12 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



That it is betlpr to liold on to things a fanner may 

 have for sale, after a fair remunerating price is of- 

 fered, in tlie hope of obtaining extravagant rates. 

 The eliances are ten to one tliata loss is sustained. 

 If you wisli to sell, sell ; if not, never put an arti- 

 cle into the market. 



That it is a good plan to undertake a great deal 

 more work than can be done in season ; or that he 

 act reasonably who requires six weeks of Indian 

 summer in November to complete his autumn^vork. 



That it is saving to use tools half made and of in- 

 ferior kinds, because they are called cheap. Such 

 implements are much the dearest in the end. 



That cheap Laborers on the farm, or cheap teach- 

 ers in the school, or cheap professional men, are al- 

 ways the be.=it. A good thing of any kind should 

 always command good prices ; and the sixpence 

 saved here, is frequently a very dear one to the 

 persrn saving it. 



Tliat it is better to borrow tools required by the 

 farmer, than to own them. It cannot be expected 

 that the farmer sliould possess all the tools requir- 

 ed by mechanics ; but he should own all the im- 

 plements necessary to his business of cultivating 

 the earth. 



That it is better to beg fruit from neighboring 

 farmers than to be at the trouble or expense of pro- 

 curing from the nursery new trees or grafts of the 

 kinds of fruit desired to furnish the requisite sup- 

 ply at all seasons. 



That a good education is not necessary for a far- 

 mer. To simply read and write is well ; but it is 

 not enough. A knowledge of men and things is 

 necessary to a i^ood cducatioii, and this knowledge 

 can only be acquired by study, observation and ex- 

 perience. 



That science is useless in agriculture. There is 

 scarcely an operation in farming in which science 

 is not valuable, either in teaching UB to avoid er- 

 ror, or explaining the relation between cause and 

 etfect in the process of agriculture. 



That porkers ^ire Tiaturally unclean animals. — 

 Such a supposition does gross injustice to the pig, 

 who maugre his want of reason, if he only have 

 decent opportunities, is often a far more nice and 

 cleanly animal than he who assumes to be its own- 

 er. A clean pen and new straw is as much relish- 

 ed by the pig as any other bon vivant ; and if there 

 is a 'sufficiency of material* it is known by an ex- 

 tra kink of the tail. 



It is well known that very many worthy intelli- 

 gent farmers are careful to preserve an accurate 

 statement of all tlieir worldly concerns, duly ar- 

 ranged in proper form, and such rarely find "a hole 

 in the purse." 



But there are many others who would at once 

 plead guilty, or, if they did not, could readily be 

 convicted on responsible testimony, of totallj' neg- 

 lecting to keep any intelligible series of entries in 

 a book, of their ingoings and outgoings, and these 

 are the persons who often complain of " a hole in 

 the purse," and yet they are not careful to have it 

 repaired in due season. ABR.tHAM. 



" The Improretl .llmanack, Mcmnrandum and Ac- 

 cnunt Bonk for IS^O," published in Concord, N. H. 

 by John F. Brown, is precisely the article for the 

 entry of accounts and other memoranda : it may be 

 conveniently carried in the pocket, as a s\ibstitute 

 for the common pocket-book, and entries at all 

 times made eitlier with pen or pencil. This Man- 

 ual in its simplest form contains calender pages and 

 a blank space for entries every day in the year. 

 Besides this an edition is published containing iifty 

 blank pages ruled for keeping accounts, done up 

 in leather in pocket-book form. The person who 

 procures this pocket memorandum and carries it 

 about him cannot well help gaining the habit of 

 keeping accurate accounts. 



Frntii llie Pliil!i(itl!ilii:i F:uiner'3 Caliinet. 



Cash Book. 



A Utile car<: prevents much c<isl aiKl troubU*. 

 It is a very easy and simple affair to keep a cash 

 book, and yet how very few farmers do it. Any 

 person who can write can keep a book of this de- 

 scription, and many advantages accrue from it. On 

 one page of your cash book set down every thing 

 sold, and the sum received for it. On the other 

 side put down all your outgoings or expenditures; 

 and when it is begun, if the amount of cash on 

 hand is put at the top of the column of receipts, at 

 any time by adding up the two pages, and taking 

 the difference of them, will show the balance of 

 cash you should have in hand ; and if there is any 

 disagreement, there must be some error of entry, 

 or there must be " a hole in the purse." A book of 

 this kind .accurately kept, would show at the end 

 of the year, or at any other time, the amount of 

 wheat, corn, potatoes, butter, poultry, eggs, or any 

 other articles sold, and the sum received for them. 

