58 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb 



bounds the above margin leaves ample room for 

 profit, and we have no doubt our farmers will as- 

 sent to the proposition when we say, that rearing 

 lambs for the butcher, taken in connection with 

 the fleece of the dam, is a profitable employment 

 where the soil and other circumstances render it 

 available. There are other pecuniary considera- 

 tions worthy of note in this connection, viz., the 

 rapidity with which a return is obtained, and the 

 regular annual period of its receipts. In the 

 rearing of horses, for instance, several years must 

 be awaited for a full development of the animal, 

 and the interest of the money lost through all the 

 intervening time. Again, the individual instances 

 ol casualty and loss will not be so severe. There 

 is a wide difference for instance in the loss, say of 

 half a dozen sheep at three dollars each, and that 

 of a valuable colt worth two hundred. Other 

 considerations might be mentioned equally co- 

 gent, but with the above suggestions, we leave 

 the subject at present to the considjerations of our 

 readers. — Exchange. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BUMP'S PATENT ATMOSPHERIC AT- 

 TEMPEBLNG CHUBJST. 



The inquiiy in the 'Farmer respecting this in- 

 vention, by a correspondent from Fitchburg, has 

 prompted a few thoughts which may be of inter- 

 est to those who have not yet been victimized by 

 it. I have little to say in direct reply to that in- 

 quiry. A neighbor of mine, who has tested it to 

 some extent, is of the opinion that it is easy to 

 operate, but requires considerable time to produce 

 butter. It may or may not be an article worth 

 possessing. Let those who have been so fortu- 

 nate as to possess it, and have given it a fair trial, 

 }udge of its merit and give us their decision 

 hrough the columns of this paper. I propose to 

 speak of the manner in which it has been intro- 

 duced to many of the farmers of Worcester coun- 

 ty, with whom I have conversed, and who invari- 

 ably set down the churn as a humbug, and the 

 agent who brought it to their notice as a swindler. 

 This agent commenced operations in the fall of 

 1862, and during the last winter and spring can- 

 vassed all the best farming towns in the county. 

 His plan of operation was something like the fol- 

 lowing : Upon arriving in town he inquired who 

 kept the largest dairies, and having obtained the 

 names of such, first applied to the most credulous 

 and presented his cause, describing the construc- 

 tion and action of the churn, and claiming for it 

 a great superiority over all churns now in use, or 

 ever to be invented. It was something which 

 needed only to be seen to be admired, any one 

 who should once witness its operation would be 

 considered decidedly idiotic if he did not throw 

 away his old churn and purchase the wonderful 

 invention. All the farmers in town would want 

 one of those churns, and he was willing to dispose 

 of the right to sell it to them for sixty dollars. He 

 roposed to divide the stock into twelve shares of 

 ve dollars each, and having formed a club of 

 twelve persons to give each a certificate entitling 

 him to one share in the right to make, sell and 

 use the churn in that town. If the person select- 

 ed for the first victim was sufficiently credulous 

 to drink in the lubricating words of the stranger, 

 as freely as the ground drinks in water, he, of 

 course, passed over the V, and received his cer- 



I 



tificate ; or if the ready cash was not at hand bis 

 note was equally acceptable. But if timorous 

 and unwilling to be the first to subscribe to a pro- 

 spective fortune, he need only promise to take a 

 share if Squire B. did so, and the scheme was in- 

 itiated. Squire B. was next approached and* big 

 name obtained at any sacrifice. If he could not 

 be led to see the value of five dollars in the pa- 

 tent, ybitr would be accepted, or if he were pecu- 

 liarly obstinate an old churn would be taken in ex- 

 change, and at a price which would reduce the 

 cost of the patent to so small a figure that, for the 

 sake of encouraging a progressive enterprise, he 

 would make the venture. I have even known an 

 instance where a suspicious deacon, the president 

 of the farmers' club, received his certificate with- 

 out paying anything whatever. Having obtained 

 the names and influence of two or three leading 

 citizens it was not difficult in any town to com- 

 plete the club at some price, and collect from forty 

 to fifty dollars in cash and notes in a short time. 

 The notes were usually disposed of to some per- 

 son in town at a considerable discount, and the 

 stranger made his exit, promising to forward the 

 churns immediately. The farmers waited anx- 

 iously until the time appointed for their appear- 

 ing, but they did not come.' Days and weeks 

 passed, and still they were not ; they began to 

 mention the matter to each other, and were sur- 

 prised to find that such a variety of prices had 

 been paid and that they diflered in their ideas of 

 what they were to receive. Some supposed that 

 in buying the patent they had also secured a churn 

 for their own use. But a few of the wiser sort 

 had probed the matter deeper, and understood 

 that the five dollars secured only the patent 

 right and that the churn, de facto, must be paid 

 for at the cost of manufacture. They wrote to 

 the agent in regard to the delay and were in- 

 formed in reply that in consequence of a rise in 

 materials the churn could not be furnished at the 

 price agreed upon, and they would not be for- 

 warded unVil he received the advanced price. 



That the goods were a different thing from the 

 patent was now evident to all. I am told that in 

 some towns the matter has been followed up until 

 the churns were furnished at the price agreed up- 

 on, although the farmers were obliged to pay the 

 cost of transportation, and sometimes to take the 

 goods in a damaged condition. But in most plac- 

 es the people had not sufficient confidence in the 

 agent co place any additional funds in his hands, 

 and consequently have remained as well satisfied 

 as they could with the possession of the patent 

 and — their old churn. 



I am not disposed to dwell upon the details of 

 this interesting transaction, but a passing com- 

 ment may not be out of place. Every operation 

 of this sort leaves behind it a feeling of bitterness 

 prejudicial to the introduction of improvements. 

 The generality of people do not use as much dis- 

 crimination as they ought. Why should an in- 

 telligent farmer, who ought to have opinions of 

 his own and to weigh every matter in the balance 

 of his own good judgment before making a deci- 

 sion, sit, spell-bound, in his hay field and listen 

 to the syren song of some pretender who has ob- 

 tained possession of a few nice words of extraor- 

 dinary size, and by Ion? 'practice has acquired a 

 tact for rolling them off his oily tongue with the 

 speed of an express train ? There is a class of 



