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POETRY, ANECDOTES, &C.

THE REAPERS.

THE reapers bend their lusty backs,
Their sounding sickles sway;
At every stroke the golden sea
Recedes to give them way.
The heavy ears fall bowing down
And nestle at their feet:

Such will, such work, as theirs perforce
Must win-must homage meet.
Ply, bonny men, your sickles bright,
And give the people bread!
At every conquering stride you take,
On want and woe you tread;
Drop, heavy ears, and give the strength
You gathered from the plain,
That man may rise refreshed and firm,
And do great things again!
God bless the hands all hard and brown,
That guide the cleaving plough,
That cast abroad the shining seed,
And build the wealthy mow!
They rear the bread our children eat;
"Tis by their toil we live;
Hurrah! give them the loudest cheer
That grateful hearts can give!

HARPER'S BAZAR.

LOVE OF KNOWLEDGE. THEREFORE, when I say, love knowledge with a great love, with a vehement love, with a love coeval with life, what do I say but love innocence, love virtue, love purity of conduct, - love that which will comfort you, adorn you, never quit you;-which will open to you the kingdom of thought, and all the boundless regions of conception, as an asylum against the cruelty, the injustice, and the pain that may be your lot in the outer world, -that which will make your motives habitually great and honorable, and light up in in instant a thousand noble disdains at the very thought of meanness and of fraud.

SYDNEY SMITH.

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Call when all good friends have left thee,
Of all good sights and sounds bereft thee;
Call when hope and heart are sinking,
And the brain is sick with thinking,
Help, O help!

Call, and following close behind thee,
There shall haste, and there shall find
Help, sure help.
[thee,

When the panic comes upon thee,
When necessity seems on thee,
Hope and choice have all foregone thee,
Fate and force are closing o'er thee,
And but one way stands before thee-
Call on us!

O, and if thou dost not call,
Be but faithful, that is all.
Go right on, and close behind thee
There shall follow still and find thee,
Help, sure help. A. H. CLOuqi.

SCOTTISH HUMOR.

ONE day the cook sent up a roast goose for dinner, from which he or someone else had taken off a leg; on which his master summoned him to inquire who had despoiled the goose of his leg. Johu replied that all the geese had but one leg; and in support of his assertion pointed to a whole flock before the window, who were, happily, asleep on one leg. The laird clapped his hands and cried whew, on which they got upon both legs and flew off. But John, no way disconcerted, told his master if he had cried whew to the one on the table, most likely it would have done the same.

THERE was a certain idiot known as "Daft Will Speir," who was a privileged haunter of Eglinton Castle and grounds. He was discovered by the Earl one day taking a near cut and crossing a fence. The Earl called out, "Come back, sir, that's not the road." "Do ye ken," said Will," whaur I'm gaun?" "No," replied his lordship. Weel, how the deil do ye ken whether this be the road or

no?"

THE GRANDMOTHER. HER hair is white and her eyes are dim, But her life is like a quiet hymn, Chanted low at the close of day When the light is fading away. As she sits in her corner knitting, knitting,

The tiny and delicate links that fall From her shining needles, each one fitting Into a perfect whole,

She thinks how from deeds as noiseless

and small

Groweth the wonderful web of life
And the stature of the soul.
The children's children throng around her
Fair faces and locks of gold;
For many a cord of love has bound her
To the new as well as the old.
A peaceful present, a busy past,

Rich with the blessing of God,
Their lights and shadows together cast
O'er the long, long pathway trod;
Then opens the boundless future before
her,

With its trembling hope of bliss,
The higher life that shall soon restore her
The loved and lost of this;

And the holy light of the land immortal
Beams on that time-worn face,
As her steps draw near to the heavenly
The goal of the earthly race. [portal,

DON'T BE AFRAID OF WORK. Frederick the Great wrote: "The more one nurses one's self the more feeble and delicate does the body become. My trade requires toil and activity, and both my body and mind must adapt themselves to their duty. It is not necessary that I should live, but it is necessary that I should act. I have always found myself the better for this method."

