10 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jam. 



and commodious barns, the better fences and finer 

 stock, the fairer and more productive fields, togeth- 

 er with the reclaimed lands, so long unsightly 

 blotches on our own beautiful inheritance, all 

 show that labor is more wisely directed, that the 

 standard of morals has been elevated, and that 

 Home and the domestic relations of life are more 

 fully appreciated. 



Everywhere there is a higher degree of intelli- 

 gence and civilization. There are more good 

 dwellings and farms — more comfortable chairs, 

 more good beds, and more carpets on the floors of 

 the poorer people. Thousands have rooms com- 

 fortably warmed, with stoves for cooking, that 

 were formerly pinched with cold, and prepared 

 their scanty meals over green fuel in huge stone or 

 brick fire-places ; so they have convenient kitchen 

 utensils, where was to be seen scarcely more than 

 an iron pot, a few articles of tin ware, and a few 

 plates, of all sizes and colors, pewter, earthen 

 and crockery. 



Scarcely a house can be entered, however far 

 away among or on the mountains, but what the 

 schoolmaster, or his representative, may be found; 

 the Atlas, Geography, Grammar, Arithmetic, Na- 

 tional Reader, Philosophy, Algebra, besides News- 

 papers, Biographies, and something of the valuable 

 literature of the day. A conversation with the 

 sons and daughters soon shows that they have ac- 

 tive and inquiring minds, which will not be satis- 

 fied that all things are right, because they have 

 seen them done in a certain way. 



We say, then, that there has been great pro- 

 gress, and that the last year has efiected its full 

 share. Can there be any better Farm Work for 

 Janxtary, for all of us, than to take a retrospect 

 of the past, find encouragement in its teachings, 

 and start on the new course with vigorous steps 

 and determined will ^ We hold such a review to 

 be eminently practical, as much so as to discourse 

 of cattle and crops, meadows and manure, or pigs 

 and poultry. 



Accounts. — ^These are all settled for the year 

 1853, so that we have nothing more to say about 

 them ! 



Fuel. — If the reader will peruse again the 

 articles recently given upon fuel, he will see the 

 unprofitableness of burning wood green, and the 

 vexation which it causes in the family. Now is 

 the time to get up the year's supply and prepare 

 it for use. 



Tools. — All cleansed, repaired, and ready for 

 use ■? Some of them had not been painted for sever- 

 al years. "All done sir ; step this way." Ah, 

 neighbor Careful, that is a sight which would 

 ha'*^ gladdened old Jethro Tull's heart. Not a 

 bolt or wrench in a plow, not a tooth in a rake, 

 nor a tine in a fork, is lacking. The demon of dis- 

 cord never disturbs your pillow. 



Leave one good pitchfork and one rake about 

 the barn floor for use, and place all the rest in 

 the tool-room, if- you desire to keep them whole 

 through the winter. 



About the Cattle. — Aikin, in his calendar, 

 observes of this time of year : — "The domestic cat- 

 tle now require all the care and protection of the 

 farmer. Sheep are often lost in the sudden storm 

 by which the snow is drifted in the hollow, so as 

 to bury them to a great depth beneath it ; yet 

 they have been known to survive many days in 

 this situation. Cows with much ado scratch up 

 a few mouthfuls of grain ; but for their chief sus- 

 tenance they must depend upon the hay and other 

 provision of the farm-yard. Early lambs and 

 calves are kept within doors, and tended with as 

 much care as the farmer's own children." 



"Now, Farmers, to your helpless charge be kind; 



Baffle the raging year, and fill their pens 



With food at will ; lodge them below the storm, 



And watch them strict ; for, from the bellowing east. 



In this dire season, oft the whirlwind's wing 



Sweeps up the burthen of whole wintry plains 



At one wide waft, and o'er the hapless flock. 



Hid in the hollow of two neighboring hills, 



The billowy tempest whelms ; till upward urged, 



The valley to a shining mountain swells, 



Tipt with a wreath high curling in the sky." 



Cattle will need salt, and a little clean ashes, 

 occasionally mixed with salt put in the cut feed 

 for horses, is excellent for them. 



Sheep. — They do not care so much for the cold , 

 but they require a dry atmosphere, they should 

 therefore, go out and in at will. They will 

 be found in the clear and intensely cold nights 

 lying on the trodden snow in preference to lying 

 down in the barn ; while in quite warm, but damp 

 weather, they lie in the barn or under the sheds. 

 Sheep require careful treatment and keeping as 

 well as the other stock. An occasional feed of 

 corn, beans, turnips, or carrots, with access to the 

 branches of evergreens thrown into their yards, 

 will bring them out in the spring with full fleeces 

 and carcases, and large, vigorous lambs. 



Colts and Steers, if carefully handled daily, will 

 need no breahing of heads or limbs in order to 

 make them work for you. Accustom them to the 

 harness and yoke for weeks before you want their 

 services, and when they understand what you want, 

 they will do all they can cheerfully. 



Peach Trees may be headed down during the 

 warmer days, while the heads of all the family 

 may be most profitably 7i//c</ iij) with useful know- 

 ledge, virtuous principles, and a sincere desire to 

 make everybody about them Happy through this 

 New Year. 



A Fine Piece of Beef. — Mr. Reuben Thompson, 

 one of our old subscribers, of Plympton, Mass., 

 deposited on Thursday, one of the finest fat beeves 

 in the stall of Messrs. Holden, Bullard & Co., 

 Quincy Market, that we have seen for many a 



