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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



one — not the unsightly patch of neglected earth 

 sometimes so miscalled, intended for potatoes and 

 cabbages, but filled with burdock and nettles, but 

 a neatly arranged plat for shrubs and flowers, laid 

 out with taste and kept with care — cultivate a taste 

 for flowers, and teach your children to love them. 

 In doing so, you give them new sources of plea- 

 sure — new facilities for enjoyment. And do not 

 deem the time they bestow upon them lost time ; 

 it is well bestowed, and will yield a rich return in 

 pure and simple joy, and the cheerful love of home. 

 — Address of T. D. JBurral, before the Ontario A- 

 gricultural Society. 



ENCOURAGEMENTS. 



Many hearty respondings are coming to us from 

 every quarter ; our efforts appear to meet with fa- 

 vor and stimulate a corresponding zeal in the friends 

 of an improved course of husbandry every where. 

 New facts or the skilful discussion of old ones, in- 

 terest and draw out new friends in the great cause. 

 A new love for country life and for rural occupa- 

 tions is growing up in the bosom of many who have 

 ever looked upon them with indifference if not dis- 

 gust. This love has been principally created by 

 agricultural papers : by judicious representations 

 of country scenery, life and occupation, and the 

 helps they find there to lead useful and happy lives 

 in country districts. 



An esteemed correspondent in closing a commu- 

 nication in relation to an experiment with fowls, 

 says: — "It pays well to take agricultural papers. 

 The increase realized is owing to skill in manage- 

 ment derived from reading agricultural papers and 

 books. Without them I should have had no faith 

 in the economy of keeping fowls, and should have 

 lacked the requisite knowledge to make them pay 

 their own way and the care of them. The papers 

 cost but little in comparison with the 'material 

 aid' they bring to every tiller of the soil, or grower 

 of stock. The farmer's stock in papers is altogeth- 

 er the most profitable stock he can keep. * * * 

 The mightiest sinews of war, in man's battle with 

 the clods, is 'agricultural science. ' " 



A correspondent in another section of the coun- 

 try, in speaking of the needed reforms in the com- 

 mon practice and of the subject in general says : — 

 "I believe the Farmer is rapidly gaining popularity 

 in this region." We quote one other paragraph, 

 and trust in so doing that we shall not invade the 

 sanctity of a confidential letter. It is this : — 



"When I was but a youth, I formed one deci- 

 sion to which I wish to adhere. It was this. I 

 would make it the leading motive and aim of my lift 

 to be useful. Every other interest, of fame, or of 

 wealth, or of pleasure, should be subservient to 

 this." 



These few simple words comprise our whole duty, 

 and they were uttered as a sort of explanation by a 

 professional man for engaging his thoughts in mat- 

 ters relating to the farm, in accordance with that 

 sense of duty implied in his remarkable words. 



Another correspondent in alluding to the death 

 of Mr. Cole, after giving us a hearty welcome, 

 adds: — A kind "Providence has not left the field 

 he was wont to cultivate to go unfilled. The work 

 of agricultural reform will not lack agents to carry 

 it forward, for God's hand is in it. It is identified 

 too closely with human welfare to be forgotten of 

 him. Though a clergyman, I am a farmer's son, 

 and a gardener, and make experiments both in 

 crops and stocks, and I regard your professional 

 business and my own as intimately connected." 



There is a more intimate relation with each other 

 in all our various avocations than most persons 

 have found time to observe. Our standard ought 

 to be to labor on cheerfully in our office, whatever 

 it may be, and brink our work to perfection! 

 Nothing short of perfection should satisfy us ; and 

 when the leading motive and aim of life shall pre- 

 vail to be useful, then excellence will crown our 

 efforts as surely as the meridian sun is the crown- 

 ing glory of the day. 



THE APPLE CROP. 



When, a few years since, the distillation of ci- 

 der began to be discontinued, many men were very 

 much frightened on account of the entire loss of 

 their orchards, and a few persons began to cut 

 down their trees. Previous to this tune, apples 

 picked up and carried to the mill, had been worth 

 about six cents a bushel, and cider at the press, 

 sixty to seventy-five cents, sometimes less. When 

 the trees bore well and the ground was smooth and 

 free from high grass, small stones, and all things 

 that could trouble in picking up, and the mill was 

 near, you could get your apples gathered and the 

 cider made for one-half of it, minus every tenth 

 barrel for the use of the mill. The apples in the 

 orchard, ungathered, were worth about three 

 cents a bushel; "sauce" and "drying" apples ten 

 to twelve. If gathered, fifteen to seventeen cents, 

 and prime, nineteen, apples of grafted varieties 

 twenty-five cents. 



But as temperance progressed, and the distillery 

 fires ceased to burn, and cider as a drink began to 

 be discarded, the complaint of an overstock of ap- 

 ples became less, cider rose to a dollar or more a 

 barrel, and apples in proportion, and to this day 

 the price of apples has advanced just in proportion 

 as the quantity of cider has diminished. For three 

 or more years, cider apples have been worth, de- 

 livered in the fall, about twelve cents ; common 

 cooking apples twenty-five to thirty-seven, and 

 grafted winter fruit, fifty to seventy-five. Now 

 what has caused all this change ? In the first 

 place apples have been found worth ten to fifteen 

 cents to feed to stock. The curious idea that they 

 contained no nutriment, and would diminish the 

 quantity of milk if fed to cows, has been entirely 

 exploded. If you will have cider you must pay 

 what the apples are worth for other purposes, and 

 for making, besides. 



Then again, the time was, and not many years 

 since, when wo had but few villages so thickly 

 settled but that each family coidd raise their own 

 fruit. Now, with us, the villages of North and 

 South Adams, Lee, Barrington, West Stockbridge, 

 and Pittsfield, to say nothing of others, furnish a 



