326 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Many pleasant evenings have I passed in listening 

 to the little incidents that transpired during their 

 bachelorship, in this mode of life, the narration of 

 which I shall not here trouble the reader with. 



Few young men of the present day would think 

 of leaving their New Enghxud homes — the laud of 

 their infancy and boyhood — to settle in the unbroken 

 wilds of the west, unattended by a helpmeet and 

 companion. It is true that it is a great undertaking, 

 and but few of those who have always lived in a 

 thickly-settled country, surrounded with all the 

 comforts of civilized life, know but little of the toils 

 and privations which the new settler has to undergo, 

 — the scanty pittance which he has to subsist upon 

 before he gets his land under a state of cultivation. 

 But, after all, there is something pleasing in the idea 

 of being the original founder of one's own homestead. 

 In the onset, the prospect would indeed look gloomy ; 

 but hope stands by him, and points him onward ; and 

 with courage and perseverance in his every nerve, 

 and strength in his muscular arm, his prospects are 

 soon bright before him. The future is radiant with 

 smiles. He sees in his mind's eye all that his heart 

 can wish. His forests are prostrated by his uplifted 

 axe, and bright fields and waving graijis are exposed 

 to his view. He sees his simple log hut constructed 

 into a beautiful cottage; barn, and out-buildings 

 skirting the premises, and every thing in neatness 

 and order. Thus favored, he goes to work with all 

 the energy of a Hannibal scaling the Alps ; and ere 

 many summers shall have gone by, the new settler 

 has the satisfaction of seeing his hopes realized, and 

 his labors crowned with success. * * * * 



Renewing the subject I have previously left, I 

 shall continue my scribblings still further. Years 

 passed on. My father had a large family growing 

 up around him. As his forests were converted into 

 fertile fields, and teemed with growing crops, there 

 was plenty of work for himself and boys. When it 

 was suitable weather to work, the old gentle- 

 man with his boys (in numbers sufficient to keep 

 six or eight teams at vv'ork) were busily engaged in 

 tilling and improving the land. In stormy weather, 

 ho would take his little army into his workshop, and 

 set them to work at something. He meant all of his 

 boys should learn the use of tools, and a wise idea 

 it was, too. Sometimes the boys (counting myself 

 one of the eight, all now living and grown up to 

 manhood) would complain bitterly because they had 

 to work rainy days and all ; but now, when I look 

 back to those days of my boyhood, I feel no desire 

 to complain, inasmuch as I have had cause to be 

 thankful many times for the knowledge I then 

 gained by being thus employed these " rainy days." 

 As boys generally think, so thought I, that I should 

 not be a farmer when I was old enough to act for 

 myself; neither did I think I should be a carpenter 

 or a cooper. Time passed away; the long-desired 

 time came that was to make me my oivn man. It 

 was indeed a bright period in my life. I well re- 

 member the day I left my father's roof. I have said 

 it was a bright period — but I must retract. That 

 day was not aU brightness to me ; I felt what others 

 no doubt have felt — that I was leaving my home. 



But I yielded to my previous resolutions. I did 

 not have the western fever, as many young men did 

 at that day, but I was bound for New England — 

 " the land of the forest and the rock." I had no 

 idea of clearing up wild lands, or of being a farmer 

 in any shape. I had read and heard much of Dr. 

 Franklin — of his travelling the streets of Philadel- 

 phia in pursuit of work in the printing business. I 

 had my mind made up that this was the business for 

 me. I accordingly bent my steps to llhode Island, 

 where I engaged myself in learning the printer's art, 

 to me rather of a black art for a while, — for I was 

 kept a good share of the time blacking the face of 



tj'pe with ink. I soon got above this, however, and 

 made very good progress at the case; but I soon 

 found this was not the business for me. I could not 

 bear confinement and t'ne midnight lamp. It seemed 

 to wear upon my constitvition more than laboring 

 upon the farm ; and after following the business 

 steadily for upv/ards of four years, and wasting the 

 better part of my constitution, (as I then thought,) 

 I gave up the bu-iness, and moved on to the little 

 farm I now occupy, and which I would not exchange 

 for all the printing offices in New England, were I 

 obliged to labor in them as I used to do. I was never 

 born to be confined. My home is the country : here 

 I love to labor and enjoy the pure air of heaven. I 

 have no desire to exchange for the pent-up, crowded 

 city. 



How different things seem when compared to the 

 days of my boyhood ! Then I knew I should never 

 be a farmer. But changes will and do take place. 

 I have now but little need of a carpenter, or a cooper, 

 as the little knowledge I gained of ray father (many 

 thanks to him) during those " rainy days " has proved 

 of invaluable service to me in later years. In con- 

 clusion, I would here add, let no young man despise 

 farming, as beneath his dignity. It is not only a 

 lucrative business, but it is also a healthy and inde- 

 pendent business ; and as for its being an honorable 

 occupation, we all know that there is no other busi- 

 ness in the known world that stands in higher 

 rej)Ute. I may continue my scribblings. 



Yours with respect, A. T. 



Smithfield, R. I., August, 1849. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 COMPOSITION FOR GRAFTING. 



Mr. Cole : I intended before this time to inform 

 you of my experience in' grafting, last spring, in 

 respect to two kinds of composition to put round the 

 scion and stock. For several years I have used clay 

 mixed with old horse dung found in pastures, which 

 had lost its fetid quality. I have been in the habit, 

 of late years, of putting it on in small quantities ; al- 

 most as little as I formerly used of a composition 

 composed of one part tallow, two parts beeswax, and 

 three parts rosin. The clay, &c., I bound on vrith 

 old woollen or other rags, and tied it on. I have 

 thought that my grafts succeeded better with the 

 clay than with the former mode. Last April, I grafted 

 for Mr. Jacob Deane in a nursery of apple-trees. 

 Most of them were grafted near the ground, and I 

 made use of the clay, as above. In examining them 

 a few days ago, I found that they succeeded very 

 well — rather better than usual. 



In the latter part of the time I grafted there, a 

 young man from Norton, who had the misfortune 

 to lose his right arm when a boy, grafted in the same 

 nursery, and made use of a composition composed 

 of beeswax, rosin, and linseed oil, put on, while 

 warm, with a small painter's brush. His scions suc- 

 ceeded vcr}^ well. Mr. Deane thinks there was not 

 much difference in regard to their living and grow- 

 ing well, compared with mine. The scions were 

 taken from the trees the days they were set. The 

 time that I grafted them was between the 13th and 

 2Gth of April. The other man continued to graft 

 there later, when the sap began to flow, and some 

 trees began to leaf out. They did not live quite 

 so well. Yours, &c., J. S. 



Mansfield, August 20, IS^IQ. 



Editorial Remarks. — A composition of rosin, 

 beeswax, and tallow or oil, properly prepared and 

 applied, is generally attended with as much success 

 as any preparation of clay ; and it is surely leas 



