BOOKS. GOD be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are the true levellers. They give to all who will faithfully use them the society, the spiritual presence, of the best and greatest of our race. No matter how poor I am. No matter though the prosperous of my own time will not enter my obscure dwelling. If the sacred writers will enter and take up their abode under my roof, if Milton will cross my threshold to sing to me of paradise, and Shakspeare to open to me the worlds of imagination and the workings of the human heart, and Franklin to enrich me with his practical wisdom, I shall not pine for want of intellectual companionship, and I may become a cultivated man though excluded from what is called the best society in the place where I live. INTREPIDITY. INTREPIDITY is an extraordinary strength of mind, which raises it above the troubles, the disorders, and the emotions which the sight of great perils is calculated to excite; it is by this strength that heroes maintain themselves in a tranquil state of mind, and preserve the free use of their reason under the most surprising and terrible OH, FOR A SWING IN THE OLD Of, for a swing in the old clm tree, The meadows and pastures I knew, The hills and the valleys, the rocks and the trees, And the woods where the wild-flowers grew; To lie once more in the thick, soft grass With the sweet winds brushing by, The world outside, and a heart at peace, And above the summer sky; To watch the clouds in their shifting lights, And the mists on the distant hills, And dream to the music of rustling leaves, And the voices of dancing rills; To wade once more in the cooling stream That wound by the roadside below, Where the laurel bloomed, and the eglantine And the maiden-hair used to grow. ELIZABETH A. DAVIS. A GENTLEWOMAN. I CANNOT forbear pointing out to you, my dearest child, the great advantages that will result from a temperate conduct and sweetness of manner to all people, on all occasions. Never forget that you are a gentlewoman, and all your words aud actions should mark you gentle. I never heard your mother, your dear, good mother, say a harshi or hasty thing to any person in my life. Endeavor to imitate her. I am quick and hasty in my temper; but, my darling, it is a misfortune which, not having been sufficiently restrained in my youth, has caused me inexpressible pain. It has given me more trouble to subdue this impetuosity than anything I ever undertook. LORD COLINGWOOD. And on the pure horizon far, WIT AND HUMOR. AN Irishman was before a court charged with some crime. The judge asked the usual question, "Are you guilty, or not guilty?" "Shure, yer honor," replied Patrick, "how can l tell till I've heard the ividince?" THERE are many stories of President Lincoln's wit. Here are two. A friend had handed him a long manuscript to read. After he had read it, his friend said to him, "What do you think of it? How do you think it would take?" After a moment's reflection, Mr. Lincoln replied, "Well, for people who like that sort of thing, I think it is just the sort of thing they'd like." DURING the war, when Burnside's expedition to North Carolina had sailed, its destination was kept secret, and there was naturally much curiosity concerning it. Some gentleman boldly asked Mr. Lincoln where the fleet had sailed to. "Do you want very much to know?" "Yes." "Well, come up close to me, so that I can CHARADES. 1. WHEN you from work at noon re turn, Wherever it may be, Just turn your face toward the sun, run, Must on my second sail, Bearing their freights of merchandise If English history you will search, 2. My first is a deer, my second is a deer, and my whole is a deer. 3. My first is bright, my second is bright, and my whole is bright. age, ENIGMA. whisper it to you." The gentleman I AM not in youth, nor in manhood, nor did so. "General Burnside's expedition," said Mr, Lincoln, in a whisper quite audible to the whole company, "has gone to sea.” IT often happens that a man is willing to pay a compliment, even when he is unable to pay his other debts. A compliment, however, may look like the honey of the bee, and yet conceal the sting of the wasp. A certain lawyer was compelled to apologize to the court. With stately dignity he rose in his place, and said, "Your honor is right and I am wrong, as your honor generally is." There was a dazed look in the judge's eye, and he hardly knew whether to feel happy or fine the lawyer for contempt of court." ANSWERS TO CHARADES, PUZ But in infancy ever am known; I'm a stranger alike to the fool and the sage, And though I'm distinguished in history's page, I In I always ain greatest alone. am not in earth, nor the sun, nor the moon; You may search all the sky,—I'm not there; You the morning and evening, though not in the noon, may plainly perceive me; for, like a balloon, I am midway suspended in air. Though disease may possess me, and sickness and pain, I am never in sorrow nor gloom; ZLES, &C., IN LAST YEAR'S AL- Though in wit and in wisdom I equalMANACK. Ensilage. WE have all heard, for the last year or two, a great deal about ensilage, or the packing of green fodder crops in silos, for preservation and use for the winter feeding of cattle. The word, therefore, has become familiar; but doubtless there are many who do not fully comprehend its meaning and its significance. A silo is a close pit, usually built in masonry, with brick or concrete walls, and calculated to exclude the air. The most convenient form is thought to be rectangular, the width about one-third