1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



17 



sheep were more general, a less number of persons 

 might be engaged in producing milk, and conse- 

 quently, the price of that article become fairly re- 

 munerative. 



In his late address before the Wool Growers' 

 Convention in Vermont, Col. Needham says the 

 estimated cost of keeping sheep in different sec- 

 tions per year, is, — in Illinois, 60 cents ; Iowa, 75 

 cents ; Michigan, 83 cents ; Virginia, 60 cents ; 

 New Jersey, 60 cents ; Pennsylvania, 50 cents ; 

 Maine, $1 ; California, 65 cents, and Vermont, 

 $1,30. 



We hope our experienced correspondents will 

 furnish some practical articles for the Farmer on 

 Sheep Husbandry. 



The Cotswold is the subject before us now, — 

 and many, in these days of inquiry, will ask, 

 " What is a Cotswold sheep ?" Mr. Robert 

 Smith's report on the stock exhibited at the late 

 show of the Royal Agricultural Society, says : "It 

 is a bold and commanding animal, with finely 

 arched neck, broad, straight back, arched ribs, and 

 length of quarter, carrying an enormous weight of 

 carcass upon clean legs. The fore-top on the fore- 

 head of no small dimensions is a strong character- 

 istic of the Cotswold breed. These animals have 

 always had strong enemies to contend with — wind 

 and weather. They seem to have trampled over 

 every obstacle, and bid defiance to the other 

 breeds for weight of carcase, wool and quality 

 combined. We will not venture to inquire how 

 these are produced at so early an age, but content 

 ourselves with the oft-told stories of 50, 60 and 

 80 pounds per quarter, and from 10 to 18 pounds 

 of wool." 



THE AMERICAN SOLDIER. 

 The Paris Pays publishes an extract of a letter 

 ■written by Gen. Cluseret, a French officer now in 

 the service of the United States, in which he says 

 of the soldiers under his command : — 



"After two months of campaign and sufferings 

 such as I never endured, even in the Crimean war, 

 where we never were in want of food, nor exhaust- 

 ed by long marches, I can speak to you knowing- 

 ly of the American soldier. During all that time 

 we have been marching night and day, oftentimes 

 without bread, with half of our men shoeless, ex- 

 posed to a chilly rain, without shelter, tent or vil- 

 lage. We have thus walked between 150 and 200 

 miles. But that which, in my estimation, makes 

 the American soldier the first in the world — the 

 equal of the French soldier — is. that I never heard 

 him utter a complaint or grumble. I never was 

 compelled to inflict a punishment upon him. 

 When I ordered a straggler to fail in, he used to 

 show me his naked feet and hurry on as much as 

 he could. I have but a word to express my opin- 

 ion of the American soldier : he is an admirable 

 soldier. He adds to the qualities of the French a 

 patience and resignation which I did not think it 

 possible for a soldier to acquire." 



J'or the Keu> England Parmer. 



"HO"W IS IT, THEN, THAT FARMERS 

 GET ALONG?" 



Friend Brown: — Owing to some unaccounta- 

 ble delay in your Halifax a,!>;ent, I have not ob- 

 tained a monthly since April. So to supply the 

 place of new matter, I have been re-perusing the 

 old ; especially "Pinkham and his criticisers" on 

 farm profits. One writer, "J. A. A." although 

 insisting on the profit, yet says he has looked in 

 vain for an answer to the above heading. Now if 

 the subject is not worn threadbare, you will per- 

 mit me to try for an answer to this very important 

 query. 



We all know of instances where a man has be- 

 gun with nothing, as we say, and in a few years 

 has paid for his farm, stock, &c., besides support- 

 ing his family ; but we wish to know how it has 

 been done. I have had, lately, some httle expe- 

 rience of the income and outgoes of farming, hav- 

 ing kept a minute farm account for several years, 

 and I have thus far succeeded in obtaining a sur- 

 plus, entirely within the farm, and have also im- 

 ])roved it yearly, though I have had my share of 

 bad luck in cro])s and herds. lie might express 

 the term, "bad luck," more correctly, if not so 

 concisely, in nine cases out of ten, thus : — the 

 natural result of carelessness and ignorance. 



Before going further, I will mention the five es- 

 sentials of farming, to make it profitable, wichout 

 going to the wood-lot or selling the corner-lot, as 

 Mr. P. urges, and he will agree that they are all 

 important. 



I find the first requisite is Prudence; and I 

 would like space to give a list of the many differ- 

 ent themes that cluster around it. The second is 

 Capital, even if it only lies in liealth and strength 

 of body and mind, vrith skill and knowledge. The 

 third, Honesty, or else thejjrofits might arise from 

 overreaching, instead of farming. The fourth, 

 Permanence of occupation, either by long leases 

 or ownership, as that will enable the farmer to 

 adopt all necessary rotations, ])lan ahead, and 

 work out a system peculiar to his land — as there 

 are scarcely two contiguous farms in this valley 

 that require exactly the same system ; and lastly, 

 over all, the Blessing of the Creator ; with these, 

 and a market, any man can bring the balance on 

 the right side of account. 



Now, as I said above, I have found farming 

 profitable, and my general farm account ])roves it ; 

 but when I try the figures, that cannot lie, on the 

 cost and value of single crops, or the raising and 

 fattening of cattle, swine, Sec, a la wnde de Pink- 

 ham, I generally get the like result as he, and 

 here lies the difficulty, and here also stands the 

 solution. Mr. P.'s accounts — see Vol. XL, i)age 

 563, .V. E. Fanner — are not jn-operiy farmers' ac- 

 counts: they may be a tailor's or steveiiore's mem- 

 orandum of what it cost to obtain an acre of land 

 and hire labor, and buy manure, &:c., for a crop of 

 corn, or to get a calf one day old, and buy every- 

 thing for it till it is a cow. This is not real farm- 

 ing. It may be amat'^ur farming, and it is as in- 

 nocent a way of money-spending, as going to the 

 watering-places, or patronizing t!ie race-course. 



The prudent farmer don't l)iiy his labor and ma- 

 nure ; he does his own work, collects and spends 

 his manure, Avithout cash oatlay, or any outlav, 

 but his time and stren''th ; in a word, liis time is 



