eartsiontittt.
ERASM.US.
A SKETCH FROM THE HISTORY OF
THE REFORMATION IN THE
NETHERLANDS.
ST N. M. S.
It was not until the sixteenth century
that the Reformation became a fact in
the history of the world, or of the coun
try we are more especially considering.
We have seen reforming elements, efforts
and symptoms appearing for centuries
in the churches of Rolland ; but as - the
year 1500 opens we may see them mul
tiplying in number and gaining in force
with a rapidity that is prophetic of the
end. The monks become more impu
dent, the devices of the Church of Rome
grow more openly scandalous and intol
erable. The character of the reigning
Pope, Cesar Borgia, was outrageous and
criminal beyond conception. That such
a veritable monster of wickedness could
gain and keep the supreme place in the
Romish Church, was enough of itself to
rouse afresh and to concentrate all the
discontent, hostility and revolutionary
feelings, which for generations had been
gathering in the minds of .men. God's
providence wonderfully interposed by
giving to the world, at this time, the
great invention of printing. By this,
most of all, the word of God was freely
scattered among the people, who had
known almost nothing of it before. By
this, too, the people were rapidly made
acquainted with each other's opinions of
the grievous errors and abuses of the
Church of Rome. A far greater ad
vance on the old method of communi
cation to the people of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries was the invention of
printing, than that of the magnetic tele
graph has been to us. Thought trickled
slowly, drop by drop, through narrow
and costly channels, from mind to mind,
before. Now, pamphlets, tracts and
treatises, Bibles and Testaments fell like
snowflakes over a wide territory in the
same moment. Without this great ad
junct of the printing-press, the unenlight
ened people would have been appealed
to in vain, by Luther or Melancthon or
Calvin. Their views of the sinfulness
and errors of the Romish Church would
have continued to be too general and
outward, and their
,convictions, not
founded on the word of God, would
have proved too weak to bear them into
and through the mighty struggle. The
Reformation would have had to wait.
Lather, without the echo of the myriads
of approving voices which his widely
distributed writings called forth, would
have fallen a victim to papal rage, or
-- would never have had the needed stimu
lus for the great work of popular eman
cipation, which he was led, step by step,
to undertake. The Reformers were the
men of learning, the students, the inde
pendent thinkers of their time. With
out the printing-press, they would have
pursued their studies in retired cloisters ;
their peculiar views would have been
known to a select few, and their active
efforts limited, like those of Huss in Bo
hemia, to a single country and a genera
tion or two of their countrymen. But
the printing-press gave to the Reformers
of the sixteenth century an eager, wake
ful, intelligent audience, immense in num-
bers, spread over every country in Chris
tendom, constantly acting and reacting
upon one another and upon the Reform
ers themselves. Instantly, the thrones of
papal intolerance and of temporal, des
potism began to tremble. Men held in
their hands an authority above them
both : the Bible.
It was in Holland that the man origi
nated who first effectually used the press
as a weapon against the -Papacy, and
who was undoubtedly the inaugurator
of the Reformation as an intellectual and
literary movement. Dediderius Eras
mus, the son of a priest, was born in
Rotterdam in 14 67. From deeP poverty
and humiliation, he rose by the force of
indomitable zeal and industry to learn
ing and to influence, such as few men
have ever enjoyed. As soon as he could
procure any money, he spent it first in
buying Greek books, and then in buying
clothes. He soon exceeded the most
eminent scholars of his time in the cor
rectness and elegance of his style. His
works abound in those shrewd sayings,
and that clear, lively and enlightened
wit, which amuse and quicken and in
struct the reader at once. He was so
absorbed in study that he kept it up
while on horseback, and his most cele
brated work, The Praise of Folly, an
attack on the monks, was composed on
a journey which he made from Italy to
England. Seven editions of this book
were sold in a few months. Twenty
seven editions appeared during the life
of the author. Without the artof print
ing, it Is unlikely - that so much as a
single edition would have been painfully
copied and slowly circulated, among the
- educated and wealthy feNV.
