PRACTICAL FARMER. 



187 



CAUSES OF POVERTY 



AMONG SOME FARMERS IN MAINfi. 



Mr Holmes: — I have thought that I might do 

 good by mentioning n few of the causes of the 

 ])overty of the fanners in the state of Maine. 

 And first, in a negative point of view. It is not 

 because the crops are not as good or as much to 

 the acre as other parts of the United States. — 

 When Greenleaf prepared his statistics of Maine 

 some years ago, the average of wheat crops were, 

 in the County of Kennebec, eighteen bushels per 

 acre, and it is believed there lias since been an 

 improvement in that, and a very great one too in 

 this section. 1 think we may now state the ave- 

 rage at more than twenty bushels. It is alike 

 good for all the small grains. Grass is abundant 

 in most seasons. We must, therefore, look for 

 the positive causes somewhere else, and not in the 

 unproductiveness of the soil. I will now mention 

 a few things whtch I think have a bearing to a 

 great extent on the farming community. And 

 first, their mode of living. It costs a farmer in 

 the state of Maine more to live than it does per- 

 haps in any other state in the Union, and I am 

 certain that it costs more to our farmers to raise 

 up a family of four, than it used to sixty years 

 ago, in Massachusetts, to raise up a family of four- 

 teen. 



Second. The raising of so much poor and 

 ordinary neat stock and horses. At the present 

 prices none but the. best will pay for raising. Our 

 farmers are under family tehiptatious to raise bad 

 stock, a calf comes, round and fat; at three weeks 

 old he is a handsome creature. The boys plead 

 to have him raised. Good family cows being 

 heifer calves, the good housewife insists that they 

 !?^hall be kept and raised, with this argument, viz.: 

 that they will make as good as their dams. An- 

 other cause of raising caives is, the wife says she 

 cannot spare the milk to fatten it. Now you 

 should resist all these : kill all your calves but the 

 very best, and give them good keeping. It is 

 impossible that a country where black cattle and 

 horses are fed on dry food go long in the year can 

 afford to i-aise poor cattle. Set down the first 

 stormy day and calculate the cost accurately and 

 satisfy yourself. 



Third. Not ploughing land as often as it ought 

 to be, is another reason. They must sow more ; 

 and they do not employ as much capital upon 

 their farms as would be profitable. An English 

 farmer would have a compost heap worth $4000, 

 while many of our farmers carry on extensive 

 farms, without using manure of every description 

 enough to cost as many cents. 



Ihe crops of some Pennsylvania farmers, from 

 one hundi-ed acres, amount to fiom three' to five 

 thousand dollars per annum. Calculate if you 

 please the profits of almost any tilled crops, and 



there will be a fair profit. Wheat, barley, oats, 

 and peas, or even oats alone, are all profitable. 

 By neglecting the above, we do not raise our own 

 bread, when we ought to raise hundreds of barrels 

 of flour for market ; and it can be done with 

 profit. Try yotrr arithmetic again some leisure 

 evening. 



We withhold mere than is meet. Many do not 

 take an Agricultural paper. This I mention last, 

 though not least. Knowledge is power. 



A VOTKR AND A FaRMER. 



Silk Cultuke. — We have received from an 

 esteemed and highly respected correspondent, the 

 following communication, which we recommend 

 to such of our readers as have an opportunity to 

 cultivate the j\Iulberry Tree: — 



"As it seems to be admitted on all hands, that 

 the raising of raw silk can be made very profitable 

 in our vicinity, — we should think that gentle- 

 men who have, or can afibrd to have, country 

 seats in the neighborhood, would turn their atten- 

 tion to this business as a source of pleasure and 

 profit. The usual course of farming pursued by 

 city farmers, produces frequently more ])leasure 

 than profit ; for 



" He that would by farming thrive, 

 Must either liold the plough, oi drive." 



Indeed the labor required by the common modes 

 of agriculture is very ex|»ei!sive, and the attention 

 and care requisite in a'successfiil application of it 

 must be unremitting. A silk farm, however, may 

 be conducted on a small space and with small 

 expense ; and those who would not, for want of 

 strength or inclination, cope with the irksome 

 labors of the dairy and the Ioohi, would take plea- 

 sure in attending to the interesting details of such 

 an establishment, connected with a country resi- 

 dence. To make a country retreat truly pleasant, 

 we must associate with it some idea of utility. 

 We must have some occupation there, as a re- 

 source against that ennui which too often cankers 

 its pleasure^. 



The vicinity of our. city, in every direction, 

 presents numerous eligible situations for genteel 

 retirement, ccnneeted with the pursuits suggested, 

 and the facility of communication by steam-boats 

 and rail-road, will render a large circle of the 

 country around Boston, in fact, a part of the city. 

 In thus turning our eyes to the country, we keep 

 steadilj' in view the growth and prosperity of this 

 city, of which we are justly proud." — Centinel. 



PREVENTIVE AGAIXST DRY ROT. 



Vve have been favored by an intelligent ship 

 master with the following communication rel.iting 

 to recent successful experiments in England in the 

 means of preserving ship timber against jirt^nature 

 decay, which cannot fiail to be of practical interest 



