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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 EXPERIMENTS. 



BY S. FLINT, JR. 



Mr. Editor : — Having seen in a late number of 

 the New England Farmer, a few extracts from a 

 letter addressed by me to a friend in Washington, 

 I am emboldened to send a few lines for publica- 

 tion, if you think them worth the room they will 

 occupy in your valuable journal. 



It seems to me that farming, both as a science 

 and an art, is yet in its infancy in the United 

 States. When a child first begins to reach after 

 objects, it will stretch out its hand as readily to 

 grasp any thing at the distance of six feet as six 

 inches ; and will continue to do so, till it learns 

 by repeated experiments, that some objects are 

 within and others beyond its reach. It surprises 

 nobody that children so often make these futile ef- 

 forts, but such conduct in a man of mature age 

 would be justly considered good evidence of in- 

 sanity. What then shall we think of the farmer, 

 who year after year cultivates his fields, with the 

 expectation of a good, or at least of a remunerating 

 crop, and often finds his hopes are blasted 1 who 

 stretches forth his hand for the harvest and be- 

 hold ! it is not there ? Is it not conclusive evi- 

 dence that he is making experiments] that he has 

 no settled system, that he is beating about like a 

 boy by a trout brook in hopes he shall get a bite ! 

 What our farmers want at the present time, more 

 than any thing else, is system. We work enough, 

 many of us work too hard, but our blows, like 

 those of the boy who first begins to chop, are 

 many of them lost because they are not well di 

 rected. 



The question very naturally arises, how shall 

 we get a system? how can we know* beforehand 

 where to strike and what to do? Evidently, in 

 no other way than by repeated experiments. Every 

 farmer must make his business a study ; and when- 

 ever he succeeds in obtaining a good, remunerating 

 crop, he might make a record of it. It would 

 serve as a guide to himself in his future operations ; 

 and if communicated to the public, by means of 

 agricultural journals or otherwise, it might furnish 

 hints to others to "go and do likewise." It is not 

 necessary that every man should do this, but it is 

 important that many should ; because when a fact 

 in farming is well established, every body will 

 recognize it ; just as every school boy admits the 

 fact, that the diameter of a circle to its circum- 

 ference is nearly as 7 to 22 ; although he may be 

 entirely ignorant of the geometrical demonstration 

 that proves it. Every farmer who engages in this 

 great work of reducing his business to a system, 

 should keep an exact account of the expense, the 

 mode of producing the amount and value of his 

 crops. 



Great crops are sometimes raised and paraded 

 before the public, that cost much more than their 

 value. As, for instance, a man will take a piece 

 of worn out land, and at a great outlay, will get a 

 good crop. The result is told ; but before he can 

 be awarded much praise as an agriculturist, he 

 should prove that his boasted crop, or the succeed 

 ing crops, will pay the expense ; for he is the best 

 farmer, all other things being equal, who keeps 

 his farm in improving condition, and at the same 

 time obtains the greatest income at the least ex- 

 pense. And these experiments should be con- 

 tinued through a great number of years. 



Suppose, for instance, that a man were to make 

 the trial, to see whether hay fed to sheep or two 

 years old steers were the most profitable. The 

 experiment of a single year might sometimes be in 

 favor of sheep ; because it often happens, that 

 sheep and wool are high in the market when beef 

 is depressed ; and for opposite reasons, it might in 

 other single years be more profitable to feed cattle. 

 So the farmer, like the astronomer, must come at 

 some of his facts by a long course of observation ; 

 while others can be established more readily. Sci- 

 entific investigation has already done something ; 

 and every intelligent farmer knows that a crop 

 cannot thrive without proper nourishment, any 

 more than his boys can. 



"For we shall still take similes 

 From 'boys' as often as we please." 



The fact being well established, that every crop 

 needs suitable nourishment, which nobody at this 

 day will deny, then the great question is, in what 

 manner shall this supply be obtained and imparted 

 to the plant ; and this is a question that cannot 

 receive a uniform answer ; for in some locations it 

 can be obtained more readily in one way, and in 

 other places in a different way. Consequently, 

 every man must look about and judge for himself. 

 If he sees a neighbor increasing his amount of 

 manure by the use of swamp muck, let him look 

 round on his own premises, and see if he has not, 

 within suitable distance, as good a deposit as his 

 neighbor. I have often wished that I had such a 

 place, and after digging out all the holes that I 

 could conveniently come at, concluded I should 

 have to give it up ; although within 40 or 50 rods 

 of my barn there was an inexhaustible supply ; 

 but which I supposed could not be made available, 

 because in order to get at it, it was necessary to 

 cross a field of moist land that would be very ma- 

 teriallv injured at such seasons of the year as is 

 usually devoted to this purpose. Having occasion 

 however to cross it with wood, the first of sledding, 

 the thought occurred to me that it might be dug 

 in the summer or fall, and drawn on a sled with- 

 out any difficulty ; and at a season of the year 

 when it could be very conveniently done — and I 

 intend to make the experiment. s. f. 



Lyme, N. H., 1852. 



Remarks. — We shall soon find room for your 

 other article. Hope to hear from you again. 



THE PIG. 



Few animals yield less waste matter, after being 

 dressed for market, than the pig : every part is 

 useful, as a sailor would say, from stem to stern ; 

 the head for baking, the tail for roasting. _ Every 

 part is made palatable and useful — feet, minister's 

 face and shanks, are all admired, when properly 

 "soused" and cooked. The rich and poor alike 

 admire a meal from the pluck and portions of the 

 loin ; the intestines make excellent envelopes for 

 sausage meat ; the blood makes a savory pudding, 

 and the bristles a brush for purposes "too numer- 

 our to mention." The pig is a short lived but 

 useful animal; and "works his own passage" 

 through life by mixing muck and making manure 

 for his°owner. At death he invariably goes squeel- 

 ing out of his pen into "lard, and pork, and ba- 

 con," and is soon off on a voyage at sea in pursuit 

 of a whale. 



