226 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. SO ! 41 



AGRICULTURAL MEETINGS 



Will bo held at the State House on the evening 



of Thursdai/, each week, at? o'clock. Subject for 



consideration tomorrow evening — The Cultivated 



Grasses. As we, at the rcqurst of the Agncultii- ! i^^'ugpif j^rough the conntiy, our young men and 

 ral Commissioner, named a subject, hbcity we tru.st " .■-.,,_ _ „„ , 



may be taken to specify a lew of the points of in- 



which were once extensive and productive, have 

 been given up, from the impossibility of obtaining 

 women, who were cither willing or capable of draw- 

 ing the milk, or manufacturing it after it was drawn. 

 Indeed, in the progress of refinement, fast sprea 



qui'ry embraced under the general hi'ud. What 

 kind or kinds are best suited to moist, what to dry, 

 and to intermediate lands? \Vhat to lands in a 

 high state of cultivation ? In ordinary condition ? 

 In a poor condition ? Is it best to sow one kind 

 only or several varieties .' If several, what kinds 

 shall enter into the mixture ? How much seed to 

 the acre ? At what season is it best to sow.f 

 Shall it be sowed alone or with some other crop? 

 If with another, what crop is best ? What worst ? 

 Which variety makes the best food for putting 

 flesh upnn horned cattle? Which produces the 

 most milk ? Which is best for horses ? Which for 

 sheep? What are economical top-dressings for 

 grasslands? What the best age at which to cut 

 the different grasses ? What the best modes of 

 curing ? &c. &c. — Ed. 



women are beginning to look upon a .cow, as a 

 non-descript animal, escaped from some strolling 

 menagerie, and the very odor of the barn, is likely 

 to throw them into hysterics; while, to the same 

 delicate class, the fumes of sogars in vohiines 

 thick enough to cloud the sight, or the mephitic 

 vapors of a crowded theatre, or ball room, or the 

 exquisite odnrsof a broken gas-pipe, are inhaled as 

 nectar Coimoii's Address at jVorwich. 



EFFECTS OF MANUFACTURES UPON AG- 

 RICULTURE. 



Commercial and manufacturing pursuits with- 

 draw a large portion of our people from agricultural 

 labor, as they promis.^ higher wages and^ rea<ly 

 money. It has been supposed and coniidcntly 

 niaintiiined among us, that martufaclurcs, especial- 

 ly, would operate as an encouragement to agricul- 

 ture, by creating a quick market for its products in 

 the villages, which spring up wherever these es- 

 tablishments are planted. Cut the efi'fJct has been 

 to withdraw a large amount of labor frdm the farm, 

 and render it difficult and discour.igihg, through 

 the scarcity and consequent high prices of labor, to 

 carry on, to any considerable extent, and with any 

 enterprise, the business of the farm. Terhapa we 

 are not yet sufficiently populous to furnish an am- 

 ple supply of labor to our farms, and the extensive 

 manufacturing and commercial establisliments, 

 whicli are in operation among us. As our popula- 

 tion advances, we shall have people enough for all 

 the departments; but, hitherto, trade and manufac- 

 tures as carried on among ui, have operated, in 

 some respects, to the hindrance of agriculture ; and 

 I shall be forgiven, I hope, in expressing my mor- 

 tificatioii and regret, in observing the crowds of 

 young men in our cities, who, instead of brighten- 

 ing their hoes, and standing behind their plouL'hs, 

 prefer to rub the brass bell knobs, and stand be- 

 hind the tables; or, else, with tlie muscles of oak. 



Awfully Genteel. — We happened the other day 

 to hear a young woman — very pretty she was too 

 expressing the most profound ignorance respect- 

 ing domcstie economy. Credit her own words, and 

 yon would believe that she does not know how a 

 potato looks before it is cooked— or whether it 

 grows upon trees with a shell like a walnut, or is 

 I a domestic animal, fed on corn, and slaughtered 

 for the table. She would have her friends — or 

 perhaps slw- would say her acquaintances — sup- 

 pose that she never was nearer to a kitchen than 

 in the hall on the lower floor ; and that she has no 

 more idea of culinary operations than Robinson 

 Crusoe's man Frid.iy possessed. Yet we are ready 

 to stake our life upon the fact that if she was not 

 bom in a kitchen, she was educated as a scullion; 

 and that her fingers were in her earlier youth — she 

 is young yet — much more familiar with brasses on 

 the area palings and with the interior of the stew 

 pans, and with ashes in the grates, than with the 

 piano forte keys or with cambric needles. Nothing 

 but a ridiculous desire to corneal what would be 

 no disgrace to her, i' known, could tempt her to 

 such ridiculous and lying affectation. 



No true lady is ashamed of a knowledge of the 

 details and duties of a household — but on the con- 

 trary would be extremely mortified at ignorance of 

 such essentials. It is no matter if fortune has so 

 blessed her that she need not soil her fingers in 

 domestic occnpati(ms. A knowledge of them is 

 absolutely necessary to procure their performance 

 by servants. She is a wretched butt of kitchen 

 malace, and a victim of wanton waste, who cannot 

 detect servants in their misdoings by her own 

 knowledge. To command the respect and obedi- 

 ence of servants, a housekeeper should he so well 

 informed .-is to be able to answer them upon ques- 

 tions, sometimes maliciously put. Her eye should 

 f any part of the domestic estab 



improvement on too large a scale for you. This 

 may be, generally speaking ; but then, when we 

 read, we must reflect how far this or that can be 

 applied with advantage on our own little farms. 

