VOI,. XV. NO. C. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



45 



FARSIER B, OR tHE MAN WHO WORKS IT 

 RIGHT. 



EY A TRAVELLER. 



It was (luring the same tour in which I met 

 with Farmer A. whose system and its results I 

 have siven in a former number of this journal, 

 that I made an acquaintance with another indi- 

 vidual who I shall call farmer B. and if I could 

 convey to the readers of the Farmer, but a .small 

 degree of the pleasure, which a sight of what in- 

 dustry and good order can accomplish, has afford- 

 ed me in the remembrance of the incidents I should 

 feel myself amply rewarded. 



Mr B. as well as Mr A. was a native of one of 

 the eastern states, and when he removed to west- 

 ern New York, he took care to secure a farm con- 

 taining as many natural advantages as possible, 

 though in this respect I think his farm was infe- 

 rior to farmer A. When he had made his choice 

 however, he considered it as uiide for life, and 

 immediately set himself at work to effect a thor- 

 ough and permanent arrangement of his prejnises, 

 previous to the course of improvement he intend- 

 ed to adopt. A large farm and great wealth 

 formed no part of his plans — a firm of ordinary 

 size, contentment and competence, were the ex- 

 tent of his ambition, and these things he speedily 

 accomplished. 



Farmer B.'s liouse is one of the most perfect 

 specimens of that picture of rural neatness, ele- 

 gance and comfort, an English cottage, that 1 have 

 seen in this country. Standing at a little distance 

 from the public highway, unassuming in its alti- 

 tude dimensions, embowered in trees, and half 

 hidden in vines and shrubbery, it seems as you 

 approach it the chosen retreat of farming tasle and 

 comfort. The neatly painted pickets of the dif- 

 ferent enclosures were as firm and perfect as if pul 

 on but yesterday. The gates to the different av- 

 enues were ready for use without creaking or 

 grating. The avenues themselves were well grav- 

 eled, hard and clean — the grass was cut close, 

 and free from all dirt or rubbish, .and it was evi- 

 dent the work done here had not been injuriously 

 Bubstracted from labor required elsewhere ; every 

 thing had been done in order and in time, and a 

 glance showed that the whole secret consisted in 

 these two words — good management. 



On entering the house, as might have been ex- 

 pected, the same order and neatness was found 

 pervading every spot. Mrs B. was a middle 

 aged, sensible woman, a goo<l farmer's wife, with- 

 out the least effort at dis[>lay or ostentation, but 

 greeting the stranger with a welcome and frank- 

 ness that gave additional value to whatever obli- 

 gation she conferred. Two daughters, the one 

 eight, and the other perhaps fifteen, with their 

 Uiother, constituted the female part of the family. 

 I know of no sight on earth to me more pleasing, 

 or so conducive of delightful emotions, as a beau- 

 tiful little girl, such as the playful Mary B. Tliey 

 are the rose buds of human nature, — pure them- 

 selves, and ignorant of wrong in others, they only 

 delight in seeing others happy, — overflowing with 

 affection which they have not yet learned to hoard 

 for a single favored individual, and unacquainted 

 with those deeper and mysterious influences which 

 startle the young girl, aud mantle her cheek with 

 blushes, when she first acknowledges their exis- 

 tence and power : there is a fearlessness and frank- 

 ness about the innocent creatures, diflicult to re- 

 tain in af^er life, but which, when combined with 



purity of heart, forms the great charm of female 

 character. 



Farmer B. was at home when 1 arrived, and as 

 we walked over his well managed farm, he seem- 

 ed to feel a rational pleasure in recounting Xh; 

 steps by which he had brought it to such a state 

 of fertility and ])roductivencss, and of which am- 

 ple |)roofwas found in the fact, that he had that 

 day received six hundi-cd dollars for a crop of 

 wheat grown on twenty acres. Two of his oldest 

 sons were at work in the field, the youngest being 

 at school ; fltr B. remarking, that as he intended 

 his children for farmers, or the wives of farmers, 

 they were kept at school until they were able to 

 aid in the business of the farm, the girls by assist- 

 ing their mother, and the boys in the field, wi.en 

 the summer schooling was discontinued, but re- 

 sumed in the winter, or at an academy, as long as 

 was de^rable — it being his opinion, that a due 

 regard to health, and an am])le acquaintance with 

 the operations of husbandry,deman(led tliatcourse. 

