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i\i£W ENGLAND FARMER, 



JUtY 17, 1S33. 



From the Genesee Fanner. 

 HINTS TO FARMERS. No. IX. 



On leaving the paternal roof, to seek my for- 

 tune in the wide world, when about IS years of 

 age, my father gave me this parting admonition : 

 " My son, take care always to let well enough 

 alone." The occasion served to impress the ad- 

 vice deeply on my mind, and amid the diversified 

 scenes of the subsequent thirty-five years, it has 

 seldom been forgotten ; and I have reason to be- 

 lieve it has had a very salutary influence upon my 

 prosperity and happiness. It has afforded, withal, 

 something of a standard by which to guage the 

 indiscretions of others. How often has a disre- 

 gard, in others, to tins maxim, reminded me of the 

 Italian epitaph : " I was well, wished to be better, 

 took physic, and here I am." The true philoso- 

 phy of happiness is to depend on one's self for the 

 blessing — on the lively exercise of the virtues 

 which can alone confer it. The man who is in- 

 dustrious and frugal, and who scrupulously fulfils 

 the relative and social duties, whatever be his 

 condition or profession, stands the best chance of 

 enjoying a goodly portion of the comforts and 

 pleasures of life, and of perpetuating in his chil- 

 dren his habits and his virtues. While he who 

 would live by the industry of others, or who ex- 

 pects to find happiness in the frail applause which 

 wealth or ostentation may extort from those around 

 him, seldom succeeds in his desires. 



Tom Tape was my schoolmate. Tom had 

 rather high notions from his boyhood ; and per- 

 suaded his father to put him to a merchant. In 

 due time Tom became the master of a shop of 

 goods, was attentive and fortunate, and acquired 

 a snug estate. Had he let well enough alone, he 

 might now have been the head man of pur town. 

 But pride got the better of prudence, and per- 

 suaded him that he might do better at New-York. 

 He went there, figured as a wholesale merchant, 

 for which neither his capital nor his experience 

 were adequate, for three years, and then came the 

 notice in the state paper for his creditors to show 

 cause, &c. 



Tjerck Wessel's farm joined mine. He was 

 one of our best farmers, and understood the value 

 of " tome boys," as well as any one. Good luck 

 was so constantly by his side, that he considered 

 that any man might get rich who had a mind to. 

 Yet he coidd not let tvell enough alone — he wished 

 to do better. He therefore removed to the vil- 

 lage and opened a tavern, and had the promise of 

 the Justice courts and of the stage custom. " Go 

 boys," did not improve the farm, and it soon be- 

 came neglected and unproductive. By and by, the 

 courts were removed by law, the stage went to 

 the new hotel, and the temperance era wound up 

 the tavern business. Tjerck had got back to the 

 farm, with habits very much altered, and his for- 

 tune not a little impaired. Yet he consoles him- 

 self, that he is not half so bad off as 



Joe Sledge, once our master blacksmith, after- 

 wards a merchant, and now a journeyman. Joe 

 Was so famous for his edge tools, that people came 

 to him from all parts. He had his journeymen 

 and his apprentices, and was always present to 

 oversee them, and to be seen by his customers, as 

 all master mechanics ought to be. Joe got rich, 

 because he was adapted to his business, and his 

 business adapted to him. Joe thought, with Sam 

 Patch, that some things could be done as well as 

 others — and that because every body liked him as 

 a blacksmith, they must like him as any thing else, 



forgetting that it was his trade, and not his mind 

 or his person, which had brought him into notice 

 And as men-hunt was rather more respectable than 

 meelianic, and withal a more tidy employment, he 

 in fact sunk the blacksmith, and became a dealer 

 in tapes and sugars. It fared with Joe as it gen- 

 erally does with others who embark in new busi- 

 ness, of which they know nothing, after they have 

 arrived at mature manhood. Those who had been 

 bred to the business, proved successful rivals, ami 

 the sheriff finally closed his mercantile concerns, 

 by selling the entire effects of " a merchant unfor- 

 tunate in business." Joe insists to this day, that 

 if he had let well enough alone, he might have been 

 as well off - as the best of his neighbors. 



Time wotdd fail me to narrate half the cases 

 which have come under my observation, of men 

 abandoning steady habits, and lair prospects of 

 wealth, in the employments in which they had 

 been educated, and in which they were best cal- 

 culated to succeed, for the very hazardous chance 

 of doing better in business iu which they had 

 every thing to learn. The fascinating charms of 

 fashion and show, the ostentatious pride of wealth, 

 and the alluring smiles of office, are as bad as 

 were the syrens of Calypso, to beguile men from 

 the paths of true happiness. The moderate but 

 certain gains which are the reward of industry 

 and frugality, are the most abiding in their na- 

 ture, and most benign in their influence. It is the 

 mild early and latter rains which induce fertility, 

 and cover the earth with fruitfulness ; while the 

 tempest and its floods cause waste and desolation. 

 The mushroom grows up in a night, and withers 

 in a day. 