 It would do more, it would sliow all your outlay- 

 ings for stock, seeds, implements of husbandry, re- 

 pairs, clothing, tea, coffee, sugar, salt, &c.&c.and 

 also for wages, and would present a very curious 

 and interesting doctiment for family examination 

 at the end of a twelvemonth ; and if there should 

 be found to be "a hole in the purse," it would in- 

 dicate the spot where the repairs were most neces- 

 sary. 



A farmer keeping a book of entries of this de- 

 scription, would always know his latitude and lon- 

 gitude, as a captain of a ship does when on the 

 ocean, and he would be less likely to run on to 

 shoals, or get among the breakers. As it is not 

 very usual among farmers to take receipts when 

 money is paid on ordinary occasions, and not in 

 very large sums, and as the memories of many peo- 

 ple are very frail, such a book of entries as has been 

 referred to, would be of essential service as a rec- 

 ord of payment when no other evidence of it exist- 

 ed, and might prevent litigation and trouble in case 

 of the decease of one or both of the parties. On 

 the death of the head of a family who has kept no 

 regular records of his receipts and payments, niucli 

 diiilculty and sometimes heavy losses have occur- 

 red, besides a great deal of trouble and anxiety to 

 those who were obliged to grope in the dark in 

 aet'.linij his estate. 



From the Philadelphia Farmer's Cabinet. 

 Sowins; Grass Seeds. 



The importance of sowing grass seeds evenly, 

 and sufficiently thick to occupy every part of the 

 ground to the exclusion of weeds, cannot be pres- 

 sed on the minds of farmers too forcibly. 



In many cases there are not half the number of 

 plants of the artificial grasses which could profita- 

 bly stand on the allotted space of ground. The 

 spaces unoccupied by good grass is wasted, and it 

 would be equally reasonable for a farmer to let his 

 cows remain with half the milk in their udder, as 

 to permit his fields, that have been duly and prop- 

 erly prepared for the reception of grass seed, to re- 

 main half covered with plants; and yet this is a 

 spectacle which we annually see exhibited in tJie 

 field of many who are styled pretty good farnsers. 

 Nature never works this way ; give her time and 

 don't counteract her efforts, and she fills every space 

 with some vegetable production. An intelligent 

 farmer who is fully av/are of the importance of hav- 

 ing his fields evenly set with grass roots, states that 

 in sowing grass seeds, he first passes over the ground, 

 strewing about half the quantity proper to put on, 

 and then lie crosses the field sowing the other half, 

 and in this way he disperses the seed more evenly, 

 and he is less likely to leave vacant spaces for the 

 occupation of weeds. This plan of sowing takes 

 double the time to pertorm the work, but it is done 

 much better, and an:ply compensates for the extra 

 labor bestowed. 



Every farmer should make strenuous efforts to 

 cause two blades of grass to grow where but one 

 grew before, and then his animals will not be likely 

 to cry out with the empty bell^'-ache. 



financial business to transact with the great bank- 

 er, and 12 o'clock was fixed upon for making his 

 visit for tliat purpose, but he did not arrive till the 

 clock had struck one, he was too late, the great 

 banker was gone to his farm, and he followed ifter; 

 on his arrival he was kindly and courteously re- 

 ceived ; he was waited on over the farm and through 

 the barn-yard, but not a word could be extracted 

 from Mr.' Girard on the subject of his mission. 

 He could now think or talk of nothing but agricul- 

 ture and rural affairs, and his friend had to return 

 to the city and learn to be more puncttial to his en 

 gagements in future. 



On an occasion, many years since, the city au- 

 thorities were making an improvement at Market 

 street wharf, and there was a large quantity of rich 

 eartli that had been aecuinulating there for a long 

 series of years, to be removed, and any person was 

 permitted to haul away as much of it as he chose 

 without charge. It was deemed a good compost or 

 manure, and no person knew better the value of 

 manure than the rich merchant ; he soon had his 

 team at work removing it to his farm ; an acquain- 

 tance of his who saw him superintending his work, 

 remonstrated with him on account of the avidity 

 and industry with which he engaged in what his 

 friend thought so small a concern ; — " Oh," says 

 he, " Mr. . ■, I work to-day, if I die to-mor- 

 row." &- 



From ihe Philadelptii.-t Farmhi'^ Cabiiirl. 



Industry, Promptuess and Punctuality, 



crowned Avith success. 



