172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DECEMBER 5. 1« 8. 



GRUMBLING. | hundred of potatoes, and all otlier prodnctions of 



If there ever was a people, who, as a whole, ! the farm in abvindance, with plenty of money in 

 had the most imqnalified reasons for gratitude, it is ! the chest, and from the mere habit of grumbling at 

 the people of this country ; and especially the far- 1 everything, wretched and really poor. If riches 

 mers, who, abounding in basket and store, andjt''"^ MacAdamize the heart and render it callous 

 ccmmanding prices for their produce of whicl) they , t" the blessings ot Providence, hapjiy is the man 

 could a few months since have scarcely dreamed, ' "''"i lias them not, but instead thereof, tlie sun- 

 should be tlie very last to complain ; but, to their *^''iiie of the mind, peace and contentment.— Ce/i- 

 shame be it spoken, there are still those that are '-""e Farmer. 

 dissatisfied among them, and such is human nature, 

 probably would be were present crops and prices 

 doubled. Of all men, these eternal grumblers are 

 the ones we most cordially detest. Nothing is 

 right V ith them. With barns and granaries filled 

 to overflowing — witli their fields sprinkled with 

 flocks and herds — with orchards laden with fruit, 

 and abundance of the best of all things to eat 

 and drink, still they will gruufble and complain. 



In an CNcnrsion into tlie country, a few days 

 since, we came across one of this class of grum- 

 blers, whicli may serve as a specimen of the whole 

 genus, and in describing whom we may read a les- 

 son to some, who, though not wholly given to com- 

 plaining as yet, have a decided leaning that way. 

 Our grumbler was a farmer evidentlv rich and 

 " well to do," a good house, and what was a more 

 decisive proof, several well-finished and w.>3ll filled 

 barns. His fields were extensive and rich, and 

 exhibited a goodly show of horses, cattle and sheep. 

 Grumbler kept a tavern, where, of course, we made 



oui«elves at home, and aftar taking care of t.^e 



outw.vd man we sallied out to look at the premises 



and tiie country. He was in his barn, busy in 



cleaninn- ^''nd depositing in his granary a larne 



quantity of .'leautilul wheat which had just been 



(Krom the Mechanic and Farmer ) 

 MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT. 



One of the best improvements of the present age 

 is that of establishiiig Lyceums and other associa- 

 tions for mutual ir.provement among their mem- 

 bers, by bringing out, and encouraging the partic- 

 ular talent of each individual, and by aflbrding the 

 community, at a trifling costv_with popular in.-;truc- 

 tion, by way of lectures. Every village can well af- 

 ford to sustain an iHstitution of this kind, and, in 

 fact, if the inhabitants mean to keep up with the 

 general intelligence of the community, or do what 

 they ought to guard the rising generation from the 

 temptations of evil cooipany, dissolute habits, and 

 blunted moral sensibility, there is a necessity rest- 

 ing upon them to be active in sustaining a pleas- 

 ant and useful society, of the kind we have men- 

 tioned. In every village, a few men, at least, can 

 be found, whose education will warrant their taking 

 the lead in the exercises, and affording encourage- 

 ment to others to do what they can, and by care- 

 ful study, in a short time, be prepared to do better. 

 Tl'iere is talent lying idle, and perhaps may never 



see the light of day without some such means, and 

 threshed, in orc'eno save stacking it, since his h.'.rns i talent too, of no ordinary cast. We are certain of 

 <N-ould ho'id no nu ^f^. this, for 'we recollect, many years since, when we 



'^1 inveterate ha bit of complaining liad wrwi-htLyg^g a„ apprentice, in a shop where were about 

 his face into deep fui?-ows in which the sunshine f.f .^ ^^^.g^ wor'„men, and while all were busily en- 

 ,T,he cftiUilf-iwnce never rested ; and the impreneion „^^^^ -^^ ^^^.j. jjearing remarks and conversations, 

 -matte on yjw in seeing him, vas as if a man had Lf t], ^ ^^^^^^ -^^ practice, and the unjust inequali- 

 been looking at you thro-,g], the bars of a gridiron, [jg,^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ prejudices in society, that since. 

 Friend, said I, you ?,eoni to have a good crop of w',,en coming from older men who were scholars, have 

 wheat, what v^g t],g amount of your harvest ? L^^^j.^pj ^^^ Hj^g g[g(,|.,,i^ijy_ And yet when calmly 

 Only 800 oushels, at the highest, was the reply, coi^posejjjave resulted in the same simple yet inl- 

 and ought to have had a thousand. Owing to the, 

 dry weather and the villanous worms, I shall j^et 

 only 25 bushels to the acre, and I ought to h.ave 



had thirty. People talk about a good wheat crop 

 in the country, continued he, but I know it is a 

 miserable failure. There was a beautiful field of 

 corn of some 20 acres spread out before us, and I 

 alluded to the certainty that there could be no fail- 

 ure in that crop, as the yellow ears showed it was 

 then fit for gathering. Altogether mistaken in 

 your opinion, said Grumbler, not over two tliirds of 



a crop 60 bushels where I should have had SO, 



had it not been for the cut worm and the dry wea- 

 ther. There are few things I like better than a 



p'ressive truth, with less natural and consequently 

 less forcible illustrations. 



