526 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



done in England, by the power of machinery, than 

 all the men and women in the world could do 

 without it, yet there is a far greater demand for op- 

 eratives than there was when all the spinning and 

 weaving were done by hand. At the time of the 

 last census, the entire working population of Great 

 Britain was estimated at four millions, while the 

 mechanical power at work was equal to the labor 

 of six hundred millions of men. The operative in 

 a cotton mill to-day, superintends as much work as 

 could have been executed by two or three hundred 

 workmen, seventy years ago. 



The planing-machine, the trip-hammer, the saw- 

 mill, and many other mechanical contrivances, were 

 quite, as violently opposed, on their introduction ; 

 but now the world owns their value, and could not 

 do without them. Sewing machines are at this 

 very time encountering similar prejudice and oppo- 

 sition, from those who are too short-sighted to see 

 that these little iron stitchers are in reahty the 

 friends, not the foes, of the needle-women. 



The fact ivS, machinery has increased the demand 

 for labor, has added to the wages and lessened the 

 hours of toil, and has reduced the price of the nec- 

 essaries of life. We cannot have too much ma- 

 chinery, provided it is good. All efforts to block 

 the wheels of progress, and to put a check to the 

 onward march of the race, must prove as futile as 

 the attempts of the Eastern monarch to shackle 

 the restless waves of tlie sea. 



OYSTEHS. 



The New Orleans Picmjum gives the following 

 account of the manner in which oysters are propa- 

 gated : 



"During the summer months, the oystermen are 

 engaged in preparing for the Avinter's fishing and 

 supply. The principal feature in this operation is 

 the selection of banks or beds in such a situation 

 as to secure a sufficient depth — say an average of 

 a foot or two of water over them, without much 

 flow, or danger of its exceeding at any time four 

 or five feet. These beds are generally covered with 

 a layer of shells, of from a foot to a foot and a half 

 deep, as otherwise the oyster would spoil in the mud. 

 The oysters from which the next produce is to be 

 procured are then planted, with the hinge of the 

 shell downwards, just deep enough to keep them 

 standing firm, and about a span's length apart. In 

 doing this, no regard is paid to the relative number 

 or positions of the sexes. On these beds they lie, 

 for the greater part of the time, with their shells 

 gaping, their natural position of rest. If a foot 

 be put on the bed, or other intrusion on them made, 

 those nearest at once close with a hissing noise, 

 squirting out the water as they do so ; and the ex- 

 ample is immediately followed in all directions. In 

 a short time, their 'spat,' as the earliest form of the 

 next breed is called, is seen floating among them, 

 and setthng either on the shells of the planted ani- 

 mals, or on any other object, and gradually devel- 

 oping into bunches of oysters, which become fit for 

 eating in six or eight months, the beds being then 

 thickly covered with them." 



For the Nete England Farmer. 



SMALL FAPvMS. 



Mr. Editor : — I find in an old Roman poet this 

 precept to Roman farmers : 



"Praise a large farm, — till a small one." 



Although it was penned almost two thousand 

 years ago, yet it applies with unabated force to 

 American, and especially to New England farmers. 

 There is among our tillers of the soil a passion to 

 be Ipjrge land-owners, which is prejudicial, high- 

 ly prejudicial to the agricultural interest. Many 

 begin life pennyless and landless. Their first scanty 

 earnings are spent in the purchase of land. They 

 go on as their means increase, adding field to field 

 until some of them may have half a township in 

 their possession. For this object they rise early, 

 sit up late, and eat the bread o# carefulness. For 

 this they sacrifice all improvement of themselves. 



Now is there not a more excellent way ? Would 

 it not be better for land-holders to moderate their 

 passion for land, to be content with a few acres, and 

 spend their surplus money in the more careful til- 

 lage of those few ? There would then be land 

 in New England for all that desire it ; agricultural 

 skill would be developed, and many enterprising 

 persons would be retained on farms through life to 

 ennoble the pursuits of their early years, to enlight- 

 en by their instruction and example their fellow- 

 laborers, while they are now driven to shops, to 

 merchandize and to professional life, only to be baf- 

 fled at every turn of fortune. 



No one thing, at this time, is more detrimental 

 to the farmers of New England than their propen- 

 sity to till too much land. It is making whole 

 counties poorer every year. So great has been this 

 impoverishment that it is estimated that a thousand 

 million of dollars are now needed to bring back 

 the soil of the Free States to the high fertility it 

 possessed when the woodman's axe first felled the 

 forests and let in the sun— and this same process 

 must go on till we leai-n that first lesson in farming ; 

 that our income does not depend ujjon the scanty 

 tillage of many acres, but upon the liberal tillage 

 of a few. 



There is an intimate connection between large 

 farms and scanty crops — the earth makes just re- 

 turns. She yields sparingly or bountifully, just as 

 men deal sparingly or bountifully with her. As 

 most men having large farms, have no capital be- 

 sides their land, buildings and stock, they are not 

 able to introduce more expensive but tried modes 

 of culture, to make experiments or to reclaim their 

 waste lands. When they are urged to make such 

 and such improvements, their plea invariably is, 

 "We cannot atTord it. The best we can do is to 

 support our families and pay our taxes. Improve- 

 ment is out of the question." So they go on, year 

 after year, in those old ways of culture by which a 

 large part of New England soil has become so prof- 

 itless. 



I would suggest to these large land-holders that 

 they turn part of their land back again into capital, 

 and that they use that capital in tilling as they 

 ought to till the rest. Or if they have sons, to di- 

 vide a portion among them. Then they would be 

 compelled to limit their own strength and skill to 

 a smaller surface. Their net income would be 

 greater, their lands would become better, the with- 

 ered pasture lands would receive attention, and the 



