ao 



K£vV ENGLAND FARMER, 



JULT 39, 184,0. 



AND HORTICULTURAL RFGISTER. 



Boston, WEDNEsojm, July 



AGRICULTURE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



MOUALS OF LABOR. 



Whoever had the plensure of hearing Gov. Hill, at 

 the Slate House tlie last winter, at one of the agricultu- 

 ral meetings, will not h:ive forgollen some admiiable 

 remarks made on lliat occa.sii>n by this wentleman. If 

 we had access to tlieiii, we certainly should transcribe 

 them, as embracing precisely our own opinions in rela- 

 tion to the snbjer't. Our j'oung men in general, whpn 

 they go to service, or as it is customarily tenned, " hire 

 out," seem to ihinU that there ia something di^nradinff 

 in the idea of being servants ; and bring wirh them so 

 much of what they deem a proper spirit of independence, 

 that they forget the employer has any rights, and lake 

 pride in insolence and ill-manners. Now we protest 

 against meanness and servility, but still more agninst in- 

 civility and insolence. The truth is, that no honest em- 

 ployment is derogatory to any man ; and we cannot 

 name a man in the community who is not a servant in 

 some respects to others. Many situations in life, which 

 to the multitude are objects of envy, are situations of 

 extreme drurlgery, much more severe both lo mind and 

 body than labor on a farm. 



The laborer has his rishls and duties. Having enter- 

 ed into service for a fixed compensation, unless express 

 exceptions are made at the time of the engagement, he 

 is bound to render his best services on the farm, in the 

 most assiduous and faithful manner, under the direction 

 of his employer, whether he approves that direction or 

 not; and we know of but one rule for an honest man, 

 which is to consider his employer's interest as his own, 

 and do in every respect in the case as he would judge 

 it right to do if the situations were reversed, and he 

 were the employer instead of tlie employed. The em- 

 ployer is boimd on the other hand, to furnish the laborer 

 with a sufficiency of good and wlwlesome food, suitably 

 prepared; comfortable lodgings; exact no unreasonable 

 service ;"and treat his laborers with kindness, civil lan- 

 guage, and all proper confidence. This roniprchends 

 all the mutual dniins as we understand them. It often 

 happens that hired men are disposed to make difficulties 

 if two tables are set. In this uiaiter let the household- 

 er never yield a hair's breadth of his outlmri'y. In 

 many eases it is most convenient to have but one table; 

 but in this respect the laborer has no claims except lo a 

 t eutficiency of good and wholesome food, prepared prop- 

 erly and seasonably ; but he has no right nor shadow of 

 right to interfere with the farmer's domestic arrange- 

 ments, as oftentimes it must break up entirely that do- 

 mestic quiet and privacy which constitute the chief 

 pleasures of domestic life. We have no arbitrary dis- 

 tinctions of rank in this country, and every man's stand- 

 ing depends upon his moral character. One man is as 

 honorable as another, who behaves himself as well as 

 another. But then our pursuits in life are very differ- 

 ent from each other. Our tastes are not always conge- 

 nial ; and it is not necessary, that under the lidiculous 

 pretence of maint.iining a nominal equality, we should 

 sacrifice the comlbrls of life by associations which are 

 not in truth agreeabl.^ to either party. Where it can be 

 done without being offerrsive or inconvenient, we iidmit 

 that it would be much more ccononiic.il and convenient 

 to form but one family ; but we maintain that this is en- 

 tirely at the option of the employer, in respect to which 

 the laborer has no demands whatever. 



There is a matter which a few years since gave a 

 great deal of trouble to farmers, which the wholesome 

 decisions of the courts have materially corrected. Then 

 laborers felt that their employers were in their power; 

 and that they were at liberty to quit the service and de- 

 mand their wages at their pleasure. Sometimes in the 

 midst of planting, or hayiu'r, or harvesting, either 

 through mere caprice, but most commonly with the ex- 

 pectatiiiti of getting higher wages, they would quit their 

 employer and leave him under every disadvantage. The 

 courts having decided that no man is entitled to his wa- 

 ges who, without good and sufficient cause, fails to con- 

 tinue his agreed term, the employer has a proper remedy 

 in his own hands, which wiil keep this matter right. 



There i^* another point in this case of the morals of 

 labor, upon which we have not the power to animadvert 

 with too much severity ; tmd that is, a practice among 

 employers of seducing by bribes or intrigues or some 

 vile means, a laborer from the service in which he is en- 

 gaged. We have known this done so frequently, and 

 under circumstances of such extreme inconvenience and 

 loss to the injured party, that no words can express our 

 sense of its baseness. It is a gross violation of all faith 

 and honor; and a man who would directly or indirectly 

 be guilty of such an act, ought to be pronounced an out- 

 law of civil society. 



