540 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARMING LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND. 



Mr. Editor : — I have been waiting some 

 weeks In the hope that you or some of your able 

 correspondents would do justice to an article 

 that appeared under the above title in the Au- 

 gust number of the "Atlantic Mo?ithhj." But I 

 have waited in vain. The only response that I 

 have seen, is from a lady in New Hampshire. 

 She, justly shocked at the distorted and repulsive 

 picture of her sex in the farm-homes of New 

 England, far from thanking the writer for his 

 sympathy, cries out in indignant tones, "save us 

 from such friends." Her notice of the article af- 

 fords one proof, which the editors of the "Atlan- 

 tic" will not surely reject, that the "child-bearing 

 women" in the farmers' homes, are not cared for 

 less than the occupants of the "farm-yard and 

 State," and that is, that the Monthly has found 

 its way to Brentwood, and been read and appre- 

 ciated by one of the "ceaseless ministers and ser- 

 vants of the home." Whether she is now enjoy- 

 ing a vacation, having been "for months dismissed 

 from labor," or whether she is one of those rare 

 exceptions, for Avhich there is reason that "Heav- 

 en be thanked for a merciful interference with 

 the operation of its own laws," I know not. But 

 I should like to "look at her hands," and "look 

 at her face." Can it be that she "secures less 

 consideration than the pets of the stall ?" But 

 thanking her for her spirited rebuke, in behalf 

 of our sister farmers, I will, with your consent, 

 occupy some space in your columns, in behalf of 

 our brother farmers. 



It was with no little surprise that I read the 

 article referred to, in the "Atlantic ; " I was sur- 

 prised and ashamed that a New England period- 

 ical of so high intellectual character, and so ex- 

 tensively circulated both in and out of New Eng- 

 land, should admit into its pages an article so 

 crowded with false views, so degrading to New 

 England character and reputation, and tending 

 to do so much injury to the best interest of New 

 England. Had it appeared in some paper south 

 of Mason and Dixon's line, in reply to some ex- 

 aggerated picture of slave life, by some "north- 

 side" man, it would have been received as a mat- 

 ter of course. 



You will permit me to say, Mr Editor, that I 

 was mortified to find a portion of this same arti- 

 cle quoted into the New England Farmer, thus 

 giving to it your sanction and approbation so far 

 as a quotation can give it. I am afraid that ed- 

 itors sometimes forget that one of the meanings 

 of the word quote, is "to laud," "to commend," 

 and that they inadvertently give their sanction to 

 sentiments that they do not really approve. I 

 think the quotation referred to must have fnund 

 its way into your paper without your knowledge, 

 for I cannot believe that you deliberately intend- 

 ed to give currency to notions so entirely at war 

 with facts, and with the general tenor and style 

 of your paper, and with the feelings and spirit of 

 your life, merely because they were found in a 

 popular magazine, or were written in a good 

 style. I am disposed to give the writer all the 

 credit he merits, and I do not hesitate to say that 

 he has a fine command of language, ;;nd con- 

 structs his senter.ces with a good deal of skill. 

 He writes with a bold hand, and in a brilliant 



style, and has the ability to "make the worse ap- 

 pear the better reason." When facts are wanting, 

 he can readily draw upon his imagination. His 

 article may be called good writing, and it was 

 this, we opine, that secured it a place in the re- 

 spectable journal which it disgraces. 



He sets out with affirming, that "New England 

 does not produce the bread she eats, nor the raw 

 material of the fabrics she wears." What then ? 

 Is she not increasing in population and wealth 

 with wonderful rapidity ? Is it not to her credit, 

 that in spite of her hard soil and rugged climate, 

 she is increasing in all the elements of material 

 and social prosperity ? What portion of our coun- 

 try, indeed what portion of the world, exhibits so 

 rapid an increase in the means of social comfort 

 and intellectual culture as New England ? And 

 does not this increase depend upon, and afford 

 evidence of a corresponding increase in material 

 wealth ? Do England or Belgium or Holland 

 produce the bread they eat, or the raw material 

 of the fabrics they wear? But will they not com- 

 pare well, in wealth, in the elegancies and com- 

 forts of life, in intellectual elevation, and in all 

 that renders life desirable, with any other parts 

 of Europe ? Why do they not produce the bread 

 they eat, and the raw material they use ? Simply 

 because the circumstances in which they are 

 placed, and the character of their people, afford 

 them the means of more profitable employment — 

 employment that furnishes bread and clothing to 

 a population beyond the capacity of their soil to 

 supply. Because there have been "positive ad- 

 vances in agricultural science, and in the means 

 and modes of farming," will this fact change the 

 character of New England people, or her soil and 

 climate ? 



But has she not availed herself of these "ad- 

 vances" to a greater degree than any other por- 

 tion of the country ? Is it not owing to these 

 very "advances" in a great measure at least, that 

 she is able to sustain double the population that 

 she did forty years ago, and that notwithstanding 

 the immense drain upon her wealth and energies, 

 to furnish the sinews of progress in the new 

 States ? And does she not sustain this duplicate 

 population in a condition of much greater com- 

 fort than she did at that time ? The writer evi- 

 dently intends to convey the impression that the 

 "advances in agricultural science, and the im- 

 proved means and modes of farming," are gener- 

 ally accepted and practised by the mass of culti- 

 vators in New England, and that they are deriv- 

 ing from them the whole benefit which they are 

 capable of yielding, and yet they are undergoing 

 the process of "physical and mental deteriora- 

 tion." But is the impression he would convey 

 justified by facts ? If the "advantages of thor- 

 ough draining are universally recognized," is 

 thorough draining universally applied, and are 

 New England cultivators deriving from it the 

 benefits it is capable of affording ? Has one acre 

 in a hundred that would be benefited by the pro- 

 cess, been subjected to it ? Are "tiles everywhere 

 for sale" at prices that bring them within reach 

 of the mass of farmers ? I am not aware that 

 they are manufactured in more than three places 

 in New England, viz., Whately and Manchester, 

 Mass., and Exclcr. N. II. Tlr y are also import- 

 ed from 41bany. But the price of frieght in most 

 parts of New England amounts t^ a prohibition 



