414 



NEW E N G L A N D . F A R M E R , 



JVLY 3, I 839. 



AND HORTICULTORAL REGISTER. 



Boston, Wedsesday, Jdly 3, 1839. 



CLOSE OF THt; SEVENTEENTH VOLUME. 



The present number brings to aclose the 17tii volume 

 of llie N. E. Farmer. We sijall cuminence the 18th vol- 

 ume with four additional pages, wliich will be added 

 monthly, or ofiener, if our many able correspondents 

 will continue to favor us with their interesting commu- 

 nications. 



We shall exert ourselves to inake the paper increas- 

 ingly useful and interesting ; with the able assislnnce 

 from the Hev. Henry Culman, vvlio will continue to fa- 

 vor us with his weeklj' communications white on his 

 ngricultural survey — we trust we shall be able to do it. 

 Since the decease of the lamented Fessenden, we have 

 had two agricultural papers spring up by our side, and 

 one in a neighboring Stale, which al first thought would 

 lead one to suppose that the number of the supporters 

 of the N. E. Farmer would be diminished and its pros- 

 pects darkened ; but such is not the fact. We rejoice 

 to ^at>', that with all the competition that exists, we are 

 continually adding to our subsciiption list, and our old 

 friends remain firm to iliis pioneer in agricultural publi- 

 cations. As we shall incur additional expense in the 

 enlargement ol our paper, we trust our readers will be 

 prompt in remitting what is due, and those who choose 

 to pay in advance for the nest volume, may be assured 

 that it will be received with thankfulness. A great ma- 

 jority of our patrons have been prompt in their payment 

 for the N. E. Farmer from year to year, as our books 

 testify. We feci very much obliged to iheni for this 

 testimony of the value and worth of the paper, and hope 

 they may live to read its jiages from week to week for 

 many years to come. 



We ought to say a word to delinquent eubscrihers, 

 especially to those who have let their accounts run for 

 years ; but we should hardly be able to keep cool were 

 we to rtfresli our minds by turning to their accounts and 

 sum up the thousands of dollars that liave been our just 

 due for years. 



We take this opportunity to luako known our grateful 

 feelings to th"Se who liave during the past year, fur- 

 nished the columns of the M. E Farmer with original 

 communications. We think in comparing the present 

 volume with those preceding it, that in none will be 

 found a greater amount of practical, sound, and inter- 

 esting original articles. Our desire is, that they may 

 not be weary in well-doing, and remember that tliey 

 are conferring a great benefit upon the agricultural com- 

 munity at large by their labors. We wish that all who 

 are engaged in agriculture were more ready to commu- 

 nicate the result of their experience to their fellow men 

 through ihe columns of an agricultural paper than what 

 they generally are. 



With the new vulume we anticipate a large accession 

 of subscribers, iiml we would call upon all who now 

 read our paper to make an effort to effect this by persuad- 

 ing their neighbois to take the N. E. Fiirmer. 



We promised some farther reply to the lemarks of our 

 correspondent C. S. In liis letter given in the last Now 

 EnglaiKl Farmer, he says, " There was a time when 

 some, if not most, of our New England farmers raised 

 all they warned to eat, drink, and wear; and theirmoth- 

 ers and wives and daughters spun, wove, and made up 

 the clothes for the fathers and sons, while the latter 

 were in the field. When this state of things existed 

 they were independent ; had enough and to spare, and 



we. healiliy h.-arty, and happy; and compaiatively 

 speaking, were giants ; but how changed." In a de- 

 gree we sympathize in the lamentations ol our corres- 

 pondent over the changes in public tnanners and habits 

 to which he refers, and think them much to be regret- 



d ; hut our hopes of anything like a return to the sim- 

 plicity and vvhol.somencss of ancient manners aie in- 

 deed very small. .So long as men insist upon setting 

 up a false standard of prosperity and every good in life 

 is to be measuied by its actual return ox worth in dollars 

 and cents, all calculations will be made in conformity, 

 and everything be devoted to this idol. We have near- 

 ly reached this point. With the great mass, a man's 

 standing in the community is wholly determined by his 

 money; and if a new edition of the Catechism should 

 be called for and be left to the revision of three-fourths 

 of the community, to the question ''What did God 

 make mankind for.'" they would never think of any 

 other answer than, for accumulation and speculation, to 

 get all he can and keep all lie gets. This being the case, 

 time, talents, health, comfort, hospitality, peace of mind, 

 independence, self respect, honor, integrity, moral and 

 religious improvement, are all sacrificed to this object. 

 We despair of any amendment unless d.ivine Providence 

 should visit us with some signal calamity. To preach 

 against it is, as Dr Franklin said in another case, like 

 spitting against the wind, which is only spitting in one's 

 own face ; and to attempt to alter it is very much like a 

 man's wading into a river and holding out his hands to 

 stop its current. 



Asa matter of pleasant discussion we have no objec- 

 tion to entering upon the subject. Opinions always 

 should be free. Men may tie our liands but they can- 

 not control our judgments; and there is a pleasure 

 which most men experience in thinking differently from 

 other people — in the conceit, consequently, of their own 

 superior vvisdo ii. 



