196 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JANUARY 1, 1834. 



From the Oxford, fj\. C.) Kxaiaintr. 

 " FARMERS' ARITHMETIC." 



Profits of Agriculture, — If the great Franklin 

 bed ever lived in the country, his observing eye 

 would have noticed, and his discriminating judg- 

 ment have solved, the following difficult problems: 



1. Farmers are more imposed upon than any 

 other class of the community ; they pay nearly the 

 whole expense of the State Government, are some- 

 times oppressed by onerous measures of the Gene- 

 ral Government, and by the commercial regula- 

 ti ids of foreign nations ; never having much money, 

 yel evny industrious, prudent farmer grows rich ! 



2. The mechanic receives his 75 cents or a 

 dollar a day, yet remains poor.; the farmer earns 

 his seventeen cents a day, and grows rich! 



3. .Merchants, Physicians, Lawyers, anil others, 

 receive iheir thousands per annum, and die poor, 

 while the fanner scarcely receives as many tens, 

 j it dies rich ! 



How are these strange results produced ? All 

 calculations in dollars and cents fail to account for 

 it. Those who are determined to bring every 

 thing to the standard of dollars and cents, pro- 

 nottnce agriculture to be wholly unprofitable, when 

 ih feci that nearly all the wealth of the country 

 ir,'." been obtained by agriculture stares them in 

 the face. In the opinion of calculators, agricul- 

 ture is the proper pursuit of such only, as have 

 nol sense enough to pursue any thing else. 



The mischief which such calculations are doing 

 in our country, first induced me to call the public 

 attention to the Farmers' Arithmetic. But having 

 been more accustomed to handling the plough 

 than the pen, I am altogether unable to do justice 

 to the subject. If some abler hand would take it 

 up, dispel the mist now resting on the subject, and 

 show us clearly the whole truth of the matter, it 

 would be sufficiently good to compensate the labor 

 of the ablest patriot. 



When the mechanic lays down his tools and 

 the professional man is idle, they are sinking, be- 

 cause their expenses are going on and their- profits 

 are suspended. Not so the farmer ; while he 

 - >ps, bis crop grows and his stock continues to 

 increase, and when he spends a social evening 

 with his neighbor, every thing continues to ad- 

 vance. The Farmers'' Arithmetic shows that the 

 farmer grows rich by saving, while others continue 

 poor by spending. Others have first to make 

 money and then give it for meat, drink, and rai- 

 ment, while the farmer obtains all these at home. 

 If he wants a lamb or pig, he has it without losing 

 a day or two in trying to buy one. If he wauls a 

 new coat, the industry of his wife supplies it. In 

 short, lie wants but few, very few things which 

 lie cannot obtain on his own farm. Why, then, 

 should the farmer repine because he has not the 

 Uioney to buy abroad ? or measure his wealth by 

 comparing bis money with that of others, who 

 must give it all for things which be has without 

 buying I Surely a farmer may, without a sigh, re- 

 siifii to others the gaudy fabrics of foreign artists, 

 while lie is clothed by the labor of the band that 

 soothes his cares and strews with pleasure bis 

 jniirn. :} through life. When I see a farmer appeal- 

 in company genteelly dressed in homespun, I think 

 of Solomon's description of a good wife — ' her hus- 

 band is known in the gates when Ac sitteth among 

 Hie elders,' and most cordially do I congratulate the 

 possessors of such a. prize. 



Jack Planter. 



From the Journal of Health. 

 PLEASURES OP AGRICULTURE. 



The employments of agriculture, independently 

 of their profit, are most congenial and pleasing to 

 human nature. An uncorruptcd or untarnished 

 mind sees in the progress of vegetation, and in the 

 habits, and dispositions, and uses of those animals 

 which man has subjugated to his sway, charms and 

 beauties which the objects of art can seldom afford. 

 The occupations of husbandry are most favorable 

 too, to health, to plenty, to repose and to inno- 

 cence. Can the pursuits of low and vicious grati- 

 fications, can luxurious indulgences, can the rest- 

 less cares, the fears and anxieties of tlte ambitions, 

 he compared with the labors and enjoyments of 

 him whose days are spent in superintending the 

 culture of his fields, his nights in quiet and refresh- 

 ing sleep? Such a life is not inconsistent with a 

 highly cultivated mind. It is by no means neces- 

 sary that they who e^age in rural labors should 

 contract a coarseness of manners, or vulgarity of 

 sentiment. 



The superintendence of a garden is another 

 source of simple and innocent pleasure. Nothing 

 is better calculated to gratify the inherent passions 

 of novelty, for nature is always renewing the varie- 

 gated appearance. She is infinite in her produc- 

 tion, and the life of man may come to a close be- 

 fore he has seen half the beauties which she is 

 able to display. ' 



Short excursions into the country are, of them- 

 selves, the source of every sensible and innocent 

 pleasure. But he who is engrossed by vice, or 

 by business, will live half a life without admiring 

 the beauties of a blue sky, basking in the vernal 

 sunshine, or inhaling, with any consciousness of 

 real delight, the balsam of a western gale. 



