The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-04-23
Literature.

take the following review, is new edition un-
dertaken several years age, by the special request
of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, for
! the purpose of furnishing farmers and others the
foundation of complete agricultural educa-
| ton. 1t had been some time ont of print and
left vacancy in agricultural text books, which
no other work exactly filled. The new edition
has been revised by DR.. Charles A. Goessmann,
Professor Of Chemistry at the Massachusetts
Agricultural College, which should be suffci-
ent guarantee that the teachings are sound, and
in accord with the latest advances in agricul-
tural science. Mr.. Emerson's whole life was de-
voted to teaching in public schools, and through
the press, and few men equalled him in love
for the work. His 'Trees and Shrubs of Mas
sachusetts," is most complete work, respect
ed as an authority wherever known, and par
ticularly entertaining and attractive in its pre-
sentation. Mr. Flint devoted thirty years of
his life almost exclusively to the study and
promotion of Agriculture and Is well known
through his reports, as Secretary of the Massa-
chusetts State Board of Agriculture, and his
treatses on DAIRY Farming" and "Grasses
and Forage Plants" Each author wrote upon
| those subjects with which he was personally
most familiar, and Jointly they were enabled to
| bring out book that has been equally valuable
as a text book in the schools and as a guide to
the working farmer in enabling him to acquire
theoretical, as we'll as a practical knowledge
of his life pursuit.
When a young man enters an agricultural
college, one of his exercises is to make himself
familiar with just such books as the Manual of
Agriculture, and become prepared to answer
| questions upon all the subjects treated He
spends three or four years away from home,
| paying board and other school expenses, that
he may know what such books teach, and there
is no doubt whatever, that he makes, usually,
far more rapid progress under the guidance of
| competent instructors than would be possible
if he attempted to prosecute his studies unaid-
Ell and alone. But there are several hundred
thousand farms in New England alone, all to
be managed before many years, by those who
are now boys, while there are only two or
three agricultural colleges in the same territory
where boy can receive the advantages of an
instructors services.
So it would be impossible for more than
very small number, comparatively, to acquire
means required, which they have not. But the
great majority need not be discouraged from
gaining the knowledge necessary for becoming
successful farmers, provided they will expend
the same energy in studying such looks as the
Manual of Agriculture, and others we might
name, that they would be required to expend If
attending college. We wish we could impress
this fact upon the minds of the thousands of
| young men who are regretting tha, they do not
| know enough to get living, and make a sue
cess of agricultural pursuits. 1t would sur
prise nearly every one to learn how much
could be acquired if a beginning is only made,
and the right track followed. And this book
by Emerson and Flint is just the one to begin
| with. 1t will teach of the air and gases in ii:
Of the forces acting upon it of the changes in
the atmosphere, and of The instruments to
measure them; of the laws which govern the
climate and the weather; of water, its uses and
injuries to the farmer, and how best to obtain
| the one. and to avoid the other.
After reading the chapters on plants and
plant compounds, the young student will find
he has learned a good deal about botany with
out suspecting that he had been studying the
science believed by many. to be 50 hard and
dry. The chapter on the soil will make every
furrow or spade full of earth turned up reve-
laton as well as a revolution. careful study
| of the chapter on fertilizers will make many a
boy more of a chemist than he had ever dream
ed would be possible, without spending months
in laboratory. The remaining chapters on
tillage, the preparation of lands for crops,
a tt,n
| roots, the harvesting Of crops, will all have a
new interest, as the why's and the wherefores
are mastered. Enough Is given upon the sub
jects of insect enemies and the diseases of
| plants, to lay the foundation and give desire
for acquiring more complete mastery of these
departments. Other chapters on orchardirg,
wastes of the farm, fences, household econo-
mics, dairying, and the making and manage
ment of hot-beds, will all exert like influence
on every earnest seeker for agricultural know
ledge.
we were once told by an agricultural book
| publisher, that there We're hardly enough buy
ers living at any one time, to take a Thousand
| edition Of work of this kind designed to
teach theoretical agriculture, but that was
| some time ago, and boys have changed since
and the volume before us is written in a style
so attractive that many thousands should be
called for by our young farmers of the present
and of the near future Cloth. u mo. Price
postpaid, Sl25. O. Judd Co.. publishers, -51
Broadway, New York.
SELF-RAISED; OR. FROM THE DEPTHS. Bv
Mrs. Emma d. Z. n. Southworth. This is the
al l,I,,>,
originally published in the New York Ledger
under the name of "Self- Made; or, Out of the
| Depths,' and vas regarded as the most popular
story ever published in that paper. .'Ishmael,
and "Selt-Raised' are said to be founded upon
fact and are certainly among the most interest
ing of the many novels from Mrs Soulhworth's
| pen. In the latter book the hero rises from the
depths of poverty misery and humiliation and
to trace his progress step by step has evidently
been with the thor a labor of love. The lead
ing female characters Claudia and Beatrice
are drawn with woman's delicate and accur-
ate touches; but the hero stands above every
other person in the tale. The interest is kept
up and Intensified by the dramatic positions
throughout the whole work. 1t is a moral
Try, and gives an example of perseverance
ender difficulties, to be ultimately crowned
| with success. The volume Is handsomely bound
IN CLOTH with steel engraved frontspiece of
| Prospect Cottage, the home of the author on
the Potomac, and is included in Peterson's uni
form edition of the complete works of Mrs
Southworth. We have also received from the
publishers "The Three Beauties; or, Sharon
dale,' by the same author and included in the
same edition. The books are mailed postpaid
| for Sl.5O per volume. II. B. Peterson &
Brothers, publishers, Philadelphia.
The BLACK DEATH. An account of the
Great Pestence of the Fourteenth Century
by J. +. c. Hecker Hecker's Memoir is the
standard authority on the history of the Black
Death, doubtless the most destructive pest-
lence that has ever scourged the human race.
Its victims are re ckoned to have exceeded fifty
millions of people. In China 13,000,000 are
said to have died, aud in the rest of the east
nearly 24,0O0,O00. In Europe, London alone
lost over 100000 souls, or considerably more
than one-half of its population the proportion
ate loss of Italy was the same, about one half
and Germany is calculated to have lost one