552 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CITY MECKAIJICS AND COUNTRY 

 FARMERS-— NO. 4. 



WHT FARMING IS PKOFITAIJLE. 



Our last number, so far as it had reference to 

 the subject under discussion, wiS a mere state- 

 ment of the fact, that of my own family connec 

 tions, those who remained farmers are better off 

 for a living, than those of us are •who learned 

 trades. 



The question. Why is it so ^ was kept in my 

 mind while I was looking into their circumstan 

 ces, their modes of life, their means of getting 

 money, their ways of saving and of spending it, 

 and 1 think I have discovered the important se- 

 cret of their success, and of our failure. 



Merely to say that farming is more projitable, 

 in the usual sense of the word, does not satisfy 

 me ; for I do not believe it to be true. I fully be- 

 lieve that no class of people in the country work 

 so many hours for a dollar as farmers — that into 

 the pockets of no other class does money come as 

 reluctantly and slowly as it does into the pockets 

 of farmers. Nor can I allow that they are, nat 

 urally, more shrewd, saving, or thrifty than those 

 of us who happened to learn trades. The secret 

 of their superior success, therefore, is one worth 

 knowing, and for tlie discovery of which, I must 

 claim all the credit I am entitled to. But before 

 divulging it, directly, as might be done in few 

 words, we will take a peep at the farmer, and at 

 the mechanic, as they return of a Saturday night 

 to their respective homes. 



The farmer seats himself by an open door, that 

 his eye may glance over the fields. He has been 

 haying for several weeks, and expects it will 

 require one or tWo more to finish. The weather 

 has been hot and rather " catching," and he has 

 worked early and late to save his hay and dodge 

 the showers. An old scythe and an old shirt 

 liave given out to-day. A new scythe must be 

 had on Monday morning, any how, although he 

 has not received the " first red cent "" for his last 

 month's hard labor. The old shirt may be 

 patched, for his account at the store is running 

 up strangely this year. Besides, his hay is rather 

 light — the barn is hai'dly up to the beams, vet-r- 

 and instead of having a sipe-l/^ ^T"^™*"^ ".' ^^ 

 afraid Af ^^'>'""« ^'-"n or lodder before winter is 

 vnz. How natural, how absolutely unavoidable 

 is an economy that shall tell, in a family thus 

 situated. 



The mechanic comes home on Saturday night 

 with the looked-for, calculated-upon, ten dollar 

 ImII (more or less, as the case may be,) in his 

 pocket. 



" Now, wife and children, let's be gay ; 

 I've worked hard, and here's the pay." 



The various plans which have been popping into 

 the heads of the several members of his household, 

 during tlio week, for the economical use of the ex- 

 pected money, are now discussed — food, clothing, 

 fuel, rent, furniture, benevolence — not a single 

 foolish project is suggested ; yet the money is all 



provided lor, and will be gone, — all gone, by 



the time another week brings home another sum, 

 to_ go in the same way. Thus almost uncon- 

 sciously, a habit is formed of living up to the 

 means ; a habit that, after a little practice, be- 

 comes just as easy with three dollars a day, as 

 with one dollar. 



The avails of the labor of the farmer are be- 

 yond his immediate reach, and he can hardly 

 spend them if he would ; those of the mechanic 

 are placed directly into his hands, in that most 

 slippery of all property — ready money, which 

 will almost vanish of itself. The farmer neces- 

 sarily looks out for the future, " lays by in store," 

 and takes into his calculations a year or series of 

 years. This enlarges his powers of foresight, and 

 in a great measure prepares him for misfortunes. 

 The mechanic comes to limit his calculations and 

 ambition to a week, — beyond which he neither 

 looks nor cares to look ; and thus reverses or 

 sickness come upon him unawares, and unpro- 

 vided for. Indeed, I often think that the prac- 

 tice of weekly payments, so stoutly contended for 

 by mechanics, instead of proving to be a blessing, 

 operates as a curse to them, by inducing this 

 habit of living up to their means, — of spending 

 all they earn as fast as it is earned. In making 

 out the bills of journeymen, as I do for several 

 weekly, I am sometimes amused, sometimes pro- 

 voked, by their expedients to bring in every thing 

 they have done, although the rule is to allow for 

 such parts of the work only as ai-e completed. 

 By most, whatever is thus left to another week, 

 is mourned over and scolded about as labor lost ! 

 To be assured that it will be good next week, 

 affords about as much satisfaction as to promise 

 them a corner lot in one of the cities in the moon. 

 They take no thought for next week ; may not 

 live to see it ; and if they should, next week 

 must take care of itself. 



Is my secret out ? Farmers grow rich because 

 they save ; mechanics keep poor because they 

 spend ; and the habits of each are the result, 

 mainly, of their respective circumstances. 



A City Mechanic. 



Boston, Nov., 1854. 



MILCH COWS. 



If you desire your cows to yield liberally to 

 the pail, you must feed them with something 

 better suited to the secretion of rich milk than 

 dry provender. Cl^c-pF^a roots, or meal slops of 

 soniP L-"J, should be given them twice a day, at 

 least, say morning and evening. They should 



also be provided with littered beds, dry lodgings 



moderately warm — be regularly watered thrice 

 each day, just before being fed,— be curried or 

 combed once a day, and salt, with occasionally a 

 little ashes or fine bone dust mixed, two or 

 three tinges a week. They also like a variety of 

 food. Roots, cut or rasped, and mixed with 

 cut hay or straw, then stirred and left for an 

 hour or two, make a mess which they will eat 

 very greedily. We think that hardly attention 

 enough is given to the bedding of cows, as the 

 more quiet and comfortable they are, the less 

 food will be required to sustain the system, and 

 may therefore go to produce flesh or milk. A 

 gentleman who has constantly employed several 

 pairs of working oxen for many years, states that 

 oxen will travel ' fifteen miles a day, being well 

 "littered down" at night, as easy as twelve 

 miles, and lie upon the bare floor. If this state- 



