398 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



■when instead of doing, like Ilim, the -will of our 

 Father in Heaven, we do our own will three- 

 quarters of the time ? For he who makes his 

 own natural preferences, whether right or wrong, 

 the measure or rule of his conduct with regard 

 to the gratification of his appetites will not stop 

 here. He will be led gradually, perhaps insensi- 

 bly, to ask his own perverted preferences about 

 every thing else, in the ordinary routine of daily 

 life ; our dress, our society, our conversation, 

 our manners and habits. And what is that Chris- 

 tianity worth which only leads us to regard the 

 will or pleasure of God on occasions, whose ag- 

 gregate scarcely makes up one-fourth of our ex- 

 istence? Are we under no sort of obligation to 

 give heed to the injunction, "Whether, therefore, 

 ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to 

 the glory of God ?" 



Mr. Addison, who was by no means too fully 

 consecrated to the work of pleasing God, says in 

 relation to the gratification of our appetites and 

 passions and tastes, "Fix upon what is best for 

 you and custom will soon make it agreeable." 

 Here philosophy and Christianity meet hand in 

 hand. They point to one and the same. They 

 do not teach us to ask what we like or what per 

 verted appetites or passions or tastes or relishes 

 in others would lead them to like ; but, rather, 

 what God likes — what he would have us do, or 

 in other words, what is right. For the pleasure, 

 having done what is right, we may fully trust. 



For the New England Farmer. 



AN EASY WAY TO RAISE STEAW- 

 BERBIES. 



Any one can raise a few boxes of strawberries, 

 which will add to their pleasure and comfort. In 

 the early part of August, prepare a bed as you 

 would to sow beets, three feet wide, and as long 

 as you please. Spade it up thoroughly at least a 

 foot and a half deep, and better if two feet in 

 depth. Set as you would cabbages, Brighton 

 Pine, Jenny Lind, or early Virginia plants, two 

 rows, twelve or fifteen inches apart each way. If 

 you can easily get saw-dust, or old tan, or spent 

 tan from the tan-yard, cover the whole surface of 

 your bed with it two inches deep, at the same time 

 that you set out your plants, placing it carefelly 

 around and close to the plant, but not burying 

 its leaves. If you cannot get saw-dust or tan, lay 

 on a thick coating of salt hay, or rowen, but be- 

 ware of any covering which has either seeds or 

 roots in it. Water the plants well, with soap- 

 suds, or water, during the dry weather of August 

 and September ; pinch off the runners when they 

 begin to run. Protect them from the winter by 

 a loose coating of coarse straw, which allow to 

 remain till April. If the spring is dry, water 

 them occasionally, and pull up all weeds and grass 

 that make their appearance before the strawber- 

 ries blossom, but do not dig, or fork up the soil, 

 nor disturb the roots of your plants ; drench 

 them thoroughly with water two or three times 

 after the berries have set. The first summer you 

 will have strawberries enough to repay you for 

 your labor; the second, third, and fourth sum- 

 mers you will have an abundant crop, and with 

 scarcely any labor except weeding and thinning 

 the plants a little in autumn, and weeding a lit- 

 tle in spring. 



Strawberries, I speak of garden culture, do not 

 need high manuring, but they do require a deep 

 soil, undisturbed roots and moisture. A straw- 

 berry root will run into the earth about as far as 

 it finds a loose soil. I have known good crops 

 from beds treated as above, five years in succes- 

 sion. The above is of no use to those skilled in 

 the culture, but may be useful to many who have 

 small bits of land, and would like a few strawber- 

 ries of their own, if they knew it is as easy to 

 raise a bushel of strawberries, as a bushel of po- 

 tatoes, and at a not much larger outlay of labor 

 and land. The watering may be wholly omitted, 

 not being necessary, but still highly beneficial. 



Boston, July 10, 1858. M. F. Duncklee. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE "WEST VS. NEW ENGLAND. 



Mr. Editor : — It is said that "nature has im- 

 planted within the bosom of all men a love for 

 the land of their birth," an affection for one's 

 country. Whether this be true or not, there is a 

 strong desire in most men to be the owner of 

 land. Indeed, I sometimes think a wan cannot be 

 atnie man, and feel such in all his dignity, unless 

 he is a free-holder — a land-owner ; this at once 

 elevates him in his own estimation, and more or 

 less by the community. Seeing, then, that all 

 men are possessed with this feeling, the question 

 is, how can they satisfy this feeling ? Of course, 

 there are many ways by which it can be done. 

 Earning it at home, or going West to do it. I 

 propose saying a few words about going down 

 East, instead of going West. 



Having had a touch of the western fever, I en- 

 tered into a careful estimate of the advantages of- 

 fered in New England and the West. So far as 

 land is concerned, it is cheap in either ; but ta- 

 ken as a whole, as going into farming as a means 

 of getting a living and profit, I have come to the 

 conclusion that the advantages are altogether in 

 favor of New England. To make a long calcu- 

 lation short, I estimate the pros and cons some- 

 thing in this way. I conclude to go West, and 

 in order to get me a farm at government price, I 

 have got to go a long distance fi'om the larger 

 towns and villages. Here I find land enough truly, 

 good land, there is none better out door, and this 

 is all. No roads, no fences, no buildings, no 

 school-houses, no churches, no stores, in fact, "no 

 nothing" but land. Now, then, I conclude that be- 

 fore my farm is worth much, all these must be 

 within a respectable distance, and I have got to 

 do my part towards having them, and by the time 

 I can enjoy my farm with all these privileges, it 

 will have cost me quite a fortune. There is no fan- 

 cy here, but an actual reality, what every Western 

 farmer knows, or is learning every day. Now 

 take the same money which the Western farm 

 costs, and go into any of our New England States, 

 and it will buy a farm good enough for any body, 

 and leave money enough to put at interest, to 

 carry on your farm with as much profit, and I 

 think with greater profits, than the Western farm 

 can produce. And this, too, without a sacrifice 

 of some of those things which add so much to 

 our comfort and happiness in this life, such as 

 old friends and associations. 



I beg of^our young men, before they decide to 



