234 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 





(5.) Cannot tell you. The common high black- 

 berry may be greatly improved by garden culti- 

 vation ; that is, improved in size, but not in 

 flavor. May not the blueberry as well ? Try it, 

 •will you ? 



For tlie New England Farmer. 



WHAT CAN" WIVES AND DAUGHTERS 

 DO FOR AGRICaLTUKE? 



BY SUSIE SUJIMERFIELD. 



"Nothing towards helping us, while they lav- 

 ishly spend our hard earnings," exclaims an 

 aged farmer by some cozy fireside, with his week- 

 ly paper in his hand. "Ha! ha ! wo?Ke/t' help us 

 farmers greatly, with their high notions, with 

 their imported fabrics and dainty airs ! Humph ! 

 they only burden us with expense, knock us with 

 their elbows, crowd us with their hoops, and dis- 

 dain us in their pride, now-a-days ; but, in my 

 youthful days, a woman proved herself a genuine 

 help-meet, and not a help-cat. Then, wives and 

 daughters were like stars in our homes, and made 

 hearts, vibrate with delight by their cheerful 

 smiles, soul-meaning sympathy and earnest labor. 

 Eh ! time and again, I'm forced to say, 'O, would 

 I were a boy again,' that times were now as of 

 old, when our women were to us, what roses are 

 to the garden; shedding joy in rich profusion. 

 Say, Charley, don't you get marriexl, till you find 

 a lady worthy of the title, a New England daugh- 

 ter." 



Thus does a wise old farmer cogitate and ad- 

 vise in his easy-chair, over his paper. But spare 

 your sarcasm and judgment against us for a mo- 

 ment, dear sir, while Susie chats with thee, and 

 attempts to prove that woman in this age, can be 

 just as wise, useful aiul truly estimable as in the 

 days of our grandmothers. Though the spinning- 

 wheel and shuttle have given place to the facto- 

 ry and steam-power, and invention has lightened 

 labors of all kinds, yet our sex have a mighty 

 power to exercise, even in the art of agricul- 

 ture. 



When the Creator had made Eden, with its 

 purple clusters, and luscious fruits, and dewy 

 flowers, when he had made man to cultivate, gov- 

 ern and enjoy it, he then made woman as a boon 



as Heaven's best gift. She has proved herself 

 to be such, in different ages, and in diversified 

 sjAeres. 



While our forefathers made heavy strokes 

 towards civilization, our primitive mothers acted 

 well their parts, in humility and sweet confidence. 

 In times of contest and privation, womanly coun- 

 sel and her constancy shone conspicuously in 

 every-day scenes, and accomplished noble deeds. 



On missionary grounds she has proved herself 

 competent for arduous labor, and granted cheer- 

 ful aid in isksome tasks. In modern times, the 

 walks of literature have been traversed, yea, 

 adorned by women of refined sensibilities and 

 great mental endowments. Even our own age 

 has been memoiialized by heroic deeds of love 

 and charity, from a Florence Nightengale and 

 Grace Darling. 



But you, Sir Farmer, exclaim, "what has all 

 this to do with us and our occupation ?" 



It proves her potency and ability. Now we 

 wish her to realize that she possesses such merits, 



and to feel as if she had something to do in our 

 era; something to efi"ect, not only in tiie refine- 

 ments of elegant society, but something to do in 

 behalf of agriculture, and then this truly Moble 

 and compensating occupation will become ele- 

 vated accordingly as it deserves. She must be- 

 lieve that her Creator has given her a mental ca- 

 pacity and a physical organization to be kept in 

 healthful condition by use. Then, she must have 

 a right estimation of life, of the demands of soci- 

 ety, and of true merit, wherever it is found. 



If our New England ladies would but place a 

 proper estimate u])on our farmers and farming, 

 which actually is the stay and staff' of our land, 

 then society in general would properly estimate 

 and respect it. 



Agriculture invites investigation into the most 

 intricate labyrinths of nature, and what woman 

 can meet with injury by coming in contact with 

 the simple, yet wonderful beauty of the natural 

 world ? If a husband or son laljors in the har- 

 vest field or verdant meadow, to supply his fam- 

 ily with their daily food, with nought but the 

 echoes, whispering breezes, or breathing mur- 

 murs from nature's unseen choir to molest him ; 

 or whether he toils upon the mountain's brow, in 

 the solemn silence of dense forests, or amidst 

 waves of gold, where the ripened grain bends in 

 seeming adoration to the god of plenty, he meets 

 with nought in his submissive toil which should 

 deteriorate him one iotu, in the estimation of the 

 gentler sex. 



The farmer at the plow, with his striped frock, 

 engaged in honest toil, is as worthy of a smiling 

 recognition, as is his wife in her flounced silks 

 upon the fashionable promenade. The farmer's 

 son, whose imbrowned brow is damp with the 

 sweat of labor, is as worthy of admiration, as is 

 I the farmer's daughter at the boarding-school, 

 I with dewy lips, and rose-tinted fingers. 



Futurity will prove the necessity of more ex- 

 j tensive agriculture in oiu* country, as extent of 

 I territory and her population increases. During 

 the recent convulsion in our financial and com- 

 mercial aff'airs, the permanency and lucrativeness 

 I of farming remained stable ; and now is the time 

 for woman to show that she has a right appreci- 

 lation of this worthy occupation, by encouraging 

 I those of the other sex to engage in it. 



American agriculture has much to accomplish 

 ere it becomes perfected, and American ladies 

 [ should be proud to act well their part in its pro- 

 gression. It is just as meritorious in a young or 

 I elderly lady to manifest an interest in the pro- 

 gression of the science of agriculture, as to be in 

 terested in the literature of the day. 



It is natural that man should love womanly 

 sym])athy and encouragement, in whatever sphere 

 of life he moves ; and are not our hardy, strong- 

 minded yeomen, as worthy of approl)ation from 

 our sex, as are financiers in the commercial world, 

 or clerks in the counting-room, or shalloM-pated 

 fops, that have not one-half of the intellectual or 

 moral worth about them, as has the most brawny 

 greenhorn in Christendom ? 



I once read of some fashionable exquisites at Sa- 

 ratoga becoming shocked because they chanced 

 to sit at the table with an intelligent farmer and 

 his family, ^for it ivas so vulgar to eat with far- 

 mers!" We hardly believe they had as correct 

 ideas as the spirits who communicated to a medi- 



