414 



KEW ENGLAND FAE:\IER. 



Sept. 



Last fall they were yarded on the poorest 

 part of my mowing. The first nigbt they 

 were put on a moss grown knoll. One night 

 in a place is suflicient. The effect, as ob- 

 served this tenth day of June, is wonderful. 

 I am sure there is threefold more grass where- 

 ever the sheep were thus yarded than where 

 they were not ; it already being knee high and 

 beginning to head out. Even on the old 

 mossy knoll, the grass is a sight to behold, 

 marking by its vigorous growth the exact space 

 on wliich they were yarded. 



Some may object that there is too much 

 work and bother in this plan of top-dressing. 

 But brother farmers is there not hard work in 

 shovelling over, carting, and spreading ma- 

 nure, to say nothing of ploughing up the tough 

 sward ? And if we can make the sheep save 

 all this labor, may we not afford to do a little 

 tinkering for them ? It is easier than shovel- 

 ling manure, and besides 1 save much of the 

 strength of the manure that is lost at the barn. 

 If we fmish up our haying in July, we have 

 three months or more to follow this business, 

 and I really believe that with a large farm, 

 a large dock of sheep and conveniences for its 

 prosecution, we can greatly improve our old 

 mowings, and consequently the profits of farm- 

 ing. H. H. c. 



BrabUree, Vt., June 10, 1868. 



"WHAT PAKMINQ IS TO BE. 



It is evident to any thoughtful man that we 

 have entered a new epoch in American agri- 

 culture. Our population increases rapidly, 

 and the production of food does not keep 

 pace with it. "I have just sold a two-year- 

 old heifer for $60," said an old farmer. "I 

 had no idea of selling her. She had run in 

 the yard all winter, and I never fed her a hand- 

 ful of grain, but a butcher saw her and offei'ed 

 me $60 for her." He thought it a great 

 price. I told him that a well-bred animal, 

 with liberal feeding could easily be made 

 worth .$1U0 at two years old. It seems diffi- 

 cult for an old farmer to realize the changed 

 condition of things. He is apt to think that a 

 thing which did not pay when the country was 

 new will not pay now. "Fifteen dollars for a 

 calf 1" exclaimed a city friend the other day. 

 "I thought calves wA-e not worth more than 

 a dollar apiece. IMy father used to sell 

 them for that. In those days agriculture 

 was not appreciated How could it be, with 

 calves a (lollar apiece and wheat seventy-five 

 cents a but^hd ? We have now high prices — 

 perhaps a little too high — but they were 

 necestiiry to place agriculture on its true 

 foundation. I arming will now be as respec- 

 table in fact as it has hitherto })een in theor}'. 

 Let young farmers take a calm view of the 

 situation. We are going to have a verj- dif- 

 ferent system of farming from what we have 

 bad. 



Mark you, I am not finding fault with 

 the old farmers. No man can respect them 

 more than I do. They have done an immense 

 amount of work and done it well. Their sys- 

 tem was the best in the circumstances. But 

 the "stump period" has passed, and Is fol- 

 lowed by the mowing machine, with the steam 

 plow appearing in the distance. Virginia 

 fences and bad roads are still found, but they, 

 too, will soon belong to the paht. Under- 

 draining will improve the latter, and the high 

 price of wood will banish the former. Labor 

 is more abundant, and wages are paid in 

 wheat less than formerly. The district school 

 has a prodigious intiuence. Now let our 

 young fai'mers bestir themselves. They must 

 be "men of thought and men of action." In 

 the older settled sections we have blacksmiths, 

 and wheelwrights, and carpenters, and brick- 

 layers, and saddlers, at no great distance, 

 and it is no longer necessary for a farmer to 

 be a "Jack of all Trades." His business is 

 to cultivate the land ; to look well to the state 

 of his flocks and his herds ; to attend to the 

 thousand little details of his establishment. 

 He must have a trained mind and skilful hands 

 — must be able to work himself and direct 

 others. He must plan work for all kinds of 

 weather, and not do in summer what should 

 be done in winter — should not work In the 

 barn when the sun shines and make hay when 

 it rains. He requires great energy, prompt- 

 ness, and perseverance. Much of his success 

 will depend on getting his land in good order 

 and sowing in proper season, and It requires 

 no little forethought and good judgment to 

 accomplish even this. It Is a good deal easier 

 to "work" than It is to think. The best gen- 

 eral rule for a young farmer's guidance is to 

 do first what he likes to do least. 



Many people seem to think that it is the 

 easiest thing in the world to manage a farm ; 

 while in point of fact it requires far more 

 brains to be a first-rate farmer than to be a 

 second-rate lawyer. The man who thinks that 

 because he has studied agricultural chemistry 

 he will make a good farmer, is a goose. If he 

 has the necessary qualities for success as a 

 farmer, and likes the business, he will proba- 

 bly succeed. If he has not, all the chemistry 

 in the world will not enable him to "make 

 farming pay." Chemistry will not teach him 

 how to buy and how to sell. It will not get 

 him out of bed in a mornlrtg. It will teach 

 him how milk is formed, and why it turns 

 sour, but It will not secure regular feeding and 

 steady milking. It will teach him the import- 

 ance of having boilinr/ visiter to scald the milk- 

 pans, but it will not enable him to have every- 

 thing ready just when it is wanted. If he 

 would make a good farmer without chemistry, 

 a scientific education will enable him to make 

 a still better and more successful farmer ; but 

 if he would not succeed in some degree with- 

 out It, chemistry will not enable him to make 

 farming pay. — J. Harris, in Am. Ag. 



