12 



NEW ENGLAND FARINIER. 



Jan. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 IS FARMHXTG PROFITABLE ? 



It is not always considered the province of a 

 "farmer's paper" to afl'ord amusement as Avell as 

 instruction. Thei'e is a sort of gravity in the rec- 

 ord of cro])s and the manner of producing them, 

 which, if it does not absoUitely preckide the idea 

 of a joke, leaves us very uncertain as to the prop- 

 er place for it to come in. But your correspon- 

 dent "Pinkham," of Chelmsford, has ])ut to rest 

 all doubt upon the subject, so far as he is con- 

 cerned. That gentleman, in the Farmer of No- 

 vember 12, undertakes to show that the business of 

 farming- some branches of it, at least — don't pay ; 

 and by an array of figures, apparently satisfies 

 himself, at least, that his jiosition is a true one. 

 He first takes up the good old crop of Indian corn, 

 and insists that it brings the farmer who raises it 

 into debt at the rate of ten dollars per acre ; and 

 very naturally wishes to know how long at that 

 rate, it will take the farmer to get rich. I have 

 known cases of this kind of arithmetic before. I 

 knew a farmer once who insisted that he could buy 

 his pork a great deal cheaper than he could fatten 

 it ; that he could purchase his corn a great deal 

 cheaper than he could raise it ; that all his crops, 

 in fact, cost a great deal more than they came to. 

 It did not take many years for the sheriff to set his 

 stakes around that man's farm. 



But let us examine some of Mr. Pinkham's fig- 

 ures. All his items, for the mere labor of cultiva- 

 ting an acre of corn, count up to $2G. and besides 

 he adds $3 for interest and taxes on land, $3 for 

 fencing, &c., $5 for shelling and marketing, and 

 •SIO for the manure; making in all .$47 per acre. 

 He then credits 30 bushels of market corn, $2 

 worth of soft corn, and .t?.3 for pumpkins and sto- 

 ver, and strikes a balance of -9 10 against the crop. 



Now I undertake to say that the farmer who ex- 

 pends more than $]o worth of labor on an acre of 

 corn, reckoning the use of his teams and imple- 

 ments of all kinds, don't know anything about 

 farming. The value of the manure is ])erhaps set 

 .ow enough at $10 per acre ; but then it ought to 

 be considered that not more than half of this ma- 

 nure becomes exhausted in a single year, and that 

 at least $5 ought to be credited toAlards the ma- 

 nuring of the next year's croj). I admit that the 

 labor and manure for an acre of corn may with 

 safety be put down at $20 to .$25. As to the" shell- 

 ing and marketing, the good farmer ought to 

 shell his corn during the winter evenings, instead 

 of playing checkers at the nearest grocery ; and 

 so far from being obliged to go to market with his 

 corn, his neighbors will take it at his door, at good 

 prices, and thank him besides. Good northern 

 yellow corn is not one of the articles which go a 

 begjging. 



Then let us look at the crop itself. Mr. P. puts 

 it down at 30 bushels to the acre. I undertake to 

 say that any land, which, taking one season with 

 another, under the pressure of ten loads of ma- 

 nui'e, will not average 40 bushels to the acre, is 

 very ])oor corn land, and not worth $40 per acre, 

 or anything like it. I do not consider 50 bushels 

 to the acre a great crop. The best acre of corn I 

 ever saw, was in Castleton, Vt., some 35 years 

 ago, whi/;h drew a premium at the agricultural 

 fair on the basis of 131 bushels to the acre. But 

 »11 40 bushels a fair average, and we have, ac- 



cording to Mr. P.'s figm-es, $40 for the crop. Then 

 the stover and pumpkins which he sets down at 

 $5, I call worth at least $10. The stover of an 

 acre of good corn is worth as much for cattle in 

 the winter as a ton of good hay — to say nothing 

 of the pumpkins, which, I admit, are usually of no 

 very great account, though in some seasons they 

 add something to the general value of the crop. 



Now it is plain that Mr. Pinkham and myself 

 do not agree. He makes the corn crop $10 worse 

 than nothing per acre, while I figure out a profit 

 of $25 ; a difference of $35 per acre. It is hardly 

 necessary to say that both of these estimates can- 

 not be correct. But I honestly believe, that, at the 

 Avorst aspect of the case, the tiiith cannot go back 

 from my estimate so as to meet his, half v.ay. I 

 have long considered the corn crop as not only 

 one of the most profitable, but an indispensable 

 one for Ncav England. It is a crop that does not fail, 

 on an average, once in twenty years. It leaves the 

 soil in better condition for future tilth than any 

 other crop. It adds largely to the former's means 

 of keeping stock. It forms one of the cheapest 

 and healthiest portions of our food. It may be 

 used in more forms and for more purposes tlian 

 any other grain. Such being its importance in all 

 its aspects, I regret to see amthing in print cal- 

 culated to discourage the farmers of New England 

 in raising it. 



I may hereafter have something to say about 

 Mr. Pinkham's estimate of the cost of raising 

 stock. I only wait to see Avhether he has found 

 any item of fanning that is profitable. 



Somerville. e. c. p. 



For the Xeio EngUmd Farmer 

 HOW I RAISE BRONZE TURKEYS. 



My fii"st object is to secure large, strong ana 

 well-formed bii-ds. I prefer a male bird that has 

 seen two winters, and weighs not less than 30 

 pounds. The last season I used one of 39 pounds. 

 I prefer old hens ; for although the young hens lay 

 earlier, yet the young of the old hens are larger 

 and stronger. I prefer hens of from 15 to 20 

 pounds in weight ; when the time for laying ap- 

 proaches, I take flour baiTels with one head out, 

 lay them on the side, prepare a nest in the barrel 

 composed of leaves, with a few tobacco stems to 

 keep the lice away, cover the baiTcls with a few 

 brush, put a hen's egg in each nest, and leave the 

 turkeys to deposite their own, which they usually 

 do. I remove the eggs each day uiitil the turkey 

 inclines to set, when I give her 20 eggs, from 

 AA'hich I usually get from IS to 20 young. Close 

 the barrel each night with a piece of lattice work 

 made of laths, to prevent the entrance of night- 

 walkers. 



The first day of hatching I do not allow the moth- 

 er to leave the nest, or feed the young. On the 

 second day, instead of cooping the mother, I pre- 

 pare a pen for the yoimg, by nailing boards on to 

 four short pieces of slit work, so as to make a pen 

 about 15 feet square and 18 inches high; this can 

 be easily moved to a new spot, as it should be in 

 Avarm Aveather, as often as once a Avcek, or the 

 turkeys Avill become sickly. For the first Aveek I 

 feed mostly on boiled egs;, boiled hard and chopped 

 fine enough for them to SAvalloAv, Avith noAV and 

 then a meal of fish Avorras, cut or broken into 

 small pieces. Nothing gives them more strength, 



