564 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



Thus it will be seen that our calf has cost us 

 at one year old, $22,88. Now shall we sell it or 

 grow it up into an ox or cow ? If it is decided 

 to sell it, a loss of more than one-half must be 

 sustained. If to keep it, my word for it, the loss 

 will be greater still. This is stock-raising. It 

 will be seen that there are several small items 

 that I have not put into the cost of this calf, such 

 as rents, interest, &c., which legitimately belong 

 there. Usually in reckoning the cost of cattle, 

 we offset the labor account against the manure ; 

 but no one will suppose that a calf can be taken 

 from the cow at one week old and cared for till 

 it is eight weeks for any such pay. 



I know that the question comes up here, how 

 is it, then, that the farmers get along? lean 

 very easily answer that question, but can do so, 

 perhaps, in no better way than in the language I 

 have used before, and say that no poor man can 

 live by farming, unless he works for wages. I 

 am perfectly aware that this view of the matter 

 is directly antagonistical to the views of those 

 who undertake to shape public opinion. But 

 what if it is? If it is true, it will stand, if not, it 

 will fall. To take a narrow view of the subject, 

 I might say the popular one, it would seem to be 

 for the interest of all other classes of men but 

 the farmers to have farm products cheap. But, 

 if the farmers were wise, they would at once dis- 

 pel this popular clamor of glorifying them in or- 

 der to fatten upon credulity. I freely admit that 

 such arguments, in times past, seemed plausible 

 and generous, but I begin to see through the 

 film that has been placed upon my eyes, and rath- 

 er reluctantly admit that it now looks a little 

 foxy. Why is it that all farmers who have no 

 outside help, find that it is with the greatest dif- 

 ficulty that they can meet their engagements, and 

 are continually in debt to the merchant, the me-! 

 chanic and the money-lender. It is, because they 

 have to sell their products, almost universally, 

 under the cost — many less than one-half what it 

 costs to produce them. And 1 hesitate not to 

 say that many farm products do not pay mechan- 

 ics' wages, simply to harvest and market them. 

 The amount of the loss to the farmers of New I 

 England this year, on the corn crop alone, is suf-l 

 ficient, if sustained by the traders and manufac-} 

 turers, to close the tills of every bank in thej 

 State, and "nary red," would be the universal re- 1 

 spouse. In all other kinds of business, as far as| 

 I know, some system or uniformity of prices pre-i 

 vails. What the mechanic charges for a certain job 

 to-day will be the price all the year, always charg- 

 ing u small profit on the material used and a liv- 

 ing price for his work. This is right, and with 

 this arrangement we find no fault. We expect 

 to pay the traders and mechanics a fair profit;! 

 but how is it when we have anything to sell ! — is! 

 there ever a word said about profit or cost ? Not i 

 at all ! We can buy the article so and so, and 

 that settles the matter. Now, what I want is, 

 to have the farmer know what the article costs, 

 and not scab the craft. T. J. Pinkham. 



Chelmsford, Oct., 1859. 



der. Now take a doubled piece of flannel and 

 lay on the bottom neatly, that no sand can run 

 through. Place a layer of sand thereon, to about 

 the depth of six inches, and pulverize charcoal 

 and make a very thin layer, then another layer 

 of sand of the same depth, again another layer 

 of charcoal, the last, a heavier layer of sand. 

 This barrel of sand and charcoal, is to set over a 

 tub which the cider can run in. The process of 

 cleansing now commences. Draw from yovir ci- 

 der barrel and pour on the sand, &c., taking 

 care not to stir up the sand much, rack the whole 

 through, putting the rectified into another sweet 

 barrel, in which, afterwards, put in a pint of mus- 

 tard seed, and your cider is fit for any company. 

 Too much charcoal is a damage, as it colors it. — 

 Rural Neic-Yorker. 



Keeping Cider Sweet. — Take a barrel that 

 will not leak in the sides, with bottom in and top 

 out, bore enough holes in the bottom that there 

 will be no trouble in the escapement of the ci- 



HOW TO KEEP CROPS GOOD. 



"Let this be held the farmer's creed — 

 For stock, seek ni:.t the choicest breed ; 

 In peace and plenty let them feed ; 

 Your land, sow with the best of seed ; 

 Let it nor dung nor dressing need ; 

 Inclose, plow, reap, with care and speed, 

 And you will soon be ricli indeed." 



Never keep a poor or malformed animal to 

 breed from, and in selecting seed, strive always 

 to procure the best. If you have a good animal, 

 reserve it, and sell your mean calves, lambs and 

 pigs to the butcher ; he can turn them to more 

 advantage than you can, and your stock will es- 

 cape contamination by having them taken away. 



In the vegetable kingdom, the most healthy 

 and vigorous plants are invariably those which 

 spring from the most healthy and vigorous 

 stocks. Corn, or indeed most other vegetables, 

 may, by selecting inferior seed for several con- 

 secutive seasons, be so deteriorated in quality as 

 to be comparatively worthless. In the same man- 

 ner, and with almost the same facility, we may 

 destroy the cow or ox. By selecting our most 

 valuable and symmetrical animals for the sham- 

 bles, and reserving to ourselves as breeders only 

 those that are worthless or deformed, we are cer- 

 tain to perpetuate the deformities and diseases 

 which have been the curse of the breed, and 

 which, acting by obvious and irresistible laws 

 over which we can exercise no efficient control, 

 produce a distinctive or family configuration as 

 thoroughly inwrought and inalienable as the 

 principle of life itself. 



Every person who understands the principles 

 of vegetable physiology, knows that it is one of 

 the great fundamental laws of nature, that "like 

 produces like," and this law is equally as pervad- 

 ing a principle in animal, as in vegetable life, 

 and presents us with an injunction for the regu- 

 lation of our efforts at improvement ; and this is 

 eminently worthy of our regard. 



In casting our eyes around us, we shall at least 

 perceive that this law has not only been syste- 

 matically developed by scientific breeders in for- 



