374 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



Aug. 



run all rlslt of its being strong. Afterwards, he 

 said that one-half of it was so bad that no one 

 could eat it, and we had to lose it — about a dozen 

 dollars. So much for not knowing what to do in 

 the first place. In dressing it, we found the other 

 testicle inside, lying close to the kidney, and of 

 full size. 



P. S. I would state that the canker worms 

 "skedaddled" on the 14th and 15th inst., leaving, 

 like the rebels, death and destruction behind 

 them. Weare N. Shaw. 



Kensington, June, 1862. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON FAKM ENGINEERIK-a. 

 BY ALBERT E. WOOD. 

 [Read before the Concord Farmers' Club, in January, 1862.] 



An engmeer in the military art, — where the 

 word originated, I believe,— is a person skilled in 

 mathematics and mechanics ; one who forms plans 

 of work, both of offence and defence, marking out 

 the grounds for fortifications, &c. When this skill 

 was afterwards applied to the delineating plans 

 and superintending the construction of our public 

 works, such as canals, railroads, &c., the title of 

 civil engineer was given to it. 



Now that the farmer is becoming alive to his 

 interests, he, too, claims an engineer ; he has ene- 

 mies to battle with ; he has works, both of offence 

 and defence, to construct. He need not, howev- 

 er, very often, go outside of himself, for this engi- 

 neering. No true farmer, with a mind alive to 

 his business, but has it within himself, if he choos- 

 es to apply it. Man's ambition says, Let us erect 

 this wilderness into a fruitful field ; let us make 

 upon it a fit habitation ; and it is the engineer in 

 the man that is called upon to do it. 



A good location of our buildings, and their 

 proper construction, are the first considerations 

 requiring the engineer. In this latitude, we spend 

 a considerable portion of our lives in these build- 

 ings. Everything we do is in some way connect- 

 ed with them ; they are our outer bodies ; the 

 bodies to our bodies ; by them our degree of civ- 

 ilization may be judged. Everything dear to us 

 in life is connected with them ; in a word, they 

 are our homes. Youth, manhood, old age, are 

 bound to them by ties as dear as life itself. A 

 house is built for a lifetime. How important that 

 we do not plan it hastily. 



No rules can be given for location or construc- 

 tion by which all can be governed. I will give a 

 few hints, however, that may generally apply. 



A position as nearly central as possible should 

 be chosen, that the land we work upon may be 

 conveniently near ; a healthy location, as far as 

 possible from miasmatic swamps, yet not too high 

 upon a hill ; a convenience to water, where a good 

 well can be dug ; a running brook is, also, of great 

 use to both house and barn, especially so in lime 

 localities, where the well water is hard. Then 

 the relative position of our buildings should not 

 be lightly passed over, as it is a matter of great 

 convenience to have the barn near enough to the 

 house to be connected by a shed or other building. 

 Yet I think there are considerations that are 

 against this plan that more than balance this con- 

 venience. There is danger of greater loss in case 

 of fu'e ; our olfactories may sometimes be unpleas- 



antly excited by too close connection ; the barn 

 and yard are nurseries for myriads of flies and 

 mosquitoes, who soon find their way to the dining- 

 room, and frequently take away the pleasures of 

 a good dinner, by presenting bills ! It is impor- 

 tant that the sleeping-room of the one having 

 charge of the barn should command a view of it, 

 and be sufficiently near to hear the bellowing of 

 the cattle in case of trouble. 



There is another consideration, I think, often 

 neglected ; we are all, by nature, gifted with a 

 love of the beautiful. 



"A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 



And what more beautiful to us than a fine land- 

 scape ? This pleasure in life was given us as a 

 blessing ; let us consider it in the location of our 

 buildings. 



A second consideration is, the dividing our land 

 into suitable lots to meet our several necessities. 

 It is curious to look over the farms in almost any 

 part of New England, and see what might be 

 called the want of engineering. Our forefathers 

 were straight-forward, stern, resolute, without 

 shadow of turning, as men, and it is a little strange 

 that they should have handed down to us their 

 streets and fences in such a crooked and wavering 

 condition. One might think they had a love for 

 geometry, and had attempted to represent upon 

 their farms every possible shape mentioned within 

 the leaves of Euclid, and a good many other shapes 

 that you might search Euclid in vain for. Look 

 at the line of our fences, and you see not only the 

 pot-hooks and trammels of our grandmothers, but 

 every variety of deviation from a straight line 

 represented. 



The question ai-ises in my mind, What is the 

 need of all this irregularity ? It is a fact beyond 

 question, that a straight line is the shortest that 

 can be drawn between two points ; if a wall is to 

 be built between two points, why not have it a 

 straight one, and save labor ? I can see but one 

 reason why this should not be done, and that is, 

 that the longer the wall is the more stones it will 

 take to build it. This might be a sufficient in- 

 ducement, to the farmers in some of our neigh- 

 boring towns to take pot-hooks as patterns, but I 

 think no member of the Concord Farmers' Club 

 need adopt it, as a better use can be found for the 

 surplus stones one may find upon his farm. The 

 unevenness of the surface and the sinuosities of 

 the streams may sometimes force us into these 

 irregularities, but such are exceptions. 



For economy in labor, not only should our lines 

 be straight, but all the angles, right angles. Who 

 that has ever plowed an irregularly shaped piece 

 but has seen this? Take a triangular shaped 

 piece, for instance ; you commence by plowing 

 around it, and everything goes on well for a time, 

 but before you finish, instead of spending your 

 time in plowhig, you devote it to turning the team 

 around ; this holds comparatively true of any de- 

 viation from a rectangle. 



But, I hear somebody say, it is too late for us 

 to talk about these things ; our farms are as they 

 were handed down to us ; the fences are already 

 built ; true, but we have a chance every year to 

 improve them ; the crooked walls can be made 

 straight, when we relay them ; and it will, in many 

 cases, l)e a saving of labor, to change and improve 

 the shape of our lots. 



