POETRY, ANECDOTES, ETC. THE OLD HOMESTEAD, HOW TO MAKE YOUR WAY IN THE WORLD. Professor Tyndall gives this interestUpon his shoulder swung, ing account of his life in Germany: And in the knotted apple-tree Are scythe and sickle hung; “ In 1848, wishing to improve myself in When low about her clay-built nest science, I went to the University of Mar. The mother swallow trills, burg. I lodged in the plainest manner. I And decorously slow, the cows wished to keep myself clean and hardy; 80 I purchased a cask and had it cut in two. Are wending down the hills; What a blessed picture of comfort Half that cask filled with spring water In the evening shadows red, over night, was placed in my small bedIs the good old-fashioned homestead, room; and never during the years that I With its bounteous table spread ! spent there, in winter or in summer, did the clock of the beautiful Elizabeth And when the winds moan wildly, Church, which was close at hand, finish When the woods are bare and brown, striking the hour of six in the morning, And when the swallow's clay-buit nest before I was in my tub. For a good porFrom the rafter crumbles down; tion of the time I rose an hour and a half When all the untrod garden-paths earlier than this, working by lamp-light Are heaped with frozen leaves, at the differential calculus when the And icicles, like silver spikes, world was slumbering around me. And Are set along the eaves; I risked this breach in my pursuits, and Then when the book from the shelf is this expenditure of time and money, brought, not because I had any definite prospect And the fire-lights shine and play, of material profit in view, but because I In the good old-fashioned homestead thought the cultivation of the intellect Is the farmer's holiday ! important; because, moreover, I loved ALICE CARY. my work, and entertained the sure and certain hope that,armed with knowledge, RECIPE FOR MAKING EVERY one can successfully fight one's way DAY HAPPY. through the world.” When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy GOOD TEMPER. one to a fellow-creature. It is easily Since trifles make the sum of human done; a left-off garment to the man who things needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, And half our misery from our soibles an encouraging expression to the striv springs; ing; trifles in themselves light as air will Since life's best joys consist in peace and do it, at least for the twenty-four hours; ease, and if you are young, depend upon it it And though but sew can serve, yet all will tell when you are old; and if you are may please; old, rest assured it will send you gen- 0, let the ungentle spirit learn from tly and happily down the streain of hu hence man time to eternity. By the most sim A small unkindness is a great offence. ple arithmetical sum look at the result. HANNAH MORE. You send one person happily through the day; that is three hundred and sixty- HEALTH. The four ordinary secrets five in the course of the year; and sup- of health are, early rising, exercise, perposing you live forty years only after sonal cleanliness, and the rising from the you commence that course of medicine, table with the stomach unoppressed. you have made fourteen thousand six There may be sorrows in spite of these, hundred human beings happy, at but they will be less with them; and noevents for a time. -SYDNEY SMITH, body can be truly comfortable without them, MORNING. O, silence deep and strange! A man is relieved and gay when he The earth doth yet in quiet slumber lie: has put his heart into his work, and done No stir of life, save on you woodland his best; but what he has said or done range otherwise shall give him no peace. -- R. The tall trees bow as if their Lord W. EMERSOY. passed by. One evening, nfter & weary march Like to one new-create, through the desert, as Mohammed was I have no memory of grief and care; eamping with his followers, he overheard Of all the things which vexed my soul one of them saying, “ I will loose my of late camel, and commit it to God.” (1) which I am ashamed in this calm morning air. he took him up. “ Türicnd, tie thy camel, J. F. EICHENDORF, and commit it to God.” — SEED-GRAIN, THE OLD AND NEW.. POTTED WISDOM. 