1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



107 



in another or difFcrent kind of business. lie does 

 not allow himself to be interrupted in his work 

 by the calls of other business, such as mending 

 fences, repairing tools, running here and there, 

 doing this and that. No ; having planned and 

 prepared his work beforehand, he proceeds with 

 great regularity, and attends to everything in its 

 Older. 



The winter is a season of comparative leisure, 

 in which the farmer has a plenty of time to plan 

 and prepare his work for the more active and en- 

 grossing em])loyments of spring and summer. It 

 is the time for study ; for reading, reflection and 

 discussion ; for making calculations, maturing 

 pLms, and jjreparing work ; and last, not least, for 

 cultivating the social atlections. By availing him- 

 self of favorable weather and circumstances, dur- 

 ing this inclement season, he can do much work, 

 too, which will advance his operations and flrcili- 

 tate his business during the coming season. The 

 same is true with regard to the autumn. Late in 

 the autumn, that is, after the ingathering of the 

 fniits of the season, the farmer enjoys an amount 

 of leisure which might l)c profitably employed in do- 

 ing such work as maybe done about as well atone 

 time as another, such as breaking up greensward, 

 ditching, hauling out muck, picking up stones, 

 building walls, repairing fences, Szc. If such Avork 

 be done in the autumn, and well done, so much 

 time is gained for the operations of spring and 

 summer work. In the spring, in preparing the 

 ground and sowing the seed, a great amount and 

 variety of M'ork is crowded into a very small space 

 of time, all of which must be done within the lim- 

 its of a very few days. It seems as though a half 

 a dozen kinds of work required to be done at the 

 same time, and Avouid not wait, the one for the 

 other. The same is true with regard to summer, 

 or the haying season. The time for cutting and 

 curing haj', so as to preserve its valuable proper- 

 ties, and to have it ])alalable and nutritious, is 

 short, very short ; and it should be done at the 

 proper time, and in a proper manner. The way 

 to accomplish this object, is to plan and ])repare 

 the work beforehand. "To make hay while the 

 sun shines," requires the previous preparation of 

 scj'thes, rakes, forks, carts, &c. 



Warwick, Jan., 1862. John Goldsbury. 



For the Netr England Farmer. 

 AGmCULTIJBAIi SCHOOLS. 



We are informed by sacred history i, that when 

 man was created, he was placed in a garden, and 

 commanded to prune, and water, and care for it, 

 in such a way as Avould cause it to yield fruit for 

 his sustenance ; therefore, it would seem to us 

 that tilling the soil is an employment which is the 

 mo;it natural to manldnd, besides being pleasing 

 to his Maker. I would not be understood by any, 

 that I tlunk all men should be farmers, or that 

 man is iir an error when he forsakes farming, for 

 certainly \\c must have mechanics, and merchants, 

 else even the farmer would not prosper in his em- 

 ployment; but this I must say, f.irming is neg- 

 lected : it is done too much on the "one horse" 

 principle. 



With too many, the idea is prevalent, that if 

 they can get in a little corn, a few potatoes, a 

 small piece of lye, barely enough to "keep soul 



and body together" from one end of the year to 

 the other, why that is enough ; all that they can 

 expect to do. For every thing else, we have 

 schools, and good schools as a general tiring ; mil- 

 lions of dollars arc sjjcnt annually for the support 

 of schools to educate our chilciren in many a 

 branch, for which, in after life, they never realize 

 the value of a ten-cent piece, while an agricultural 

 school is hardly to be found in the country. To 

 be sure there arc some, but jjoor specimens at the 

 best, when compared with the other schools of our 

 land. At the present rime, when farming seems 

 to be the safest, and almost the only l)usiness by 

 which man can earn a livelihood, let us not neg- 

 lect it ; and while other business declines, let us 

 strive to make farming more profitable and pros- 

 perous. 



Let us have schools for the farmer's benefit es- 

 pecially ; schools in which nothing but agricultui-e 

 in its various branches shall be taught. Many, to 

 be sure, are so prejudiced, that they would not 

 send a child to them, preferring rather to make liis 

 boy learn his lessons by sad and often costly ex- 

 perience, rather than from boolis which contain 

 the experience of wiser men. On the other hand, 

 there are those who would rejoice at the idea of 

 such a thing, and would avail themselves of every 

 opportunity to instruct their children in that call- 

 ing which is not only healthy and pleasant, but 

 honorable for all classes of mankind. 



The prince in all his costly arra}^ is really not 

 so independent as the man who has a good farm, 

 free from debt, and especially if he has an interest 

 in the business, and understands it, as he will do 

 if he has enjoyed the privileges of an agricultural 

 school in his bojdiood. Then let us no longer neg- 

 lect them, but have some of the millions which are 

 annually spent in uselessness, to establish and 

 support these schools which we so much need, and 

 thcrel)y promote the prosperity and Avelfare of the 

 farmer. e. P. L. 



Ware, Jan., 1862. 



The Training of Home Conversation. — To 

 subordinate home training to school training, or 

 intermit the former in favor of the latter, is a most 

 palpable and ruinous mistake. It is bad even in 

 an intellectual point of view. To say nothing of 

 other disadvantages, it deprives girls of the best 

 opportunities they can ever have of learning that 

 most feminine, most beautiful of all accomplish- 

 ments — the noble art of conversation. For con- 

 versation is an art as well as a gift. It is learned 

 best by familiar intercourse between young and 

 old, in the leisure and unreserve of the evening 

 social circle. But when young girls are banished 

 from this circle by the pressure of school tasks, 

 talking with their school-mates till they "come 

 out" into society, and then monopolized entirely 

 by young persons of their own age, they easily 

 learn to mistake chatter for conversation, and 

 "small talk" becomes, for life, their only medium 

 of exchange. Hence, with all the intellectual 

 training of the day, there never was a greater 

 dearth of intellectual conversation. — Ohio Farmer. 



He that puts a Bible into the hands of a child, 

 gives him more than a kingdom, for it gives him a 

 key to the kingdom of heaven. — Dr. Buchanan. 



