34G 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



STAY 7. IS34. 



was 

 crop! 



It is a mistaken notion, 1 believe which is gener- 

 ally held, that laud iii a condition similar to these 

 spots must be ploughed and cross ploughed and 

 dragged and hoed, year after year, for several 

 years until its strength is in fact exhausted, before 

 it is sufficiently subdued to become productive* 

 As well may the farmer, by hardship and abuse, 

 break his young horse and call it subduing ! In 

 either case I apprehend the most effectual method 

 is taken to defeat the object in view, which is fu- 

 ture benefit ; and one might almost as soon think 

 of deriving profit from the labors of a broken wind- 

 ed, broken down horse, as from the cultivation of 

 afield that lias been through the usual exhausting 

 process of subduing, except where manure is ap- 

 plied at the same time. 



I regret the necessity I am under of resorting 

 to estimates when stating an experiment ; it is too 

 indefinite, but perhaps will do better in a grass 

 crop than most others ; for all farmers know with- 

 out guessing, that grass of the above mixture does 

 not lodge or fall down for weeks before cutting, as 

 the case with a considerable part of both 

 , unless it be stout. 

 The last experiment was first suggested to my 

 mind and 1 was led to try it with a good degree 

 of confidence, by observing a few fine large plants 

 of clover in the fall of the previous year, in my 

 corn field, a sward that bad not been ploughed 

 before for twenty years, where a Utile clover chaff 

 had accidentally been scattered about the time the 

 corn was planted. It was from the fine appear- 

 ance of these plants among corn that had received 

 the usual harrowing and hoeing, that I was in- 

 duced to extend the experiment to another piece 

 of four acres, which was a light sandy soil, but 

 gave a result equally satisfactory and favorable. 



The test of another fall and winter on a like 

 quantity of ground, of different soils, sown the 

 same way as that of 1832, tends to confirm me in 

 the opinion, that grass seed sown among corn 

 " catches in" better, stands the winter as well, and 

 is much less likely to be destroyed by mice than 

 that sown in the usual way among English grain. 

 Grass is, and probably ever will be, one of the 

 most valuable products of our New England soil. 



A crop on which, as i rh and perhaps more than 



any other, we are to depend for our wealth. \V ith- 

 out it, our Valleys would become comparatively 

 poor, and our hills of little or no value. Improve- 

 ment in its production is desirable anil undoubted- 

 ly attainable. To make •' two blades of grass grow 

 where but one grew before," may appear to oth- 

 ers a small business, but 'tis truly an object worthy 

 of the attention of every farmer. 



Yours respectfully, William Clark, Jr. 

 Northampton, Jipril 1S34. 



Deduct supposed aunual profit, - $150 



Deduct also such portion of the milk, 

 butter, grain, potatoes and sauce gen- 

 erally, as is used in the family during 

 the same season of their production, 80 230 



For the New England Fanner. 

 CAPITA!. REQUISITE IN FARMING. 



Mr. Editor, Among the many causes assigned 

 for ill success in agricultural pursuits, of which 

 farmers are often reminded, there is one but rarely 

 adverted to, and I suspect by many farmers has 

 never been considered at all. And that is the ab- 

 solute necessity of a loose capital to enable a farmer 

 to cultivate his farm to any advantage. The ainounl 

 of this capital should be nearly equal to the entire 

 aunual product of his farm, after deducting his 

 annual gain, if there be any. 



Suppose the entire annual product of a farm 

 to be - - - $1000 



Leaving to be expended in living and 

 working farm before receiving returns 

 of produce, of farm, - - c"i ' 



Now if the farmer himself is both able and will- 

 ing to perform the labor of one good hired hand, 

 it will be equal to about 200 dollars of this sum, 

 leaving 570 dollars the least amount of loose capi- 

 tal that will suffice to carry him through the year, 

 without being pinched or obliged to slight bis 

 work. The. amount of wool, flax and provisions, | 

 reserved for the consumption of the family from 

 year to year, is-iurluded in this sum. 



As this is a subject of importance, and as I wish 

 to be clearly understood, I will proceed a little 

 further. Farmers who live so far from market as 

 to find it impossible, or inconvenient to get the 

 produce of their farms to market before winter 

 (and these constitute a very large majority), it will 

 be seen at once, must incur the entire expense of 

 working their farms and providing for their families 

 for the year, before they realize any thing worth 

 naming from the produce of their farms. Their 

 hired hands must be paid in autumn, if not sooner, 

 and if they expect to get store goods and mechanics' 

 work at a reasonable rate, they must pay as they 

 go along. A farmer sells his pork, butter, cheese, 

 grain, &C. from January to April. The cost of 

 producing all these, was paid, (or ought to have 

 been,) the summer and autumn before. His sheep 

 are sheared in May, and should be be able to eon- 

 vert their fleeces immediately into money, (which 

 he cannot always do,) still the whole expense of 

 producing this wool, excepting about two months 

 spring pasturing, was paid the year before, a con- 

 siderable portion of it the August before. 



