After they had been domiciled with us some to see that the destitution of his helpless fledglings years, we became possessed of a pet crow. And of was prominent in his thoughts even in his great all the odd, comical, incomprehensible imps that anguish. Humanity might have wept without a ever breathed vital air, he was surely chief. There blush. Feeling that the sight of the dead only was nothing in the least strange that he did not added to his sufferings, I caused the body to be conpry into with the most commendable zeal and the signed to mother earth. Soon after, perching upon most comical gravity. Nothing outre or out of the his little house, he poured forth his lamentations in way, that did not seem to tickle his fancy. In fact, soft, low, wailing notes, such as I have never heard he had a marvellous eye for the ludicrous; and the upon any other occasion, and then raising himself quaint devices to which he was constantly resorting high in the air, with a bold, vigorous and continuous to gratify his propensity for fun exceed belief. I flight-acting plainly from some fixed purpose, he do not intend to give you his crowships history at rapidly disappeared from sight, far from his usual this time; that would require more space than either range and neighborhood. Watching his receding of us could spare at present. But the very thought form as he melted away in the blue distance, I was of him makes my side ache. Why, the cock of his soon lost in conjecture as to his probable purpose; mischievous eye, or the twist of his comical head, fearful, indeed, that his sad bereavement, and the was as good as an afterpiece. Alas, he has fallen! perplexities of his situation, or more likely, fear of Fallen in his field of glory! A victim to his incor- further violence, had quite broken his spirit and rigible love of" devilment,” and a reckless disre-driven him forth from his old home and helpless offgard of gunpowder-a defect of his early educa- spring, a wanderer upon the earth. Becoming imtion. Poor fellow! Requiescat in pace. patient at his absence, I had just resolved to take Shortly after he became so wonted to the place those little unfortunates and endeavor to supply to as to be entrusted with his liberty, the little box them a parent's place, when his old familiar voice on the roof struck him as deserving particular at- fell upon my ear, and looking up, beheld with astention, and forthwith he commenced one of those tonishment that he had returned, accompanied by comical investigations, which to be appreciated, must another. Yes, marvellous as it appeared, there sat have been seen. The poor little songsters, having with him on that little box a female companion, a young family only a few hours old, became speed- that in answer to his earnest appeal, had evidently ily alarmed at these inquisitorial proceedings, and hastened to his desolate abode to aid him in this, as his crowship, in the progress of his examination, his greatest need. The novelty of her situation, placed himself in dangerous proximity with their and the fearfulness of the tragedy just revealed to little home, they commenced a simultaneous attack her, very naturally rendered her nervously timid, upon the daring intruder, with a courage hardly to and it was evidently with palpitating heart that she have been expected from their gentler natures. dropped down from his side to the little doorway, The scene was singular, and, but for the evident and contemplated her helpless charge. Sorrowfully, fright and suffering of the agonized parents, would with soft notes of encouragement, he sang to her have been laughable in the extreme. The puny the while, when becoming reassured, she entered little assailants, with their needless alarm, and the upon the discharge of her maternal duties; and great clumsy crow, ducking and bobbing with many from that hour forth continued to perform them awkward manifestations of fear, or throwing up his with all the solicitude and tenderness of a mother. beak and turning up his great black eyes in the How singular! This, then, was the object that took most ludicrous manner, as if deprecating the anger him from his home and helpless young at a moment of his little friends, yet maintaining his ground, and when they seemed menaced with destruction; when when the assault slackened, turning his head awry, the same enemy that had destroyed his gentle mate and proceeding in his investigations with the most might return and devour them. True; but, alas! comical gravity. The scrutiny of those curious they were threatened with another, and to him, far eyes seemed to the little flutterers fraught with more certain calamity. It was against that he must ruin to all their hopes, and, continually renewing provide. Hence his seeming desertion. Cruel susthe attack, it was quite plain, at length, that they picion! How lost in admiration should I have were making the black intruder's position really un- watched his flight, had I known the high moral comfortable. Irritated, it may have been, by the courage that dictated his conduct. Fear for himpertinacity of the assault, or smarting from the self, he knew it not. Desertion of his offspring; blows that now rained incessantly upon his head, it was farthest from his thoughts. Commending the crow suddenly raised himself, and poising his them with mournful songs to the great Being that beak much as one would a pick, drove it full created them, he had gone forth upon the wings of against the breast of that little half-distracted the wind to obtain that assistance with which alone mother, and laid her prostrate at his feet. Still, he could preserve them. And