P 11 A C T t C A L FARMER. 



59 



PARMER B. OR THE MAN WHO WORKS IT 

 RIGHT. 



BY A TRAVELLER. 



It was during the same tour in which I tnet 

 with Farmer A. whose system and its results I 

 have jiiven in a former number of this journal, 

 that I made an acquaintance with another indi- 

 vidual who I shall call farmer B. and if I could 

 convey to the readers of the Farmer, but a small 

 degree of the pleasure, which a sight of what in- 

 dustry and good order can accomplish, has afford- 

 ed me in the remembrance of the incidents I should 

 feel myself amply rewarded. 



Mr B. as well as Mr A. was a native of one of 

 the eastern states, and when he removed to west- 

 ern New York, he took care to secure a farm con- 

 taining as many natural advantages as possible, 

 though in this respect I think his farm was infe- 

 rior to farmer A. When he had made his choice 

 however, he considered it as made for life, and 

 immediately set himself at work to effect a thor- 

 ough and permanent arrangement of his premises, 

 previous to the course of improvement he intend- 

 ed to adopt. A large farm and great wealth 

 formed no part of his plans — a farm of ordinary 

 size, contentment and competence, were the ex- 

 tent of his timbitiou, and these things he speedily 

 accomplished. 



Farmer B.'s house is one of the most perfect 

 specimens of that picture of rural neatness, ele- 

 gance and comfort, an English cottage, that 1 have 

 seen in this country. Standing at a little distance 

 from the public highway, unassuming in its alti- 

 tude dimensions, embowered in trees, and half 

 hidden in vines and shrubbery, it seems as you 

 ,a{)proach it the cliosen retreat of farming taste and 

 comfort. The neatly painted pickets of the dif- 

 ferent enclosures were as firm and perfect as if put 

 on but yesterday. The gates to the different av- 

 enues were ready for use without creaking or 

 grating. The avenues themselves were well grav- 

 eled, hard and clean — the grass was cut close, 

 and free from all dirt or rubbish, and it was evi- 

 dent the work done here had not been injuriously 

 substracted from labor required elsewhere; every 

 thing had been done in order and in time, and a 

 glance showed that the whole secret consisted in 

 these two words — good management. 



On entering the house, as might have been ex- 

 pected, the same order and neatness was found 

 pervading every spot. Mrs B. was a middle 

 aged, sensible woman, a good farmer's wife, with- 

 out the least effort at display or ostentation, but 

 greeting the stranger with a welcome and frank- 

 ness that gave additional value to whatever obli- 

 gation she conferred. Two daughters, the one 

 eight, and the other perhaps fifteen, with their 

 mother, constituted the female part of the family. 

 I know of no sight on earth to me more pleasing, 



ot so conducive of delightful emotions, as a beau- 

 tiful little girl, such as the playful Mary B. They 

 are the rose buds of liuman nature, — pure them- 

 selves, and ignorant of wrong in others, they only 

 delight in seeing others happy,— overflowing with 

 affection which they have not yet learned to hoard 

 for a single favored individual, and unacquainted 

 with those deeper and mysterious influences which 

 startle the young girl, aud mantle her cheek with 

 blushes, when she first acknowledges their exis- 

 tence and power : there is a fearlessness and frank- 

 ness about the innocent creatures, difficult to re- 

 tain in after life, but which, when combined with 

 purity of heart, forms the great charm of female 

 character. 



Farmer B. was at home when I arrived, and as 

 we walked over his well managed farm, he seern- 

 ed to feel a rational pleasure in recounting tha 

 steps by which he had brought it to such a state 

 of fertility and productiveness, and of which am- 

 ple proof was found in the fact, that he had that 

 day received six hundred dollars for a crop of 

 wheat grown on twenty acres. Two of his oldest 

 sons were at work in the field, the youngest being 

 at school ; Mr B. remarking, that as he intended 

 his children for farmers, or the wives of farmers, 

 they were kept at school until they were able to 

 aid in the business of the farm, the girls by assist- 

 ing their mother, and the boys in the field, when 

 the summer schooling was discontinued, but re- 

 sumed in the winter, or at an academy, as long as 

 was desirable — it being his opinion, that a due 

 regard to health, and an ample acquaintance with 

 the operations of husbandry, demanded that course. 

 Mr B. said he was a strict utilitarian, and while he 

 admitted as useful to his children, and required in 

 their course of studies, much that others would 

 consider as unnecessary, he would not allow them 

 to consume their time upon courses purely orna- 

 mental, and for which in all probability they would 

 f"nd little or no use in their after sphere of active 

 life. Farmer B. was not a visionary or enthusi- 

 ast in farming ; l)ut he loved experiment, .ind 

 never rejected a proposition because it was new 

 — it was enough that it commended itself to his 

 reason, and was able to bear the close and rigid 

 scrutiny to which he was accustomed to submit 

 all farming speculations. 



There are few passages in life more delightful 

 than an evening spent in such a family. Intelli- 

 gent, amiable, and unaffected in their manners, 

 their cheerful courtesy makes one feel at home, 

 and places him at once on one of those green isl- 

 ands that are here and there found in the need- 

 lessly broad desert of human life. In the room to 

 which we were introduced for the evening, were 

 a fire, lamps, sofa, carpet, chairs, and what I par- 

 ticularly noticed, a table on which lay one or two 

 of the latest newspapers, a magazine or review. 