THE SOUL'S PROPHECY.

ALL before us lies the way;

Give the past unto the wind: All before us is the day,

Night and darkness are behind.
Eden with its angels bold,

Love and flowers and coolest sea,
Is less an ancient story told
Than a glowing prophecy.
In the spirit's perfect air,

In the passions tame and kind,
Innocence from selfish care,

The real Eden we shall find. When the soul to sin hath died, True and beautiful and sound, Then all earth is sanctified,

Up springs paradise around. From the spirit-land afar

All disturbing force shall flee; Stir, nor toil, nor hope shall mar Its immortal unity.

R. W. EMERSON.

LUTHER'S BIRD LESSON.

KEEP a brave heart. It matters not whether the sun shines on you or not, if you only have sunshine within. Look at the sunny side of things, and laugh at storm or misfortune. Should trouble overtake you, look it out of countenance, -it will soon disappear.

To be pure-minded, and cheerfully disposed at hours of meat, and of sleep, and of exercise, is one of the best precepts of long-lasting.- Bacon.

WIT AND HUMOR.

THE "WORST OF IT."- A few years since there pervaded Chicago a speculator in grain, the boldness and magnitude of whose operations were worthy even of that city. This gentleman, Mr. Richard H "1 had gone into one cornering operation in wheat by which he became slightly “hurt.” In alluding to it a few weeks ago, he remarked with characteristic blandness and frankness, "I lost in that speculation one million five hundred thousand dollars, and the worst of it was that fifteen hundred dollars of it was good money that I put in Harper's Magazine for April.

"A POLITICIAN, wishing to compliment a well-to-do farmer, said, - -"You must have begun life early to accumulate such an estate as this." "Yes," replied the farmer, "I began life when I was a mere baby."

THE great Luther said: "How glad-on the start!"-EDITOR'S DRAWER, in some are the little birds; they sing so deliciously, and hop from one branch to another. They have no anxious cares about any want or scarcity that may come; are so content in themselves, and sing with a glad heart their morning and their evening song. Well might we take off our hat to one of them and say, 'My dear Sir Doctor, I must confess I have not acquired this art of which thou art a master. Thou sleepest all night in thy little nest without any care; in the morning thou risest again, art joyful and well off; settest thyself on a tree, and singest and praisest God; seekest after thy daily food, and findest it. Why cannot I, old fool that I am, do the same, when I have so much reason to do it?'"

WAITING.

SERENE, I fold my hands, and wait,
Nor care for wind, or tide, or sea;
I rave no more 'gainst time or fate,
For lo! my own shall come to me.
I stay my haste, I make delays,

For what avails this eager pace?
I stand amid the eternal ways,
And what is mine shall know my face.
Asleep, awake, by night or day,

The friends I seek are seeking me;
No wind can drive my bark astray,
Nor change the tide of destiny.
What matter if I stand alone?

I wait with joy the coming years;
My heart shall reap where it has sown,
And garner up its fruit of tears.
The waters know their own, and draw
The brook that springs in yonder height,
So flows the good with equal law

Unto the soul of pure delight,
The stars come nightly to the sky;
The tidal wave unto the sea;
Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,
Can keep my own away from me.

A CONTEMPORARY speaks of a weaver who, in praising his minister, wound up by saying, "An' I specially like your sterlin' independence, sir. I always said of you, sir, that you neither fear God nor man."

"SAM, why don't you talk to your master, and tell him to lay up treasures in Heaven?" "What's de use of him laying up treasures up dar? He never see um agin."

A FARMER, writing to the secretary of an agricultural society, says, " You will have the goodness to enter me on your list of cattle for a bull."

"Now, Willie dear," says Fanny, "do have a little courage; when I have a powder to take, I don't like it any more than you do, but I make up my mind that I will take it, and I do." "And when I have a powder to take," replied Willie," I make up my mind that I won't take it, and I don't.""