of the length, and the depth about two-fifths of the length. It is to be filled from the top, and hence will save labor if sunk wholly or mostly beneath the surface. The material to be used in filling is any green forage crop, rye, millet, sorghum, or green fodder-corn, taken in the blossom, and cut by a fodder-cutter into little pieces less than half an inch in length. This fine material is packed down as tightly as possible, the top covered with plank, and heavily weighted, to drive out and to keep out the external air. In this way it is preserved in very much its original freshness and condition for months, to be fed out to stock as it is wanted from day to day. The fodder kept in this way is called ensilage. This method of storing and preserving green feeding substances for stock has been known in France for many years, though nowhere generally adopted. It has been tried, to a limited extent, in this country, and with apparently great satisfaction and economy. Every farmer knows that the amount of fodder-corn_that can be grown on an acre of well-cultivated land is something enormous. Forty to fifty tons, as it comes from the field, is by no means unusual, and a far greater weight than that can easily be grown under favorable conditions, the plants being allowed to grow till they "tassel out," or blossom, when the ears are just beginning to form. Taking it, therefore, for granted, that the amount of nutritive properties in forage plants is at its height at this stage of growth, the amount of nutritive feed in an acre of corn is something amazing; but the practical difficulty heretofore has been to cure and preserve it without a positive and large loss incident to drying and housing so bulky a product. The silo scems to solve the problem. It avoids the necessity of drying entirely, and keeps the material in very much its original condition. The ensilage, as it comes out of the silo, has undergone but a slight fermentation, but if allowed to lie on the barn-floor, or loose in a bin for a few hours, heating and fermentation set in, and a strong and very marked alcoholic smell is generated. Stock of all kinds are exceedingly fond of it,,and will leave the best of hay to seize it with avidity. The process to which it has been subjected has rendered it more digestible, probably; and if so, the animal system will more completely utilize the actual nutrition which the plant contains when in its best condition. We all know that dry hay, and dry fodder of any kind, will pass the animal only partially digested, very much of it appearing in the form of woody fibre in the excrements. If we feed oats, or any unground grain, to horses, we know very well that considerable portions of such food pass undigested, and very much of the actual nutriment which it contains will be lost. It has done far less good, no doubt, than if it had been finely ground, or more completely masticated. It has served some good purpose in distending the stomach, and so keeping up the healthy condition of the animal economy, and preventing a sensation of hunger, but its real clements of nutrition arc by no means all assimilated so as to become incorporated, as it were, in a form to build up the animal system. It is apparent that there is some loss, more or less considerable, in proportion to the completeness of the process of assimilation. The reason why cattle appear to thrive better on an abundant supply of green grass, succulent forage of any kind, is, probably, that is more easily, and so more completely digested. It is the natural form of the food of most of our domesticated animals; and all forms of dried forage for winter feeding are artificial, and designed to form the hest substitute we can get for the natural summer food of stock. Now if we can preserve the forage in its natural and succulent condition, without loss of its nutritive elements, retaining its palatable qualities and its succulency, as the silo appears to do, it certainly seems to be a great gain. More extended, complete, and satisfactory experiments are needed to prove conclusively that this system will effect this result, and it may prove to be good economy to supplement the feeding of ensilage by the addition of oil-meal to make a complete feeding substance; but so far as we can see now, the system bis Practical Farm Hints. FOR the yellows in peach trees apply potash salts to the surface under the tree, and rake it in, then put on a light mulching of old hay, straw, leaves, or any suitable materials. The German crude muriate of potash will, perhaps, be the least expensive, and one to two pounds, according to the size of the tree and the spread of its branches, a sufficient quantity. Apply a pound late in the fall, and the same quantity early in the spring, under each tree. To sell dairy products in the form of butter is the least exhaustive system of dairy farming. Selling all the milk in its purity is parting with the farm inch by inch, and its constituents must be replaced in some form, or exhaustion will be sure to follow. DON'T try to live without labor. If necessity does not quicken the energies, keep to work as a matter of principle, for activity, mental and physical, is essential to the perfect development of human character. To raise corn at small cost of labor, make the rows perfectly straight both ways. After the corn is well up, run a light plough as near the plants as possible, turning the furrow from the row. Do this on both sides of the row, and in both directions. The "hill" will be left standing