38 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



AUG. 7, 1839. 



[For ihe New England Farmer.] 



FARMERS' GARDENS. 

 To most farmers the idea of a good garden is 

 synonymous with something quite beyond their 

 reach — perhaps we "may as well out with it" and 

 say, something quite beneath their notice. They 

 " like to see them," (though we have once heard a 

 farmer or ratlier an apology for one, say he had 

 rather see a hill of potatoes in a field than a gar- 

 den of choice vegetables, fine fruits and gaudy 

 flowers, which he had just been viewing: poor 

 man— we pitied him ;) but then they require so much 

 labor, such small work too, fit only for women and 

 children ; they have no time for it ; and then after 

 all, they do not seem to amount to much. Such 

 are the common remarks of farmers with regard to 

 gardens, those emblems of the residence appointed 

 to man in the state of his purity, and the types of 

 what the productive parts of the earth may, proba- 

 bly will be, when man retraces the path which his 

 sinning parents took, when "with wandering steps 

 and slow," they took their last journey from the 

 home which their Creator had fitted up for their 

 permanent enjoyment. But to the remarks. They 

 like to see them, and we have in many instances 

 seen their approbation manifested by a rude tramp- 

 ling upon and breaking down without leave or mer- 

 cy, of many of the choicest products of a garden — 

 plants which had required much labor in rearing 

 and promised much pleasure in enjoynjent. A hor- 

 rid species of afl^ectinn to be sure, but we had rath- 

 er sometimes see this manifested in a small degree 

 than to see an individual pass one of these beauti- 

 ful repositories of nature and art, blended in sweet 

 communion, with sheer inditference, for while man 

 notices, even if his notice is marked by a shade of 

 savage ferocity, there is hope that he may improve. 

 But these remarks apply not to all. We _allow 

 there are many who do like to see them, and some 

 who like to have them so near their dwellings as 

 to see them at any time. " They require so much 

 labor." Whatever renders life delightful, " all is 

 the gift of industry." U'e are fully aware that a 

 garden in order to show well — (this world is made 

 up of shows, many of thera useless indeed)— and to 

 produce well, requires much labor, and so does any 

 other object worth possessing. All however, who 

 know anything of the comfort and lu.xury that a 

 garden can be made to. produce, will join me in the 

 assertion, that in all the divisions of the farmer's 

 labor, there is none which yields him a t»reater re- 

 turn than this ; not in our inland towns a return es- 

 timated by dollars and cents it may be, but of sub- 

 stantial comforts and healthful lu.xuries, of objects 

 to charm the eye and please the soul, as well as to 

 satisfy the cravings of the mortal man. What no- 

 ble achievements to be gained by one's own labor ! 



For man, proud, aspiring man, it may indeed be 

 small business to labor in a garden, but it was not 

 beneath his Maker to create one, and adorn it witli 

 all that was pleasant to the sight and good for 

 food, nor is he now regardless of the smallest of 

 all his works, however despicable they may appear 

 in human eyes. 



That tlie labors of a garden do not amount to 

 much, is a supposition worthy only of those ^*ho 

 have never enjoyed its benefits. Hut why do we 

 see the attention (small compared with what it 

 should be) paid to gardens, which is done in most 

 of our villages ? Simply because the quantity of 

 land appropriated to such family is necessarily 

 small, and that they wish to make the most of it — 



or is it rather, the inhabitants of such places appre- 

 ciate the luxuries that a garden aflbrds more fully 

 than the farmer .' Something of both may be the 

 case, and if both or either make it an object in 

 town, it surely may be one in the country, at least 

 so far as is necessary for family consumption, and 

 if a want of time is an apology for the farmer, it 

 surely might be with the merchant and mechanic, 

 with their thousand customers at their heels. But 

 the excuse is good no where. Every man has, or 

 may have, if his time is properly apportioned, an 

 ample supply for the garden, inasmuch as it is a 

 repository into which all the odd ends and loose 

 change of time may be profitably thrown. The 

 great difl^erence is, that application to business is a 

 part of the education of the mechanic or merchant, 

 while too many farmers are brought up to indulge 

 in many an idle half hour, which is often sadly 

 spent in discussing the qualities of an enviable 

 neighbor, or indulging in a favorite sport, which 

 savors of cruelty. Solomon says, "there is 

 a time for every purpose," and we have no doubt 

 but it extends to making and tending gardens, for 

 we have the assurance that he spake of all plants 

 from the humble hyssop to the cedar of Lebanon, 

 also that he dug pools of water, and planted orch- 

 ards and vineyards. 



W^e are established in the opinion, and our ex- 

 perience fully confirms it, that a garden is abso- 

 lutely necessary to the completion of a farm estab- 

 lishment, and that where good farming does actual- 

 ly exist, many of the choice productions of the 

 earth must be lost unless removed to the garden. 

