yet, eighteen hundred years after it was offered to the acceptance of man, the world is not prepared for its reception. The world has not yet religion and wisdom enough to practice it. It may be well to inquire, whether anything but the gospel itself will ever make the world wise and religious enough to act upon its precepts.

"King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets?" I hope we can generally answer in the affirmative, and consequently must admit that the time will come when wars and warlike preparations shall cease; when the arts of war will not be learned. The means by which this change is to be effected, are unquestionably furnished by the religion generally professed in Europe and America. If this religion is entirely and essentially pacific and that it is, is attested by the whole tenor of the New Testament, as well as by the appellation assigned to its Author and Head-the Prince of Peace then whenever and wherever this religion has produced its full effect, war must cease. "My kingdom is not of this world, else would my servants fight," plainly implies that the kingdom of Christ cannot be established by force of arms. A declaration or an intimation that the world is not yet prepared for adopting a pacific course, implies that the people are not prepared to receive and embrace the doctrines of the gospel.

If we admit, as the London editor evidently does, that the pacific maxims of Friends are deduced from the gospel, the question of war or peace is reduced to a single point; are we to obey the precepts of the gospel, and rely for protection upon divine power, or will we entrust our safety to the strength and policy of regardless of the doctrines which we profess to

revere?

man,

The question will probably be asked, Must not civil government be sustained; and can that be done without the aid of military force?

The full investigation of this subject would require more room than can now be spared. But the true believer in the divine authority of the Christian religion will readily agree that this question can bring us back no further than to the inquiry, whether military force can be employed in consistency with the principles of Christianity. To assume the position that human government must be maintained at the expense of Christianity, and in violation of its maxims, is to declare human government superior to the obligations of the gospel. The most that can be safely asserted is, that civil government ought to be supported, as far as it can be done, in conformity with the spirit and maxims of the gospel.

It may, however, be observed, that as the government, whatever its form, is essentially the power of the people, in whatever degree the principles of Christianity become predominant in a nation, in the same degree will the occasion for physical force in the preservation of order be removed. When the people at large have but

little of the leaven of Christianity, the legislation, as well as the execution of the laws, will be chiefly founded on principles of an opposite character; and, of course, obedience to those laws will be unavoidably enforced by means accordant with their nature and origin. Cruel and oppressive laws of course can hardly be supported by means entirely pacific. But where the spirit of the gospel acquires the ascendancy, the legislation partakes of its influence, oppressive laws are repealed, or suffered to fall into desuetude; and those only are retained which are mild and equitable. Hence government is known for the good it diffuses, and, receiving the support of public opinion, requires little if anything more to sustain it. E. L.

For Friends' Review.

PROFITS OF A DAIRY FARM.

Illustration by example is one of the most powerful modes of teaching. It is universally conceded that the farmer labours hard, and that his gains are slow. Not a few, in our cities at least, are apt to believe that he is also tardy to adopt the daily improvements in his art, and too often clings tenaciously to the practices of his

fathers.

We are not about to discuss these matters, much less to find fault with the plain matter of fact agriculturist, because he does not lay hold, with the hurry of a steam engine, of every visionary project proposed to him by the crack-brained philosopher who lives upon theory. He eats his bread in the sweat of his face, and he is shrewd enough to know that it is best to

be well convinced that this sweat will not be

wasted, before he expends it in the trial of headlong experiments.

In the Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society, for the last year, is an account of the dairy operations of John Holbert, of Chemung county, south of Seneca Lake, and not far from the Pennsylvania line. It is to me very interesting, and I donbt not will be equally so, and not a little instructive to many of the readers of the Review. As some old writerperhaps Tusser-remarked,

"A little farm well tilled, A little barn well filled, A little wife well willed," are among the really valuable adjuncts to a comfortable living: and while we may rest well satisfied in the matter of the farm and the barn, I am willing to hope that our friend Holbert was no less fixed to his mind in his helpmeet. The statement cannot fail to arouse and waken up the sleepy farmer, and place before him in a strong light the vast advantages of a good, thorough management of land. A PLOUGHMAN.

The farm contains 200 acres of land, which was farmed the past season as follows:-I have

kept and milked 40 cows, and my grain pastures and meadows are as follows:-24 acres of wheat; 8 of buckwheat; 10 of oats; 20 of corn and potatoes; 2 of summer fallow; 40 of meadow; 74 of pastures; 22 of wood and waste land. The soil is a gravelly loam, with a slight mixture of black sand; subsoil the same. I use no roots nor slops for my cows; all that I feed them is hay and grass, and corn stalks. My pastures are clover and timothy, and hay the same; and my meadows produce from one to two and a half tons per acre per annum. I sow plaster on all my pastures and meadows every year, and use the Cayuga plaster.

