1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



377 



For the New England Farmer. 

 HEAD OH HUB. 



Every system which is self-sustaining is justly 

 to be compared to a circle and a wheel. Such, 

 if a system of farming, has its hub, or item of 

 prime and indispensable importance. Men have 

 their systems of farming which are successful, as 

 systems of money-making ; which ought not to 

 be called self-sustaining, because the farmer's 

 money is obtained by the exhaustion of the land. 

 Sucjh systems have a head — some leading and 

 governing idea — but they have no hub. 



He who makes himself rich by making the 

 land poor, robs the ne.Kt generation of the means 

 of subsisting comfortably, by honorable industry, 

 as farmers. Such a man is a great sinner against 

 God who gave the earth, or soil, for a perpetual 

 blessing to the cultivator ; he heaps heavy bur- 

 dens upon unborn generations ; he is a scourge 

 and curse upon the land, in his day, and leaves 

 the blight of barrenness to those who may be 

 born after he dies. His march through time is 

 like that of the warrior. He makes money, and 

 this is all his aim. Men give him the glory which 

 they give a conqueror ; because he has gotten to 

 himself riches. But desolation fills his track. 



God gave the soil to be fruitful, and to grow, 

 more and more fruitful by continued culture, 

 only enjoying its Sabbaths. Man must ever be 

 dependent upon the fruitfulness of the soil for 

 the means of a corafortable subsistence. Fishing 

 may feed a few, hunting may abate some hunger, 

 but the farm must feed the multitude. 



How can the farm be made to produce more 

 and more for homo consumption, and at the same 

 time more and more for foreign market? He 

 who can strike that idea, in a true answer, will 

 hit the hub of the wheel. He will know upon 

 what part of his system everything else depends, 

 and around which everything else revolves. 



The man who only thinks to increase the con- 

 tributions for market, without a proportional in- 

 crease of consumpion on the farm, will be found 

 to swindle the soil. 



Upon some farms a few cows will be the hub 

 of the wheel in a self-sustaining and an improving 

 system of farming. Cows produce calves ; calves 

 grow into cattle ; cows produce milk ; milk 'pro- 

 duces pork ; milk produces butter ; milk makes 

 cheese. A prime article for the life and prosper- 

 ity of man, is milk. 



To a good, grass-growing farm, a cow is justly 

 entitled to the crown as queen of the realm ; she 

 has proved, to many a man, the mother of money. 

 Sometimes she has proved almost the mother of 

 men ; she contributes to the compost heap ; she 

 nourishes the calf that grows and contributes to 

 the compost, also ; she feeds the pig with her milk, 

 while he grows at less cost, and adds by work 

 and contribution to the compost heap. Thus 

 does Mully make a threefold contribution to the 

 compost heap ; in herself, through her offspring, 

 and through the thriving grunter in the pen. The 

 size of the manure heap will mostly settle what 

 is in future to happen on the farm, by way of 

 corn-crops, clover-cuttings, handsome cattle, &c. 

 She contributes a calf — the father of an ox or 

 cow — too important a friend of the farm to be 

 bailed to the butcher without hesitation. She 

 contributes more for the growth of piggy than 



could be gathered from a half-acre of poor c irn. 

 She giver a large portion of her value yearly in 

 golden butter, or in nourishing cheese. 



Now, it is a matter of some moment to the far- 

 mer, that the cows he keeps should be good ones. 

 Such will cost no more care, no more keeping ; 

 and yet they will be worth more, and they will 

 pay for more. 



See, friendly farmer, if the hub of your wheel 

 is sound. Your carrii:ge v*'ill "go to smash," if 

 it is not. 



There is, as I believe, some just and proper sys- 

 tem to be pursued on every peculiarity of soil, 

 which shall at the same time prove a blessing to 

 the soil and a source of profit to him who culti- 

 vates it. I do not believe that even in these ma- 

 terial matters the governing law of a true system 

 can be such that labor and life tend to destruc- 

 tion. 



I have already spun this thread so long that I 

 must cut it short at once. c. 



Lee, N. H., 1859. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 AGRICaiiTUBAIj MARKET FAIBa. 

 BY WILSON FLAGG. 



The agriculture of a State cannot be prosper- 

 ous or productive in the highest degree, unless 

 every district has an easy and ready access to a 

 good market. It is the expected rule of one's 

 prudence that urges him to raise more than he 

 wants for his ov/n consumption ; and the hope 

 of making his business profitable, stimulates him 

 to acquire a knowledge of it, and to learn the 

 best methods of rendering his lands productive. 

 Good markets, therefore, exert more influence in 

 the education of the farmer than is generally at- 

 tributed to them. While their labor in the field 

 teaches them experimentally how every process 

 is to be performed, their observation at the mar- 

 ket encourages them to increase their efforts, and 

 to attempt new things. Let it be demonstrated 

 to any young farmer of sober habits and intelli- 

 gent mind, who occupies a farm which is badly 

 situated for the sale of its produce, and who has 

 neglected his business because he saw no chance 

 of making it profitable; let it be made evident 

 to him that in a new market lately opened, he 

 could find a good sale for every thing his farm 

 would produce, and he immediately becomes en- 

 terprising and industrious. Inspired with the 

 hope of increasing his wealth, he feels a new in- 

 terest in his occupation, and immediately sets his 

 mind at work to learn all the valuable improve- 

 ments in farming. He overleaps his prejudices 

 in the ardor of his pursuit of fortune. He be- 

 comes more studious as well as more active, and 

 takes a sudden start, like a healthy young tree, 

 that has been transplanted from a dry and barren 

 declivity to a deep soil and an open situation. 



Whenever a body of farmers are unsupplied 

 with good markets, as we observe in certain re- 

 mote and isolated districts, they commonly unite 

 their employment with some mechanical art ; and 

 under such circumstances the state of agriculture 

 is low. The intelligent members of their com- 

 munity are belter informed upon other subjiccts 

 than upon agriculture, which offers them no op- 

 portunities of improving their condition. If the 



