1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



bearing, with fine stems and heads, and their 

 limbs starting out so high as to be beyond the 

 reach of the cows. Being set at wide distances 

 and with their limbs so high, they do not materi- 

 ally, if at all, injure the pasturage. In a dry sea- 

 son, I am not certain but they may prove of ac- 

 tual benefit to the pasture, as they will act as con- 

 densers, and thus cool, moisten and modify the 

 temperature over it. I was much pleased with 

 the experiment and its results, and hope to see it 

 repeated in other localities. In the autumn it be- 

 comes necessary to clear the brush and dig the 

 grass away from the tree, as it affords a fine shel- 

 ter for mice, who find it agreeable to feed upon 

 the tender bark, and thus destroy the tree. 



1 wish some of the gentlemen Avho read, and 

 even write for your paper, would visit Mr. C, and 

 while passing over his thrifty acres learn some- 

 thing also of his practical operations upon them. 

 They will find no mystery in anything he has 

 done. It has been plain, common-sense Head 

 Work, with moderate, persistent, Hand Work, 

 skill and labor combined, and each year produc- 

 ing a considerable surplus not wanted for the 

 immediate purposes of the family. This increase 

 has not been secured, either, by parsimonious 

 habits in the family circle, for the Home, and all 

 its surroundings, give evidence not only of thrift 

 and competence, but of highly-cultivated taste. 

 A family of children has been reared, or are 

 growing up, and educated in those elements ne- 

 cessary to the pursuit of agriculture or any other 

 common business of life, and in some branches 

 which are considered as accomplishments rather 

 than essentials. I have rarely heard a better 

 toned instrument or seen a more skilful pianist 

 than I found in one of Farmer Clement's daugh- 

 ters. The fine passages of some of the best com- 

 posers were as familiar to her as the cups and 

 saucers of the tea-table. And this is as it should 

 be. There is no reason why the farmer who can 

 afi"ord it — and there are thousands who can — 

 should not have his pictures, piano and carriage, 

 as well as the thriftiest merchant that ever sold 

 cottons or candles, or anything else. I do not 

 mention these things because I found them here 

 to-day, for they are quite common now among 

 farmers all over New England, but to wrest the 

 occupation as far as I can from that slough of 

 doubt and disrepute into which some well-mean- 

 ing but mistaken persons have contributed to 

 place it. 



Passing the line of our good State into New 

 Hampshire, I called upon our old friend and cor- 

 respondent of the Farmer, B. F. Cutter. In a 

 former letter, two years since, I spoke of Mr. C.'s 

 family and farm at some length. My present ob- 

 ject v,-as to pay him my respects, and look at his 

 Seedling Strawberries on their native beds. One 



of you had recently seen them in the grounds of 

 Mr. iSlAXNiXG, at Reading, and tested them at 

 his table, and if I mistake not, lingered at the 

 feast as though "they Avere not bad to take." 



Last year Mr. Cutter placed some of his seed- 

 lings in a meadow by opening a hole and insert- 

 ing the roots into it in the midst of the thick 

 grass roots, for the purpose of testing their har- 

 diness. The crop of grass on the ground to-day 

 would make two tons of hay to the acre, and the 

 strawberries — well, perhaps, not quite so much, 

 but if a whole acre were covered as we saw some 

 particular spots, the crop would be enormous. 

 The stems were loaded with ripe and unripe fruit 

 standing six inches from the ground, kept up 

 clean and bright by the grass. Why is not this 

 a capital suggestion ? This is the habit of the 

 strawberry, as the finest I ever tasted grew on 

 burnt laud nevvly laid to grass. They were not 

 so large as some of the cultivated ones, but were 

 altogether superior in fiavor. Gathering the fruit 

 in this position would tread down the grass some- 

 what, to be sure, but that loss might be incurred; 

 in a small way. The Cutter Seedlings have two or ■ 

 three excellent qualities, perhaps more. They are 

 very prolific, grow large and up from the ground, 

 and continue in fruit from thirty to forty days. 

 When I saw them on the grounds of Mr. Plan- 

 ning, in Reading, I understood him to say that 

 they were more productive than any other variety 

 in his extensive list, with the exception of the 

 Wilson's Albany. No person of observation can 

 visit Mr. Cutter and his farm without deriving 

 benefit from it : it is the place to get ideas. 



When the big clouds had passed over our 

 heads, and the thunder seemed to be cracking 

 away over yours, we made another stage in our 

 journey, but had scarcely gone ten miles when we 

 were driven by stress of weather under the hqspi- 

 table roof of Mr. W. W. Cook, in the ancient 

 town of Derry. The surface of the earth where 

 level was soon flooded by the drenching shower. 

 But thanks to the disturbed elements — for they 

 were the indirect means of introducing us to sev- 

 eral pleasant acquaintances on the way. Mr. 

 Cook entered upon the old Gen. Derby place 

 about one year since, intending to make it a stock 

 farm, and has already made his mark there. He 

 has erected one of the finest barns we have seen, 

 and such other outbuildings as are necessary on a 

 large fL^rm. The land is admirably adapted to his 

 purpose, and if he does not attempt to do too much 

 in too short a time he will succeed. He has the cap- 

 ital, and the field for enterprise before him ; it only 

 remains for him to know hotc, to make the farm 

 productive, and at a handsome profit. If he takes 

 it for granted that any body, of any profession, 

 can at once become a good farmer, ihcit iJ.ca will 

 quite likely prove delusive, and may be an expen- 



