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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JtriiY 34, 1839. 



AND HORTICDLTDRAL REGISTER. 



B08TOK, Wednesday, July 24, 1S39. 



PROFITS OF FARMING. 



Much discussion and convers.ition have been had up- 

 on this subject. We do not mean to enter Ailly or 

 much at large upon a subject which requires to be ex- 

 amined in various aspects and relations, in order that an 

 enlightened and well-founded judgment may be made 

 up; and especially in order that we may not lead to any 

 false inferences of its unprofitablenes«, nor encourage 

 an)' fallacious expectations as to any adv:int;iges, (we 

 mean pecuniary advantages,) to be derived from it. The 

 erroneous opinions and calculations which have been 

 formed in this matter, have led to most painful results, 

 to serious losses, and to bitter and vexatious disappoint- 

 ments. We know a gentleman who tried farming, on 

 an extensive and experimental scale, who<e authority is 

 often quoted as asserting that "in agriculture two and 

 two do not make four.'' We understand it to be im- 

 plied in this, that calculations respecting the profitable 

 results of agriculture, or a fairrelurn for the expenditure 

 of labor and the investment of capital, are not likely to 

 be verified as in the other business pursuits of life. We 

 do not admit the axiom in any ia]r sense. Wo do not 

 believe that it does justice to agriculture; and no small 

 experience and some observation satisfy us, that circum- 

 stances being equal, farming would furnish as fair a 

 compensation for labor, and as ample a dividend upon 

 the capital invested, as the common trades which men 

 engage in, and even the pursuits of mercantile and com- 

 meicial life. Of course we except all extraordinary ca- 

 ses of gond fortune, and all matters of gambling and 

 speculation. 



The returns of most crops strike one sometimes with 

 astonishment ; and would, if taken as a test, lead to the 

 most delusive expectations. A grain of seed sometimes 

 returns one hundred fold ; and this being sown a sec- 

 ond year, would perhaps trive ten thousand fold, and so 

 on in a geometrical ratio. Twenty bushels of potatoes 

 planted will frequently yield four hundred bushels, that 

 (3 twenty for one. A bushel of wheat sown oftentimes 

 returns thirty bushels. A peck of Jndian corn planted 

 will often produce sixty bushels, that is two hundred 

 and forty for one. A pound of carrot seed or of ruta 

 baga, which costs a dollar, will produce six or nine 

 hundred bushels of roots worth one hundred dollars. 

 The proceeds in this case seem enormous and yet they 

 are constantly realized, and often, it must be admitted, 

 at a comparatively small expense. But no cnnfidentcon- 

 clusions on the profits of farming are to be drawn from 

 such results as these. So many circumstances of abate- 

 ment enter into the case, that if these are the only ele- 

 ments given in the case, the solution of the problem 

 would give the most egregiously erroneous and decep- 

 tive results. 



We are not to look to agriculture for any extraordinary 

 or sudden gains, as for example, like drawing ihe capital 

 prize in a lottery where there are two blanks to a prize ; 

 like some successfiil East India voyage, where the sale 

 of the cargo yields a net piofit of one hundred per cent; 

 or like some sudden rise in the stocks, or some monopo- 

 lised article of produce, where a shrewd operation draws 

 its thousands or twenties of thousands into our pockets. 

 But that skill, experience, assiduity, and industry will, 

 in agriculture, yield a fair, and to a reasonable mind, an 

 ample compensation, there are too many and reiterated 

 proofs to admit oven of a doubt. 



As we said in the beginning, we do not design at this 



time to go largely into this subject, and we refer to it in 

 particular at this time, fur the sake of relating some 

 parts ofa conveisation which we once had with a re- 

 spectable and independent but complaining farmer in 

 our own despised Stale. 



This man then had a farm which was fully valued at 

 four thousand dollars. The father, who had given the 

 farm to the son, had begun life without a dollar, had run 

 into debt for a large part of the purchase money, but had 

 some time since, while he supported his family, earned 

 from the proceeds of the farm, sufficient to pay for it. 

 Without any incumbrance he had then put it into his 

 son'a possession, and now lived with him under the 

 same roof. 



Said the son. Farming is a miserable business! 



But why so? Lotus look into this matter. What is 

 the estimated value of your farm ? 



Four thousand dollars. 



Is it increasing in value ? 



Yes ; by its favorable location, and by every improve- 

 ment that is made upon it 



Do you get all the produce from it which it can be 

 made to yield .' 



No, not one-third. It consists of one hundred and 

 twenty acres. At least fifty acres of it are in wood, and 

 u considerable portion in pasture. Besides that, I have 

 several acres of peat bog, which might be redeemed and 

 brought into English grasses. 



What is the value of the wood land ? 



We supply our family with fuel, and beside.s this the 

 growth of the wood and the hoop poles which we ob- 

 tain from it, pays a large interest upon the current value 

 of the land, so that we consider this as one of the most 

 profitable parts of the farm. 



Have you done anything to improve your pasture 

 lands .' 



