326 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For the New England Fanner. 

 A GOOD EXAMPLE IN FARMIiSTQ, 



Mr. Editor : — Your correspondent, T. J. Pink- 

 ham, is laboring hard to convince us that farming 

 is a most unprofitable business, but I am one of 

 those that disagree with him in the matter. That 

 poor farming does not pay, I Avill admit, but does 

 poor anytliing-dse pay ? Will a merchant who 

 docs not take every possible means to keep him- 

 self thoroughly informed in regard to the various 

 details of his business ever succeed ? 



I believe that farming, good farming, will pay 

 as well as any other business, all things being 

 equal ; that it requires labor, tact, energy, and a 

 good amount of common sense, I will admit; but 

 win a man succeed in any business without these 

 very desirable requisites ? 



In walking with a gentleman in his pasture a 

 few months sines, we came across a sow of very 

 fair appearance ; says the farmer, I have realized 

 more than seventy-five dollars from the sale of 

 pigs from that animal the present season, and it 

 has not cost me five dollars to keep her ! An ac- 

 quaintance purchased late in the fall of '58, fifty 

 young ewe sheep at $1,25 a head — has sold avooI 

 averaging $1,90 per head, and fortj'-five lambs at 

 an average of $1,75 each, realizing over $3,50 per 

 head for keeping his sheep less than one year, the 

 cost of which will not exceed 88 cents, and has 

 his 50 ewes for another year's service \ 



A case in point came under the writer's notice 

 a short time since, in one of the towns not many 

 miles from Boston : 



An elderly gentleman lived on, and carried on, 

 quite an extensive farm, but after many years of 

 hard labor and frugal econom)', found himself 

 largely in debt, there being a heavy mortgage up- 

 on his farm. A son of the old gentleman becom- 

 ing of age some five years since, bought the farm 

 of his father, agreeing to pay a small amount over 

 the mortgage, which nearly covered the value of 

 the estate. The young man commenced, without 

 capital, save stout hands and a good supply of 

 common sense, and to-day he has paid for his 

 farm to the last farthing, besides making valuable 

 improvements. 



How has this been done ? Not by hard work 

 alone, but with good calculation and sound judg- 

 ment combined with his labor. What we want, 

 brother farmers, is a thorough knowledge of the 

 nature of our land, and its adaptation to certain 

 crops, and with deep plowing, high manuring and 

 judicious managing, if farming cannot be made 

 profitable, what business can ? Are not my ways 

 equal, saith the Lord, and who shall say that the 

 honest tiller of the soil shall not receive compen- 

 sation for his toil, equal to that of any other trade 

 or^n-ofession ? c. c. n. 



Boston, 1860. 



How TO LAY UP A RaIL FENCE IN A WORK- 



MAN-LIKE Manner. — Set stakes for a single line, 

 then have one stake m.ade smooth with an arm of 

 tough wood reaching out tv.'o feet if your rails are 

 ten feet long. The end of the arm shows where 

 the rails are to cross. Lay the smallest and 

 straightest at the bottom, and the large ones on 

 top. After the worm is laid, put under the chunks. 

 Then, as y6u build, put the large ends of the rails 

 in the low places. Never notch your rails, if they 



were split as they should be. When laying the 

 last course before staking, be careful to have a 

 small end come under the stakes. Be careful to 

 cross the stakes the right way, and lay the big 

 ends of the riders on top. Then the passer-by, 

 as he goes pondering along, will take notice, and 

 say: "T7«e man that laid up that fence knew 

 how." — Farmer^s Advocate. 



EXTKAGTS AND REPLIES. ' 



THE DESTROYER OF CATTLE. 



The concentrated wisdom of the Legislature of Mas- 

 sachusetts is to be brought to bear upon the cattle dis- 

 ease the present week. If they shall be fortunate 

 enough to have clear ideas on the subject, it will be 

 more than has yet been diffused in the community. So 

 far as I can Icara, all the certain cases that have oc- 

 curred in the Commonwealth have been traceable to 

 one soiu'ce — that is, to animals recently imported from 

 Holland — and further, its spread has been by contagious 

 influence. This contagion may be by direct proximity 

 of the animals themselves, or by fodder or other ob- 

 jects contaminated by them. Its development v/lien 

 imbibed is more or less rapid, according to circumstan- 

 ces. It may remain latent for months, so that there 

 can lie no certainty of exemption, where there has been 

 exposure. 



I have great doubts of the propriety of seizing and 

 slaying a few animals when the disorder is already so 

 widely spread, and there are so many animals that have 

 been more or less exposed. This might have been well 

 at the lirst outset of the disease; now it would be bet- 

 ter to have its characteristics, and the treatment that is 

 applicable, from men of science — if there be such 

 among us. p. 



Essex Co., Mass., May 28, 1860. 



Remarks. — The question is quite often asked, "How 

 soon do cattle that have contracted the lung disease 

 show symptoms of it ?" and is very properly answered 

 above, "that it may remain latent for months." Cases 

 have been described to us of cattle dying quite soon 

 after the disease showed itself, where it was certain 

 that the animal had not been exposed for two months, 

 and other cases of the most decided character ■where 

 the exposure had taken place only ten days before the 

 death of the animal exposed. There is something in 

 the disease and its operations that is mysterious and 

 beyond the knowledge of the most learned. We trust 

 that exact scientific treatment will yet enable us to ar- 

 rest it, at least in some degree, and avert the calamity 

 that now threatens to pass over the entire State. 



CULTIVATION OP PEAS. 



On page 223 of the Farmer for the present month is 

 an inquiiy about raising peas. The pea crop is a very 

 important one in this country. Any good land will 

 produce a fair crop if well prepared. Greensward is 

 generally preferred for sowing ; they should be thor- 

 oughly harrowed in and rolled. I have never heard of 

 plowing in on greensward, and think they would not 

 come up the same season. Plastci'ls beneficial ; some 

 wet their peas and mix plaster with them when sow- 

 ing ; others sow the plaster broadcast after the peas are 

 up. In a wet season it is thought the plaster makes 

 too much vines ; but it does more good here than in 

 many places. Sow about two bushels of peas to an acre. 



OTTER OR CREEPER SHEEP. 



As the Mahie Farmer thinks this kind of sheep have 

 become extinct, I will say what little I know about 

 them. My father bought a pair of them in the town 

 of Pawlct, Vt., about fort3--five j'cars ago, and has had 

 them ever since. Wo have two ewes and a buck now. 

 They have raised no lambs for four or five years. They 

 have all the good qualities that the Maine Farmer 

 speaks of. We have had as many as twenty-five or 



