354 



NEW ENGLAND FAR]MER. 



Aug. 



of five years, when he purchased a farm for $2000; 

 Avhich is now worth, from his good care, and with 

 increase in farm property, $8,000 to $10,000. 



Mr. Obed managed to pay for this farm, I think 

 in about three years, when he was free from debt, 

 and had greatly improved his estate. From that 

 time he began to hiy aside money, and would lend 

 the same on good security. lie has been blessed 

 with a large family of children, two of his sons he 

 has settled in the learned professions, one a phy- 

 sician and the other a lawyer, and he is now worth 

 $30,000 to $40,000, and for the last twenty years 

 of his life has been as independent as any one 

 could be. 



Here is one witness that farming is profitable. 

 It will be seen that Mr. Obed labored hard. He 

 did so. He was attentive to his business, and 

 was prudent, all that. Who can succeed in any 

 calling without diligence and frugality ? It shows, 

 and shows conclusively, that money can be made 

 on a farm under very embarrassing circumstan- 

 ces. Mr. Obed and his wife commenced with the 

 determination to become independent, and they 

 did so. 



No one ever has been successful in mercantile 

 life without giving his whole attention to his busi- 

 ness. A successful merchant, I acknowledge, will 

 accumulate money more rapidly, by successful 

 speculations, but take the average of traders from 

 the commencement of their business life, and they 

 ■will not succeed better than did Mr. Obed. 



Boston, June 12, 1860. D. 



For the New Eyigland Farmer. 

 FARM HINTS— FARM FACTS. 



Now, Mr. Farmer, never allow bushes to grow 

 around the walls and fences of your mowing fields. 

 No neat farmer does this — when you have done 

 haying, use the pick and nigger hoe. 



Never allow your grass to stand too long, lest' 

 it become tough and wiry, and you lose its sugary 

 juices. 



Never let your grains stand too long, lest they 

 shatter and sow the field for another year. When 

 the berry begins to harden, cut the grain at once 

 — it makes better bread. 



Never allow your hay to lie over night in 

 spread or winrow — make it in large cocks, and 

 save all its aromatic sweetness Avhich constitutes 

 its nourishing value. 



Never use the horse rake that scrapes to the 

 ground, taking with it sand, hassocks and earthy 

 matter that will give your horse the heaves and 

 assist your cows to a cough and consumption. 

 The less dust in your hay, the more healthy your 

 animals. 



Never allow your colts or horses to stand on 

 their heated ofial month after month, by daily 

 bedding doAvn with straw for cleanliness. You will 

 surely propagate pinched hoofs, dry tender feet, 

 stiff ankles, heated, swollen legs and cough, from 

 strong ammoniacal exhalations — rather give them 

 granite, brick or lead as cooling substances to 

 stand upon, bedded down at night ; then their feet 

 are prepared for hard roads and ])aving stones. 

 How many farmers kill their horses with kind- 

 ness, or rather cripple them for life by standing 

 them in a manure pit. 



Never dock or cut oif a horse's tail ; the bar- 



barous pulleys and cleaver were never made to 

 mar the natural beauties of the horse, nor to give 

 him the excessive torture he is compelled to suf- 

 fer. If you would make a young horse look old, 

 chop off his tail. If you would keep him youthful 

 and eolt-like, let alone this natural ornament. It 

 was made for use — remember "fly time" — how 

 they bite ! 



Never plant small potatoes (less regarded than 

 any other seed ;) always cut off the "seed end" or 

 small eyes, and avoid "pig potatoes" in digging 

 time. None more skilled in potato growing than 

 our Long Island farmers. This is their practice. 



Never sow your wheat without soaking in salt 

 pickle and raking it in wood ashes. See experi- 

 ments of the two brothers out West, published in 

 the Farmer recently. The pickled seed produced 

 nearly double in quantity, other advantages being 

 equal. 



Never cultivate four acres of corn to get what 

 one of the same can be made to produce — yet, 

 this is one of the common errors among farmers. 

 It is nothing remarkable to get one hundred 

 bushels of corn to the acre. 



Never put into the hands of hired men and boys, 

 old, lumbering farming tools, nor put the team to 

 a superannuated old ]ilow and expect a fiiir day's 

 Avork. When the tools are light and modern, la- 

 bor has a pleasant relish. 



Never omit to have the barn-yard well covered 

 with soil at this season, nor to move the cows 

 around the yard and secure their droppings be- 

 fore they leave in the morning; then with a shov- 

 el dig a hole and bury — keeping the yard clean, 

 and saving the value of the manure from the dry- 

 ing sun. 



Never allow your carts, wagons, sleigh-sleds, 

 or any farming tools, to be exposed to sun and. 

 rain when not in use, and even the draft chains 

 that are resting on the fence, put them all under 

 cover, if you would consult economy. How often 

 do we see a sled on the road-side, with its shoes 

 rotting on the ground, when a minute's labor 

 would relieve it by ]mtting under two sticks ? 



But, i\Ir. Editor, I have no fear that I have of- 

 fended the well-ordered farmer by these sugges- 

 tions, neither do I vainly suppose they afford him 

 any instruction. It is those whose gates are off 

 the hinges, the bars down, the manure pile of last 

 winter at the end of the barn, that should now be 

 in the field to help the corn grow, that may take 

 and perhaps be benefited by these hints. 



Brooldyn, L. I., 1860. H. Poor. 



The Homestead, published at Hartford, Ct., 

 is one of the best agricultural papers we see. It 

 has a powerful team of Editors, and they turn out 

 their work completely finished for public use. 

 Take and read The, Homestead, brother farmer, 

 and vou will soon become a wiser man. 



Cranberry Culture.— "J. M., Orange, Mass.," 

 Avill find his questions in relation to cranberry 

 culture fully answered in ^'Eastwood on the Cran- 

 berry," a valuable little work which costs fifty 

 cents. We could answer many of them, but it 

 Avould not be so satisfactory as would the book. 