 Take for instance the strawberry. It is usually 

 found in old worn out fields — very seldom in those 

 highly cultivated. Is it economy for the farmer to 

 let his meadow or pasture depreciate in order to 

 furnish him witli fruit ? Is it desirable that his 

 family should be denied the healthful luxury it af- 

 fords simply because it will not grow in his fields .' 

 W'e think not. The garden is its appropriate place 

 and there it should be cultivated. W^e have tried 

 it, and we find tliat including the amount of labor 

 of cultivating with gathering in the garden, the cos^ 

 is less than that of gathering in the fields, while in 

 the former case we know whore we are sure of a 

 supply, and in the latter all is uncertainty, for on ar- 

 riving at the field you may find that your neigh- 

 bor's boys, who have no time to spend in the gar 

 den, have preceded you and robbed you of your 

 spoil, though tliey actually had no business to do so. 

 Here then you are saved the vexation of a disap- 

 pointment, which is calculated to give you no very 

 kind feelings toward your surrounders, and the ex 

 citability which the sight of your trampled mead 

 ow or famished pasture is calculated to inspire. 



Strawberries which grow in gardens under the 

 hand of culture, are larger and frequently of more 

 delicious flavor than those grown in fields, and be- 

 sides,'ike appearance of a strawberry bed is very 

 pleasant, laid out in beautiful rows and decorated 

 with its chaste white flowers, or its fragrant fruit 

 giving a balmy softness to air around. The same 

 remark applies to the raspberry and bramble. They 

 have nn business in the corners of fence or along 

 the walls and around old stumps, extracting from 

 the richest soils their fertility, and-where the same 

 vexations attend their procurement as do that of 

 strawberries. They should be aliens in the farm- 

 er's fields and citizens 'at home in his garden, where 

 they should " enjoy all the rights and immunities" 

 that cultivation offers. Their presence will beau- 

 tify the garden — their absence ornament the mead- 



ow. — But our native fruits and plants should not 

 usurp this peacefial, quiet domain. The produc- 

 tions of other countries should be brought in to 

 dispense their share of beauty to the beholder and 

 comfort lo the consumer. In short, the garden 

 should be a sort of cabinet, where the valuable and 

 curious productions of all climes should be arrang- 

 ed in order, according to their rank and in classes 

 according to their diversity : and ye should talk of 

 them to your children when ye walk among them, 

 when ye sit down and when ye rise up. Let a 

 portion of the garden be appropriated to each of 

 your sons and daughters ; this will excite in them 

 a laudable ambition to excel in a good work — will 

 furnish thera an agreeable and healthful employ- 

 ment — will encourage them to be useful in raising 

 the richest fruits and choicest flowers, will encour- 

 age a love of nature, and we verily believe at the 

 same time, a hatred of vice ; for vice appears to us 

 an unnatural thing, — will kindle in their souls more 

 ardent attachments to each other, will inspire a love 

 of home, the place where the habits are to be form- 

 ed and the principles are to be sown and take roof 

 and spring upward, which are to actuate them in 

 after years, and then may be disseminated to all 

 around them. When the home whence they orig- 

 inated may be far away, what kind associations 

 will be awakened by the memory of their early 

 days thus spent with their dearest and best friends ? 

 When the eye grows dim, what a halo of light 

 will reflect upon it, when it looks back to these 

 early scenes of virtuous employment. 



Farmers, who of you will improve your premises 

 and your families by improving your gardens ? — 

 Some must begin, or by the mass it will never be 

 completed. The world will never rise en masse 

 for its own improvement. Whatever is done must 

 be commenced by individual effort, and the exam- 

 ple of individuals and their success will accomplish 

 the object. But success does not always immedi- 

 ately crown our eflTorts. Perseverance is its har- 

 binger, and in no pursuit is perseverance more nec- 

 essary than in the culture of the earth, particularly 

 the garden. Be not discouraged then, if in your 

 first humble essayings you meet with failures, but 

 go cheerfully on and in due time you will reap the 

 reward of all your labors, " if ye faint not." 



Mt. Osceola, July 16, 1839. W. B. 



From the Geneva (N.Y.) Courier. 



The Crops. — The whole of the western farming 

 districts is groaning with abundance. Every acre 

 of land has been this season made to yield. Many 

 farmers have sown grain in their orchards, yards, 

 and many by-places, heretofore quite useless. Their, 

 efforts and industry, we are happy to say, will un-^ 

 doubtedly be crowned with unparalleled success. 

 We think the growing grain of all kinds is suffi- 

 ciently advanced to be beyond the reach of the e- 

 vils which have so often befallen crops in this seci 

 tion. No serious complaints are heard about the 

 worm or fly. The berry of the wheat is filling 

 well and rapidly, and the weather is so favorable 

 as to preclude all fear of its rusting. We believe 

 we are safe in asserting that the crops of 1839 will 

 vastly exceed in quantity and quality, those of any 

 year since the settlement of the country. 



'Ihe Journal of Commerce estimates from the 

 richness of the wheat crops already gathered and 

 the promising appearance of those yet to come in, 

 that the value of the bread stuffs will be $10,000,000. 



