282 



A Farmer's Life and Duties — War. 



Vol. IV. 



your pages as a gratuitous correspondent, 

 under the signature of Vir. My wish is, 

 candidly, to receive and to communicate in- 

 formation, on the Scripture principle — " Iron 

 sharpeneth iron ; so doth the countenance of 

 a man, his friend :" and from all that I have 

 seen, and felt, and understood of this country, 

 I have no reason to expect any but the most 

 pleasing results from such a connection. I 

 am free to confess that many of my country- 

 men have failed in their pursuits of agricul- 

 ture in this country, througli pride, vain-glory, 

 but not hypocrisy. I have always been aware 

 of this rock, upon which so many have split. 

 and have hitherto steered clear of it : it will 

 be my study to give it a wide birth; and it 

 will afford me very great pleasure, at all 

 ..times, to show that I am actuated by very 

 different motives. With your permission, 

 then, I take my leave for the present, wish- 

 ing your publication the most perfect suc- 

 cess — plenty of correspondents, warm friends, 

 and constant readers, and a subscription list 

 of twenty thousand — by no means too large 

 a number to expect from so highly cultivated 

 and richly endowed a portion of this vast, 

 this wonderful country. 



Vie. 

 April 2d, 1840. 



We accept the offered services of " Fxr," 

 and shall be happy to enrol his name among 

 the number of our numerous and well ap- 

 pointed list of contributors. Will he accept 

 our thanks for his good wishes, which, with 

 such assistance as his, and others of which 

 we can boast, we fully expect to see real- 

 ized. — Ed. 



A Farmer's I^ife and Duties^ 



If we were ever envious, it was of the 

 farmer — the intelligent, independent farmer, 

 who owned his land, his house and barns ; 

 who was free from debt, whose family were 

 growing up prosperously around him, upon 

 whom God smiled and blessed. W^e have 

 seen such a farmer ; and in truth, we know 

 of no man so happy, and no business so per- 

 manently profitable — none tliat makes the 

 owner so independent. An independent far- 

 mer has his house to live in — it is his own — 

 he has earned it by the labour of his hands. 

 He has his granaries filled with the produc- 

 tion of his /arm, his barns with the stock 

 reared, and tlie hay raised upon his farm. 

 His cellars are filled with the necessaries 

 and comforts of life. Almost every tiling 

 necessary to feed him and his family, grows 

 around him. He may raise his own pork, 

 fatten and kill his own sheep, eat his own 

 poultry and his own eggs — live upon his own 



home-made bread — weave his own cloth- 

 raise his own wool — knit his own stockings, 

 through the agency of his wife and daugh- 

 ters — make his own butter and cheese ; in 

 short, live and dress comfortably, without 

 ffoing off his own homestead. This is no 

 fiction ; and it is a fact, that the farmer is the 

 most independent man in the community. 



But in order to be happy, and make his life 

 useful as it ought to be, he must be intelli- 

 gent — in possession of the means of know- 

 ledge — especially that kind of knowledge 

 which relates to his own profession. He 

 must use the means which God has given 

 him, to be happy himself, and to contribute 

 to the happiness and comfort of those around 

 him. In justice to himself, he will employ 

 his evenings in the acquisition of knowledge. 

 He will be a reader of useful books, and a 

 supporter of the public press, which brings 

 to his door the newspaper, which gives him 

 the history of the world. Such a farmer as 

 this will fulfil his duties to his God and his 

 fellow-man, and is the happiest and most in- 

 dependent among the best of men. — Provi- 

 dence Courier. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir — In the present posture of our Boun- 

 dary question, will you permit me to hand 

 you the following extract — with a holy wish, 

 that every one would read, mark, and in- 

 wardly digest the momentous truths contain- 

 ed in it. H. 



N. J., April 1st, 1840. 

 " W^IIAT MIGHT BE DONE WITH THE MoNEY 



WASTED IN War. — Give me the money that 

 has been spent in war, and 1 will purchase 

 every foot of land upon the globe. I will 

 clothe every inan, woman, and child, in an 

 attire that kings and queens would be proud 

 of; I will buiFd a school-house upon every 

 hill side, and in every valley, over the whole 

 habitable earth ; I will supply that school- 

 house with a competent teacher ; I will build 

 an academy in every town, and endow it — a 

 college in every state, and fill it, witli able 

 pro'essors; I will crown every hill with a 

 church consecrated to the promulgation of 

 the gospel of peace ; I will support in its 

 pulpit an able teacher of righteousness, so 

 that on every Sabbath morning the chime on 

 one hill shall answer to the chime on another, 

 around the earth's broad circumference — and 

 the voice of prayer, and the song of praise, 

 shall ascend like a universal holocaust to 

 Heaven. — Siebbi7is.^^ ■ 



Let every farmer, who has a son to edu- 

 cate, believe and remember that science lays 

 the foundation of every thing valuable in 

 atrriculture. 



