18 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



"W' e especially need varieties that will ripen in 

 favo'-able locations every season. This has been, 

 for r^anj- years, the great desideratum with us in 

 Maire, and someAvhat shared throughout New 

 England. Therefore, the person who will furnish 

 it, will be a public benefactor, and will be deserv- 

 ing a rich reward, and doubtless will obtain it. 



So far as I can learn in !Maine, the Catawba is 

 so late it is entirely out of the question, and also 

 even in New England. The Isabella is a little bet- 

 ter, but nearly useless for Elaine. The AVhite 

 Sweetwater, on the Penobscot, has done better 

 than any of the older varieties, notwithstanding 

 its unpopularity in other States. This variety, for 

 the last 15 years, at Bangor, has been very profita- 

 ble. The vines are productive and the grapes sell 

 readily. The vines also are older and stronger, 

 and thus have the advantage of young vines of 

 new varieties. 



So far as I can learn, the Black Cluster, (also 

 an old variety,) flourishes in Montreal and other 

 parts of Canada, and Avhere it has been planted in 

 Bangor it has ripened well in good locations. But 

 of the newer varieties which have ripened with us 

 are the following, naming the earliest first, and then 

 in succession : Hartford Prolific, Concord. Diana. 

 Each of the above I consider good, and are salea- 

 ble. These will increase in value with us, as the 

 vines become strong with age. I have some vines 

 of the Early Muscadine, but they are not called for, 

 though it is early. I have many Delaware and Re- 

 becca vines, but they have not yet shown fruit with 

 us, and till they are "proved and tried,'' few will 

 venture to make the trial of them. 



You will confer a great favor on the people of 

 the Penobscot country, if you will advise them 

 when valuable new varieties that are very early, 

 hardy and good flavored, are ofi'ered in the market, 

 which you would recommend. 



Bangor, xVoy., 1859. Henry Little. 



P. S. — The Clinton is an early grape of good 

 color, but is so acid as to be generally expelled 

 from the gardens on this river. H. L. 



IS FARMING- PROFIT ABLE ? 



No one thing operates more injuriously to the 

 interests of agriculture than the widely-spread and 

 popular idea, that farming is not profitable. It is 

 almost a work of supererogation to reply to the 

 charge, that the cultivation of the land, as an oc- 

 cupation for the mass of the people, is not a prof- 

 itable employment, because it is evident to all who 

 will look, that it is from this source that all sup- 

 plies for the sustenance of man and beast are 

 mainly drawn. The art of agi'iculture underlies 

 all other arts, and sustains them all. Cease the 

 cultivation of the soil, and commerce, manufac- 

 tures, all sciences, and mechanic arts, and even 

 breath itself, would soon cease. 



The pursuit of agriculture as an occupation, 

 may not be as profitable inidcr all cu'cumstances, 

 as some other pursuit. It may be better for the peo- 

 ple of a sandy tract of country on the sea-shore, to 

 tm-n thear attention to fishing, than to raising 

 grain or grass, or for those in a mountainous and 



rocky country to make the water of the valleys tm-n 

 their wheels to transform forests into various ar- 

 ticles for household use. There may be reasons 

 why individuals in all our towns should find em- 

 ployment in agriculture less profitable than some 

 others in which they might engage. But with an 

 average price of labor, land and implements, and 

 with that degree of skill which the land demands 

 of all, we do not believe that many acres of land 

 are ever cultivated at a loss, when the crop is not 

 injured by blight, frost, or some other casualty. 



In the Farmer of Nov. 12, Mr. T. J. Pinkiiam, 

 of Chelmsford, Mass., sent us an article entitled, 

 "i/oio to lleckon the Cost of Farm Produce,'" in 

 which he intended to show, by a single illustration 

 of the culture of an acre of corn, that the farmer 

 loses, rather than makes, money, by his farming 

 operations. We did not then, nor do we noAv, 

 think that his premises or conclusions were cor- 

 I'ect, but gladly published his bold article for the 

 pvu-pose of arousing public attention to this mat- 

 ter, and, if possible, of establishing a more correct 

 opinion in the public mind. In this, we are hap- 

 py to say, there is now a fair prospect of succeed- 

 ing. As we then supposed would be the case, men 

 of great exjjerience in farming matters have taken 

 up the glove thrown down by Mr. Pinkham, are 

 criticising his positions sharply, and reversing the 

 picture he drew. 



The past season has been an unfavorable one in 

 which to obtain a good crop of Indian corn, — too 

 much cold and wet weather prevailing early, and 

 it being too cold and di"y in the latter part of the 

 season ; and yet, by exercising the proper care in 

 selecting the land, in manuring so as to give the 

 young plants an early and vigorous growth, as well 

 as to sustain the corn during its time of maturing, 

 we have never harvested a sounder or better crop 

 of corn in any season. It has given us sixty-Jive 

 bushels to the acre, most of which is suitable to 

 be sent to the stores to be sold for seed corn. 



We have not kept the precise cost of this crop, 

 but near enough to show that it was not over sev- 

 entv-five cents per bushel. Let us see — corn is 

 worth now one dollar a bushel, 



Si.xty-five busTiols, at $1,00, la $(;o,00 



Cost of 65 bushels, .at 75 cents, Is 48,75 



Profit $10,25 



Stover, equal to one ton of best hay $10,00 



100 bushels turnips on same land 10,00 



$42,25 



Such is the present year's result with us, and 



under the same mode of treatment, we have nc 



doubt similar results would follow nine times in 



ten. We believe that the work of a good farmer 



for twenty days, will bring a crop of corn on an 



average of our New England land, that shall range 



along from forty to sixty bushels to the acre. He 



must be a man of judgment ; must not spend five 