A WINDY orator in the legislature, after a lengthy effort, stopped for a drink of water, "I rise," said Bloss, to a point of order." Everybody stared, wondering what the point of order was. "What is it?" asked the speaker, "I think, sir," said Bloss, "it is out of order for a windmill to go by water!"

A QUAINT old gentleman, of an active disposition, had a man at work in his garden who was quite the reverse. "Jones," said he, "did you ever see a snail?" "Certainly," said Jones. "Then," said the old boy, "you must have met him,

AN UNWORDED PRAYER.
BY Alpine lake, 'neath shady rock,
The herdsboy knelt beside his flock,
And softly told, with pious air,
His A B Č, as evening prayer.

Unseen, the pastor lingered near —
"My child, what means the sound I
hear?"

"Where'er the hills and valleys blend, The sounds of prayer and praise ascend.

Must I not in the worship share,
And raise to heaven my evening prayer?"
"My child, a prayer that ne'er can be,
You have but said your A B C."

"I have no better way to pray;
But all I know to God I say;
I tell the letters on my knees,
And he'll make words himself to please."
German translation of SARAH WEST LANDER.

KEEP the hands employed in some useful avocation, the feet dry and warm, the head cool, body clean, and the stomach supplied with plain, healthful food, taken at suitable intervals. Keep good hours, and remember that night is the time to sleep and rest. Store the mind with proper mental food, carefully avoiding every kind of trashy literature that would act upon and stimulate the animal passions. Keep the thoughts pure, and do precisely unto others as you would have them do to you; then you will make progress towards a healthy soul and body.

"How many people," said Jeremy Taylor, "are busy in the world gathering together a handful of thorns to sit upon!

Do not accustom yourself to swearing. There are words enough in the English language sufficiently expressive of all passions.

ANSWERS TO CHARADES, ENIGMAS, &C., IN LAST YEAR'S ALMANAC.

ANSWERS TO CHARALES. 1. Latin. 2. Penmanship.

ANSWERS TO ENIGMAS.

1. A tree. 2. A bed.

ANSWER TO RIDDLE.

The man had but one eye, the tree but two apples, of which the man took one.

ANSWER TO ARITHMETICAL PROBLEM.-If the flock is divided into parts, the farmer has 1 part; Smith, 2 parts; Jones, 6 parts; Dow, 12 parts; and all others as many as all the last three, that is, 12+6+2-20; then the whole flock is divided into 20+12+6+2+1=41 parts, and one part, or what the farmer owned, is, 492011=120.

ANSWERS TO CONUNDRUMS.

1. The axle tree.

2. Because it makes hot shot.

3. There is not a single person in it. 4. A bald head.

CHARADES.

1.

RIDE on, ride on, thou traveller bold,
And cast thy looks on first:
See how the tempest-clouds do lower,
That soon in storm shall burst.

Ride on, ride on; thy second leads
Across the lonely heath,
Where gibbets tell of darksome deeds,
And culprits swing beneath.

Ride on, ride on; my third thou art-
An honest one and true.

Beware! a third is lurking near,

Who would his hands imbrue.

Ride on, ride on, ride for thy life,
Spur on thy faithful steed;
For now my whole thy second bars,
Nerved for his lawless deed.

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The Potato.

THOUGH of recent Introduction, as compared with many other cultivated plants, the potato has come to be of prime necessity in the economy of the household. Its use has become universal, while its relative importance is sufficiently indicated by the efforts made to improve the quality and to increase the number of varieties. Experience has led to the conclusion that frequent change of seed is desirable, and that in procuring new seed, or, rather, tubers, to plant, those brought from a higher latitude will, as a rule, ripen earlier than those from the south. It is equally well settled that coarse, fermenting manures will be likely to increase the tendency to rot, or to some form of disease. The ordinary methods of cultivation are sufficiently well understood. The time of harvesting or digging should be governed by circumstances. If the crop is designed for winter use, it is better to let it lie in the ground, especially if the soil is dry, till the weather is cool enough to admit of immediate storage.