she that thus came motionless,without a flutter! without a quiver! at his call, a ministering angel! Who was she? Dead! dead! Yes, the tumult of that little breast In what relation did she stand to this sorrowing was stilled forever! It was a dastardly deed-a family? Where did he find her? How came she murderous deed! And so those great black eyes pro- disengaged at this time? Or how came he connounced it, as with a look of conscious guilt, they scious that she was so? These, and many questions melted away amid the clouds, far from the scene of and reflections of similar import, passed upon me, that cruel violence. And he, that little unfortunate as witnessing the marvellous development of a suthat thus survived the desolation of his home, perior intelligence, this beautiful and affecting dishow I grieved with him, as with low, plaintive play of sympathy and love upon the part of creastrains, full of anguish, he fluttered back and forth tures hardly deemed worthy a thought. And then between the living and the dead; now sitting by again, was this an unusual occurrence, or did the lives the body of his murdered mate, now gazing sadly of the feathered race present many similar inin upon those little motherless ones left wholly to his stances? Possibly they might, since but for a mere care. It was indeed pitiful to behold, and withal, accident, this most affecting episode in the history of these dear little members of our own household For the New England Farmer. had passed without a witness. And then came that oft-recurring question, What is instinct? Here was ADVANCEMENT OF AGRICULTURE. an exhibition, not only of moral sentiment, but of Statistics show that while our cities have inmental action, of mental suffering, of memory, of creased rapidly in population for the last few years, reflection, of deductions and conclusions, quite dis- our country towns have many of them decreased in tinct from the received opinions of instinct. The population. The rush for the city has been so great, consciousness of death might well be instinctive, that the tillers of the soil have become few, hence but could that just appreciation of its influence upon the general complaint of dear bread in the land. the condition of others, or those wise provisions While monopolists and speculators have to bear against its effects? A new light dawned upon me. their share of blame, the farmer is receiving good The meaning of that mysterious sympathy which pay for his labor, and is beginning to be considered had ever drawn me to them stood revealed. A new a useful and even indispensable member of society. charm attached to their innocent lives a moral Whatever public opinion may have been, it is beauty to their dear selves, far beyond gayety of now generally acknowledged, that the prosperity of plume or melody of song. East Woburn, Sept., 1855. THE OLD HOMESTEAD. Of uplands bright with harvest gold, Of ampler thrashing floors- When home the woodman plods, with axe And, in the knotted apple-tree 'Neath the rafters of the shed, Than beats in populous town, And the little birds with weary wings In tales of love and glory, Is forgot the cloud and storm, In the old-fashioned homestead, With hearth-stone large and warm. L. P. For the New England Farmer. A PLOW THAT DON'T CLOG. agriculture is indispensable to the future prosperity of our country. The political and miscellaneous press, all over our land, are rejoicing at the abundant crops, and the present indications of prosperity. The young farmer has the promise of a life of usefulness and happiness to encourage him in his labors; and if usefulness and happiness are the grand objects of life, what occupation offers greater rewards than that of the farmer? There is a class of farmers, that believe in progression and improvement in every thing but farming. They follow in the footsteps of antiquity, and if any one suggests a different way of proceeding, they think him non compos mentis. They continue to drain their barnyards into the road-twice a year, all the bones and beeves' feet are collected and thrown into the brook or millpond. They despise new fashioned cornshellers, and say that the old way of shelling corn, with the fire shovel and bread trough, is best. They advise their sons to look to some other business than farming, for a living, if they ever want to become anything, and even go so far as to predict that farming will be abandoned in Massachusetts as soon as the fertile regions of the West are all settled. In view of these facts, is it so much wonder that farmers have lived for fifty years and brought up families of children on good farms that produce little or no fruit? Their trees, that would grow in spite of cattle and neglect, bear very inferior fruit, their trunks are entwined with ivy, and dead limbs are allowed to remain for years, without being removed. It is evident such farmers have had their day; the work of revolution is already commenced; it is beginning to be asserted that agriculture is governed by the same laws of improvement, as other occupations. This fact has been most emphatically asserted by the mechanic for the past few years in the invaluable machines and improved tools for the use of the farmer. Many of these improvements are so evident, that they have been generally introduced, although strenuously opposed at first by the class, for whose benefit they were invented. Among this class of inventions, Is there any plow made that will not clog in clay may be mentioned the horse-rake, which, although soil? The soil of the farm on which I am located, used but a few weeks in the year, is a saving to our is a clay loam; in