538 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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How often do the questions come to your lips, 

 What shall I do with this cold, heavy meadow? 

 How shall I reform this mossy old pasture ? Who 

 can tell me what crop ought to be applied to my 

 orchard land, on the hill-side, where it is sandy, 

 or clayey, subject to early frosts, rusts or mildew 

 or insects ? How can I save and make the most 

 manure from a given amount of stock 1 Obtain 

 the most beef, milk or mutton from a given amount 

 of feed? How shall the fodder, obtained with so 

 much toil and sweat, be expended? Whole and 

 dry, or cut and mixed? Shall I raise roots, or 

 grain, or grass, or corn, in order to derive the 

 greatest profits from my lands ? 



These, and a hundred other questions must pre- 

 sent themselves to every reflecting person. How 

 shall they be answered? The hands cannot do 

 it, nor the teams, be they ever so stout, nor the 

 machinery. But jour minds ca.n. Give them the 

 opportunity, then, around your cheerful winter 

 fires ; interest your wives, and sons and daughters 

 in their vocation ; let nothing escape your atten- 

 tion that has a bearing upon your business. Ex- 

 amine the theory and practice of others and com- 

 pare them with your own; weigh them well to- 

 gether, and discard all pride for your own notions 

 if you find them unsound, and adopt those of 

 others that appear better. They may have thought 

 for you, but ask no reward for the benefits you 

 may reap from them. Mind is the Man. With- 

 out it, a post in the field were as good, and infi- 

 nitely better, in the barn. It is the Mind, after 

 all, that you must depend upon, more than the 

 hands. A stout, athletic, healthy frame, capable 

 of almost any endurance, cannot accomplish much, 

 directed by a weak, vascillating mind. Now is 

 the time to increase your power over the animate 

 and inanimate objects around you. 



Settling Accounts. — The close of the year is a. 

 most appropriate time for balancing accounts with 

 all,but particularly with neighbors where-eschang- 

 68 of labor, teams, products, &c., have been goin^ 

 on through the year. "Short settlements make 

 long friends," and to have a neighbor in a farmino- 

 community, who is not a friend, is a calamity in- 

 deed. One feels better to know precisely how his 

 afiFairs are ; it gives clearness to his head and glad- 

 ness to his heart. If he is prospering, it is a sat- 

 isfaction to know it; if not, this knowledge enables 

 him to strike out at the right time and place to re- 

 trieve his fortunes. Sufier no unsettled accounts, 

 therefore, to slide over into the new year to rest 

 upon you like a nightmare and disturb your seren- 

 ity of mind. 



Care of Stock. — The labor of securing good 

 crops will be in vain, if they are fed out in a slov- 

 enly and indifferentmanner— and this is as appli- 

 cable to the kitchen as to the barn. In order to 

 lay on fat or to grow fast, cattle must be kept 



well ; one or two huge fodderings a day will not 

 answer ; they select the best, turn over the re- 

 mainder, blow upon, and reject it. By placing a 

 little before them at a time through the space of 

 an hour and a half, three times a day, they will 

 eat with a relish, thrive well and waste nothing. 



Cattle like a variety, too, as well as ourselves. 

 It is a bad practice with some farmers to begin to 

 feed out their corn fodder in the autumn, and con- 

 tinue it alone, until it is exhausted. In this way 

 cattle get tired of the best fodder we have and 

 waste it, whereas if it were fed in turn with other 

 fodder, it would always be acceptable to them. 



Young cattle, particularly, require careful at- 

 tention every way. They should be protected from 

 the cold and from the older stock — kept clean, 

 gentle, and constantly growing, otherwise there 

 can be no profit in rearing them. The first winter 

 is most trying, and if their growth is checked then 

 it will be hard putting them right again. 



Breaking Steers and Colts. — Some farmers 

 never use the word we have employed, breaking, 

 although the common practice has corresponded 

 to the word, for it has been truly a breaking pro- 

 cess. '^Handying''^ is the term they employ. In 

 obtaining the control of colts and steers there is 

 not only no need of blows &nd harsh usage, but 

 every thing of the kind has actually a tendency to 

 make them awkward and perverse. Gentleness 

 will accomplish more than harsh words and hard 

 blows. You must begin with the idea that they 

 do not know what you want but are willing to 

 learn; you should give them time, patience, and 

 good usage, and they will gladly become your 

 faithful servants. (See Monthly Farmer, vol. 4, p. 

 77.) 



Farm Implements — such as plows, harrows, roll- 

 ers, shovels, spades, picks, wagons, carts, wheel- 

 barrows, &c., ought to be cleaned, and repaired 

 where they need it, and placed out of the way un- 

 der cover until they are again wanted. If requir- 

 ing paint, a coat applied now will become hard by 

 spring, and wear much longer than if applied 

 then. 



Many other matters appropriate to the time, 

 present themselves for notice, but we must speak 

 of them hereafter. 



Thus we have passed through another cycle of 

 "The Months" — to us they have been months of 

 pleasure, in collecting for your consideration what 

 has commended itself to us ; and they have been 

 Months of profit, in our associations with you in 

 many of your households, as well as tlirough the 

 pen. If in our sheaves you have found a reason- 

 able amount of wheat, the obligation on either 

 side may be considered an equal one, and with 

 God's blessing, we will start on again in the pleas- 

 ant journey, ready to give each othefr a helping 

 hand whenever the roughness of the way may re- 

 quire it. 



