218 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAN. ir, 18''9. 



=» 



TO FARMERS. 



Beciii with the yenr, gentlemen, and take a pa- 

 per ilevoted to agricultural itn|irovement ; lot those 

 be patronised who labor to promote your interest. 

 It is too often the case that those journals wliieli 

 are of a peaceful nature, and well calculated te 

 benefit the farmer and his family, by making their 

 business more profitable and pleasant, are neg- 

 lected by the very persona who should give them 

 a cordial support, while other works are road with 

 avidity which stir up strife, and keej) the comnni- 

 iiity and families in a turmoil. Your calling is 

 peaceful, and you want peace in all .your binders ; 

 yon want useful journals which will enlighten 

 you in your pursuits, and afford valualile instruc- 

 tion to your sons and daughterts, that they may be 

 contented and happy while with you, and their 

 minds stored with that knowledge which shall 

 render them useful members of society and a bles- 

 sing to their parents. 



Let farmers awake to their own interests and to 

 the welfare of their families, an<l not be afraid to 

 pay a few dollars a year for papers that will repay 

 them tenfold, and beget in the minds of their chil- 

 dren an interest in, and love for the most honora- 

 ble, pleasant, and sure of all pursuits that ever 

 engaged the attention of man. 



Do not, like many fathers, fret before your chll- 

 dVen ; always harping on your hard lot because 

 you are farmers, and wishing you hati been a 

 mechanic, a minister, a lawyer, a doctor or a mer- 

 chant. All these are well in their place, but they 

 have troubles that ye know not of. 1 say do not 

 by such an imprudent course induce your sons 

 and daughters to rush to the cities of noise and 

 hurtle, to turn merchants and milliners. If you 

 do, retnember, in case they become miserable, de- 

 graded beings, as thousands have for want of ex- 

 perience when they exchange the country for the 

 town, that your own repining has been a great 

 cause of their ruin. Uneasiness and fretful com- 

 plainuigs of this kind have been the means of 

 ruining both the souls and bodies of some of the 

 most lovely youth in our country. 



Your daughters should be taught the |>leasures 

 of rural life, that show and fashion is not happi- 

 ness but the reverse — that there is no i)lace of 

 more happiness, than the fireside of the farmer, 

 that no employment is more pleasant, useful or 

 honorable than domestic industry. Her.: they can 

 display their talents, ingenuity and tasle with 

 pleasure and profit. Let them be encouraied in 

 the cultivation of plants and flowers ; this will be 

 an innocent amusement that will tend to improve 

 them in industry, economy, neatness, love of order 

 and good taste. If they are enterprising and anx- 

 ious to earn money, let them raise silk. In some 

 parts of N. England the females of a single family 

 raise several hundred dollars' woith annually, and 

 it requires but a small part of the year. 



Begin then with the year, and take a paper that 

 is devoted to the science and practice of agricul- 

 ture ; take an increased interest in your business, 

 and show your sons that there is no business more 

 honorable, none more sure to a'ford a good living, 

 and none more conducive to health, happiness, 

 and independence. Show them that the business 

 of fanning is becoming more and more profitable, 

 pleasant and easy, from the great improvements 

 that are making in labor-saving maidiines, im- 

 proved methods of culture, and new and valuable 

 proiluctions. If they have superior talents, here 

 is a chance for exercising them to advantage. 



I have iriuch to say to you, and thought best to 

 begin with the year, but I will close this number 

 by telling you what a farmer said to mc. " Sir, 

 I was very unwilling to pay the usual price for a 

 paper on farming, in advance, thinking it vvouhl 

 be of liltle or no use; but the year is ended, and 

 each jiumber has been worth to me one dollar, in 

 rny farming affairs, beside that, my wife and chil- 

 dren ha\e received much useful iiilormation, and 

 I would not Slop it on any account." 



A Farmer's Son. 



January, 1, 1838. [Yanktt Far. 



Pennstlvania Improvements. — From authen- 

 tic reports we find that Pennsylvania has already 

 expended, in public and private works, for Rail- 

 roads and Canals, $42,800,000. 



The S(n(e has constructed 591 niiles of Canal 

 at the cost in round numbers of $15,000,000. The 

 Columbia and Portage Railroads of 119 miles to 

 cross the Alleghany Mountains, are in complete 

 operation, with eleven inclined planes, at an ex- 

 pense of 5,000,000. 



The State Treasury received the last year from 

 1st Nov. 1837, hy official reports, the sum of $970,- 

 350, with a further estimated sum of $130,000, to 

 the close of navigation — say $1,100,000, and this 

 too, in the wifimshed and unconnected state, of a 

 large portion of the public and private lateral 

 works. 



