NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the American Farmer. 



FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE CURING 



OF HOPS. 



Beverly, 4«/i July. 1823. 

 Gorham Parsons, Fsq. 



Dear <S'iV — 1 did not keep a copy of the letter I 

 wrote yoii respecting the culture and ciirina: of 

 hops, and I do not recollect pnrticularlv the fur- 

 ther inl'orination you requested of me, hut I be- 

 lieve it was principal!}- respecting the kiln. 



A kiln for the purpose of drying hops shoidd 

 he at the side of a hill or rising ground, so that 

 the top shoidd be about nine I'eet from tlie bot- 

 tom, twelve feet square at the top, tapering on 

 all sides to about three and a half feet at the 

 hottom in the clear, built up tapering, wilh stone 

 laid in lime mortar, and plastered with clay 

 from top to bottom with an aperture at the bot- 

 tom about the size of the month of a common 

 oven, for the convenience of putting in the 

 coal, firing it, and regulating it afterwards. 



Upon the stones at the top, is placed a sill of 

 four pieces of timber of about eight inches 

 square, and of course about twelve feet long, 

 that being the size of the kiln at the top. upon 

 which you place strips of boards, half inch thick 

 and two inches wide, and within three and a 

 half to lour inches of each other, over which 

 you stretch tow or coarse linen cloth, for a bed 

 to place the hops upon, for the purpose of dry- 

 ing, and under which, at the bottom of the kiln, 

 is made a charcoal tire, regulated at the discre- 

 tion of the man who attends the drying. It will 

 of course be necessary to have a board round the 

 kiln at the top, of about one foot high, to con- 

 fine the hops on the bed. 1 think it would be 

 a further improvement to have a covered roof, 

 and open at the sides, to protect the hops in 

 case of rain, while they are drying. 



It will be necessary to stir them constantly 

 with a rake, while they are drying, and you 

 may with convenience dry about lifty pounds 

 each time. I believe you may calculate about 

 one pound to a hill, or 800 lbs. to the acre, for 

 the second and third year, after planting, if the 

 land is in good order. It will be well to renew 

 your fields once in three or four years, because 

 the vine degenerates. 



I am, dear Sir, with great respect, 



Your friend and obedient servant, 

 ^ 11^'^^^ THOR.\DIKE. 



newIkng landfarmer. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 30, 1823. 



QZj- Several communications were received too late 

 for this day's paper. They will be given next week. 



The Trustees of the MansachuseHs Agricultu- 

 ral Society cannot omit the opportunity of ten- 

 dering, publicly, their thanks to Captain Jack- 

 sou, of the Ship Herald, for the great care and 

 attention bestowed by him on their fine import- 

 ed bull. Admiral, presented to the Society by 

 Sir Isaac Cotlin, without which care he must 

 probably have perishod during his long and 

 hoisterous passage. This example is worthy 

 of imitation, as upon the patriotic assiduity of 

 Ship-masters often depends the acquisition of 

 plants and animals, which may prove of impor- 

 tance to their country. 



la behidf of the Trustees, 



JOHN LOWELL, President. 



Roxhury, August 23, 1023. 



Extracts from a work lately published by William 

 CoBnETT, entitled " Collasre Economy,'''' with occa- 

 sional remarks on some of the statements of the au- 

 thor. 



[Continued from page 30.] 

 " If the laborer have his fair wages ; if there 

 be no false weights and measures, whether of 

 money or of goods, by which he is defrauded ; 

 if the laws be equal in their effect on all men; 

 if he be called upon tor no more than his due 

 share of the expenses necessary to support the 

 government and defend the countrv, he ha? no 

 reason to comfduin. If the largeness of his fam- 

 ily demand extraordinary labor and care, these 

 are duo from him to if. He is the cause of the 

 existence of that family ; and, therefore, he is 

 not, except in cases of accidental calamity, to 

 throw upon others the buithen of supporting it. 

 Besides, " little children arc as arrows in the 

 hands of the giant, and blessed is t!io man 



into some course of desperation he falls ; ant 

 the end is but too often not only wretched bui 

 ignominious. 



" Understand me clearly here, however; for, 

 it is the duty of parents to give, if they are able 

 book learning to their children, having /,j; ta 

 ken care to make them capable of earning theii 

 living by budily labor. When that object has 

 once been secured, the other may, if the aliijiiy 

 remain, be attended to. But, I am wholly 

 against children wasting their time in the idle- 

 ness of what is called education ; and particular- 

 ly in schools over which the parents have nc 

 contrniil, and where nothing is taught but the 

 rudiments of servility, pauperism and slavery. 



