158 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



Mr. Crane did not agree with Mr. Goodale's rea- 

 soning ; he had been left an orphan, without pro- 

 perty, and when twenty-one years of age he had 

 not $5 worth of property. He had done nothing 

 but farming, and was now out of de1)t, and the as- 

 sessors rated him $5,000, the whole made by farm- 

 ing, and by nothing else. 



Mr. Goodale said, one reason why farming is not 

 more profitable is, because the farmer does not use 

 capital enough. In addition to his fixed capital of 

 farm, fences, buildings, &c., he should use working 

 or circulating cai)ital. 



What condition would a manufacturer be in, if, af- 

 ter his mill was ready, he had no working capital ?" 



At this stage of the meeting, Prof. Boody was 

 called on, who said he had been in the western 

 country, and from observations and experiments he 

 had made there, he would say that a young man 

 in Maine need not go to the West for fear there 

 was no jjrofit in farming in Maine. He had no 

 doubt whatever, that if the farmers here would cul- 

 tivate less land, feed it better, and pulverize it well, 

 it would be a profitable business. 



"Mr. French said, twenty-five years ago he went 

 into the woods with a wife and two children, and 

 }iad but two hundred dollars in the world, bought 

 a farm on mortgage, family increased to nine chil- 

 dren, when his son was sixteen and began to be 

 help to him, he died, his buildings were soon after 

 ;;ll burnt, the Mcevil took his wheat and the rot his 

 [jotatoes ; never hired help excepting in haying. 



He now had a fiirm, free from debt, had a com- 

 fortable home, had educated 9 children with com- 

 mon school education, had plenty to eat and set be- 

 fore his friends, and he left it to the meeting to say 

 whether farming was profitable or not. 



Mr. Hersey, from Lincoln, stated that he did 

 some lumbering business, but farming was his prin- 

 cipal business ; usually raises 1000 bushels of grain 

 of different kinds, per year, this last year raised 

 1800 bushels,— 800 on 'burnt and 1000 on plowed 

 land ; as near as he can judge his grain costs about 

 one-half what it would bring in market. 



Mr. LNlorrow, of Searsmont, said, the question is 

 this, — is farming profitable, compared with other 

 callings ? It is the primary business of the State, 

 all depend upon it. The idea is abroad among our 

 young men that Harming is not profitable in Maine. 

 This idea is making against the best interests of the 

 State, it is injuring the community ; now if any thing 

 can be done to correct this belief by your organi- 

 zation or by the Legislature, it should be done. 



We will suppose a young man, when of age, hires 

 out by the month until he has earned $1200 or 

 $1500. The question comes up to him, is farmini^ 

 profitable ? How shall he invest this to obtain a 

 living ? You can now hardly procure a respecta- 

 ble farm for $1500, but he nevertheless buys a 

 farm for $1200, and uses $300 to stock it with 

 tools and animals. Now can he sustain himself, 

 raise a family, and keep them in comfortable cir- 

 cumstances through life ? This is the question — 

 the sentiment is abroad that he cannot, and hence 

 the young men rush into ti'ade, go to California, 

 into the professions, &c. &c. Now he believes that 

 farming can l)e made profitable; but the farmer 

 must have his farm and stock, and a little surplus 

 capital, and he can then, by proper management, 

 make it profitable." 



Many other excellent things were said during 

 the evening, and will have an influence to call out 

 more to attend the meetings, and to turn attention 

 to the subject of higher modes of cultivation. Our 

 object, mainly, in these quotations, is to show the 

 opinions of the speakers with regard to farming 

 as a profitable avocation. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FARM WORK IN THE WINTER. 



Mr. Editor : — The subject of farm work, gener- 

 ally, is one upon which much has been said with 

 profit, and much more needs to be said, particularly 

 by those who can talk from experience. Some 

 farmers can find abundance of work on the farm in 

 the winter, while others can find but little that can 

 be done to a satisfactory profit. Let the result of 

 every one's experience be given through the agricul- 

 tural press, and at length the experience of each 

 will become the wisdom of all, and a true system be 

 reached. 



The New York Tribune recommends farm work 

 in winter, and I have great respect for the teachings 

 of the Tribune. My friend, L. Durand, of Con- 

 necticut, thinks that but httle farm work can be done 

 in winter. Allow me, though a plain Avorkman, to 

 give a specimen of my experience, from a region 

 where cold weather and abundance of snow are the 

 usual accompaniments of winter. At the falling 

 of the snow I hauled up a year's sujiply of wood, 

 and then commenced hauling muck from the muck 

 l)ed, and shall continue in the business as long as 

 the sleighing shall last, which will ]u-obably be until 

 about the middle of March. I find that with one 

 horse, I can average two cords of muck each day 

 dehvered one mile from the muck bed. 



The muck on the bed is eight to ten feet deep. 

 I remove the snow, and the frozen muck to the 

 depth of about a foot, is cut up and removed from 

 the sui'face of a pit five feet wide and ten feet long, 

 and then there is no difficulty in shovelhng the muck 

 into the box on the sled. 



The advantages of getting out the muck in the 

 winter are, that any part of the muck bed can be 

 reached, which cannot be done in the summer. 

 There is a decided advantage in hauhng it upon the 

 snow, and when there are no pressing calls for labor 

 elsewhere on the farm. The muck, load by load, 

 gets well exposed to the action of frost, and some 

 advantage is gained in composting it, partially, at 

 least, with stable dung and night soil, so that in the 

 spring I have only to shovel it over once, as it thaws, 

 and it is ready to be used in the drill. There is 

 also an advantage in spreading the muck on the 

 snow as a top dressing for grass lands. 



The muck which I hauled out last winter was 

 used last spring, and my crops were highly satisfac- 

 tory and profitable, so that this is not hypothesis, 

 but experiment and practice. 



I might say much on the subject of vegetable 

 muck, (not swamp mud) as a manure, but that mat- 

 ter is perhaps too well understood to require this. 

 My own experience has proved it to be highly val- 

 uable. 



From this brief statement, I thinli it must be 

 confirmed that, for me, there is work to be done to 

 advantage in the winter. MiCHAEL. 



Bangor, Feb., 1856. 