many places the clay predomi- farmers of thousands of dollars annually. Yet there nates. The plows used in this country soon become are inventions thought by a few to be of far greater loaded, so that it is necessary to clean the mold- value than the one just mentioned, which are enboard every furrow; and for this purpose the plow-gaged in a seemingly doubtful struggle for favor, man always carries a small spade or wooden shovel, among their should-be friends. This struggle for somewhat after the manner of the Egyptians. This favor would not only be doubtful but almost hopetakes a good deal of time, and increases the labor less, if they had not the aid of a powerful ally, that very much. If there is a plow that will clean insists in having their merits fairly, and impartially itself, I should like to know it, and the price. tested. This powerful ally of the mechanic, which AQUILA. is no other than the agricultural press, is gradually win. gaining the confidence and favor, of the agricultural seen, and as pleasant to the taste as to behold them. community. He says the tree is a thrifty grower, and good bearThis is considered one of the most promising signs of the times. Real farmers have taken the er, and that the fruit will keep as well as the Baldmatter in hand, and we now have publications that The tree originated in Medfield, on the farm are beyond suspicion in the interest of the agricul- of a Mr. Fisher, and the fruit has been well tested turist. The return to the farm of men who, hav- by Mr. Morrison, who thinks it the best apple yet ing tried life in the city and California, have found known. There are no doubts on our own mind that the life of the farmer will compare favorably but it is an apple of very high order. with the rest of mankind, is exerting a beneficial influence. It leads to contentment, which is so essential a requisite to happiness. It leads to improvement, as the men thus returning, in most cases, have not failed to observe that the wealth and prosperity gained by the manufacturer has been attained by the use of all publications and inventions MR. EDITOR:-For years, at different times, there intended for his benefit, and who, believing the has been much discussion and a good deal written same means equally applicable to agriculture, have on the subject of seed potatoes. Which were best not failed to bring them with them. These influen- to plant, the large or small? Like every other quesces are steadily and unitedly at work for the ad- tion, this has two sides to it, and each side has its vancement of agriculture. May they long continue respective advocates. So far as talk is concerned, in their beneficent avocation. YEOMAN. Brookfield, Sept., 1855. NEWFOUNDLAND DOGS AT NEW FOUNDLAND. For the New England Farmer. LARGE OR SMALL POTATOES--WHICH? it matters little to either party which gains the day, but in an economical point, as affecting the farmer's purse, it is quite otherwise, and is a matter of some importance which wins. For many years past, this great article of human sustenance has commanded a high price to what it formerly bore; indeed, for the past two or three years, I am inclined to the opin[A writer in the New York Herald, who was one ion, that few articles of food have cost more to its of the excursionists on the late telegraph expe- consumers-comparing them by the ratio of nutridition to Newfoundland, thus expatiates on the dogs ment afforded. Then again, it is extremely diffiof that uninviting country :] cult for families to be economical in their use, their former cheapness has produced a habit of waste Any one who has ever visited St. Johns must in their whole management-though the past few have observed the large number of Newfoundland years has produced a praiseworthy change in this dogs with which its streets are beset. You meet particular. I would not pretend to say that the them wherever you turn; they lie across the path- "Small Potato" question is an exception to the great way, and sometimes make their bed in the middle law of nature-that like produces like-this is an of the road; they stand like sentinels at every door, acknowledged principle throughout all the operaand although they never dispute your passage, they tions of nature. But I do say, that small potatoes look at you with an inquiring gaze, as if they desir-will produce large ones, and that pretty uniformly. ed to know your business. In winter they are em- I have tried the experiment three times, and with ployed by the poor in drawing wood in sledges, for success. which they seem peculiarly adapted by their strength The first time, I used small potatoes and large and docility. Dr. Kane took twenty of them with ones together, the large ones being cut to a very him on leaving St. Johns, as they are said to be as small size before planting. I remember perfectly good, if not better, than the Esquimaux dogs, in well, that my men at the time declared that my exmaking journeys over the ice. A perfect dog mania periment would be a failure; that no field seeded so broke out among our company, and an extensive sparingly as that was, would produce a crop; none trade in pups was opened with the natives. Every of the potatoes used would average over a square person seemed determined to have one, and the inch, while the majority would hardly exceed half consequence was, that we had about as many dogs an inch. One object was-not so much to get a on our return, as passengers. Dogs of all sizes and good crop of potatoes-but to have the land cultiages, from a month to three years old, were carried vated among my trees. About one acre was plantoff unresisting victims into