Agriculture. Twelve lectures on agricultural topics

Preface

The following Essays on Agriculture were originally delivered before the Lowell Institute in Boston, and were subsequently published in The Springfield RejmUlcan, Many who heard them in Boston, and many more, who have read them in The Repiihlican^ have requested that they might be published in a more permanent form. These essays do not profess to form a complete treatise on agriculture, but only to discuss some of the most important topics of this great science. As they were originally delivered in the form of lectures, it was necessary in order to preserve the unity of a lecture, that one topic, and only one, should be discussed at a session, and the author selected those subjects which he deemed of most general interest. The essaj^s embody the results of many years' study and practice, and if they shall prove a valuable addition to the agricultural literature of the country, the highest ambition of the author will be gratified.

Lee, Mass., October 1, 1870.

Contents

LECTURE FIRST.

AGRICULTURE AS A PURSUIT.

Chapter I. Paob

Effect of the Printing Press — A Modern Science — Deeper Research

Needed — Hereditary Love for Farming — Agricultural Rest, . . 13

CHAPTER n.

Dignity and Pleasures of Farm Life — Agriculture Adapted to all Classes — Wonderful Transformation — Creative Powers of Man — Country Life and Pure Air — Choice of Location — Retirement from Business — Country Happiness, 19

CHAPTER HI.

Importance of Agriculture to Society — Relation to Manufactures and Science — Science and Practice Combined — Stimulus of Manufactures — Co-operative Branches of Industry — Diversity of Tastes, 28

CHAPTER IV.

Does Farming Pay? — Business Habits in Farming — Agricultural Schools and Colleges — Profit on Milch Cows — Cheese Making — New England Farming, 36

LECTURE SECOND.

HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE.

CHAPTER y.

Farmers as Scientific Men — Ancient 'W^riters on Farming — Grecian Precepts, .42

Vi CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

rAOB.

Rise and Progress of the Art— Antediluvian Simplicity of Life- After the Flood — Vote- Yourself -A-Farm-Sy stem — Abraham's Farm in Egypt — Grecian Agriculture — Xenophon as a Farmer — Skillful Husbandry, 46

CHAPTER VH.

Cato an Agriculturist — Agricultural Literature — A Roman Farm — Ancient Farm Tools — The Post of Honor 54

CHAPTER Vm.

Night and Morning — The Moors in Spain — Romans not Vandals — Salad from Holland— Life in England— J^thro Tull— The Threshing Machine — A Farmer as an Author — Arthur Young's Experiments — Humphrey Davy's Lectures — American Farming — The Future of American Agriculture, 60

LECTURE THIRD.

THE SOIL.

CHAPTER IX.

The Soil, its Origin and Nature — Diversity of Kinds — Chemical Nature — Examination of Rocks — Science and Revelation Agree — Period of Creation, 70

CHAPTER X.

The Glacial Period — Transportation of Boulders — Glacial Works on

Mountains — Submerged with Water — Results of Large Floods, . 77

CHAPTER XI.

Organic Matter in the Soil— Effects of Frequent Plowing — Lands Improved by Forests — The Exhausting Process — Formation of Peat Swamps — Muck and Coal — Charcoal as a Fertilizer — Absorption of Gases, 82

CHAPTER XH.

Chemical Anal^'sis of the Soil — Selection of Loam — Amount of Mineral Matter Furnislied — Uses of Clay and Soil — To Test Soil — Adaptation of the Earth to Men's Comfort — Means of Improvement, 90

CONTENTS. . VU

LECTUKE FOURTH.

DRAINAGE OF LANDS.

CIIArTER XIII.

PAGB.

Introduction of Drainage — rriraitive Experiments — Natural Drainage

— Object of Drainage — Introduction of Tiles, .99

CIIArTER XIV.

The Advantage of Draining — Rains Never Injurious — Rain as a Fertilizer — DiSerence Between Rain and Spring Water — Minerals Held in Solution — Water an Obstacle to Decomposition — Lands Warmed by Drainage — Effects of Evaporation — Seasons Lengthened by Drainage — Drained Lands not affected by Droughts — Roots Strike Deeper — Extension of Territory Demands — Draining an Auxiliary to Health, 105

CHAPTER XV.

AVhat Lands Need Draining — Exterior Evidences — Sure Test of Necessity for Drainage — How to Drain Land — Advantages and Method of Tile Draining, 119

LECTURE FIFTH.

