362 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



WaT *a i>*a6. 



expense of money, and time and labor. A very tage in the autumn and sent to market in the spring ; ' or Bakewell, the stock is usually excellent for th m 

 large portion of the hay whn-h >= ^c-nt to market and ewes mrght be purchased in the fall, with ar- | purpose. I can but hope that presently the South 

 from Essex county, is purchased by jobbers, who rangements so made that they should bring their I Downs will be introduced and diffused amon<r us 

 takeit from the fanr.er and convey It with their own lambs m February ; and with liberal keeping, both which seem to me, for these objects to combine' 

 teams to market; but return no manure to the farm, ewes and lambs might be sent to market in the more good properties by far than any race vet 

 Let us now look at this operation. The average spring. The lambs being sent early, would bring known among us,_Then the feeding of the sheen 

 price of hay in market m Salem Lowell, or Boston,, a liigh price. | requires great care. - It must be done with regular 



for the last twenty years, has not exceeded eighteen , The fatting of weathers for the market might be ! ity. They must be treated kindly They must 

 dollars per ton. Let us take the case of a farmer, done to great advantage in Essex, on account of the ' not be abused. Tliey should have plenty of room 

 who goes to market with his hay and purchases [ demand within the county and the proximity to and never more than fifty in one enclosure They 



a half of hay to Salem. We will suppose the hay | Indian corn one dollar per bushel. Farmers with- 



in market brings at eighteen dollars per ton i.f two 

 thousand pounds, twentyseven dollars. Now what 

 are the abatements to be made from this? Two 

 men must be occupied nearly half a day in loading 

 the hay for market. This with the waste inciden- 

 tal to loading the hay and uncovering the mow, 

 cannot be estimated at less than one dollar. He 

 must then with his team of one horse and two yoke 

 of oxen, or two yoke of oxen, be absent a day. 

 This can hardly be estimated at less than three 

 dollars, including incidental exjienses. He cannot 

 purchase a cord of manure to compensate his losses 

 for the hay under a sum less than four or five dol- 

 lars. Here there is an amount of eight or nine 

 dollars to be deducted from the amount received 

 for the hay. Now is there no mode by which his 

 hay can be used on his farm at a value equal to 

 what is here j-ealized, and all the vexation and toil 

 of marketing be saved ? Or if he is a farmer in 

 Newbury, Rowley, or other towns similarly situat- 

 ed, he must allow to the wagoner who either pur- 

 ,chase6 the hay on his own account or soils it on 

 commission, a sum varying from five to seven dol- 

 lars per ton, as commission on the sale. In this 

 ■case too, it is to be remembered that Ire got? no 

 return of manure, I cannot think this a very gDgd 

 operation. 



The hay in Essex county does not give as an 

 average yield, over one and a quarter ton per acre; 

 and where land is kept long in grass, the average 

 is not beyond a ton. There are, indeed, much bet- 

 ter crops than these, but we are speaking of a gen- 

 eral yield. Hay s.hould come in as a regular crop 

 in rotation ; and there are some lands, redeei.ied 

 peat meadows, for example, which ai'e not suited to 

 cultivation, and where, unquestionably, liaj' is the 

 preferable crop ; and the fertility of the land is to 

 be maintained by top dressing. There is no gen- 

 eral proposition to which exceptions may not be 

 made. But what I wish my brother fanners of Es- 

 sex particularly to consider is, whetlier hay is the 

 best crop which they can cultivate; and whether 

 the selling of hay is so eligible or unobjectionable 

 a process as it is generally esteemed to be. 



Hay is always jyorth ten dollars a ton, to be fed 

 on the farm. Here the labor and expense of mar- 

 keting are avoided, and the manure is secured on 

 the farm. Farmers in Essex may get, in many ca- 

 ses, horses from the capital, to be wintered for one 

 dollar and twentyflve cents or one dollar and fifty 

 cents per week, and in this case their hay is worth 

 ten dollars per ton. Hay is worth ten dollars per 

 ton to be given to fatting wethers, or to sheep for 

 the raising of early lambs for market. Essex is 

 not a grazing county, and the fences throughout 

 the county are not at all adapted to tlie keeping of 

 sheep. But wethers may be purchased to advan- 



in my knowledge buy all their corn for this very 

 object, and do it to advantage. These would be 

 good and remunerating prices in Essex, especially 

 where the produce is consumed on the farm. The 

 average net profit upon sheep well purchased, well 

 fed and v,-ell sold, may be set down as from one to 

 two dollars per head. I h-ave seldom known any 

 loss sustained. I have often known a much great- 

 er gain than tiiis. _ Within my knowledge, a far- 

 mer one hundred miles in the interior, purchased 

 the last autumn, fifty wether sheep for fatting, of 

 the best description, large, thrifty, well-conditioned 

 When driven into his yard in November, they cost 

 him three dollars and seventyfive cents per head. 

