overhauled and thoroughly mixed two or three these favors. Spread out upon our fair pages, they times during that period. It was then applied, cannot fail of having a decided influence to adabout half a pint to each hill, and the corn dropt vance our noble Art and elevate the homes of our upon it, and in a field of ten acres there were not people. 500 spears of corn made their appearance. Even as we have recommended its application above, it would always be safer to mix the muck and guano with the soil, before dropping the corn upon it.

phates, and continues to carry the crop on until it is perfected.

Guano, purchased at fair prices, and judiciously applied, is an economical and efficient fertilizer. It is usually beneficial upon every description of soil and crops.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

LADIES' DEPARTMENT.

DOMESTIC MORALS.

The American guano, having less ammonia, may be used by planting seeds directly upon it, but in Who shall measure the evil brought into a this case we cannot doubt but it would be better school or university by one black sheep? The to mix it with the soil into which the seed is contamination is gradual, but certain, and many characters of the weaker sort, will, by bad associplanted. This guano, however, abounds in phos-ation, receive that bias towards evil which was all that was necessary for their ruin. It is so, as we all have opportunities of seeing, among domestic servants. Their power of injuring each other is immense. Take the case of a small establishment, maids, who have been brought up from the counconsisting, we will say, of a couple of servant try. They are uninitiated in the slang of the London members of their tribe, and are contented and happy. They can exist without followers. They can do all the work of the house with ease and cheerfulness. They will take what it may be convenient to give them for dinner and supper, rather astonished, in fact, at fare so much superior to what they have been accustomed to in their own poverty-sticken homes. In short, they are good and contented servants, and their mistress congratulates herself with reason when she hears her friends complaining of domestic troubles. But how long does this last? On some special occasion of a grand cleaning, or some equally miserable disturbance, "help" is sent for, and the charwoman of discord is flung into the happy family. This worthy lady is kind enough to enlighten the two injured innocents to whose rescue she has come, as to their "rights." For these she exhorts them to stand up, as other servants do. What, isfied to be deprived of the visits of their male relwill they "put up" with cold meat? are they sat

they might regale so pleasantly and cheaply with their patron's food? Well, they are poor-spirited things if they allow themselves to be put upon like that!-Dickens's All the Year Round.

As usual, at this season of the year, we have on hand many communications that we cannot find room for at once. We shall publish first those that are adapted to the season, and then continue with others. These articles, we suppose, are the result of winter studies, and as the spring opens we shall have less of them. We hope our friends will continue to write, as the value of the Farmer must depend in a considerable degree upon their communications. Among the articles recently received and not published, are,-Upon Rivalry in Farming; The Right Thing in the Right Place at the Right Time; Barns; Why are so Few Young Men Fond of Farming? Patent Office Report; Mental Culture; Decline of the Hen Fever; Ro-atives and other friends "from the country," whom tation in Forests; The Turnip Crop; About Bees; Fences; Why is not Farming Profitable? How Shall our Sons be best Educated? The Roadsides of the Farm; Agriculture in our Common Schools; Southern Illinois; Hints on Buying Farms; Does Farming Pay? Dissemination of Foul Seeds;— TO REMOVE STAINS.-Alcohol will wash out Painting and Shelter for Buildings; Agriculture stains of oil, wax, resin and pitchy substances; so in our Colleges; Plowing Orchards; Farm Build- will spirits of turpentine, and generally without ings; Birds; On Deodorizing Materials; Ringing be removed with alcohol, as it is liable to leave a injury to colors. The turpentine may afterward Plants; Sheep Barns; Meadow Muck; Wood's slight stain. Common burning fluid, which is a Mowing Machine; Clay as a Fertilizer; Culture mixture of alcohol and turpentine (or camphene,) and Uses of Kohl Rabi; New Method of Planting is an excellent solvent of oil, wax, tar, resin, etc., Potatoes; Quality and Quantity of Seed; Wheat and it soon dries off after use. Bran as a Fertilizer; Concentrated Manures; Sawdust as an Absorbent; How to Measure Hay; To the Young Men; Raising Calves; Culture of Leading Crops; St. Johns Wort; A Word about Colts; and The Characteristics of the Chester Co. Breed of White Swine. In addition to these there are letters of inquiries, all of which will be carefully attended to and find a place in good time. Correspondents will please accept our thanks for

THE Paris women are excited about an electric head-dress invented for the Empress Eugenie. It is a crown formed of globules of glass lighted by electric light, and set with diamonds, rubies and emof itself a dark room, and if ever put into general eralds. It emits such an effulgence as to light up use, will supersede the necessity of gas light or wax candles. Every lady will be her own chandelier.