In this book, first published in 15,08,
Folly is reprepented as a woman, born
in the Fortunate Islands, brought up in
drunkennesS and impertinence, and queen
of a powerful empire. She is introduced
as describing all the different states be-
longing to her dominions, but she dwells
parts oily upon the - priests; monks and
theoldgialis of the_ RomiSh Church. It
)is 'over tillem emphatically- that Polly
, She ridicules their shallow
Itiqping . , — ,tbeir absurd argtiments ;
she arsclifses 'OW disoraers; ignortmce,
filthy habltß laiselickid, avarice and silly
superstitions of the monks. She even
accuses the bishops of running more
after gold than after souls; and boldly
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1866.
claiming the Pontiff himself as a subject,
she charges him with passing his time
in amusements and leaving the duties
of his ministry to St. Peter and St. Paul.
She accuses him of falsifying the doc
trine of Christ by forced interpretations,
and of crucifying him a second time by
a scandalous life.
One of the chief painters of the day,
Holbein, employed his talents in adding
the moat telling illustrations to the book,
among which he did not hesitate to
place the Pope himself, with his triple
crown.
Perhaps no work has ever appeared
so thoroughly suited to the wants of the
age as The Praise of Folly. It produced
an indescribable impression throughout
Christendom. It was translated into
every European language, and it con
tributed more than any other book to
settle the convictions of the people in
favor of a radical reform among the
priesthood.
But the philosopher of Rotterdam
rendered still greater service to the truth.
He not only threw aside the vain and in
tricate speculations of the middle ages,and •
brought students back to the classical
authors of Greek and Rome, but he took
a step in advance, which was as impor
tant to religion and theology as the dis
covery of Columbus, just made, was to
the existing commerce and geography of
the world. He insisted that men must
go for their theology back of the school
men, back of the early fathers, and back
even of the Latin translation of the New
Testament called the Vulgate, to the
original Greek itself—a text as little
known in the Catholic countries of Eu
rope, as America was before the disco
very of Columbus. In 1516 he pub
lished an edition of the Greek Testa
ment with notes and comments,-saying
as he did it : "It is my desire to lead
back that cold disputer of words, styled
Theology - , to its real fountain." " The
most exalted aim," he says again, "of
the revival of learned pursuits is to ob
tain a knowledge of the pure and simple
Christianity of the Bible. lam firmly
resolved to die in the study of the Scrip
tures ; in them is all my joy and peace."
" A spiritual temple must be raised in
desolated Christendom. The mighty of
this world will contribute towards it
their marble, their ivory and their gold ;
I, who am poor and humble, offer the
foundation-stone."
This edition of the New Testament,
together with his paraphrases of various
epistles and gospels, his commentaries
on the Psalms, his editions of the Fath
ers and other theological productions,
accomplished wonderful results. , All
around, a taste was spread for the, word
of God and for a pure theology. " The
Praise of Folly" helped to break down
the old abuses ; these latter works aided
largely in laying the foundations' and
raising the structure of the Reformed
Church. His writings followed one an
other in rapid succession. He labored
unceasingly, and his works were seized
upon and read by the people as fast as
they appeared. The animation and the
native energy of his style ; the intellect,
so rich and so delicate, so witty and so
bold that was poured, without any re
serve, in such copious streams upon his
contemporaries, led away and enchanted
the immense public who devoured the
Works of the philosopher of Rotterdam.
He soon became the most influential
man in Christendom. Crowned heads
sought his - society, and wealth and honor
poured in upon him.
In England, his Greek, and Latin
Testament _was received with unbounded
enthusiasm. Never had any book pro
duced such a sensation. It was in
every hand ; men struggled to procure
it, read it eagerly,and would even kiss
it. The words it contained` enlightened
every heart Monks and 'pins,- priests
and bishops were, indeed, enraged at the
wide-spreading influence of the word of
God, going forth to . lhe world on the
wings of the press. " Here are horrible
heresies," they cried ; " here are fright=-
fal anti-Christs. If this book be telerated,':
it will be the death of the papacy."
Archbishop Lee, of England, once the
friend, but afterward the • implacable
enemy of Erasmus, declared of his Greek
and Latin New Testament: " If . we do
not stop this leak, it will sink the ship."
Erasmus himself spent many years in
England, where the learned had received
him at an early perind of his career,
with a joyful welcome. He became the
guest and friend, the pet andthe pride of
the great. His name was in every
mouth. Erasmus! Erasmus I echoed
from court to castle, from Oxford to.
