£48 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



is nearly or quite twice as much as it was twen- 

 ty-five years ago. The sheep in Vermont yield 

 two pounds of wool, where they yielded one, 

 twenty years ago, and that of better quality. And 

 are not the iVtorgans and Black Hawks an im- 

 provement upon the old ewe necked breed of 

 New England horses ? And have not swine ful- 

 ly kept pace in improvement, with other farm 

 stock ? The grass lands in Massachusetts yield 

 two tons, where they formerly yielded one. And 

 this is one very important reason of the in- 

 creased value of farm stock. 



In corn culture, our farmers harvest at least 

 twenty-five per cent, an acre more than formerly. 

 If they do not raise as many potatoes per acre as 

 they once did, it is owing to causes beyond their 

 control, like the diseases, that at certain periods 

 attack certain families of trees, as the button- 

 wood, the peach, &c. But if the quantity of po- 

 tatoes per acre has diminished, the price has in- 

 creased, and been sustained by the demand of the 

 foreign population, and the income to the farmer 

 from this crop has been greater, during the few 

 years past, than ever before. And is not the 

 quantity of fruit greatly increased, and its quali- 

 ty improved ? But, it will be said, the quantity 

 of grain rasied in New England has diminished. 

 The agriculture of New England has doubtless 

 undergone some changes. The habits of our peo- 

 ple have changed. They now consume a much 

 greater amount and variety of vegetable food 

 than formerly, and farm culture has changed to 

 meet the demand occasioned by this change in 

 the habits of living. In the vicinity of all our 

 cities and manufacturing towns, fields that were 

 once covered with rye and corn, are cut up into 

 streets and building lots, or covered with build- 

 ings and gardens. The culture of fruit and veg- 

 etables for the supply of the market in these 

 towns, is much more profitable than the culture 

 of grain. One of my neighbors raised this sea- 

 son, on one acre and a quarter, one hundred and 

 sixty barrels of marrow squashes, worth one dol- 

 lar the barrel. 



Here was twice the amount which this land 

 would have yielded in corn. But has there been, 

 in this case, a "deterioration in agriculture ?" 

 Farm lands which might have been purchased 

 thirty or forty years ago for thirty dollars an 

 acre, have been sold for three and even five hun- 

 dred dollars for the cultivation of market vege- 

 tables. Does this prove deterioration? The 

 ti'uth is that in many parts of New England, far- 

 mers cannot afford to raise corn, or even to pas- 

 ture cows for butter. It is better economy for 

 them to purchase corn and butter, and appropri- 

 ate their lands to other uses. Does this prove 

 bad husbandry ? If so, every man who engages 

 in a more profitable business than he has been 

 pursuing, is a bad husband. Whence has come 

 the great increase of taxable property in the 

 farming towns and villages ? Whence have 

 sprung up all over our hills and valleys, neat, 

 convenient and tasteful dwelling-houses ? How 

 comes it that they are filled with better furniture 

 and many more conveniences, than they were a 

 few years ago ? Whence have sprung up the 

 large and elegant barns, Avith spacious cellars, 

 that have taken the place of the small and incon- 

 venient barns of the past? How is it that farm- 

 ing population is better clothed and better fed — 



that they have better school-houses, and annual- 

 ly spend large sums for the education of their 

 children ? How is it that books and papers and 

 periodicals are found in every farmer's family? 

 How is it that the farmers are able to employ 

 foreign laborers, both in the house and field, and 

 educate their own sons and daughters to teach 

 the schools of the cities, to fill their pulpits 

 and adorn their legal tribunals? Whence have 

 thousands of farmers' sons obtained the means 

 to secure future homes on the broad prairies of 

 the West, or to gratify the love of enterprise or 

 fondness for roaming, by visiting the El Dora- 

 dos of the world ? The sums thus carried from 

 the farm homes within a few years past, would 

 go far to pay for all the farms of New England, 

 as they were in the past generation. Does all 

 this prove the deterioration of agriculture ? 



As we deny the position which the writer takes 

 so much pains to prove, we have nothing to do 

 with the reasons by Avhich he attempts to prove 

 it. But one word with respect to "the position 

 of the mother in the New England farm homes." 

 "Is not she who should receive the tenderest 

 and most considerate ministries of the farmer's 

 home, in all its appointments, and all its service, 

 made the ceaseless minister and servant of the 

 home and all within it, with utter disregard of her 

 office ?" Shame, shame on the man who can so 

 dishonor the soil that feeds him. If any woman 

 in any home is completely mistress of "all its ap- 

 pointments," and all its "service," and of all 

 "within it," it is the beloved and virtuous moth- 

 er in the New England farmer's home. It is true 

 that New England mothers are "ceaseless minis- 

 ters" to those around them. They are ever anx- 

 ious about the objects of their love. Their affection 

 takes that active form that demands an object to 

 love and care for. Like Martha of old, they are 

 "careful and troubled about many things." But 

 this is no more true of the mothers in farmers' 

 homes, than in other homes. It is characteris- 

 tic of New England mothers, and their husbands 

 are not good easy souls, letting things go their 

 own Avay, and taking the world easy. New Eng- 

 land men and women both are characterized by 

 incessant anxiety and ceaseless care for the ob- 

 jects of their affection or pursuit. Careful and anx- 

 ious fathers and mothers are they. But it is a con- 

 stitutional trait and belongs to the race. If the 

 New England mother assumes the office of 

 "ceaseless minister" to her children, it is because 

 she is impelled to it by an anxious, loving heart, 

 and not because her affectiona'e service does not 

 secure for her "more consideration than the pets 

 of the stall." We are sorry that so able a writer 

 does not read human nature more coi-rectly, or 

 understand better the character of his own coun- 

 trymen. 



But, Mr. Editor, we are taking up quite too 

 much of your space, and will speak of only one 

 more point before we close, and that is the "iso- 

 lation" of farm life, and here we will be brief. 

 "The tree which springs in the open field, though 

 it be fed by the juices of a rood, will present a 

 hard and stunted growth, while the little sapling 

 of the forest seeking for life among a million 

 roots, will lift to the light its cap of leaves upon 

 a graceful stem, and whisper even-headed with 

 the stateliest of its neighbors." Yes, and the 

 whisper wiU ever be, "lam even-headed with my 