Potatoes ought to be dug in dry weather, and to be kept dry, but not exposed to the sun. This last is a point too often overlooked; and we have no doubt the quality and healthfulness of the crop is injured by lying in the hot sun. The skin is corky and naturally impervious to water. It will keep external moisture from penetrating, and prevent internal moisture from evaporation. Hence, if the tuber is well ripened, and is put away dry in the fall, it will lose but little in weight in the winter; but in warm weather the starch is changed to sugar, and slowly evaporates through the pores of the skin. It is very important, in digging, to avoid bruising. Every cut or breakage of the skin increases the tendency to decay. Though not quite so sensitive as the apple, every bruise lessens the chance of keeping well.

If the soil is wet, and there appears to be a tendency to rot, it is better to dig the crop as soon as mature, and pile up on some dry knoll, scattering over the tubers some fresh-slaked lime, at the rate of a quart to every half dozen bushels. Then throw some potato vines over the pile, and over these a few inches of dry soil, heaped up in a conical form. The lime will check the rot, and the potatoes will keep well till cold weather, when they may be removed to the cellar, or sent to market.

Belts of Trees.

EVERY farmer ought to consider that, by planting belts of trees, especially evergreens, he has it in his power to regulate and modify the climate of his place so as, practically, to move several degrees to the south. Trees planted on the most exposed borders of the farm, on the northern or western and the eastern exposures, will protect the growing crops to an extent that would hardly be believed till it is tried and carefully observed. It is an easy matter to protect a garden in this way, so as to make it warmer and earlier, and to secure an earlier ripening of fruits in the fall. Every one knows that grapes and other fruits will ripen better in a sheltered position than in one greatly exposed to the cold, blighting winds. The same is true, though perhaps less perceptible, in the case of other fruits, like peaches, and in fact, of all farm crops. For these belts for protection, the Scotch larch and the white pine are among the most desirable trees, probably, though any variety of tree is better than none. The growth of the trees, if they are protected from cattle, will pay the interest on the land, and the adjoining lands will be improved at the same time. It is worth a careful trial on every farm.

To Economize Hen Manure.

THE true secret of success on the farm is to save everything that is liable to run to waste. One of the greatest of all the leaks on most farms is that of manure. It drains away, or evaporates, or goes to waste in some way from want of careful looking after, and then we have to go into the market and buy artificial fertilizers, and pay forty or fifty dollars a ton, because we have not enough to use. But it is astonishing how much we can save from a flock of hens, if we will only take proper care of it.

One of the best ways we have ever tried for economizing this strong and valuable substance under the hen roosts, almost equal to guano in its fertilizing qualities, was to take some old barrels as tight as may be, and if not perfectly tight, coat them inside with gas tar, and fill them, all but one, with fine, dry, road dust, and set them away in a dry place for winter use. If the road dust is full of clay, so much the better, as clay is one the best absorbents. To use, put a thin layer of dust into the empty barrel, an inch or two at the bottom, and then a layer of hen manure, the scrapings under the hen roost, and then another thin layer of dust, and so on, from time to time, till the empty barrel is filled, and one of those filled at the outset is empty and ready for use. The exact thickness of the layers is not. important, of course, but the thinner they are the more completely will the whole mass become impregnated; but there must be dust enough to absorb all the volatile parts of the manure, and hold them without giving off an offensive odor. For fifty hens five barrels will do. If it is not possible to collect sufficient finely pulverized road dust, some very fine soil or loam would do, or some charcoal dust

mixed with dry sifted coal ashes, or fine muck, but the finely ground clay road dust is about the cleanest and best material to handle.