London. Henry the VIII., even before
he became king, knew and admired him;
and after ascending, to the throne in
1509, he wrote to Erasmus; then at the
Pope's court in Rome. The letter was
in good Latin, and it expressed such
regard for the philosopher, that he for
sook the Papal court and hastened to
London, where Henry gave him a hearty
welcome. There Erasmus found the
leisure and the regard which his tastes
and his nature craved. " Where," he
asked, "is the Athens, the Porch or the
Academe that can be compared with the
court of England ? It is a seat of the
muses rather than a palace. The gold
en age is reviving, and I congratulate
the world."
But this was no time for.. undisturbed
literary ease, with those who so boldly
attacked' the rooted and powerful preju
dices of the Runtish hierarchy. Erasmus,
who was mote of a Scholar and a recluse
than a reforiiter, - saw, with astonishment
and fright, ttn:!ntoisinnf blind and bigot
ed opposition which his services to the
truth were arousing. The prie.ta thun
dered from their in )an
who translated the call of John the
Baptist, in Matt. iv. 17, " Repent," in
stead of "Do Penance," as it stood in
the Italian version. In his New Testa
ment they- declared there were hundreds
of such dangerous, frightful passages. No
hostile landing in England could, in
their eyes, be more fatal than that of
the New Testament. The whole nation
must rise to repel this impudent inva
sions
To show the sort of opposition' which
the peculiar work of Erasmus was called
to encounter, we will relate an incident
which occurred in the court of Henry
VIII. A certain preacher at the court,
in one of his sermons in the presence of
the king, declaimed violently against the
Greek language and its new interpreter.
Henry, who was proud of his patronage
of learning, was seen to smile good
humeredly. The courtiers, many of
whom were men of the highest attain
ments, exclaimed against the preacher
as soon as he had left the church.
" Beng the priest to me," said the king ;
" and you," turning to Sir Thomas
Moore, one of the most learned of all,
" shall defend the Grel3k cause against
him, while I listen to the disputation."
The priest was brought back, trembling
and powerless. He iell on his knees,
clasped his hands, and in this 'abject
manner, recalled whit he had said. "'I
know not what spirit impelled me," fal
tered the priest. "A spirit of madness,"
answered the king, " and not the spirit
of Christ. But have you, ever read
Erasmus 1" " No, sire," the priest was
compelled to reply. "Away with you,
then," rejoined the king ; " you are a
blcickhead." " And yet," whimpered
the preacher in confusion, " I remember
to have read something about Moritz,"
meaning Erasmus's Treatise On Folly.
"A subject, your majesty," interposed a
courtier, "'that ought to be very familiar
to him." At last the unfortunate preach
er, thinking to mend matters a little,
ventured to say: " I am not altogether
opposed to the Greek, seeing that it is
derived from the Hebrew." /This ab
surd declaration was received with a
general burst of laughter, and the king
impatiently ordered the monk to , leave
the room and never appear before him
again.
(To be Concluded.)
LETTER FROM KOLAPOOR.
The visible results of our efforts this
year, thus far, are less than they were
last year. Still we have abundant en
couragement thus to work and hope on.
One man was baptized and received to
church-fellowship, at our last commu
nion, and other inquirers encourage our
hopes of them. Our audiences are
large and attentive, and our_daily op
portunities for making known God's
message such as we may well be thank
ful for.
And-yet we have fresh evidence al
most daily, of the invisible power of
prejudice and superstition among, this
people. Our king is a good deal en
lightened, and has less inherent super
stition than most of his people, but
even he is almost wholly under the in
fluence of the Brahmans. He is still a
young man, but, like most Hindu
princes, already a wreck in health. For
some weeks be has been suffering
severely, and most of the time has kept
two Brahmans praying 'for him, at, a
rupee each per day. This, however,
has been unavailing, and yesterday he
was, thought to be dying. With no
heir to inherit his little kingdom and
throne, in his extremity he was per
suaded to adopt " Tatya Saheb," the son
of his sister, and then the Brahmans
beset him with the solemn injunction
of their Shasters, and persuaded. him
to submit to be weighed—himself and
his two wives—they in one scale, the
• .
other being balanced with rupees. The
poor king weiglied only Rs. 4000; but
his wives weighed Rs. 5000 each. The
whole RS: 14,000 - was, of course, distrib
uted. to the crafty, indolent and dissolute
Brahmans, otherwise the merit of the
act would avail nothing with the gods.
