502 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



cles of vapor from the surface of the linen as 

 fast as they are found. 



Which is the hottest place in a church or chap- 

 el ? The gallery. 



Why is the gallery of all public places hotter 

 than the lower parts of the building? Because 

 the heated air of the building ascends, and all 

 the cold air which can enter through the doors 

 and windows, keeps to the floor till it has be- 

 come heated. — Dr. Brewer^s Guide to Science. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 LETTEK FEOM JUDGE FBBNCH. 



Exeter, N. H., Sept. 20, 1858. 



Mt Dear Brown : — To-morrow commences 

 my labor in other fields than those of agriculture. 

 Before taking leave of my farm, it may perhaps 

 be pleasant to talk with you and our readers a 

 few minutes of what has been going on the past 

 season, here at The Pines, in the way of farming. 



"Do you think you make anything by your 

 farming ?" is a question which I am frequently 

 called on to answer, and I will answer it here, 

 thus : In the farming v/hich I undertake for 

 profit, I get my money again with a good profit, 

 but in the various experiments which I tiy, as 

 matter of curiosity and education, I fare much 

 like other peoiile. Sometimes I succeed and 

 sometimes fail, but I gain usually what I seek, 

 that is, knowledge that may be useful to myself 

 and others. 



I hold it to be as rational for a gentleman to 

 expend a hundred dollars in reclaiming an acre 

 of swamp and making a handsome acre of it, 

 even if he derives no dollars from it, as to ex- 

 pend five hundred for a fancy span of horses or 

 for dinners and champagne. My farming is my 

 amusement. One of my neighbors, a gentleman 

 of wealth, adopts the principle that he will do 

 nothing on his farm that will not pay a profit, 

 nothing that would not be advisable for a farmer 

 v.'ho gets his living by hard work. I hold to no 

 such doctrine. My failures may be as valuable 

 as my successes, if properly improved. One 

 great advantage from an experimental farm, is, 

 that we may learn from actual trial what things 

 ought not to be done. Nobody should expect a 

 profit from such establishments. 



Complaint is often made of your State Farm 

 at Westboro', that it is expensive, and the So- 

 lons of New Hampshire are beginning to com- 

 plain that the Reform School Farm, at Manches- 

 ter, does not pay its way — a farm entirely run 

 down, almost every acre of which needs thor- 

 ough draining, and without a tenth part of the 

 live stock necessary to carry it on. The expec- 

 tations of people of profits from land are most 

 unreasonable. A man has a hundred-acre farm 

 worth, say $4000. Thi-ee-quarters are wood and 



pasture, the rest tillage and mowing. He plants, 

 say six acres, oftener not more than four, and 

 performs all the labor, with the help of one hired 

 man. What has he then right to expect as a fair 

 business profit ? First, the interest on his capi- 

 tal, which is $240 ; next, enough to pay his "help ;" 

 thirdly, for compensation for his own labor, at 

 proper rates for such labor, which is next thing 

 to mere manual labor. What does he get ? He 

 gets his rent, his fuel,- milk, butter, potatoes and 

 garden vegetables, a great part of his breadstuff, 

 the use of a horse for family purposes, and money 

 enough to pay taxes, repair buildings and tools, 

 clothe his family, giving his children all their 

 time for education, which in other countries would 

 be spent in hard work and ignorance — pay his 

 "help" and doctor's bills, and spend some time 

 and money in electioneering and other innocent 

 recreations. Now suppose he has not a dollar 

 more at the end of the year than he began it 

 with, has not he done a fair business ? His own 

 labor besides board cannot be reckoned more 

 than $200 — and that with the interest on his cap- 

 ital makes $440 — and he somehow makes the 

 farm yield him a living that would cost and does 

 cost a man occupying a hired house, much more 

 than that. 



The truth is, that farming, even in hard New 

 England, does pay better than any other busi- 

 ness, that is conducted on so small a capital, with 

 so little of what may be termed skilled labor. 



At public model farms and the like, it is prop- 

 er to test new theories, to keep for inspection 

 specimens of difi'erent breeds of live stock, a va- 

 riety of improved implements, to try new seeds 

 and modes of culture. Thus one published fail- 

 ure may save a thousand repetitions of an exper- 

 iment all over the land. 



Let us then be reasonable in our expectations 

 of private and public operations in agriculture. 



To answer directly the question as to the re- 

 sult of my own farming, I have no doubt that I 

 live on my farm, for less money, than I could 

 live in the same comfort and general style in a 

 hired house. My farming not only pays interest 

 and expenses, but enables me to do something, 

 without a loss, to benefit those who have not 

 means or leisure to indulge in the fascinating 

 pursuits of experimental agriculture. 



My corn, potatoes, mangold v/urtzel and tur- 

 nips are this year all on land underdrained with 

 tiles, at fifty feet distances, and an average depth 

 of four feet, on land on which three years ago no 

 one of the crops could have growfi at all, except, 

 perhaps a half-drowned crop of potatoes. The av- 

 erage rain-fall hereabouts is thirty-six inches. 

 The fall in 1857 was about fifty inches, and thus 

 far this year has exceeded 1857. It is one of the 

 wettest seasons ever known. 



