84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



grow in, but they were very good. The market 

 price here is 25 cents a bushel, so the account 

 stands thus: 



Labor, — plowing, sowing and harve.«ting... $13,00 



Manure 15,50 



Seed 3,13 S31 ,63 



. 142 bushels liiriiii)s, at 25 cts 35,50 



larly of those about erecting new buildings. Af- 

 ter reading it, most persons will be convinced that 

 it is better to expend money in planting trees, 

 shrubbery and flowers about a dwelling, than to 

 expend it in making a showy house. 



Leaving ii nelt profit of $3,87 



besides having a fair prospect of a good crop of 

 grass next year, while on a part of the same field 

 which was not plowed, scarcely any grass is to be 

 seen. On that, I intend to sow^ grass seed next 

 spring— a plan recommended by some people. 



The result of this experiment is entirely satis- 

 factory to me, and I confidently recommend others 

 to try it whenever their grass seed fails in the 

 spring; and my opinion is that it would ))e better 

 not to sow it with grain, for there is always, on 

 dry land especially, an uncertainty of getting a 

 catch of grass seed. If I should try it again, how- 

 ever, and I intend to, I should not sow more than 

 seven or eight ounces of turnip seed on art acre. 



Will some one who knows give me the analysis 

 of rut;i-bagas, parsnips, sugar beets, and mangle- 

 wurtzel, or the value of each compared with hay? 



L. Vabney. 

 Friends'' Boarding School, 

 Providence, R. I., 12 Mo. 2lst, 1852. 



Remarks. — The analyses below were made, of 

 the turnip and mangold-wurzel, by Sir Humphrey, 

 Davy, and of the sugar beet and orange globe man-i 

 gold-wurzel, by Mr. Herepath, a celebrated chem 

 ist in Bristol, England. 



Stephens, in his Book of the Farm, states that 

 the quantity of nutritive matter in the ruta-baga 

 is, in the white turnip from 8 to 13 parts in 100, 

 and in the yellow turnip from llj to 17; so that 

 20 tons of one crop may be in feeding as 30 

 tons of another, which is an important fact, and 

 may account for the discrepancies experienced by 

 farmers in feeding stock. 



We can give no comparison of the value of hay 

 with turnips with sufficient accuracy to be intro- 

 duced here. In a trial at Whitelaw, in England, 

 between turnips, oil-cake and corn, in fattening 

 cattle, the turnips were found to produce one 

 pound of live weight much cheaper than either of 

 the other substances. If such be the case with 

 oil-cake and corn, we can see no reason why tur- 

 nips should not possess the sam» advantage over 

 hay. We have similar results related to us in 

 this vicinity, but our experience has not been suf- 

 ficient to warrant the expression of an opinion. 



New Buildings. — We call attention to the ar- 

 ticle entitled, "That is my Home," and particu- 



FoT the New England Farmer. 

 INDEPEND-ENCE OP THE FARMER. 



jMr. Editor : — Everybody in America wants to 

 be independent. We have lawyers, physicians, 

 mechanics, ministers and formers ; all striving to 

 obtain or secure independence ; and all, in a good 

 degree, feel satisfied with the result of their labors 

 in this behalf. We gl)ry in our political and re- 

 ligious freedom ; all of us. Here, we are all equal, 

 from the President down to the pauper ; if, in- 

 deed, the down hill slopes in that direction, which 

 is a question fairly debatable. But after all, there 

 is no class among us so decidedly independent as 

 the farmer. 



Look at the minister I Does he dare give utter- 

 ance to sentiments that he knows will l)e general- 

 ly distasteful to his society? Does the lawyer 

 want to displease his townsmen, on whom he may 

 depend for a living ? Or do the merchant and 

 mechanic feel perfectly free, at the commence- 

 ment of their business, when the good will of the 

 community may be considered as a portion of their 

 capital, to take decided positions on the unpopu- 

 lar side? There are many of these classes, to be 

 sure, that feci as independent as the farmer ; be- 

 cause, by success in business they do not feel the 

 necessity of employing this unndy capital, the 

 breath of popular applause. So long as men see 

 that their daily bread, in a good measure, depends 

 on the esteem of their fellows they must be de- 

 sirous of securing it. The mechanic depends in 

 part, and principally, on his skill ; and so of all 

 professions. But they all depend also, in some de- 

 gree, on the good will of others. 



The farmer also, relies on his skill ; but the opin- 

 ion of his neighbor is not worth a groat to him, 

 so far as his ability to live is concerned. He plants 

 his fields, and the good Lord, who "sends his rain 

 on the just and the unjust," makes no distinction. 

 He waters the fields of the Whig, the Democrat, the 

 Abolitionist, the Infidel, and the pious man, alike. 

 The wildest fiinatic in the country, by suitable til- 

 lage, may raise as good a crop as any one, and 

 sell it as well. But let him attempt to live by 

 preaching, as a mei'chant, or mechanic ; how would 

 he prosper? He would certainly be driven from 

 the pulpit, and most likely starved from his shop. 

 Professional men must study social laws. The 

 farmer depends on the laws of nature. The for- 

 mer are always changing ; the latter, never. Con- 

 sequently, the professional man is often in a di- 

 lemma and hardly knows what to do, for fear he 

 shall offend the popular taste or broach an idea 

 not in fashion. The farmer says just what he 

 pleases ; for it never was yet discovered that it 

 killed his cattle or rotted his potatoes. And the 

 farmer has more leisure time tlian most mechanics 

 or professional men. Or if he has not, it is his 

 own fault. No farmer needs be a drudge, [a.] 

 Ilis flocks in the pasture and his crops in the field 

 are growing while he sleeps. When the merchant 

 or mechanic closes his shop, the income from his 

 business is suspended. But the farmer's income 



