182 



Examine your Implements. 



Vol. VI. 



0^1 am tempted by the foregoing state- 

 ment to give an account, from memory, of 

 my own potato crop. My hook is twenty 

 miles from here. It was a wonderful crop. 



About the last week in May, I took a strip 

 of land three rods wide and forty long; plain 

 pasture land, with but little herbage on it. 

 Soil mostly a light coloured loam, inclining 

 to a sandy loam. Broke up and subsoiled 

 two-thirds of this with two yoke of oxen, and 

 two men half a day. Next morning, broke 

 up the remainder with one yoke of oxen and 

 one man, one hour and a half One-fourth 

 of an acre of this land was planted to potatoes. 

 Before ploughing, I spread upon the quarter 

 acre three loads oi rotting (not exactly rotted) 

 straw, potato vines, meadow mud, &lc., which 

 I found in the barn-yard when I purchased 

 the place. After ploughing, I spread about 

 four loads of the same powerful manure upon 

 the furrows, and harrowed it in. The land 

 was then marked out four feet one way, and 

 three feet three inches the other. Then I 

 planted four and a half bushels of as wormy 

 and inferior potatoes as were ever seen. 

 (Why plant such] They were brought on 

 to the ground before I saw them, and I then 

 knew not where I could get any others — 

 look next time before you buy, said I to my- 

 self) Also, I planted seven pecks of a new 

 variety, far-fetched, which cost !$4 per barrel. 

 They were hoed twice — and now how many 

 potatoes do you suppose I obtained from the 

 whole piece ? Why, about thirteen bushels ,• 

 and these about as good as I planted. 



And now for the debit and credit: — 



Dr. 



To interest on J acre, at $25 per acre, $0.31 



" Ploughing and barrowing, 1.00 



" 7 loads of manure (?), 3.50 



" 4^ bushels of seed, at 2s 1.50 



" 7 pecks " 3.25 



" Hoeing 50 



" Harvesting 1.00 



811.06 

 Cr By 13 bushels, at 2s 4.33 



Loss, 36.73 



It would spoil a good story to state that a 

 hail-storm shattered the vines of these pota- 

 toes into shreds, and that they never reco- 

 vered from the effects of the pelting — and 

 there may be no occasion to say, that the 

 main object was to get the land somewhat 

 mellowed and fitted for a crop the next sea- 

 son. Were such things mentioned, the main 

 object of these statements might be defeated, 

 which is to show that though farmers often 

 get a large profit from particular acres, they 

 also are liable to losses on other p-irts of the 

 farm; and that their business, though a good 

 and respectable one, is not, on the whole, so 

 lucrative as many may imagine, who make 

 their inferences oidy from such accounts as 

 appear in the papers, where writers gene- 



rally speak of those parts of the farm which 

 have done well, and leave failures, black- 

 smiths' bills, repairs of fences, repairs of 

 buildings, &,c. &c., unnoticed. I could make 

 out an account — and as fairly, too, as many 

 others are made — which would show a farm 



Dr. 1841, about $500.00 



Cr i bushel turnips sold, 12 



Loss, $499.88 



And yet it would require a statement of facts 

 to satisfy me that I have fared worse than 

 many others, who can give accounts of large 

 and profitable crops. 



An effort is making, and we rejoice at it, 

 to bring agriculture into more marked favour 

 than it has hitherto enjoyed. But partial and 

 delusive statements can never do this. Every 

 man who is allured into it to his cost, will be 

 likely afterwards to speak of the pursuit in 

 terms of disapprobation and contempt. Un- 

 fairness will obstruct the efforts of those who 

 would have farmers hold their own occupa- 

 tion in higher esteem. The unfairness we 

 refer to, is not any that can be pointed out in 

 particular accounts, but it is necessarily found 

 to run through the agricultural press, where 

 no pains are taken to keep the public informed 

 that there is another side to the picture. 



Remarkr. like these would be unnecessary, 

 were farmers accustomed to give accounts of 

 failures as freely as they do of success; but 

 this is hardly to be expected of them. But 

 do not misunderstand us: we have no wish 

 to decry husbandry — we are making no at- 

 tempts to do it. But our desire is, that its 

 merits should be fairly and fully presented — 

 let its discouragements and its hardships be 

 told in connection with its profits and plea- 

 sures, for even then it will stand, and com- 

 mand attention and respect. It will make 

 its way better in the world for a full and 

 frank account of itself — Ed. N. E. Far. 



Examine your Implements. 



It is well at this season of the year to make 

 a careful examination of your farming imple- 

 ments; ascertain what are wanting, what 

 new repairs, what new ones are to be intro- 

 duced, &c., that all may be ready when re- 

 quired for use. It is not good policy, when 

 the seed is sown, to find you must wait until 

 a harrow can be constructed, or your neigh- 

 bour has done his, before you can cover it; or 

 when you are ready to plant or mow, to find 

 that you have hoes without handles, and bro- 

 ken snaths to your scythes. All are more or 

 less dependent; but the practice of borrowing 

 agricultural implements should be discounte- 

 nanced as much as possible, since they are all 

 so cheap, that where they are wanted fre- 

 quently, the old adage, tiiat it is better to 

 borrow than to buy, is fully reversed. — Cult. 