SUBSTITUTES FOR COFFEE.

THE CATTLE MARKETS FOR MARCH.
The following is a summary of the reports for the four weeks

NUMBER AT MARKET.

February 27.......778

The high price of tea and coffee has caused many to adopt substitutes for a morning bever-ending March 20, 1862: age. Go where you will, you hear the subject discussed, and stepping into houses, you are regaled with the odor of burning peas, rye, barley, or whatever is designed for a substitute. That some of these articles will make a very palatable and wholesome beverage we think no one will deny. We give below some of the recipes that are floating around, and have been commended:

Rye Coffee.-Take a peck of rye and cover it with water, let it steep or boil until the grain swells or commences to burst, then drain or dry it. Roast to a deep brown color, and prepare as other coffee, allowing twice the time of boiling. Served with boiled milk.

Another. Take some rye; 1st, scald it; 2d, dry it; 3d, brown it, and then mix it with onethird coffee and two-thirds rye, and then you will have as good a cup of coffee as you ever drank.

Sweet Potato Coffee.--Another writer, in one of our exchanges, gives the following recipe for the preparation of a substitute for coffee. We give it for what it is worth, never having seen it

tried:

"Take sweet potatoes, cut them fine enough to dry conveniently, and when dried, grind in a coffee mill; dry them by the fire or stove at this scason of the year, or by the sun when that will do it; grind and use, mixed with coffee in such proportions as you like. Some of my neighbors omit half of the coffee; some more."

Barley Coffee.-Take common barley, or the skinless if it can be obtained, roast as you would coffee, and mix in such proportion as suits your taste. It is very good.

March 6.........1036
March 13.........1559

March 20.........1217

Total.

Cattle.

4590

Sheep, live weight..
Beef cattle, Ib........ ..5 @6jc
.....4151
Swine, stores, wholesale....4 5

66 retail. Live fat hogs....

REMARKS. Most of the cattle at market during the month

were offered for sale as beef. Of the 4590 cattle reported above

as the total for the four weeks, 2480, or more than one-half, were

from the West. During the first half of the month the market showed an upward tendency, while for the last half it has been downward. This change was more marked in mutton than in beef, produced partly at least by the large arrivals of heavy

sheep from the West, at the market of March 6th. Milch cows sold readily until the last week, March 20, when the market was quite dull.

CHICKENS VS. CHINCH BUGS AND PLUM WEEer, that a hen and chickens placed in a coop in the VILS.-We see it reported in the Southern Plantcorner of a wheat field, where the chinch bug had check upon the insects thereabouts, though they commenced its ravages, proved to be an effectual did considerable injury out of the range of the chickens.

Pea Coffee.-It is probably known to many that insects which chickens are ever ready to pick up. The chinch bug is only one of the destructive a very large per cent. of the ground coffee sold at In our yard stands a black-heart cherry tree, the the stores is common field peas roasted and ground fruit of which was quite wormy last year, as is with the coffee. There are hundreds of thous-often the case with this variety. This spring we ands of bushels of peas annually used for that placed a chicken coop with its occupants near the purpose. Those who are in the habit of purchas- tree, and secured a full crop of fruit, showing no ing ground coffee can do better to buy their own peas, burn and grind them, and mix to suit them- appearance of worms. The insects, as they emerged selves. from the ground in winged form, were so effectually picked up that they failed to deposit their eggs in the fruit. Of course there will be a short crop of worms next season.

Carrot Coffee is recommended by an exchange. Cut up, dry and grind, and mix with coffee in quantities to suit the taste.

THE WOMEN OF A NATION.-I do not hesitate NEW SEEDLING POTATOES.-In another colto say that the women give to every nation a mor- umn, Mr. CHARLES W. GLEASON, of Holden, in al temperament, which shows itself in its politics. this State, advertises several varieties of new seedA hundred times I have seen weak men show real public virtue, because they had by their sides woling potatoes, some of which we have seen, but men who supported them, not by advice as to par-not tasted. They are very handsome, and especticulars, but by fortifying their feelings of duty, ially so is the Garnet Chili. It is of medium size, and by directing their ambition. More frequent-flattish, and the eyes are nearly on a level with ly, I must confess, I have observed the domestic the general surface of the potato. This is always influence gradually transforming a man, naturally

generous, noble and unselfish, into a cowardly, a recommendation, as it is difficult to prepare a common-place, place-hunting self-seeker, thinking potato for the pot where its eyes are deeply set. of public business only as a means of making him- Mr. Gleason has given much attention to the mat self comfortable and this simply by contact with ter of introducing new varieties of good potatoes, a well-conducted woman, a faithful wife, an excel- and among them we shall undoubtedly find some lent mother, but from whose mind the grand no- that will be a valuable addition to our present tion of public duty was entirely absorbed.Tocqueville.

list.

