66 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



the war. There is no lack of just such women 

 now, with willing, glad hearts to labor, if need be, 

 for the sake of the freedom of all, wherever duty 

 calls. 



But, in New England, yet, so far as any want 

 of comfort or luxury goes, we have not felt the 

 war. Who of us has not had enough, and to 

 spare, of all that we have heretofore enjoyed ? 

 England and France have felt the effects of the 

 rebellion in their starving towns, where labor, in 

 its best estate, is raised but one step above pau- 

 perism, but in New England, where republican in- 

 stitutions, and the real equality of condition which 

 properly results from such institutions, are best il- 

 lustrated, want and its attendant sufferings and 

 crimes, are, apparently, as far off as in time of 

 profoundest peace. 



No ! this contest for law, for the constitution, 

 for freedom, will not stop, because the farmers of 

 the North cannot maintain their armies in the 

 field. The resources of the South have seemed to 

 us wouderful, but our own seem still more won- 

 derful, and in modern warfare, the result depends 

 much, if not mainly, upon the powers of endur- 

 ance, or in other words, the resources of the com- 

 batants. 



The labor system of the North is substantially 

 sound and undisturbed ; the large debts which we 

 have assumed are due to ourselves, and not to 

 foreign powers ; our taxes in this mighty war are 

 less than those of European peoples in time of 

 peace. At last, the slave labor system of the 

 South, the corner-stone of its rebellious confeder- 

 acy, has been touched, and the whole structure 

 trembles. The Belshazzar of the South has al- 

 ready seen in the Proclamation of Emancipation 

 the hand-writing upon the wall, and it has required 

 no prophet to interpret its meaning to be, "God 

 has numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou 

 art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 

 ing. Thy kingdom is divided and given to oth- 

 ers." 



With the confident hope that we shall emerge, 

 in good time, out of this fearful contest, purified 

 as by fire, and established more firmly than ever 

 upon the principles of our fathers, who made our 

 constitution for freedom, I remain as ever, your 

 friend, wishing for yourself, the publishers and 

 readers of the Farmer, a Happy New Year. 

 Henry F, French. 



Borrowing and Lending. — This is poor busi- 

 ness to both parties. The proverb, "The borrower 

 is servant to the lender," is now often reversed. 

 Owners of tools are excessively annoyed by hunt- 

 ing up what some one has borrowed — often to 

 more than their value. Never lend a tool, unless 

 the borrower will pi'omise to bring it back "to- 

 day." And if he does not, go for it at the mo- 

 ment it is due. This will show him that you ex- 

 pect promptness, which will do him a substantial 

 kindness by teaching him good manners, and you 

 will have the tool ready at hand the moment it is 

 wanted. 



For Chapped Hands. — Wash the hands, and, 

 without using the towel, apply a small quantity 

 of honey and rub in well. Use once a day, and it 

 will make the hands very soft, and cure as well as 

 prevent chapped hands. 



Apply it in the same manner to a cow's teats. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BETBOSPECTIVE NOTES. 



Muck, and Land inclined to Muck. — As the 

 opinions expressed in regard to these two subjects, 

 on page 541 of the volume of this journal for 

 1862, seem likely to incline some of the younger 

 and less experienced readers to undervalue these 

 valuable articles, it may be of service to such to 

 have laid before them a few of the many facts and 

 statements which might be collected from various 

 sources, tending to counteract the misleading in- 

 fluence of the opinions referred to. To prevent 

 the necessity of hunting up these opinions which 

 seem objectionable, they are here quoted, being 

 as follows : — 



"My experience with muck is this — as an ab- 

 sorbent, and to protect the droppings of stock 

 from the sun's rays by mixture with it, it is first- 

 rate ; but for a farmer to cart more than that 

 quantity is useless. Great value is placed on land 

 inclined to muck, by many, and they clear it up 

 at great expense, but I have yet to learn of its su- 

 periority over other good soils. It looks to me 

 that a soil washed from neighboring hills, and sub- 

 mitted to a leach of time unrecorded, is not equal 

 to the virgin soil, which has in a measure been 

 protected from the storms of time by the forest, 

 and enriched by the productions of that forest." 



Now, although the writer of the above may 

 have intended to do some good service by the 

 opinions he has expressed, and admitting that 

 there are a few cases in which there has been an 

 exaggerated estimate of muck, which may have 

 provoked the foregoing statements in the M'ay of 

 correcting such over-estimates, still the influence 

 of the sentences quoted will be, to lead some to 

 under-value muck and land inclining to muck. 

 This, we think, would be unfortunate, and there- 

 fore it has seemed that an effort to counteract this 

 tendency ought to be made. 



Before, however, proceeding to make an effort 

 to prevent any such under-valuing of muck, and 

 of land inclining to muck, we will admit that the 

 writer has mentioned two of the most important 

 of the uses of muck, namely, its usefulness as an 

 absorbent of urine and of the liquids of barnyards, 

 and as a protection of the droppings of stock from 

 the waste caused by exposure to the sun's rays, 

 the winds, &c. These are two of the more impor- 

 tant uses of muck, but by no means all of them. 

 We will admit, also, that lands inclining to muck 

 are not always, especially during the first two or 

 three years of their being under cultivation, supe- 

 rior to other good soils or to virgin soils. We 

 will allow, also, that some have been extravagant 

 in their statements in regard to the utility of ap- 

 plications of muck, and also in their expectations 

 of great crops from mucky soils or reclaimed 

 swamps. For want of good sense and a sufficient 

 amount of information, individuals here and there 

 have been so injudicious as to put muck fresh 

 from the swamps, without any seasoning or prep- 

 aration whatever, upon lands which would have 

 been benefited by a similar application of the same 

 muck after it had been seasoned by exposure to a 

 summer's droughts and a winter's frosts, or by 

 being mixed with lime or ashes to correct the acid 

 condition so common to fresh muck. Some, too, 

 after hearing or reading t>>at reclaimed swamps 

 make the richest portion of a farm, have been so 