The poor king was better yesterday,
and the Brahmans spare no pains to im
press the people with the giestne43s of
their influence, and the potency of their
intercessions with the gods ; attributing
special virtue to the " extreme unction,"
or weighing of the king and his wives,
(really the 14,000 Rs.)
Now, if you would test the power of
superstition in these Hindu minds, come
and persuade a dying prince to disre
gard the teachings of his priests in such
a case, or, now that the king is better,
try to persuade these ignorant thou
sands that all the healing virtue has
not come directly from the gods, thus
appeased by his gifts and the potent
intercession of the Brahmans.
Three days ago the European tele
graph brought us the welcome tidings
that "the Atlantic Telegraph Cable has
been successfully laid." We wait con
firmation of this joyful event, hoping it
may prove true.
We cannot help observing how un
like is the present treatment of those Fe
nian rebels by our Government, to that
of our own rebels a few months ago, by
the British, themselves being judges.
Reciprocity would long since have re
cognized the Fenians as "belligerents ;"
but we rejoice that our noble Govern
ment can afford to -do right, and is in
clined to do right, even to those who
do wrong to us.
By the way, is it not worthy of
notice that . Andrew Johnson's wrong
headed policy on reconstruction is not
only applauded by Southern rebels and
Northern Copperheads, but by all Bri-
tons who sympathized with the rebels ?
What means it that the very men who
shoot and hang their own rebels by the
bundred, lift up their hands in holy hor
ror at the idea of executing such a rebel
leader as Jeff. Davis, with the blood of
half a million fellow-citizens on his
head ?
P. S.—While writing the above there
comes the intelligence that our poor
king died at 3A. M. this morning. It
seems that while the Brahmans were
proclaiming him better, yesterday, to
magnify their own influence with the
gods, he was still at the point of death ;
and in despair of help from his native
doctors, he yielded to the wish of the
political agent, and called in our Euro
pean doctor. But it was too late.
With some great faults of character,
the king was amiable, and intelligent, and
his early, death seems to be universally
regretted by all who knew him. He
was placed on the gadee in 1837, when
about six years old, and dies at the
early age of thirty-five, after a reign of
twenty-nine years. R. G. WILDER.
AUGUST 4, 1866.
A DAY UPON THE HUDSON.
ALBANY, September 25, 1866
DEAR Ennon:—Having just spent
day upon this mighty stream, allow me
to put down some of my impressions.
The beauty of the panorama which
unfolds to us as we glide swiftly along,
cannot be excelled. On the east side,
the first thirty miles after leaving New
York displays a bewildering succession
of beautiful villas, with gables and tur
rets innumerable peeping - out from the
foliage, and towers of every conceivable
variety of architectural beauty, standing
out above the trees, while quiet towns
and -busy depots vary the scene, and
ever and anon, a screaming railroad
train rushes along just above the water
line. On the west bank, however, the
contrast is striking. The continuous
succession of palisade rocks frowns upon
us, mile after mile, in stern and sullen
grandeur. As we passed them to-day,
the morning mist was just rolling down
from their summits to the river below.
Surely Paul Weber or Gignoux never
attempted to imitate such a scene upon
their canvas.
The next thirty miles all is changed.
The hitherto remarkably stiaight, broad
river, suddenly narrows, winding among
a succession of mountains, raising their
rocky sides in bold grandeur from the
very verge of the river to a height of
1200 to 1700 feet, crowding so thickly
upon one another, and soeltigely — npon
the stream, that, for a time, we cannot
but think we have come to the end of
our journey, as the river must certainly
end just — lare; at the foot of that great
mountain stretching right across the
stream. But our floating palace quietly
winds along close by the base of the
sleeping monster, and in a few moments
we see another opening, and the river
will not be shut off until we reach the
other- mountain just beyond. So we
glide through the winding maze, until
high up upon the bank on the left appear
the beatitiful buildings of WEST POINT.