0, sometimes glimpses on my sight, You will never find time for any thing. Through present wrong the eternal If you want time, you must make it. right; You have not fulfilled every duty, unAnd step by step, since time began, less you have fulfilled that of being pleasWe see the steady gain of man; ant. - CHAS. BUXTON. That all of good the past has had The poorest education that teaches selfRemains to make our own time glad, control is better than the best that negOur common daily life divine, lects it. STERLING. And every land a Palestine. A man need but to be to the best of his abilities, and he will occasionally appear We lack but open eye and ear to advantage. GOETHE. To find the Orient's marvels here, The still small voice in autumn's hush, True quietness of heart is got by reYon maple wood the burning bush. sisting our passions, not by obeying them. - THOMAS A KEMPIS. For still the new transcends the old Be at least as polite to father, mother, In signs and tokens manifold; child, as to others. For they are more Slaves rise up men; the olive waves With roots deep set in battle graves. important to you than any others. ROCHEFOUCAULT. Through the harsh noises of our day The great end of my existence is to acA low, sweet prelude finds its way; quire every kind of education - (not sciThrough clouds of doubt and creeds of entific education - I find much vanity in fear that; but education of character) which A light is breaking, calm and clear. fortune will permit me. – FICHTE. REST. Rest is not quitting The busy career; Of self to its sphere. 'Tis the brook's motion, locks," whom the bystanders called Clear without strife; Father Abraham," - RO runs the little Fleeing to ocean fiction in which Franklin wraps his phi After its life, losophy, was asked what he thought 'Tis loving and serving of the times. “ Will not those heavy The Highest and Best; taxes quite ruin the country? How shall 'Tis onward, unswerving! we ever be able to pay them ? " Father And that is true rest. Abraham stood up and replied, GOETHE. " Friends, the taxes are indeed very heavy; and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to IMPRUDENT. - AB some lady visitors pay, we might more easily discharge were going through a penitentiary under them; but we have many others, and the escort of a superintendent, they came much more grievous to some of us. We to a room in which three women were are taxed twice as much by our idleness, sewing. “Dear me !" one of the visitors three times as much by our pride, and whispered, “what vicious-looking creafour times as much by our folly; and tures! Pray, what are they here for ?" from these taxes the commissioners ean- “ Because they have no other home; this not ease or deliver us by allowing an is our sitting-room, and they are my wife abatement. However, let us hearken to and two daughters,” blandly answered good advice, and something may be done the superintendent. — NATIONAL BAPT. for us : God helps them that help them. selves,' as Poor Richard says." " Why didn't you bring Henry, Mrs. Brown?” said Johnny. “O), he's sick; he has had the measles.” “How many did he have?" asked JohnSome of your hurts you have oured, ny. "I know a boy that's got two. I And the sharpest you still have sur saw him catch 'em. He fixed a trap in vived; the woods, and caught two at once, and But what torments of grief you endured he isn't sick at all." From evils which never arrived ! “ Caught the measles in a trap ? "cried FROM THE FRENCH. his mother. “What makes you talk so, Johnny ? " A young man, having pat a crownpiece into is the plate" in an Edinburgh two weasels. I don't believe I ever saw “Measle, measle, weasel! -0, 'twas church by mistake instead of a penny, a measle; did I, mother ? * asked Johnny. asked to have it back, but was refusca. In once, in forever. “Aweel, aweel,' grunted he, “I will get credit for it in Do It Now. - Don't live a single hour. heaven." " Na, na," said Jeems, the door of your life without doing exactly what keeper, “ye'll get credit only for the pen- ought to be done in it, and going straight Progress of Fruit Culture. THE progress of fruit culture during the last quarter of a century is one of the marvels of the present age. The first apples artificially cultivated in this country were grown on Governor's Island, in the harbor of Boston, from which, on the 10th of October, 1639, ten fair pippins were taken up to the little town of Boston, “there being," in the language of the old historical record, "not one apple or pear tree planted in any part of the country, but upon that island." The first nursery planted in this country for the propagation and sale of young trees was established by Governor Endicott, on his farm in Salem, now Danvers, in 1640, and it is related that he sold five hundred trees for two hundred and fifty acres of land. Orchards were planted during that and the succeeding century, but it was mainly for the purpose of cider-making. The trees were for the most part seedlings. Grafting, or the production of choice varieties, was not probably known, nor was there a very general cultivation of any kind of fruit till a comparatively recent date. At the close of the Revolution, and in fact at the end of the last century, it would have been impossible to find in the whole country the number and varieties