NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



289 



INDEPENDENT HORSE RAKE. 



We give above a representation of Delano's In- 

 dependent Horse tlake in full operation. The 

 cut hardly needs explanation. 



Each tooth acts separately, its head being sus- 

 pended by a rod. This rake has been in use two 

 years in Massachusetts, and several hundreds of 

 them have been sold. We see them highly recom- 

 mended by the best farmers in this State and New 

 Hampshire, and also by the Worcester, Essex and 

 Middlesex Agricultural societies. We have used 

 one for two years past, and find it to answer all 

 the purposes for which it has been recommended. 

 It operates well on land either rough or smooth, 

 and rakes as fast and clean as any other which we 

 have seen, and has the advantage of requiring but 

 one person to work with it, and he can ride com- 

 fortably, instead of working hard on foot, as one 

 is obliged to do with the revolver or spring tooth. 



The patent right for the counties of Essex, Mid- 

 dlesex, Norfolk, Franklin, Worcester and Suffolk, 

 is owned by James W. Odlin, Esq., of Exeter, 

 N. II., who bas authorized Ruggles, Nourse, Ma- 

 son & Co., and Parker & White, to sell the rakes, 

 the ensuing season. The price is twelve dollars, 

 without wheels. 



The rake is usually fitted to the hind wheels of 

 a single horse wagon. The operator cleans the 

 rake, when filled with hay, by pressing with his 

 foot upon me triangle, without stopping the horse. 

 The work is very light for both man and beast, 

 and on the whole, we advise our friends who are 

 not already suited with a horse rake to try one of 

 the Independents. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 AGRICULTURE AS AN OCCUPATION. 



BY RALPH HOLBROOK. 



Mr. Editor : — It has been a source of satisfac- 

 tion to me that the Legislature of your State has 

 taken so much interest in this important occupation, 

 and I could wish that the Legislature of this State, 

 (N. H.) would take as much interest in the same 

 cause. I have lived some fifty-eight years in the 

 world, and have followed no other branch of busi- 

 ness, excepting getting out lumber and cord wood 

 for the market, in addition to my own fire wood, 

 during the winter season, when there was not 

 much other work to be done on the farm. 



Although I have followed this branch of business 

 for so many years, yet I never have seen the ^ime 

 when I had any inclination to exchange it for either 

 of the many occupations which mankind follow 

 in the world, to make money by, in addition to a 

 living. And I can truly say, that the longer I fol- 

 low my occupation the better I like it, and the 

 more profitable I can make it. It has long been a 

 source of regret to me to see so many young men 

 who have been brought up on a farm, as soon as 

 they become of age quit their former employment, 

 and seek for some other (as they consider it) more 

 profitable employment. In many instances that 

 have come within my observation they have been 

 disappointed, and in some cases they have taken 

 the wise, but it may have been humiliating step, 

 of returning to their former employment. 



Now I would not advise any man who has noth- 

 ing but his bare hands to begin the world with, 

 to involve himself in debt to obtain a farm, stock, 

 and tools ; for in so doing, (to use the farmer's 

 phrase) he would have rather a hard row to hoe ; 

 and yet, if a young man who enjoys good health 

 can find some profitable employment, and will be 

 satisfied with a fair compensation for his labor and 

 be economical, he may, in the course of a few yea 3, 



