108 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



For the New England Farmer. 



"IS FAEMme PROFITABLE?" 



SKETCHES OF WEST STOCKERIDGE EARMERS' CLUP. 

 BY J. N. BAGG. 



It was remarked, that indolence and bad man- 

 agement are always mijn-ofitable, and these are of- 

 ten allied to agriculture. Eleven hours a day are 

 required of operators in manufactories and work- 

 shops, all winter long, and merchants keep their 

 stores open from fifteen to seventeen hours a day. 



Few farmers work in winter as many hours as 

 manufacturers. Some, on the contrary, rest all 

 winter, and idle away part of the summer, and these 

 are the ones, usually, that cry out against the pro- 

 fitableness of farming. 



If farmers were as dihgent and constant as other 

 men, they would make as much money. 



K farming is unprofitable, how happens it that 

 farmers' families are so well fed and clothed, and so 

 many have money in the Savings Banks ? 



The farmer's salary comes in by driblets, instead 

 of a lump. Little by little he receives his yearly 

 stipend. A dozen of eggs to-day, a few pounds of 

 butter to-morrow, pigs, calves, poultry, corn, pota- 

 toes, apples, are some of the things he sells. 



Land worth ten dollars an acre often pays for 

 itself, besides taxes, interest and expense of culti- 

 vation, in a single year. A man in this vicinity sold 

 $210 worth of potatoes from an acre this year. 

 They were an early variety, and were dug and sold 

 in season to sow the ground with turnips. 



Besides, money is not the only thing in which 

 there is profit. Farmers are healthy men. Is 

 health profitable ? Ask the invalid. Is good di- 

 gestion worth any thing ? Ask the dyspeptic. Is 

 sound sleep good ? Ask the sleepless. Is longev- 

 ity valuable ? Ask him w'ho dies in "manhood's 

 early prime." 



All these belong to the farmer. They are al- 

 most inseparable from his business. They are al- 

 lied to his calling. Who would not then be a 

 farmer ? 



A WIDE AWAKE LETTER ! 



We cannot resist the temptation to pubhsh the 

 following letter from one of our earnest and intelli- 

 gent correspondents. If our vanity Avould permit 

 it, the excellent suggestions it contains for our 

 brother farmers, would positively forbid it. So 

 here it is, and we believe it is all as true as the 

 book of Mark. Thank you, sir. 



Friend Brown : — I take the hint, and respond 

 in the sum of two dollars for the Farmer, due or not 

 due. Who ever kept debtor and creditor for a 

 newspaper? I assure you, I contract no debt, 

 where I get so much value received for the two 

 dolls. My friend H., at New Rochelle, says he 

 "takes no paper that combines so much farm in- 

 struction and good reading matter ;" and without 

 the fulsomeness of comphment, I beg to say, I like 

 its editorials, its dealings in practical ad\ice, and 

 soundness of literature. The Monthly Calendar 

 is always well adapted to its time. 



To me, it is a matter of regret that farmers do 

 not write more. If time is short, I, for one, would 

 excuse them with sir lines or less, in descrilnng a 

 big beet, pig, turkey, an ear of corn ; or the length 

 of a wheat head. The first page of your paper 



always interests and instructs me with something 

 new. 



A few days since, I met in Western Mass,, one of 

 your correspondents, a Mr. S., of South Deerfield, 

 an eminent farmer, whom I should have accounted 

 "a Barnum," had he not been mounted with an 

 honest blue farmer's frock. He wislied me to go 

 and see his farm — haste would not permit, although 

 anxious to do so, Avhen he told me he raised 800 

 bushels of corn on less than eight acres of ground, 

 and raised his own wheat, and had not bought a 

 barrel of flour for years. Now Gov., this is one of 

 the working bees — (does not work hard, but ivell) 

 that brings honey to the hive — that speaks with em- 

 phasis upon the bread question to the drones of 

 the great hive of the New England farmers — an 

 open question, which can only be answered by bush- 

 els of wheat and barrels of fiour — that drains their 

 pockets to the dregs. But as sure as there is wa- 

 ter in the sea, the example of our friend S. will be 

 adopted by all those noble farmers "down east." 

 Yours respectfully, Henry Poor. 



jVeiv York, January loth, 1856. 



Fur the Neic Englanu Farmer. 



EDITORIAL ACCURACY. 



Milk, four quarts for one pound of Butter — Importance of Edi- 

 torial Accuracy — Trip to Washington — Farm School at West- 

 boro'. 



Mr. Editor: — The late driving storm, that has 

 filled every avenue to the barn, and the fields and 

 woods to the generous depth of snow, two and a 

 half feet at least, has been peculiarly favorable for 

 the perusal of agricultural instruction from the 

 city. I admire the attire in which your jiaper is 

 clothed, and the promise it gives of sound instruc- 

 tion. I am glad to know that }0u are so fortunate 

 as to secure a series of contributions from fountains 

 so rehable as are at your command. When we find 

 editors deliberate and considerate in what they say, 

 and abiding by it, year after year, we have respect 

 for their publications, although we do not approve 

 of all their notions. This remark is brought to 

 mind by the vascillation in the columns of one of 

 your neighbors, much circulated among the farmers, 

 about the superior butter-making qualities of his 

 stock. We had understood him to say again and 

 again, that his Z)ei'ons would yield milk, /ottr quarts 

 of Avhich would make a pound of butter. I now 

 understand him to say that he never stated any 

 such absurdity, and to challenge any one to show 

 where he has made such a statement. I have not 

 a file of his papers at hand, and know not where to 

 find one ; and therefore will not presume to name 

 the page and time, where the statement can be 

 found — but if no such statement has been made by 

 him, I do not wish to hold him to it, because I do 

 not believe it to be true. I do not believe there 

 can be found, in his herd, or anywhere else, four 

 animals together, that will give milk of a quahty 

 through their entire season of milking, (say nine 

 months) that will yield more than one pound of 

 butter to each eight quarts of milk, lauful measure! 

 And whoever undertakes to leave an impression 

 difierent from this, is so far chargeable with an at- 

 tempt to mislead the public. 



I was truly glad to learn that you visited Wash- 

 iington, at the meeting of national farmers there. 

 I Hope that the products of their labors will be pro- 

 I portioned to the excellence of the purpose. I am 



