12 



THE FARMERS' CABINET. 



VOL. 1, 



plough over tho proiind. The inventor thinks 

 it will save the labor ol' eight men. We un- 

 derstand he is about to modify the machine, 

 so as to adapt it to the piantinif of cotton. If 

 it will accomplish (as we are inclined to be- 

 lieve it will) all which he supposes, it will 

 prove to be an invention of great utility. — 

 Nat. Jnlell. 



Manure for Farms. 



The following suggestions are from the 

 Northern Farmer and well worthy the atten- 

 tion of our farmers, and the rather since ma- 

 nure is to a farm what blood is to the human 

 body. 



In the spring, when the manure is con- 

 veyed into the field, it should be ploughed 

 in immediately, and spread no faster than 

 becomes necessary for ploughing; because 

 at this seasion the warmth of the sun pro- 

 duces a rapid fermentation, the most valuable 

 or liquid part of the manure escapes in the 

 form of gas, as it is often expressed, by eva- 

 poration. Should a heap of manure at this 

 season be covered with earth two feet deep, 

 in a short period the whole mass of earth 

 would be enriched by the gas, arising from 

 the fermented manure. 



To put neither fresh or rotted manure in the 

 season of planting potatoes and corn, as a 

 general practice is injudicious, but half the 

 quantity of fresh, unfermented manure, in 

 the hill well mixed in the soil, would afford 

 probably more nutriment than double the 

 quantity of old rotten manure. 



Manure being the life of a farm, every ex- 

 ertion should be used to procure all kinds of 

 it. Compost, soot, ashes, lime, gypsum, 

 burnt clay, or soft bricks pulverized, decom- 

 posed vegetable substances, weeds, leaves of 

 trees, coarse grass, &c., will all tend to fer- 

 tilize the soil. None are ignorant that such 

 as is taken from the vaults, afford the great- 

 est quantity of nutriment to plants. On "farms 

 it ought never to be lost. The yards for 

 swine, ought always to be excavated, or be 

 in the form of a basin, so that this manure in 

 richness next to the last, should be preserved 

 in a moist state. The same remark applies 

 to the barn yard for other cattle, except that 

 the latter ought to have a level and dry mar- 

 gin for feeding cattle occasionally. 



Farmer's Arithmetic. 



Prifiln of Airriculiurc.—l^ihe great Frank- 

 lin had ever lived in the country, his observ- 

 ing eye would have noticed, and his dis- 

 criminating judgment have solved the follow- 

 ing difficult problems: 



1. Farmers are more imposed on thau any 

 other class of the community : they pay 

 nearly the whole expense of the Htate Gov- 

 •crnment; are oppressed by a heavy tarifi", 



and other onerous measures of General Gov- 

 ernment, and by the commercial regulations 

 of foreign nations; never have much money 

 — yet every industrious, the prudent tiirmer 

 grows rich ! 



2. The mechanic receives his 75 cents a 

 day, yet remains poor ; the farmer earns his 

 seventeen cents a day, and grows rich ! 



3. Merchants, Physicians, Lawyers, and 

 others, receive their thousands per annum 

 and die poor, while the Farmer scarcely re- 

 ceives as many tens, and dies rich ! 



How are these strange results produced ! 

 All calculations in dollars and cents fail to 

 account for it. Those who are determined 

 to bring every thing to the standard of dol- 

 lars and cents, pronounce agriculture to be 

 wholly unprofitable, when the fact that near- 

 ly all the wealth of the country has been ob- 

 tained by agriculture, stares them intliefiice. 

 In the opinion of these calculators, agricul- 

 ture is the proper pursuit ofsucii only as have 

 not sense enough to pursue any thing else! 



The mischief's which such calculations are 

 doing in our country, first induced me to call 

 the public attention to the Farmir''s Arith- 

 metic. But having been more accustomed 

 to handling the plough than the pen, I am 

 altogether unable to do justice to the sub- 

 ject. If some abler hand would take it up 

 dispel the mist now resting on the subject, 

 and show us clearly the whole truth of the 

 matter, it would do sufficient good to com- 

 pensate the labors of the ablest patriot. 



When the meclianic lays down his tools 

 and the professional man is idle, they are 

 sinking, because their expenses are going 

 on and their profits are suspended. Not so 

 \.\\e farmer; while he sleeps, his crop grows 

 and his stock continues to increase, and 

 when he 'spends a social evening with a 

 neighbor, every thing continues to advance. 

 The Farmer^s Arithmetic shows that the far- 

 mer grows rich by saving, while others con- 

 tinue poor by spending. Others have first 

 to make money, and then give it for meat, 

 and drink, and raiment, while the farmer ob- 

 tains all these at home. If he wants a fat 

 lamb or pig, he has it without loosing a day 

 or two in trying to buy one. If he wants a 

 new coat, the industry of his wife supplies 

 it. In short, he wants but few, very few 

 things which he cannot obtain on his cwn 

 fiirm. Why then should the farmer repine 

 because he has not the money Xo buy abroad ? 

 or measure his wealth by comparing his mo- 

 ney with that of others, who must give it all 

 tor things which he has without buying? 

 Surely a Farmer may without a sigli resign 

 to others the gaudy fabrics of foreign artists, 

 while he is clothed by the labor of the hand 

 that soothes his cares and strews with pleas- 

 sures his journey through life. When I see 



