1863. 



NEW EXGLAXD FARMER. 



43 



son who had requested him to procure for him a 

 j)ure blood Leicestershire pig. On arriving in 

 port, he learned that his friend had died, and he 

 ■was desirous to dispose of the pig. Mr. Jones 

 purchased, and sent it to his farm in Amherst, N. 

 H. The hog we looked at, is one of her descend- 

 ants, is 30 months old, girts 7 feet, and weighs 

 thirteen hundred and Jiftij pounds! Its mother 

 is in an adjoining pen, and weighs seven hundred 

 pounds ! 



Mr. Jones has the taste, the knowledge, and the 

 means, to raise stock of a superior character. He 

 is full of enthusiasm in whatever he undertakes. 

 He introduced the first Dutch cattle we ever saw, 

 and he states now, that, after having bred the 

 Durham, Devon, Ayrshire, Hungarian and Guern- 

 sey cattle, his opinion is, that the Dutch excel any 

 other breed as milkers. He is as successful in 

 horses as in cattle and swine, having recently sold 

 one to a New York gentleman for $4,309, and 

 another for about half that sum. We saw his Lei- 

 cestershire swine at his barn three or four 5-ears 

 since, and then thought they were the finest pigs 

 we had ever seen. He is as much distinguished 

 as a successful /ai'mer as he is as a stock breeder, 

 and is conferring important benefits ujwn the ag- 

 ricultural community by his intelligent and ener- 

 getic labors. 



Mr. Jones is just fi-om New Orleans and Baton 

 Rouge, where he was called by the government to 

 open one of the important railroad lines from the 

 Key of the Gulf to the interior. This cannot well 

 be done until Gen. Banks, with his brave troops, 

 demolish Port Hudson, and as this will require 

 some time, he has returned to his farm and his 

 blood stock to cultivate the arts of peace, in the 

 enjoyment of friends and family. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 NE\^r YEAR DUTIES. 



Another year has gone its round, with its joys, 

 son'ows, successes an^ defeats ! What change a 

 single year produces ! How little, individually, we 

 realize this, especially when its sorrows and ad- 

 versities, which are constantly taking place, come 

 to our neighbor instead of us. While the ]ieople 

 of the Free States have much to be thankful for, 

 much which should cause them to rejoice in the 

 kind dealings of their Heavenly Father with 

 them, yet the wicked rebellion of the Southern 

 States against its lawful government, and the at- 

 tending war, has brought sorrow and sadness to 

 thousands of once happy firesides, and the vacant 

 chairs all over New England testify to its an- 

 cient faith and the earnestness with which the de- 

 scendants of the Puritans kave given their lives to 

 their countrj' to uphold its laws and maintain its 

 authority. 



The year 1S62 is now numbered with the thou- 

 sands which have gone before it. History will 

 relate its doings, of individuals and nations. The 

 past should instruct us for the future. Change is 



written on every day's record, and this has even ■ 

 come over the Neio England Farmer, not indeed 

 in object, or interest, or icorth to the farmer, 

 none of these, for there it only changes for the bet- 

 ter, merely in size ; but 1 have yet to learn that a 

 small honey bee does not gather as much sweet 

 as the larger one. I know nothing about the Ital- 

 ian honey bee, but the Yankee bee I understand 

 well. 



The New Year brings with it most important 

 duties which the farmer and mechanic should not 

 suff"er to pass away without attending to. In the 

 first issue of the year the Editor has referred to 

 some of these. The farmer is truly a business 

 man, and like all wise and prudent men of this 

 class, he should review the past, and lay and ma- 

 ture his plans for the future, and there is no bet- 

 ter time to do this than the beginning of the new 

 year. Especially in regard to money' matters, ac- 

 counts, &c._ Ail these ought to be squared up, 

 and everything about them adjusted as often as 

 once a year. Nothing is truer than that short 

 settlements make long friends. It is so. Ac- 

 counts and business transactions are more easily 

 settled to the satisfaction of each party while all 

 the particulars are fresh in the memory. No 

 open account should ever be suffered to remain a 

 longer time than one year without a settlement 

 by cash or note. Many a lawyer has grown fat 

 by a neglect of this rule. Many farmers are 

 greatly at fault in this particular, and sufler not 

 only by loss of interest justly due, but frequently 

 the principal too is lost, by not attending to such 

 matters when they should have done so. 



There is no reason why 'the farmer should not 

 be as particular in all his business transactions as 

 the merchant with whom he trades at the village 

 store. I am satisfied from much observation, 

 that many persons fail of success, or at least of 

 that success which their close application to their 

 b'isiness and the strict economy whicli they prac- 

 tice should insure them, simply from the neglect 

 of keeping a correct snd systematic account of all 

 their farming and business operations, of reducing 

 everything to a profit and loss account, which 

 they would find a very easy thing if once put in 

 operation. It need not be so exact, perhaps, ex- 

 cept in money matters, as that of the merchant, — 

 but so exact that the farmer can take his books of 

 a leisure evening, and by an examinaiion of the 

 different items, tell somewhere nearly how his 

 business is progressing, either toward success or 

 failure. 



Within the past few years many different forms 

 of fiirm accounts have been given to the public. 

 Perhaps no one of those comes quite up to what 

 would be found the thing for you, but the idea is, 

 the farmer should keep a correct account of all his 

 business and farm operations, and he can do this 

 in any way which will best answer his purpose, 

 provided, always, it be such that, in case of Iiis 

 death, there would be no difficulty in any other 

 person's understanding it. Read again, my 

 friends, what the Editor had to say in his New 

 Year's issue of the Farmer. n. q. t. 



King Oak Hill, Jan., 1803. 



To CoRRESPOXDEXTS. — Thanks for many val- 

 uable contributions, which will be given in due 

 time. 



