546 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec- 



a room for setting milk to raise the cream. It is 

 about eight feet wide and fifteen long. On each 

 side are firm plank shelves with strips on the 

 edges so as to make them water-tight. Into the^e 

 large but shallow tin pans are set, and during hot 

 weather cold water is admitted by a cock, and 

 when the temperature is too low, hot water is 

 supplied by the same means. The bottom of 

 the cellar is brick and cement, and in very 

 hot weather the whole floor is flooded with pure, 

 cold, spring water. The milk remains sweet two 

 or three days in this room and 7^ and 8 quarts 

 will make a pound of the best butter. Beside this 

 room, there are in this basement, capacious rooms 

 for roots, one to store a hundred ox loads oj 

 much for winter use, and racks, and convenien- 

 ces for cows in calf. This lower story is unique 

 -^it is certainly unlike anything of the kind I 

 ever saw before, and it will not fail to afford val- 

 uable suggestions to all persons who visit it, and 

 who are engaged in producing milk for market. 



Connected with the barn I found a cider mill 

 of new construction, where the apples can be 

 ground and a barrel of cider made in two hours ; 

 also a thresher, a saw for sawing wood at the 

 rate of a cord an hour, a paint mill, a large and 

 commodious workshop, with proper tools, and 

 many contrivances indicating skill in all sorts of 

 handicraft as well as in cultivating the soil. I 

 saw many other things on this farm that interest- 

 ed me unusually, but as my letter is getting long, 

 I must defer them to another time. I have never 

 before met a man who comes up so nearly to my 

 ideas of the value and importance of much as a 

 fertilizer as does Mr. Humphrey. He warmed 

 into eloquence in expatiating upon its vii-tues ; 

 and well he might, for he has gathered harvests 

 of glittering gold through its influence, on land 

 that he would gladly have sold a few years since 

 for $5 an acre ! But all this, together with his 

 experience with mowing machines, and his suc- 

 cess in the propagation of trout, I must for the 

 present omit. 



The most charming part of my visit, however, 

 was not derived from these things, but from the 

 manners and conversation of the well-balanced 

 family into which I was thrown. It was refined, 

 harmonious, intelligent ; the daughters, as well 

 as the sous, engaging freely in a conversation re- 

 lating entirely to the affairs of the farm, and giv- 

 ing ample evidence tliat they had resolved to 

 "magnify their office" to the extent of their abil- 

 ity. But I must desist, 



Very truly, yours, SiMON BnowN. 



Joel Nodrse, Esq., Boston. 



A Fine Heifek. — Mr. Josiah A. Wyman, of 

 Chelmsford, Mass., has a beautiful pure Durham 

 heifer, three years old in November next, esti- 



mated to weigh 950 pounds. She calved the first 

 day of September — the calf sucked four days, 

 and she has averaged 13 quarts of milk per day 

 since. He has refused $100 for her. b. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 "FARMING LIFE IN NEW ENGLAND." 



"We would by no means compare New Eng- 

 land farmers with the Irish peasantry." Indeed ! 

 "But if we enter a church containing a strictly 

 rural assembly, and then visit another containing 

 a class whose labor is lighter," "we shall see a 

 contrast, less marked perhaps, but presenting 

 similar features." Then it is not quite certain 

 that the "contrast" between the rural and city 

 population is "less marked," than that between 

 the "Irish peasantry," and the "Irish gentlemen." 

 There is room for a "perhaps." "The forms of 

 both men and women are angular, their features 

 are not particularly intellectual, their movements 

 are not graceful." 



When La Fayette visited this country, in 1826 

 we think it was, he visited several of the country 

 towns ; among the rest a farming town in the 

 north part of Worcester county. An artillery 

 company, composed almost wholly of farmers, 

 turned out to do honor to the veteran soldier and 

 statesman. After looking at their maiifeuvres 

 for a few moments, he remarked to a gentleman 

 by his side, "that is the finest company of men I 

 ever saw." He had an eye for the "forms of men." 

 He had seen a variety of "forms of men," and 

 their "movements." But as at that period he had 

 been residing for years at his chateau in the 

 country, perhaps he had become partial to the 

 farmer's "forms" and "movements." At any rate, 

 he did not seem to be aware of the fact that the 

 "city assemblage is composed of a finer and high- 

 er grade of men, women and children." Now, as 

 the "city comes from the country," it is surprising 

 how rapidly this transformation takes place. 

 When relieved from labor, life rises at once to a 

 "higher grade," as the spring rebounds when the 

 weight is removed that pressed it down. Men and 

 women of finer and higher grade ! Yes, if "the 

 tailor makes the man," they may be. But if 

 health and vigor, intelligence and self-reliant in- 

 dustry, independence, integrity and honesty, make 

 the man, then we deny the assertion altogether. 

 "But the city children going back to the farm, 

 show that a new element has been introduced in- 

 to their blood." Yes, an element of feebleness, 

 frivolity and selfishness. If these show "in every 

 way a finer development," then they undoubted- 

 ly possess it. 



Where has this writer spent his life ? In what 

 aristocratic "bower of ease" has he been taught 

 to look back with contempt, upon the source 

 from whence he sprung ? We should suppose 

 that he were still a sophomore, or at least, that 

 he had just graduated, with the notion so com- 

 mon among young students, that he is of "a finer 

 and higher grade" than other men, and that he 

 had not lived long enough to correct the mistake. 

 Where would any man in his senses look for fair, 

 blooming, well developed, healthy, happy chil- 

 dren, capable of caring for themselves, and lend- 

 ing a generous aid to the feeble and the needy, 

 but among the boys and girls who have breathed 



