1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



217 



the mow to the hay press and can also be used for 

 stacking." 



The proprietors claim that it wUl pitch off a load 

 of hay ordinarily in fire to six minutes. The price, 

 Vfe believe, is $12. Address Palmer & Wacker- 

 HAGEN, Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y. 



For tne Is'ete England Farmer. 

 OUT "W^EST. 



Who can tell where "out West'' is ? When a 

 boy, out West was limited to the State of New 

 York ; a few years later, Ohio and Indiana were 

 embraced in out West ; still later, Illinois, Michi- 

 gan, jNIissouri, and in fact all the territory to the 

 Rocky Mountains was termed out West. After 

 the acquisition of Cahfornia, and our Pacific pos- 

 sessions, out West was bounded by the Pacific 

 ocean. Where it will eventually terminate, who 

 can tell ? But this is not the matter I proposed 

 to canvass, but one that often provokes a smile 

 when I hear "out West" alluded to, knowing it 

 embraces thousands of miles of territory. When 

 Central and Western New York were sparsely 

 settled, many from the New England States emi- 

 grated there, and the few that left the section 

 where I lived, bettered their circumstances very 

 much. Several of them settled in the Mohawk or 

 Genesee valleys previous to the digging of the 

 Erie canal, and when the cities that now have 

 grown to be so large, prosperous and important, 

 were not dreamed of in the imagination of the 

 most wise or most visionary. Several located in 

 the region where Rochester now is. The con- 

 struction of the canal and the growing up of the 

 city caused an enormous rise in the value of land- 

 ed estates, which made many rich. This, of course 

 was soon known where the parties emigrated from, 

 and caused many to wish to participate in such 

 sudden success, as some of their friends had ex- 

 perienced. From that time to the present, we 

 have paroxysms of the same kind growing out of 

 the same causes. Some fortunate settler happens 

 to locate near where some public improvement is 

 eventually located, or city or village grows up, 

 which makes him prosperous, aside from his legi- 

 timate business, and forthwith all who come to a 

 knowledge of his success, are set in a flutter of 

 excitement and unrest. Good homes, good busi- 

 toess, good society, in fact, all of good that per- 

 tains to the surroundings of a New England 

 home, are lightly esteemed, and in many cases 

 sacrificed, for the i;/n>s fatims of wealth, that in 

 almost all cases eludes their grasp. 



Unless a man has not only capital sufficient to 

 pui'chasc his farm, get up his buildings and a gen- 

 eral outfit for tools and stock, but a surplus, he 

 stands but a small chance of making yny better 

 headway out West than in New England. I shall 

 contend that without money to use, aside from or- 

 dinary farm purpnscs, he cannot do any better, 

 pecuniarily, while his sacrifices of health, society, 

 and various blessings of the old New England 

 home, far outweigh the money success he might 

 secure under the most favorable circumstances. 

 My ex])erience, it is true, has been quite limited, j 

 but sufficient to give me a chance to use my eyes ' 

 in seeing, my ears in hearing, and my tongue in 

 asking for informav!.»n. In all cases I may in- 

 stance, I shall aim at giving my impressions as 

 tlT^" - ^ ' ■ ' thf" time. 



I left Boston the latter part of February, 1862, 

 and arrived at my destination, Benton county, In- 

 diana, the first of March, to take charge of a farm 

 of 1300 or 1400 acres, in joint partnership with 

 the owners. This arrangement, of course, re- 

 quired an account of stock or inventory of the 

 whole concern, which gave me a knowledge of pre- 

 vailing values in that locality. When I left Bos- 

 ton, it was quite cold, and much ice and snow on 

 the route by the Western railroad, esi)eciallv from 

 Springfield and on to Albany, so that we were de- 

 tained at Springfield one day. Beyond Albany as 

 fiir as Buffalo, some sections, especially in the re- 

 gion about Rome, (which was off of our route,) 

 the snow was over the fences. Along the lake 

 route but little snow, and after leaving Cleveland, 

 no snow was seen. 



I mention these circumstances, so that we may 

 have some idea of the length of winter or the ap- 

 proach of spring in the section passed o\er. The 

 frost Avas about out in Indiana when I arrived 

 there, and when I left for home, the first of April, 

 the grass was quite green in many places. In re- 

 turning, I came through Lafayette and Indianapolis 

 to Cincinnati, up through Central Ohio to Cleve- 

 land, thence home by outward route. South of 

 Indianapolis, cattle were grazing in the fields, now 

 and then a team ploughing, but not many. On the 

 line of the road, for some distance from Cincinna- 

 ti to Columbus, I saw some of the finest farms I 

 saw on my journey. Many of them had the best 

 of buildings, and everything about them betoken- 

 ed a prosperous state of things. 



Soon after leaving Cincinnati, the road passes 

 through the celebrated grape region of the State. 

 The Germans, I believe, are the principal cultiva- 

 tors. Steep hills are terraced from the river bot- 

 toms to their very top, several hundred feet high, 

 I should judge. Lime stone is used in building 

 the face of the terraces, quarried in most cases 

 from the spot where used. These vineyards cer- 

 tainly present a very beautiful appearance. All 

 was life and activity with the vine cultivators. 

 The women seemed to be as numerous, and toiled 

 with as much vigor, as the men. I was t'.kl that 

 many of these apparently jjoor Germans, were 

 wealthy, so far as money goes. They certainly 

 seemed to enjoy their mode of life, and there was 

 but little evidence of an ambition to sarround 

 themselves with what we term the refinements ef 

 good society. Between Cleveland and Iiuffalo, 

 occasionally, a little snow was seen. Fronj thence 

 to Rochester none ; but from that place to Utica, 

 snow was abundant ; in some places four fnt deep. 



From what I saw, I came to the conclu^ii>n that 

 farmers on all llic route I traveled, with tlie ex- 

 ception of Southoni Indiana and Ohio, would have 

 to fodder their stock as late as those in tlie vicin- 

 ity of Boston, wiiile some sections of New York 

 would be two or three weeks later with their 

 spring work. With me, it is an imporiurt con- 

 sideration, how long tlie wintering of slixk con- 

 tinues, how early in the spring I can commence 

 my farming operations, and how early in the fall 

 the frost will compel me to close up fi.r the sea- 

 son. Notwithstanding the frost was out vS the 

 ground the first of March, or soon after, in Indi- 

 ana, occasional frosts and rain kept it so wi't that 

 a month later it was unfit for ploughioir. or even 

 passing over with a team. Prairie soil, whin wet, 



