E. Farmer for the past twelve months, come so conformed to the peculiarities of their and having derived a great deal of information business that they are good for nothing else, and from its pages, I have come to the conclusion consequently cannot return to the farm if they that my two dollars was a good investment, and are ever so well satisfied that they made a mistake that myself and family cannot well dispense with in leaving it and becoming its weekly visits. You will find enclosed two dolBoston, May, 1855. lars for another year's subscription. A CITY MECHANIC. For the New England Farmer. Having seen several times in your paper the contrast between country and city life, some of the circumstances mentioned have applied very nearly to my own case, so much so, that I take the liberty to write a few lessons that I have learned. FRIEND BROWN:-The life-like picture of the most celebrated cow of New England origin, to- When I was eighteen years of age, I had be gether with the facts of her history, contained in come pretty tired of working on my father's the Farmer of Saturday last, are the most satis- farm, and being pretty well tickled up with the factory answers that can be given to the inquiry, fine stories and fine clothes that some of my ac"What is a native cow?" In view of these facts, quaintance had brought from Boston, I came to there are a few who will presume to deny the the conclusion that farming was not respectable right of this animal to this appellation. enough, and would never do for me, and that I I have been not a little surprised, in looking must at some rate or other live a city life of inover the returns of our several Agricultural Soci- dependence. All the persuasions and threats of eties, to see with what avidity all facts tending to my father were of no avail; go to Boston I must, magnify the importance of imported breeds, are so my friends concluded to let me try it. In 1840, seized and published. There is a sort of aristo- I found myself in Boston, without any other occratic consequence connected with these, not un-cupation than to take my chance as a laborer at like that claimed by the higher classes of citizens anything that should present itself for me to do; in our cities and villages, which keeps at a dis- at this time business was dull, and had it not tance those of humbler origin. In an elaborate been for an acquaintance, I should have had to report on stocks, from the county of Bristol, con- return home with disappointment; but at last, I obtained a situation, not at $10, $15 or $20 per mostly new work for me, still with the advice of week, but at the sum of one dollar per day, and my neighbors, and occasional hints from your papay my own reckoning. This, thought I, at any per, and a few books which I read eagerly, I get rate, is better than digging on a farm for noth- along very well. If I have occasionally a hard ing, and besides, I am my own master. I formed lift, or a hard day's work here, I can remember a resolution to save my wages, be temperate, and hundreds such during my independent city life. show my relatives that in spite of their per- All that I have to say in conclusion is, that I suasions I could live and gain independence in have at last overtaken independence, not in Bosthe city. Well, at the end of one year, I found ton or any other city, but in the blessed country, my gains to be about 0, having lost all of my in the most honorable, healthy and natural occuwages by my employer becoming bankrupt. I pation of man. I have now paid my debts, and had taken up barely enough of my earnings to am at last a free man. pay my board and purchase a few clothes, &c. This did not exactly agree with my notions of city independence, for I had worked harder than ever before, spent no money needlessly, and was not so independent after all, but what if taken sick I should find some embarrassments. I began my second lesson by resolving to collect my wages as I went along, and continued to labor hard, and fare hard, at wages averaging about thirty dollars per month, for four years, occasionally changing places as I thought for my advantage. At the end of this time I found my fortune to consist of about 0, after accommodating a friend with $140 which he absquatulated with, and paying doctors' bills, &c. All of these expenses I found higher than such usually are in the country among one's friends. This ends lesson second-two rather costly lessons, for me, at least. This I found brought independence and myself farther apart than when I left home and the farm. At the end of seven years, I found myself hobbling about the streets on crutches, having had the misfortune to have one of my legs broken, about fifty dollars in debt and no means to pay, with a wife and child dependent on me for support. Here was a nut for me to crack, which seven years before I had not thought of. Mt. Vernonville, Me. BENJAMIN F. MITCHELL. THE APPLE TREE BORER. We heard many complaints last year of the ravages of the apple tree borer. In some cases With the help of my friends I now obtained a the injury inflicted was said to be very extensive, situation upon the city night watch, where by and as no remedy appeared to be effectual, the watching when a hard-laboring man needs rest, only course seemed to be to let the enemy have its and doing a hard day's work every day, I man- own way. The borer is, indeed, a difficult foe to aged to earn sometimes as high as the $15 or contend with, as its ravages are committed out $20 per week, spoken of in your paper as one of the rare chances which are seldom met with in of sight. Its eggs are deposited in the bark of the city. I lived in this way for three years, do- the tree, generally, but a short distance from the ing two days' work every twenty-four hours, ground, and there produce a whitish grub, or with occasionally a fit of sickness, and some of maggot-shaped progeny, which begins immediatemy family sick much of the time. The