 | Fun-jottings, or, Laughs I have taken a pen to |  |
THE FARM AND THE FIRESIDE;
OR,
THE ROMANCE OF AGRICULTURE,
BEING
HALF HOURS OF LIFE IN THE COUNTRY, FOR RAINY
DAYS AND WINTER EVENINGS.
BY REV. JOHN L. BLAKE, D.D.
AUTHOR OF FARMER'S EVERY-DAY BOOK; THE FARMER AT HOME; AND A
GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
COMMENDATIONS OF THE PERIODICAL PRESS.
From the Ohio Farmer.
Dr. Blake is justly regarded as one of the best agricultural writers
in the country, and the work before us is one of the most interesting
productions of his pen. Its peculiar merit, as a work for the fireside,
consists in the variety of its topics, its plain and simple, yet attractive
style, its fine engravings, and the interesting romance which the author
has thrown around Rural and Agricultural Life. In this respect, “The
Farm and the Fireside” is a work well adapted to the youthful mind.
We hope it may be extensively read, as it cannot fail to improve the
taste and promote inquiry in the most useful and practical of all departments
of science.
From the New-York Evangelist.
The aim of the author has been to throw over labor, home and agricultural
life, their true dignity and charm; to introduce the farmer to
the delights and privileges of his lot; to embellish the cares of toil
with those kindly sentiments so naturally associated with the country
and its employments. It is a pleasant book—one that will enliven the
a great deal of valuable agricultural knowledge. We know not how
the natural trains of thought of the farmer could be more aptly met
or more safely and agreeably led, than they are by these brief and
varied discussions. The range is as wide as life itself—morals, religion
business, recreation, education, home, wife and daughters—every relation
and duty is touched upon, genially and instinctively.
From the New-York Tribune.
We have here another highly instructive and entertaining volume
from an author, who had laid the community under large obligations by
the enterprise and tact with which he has so frequently catered to the
popular taste for descriptions of rural life. Its contents are of a very
miscellaneous character, embracing sketches of natural history, accounts
of successful farming operations, anecdotes of distinguished characters,
singular personal reminiscences, pithy moral reflections, and numerous
picturesof household life in the country. No family can add this volume
to their collection of books without increasing their sources of
pleasure and profit.
From the Northern Christian Advocate.
The venerable author of this work is entitled to the warmest thanks
of the public for his numerous and valuable contributions to our literature.
He is truly an American classic. We have been conversant
with his writings for the last twenty years, and have always found
them both useful and entertaining in a high degree. His writings on
Agriculture contain much real science, with numerous illustrative incidents,
anecdotes, and aphorisms, all in the most lively and pleasing
manner. By this means the dry details of farming business are made
to possess all the interest of romance. The style is clear, easy, and
dignified; the matter instructive, philosophical, and persuasive. This
work is an eloquent plea for the noble and independent pursuit of
Agriculture.
From the National Magazine.
We return our thanks for the new volume of Dr. Blake, “The Farm
and the Fireside, or the Romance of Agriculture, being Half Hours and
that smacks of the man as well as of the country. Eschewing the
dryness of scientific forms and erudite details, the author presents detached,
but most entertaining, and often very suggestive articles on a
great variety of topics—from the “Wild Goose” to “Conscience in the
Cow,”—from the “Value of Lawyers in a Community” to the “Objections
to early Marriages.” The book is, in fine, quite unique, and just
such a one as the farmer would like to pore over at his fireside on long
winter evenings.
From the New-York Recorder.
“The Farm and the Fireside,” is a most interesting and valuable
work, being a series of Sketches relating to Agriculture and the numerous
kindred arts and sciences, interspersed with miscellaneous moral
instruction, adapted to the life of the farmer.
From the Germantown Telegraph.
We have looked through this work and read some of the “Sketches,”
and feel a degree of satisfaction in saying that it possesses decided
merit, and will commend itself, wherever known, as a volume of much
social interest and entertainment. The sketches comprise “Country
Life” generally—some of them are just sufficiently touched with romance
to give them additional zest; while others are purely practical,
and relate to the farmer's pursuit. We regard it as a valuable book,
and are sorry our limits will not admit of bestowing upon it such a
notice as it really deserves.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
This work is a collection of miscellaneous sketches on the Romance
of Agriculture and Rural Life. Matters of fact, however, are not excluded
from the volume, which is well adapted for reading in the
snatches of leisure enjoyed at the farmer's fireside.
From the True Democrat.
Dr. Blake's publications are all of a high order, and are doing a most
important work towards refining the taste, improving the intellect, and
we know no author who has so successfully blended the romantic,
the rural and beautiful with the poetical, the useful, and true,
as has Dr. Blake. This is a peculiar feature of all his works His
style is plain, simple, and perspicuous; and, with unusual tact and
judgment, he so manages to insinuate himself upon you, that you are
at once amused, delighted, and instructed with the subject he is discussing.
In this respect he relieves the study of agricultural science
from the abstruseness of technical science, and thus renders himself
easily comprehended by all classes of readers.
From the New-York Evening Post.
The author's object is to improve the soil through the mind—not so
much to place in the hands of farmers the best methods of raising
large crops—for these he refers them to Leibig's Agricultural Chemistry,
and to treatises of the like description—but to make them feel
how useful, agreeable, and ennobling, is the profession of agriculture,
and, above all, how profitable the business must become when skilfully
and economically carried on. These money-making considerations are,
we suspect, the best moral guano that can be applied to the farmer's
spiritual soil. The author writes well of the countryman's independence,
the good effect of fresh salubrious air upon his health, and the
moral influence of his every-day intimacy with nature upon his mind.
“The Farm and the Fireside” is a kind of Bucolical annual—to be
read in seasons of leisure—intended for the Phyllises and Chloes, as
well as for the Strephons and Lindors. Dr. Blake has enriched it with
curious anecdotes of domestic animals, and of the best way of raising
and selling them. He describes model-farms, and the large incomes
made from them. He expatiates on the advantages of matrimony in
rural life, expounds the true theory of choosing a helpmate, discusses
the advantages of Sunday-Schools, and recommends neatness of attire
and punctuality in bathing. In short, this volume is as diversified in
its aspect as the small garden of a judicious cultivator, where, in a
limited space, useful cabbages, potatoes, and all the solid esculent
greens, grow side by side with choice fruits and pleasant flowers.
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