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NEAV ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For Vie Neiv En f> land Farmer. 

 "WOMAN AND THE HOUSEHOLD. 



Mr. Editor : — I see by quite a long article 

 from the pen of Dr. Alcott, that he seems fearful 

 I do not fully apprehend him. Were this the 

 first time he has said the same, I should be dis- 

 posed to pass it again in silence ; but in justice 

 I would sa}% his expositions are so lucid, that I 

 consider the idea of misapprehension entirely 

 precluded, if his articles are read with attention ; 

 and could he know the interest with which I ever 

 regard what falls from his pen, and how much of 

 my life has been squared by his rules and pre- 

 cepts, he might think, perchance, he is the one 

 who misapprehends. He may call this compli- 

 ment, or whatever he chooses ; it matters not far- 

 ther than justice is concerned ; and yet I feel I 

 have the same right to an opinion of my own, 

 and the same right to express it that he has, 

 though it be at the risk of disagreeing with him, 

 or "calling him out," even. 



I know not which of your correspondents have 

 reproached or ridiculed him — for myself, I would 

 not knowingly stoop to either. If I have said 

 aught that he or any one else has so construed, 

 they have greatly erred. If this does not give 

 the doctor satisfaction, I should be very glad to 

 have him address me personally. I will meet 

 him half-way, and that is as much as he can ask 

 of any woman. I have many things I could say 

 to him that would not perhaps particularly inter- 

 est the readers of the Farmer, and I would be 

 the last one to mar the beauty of its fair columns 

 by allusions to personal differences or private 

 feelings farther than justice demands. 



He calls upon me or somebody else to tell him 

 "by what right we spend precious time — God's 

 precious gift to man — in changing articles from 

 better to worse," &c. Now allowing we have no 

 right, who shall tell us just how much we may 

 spend ? how much of each day shall be given to 

 the culture of "mind and heart," and how much 

 to the care of the body ? Who is to blame for the 

 "misdirected efforts" of woman, and who shall 

 teach her just the amount of labor necessary to 

 bestow upon the "brain, stomach and skin," and 

 how much upon the "lungs, heart and muscles ?" 

 Who will take the lead in a reformation in such a 

 manner that the mass shall be willing to follow ? 

 If that dark-visaged personage whom the good 

 doctor mentions, sends us cooks and dressmakers, 

 what proof can the doctor give us that he has not 

 already sent us "schoolmasters and lawyers, doc- 

 tors and ministers" as much ? To whom, then, 

 can we look ? who shall draw the dividing line 

 for us poor women ? 



In regard to the mere physical labor of wo- 

 man, I think if he would inform himself, he would 

 not find it less than it was fifty years ago — it has 

 only changed its form. Instead of the spinner, 

 weaver and dyer, we have the palm-leaf braider, 

 the chair-seater, the boot and shoe-stitcher and 

 binder — besides the thousands who congregate 

 in the different kinds of manufactories. 



Every mother ought to be competent to over- 

 see her own tailoring and dressmaking — but if 

 those who can afford the expense, shall give the 

 labor to the poor seamstress, that she too may 

 be benefited — who shall dare to complain ? 



If the doctor knows but one mother in all 



Massachusetts, who is cook and dressmaker, let 

 him fill his carpet-bag with choice books and then 

 step into the cars some pleasant morning in June 

 — when earth is robed in her richest green and 

 "every warbkr's throat's in tune," and ride till 

 he is fairly out into the country. Now he may 

 take a walk among the laboring community — go 

 into their homes — sit by their hearthstones and 

 hold converse with them ; to the poor he may 

 give a book to cheer them on in their labors, to 

 the rich he may sell one ; he may come to our 

 manufacturing town and see the amount of labor 

 performed by the women and children, or he may 

 go to the green hills of western Massachusetts, 

 among the farmers and dairy-women, and observe 

 the amount of physical labor there called forth. 

 If this does not satisfy him of the truth of my as- 

 sertions, let me point him to where the tall grass 

 may wave and the church shadows fall above the 

 resting-place of more than one much esteemed or 

 dearly loved friend, who has laid down the bur- 

 den of an over-tasked life ere its meridian, and 

 left her children, and her place to be filled by 

 another. 



But like the doctor, I have said more than I 

 intended ; and if he thinks me a bungler with 

 the pen, he must wield it in future himself, and 

 allow me to make the bread. 



Mrs. H. Barlow. 



Gardner, Mass., May, 1858. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ROTATION OF CBOPS. 



The word rotation, when applied to agriculture, 

 signifies a succession of different crops instead of 

 a succession of the same crop. It is known that 

 the preparation of elementary substances tliat en- 

 ters into the composition of plants, is not the 

 same in all. Probably it is not precisely the same 

 in any two plants. The soil containing the sub- 

 stances for the growth of plants, imparts them as 

 needed, till nothing remains, when the plants 

 will cease to grow. Supposing a particular in- 

 gredient for a particular plant were lime, it is ev- 

 ident that when the lime is all exhausted, or 

 drained from the soil, that plant can no longer 

 be produced on it. So also of other plants, and 

 all other substances which compose them. 



The rotation of crops grew out of experience. 

 The farmers observed that in most cases, when 

 the same plants were grown for two or three 

 years, consecutively, upon the same soil, it did 

 not yield the same abundant harvest, but when 

 another crop was tried upon that soil, the prod- 

 uct was satisfactory. Therefore, observation and 

 experience gradually introduced an alternation of 

 crops. There may not be an entire failure the 

 second, third, or even the fourth years ; but each 

 succeeding year, all other things being equal, 

 there will be a diminished crop. But other things 

 may not always be equal. Drought, or cold may 

 destroy or greatly injure a crop of Indian corn 

 one year, and the next year, there being no 

 drought, and an abundance of heat, the crop of 

 corn may be far better than the preceding year. 

 The soil, too, may be so amply furnished with a 

 particular substance for vegetable growth that 

 several crops of the same plant may be raised in 

 succesGion, before material diminution will be 



