AN OLD-STYLE FARM 



upon it such lusty growth as may have sprung 

 up the season past. It is afflictive to think 

 what waste of natural resources is committed 

 in this way every year by the scrubby farmers 

 of New England. 



The stock equipment of this farm of nearly 

 four hundred acres, consisted of twelve cows, 

 some six head of young stock, two yoke of 

 oxen, a pair of horses, and a hundred and fifty 

 sheep. I blush even now as I write down the 

 tale of such poor equipment for a farm which 

 counted at least two hundred and seventy 

 acres of open land— the residue being wood, 

 or impenetrable swamp. And it is still more 

 melancholy to reflect that the portion of the 

 land which aided most in the sustenance of 

 this meagre stock, was that which was most 

 nearly in a state of nature. I speak of those 

 newly cleared pasture-lands from which the 

 wood had been removed within ten years. In 

 giving this description of a farm of twenty 

 years ago, I feel sure that I am describing the 

 available surface of a thousand farms in New 

 England to-day. We boast indeed of our 

 thrift and enterprise, but these do not work 

 in the direction of land culture — at least not 

 in the way of that liberal and generous cul- 

 ture which insures the largest product. I 



13 



