296 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH ai, 183- 



SS2S^<2233L3l.i:s.it^8 



For Ihe N. E. Farmer. 



"'TIS DONC I5Y" D;NT OF DIGGING." 



How countless the numlier of modern inventions 

 For saving of labor, and other pretensions ! 

 And yet we can no niore exist without toil, 

 Than a lamp can keep burning without any oil. 

 Let us ciercise all our mechanical skill ; 

 Contrive new machines, and new theories who will. 

 Yet diggings hard diggings is what brings to pass 

 Our thrift, and the growth of our grain and our grass, 



'T is the " sweat of the brow" that provides for our good ; 



It warms us with clothing, — it fills us with food ; 



It pays for our pleasures, — supports us in ease, 



In gay,^or in sober lile, — just as we please. 



Let genius then study and scheme what it can, 



Still delving and digging 's entail'd upon man ; 



And, were I to give now his true definition, 



I 'd say, man 's a digger without intermission. 



Go now. Mr Farmer, and boast of your stock, 

 Your beeves and merinos, and all your fat flock, 

 Your famous smart gelding, without any flaw, 

 And tell too how Gallant and Go/ding can draw, 

 How I'd/pail and Brindle and Bughoin you bought 

 Of Hilltop, the grazer, and almost for naught ! 

 Yet digging, hard digging, is what above all. 

 Produced these fine fatlings, the pride of j'our stall. 



We haril-toiling husbandmen, workies and diggers, 



Who never pretend to " cut any great figures,^ 



This truth from experience know very well, 



" Who 'd cat of the oyster must first break the shell." 



We stick to our calling ; — our homo 's in the fields ; 



We 're never ashamed to put shoulder to wheels ; 



And, if e'er aimoyed by a loafer or prig, 



We say, — " Mr Slyboots, or Lounger, — go, dig. 



So we dig for new systems ; — we dig for new jilans ; 

 For, the mind is a digger, as well as the hands. 

 Few dig for their pleasure ; more dig for their health ; 

 But the digger of diggers, he digs all for w^ealth ! 

 ^nd thus we keep digging, and follow the trade. 

 Till Ihe grave-digger digs us a place to be laid ; 

 And then, not till then, both our digging and life 

 Come to s finale; — and so ends the strife. 



JOHN HEYDIGGER. 



For the N. E. Farmer. 



getting wood, was tlio best, viz: to pick out the going on steadily for years in the consistent old 

 fargPj'old tree's, and let the young stnfT niinain. I nietliod, is told that he is no farmer at all ; that 

 maintained that to cut the whole, " smack-smooth," book-farming, chemistr;/, and experiment, these are 



OLD WAYS AND NEW. 



Tlie sleighing was very fine — never saw it bet- 

 ter, since I was liig enough to handle a goadstiuk. 

 " Come now," said wile, " let's take a tri|i over 

 to cousin Cleverly's, and see how they get along, 

 in these hard times." " Well thought on," .said I, 

 '' the sleighing is so excellent that all the horse 

 will have to do is only just to keep out of the 

 way." We drove off' for Deacon Cleverly's, ahout 

 six miles. The deacon is a man by no means 

 wanting in intellectual fmniture, and has quite n 

 social turn. He is one of the selc^ctnicn of t!ie 

 town, and has been its representative, &c. ; hut, 

 as to farriring, he has been rather a bigot to the 

 old mode, and has strong prejudices against what 

 he calls iimovations upon the good rirlca of our 

 fatliers. Tiro ileacon and I therefore, when dis- 

 coursing on husbandry and the like, did not al- 

 ways " set oiM' horses together," as the saying is. 



After chatting a while over a good winter fire, 

 the deacon and I took a turn into his woodlot, as 

 farmers are wont to do in this season. Here a 

 question soon came up between us. Ths deacon 

 insisted !|'at the " old way j" aa he called it^ of 



and make clean work of it, was the proper way. 

 The deacon held that the ol<l wood prevented the 

 growth of the young trees by shading them, and 

 therefore should be picked out. My opinion was 

 that the damage done to the young growth in get- 

 ting out the large wood, by failing the trees, cart- 

 ing and teaming, would be so great, that it was most 

 profitable to cut all down, and let a new growth 

 .s|iring up together. We kept up the argunient 

 till we had traversed the whole lot, and arrived 

 hack again at the house, at a moment when the 

 ileacon seemed to think, that he had got to the 

 very heyday of victory in the debate; for, "come 

 cousin," said he, " yon see your system of new 

 notions will not work ; hut let us return again to 

 the women-folks, who arc enjoying the comforts 

 of a cheering blaze from a fire of good old, yankee 

 oak." We found our good housewives very pleas- 

 antly discussing the comparative values of 

 " boughten and homespmi " flannels, while the 

 children were engaged in innocent amusements. 



Dinner being nigh ready, the deacon went off 

 to bring a pail of water from a spring, at about 

 fifty or sixty rods diftaiice. The house had been 

 standing for nearly a ceniin'y, yet never had there 

 been a well upon the place, although, it was 

 agreed, that by digging 16 or 18 feet, water in 

 plenty might be procured ! I expressed my as- 

 tonishment at this, but it was enough for the dea- 

 con, that his ancestors had travelled from day to 

 day and from year to year to and from this spring 

 for all their water, 'ihe convenience of having a 

 good well umler the very eves of their dwelling, 

 as thc;y might have had with a little expense, sel- 

 dom, if ever, came into his reckoning. When 

 1 urged the itnportance of such an accommoda- 

 tion, he replied, "why, I snppose, it would be 

 well enough, but, yon know, 1 am not fond of new 

 notions ; I think I shall have to leave the matter to 

 my boys, that come after me." So that, in all proba- 

 bility, he will lug and tug for twenty years longer 

 after this maimer. When I spoke of it again, "re- 

 move not the old landmarks,'^ said he; but 1 did 

 not see the applicability of the quotation. 



