156 



Rural Manners in England. — Profitable Farming. Vol. X. 



Rural Manners in England. 



The true Eno;lish gentleman, living re- 

 mote from the din of cities, and abstracted 

 from the turmoil of political life, upon his 

 own acres; managing his own estate; seek- 

 ing the best means for its improvement, and 

 superintending, under his own personal in- 

 spection, their application; doing what good 

 he can to all around him ; making those de- 

 pendent upon him comfortable and content- 

 ed; giving labour, counsel, encouragement, 

 and all needful aid, to his poor neighbours, 

 and causing them, and their wives, and their 

 children, to look up to him as a friend and a 

 parent, to whose kindness their good con- 

 duct is always a certain claim; whom when 

 the eye sees, it sparkles with grateful joy, 

 and when the ear hears his footsteps, the 

 sounds go like melody to the heart; who is 

 in his neighbourhood the avowed and unos- 

 tentatious supporter of good morals, tempe- 

 rance, education, peace, and religion; and 

 in whose house you find an open-hearted 

 hospitality, and abundant resources for inno- 

 cent gratification, and for ihe improvement 

 of the mind, with a perfect gentleness of 

 manners, and unaffected piety presiding over 

 the whole; — I say, such a man — and it has 

 been my happiness to find many examples — 

 need envy no one save the possessor of more 

 power and a wider sphere of doing good ; 

 and need not covet the brightest triumphs 

 of political ambition, nor the splendors and 

 luxuries of royal courts. 



Whatever contributes, then, in any way, 

 to elevate the agricultural profession, to 

 raise it, from a mere servile or mercenary 

 labour, to the dignity of a liberal profession, 

 and to commend it not merely for its profit 

 and usefulness, but as a delightful resource 

 and recreation for a cultivated mind, will 

 certainly find favour with those who form 

 rational views of life, who wish well to the 

 cause of good morals, and would multiply 

 and strengthen the safeguards of human 

 virtue. 



The class of individuals whom I have de- 

 scribed — and I assure my readers I have 

 drawn from real life, and deal in no fictions 

 — find often their own efforts seconded and 

 aided by those whose encouragement and 

 sympathy always give new life and vigor to 

 their exertions, and new pleasure to their 

 pleasures, — I mean their own wives and 

 children; and the farming operations, in all 

 their history and details, and all their expe- 

 diency and fitness, are as much matter of 

 familiar and interested discussion at the fire- 

 side, as, in many other circles, the most re 

 cent novel, the change in fashion, or the 

 latest triumph of party. Indeed, I have 



seen, in many cases, the wives and the 

 daughters — and these, too, often persons of 

 the highest rank and refinement — as well 

 acquainted with every field and crop, their 

 management and their yield., and with every 

 implement and animal on the place, as the 

 fanner himself; and I always put it down 

 to the credit of their good sense. — Culmaii's 

 Tour, No. 3. 



From the Indiana Farmer and Gardener. 

 Profitable Farming. 



Dear Sir, — Knowing you to be a friend 

 of agriculture, and that you were pleased to 

 manifest an interest in my farming ope- 

 rations when here, and perhaps thought 

 as some of my neighbours did, that I was 

 going to spend what I had made at other 

 pursuits, in experimental farming, I give 

 you the result of my operation. 



I commenced on a very small scale in 



1840, and was engaged much in other 

 business until the fall of 1842. From that 

 to the present season, I have devoted all my 

 time to the farm. 



I had on hand, and purchased in 1840, 



stock and teams worth .S'lSO 



1841, purchased stock to the amount of 100 



1842, paid for stock and grain, 300 



1843, » '' " 650 

 1814, " " « 1,720 



$3,300 



Expenses of putting up produce and 



sending to market, 1,500 



$4,800 

 Account of Sales. 



1841, sold pork and beef for ^-242 00 



1842, « " grain, 1,735 02 



1843, » " " 1,602 92 



1844, " » horses, 6,398 92 

 ^oCk on hand, worth 1,020 54 §11,000 



$7,200 



The stock on hand is worth more than 

 the sum put down. I have placed that esti- 

 mate in order to make an even sum. I do 

 not keep a correct estimate of the expense 

 for labour, &c., but I presume the whole 

 cost of farm labour did not exceed SldOO. 

 From which I made a number of small im- 

 provements and repairs of fencing, &c. You 

 will no doubt be surprised at the small 

 amount of expense for labour; the reason 

 for which I will endeavour to explain. I 

 had a nephew 16 years old, and a son thir- 

 teen; when I commenced in 1840, I hired 

 two boys at seven dollars per month each. 



