214 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAi%CARV9, 1839. 



AND gardener's JOURNAL. 



BoaTos, We 



y, Jakuabv 9, 1839. 



NOTICE. 



The subscriber, Coiiftiissioncr of Agricultural Survey, 

 Las taken, fur the winter, an ofBce at No. o'i North .Mar- 

 ket street, over the office of the New Engl.ind Farmer 

 and Agricultural Seed store, wliere lie will be happy to 

 ^cc hi.s agricultural friends on the business of his appoint- 

 ment. 



He may ho ordinarily found at his oDice from 9 to 12 

 M. ; and his agrirultur.il friends will find his office open 

 jlt all Unties of day, and the agricultural publications and 

 papers of the country at hand for their perusal. 



llEiNRY COI..MAN. 



Jan. 1, ls'39. 



FOR THE NEW YEAR. 



The commencement of a year it always deemed a 

 proper occasion for the forming of good resolutions and 

 plau^l^ future conduct. We shall not discuss the moral 

 duties or uses of such occasions. Wo are far I'rom think- 

 ing this would be out of place in a Farmer's newspaper; 

 but it does not come immediately within our sphere. 

 Our main business is with business men, and our present 

 object concerns' business arrangements at the commence- 

 ment of the year. 



We are talking of the commencement of the year; 



-and yet it is already someways on its journey, and a fifty- 

 second part of it is gone. Thiscannot berecalled. The 

 power of omnipotence, wc spunk it with reverence, can- 

 not make it a.< though jt had not been. Bot it would be 

 madness and foUy on that account to forego our good 

 purposes ; or to wait until another year before we begin 

 tlie csccutign of plans of whose propriety and utility we 

 are «onvinted. " What thou doest, do quickly." Now 



.^s the time. Beyond now no man is sure of the power or 

 the inclination fo do anything ; and if instead of a fiftv- 



. second a fifili part of the year should have passed aw.av, 

 let it never he considered too lato to begin the execution 

 of a wise and useful purpose. 



In looking at the general conduct and management of 

 farmers, nothing strikes oae more forcibly than the al- 

 most entire absence of all arrangement or system, all 

 exactness and accounts. Few men make any definite 

 plan for the mauiigement of their farms, but are wholly 

 under the direction, if direction it may be called, of ca- 

 price or accident. Few men measure their land, their 

 seed, or their crops. Few keep any account of the ma- 

 nure applied, or the labor expended upon any crop. Few 

 know what they buy; what they sell ; and whether in the 

 application, use, or sale of tiieir produce there is a gain 

 or a loss. If you ask why this is not done, the general 

 answer is, " th.it we get so little from our farms, that we 

 are ashamed to do it ; or we should discover that our 

 farms are running us in debt, and therefore we are un- 

 willing to do it; or it is so much trouble that wc cannot 

 do it." These replies are all unreasonable and futile. 

 They are not such as as to satisfy an intelligent and hon- 

 est mind. It is not a question of half so much im- 

 portance whether we get much or little as whether 

 we get all that we can get, and whether we get so 

 much as to compensate fully the labor .ipplied and the 

 expense incurred in the cultivation. A farmer, who 

 farms for mere pastime or amusement, or who havinf 

 other resources is satisfied with the few ordinary supplies 

 and conveniences, which almost any farm will furnish 

 with little Labor or expense,' must not complain, if the 

 account of his farm should be s'horl and meagre. He has 



no reason to expect anything el.<c. But a farmer, who is 

 one truly and exclusively, whose depenilenee is on his 

 farm, whose business is with his farm, ought not to be 

 satisfied until his farm is made to produce all that it is 

 cipable of producing ; and a farmer, who does this, will 

 seldom have occasion to be mortified at the result. In 

 most cases there is no doubt it will much exceed bis ex- 

 pectations. We know that farmers in general will give 

 a dilTerent account from this. The first reason for their 

 doing so is that many of thetn, who profess to know, do 

 not know accurately how the case stands with them. 

 They imagine, they think, they guess, they conjecture, 

 they " lump the matter, " as it is often termed ; but they 

 keep nn accounts, and they make out no particular, de- 

 tailed, and faithful statement of tlie case. Another rea- 

 son is, they seldom give the farm any credit for the com- 

 forts and supplies, wliicOi it furnishes to the family with- 

 out charge or notice. Let them have to buy all these 

 things in a city where every ounce of butter, every pound 

 of pork, every half pec:k of potatoes, every bunch of 

 onions, and every pint of milk is to be weighed, measured, 

 and paid for ; and then they can form a more just esti- 

 mate of what is to be credited to the farm. In judging 

 of the proceeds or result of his farming, the farmer in 

 general reckons only what he sells for cash ; and makes 

 no account of house-rent, fuel, bread, pork, beef, tallow, 

 vegetables, milk, &c. &,<■.., which are used for his family 

 and with wliich oftentimes much of his labor is paid for. 

 Such omissions are certainly unjust to the farm, and pre- 

 vent the exhibition of a true result. 