BOSTON, MAY, 1862.

VOL. XIV.

NOURSE, EATON & TOLMAN, PROPRIETORS.
OFFICE....100 WASHINGTON STREET.

NO. 5.

SIMON BROWN EDITOR.
HENRY F. FRENCH, ASSOCIATE EDITOR.

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MONTH OF MAY. poured from every grove-all unite to fill every

sense with enjoyment. In such latitudes, the "ethereal mildness" and "balmy sweets" which breathe in song may be a literal transcript of the impressions of a May day on their inhabitants.

AY, among the old heathen Romans, was sacred to their god Apollo, who, But with us, the first of May is too early for the according to their out-door amusement of a holiday, especially by belief, presided females, and those of sedentary habits. The earth over music, poetry, is still too damp, the air too chill for health or and the fine arts comfort, and, besides, the charms of nature are not generally; and it developed. Though scarcely a flower of the humis said that with blest rank can be found during a day's ramble, the $ them almost every youth of our land seem determined to perpetuate day in the month the observance of a festival which belongs to a was a festival. The more southern clime. Occasionally, indeed, the custom which has first of May is sufficiently warm, dry and comdescended to our own fortable for out-door exercise and amusement, but times, of observing the often the weather is quite unfavorable. Storms of first day of the month, or rain and sleet, sometimes of snow even, are comMay-day, with festive and mon, especially in the more elevated portions of floral rites, or at least by New England, during the first week in May. So wandering over hills and that, in our climate, the young people who decide dales in search of flowers, on a May-day ramble, must be uncertain up to the is supposed to have been derived from an equally very time of sallying forth at "peep of day," whethancient Roman festival in honor of Flora, another | er to dress themselves for the heat of summer, or of their gods, who had the especial charge of flowers and gardens. This holiday season lasted four days, from the 28th of April to the first of May.

for the chill of Winter,-for a soft southern wind, or for a piercing northeaster. And how often has a sore throat or a hoarse cough the next day reminded a fond mother that she was wrong in-permitting her daughter to "go Maying" so thinly

In the warmer climates of Greece and Rome, the nurseries of our poetry and literature as well as of our arts and sciences, May is probably enti-clad and in so cold a wind. tled to all the praises which have been lavished upon it by poets, and by their imitators in our own country, however inapplicable much of their poetical descriptions are to the season of May day with us.

In those countries, at the commencement of this month, we are told that the temperature of the air, the pure-blue of the sky, the soft green of the leaves, the thousand delicate tints of the flowers scattered so profusely over hill and valley, with the perfume which they exhale, and the music

We fear that the life of many a youth is yearly sacrificed to the celebration of this holiday in New England. In England, where the season of spring is several degrees warmer than with us, the observance of May-day seems to be falling into disuse, although it was in old times one of the favorite holidays of the people. Milton, Shakspeare, and most of the old poets, have spoken of its festivities. Old Chaucer says that on May morning,

"Forth goeth all the Court, both moste and leste, To fetche the Boures, and braunch and blome."

goose, but this cannot be done after the first cross-
ing, any more than the Jack and horse, which
stops at the mule. In the paper alluded to as
above, the writer cautions cultivators to be careful
to sow melons, cucumbers, &c., away from pump-
have never as yet known the crook-neck to hybri-
kins and squashes, as "they will hybridize." I
dize with the pumpkin, melons, cucumbers, &c.,
although planted side by side.
Yours truly,

J. M. IVES.

Probably, the change consequent on the adop- | many confound the term species with varieties, tion of the New Style, by which the month com- hence some suppose that our Canada goose can mences about a dozen days earlier than it did in be crossed, year after year, with our domestic the times of those "good, old English gentlemen," is one reason why its observance is becoming unpopular. In her "Calendar of the Seasons," Mary Howitt says, "May-day, though still observed as a rural festival, has often little pleasure to bestow, except that arising from the name." In another later English publication, a writer, referring to the section of country in which he resides, says: "The May-day ceremonial has died out among us." These festivities he regards as belonging rather to the relationship of the feudal baron and his tenants, than to our own times, and rejoices that the benevolence of the English land-holders which once encouraged the observance of Mayday, is as active now as ever, though directed to other and more worthy ones. "The school festival or pic-nic, the plowing-match and the horticultural show," says he, "have driven out Maypoles and Christmas misrule."

