190 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



or Kanzas, as, I fear, many a soft-handed emi-j 

 grant to tlio plains of the far west will leai'n by 

 sad experience. 



"Cn7it,v5/n5." — Here are three objections to the 

 Farmer. 1. Articles are published unseasonably. 

 2. No reviews wanted. 3. Articles are repeated 

 in "the same number." In addition to the re- 

 marks of the editor in reply to the first objection, 

 I would say that, to my taste, the ^Monthly Far- 

 mer, something like the Baldwin apple, though 

 good to look at and answering passably well for 

 immediate use, is not really ripe for study till 

 about January, when the index furnishes the 

 means of readily comparing the ideas and prac- 

 tices of different men on particular subjects. But 

 there are all sorts of readers. And the ^lonthly 

 Farmer seems designed especially for that plod- 

 ding class who read a book or an article over and 

 over, and still like to know what other people 

 think of it, before they fully adojjt or reject its 

 teachings, while the Weekly Farmer, more prompt 

 and seasonable, better meets the demands of those 

 strong-minded people who study books by their 

 title-pages, and whose comprehensive minds 

 grasp the minutest details of elaborate disserta- 

 tions by a single glance, and with whom an arti- 

 cle once read is read, "and that's the end ont." 

 To such readers all reviews are alike stale and 

 unprofitable, while to another class they are in- 

 teresting in proportion to the ability with which 

 they are executed. If this second objection, in- 

 stead of questioning the wisdom of the plan, had 

 been based upon the incompetency of the writer 

 of the reviews, T should not have answered him a 

 word. But the more experience I have on the 

 subject, the more heartily do I approve of the 

 plan, and the more ardently do I hope the right 

 man will soon be found for its execution. De- 

 voting more hours to daily toil than fall to the 

 average lot of laboring men in New England, 

 with few books and no "study" but the family- 

 room, if I had the ability, I lack the time and 

 means for such investigation as is necessary for 

 the accomplishment of a task which was com- 

 menced unawares and unintentionally, and which 

 will be gladly relinquished when Mr. Stone will 

 furnish "something more interesting to those 

 who have read the previous number." The third 

 advice, to avoid the repetition of articles in the 

 same number, has all the force , of a caution 

 against any other class of typographical errors, 

 that printers are probably much more sorry to 

 make tluin Mr. Stone is to discover. 



A short Lecture o?i Extravagance. — It does 

 seem to me that if our lectures on this subject 

 are short, they ought to be thick. If, under the 

 rigid economy of our fathers, who made their own 

 clothing and most of their implements, their 

 farms "run out," what will become of our soil 

 when it is tixedwith the purchase of every thing 

 ready-made and far-brought? 



Take rare of your Cattle. — Just the right kind 

 of directions to make them "chew the cud of 

 contentment." 



Morlijnrjix on Farms. — Friend Durand and my- 

 self have now had our say on this subject, and 

 people hereafter will do as they please, or as they 

 can, about f )llowing our advice. 



Lunar Influences. — It looks wise to talk cf 

 "prejudices," I know, l)ut I wish to ask tho?j 

 who are now disposed to make a laughing-stock 



of the moon, whether it is not better for people 

 to have a particular time for particular work, 

 than to have no time at all. I hardly believe the 

 moon was made in vain ; and until a better time 

 is discovered for cutting bushes, for instance,- - 

 and I have never found any, — let us have faitl , 

 and slash into them "in the old of the moon" 

 next August, and see if that old wall and tl e 

 lower corner of the "mowing" as well as the old 

 "cow-pasture," does not look more tidy. Some 

 farms do look as though they had lost all faith i a 

 the moon ! 



Farming in Iowa. — "Nemo" may be assured 

 that we down-easters have a very great intere: t 

 in people away out on those prairies. The vei j 

 thought of planting in a soil that will give a 

 good crop without manure, makes the nerv> s 

 twitch among those who are in the habit cf 

 paying seven dollars a cord for it. And it is net 

 very strange that some of our boys should be 

 talking of going west, though you get but three, 

 and-a-half for pork. If it is possible for you to 

 keep your "gravity" long enough to give us a 

 few more "items," please do so before the 

 "shakos" shall carry you from "gay to grave," 

 and never bring you back again. 



Training Grapes. — A tip-top article with bran 

 new cuts illustrating plain directions for begin - 

 ners. 



The Concord Grape. — The most laudatory arti- 

 cle I have yet seen of this grape. The writer 

 thinks it has been sufficiently tested to warran t 

 the assertion that "erery one who has a house 

 and garden, may have just such vines to sit 

 under" as he saw in Concord. I have seen the 

 Concord grape on exhibition, and think highly 

 of its promise, but is it not possible for the fancy 

 of the enthusiastic to run a little wild on grapes 

 as well as hens? The Northern Spy apple has 

 been tested much longer than the Concord grape, 

 but can it be said that the "reputation and 

 value" of that apple is yet "established?" 



'■^Pruning Fruit Trees again.''^ — If not entirely 

 settled, it is no fault of "W. D. B.," whose arti- 

 cles are as brimful of good sense as of good 

 nature. We shall try to "learn our letters" in 

 the great alphabet of which he speaks, and with 

 such teachers as himself and other writers for the 

 Farmer, it must be a dull scholar that makes no 

 progress, for in this number we have articles- 

 "About Pear Trees," remarks on producing new 

 varieties from seeds, on the effects of climate and 

 cultivation, on preserving fruit, with reports to 

 the Pomological Convention, from several States. 

 &c. 



Legislative Agricultural Meetings. — Full reports 

 of the discussions at four of these meetings of 

 our law-makers. A Header. 



Winchester, March, 1855. 



Remarks. — The language our correspondent 

 employs, shows how the boy is educated — that is. 

 through '■'■drudgery, and steady, hard icork.'''' And 

 therein lies the secret — it is not only drudgery, 

 but steady, hopeless drudgery! And this con- 

 straint is imposed upon young and healtliy boys 

 and girls, impatient of long-continued effort in 

 any thing, as it would be unnatural if they were 

 not. No, no ! God has not so constituted his in- 