The climax of the river's beauty is
certainly here. The last one hundred
miles is more tame, though surpassingly
beautiful in its gorgeous array of autum
nal foliage. I will not attempt to de
scribe the beautiful towns we pass on
this part of the voyage. Newburgh,
Pougkeepsie, Rondout, Saugerties, Hud
son, etc. ; but if I were to attempt a
description of the Catskill Mountains,
as they lay sleeping in solemn grandeur,
a - dozen miles to the west, I would not
know how to, begin. When ...they first
appear on the horizon, they are easily
mistaken for a mass of dark clouds in
the distance; but a closer look proves
them to be solid mountains, rising not
less than 4000 feet into the air. Away
up the side of one of them you discern
a small white speck. Apply the spy
glass to it, and it reveals the Catskill
Mountain House, perched on the moun
tain side, nearly 3000• feet above the
level of the Hudson.
As we passed Irvington, the wonder
fully beautiful residence of America's
most gifted author, we could but think
of the many pleasant hours passed with
"The Sketch Book," " The Siege of
Granada," and " _Alhambra." The idea
of being near to Sleepy Hollow—of look
ing upon the hills among which Rip
Van Winkle look his memorable nap—
calls up more thoughts than we can begin
to put down in this letter.
The immense trade and, travel upon
this mighty stream is one of the impres
sions sure to be made upon the mind of
a business man.' The number of swift
steamers plying between the various
towns and New York is astonishing, to
say nothing of the four monster steamers
forming the great day and night lines
through from New York ; then the
steamers towing immense flotillas of
twenty or thirty , barges or canal boats
each, laden with grain, produce, lumber,
etc., from all the Western and North
western States, as well as from New
York State itself,all poured into the
lap of New York City, by means of their
great Erie Canal. Add to this the coal
trade from oar own State, coming from
the Delaware and Hudson Canal at
Random. Add •again the trade in iron,
stone, lime, etc., which keeps the river
studded with sailing vessels all the way
from New York to Albany, and you
have a larger and more costly tonnage
than floats npon any river in the world.
Another impression. The grand con
vulsions of nature that formed this won
derful river—so deep, so wide, so straight
through most of its course. No other
river in the world resembles it. What
a grand eruption it must have been that
threw up the molten rock forming the
palisades, after first making a great rent
or fissure in the earth's crust so many
miles in length, and in so straight a
line. The deep fissure left for the river's
channel alongside the basaltic columns ;
the throes and convulsions which must
have attended the upheavals of the
mountains at the Narrows; the up
heaval of. the Catskills—all tell of days
when the region was a scene of some of
God's most sublime operations.
The company of travellers on the boat
is worth noticing—some seeking plea
sure, some on business, some bound to
the far West, some going from one town
to another on the banks of the river. A
large number is always on board, with
every variety of face and feature.
A company of Italian musicians
played exquisitely on the flute, violin, and
two harps, for the entertainment of the
passengers. They performed far better
than many of our amateur players do,
though the latter generally spend much
time and money in learning, which cer
tainly these Italians never did. But
how they did lower the whole idea of
fine execution, tasteful playing, appar
ently refined appreciation of the soul of
the great authors whose pieces they per
formed, when one of them suddenly rose
and carried round his hat for a collection
from the listenine• ° crowd. A. colored
man, of rather sly look, created great
merriment among the passengers by a
display of ventriloquism, which we have
never heard equalled. He surpasses
Signor Blitz a long way---imitating a
man down cellar with -a coarse, whisky
drinking, hoarse, rough voice. The
rapid repartee kept up between the man
and his coarse-voiced friend below stairs,
while sentences were thrown in by a
squeaking woman and a nasabtalking
man, all apparently down the same
cellar door, was very skilfully done.
But to cap all, the wag sang " Dixie,"
allowing the hoarse mart - down stairs to
sing the chorus, amid bursts of laughter
from the crowd. Such amusements, the
scenery, and the glorious autumn day,
made time fly rapidly indeed.
