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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



Our attention has been directed to this subject 

 by reading an article recently published in one of 

 the most popular agricultural papers of the coun- 

 try, in which the writer very strongly advises farm- 

 ers to fit up a convenient shop, and procure the 

 necessary tools for making these repairs them- 

 selves. The main argument adduced in favor of 

 this course, and one several times repeated, was 

 to the effect that by this arrangement employment 

 would be furnished to the farmer and his boys 

 during odd hours and rainy days. This, some- 

 how, stirred up in our minds recollections far more 

 vivid than pleasant of the "odd hours and rainy 

 days" of our own boyhood. "We thought then, 

 and a slight sprinkle of gray hairs has only deep- 

 ened the conviction, that boys are sometimes 

 worked too hard upon the farm. That there al- 

 ways has been danger of this being done is evi- 

 dent from the proverb, 



"All work and no play, makes Jack run away." 



Another thought occurs to our mind in connec- 

 tion with farmers' boys and workshops. The 

 farmer generally speaks as though his own busi- 

 ness was not a trade. If one of his boys drives 

 pegs into a shoe, he is said to be "learning a trade ;" 

 while liis other sons, who work upon the farm, are 

 spoken of and spoken to, merely as "staying at 

 home." What injustice to the discipline of the 

 farm ! What injustice to the proficiency which 

 his sons are making in the mechanical or operatic 

 skill necessary to perform the labor of the farm ! 

 The farmer, no less than the mechanic, serves an 

 apprenticeship ; and no less than the mechanic, 

 he has a trade. Let a city boy, or any one who 

 has never "learned the trade," undertake to chop, 

 or hoe, or reap, or mow, or "either hold or drive" 

 in plowing, or millv, or thresh, or bind grain, or 

 pitch hay, or a great many other tilings that the 

 farmer's son learns during his minority to do easi- 

 ly, and even gracefully, and it will be seen, by the 

 awkward motions and slow progress of the city 

 boy, that farming is indeed a trade, and further 

 experience will show him, that like all others, it 

 is not easily acquired in advanced life. The dif- 

 ficulty of performing farm work is not appreciat- 

 ed, because the requisite skill is gained gradually 

 during the whole period of minority. The prac- 

 tical skill acquired in learning the trade of form- 

 ing, says Prof. FisK, of the Agricultural College 

 of Micliigan, embraces an acquaintance with the 

 mode of handling each farm implement. It is a 

 knowledge of the how, including both the ideal 

 conception of the manner of doing and the train- 

 ing of the muscles for the performance of the work 

 in exact conformity with the mental conception. 

 This skill in the discharge of farm duties includes 

 the education of the mind, the education of the 

 eye and the education of the muscles for their 



several offices in the practical details of agricul- 

 ture. 



But a skilful use of implements is but a small 

 part of the farmer's trade. The proper manage- 

 ment of various soils and manures, the culture of 

 crops, the raising of stock, each and all demand 

 his thought, his labor, his sldll, his odd hours and 

 liis rainy days. 



Reverting now to our question about repairing 

 agricultural implements, we leave it with the good 

 judgment of each individual to determine — and 

 ]\Iarch is a good month in which to debate the 

 question — how many odd hours and rainy days 

 himself and boys shall devote to the practice of 

 the art and mystery of handicraft pertaining to 

 the business of the carpenter, the wheelwright, 

 the blacksmith, the shoemaker or the saddler. 



For the Neiv England Farmer. 

 PLANNTNG A'NH PREPARHSTG "WORK. 



]\Ir. Editor : — It is generally admitted, I be- 

 lieve, that order and system are essential to suc- 

 cess in every kind of business. It is especially 

 so in farming. It will not do for the farmer to 

 plod heedlessly on, day after day, and week aftei 

 week, trusting to fortunate and fortuitous circum- 

 stances, without having any previous plan or ar- 

 rangement in his business. To be successful in 

 his business, the farmer must plan and prepare 

 his work beforehand, so as to be ready to take it 

 up at the proper time, and to do it in a proper 

 manner. There must be order and system in all 

 his plans and arrangements, so as not to have one 

 kind of business interfere with another. Every 

 kind of Avork should be done at the right time, 

 and in a proper manner. 



There are some kinds of farm work, undoubt- 

 edly, that may be done about as well at one time 

 as another, provided they be well done. There 

 are other kinds of work, however, that require to 

 be done at a particular time, or within the limits 

 of a particular space of time. There are several 

 kinds of work that cannot be done before nor af- 

 ter the limits of a particular space of time, with- 

 out failing to be successful in their results. It 

 will not do to plant and sow before the earth is in 

 a condition to receive the seed into its bosom, nor 

 to gather in the crops of the season before they 

 have come to matiu'ity. Nor will it do to plant 

 and sow after the appropriate season has passed, 

 nor to gather in the crops after they have been 

 wasted by the storms of the season. There is a 

 particular season or space of time in which all 

 such work should be done. 



A successful farmer plans and prepares his work 

 beforehand for every season of the year. He 

 knows that cveiy season has business enough of 

 its own without being encumbered with what be- 

 longs to a different season ; that in the spring and 

 summer, especially, a large amount of work is ne- 

 cessarily crowded into a very small space of time, 

 which, to be done well, must be done then, or not 

 at all. Having planned anil prepared his work, 

 and made his calculations accordingly, he takes up 

 each particuhu-kind of work at its appropriate time, 

 performs it skilfully, and finishes it before engaging 