If this festival is to be perpetuated in New England, its observance ought to be transferred to the latter part of the month, when the earth is covered with a garb of richest green, and when our orchards present

"One boundless blush, one white empurpled shower Of mingled blossoms,"

Salem, March, 1862.

For the New England Farmer. HOW SEEDS GERMINATE. A seed, when ripe, possesses a large share of carbon. This is necessary to its preservation, but is an impediment to its development as a new plant.

To rid itself of this principle it must convert the carbon into carbonic acid; for this purpose, oxygen is necessary, which it cannot readily obtain from the atmosphere in its dry state, but by burying it in the soil it takes the requisite supply of oxygen from the water, which it absorbs, fixing hydrogen (the other element of water) in its tissue, and thus it is enabled to form carbonic acid, which it throws off by its respiratory organs until the proportion of carbon is lowered to the amount best suited to the growth of the plant. The water also causes an expansion of the parts, many soluble parts become fluid, and thus sap is formed and a circula

and when one feels, as he walks in field or forest, tion is established, which keeps up a communicalike ejaculating with Wordsworth,

"And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes."

But then this period is in the midst of the planting season, and the farmers of New England are so busy that we dare not recommend a change that would appropriate one of these busy days to a public celebration. May-day must, therefore, be postponed to the fourth of July.

For the New England Farmer.

tion between the remote parts of the plant.

Heat aids in causing the vital principle to act, expands the air in the microscopic cavities of the seed, and produces a distention of all the organic parts, which thus have their irritability excited, never again to be destroyed except with death.

Germination being established, the parts enlarge, and new parts are formed from a mucilaginous saccharine secretion which the germinating seed has the power of forming.

From this the root, or radicle, is formed, and goes downward in search of food, the stem or plumule rears itself in the air and unfolds the seed leaves or cotyledons, which, when exposed to the MESSRS. EDITORS:-Crude notions exist re-come green, and form the matter by which all the light, decompose carbonic acid, fix the carbon, begarding the above vegetables, which are constant-pre-existing parts are solidified.

SQUASHES VERSUS PUMPKINS.

And thus a plant is born into the world.

E. W. B.

VERMONT STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.— The officers of this Society for the year 1862 are:

ly reiterated in many of our agricultural papers. They are classed indiscriminately as belonging to the same genus of plants, when, in fact, they are perfectly distinct. I am induced at this time to forward you a few words on this subject, from meeting in the Working Farmer of the last month, an article on the Autumnal Marrow, President-H. HENRY BAXTER, Rutland; Vice (known in New York) as the "Boston Marrow," as Presidents-Edwin Hammond, Middlebury, J. a true squash. Now this vegetable, together with W. Colburn, Springfield, Henry Keyes, Newbury, the Valparaiso, Hubbard, Polk, Acorn and Cus- John Jackson, Brandon; Recording and Correstard, are as truly pumpkins, as the Connecticut ponding Secretary-Daniel Needham, Hartford; field and Hard Shell pumpkins, and will all hy-Treasurer-J. W. Colburn, Springfield; Direc bridize or mix, while the Winter Crook-neck, tors-Frederick Holbrook, Brattleboro', E. B. (which I take to be the true type of squashes,) will not hybridize with the pumpkin. If it was inclined to this, it would have lost its normal form and disappeared long since. Nature, as well as observation, teaches us regarding species, but

Chase, Lyndon; H. S. Morse, Shelburne, D. R.
Potter, St. Albans, Henry G. Root, Bennington,
David Hill, Bridport, John Gregory, Northfield,
Elijah Cleaveland, Coventry, Nathan Cushing,
Woodstock, George Campbell, Westminster,

In the first place, no man should buy a farm un-farms for sale; one at $40 per acre and the other less he is resolved to live on it all his days, and having made that resolution, let him look for one that he can be contented on, or he had best not buy at all, for a discontented farmer is a pitiable object.