The question is often proposed whether a fanner 

 should endeavor to supply from his own farm, as far as 

 it can be made to do il, all the v ants of his family ; 

 W lat .hey cat, drink, ;ind wear. Then the question is 

 at once extended, and it is asked whether New England 

 should endeavor to supply all her own wants of a na- 

 ture which her soil can be made to supply. To a cer- 

 tain extent the prin.iples wli eh apply in the one case 

 are equally applicable in the other. But we shall con- 

 fine ourselves to the case of a family in leply to the sug- 

 gestions of our correspondent, and yet without the least 

 hope of changing any one's opinions or purposes; and 

 as to the other case, we shall for the present leave that 

 as matter ofinference. The simple question proposed 

 is, whether a farmer should seek to supply from his 

 own farm the wants of his family as far as the farm can 

 be made to doit.' Heretical as the opinion may seem 

 in these days of tarifli', resiriciion and division of labor, 

 we answer emphatically in the afBrmative. But then 

 there are qualifications in the case, vvhicli every reason- 

 able man will admit ; and it would be preposterous not 

 *lo avail ourselves of the advantages which the present 

 state of the arts and the alteieil and changed condition 

 of society present. It would be absurd for us to at- 

 tempt the culture of articles or products to which our 

 soil (U- climate are wholly unsuited, though in some ex- 

 traordinary cases and circumstances we might succeed 

 in ripen. ng them. Coffee, tea, cotton, rice, are with 

 our present habits, necessaries of life, fiir which we 

 must be dependent upoH our neijilims or upon other 

 countries, if we insist upon having them. A true econ- 

 omist will deny that these are the necessaries of life, 

 and will either reject them entirely or find substitutes, 

 which habit will render equally palatable or u cful, and 

 which must be less doubtful in regard to the.r ii flueiic 



upon health. For coffee he may sub>titute the prepar 

 ed beet, a most delicious beverage ; for tea, the swee 

 balm of the garden, more fragrant than the finest Pou- 

 cl.ong or Pecco; for rice, let liim go to the Indian 

 hominy or the oaten grots ; and for cotton, he may use 

 linen, the product of his own flax, and which in its du- 

 rability, comfort, and superior cleanliness, fully compen- 

 sates for its higher cost. His maple trees, and present- 

 ly Ins beet fields, will supply his sugar and molasses; 

 his currant bushes and his grape vines will furnish a 

 glass of wholesome wine for himself and his friends ; 

 and as to alcoholic drinks in any of their forms, that, 

 thank God, which was once deemed an indispensable 

 article of use and hospitality, has now ceased to have a 

 place even among the imaginary wants ofa rational man. 

 With respect to cotton cloth, improved machinery has 

 rendered its manufacture so cheap, that it would be vain 

 to bring our domestic manual labor in competition 

 with it ; but with respect to coffee, tea, and rice, we 

 should lose nothing by renouncing them ; and the farm 

 might easily be made to furnish substitutes altogether 

 preferable, when use had rendered them familiar. If 

 we must have them, however, superfluities as they are, 

 the farmer should be sure to raise a surplus product to 

 purchase them. But he should not indulge himself in 

 them unles? he has produced beyond the necessities ot 

 his family, that for which he ci.n purchase them. 



A second rule of domestic economy is, not to culti- 

 vate articles which the farmer cannot cultivate but at a 

 loss. For examplo, if even taking into^ view the improv- 

 ed condition ofhis land, the necessary expense of pur- 

 chasing manure and hiring labor will not be met bv the 

 market value of the crops raised, but he must be farm- 

 ing continually at a loss, most certainly we should ad- 

 vise him at once to renounce his farming and not to 

 thrij-.v away both his labor and his money. Under such 

 circumstances, unless he has ample funds to expend as 

 matter of amusement or recreation, we advise him to 

 give up cultivation and escape the mortification and 

 vexation of embarrassment and bankiupley. 



In the next place, for the sake of doing every thin" 

 within himself, we would not advise the farmer to at- 

 tempt to do things which it is obvious he ran undertake 

 or accomplish only at a great loss of lime and trouble. 

 It would be absurd for him to attempt the construction 

 ofhis own plough, the building ofhis own cart, or the 

 shoeing of his own horse. These trades require skill, 

 which can be the result of experience and long practice 

 only : and preparations and fixtures which it would be 

 expensive and inconvenient for every farmer to furnish 

 for himself. At the same lime, every farmer should be 

 supplied with a good set of tools for common purposes 

 ofthelarm; and if he has a good constructivcness, he 

 will be often able to save himself many a heavy expense 

 inrepairing his iinplemenls and buildings, and in the 

 making of many conveniences for which he must oth- 

 erwisoiapply to a tradesman or mechanic. It would be 

 absurd likewise for him to refuse to avail himself ofany 

 improved machinery which would save labor and toil, 

 as lor example, to thresh his grain liy a flail, when it 

 can be done much more expeditiously bv a machine, 

 unless the expense and trouble of managing such ma- 

 chinery and keeping it in repair is more than equivalent 

 for the greater trouble of another mode. 



There are other circumstances which should be taken 

 into consideration in order to reply to the question 

 whether a farmer should seek to live within himself and 

 seek to supply his own and the wants ofhis family from 

 the resources ofhis own farm. It would in general be 

 much for his interest, for his independence, and for the 

 improvement of his farm that he should do it. The 

 question with him should be, not what method will. 



