1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



199 



bam, turning it one-quarter round, and put- 

 ting a cellar under it ; moved a shed back its 

 ■width ; built a henery, and a milk and cheese 

 room, 12 by 25 feet ; raised the roof of wood 

 room half story, and have ^ carpenter's and shoe- 

 maker's shop over it ; have shingled all my build- 

 ings, using more than fifty thousand shingles ; 

 and this year have repaired, improved and paint- 

 ed the house. Many improvements have bewi 

 made on the farm, such as ditching, digging 

 rocks, laying new stone wall, and resetting old 

 walls ; setting out fruit trees nearly every 

 year ; improving mowing land, so that I now 

 tut at least one-third more hay than at first. 



My stock now numbers fifteen head, mostly 

 full grown. In contrast with those I began 

 with, my farming tools now consist in part, of 

 a mowing machine, bought seven years ago ; 

 horse wheel rake ; ox wagon, carts, and all 

 other necesfary implements of husbandry, 

 on farm and in the house, as I had much 

 rather lend than borrow. 



Our two sons, now in their nineteenth and 

 twentieth years, have attended school at the 

 academy, one and sometimes both, nearly 

 every term for the last three years, except 

 while teaching last winter and this, and yet 

 have worked out enough to pay for all extra 

 help we have had besides doing our own farm 

 work. 



All these things have been done and all mort- 

 gages were cleared olf two years ago, and be- 

 sides we have always had something to spare 

 for benevolent purposes. But in order to do 

 all this, it has required unremitting toil and 

 great economy in doors as well as out. Our 

 motto in respect to food is, an abundance, 

 healthy, and well cooked ; as to dress, that 

 which is comfortable, substantial and respecta- 

 ble ; a large share of it being made up in the 

 family. 



Now if "C. B. E.," or any other "live 

 young man" with a suitable helpmeet will do 

 the'se things, they can life almost any amount 

 of mortgage fj-om the farm, and at the same 

 time live more independently than almost any 

 other class of people around them. c. e. k. , 



Dudley, Mass., Feb. 1, 18G8. 



Remarks.— "J. D.," of Weathersfield, Vt., 

 who belongs to the class of "indebted young 

 farmers," and who seconded the request of 

 "C. B. E." in a note which has not been pub- 

 lished, will see that "C. E. K." has antici- 

 pated his request to "tell us how to pay for our 

 farms without "denying ourselves the comforts 

 of life, and without foregoing the higher priv- 

 ilege of doing something to make society and 

 our neighbors better and happier." 



We have another response to the appeal of 

 "C. B. 5^.," which will soon be published. 

 The writer was brought up on a farm in Eng- 

 gland, and his illustrations of How to do It, 



and How not to do It, are drawn from 

 English experience, and will, therefore, be 

 doubly interesting to American readers. 



THE CASTOR BEAN". 

 The culture of the castor bean is much like 

 that of corn, being regarded by many as less 

 laborious and expensive. Good corn land is 

 suited to the castor bean. If not fertile, it 

 should be heavily manured, as the plants are 

 great feeders. The ploughing and dragging 

 should be done in the most efficient manner. 

 PJant when the frost is well passed and the 

 ground has become warm. The hills should 

 be at least four feet apart each way. Some 

 cultivators prefer seven feet. One plant to 

 the hill is enough, but several seeds should be 

 planted to guard against accident. Sometimes 

 a space is left once in four rows wide enough 

 to admit a farm wagon, so as to facilitate har- 

 vesting the crop. The ground should be cul- 

 tivated several times, that the plants may 

 attain a vigorous growth. Scarcely any crop 

 pays better for thorough cultivation than this. 

 Twenty bushels per acre, is a full average 

 yield. The market price is variable. During 

 the past winter the beans in the St. Louis 

 market have ranged from $3.90 to $1.25 per 

 bushel. As the cost of growing does not differ 

 materially from that of corn, the approximate 

 profits can be calculated. At the present de- 

 pressed condition of the market, an acre of 

 beans would yield about $25, leaving but little 

 margin for profit. The oil is quoted at $2.10 

 to $2.25 per gallon. As the yield of oil is 

 about 68 gallons per acre, the manufactured 

 oil would amount to about $150 per acre. 

 This gives $1 to the manufacturer to $1 

 to the producer, a division which cannot be 

 regarded as equitable. Formerly the castor 

 bean was largely cultivated in the southern 

 counties of Illinois, but had become unprofita- 

 ble previous to the rebellion. This event, 

 causing an advance in price of two hundred to 

 four hundred per cent., revived its culture 

 from almost nothing in 1860, to many thous- 

 and bushels in 1864:. St. Louis is the great 

 market for the crop, more oil being manufac- 

 tured there than at any other point in the 

 country. The receipts at St. Louis from all 

 sources during the last year, exceeded 50,000 

 bushels. — Prairie Farmer. 



— In an article in the Iowa Homestead urging the 

 importance of tree planting, tlie writer, the Hon. 

 J. B. Grinnell, says : "In our climate fuel costs the 

 prairie farmer more than his bread. I have made 

 personal obsei-vation in from sixty to one hundred 

 counties, and examined in the official field notes 

 of Iowa, to arrive at the conclusion that but one 

 in ten of our counties has a sufficiency of timbei, 

 and even these are losing rather than increasing 

 their supply." 



