302 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For the New Enf^land Farmer. 



MONTHLY FARMER FOR JUNE. 



It is so difficult for me to find time even to jot 

 down a few thoughts suggested by reading the 

 Farmer, that I often wonder liow others have 

 leisure to write as much as they do. But the fact 

 is, I suppose, that "Many hands make light 

 work." Here in the number for the busy montli 

 of June, is a larger list of original communications 

 than is usual for the more leisure seasons ; and, 

 as will be seen, a very wide variety of subjects are 

 discussed, in a brief, pithy, farmer-like style. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIOXS — Ollly. 



n. p., (N. Y.) Small Potatoes for Seed— Wheat. 



S P. F , (Ms.) History of Birds of New England. 



^. Tenny, (Me.) Hen Manure. 



N . P. Morrison, (Ms.) Best Apples to Raise. 



J. N. Bagce, (Ms.) Biograpliv of a Gardener. 



E. J., (N.'^II.) Seeding with Barley. 



S. P., (Ms.) Plows and Plowing. 



John M. Tyler, (N. H.) Milch Cows. 



D. C, (Ms.) Farming in New Kngland. 



Ira Goodhue, (Vt.) Making Maple Sugar. 



A Reader, (Ms.) Monthly Farmer for April. 



A. Brown, (Ms.) Great Yield of Butter. 



G. F. N., (Vt.) Green Corn for Cows. * 



(ieo. B. Greene, (Vt.) Yellow Locust Trees. 



E. -D. B., (R. I.) Good Beef. 



, (Ms.) K.xtravagant Prices for Stock. 



T. A. S., (.Ms.) Seeding Land for Grass. 



*, (Ms.) . . .Experiments. 



M., (.Ms.) Cooked and Uncooked Food. 



R. B. H., (.Md.) Great oxen,cows, sheep, pigs and 



.1. S., (Ms.) Flowers and Birds. [Women. 



H. B., (N. H.) The Season—Frozen Trees. 



II. Stratton, Jr., (Ct.) Manures. 



F. .A.., (Ms.) Breaking Steers. 



Essex, (Ms.) Middlese.x Agricultural Society. 



B., (Ms.) Shall I engage in Farming > 



1). A., (Ms.) Why do cattle eat Horse Manure.' 



Henry F. French, (N. II.) A Lesson on Guano. 



S. & T. S. Fletcher, (Vt.) Account of their Farm. 



R. M. Copeland, (Ms.) Flower Garden. 



W. Pierce, (Ca;i.) High Price of Beef. 



Agrieola, (Ms.) Profits of Farming. 



Fertilizers. 



S. Tenny, (Me.) The Season. 



Mrs. S. Pierce, (Vt.) Mixing Butter. 



A Reader, (Ms.) Monthly Farmer for May. 



Seven or eight others Make inquiries and suggestions. 



Which, by the way, with the replies of the Ed- 

 itor, are usually among the most instructive por- 

 tion of the whole paper. 



Here then we have almost as many different 

 writers as there are pages in the Farmer, without 

 taking into the account the usual variety of Edi- 

 torial and Selected articles. To me, this is a most 

 encouraging feature of the times, as well as of the 

 Farmer. To those who believe that the facts 

 which are to constitute an American System of 

 Scientific Agriculture, are to come up from the 

 broad fields of Practice, the labors of these cor- 

 respondents, who are experimenting, observing, 

 inquiring, in all parts of our diversified country, 

 have a value and imjDortance much greater than 

 they can have with those who believe that these 

 facts are to come doxun from Colleges, State Farms, 

 or Chemical Laboratories. These working, think- 

 ing, men, — stationed on our hills and in our val- 

 leys, on the sandy plain and on the cloddy clay, 

 on the worn-out soils of the East and on the new 

 eoils of the West ; operating in almost every cli- 

 mate, from a tropical to a polar one, and engaged 

 on j^roductions as diversified as their circumstances 

 are various, — even if they are not actually build- 

 ing up a "Science," certainly are doing much 

 to make agricultural publications valuable, by 

 their interchange of experience, practice and re 

 suits, however simple each one's record may ap 

 pear to himself. Send on your communications 



then, — give us your failures as well a.s your tri- 

 umplis ; your disappointments as well as suc- 

 cesses — there is room for them all in the columns 

 of the Farmer. Here you speak, first, to a multi- 

 tude of "AYeekly" readers of a newsjiaper, and 

 tlien neatly done up in book-form, "lettered and 

 gilded," your productions appear on the shelves of 

 agricultural libraries, throughout the country, to 

 histruct and amuse ge'nei-ations yet unborn, as 

 well as the men of your own time. 



The foregoing list of original contributors, how- 

 ever, comprise only about one-iialf of the whole 

 number of articles which make up this number 

 of the Monthly Farmer. Among the more strik- 

 ing of which, are the pictures of farm^er Slack and 

 farmer Thrift; pictures too true for mere fun, 

 for who has not seen the original of Farmer Slack 1 

 But it is not my intention to give even an index of 

 the contents of this number. 



I have a word or two for "B.," who asks, ap- 

 parently in good faith, ^^ Shall I engage in Farm- 

 ing V^ This depends, my good sir, on yourself. 

 If you wish for our advice, please stand- out, so 

 that we may have a look at you. Are your shoul- 

 ders broad and your back strong, or do you pride 

 yourself on small gloves and narrow boots? Can 

 you stand heat like a salamander and cold like a 

 seal, or must you carry an umbrella in dog-days 

 and a foot-stove in Winter? Are your sinews 

 hardened by out-door labor, or enervated by in- 

 door confinement ■? Did you earn your "eight 

 hundred dollars" by hard knocks, or did it "fall" 

 to you ■? Can you work fifteen hours a day in 

 hay-time, or are you President of a ten-hour con- 

 vention'? Arc you willing to eat and use the poor- 

 est, so as to sell the best, or must you be served 

 first in all good things? Have you learned the 

 trade of farming, or do you think it comes by na- 

 ture and cattle-show addresses ? And, lastly, how 

 is it with 3'our "woman ?" AVill she, like the one 

 described on page 259 of this month's Farmer,, 

 be 



'•Up in the early morning ; just at the peep of day, 

 Straining the milk in the dairy, turning the cows away. 

 Feeding the geese and turkeys, making the pumpkin pies, 

 Jogging the little one's cradlC; driving away the flies .-"' 



or would a loose cow frighten her out of her wits, 

 and a pail of water be too much for her strength ? 

 Does she glory rather in spending five dollars ,than in 

 saving five cents ? Answer these question satisfac- 

 torily to yourself, before you take any body's ad- 

 vice to "engage in farming," or 3'ou may find the 

 acclimating process rather severe for your nerves. 

 Mr. French gives us a capital article, headed 

 '^ Slid: to the Farm,'" — an article that ought to 

 be put in a frame and hung up in every fai-m- 

 house in the country, — but there is a great difier- 

 euce between advising to "Stick to the Farm," 

 and recommending every agricultural dreamer to 

 "engage in farming," without regard to his fit- 

 ness for the business. The farm is a capital nur- 

 sery of men for other professions in life, but 3-our 

 villages and city boys and girls are poor sprouts to 

 put out on the farm — sort of hot-bed plants, that 

 cannot stand the rough influences of out-door life. 

 When merchants, mechanics or professional men, 

 or their sons, conclude to turn farmers, I advise 

 them to try the business at first, as apprentices or 

 "hired men;" if they find they have stamina 

 enough to work out the whole season, and shrewd- 

 ness enough to lay up a hundred dollars a year 