Stephen Girard, the great merchant and banker, 

 was also a great and successful farmer. He owned 

 a farm of several hundred acres of land within a 

 few miles of Philadelphia, the cultivation of which 

 he superintended with his usual industry and acute- 

 ness. This farm was his principal hobby ; for eve- 

 ry day, at (me o'clock preciselv, his gig was in 

 waiting for him at his counting-house door, and as 

 soon as the clock struck one he started for his farm 

 in the neck, not suffering any matter whatever to 

 interfere with his daily visit. During the afternoon 

 he gave his personal attention to the various agri- 

 cultural affairs requiring it, plying his own hands 

 to any and every kind of business that was in sea- 

 son. In the evening he returned to the city to 

 lodge, and the return of day light, the next morn- 

 ing, would find him again engaged in the labors of 

 his farm, which he would intermit so as to be in the 

 city by nine o'clock to attend to his extensive and 

 well managed commercial and banking concerns, 

 and at one o'clock he was again on his way to his 

 farm. He followed out this routine for twenty or 

 thirty years, permitting no part of his business to 

 suffer from neglect or want of attention. His farm 

 presented a perfect model for imitation. His grain 

 fields, grass grounds, orchard, and garden exhibit- 

 the most luxuriant and perfect appearance, while 

 his stock of every kind, and poultry in all their va- 

 rieties, were the finest and most perfect that were 

 to be found in the country. 



A distinguished foreigner, then resident in this 

 country, on a particular occasion, had some special 



Eggs and Poultry. 



Among all nations, and throughout all grades of 

 society, eggs have been a favorite food. But in all 

 our cities, and particularly in winter, they are held 

 at such prices that few families can afford to use 

 them at all ; and even those who are in easy cir- 

 cumstances, consider them too e 'pensive for com- 

 mon food. 



There is no need of this. Every family, or near- 

 ly every family, can, with very little trouble, have 

 eggs in plenty during the whole year; and of all 

 the animals domesticated for the use of man, the 

 common dunghill fowl is capable of yielding the 

 greatest possible profit to tiie owner. 



In the month of November, I put apart eleven 

 hens and cock, gave them a small chamber in a 

 woodhouse, defended from storms, and with an 

 opening to the South. Their food, water and lime, 

 were placed on shelves convenient for them, with 

 warm nests and chalk nest eggs in plenty. These 

 hens continued to lay eggs through the winter. 

 From these eleven hens I received an average of 

 six eggs daily during the winter ; and whenever 

 any of them was disposed to set, viz. as soon as she 

 began to cluck, she was separated from the others 

 by grated partition, and her apartment darkened ; 

 these cluckcrs were well attended and well fed ; 

 they could see and partially associated through their 

 grates with the other fowls, and as soon as any one 

 of these prisoners began to sing, she was liberated, 

 and would very soon lay eggs. It is a pleasant rec- 

 reation to feed and tend a bevy 'of laying hens ; 

 thoy may be tamed so as to follow the children, and 

 will lay in any box. 



Egg shells contain lime, and in winter, when 

 the earth is bound with frost or covered with snow, 

 if lime is not provided lor them, they will not lay, 

 or, if they do, the eggs must of necessity be with- 

 out shells. Old rubbish liine from old chimneys 

 and old buildings, is proper, and only needs to be 

 broken for them. They will often attempt to swal- 

 low pieces of lime plaster as large as walnuts. 



I have often heard it said that wheat is the best 

 grain for them, but I doubt It; they will sing over 

 Indian corn with more animation than over any 

 other grain. The singing hen will certainly lay 

 eggs, if she finds all things agreeable to her; but 

 the hen is much a prude, as watchful as a weasel, 

 and as fkstidlous as a hypocrite ; she must, she will 

 have secrecy and mystery about her nest; all eyes 

 but her own must be averted ; follow her or watch 

 her, and she will forsake her nest, and stop laying; 

 she is best pleased with a box covered at top, with 

 a backside aperture for light, and side door by 

 which she can escape unseen. 



A farmer may keep an hundred fowls in his barn, 

 may suffer thein to trample upon and destroy his 

 mows of wheat and other grains, and still have 

 fewer eggs than the cottager who keejjs a single 

 dozen, who provides secret nests, chalk eggs, 

 pounded brick, plenty of Indian corn, lime, water 

 and gravel, for tiiem ; and who takes care tliat his 

 hens are not disturbed about their nests. Three 

 chalk eggs in a nest are bettor than a single nest 

 egg, and large eggs please them; I have often smil- 

 ed to see them fiindle round and lay into a nest of 

 geese eggs. Pullets will commence laying earlier 

 in life where nests and eggs are_ plenty, and 

 where other hens are cackling around them. 



A dozen dunghill fowls, shut "up away from oth- 



