52 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



bid sensibility, rcmomher that a multipliration 

 oiwoids is like fresh fiu-l to a sluinherinfr fire. 

 Always (It'al iri'iuTOusly with help ; for if they 

 see atiylhiiy like over reaching, or even fancy 

 it is intended, they will take twice and thrice 

 as much out of their employer. When one 

 is resolved to break a lat)or contract, so far 

 from iisin<^ compulsion to make him fulfil his 

 afjreement, I should say let him p,o in peace. 

 If he can really better himself, it is not gener- 

 ous to detain him. If in our judgment he will 

 only lose by the change, it may not l)e wise 

 to try to argue him into staying. Anything 

 like coercion tends to arouse all that is ugly in 

 his nature, and in all prohal)ility "suits for the 

 enforcement of labor conttaits"'' would bring 

 only expen>e and trouble to the plaintiffs. A 

 discontented, grumbling hand is oi' little profit 

 at best, and his inlluence upon others is so bad 

 that it is frequently better to pay something to 

 have him leave. 



A better way for presenting sudden leaving 

 is the one adopted by our factories. About 

 two weeks' pay is always kept l^aik ; pay day 

 is near the middle of the month, but the pay 

 is only made up to the first day of the same ; 

 if a workman (piits without two weeks' notice 

 he forfeits so much of his wages. The condi- 

 tion is distinctly understood by all the work- 

 men, and is so simple and just that no one 

 complains of it. This is the only constraining 

 measure that mills with liom one to four thou- 

 sand names upon their pay roll pretend to ex- 

 ercise against sudden quitting. This rule 

 could be easily adopted in an agricultural 

 community, for help both within the house and 

 without. Two weeks' notice would give am- 

 ple time to obtain other help, and the forfeit- 

 ure of two weeks' pay would prevent sudden 

 leave-taking for mere trifles. Working out 

 the two weeks of notice gives time for retlec- 

 tion, and not unfreciuently the resolution to 

 leave is changed to a desire for staying. 



Another suggestion for the consideration of 

 neighborhoods which propose to adopt meas- 

 ures for the improvement of the character of 

 the help and to maintain the rights of the em- 

 ployers, is the keeping of a list of the names 

 of those hands who have been discharged for 

 gross misconduct, or have broken their con- 

 tract without justifiable cause. Any farmers' 

 club can easily propose other simple regula- 

 tions for adoption by the town or county rep- 

 resented, and thus while the individual em- 

 ployer shall have the control of his own help, 

 he will also enjoy the benefit of mutual sup- 

 port and uniformity of action. 



Should all these hints be heeded, there will 

 still be cause for sighing over the degeneracy 

 of modern help, just as long as farmers de- 

 pend upon cities and villages for their supply ; 

 for the recjuisite qualifications cannot be looked 

 for in the surplus sent back into the country, 

 when it is composed largely of street boys ; of 

 men of dissolute habits ; of those who wish 

 for a change ; of the feeble, who seek to re- 



store their health ; of the dull, too stupid to 

 earn a living at mechanical employme.it^ ; of 

 the indoh-i)t, too hizy to get their bread in the 

 sliarp competition of the city; and of another 

 class who, though their attainments and habits 

 are all that is desired, have no experience in 

 farm work, nor taste for rural life, and who 

 only engage in it temporarily. No, the rural 

 districts must furnish their own help before it 

 will assume a permanent and relial)le charac- 

 ter. This cannot be done until cottages are 

 provided upon every farm for the laborer. In 

 this way fanners will have greater control over 

 their help, and more hope of retaining good 

 hands for a series of years. The children of 

 the laborer brought up on the farm -will acquire 

 a taste for rural life, and their early trauiing 

 will prepare them for efficient and reliable 

 workmen. By providing these homes, farmers 

 will benefit themselves, their families, and the 

 laborer; but having, in a former article, 

 (Monthly for August,) stated these advan- 

 tages, 1 will not enlarge upon them now. 



N. S. T. 



Laiorence, Mass., Nov. 22, 1867. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARM HELP. 



In the article "Farm Help," in a late num- 

 ber of the Farmei?, there is much truth. That 

 farming is as honoraljle and refined as any 

 other branch of business or profession, and 

 much more conducive to health and longevity, 

 is being ever}' day acknowledged, and I see no 

 trouble in getting over the difficulty about 

 help. As to e<lucating the foreign help up to 

 usefulness, honesty, and regard for truth, it is 

 next to impossible. We do not as a general 

 thing get the best class of foreign labor, con- 

 sequently the effort to bring them up to the 

 standard of valual)le help, and true manliness 

 is a very hard and hopeless undertaking. Why 

 not then turn our attention in a very much 

 more available quarter. I would remark in 

 this connection that the same trouble is found 

 with female servants, at the present day ; in 

 fact, Biddy desires to be the lady of the house, 

 and Pat to be chief head out of doors, and 

 such will be the condition of things until one 

 and all of us determine upon a radical change. 



Let us look at the capabilities of the gener- 

 ally despised neyro. As a class, they are 

 as readily learned in any requirements de- 

 sirat)le to make them useful members of socie- 

 ty and conse(iuently good help, as our for- 

 eign population ; in their disposition, they are 

 generally gentle and affectionate, very quick 

 to acquire and willing to work. 



I tried the experiment for a year with twen- 

 ty freedmen as farm hands, on a large farm in 

 Tennessee, in the year 18G4, and though I 

 took them as they came, used to abuse, and 

 not kindness, unacquainted with our modern 

 farming tools, they were very ready and 

 anxious to learn, and in an incredible short 



