422 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



Sept. 



drains should be laid from each other. Frequent- 

 ly a single drain across one or two sides, will cut 

 off all the water from several acres, but if springs 

 burst up at the bottom, drains must be run from 

 them so as to carry off the water. A foot or two 

 of black mud, is as good as a greater depth, so far 

 as I have asceitained, and usually is much more 

 easily cultivated, because cattle may work upon it, 

 however wet it may be, if there is not depth enough 

 of mud to get them mired in. 



On the whole, if I were working for a farm in 

 New England, I should regard a wild swamp of 

 twenty or thirty acres as coming in the way of re- 

 commendations, only a little lower than the con- 

 venience of common schools and gospel pri\ileges. 

 It is up-hill work farming hereabouts, on a farm 

 entirely upland, and I have found no farming ope- 

 ration more satisfactory, than converting a dismal 

 swamp into a beautiful and productive grass field. 



For the New England Farmer. 



NOTHING LIKE THE FARM. 



Mr. Editor : — It would be a very interesting in- 

 quiry, to ascertain the origin why farming and farm 

 labor, either in the house, barn, or out-dooi-s, is by 

 many considered a vulgar employment. There is 

 a better "taste" in these respects, now-a-days, than 

 there was a few years ago, and public opinion is 

 getting right in this matter very fast. The first 

 account we have of man is as a farmer, or tiller of 

 the ground. At the commencement of his creation, 

 God placed the stamp of his approbation upon man 

 as a farmer. And thus we find it all through the 

 Bible. The great majority of God's favored peo- 

 ple, we have reason to believe, were farmers ; ma- 

 ny of them of great intelligence, wealth and influ- 

 ence. There are few men of the ])resent day, if 

 any, who can compare with good old Job, in this 

 respect, and from what is handed down to us, from 

 history and antiquarian research, the men in soDie 

 respects equal, if not indeed in advance of, our 

 farmers of the present time, in the management of 

 their flocks and herds, as well as "the fruits of the 

 earth." Then, so far as the respectability of firm- 

 ing is concerned, and its superiority over all other 

 callings, it has the Divine approbation in making 

 the first man, "created a little lower than the an- 

 gels," a farmer, and as such, "seed time and har- 

 vest" shall be continued to him until the closing up 

 of all things, and there will be no further use for 

 the ox, nor the plow, and the earth shall be no 

 more. 



To me, I can conceive of no employment so well 

 calculated to ennoble the soul, expand the mind, sof- 

 ten and humanize the feelings, and cause mankind 

 to prove themselves "created a little lower than 

 the angels," than the occupation of the farmer. He 

 can work his broad acres in all the dignity and in- 

 dependence of his manhood, and "look from nature 

 up to nature's God," as little dependent as any one 

 on God's earth for all the necessaries of his depen- 

 dent life. All other employments, but for his, 

 would prove futile and abortive ; every other call- 

 ing has his for its basis, and without it, they were 

 useless. I would that our com.plaining farmers, our 



sighing maidens, and our restle5S farmers' sons, 

 could but realize their high vocation . If they would 

 but comprehend it, they are, indeed, the "salt of 

 the earth," but O, how many of them have lost 

 their savor. If contentment is ever to be found, 

 and fully reaUzed in this world, it will, in my judg- 

 ment, be found M'ith the tiller of the soil. There 

 are few men capable of understanding right from 

 wrong, but long to be the owner of land. No oth- 

 er professions carry with them such a satisfaction 

 of security and pleasure, as the ownership of land. 

 Ask the careworn and toiling merchant, why he 

 thus toils almost unceasingly, day and night, scarce- 

 ly known in his home or family, except upon the 

 Sabbath, and then, perhaps, his thoughts busy with 

 the past or future. He will tell you, it is that he 

 may acquire a competency, with which he hopes 

 some day to purchase a farm, and upon which he 

 can retire from the care, anxiety, and bustle of 

 business, and spend his declining years, happy with 

 his family, and what God has given him. 



Young men and maidens, take my advice, and 

 stay at home with the old folks. Assist them in 

 carrying on the old farm operations. Remember 

 the old adage, "that all is not gold that glitters ;" 

 that no concerns of life but what has its cares, and 

 if you would be happy, virtuous, healthy, with a 

 sound mind in a sound body, if you would enjoy 

 all the pure pleasures of this life, free from its per- 

 plexities, that it is possible in this world reasonably 

 to expect — stay at home ; stick by the farm. 

 Make it everything it is capable of, and yourself 

 equal to its privileges, and my word for it, your 

 life will be a useful and happy one, your death 

 peaceful, and you will go to your reward. 



August, 1856. T. Q. Norton. 



ENGLISH CHARACTEmSTICS. 



These Saxons are the hands of mankind. They 

 have the taste for toil, a distaste for jDleasure or re- 

 pose, and the telescopic appreciation of distant gain. 

 They are the wealth-makers — and by dint of men- 

 tal faculty; which has its own conditions. The 

 Saxon works after liking, or, only for himself ; and 

 to set him at work, and to begin to draw his mon- 

 strous values out of barren Britain, all dishonor, 

 fret, and barrier m.ust be removed, and then his en- 

 ergies begin to play. 



The Scandinavian fancied himself surrounded by 

 the Trolls — a kind of goblin men, with vast power 

 of work and skilful production — divine stevedors, 

 carpenters, reapers, smiths, and m.asons, swift to 

 reward every kindness done them, with gifts of 

 gold and silver. In all English history, this dream 

 comes to pass. Certain Trolls or working brains, 

 under the names of Alfi-ed, Bede, Caxton, Bracton, 

 Camden, Drake, Selden, Dugdale, Newton, Gib- 

 bon, Brindley, Watt, Wedgewood, dwell in the 

 troll-mounts of Britain, and turn the sweat of their 

 face to power and renown. ♦ ♦ ♦ 



When Thor and his companions arrive at Utgard, 

 he is told that "nobody is perm.itted to remain 

 here, unless he understand some art, and excel in 

 it all other men." The same question is still put 

 to the posterity of Thor. A nation of laborers, 

 every man is trained to some one art or detail, and 

 aims at perfection in that ; not content unless he 

 has something in which he thinks he surpasses all 

 other men. He v/ould rather not do anything at 

 all, than not do it well. I suppose no people have 