We met a gentleman on board, ap
parently sixty-five years of age, who had
been blind, through nervous debility, for
the past eight years. He was glad to
met a Philadelphian, because the loyalty
of Philadelphia makes every loyal man
in the land honor and love those who
hail from our stronghold of Freedom.
He said, the Sonthern loyalists had been
to, his town, (Poughkeepsie) and they
could not tell enough about their grand
reception in our city. Their speeches
were 1 - 31 -- 11 -- iztf-tilii-flimilii-over" character
of Philadelphia patriotakm---This—gen
tleman was as thoroughly booked up on
the political prospects of our State and
city as we were ourselves. We enjoyed
an hour's chat with him immensely,
and could but thank God, that a man
at his time of life, deprived of the
greatest blessing, light, could be so
cheerful, so interesting, so animated,
and withal, so well posted.
We find Albany a large, thriving,
busy city, containing an immense Ro
man Catholic Cathedral of great splen
dor, among its numerous churches.
Rev. Dr. Darling's new church is about
completed—a splendid structure, with
beautiful towering spire—forming a
handsomer church than any of our N.
S. Presbyterian Churches in Philadel
phia. G. W. M.
lurat Nougm,
THE MARKETING OF PRODUCE,
[Extract from the Address of Maj. H. T.
BROOKS,. at the Annual Fair of the Monroe
Co. Agri cultural Society in 1865.]
After all the cares, labors, and anxieties
of raising a crop, comes the still greater
trouble of selling it. When, where, and
for how much shall we sell it? is a puzzle
and a perplexity. We take what we can
get—we ask for more—we are unanimous
in that; so far so well. But do we always
get what we ought to have ? Do we gene
rally get what we ought to have? I answer
emphatically, No.
We ought to sell our produce for enough
to cover the expense of seed, all the labor,
of raising, harvesting, marketing, the inter
est on the value of the land, and enough
beside to purchase or provide manure suffi
cient to restore to the soil all it has lost in
growing the crop. This suggests a considera
tion for which I suspect we are very poorly
prepared:Who knowsthe amount of mineral
and other elements which a crop takes
from the soil, and the cost of restoring
them ? - This, however, we all do know,
that if we should go into the markets to
purchase guano, bone dust, lime, ashes,
plaster, animal manure, and whatever is
necessary to restore impoverished land to a
high state of fertility, the expense would be
enormous. As a body, our farmers have
made no estimate of their annual loss through
the depreciation of the soil. If they should
now bring up their land to its original pro
ductiveness,_ they would incur an expense
which few would be, able to meet. It would
probably cost to-day as much as our culti
vated fields are worth to restore the miner
al elements alone that have been abstracted
from them. Of course this remarleapplies
to lands that have been several years under
cultivation.
I should like to ask the farmers of Mon
roe, and all other farmers, how many crops
within the last forty years have paid a
profit, after restoring to the soil all the
elements abstrSeted, and paying all - tither
expenses ? Not one crop in four, in my
opinion. It results, then, that we have
been farming 'at a loss:4 4 2.sFariners have
worked hard, and much of- the time they
have worked for 'nothing . 'True, they fancy
they have been:growing rich—really, they
have been growing poor. The nominal
value of their land has greatly increased :
—they bought it at a dollar and a quarter,
five, ten, twenty, thirty dollars per acre;
and can now sell it at forty, sixty, eighty,
and a hundred dollars per acre. This is
partly owing to the inflation of prices since
the advent of paper money, and banking
institutions, and partly to the increased
demand for land, from the increase of our
population. While the peke has been
going up, the fertility, and consequently
the intrinsic value, of the land has been
going down. I would much rather have
the lands of Western New York, as the
bears and Indians left them, than to take
them to-day with. all your boasted " im
provements." I do not hesitate to say, that
if a majority of farmers who purchased land
forty years ago and paid for it, had worked
out for the board and clothing of them
selves and families, and let their land re
main in a state of nature, they would be
worth more to-day than they are now. I tell
you that while farmers have worked early
and late—while they hale grown prema
turely old through exhausting, nay, agoniz
ing labors—their returns have been meagre
and inadequate. High as prices are to the
consumer of agricultural products, the far
mer's share has been in the main paltry
indeed. Occasional high, prices have been
balanced by blights, insects, frosts, droughts
and other contingencies that left him tie
ing to sell, while wholesale and retail deal
eas, shippers and bankers—particularly the
latter—absorb the profits, and leave the
farmers unable to improve their farms, their
stock, educate their families, and indulge
in the social pleasures that ought to reward
their lives of toil.
