1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



405 



•wishing no change, a quiet, easy way of turning 

 oft" work, the farmer's wife is a woman to be en- 

 vied, and still some poor, foolish mortals presume 

 to pity her ! Pity, indeed ; better bestow it where 

 it is needed ! The highest, noblest lot of woman 

 is her home mission, and the most superior place 

 for the exercise of her power is in the quiet home 

 in the country, 'mid the soul-stirring beauties of 

 nature, the handiwork of nature's God. 



Sarah. 



NAILS, NUTS, SCREWS AND BOLTS. 



One of the component parts of a gocd f\xrmer is 

 mechanical ingenuity. Some lose half a day's val- 

 uable time, for want of knowing how to repair a 

 breakage, which an ingenious person could do in 

 five minutes. A team and two or three men are 

 sometimes stopped a whole day, at a critical sea- 

 son, for want of a little mechanical skill. 



It is well for every farmer to have at hand the 

 facilities for repairing. In addition to the more 

 common tools, he should keep a supply of nails of 

 different sizes, screws, bolts and nuts. Common 

 cut-nails are too brittle i'or repairing implements, 

 or for other similar purposes. Buy only the very 

 best and anneal them, and they will answer all the 

 ordinary purposes of tlie best wrought nails. To 

 anneal them, all that is necessary is to heat them 

 red hot in a common fire, and cool gradually. Let 

 them cool, for instance, by remaining in the fire 

 while it burns down and goes out. One such 

 nail, AvcU clinched, will be worth half a dozen un- 

 annealed. 



Nothing is more common than for a farmer to 

 visit the ))lacksmith shop to get a broken or lost 

 bolt or rivet inserted, and often a single nut on 

 a bolt. This must be paid for, and much time is 

 lost. By providing a supply of bolts, nuts and 

 rivets, much time and trouble may be saved. They 

 may be purchased wholesale at a low rate. 



These should all be kept in shallow boxes, with 

 compartments made for the purpose, furnished 

 with a bow-handle, for convenience in carrying 

 them. One box, M'ith half a dozen divisions, may 

 be appropriated to nails of different sizes ; and 

 another with as many compartments, to screws, 

 bolts, rivets &c. 



Every farmer should keep on hand a supply of 

 copper wire, and small pieces of sheet copper or 

 copper straps. Copper wire is better than an- 

 nealed iron wire ; it is most as flexible as twine, 

 and may be bent and twisted as desired ; and it 

 will not rust. Copper straps nailed across or 

 around a fracture or split in any wooden article, 

 will strengthen it in a thorough manner. — Annual 

 Begister of Rural Affairs. 



Antiquity of Tik. — Tin is one of the most 

 ancient raetals — that is, it was well known to the 

 ancients ; and it is very well established as a fact 

 that the Phoenicians, those olden masters of the 

 sea when Tyre was in her glory, made voyages to 

 Cornwall, and obtained tin from the mines in that 

 district, long before Britannia was known to the 

 Romans. It was this tin, alloyed with copper, 

 which formed the old bronze armor of the Asiatic 

 warriors ; and it may have been furnished also by 

 the renowned Hiram, King of Tyre, the great ar- 

 chitect and friend of Solomon, for the building of 

 the first «ind nnarinroached .Tewish temple. 



PEBSONAL EXPERIENCE IN EARNING- 

 A FARM. 

 Having read in the Country Gentleman several 

 ways for a young man desirous of obtaining a 

 livelihood by farming to do, I thought perhaps a 

 few ideas I might suggest would not be out of the 

 way. Although young and inexperienced myself, 

 in the ways of working and by the means of which 

 a farm is obtained, I have often heard my father 

 speak of his experience, some of which I will 

 briefly relate. At fifteen years his mind was fully 

 made up to be a farmer. To that he devoted his 

 energies, and boy though he was, was fully as- 

 sured that he would never have any other voca- 

 tion. At eighteen he bid adieu to ftither and 

 mother, and started with nothing but an ax, which 

 was all the kind parent could give but his bless- 

 ing, and a piece of bread and cheese from the 

 thoughtful mother. He left the parental home- 

 stead, travelled thirty miles, there found employ- 

 ment, and from that day to this never has known 

 want. For the next five years he labored partly 

 by the month, and also by working farms on shares. 

 In those days when working a farm on shares, you 

 boarded with the family, including washing, and 

 had one-third of the profit. In the next five years 

 he laid up $500 — was then married, bought a 

 small farm for $750, paid $250 down, with five 

 years to pay the balance. He worked it eight 

 years, then sold, and was worth at that time 

 $2100. Worked a farm on shares for two years — 

 was then worth $3100. Then bought a farm for 

 $4500, having it so arranged that the payments 

 would be made from the grain and meat raised on 

 the farm. When that was paid for, sold again 

 and bought another for $8200. By improving in 

 fencing and building, the flmn is now worth $13,- 

 000. Many young men, who commenced with 

 nothing, have now good homes, surrounded with 

 all the comforts of life. Working a farm on 

 shares, he thinks, is quite as profitable for a young 

 man as working by the month. — A Farmer's 

 Son, in Country G'entleman. 



MANURES FOR GRASSES. 



Nearly all the experiments which have been 

 made with artificial manures for grasses indicate 

 that, like wheat, barley, oats, etc.,, the grasses 

 proper — such as timothy, rye-grass, etc. — require a 

 large amount of ammonia. In the park at Roth- 

 amstead, which has been in grass for a great num- 

 ber of years, and the crop frequently made into 

 hay and removed from the land, manures contain- 

 ing much ammonia were very beneficial on the 

 grasses, while those furnishing potash, soda, and 

 other inorganic substances, had the efiect of caus- 

 ing clover and other leguminous plants to spring 

 up and flourish. This efiect was very marked, and 

 the result fully sustains the deductions made from 

 direct experiments on clover, wheat, barley, etc. 

 We are warranted in concluding that clover and 

 other leguminous plants require a larger amount 

 of alkalies in the soil, than wheat and the grasses 

 generally, while the latter require manures rich in 

 ammonia. 



Some experiments recently made in Scotland, 

 by Thomas Ferguson, also favor this opinion. 

 Land recently seeded with rye-grass and clover, 

 was top-dressed with various fertilizers. Those 

 furnishing a free sunplv of ammonia or nitric acid, 



