182 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



sink or be still ; the gosling will break the shell 

 on the end that stands out of the vt-ater. 



Do not put the eggs in water after the shell is 

 broken, but drop some water on the goslings bill 

 when the gosling is hatched and is nest-dry. Take 

 it in the hand, and with the thumb and finger 

 press the bill open and drop in a pepper corn, and 

 then some sweet cream ; have ready some green 

 turf, place it round the nest, and sprinkle on it 

 some Indian dough, where the eoose will pick, 

 and learn her young. They are a very tender 

 fov.i, and require care till their feathers are grown, 

 after that they need not be fed, if they run in the 

 road. They can be plucked three times the latter 

 part of the three summer months ; some think it 

 very wicked to pick them, but they shed all that 

 yoii pick, quills and feathers ; they can be tried, 

 and if they come hard, wait a week or two. Do 

 not let the young go to the water too soon ; have 

 a short thing for them to drink out of; if they 

 should get chilled, take them to the fire and put 

 warm ashes on their back, and feed them with 

 ci-eam with a tea spoon. 



Two geese are better than three, and one is bet- 

 ter than two, as they are apt to beat each other, 

 and unless they hatch all together, they will beat 

 the young. When I kept geese, I fed them on 

 corn till the grass grevr, and not after that till 

 they were fatted in the falL 



I am over 60, and Avrite without spectacles. 



Bo-ry, N. E., 1860. IMiis. S. Pillsbury. 



For ilie New England Farmer. 



THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY PEBBUABY 

 NUMBER OP W. E. PABMER. 



Page 58. — By a slight change in the words of 

 an old aphorism we have, on this page, a rule of 

 life, or an aim to direct our steps in it, which, if 

 practically and gejierally adopted, would work a 

 most gratifying change, both in the consciousness 

 of those adopting it and in the impressions which 

 their changed mode of living would make upon 

 observers. We refer to the rule or aim thus ex- 

 pressed — "We should not live to work, but work 

 to live." Quite too many lives are framed by a 

 different and a less noble and less sensible plan. 

 Thousands live as mere drudges, toiling and slav- 

 ing through all the work their physical strength 

 will endure, not because it is necessary that they 

 should do so in order to live comfortably, taste- 

 fully, nobly and usefully, but for some less sensi- 

 ble, less worthy, less elevated purpose. But though 

 we would fain make an eff'ort to demonstrate the 

 superiority of this life-plan, and of its fruits or re- 

 sults, and to recommend thus and otherwise its 

 more general adoption, we must, for the pi^sent, 

 leave it with each reader to consider the two dif- 

 ferent schemes of life brought before him in the 

 passage referred to on this page, and to ask him- 

 self if there is not here a hint by the adoption of 

 which he might make his life more noble, more 

 dignified, and more satisfactory ; less of a weari- 

 some toil and drudgerj^ 



Page 58 — Abimdance of Weeds. — The large 

 quantities of weeds here mentioned seem to be 

 an exaggeration ; and if so considered, this brief 

 article may fail of its intended effect. But if the 

 readers who are disposed thus to regard the 

 numl^rs here given would make a trial for them- 



selves with any clover, grass, or other small seeds, 

 which they may propose to sow in the spring, they 

 miglit find enough of weed-seeds to make them 

 more cautious and careful as to this matter, ever 

 after. 



Page 62 — -Suhjccts for Discussion in Farmers' 

 Clubs. — It needs but a small degree of penetra- 

 tion to perceive that Mr. Pinkham has looked a 

 little deeper into subjects and questions concern- 

 ing, and connected Avith, the rights and interests 

 of farmers, than is usually done. He may have 

 arrived at some conclusions which are erroneous 

 and exaggerated ; but all f\irmers, even those who 

 may difl'er most widely from him in opinion, 

 should be ready to acknowledge their great obli- 

 gations to him, inasmuch as he has, most impres- 

 sively, arrested their attention, and fixed their 

 thoughts upon matters Avhich are so intimately 

 related to their rights and interests as a class. Mr. 

 Pinkham will be gladly and gratefully listened to 

 by discerning and thoughtful members of our 

 hard-working fraternity, whenever he may be 

 pleased to address them upon any of the questions 

 and topics which he has now and recently proposed 

 for consideration. A few exaggerations in esti- 

 mating the cost of a crop of corn will not great- 

 ly trouble the more discerning, for they will see 

 that the drift of Mr. P.'s suggestions reaches far- 

 ther and deeper than the mere profit or loss of 

 any particular crop or department of farm busi- 

 ness. We hope leisure, inclination and opportu- 

 nity wUl permit Mr. P. to place us under still 

 greater obligations to him ; which he will certain- 

 ly do every time he gives us, either a mere 

 glimpse, or a pretty full disclosure, of his somewhat 

 peculiar, but very important, cogitations upon the 

 rights and wrongs of farmers, or the promotion 

 and neglect of their interests as a class. 



Page 63 — Cost oj" Keeping Cows. — Among the 

 indirect or incidental advantages lOvcly to result 

 from the discussions originated by Mr. Pinkham's 

 recent communications to this journal, this is 

 likely to be one, viz.: a reconsideration of the 

 question, what is the value and proper price to be 

 charged by farmers for pasturing cows for the res- 

 idents of a village ? We are inclined to think 

 that Mr. P.'s estimate that pasture is worth about 

 8 cents a day, or 50 cents per week, is more near- 

 ly correct than that which forms the basis of the 

 usual practice of charging 25 cents per week. Our 

 reasons for thinking so are chiefly these two : — 

 1. One acre of ordinary pasture is not sufficient 

 to provide sufficient sustenance for a cow for half 

 a year, or the pasturing season. The experience 

 of dairymen in the dairy counties of England af- 

 fords sitfficient ])roof of this. In Gloucestershire, 

 for example, about nine-tenths of the land on the 

 dairy fimns is in pasture, and the usual practice 

 is to keep at the rate of 25 cows to each hundred 

 acres. One acre and a half of grass is the small- 

 est allowance usually made for each cow during 

 the summer and fall, and this is sufficient only 

 when the grass is very abundant, or in fields 

 which have been under-drained and top-dressed 

 with fertilizing materials. Two acres are required 

 for summer pasture, and two more for winter hay, 

 when the land has not received extra care, or is 

 not more than ordinarily productive. The cost of 

 keeping a cow is estimated in Gloucestershire at 

 820 for the summer and $25 for the winter, and 

 in Cheshire, another county famous for cheese, 