What is the remedy ? It would take a
good while to answer that question. A
partial remedy I will suggest. Crop less.'
If prices are not satisfauory, diminish the
supply ; that will never fail to raise prices.
I speak with confidence when I say that if
farmers had grown less wheat, corn and
pork, they would have received more money
for what they did raise. They seem to
assume that their profits are measured by
the amount produced, and so they will
crop, and crop, till crops will grow no long
er—they will crop from the mere force of
habit when cropping is a dead loss. They
will crop when produce is high, they will
crop when they don't get pay for their
labor in sowing and harvesting. Resolve
on this,—that you will never put in a crop
for sale, unless you can do it in good time,
in a good manner, with a'fair prospect of
good returns every way. If you must be
poor, don't make your land poor for nothing.
Work odt by the month, take jobs on the
public works, adopt rigid economy, and
never sell produceunless you can get pay
for your laboi and price enough. to purchase
manure for another crop.
SALT OR NO SALT ?
The " American Institute Club " re
cently had the question of salt for stock
under consideration. Some deemed it a
waste of the raw material to feed salt to
cattle--deeming it not only unnecessary,
but positively injurious to them. Others
regarded it as essential to the health and
comfort of both man and beast—the latter
conclusion appearing to be the predomina
ting one. Perhaps the readiest way of dis
posing of the question would be to let the
cattle have a voice or a tongue in the mat
ter. Offer them salt, during the warm
weather of summer, and if they refuse it,
the. conclusion will be fair that it is not
essential or desirable • if they take it with
alacrity, then it is legitimate to assume
that it is good for them; and they know it.
In years gone by it was customary, in
the wooded sections of the West, to turn
out the stock portions of a farmer's herd in
the spring to seek their living in the forest
and along the creek glades. Once a week,
or thereaouts, they were hunted up and
driven home and there treated to a feed of
salt upon the turf by the road-side, when
they were dismissed again to their sylvan
rambles. They learned, from this, where
salt was to be obtained, and would come
for it at regular intervals during the sea
son. Now if it was not essential to them,
would they have taken the trouble to come
from the woods to get it with clock-like reg
ularity ? We think not, and hence vote
aye on the salt , question.
Again : If salt is unnecessary, why is it
that the "salt-licks" of --the West are
poached up like a barn-yard in spring by
the deer flocking to them during the
warm weather? They go there to imbibe
the saline water which oozes from the
base of some cliff overlooking a creek.
If it was simply water that was sought
for it, would be obtained from the cool
running stream, and not from the scanty
pool environed by mud. It was salt that
was required, and hence the resort to the
"licks" daily during the prevalence of
warm, dry seasons. For these reasons, we
think it safe to conclude that salt is good
for stock—essential to their comfort, and
should be supplied to them as inclination
prompts them to partake of it. —Rural
New Yorker.
THE WHITE GRUB AMONG STRAW-
BERRIES.
In many instances, strawberry plants,
even when growing on rich soil, fail en
tirely, without any apparent cause. As a
general rule, such failures are attributable
to the white grub, which devours the roots.
Whenever strawberry vines fail to grow
luxuriantly, dig around the plants with a
fork-tine, or iron rake-tooth, and dislodge
the grubs. During the month of Septem
ber they may be found among newly
planted beds ; and, if not destroyed, they
will injure the plants so seriously that there
will be little or no fruit the next season•
Should no grubs - be found among the roots
of the, plants which show a want of thrift.
a few handfuls of fine compost worked in
neai the roots will frequently give the
plants a start and render the vines exceed
ingly productive. When digging around
strawberry plants, care should be exercised
not to mutilate and tear up the roots, as
strawberry plants never require r oot-prea:
ing. .A. spade or hoe should not be u sed
for this- purpose, as the blade will sever
the small roots.—. Ar. Y. Observer.
THE MORGAN HORSES of Vermont, it
is stated, endured the severe campaign:
ing of the late war better than
. any other'
in the service.