1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



499 



degraded, the wholly vain and frivolous, and de- 

 clare that of such were the majority of its inhab- 

 itants ? 



Again, the writer speaks of "the deterioration 

 of agriculture in New England." Be this as it 

 may ; we do not believe the character of the peo- 

 ple in the farming communities has deteriorated. 

 The writer of the article referred to says : "There 

 is probably no better exponent of the farmer's 

 life than the farmer's home." Let any one who 

 lives in, or visits the country, say whether the 

 "square, brown houses," with the arrangement 

 of the "barn and out-ljuildings," as described 

 above, is the present fashion, or one of a past 

 age. His specimens are certainly relics of the 

 past, and not to be found among the many con- 

 venient and pretty farm-houses of the present 

 time. 



If we were to give the united testimony of 

 those "who know whereof they do affirm," it 

 would be that the mode of life among farmers, 

 has greatly improved within the last thirty years, 

 in everything really essential to happiness ! 



But when we come to that clause describing 

 the condition of the wife and mother on the ft:rm, 

 we blush for very shame, that one can be found 

 in our midst who cherishes such degrading views 

 of his fellow man — ay, of a large proportion of 

 New England men ! We care not to meddle with 

 this clause, but if we believed the one-half of it to 

 be truth, we would entreat the "wives and daugh- 

 ters" of New England farmers, (excepting "the 

 happy exceptions,") to follow fast in the foot- 

 steps of Mrs. Lot, of old, in all save the "looking 

 back," although even that were preferable to re- 

 maining behind, for so many "bent and clumsy," 

 "pillars of salt," standing thickly over this part of 

 our fair land, would prove warning beacons in 

 all coming time. Flee at once to "the large so- 

 cial centres," ye who believe ye are part and par- 

 cel of the "farm-stock," look not behind ye, but 

 "look," in the fearful language of the writer re- 

 ferred to, "look at your hands ! look at your 

 face !" (if among your treasures you have dared 

 to take a piece of looking glass,) "look at your 

 bent and clumsy forms !" 



Drop one tear of pity, as ye think of the igno- 

 rant and lonely beings ye have left behind ; at 

 any rate, get to the "large, social centres," where 

 it is presumed ye will thenceforth "be regarded," 

 to use the words of the writer, as '■'sacred beings." 



Brentwood, N. H. 



it in as cool a place as you can. If this be done 

 over night, the butter will be as "firm as a rock" 

 at breakfast time ; or, if placed there in the morn- 

 ing, the butter will be quite hard for use at tea 

 hour. The reason of this is, that when water 

 evaporates, it produces cold ; the porous pot 

 draws up the water, which in warm weather 

 quickly evaporates from the sides, and thus cools 

 it, and as no warm air can now get at the butter, 

 it becomes firm and cool in the hottest day. 



TO KEEP BUTTER HARD AND COOL, 



A writer in the Scientific American recom- 

 mends to the ladies a very simple arrangement 

 for keeping butter nice and cool in the hottest 

 weather. Procure a large new flower pot of suf- 

 ficient size to cover the butter plate, and also a 

 saucer large enough for the flower pot to rest in 

 upside down ; place a trivet or meat stand, (such 

 as is sent to the oven when a joint is baked,) in 

 the saucer, and put on this trivet the plate of 

 butter ; now fill the saucer with water, and turn 

 the flower pot over the butter, so that its edge 

 will be below the water. The hole in the flower- 

 pot must be fitted with a cork ; the butter will 

 then be in what we may call an air-tight chamber. 

 Let the whole of the outside of the flower-pot be 

 then thoroughly drenched with water, and place 



For the Neic England Farmer. 

 HIKTTS ON" KEEPING SHEEP. 



It has been stated in some of the agricultural 

 papers of the day, that sheep are profitable to the 

 fai-mer, not only from the product of wool and 

 mutton, but from the tendency which their keep- 

 ing has to improve and enrich his land for all 

 agricultural purposes. 



Sheep are profitable to the farmer who has a 

 broken or uneven farm, and his pastures have 

 been sufiTered to grow up to bushes, or where the 

 soil has become exhausted by excessive feeding, 

 and will produce more of the grasses, excepting 

 what the New England farmers term June grass 

 or white top. Land that has been thus reduced 

 will keep sheep better than any other kind of 

 stock ; but to think of eradicating the husks, 

 and thereby give the pasture a smooth appear- 

 ance, and have white clover flourish in the place 

 of June grass, is a supposition not generally ac- 

 knowledged by the community, where experience 

 has proved to be the better teacher in regard to 

 what kind of stock will best improve our land. 



For instance, where a pasture is in good con- 

 dition and produces clover, timothy and red-top, 

 let it be stocked with sheep, and in most of our 

 hill towns in Cheshire county, or even in the 

 State, in fifteen or twenty years, timothy or clo- 

 ver will be nearly or quite eradicated, excepting 

 where the sheep may chance to lay, vrhich is gen- 

 erally on the brow. In those localities white clo- 

 ver may flourish to some extent, but it will be re- 

 fused by the animals ; therefore, it will be of no 

 practical utility to the pasture unless a portable 

 fence is substituted, and that would not pay in 

 so rough a country. 



It has been supposed by some that as many 

 cattle and horses can be kept with a certain por- 

 tion of sheep as without them, and without any 

 injury to the farm for other purposes. One wri- 

 ter states that a proportion of six sheep to a 

 horse and cow on the same keeping ; that would 

 be allowing about one-fifth for rubbish for the 

 sheep on which to feed ; consequently, the qual- 

 ity of hay must be an inferior kind. 



Sheep kept on rubbish left by other animals, 

 may survive but cannot flourish in the winter 

 season, without extra feed. In grazing time, 

 sheep don't stop to crop the rubbish until they 

 have exhausted their curiosity in search of clover 

 or some of the best grasses, and in a pasture 

 that will keep six sheep, one horse and one cow, 

 the sheep, I venture to say, wall consume one- 

 half of the clover in an ordinary pasture. Con- 

 sequently, instead of eating the poorest, they 

 will consume the very best of the feed. 



The farmer is more subject to loss on sheep 

 than on neat stock ; very few wool-growers, who 