In the spring the whole mass may be mixed and shovelled over, and it is astonishing to see what a valuable lot of the richest fertilizer has been collected and saved. The dust and all thoroughly mixed and incorporated, enables you to apply it evenly, and it is one of the best things to use in the garden, or upon melons, squashes, or any other plants that require a rich, stimulating manure. Try it and

see.

Commercial Fertilizers.

THE use of concentrated fertilizers has greatly extended of late years, and they seem to have become almost a necessity of modern farming. The law in this state concerning the manufacture and sale of these articles furnishes a pretty complete guaranty of their quality, and offers the best available protection against fraud. It is for the interest of every farmer to see that the law is faithfully complied with on the part of the dealers, and never to buy a fertilizer that is not sold under a proper license. The chemical composition ought in every case to be attached to the bag or package. Make it a rule, also, whenever you buy and apply any commercial fertilizer, no matter what it is or where it is procured, to save a small quantity by itself, a pound or so at least, and keep it safely. Then, when the result of the application is known, if it is satisfactory, very well; if not, the sample will tell whether the fault was in the fertilizer or in your mode of application and management. Many fertilizers are condemned when the manufacturer is not at all to blame, when the fault is wholly that of the farmer who applies them without proper care and judgment.

Use of Hay-Caps.

HAY-CAPS ought to be reckoned among the labor-saving implements of the farm, so far as their economy is concerned; and we have yet to hear of a careful farmer, who has once adopted and used them wisely, who has discarded or thrown them aside. They have saved thousands of tons of hay, after it was partially cured and cocked up, from waste and ruin, and of course they have saved a vast amount of labor and worry, which a storm under such circumstances occasions. Made of simple cotton cloth, to be fastened with wooden pins at the corners, they are not very expensive, and four or four and a half feet square is large enough. Good, compactly woven, light sheeting is as useful as any material, and better to handle than if it were heavy. A simple cord-loop, sewn in at each corner, is the most convenient way of fastening, as it admits of some play on the wooden pins. Hay-caps properly made, and stowed away where they are handy of access, can be applied in a few minutes' time, and they have often saved their whole cost in a single storm. They can he made in winter, and kept ready for use in any sudden emergency.

Management of Swine.

NOTWITHSTANDING the command in the Law of Moses against eating swine's flesh, and in spite of the learned doctors of the day, who warn us against uncooked pork, with horrible accounts of diseases entailed by careless cooking of it, most thrifty farmers find their account in keeping a few pigs; and will probably continue to do so until the world is a good deal nearer the millennium than at present. There is no good reason to believe that well-cooked pork is unwholesome when taken in reasonable quantities, and not too constantly, by active workingmen. It is probably not well adapted to feed children and people who live much within doors.

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Moreover, the pig is made by the thrifty farmer, not, perhaps, to "pay the rent," like the Irish pig, for our farmers generally have no rent to pay, but he is made to work for his living, by working up weeds, potato tops, &c., into good manure; and his living will cost little if fed, as he should be chiefly in New England, on waste products—the swill, the refuse of dairies and cheese factories, of starch factories and slaughter-houses. For the western farmer can pack ten barrels of corn into one barrel of pork, and save freight by sending us his pork; so that, although feeding grain to hogs is generally profitable at the west, it seldom is at the east, except to fatten and finish off animals grown on cheaper fodder.

According to the best authority we can get, it will require about five pounds of cooked corn meal, or about eight or nine pounds of raw corn, to produce a pound of pork; so that, with corn meal, as now, at one dollar and a quarter per one hundred pounds, a pound of pork made by feeding it will cost six and a quarter cents, besides the labor of cooking and feeding, against which will be the value of manure to be deducted. While a pound made from raw corn, at one dollar per hundred pounds, will cost about nine cents per pound, with less labor and more manure. But if we take a swill-fed hog of two hundred and fifty pounds weight, and, by feeding him corn, make this two hundred and fifty pounds worth two cents more per pound, by giving the pork a harder, firmer quality, we shall have about five dollars profit for the trouble of feeding. In general, this is the only way that

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