MINKIIAL FEUTILIZERS.

CHAPTER XVI.

Vegetable Deposits — Exhaustion of Lands — Errors in Manuring — Elements of Fertility Required — Classification and Judicious Use of Manures — The Farmer's Capital, 126

CHAPTER XVII.

Carbonate of Lime — Exhaustion from Use of Lime — Chemical and Mechanical Effect of Lime — Its Application — Sulphate of Lime — Plaster — Application of Gypsum — Gypsum an Absorbent, . . 134

CHAPTER XVIII.

Phosphate of Lime — Saving of Phosphate and Ammonia — Bones as a

Manure — Sujierphosphate of Lime — Dissolving of Bones, . . . 113

CHAPTER XIX.

Wood Aslies as a Manure — Composting Ashes — Mineral Matter in

Ashes — Cheapness of Ashes — Salt as a Manure, IV.)

Vm CONTENTS.

LECTURE SIXTH.

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL MANURES.

CHAPTER XX.

PACK.

Green Manuring — Clover as a Manure — Buckwheat as a "Weed Eradicate r — Construction of Leaves — Leaves as a Fertilizer —Forests as Mines of Wealth — Sea- Weed Composted, 155

CHAPTER XXI.

Muck Beds and their Value — Soils Most Benefited by Muck — Muck and Ashes Composted — Material for Compost-Heap — Husbandry of Fertilizing Material — Dried Grasses, 163

CHAPTER XXH.

Animal Manures — Comparative Quality of Barn-Yard Manures — Night Soil — Immense Waste of Treasure — Unfounded Prejudices — Teacliings of the Compost-Heap, 171

CHAPTER XXHL

Animal Substances Decomposed — Wool, Horn, Hair, Blood, &c. — Manure and Animal Substances Composted — Wonderful Mechanism of Nature — Application of Manures — Adaptation of IManures to the Crop — Surface Manuring — Like Produces Like, .... 181

LECTURE SEVENTH.

THE HAY CROP.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Value of the Hay Crop — Grass Versus Weeds — Sowing of Grass Seed — Chemical Analysis of Grass — Nutritive Value of Grass — How to Increase the Hay Crop — Quantity of Seed Necessary — Ked Top and Timothy — Self-Sown Grasses — Variety of Kinds Necessary — Orchard Grasses not Affected by Drought — Fashion Among Farmers, 189

CHAPTER XXV.

Early Cutting of Grass — Curing the Crop — Stimulating Effect of Hay — The Rowen Crop — Storage of Hay — Hay Imperfectly Cured — Feeding Hay, 203

CONTENTS. ix

CHAPTER XXVI. .

FAOK.

The Mowing Lot — Advantage of Drainage to Grass — How to Enlarge the Field — Deepening the Soil — Top-Dressing — Injury by Over-grazing — Material for Top-Dressing, 211

LECTURE EIGHTH.

POTATOES.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Value of the Crop — Nutritive Qualities — Introduction of the Potato — Prejudices Against Them — Cultivation of Varieties — •Injudicious Mixing — Difference in Flavor, Form and Productiveness — Advantage of an early Crop — Deep-eyed Potatoes — Early Planting — Vigorous Varieties — Large Yield, 220

CHAPTER XXVIH.

Potatoes— Quality of Soil, &c. — Sandy Soil for Potatoes — Use of Cultivator — Quality and Quantity of Seed — Largest Tubers not Profitable — Cutting the Seeds — Time of Digging — Storing the Crop — Originating new Varieties — Experiments in Propagation, . . . 236

LECTURE NINTH.

THE CORX CROP.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Decrease in the Corn Crop — Adaptation of Climate — Premium Crops — Early History of Corn — Cultivation by the Indians — Opinion of Baron Humboldt — Notes from " The Pilgrims' " Journal — Culture in Europe and United States — Large Crops and Poor Prices, . . 250

CHAPTER XXX.

Nature and Uses of Corn — ^Fattening Qualities — Muscle-Making Qualities — Danger of Overfeeding — Mineral Components — Effects of Plaster on the Corn Crop— Analysis of the Corn Cob — Value of the Cob for Animal Food, '261

CHAPTER XXXL

Varieties of Corn — Improvement of Seed — Popular Varieties — White and Yellow Corn — Sweet Corn — Philosophy of Pop Corn — Adapta- 1^

X CONTENTS.