If it be true in the next place, as many sometimes as- 

 sert, that if they keep an exact account of their farming, 

 it wouU be found that their farms are running them in 

 debt, this is the strongest of all reasons why they should 

 keep accounts, and why they should look often into these 

 accounts. It is great folly to pursue any business what- 

 ever which canibe pursued only at a certain lo.ss. A man, 

 who believes himself year after year continually sinking 

 deeper and deeper into debt, must be sensible that he is 

 doing a great injustice to others; and in most cases must 

 become at last irretrievably involved. Such instances do 

 indeed occur ; and a man, who knowingly suft'ers him- 

 self to beccnio involved, when he might avoid it, has no 

 justification ; and a man, who permits liimsclf to contract 

 debts, which he has at the time no reasonable expectation 

 of ever being able to discharge, commits an act, which 

 as it involves a gross breach and abuse of confidence, is 

 more immoral and criminal than burglary or highway 

 robbery. If a man, theref», entertains a slight suspi- 

 cion that his farming is yeOTly involving him in debt, 

 and he has no resources but imm the farm to meet those 

 debts, these are the strongest reasons why as a man of 

 common honor and principle he should keep the most 

 exact accounts, that he may save himself from the por- 

 tending bankruptcy and shipwreck. In most cases how- 

 ever, we regard such excuses for not keeping farm accounts 

 as mere pretences without any just foundation. Men 

 often find that their farming is unprofitable and involves 

 them in debt. But in most cases this is not so properly 

 to be ch.irged to the farm as to a want of skill, of industry, 

 of frugality ; to a neglect to make the best use of the 

 means which a man possesses ; or to an improvidencci 

 ignorance, or mismanagement, which would cause a like 

 failure in any business. 



The other reason, which men give why they do not 

 keep farm accounts, that this would take too much lime 

 and trouble, is one which an industrious and business- 

 man ought to be ashamed to give ; and which few re- 

 spectable farmers would give, if they had once made the 

 experiment. In this mallear everything depends on ar- 

 rangement and system, -\fter matters are once methodi- 

 zed, half an hour a day will in general keep accurately. 



any farm account in the State. This attention and time 

 however, must be given to it every day. If put ofi'froin 

 d,iy to day with the intention of doing up a week's work 

 at a time many things will be forgotten or overlooked; 

 the matters to be remembered and noted will become 

 accumulated and entangled ; and things will soon fall 

 into irretrievable confusion. Fix a time of day and of 

 every d.iy when it shall be done; say, for example im- 

 mediately after supper, and let it be a rule with you toi 

 do it as fixed and inviolable as your going to bed audi 

 your getting up. It will then occupy little lime; it wiU| 

 cost comparatively no trouble; and it will be such A 

 source of satisfaction and advantage to you as to compen-i 

 sate tenfold any pains or trouble it may require. 



At the commencement of the year, and while the sea- 

 son compels the farmer to remit the labors of the field, 

 with all possible respect, we advise the farmer, to lay out 

 the pjan of the coming year's work. Look over youri 

 farm and determine what you will do with any and every 

 piece of it; what crops you will raise ; where you will 

 raise, and how you will raise them. Determine that as 

 fir as your means e.xtend, not a single acre or half acre 

 shall remain unoccupied or unproductive. Determine as 

 nearly as you can what manure you have to apply and 

 how you will apply it; and what labor you will require 

 and can alford to employ. Look at your seeds that vou 

 may seascmably determine wheliier you have what you 

 will want, in order that if deficient, you may be able to 

 supply yourself early, while you can make a judicious 

 selection, and not leave the supply of this primary want 

 to a time, when you may not be able to supply yourself 

 or must take what you can get, not what you would 

 choose. Look next at your ulentils and see that they 

 are in the condition for use ; and liaving laid vou plans, 

 prepare everything for a start as soon as spring shall give 

 the word ; and not when the stageman's horn is blowing 

 under your window have then to dress yourself and pack 

 your trunk. Having got everything in this wise and 

 careful condition of preparation determine that you will 

 keep a farm journal or diary, and begin it now. Take 

 an account of stock and of produce on hand Keep an 

 account of every day's weather and employment ; where 

 you were ; what you did ; who helped you ; how you 

 did it. Charge the farm with all expenses of labor, tools, 

 manure, stock, and seeds. Credit the farm with all its 

 returns of every description. Jleasure every bushel ol 

 vegetables and grain. AVei^^h every pound of butter and 

 cheese. -Ascertain the ordinary amount of milk used for 

 a day or a week that you may average the amount for the 

 season, unless you choose to measure it out to your own 

 family as you would to a buyer. Estimate honestly 

 your'loads of hay, corn-fodder, and straw, and keep an 

 account of them. Disregard no minute details. Many 

 little matters make large mattcis. Weigh your fatting 

 and growing animals occasionally, that you may ascertain 

 their gain ; and sometimes by such means determine the 

 important questions of the comparative value of difierent 

 kinds of feed and management. In short, let nothing 

 connected with your farm escape your attention, and theo 

 at the close of the year you will have the enviable satis- 

 faction of knowing where you stand and how you stand; 

 of determining those important questions which are con- 

 tinually coming up to the farmer as to wliat is profitable I 

 and what is unprofitable ; what is.the best way of doing 

 a thing and what things are best to be done. At the 

 close of tilt' year, you will feel like a man, who wlieu lie 

 has returned from a journey will be able to tell his friends 

 and neighbors, where ho has been, and what he has seen, 

 and what he has done ; and not like a man ruaking the 

 same journey half asleep or iialf intoxicated, who sees 

 nothing and knows nothing ; spends as much time on 

 the road as the other man; ])ays as miicli for liis passage ; 