exile. Whatever doubt ed. No extra pains was taken with them, and in there might be as to the purity of the breed, there the fall, the result was over one hundred bushels of could be no dispute as to their being Newfoundland good sized, handsome potatoes. The actual ground dogs, and with many, that seemed to be sufficient. occupied by the crop was not much over half an Two of my friends bought a pair of them, twins, acre, certainly not three-quarters. My men and and named them Telegraph and Cable, in their en- neighbors were astonished at the result. Twice thusiasm for the great enterprise. The pure breed, since I have repeated this experiment, and with like it is said, is fast becoming extinct in St. Johns; but results. The last time with whole small potatoes, if I should judge from the large number of "full and during the past week have had them dug, and bloods" that were shown to me, I should be strongly many of them will weigh half a pound, and a large inclined to doubt the truth of that statement. P. number of them more, and very few like their parents among them. Now if these same "small potatoes" should be planted from year to year, I do not MORRISON'S RED APPLE.-Our friend, N. know what effect it might produce. Probably the MORRISON, of Somerville, "The Apple Man," has great law of nature would assert its rights, and sent us four of his Red Seedlings. They are more "small potatoes" be the result. beautiful to the eye than any other apple we have] There is no question but what farmers seed this essential crop too heavily, much more than is needTHE HEDGE SPARROW. ed, and much money might be saved to them by This bird belongs to the order of Passeres (sparadopting the small idea system. It is certainly worthy of more consideration than has been given rows); tribe-Dentirostres; family-Luscinidae; to it. Another idea I wish to throw out, though sub-family, Acceitorine. It is one of the commonrather foreign to the intentions of this article, but est English birds, and closely resembles the comwhile my escritoire is so handy, will venture to do mon sparrow in appearance. The nest is built in so. It is this: of saving for seed those parts of the crop which are fairest and come to maturity soonest. The idea is an old one, but very apt to be forgotten, even by the best of farmers-those careful and shrewd tillers of the soil. By carrying out this plan from year to year, there is no doubt but what, with some crops, several weeks might be gained in bringing them to maturity. Any one with half an eye, cannot but see the great benefit which would be derived from this, and there is nothing improbable about it, but on the contrary, reason and nature coincide with its truth. My motto and advice to the farmer is.-use the head more, and- why, the hands none the less. At a future time, Mr. Editor, with your permission, I may revert to this important matter again. Interdum stultus bene loquitur. King Oak Hill, Sept., 1855. T. Q. NORTON. For the New England Farmer. BEANS AND POTATOES---A GREAT YIELD. MR. EDITOR-I give you the following facts, which show that the present season amply remunerates the husbandman for his labor and toil, by a varied and bountiful harvest. Mr. Wm. C. Patch, of this town, has taken from his garden a single bean vine from which he picked and shelled twelve hundred and seventeen beans, all well formed and full grown; the product of a single cranberry bean. holes, and contains five blue eggs. Its song is sim ple and very pleasing, and might prompt one to exclaim with good old Izaac Walton, "Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in heaven, when thou affordest bad men such music on earth." The common European sparrow is almost domesticated in that portion of the globe, frequenting the habitations of man, even in the midst of populous cities, and nestling under the eaves of houses, in holes in the walls, in pots placed for their use, &c. It is of a robust form, and has a stouter bill than the majority of sparrows. In many districts it is so numerous as to do great injury to the grain fields. Its voracity is extreme; neither can its flesh be applied to any useful purpose. Mr. J. P. Knowlton, in harvesting his potatoes, selected one, called the "Kinsman Red," which We have numerous species of sparrows in the weighed two pounds and a quarter, the vines of United States. They are readily distinguished from which measured seven feet in length. The yield is about twelve hills to a bushel. The potatoes are other small birds by the short, conical bill, with cutvery large and fair, and of an excellent quality. The ting edges, which seems peculiarly adapted to the good quality of potatoes, this season, is a subject of purpose of freeing seed of the hulls. remark everywhere about us. Hamilton, Sept. 30. Who can beat this? The above is pobably the description of an English writer, and we discover in it a pretty good description of our well known and musical little friend, GRASSHOPPER TRAPS.-In our rides in the the Warbling Sparrow; he is one of our earliest grasshopper country, we saw thousands of the deep visiters in the Spring, sometimes coming as earholes which had been dug in the earth by the In-ly as Febuary, but in March may be daily seen dians, to entrap their luxurious food. These holes contain about a bushel and a half, and we believe among the rank weeds in the garden, or among the we saw holes enough in Yuba, Butte and Sutter brush that has been thrown into heaps about the counties, to have collected fifty thousand bushels of grounds. There, hopping among the branches, ocgrasshoppers. The Indians will grow fat this win-casionally flitting away to the field or the garden, he ter.