1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



2.51 



For the New Enfiland PaHiter. 

 THE FARMER'S POSITION. 



For many years the earth has yielded a rich 

 reward to the faithful tillers of the soil in New 

 England. The systematic, enterprising farmers 

 in almost every community are showing evident 

 signs of prosperity, particularly, those who are 

 expending their income upon their farms and 

 buildings, bringing around them many conveni- 

 ences, enjoyments and comforts of life, which add 

 not only to their wealth, but to their refinement 

 and good taste. 



There have been great improvements in our 

 agricultural position during the last twenty years, 

 and while we would acknowledge the press as 

 the greatest instrumentality in awakening an in- 

 terest in our farming communities, would be 

 grateful for their untiring eti'orts to make their 

 periodicals so valuable. 



The science of agriculture has been spread be- 

 fore the people in a form, cheap, practical and 

 useful, and the great body of farmers have be- 

 come readers, thinkers, experimenters, and are 

 still inquiring for more practical knowledge in 

 the art of good farming. 



What has been gained by all this? New fer- 

 tilizers have been found out and applied to the 

 soil ; old, worn-out farms have been reclaimed ; 

 old buildings have been transformed, and located 

 with taste and convenience, or new ones built. 

 Fruit trees have been planted and nursed, and 

 many are yearly gathering their first fruits as 

 their reward of well directed toil. 



How beautiful to look out upon our fields that 

 our own hands have helped to subdue and enrich, 

 smiling luxuriantly, the grass ready for the 

 scythe and the grain for the sickle, and the corn 

 and the after harvest making haste to fill the 

 granary and cellar. These are heaven's gifts, 

 the legitimate reward of toil, the indispensable 

 products of the soil, which all men must Jiave or 

 die. 



Who can but envy the good farmer as they 

 look upon his possessions, his well-arranged 

 farm-houses and out-buildings, his lots, good 

 fences, gardens and margin of flowers, his fruit- 

 yard and orchard, all witnesses of his prosperity 

 and his pride in his profession. And then, how 

 permanent is his income, and Providence his 

 surety for seed-time and harvest. 



If the agriculturist prospers, it gives energy to 

 trade and commerce. The vitality of every de- 

 partment of business centres here, cities extend 

 their borders, manufacturing villages spring up 

 along our streams and rivers, and our institu- 

 tions gain strength as the soil becomes rich, and 

 the tillers prosperous. Tlien for safety, happi- 

 ness, prosperity, intelligence, usefulness, what 

 other avocation compares with rural life? 



In the commercial world, how numerous are 

 the contingencies, what uncertainty enters into 

 every enterprise. Perhaps to-day rich, and to- 

 morrow poor, making others wretched. 



Professional life is honorable if honorably pur- 

 sued. Men rise to eminence and usefulness, and 

 are indispensable to carry on the machinery of 

 society and government ; but the comparative 

 number that are useful to any great extent is 

 small, and the risk is great. None of these con- 

 tingencies enter necessarily into the peaceful life 



of the agriculturist ; but he should be learned 

 in his profession, and when this is the case, how 

 vast the field for study ; it is no less than "the 

 earth and the fullness thereof." Berkshire. 

 April 8, 1859. 



A BARKEL FOUNTAIN". 



Fowls will drink impure water, undoubtedly, 

 when thirsty, but if they could always select, 

 there is little question but they would prefer to 

 visit a stream of pure water, or drink from a 

 fountain of clear, cool water. 



The above cut shows how easily any person 

 rearing poultry, may prepare a fountain which 

 will answer a good purpose, at the most trifling 

 cost. All that it needs is to mount a keg on a 

 couple of upright stakes driven into the ground, 

 and extend a small tube from the cask to a shal- 

 low trough or pan, and allow the water to drip 

 slowly from the cask into it. 



THE GREAT FRENCH HENERY. 

 Some months ago we published an account of 

 a stupendous experiment in rearing fowls in t:ie 

 city of Paris. The account was written with so 

 much apparent accuracy of detail, and bearing 

 so much the semblance of truth, that, although 

 so much out of the common course of things, we 

 published it, though we must confess, not until 

 it had remained on our table many weeks. Sam- 

 uel Cooper, Esq., of this city, recently wrote 

 a mutual friend in Paris, Mr. Fleischman, in re- 

 lation to the matter, who replies that the whole 

 affair belongs to that class of bugs which we call 

 hum — a humbug ! Will the editor of L'Agri-cul- 

 teur Praciicien, Paris, France, be kind enough to 

 give us the facts ? 



S"" The' town of Nelson, N. 11., containing a 

 population of about 6-50, lias made fourteen and a 

 half tons of maple sugar the present season. The 

 number of trees tapped was 10,859 ; the numhci 

 of trees in 'he town suitable for tapping, whic' 

 were not tapped, is 10,883. 



