68 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



to the mill. The prudent farmer has cut the wood 

 and piled it in the woods in December and the 

 early part of January, before the snow became 

 so deep as to impede his labor. Get up a good 

 pile, brothers, an ample supply, so that you may 

 have dry wood all the year, and cut and split and 

 pile it up neatly, as soon as the sledding fails in 

 March. This is one of the hardest tasks which 

 our climate demands of us. But it must be done. 

 See that it is done in season, for there is no - on- 

 omy in burning green wood. How much more 

 happy and comfortable the good wife feels, than 

 when she has to burn green, snowy wood, and 

 spend half her time tucking under chips and 

 scrawls, and puffing away with the bellows in the 

 Tain attempt to coax it into a flame. If you 

 -'ssvould have a sweet-tempered wife, and one who 

 -will aid you with a hearty good will, never com- 

 ^pel her to use green wood, and be careful, too, 

 that it is well split. Many farmers contend that 

 ■wood will go farther in large clefts. But this 

 arises generally, we apprehend, from an indispo- 

 sition to make it smaller. Large wood, in these 

 days- of cooking stoves, is an abomination to the 

 ■women. It will do to burn a part of it large in 

 cold weather or in the open fire-place. But in 

 warm weather it should be split fine, that it may 

 kindle quick and make a quick fire. This will 

 not only make the wife pleasant, but will save 

 wood enough to pay for the extra labor of pre- 

 paring it. 



The teeming cows and ewes now want a little 

 extra attention. A few nubbins of corn, or a 

 mess of roots daily, will keep them in good health 

 and spirits. Take special care that they are kept 

 •warm and well protected from the driving winds. 

 Never permit them to strain themselves by wal- 

 lowing through the snow drifts. In short, a 

 proper attention to them now will be amply re- 

 paid by the better condition of both themselves 

 and their offspring. 



Candlemas day occurs on the 22d of this month, 

 and we trust you remember the destich, 



"Candlemas day, 

 Half your meat and half your hay." 



These old rhymes and saws often contain a 

 wholesome truth packed into a small compass, 

 like a meat in a nut-shell. This, we think, is one 

 of that sort. How is it, brother farmers ? Is 

 half your winter's store yet unexpended ? If so, 

 we trust that both your families and your stock 

 will come out in the spring hale and heariy, pre- 

 pared to resume with renewed energy the labors 

 of the year. 



The Farmers of Wisconsin in a Tight 

 Place. — One of the plans for building railroads 

 in Wisconsin, has been to induce the farmers along 

 the route of a road to be built, to mortgage their 



farms to the railroad company, and then the com- 

 pany sells the mortgages to raise the money, guar- 

 anteeing to pay the interest and the amount of the 

 mortgage when due. 



It is said that from 2000 to 3000 farms arc thus 

 mortgaged to railroads in Wisconsin ; that the 

 railroads cannot pay, and to release their farms 

 will strip nine-tenths of them of the hard earnings 

 of many years. 



THE OWNER OF THE SOIL. 

 The man who stands upon his ovv^n soil, who 

 feels that by the laws of the land in which he 

 lives — by the law of civilized nations — he is the 

 rightful and exclusive owner of the land he tills, 

 is by the constitution of our nature under a 

 wholesome influence not easily imbibed by any 

 other source. He feels, other things being equal, 

 more strongly than another, the character of a 

 man as the lord of the inanimate world. Of this 

 great and wonderful sphere which, fashioned by 

 the hand of God, and upheld by His power, is 

 rolling through the heavens, a part is his — ^liis 

 from the centre to the sky. It is the space on 

 which the generations before moved in its round 

 of duties, and he feels himself connected by a 

 link with those who follow him, and to Avhom he 

 is to transmit a home. Perhaps a farm has come 

 down to him from his fathers. They have gone 

 to their last home ! but he can trace their foot- 

 steps over the scenes of his daily labors. The 

 roof which shelters him was reared by those to 

 whom he owes his being. Some interesting do- 

 mestic tradition is connected with every enclo- 

 sure. The favorite fruit tree was planted by his 

 father's hand. He sported in boyhood beside 

 the brook which still winds through the mead- 

 ow. Through the field lies the path to the vil- 

 lage school of earlier days. He still hears from 

 the window the voice of the Sabbath bell which 

 called his father to the house of God ; and near 

 at hand is the spot where his parents laid down 

 to rest, and v.here, when his time has come, he 

 shall be laid by his children. These are the feel- 

 ings of the owner of the soil. ^J'^ords cannot 

 paint them ; they flow out of the deepest foun- 

 tains of the heart ; they are the life-spring of a 

 fresh, healthy and generous national character. — 

 Edward Everett. 



For tlie New England Farmer. 

 INDIAN" CORN. 



When Father Allen, of P., reported more than 

 one hundred bushels of Indian corn grown to the 

 acre in Plymouth county, I thought there must 

 be some humbuggery about the statement, be- 

 cause our best lands never yield this amount, ac- 

 tual measure. On inquiry, I learned that 15 

 pounds of green ears were reckoned to make one 

 bushel. Now, instead of 7o pounds. So jiounds 

 is assumed to make a bushel. Adopting this es- 

 timate, the Supervisor of the County reports 

 many acres as exceeding one hundred bushels 

 each, and one acre as high as 123^ bushels. 



Can it be that such crops are grown on the 

 shallow soil of the Cape ? If so, they understand 

 better how to manage their lands, than do the 

 farmers of the interior. I should like to see some 

 of their crops in the field. P. 



Dec. 5th, 18,57. 



