NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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as I always have done. The field being some ways 

 from the house, I drew my seed into the field, 

 and tipped them up on the ground, and something 

 ■which 1 do not now remember prevented me from 

 planting them for two days or more. The seed ends 

 became dry almost like a chip ; my father says to 

 me, "your sf ed ends will not come up, they are so 

 dry they cannot grow." I told him I would risk it, 

 and accordingly I planted them ; they came up as 

 soon as his, but not more than half the number of 

 stalks in a hill. The old gentleman would say every 

 now and then, that he would have the most pota- 

 toes, because there were more tops to his than mine ; 

 this being the first of my farming, I began to think 

 he would have the best crop ; but when we came to 

 dig them, he turned his tune, he having two pota- 

 toes to my one in number, but in measure I had al- 

 most two to his one. I have always planted the 

 same way, that is, I planted seed ends, not because 

 I lacked for seed, but because I think it the best 

 way on the part of economy and profit. The prac- 

 tice of putting on fifteen or twenty bushels to the 

 acre is altogether an error. It is a two-fold loss ; in 

 the fir«t place, it is a waste of seed, which is worth 

 something to give to cattle, and in the next place, 

 there is a loss in your crops, as your potatoes are not 

 as large, and not as saleable. 



I do not wish to be understood that there is no 

 other way of planting to get large potatoes ; I think 

 that to cut the potato lengthways, and put one piece 

 in a hill, will produce about the same potatoes, but 

 there is more waste of seed in this way. w. A. 



JVorth Hartland, VL, Feb. 7, 1857. 



MADE FOR SOME OTHER BUSINESS. 



In the excellent article addressed to "A Farmer's 

 Son," written by "J. W. C," of Springfield, Vt., 

 which we published a short time since, it is ably ar- 

 gued that by industry, &c., any young man may 

 become wealthy by farming, and a sentence closes 

 with this proviso : — "If there is enough of him 



rO MAKE A MAN IN ANT AVOCATION.'' 



These words made a deep impression on our 

 mind when we first read them, and they have con- 

 tinued to "run in our head" ever since. We pro- 

 pose now to make a few jottings of their journey 

 through the "airy nothings" of our brain. 



They have suggested that many imprecations on 

 farming, and on other kinds of business, too, would 

 be silenced by a proper application of the truth 

 which is thus forcibly expressed. But we do not 

 like to apply it to ourselves. It is too harsh. 

 Even when compelled to acknowledge that failure 

 is fairly chargeable to ourselves ; when we cannot 

 avoid the conviction that, in a particular case, we 

 lacked energy, perseverance, or skill in manage- 

 ment, yet our self-esteem argues with our judg- 

 ment, that it is only in that particular line, or that 

 particular business, that we are deficient. Instead 

 of seeing that the fault is in ourselves, rather than 

 in our business or circumstances; instead of think- 

 ing it possible that our failure or poor success is 

 because "there is not enough of us to make a man 

 in any avocation," we too often indulge the belief 



that we were made for some other business, and 

 that in some other business we should be eminent- 

 ly successful. This idea produces dissatisfaction 

 with our profession ; and we seek to change that, 

 rather than to improve ourselves. 



Perhaps there are few feelings more fatal to 

 peace of mind and success in life, than those which 

 result from the belief that we were intended for 

 some sphere in life other than that we happen to 

 fill. Many of our authorized teachers, however, 

 seem to attach great importance to the idea of 

 natural adaptation, and phrenological head examin- 

 ers advise young persons to buy a chart of their 

 brains, so that they can see at a glance just what 

 they were made for, and thus be enabled to choose 

 that profession which will perfectly harmonize with 

 the peculiar conformation of their individual 

 "bumps." 



There is perhaps some truth in this theory — there 

 is more or less, it is said, in all theories — but we do 

 not believe there is half enough to justify the dis- 

 satisfaction it produces everywhere, — on the farm, 

 in the shop, and in the office. 



To the lazy and reluctant plodder it may be an 

 exceedingly comfortable reflection that his want of 

 success is owing to the fact that he is "out of his 

 element," that he has "missed his sphere," that he 

 was "made for some other business." 



Very few, however, in our opinion, are entitled 

 to the benefit of this excuse. We regard as essen- 

 tially fallacious the idea commonly entertained by 

 farmers, mechanics and others, that in some other 

 sphere or vocation their pent up energies would 

 find freer exercise, and more congenial employ- 

 ment. 



"Faithful over a few things" is a high test and 

 proof of excellence. And the farmer's boy, or the 

 farmer himself, who scorns to be energetic, or fails 

 to be faithful, in what he may deem a dull and 

 plodding business, would do much better, in our 

 opinion, to fear that there is not enough of him to 

 make a man anywhere, than he does by indulging 

 the expectation that he should manifest these qual- 

 ities in some other occupation or profession. It 

 is sometimes said of this dull preacher, or of that 

 stupid lawyer, that a good farmer, or a good me- 

 chanic, was spoiled when he commenced the study 

 of his profession. We doubt it. We believe it is 

 the poor farmer that makes the poor preacher, and 

 the poor mechanic that makes the poor lawyer. 



Washington was as good a farmer as general. 

 Napoleon manifested the same superiority as a 

 road-maker, that he displayed on the field of bat- 

 tle. Some men succeed, whatever business they en- 

 gage in; others just as surely fail, let them try 

 what they will. 



An anecdote, that we have seen in print, of the 

 celebrated Billy Gray, illustrates the truth of our 

 assertion that the really energetic, persevering, and 



