186 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



times save life from drowning ? It may be so. 



But is not the amount they destroy tenfold more 

 than what they save by their protection ? and are 

 there not ten lives lost by the horrible death of 

 hydrophobia to one saved by them P 



I know not whether dogs take to meanness or 

 meanness to dogs, but this I know, I rarely see a 

 strolling vagabond without one or more dogs at 

 his heels, or pass through a beggarly neighbor- 

 hood, where shingles and clapboards had left their 

 dwellings, doors and window-shutters their hinges, 

 and rags and old hats supplied the place of glass, 

 without having to run the gauntlet through a 

 swarm of "mongrel puppies, whelps and hounds, 

 and curs of low degree." We all know, when a 

 man begins to grow poor, he will get him a dog, 

 and when very poor he will get him two, and 

 when so poor that he cannot live without going 

 to the poor-house or begging, he will go to rais- 

 ing dogs. 



Dogs, and in general their owners, are a nuis- 

 ance, and if I were capable of writing for a pa- 

 per, I should like to give a piece of my mind, or if I 

 were Henry Ward Beecher, I would try to make 

 myself useful, and preach against dogholders in- 

 stead of slaveholders. 



You may rely upon it, that those reports are 

 highly apppeciated. Henry S. Perrin. 



Orfordville, N. IL, Feb., 18G1. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 INFLUENCES OP PAKM EMPLOYMENTS. 



Seeing an article in the Farmer written by a 

 young farmer, in which he speaks of the idea of 

 degradation attached to labor, I thought I would 

 express my ideas upon the subject. The truth of 

 his remarks cannot be gainsayed. Why it should 

 be so, is to me incomprehensible. The history 

 of ancient and modern times is filled with instan- 

 ces of men who, having been called from the 

 plow or the work-bench to perform some great 

 act, and having performed it, returned again to 

 their avocation. The greatest gentleman or lady 

 of the land has to depend upon labor for every- 

 thing they eat or wear. Farming is the founda- 

 tion of all industrial pursuits. Whatsoever ad- 

 vances the farmer's interest, advances the inter- 

 est of the whole. 



This "Young Farmer" goes on farther to ask 

 the question, would not the public good be much 

 better promoted by dispelling this idea, than by 

 founding agricultural colleges or adding agricul- 

 tural departments to those in existence ? I ask, 

 would not the founding of those schools and col- 

 leges have a greater tendency to dispel this illu- 

 sion than any thing else ? Many people think 

 any clown can farm. They think so because they 

 see the great mass of farmers have a more limited 

 education than any other class. This is not as it 

 should be. If anything, farming requires more 

 science and skill than any other pursuit. Any 

 one can become a very good mechanic after two 

 or three years' apprenticeship, but to become a 

 skilful farmer, one has to commence in boyhood, 

 and work at it until manhood, and then not 

 conquer one-half of its details. If lie wishes to 

 try anything new, he has to experiment upon it 

 for years before he can come to any satisfactory 

 result. Let us have our agricultural schools and 



colleges, then, where we can go and learn to ana- 

 lyze our soils, our crops, and fertilizers, and 

 know the constituent elements of each. Then 

 shall we understand what principle each rod of 

 land possesses in abundance, and what it lacks. 

 We can then apply the right manures in the right 

 places to produce a certain crop. Then will farm- 

 ing be raised to its proper standard in the esti- 

 mation of the people. 

 Harvard, Feb., 1861. e. r. 



For the New Englartd Farmer. 

 THE AIR PRESSUBE CHURN. 



Mr. Editor :— The communication of "K. O." 

 in your paper of Feb. 23, in relation to the Air 

 Pressure Churn, deserves our thanks and our 

 prompt notice. The author is entirely unknown 

 to us, and we have no reason to suppose that he 

 is the possessor of a churn that has been manu- 

 lactured by us. The few churns of this class 

 which were in Boston market last year, were made 

 by other parties, and were not constructed from 

 as good materials nor with such thorough work 

 manship as those which we are having made on 

 our own account, and on which we base the prices 

 and the remarks in our circular which was in 

 your paper of Jan. 12th. 



The implied questions, and the points taken by 

 "K. O.," are all pertinent and well considered, and 

 we are thankful that he gives us fair occasion to 

 notice them. 



1. The price. Our casks are of the best white 

 oak, put up by the best of coopers. The fitting 

 of the heads, the driving of the bolts, and all 

 other parts of the work demanding that there 

 shall not be the fraction of a pin-hole for the 

 escape of air, cause the first cost of the body 

 of the churn to be much greater than that of or- 

 dinary oak barrels or kegs. Then, to go with 

 this, is an air-pump, calling for costly rubber and 

 accurate work. Also, on the churn is one patent, 

 on the pump another, each of which has cost — in- 

 cluding the labor by which the shapes and modes 

 of application, have been reached — several thou- 

 sand dollars. 



The positive fact is, that taking the actual cost 

 of the churn, the pump and the necessary attach- 

 ments, the profit to the manufacturer is less, on 

 this churn, than on the average of agricultural im- 

 plements. We have, in fixing our prices, kept in 

 mind the motto, "quick sales and small profits." 



We know that most farmers will consider $12 

 or $lo too much to pay for a churn. It seems 

 too much, and yet, perhaps they cannot afford to 

 do without this churn. For, if there be. as ex- 

 periments thus far seems to prove that there is, 

 from 7 to 10 per cent, gained in the quantity of 

 butter by the use of the Air Pressure, then the 

 farmer who keeps five cows and makes from them 

 700 lbs. of butter per year, will have gained about 

 50 pounds of butter in a single season, and that 

 amount of butter will buy the churn. This state 

 of facts will show the farmer that ten years' use 

 of this churn will earn for him $100, and, there- 

 fore, it is for his interest to buy it, even though 

 the price seems high. The purchaser will get 

 more than nine-tenths of the profit, if the appar- 

 ent facts shall be established by general experi- 

 ence, as we believe they Avill. 



