154 



The Farmer's Life. — Crops will Pay for Cleaning. Vol. V. 



The Farmer's Life. 

 " When one calls to mind the simple abun- 

 dance of fiirm-houses — their rich cream and 

 milk, and unadulterated butter, and bread 

 grown upon their own lands, sweet as that 

 which Christ broke, and bltssed, as he fjave 

 it to his disciples; their fruit, ripe and fresh- 

 plucked from the sunny wall or the garden- 

 bed, or the pleasant old orchard ; when one 

 casts one's eyes upon, or calls to one's me- 

 mory, the aspect of these houses, many of 

 them so antiquely picturesque, or so bright- 

 looking and comfortable — in deep retired val- 

 leys, by beautiful streams or amongst franrant 

 woodlands — one cannot help saying, with 

 King James of Scotland, ' What want these 

 knaves that a king should have !' 



But it is not its outward and surrounding 

 advantages merely, which give a zest to the 

 ]ife of the farmer ; he is more proud of it and 

 more attached to it, than any other class of 

 men — be they whom they may — are of theirs; 

 the whole heart, soul and being of the farmer 

 are in his profession. The members of other 

 professions and trades, however full they may 

 be of their concerns, have their mouths tied 

 up by the etiquette of society ; a man is not 

 allowed to talk of his trade concerns, except 

 at the risk of being laughed at, and being set 

 down as an egotistic ignoramus; but who 

 shall laugh at, or scout the farmer for talking 

 of his concerns ? Of nothing else does he, in 

 nine cases out of ten, think, talk or care; 

 and though he may be called a bore by all 

 other classes, what concerns it him "? for other 

 classes are just as great bores to him, and he 

 seeks not their company. The farmers are 

 a large class, and they associate and converse 

 principally with each other — ' their talk is of 

 bullocks,' it is true, but to them it is the most 

 interesting talk of all. What is so delightful 

 to them as to meet at each other's houses, to 

 talk of markets, rents, new improvements 

 and the promise of crops ; to walk over their 

 lands together, and pronounce on the condi- 

 tion of growing grain, roots and grass; on 

 this drainage, or that neighbour's odd man- 

 agement ; on the appearance of their sheep, 

 cattle and horses'? And all this must be ex- 

 cused, nay, in a great degree to be admired: 

 for those are no artificial objects on which 

 they expend their lives; they are the delight- 

 ful things of nature on which they operate, 

 and nature operates with tkern in all their 

 labours, and sweetens them to their spirits — 

 this is the grand secret of their everlasting 

 attachment to, and enjoyment of agricultural 

 life: they work with NATURE, and only 

 modulate and benefit by her functions, as she 

 takes up, quickens, and completes the work 

 of their hands. There is a living principle 

 in all their labours, which distinguishes them 

 from most other trades : the earth jjives its 



strength to the seed they throw into it; to 

 the cattle that walk upon it; the winds blow, 

 and the waters run for them ; the very frosts 

 and snows of winter give salutary checks to 

 the rankness of vegetation, and lighten the 

 soil and destroy what is noxious tor them, 

 and every principle of animal and vegetable 

 existence and organization co-operates to sup- 

 port and enrich them. There is a charm in 

 this, which must last while the spirit of man 

 feels the stirrings of the spirit and power of 

 God around him. It may be said that the 

 common farmer does not reason on these 

 things in this manner — in too many instances 

 I grant this, but he feels — there is scarcely 

 any bosom so cloddish, but feels — more or less 

 of this; and by no other cause can an expla- 

 nation be given of the enthusiasm of farmers 

 for their profession. It is not because they 

 can sooner enrich themselves by it — that they 

 are more independent in it — that they have 

 greater social advantages in it — for in all 

 these particulars, the balance is in favour of 

 the active and enterprising tradesman ; but it 

 is this charm which has diffused its sweetness 

 into the bosoms of all rural people, in all ages 

 of the world ; and from the days of the Patri- 

 archs to the present, what expressions of de- 

 light the greatest minds have uttered on be- 

 half of the farmer's life!" — Ilowitt. 



Crops will Pay for Cleaning. 



The great secret of successful farming is, 

 never to allow any thing to grow that is not 

 sown. It is idle to expect good crops, while 

 from one-half to two-thirds of the nutritive 

 properties contained in the soil, and at least 

 that portion of its power of vegetation is con- 

 sumed by plants not cultivated — or, in other 

 words, by weeds. Our meadows have light 

 crops of grass, but is there not an ample one 

 of moss, Johnswort, crowfoot, or daisy ! We 

 get, perhaps, fifteen bushels of wheat per 

 acre, but has not vegetative power enough 

 been expended on the charlock, stein-krout, 

 or thistle, to have made the fifteen bushels 

 thirty ? Look at our potato or corn-fields, in 

 which the planted crops are maintaining a 

 doubtful struggle for existence with a vigor- 

 ous growth of vile interlopers, too numerous 

 to be named.* Is it not a truth that we do 

 not cultivate our land as well as we ought, to 

 get the greatest returns for the capital em- 

 ployed in agriculture ; and do we not allow 

 one-half of the actual value of our lands to 

 be thus filched from us, and lose one-half our 

 labour ! Better to till fifty acres well and as 

 it should be, keeping the soil rich, clean and 

 constantly improving, than to perpetuate the 

 exhausting, improvident, unprofitable methods 

 now so common, on 200 acres. — Cultivator. 



* " That man would have had a fine crop of weeds, 

 had il not been for his corn." 



