n R T 1 c u r. T u \i \ i. ii i: a i s t e r . 



A N I) 



I'UIILISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK * CO., NO 5S NOIiTH MARKET STREET, (Aohicultuiiai. WA««HOOii.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BosTo.v, wKnN'i'sn.w r.vr.NiNc, Auciusr i8. leii. 



I NO. 7. 



N. E. FARMER, 



THK ECONOMY OF AOIIICUI-TURE. 

 There is no siibjecl li>ss unrteiploml nor more 

 encrally mistaken than lliis; nor any iiinrn csson- 

 ial to iliP prosperiiy ot" agriiiiltiire. Siitlicieril to 

 ffiinl matter for an entire treatise, it cannul be 

 Mibrnceil by « sliort clinptor. Bnt a short chapter 

 nay put minds upon the track, able to unfold iLs 

 nvoluiion'" with every branch of agriculture, and 

 Bore especially to disclose its value. 



Diminutions of comforts, necessaries and ex- 

 icnse, are too ofien mistaken for the means of pro- 

 lucinj,' the ends they obstruct ; and the rapacity 

 rliich starves, frequently receives the just retribu- 

 ion of a disappointment, be^'otten by a vicious 

 node of avoidin;: it. From the master down to 

 he meanest utensil, the best capacity for fulfilling 

 he conlninplited ends, is invariably the best econ- 

 imv ; and the same reasoning which demonstrates 

 he bad economy of a .shattered loom, will demon- 

 trate the bad economy of a shattered constitution, 

 r an imperlect stato of body.- The cottagers who 

 flict upon theniselvca and their families the dis- 

 ODiforts of cold houses, bad bedding, and insuffi- 

 ient clothing, to acquire wealth, destroy the vigor 

 olh of the mind and body, necessary for obtiining 

 ne contemplated end, at which, of course, they 

 n never arrive. The farmer who starves his la- 

 mrers, is a s;ill greater sutTi ror. He loses the 

 Tofits produced by health, sircngth and alacrity; 

 nd suffers the losses caused by disease, weakness 

 tl dejection. In like manner, the more perfect 

 »e more profitable are working animals and im- 

 einerts, and every saving by which the capacity 

 "either to fulfil their destiny in the best iiiiuiner, 

 dimini.shed, terminates with certainly in some 

 ortion of liss, and not unlrequently in e.xtrava- 

 int waste. Even the object of manuring is vast- 

 affected by the plight of those animals by which 

 is aided. 



A pinching, miserly system of agriculture may 



deed keeo a fanner out of a prison, but it will 



?ver loilge him in a palace. Great profit depends 



I (Treat iinprovenifnts of the soil, and great im- 



ovemenls can never be made by penurious ef- 



rts. Tne discrimination between useful and pro- 



ictive, and useless and barren expenses, contains 



e a>.'ricult.ural secret for acquiring iiappincss and 



ealth. A good farmer will sow the first with an 



len hand, and eradicate every seed of the other. 



Liborality constitutes the economy of agricul- 



re, and perhaps it is the solitary human occupa- 



in, to which the adage, " the more we give, the 



ore we shall receive," can be justly applied. — 



beraliiy to the earth in manuring and culture is 



e fountain of its bounty to us. Liberality to la. 



rers und working animals is the fountain of their 



)fit. Liberality to domestic brutes is the foun- 



n of iriaiiiire. The good work of a strong team 



uses a profit beyond the bad work of a weak one, 



er deducting the additional expense of feeding 



; and it saves moreover half the labor of a driver, 



^ ok ill fullowing a had one. Liberality in warm 



houi-es, produces health, strength anil comlort; pre- | 

 serves tl.o lives of a miiltilude of domestic animals ; 

 causes all animals to thrive on less loud; and se- 

 cures from damage all kinds of crops. And libe. 

 rality in the utensils of husbandry, saves labor to a 

 vast extent, hy providing the proper tools for doing 

 the work bolh well and expeditiously. 



Foresight is another item in the economy of ag- 

 riculture. It consistj in prepcring work for all 

 weather, and doing all work in proper weather, and 

 at proper times. The climate of the United States 

 makes the first easy, and the second less difiiciilt 

 than in must countries. Ruinous violations of this 

 important rule are yet frequent, from temper and 

 impatience. Notliing is more common than a per- 

 sistence in plowing, making hay, cutting wlieat, 

 and other works, when a suKill delay tuiglil have 

 escjpnd a great loss, and the labor employed to 

 destroy, would have been employed to save. — 

 Crops of all kinds arc oflen planted or sown at im- 

 proper periods or unseasonably, in relation to the 

 State of the weather, to their detriment or destruc- 

 tion, from the want of an arrangement of the work 

 on a farm, calculated for doing every species of it 

 precisely at the periods and in the seasons most 

 likely to enhance its profit. 