PAOB.

tion of Soil — Appropriate Manures — Method of Application — Experiments in Seeds — Time and Mode of Planting — Harvesting the Crop — Cutting at the Roots, 269

LECTURE TENTH.

THE ROOT CEOP.

CHAPTER XXXn.

Roots Unknown to the Ancients as Food — Necessary to Health — ^Do Roots Pay ? — Following Old Customs — Root Raising in England — Good Beef from Turnips — Roots for Milch Cows — Water Essential to Life — Animal Craving for Roots — Tm-nips Compared to Corn — Premature Slaughter of Animals — Labor Necessary for a Beet Crop — Exhaustion of the Soil — European Experiences, . . 282

CHAPTER XXXni.

Culture of Roots — The Beet — Value of the Leaves — Varieties of Mangolds — Importance of Good Seed — Appropriate Manures — Getting the Crop — Swedish Turnip — The English Turnip^The Carrot Crop, 299

LECTURE ELEVENTH.

FRUIT.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Natural Taste for Fruit — Childhood Reminiscences — Beauty and Poetry of Fruit Culture— Is Fruit Raising Profitable ?— The Apple Crop — Overstocking the Market — Planting of Fruit Trees a Duty— High Price of Pears, 311

CHAPTER XXXV.

The Apple — Grafting Fruit — Origin of Apples — Improvement in Fruit — Hybridization of Plants — Limitation of Existence — Fault of Propagation — Constitutional Vigor Necessary — Chance Seedlings, 320

CHAPTER XXXVL

Proper Site for an Orchard — Proper Soil — Preparation of the Soil, — Top-Dressing — Cause of Failure — Affected by Drought — Planting Apple Trees — Enemies of Fruit Trees — The Curculio — Pruning Fruit Trees — Varieties of Apples — Plant Trees, 330

CONTENTS. xi

LECTURE TWELFTH.

CATTLE HUSBANDRY.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Value of Keeping Stock — ^Advantages of Cattle Raising — The Secret of Farm Wealth — Intelligence of Animals — Increase of Cattle- Roots and Vegetables for Fodder — Value of Cabbages for Cattle, 343

CHAPTER XXXVHI.

Feeding of Stock — Cooking Food — Regularity of Feeding — Plenty of Water — Value of Pure Air — Kind Treatment of Animals — Adaptation of Food to Animals — Food for Calves — Milk in Large Quantities — Experiments in Soiling — Staples in Life — Cheese Making, 353

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Breeds of Cattle — Jealousy of Cattle Breeders — Short Horn Durham — Nervous Temperament of Cattle — The Ayrshire and the Devon — The Jersey and the Brittany — Dutch Cattle — Increase of Cattle, 366

LEOTUEE FIE ST.

CHAPTER I.

AGRICULTURE AS A PURSUIT.

|E live in an age of progress. The time foretold in holy writ, "When the ends of the earth f3 should be brought together," has come. " Many are running to and fro and knowledge is increasing." We are among those who believe that every age has been an age of progress, that knowledge has ever been on the increase. It seems to us absurd to suppose that the wit and wisdom of one generation are wholly lost in the next, that each individual must work out for himself the problem of life, unaided by the experience of those who have gone before him, that nations rise and fall groping their way in darkness with no light thrown on their path from the history of preceding nations. Neither sacred nor profane history, neither prophecy nor fact, justify us in taking so gloomy and discouraging a view of life. True, the progress in the early ages of the world was slow. History was then unprinted. The accumulations of wisdom were poorly transmitted by manuscripts, monuments and tradition. Paper was unknown, and a parchment manuscript was a luxury too costly except for princes and nobles.

14 EFFECT OF THE PRINTING-PRESS.

The invention of printing acted on the slow progress of knowledge and the intellectual life of man, much as a drain acts upon a meadow, which from time immemorial has been covered with stagnant water, rendering all vegetation slow, uncertain and coarse. Let drain-tile be introduced beneath the surface of such a meadow, and the accumulated deposits of earthy and vegetable matter are at once ready to furnish food for new and beautiful life. The field that was so long struggling to rise from the slough of despond by slow deposits on its surface, now finds itself suddenly elevated into the region of air and sunshine, and is clothed with verdant and nutritious grasses.

