374 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sicily, which afterwards became the granary of 

 Rome. 



Sacred history informs us that the Jews applied 

 themselves to the cultivation of the soil, immediately 

 after they came into the possession of the land of 

 Canaan, each family having their territory allotted 

 to them. By the frequent allusions to this subject 

 in different parts of the Old Testament, we may 

 safely infer that husbandry formed their principal 

 occupation. Many of the laws of Moses have for 

 their object the regulation of their flocks and herds, 

 their pastures and fields. David cultivated his own 

 fields, having storehouses for his corn and wine, 

 with officers to oversee the same. Elisha was in the 

 field, with twelve yoke of oxen, when Elijah found 

 him. There are also frequent allusions to husbandry 

 business in different parts of the sacred writings, 

 such as the planting of vineyards, threshing, sifting, 

 and winnowing corn ; with many other allusions to 

 farming business, all having the same import, going 

 to show that husbandry was their leading occupation. 



KOCKINGHAM. 



LABOR WELL APPLIED IS PRODUCTIVE 

 OF PROFIT. 



Farmers should ever bear in mind that " well- 

 directed labor " will insure its reward. Of all classes 

 of men, there is none upon whom this truth needs to 

 be enforced more than the farmer. How many of 

 our farmers are year after year toiling on, over- 

 whelmed with their business on an immense estate, 

 and at the close of the year the accounts are about 

 balanced, and again the same toil and vexation must 

 be renewed ! If rightly- directed effort had been put 

 forth, no more land farmed than could be done to 

 perfection, what a saving of labor, what an increase 

 of profit, what a reward in every point of view, 

 would be received ! In travelling through the best 

 farming districts of this country, we oftan find illus- 

 trations of this truth most striking. 



I have in my eye a farm of medium size, which, a 

 few years since, was any thing but neat and in order, 

 and which gave sad indications that labor had not 

 been " well applied." But a change has come over 

 this scene. A new occupant takes possession, fixed 

 in his principles — determined that he would carry 

 out this great maxim, on Avhich depends the pros- 

 perity and success of the farmer, that " What is worth 

 doing, is worth doing well." Now, how soon the 

 farm begins to assume a new appearance ! The fences 

 are repaired, the land is drained where needed, the 

 buildings are neatly repaired and arranged; manures 

 are obtained best suited to the soil, and crops which 

 are adapted to this region ; a new and imj^roved 

 stock of cattle, sheep, and swine are secured, and in 

 short every thing characteristic of the good farmer 

 appears year after year, under the direction of him 

 who knows how to apply labor. Instead of having, at 

 the end of the year, to resort to loans to make up the 

 deficiencies, this same farm yields a return that 

 gladdens the heart of the farmer. As years roll on, 

 each succeeding one finds a larger balance in favor 

 of well-directed labor ; and now, in addition to the 

 ordinary appendages of a farm, there is reared, out 

 of the profits of this well-regulated concern, a neat 

 and tasty cottage, in the midst of shrubbery the most 

 tasty and luxuriant — all the work of him who started 

 with the determination to do all things well. And 

 this is not all : as the well-regulated expense book is 

 balanced, a profit which would gladden oven the 

 hearts of some of our bankers on the capital invested, 

 is found on hand, to be applied as may best conduce 

 to the comfort and welfare of an interesting family. 

 There is no complaint of means to educate the chil- 

 dren. They are brought up practically to appreciate 



the maxim that " What is worth doing, is worth doing 

 well," and their education prepares them to carry out 

 in all the varied scenes of life this all-important but 

 too little practised truth. 



Let me then urge upon the farmers who read this 

 paper — and I am glad to know they iire many, and 

 among the most intelligent in our land — to put in 

 practice, if they have not already done so, this simple 

 but effectual method of farm labor, which brings with 

 it the most abundant reward, and without which they 

 will in vain struggle on, never securing the end of 

 their toil. Order is Heaven's first law, and let it be 

 yours in every thing relating to your farm. Ilemera- 

 ber you belong to a noble profession, and one that is 

 destined to exert a mighty influence on the destinies 

 of a world. As one man, then, let the American 

 farmers adopt as their motto, " All thiiu/s relating to 

 my farm shall be well done," — and no more should be 

 undertaken than can be thus done, — and soon he 

 will be found to occupy that exalted position that will 

 cause his influence to be felt the world over. Surely 

 it cannot be necessary to urge upon the enlightened, 

 the intelligent, the hard-working American farmer, 

 further considerations in support of a principle that 

 must, on a moment's reflection, commend itself to 

 every right-minded, reflecting man. 



In the London Gardener's Chronicle I find the 

 following anecdote which the celebrated liobert 

 Bakewell used frequently to relate — he whose name 

 is familiar to almost every one for his extraordinary 

 success in breeding cattle and sheep, and to whom, 

 probably. Great Britain, as well as this country, owes 

 as much as to any one individual, for that system of 

 breeding which has secured the choice breeds of ani- 

 mals which are now to be found. It is to our pur- 

 pose, as it gives the history of an old farmer, and one 

 of olden times too, who was renewed by adopting the 

 principle laid down as the heading of our article — 

 " Labor well applied is productive of profit." 



Mr. Bakewell said, " A farmer who owned and 

 occupied one thousand acres of land had three 

 daughters. When his eldest daughter married, he 

 gave her one quarter of his land for her portion, but 

 no money ; and he found, by a little more speed, and 

 a little better management, the jiroduce of his farm 

 did not decrease. When his second daughter mar- 

 ried, he gave her one third of the remaining land for 

 her portion, but no money, He then set to work, 

 and began to grub up his furze and fern, and 

 ploughed up what he called his poor, dry, furze land, 

 even where the furze covered, in some closes, nearly 

 half the land. After giving half his land to two of 

 his daughters, to his great surjirise he found that the 

 produce increased ; he nuide more money, because 

 his new broken up furze land brought excessive crops, 

 and at the same time he farmed the whole of his land 

 better, for he employed three times more laborers 

 upon it ; he rose two hours sooner in the morning ; 

 had no more dead fallows once in three years ; in- 

 stead of which he got two green crops in one year, 

 and ate them upon the land. A garden never re- 

 quires a dead fallow. But the great advantage was, 

 that he had got the same money to manage five hun- 

 dred acres as he had to manage one thousand acres; 

 therefore, he laid out double the money upon the 

 land. 



" When his third and last daughter married, he 

 gave her two hundred and fifty acres, or half that 

 remained, for her portion, and no money. He then 

 found that he liad the same money to farm one quar- 

 ter of the land as he had at first to farm the whole. 

 He began to ask himself a few questions, and set his 

 wits to work how he was to make as much of two hun- 

 dred and fifty as he had done of one thousand acres. 

 He then paid ott' his bailiff, (who weighed twenty 

 stone,) rose with the larks in the long days, and went 

 to bed with the lambs ; he got as much more work 