in a little square, three or four inches higher than the bottom of the furrows. Let it stand so a few days. The roots need the heat of the sun at this time, and it will warm up the soil, and give the plants a rapid push. After a few days, run over the back furrow between the rows with a cultivator or horse-hoe. That will level the surface and throw the soil back towards the hills, and it is easy to keep the culture level. The cost of hand-hoeing with this method will be very slight. IN buying plants for the orchard or the garden, make it an inflexible rule never to buy a second-rate tree, shrub, vine, or seed of any kind, at any price, no matter how low, when you can get a first-rate article at a fair price. If you buy cheap goods of this kind because they are low-priced, you'll be sure to get what you bargain for. If you buy them below the real value of the best of their kind, you may be sure there is some "out" about them that you do not see. As a general rule, for all hoed crops, plant in such a way that you can reach every hill, plant, or vine with the cultivator, and use this tool early and often. Where any crop needs clean culture, it will cost less to cultivate or hoe it every eight days than it will to hoe it once in fifteen days. WEEDS can be raised cheaper than most other crops, because they will bear more neglect. But they don't pay in the end. They are the little vices that beset plant-life, and are to be got rid of the best way we know how. The first thing is to avoid getting their seeds into manure. It almost as important to keep the manure, as to keep the land, clean. The next is to take them early. It is cheaper to nip them in the bud than to pull them up, root and branch, when they get ahead. Here is where brain-work comes in. It is work that must be done, and the problem is to keep down the cost. THE time to cut grass is when the field shows the greatest number of blossoms. Nature fixes no particular day. Seasons vary several days, and some fields reach this stage of growth earlier than others. So judgment and skill will always be required to decide the question when it is best to begin. Let it be when the grass contains the most sugar, gum. starch, or other elements of nutrition, and cure it so as to preserve these constituents, and not drive them off by too much exposure to the sun. DON'T fail to have a good tool-house, and a place for a set of carpenter's tools, -saws, chisels, hatchets, hammers, an assortment of nails, spikes, and bolts of every kind that may be needed in an emergency, to replace any breakage; and duplicates of the parts of ploughs, mowing-machines, tedders, horse-hoes, &c. A liberal investment in these things will pay the highest per cent. interest of any investment you have. THE true economy of farm-life is to buy in large quantities and at wholesale rates, for cash, such things as are needed, and are not raised on the farm. It is a bad plan to run up bills at the grocer's, the butcher's, or anywhere else. It is better to hire money at a good round rate than to be pestered to death with a variety of little bills that are allowed to hang along month after month. There is nothing like promptness to maintain credit. MAKE it a rule to plough in the fall on level land. It is about equal to a good coating of manure. The exposure to freezing and thawing not only mellows the soil, but owing to the absorbent quality of newly-turned soil, it gets a positive advantage from the atmosphere, and is in better condition than if it were ploughed in spring, while a well-fed ox can put more strength into the yoke in September than he can in May. Besides, it costs less to plough in the fall than in the spring. Orchards and Vineyards. A FERTILIZER for an orchard of apple, pear, or peach trees and vineyards, may be compounded as follows: 250 pounds guaranteed Peruvian guano. 200 pounds dissolved bone-black. 200 pounds muriate of potash, 80 to 82 per cent. This mixture is for an acre. Mix in the same proportion for larger or smaller areas. Apply broadcast half in the fall and the other half early in the spring, and harrow in. The articles can be had of any fertilizer dealer. Bone-black is dissolved by sulphuric acid or oil of vitriol. Intelligent modern practice. has recognized the necessity of applying manures for the production of good farm crops. The time will soon come when the same systematic application of fertilizers will be regarded as equally essential to success in the cultivation of fruits of every description. Farm Proverbs. LET every one mind his own business, and the cows will be well tended. To wash an ass's head is but loss of time and soap. Two sparrows on the same car of corn are not long friends. A muffled cat never caught a mouse. The sheep on the mountain is higher than the bull on the plain. Muddy water won't do for a mirror. The sun passes over filth and is not defiled. He who has a straw tail is always afraid of its catching fire. One eye of the master sces more than four eyes of his servants. Many a good cow has a bad calf. Mules make a great fuss about their ancestors having been horses. Of what use is it for a cow to give plenty of milk if she upsets the pail ? Better on the heath with an old cart than at sea in a new ship. The master's eye and foot are the best manure for the field. Roses fall, but the thorns remain. Who undertakes too much succeeds but little. Painted flowers have no odor. There's no making a donkey drink against his will. Everything has an end, except a sausage, which has two. |