124 



JSEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



never seen the want of money. He had watched 

 manufacturers and mechanics, and he considered 

 his chance for a living as good as theirs, with the 

 same degree of hibor. A great many farmers mis- 

 take their calling. They must not expect to get 

 rich in one, or five, or ten years. The farmer 

 should go perseveringly into the labor himself, take 

 his coat off, rise early, and work late, and see that 

 his business is continually going ahead, and if he 

 works systematically and energetically, he will 

 meet with a fair measure of success. 



Mr. Clark, of Northboro', said he had had some 

 experience in forming, and thought the idea that 

 farmers do not make so much money as other peo- 

 ple, perfectly fallacious. A few years ago he had 

 a farm of 150 acres which he could not take care 

 of, and so let it for $200 per year, withholding the 

 wood. At the end of the year the tenant said he 

 could not get along, at that rent, and proposed a 

 partnership, to which the speaker assented. He 

 commenced a new system, took in stock, and* in- 

 stead of hiring, let out work by the job ; and in 

 the spring, after selling out stock, got $400 rent 

 instead of $200. In thinking of the wages of the 

 mechanic, the farmer does not consider that he has 

 got his house-rent, his firewood, and most of his 

 provisions from his own estate. He would like to 

 know how much a farmer would lay up at nine 

 shillings per day, without a farm ? The farmer, too, 

 keeps a horse, and enjoys the pleasure of riding to 

 mill and where he pleases, without extra cost. 

 While the mechanic has to pay for this chance, 

 and lose his time beside. 



The speaker related the result of an experiment 

 he made with a piece of land. It was covered with 

 high bushes, which he had mown off, then got a 

 kind of harrow made and got the roots out and 

 burnt them, and then put on some manure and 

 sowed it down with rye. From this land he ob- 

 tained 45 bushels of rye to the acre. That land he 

 said, netted him 100 per cent., — land that was not 

 worth originally $5 per acre, and had not cost $40, 

 but was now worth $200 per acre. 



The speaker contended that, where farmers 

 could not superintend their work, they should let 

 it out by the job, instead of hiring. They could 

 make more money by it. He believed the fsirmer 

 could secure just as much profit for the same 

 amount of labor, capital and skill, as any other 

 profession. 



Mr. BucKMiNSTER took occasion to exhibit a cake 

 of solidified milk, or milk and sugar, which was 

 brought from New York, a convenient article to 

 carry to sea. 



Dr. CoGGSWELL, alluding to the charge that gov- 

 ernment had not legislated for the benefit of agri- 

 culture, said that God had taken the legislation in- 

 to his own hands. For the last few years, he has 

 visited the farmer with the potato disease, which 

 is a blessing in disguise, and a punishment to that 



community which has refused to legislate for the 

 farmer. It has brought that staple article up from 

 20 to 50 cents per bushel, and he thought it would 

 not again fall below that point. So also of the 

 scarcity of hay, the past season, which has in- 

 creased greatly in price. He believed it would 

 continue high for years to come. 



Mr. Small, cf Truro, knew that farming 

 was unprofitable as far as dollars and cents were 

 concerned. One great cause is, that those who 

 have capital and skill, will go into some other 

 business, for a man who can make a hundred dol- 

 lars a month catching fish, will not lake to farm- 

 ing. Farmers as a general thing are ignorant of 

 their calling; they want more light, more intelli- 

 gence to understand the soils they cultivate. We 

 have no reai system cf farming, and most work is 

 dene by guess. One great fault, he thought, was, 

 feeding soils with too mnch manure, especially that 

 which is stimulating. He thought the cause of the 

 potato rot was brought about by over-feeding with 

 manure. It is just so with our animals — too much 

 food injures them. Therefore we want to know 

 just how much, and what kind of manure, our soils 

 need. He thought that if farmers in genera; un- 

 derstood these things, there would be no difficulty 

 in getting a comfortable support from the earth. 



Mr. Proctor explained that in making the state- 

 ments he did m the early part of the evening, in 

 regard to the unprofitableness of farming, he did so 

 with a view of calling forth statements of an oppo- 

 site character. He had no doubt that in his coun- 

 ty there were farms which yielded $1500, or 

 $2,000, per year. Mr. Ephraim Brown, who 

 owns a farm in Marblehead, had informed him that 

 he had sold the produce of his farm in market for 

 $5,000 in one year, and one-half of that was clear 

 profit. Half an acre of onions yielded 600 bush- 

 els, which sold on an average for 40 cents. Still 

 Mr. Proctor believed there were many more farm- 

 ers who come short of $300, per year, than of 

 those who go beyoud it. 



The hour of 9 having arrived, the meeting ad- 

 journed. 



The subject next Tuesday evening, will be — 

 "The best mode of breaking up and pulverizing 

 soils, and the depth of this process best adapted to 

 ordinary cultivation." 



Correction. — In our report of the last meeting, 

 Mr. Howard was represented as saying that "in 

 New York it is assumed that ten pounds of milk 

 will make one pound of cheese or one pound of but- 

 ter." It should have read, "ten quarts of milk 

 will make one pound of butter or three pounds of 

 cheese." In the report of the same gentleman's 

 remarks, instead of "one Devon brought over to 

 Connecticut," read "one importation of Devons." 



11^° The only thing which every one can do, and 

 the only thing which any one need do, is his duty. 