" The education that I have in view is, there- 

 fore, of a very different kind. You should boai 

 constantly in mind, that nine tenths of us are. 

 from the very nature and necessities of the 



that hath his quiver full of them." That is to i '^°'''''' '^'""" '° S:'!!" our livelihood by the sweat 

 say children, ifthey bring their c«rcs, bring also! °'''"'' ""■'"^- What reason have we, thir.. tc 

 ■ presume, that our children are not to do the 



same ? If they be, as now and then one will be, 

 endued wilh extraordinary powers oi mind; 



their p/t'osMrcs and solid advantages. They be 

 come, very soon, so many assistants and props 

 to the parents, who when old age comes on, are 

 amply repaid for all the toil and all the cares 

 that children have occasioned in their infancy. 

 To be without sure and safe friends in the world 

 makes life not worth having; and whom can 

 we be so sure of as our children. Brothers and 

 sisters are a mutual support. We see them, in 

 almost every case, grow up into prosperity, 

 when they act the part that the impulses of na- 

 ture prescribe. When cordially united, a father 

 and sons, or a family of brothers and sisters, 

 may, in almost any state of life, set what is cal- 

 led misfortune at defiance. 



" These considerations are much more than 

 enough to sweeten the toils and cares of parents, 

 and to make them regard every additional child 



those powers may have an opportunity of tb\el. 

 oping themselves; and, if they never have thai 

 opportunity, the harm is not very great to us oi 

 to them. Nor does it hence follow, that the 

 descendants of laborers are idn-ays to be la! orers. 

 The path upwards is steep and long, to be sure. 

 Industry, care, skill, excellence in the present 

 parent lays the foundation of a rise, und<>r more 

 favoralde circumstances, for his children. The 

 children of these fake another rise ; and, by and 

 by, the descendants of the present laborer be- 

 come gentlemen. 



" This is the natural progress. It is by at- 

 tempting to reach the top at a single leap that so 

 much misery is produced in the world ; and the 



as an additional blessing. But, that children j Propensity to make such attempts has been cher- 

 may be a blessing and not a curse, care must be j 'f^^^'' ""'' encouraged by the strange projects 

 taken of their education. This word has, of late I ^"^^ "^ ^'^'"^ witnessed of late years lor making 

 years, been so perverted, so corrupted, soabus-' "^*^ hiborers virtuous and happy by giving tben 

 ed, in its application, that 1 am almost afraid to "'''^' '^ called education. The education which 

 Hse it here. Yet i must not suffer it to be usur- ' speak of consists in bringing children up to 

 ped by cant and tyranny. 1 must use it; but, not ' ^^^°^ "''^ steadiness, with cure, and with shill; 

 witho"ut clearly saying what I mean. ! '° ^'^°'y ''^^m how to do as many useful things 



" Education means breeding up, bringing up, \ ^^ P" s'sible ; to teach them to do them all in the 

 or rearing up ; and nothing more. This includes ' manner ; to set them an example in indus- 

 e\CTy thing with regard to the mind as well as i '''•>'' sobriety, cleanliness and neatness ; to make 

 the6o%ot"the child; but of late vears, it has ' "'' ^'"^^'^ habitual to them, so that they never 

 been so used as to have no sense applied to ith''-^" ^'^ liable to fall info the contrary ; to let 

 but that oi' book learnina, with which, nine times - 1^*^"" a'^ays see a good living proceeding from 



out of ten, it has nothing at all to do. It is, __ 

 deed, proper, and it is the duty, of every parent, 

 to teach, or c>iuse to be taught, their children 

 as much as they can of books, after, and not be- 

 fore, all the measures are safely taken for ena- 

 bling them to get their living by lat-or, or, for 

 providing them a living n-ilhout labor, and thai 

 loo, out of the means obtained and secured by 

 the parents out of their own income. The taste 

 of the times unhappily, is to give to children 

 something of book-learning with a view of pla- 

 cing them to live, in some way or other, upon 

 the labor of other people. Very seldom, compar- 

 atively speaking, has this succeeded, even dur- 

 ing the wasteful public expenditure of the last 

 thirty years ; and, in the times that are approach- 

 ing, it cannot, 1 thank God, succeed at all. When 

 the project has f;tiled, what disappointment, 

 mortification and misery, to both parent and 

 child! The latter is spoiled as a laborer ; his 



labor, and thus to remove from them the temp- 

 tation to get at the goods of others by violent 

 or fraudulent means, and to keep tar from their 

 minds all the inducements to hypocrisy and de- 

 ceit. 



'• And, hear in mind, that, if the state of the 

 laborer has its disadvantages when compared 

 with other callings and conditions of life, it has 

 also its advantages. It is free from the torments 

 of ambition, and from a great part of the cause} 

 of ill-health, for which not all the riches in the 

 world and all the circumstances of high rank 

 are a compensation. The able and prudent li^ 

 borer is always safe, at the least, and that ft 

 what few men are who are lifted above hiirt^ 

 — They have losses and crosses to fear, thii 

 very thought of which never enters his mind, »i 

 he act well his part towards himself, his i'amiljr 

 and his neighbor." 



The foregoing sentiments are perfectly cor- 



book-learning has only made him conceited ;' rect and happily expressed. The following, 