A third item in the economy of agriculture is 

 not to kill time by doing the same thing twice 

 over. However laboriously at work, we are doing 

 nothing during one of the operations, and frequent- 

 ly worse than nothing, on account of the double 

 detriment of tools, teams and clothing. The loss- 

 es to farmers occasioned by this error, are prodi- 

 gious under every defective system of agriculture. 

 Shifts and contrivances innumerable are resorted 

 to for saving lime, by bad and perishalile work, at 

 an enormous loss of future time, until at length the 

 several fragments of tini'- thus destroyed, visibly 

 appear spread over a farm, in the form of ruined 

 houses, fences, orchards and soil ; demonstrating 

 that every advantage of such shifts is the parent of 

 many disadvantages, and that a habit of finishing 

 every species of work in the best mode, is the best 

 economy. 



The high importance of this article of agricultu- 

 ral economy, demands an illustration. Let us sup- 

 pose that dead wood fencing will consume ten per 

 centum of a farmer's time, which supposition de- 

 v.tes about thirtysix days in the year to that ob- 

 ject : it would cost him five whole years in fifty. 

 If his farm aflorded stone, and his force could in 

 one whole year make liis enclosures of that lasting 

 material, he would save four whole years by this 

 more perfect operation, exclusive of the benefits 

 gained by a longer life, or transmitted to hia pos- 

 terity. If his farm did not furnish stone, as live 

 fences can be made « ilh infinitely less labor than 

 stone, his saving of time would be greater by rais- 

 ing them, but the donation to posterity less from 

 their more perishable nature. It seems to me that 

 the lime necessary to rear and repair live fences, 

 is less than one tenth of ill .1 consumed by those 

 of dead wood. Uy doing this article of work in a 

 mode thus surpassing the present miserable fenc- 

 ing shifts in use, our farmers would gain the enor- 



moiiB protil of four years and a liaif in fifly. Time 

 constitutes profit or loss in agriculture, and niony 

 other employments. Such un enormous loss is it- 

 self sullicient to bankrupt the soil of a fine cuun- 

 try. 



I have selected n few items merely to attract 

 the reader's attention to the economy of agricul- 

 ture, that his own sagacity may pursue tlie subject 

 beyond the limits assigned to these essays. It is 

 one higlOy necessary to all practical men, and 

 worthy of the minute consideration of the most, 

 profound mind ; nor do I know one exhibiting to 

 experience and talents a stronger invitation to 

 make themselves useful. — '^ Jlrator's" Eisays. 



INDUSTRIOUS HABITS. 



In these degenerate times, when indolence and 

 " genteel loaferism'' are so prevalent with a large 

 proportion of the community — especially with those 

 who do not feel the immediate nereasily for person- 

 al exertions lo procure a llveliht>od — it is gratify- 

 ing to notice occasional instances of industry among 

 men whose elevated station in society gives their 

 example an important intluence over all itlasses in 

 society. Here are two instances, which we find 

 going the rounds of the new8pa])er3 — instances 

 which we wish with all our heart were more fre- 

 quent than they are. 



The Hon. IIknrv Clat, whoso long continued 

 public services and masterly eloquence have given 

 him an enviable name in all quarters of the civilized 

 world, in the course of some remarks in the United 

 States Senate a few days since, used tlie following 

 language : — 



"Ills were not those lazy, luxurious habits of 

 eating dinners when he should be eating his sup- 

 per, lie was not much of a physician, but he 

 would undertake to say that if they would fi»llow 

 the practice adopted by himself, they would have 

 little lo fear from illness. Ho rose seldom later 

 than 5 o'clock ; he then took exercise, prineipally 

 on horseback, for an hour or an hour and a half; 

 he then made his toilette, took his breakfast, read 

 the newspapers, and was ready to go to work. In 

 connection with this, he always retired to bed at 

 10 o'clock ; seldom later. If his triends would 

 pursue this course, he would not only insure their 

 health, but would engage lo pay their physician's 

 bill." 



The paragraph following is from the pen of the 

 HorL Isaac IIii.i., formerly a Senator from New 

 Hampsliire in the U. S. Congress — for some years 

 Governor of New Hampshire, and more recently 

 Receiver General of the public moneys for the 

 New England States.' Gov. Hill is now editor of 

 the " Farmer's Monthly Visitor," an agricultural 

 paper of the first rank, and also editor of the " New 

 Hampshire Patriot," a leading political newspaper 

 in thai Slate. Hear him, and follow his example : 



"To save the time of our man to work in the 

 garden, we are on hand at five in ti.e morning to 

 drive the cows one mile and a half to pasture. Out 

 and back, it is three miles and occupies one hour. 



