1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



533 



information. Mr. Humphrey, of Lancaster, or 

 some other of our friends, m^)' be able and will- 

 ing to communicate valuable information. The 

 application of the muck, as you propose, would 

 be judicious, and the land under such treatment, 

 aided by proper dressings of manure, would be 

 in condition for any of our common crops. 



For the New England Farmet . 

 "la THERE ANYPKOFIT INFABMING?" 



Messrs. Editors : — Your corresponctent, T. 

 J. Pinkham, judging from the tenor of his article 

 under the above caption, published in the Far- 

 mer a short time since, and from the "facts" he 

 has given, must be located in a very ill-favored 

 portion of the country ; but, notwithstanding the 

 state of things he describes, I think he may work 

 long before he will convince the generality of 

 farmers in New England that farming is unprof- 

 itable, and that they are destined to the poor- 

 house, if they continue its practice. 



That farming is profitable, and that farmers 

 are the most independent class of people in the 

 world, and that the major part of the rest of the 

 world, M'ho are engaged in other pursuits, are 

 dependent upon their industry and products for 

 sustenance, seems to be perfectly evident from 

 the nature of things, and it may be proved to be 

 thus, if need be, by practical demonstrations 

 without number. I suspect that Mr P., having 

 probably been employed in other pursuits before 

 engaging in agriculture, "some seven or eight 

 years" since, may possibly be lacking somewliat 

 in agricultural experience, so necessary to suc- 

 cess, and has had the misfortune to locate in a 

 bad situation, both combining, perhaps, to ren- 

 der him sick of his new vocation, and consequent- 

 ly he looks upon the dark side. 



It is well in all matters of business to keep an 

 eye for the profits, and not a bad thing to count 

 up the outlays and incomes of the farm, at the 

 end of the year, and count the profits, as most 

 farmers can. The facts he has given in support 

 of his point are new to me, certainly, and proba- 

 bly are to most of the readers of the Farmer ; 

 that it "costs twenty-three dollars to raise a 

 yearling," and $57,20 to keep a cow a year, and 

 that a good cow gives on the average, four quarts 

 of milk per day through the year. A good cow 

 (and none other should be kept,) should give 

 four quarts at each milking, at least, or eight 

 quarts per day, through the greater part of the 

 year, and even more than this a considerable 

 portion of the time, which would double the 

 avails of the cow, at your correspondent's low 

 price for milk, and give a fair profit at his rather 

 high price of keeping. I believe that a cow may 

 be kept well, in most localities, for about forty- 

 five dollars per year, and should yield an average 

 of six quarts of milk per day. The milk-men 

 generally get from four to six cents a quart for 

 milk, and consequently the farmer should not 

 receive less than three, or three and a half cents, 

 for his milk at his door. 



It is a curious anomaly, indeed, that so large 

 a portion of the intelligent people of New Eng- 

 land should be engaged in such a disastrous busi- 

 ness as friend P. represents farming to be. A 



ridiculous idea, cei^tainly, that the thousands of 

 people engaged in farming, should be such fools 

 as to follow in the footsteps of their infatuated 

 predecessors in agriculture. Does it appear plau- 

 sible that of all the money made in the world, 

 none is gained from agriculture ? that the poor 

 farmer toils and digs the live long year I'ur a 

 mere living, and hardly that, while the results of 

 his laI)ors feed the world ? Farmers know loo 

 well that this is not their reward, to need to be 

 told by me that farming is profitable. 



There are some departments in agriculture 

 more profitable than others, I have no doubt, and 

 while the growing of stock and the dairy are 

 found profitable to farmers, I am inclined to be- 

 lieve that generally the growing of crops is found 

 more so. 



I might occupy several columns of the Farmer 

 with statements, from my experience and obser- 

 vation, in various departments of farming, show- 

 ing that farming, when properly conducted, does 

 really pay good, and often large profits ; but J 

 consider it unnecessary, as most of the farmer? 

 who read this paper can call up numerous in- 

 stances from their own observation corroborating 

 the fact, and, from their o>.vn experience, are al- 

 ready convinced that farming pays. 



Sprinc[field, Oct., 1859, J. A. A. 



For the Neic England Farmer. 

 THE PEACH AND PLUM. 



Messrs. Editors : — A writer in your paper, 

 in allusion to an article which I forwarded some 

 weeks since, headed "Doubtful Items in Culture," 

 infers that I have had much experience in the cul- 

 ture of the peach. Without pretending to have 

 cultivated many varieties, (as few have in New 

 England,) I will merely state, that so far as my 

 experience goes in this matter, I have found that 

 the most profitable varieties for culture in Mas- 

 sachusetts are the late sorts. Our markets are 

 ordinarily well- supplied with early peaches from 

 New Jersey, and consequently, we are unable to 

 compete with them in the market. The most 

 profitable variety I have cultivated is the Hod- 

 Cheek Melocoton ; it is an American seedling, 

 and has been extensively grown in some parts 

 of our country ; it often reproduces itself from 

 seed under new forms. Crawford's Early, as well 

 as the Late Melocoton, are seedlings of this sort, 

 and although the latter produces rather larger 

 fruit than its parent, it is, however, not so pro- 

 ductive. The Oldmixon Freestone and Prince's 

 Late Red Rareripe are valuable peaches for our 

 culture ; in fact, I consider the Red-Cheek Melo- 

 coton, and the other two, to be, on the whole, as 

 good as any we have grown for the market ; they 

 come when the southern peaches are here scarce. 

 The Heath, as well as the Lemon Clingstone, so 

 popular at the South, will not ripen well with us. 



Regarding early peaches for the amateur or 

 garden, I know of none better than Coolidge's 

 Favorite, Malta, Royal George, Noblesse and 

 Early York. As regards the Druid Hill, a Bal- 

 timore seedling, I have never seen it, as also the 

 Welsh Freestone ; I do not find the latter in 

 "Manning's Book of Fruits." 



As to the inquiry, "Whether peach trees are 

 ever much troubled by the black knot?" I can 



