10 



NEM/' ENGLAND FARMER, 



JULY 13, 184a. ^ 



CAUSES OF THB EMBARRASSMENTS OF 

 FARMERS. 



It wn.ild .spem at first blush very extraordinary 

 that, in New England, a farmer, who has for exam- 

 ple his farm free of incumbrance, shrmld ever be- 

 come bankrupt. So intimately connected is this 

 subject with the prosperity and respectability of 

 the africultural profession, that some remarks in 

 reference to it, will not, I hope, be deemed mis- 

 placed. Among the Romans, six acres were con- 

 sidered ample for the support of a family ; with 

 tlieir hundred acres, some of our farmers grow poor, 

 and become hopelessly insolvent. In many cases 

 not a tenth part of such farms is cultivated. In- 

 stead of asking how he can make every acre of his 

 land productive, the farmer inquires how lie can 

 subsist with the least possible expenditure of labor 

 in its cultivation, or of capital in its improvement. 

 No good in life can be attained without labor; and 

 sometimes, oftentimes, large and valuable tracts of 

 land lie unproductive and worthless, because the 

 farmer is unwilling to expend any thing in their 

 redemption and improvement. 



Then again, in the families of many farmers 

 there are too many unproductive hands. In the 

 changes which, since the introduction of extensive 

 manufactories of cotton and woollen among us, 

 have taken place in our habits of domestic labor, 

 some of the internal resources of the farmer have 



ment to his success. The false notions which pre- 

 vail among us in regard to labor, create a distaste 

 for it ; and the fact that, if the time required to be 

 employed in many articles of household martuf'jc- 

 ture be reckoned at its ordinary value, the cost of 

 producing or making many articles of clothing 

 would be more than that of purchasing them at the 

 store, is deemed a sufBcient reason for abandoning 

 their production at home. In many cases, liow- 

 evor, this time is turned to no account, but abso- 

 lutely squandered. But yet the clothing, if not 

 made, must be bought ; and they who might pro- 

 duce it must be sustained at an equal expense, 

 whether they work or are idle. 



Another great occasion of many a farmer's ruin, 

 is the credit which ho easily obtains, and a practice 

 of dealing at the village store for barter. The fact, 

 so common and notorious, that the owners of most 

 of our village stores obtain liens in the form of 

 mortgage, attachment, or forced sale, upon many 

 of the farms in their vicinity, shows how great is 

 the danger of the almost universal system of store 

 trust and credit. Few farmers keep any accounts, 

 and before they are at all aware, they have a long 

 score on the trader's books, and that not only for 

 the current price of the goods, but enhanced by an 

 additional charge for the delay of payment. 



But there is another circumstance in this case, 

 which is not always considered. In many instan- 

 ces, the trader will purchase the produce of the 



become dried up, and new occasions of expendi- c,.;^^ only upon what is called store pay-that is, 



ture introduced. I cannot better illustrate th 

 matter than by a recurrence to a conver.<ation, 

 which I had with one of the most respectable far- 

 mer in Middlesex county. "Sir," said he to me, 

 " I am a widower, and have only one daughter at 

 liome. 1 have gone to the utmost extent of my 

 limited means, for her education. She is a good 

 scholar, and has every where stood high in her 

 classes, and acquitted herself to the satisfaction of 

 her instructers. She is expert in all the common 

 branches of education. She reads Latin and 

 French ; she understands mineralogy and botany ; 

 and I can show you with pleasure some of her fine 

 needle-work, embroidery and drawings. In the 

 loss of her mother, she is my whole dependence ; 

 but instead of waiting upon me, I am obliged to 

 hire a servant to wait upon her. I want her to 

 take charge of my dairy, but she cannot think of 

 milking; and as her mother was anxious that her 

 diild should be saved all hardship, for she used to 

 say the poor girl would have enough of that bye 

 and bye, she never allowed her to share in her la- 

 bors ; and therefore she knows no more of the care 

 of a dairy, or indeed of housekeeping, than any 

 city milliner ; so that in fact I have sold all my 

 cows but one. This cow supplies us with what 

 milk wc want, but I buy my butter and cheese. I 

 told her, a tp.vi days since, that my stockings were 

 worn out, and that I hud a good deal of wool in the 

 chamber, which I wished she would card and spin. 

 Her reply was, in a tone of unaffected surprise — 

 Why, father! no young lady does that; and be- 

 sides it is so much easier to send it to the mill and 

 have it carded there. Well, I contiuued, you will 

 knit the stocking if I got the wool spun.' Why no, 

 father! mother never taught mo how to knit, be- j 

 cause she said it would interfere with my lessons ; 

 and then, if I knew how, it would take a great deal 

 of time, and be much cheaper to iiuy the stockings 

 at the store." 



