390 



NEW ENGLAND FAR^N'IER. 



Aug, 



practice rigid economy, I do not deny ; but that 

 they live respectably and comfortably, some few, 

 indeed, luxuriously, go to meeting with good 

 clothes on, with wife, sons and daughters well and 

 fashionably dressed, with horse and carriage, good 

 enough for a lord ; whose families are mentally, 

 as well as bodily, well cared for, is another fact, 

 which any person may prove for himself, by at- 

 tending church on the Sabbath, in almost any of 

 our country towns. 



If, as some who have lately written, as pub- 

 lished in the Farmer Avithin a short time, say, 

 the farmer does not, or cannot, make a living by 

 attending solely to his legitimate business, that it 

 is a non-paying pursuit, how is it, or why is it, 

 that these things are so ? Here is a fair and large 

 field for investigation. If farming, as generally 

 practiced in New England at the present day, is 

 a non-paying business, contrary, it seems to me, 

 to the common idea, then let us know it, and 

 have a fair understanding of the whole matter, so 

 that none may "go it blind," or spend his strength 

 for naught. That the majority of farmers are 

 not so particidar in keeping a correct account 

 ■with their various operations, I am willing to ad- 

 mit. I think they would find it interesting and 

 profitable to do so ; at any rate, they could at any 

 time ascertain their exact standing with the world, 

 and v.'ith their diff"orcnt operations, and self-inter- 

 est ought to prompt them to do this. Why should 

 they not do so, as well as the trader, manufacturer, 

 lawyer, or doctor ? Certainly their operations are 

 no more complicated than theirs ; while, if they 

 kept such an account, all guess work would be re- 

 moved, and the farmer would be able to tell at a 

 glance, what branch of his business paid and what 

 did not, much better than under the old system 

 of going by the guess book. But that farming 

 does not pay, and is poor business to follow in 

 order to insure a good living and fair profits, I 

 am not willing yet to admit. I concede there may 

 be poor farmers, as there are poor doctors. Sec, 

 and until the majority of farmers cease paying 

 their debts and go into insolvency, I probably 

 shall not. Let this matter be fully discussed, and 

 individual experience brought to the test. I am 

 open to conviction. Give us your ideas on this 

 subject, brother farmers ; facts will settle this mat- 

 ter, I think, much sooner than any theory, or 

 statement. Norfolk. 



King Oak Hill, 1860. 



The Idea of Fire among the Ancients. — 

 According to Pliny, fire was for a long time un- 

 known to some of the ancient Egyptians, and 

 ■when Euxodus, the celebrated astronomer, showed 

 it to them, they were absolutely in raptures. The 

 Persians, Phenicians, Greeks, and several other 

 nations, acknowledged that their ancestors were 

 once without the use of fire, and the Chinese 

 confess the same of their progenitors. Pompa- 

 nius, Mela, Plutarch, and other ancient authors, 

 speak of nations who, at the time they wrote, 

 knew not the use of fire, or had but just learned 

 it. Facts of the same kind are also attested by 

 several modern nations. The inhabitants of the 

 Mariana Islands, which were discovered in 1521, 

 had no idea of fire. Never was astonishment 

 greater than theirs, when they saw it on the de- 

 scent of MagL^Uan on one of their islands. At first 



they believed it was some kind of animal that 

 fixed to and fed upon v^-ood. The inhabitants of ' 

 the Philippine and Canary Islands were formerly ' 

 equally ignorant. Africa presents, even in our 

 own day, some nations in this deplorable state. 



Fur the New England Farmer. 

 ■WATEE, PIPES. 



Mr. Editor : — As there have been several in- 

 quiries in the current volume in regard to pipes 

 or tubes for conveying Mater to farm buildings 

 for the use of the stock and domestic purposes, I 

 thought to add a few words. 



As good pure water, and a constant supply, 

 too, is very important, and as but few farm build- 

 ings are so situated as to have a full supply in the 

 right places till it is conveyed there through some 

 means, it becomes an important question, what 

 shall we use for this purpose ? 



j\Iy experience has been with wood and lead 

 pipes, or as they arc called here, "aqueducts," 

 wooden or lead, as the case may be. Lead was 

 formerly used quite extensively by those of com- 

 petent means, till it was found to be very liable to 

 get out of repair, and injurious to those using the 

 water which was thus supplied, however healthful 

 it was at the fountain, generally. Yet to this day 

 it seems, by your columns, some deny the delete- 

 rious effects imputed to the poisonous lead ; 

 though perhaps difficult of demonstrative proof, 

 yet experience of the many, and analogy, ought to 

 be sufHcient warning to one and all against lead 

 pipe. The wood generally used is fir, spruce, pine 

 and hackmatack or larch ; but wcra I to have my 

 choice, it would fall upon the larch. 



Timber should be cut in the fall or early in the 

 winter, and in size six to ten inches in diameter, 

 and of such a length as can be handled and bored 

 conveniently, say about 10 feet. The bore should 

 not be more than Id inches, instead of 3 to 4 

 inches, as one correspondent recommends, be- 

 cause the water will not stand in the logs near so 

 long before it is used after leaving the fountain 

 head ; they will last longer, are much easier bored 

 of this size, and are not near as liable to freeze 

 up in "cold snaps," like January, 18d9. The beau- 

 tiful, lively sparkle of the water in the fountain is 

 retained only through constant change ; hence the 

 smaller amount confined in the conducting pipe, of 

 any kind, the better will it come from the faucet. 



In regard to durability there will be a great va- 

 riation, even irt-ith the same kind of wood, in dif- 

 ferent situations. I ha.ve seen fir logs that had 

 been laid 20 to 30 years, that were then in good 

 repair, and I have seen them where they had been 

 laid but 10 years, so decayed that it was necessary 

 to relay them, or put new logs in. Those which 

 had lasted so long v.'cre in soil that kept thcni wet 

 or moist iA\ the time, while the others were wet 

 and then dry at times, or nearly so, being in a 

 yellow, ledgy soil. 



The cost will vary materially in different local- 

 ities. Here in Franklin Co., Me., it costs twenty- 

 five cents per rod for boring and laying, upon an 

 average, when done by those who are responsible 

 for a good job, beside boarding the hands. The 

 cost of the logs, digging, trenching and filling, 

 according to local circumstances. o. 'W. T. 



Eha Tree Farm, Ihrinc. 