Breed of Cows. My cows are generally the common breed. I have a few that have a slight mixture of Durham blood in them. Their ages will range from three years old to twelve. I prefer a cow not less than five years old for the dairy, and as much older as she winters well. I change pastures often, and think it a good plan to change twice a week. Too much care cannot be taken to have your cows well watered and salted. I keep a large watering trough in my cow yard, where I very frequently observe cows drinking large quantities of water immediately after coming from the brook. I keep salt lying in the yard the year round.

Making Butter.-I take care to have my cellar thoroughly cleansed and whitewashed early every spring. I keep milk in one cellar and butter in another. Too much care cannot be taken by dairymen to observe the time of churning. I usually churn from one hour to one hour and a half. I put from one to two pails of cold water in each churn, before commencing to churn, and one pail more in each, when nearly done, in order to thin the milk, and make it produce all the butter it contains. When done, take the butter out, wash it through one water, then set it in the cellar and salt it; then work it from three to five times before packing. Butter should not be made quite salt enough until the last working. Then add a little salt, which makes a brine that keeps the butter sweet. One ounce of salt to a pound of butter is about the quantity I use. I pack the first day, if the weather is cool; if warm, the second day. If the milk is too warm when churned, the quantity of butter will be less, and the quality and flavour not so good as when it is cool at a proper temperature. I have always worked my butter by hand. Last fall, I bought a butter worker, but I disapprove of its use entirely, and recommend the hand ladle in its stead. In packing, I fill my firkins within two inches of the top; then lay a clean cloth on the top of the butter, and put salt on the cloth and keep it covered with salt and brine all the season. Great care should be taken not to let the milk stand too long before churning; as, in that case, in hot weather, it becomes too sour, and the butter will be sour also, and in cool weather it becomes bitter; all

of which can be prevented in cool weather, by putting about one quart of buttermilk in each pan or tub before straining the milk, and in hot weather, by churning as soon as the milk becomes thick and moist on the top of the cream. I use the Turk's Island salt of the Ashton sacks. I have never used any of the solar evaporated salt, nor steam refined salt from the Onondaga salt works.

Experiments. I tried several experiments in making butter the past season, among which are the following:-Commenced making butter about the first of April, and up to the 4th of May, made 512 pounds of butter. May 5th, 1848, commenced packing for fall market, and closed about the 15th of December. June 15th, drew the milk from thirty-seven cows; morning's mess, 525 pounds; evening's mess, 632 pounds of milk; in all, 1,157 pounds of milk, making three pounds eleven and a half ounces of butter, to 100 pounds of milk. June 20th, had three more cows come in, which made my dairy full. My cows commence coming in, or calving, in March, and do not all come in until the middle of June, as was the case this year. My dairy was not full until the 20th of June. I do not rear all the calves, but generally save a few of the finest. This year I reared six. I keep swine to consume the buttermilk.

I drew the milk from five cows for 30 days in succession, commencing with the 28th day of May, with the following result:-I made 248 pounds of butter from five cows in 30 days. On the 11th day of June, I drew from five cows 187 pounds of milk, which made, when churned, eight and a half pounds of butter. I churn all the milk, and churn by horse power, and usually churn four one-and-a-half barrel churns at once.

On the 8th day of August last, I drew the milk from forty cows; in the morning, I got 508 pounds, and in the evening, 519 pounds; in all, 1,027 pounds of milk, which, when churned, made 39 pounds of butter. The morning's mess made three pounds and fourteen ounces of butter, from 100 pounds of milk, and the evening's mess made three pounds and ten ounces of butter from 100 pounds of milk. I find that the morning's mess of milk made four ounces more butter than the evening's did from 100 pounds of milk. I also find that the difference between the morning's and evening's milk is not so great as it was for the last year, for the reason that the messes are more nearly equal.

I find by churning the milk separate, that one of my best cows will make as much butter, as three of my poorest giving the same quantity of milk. June is a much better month for making butter than July or August, as I made one hundred and seven pounds more butter from thirty-seven cows in June, than I did from forty in July. I find, also, that one hundred pounds of milk drawn from my best cows, (that is, those

within the acquaintance of the writer, where habitual tea-drinkers have renounced its use. Nearly all were decidedly benefited, and none were made in the slightest degree worse, permanently, in health. One, advanced in years, remarked that no effect was more striking than the lessened irritability of the mind.

