540 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



by having nothing to sell ? And why ? Not be- 1 for mechanics, let him benefit himself and the 

 cause their farms could produce nothing, but be- j world by exercising it. Or if his genius is for com- 

 cause they were not worked. The farmer himselfimerce, let him plow the ocean, while others plow 

 has labored as hard as any one ought, perhaps too the land. Both must be vexed, in order to carry 

 hard, may have broken down his courage, broken; out the designs of a beneficent Providence towards 

 his spirit, and tamed his enterprise by too severe our race. If an individual would be a farmer, and 

 labor. This is sometimes the case. But what is i yet loves a quiet life, less land would of course suit 

 one man in a hundred acres. The allies might! him better than more labor. If he has little capi- 

 about as well have sent one man to humble thcital, and has not the integrity which, in a farmer, 

 Muscovite. He cannot alone amend his soils ; can- always aff'ords a just basis for credit, or, if like 

 not make the bad soils good ones; can but half cul-' some, he has not the faculty to make his integrity 

 tivate those good by nature; can gather up no fer-j known to an extent that will command money at 

 tilizers by labor, can buy none, for he has nothing [reasonable rates, then less land will be his best 

 to pay with. After trying all the year to do what I course ; for farming without either capital or cred- 

 no mortal can — to take care of a hundred acres , it is a bad business, and will be worse as the coun- 



with his own hands, the result is, that he has bro 

 ken himself down, and built uj) nothing, buildings 

 no better, fences no better, land no better, and has 

 nothing to sell to make things better with next 

 year. If he had cultivated ten acres well, with his 



try grows older. 



But if a man is willing to take the trouble of a 

 business life, (that of farming is not more onerous 

 than others,) if he has money, or the basis of a 

 character that will command it at ordinary rates ; 



own hand, or if he had put through a hundred j if he has cultivation, as much as consists with his 

 acres with the help of four men, (five men can do .being a safe man — enough to prompt him tovigor- 



about as well by a hundred acres as one can with 

 ten,) it would have been otherwise. In the first 

 case, he might have had a little to sell ; and in the 

 latter he could have shown an improved farm at 



ous action, to make him desirous of distinguishing 

 himself without wronging any one, if he has a 

 knowledge of his business, and loves it, and espec- 

 ially if he has what some have not, the faculty to 



least. Land well cultivated pays better than land: direct the labors of others, why talk to him about 

 run over. It is true that we "want less land, or i less land? Let him have a thousand acres. It 

 more labor" — as true as it is that you can see the i would be well for him and the country that he 

 nose on a man's face, after he has swallowed enough 

 of the ardent to make it biggest at the little end. 



But how are we to arrive at the end ? Shall 

 we sell a part of the land, or hire more labor? 

 The latter, beyond all question, if circumstances fa- 

 vor the enterprise. "A little farm well tilled," is 

 better in "song" than in practice. You cannot af- 



should have. Not less land, but more labor is the 

 ivant for such a man. "A little farm well tilled," 

 is just the thing for a farmer, who wishes to take 

 life easy, and barely live. It is a fine thing for 

 men who have made their fortune, and want some- 

 thing to recreate themselves with, in order to en- 

 joy it the longer. No amusement is more innocent 



ford, for a small farm, the variety and excellence of I or more rational. Nothing is better adapted to 

 implements that are requisite to a good and profit- ! prolong life, and to make its decline ha])py. But 

 able production of crops. The best implements, [ why should a man in the prime or meridian of life, 

 and buildings every way ample and convenient, whose trade is farming, and who loves his trade, wish 

 cheapen the cost of production in Lrge farms, but j to be a little farmer ? Let him rather change one 

 increase it in small ones. The farm-r of a few word in the old song, and say, "A hig farm well 

 acres must be content to creep along as he can, to tilled give me ;" for, though a little form well tilled 

 produce what he can at a higher cost than his is a good thing in many cases, better always than a 

 neighbor on a large farm, and to hve only by screw- great one, badly tilled, yet a large farm well tilled, 

 ing down the wants of his family to the zero point ; the holder being master of his business, and willing 

 a course, the whole tendency of which is to de- to plunge into it, is better than either, 

 grade, instead of elevate — to give occasion to fools 

 and fops to speak foolishly of it, to frighten sensi- 

 ble girls away from the rank of farmers' wives, and 

 to make a certain class of misses, good for nothing 

 but to be taken care of by their daddies, think 

 farming a very thmall buithneth. 



Tastes and predilections, and a thousand circum- 

 stances, known only to the individual himself, are 

 to be taken into the account. It is not desirable 

 that all should be farmers, for then there would be 

 none to buy their produce ; nor that all who are 

 farmers, should be great farmers, for then there 

 would not be land enough ; and besides, some are 

 bound to be small in any business, and they may as 

 well be small farmers as anything else. If a man 

 has no relish for the splendors of nature ; if he 

 prefers brick and mortar and ftietid gutters to flow- 

 ering landscapes, if his soul is unattuned to the mu- 

 sic of a country home, if he feels no pleasure when 

 the noble horse obeys him, when the sturdy ox 

 looks wishfully to him for his food, and the whole 

 tenantry of the stall rejoice at his coming, let him 

 burrough in the city, and retail milk in the suburbs, 

 or ribbons at the counter. Or, if he has a genius 



THE LAWTON BLACXBEREY, &c. 



JVew RocheUe, Juhf 15, 1856. 

 The low temperature of the past Winter was de- 

 structive to trees and plants that have hitherto sur- 

 vived all changes — and it is not surprising that in 

 some localities the blackberry should be injured. I 

 had several acres crowded with ])lants, and in tak- 

 ing up many thousand in the Spring, I in no in- 

 stance found them "killed down to the ground." 

 The extremities of the canes being the latest growth 

 of the season, were in some cases killed, but not be- 

 low the point to which I recommend cultivators of 

 these plants to prune them. I visited the grounds 

 of Messrs. George Seymour & Co., (which you have 

 heretofore described,) to ascertain the eff'ects of the 

 cold upon their plants, and from what I saw, and 

 from the evidence of Mr. Seymour, I am convinced 

 that under every vicissitude of climate and variation 

 of soils this blackberry remains true to the original 

 and that the genuine plants are more hardy than 

 the wild varieties, and will endure without protec- 

 tion the coldest climate, and all who keep the true 