doctors informed me that if I wanted to save my wife or ly to perforate the tree, pursuing its course along children I must remove them to the country. Here between the bark and the sap wood, or in the sap I was in a fix! What! go into the country and wood itself, and often passing up so many times work on a farm! But the welfare of my family as to weaken and finally destroy the tree. In a was at stake, and something must be done. I long article on the subject in the Ohio Farmer, came to the country, purchased a farm of 140 we find the following paragraphs: had managed to lay by $550, and with that I acres for $1000, with good substantial buildings, What is the Borer? The Borer is the larva, mostly new, paying $500 down, and experiment- or grub which is hatched from the egg, of a beeing upon the mortgage system for the balance. tle, belonging to the family of Buprestidæ, or, Here I took my family in 1853, hired a man, and Buprestians. The beetle itself is about half an returned to the city myself, where by incessant inch long, with brown and white stripes, and flies labor night and day, and a little speculation for at night. one year, I managed to use myself about up, and When does it lag its Eggs? In the latter part earn $600, with which I purchased young stock of May, and first part of June, it pierces the bark and farming tools, paid $300 more towards my of the tree with its spear, and deposits its eggs farm, took up the mortgage and gave my note under the bark. This it does near the root of for the $200 remaining. I then went to work the tree, in perhaps the greater number of cases, upon my farm, completely satisfied with strivin especially in small trees. Indeed some writers, for independence in Boston. Although it was whose observations seem to have been confined to THE BIRDS. To HON. CHARLES L. FLINT, SECRETARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. one or two classes of operations performed by the bring them up without the means of instruction beetle, state that it deposits its eggs only at the in rural economy. It should be regarded as esroot of the tree. This is a mistake. We have sential in the education of any child, male or fe dug them within the last few weeks, from all male. parts of the trunk, from the ground to the branches; they seem to have a special liking for those parts of the tree which are decayed. On the south-west side of the trees where the sun has scorched the bark or the wood beneath; also where the bark has been bruised by cattle, or in any other way; also where the tree is naturally weak, and shows signs of early withering and death-wherever any or all these inducements are offered, the beetle seems quite ready to accept the invitation, and make its investment. Let no one imagine, therefore, that his trees are free from the borer, because he finds none about the roots; let him examine all parts of the trunk carefully, and especially the weak, wounded, or decayed parts. He may find them in any of these portions of the tree. Various remedies are prescribed for preventing the moth depositing its eggs on the trees, such as strong potash water, soft soap, and strong tobacco water, &c.; but when it is remembered that the bark of trees, like the human skin, has a very important function to perform, we believe that any thick adhesive substance, like whitewash or clay, is always productive of far more harm than good. As the borer penetrates the tree, he throws out the chips or borings which he has made-these may be seen and his entrance found, when, with a wire fitted for the purpose, he may, in most cases, be destroyed. But a careful observer may detect the spot where the egg is deposited, even before a chip has fallen, and it is then an easy matter to destroy the eggs. This watchfulness, after all, must be the chief reliance of the far mer. The engraving above, illustrating the ravages of the borer, is only one of a number we have preserved. It shows how destructive they sometimes become. EVERY FAMILY SHOULD HAVE AN AGRICULTURAL PAPER. It is worth more than it costs simply for educational purposes. Parents have hardly a right to deprive their families of its advantages in these times. Children will learn more, as they go to and from school, or drive the cows to pasture, or pick berries by the way, if their observation is quickened, by what they hear their parents read or talk over from the agricultural papers; and when they form habits of reading for themselves, such reading is both safe and useful. Reader, if your neighbor has no agricultural paper, persuade him to take one. Even if he is poor, he can better afford to take one than to do without it; for if he takes one, his chidren will be likely to be better off-to make a good home for themselves, and it may be for him in old age. Not all will have farms; but all will need to know something of the garden and the orchard at least; and we advise no parent, who feels that he may sometime be dependent upon his children, to SIR:-While fitting my corn-grounds to-day, and listening to the song of the prophetic "Planting-bird," your issued circular concerning birds came up to mind, and for which please to accept my grateful thanks. The accompanying verses followed my thoughts, and I take the liberty to forward them to you, hoping they will meet some answering chord in your breast. BY THE "PEASANT BARD." DEAR SIR:-I read your proclamation Feel under sacred obligation, When read, to heed it! The birds the birds!-what man may know E'en the poor bann'd and bandit crow- Once fed a prophet, long ago, By will of Heaven. Now-days crows pull some corn, 'tis true; And wage upon the vermin crew Please keep before the people's eyes How oft I've quit my toil, and run Shot birds, his shirt-tail flag was one That nestles where the mosses lie, How blessed 'tis to be awaking To the bird-choir, when day is breaking! Like theirs, could o'er my soul be shaking This bright May morn, from shaking spray |