I have never known an instance of a person who was subject to regular attacks of that peculiarly distressing malady known as the sick headache, who was not in the habitual use of tea or coffee. One instance was however mentioned to me some years ago, of a young woman in very feeble health, not a "tea-drinker," who was severely afflicted in this way. "But does she never drink any coffee nor tea?" "Only once a day, and that is quite weak." But weak as it was it did its office, until a total discontinuance was followed by a perfect cure.

It can be hardly questioned, that, taking the community at large, the use of these drinks is a positive injury. There may be instances where young and vigorous constitutions are not sensibly affected, or where, from some peculiarity, little injury may be apparently produced for many years. There may also be instances when it may not be expedient for aged people, long in the habit, to relinquish its use. But it is greatly to be regretted that young persons should acquire a habit which is always expensive, and nearly always, sooner or later, visibly prejudicial to health; undoubtedly, in the majority of instances, materially shortening life. And with this view, is it not worthy of the consideration of those more advanced in years, whether the limited influence their example may afford, is not worth a strong effort to free themselves from the habit, independently of any consideration as to their own benefit?

Throwing entirely out of view the hundreds of millions of dollars which tea and coffee have cost the people at large, what is the amount annually expended by that comparatively minute portion, the Society of Friends? If the twenty thousand Friends' families in America pay only ten dollars each, which is doubtless a low estimate, the amount is two hundred thousand dollars a yearsufficient, in four years, to endow in the most liberal manner an excellent boarding school in every Yearly Meeting, and amounting, every ten years, to the sum of one million dollars.

For Friends' Review.

J.

ORNITHOGALUM EMBELLATUM-COMMON STAR

OF BETHLEHEM.

We read in the Book of Kings, that during a siege of Samaria, in the time of the prophet Elisha, the famine was so severe, that the fourth part of a cab, or about a pint, of dove's dung was sold for five pieces of silver. To most readers this is probably unintelligible, as the article reerred to does not appear suited for food, even in

a time of famine. The following extract from Callcott's Scripture Herbal, in which the article in question is mentioned, under the name at the head of this notice, may perhaps be interesting to some of our readers. The passage is borrowed from the London Friend.

The bulbous root of the ornithogalum has at all times been used as an esculent vegetable, in Syria and the neighbouring countries. Dioscorides says that it was sometimes dried, pulverised, and mixed with bread flour; and that it was also eaten both raw and roasted. He remarks further, that of thirty-six known species, one bearing a yellow flower yielded the most agreeable food. Laurentius, in his Essay on bulbous and tuberous Roots, says that in his time, the peasants of Italy and the neighbouring countries, often roasted the roots of the ornithogalum, and ate them like chestnuts; or lightly boiled them, and peeled and used them as salad, with oil, vinegar and pepper. The plains and valleys about Samaria abound in this pretty flower; and the dearth of its roots, during the siege of the city by the Syrians under Benhadad, was a token of famine beyond endurance. Jehoram, the son of Ahab, was king of Israel when his capital was surrounded by the Syrian host. He was passing along upon the town wall, when a woman shrieked to him for help: "And he said, if the Lord help thee not, whence shall I help thee? what aileth thee?" Then follows that tale of horror: the mothers had devoured their offspring for the famine! "And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh."

The ornithogalum grows wild in many countries. There are several pretty varieties in Spain and Portugal, but scarcely more agreeable to the sight than our own English Star of Bethlehem.

VIRGINIA.

In a speech recently made in the Virginia Legislature, in favour of a bill to incorporate the Virginia Coal Company, Mr. Faulkner, of Berkley, stated that the coal fields of that State covered 21,400 square miles out of the total area of 64,000-an extent equal to that of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales combined! Cannel, or purely bituminous coal, abounds throughout the basin of the Kanhawha, and was so accessible that a single hand would dig with ease two hundred bushels per day.

There is not a State in the Union, enjoying so many advantages of position, climate, soil, mineral resources, water power, everything, in short, that may be reckoned necessary to the building up of a great prosperous Commonwealth, as Virginia; yet every census puts her lower and lower in the scale as compared with her sister States. Her once fertile fields are running to waste; and