1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



21 



the day's toil. On a day's ride in the diligence 

 through a pleasant portion of Bavaria, I amused 

 myself by jotting down the occupation of a dozen 

 or so of ladies, as I met then in succession. The 

 first two were equipped v/ith the deep, unwieldy 

 hoes of the country, and were hoeing potatoes on 

 a hillside ; the third was plodding along on the 

 road barefoot, bare armed, dire., with a burden on 

 her head that would have broken the back of a 

 moderate sized mvde ; the fourth and fifth were 

 swinging scythes with the regular action of the 

 practiced farmer, one of them leading the proces- 

 sion and keeping well ahead. Of the succeeding 

 three, one was raking hay, one was pitching, and 

 one sat on the top of a load, loading, Avhile the 

 only man of the group was ckiving the oxen. The 

 next four were attendants upon house masons, 

 and were carrying bricks and mortar on their heads 

 up tall ladders, with an ease of step and balance 

 that argued them experts at their trade. I have 

 seen women in that same country holding a plow, 

 and in some instances assisting a dumb ally — I 

 mean a four legged one — to draw the same agri- 

 cultural implement. 



I su])poso that some of us should not exactly 

 covet this style of female co-operation, even in 

 the stress of harvest season. But the question oc- 

 ciu-red to me here, whether there were not some 

 sort of co-operation the wives and daughters of 

 our farmers could render their lords in that calling, 

 and if so, what. Now I take it, it is the desire of 

 every true wife to have at least an intelligent 

 sympathy with her husband's calling. There is 

 liere and there perhaps one sustaining the relation 

 of a vtife, to whom it is enough to share her hus- 

 band's revenue, leaving out his cares and toils as 

 trifles not worthy her regard. There may be here 

 and there a husband whose ambition is to keep 

 his more delicate half in l^lissful ignorance of all 

 his out-of-door work, whether plowing or finan- 

 ciering. But I suppose the old fashioned and bet- 

 ter notion is that of reciprocal sympathy between 

 these fellow-pilgrims. 



I never would marry a couple, if I knew it, who 

 had any other idea of the tie, no matter what the 

 fee might be. And perhaps I may be permitted 

 to add, that with right viev.s on this point, I am 

 ready to join any number of couples together with 

 a trilling pecuniary pro /iso. 



But if the sympathy jf which I have spoken be 

 an intelligent sympnth} , it should take some pains 

 to be informed. 1 belijve that an agricultural lit- 

 erature — and we may say with just exultation that 

 we have now an agricultural literature — is quite as 

 healtliful and stimulating a literature in the di'aw- 

 ing-room as that which deals in fashion plates and 

 love-sick heroines. I don't think it would be un- 

 womanly, in short, for the wives and daughters 

 of our farmers to be able to converse wisely and 

 wittily upon agricultural topics, Avith their hus- 

 bands and fathers, or with gentlemen visitors. 

 Such a conversation might easily vindicate itself 

 in contrast yrdh. the vapid frivolities making so 

 much of the staple of drawing-room chat. 



It would do no harm either for these ladies to 

 have a general familiarity with the out-of-door 

 pnrsuits of those to whom they are thus allied, 

 even if that were gained by an occasional walk 

 afield, instead of a shopping excursion. 



A visit now and then to the stable and the farm- 

 yard might save the fair explorer from such a 



blunder as happened once to a metropolitan friend 



of mine of the same sex. Being in the country, 

 and smitten deeply with rural tastes, it occurrecl 

 to her one morning that it Avould be quite roman- 

 tic to play milkmaid. So she took a pail and went 

 forth, but not meeting with any great success in 

 the operation, it was discovered that she had made 

 a slight mistake in regard to the sex of the animal 

 she waited upon. 



But let the ladies of our agricultural homes 

 make those homes centres of intelligence, culture 

 and refinement ; let them feel and shoAV a just and 

 generous pride in the calling to which they are 

 thus allied, and a disposition and an ability to 

 vindicate its true honor as compared with any 

 other ; let them give their rejoicing and sympa- 

 thetic presence on such occasions as this ; let the 

 younger rank of these ladies place their delicate, 

 soft hands for life as readily in the large, brown 

 hand of the practical farmer as in the soft and 

 whiter palm of a merchant's clerk or a professional 

 aspirant. 



The speaker said he could not look upon the 

 farmer without regarding him as a heroic wrestler 

 with nature. With him every season was a cam- 

 paign, and every harvest a victory; and may God 

 crov.n you all Avith a blessing, as you are already 

 crov.ncd with honors. 



A sentiment in honor of the Judiciary was re- 

 sponded to by Judge Rockwell, of the Superior 

 Court. 



For the Xcw E»f/ktnd F^trmer. 



EXPERIMENTS TN CULTIVATIIMG 

 POTATOES. 



Mr. Editor : — I wish to give a few facts in my 

 experience of several things that have shov/n them- 

 selves during the season, on a piece of land culti- 

 vated by myself and family. In the first place, I 

 will give the lay of the land, as it m.ay have some- 

 thing to do with some of the phenomena. 



The general lay of the land descends to the east 

 from G to 10 degrees, v/ith a hill west, or a con- 

 tinual rise westward for 100 rods, Avherc the emi- 

 nence is more than loO feet above the fi.eld, and it 

 descends to the east more or less for nearly a half 

 mile, when it begins to rise, and v\'ithin a mile it 

 rises several hundred feet above the field. The 

 field is 25 rods long by 8 wide. 



Potatoes planted the last days of May, on a mel- 

 low soil, a part of which wa\s planted with potatoes 

 last year, and a part sowed to oats, on green- 

 sv,'ard. ^Manured the present yeai' v/ith a small 

 shovel full of compost in the hill, made of horse- 

 manure, two parts, and one each of loam and 

 meadow mud. A deep, moist, alluvial soil in the 

 valleys, and inclining more to gravelly and stony 

 on the eminences. Planted the north part with 

 Peach-blossoms, and the south with Davis' Seed- 

 lings ; cut two pieces in a hill ; hoed well the last 

 days of June. They grew well, and all looked fine 

 until the 31st day of August, when at 2 o'clock, 

 P. M., Ave had a shower from the west, with some 

 thunder and lightning at a distance ; rained smart 

 for nearly half an horn-, the water very cold, but 

 no hail that I discovered. At 6, P. M., as I was 

 passing the piece, there was a strong smell of de- 

 caying vegetation met my olfactory nerves, and in 

 a day or two the vines turned black, and in a week 

 another strip was seen to begin to turn ; the first 