 A'bout the first of January he sold twenty of the 

 number in Brighton for six dollars and twentyfive 

 cents per head, out of whicli, probably, thirt\ three 

 or fifty cents commission to the drover were to be 

 deducted : if fifty cents, this gave an advance of 

 two dollars per head for about five weeks keeping, 

 at, probably, for I have often made it the subject 

 of exact account, twentyfive cents per week, leav- 

 ing a net gain of seventyfive cents per head. He 

 -kept the remaining thirty until the second week in 



quality. 

 In answer to all this, for there is no end to the 

 excuses of indolence, and when she can 't get out 

 at the door she will always contrive to crawl through 

 the key-hole, it will be said that if all the farmers 

 in Essex should go to fatting sheep, the business 

 would be overdone. Now there is no probability, 

 even if the profits were as clear as the sun shining 

 at noon day, of all the farmers in Essex, or even a 

 considerable part of them undertaking any such 

 thing. Farmers, and they are as intelligent in Es- 

 sex county as anywhere, are a proverbially slow 

 and faithless race. Demonstration must come 

 down upon them like a triphammer in a foundry, 

 before you can convince them of anything extraor- 

 dinary that has been done out ofsightof the smoke 

 of their own chimneys. An enterprising, intelli- 

 gent, quick, industrious man, whose perceptions are 

 as rapid as the lightning's flash, and who comes to 

 his safe and certain conclusions by a sort of instinct, 

 just as the tree is riven or the rock is broken by 

 the bolt, without knowing precisely how or where 

 the blow was given, these are the minds for whom 

 we write, and from whom, and from whom only, 

 any improvements are to be expected. Such men, 

 moving with an intellectual and muscular elastici- 



March, and then .received for them twelve dollars I ty and energy such as keep the world alive, will be 

 twentyfive cents per head in his yard. We^vill up and dressed and their day's work half accom- 

 suppose them to have been kept sixteen weeks at I pi ished before a large part of mankind will have 

 twentyfive cents per week; this would bring the I buttoned their waistcoats or pulled their shoes up 

 cost to seven dollars and seventyfive cents per at the heel, and before many will have decided 



head, and leave in this case a net profit of four dol- 

 lars and fifty cents per head. This is an unusual 

 gain ; but with proper skill and management they 

 always do well. If an Essex farmer can get by 

 any such process ten or twelve dollars for his hay 

 consumed at his barn, it is much better than for him 

 to sell it in the market in Lowell, Boston or Salem, 

 for eighteen dollars, with all the vexation and toil 

 of marketing, and all the expense of buying and 



whether or not to get up at all. Now there are 

 few such men, but few or many, to such my sug- 

 gestions are addressed, and all I desire is, that they 

 should value them for what they are worth. 



There is no danger, under any circumstances, of 

 the business being overdone. The demand will 

 keep pace with the supply. Hitherto it has great- 

 ly outrun the supply. Mutton was never more in 

 demand in Boston than it has been the past winter. 



carting manure. A fatting sheep, of a good size, The operation requires no expensive outlays or fi*- 

 will require from two to three pounds of hay per tures. It is liable to as few accidents as any busi- 

 day, one pint of corn per day, take the whole time \ ness of the kind which can be pursued ; and from 

 togetlier, and one pint of potatoes or other esculent i ignorance, want of skill, mistakes of judgment, neg- 

 vegetables. This is liberal feeding ; and every i lect, want of perseverance, and other obvious cau- 

 farmer can make his own calculations. This busi- ' ses, there will be always failures and disappoint- 

 ness, in order to be successful, like every other ' ments enough to give those who pursue it skilfully, 

 business, requires skill and care. The sheep ought | liberally and properly, a fair chance of success, 

 to be in good condition when put up to fatten. It j Here are two modes then, by which the farmer 

 is an old proverb that a sheep is never fat but once. ! in Essex county may dispose of his hay on his farm 

 It is utterly hopeless to attempt to fatten a poor or ! to advantage and with a reasonable profit. He 

 an unhealthy sheep. They belong to the crows, ! may do it likewise with equal advantage by a winter 

 and the sooner they have them the better. The | dairy, and at present prices, by raising young stock. 

 Saxony sheep are too small to be profitable for fat- | (To be continued.) 



tening. The half blood merinos are an excellent j 



variety. They are in general thrifty, and the de- | The Genesee Farmer says that wheat never 

 ficiency in size is compensated by the superior val- , looked more promising at this season of the year 

 lie of the fleece. Our own native sheep are often than it does at present. This cheering prospect 

 of the right kind. When crossed with the Dishley has caused the price of wheat to decline a little. 



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