The farmer should be the last to be dissatisfied 

 with his condition. Of all classes he is the most 

 independent. He produces within himself more 

 of the necessaries and comforts of life than any 

 other class. If he does not find the elements of 

 happiness on the farm, his search for them else- 

 where,.! fear, will be in vain. But he must not 

 forget that it is the province of the mind to arrange 

 and combine these elements ; and that it becomes 

 qualified to perform this office, in proportion as it 

 is enlightened and cultivated. The mind, like the 

 garden, will yield the most grateful fruits when 

 nurtured with care ; and few have more opportu- 

 nities, or are better requited for their labors, in 

 cultivating both, than him who thrives by the 

 plough. B. 



From the Cohimbia Sentinel. 

 ON RAISING GOOD CROPS OP WHEAT AND 

 INDIAN CORN. 



The introduction of Gypsum or Plaster to aid 

 the germination and growth of Clover, has produc- 

 ed nearly as great and desirable a change in farm- 

 ing, as the introduction and use of Steam has in 

 the navigation of our streams. Both have been 

 sources of developement of powers with which we 

 were recently unacquainted, and whilst the one 

 has fertilized and is fertilizing our fields, the oth- 

 er is adding to our span of life, because it enables 

 us to accomplish more. Strange as it may seem 

 they are mutual aids ; for whilst the first causes the 

 earth to yield of her abundance, the other gives a 

 quick transit of that abundance to places from 

 whence we are to expect the most ample returns. 

 Gypsum furnishes us the means of bringing land 

 into a high state of cultivation, and of producing 

 a rapid succession of crops which are constantly 

 improving. Experience, the guide of the farmer, 

 has long since established the fact, that a good 



Clover ley, well turned under, is assure to give a 

 good crop of either Wheat or Corn as it is almost 

 possible for the fanner to insure, with all the un- 

 certainties that arc incident to his occupation, and 

 are likely to lessen his produce. The addition of 

 stable manure is not considered essential to insure 

 a crop, and will hardly, on some soils, compensate 

 the farmer for the labor and expense of its appli- 

 cation where Plaster has been freely used. The 

 point I wish to establish is this — that, with suitable 

 management, a good crop of Clover will insure 

 a succeeding one of grain, whatever it may be, if 

 the soil is carefully turned over and the tilth per- 

 mitted to remain undisturbed, so that it may af- 

 ford food for the plants that follow. But with the 

 growing grain, neither grass nor weeds must in- 

 terfere, and rob the earth of the sustenance which 

 has been prepared with so much expense, labor 

 and care. The crop must have the whole of it; 

 and to permit either grass or weeds to grow is evi- 

 dence of bad farming and consequently bad policy. 

 The best fields of Wheat, and there are many of 

 them, which are now growing in this vicinity, 

 have been prepared in the manner before stated, 

 and their promising appearance is abundant evi- 

 dence that the course which has been pursued is a 

 correct oue. It is but lately that it has been adopt- 

 ed ; and I have often been forcibly struck with 

 the very perceptible improvement, not only in the 

 quantity raised, but in the quality which has fol- 

 lowed the practice. It is demonstrative proofthat 

 we have become better acquainted with the appe- 

 tencies of the plant, and furnish better supplies of 

 the food it requires for its growth. 



Another fact I have repeatedly noticed, and 

 hate frequently seen most strikingly exemplified ; 

 a. id that is, that once ploughing of a Clover sod is 

 better than oftener. I have this year two lots by 

 the side of each other — the soil is the same — 

 both were in Clover last season and pastured — 

 one was only once ploughed, the other twice, and 

 both put down to Wheat. The difference now 

 in the appearance of them is nearly one half in 

 favor of the lot ploughed once. The same fact, 

 under exactly similar circumstances, occurred to 

 me last year. I was aware before, that plough- 

 ing once was better than oftener ; but I thought 

 I had particular reasons for departing from the 

 rule — the result however was the same. The 

 observant farmers in this section of countiy, 

 guided by experience, endeavor as much as 

 possible to conform to this rule. But it is indis- 

 pensable to a good crop of Wheat that your land 

 should be clear of the Couch or Quitch grass, 

 and likewise blue grass. It is the same with 

 Corn; but then what with ploughing and hoeing 

 between the plants, you have a better opportuni- 

 ty to subdue it. I would ask our farmers to 

 point out the best method of destroying Quitch 

 grass. It is becoming very troublesome ; at the 

 same time it is extremely detrimental to the 

 growth of wheat. I will only add that Clover, 

 besides insuring a good crop of Wheat and Corn, 

 is valuable for hay. For draught-horses and 

 sheep it is superior to any other, as it keeps them 

 in finer condition. Of this I have an experience 

 of at least fifteen years. But for feeding cattle 

 it is not so profitable as other hay. A. 



A man in Alabama is under sentence of death 

 for passing a counterfeit Mexican dollar.. The- 

 rigor of the laws in that state is the subject of 

 much newspaper discussion. 