The matter of providing for laborers has become a 

 very serious affair ; and gross extravagance has come 

 in here as into every other department of life. A hired 

 man, when he demands sixteen dollars a month and his 

 board, generally estimates his board as of no considera- 

 tion. But in few parts of the State can a man be board- 

 ed fiir less than eight or ten dollars a month ; and when 

 the farmer perceives that instead, as the laborer pretends, 

 he is paying only sixteen dollars a month, he is in fact 

 paying Iwentysix dollars a month, the burden becomes 

 very heavy. Our habits of living have become too lux- 

 urious. The habit of five meals a day which prevails 

 on many farms, is most pernicious to the health. We 

 know well by experience that thiee meals a day, at C 

 A. M., at 12 P. M. and at P. M., with sometimes a 

 cracker or two in the forenoon, is all that is essential or 

 beneficial. Nothing is more unfavorable to health both 

 of body and mind than by frequent eatings to keep the 

 organs of digestion under continual exertion; and to at- 

 tempt to labor with the stomach filled to repletion. The 

 allowance formerly of a Scotch laborer in time of hay- 

 ing and harvesting, and no men ever labored harder 

 or enjoyed in general firmer health, or were capable of 

 going through greater hardships, was a peck of oatmeal 

 on Monday morning and a gallon of milk a day. This 

 was the week's allowance, and he prepared it in any 

 way which pleased him. The allowance of a field la- 

 borer at the South is one and a half peck of corn meal 

 per week and three and a half pounds of pork or bacon, 

 or two and a half pounds of pork and fourteen herring. 

 With this they labor constantly from daylight to dark, 

 with only an occasional hour allowed them some Satur- 

 day evening. Their health is good ; and we were told 

 by many of them that the supply was in general more 

 than thiy required. Water is their only drink. Now 

 most certainly we do not refer to such cases as these 

 with any desire that our laborers should be abridged of 

 a single comfort ; but as displaying the extremes to 

 which our extravagance leads us ; and to show how 

 much less is required than we generally supp(ise, to 

 maintain the \igor of the human frame, and lo support 

 men in health uniler the severest toil. We are satisfied 

 that our present system of inanagement is actually pre- 

 judicial to health antl morals. How a remedy shall be 

 ft)und and applied, is more than we can say. 



The temperance reformation has been an immense 



gain both to employers and laborers. The very personi- 

 fication of evil, in our opinion, is Rdh ; and the blessed 

 change which even its imperfect progress has produced 

 in the country, is every where apparent, and fills the be- 

 nevolent bosom with inexpressible joy and the bright- 

 est hopes. H. C. 



Mepkori., July 20th, 1840. 

 Mr Brkck — Sir — Having of late been principally en- 

 gaged in the gardening line, for Dr. S. Kidder, of Med- 

 ford, Mass., and as he ii one of your subscribers I have 

 had opportunity to peruse your papers ; and let mo say 

 they are not what I expected, but far exceed my expec- 

 tations, and in perusing them I have been happily dis- 

 appointed ; and for one I think that your paper is one 

 of the most useful and interesting which the farmers 

 could procure ;— valuable, not only for its neatness, but 

 for the real subject matter contained in it; and as a 

 friend, 1 wish ycu an ample number of subscribers, to 

 sustain you in its publication, not only for the benefit 

 and interest of the farmer, but the public generally. 

 Your well-wisher, 



JAMES M. HARTWELL. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



EXHIBITION OF FLOWERS. 



Saturday, July 2otli, 1840. 

 Dahlias — by Messrs Bowditch, Barnes and Walker. 

 Bouquets — by Mcs'^rs John Hovey,Hovey & Co., W. 

 Kenrirk and Walker. 



Carnations — by John Hovey. 



Lilium superbum, (very fine,) by John Prince, Esq. 

 Mr Samuel R. Johnson presented some roses and 

 other flowers. 



Gladiolus florabundus, and dwarf double Sunflower, 

 from Parker Barnes, Esq. 

 For the Committee. 



S. WALKER, Chairman. 



EXHIBITION OF FRUITS. 



Saturday, July 18th. 



Samuel Downer, Esq., Dorchester, exhibited very 

 fine specimens of Belle Magnifique Cherry. 



A. D. Weld, Esq., Roxbury, presented fine specimens 

 of Whitcand Red Cuirants and Raspberries. 



Wm. Kenrick, Esq., Nonantum Hill, Newton, sent 

 fine samples of English Gooseberries. 



A. D. Williams, Esq., Roxbury, exhibited superior 

 samples of Red and White Antwerp Currants. 



James L. L. F. Warren exhibited specimens of his 

 new seedling cherry, called " Warren's Transparent" — 

 pronounced by judges to be one of tlio best late cherries 

 yet produced. 



C. Goldeman, Esq., Chelsea, exhibited very choice 

 specimens of Black Hamburg Grapes; — ihey reflected 

 much credit upon the cultivator. 

 For the Committee, 



J. L. L. F. WARREN. 



Milking Cows. Good cows need milking regularly 

 three times every twentyfour hours. In fact, if this 

 practice were adopted, our farmers would have more 

 good cows than they now do. We see it stated that a 

 gentleman near Philadelphia, who has adopted the prac- 

 tice of milkin^ thrice a day, has a short horned Durham 

 cow that yielded an average of 33 1-2 quarts a day dur- 

 ing the first week in June. — Exch. pap. 



Flour is selling at Cleveland at 

 wheat at about 75 cents per barrel. 



7.5 per barrel — 



