1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



555 



I wonder that slate is not more used. A roof thus 

 covered, is fixed for time. The inquiry is often 

 made, if chestnut shingles are worth laying ? I saw 

 chestnut shingles taken from a roof in Brattleboro', 

 which, I was told by the owner, had been laid 24 

 years. 



Brattleboro' has become a place of much resort 

 during the summer season. The Hydropathic es- 

 tablishments here call together multitudes from all 

 quarters, and make this little village as busy as a 

 bee-hive, and as gay as a butterfly. Such success 

 has attended the two now in existence, that a third 

 is to be opened before the next watering season, 



H. 



For the New England Farmer. 



"NOTHING LIKE THE FAKM." 



It would be interesting, Mr. N., to know how you 

 came by that idea. You must be easily situated as 

 regards this world's goods, or have such an educa 

 tion that you can sympathize with the misery of far 

 ming ; always lookieg on the bright side, letting 

 the darker one take care of itself. I would like to 

 have you down here, and have to farm it as I do 

 you would say, not anything like a farm, I reckon ! 

 Think of thirty-five acres of land all worn out, fairly 

 skimmed of all its resources, covered with rocks, 

 grown over to bushes, not a chance to feed more 

 than one cow and an old horse, who if he had to 

 get his living on the place, would look as some far 

 mer's horses do when they dine on barrel staves 

 When I get my hay, I have to go over nearly ten 

 acres to cut a ton of good English. 



You tell us about good old Job ; I should like 

 you to tell me whether he had a good farm, or a 

 poor one ? if he had to do all his work himself or 

 not ? Perhaps these researches might be interesting 

 to the farmer, if you would take time to investigate 

 them, and bring the results before the public. In 

 my copy of the Sacred Word, I find him in posses- 

 sion of every thing needful for the purpose of pur- 

 suing his business, and I believe it is recorded in 

 the same book, that when affliction came upon him, 

 he did bemoan himself that God had chosen to 

 take away his former greatness. And is it strange 

 that we poor flirmers complain of our lot ? 



Farming is calculated to expand the mind, you 

 think ? (according to Dr. Johnson, that means en- 

 larging the mind.) Why sir, I don't know one-half 

 as much as I did when I first went to farming. 

 When I commenced this vocation, I knew more 

 about it than any old farmer who had been in the 

 business for a lifetime. I could tell him how to pur- 

 sue his occupation, and amass an independent for- 

 tune in a few years, as well as to have his farm the 

 object of admiration and envy to the whole neigh- 

 borhood around him. 



You say it softens and humanizes the feelings. 

 Would it soften your feelings to have a neighbor 

 who will not put up his part of the fence between 

 you and him ? who insists he has a right to feed 

 your land, when his cattle get over the wall, and 

 puts his old cow where she will be sure to get her 

 fodder on another's land ? who thinks you insult him 

 every time you speak about having the lines run, in 

 order to know whether your land is out door or 

 not ? It has a different efl'ect on me ; it rather har- 

 dens my feelings towards mankind, but perhaps I 

 am not blessed with that forget and forgive spirit 

 which some other men have. 



I sliould like to know if merchant's sons are con- 

 tented ? if they are not as restless as farmer's sons ? 

 Don't they like to go down to Newport, or Nahant, 

 to see the belles ? Why should not farmer's sons be 

 very anxious to roam arouud, and see the fashions 

 of this little world ? Is it anything very strange, 

 that they should be looking after some smiling face 

 just in hoops, and are therefore discontented? 



You have shown us the effects of good farming, 

 and I for one should be pleased to hear by what 

 causes you have arrived at that position in life which 

 you seem to have attained. I should like to know 

 what a farmer can do on a rainy day Hke this, when 

 we have had a gentle shower of only thirty-six 

 hours, and bids fair to continue thirty-six more ? 

 What sort of feelings you would have in regard to 

 tlirming, if you had to pay six dollars and a half 

 for ploughing an acre of land, and then have to beg 

 almost to get it done? Would it enlarge your 

 mind any to read of the valuable effects of guano, 

 think you would try it, and put on a plenty, so as 

 to get the greatest amount of good from the land 

 you could, and find after you had planted it, you 

 had killed the seed by your too lavish expenditure 

 of fertilizing materials ? PooR Farmer. 



JVorth Bridgeivater, 1856. 



Remarks. — "A Poor Farmer" suggests many 

 interesting topics in a negative form. It seems to 

 us that where it costs $6,50 to plow an ordinary 

 acre of land, the services of the farmer, and his 

 team, are in demand ; and how that fact squares 

 with cutting over ten acres for a ton of English 

 hay, ice cannot imagine. "A Poor Farmer" is fair- 

 ly entitled to an answer to the question, "By what 

 causes have you arrived at that position in life which 

 you seem to have attained ?" 



FRUIT GROWING. 



At a late meeting of the "Fruit Growers' Society," 

 of the western section of the State of New York, 

 statements were made by several of the members, 

 going to show that fruit growing was the most re- 

 munerative of the farmer's labor. Dr. Sylvester, 

 of Lyons, showed a clear profit of $175 per acre, and 

 alluded to a neighbor's orchard which averaged $ 1 00 

 per acre. A. Loomis, of Byron, Genesee county, cal- 

 culates from some Baldwin apples grown by his broth- 

 er, that a profit of over $500 per acre has been made 

 per annum, after making allowances for the failure 

 of the fruit every other year. It is known that Mr. 

 Pell, near New York, has made very large profits 

 by shipping Newtown Pippins to England, and he 

 has devised methods which secure him fruit every 

 year, using lime and careful pruning. Dr. Under- 

 bill states that quinces, grown for the New York 

 market, produced him a profit of $1,200 per acre. 

 He is on the Hudson, at Croton Point, and has 

 made a fortune at the fruit businesso 



The main thing needed by the farmers, in this 

 section, to the profitable raising of fruit, is some 

 plan whereby they can secure a full crop every year, 

 instead of (as now) every other year. We know 

 of one apple orchard, of about 500 trees in this 

 county, which, last year, producing 2,500 bushels 

 of api)les, will not yield five bushels this fall. The 

 product of four trees on that orchard, last year 