Such was the effect of the printing-press upon the accumulated wisdom of the world. It gave currency to thought. Wherever its influence was felt, mankind were elevated into light and a new life. Steam and electricity have wonderfully accelerated the progress of this new life. Time and sjDace are almost annihilated by their magic influence. We can travel farther, see more and learn more in one year than our fathers could in half a life-time. Every science, every art has felt the electric impulse. Agriculture is no exception to this remark. Though slow to move, it has felt the power of the current which is bearing forward all jDhysical and metaphysical knowledge with an irresistible force.

The science of agriculture is, however, still in its infancy. As an art it has existed from the time when Adam was placed in the garden of Eden, and it may seem strange that an art which has been practiced as long as man has existed on the earth, and has occupied the attention of the great majority of men, should be so slow in attaining to the dignity of a science. It must be remembered, however, that chemistry, botany, geology,

A MODERN SCIENCE. 15

zoology and electricity are also modern sciences. The rocks, plants and animals have existed longer on the earth than man, but the scientific investigation of the rocks is comparatively recent. From the crumbling of the rocks by the action of air and water, and the crushing of them by vast glaciers and other mechanical means, the soil has been formed from which all plants and animals derive their nourishment, but it was left for modern science to analyze the rocks and to study their history, written as it were with a pen of iron on their face. Plants have existed from the time when the Creator said, " Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in itself." We have cultivated these plants, and they have been our support from the creation till now, but neither Moses, learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, nor Solomon, who gave his heart to wisdom, and spake of all the trees from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall, nor Socrates, the wisest of the Greeks, nor Cicero, the Roman philosopher, nor even- Lord Bacon, the giant of English intellects, could analyze a leaf and tell its elementary constituents.

The lower animals came to Adam to be named, and they have been man's constant companions and allies in all ages ; still zoology is a modern science. The Greeks knew that amber when rubbed would attract light substances, and they called this power " electron," but this was pretty much all they knew of electricity, which now looms up in such vast proportions and is revolutionizing the business of the world. These are the sciences which are the progenitors of the complicated science of agriculture, and we must not blame the farmers for not working out the theory of their occupation, when men, — phi-

16 DEEPER PvESEAECH NEEDED.

losophers as well as fools, — lived till tlie days of William Harvey without understanding the theory of the circulation of the blood.

When we consider the extensive and complex relations of the science of agriculture, we do not much wonder that it is still in its infancy. The truly scientific farmer needs all the wisdom of the geologist, the chemist, the mineralogist, the botanist, the zoologist and the mechanic. The whole range of physical science pours its contributions into the lap of agriculture.

Let no one, however, be discouraged by this from the practice of an art which is so simple that too many have thought it to require only the exercise of muscular force, guided by the smallest modicum of intellectual ability. It is one of the beauties of the art that all men, whether learned or unlettered, can practice it. The simpleton may possibly hold his plow and sow his seed as well as the wisest of philosophers, and a mind as great as that of Daniel Webster may find ample scope for investigation upon the farm. We very much doubt whether Uzziah, one of Israel's most prosperous kings, who ,is described "as loving husbandry and having much cattle, both in the low country and in the plains ; husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel," knew as much of the laws of breeding cattle, or of the chemistry of wine manufacture as the majority of the graduates of our high schools. He was, however, a prince among husbandmen as well as a mighty ruler, " for he loved husbandry."

Agriculture is not like painting, poetry and other fine arts, in which only the few who are born painters and poets can hope to succeed. Farmers are made, not born. The art is of so universal necessity that any degree of ex-

HEEEDITAPwY LOVE FOR FARMING. 17

cellence in it is desirable. Any man tliat makes twor blades of grass grow where one grew before, deserves and receives credit for his skill. If he makes ten blades grow instead of one, we give him still greater credit. No matter whether he tills one acre or a hundred or a thousand, — if he cultivates well what he undertake^, he will find great satisfaction in the employmelit ; and an acre will furnish far greater scope for mental and muscular exercise than is commonly supposed.