 Mr B. said he was a strict utilitarian, and while he 

 admitted as useful to his children, and required in 

 their course of studies, much that others would 

 consider as utmecessary, he woidd not allow them 

 to consume their time upon courses purely orna- 

 mental, and for which in all probability they would 

 fnd little or no use in their after sphere of active 

 life. Farmer B. was not a visionary or enthusi- 

 ast in farming ; but he loved exjjeriment, and 

 never rejected a proposition because it was new 

 — it was enoiijih that it commeti- irnSi^rto fi^is 

 reason, and was able to hear the- "6lose and rigid 

 scrutiny to which he was accustoirved to submit 

 all farming speculations. :. , 



There are few passages in life more delightful 

 than an evening spent in such a family. Intelli- 

 gent, amiable, and unaffected in their manners, 

 tlieir cheerful courtesy makes one feel at home, 

 and places him at once on one of those green isl- 

 ands that are here and there found in the need- 

 lessly broad desert of human life. In the room to 

 which we were introduced for the evening, were 

 a fire, lamps, sofa, carpet, chairs, and what I pa)^- 

 ticularly noticed, a table on which lay one or two 

 of the latest newspapers, a magazine or review, 

 and an agricultural journal of established celebri- 

 ty. There wasi an assortment of books, not large, 

 lint well selected, consisting of voyages, travels, 

 history, and a number of theological volumes, 

 with one of the popular commentators on the Bi- 

 ble. The family were soon grouped aroimd, and 

 all, even to little Mary, were busy, the boys with 

 their books, the girls with their sewing. 



" You will excuse us," said Mr B. to me, "but 

 we have in our family long since adopted a prac- 

 tice which we do not like to relinquish : for one 

 hour in the evening, after the usual labors of the 

 day are closed, some one of us, and we intend to 

 do it in rotation, reads aloud for the benefit of the 

 others, and as we have just received a work more 

 than usually interesting, my children would feel 

 deprived of a privilege were this custom omitted 

 this evening." I of course begged I might not be 

 a hindrance to their hapjiiness, and young Mellen, 

 the second son, a lad of sixteen, was called upon 

 to read. John Neal, I remember, says th'at he 

 knew of but three good readers in the United 

 States, and spite of his modesty, Ijiresumehe would 

 include niraself in that number ; certain it is, the 

 number is but few who enter into the spirit of an 

 author, and understand giving his words and sen- 

 timents their proper value and effect. Mellen 



however, far exceeded my expect tions, and when 

 he named Lamartine's Pilgrimage to the Holy 

 Land, as the work they were reading, I was not 

 surprised they were anxious for its continuation ; 

 and when the hour had expired, so deeply inter- 

 ested had we all become in the narration of the 

 elocpient Frenchman, that by an unanimous vote, 

 the hook was handed to the eldest daughter, and 

 another hour glided quickly away in listening to 

 her sweet toned voice, and the glowing thoughts 

 of the poetic writer. After what I had seen aud 

 heard, I was not surprised to find Mt B. a man of 

 deep religious feeling, or disposed to wonder at 

 the jtrofound feeling of humility and thankfulness 

 with which he closed the evening by commending 

 us all to the care of a beiteficent Creator. 



After the children had retired, I coidd not help 

 congratulating Mr B. on the excellent course he 

 had adopted in the family of accumulating knowl- 

 edge, aud the beautiful effect its influence already 

 exercised. It is said, he remarked in reply, that 

 farmers, or their children, do not have as much 

 time to read as the chfidren of [)rofessional men or 

 mechanics, and it may be partly true, yet I am con- 

 vinced the plea which farmers so often urge as an 

 excuse for their ignorance, that they have no time 

 to read, arises more frequently from disinclination 

 to read, than from any other cause. Few men 

 are sensible how many valuable books arc gone 

 through in n year by the reading of an hour a day ; 

 and by having them.Ji^ad aloud in the family, all 

 Tijro interested, ai.d all are instructed. As I have 

 accustomed my children to ask questions on what 

 is wad, and to the correcting of errors in the read- 

 \nft, the attention even of the youngest rarely.flags 

 during the hour. 



'' I went to bed reflecting on the contrast between 

 farmers A. and B. and the diflerent probable re- 

 sults their influence and that of their families would 

 have on their own happiness, and that of the soci- 

 ety around them. With farmer A. everything 

 was at sevens and sixes; nothing in doors or out, 

 1tKtli.e house or on the farm, as it should be, or as 

 it ouglitTc have been ; and this state of things ev- 

 idently had its effects on the minds of the family, 

 rendering them morose, ill-tempered, I may almost 

 say, immoral ; as well as continually restless and 

 dissatisfied with everything around them, without 

 inducing the necessary steps to cure the evils of 

 which they were so jeady to complain. On the 

 contrary, at farmer B.'s every thing moved like 

 clock-work, aiul it was evident the success as a 

 farmer arose from having his work done in sea- 

 son, and from " having a place for everything and 

 everything in its place." Its effects on the fami- 

 ly we have seen, and one thing is certain — Mr B. 

 will not go to the west in search of competence or 

 happiness. — Gen. Far. 



The difference. — In some parts of Indiana, 

 corn is sold at ten cents a bushel, eggs for three 

 cents a dozen, and chickens are given away. In 

 Boston eggs are twentyseven cents a dozen, pota- 

 toes about two dollars a bushel, and you can hard- 

 ly look at a chicken without paying for it. — Bost. 

 Times. 



A French scientific Journal certifies to the ef- 

 ficacy of common salt in fixing white wash made 

 of lime. Ihe water in which lime is slaked, 

 should be first saturated with salt. The white 

 wash thus produced is permament. It does not 

 crack, nor come off upon one's hand or clothes. 



