310 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



For the New England Farmer. 



IMPOETANCE OP LITTLE THINGS TO 

 THE PAKMER. 



The old Scotch proverb that "every little makes 

 a mickle," finds no more apt illustration than is 

 to be found in the results of the farmer who looks 

 out for little things, and the one who does not ; 

 the one who takes a stitch in time, and the one 

 who waits for the nine before he begins to do 

 what would have been good economy for him to 

 have attended to long before. All are familiar 

 with the fable of the man who lost his horse by 

 neglecting to secure the shoe, and the lesson 

 therein contained. It is not, however, my inten- 

 tion so much to refer to saving what we already 

 have, as securing, or trying to secure, what we 

 have not. Success, as a general thing, is within 

 the power of all of medium capacity, if that ca- 

 pacity is properly directed. We hear much said 

 about the "unprofitableness of farming," and of 

 how few that are successful in making headway 

 therein. I will not attempt to controvert the as- 

 sertion, but simply suggest the query whether, 

 all things considered, other occupations are not 

 still more unprofitable. 



All I now wish to do is to encourage my broth- 

 er farmers, and myself, also, to look out for 

 chances to secure better results from our efforts 

 with such means as we have, and can command. 

 For the sake of brevity I put the subject in the 

 form of interrogatories. 



Do you make the best possible use of your own 

 time ? Do you systematize your operations so as 

 to have no fragments wasted ? If you employ 

 laborers, is it your constant aim to turn such la- 

 bor to the very best account .'' Are you sure you 

 do not often send two men to do a job of work 

 that might be more economically done by one ? 

 How many times, in the course of a yeai", do yo4 

 and your men take two steps, when one would 

 have been sufficient, had proper foresight been 

 used ? To give significance to this question, I 

 will refer to an incident related to me by the ed- 

 itor of the Farmer, who needs not my endorse- 

 ment of being good authority. He had a man, 

 part of whose duty it was to feed the pigs. Quite 

 often, on going from the house to the barn where 

 the pigs were kept, he would forget the swill and 

 have to return for it, involving an expenditure of 

 time not to be overlooked by his employer, the 

 aforesaid editor. Like a wise man, (as we all 

 know him to be,) he tried various arguments to 

 impress his man with the loss both were sustain- 

 ing, without curing him of his folly. As a last 

 resort, he made an estimate, based upon the man's 

 admissions, of the number of extra trips made 

 for the swill during a year that might have been 

 avoided, the time required, and its value ascer- 

 tained according to the wages paid the man. The 

 result was quite startling to the man, and led to 

 new resolves to do better for the future. Shall 

 we not look around us and see if we cannot find 

 losses of like kind on our premises ? How is it 

 with us in the saving and use of our manures ? 

 As to saving manure and avoiding waste, is there 

 nothing more we can do ? Ammonia is a vola- 

 tile, flighty thing, and will surely take itself off 

 unless well looked after, and secured by fixtures 

 more reliable than the green withes of the Phil- 

 istines on Sampson's arms. Most farms have a 



variety of soils, some portions requiring diff"erent 

 treatment from other parts of the same farm. Have 

 we reviewed our practice, year after year, in or- 

 der to avoid any mistakes we may have made, and 

 improve upon successes achieved ? Space will 

 not permit going into the details one by one of 

 all our farm management. A thorough examina- 

 tion of all that relates to farm operations should 

 often pass in review, and be subjected to the 

 closest scrutiny, to see if we cannot improve up- 

 on the past, and thus gain vantage ground for 

 still greater improvement in the future. 



Now is the time to arrange our pRns for the 

 spring and summer work. Each spot or lot should 

 be designated for its particular use, and what we 

 can, or rather what we should do, for each to se- 

 cure the greatest ultimate profit, which term I use 

 because we may often sacrifice the future for a 

 present result which would be unmixed evil in 

 the end. These hints are hastily thrown togeth- 

 er ; if they lead to thought on the matters re- 

 ferred to, the writer's object is attained. 



Rochester, Feb. 20, 186L o. K. 



For the Neto England Farmer. 



SCIENTIFIC AND MORAL VIEW OP 

 P ARMING-. 



Every person who has arrived at years of dis- 

 cretion should select for his or her calling the 

 business to which their minds seem most inclined, 

 provided that business is such as will tend to 

 promote the public welfare. 



Man was not born merely to eat, drink, sleep 

 and enjoy the animal part of existence ; but to 

 be industrious and useful in society ; and ought 

 to leave some record of his actions as a testimo- 

 nial of his endeavors to be useful to the present 

 and future generations. 



Of all the pursuit? that men have followed, 

 through choice or necessity, agriculture stands 

 foremost ; it is, when properly conducted, the 

 most useful, profitable, pleasing, rational and 

 healthful of all. 



The productions of the soil do more than just 

 satisfy the cravings of hunger, and build up and 

 replace what has been lost by the change that is 

 constantly going on in the human system. They 

 furnish not only the sinews, the blood and the 

 bones of the hardy laborer, but they supply the 

 brain of the statesman and scholar, and give fuel 

 to the lamp of genius, in the poet and artist. 

 They spread out for our acceptance an endless 

 catalogue of instructive themes for study and 

 contemplation. 



The practice of agriculture requires precept 

 and study. It cannot be benefited by theory 

 alone, but when theory is united with repeated 

 experiments and fiicts, it may be reduced to a 

 regular system. Experiment can do but little 

 good when extended no further than for our own 

 private use and instructions. If one finds, after 

 experimenting, that fiicts wliich are likely to ben- 

 efit himself, have grown out of those experiments, 

 it is a duty he owes the world, to make the theo- 

 ry and the facts public. 



Because a man is a farmer, it need not come 

 as a necessity, that he is not one of the wisest in 

 the land. In fact, to farm well requires wisdom, 

 for every year the farmer virtually undertakes to 



