472 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



Mrs. Dumpdirt uses the dasher churn, and when 

 not in use, it is kept on the ■wood-pile, lajing on its 

 side, to prevent its filling when a shower comes. 

 The other morning I was over there to get an axe 

 lent to my neighbor, and the kittens were playing 

 "hide and seek" in the churn. I do not mention 

 it to show that Mr. Dumpdirt is dependent on me 

 for any tools, but to account for the hairs that are 

 sometimes found in the butter. It cannot be ex- 

 pected that butter will be peifedbj clean when i)ro- 

 fit is an object in its manufacture, for too much 



A NEW APPLE-PAKER. 



The Yankee mind is still prolific in invention, 

 and it is not from the large and costly machines 

 that the greatest benefit is derived : but from the 

 small, and cheap articles, such as are required by 

 every body, and so cheap that all may purchase 

 them. Among these is fVhittemore, Harrington 

 S{ Co.'s Apple-Parer, figured above. It quickly 

 and pleasantly performs the office of paring, coring. 



time sjient upon it would make it cost more than 

 it would come to. 



When the cream pot is full the churn is brought 

 in, and, if it leaks, hot water is poured in until it 

 is tight. The water is then poured out and the 

 cream poured in. Then comes the tedious work 

 of churning with a dash churn, having no idea how 

 long it will take. And for some reason or other 

 Mr. l)um])dirt's butter is rather uncertain about 

 coming. If it comes in half a day or less, "well 

 and good;" if not, she pours in cold water. Then 

 if it does not come in a few hour-; she pours in hot 

 water. If it does not come by night, she is sure it 

 is bewitched, and tries various charms to break the 

 spell, one of which is to heat a silver half dollar 

 and drop it into the chm-n. Mrs. Dumpdirt is a 

 firm believer in witches, and she often relates as 

 positive proof of her belief, that once she was heat- 

 ing a half dollar in the fire, and all at once it dis- 

 appeared, and she "never could find hide nor hair 

 of it." 



If the butter comes out, and it generally does 

 after a while, it is taken out by hand and put into 

 a pan of cold water, worked over and salted to the 

 taste, and the balls made up by hand, and put in- 

 to the butter-box, and it is ready for the market. 



Mrs. Dumpdirt thinks butter ought to be salted 

 as much as it will bear, for it keeps sweeter, weighs 

 more, and lasts longer. 



I have thus, Mr. Editor, given you some of the 

 particulars of Mr. Dumpdirt's dairying. I do not 

 say his ways of working it are all the best. Indeed, 

 my own method and that of most of my farmer ac- 

 quaintances are very different, though it coots aj 

 great deal of care and painstaking. 



"If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth do- 

 ing well," is a rule my uncle Grisley often repeat- 

 ed to me when I was his plow-boy, and now I 

 am my own man, I find the saying verified in most 

 cases.^ But many persons hold the opposite, ati 

 least in practice, and being liable to err oui'selves. i 

 are bound to respect their opinions. j 



GoosEQUiLL Grey, i 



C'harlestoicn, July, 1856. 



and slicing the apple at one operation, by merely 

 turning a crank. It is simple in its construction, 

 costs $1,25, and may be purchased of Blake, Bar- 

 nard &,' Co., 22 and 26 [Merchants Row, Boston. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FARMING. 



Mr. Editor : — In the Fanner of Aug. 9th, I no- 

 ticed an article entitled "Objections to Farming." 

 It really made my heart ache to read the sad story 

 there told ; if "A Farmer's Son" is short of money, 

 as he says, and he intends to ti-y to get a living 

 without work, I am afraid he will be disappointed. 

 He intimates pretty strongly, that a farmer has not 

 the advantages of learning. Now, sir, I should 

 think that must be a mistake. Why is a farmer 

 without ca])ital in any worse condition, as regards 

 learning, than a mechanic in similar circumstan- 

 ces? 



He speaks of ignorance and servitude as necessa- 

 ry associations of a farmer's life. It must be he is 

 ignorant, or he could not entertain such an idea. 

 Why, they are no more necessary to a farmer's life, 

 than are drunkenness and idolatry. He asks who 

 there is that is willing to toil six days out of seven. 

 Stop — God hath said, "six days shalt thou labor," 

 and "by the sweat of thy brow thou shalt earn thy 

 bread." 



From what "A Farmer's Son" says, I should 

 think he considered farming one unending routine 

 of pleasureless drudgery ; then let me tell him he 

 does not see things as they are ; there are ten 

 thousand pleasures which the former has, that the 

 mechanic knows nothing of; the farmer has the 

 pleasure of living continually in the midst of na- 

 ture, and has her beautiful and glorious charms for- 

 ever before his eyes ; if he is insensible to these, he 

 is not such a man as he should be. Perhaps "A. 

 F. S." would say, "they have no time for such, 

 things ;" but if they are careful how they use their 

 spare moments, they will find more of them, and 

 by using spare time judiciously, a farmer may make 