Agriculture is unlike other arts, also, in the almost universal love which mankind have for it. A, father, in the selection of an occupation for his son, if he is a wise man, will consult the bent of the boy's genius, and v/ill not undertake to make a mechanic of him, unless he shows an aptitude for the use of tools, much less will he apprentice him to a painter, unless the lad shows a decided taste for this fine art. Many a good farmer has been spoiled in the vain attempt to become a minister. The love of agriculture, however, is so universal, and life in the country is such a normal condition of man, that, no matter what else our taste and talents may lead us to pursue, we have never yet met vv^ith a man who did not desire to be a landlord, to sit under his own vine and apple tree, and enjoy the fruits of his own labors, which mother earth holds out with a full hand to those who cherish her in ardent love. We have met with men too lazy to work, who sneered at farm life as one of unremitting toil, and j^referred some other occupation in which they could earn a living with less sweat of the brow, but men who are afraid of work are not destined to excel in any business or profession, and are drones living on the honey collected by others, no matter whether they are farmers, mechanics or professional men. Labor on a farm is no more un-

18 AGRICULTURAL REST.

congenial to them than lal)or in the shop and office. These same men all acknowledge the pleasure and independence of rural life, but unfortunately

" He that by the plow would thrive, Himself must either hold or drive ; "

and however pleasurable the thrift may be, the driving is decidedly uncongenial. We know a farmer Avho sits in his house of a pleasant June day, enjoying the soporihc influence of his pipe, and occasionally saying, " I wish them potatoes were hoed." It cannot be said of such an one that he has great relish for agricultural pursuits, but he probably does as much at farming as he would in merchandising or manufacturing. In either of these occupations he would be distanced by his competitors, and probably become an object of charity, but, notwithstanding his shiftless, lackadaisical mode of farming, he raises pork and potatoes enough to keep soul and body together. Many a professional man, with his head aching with the perplexities of his business, sighs for the quiet, sim^^le pleasures of farm life, and many a merchant constantly on the qui vive to outstrip his competitors in trade, and fearing commercial revulsions which may strip liim of the results of a life of toil and enterprise, longs for a home in the country, where he may spend quietly the evening of his days. A professional man with a l)rilliant genius, fitting him '' to govern men and guide the State," and shine in the most polished society^ recently said to us, " Can I manage a few acres of land ? I long to l)e the owner of some land and a tiller of the soil." This longing, ^^e think, is pretty universal. Tilling the soil is the primeval occupation of man, and we inherit from father Adam the love of the ancestral business, which the ardent pursuit of no other calling fully eradicates.

CHAPTER 11.

DIGNITY AND PLEASURES OF FARM LIFE.

|E therefore say without fear of contradiction, that 1,^ more men are fitted by natural taste and ca- ?^^^^^ pacity for farminQ- than for any other occupation. tf'-.^--* "We go further and say there are few men witli tastes so perverted and capacity so small Avho can not earn a comfortable livelihood b}^ agriculture. AVe have in our mind's eye now, a man Avho l)y some hook or crook entered one of our New England colleges. Hoav he passed the ordeal of examination we never knew, but the keen eyes of his fellow students soon discovered that he Avas not fitted for a college course, indeed that his wits Avere barely sufficient to keep him out of the fire. They did not keep him from the fire of ridicule, Avhich soon became so hot that by the force of public opinion, not by the interference of the faculty, he was compelled to leave college and retire to a farm. Strange as it may seem, he made a good farmer, managed successfully two hundred acres of land and a large herd of cattle, and had money to lend to whoever would give him ample security. The adaptation of agriculture to all degrees of intellect is trulv wonderful. Daniel Webster, the type of intellectual strength, found ample scope for liis powers upon the farm, and the dwarfed capacity of the Irish peasant has been found adequate to the management of land, and he sometimes manages it with exceeding skill.

20 AGRICULTUEE ADAPTED TO ALL CLASSES.

The adaptation of ao^riculture to all ranks and condi-

J. o

tions of society is not less wonderful. The king himself, Avithout any loss of dignity, can be a farmer. Most of the presidents of these United States have been farmers, and have retired from their high position to the cultivation of their broad acres. We should be sorry to see a president reduced to selling lace and broadcloth, but of AVashington as a farmer, we are almost as proud as of Washington the president. Adams on his farm at Quincy, Jefferson on his estate at Monticello, Jackson at the Hermitage, were just as dignified as when in the presidential chair. Van Buren prided himself as much upon his large patch of cabbages at Kinderhook as upon his sharp diplomacy at Washington. Clay, surrounded by his short-horns at Ashland, was as much a nobleman as when gazed upon with delight by his compeers in the Senate chamber. The massive intellect of Webster was as conspicuous in the guidance of his farm at Marshfield as when he guided the affairs of State.

