144 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 KEEP THE BOYS AT HOME. 



If the farmers scattered over our land would 

 'lUt mind this simple injunction, how much hap- 

 ;.iness would they lay up for themselves, and 

 how many of their sons would they save from a 

 life of shame and disgrace. Keep the boys at 

 home! Why ? For the following reasons : — 



First — Keep the boys at home, because it is 

 the best place on earth for them. If you are a 

 good intelligent farmer, and if you make your 

 home what you ought to, a place where love and 

 harmony, pleasant words and kind acts are ever 

 to be found, what place is there, north or south, 

 east or west, that is so well calculated for a 

 young man ? It is the best place for them, away 

 from the temptations that meet young men at 

 every corner of a city. A young man that leaves 

 a comfortable home, with fair prospects in life, 

 to mingle in the turmoils of cities, steps from a 

 path of roses to one of thorns ; steps from the 

 side of true and loving friends to seek the ac- 

 quaintance of those that are friends only for a 

 brief day, while the sun of prosperity shines, and 

 at the approach of sickness, misfortune or sor- 

 row will disappear like shadows on the wall. 



Second — Keep the boys at home, because you 

 want them to share the labors and pleasures of 

 life. How pleasant the sight to see an aged man 

 going smoothly adown the declivity of life, sup- 

 ported by his sons. Many a father has looked 

 forward with heartfelt joy to the time when his 

 son would stand by his side, sharing with him 

 the storms and sunshine of life. 



But how shall I keep the boys at home, ex- 

 claims many a reader. Very easily. Many a young 

 man has been driven from the parental roof hj 

 excessive labor, by "all work and no play." 1 

 have seen many a father more careful of his no- 

 ble horse, or a favorite yoke of cattle, than he 

 was of his own son ; these he would work with 

 moderation, allow them a fair nooning, and pro- 

 vide liberally for their wants. But how is it 

 with many a farmer's boy? Called up early in 

 the morning, hard at work befort? breakfast, with 

 tools that no man would work with, yet good 

 enough for the tender hands and growing mus- 

 cles of a boy ; his breakfast hastily swallowed in 

 about a quarter of the time that the horse is eat- 

 ing his, and then away to work, straining every 

 muscle in his body to keep up with men double 

 his size. Cross words and sometimes blows are 

 added to these, year after year, until he grows 

 sick and discouraged with a farmer's life, and so 

 looks forward with jov to the day of his majori- 

 ity. 



What wonder is it that so many of our young 

 men are not willing to stick to the farm ? What 

 wonder that they look with distrust on such a 

 life of servitude? And who wonders that so 

 many fathers exclaim, "I can't make my boys 

 like farming !" The remedy is simple ; remember 

 that they are boys, not men. Bring all the light, 

 learning and science of this enlightened age to 

 bear on your noble profession — a noble profes- 

 sion, notwithstanding you make it a life of slav- 

 ery. Buy labor-saving machines, not every 

 new-fangled notion that is offered you by every 

 travelling pe'dler, but those that have been tried 

 in the field as well as puffed up in the city papers. 



When such a machine has been pronounced just 

 the thing, buy it, and if you h ^ve farmed it for 

 so many years, and have not as yet laid up 

 money enough so that you can afford to buy it 

 get your rext door neighbor, with one or two 

 others in the village, to purchase it with you, and 

 use it by turns ; you will soon afford to buy one 

 yourself. Make the boys feel an interest in the 

 work of the farm — let them have a share of the 

 profits of some field. Subscribe for the JVeio 

 England Farmer, and let the boys read it ; you 

 will soon find the excellent advice contained in 

 its columns will make them feel contented with a 

 farmer's life, and if you yourself glean no useful 

 knowledge from its pages, the boys wi 1, and 

 they will soon begin to make a change for the 

 better in the old homestead. The cattle will be 

 cared for in a better manner, your work done at 

 the proper season, according to the monthly c\\- 

 endars, and you will have at last to join in sing- 

 ing 



"A farmer's life is (he life for me, 

 I own I love it dearly." 



When you do this, you will find no difficulty 

 in keeping the boys at home, and you will thank 

 the editor of the Farmer for publishing the arti- 

 cle entitled — '-Keep the Boys at Home." 



J. F. K. 



For the New England Farmet . 



HOW SHALL WE LSARN WHICH IS THE 

 BEST GRAPE ? 



Messrs. Editors : — The great interest now 

 aroused in the culture of the grape, with a view 

 of producing new varieties, whose good qualities 

 are more available in our northern climate than 

 those promised by the long cultivated Isabella 

 and Catawba, has induced many enterprising cul- 

 tivators to raise young seedlings, hoping to se- 

 cure the one prize that must be hidden among 

 thousands of blanks. Such enterprise is very 

 praiseworthy, but the result will be that about 

 every experimenter will be fully persuaded in his 

 own mind that he is the fortunate man, that he has 

 obtained the new variety which the liberal pre- 

 miums of our agricultural societies have in view : 

 an early grape, a sweet grape, a spicy grape, a 

 good bearer of well-set bunches, and, withal, a 

 hardy variety, whose wood shall not be killed by 

 the colds of winter, nor its fruit mildew in the 

 reeking heat of summer. 



Now, who is to decide when a thousand posi- 

 tive men shall be endeavoring to persuade us 

 that they have secured the variety? Within a 

 year I have seen a circular which set forth the 

 merits of a new variety, one of the weightiest 

 arguments in which was the fact that it was the 

 best of about forty seedlings, and therefore must 

 be a desirable grape ! Why, if a thousand seed- 

 lings will reward the enterprising cultivator with 

 one really desirable variety, he is a very fortu- 

 nate man, and will be most royally paid for all 

 his outlay of time, trouble and expense. Mr. 

 Dana, of one of our northern States, (of Leba- 

 non, N. H.,) has taken a step in the right direc- 

 tion to test the comparative merits of rival com- 

 petitors, in offering one hundred dollars for the 

 best new grape, of which a vine or cuttings shall 

 be sent by each competitor, to be fruited by that 

 gentleman himself. To say nothing of certain im- 