of fine fruit which might now be found in a single town. Again, it is to be remembered that the means of communication were so limited that even the finer varieties of seedlings, which now and then appeared, were not known over any extent of country. A seedling equal to the Baldwin would have remained unknown twenty miles around from the beginning to the end of the last century. Moreover, it was regarded as absurd for any but a young man to set out trees. The process of raising up seedlings was long and tedious, and a long life was thought to be requisite to secure the advantage of it. This state of things was not materially changed till long after the beginning of the present century: Many orchards were planted at this date, but it was still for the manufacture of cider, and nurseries where young trees could be procured were very rare. No horticultural society existed till the establishment of the Massachusetts, in 1829, and there were very few agricultural societies previous to that date, while none of them paid any special attention, or gave any encouragement, to the production of fruit. It will be seen, therefore, that the general interest in fruit culture is wholly of recent origin. It was not regarded as of sufficient importance to be worthy of a place in the collection of the national statisties even so late as 1830, while in 1840 the fruit crop of the country, the orchard and garden products, amounted to only seven and a quarter millions of dollars; and in 1850 it had increased to only seven millions and three quarters, showing a very slow and gradual increase. Since 1850, however, the progress has been amazing. The export of apples and other fruits began to grow in importance, and in 1860 the value of orchard products had risen to over thirty millions of dollars a year, and at the present time it exceeds fifty millions a year, and is still rapidly increasing: No doubt the agricultural and horticultural societies have done much to develop this great interest, while modern science has enabled the intelligent fruit-grower to secure more speedy returns. New varieties have been multiplied with a greater adaptation to localities and soils, and people generally appreciate better than formerly the great value of fruit as a healthful and almost indispensable article of diet. Management of Dairy Stock. THE dairy cow is an artificial production. The animal in a state of nature, or the wild cow, yields but a small quantity of milk, and that only for a short time, sufficient only to nourish her young, when she goes dry for the larger portion of the year. High dairy qualities are the result of breeding and the care which has been bestowed upon the animal in her domestic condition. There is, therefore, a tendency to revert to the state of nature, and the milking qualities of our stock' need to be fostered and promoted by all the means in our power. We want the cow to give milk ten months, instead of four or five. We want her to come to maturity at two years of age, instead of four or five. We want her to be heavier and better developed than she is in her primitive and natural state, especially that the lacteal system be developed to its utmost capacity. In the breeding of stock for the dairy, we prefer to have the heifer come in at an early age, at two years old rather than three, that is, before she is fully developed, while the nilk-producing organs are easily influenced and enlarged by an increased supply of blood. It does a great deal towards the formation of a large and good udder. Up to this time we want her only moderately fed, that is, fed only with reference to her growth and thrift, and not to the production of fat. Calves that are over fed to force them along too rapidly, seldom make good cows. The tendency to lay on fat is developed at the expense of that to secrete milk. Let the calf be sparingly fed up to the first and timely calving, after which she may be fed more liberally. We would have her come in if possible in April, two or three weeks before going out to grass, and we would force her by succulent or moist and juicy food, after her udder has come to its normal condition, and the weakness and excitement of parturition are over, to her highest capacity of production. Feed dairy stock with great regularity, and treat it at all times with gentleness. The cow must have confidence in the kiud Great Sale of Short-Horn Cattle. The greatest Short-horn sale of the century took place at New York Mille, near Utica, N. Y., on the 10th of September, 1873, when one hundred and eight' head brought the round sum of $380,400, or an average of $3523 a head. This was owing to the large number of animals belonging to the Duchess family, established by Thomas Bates, a distinguished English breeder, in the