No. 10. 



Ijone of the Country and its Occupations. 



311 



would be prudent to apply at one dressing; 

 other parts would bear forty, fifty, or sixty to 

 advantage. By not attending to this, many 

 people have become discouraged in the use 

 of lime, thinking it did more harm than good. 

 In the last Cabinet, Agricola gives us his 

 views on a rotation of crops, which I approve, 

 as being well calculated to improve the land 

 and crops of grain; but on my fiirm and those 

 of my neighbourhood, I have doubts of its 

 success with grass, which we think an im- 

 portant crop. I am aware that to plough 

 down a crop of clover, or even clover-stubble, 

 would be a good fallow for wheat; but as far 

 as my observation goes, the crops of grass — 

 timothy and clover, especially the former — 

 will be much inferior to that of the customary 

 mode, that of oats or potatoes after corn, then 

 ploughed twice or thrice, so as to have it 

 quite clean before sowing; the cleaner the 

 ground, the better and more enduring the 

 succeeding crops of grass will prove. I have 

 long believed that the practice, which has so 

 long been in use, of rotting our manure and 

 ploughing it under in the fall for wheat, was 

 attended with much loss. I have invariably 

 had the best grass (but not so of wheat) where 

 I have top-dressed the wheat, if the fallow 

 was well cleaned before sowing. After all, 

 the advantages or disadvantages of any sys- 

 tem of farming, will much depend on the 

 quality of the land, and the purpose to which 

 its owner wishes to apply it; some lands and 

 locations being more favourable for grain, 

 some for the dairy, others for grazing, &c. 

 A Montgomery Co. Farmer. 



P. S. How fares the sugar-beet ? Is its use 

 progressing or otherwise, and what would be 

 a proper quantity to give a milch cow daily] 

 I have not had much experience, but so far 

 as I have, it appears that if they had more 

 than a given quantity, its tendency is to 

 create such a looseness in the bowels, as 

 counteracts much of the benefit they would 

 otherwise receive from their use. Just a suf- 

 ficient quantity with their dry food, to keep 

 the bowels in a proper state, I think is useful, 

 both to the dairy and manure-yard. I should 

 be pleased to hear from those of much more 

 experience herein than I have had. 



Love of the Country and its Occapations. 



To the traveller, what can be more inte- 

 resting than to observe the industrious and 

 enterprising farmer building neat, comforta- 

 ble houses, and preparing his lands to bring 

 forth an abundant crop? — or, on the other 

 hand, what more discouraging and disagreea- 

 ble than to see everything on the decline — 

 houses rotting down for want of care, fences 

 levelled, and the fields grown up with briars 



and bushes? We easily form a correct idea 

 of a man's pride, judgment or industry, by 

 observing the construction and order of his 

 farm ; for we find at every step something 

 that excites our admiration in the pursuit of 

 the delightful employment, or we meet with 

 something so disagreeable, that, for a moment 

 we feel inclined to abandon altogether a bu- 

 siness that seems so ill calculated to enlist 

 our energies either of body or mind. That 

 farm in the distance! it presents an appear- 

 ance of total ruin, and we might think it de- 

 serted, were it not for the smoke arising from 

 its wooden chimney, which reaches but half 

 way to the top of the house — no — cabin, not 

 house ! It is covered with boards, carelessly 

 put on, and held to their places by weight- 

 poles. We must climb the fence to get into 

 the yard, and stumble over a pile of boards 

 and rails, which lie rotting, before we can 

 reach the house — stoop down as we enter the 

 door, or our hat is taken off" by the top of it ; 

 then stumble over the open, loose floor, and 

 make our way to the fire-place, which is built 

 of clay, and has no hearth, for it has all been 

 swept away ; then look around and see a hun- 

 dred cracks, and here sit, on a wet and cold 

 day, and shiver over a hot fire ! In putting 

 up our horse, we must navigate first around 

 this pen and then that, before we reach the 

 lot, and pull down the bars, when out jumps 

 the farmer's mule; we then steer through the 

 mud to the stable, but the door is so low that 

 we can hardly squeeze the poor animal 

 through — not strange either, for the mud in- 

 side is no inducement for them to seek shel- 

 ter there. For the feed, we must pass clear 

 beyond the stable, encountering starving cows 

 who attack us for the fodder, and squalling 

 land-pikes for the corn ! — and then, to fasten 

 up the horse, we have to lay hold of muddy 

 rails that have been trodden into the dirt for 

 a week, and fix them into holes in the posts, 

 which are then to perform the office of a door 

 by keeping in the horse, but not by keeping 

 out the wind and rain. Here are the ploughs 

 and harrows exposed to the weather, and the 

 wagon without a shelter, and forming the 

 only cover for the half-starved and drowning 

 hogs ! Such being the confusion of the whole 

 place, we should look in vain were we to en- 

 deavour to discover its comforts. 



Now, are such things as these calculated 

 to allure us to the "tranquil shades of the 

 country, where we may spend our days in 

 heavenly musings'?" — or rather, do not these 

 scenes lead us to form, even while looking 

 upon them, a distaste for an occupation which, 

 if correctly followed, affords sweeter enjoy- 

 ments than any other? By good manage- 

 ment, every man can wield a mighty influ- 

 ence, by making valuable and convenient im- 

 provements upon his farm : he thus makes his 