It cannot be denied that a farmer can get along- 

 after a fashion, with little or no capital, because it 

 is done by thousands every year. Some may in- 

 quire how this can be possible if the foregoing 

 statement be correct. A fanner without capital, in 

 the first place, will not perhaps hire more than half 

 as much labor as his farm requires ; of course all 

 his work is slighted, and all done out of season, 

 and half crops is the consequence. When the 

 time arrives for paying his laborers, perhaps he will 

 get some things out of the store for lliem on trust, 

 or borrow a little money to pay them in part, and 

 put oil" paying the remainder until winter or spring, 

 to the no small injury of his credit, otherwise he 

 must force the sale of some of his scanty produce 

 at a reduced price, to make out the pay. In the 

 next place he buys of the store-keeper wholly on 

 a long credit, and pays a price accordingly, say 

 twenty to thirty per cent, more than the cash price. 

 His dealings with the blacksmith, shoemaker, and 

 mechanics in general, are after the same fashion. 

 And thus he passes his life continually pinched for 

 the want of a little money, incessantly harassed by 

 duns, and once in a while is appalled by a tap upon 

 the shoulder*, though gentle it may be, of the prac- 

 tised hand of a constable. And for this he must 

 pay the latter and his co-worker the lawyer, a sum 

 of money for which he has never received any 

 equivalent. And thus he brings the year about — 

 no, properly speaking, he never brings the yeaj 

 about. He is forever toiling to bring up the ar- 

 rearages of the last year. Time has got the start 



f him by one year, and be in vum attempts to 

 overtake it. 



It is a common remark that small farms are 

 more profitable than large ones ; this in the abstract 

 is not true. Though it is doubtless true that 

 multitudes of farmers greatly injure themselves by 

 enlarging their farms without an adequate increase 

 of capital. How often do we see farmers who 

 have in the course of years accumulated a little 

 money from small farms, barely enough to enable 

 them to cultivate their present farms to the best 

 advantage, invest the whole of this very capital in 

 more land. Thus making an increase of capital 

 necessary by the very act which deprives them of 

 the little they already possessed. Could farmers 

 who are without a loose capital be persuaded to 

 pursue a precisely contrary course to this, to wit, 

 sell off so much of the laud they already possess as 

 will raise a sufficient loose capital to enable them 

 to cultivate the remainder in a proper manner, it 

 would increase both their profits and comfort. 



If any thing will excuse a farmer for mortga- 

 ging his farm, it is the hiring of money to work 

 that farm. Though he ought in this case to be 

 very certain that he is possessed of so much resolu- 

 tion and discretion, as to be in no danger of ever 

 appropriating money so raised to any other use; so 

 long as it is applied to this use only it is not so 

 very hazardous a plan. Before a mortgage can 

 press heavily upon his farm, the money can be 

 repaid, and at the worst be has only to return 

 to his former method of farming by the halves 

 and without either satisfaction or profit. I do 



not wish to be understood as recoi ending to 



fanners the practice of raising money on mort- 

 gage. It is better with rare exceptions, where mon- 

 ey must be raised, to sell off a portion of the farm, 

 and preserve the remainder free from incum- 

 brance. H. W. 



From the Amaranth. 

 A FRAGMENT. 



Who that has passed a summer in New Eng- 

 land cannot in the beautiful language of'Mootgom- 

 ery say, ' That a thunder storm is the eloquence of 

 heaven.' While listening to the distant, muttering 

 thunder, who has not felt the soul inspired ? — Has 

 not felt as though the music of the spheres struck 

 his ear? It might have been termed music, as well 

 as the 'eloquence' of heaven. Yes, there is music 

 in the far off rumbling thunder, which far excels 

 that of mortals. But as it approaches nearer and 

 nearer, and glows louder and louder, when light- 

 nings flash, and hail and rain tempestuous (all, 

 then how different the feelings they may cherish! 

 Instead of being charmed at its music, fear takes 

 possession of their hearts when they behold — 

 '•' Struggling nature gasp for breath, 

 In tlie agony of death I" 



Recollection is busy in calling to mind the soil 

 they have seen ploughed up by the lightning's blast, 

 the scathed trees of the forest, and steeples levelled 

 to the dust. V. hat a contrast ! A moment since, 

 their souls were enraptured at the sound ; now ev- 

 ery appeal adds increased terror. The rosy cheek 

 of" maiden beauty is turned to ashy paleness ; the 

 man of daring hardihood acts the part of a child ; 

 while the little prattler, luuying his head in his 

 mother's lap, now and anon lisps, "Mother, will it 

 hurt the,?" 



" Now louder, deeper, thunders crash 

 And desolation threatens all." 