The season of the year, as the long evenings 

 have come upon us, has naturally led us to write 

 a word upon this subject, for the purpose of persua- 

 ding our friends, and the friends of humanity, and 

 good morals, and gencal intelligence in every town 

 to take active measures for approaching winter, 

 which, by a wise disposition of time, has in many 

 parts of New-England, been appropriated as a sea- 

 son of intellectual harvest- 



In small towns, all classes ought to join with one 

 heart and one mind, in establishing a mutual im- 

 provement society, and give to all the benefit of 

 the knowledge of each. The minister, in this way, 

 information in the 



good potato, and at that moment one of grumbler's 



sons drove a wagon load of very fine ones past , ,. , . , , ,, 



the door to deposit in his cellar, and I paid him a j ^^ould obtain much valuabl , , . , , 



compliment on the quality of his roots Ah, said P™<=tma afiairs ot hfe, and the wants and trials of 

 compiimem, i ^ . , , „,,],.' his flock; while the farmer and tlie mechanic, 



he in a tone like that ot giving up the gno»t, only , , , , ' , , , . , .. r • ic 



ha^f a crop, and poor littk^ heavy things, too, after -;«ld be enabled o lay up a store of scientific 

 all I planted six acres and shall not get over P""c'Ples, and practica results, which would afford 

 , J Ik 1 oic <«cn;n,r hnw"Tiif. Innd amusement, and activity of mind, besides aiding 



twelve hundred busliels. beeing now " ine lana . , . , ■' -^ t i . .i 



twtive imuui u „„,l.„u„r.>l chiorta them in their several pursuits. In short, there 



lav." I touched him on most agricultural subjects -n i, 



lay, X uu^ „,„,„, ..„,, f„„„/fi,nt never was, and there never will be any one man 



connected with his farm and crops, and found tliat , , ' , . , ^, \ . 



. ., , , „„,; ,v„,„ Dnn tnWppr 1 who knows everything, and the nearest approach 



in B-oino' over the whole ground, from JJan to iJeer- . ■' . ,'^' ... ., , . ., 



, S""'""^^' u „^^ hnrron P,.nr m„u YOU cau get to it, IS, by some similar metliod to the 



sheba, all was wrong, all was barren, roor man, J >= , 



said I to myself, as I rode off, 800 bushels of wheat ; one we recommend, 

 more than a thousand bushels of corn ; twelve 1° some villages the mechanics should form an 



association, and commence in employing lecturers 

 occasionally, and in meetingtoread and have debates 

 or conversations on practical and scientific subjects. 

 A very good exercise for some of them, would be, 

 to collect the scattered scraps of the history of 

 their town from its earliest settlement, and to col- 

 lect as many specimens of its mineralogy, geolosry, 

 and natural history as possible. 



In other places, the young farmers would find a 

 great deal of amusement and ultimate benefit, in 

 preparing plans for laying out a farm, giving the 

 arrangemrnts, size, and location of the several 

 buildings, with their different apartments ; the form 

 and style of the garden, shade trees, orchards, &c. 

 These plans could be compared, amended and 

 finally enlarged, to embrace, not only the form and 

 location, but the manner of cultivating the several 

 portions, and the different soils, together with the 

 best materials for building, the time and manner of 

 procuring them, &c. &.c. An effort of this kind 

 well begun and perseveringly pursued, would have 

 no limit, short of the extent of human skill and 

 knowledge. It would give an activity to the in- 

 ventive faculties, and the mind, and lead those en- 

 gaged in the business to examine books and other 

 means of information, and thus make thinking, 

 strong minded men, of those, who, without some 

 such metlud might never rise above tlie dead level 

 of ordinary capacities. 



At the present time, it is a serious fact, and one 

 frequently of great annoyance and cause of com- 

 plaint, that a majority of the young men who offer 

 themselves for work as farmers, have acquired very 

 few correct principles of farming or much skill in 

 practice, except in relation to a few of the more 

 common duties. We have known cases of young 

 men who thought they understood the business of 

 farming, when set at work to hoe a garden would 

 invariably cover up half the weeds and pass so 

 slovenly over the beds as to do about as mnch in- 

 jury as good, or if employed in transplanting were 

 so tlioughtless or ignorant of the principles of veg- 

 etable life as to destroy half the plants, and gen 

 rally about their work' executed it in so bungling a 

 manner as to try the patience of a Job. We know 

 a man, who is now getting to be a pretty good far- 

 mer, who declared a while since that he should 

 have been the gainer, while young, had he given a 

 year's work to some neat and- well skilled farmer 

 for the information he sliould have gained. The 

 facts show the necessity for an increase of know- 

 ledge in the principles of the science of agricul- 

 ture, and the importance of attending to it in the 

 manner we have pointed out,-or srfiiie other of equal 

 extent 



We might pursue this subject through the whole 

 of tJie community, and trace some of its eflTects in 

 every family. But we are aware that we are lim- 

 ited to the length of a newspaper article, and must 

 rest satisfied with merely throwing out a few hints, 

 for those who are disposed to avail themselves of 

 them, with the sincere hope that some measures, 

 active and immediate, will be taken to carry some 

 such plan into effect. 



The responsibility rests upon the active intelli- 

 gent men in every town to begin, and a duty is 

 upon every one, however humble, to put his shoul- 

 der to the wheel, and lift with his whole strength. 

 Heave I ho ! then, altogether ! and take a mutual 

 interest in what will mutually benefit all. 



At the late election in Texas, the number of 

 votes cast amounted to 5000. 



