112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



beautiful that is not at the same time very lucra- 

 tive." 



The true remedy for these difficulties is to mix 

 up a little farming with your other affairs. Have 

 your dwelling a few miles from the city, and take 

 fresh air and exercise instead of medicine. In the 

 country, especially, every man should have land, 

 and bo interested in its culture, not as a matter of 

 pecuniary profit to himself, but for his health of 

 body and mind ; and for the advantage of those 

 around him. Some of the best farmers in New 

 England have been among professional men. The 

 old order of ministers were all farmers, and fur- 

 nished their parishes the best examples of system- 

 atic and scientific husbandry, and the best illus- 

 tration that intellectual culture tends always to pro- 

 mote the best culture of the soil. 



They were in advance of the people, as well in 

 the science of husbandry , as in general attainments 

 in learning, and their daily life of mingled physical 

 and mental labor, their quiet and unselfish living 

 out the pure principles of the Gospel, were ser 

 mons more powerful for good, than the speculative 

 Sunday discourses of some of their successors, who 

 are in a more literal sense "set apart to minister 

 in holy things." In the days of political trials no 

 purer or readier patriots were found, than they 

 who labored through the week on the lands of the 

 Parsonage. The country physician is always a 

 farmer, and usually scientific and successful. His 

 studies lead to a knowledge of chemistry and of 

 the laws of animal and vegetable life, and give him 

 a taste for agricultural pursuits. Many of our 

 lawyers of the first rank, are rendering valuable 

 aid to our cause. The present Secretary of State 

 has done good service to his country on his farm 

 in Marshfield, and his home in Salisbury in the 

 Granite State 



taste. There are plenty of varieties much better 

 than this. 



FARMING IN OREGON. 



The following extract from a private letter, giv- 

 ing some account of the Agricultural capacities of 

 Oregon, we copy from the New Bedford Mercury : — 



Tualatin Plains, (Oregon,) 

 Nov. 23, 1851. 



Oregon is an extensive farming country, with a 

 rich and fertile soil ; the climate, — so far as my 

 experience has extended, — is one of the most 

 healthy in the world. I have not been sick, even 

 for a day, since my arrival here, and I know of 

 hundreds of others whose health is equally as good. 

 The large and extensive prairies are interspersed 

 with timber sufficient for fuel, fencing and building 

 purposes. 



The wheat grown here is superior to that raised 

 in any other part of the United States ; it never 

 rusts, and it is not troubled by insects. Wheat 

 yields from 25 to 50 bushels ; Oats from 30 to 40, 

 and Potatoes from 150 to 400 bushels per acre. 

 Oats are now selling for $1, Wheat for $1,50, and 

 Potatoes for $1 per bushel. 



We raise what is here termed two "voluntary 

 crops." The land is prepared and sown in the 

 fall, and the next summer it is harvested, and the 

 grain scattered in harvesting will seed the same 

 field for the two succeeding years. 



The largest proportion of the population here 

 is from the Western States, and they are far be- 

 hind our Yankee farmers in the science of tilling 

 the land. The climate is much warmer here than 

 in New England ; grass is now some six inches 

 high, and strawberries in full bloom ; in fact some 

 few ripe ones have been gathered. All kinds of 

 mechanical labor is in good demand, and a few 

 wheelwrights, carpenters and blacksmiths, would 

 find constant employment and high wages. If 

 you have any unmarried ladies within the circle of 

 your acquaintance, just tell them to make tracks 

 for Oregon ; it is the place for them — they may be 

 sure of an offer of marriage as soon as they arrive. 



Indeed, there is room enough in the business for If , the y acce P t ' th «y will find loving husbands, and 

 i c , i , ., , . . . a nappy and comfortable home ; it not, they will 



and often he who pursues it, not as his prmci- fmd instant employment at from $30 to $50 a 



all 



pal employment, but as an amusement, may, by 

 strict scientific investigation, and by experiment 

 which may result, to him, in pecuniary loss, make 

 his recreation of substantial benefit to his fellow- 

 men. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 



Pears. — Pears from "H. II. W.," Lowell, are 

 of fine flavor, and we should think well worthy of 

 cultivation. The specimens sent were too much 

 bruised and discolored to afford any fair opportu- 

 nity of fixing a name for them. If you will send 

 a specimen on a twig of the tree with leaves, we 

 shall be able 'to say whether it belongs to any of 

 the varieties now among us. 



Apples. — The large, green, beetle-headed apple 

 from friend Sheldon would make an excellent sub- 

 stitute for the pumpkin to be fed to stock. 



The smaller apples witli a beautiful blush on 

 one side are undoubtedly the Tolman Sweet. It is 

 very productive, but not remarkably rich to our 



ployment at from $30 to $50 

 month, and boarded at that. It is the place for 

 Yankee girls — God bless them ! I could find hus- 

 bands, and good ones, too, for fifty in as many 

 minutes. 



Measurement of Irish Potatoes. — The Leonard- 

 town (Md.) Beacon urges that the Legislature 

 should pass a law regulating the measurement of 

 Irish potatoes. The practice now is to heap the 

 half bushel as long as the potatoes can be piled 

 up, or to measure them in a flour barrel, heaping 

 the barrel and allowing it to hold two and a half 

 bushels. This, the Beacon contends, is doing 

 great injustice to the farmer. In fact, it says it is 

 robbing him of at least one-fifth of his just due, or 

 one bushel of potatoes out of every five. 



Remarks. — Potatoes should be bought and sold 

 by xoeight, as should all the grains and meal. Pur- 

 chasers of potatoes "by the small," as they say at 

 the South, pay extravagant prices for them. The 

 price is as easily regulated by the pound as by the 

 bushel. 