At the diimcr table the importance of a good 

 su)iply of garden sauce was discussed. Vi'e had 

 i>o parsnips with our potluck. J remarked that I 

 always dug my parsnips in the fall, and so we 

 had them for use all winter. This, the deacon 

 thought, was another foolish deviation from the 

 practice heretofore followed. He insisted that the 

 frost was necessary to tf.eir ripening, and being 

 rendered fit for food. " Dig parsnips in autumn !" 

 he exclaimed with astonishment ; " here is another 

 modern discovery." My wife then told him how 

 palatable they were, and how nuich sweeter and 

 preferable to those taken up in the spring. IJnt 

 lie set his face strongly against even this trifling 

 rhaiige in husbandry. His good wife however 

 took occasion out of his hearing, to request of 

 US enough for a mess whenever a conveyance 

 offered. 



In the course of the evening much was said on 

 the subject of tillage, manure, &c. [ mentioned 

 lime and hone manure, as being the best thing for 

 fitting land for certain crops. This get the good 

 deacon on to his hobby again, and ho expressed 

 himself quite warmly against the modern mode of 

 farming. " E.xperiment," said ho, " is going to 



the requisites for a working man ; that every far- 

 mer must have a rasping mill, to pulverize bones 

 for manure; for the old way of replenishing the 

 earth with our barn-yard heaps is now exploded. 

 Do you wish to cultivate a field of wheat ? then 

 go to the book. Would you raise a carrot or cu- 

 cumber? see the book. Would you yoke np your 

 team .' examine the book, lest peradventure you 

 may get the cattle heads and points ! 'J'hiis it is; 

 the book and experiment make the (iirmer in these 

 strange times. Lime to burn your land up ! And 

 bones! Why, they tell me this is carried to such 

 a pilch in England, that the relics of the dead 

 have been crushed for the purpose ; and, perhaps 

 hereafter, a farmer's bones will form the manure 

 for his ewn cornfields ! Give me no more of 

 your novelties in farming ; no more chemistry ; 

 no more experiment; but the good old ways and 

 customs of our fathers 



'I'hus spoke honest deacon Cleverly in liis 

 warmth and his inconsistency. But though he 

 was so unreasonably wediled to the old ways, I 

 filially brought him to consideration and sober 

 reflection ; and before we parted he confessed 

 that he had carried his prejudices too fiir, to the 

 discouraging of all improvement, success and en- 

 terprise among our agrii-ultural community ; and 

 he has since told me that be had entirely changed 

 his views and nolions on the subje'ct. B. B. 



ruin us all ! A man now-a-davs, who has been 



PUUIX TREES, ORNAMENTAL. TREES, MORUS- 

 MULTICAUI'IS, &o. 



For sale by the subscriber. The varieties, par- 

 ticularly of the Pears and the Plums were nevei 



^^siP^'^'v?^ before so fine, the assortment so complete. Al 

 S 60 of Apples, Peaches, Cherries, Grape vines, i 



..«Tg4ir->^ superior assortment of finest kinds, and of al 

 other Itardy fruits. 



20,000 Morus Mnllicaelis or Chinese Mulberry trees cai 

 still be furnished al ihe cuslomary prices, if applied for early 

 this being all that now remain unsold. 



Ornamental Trees and Shrubs, Roses and Herbaceoui 

 plants, of the most beautiful hardy kinds. Splendid Pseoniei 

 and Double Dahlias. 



4,000 Cockspur Thorns, 10,000 Buckthorns for Hedges. 



800 Lancashire Gooseberries, of various colors and fin* 

 kinds. 



Harrison's Double Yellow Roses, new and hardy, coloi 

 fine, it never fails to bloom profusely. 



Trees packed in the most perlect manner for all distan 

 places and shipped or sent from Boston to wherever ordered 



Transporlatico to the City without charge. 



Address by mail post paid. 



Catalogues will be sent gratis to all who apply. 



WILLIAM KENRICK. 



Nursery, Nonanlum Hill, Newton, Jan, 24, 1838. 



book: of BRUITS, BY WR 9IAKKI1VG. 



In press and will be issued early in April, by Ives aii'd Jew 

 ett. Booksellers, Salem, Mass ; The Book of Fruits, witi 

 plates ; being a Descriptive Catalogue ot the most valuabl 

 varieties of the Pear, Apple, Peach, Pluin and Cherry, fo 

 Nbw England culture, by Robert Manning, to which is adtied 

 The Gooseberry, Currant, Raspberry, and the Grapes, witI 

 their modes of culture, &c. 



Also, Hardy, Ornamental Trees, and Shrubs, 



Feb. 7, 1837. 



■WAINTED 



To take charge of a small Farm, a single man of skill 

 industry and good habits. To a suitable man the place wf; 

 be an excellent one. Apjily immediately at the N. E. Farme 

 Office. March. 6. 



THE NEAV EIiraL.ANU FARDIER 



Is published every Wednesday Evening, at ^3 per aiinun 

 payable at the end of the year — but those who pay within sis 

 ty days from the time of subscribing, are entitled to a dedm 

 tion of 50 cents. 



Friuled by ruHle, Mtennell It Chiahotm, 



17 SCHOOL STUF.h.T BOSTON. 



OBDEBS FOR PKIKTINa BECIIVED BY THB rUBLISHXBI 