In a proper intercourse, and behavior among 

 our fellow creatures will be found, however, to 

 consist our principal and most constant delight. 

 To do good and to prevent evil, as far as the 

 sphere of our influence or activity extends, is an 

 infallible method of inspiring in ourselves pleasur- 

 able emotions. 



There will at least be no disadvantage in exam- 

 ining the subject, and should they he found as 

 profitable as horses, those who have lands but par- 

 tially subdued, will find them extremely well cal- 

 culated for the destruction of briars, and many 

 coarse kinds of grasses, which would remain un- 

 touched by colts. — Goodsell's Farmer. 



MULES. 



As the season has arrived when farmers have 

 more time to enter into calculations as to the profit 

 attending their raising different kinds of crops and 

 breeds of cattle, sheep, horses, &c. we would rec- 

 ommend to them, an inquiry respecting the com- 

 parative profits attending the raising of horses and 

 mules. 



Where a farmer is acquainted with the different 

 breeds of horses, and has procured breeding mares 

 of such blood, as to ensure valuable colts, this may 

 prove a profitable business, but where inferior 

 mates are upon a farm, we are inclined to think 

 that the rearing of mules would be attended with 

 more profit than that of eolts, fur the following rea- 

 sons: 



First. The expense of breeding and rearing them 

 is much less, as they may be kept upon a coarser 

 kind of fodder than eolts. 



Secondly. They are saleable, at an earlier age 

 than colts, and always command cash for a south- 

 urn market. 



Thirdly. They are not as liable to disease as hor- 

 ses, they live much longer, and are capable of en- 

 during inure hardships. They do not require as 

 much cost of time in breaking before they are sale- 

 able, and purchasers are not as particular as to 

 shape, as they are when purchasing horses. 



A VALUABLE JACK. 



We recently copied from a western paper, on 

 account of a.sale of 160 mules by Gen. Shelby, of 

 Kentucky, for .*1 1,840 cash. The country west 

 of the Alleganies is doubtless very favorable for the 

 breeding of these animals, the real value of which 

 for farm labor seems to be little understood in Ma- 

 ryland. We have had for several years near Bal- 

 timore a Jack, which for size, vigor, and all other 

 requisites for a first rate breeder, is unrivalled by 

 any other animal of the kind in America, so far as 

 we have been informed. His height is but one 

 quarter of an inch less than 15 hands, and every way 

 well proportioned. Yet this splendid animal, has 

 been suffered to pass season after season almost 

 without use by our farmers. But this waste of 

 valuable capabilities is now at an end — the ani- 

 mal has been seen by one who knows his value, 

 and how to profit by it. He has just been pur- 

 chased from -Lloyd N. Rogers, Esq. by the Hon. 

 Henry Clay, and taken to Kentucky. We under- 

 stand that he was sold for $1000, which was cer- 

 tainly not high, considering his great superiority 

 over any Jack ever seen in the country. 

 — Am. Farmer. 



HEAT PRODUCED BY FRICTION. 



We stated a few weeks since, that a machine had 

 been invented in this State to warm factories and 

 all large public edifices by Fi-iclion. We had hut 

 little definite knowledge then of its merits or struc- 

 ture, but within a few days we have seen it in 

 operation in this' town. .We now speak from per- 

 sonal observation. The machinery which gene- 

 rates the heat consists of a pair of horizontal cir- 

 cular plates of cast iron, enclosed in a brick oven, 

 about four feet in diameter, and weighing 1600 

 pounds. They operate upon each other precisely 

 like a pair of mill-stones, with this exception, the 

 u I per one is stationary and the lower one revolves. 

 The ordinary speed is eighty revolutions a minute, 

 and the velocity is sufficient in two bonis to raise 

 the thermometer in the oven in which they are 

 enclosed to 500°. The size of the plates, their 

 thickness and the velocity with which they revolve, 

 are considerations which the size of the building 

 to' lie heated must regulate. From the top of the 

 brick enclosure or oven, a funnel is projected, and 

 from this the beat can be thrown off, as through 

 ordinary furnaces, to' any part of the building. 

 We saw the machinery put in operation when 

 cold, and in fifteen minutes the heat from the 

 mouth of the funnel in an upper story was almost 

 too much for the naked band to bear. There is 

 vet much scepticism as to its final success, but we 

 can tee no reason for it ourselves. It Inns been 

 thought the iron plates will soon wear out ; but it 

 is ascertained by experiments, that these smooth, 

 hard surfaces will subtract from each other but 

 very little. The machine is exceedingly simple in 

 itself, can be put and kept in operation by u band 

 passed round a shaft inserted in the lower cylin- 

 der, and without danger or attendance, kept in 

 operation day and night, with the aid of a water- 

 w heel. — Northampton Courier. 