No — I suppose I ought to, I tried one hundred weight 

 of plaster spread upon a pan of it, and the effects were 

 visible as far as the land could be seen ; but then after 

 that, plaster rose half a dollar on a ton, and I thought I 

 would not get any more. Then the huckleberry bush- 

 es and the sweet fern, and the brakes and alders have 

 come in so that I cannot keep as much stock as I could 

 formerly. 



Have you attempted any improvement upon your bog 

 meadows ? 



No — sometimes I iiave thought I would. My neigh- 

 bor J. B. has redeemed eight or ten acres, and now gets 

 two tons and a half of hay to the acre, herds grass and 

 clover and red top of the best' quality, where formerly 

 he got scarcely anything ; but then it cost him at least 

 twenty or twentyfive dollars an acre to drain and ma- 

 nure it; and he will have to top dress it at least once in 

 five yews or it will never hold out. Then, too, he has 

 put on at least half a bushel or more of grass seed to the 

 acre ; and grass seed which I used to buy for twelve 

 cents a pound or two dollars and a half per bushel, is 

 now twenty cents a pound, and herds grass three dollars 

 per bushel. Tiien too, labor is so high, I cannot aS'oid 

 to hire. 



Have you plenty of manure ? 



No ; that is a great want. I have a bog hole where 

 I suppose I could get two hundred loads a year, but 

 then I should have to go more than a mile for it, and it 

 iswetwork. / have not any of the advantages which 

 the farmers have who live within six or seven miles of 

 Boston, and can go in and buy a load of goed dung 

 whenever they want. 



Do you know what these farmers have to pay for ma- 

 nure in Boston .' 



Why, yes I I have been told they have to give some- 

 times three to five dollars a cord at the stables. Some- 



times our tavern keeper sells a few loads, hut he asks 

 five dollars a cord. 



Have you a barn cellar ? 



No. I have often thought it would be a very good) 

 thing, and my barn is well situated for one ; but then il | 

 would cost, besides what work I should do with my i 

 own team, full fifty dollars to make one. 



Do you keep cows ? i 



Yes, 1 keep some j ust to eat up our coarse fiidder ; but ( 

 our women folks do not like dairy work, so we buy ouij 

 butter and sell our milk to ilie milk-man for eleven cents) 

 a gallon. ! 



Do you keep swine .■■ 



Only one or two for our own pork. We do not have 

 any skimmilk or butter-milk for them. Besides there 

 is no great profit in fatting hogs. They will not much 

 more than pay for what feed lliey will eat. I know 

 they will make a large quantity of manure, but then you 

 must cart in a great deal of stuff into their pens or els» 

 they can't make any. But come ! I must show you a 

 sow I have got : she is only fifteen months old, and I 

 sold her pigs for more than forty dollars. I suppose 1 

 shall make her weigh four hundred in the fall. 



Do you raise your own grain and potatoes.' 



Not all. I raise about three acres of corn and aboul 

 as much rye, and about six hundred bushels of potatoes. 

 We sell hay and buy Genesee flour. We have tried 

 wheat, but sometimes it is blasted ; and it don't make 

 white flour ; and our women folks say they cannot make 

 handsome pie-crust or white bread with it. 



How manv have you in your family ? 



I have a wife and eight children, and my father lives 

 with me. 



Have you any trade .' 



No ; I have nothing but my farm. 



Does your farm support your family and pay your la- 

 bor ? 



Why, yes! I have nothing else, excepting a littk 

 interest that comes from some money which I receivec 

 for the sale of wood from the farm, sometime a?o, whici 

 came to aboul five hundred dollars, and which I put ou 

 at interest. We sell enough produce from the farm ti 

 pay our hired labor, which costs about a hundred dol 

 lars per year, and our store bills and taxes. 



We have very much abiidged this conversation, am 

 we shall leave it without farther comment. But hert 

 is a husbandman on a farm valued at four thousand dol 

 lars, not producing more than one-third of what itinigh 

 be made to produce, yet supporting a family of clever 

 persons and paying all expenses, excepting the label 

 and superintendence of one man, and the farm gradual- 

 ly increasing in value by every expenditure, howevei 

 small, for its improvement ; this man too, not working 

 half the time, and he and his family living in the en- 

 jiyment of all the luxuries, if they choose to have them, 

 which they can reasonably ask. Let such a man if hi 

 will, take his two hundred and forty dollars income anc 

 labor no more hours than he does in the country, and 

 go into Boston and try to support his family there. The 

 end of the year would show him a result which would 

 make him ashamed to complain of his present condition 

 His whole money income of two hundred and forty dol- 

 h'l-s would scarcely pay for his fuel, his taxes, and the 

 rent ofa ten-footer- What an evil it is that our farmers 

 do not know their blessings ! H- C. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



EXHIBITION OF FLOWERS. 



Saturday, July 20, 1839. 

 The general display of Flowers was very good ; bnl 

 the Carnation show did not meet our expectations. We 

 understand from some of our friends that their speci- 

 mens weie not yet in bloom ; while others informed as 