-California Times. pours out the sweetest song of the early spring, often, when the March winds are roaring through BERKSHIRE COUNTY CATTLE SHOW. the leafless trees, or flurries of snow are whitening The 45th Anniversary of the Berkshire Agricul the ground. But it is where the elements are quiet, tural Society took place at Pittsfield, on the 3d, 4th and the sun shines brightly into the tangled brush and 5th days of October. All the exhibitions, and around him, that he utters his sweetest notes, and all the exercises of the whole three days, including attracts every ear. the Ball on the evening of the third day, were on the grounds of the Society. It was our duty, as it A FLORAL LOVE-LETTER. was our pleasure, to attend this exhibition as a DelA late English paper contains a letter purporting egate from the State Board of Agriculture, and to to have been written by a young gardener to a lady record such observations as would be beneficial to whom he loved, and with whom he wished to wed. agriculturists of other portions of the State, if Whether exactly such a letter was actually written, transmitted through the volume which comprises and sent by the gardener, we have not the means of knowing, or is it of much consequence. The letter the annual transactions of the Board. is an ingenious one, by whatever means it came to see the light. It reads thus: The show this year was the first under important changes, and new arrangements of the Society; they MY ROSE, MARY:-As you are the pink of per- had purchased and enclosed thirty acres of land, fection and the blossom of May, I wish to tell you erected yards, stables, laid out and graded a fine that my heart's ease has been torn up by the roots, and the peas holm entirely destroyed, since I trotting course, introduced water in abundance, and began to pine after yew. My name is William constructed a building in the form of a T, each part Budd. At first I was poor, but by shooting in the ninety feet in length, and about fifty feet wide. On the spring, and raising a carnation fast, I obtained a roof is a deck with balustrades, affording space for celery, and by a little cabbaging, &c., I rose to be of my master (though something like a creeper) of the some ten or fifteen hundred persons, from which po‐ whole garden. I have now full command of the sition the trotting, the equestrian performances by stocks and the mint; I can raise ante-mone from a the ladies, the foot-races, the plowing, drawing, and penny-royal to a plum, and what my expenditure all other out-of-door exercises, could be seen. So leaves I put in a box for yew. If I may as a cor- from this spot was one of the loveliest panoramas comb speak of myself, I should say that I am the flower of manhood, that I am neither a standard ever presented to the eye. Here the Pontoosuc nor a dwarf, a mushroon nor a May pole. My nose comes ambling along through the narrow valleys, is of a turnip-reddish kind, and my locks hang in turning wheels and watering meadows as it flows, clusters round my ears. I am often in the com- and giving examples of animated industry in its babpany of rakes, and rather fond of vines and shrubs, bling course. There flows the Housatonic, enlarged which my elders reprove me for; as I had better and strengthened by the contributions of the Ponberry all this, and say that I have a Windsor beau and that I have some London pride, and as I am a toosuc, and swelling out into the magnitude of a branch of a good stock with a portly bearing, I well river, gladdening the manufacturer's as well as the know when and where to make my bough. So farmer's hopes, and fertilizing the waiting intervals, lett-uce act for ourselves, and fix an early day for green slopes and shady banks, as it winds along. grafting your fate with mine. I am certain that we should make a very nice pear, and never repent, Yonder are the hills on every side. On the north, even when we become sage by thyme. Yew would old Greylock lifts its hoary head, still venerable and be the balm of my life, and I would be the balsam august, but young as when the oldest saw it first, of yours, so that the people who would call us green dashing the battling elements from its sides, as the linow, would call us evergreen hereafter. And now on shakes the night-drops from his impervious mane. sweet peas be with yew; if he who tried it tares me from yew, I shall become a melon cauliflower, and There are the hills which circumscribe and mark wither away; my tongue will always be a scarlet out the amphitheatre of which these grounds are the runner in your praise; for I have planted my hope centre-their sides covered with the deep forest, or in yew, and now I only live for the thyme when I dotted with rock maples, black birch, or groups of may hear from your own tu-lips, that I am your hemlock, perhaps the most beautiful evergreen of own sweet William, and not your our climate, as well as among the most symmetrical and elegant of trees. Down the sides of these OFFICERS OF THE VERMONT STATE AGRICULTU- "Chrystal Hills" pour limpid streams, where sheep RAL SOCIETY. WEEPING WILL-0." and milch cows slake their thirst, and, checked in their course, with gathered strength they turn the wheels that grind the corn, or saw the logs that they have nourished through many years. And now that autumn frosts have touched with icy fingers the trembling leaves, they gleam in colors of every hue, gold and scarlet, purple and orange, each vieing in brilliancy with the other, and forming a richness of shade and coloring never imitated by man, and probably unequalled in any other clime. Nearer, shoot |