Eastern times. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1846-1857, 1850-10-31

for week. BY that time he understood the
matter thoroughly, and it was to him like
light ahead Already The pressure of gloo-
my despondency, as lie looked into the fu-
ture, was TO great extent removed. II his
vineyard, how four years old, produced
good crop next season, it would nett The
handsome sum Of two or three hundred dol
lars would be made by using it.
Week after week came the Gazette Inv
post; bur i. did not, as at first, bear upon lis
margin The name of Benjamin Hicks, for the
old gentleman, insIead Of sending his own
copy oil the paper, had ordered il 10 be mail.
ed to Peter from The office in CINCINNATI
No longer, in the mind of The latter, uu
pleasant emotions excited when the Post
master handed him out regularly, on Salur-
days, the Gazette He would have felt no
illtle disappointment had there been any
failure of the paper to reach him with its ac
customed regularity. ....
NIs.wonderlul what change was wrought
in The whole family Of Peter Miller, in a ve-
ry short space of Time, by the introduction
OF newspaper. lis carefully selected sto-
rles, ever incu lcating some good principle
or awakening the feelings to warmer sympa-
tllies; lis current history of passing events:
It's pleasant melange OF wit and hlImor; and
It's grave lessons Of truth 10 the understands
ing, and good impulses TO The heart, gave
allment 10 the hungry minds of parents and
children, at the same time that it elevated
them into higher, purer, and healthier re-
gion.
In Hannah, who aforelimes used to war
hle like bird, from morning till night, the
sweet voice of music hud become dumb
Bu ere the Spring opened, that voice was
occasionally heard again breaking forth in
snatches ofold melodies. 1t sounded slranc.
y familiar 10 Peter, when this happened; and
IN his heart awoke thousand dear, respcn-
sve echoes.
Peter himself had become different man
and was looking hopefully forward 10 the
coming Summer, when the experiments he
was going to enler upon would be tested
The change in Ellen and Henry was quite
as apparent. Both became excited to self
improvement, and got their father to procure
them some books, in which they studied les
sons1aiy, with the regularity of scholars at
school Their hearts being in what they
were doing they improved wonderfully.
This fact pleased both their parents, and in
creased the cheerfuness of feeling into which
they were gradually rising.
During the winter the sheep OF Peter Mil
Ter were attacked with the distemper from
; which they had suffered so severely the year
before. Timely communications in the Ga
zetIee from large wool growers in Ohio
among whose focks the disease had appear
ed, enabled him to apply remedies, ill then
unheard of in his neie hborLood, and which
prevented the loss ofa single animal.
When spring opened Peter employed two
extra hands for some weeks in hauling
swamp muck, aud in preparing it for GER
tain fields that needed renovation. Had his
knowledge of It's valuable fertizing proper-
lies been obtained some four or FIVE months
earlier Than it was, he could have used it to
far greater advantage in that years crop
AS il was, he made saving by its subslitu-
ton of nearly hundred dollars.
In many things pertaining to agriculture
and stock raising was Peters mind enight-
ened during the Spring and Summer through
the columns of the Gazette. The value of
lime on lands of a certain character he new
er fully understood, until he saw it clearly
set forth in an extract from The American
Farmer and became aware that, by prop
er application of the article, at small ex-
pense he could keep his fields in good pro-
ductive condition, at an expense far below
that to which he had long been Subjected
Here Peter obtained first glimpse into the
mysteries ofagricultural chemistry, without
n knowledge Of which no farmer can work
his<gronnd TO the best advantage.
Harvest time came round nj last and Peter
Miller had gathered more than an average OF
root and grain crops. He had six hundred
bushels of wheat, five hundred bushels OF
corn and two hundred bushels Of potatoes
TO sell, besides hay, oats, rye, ETC., sufficient
10 winter his stock. Moreover = whether
from his particular treatment OF his vineyard
as suggested by the writer in the Gazette, Oh
NOT, we will not venture to say-his vintage
" which he sold to a manufacturer, brough
r | aI
Since the time his 6el4s Of golden grair
nodded ripe tor the harvest, Peter had exam
ined, weekly, with much interest, the quota
t tons Of prices in the produce, market as reg
ularly given in the Gazette, and when, a
last lie called Oh Gray s. Elder to know wha
: they were going to pay him for his wheat
and corn, he knew the highest selling rate
to a cent Before offering his produce he
, Obtained his store bills and found that they
, were nearly four hundred dollars Inc iac'
, wns. he had started the year with scarcely a
, dollar to live on and was thence compelled
10 90 on trust for every thing until another
cron could be taken from the ground. This
hill added 10 his mortgage, made debt Of
e;obt hundred dollars. Al the prices quoted
in The Gazette, all his wheat, corn and po.
,,,oes would be absorbed, and still over two
hundred dollars of debt remain. Here was
a very important improvement on last year
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