190 



JVew Yearns Day. — Hampshire Hogs. 



Vol. V. 



ed on the f carrot and \ sugar parsnep was, in 

 all, equal to one man 22 days ; the | patch 

 of carrot, 25 days. The sugar beet and man- 

 gel-wurzel did not get, by one-half, as much 

 work in proportion, nor was it as timely 

 given, except in sowing and thinning — they 

 were attended to only at intervals, when the 

 mornings were damp or doubtful, or at other 

 short periods, when the work in the harvest 

 field could not be prosecuted. 



Mr. Gowen ascribes much of his success 

 in raising so fine a crop of roots, to his gar- 

 dener, Peter Keiffer, whose skill and industry 

 were favourably noticed last year, in the pro- 

 ceedings relating to crops, by the " Philadel- 

 phia Society for promoting Agriculture," and 

 published in the Cabinet. 



RECAPITULATION. 



' 41 acres, 54 bushels rve, at 50 rts $27 00 



13 " 195 do. wheat, at $1 05 204 75 



,4^ " 40 do. spring wheat, at 80 cts 32 00 



6 " 100 do. spring barley, at 50 cts .50 00 



3i " 300 do. potatoes, at 50 cts 150 00 



5 " 375 do. corn, at 50 cts 187 50 



]i " 75 do. do. 50 cts 37 50 



37J acres. $ 688 75 



1 3-16 sugar beet, 918 bush, at 20, § 183 60 



1 mangel-wurzel 850 " 15. 127 50 



Ji carrots, 720 " 50, 3C0 00 



i sugar parsnep, 215 " 50, 107 50 



778 GO 



3 11-16 acres. 



$ 1407 35 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 New Year's Day. 



Mr. Editor, — A kind Providence has 

 brought us to the opening of a new year, — 

 may it accompany us to its close ! 



This is the season for the farmer to turn 

 over a new leaf and a clean page ; and, to 

 be myself consistent, I purchased at the time 

 I last called on you at your office, while 

 passing through Messrs. Kimber & Co.'s 

 bookstore, a particularly neat little publica- 

 tion, consisting of an almanac and diary, for 

 37^ cents, which I iiave this morning opened, 

 by placing at the head of the first page the 

 following memento. " Whatsoever thy hand 

 findeth to do, do it with all thy might — there 

 IS NO WORK IN THE GRAVE." I havo there- 

 fore begun the year in good promise, — may I 

 live to close it in good faith ! 



No one knows the value of a diary but he 

 who has tested its utility ; and to the farmer 

 above all others, is it indispensable to a cor- 

 rect formation of judgment, which is made 

 up of past observation and reflection ; and it 

 is with him a text-book, from whence many 

 an excellent sermon is preached for condem- 

 nation as well as instruction, for reproof as 

 well as comfort : and I see this exemplified 

 most particularly, whenever I call upon my 

 friend Jacob Evans, to enjoy an hour's con- 



versation of an evening; for in a few min- 

 utes down comes his diary, and from it we 

 gather, as from chapter and verse, the why 

 and the wherefore of many a good and ill 

 that has befallen us, during the past and pre- 

 sent years, and from whence we had learnt 

 the cause of the general blightiness of the 

 past season, long before the publication of 

 that extremely interesting paper, at page 159 

 of the last No. of the Cabinet — for to the un- 

 seasonable heat of the early spring, and the 

 frosts and hailstorms which fell out so late in 

 the season, had we already attributed the 

 blight, of every shape and colour — on the 

 grain as well as on the fruit trees of every 

 kind — particularly on a row of pear trees, 

 which surround the back of his house. 



Let every one, therefore, provide himself 

 with an almanac and diary ; make a snug 

 niche for it on the corner of the mantel-piece 

 on his side of the fire, and close to the ink- 

 bottle, and never retire to rest of an evening 

 until he has entered on its pages something 

 relating to the past day — the state of the 

 weather being of paramount importance. 



I conclude in the words of Frank's Father, 

 in the Dialogues — " This is the first morning 

 of a new year ; we have risen in health and 

 safety, with a prospect of happiness ; and 

 although the times are difficult, still we trust 

 that our daily labour will procure us daily 

 food — and a farmer, in the bosom of a happy 

 family, should be the last man to despair. 

 We now look forward to the spring, too, and 

 then we shall have two summers to one win- 

 ter, you know. This is the season of all 

 others the most suitable at which to form 

 good resolutions ; we have enjoyed the festi- 

 vities of Christmas, and now for the thank- 

 fulness of a grateful heart." 



Your constant reader, 



W. G. 



N. Jersey, 1st Jan., 1841. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Hampshire Hogs. 



Sir, — The portrait of the Hampshire sow, 

 in the No. of the Cabinet for November, and 

 your expressed opinion, that Mr. James Gow- 

 en, of Alount Airy, Gennantown, was pos- 

 sessed of a remarkably fine animal of that 

 breed, induced me to devote a day to the pur- 

 pose of seeing her, and I can bear my testi- 

 mony to the fact of her being a superb ani- 

 mal — such an one as I had not before seen — 

 with length and depth enormous, and, withal, 

 a skin as sleek as a Chinese. But, hoM' 

 shall I say it ! I found her devoted to the 

 butcher — her owner having despaired of ob- 

 taining ])igs from her, after keeping her a 

 year in that hope : this circumstance I con- 

 sider a loss to the country as well as to him- 



