1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



173 



in New York city, (Washington,) early every 

 morning, thus enabling farmers at this distance 

 to compete successfully with those near the city, 

 and using their own teams, as the cost of trans- 

 portation is less by railroad. 



The produce is sent to reliable commission 

 merchants, who dispose of it and make returns in 

 many cases without seeing the owners at all. One 

 other, and I am done. I am asked by another if, 

 as I say in my communication, I never saw these 

 lands until last September, how I can judge of its 

 productiveness ? I answer, by the crops I saw 

 upon the ground, recently harvested, by the stub- 

 ble, by the newly-made gardens and fruit trees 

 therein ; some in bearing, and all of the most 

 thrifty growth ; by the united testimony of all 

 who have settled upon these lands within the past 

 five years, and by the great similarity, (I may 

 say identity,) in geological structure and natural 

 productions of the soil of these new lands with 

 those of Flatbush, Flatland, Jamaica and other 

 places on Long Island with which I have been 

 well acquainted for several years, and where the 

 farmers make their farms pay a good interest up- 

 on a valuation of from $.j()0 to $1000 per acre, 

 prices at which they are held. 



One word in regard to the cost of clearing and 

 plowing. A gentleman from Canada has just 

 purchased a tract in sight of these lands adver- 

 tised, and has contracted for clearing, burning 

 over, and plowing, turning over handsomely 30 

 acres by the first of May next at $12 an acre. He 

 paid $25 an acre cash for his land. I think the 

 price for clearing and plowing too high, and be- 

 lieve I can do the same work with my own men 

 and teams at much less price. 



I am asked about grist mills, saw mills, schools 

 and churches, all of which are within two or three 

 miles of this land. Indeed, two new school-houses 

 have been erected recently in new districts, one 

 within 40 rods, this land being in the district. 



New York, Feb. 8, 1860. A,\ron Stone. 



For the New England Fanner. 



AGBICDT/TUBAL EDUCATIOJNT. 



Mr. Editor : — One of my neighbors, who is 

 apt to be inquisitive of other men's business, 

 asked me this morning, "What do they mean by 

 proposing this as a topic for discussion by the 

 Legislative farmers, at their proposed meeting on 

 next Monday evening ?" I told him I supposed 

 they meant to point out the best mode of educat- 

 ing boys to be good farmers. "Fie upon your 

 education of boys to be farmers," said he ; "put 

 them at work under the personal supervision of a 

 good farmer, and let them work from the age of 

 sixteen to twenty years, and do all the kinds of 

 work that he has to do, and there is no doubt they 

 %vill be sufficiently learned to manage a farm, as 

 soon as they are fortunate enough to get one." 



I am inclined to think this man's ideas were 

 pretty near the mark, provided these boys have 

 been properly taught at school before they arrive 

 at the age of sixteen- I say properly taught — by 

 this I mean, they should have learned all the 

 branches usually taught in our schools, together 

 with such principles of chemistry and mechanics, 

 as come into daily use on a farm. 

 , First, I would have a boy so expert in the use 



of the tools of the shop that he could make or 

 mend all the tools that he may have occasion to 

 use on the farm. This they could learn at any 

 time after they are twelve years of age. By know- 

 ing this, many steps and much money will be 

 saved. There are always days, rainy or otherwise, 

 when odd jobs of this kind can be attended to.' 

 The fiirmer has to learn early, that "a penny 

 saved is equal to two pence earned," and when he 

 does a thing himself, he will have no occasion to 

 complain that it is not well done. I know they 

 tell about founding agricultui*al schools, with 

 learned professors to lecture on each of the scien- 

 ces. But what does it all amount to ? I want no 

 better professor than was my old father, who had 

 sinewy arms and a powerful body, and who ac- 

 quired his knowledge by long-tried experiments. 

 Feb. 11, 1860. Essex. 



EFFECTS OF "WINE UTOISr THE HABITS 

 OP A PEOPLE. 



We transfer to our columns with pleasnre the 

 fair and kindly expressed criticisms by the edi- 

 tors of the Country Gentleman, upon remarks of 

 ours made at a recent meeting of the Legislative 

 Agricultural Society at the State House. We 

 will merely add, that the friend who made the 

 statements to us in regard to intoxication and the 

 use of wine in France, formed his opinions, not 

 merely upon passing through that country, but 

 upon the observations extended through a period 

 of eighteen months, and a period oi twelve months 

 in Italy. He is an intelligent, candid man, has 

 travelled extensively, but has no Munchausen pro- 

 pensities whatever. We are informed that the 

 writer of a recent history of Hungary — that rich 

 and beautiful but ill-fated land — states that in 

 travelling its entire length and breadth, sleeping 

 nights at the houses of the common people, and 

 eating at their tables, as well as mingling with 

 them in villages and cities, he rarely saw an in- 

 toxicated person in the country ! But cheap, light 

 wine was the common drink, at their meals, and 

 at other times. All classes used it, rich and poor, 

 men, women and children. How can these re- 

 ports, so widely different, be accounted for ? Per- 

 haps at a future time we may venture some solu- 

 tion of them. 



Simon Brown, editor of the New England Far- 

 mer, in speaking of the importance of the culture 

 of the grape, urged the manufacture of wine as a 

 means of promoting temperance and preventing 

 drunkenness. A friend, he said, had travelled in 

 France, and had seen but few intoxicated, and 

 that results were similar elsewhere. We have a 

 high respect for the opinions of our friend of the 

 New England Farmer, but we think that here he 

 has been induced to favor an error. It is true he 

 is not alone in his opinion ; several other distin- 

 guished cultivators have adopted the same ; and 

 it may therefore be proper to state briefly a few 

 facts relative to the subject. Public statistics are 

 more reliable than private opinion, or partial ob- 

 servation. A careful e-\amination of many jails 



