1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



241 



tioned are of no great consequence, provided there 

 be an excess of Alkali. Should this mode of gen- 

 erating Ammonia prove successful, and I see no 

 reason why it Avill not, it may, after a few exper- 

 iments to ascertain tlie proper quantities, be use- 

 ful in proparins^ hot-beds, &c. G. P. 

 New Salan, March, 1854. 



For the Ifrw En^ldiid Fanner. 



COUHTSY FARMERS AND CITY ME- 

 CHANICS-No. 2. 



Mr. Brown : — In my first article, which you 

 did me tlie kindness to pulilish, I promised to say 

 something at another time upon tiie subject of pro- 

 viding for and rearing families in the city and in 

 the country. IJut 1 tindit a much liarder subject 

 to write upon tlian to think about, as indeed most 

 8u})jects are to tliose little aocustom<!d to giving 

 their thoughts a "local habitation and a name." 



I remark, then, byway of beginning, that botli 

 my own experience and my observation of the ex- 

 perience of others, teach me that the advantages of 

 a city arc decidedly on the side of single or 

 unmarried mechanics ; and that it is from con- 

 fining their observations to this class, that country 

 people form a too favoraltle o{)inion of city life. I 

 am willing to admit that an unmarried mechanic, 

 if a superior workman, and blessed with health 

 and those habits of economy learned only in the 

 countrj', maj/hvy up more money in the city, than 

 a journeyman farmer can in the country ; or, if a 

 little given to display, that the city j'outli may 

 dress and k(!ep himself in better-looking style than 

 can the farmer-) loy — his boots muy l)e higher pol- 

 ished, and so may liis manners, — (both are some- 

 times injured by the process) and that on his 

 visits to his country friends he may display a free- 

 and-easy bearing in company that is admired bj' 

 the ladies, and envied by tlie other sex who find 

 themselves doomed to tread the "dull round their 

 fatliers trod."' 



But folks ai'e not always young, not always 

 single. In both city and country, matrimony 

 seems to bo as much in the course of nature, as 

 the rheumatism or old age. The city mechanic 

 with his ten dollars a week marries ; and — a most 

 favorable supposition — let him choose a country 

 girl for his wife ; one who was bi'ought up to 

 similar habits of economy with himself. Over- 

 persuaded by the advice of city friends, they com- 

 mence life by "boarding out." Six dollars and a 

 half a Aveek, leave three and a half for clothing, 

 firewood, lights, &c. They soon find this will not 

 do. They must keep house. Several half days 

 are lost in "house-hunting," and the happy pair 

 find themselves established in their humble home. 

 Established .' Have they bought the tenement 

 they occujiy, and mutually resolved to take hold 

 and pay lor it as quickly asjiossilile, so that their 

 home though homely may soon be their own! 

 Nothing oi the kind. City journeymen seldom 

 think of such a thing. They have hired it — hired 

 it for a month ! Ten dollars a month fur bare 

 rooms to live in ; but every body says it is vcnj 

 cheap. Many who have no larger wages jiay one 

 hundred and fifty, two hundred, two hundn^d and 

 twenty-five, fifty, seventy-tivo, and even three hun- 

 dred dollars a year. 



Here then they have fairly "begun the world." 

 Every thing has been "put to rights." The car- 



pets, furniture, &c., which were selected almost 

 as much on the opinions of their newly made city 

 friends, as liy their own taste, and which cost 

 rather more than what their own judgment dicta- 

 ted as necessary to "l)egin witli," have been ar- 

 ranged, and are all paid for. The good house-wife 

 has had time to look about the premises a little 

 more thoughtfully, and to contrast her new home 

 with the old one that she left so willingly. She 

 has nuudi better furniture ; her parlor, though 

 suuiUer than the "square-room" of her father's 

 house, is neater, prettier, nicer. But her empty 

 cellar, or no cellar at all I She does wonder, as 

 the "marketing" is brought home, that she used 

 to think so little of the hug.s potato-bin, the bar- 

 rels of pork, the firkins ot Initter, pots of lard, 

 boxes of apples. Heaps of "garden sauce, "_ shelves 

 of milk, cream, cheese, pickles, good old eider ap- 

 ple-sauce, &e., that used to clutter-up //;uV cellar. 

 Now, all these things must be purchased — and at 

 such prices! Nine dollars for a little heap of coal, 

 and the same for a cord of wooil to kindle it, twen- 

 ty-six cents for a pound of butter, thirty to Ibrty 

 lor a peck of potatoes, twelve to twefity for a pound 

 of fresh meat, twenty to thirty for a dozen of eggs, 

 and luckly if not stale, at that, — every pound of 

 lard, every string of onions, every quart of beans, 

 every pint of milk, and even every pail of water 

 (if they take the Cochituate) has a price, and a 

 price that must be paid or the article cannot be 

 had. 



These are small things, to be sure, but " Small 

 sands the mountains make," cents make dollars, 

 and "trilles life," and it may be well for those who 

 envy the large wages of city mechanics to heed 

 even these small leaks that so many of us find 

 quite sufficient to sink our ships. 



Now, to put the result of our cogitations, thus 

 far, into a sort of arithmetical statement, we will 

 allow our young house-keepers three dollars a 

 week for fires, liglits, provisions, &c., two dollars 

 and fifty cents a week for clotliing, bedding, fur- 

 niture, utensils, &c., and, say, twelve dollars a 

 year for pew-rent and two for use of library, and 

 for lectures, — making no allowance for a "hole in 

 the pocket" that is so often i'ound by the tempta- 

 tions of a city, none for theatres or concerts, none 

 for cigars, — and vie have, 

 Dr. 



For rent of rooms, per year $1'20,00 



For provisions, &c. " 156,00 



For clothing, &c. " loO.OO 



For pew-rent, library, &c. " 11,00 



S'*-0,00 

 Cr. 

 By wages at $10 per week $520,00 



Balance for a "rainy day" $100,00 



Before taking this result as the basis of a com- 

 parison of the relative profits of city mechanics 

 and country farmers, several questions arise for 

 discussion. Do all city mechanics get as much as 

 ten dollars a week? Do not some get more > Do 

 their families always consist of only two members? 

 ,\re they ever sick, or out of work ' Is their rent 

 ever rais5d. or their pay cut down ' Do they ever 

 move, despite the caution of Franklin, that three 

 removes are as l)ad as a fire ? These questions 

 can probably l)e answered by those who liave the 

 patience to read this article, as well as I shall do 

 it if I nuike the attempt in a liiture number of 

 the Farmer. A CiTV ^IecuajSIC. 



Boston, April, 1854. 