This incident illustrates perfectly the condition 

 ij. of many a fanner's family, and exhibits a serious 

 » , , , ,• :... -„,i : :,.,„„j; 



From the same. 



PEAS AND OATS. 

 The prevailing custom among the Deerfield ft 

 mors, is to sow pi>as and oats together, so that l 

 crop shall be in the proportion of one quarter pe 

 to three quarters .of oats. 'J'he pea customari 

 sowed in these cases, is a green pea from Canac 

 which ripens about the lime of the oats, and I 

 which while growing, the oats act as supporte 

 Peas and oats are usually ground together as fe 

 for their fatting cattle, and ore deemed valuab 

 thouffh not so good or so much relished as Indi 

 meal without mixture. 



I have only two estimates of the cost of cultiv 

 ting oats, and these where they come in in the i 

 tation the year after the corn. 



Expense of Cullivating an Acre of Oats. 



$2 00 

 1 00 

 1 50 

 4 00 

 1 75 



Plowing, 



Sowing oats and dragging, 



3 bushels seed, 



Gathering, 



Threshing, 



Return. 

 Straw, more than one ton, 

 35 bushels oats, at 50 cents, 



$10 25J 



7 00' 

 17 50' 



drawback upon his prosperity, and a serious impedi- 



making his payment in goods from his store. The 

 farmer, in this way, is not only obliged to sell at 

 the lowest market price, and pay the trader his 

 profit upon his goods, but he and his family are in- 

 duced to purchase a great many things which they 

 do not need, and which they would be better with- 

 out. This leads likewise to the keeping of an open 

 account; which, if not most rigidly watched and 

 frequently settled, is as sure as fate to surprise the 

 farmer with an unexpected and iieavy balance 

 against him. This usually produces ill blood be- 

 tween both parties, leading to vexatious lawsuits 

 and all their miserable consequences; and so far 

 as any further comfort or success in life are con- 

 cerned, a farmer might as well see at his elbow a 

 personage, whom it may not be civil to name, as 

 get into the fangs of the law, or have a sheriff up- 

 on his premises. They are alike equally ruthless 

 and inexorable. Unless, therefore, in the rare in- 

 stances, and there are some such, of men disposed 

 to deal with perfect honor and integrity, a village 

 store in the vicinity of a farm, must but too often 

 be regarded as a precursor to debt and ruin to the 

 neighborhood. 



The farmer should, as far as possible, sell only 

 for cash ; and endeavor to supply his wants, and 

 those of his family, wholly from the farm. He 

 should beware of debt under all circumstances, ex- 

 cepting for property — such as land for example — 

 whose value is not likely to be reduced, and which 

 is susceptible of immediate improvement and profit. 

 He must recollect that, at least in New England, 

 the returns of his husbandry come in various and 

 small forms ; and that it will never be easy for him 

 to discharge any large debt but by a slow and grad- 

 ual process from the products of his farm. Espe- 

 cially must he remember that his principal capital 

 is labor; that he can never afford to support many 

 hands which are idle, inefficient, or unproductive; 

 that the drones do ni>t only not fill but exhaust the 

 hive, and consume the products of the working 

 bees ; and that an expense avoided is a double 

 gain. — Colmmx's Fourth Report. 



$24 50 

 Balance in favor of the oats, $14 25. 

 Another farmer gives the following account ol 

 mixed crop of wheat and oats in the proportion 

 half a bushel of wheat with two bushels of oa 

 This is thought to make an excellent feed for ai 

 mals. Some of the human family have no absoli 

 distaste for it. 



Plowing, $2 34 



Seed — 1-2 bush, wheat, $1 00 ; '2 bush. 



oats, $1 00, 2 00 



Sowing and harrowing, 50 



10 lbs. clover, 1 00 



Cradling, $1 50; threshing by flail, $2; 3 50 



$9 34 



Return. 

 Straw, 

 35 bushels, at 75 cents. 



3 00 5 



2C 25 kj 



$211 25 

 Balance in favor of the crop, $19 91. 



The crop of peas and oats, when raised togeth 

 is ground together ; and the meal is much valu( 

 both for cattle and swine when in a course of fi 

 tening. Forty bushels of peas and oats per ac 

 would be regarded as a large crop. This has be 

 produced, however, on nine acres, in ]>eerfif 

 meadows. Some farmers sow at the rale of p 

 third peas and two thirds oats. 



From the same. 



FARMING OF AMQS HILL, W. CAMBRIDG 



Mr Hill's farm consists of lf.>4 acres. Tillaf 

 25, English mowing 60, wet meadow 60, pastu 

 20, orcharding 15, wood 10, salt marsh 4 acres 



Mr Hill commenced some years since the drai 

 ing of his meadows. He has completed the drai 

 ing of one hundred acres. The advance in t 

 value of these lands by this improvement is em 