 And again, I know many small farmers who are 

 fully competent to write for the Register, and by 

 not doing so they neglect to discharge a duty 

 which they owe their brother farmers. The hand 

 which is now using this pen, a few miniJtes ago 

 was using the hoe — and to u.uch better eflect too ; 

 but you see Mr Ruflin has not rejected this piece 

 because my ideas are not couched in elegant or 

 purely granunctical language. 



But to the point. Small farmers should attend 

 to small matters, and some big ones too ; and the 

 first of these is the improvement of their minds. 

 The reading of agricultural works, as well as all 

 other good books, has a powerful tendency to ef- 

 fect this desirable object. Next, the improvement 

 of our morals. Let us have our consciences "void 

 of offVnce towards God and man," that we may 

 enjoy fully the bounties of Providence. Then tho 

 improvement of our little farms, which we should 

 not only do as a matter of necessity, but as a duty 

 which we owe to our God and to our posterity. 

 Tiiis is to be done in a variety of ways. We 

 should be as careful to store up food for our crops 

 as we are for our families. No ashes, slops, bones, 

 sweepings of the yard or kitchen, or litter of any 

 kind, should be lost, that can be converted into 

 manure, and' cultivate no land without its being 

 manured well. Let a fruit tree be planted on eve- 

 ry little unoccupied spot of ground near the home- 

 .stead. Concentrate your labors on a small spot 

 Keep no i.iore stock than you can keep well. Dis- 

 pense with your useless dogs, and such like. Sub- 

 scribe to the Farmers' Register, or some other ag- 

 ricultural paper, and you will soon have cause (as 

 I now have) to be thankful to the editor and his 

 correspondents for the great benefit they have done 

 you. Your farm will afford more profit and more 

 pleasure; it will inspire a feeling of manly inde- 

 pendence and gratitude to a kind Providence ; you 

 will be a fitter subject of a republican government; 

 in short, you will attain the enviable title of 



A RICH POOR MAN. 



never lose .sight o ^ , 



.^ ...^ , -■, , , ilisbment; and she should be qualified to oversee 



made to breast the wind, to turn up the soil, and to I „„ jergi,,n(ijng.|y ajg,,. Else might a man rich as 

 gather the harvest, choose, in their miserable effeini- j,;^jj>^„., ^^ bp^o^ared by his kitchen, and still he 

 nncy, to thrust themselves into woman's ^pl'ere, |,^^^.^ ^^^.^^ ^.^^ better for it.— .V. F. 7W«er. 



and putting on the dandy's uniform, become trans 

 formed into a sort of gum elastic exquisites, to j 

 stand behind counters, and measure out pins and 

 ribbon.-. Still more is it to be lamented, that now 

 in the country, the milkn.aid's elastic step, and j 

 neatly tied up locks, and ruddy cheeks, and spark- 



Froin the Farmer's' Regifelnr, 



TO SMALL FARMERS, 



neatly tieo up iock., a„o ,>,.-., .,....-, -.- -.-■■ 1 frequently hear small farmers say " Ah ! it is 



\\n. teetii, is a picture to be found .mly in the lum- well enough for Mr S-and-so to read the Register, 



br.;ganet of some secluded antiquarian, who, poor and try experiments; but it will not do f^^.r me - 



soul ' has never heard of the Mirror of Fashion or Neighbor, if this is your case, let me tell you that 



the Lady's .Magazine. I ""• » small fanner, and I can testify that the 



These things have operated, in a great degree, reading of agricultural works has been of great ad- 



to the hindrance of agriculture; and, for this rea- vantage to me, and 1 am sure will be to you, if you 



son, many cultivated lands in the State, have been will read them. Perhaps you will say that the 



abandoned to wood ; and dairy establishments, correspondents of the Register propose plans of 



OLD AND YOUNG SOWS AS BREEDERS. 



If the opinions contained in the following article 

 are sound, our farmers may be suffering loss from 

 ignorance or neglect of them. The custom here is 

 to commence fattening the sow as soon as her first 

 little are weaned. We seldom have any other than 

 " gi't P'S^-" Can any of our friends give informa- 

 tion upon this subject? — Ed. 



From llie Farmer's Caliinet. 



Mr Editor — I wish to add my testimony to that 

 of " Siam," at page 42 of the Cabinet for August: 

 I have never been able to rear the first litter of 

 pigs from a young sow with credit to myself or 

 profit to any one, and it is now my practice to kill 

 them for roasters, rather than make ar.other attempt. 

 I have, however, seen some who havi- been more 

 fortunate, but as a general rule, I believe the thing, 

 as I have stated it, is /well established ; and in a 

 paper which I have now before me, "The Carolina 

 Planter," I find the following observation : 



"It is a fact of common observation, v/ith even 

 our old servants who h.ave long been hog-minders, 

 that the first litter of pigs from a young sow, or as 

 they call them, irUt pigs, are naturally of a feebla 



