1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



137 



FABM ECONOMY. 



The term Farm Economy is often used by ag- 

 ricultural writers, and, in its broad sense, means 

 the economkal management of any items of farm 

 work, arrangement, or plans. The word Farm 

 has several significations ^ it is derived from the 

 Saxon word farma, meaning food, hospitality, or 

 goods. In England, the signification oi farm is 

 land leased on rent. With us, its common mean- 

 ing is a portion of land, consisting usually of grass 

 land, meadow, pasture, tillage and woodland, cul- 

 tivated or controlled by one person. 



The word Economy, has, also, several mean- 

 ings. It is derived from two or three Greek words, 

 meaning house — law — rule. Other writers — be- 

 side agricultural — use it as a common and ex- 

 pressive term. The judicious and frugal manage- 

 ment of public affairs, is called political economy. 



In the sense in which we intend to consider the 

 subject at this time, we suppose "Economy in- 

 cludes a prudent management of all the means by 

 which property is saved or accumidated ; a judi- 

 cious application of time, of labor, and of the in- 

 struments of labor." 



In commencing a farm, it would be poor econ- 

 omy to arrange the buildings so as to impose a 

 heavy and unnecessary tax upon the owner, by 

 placing them at too great distances from each 

 other, or by so arranging them as to have one 

 branch remote from another of a kindred nature, 

 where they are to be visited daily or hourly through 

 a lifetime. The buildings should be as compact 

 as they can be, without obstructing light and air 

 — these being indispensable to the preservation of 

 health. The objections often raised against such 

 compactness, viz., odors and the danger of confla- 

 gration, must be obviated by skill in composting, 

 and care in the use of fire. The loss in an extra 

 and unnecessary travel of six rods each way, each 

 time of going to the barn, in the average length 

 of a farmer's life, say 40 years, going and return- 

 ing 10 times each 24 hours, would be 5,475 miles. 

 Nearly 137 miles annually. The estimate of vis- 

 iting ten times is not too large, as in most cases 

 the barn is visited by more than one person each 

 day. 



A rigid economy should, also, be observed in 

 the arrangement of all the other buildings of the 

 farm, such as sheds, carriage-house, piggery, wood- 

 house and corn barn. These remarks apply espe- 

 cially to those constructing new buildings. Com- 

 ing into possession of old ones, the proprietor 

 must rearrange according to circumstances, but 

 the whole matter should be reduced to a. plan, 

 and then a shed may be brought into place this 

 year, the barn the next, and others follow in suc- 

 cession. But without the plan to start with, con- 

 fusion would be likely to atteni all efforts at im- 



provements in this particular. 



Another point in regard to farm buildings — 

 and one heretofore greatly overlooked — is the 

 want of Shelter for them. If they stand out in a 

 bleak and dreary landscape, they are seriously af- 

 fected by the elements that must alwa}'s work 

 upon them, namely, the sun, wind, rain, frost, 

 hail and snow. The effect of the sun upon wood- 

 work, — where its rays are not softened by a screea 

 of some kind, is often quite destructive. The 

 shingles on most of our roofs show it, and the 

 warping of outer boarding and of clapboards, may 

 be traced to the same cause. It frequently cliecks 

 or splits outside work to a serious extent, so as 

 greatly to increase the cost of painting. In an 

 unprotected house, the wind is pressed through 

 every opening, bringing cold and dampness, and 

 makes an additional cost to keep the rooms com- 

 fortably warm. And where the winds have free 

 access, the rain and hail are driven furiously 

 against the work, very perceptibly wearing it aw^'. 

 It is estimated by those who have given attention 

 to the subject, that good shingles, as a general 

 thing, would scarcely be worti away in fifty years, 

 provided they could be kept precisely in place all 

 the time, — while under the combined action of 

 the sun, wind and rain, and the swelling, shrink- 

 ing and warping occasioned by them, they hardly 

 last one-third of that time ! This wear would be 

 greatly modified, if buildings were partially pro- 

 tected by the presence of trees in their vicinity. 

 A friend writes us that it costs nearly double to 

 keep an unsheltered house painted, that it does 

 one that is sheltered. The power of the winds 

 causes rain, hail and sleet to batter with great 

 force upon an unsheltered house, and whether it 

 be painted or not, does far more damage to it than 

 if surrounded by houses as in a city, or well pro- 

 tected by trees as in the country." A careful ob- 

 server of this matter states "that it requires from 

 fve to ten per cent, of the original cost of a house, 

 once in fve or six years, to paint if." 



All this action of the elements may be greatly 

 modified, — the cash value of the farm at the same 

 time increased, — the expenses of housekeeping 

 lessened, and the health of the family materially 

 promoted, by planting groups of shade trees about 

 our farm buildings. It requires but a narrow belt 

 of evergreens to form a complete barrier against 

 the wind. The hemlock is an admirable tree for 

 this purpose, producing, when in the open air, 

 numerous branches, from its base upward, dense- 

 ly filled with foliage. A breadth of ten feet set 

 with that tree, or with the Norway spruce alter- 

 nating, eflPectually shuts out the winds. The white 

 pine, also, so common among us, is hardy, easily 

 removed, and is as graceful and handsome as the 

 hemlock or spruce. These evergreens are not 