The philosopher and the peasant meet on common ground when they meet on the farm, and it would be strange if the philosopher could not learn something from the peasant, as well as the peasant from the philosopher ; and in this exchange of thought, as well as in the balance between brain and muscle, each finds his own dignity and self-respect supported.

Prince and peasant alike feel that in cultivating the soil they are fulfilling the mission which the Creator gave to man when he placed him in the garden of Eden. The pleasure, too, which the cultivator feels in raising his own fruits and flowers is very analogous to the pleasure of the Creator when he looked upon the works of his hands and pronounced them good. We doubt not there is pleasure

CHEMICAL CHANGES. 21

in the successful prosecution of any branch of useful industry. The conversion of cotton and wool into fabrics for the protection and adornment of our persons, is a species of creation, a remoulding of raw material into forms of beauty and utility, which must give the manufacturer great satisfaction ; but this does not seem so much like a miracle as the creation of new life from inert matter, a transformation which the farmer constantly sees going on around him, and in the conduct of which he has a directing agency. In the case of the manufacturer, no new life is the result of his skill and labor. Matter is transformed and is made useful and beautiful ; but cloth, glass and paper have no life.

Not so with the products of the farm. Here dead, inert matter is transformed, not only into a thing of beauty and utility, but becomes also a thing of life. An apple lives and grows, and this vegetable life is destined to enter into the composition of a still higher organization in animal life. How the vile, offensive matter in the compost heap is converted into the luscious and fragrant peach, is beyond the power of human ken to discern. It is a living, perpetual miracle, attesting the wisdom and power of the great Creator ; but the farmer acts an important part in the transformation. He prepares the compost, determines whether it shall fertilize a melon or a cabbage, sows the seed, and cultivates the plant, and so is, at least, a co-worker with the First Great Cause, and shares with him the pleasure of creation, as, it seems to us, the worker in no other branch of industry can.

In planting a tree and watching the expanding bud, the opening blossom and the maturing fruit, there is certainly a pleasure which the mere consumer does not and can not enjoy. It has been said that "an undevout

22 CllEATlYE POWERS OF ISIAX.

astronomer is mad," and it seems to us that an iindevout farmer is equally insane. All his life-time he works side by side with the Creator, and must feel his dependence upon a higher power for the sunshine and the rain, and upon a wisdom higher than that of any chemist, decomposing and recomposing in the laborator}^ of nature the atoms of matter which are too small to be seen by the human eye. AVe talk about making this and that to grow, but how small really is the agency which man exercises in the creation of new life. We are the engineers of the train, but the power which moves the whole is without and above us.

-Poets, who are supposed to see further into the depths of human passion, and to understand the hidden mysteries and the problems of life better than common folks, have always pictured the highest happiness in rural life. HoAv absurd it Avould be for a poet to describe a paradise in the city. Imagination, in her highest conceptions for the abode of man, always places him in some Arcadia, surrounded by trees and floAvers, the music of the birds, the murmurs of the running brook, and all the forms of animate life. " God made the country, man made the town," and as the works of God are infinitely superior to those of man, so the pleasure derived from the observation of the works of the Creator is immeasurably greater than that derived from those of the creature.

There is a majesty and beauty, a perfectness of mechanism and coloring in nature, which art in vain tries to imitate. If we examine the point of a thorn under a microscope we find it truly a point, having position without magnitude ; but if under the same instrument Ave examine a cambric needle, it has much the appearance of a common croAv-bar. In the same maiuicr, if Ave examine

the texture of ^a leaf, its delicate mechanism is all the more apparent ; bat the finest product of the loom, wlien largely magnified, seems too coarse for the garments of civilized life. Those doomed to live incarcerated within the brick walls of a city endeavor to import into their prison-like aljodes some of the beauties of the country. A few plants in the conservatory serve to give them some notion of the rich coloring of nature ; a caged bird or two hung up in the halls give a few notes and a few snatches of the tunes which the great orchestra of birds is constantly repeating in the fields ; and a few paintingshung on the walls give but a poor representation of the landscapes which the farmer has but to open his eyes to enjoy in all their magnificence and beauty. Life, music and motion can not be transferred to canvas. The trees, flocks and herds of Arcadia can be painted, and the nearer the picture comes to a representation of the real scene, the more we admire it ; but the Avaving of the leaves, the lowing of the cattle, the bleating of the sheep and the frisking of the lambs can not be delineated.