To compaie the receipts of Pennsylvania with 

 the receipts on all our Stale Canals, Jor we have 

 avoided the consideration of Railroads — we should 

 add the sum of $932,590 to $1,100,350, heing the 

 published receipts, the last season, U[i to the 15th 

 of November, on the Union, Schuylkill and Le- 

 high Canals. 'I'hese three private incorporations 

 have expended $9,500,000 to construct 253 miles 

 of Canal. The stock of the Schuylkill, or Gerard 

 Canal, is 350 per cent above par, with a Railroad 

 along side of it, nearly completed, (108 miles) to 

 convey coal and equalize the 'price, at all seasons 

 of the year to the steam manufacturers on the 

 Schuylkill and in Philadelphia, and to furnish a 

 regular supply. 



In addition to the State, and three enumerated 

 works there are 18 incor[)orated Railroads wifh 

 COO miles completed, at the cost (per table) of 

 $13,300,000. To ascertain the income of these 

 Roads we have no ofllcial data, but as we know 

 that they serve to convey, in one item, upwards 

 of 900,000 tons of anthracite coal, to tide waters, 

 the estimate of one and a half millions of dollars 

 for the receipts, on these private work.", is very 

 moderate. This gives us the astonishing result, 

 in round numbers, of $3,600,000, received by 

 Pennsylvania on her present disbursements, of 

 42,000,000 in 1830. The State only received 

 $27,012!!! 



In the year 1820, the amount of coal received 

 in Philadelphia was 36 tons. In 17 years to the 

 15th Nov. 1837, the tola! amount of coal received 

 at tide waters, was 4,040,596 tons. Of this amount, 

 900,000 tons have arrived this season, being an 

 increase of 201,000 tons, or, a little over one 

 fourth of the quantity extracted from the mines 

 per tide waters in 17 years ! was received in one 

 year. 



In canals, public and private, Pennsylvania has 

 expended $24,000,000. 



Wheat is selling in Hallowel at $1,50 a bushel, 



HINTS ON DIET. ! 



"An ounce of prevention is beltcrlhan apenind of cure." 

 A reasonable indulgence in the abundant sup 

 plies of natin-e, converted by art to the purpose 

 of wholesome food, is one of the comforts adde 

 to the maintenance of life. It is an indiscritn 

 nate gratification of our tastes, regardless of th 

 consequences that may ensue from it, ihatisalon 

 blameable. But so great is our general apathy i 

 these respects, that even on the occurrence of dii 

 eases from which we are all more or less suffe, 

 ers, we scarcely ever reflect on our diet, as th 

 principal, if not the sole cause of them — we ai 

 sign them to weather, to infection, to hereditai 

 descent, to spontaneous breeding, as if a diseai 

 could originate without a cause — or to any frivi 

 lous imaginary source, without suspecting or b 

 ing willing to own, mismanagement of ourselves 

 We derive the renewal of our blood and juice 

 which are constantly exhausting, from the sul 

 stances we take as food. As our food, therefor 

 is proper or improper, too much or too little, ' 

 will our juices be good or bad, overcharged i 

 deficient, and our state of health accordingly go( 

 or diseased. 



By aliment or food, is to be understood wh« 

 ever we eat or drink, including seasonings, su( 

 as salt, sugar, spices, vinegar, &c., erery thing 

 short which we receive into our stomachs. Or 

 food therefore, consists not only of such particl 

 as are proper for the nourishment and support 

 the human body, but likewise contains certain a 

 tive principles, viz: oils and s|)irits, which hop 

 the properties of stimidating the sidids, quickeniiii 

 the circulation and making the fluids thinner ; th 

 rendering them more suited to undergo the nec( 

 sary secretions of the body. 



The art of preserving health and obtaining loi 

 life, consists in the use of a moderate quantity 

 such diet, as shall neither increase the salts ai 

 oils so as to produce disease, nor diminish thei 

 so as to suffer the solids to become relaxed. 



It is very diflicult, almost impossible, to asce 

 tain what are the predominant qualities either 

 our bodies or in the food we eat. In praitij 

 therefore, we can have no other rule but obsei 

 ing by experience, what it is that hurts or does 

 good, and what it is our stomachs can digest wi 

 facility, or the contrary. 



The eating too little is hurtful, as well as el 

 ing too much. Neither excess, nor any thii 

 else that passes the bounds of nature can he gO' 

 to man. 



By loading the stomach, fermentation is chec 

 ed, and of course digestion impeded; for the nt 

 ural juice of the stomach has not room to est 

 itself, and it therefore nauseates its contents,, 

 troubled with eructations, the spirits are oppn 

 ed, obstructions ensue, and fever is the coi 

 quence. Besides, that when thus overfilled,i 

 stomach presses on the diaphragm, prevents 

 proper jrlay of the lungs, and occasions un 

 ness in our breathing. Hence arise various i 

 symptoms and depraved eftVcts, enervating j 

 strength, decaying the senses, hastening old « 

 and shortening life. '1 hough these effects ^ 

 not immediately perceived, yet they are certii 

 effects of intemperance: for it has been genera 

 observed in great eaters, that though from c 

 tom, n state of youth, and a strong consiitulii 

 they liave no present inconvenience, but have 

 gested their food, suffered surfeit, and borne tli 

 immoderate diet well, if they have not beem 



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