1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



435 



government based on the immutable principles 

 of Justice and Equality cannot be overturned 

 by ^vicked and designing men, either at home or 

 abroad. 



For the N*te England Farmer. 

 THE MlIiK BUSINESS. 



Since the commencement of the railroad era in 

 this country, the traffic in milk has become a bus- 

 iness of great importance. The inhabitants of 

 cities and large towns are supplied with new, 

 sweet milk — brought to their doors — for a price 

 so low that very few are obliged to do without 

 this nutritious article of food. Farmers who live 

 within forty or fifty miles of a city, and near the 

 line of a railroad leading to it, are giving partic- 

 ular attention to the production of milk for the 

 market ; and as a general thing, they find it more 

 profitable than any other branch of farming. By 

 selling milk the labor of the farmer's wife is very 

 much lightened, which is a fact of no small im- 

 portance among our delicate American women. 



But there is one discouraging feature in the 

 milk business which ought speedily to be removed. 

 I refer to the length of time which many farmers 

 have to wait before receiving pay for their milk. 

 Very frequently they have to wait from two to six 

 months, and sometimes a year or more, to have 

 their bills cashed. To those farmers whose income 

 is but small, these long credits are sometimes 

 really distressing. I would like to ask the milk- 

 men if there is any real necessity for this tardi- 

 ness in settling accounts ? If such delay is un- 

 avoidable, then we farmers must "grin and bear 

 it ;" but it seems to me, and many others, that 

 there is no need whatever that credit should be 

 given for a longer time than one month. 



The consumers of milk buy it in small quanti- 

 ties from day to day, and the indebtedness of each 

 one at the end of a week or month is small. If 

 this small sum was promptly collected from each 

 'individual every month, the producers of milk 

 could have their dues ; but I fear that the milk- 

 men are often negligent in collecting these small 

 bills, and that after they are collected, much time 

 is allowed to slip away before the amount is paid 

 over to those to whom it mostly belongs. Is it 

 not so, brother farmers ? And cannot something 

 be done to remove this great nuisance and wrong ? 

 Farmers are usually very quiet men, and do not 

 like to "make a fuss," but in a case of this kind, 

 if they would all say the word, and pull together, 

 the change would come often and regularly into 

 their pockets. It is not enough that farmers are 

 obliged to wait so long for their pay, but recent- 

 ly, on some roads, milk trains are run on the 

 Sabbath, and the milk must be carried to the de- 

 pot Sunday morning. If the farmer refuses to do 

 this, none of his milk will be taken. I would like to 

 inquire of any one who knows, if it is lawful to 

 run a railroad train on the Sabbath day ? If it is 

 not, why are the railroad companies allowed to do 

 so ? The whim of a few milkmen has brought 

 into action this new method of desecrating the 

 sacred day of rest ; for there is no greater neces- 

 sity for the running of milk trains on the Sabbath 

 at the present time, than there has been in past 

 years, or than there would be in carrying to mar- 

 ket, on Sunday morning, all kinds of green gar 



den sauce, or any other eatables which are better 

 when fresh from the farm. There are some men 

 engaged in the milk business who think it wrong 

 to team milk on Sunday, but who dare not refuse 

 to do so, because they are afraid of losing a profi- 

 table business ! What sort of a conscience can a 

 man have who pursues this course of action ? 



S. L. White. 

 South Groton, Aug. 10, 1861. 



Remarks. — The milk business of Massachu- 

 setts has come to be an important interest — too 

 important to be conducted in the loose, and 

 illegal manner which prevails. Our friends will 

 bear us testimony that we worked hard to intro- 

 duce a better state of things several years ago, 

 but only succeeded in introducing a partial re- 

 form. It is high time that the whole business 

 should be conducted legally and fairly for the 

 farmer. 



For the Nete England Farmer. 

 RETROSPECTIVE NOTES. 



The Bark Louse. — At page 356 of the August 

 number of this journal, we have a quotation 

 from the Canadian Agriculturist in reference 

 to this insidious and destructive little parasite. 

 I call it an insidious as well as a destructive in- 

 sect, for in size it is so small, and in color it is 

 so similar to the bark of the trees which it at- 

 tacks, (chiefly the apple and the pear,) that it 

 may quite readily escape notice, and has, indeed, 

 in a few instances which have come to my knowl- 

 edge, actually escaped detection even on trees in- 

 fested by it so abundantly that a pin could 

 scarcely be struck into the bark of the trunk of 

 the tree anywhere without transfixing one of 

 these parasitic enemies. These statements about 

 the difficulty of detecting bark lice on apple-trees 

 on account of their small size, and their brown, 

 bark-like color, and about their abundance on 

 some trees, may seem astonishing and almost in- 

 credible to persons whe have never had an oppor- 

 tnnity of observing or studying them, but those 

 who have had opportunities of this kind know 

 that their size and color help to conceal them 

 from superficial observation, and that sometimes 

 they are so numerous as to cover the bark com- 

 pletely. It is on account of the insidiousness of 

 the attacks of this enemy of our fruit trees, as 

 well as on account of the amount of mischief 

 often done by it, when it happens to go undetected 

 or unsubdued for several seasons perhaps, that it 

 is of importance to solicit the attention of farm- 

 ers — the young and inexperienced especially — to 

 the means of detecting and extirpating this little, 

 but not insignificant enemy. 



As to the importance of soliciting, and, still 

 more, of giving attention to this subject, the 

 reader may be helped, as the writer was also 

 some years ago, in forming some adequate con- 

 ceptions, by reading and pondering the following 

 sentence from "The Farmer's and Planter's En- 

 cyclopedia." Under the heading of Bark Lice it 

 is said : — "The mischiefs eff'ected through these 

 minute insects, to fruit and other valuable trees, 

 are far greater than is generally supposed, and 

 hence every farmer and gardener must be inter- 



