185«. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



93 



Nebraska, Within the last seven or eight years 

 hunditxls and thousands of dollars have been in- 

 vested in this way. The legal interest of Massa- 

 chusetts is only six per cent., while that of New 

 York is seven, and some of the western States 

 ten and twelve per cent. The temptation to send 

 away is strong, and growing stronger every year. 

 Time was when a young, active and prudent man 

 could borrow any amount of money on good real 

 estate security, from our moneyed men. Now the 

 thing is almost an impossibility ; and there is 

 but little encouragement for young men to re- 

 main in this section on that account alone. Still 

 fanning is a paying business in our hill towns, 

 where farms have depreciated in price nearly one- 

 half in ten years, I have in mind now a man 

 who purchased a farm of 170 acres on ci-edit, 

 some six years ago. By labor and good man- 

 agement he is now pretty much out of debt, and 

 has 25 or 30 head of cattle, 70 sheep, colts, 

 ;;alves, poulti-y, &c., belonging to such a place, 

 and in a fair way to have money at interest. — 

 Cotmtry Ge^iUcman, 



For the New England Farmer. 



AGRICUIiTURE IN KEW ENGLA.ND. 



Mr. Editor : — It has been a long time since 1 

 have written an article for the Farmer, and now, 

 as formerly, I write more for information, than 

 to impart instruction. And I not only wish you 

 to pai-don me for the many questions I shall ask, 

 but wish you to answer them. 



1. As I have headed my article, "Agriculture in 

 New Engiaud," I first wish to know your opinion, 

 Mr. Editor, as regards the profitableness of agri- 

 culture in New England. Can it generalhj be 

 made profitable on our old, worn-out soils ? Say 

 on farms so far back from the sea-coast that sea 

 manure is altogether impracticable? 



2. If such farms can be made profitable to their 

 owners, plea.se to state how, in your opinion, is 

 the best way to manage them. Manure seems to 

 me to be the essential item to successful agricul- 

 ture on such farms. And now comes the im- 

 portant question — Where the land is worn-out 

 we cannot, as I see, keep stock enough on it to 

 bring it up. Consequently we must purchase 

 manure of some kind, in order to bring said land 

 to a state of fertility that will pay remunerating 

 prices for labor bestowed on the same ; must we 

 not ? 



3. Now the question with farmers in this vi- 

 cinity is this : Will it pay for us to buy manure ? 

 If so, what kind or kinds will pay the best ? 



4. Which will pay the best on a farm, say two 

 miles from a village ; to sell milk delivered at 

 village, for four cents per quart, or make but- 

 ter that will sell for twenty-three to twenty- five 

 cents per pound ? 



5. On a farm that will summer, say five cows 

 tcdl on grass alone, will it pay to keep six, and 

 give them all a little meal, daily ? 



6. Does it pay well to raise vegetables for 

 marketing ? 



7. Can our New England farmers make depen- 

 dence on the Chinese sugar cane for sweetening ? 



8. Does it, as a general thing, pay for farmers 

 to keep dogs? 



9. Does it generally pay for farmers to raise 

 pigs to sell, at eight weeks or so old ? 



10. What breed of hogs is best for us to keep? 



11. Can we find a better breed of cows than 

 can be selected from our old native stock ? 



12. Can the Guenon treatise be fully relied 

 upon in selecting dairy cows ? 



13. What kind of harrow is best for very rough 

 land ? 



14. Will it pay for a small farmer to purchase 

 a roller ? Please to state what you think of roll- 

 ers, anyhow. 



Perhaps I have wearied your patience with the 

 above inquiries, but I do certainly hope you will 

 answer them all. We want your opinion on them 

 all. John Dimox. 



Carolina Mills, R. I., Nov. 10, 1857. 



TO MR. JOHN DIMON. 



Your communication upon "Agriculture in New 

 England," was sent to me a month ago by my 

 friend Brown, with a request from him that I 

 should reply to your inquiries, and I now em- 

 brace my earliest leisure to answer them. 



i. It maj-, without hesitation, be said, that 

 farming can, generally, be made profitable in New 

 England. True, some mistakes have been, and 

 are still committed, but in spite of them all, we 

 have certain evidence that the business is profi- 

 table. We may look with pride and satisfaction 

 at the comfortable and happy families which are 

 reared on our New England farms : they are 

 generally well educated, certainly in the common, 

 and often in the higher branches of learning, 

 trained to moral and industrious habits, and fit- 

 ted for various pursuits ; and perhaps, in addi- 

 tion, received considerable legacies from the es- 

 tate of the father, or are comfortably set out in 

 the world by him in his lifetime — all more or less 

 directly resulting from the earnings of the farm. 

 Their early years are passed in a healthy climate, 

 somewhat rigorous to be sure, but adapted to give 

 tone to the constitution and energy to the char- 

 acter. They scatter abroad over our country, 

 planting New England institutions, and general- 

 ly proving the bulwarks and ornaments of socie- 

 ty where they go. We may look again at the 

 comfortable farm houses, "amid the old ances- 

 tral trees," the farm-buildings, fences, and other 

 fixtures, the highways of trade and of travel, the 

 school-houses, academies, churches, and various 

 other advantages and adornments of established 

 and cultivated society, which these farmers have 

 contributed to procure, which make New Eng- 

 land what it is, and which are in fact a part and 

 parcel of what I buy of you in purchasing your 

 farm, or sell to you when you buy mine. We 

 can buy land, in a new country, for a small sum ; 

 but the various things above enumerated are not 

 a part of tlie purchase ; and when we have con- 

 trilnitcd our share towards procuring them, our 

 new establishment has become a large invest- 

 ment. Among the profits of farming in New 

 England, we may with propriety reckon the heal- 

 tliy climate, the various conveniences of living, 

 and of rearing a family, amid the desirable infiu- 

 ences of well-established and cultivated society. 



2. You speak of the worn-out farms. True, 

 many of them have been closely cropped, and re- 

 quire a considerable outlay to restore the origi- 

 nal fertility. But this can be done by degrees, 

 and so as to come wiUiiii one's means. Then, 

 too, our markets are larger, and in the main bet- 



