544 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



For the New England Farmer. 



IS FARMING AS PROFITABLE AS 

 OTHER OCCUPATIONS ? 



Almost any person at first thought is ready to 

 answer this inquiry in the negative, and such would 

 seem to be the just conclusion of an individual, 

 witnessing the routine operations of the farmer, 

 toiling day after day, and year after year, without 

 making any perceptible headway, and frequently 

 finding it difficult to determine which exceeded, 

 whether it be his imports or his exports. 



Let the same individual turn to the mechanic — 

 whether it be the tailor, the shoemaker, the car- 

 penter or the blacksmith, and ask himself if the 

 mechanic appears happier, fares better, lives easi- 

 er, grows rich faster, or has better health than 

 the farmer. Again, let him turn to the mercan- 

 tile community — there he beholds gorgeous pala- 

 ces, decorated with all the beauties which archi- 

 tecture can bestow ; the floors covered with rich 

 webs of Brussels carpets and trod by slippered 

 gentlemen and silk and satin-clad ladies ; he is 

 ready to exclaim, trade is profitable, and he would 

 willingly enlist himself in the enterprise under 

 auspices so favorable, but shrinks back when he 

 learns that at least one-half (a.) of all who engage 

 in that pursuit become bankrupt, that the liabili- 

 ties of the lord of this stately palace, are beyond 

 his means — and his paper is not worth a farthing 

 in State or Wall Street. 



I am aware that some men drop the mercantile 

 business, take up farming, and fail for want of 

 practical knowledge in the art ; this is an excep- 

 tion and goes no farther to condemn the occupa- 

 tion, than would be that of the cobbler against 

 ship-building, because he did not succeed in mak- 

 ing a seventy-four frigate. 



It is true, the farmer has not much chance for 

 making a. fortune in a day, nor of losing one in a 

 night ; his business is safe, as well as profitable, 

 generally speaking, if he understands it — not al- 

 together profitable in dollars and cents, but pro- 

 fitable for his health, for which, probably, no oth- 

 er occupation is so good ; it may teach him econ- 

 omy, where others might lead to extravagance — 

 it may be profitable for his children, inculcating 

 habits of industry to the youth — while others 

 would predispose them to idleness, dissolution 

 and crime. 



But the farmer can make his business profita- 

 ble in dollars and cents — he has only to increase 

 the fertility of hi3 soil to "cause two blades of 

 grass to grow where but one grew before" — he 

 can rear choice breeds of stock, and feed them 

 well — this will augment the products of his dairy 

 — his dairy will increase his capital stock in the 

 hog-pen ; he can chequer his farm with select 

 fruit trees, which in due time, will repay all cap- 

 ital invested — and return a higher percentage than 

 any dividends yet declared by the directors of most 

 of the railroad companies. While doing this, he 

 is increasing his capital stock — that is, he is mak- 

 ing his farm more valuable, and he is worth the 

 more dollars. 



The question has been asked, "what is life with- 

 out health ?" I would ask what are life and health 

 without enjoyment ? Who then can claim more en- 

 oyment than the farmer; who, more than he, can 

 gratify himself with all the beauties which nature 

 has spread around, so eloquently described by the 

 poets. The sunny slope, the forest glade, the 



willow-margined stream are all his own— the carol 

 of the blue-bird, the lark and the robin salutes 

 his waking moments, and the lovely whip-poor-will 

 chants his evening lullaby. Yes, there is poetry 

 in farming — the "Peasant Bard" will doubtless 

 agree with me, that it is favorable to the devel- 

 opment of poetical genius. n. f. 

 Slowe, Oct., 1852. 



Remarks. — (a.)The number is considerably more 

 than nine-tenths in the city of Boston. The above 

 views of farming, as an occupation, are just. "H. 

 F." is welcomed to our columns. 



WORCESTER WEST SOCIETY. 



The following remarks are a portion of a speech 

 made by Francis Brewer, Esq., at the Worcester 

 West Agricultural Society on the 30th Sept. last. 

 Mr. Brewer is a member of the Massachusetts 

 State Board of Agriculture, and an ardent advo- 

 cate of progress in the art. 



Delegated by that body which the Legislature 

 )f our commonwealth has constituted the head of 

 lier agricultural interests, I am with you to-day, 

 not in the character of those whom Joshua sent 

 secretly as spies to view the land of Jericho, but as 

 a friend and brother; having just severed myself 

 from the enjoyments of our own family festival, 

 that I might present to you the warm right-hand 

 of fellowship and of friendship, from your agricul- 

 tural friends in my own native valley. 



I have no credentials to present, nor any official 

 instructions of duty to pursue, furnished me as the 

 representative of that body who delegated to me 

 this duty, but I relieve myself of much of the em- 

 barrassment incident to my position, by borrowing 

 the use of a commission found in a volume of an- 

 cient records ; and although dated prior to the es- 

 tablishment of any agricultural association, is still 

 so pertinent to the present occasion that I have 

 appropriated it to my own benefit; it is brief yet 

 very explict, and comprehends many of the lead- 

 ing agricultural statistics which it is our purpose 

 to collect ; and if old things are to become new, I 

 shall need offiv no apology for my appeal to the 

 higher law, for my authority. It is the commis- 

 sion and instructions which Moses gave to those 

 whom he delegated to. visit and examine the land 

 of Canaan ; allow me to read it; he says to them, 

 "Get you up this way — and go up into the moun- 

 tain and see the land what it is, and the people 

 that dwell therein, whether they be strong or 

 weak, few or many ; and see what the land is that 

 they dwell in, whether it be good or bad ; and what 

 cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents 

 or strongholds ; and see lohat the land is, wheth- 

 er it be fat or lean, whether there be wood there- 

 in, or not, and bo of good courage and bring of the 

 fruit of the land." These, sir, are my assumed 

 credentials, and we may safely infer from the re- 

 cord, that these instructions were given not far 

 from this season of the year, for it says, "now the 

 time was the time of the first ripe grapes" — and 

 such grapes ! such native grapes too, with such 

 evidence of the abundant fertility of the soil, it is 

 no surprise that my illustrious predecessors made 

 their report, that it was a land flowing with milk 

 and honey. I may safely presume that such are 

 not indigenous to your soil, although the cultiva- 