early part of the present century. It may be stated for the information of those not familiar with the facts, that the herd of the celebrated Charles Colling was brought to the hammer in 1810, and that Bates, who already possessed some of the Duchess blood, purchased of Colling at private sale, here laid the foundation of the Duchess family of Short-horns. “Comet," an uncommonly fine-formed bull, brought at that sale a thousand guineas, the highest price that had ever been paid for such an animal. After breeding with great judgment and skill for many years, this celebrated herd was sold at auction by the executors of Mr. Baies in 1850. A part of that herd came to this country, and subsequently more of the same family. In 1853 the superb bull “Grand Duke ” was bought in England by Jonathan Thorne, of New York, at a thousand guineas, or over $5000, and imported to New York. The highest prices were paid to obtain the best, and the best were obtained without regard to cost. The time naturally came when we had the best Short-horns in the world. It became necessary for English breeders to buy them back cost what it would, or lose their pre-eminence. This explains in part the apparently extravagant prices at which many of the animals sold. The 1st Duchess of Oneida, a cow three years old, brought $30,600, to Lord Skelmersdale. The 10th Duchess of Geneva brought $35,000, to Lord Bective. The 8th Duchess of Oneida sold for $15,300. The 8th Duchess of Geneva sold for $40,000, to Mr. Davies, of England. "The 9th Duchess of Oneida sold for $10,000, to Lord Bective, and the 3d for $15,000. The average of the six cows was $24,517, a total of $147,100. The 2d Duke of Oneida, a bull three years old, brought $12.000. The 10th Duchess of Oneida, a calf five months old, brought $27,000. The average of the twelve Duchess animals, including one bull, was $20,900, or a total of $250,800. It must be regarded as the most remarkable sale of the century. This remarkable sale was not the result of mere fancy or excitement. It was based upon the fact, or belief, that the family of animals which sold for such prices is the highest type of scientific breeding, and the most perfect model for the economical production of human food. The Short-lorn is remarkable for its early maturity and its wonderful fattening qualities. It is, in these respects, the beef breed of the world, but the Duchess family of Short-horns is considered to be the perfection of the breed. It is a source of pride, whatever may be thought of the folly or wisdom of paying such prices for stock, that American breeders have had the foresight to select and import the finest cattle in the world, and that having iniported them, they have succeeded so well in maintaining their high standard of perfection, and advancing it in competition with the most skilful breeders of England. The climate and the pastures of Kentucky, and some of the Western States, are admirably adapted to develop and improve the Short-horn, and it is claimed by the best stock breeders of that section that the breed is improving in their hands. The success which has attended the scientific and careful breeding of the Shorthorns for the production of beef, ought to stimulate us to greater efforts for the improvement of the dairy breeds, so much better adapted to meet the wants of New England farmers. That the Ayrshires, the Jerseys, and our so called "native" cattle, are susceptible of improvement, no one can deny. That progress has already been made in this direction is equally certain, but the prosperity of our agriculture demands that still greater thought and skill be applied to the improve. ment of domestic animals, especially those that are essential to our wants, as are the cows kept for the dairy, which may be called the leading branch of New England agriculture.. UNITED STATES STAMP DUTIES. STAMP taxes on notes, deeds, and other documents, are now all abolished, except the stamp on bank checks, or orders, which is two cents. DESPATCH OF BUSINESS.- Sir Walter Scott, writing to a youth who had obtained a situation, and asked his advice, gave him this sound counsel. “Your motto must be hoc age (do this). Do instantly whatever is to be done, and take the hours of recreation after business, never before it. When a regiment is marching, the rear is often thrown into confusion because the front does not move steadily, and without interruption. It is the same with business. If that which is first in hand is not instantly, steadily, and regularly despatched, other things aocumulate behind, till affairs begin to press all at once, and no human brain can stand the confusion.". THE great happiness of life, I find, after all, to consist in the regular discharge of some mechanical duty. - SCHILLER, |
