1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



319 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARM LIFE IN WINTER. 



At this season of the year the farmer enjoys, 

 comparatively, a period of rest. His crops were 

 gathered and housed in the mellow autumnal 

 days ; and now, when cold winter comes and 

 touches with an icy wand, brooks, rivers and 

 lakes, covering them with a crystal mantle, he 

 can glance with a contented mind at his well-filled 

 barns and granaries, feeling thankful that his lot 

 has been cast in "pleasant places." His eyes will 

 be refreshed with the sight of generous heaps of 

 golden maize, looking more truly valuable than 

 the metal whose color it bears ; while barrels of 

 darker, rich looking rye, boxes of tri-cornered 

 buckwheat, and bins of lighter oats, all tell tales 

 of patient toil, richly blessed with an abundant 

 harvest. Full stores of luscious fruit stand invi- 

 tingly in the cellar, tempting the appetite by 

 its mellow hues ; piles of vegetables, with their 

 many colored skins, are here, destined at some 

 future time to grace the table ; and away up in 

 the garret are heaps of brown nuts, which serve 

 for evening feasts, at least for the younger mem- 

 bers of the household. 



There are, however, many duties for the faith- 

 ful farmer to perform even in the winter months. 

 To do "the chores" requires much time and pa- 

 tience. Stock, in order to be pleasurable as well 

 as profitable, must be carefully tended. Their 

 sleek, contented looks, if nothing more, will well 

 repay a littler extra labor. Then there is much 

 planning to do — deciding what crops to raise, 

 and how large proportions of each — determining 

 what fertilizers, if any, to purchase — reviewing 

 our last year's labors, in order to find what modes 

 of culture, all things considered, will best reward 

 us. Now is the time to i-epair farm tools, being 

 careful to buy new ones if needed. The best seeds 

 should also be selected for sowing and planting, 

 and placed where they can readily be found. The 

 "wood-yard" should now be filled with an abun- 

 dant supply of fuel, the cutting and splitting of 

 which will afford labor for many an hour. There 

 are a thousand other things that can now be done, 

 to facilitate the more pressing labors of the 

 spring ; but the duties of a farmer have been oft- 

 en dwelt upon — oftener, perchance, than the 

 pleasures. Certainly no farmer lacks for employ- 

 ment at any season of the year ; neither need he 

 lack for enjoyment. 



Farm life in winter has many pleasures — pleas- 

 ures of a diff'erent cast from those of other sea- 

 sons, but not less satisfying in their nature. The 

 long winter evenings are a fruitful source of en- 

 joyment, for they afford much time for the im- 

 provement of the wtjjc?. "Onward and Upward" 

 should be the farmer's motto, as well as that of 

 other callings. If he adopts it he will surely have 

 joys of a nature worth possessing. After the du- 

 ties of the day are all performed, the farmer can 

 seat himself before a comfortable fire, and devote 

 his time to reading the history of other nations, 

 travels in foreign countries, together with the 

 neAvs of the times. His mind, unburdened from 

 all the cares of the day, can follow with a vivid, 

 life-like interest, the pen of the traveller and his- 

 torian, reveling among the scenes of other lands 

 and days long past. 



Friendly calls among our neighbors, for the 



purpose of interchanging opinions, and strength- 

 ening the social ties that bind us to our fellow- 

 men, can now be made. Gossip does not of ne- 

 cessity form a part of such visits. A discussion 

 of the events now transpiring in the world would 

 be profitable ; for farmers should aim to keep 

 "posted up" on all matters of general interest, so 

 as not to be "behind ihe times," in any valuable 

 information. 



Lectures and other literary treats are not so 

 frequent in the country as in the city ; but their 

 very scarcity should tend to make them more 

 highly valued by the farmer. The great book of 

 nature is always open to his eyes, and he may 

 read from its ever-changing pages, truths more 

 sublime, more comforting to the soul, than learned 

 disquisitions from lips of eloquence. Some leaves 

 are filled with singing birds, and bursting buds, 

 and babbling brooks, and balmy breezes ; others 

 with waving grain, and full-blown flowers, and 

 summer fragrance ; still others, with autumn's 

 russet hues, and ripening fruits, and fading flow- 

 ers, and falling leaves ; and then come wintry 

 winds, and sifting snows, and furious gales ; all 

 teaching us some useful lesson if we read them 

 rightly. 



Winter is an excellent time for earnest tlionght. 

 The farmer can now lay up a store of information, 

 which will make him feel that he is "something 

 worth." And then when he goes from home to 

 associate with difterent classes, he will feel that 

 he has a firm foundation on which to rely. And 

 when old age comes on, and swift-winged time 

 blanches his hair, and causes his limbs to grow 

 infirm, he can look back without regret on an up- 

 right life, and feel truly thankful that he has 

 been blessed with so much abundance. 



Much more might be said of farm pleasures in 

 winter, as well as in other seasons, for they are 

 numerous ; but each farmer can best add to them 

 from his own experience. S. J. WlllTON. 



Westford, Conn., Feb. 19, 1858. 



THE PRODUCTIONS OF A SMALL FARM 

 ON THE END OF CAPE COD. 



It happened the other day, Mr. Editor, that I 

 met with a gentleman from the adjoining town 

 of Truro, who is engaged in farming, and, enter- 

 ing into conversation with him upon the subject 

 of his avocation, I obtained from him the fol- 

 lowing items, comprising the products of his 

 farm for the past season. Believing they might 

 be of some interest to your reader, I noted them 

 for the Banner. Here they are : 



100 bushels corn, worth $100,00 



150 " beet?, sold for 60 cents per bushel 90,00 



80 " potatoes, sold at 87^ cts. per bushel 70,00 



60 " turnips, sold at 60 cts. per bushel 30,00 



10 " beans, worth $2,'25 per bushel 22 50 



20 " rye, worth $1,40 per bushel 28,00 



200 " carrots, worth 25 cts. per bushel 50,00 



Sciuashea and pumpkins 20,00 



Milk sold 1 25,00 



1000 cabbages, sold at 6 cts. each 60,00 



EtJgs and fowls 75,00 



Pigs 50,00 



Amounting in the aggregate to $720,50' 



The owner of this farm, Mr. Thomas F. Small, 

 together with his son, a boy of some twelve or 

 thirteen years of age, performed the entire la- 

 bors of tillage, with the exception of the sum of 

 one dollar and twenty-five cents, paid during the 



