1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



35 



For the Xew England Farmer. 

 SUCCESSFUL FARMING. 

 Tt is reasonable to suppose that the millions 

 of farmers now laboring to produce food for 

 themselves, and to feed the cities, desire suc- 

 cess. Consider then, What is successful farm- 

 ing ? It cannot be measured by the amount of 

 money accumulated. 



1. The feitility of the soil is stock in trade. 



2. The health, strength, vigor and honesty of 

 manhood, is stock in trade. 



3. The happiness of a wife and family is stock 

 in trade 



4. The reputation of the business is stock 

 in trade. 



All these may be exchanged for money. 

 And the barren exhausted soil, the premature 

 old age, the scattered family that hate the 

 farm, make farming in the greatest degree 

 unsuccessful, notwithstanding the amount of 

 money for which this stock is bartered may be 

 large. 



This is shown by the deserted farms and 

 hearthstones in all the older parts of the 

 United States. Feitility, s!rength and repu- 

 tation have gone with the crops of gras?, corn, 

 tobacco and cotton. 



We therefore conclude that the four items 

 mentioned must all be in a good degree re- 

 tained, and a fifth added. 



5. Money accumulating. 



These items should be regarded in the or- 

 der mentioned. If the last is put first in the 

 estimation, the money accumulated becomes 

 money deposited, and the affections and anxi- 

 eties are entwined around it so powei fully 

 that it draws the first four away from the farm 

 disastrously. 



Consider, now, how successful farming is 

 manifested or shown. 



1. By the productiveness of the soil in judi- 

 ciously chosen crops and the thrifty cattle, 

 safe, tidy and convenient buildings and 

 fences. 



2. The enjoyment, satisfaction and pride ex- 

 perienced by the farmer and family in his 

 pursuit. 



A discontented man shows it in his manage- 

 ment, and it brings a reproach upon his trade. 

 It is desirable and right for one to feel a pride 

 that he can so co-operate with Nature in bring- 

 ing about glorious results. 



3. By the esteem felt for, and respect shown 

 to the successful farmer by others of the 

 craft and by the public ! 



Successful generals have their triumphs or 

 grand receptions. Lawyers sit on the judges' 

 bench, and in the senatorial chair, and their 

 words of wisdom are treasures to others of 

 the profession. The eminent doctors and di- 

 vines, each in their sphere, receive reverence 

 and respect. 



A few farmers in centuries past became 

 noted. But in this age of enlightment and 

 mental activity, all successful farmers should 



become well known and honored by those 

 around them, and by the tillers of the soil 

 throughout all lands. Abundance, eiijoijvient 

 and fume are results. Con^ider now, the 

 combinations that tend to make farming suc- 

 cessful. 



1. Theoretical knowledge; because there 

 should be an idea how a thing is to be 

 done before It is attem]>ted. 



2. Practical knowledge ; this should in part be 

 gained as an apprentice, so that the re- 

 sult of failures may be, where it belongs, 

 a loss to instructoi^. 



3. Executive ability ; without which knowl- 

 edge cannot be well applied. 



4. Favorable circumstances ; or, in other 

 words, the blessing of God, shown in 

 health, favorable seasons and providential 

 care. 



Agricultural colleges are one of the means 

 to increase knowledge. Z. E. Jameson. 



PEUNING IN AUGUST. 



The Oermuntown Telegraph, in an article 

 on pruning apple- trees, makes the following 

 statement, which Is published for the benefit 

 of those who have orchards to take care of. 

 Most of our orchards have been badly managed, 

 as their appearance and condition show. Gen- 

 erally they have been pruned in spring, a time 

 now considered injurious to the trees. "Here, 

 at the North, we have no class of people more 

 successful with orchards than the United Soci- 

 ety, or Shakers. They consider their trees as 

 organized productions, capable of being im- 

 proved by proper care, and injured by neglect 

 and mismanagement. Of course, they are 

 careful to see them fed with proper diet, and 

 In all respects dealt with as things of vegetable 

 life, having constitutions to be protected and 

 pteserved as they should be. We were pass- 

 ing their village at Mount Lebanon, New 

 York, last August, and found them engaged 

 in pruning some beautiful apple-trees by the 

 way-side. The novelty, to us, of seeing prun- 

 ing performed at this busy season induced us 

 to inquire why it was done. The reason given ua 

 was, that at that season the sap was thick, and 

 of course would not run to waste, and that, if 

 pruned then, a healing process would com- 

 mence which would eventually cover the 

 wounds, and protect the tree from all damage 

 through cutting off branches. In a subsequent 

 visit to the society, we were invited into some 

 of the orchards, which had for years bt en sub- 

 ject to this system of pruning, and it was a 

 luxury to set; their healthy trees, free from 

 the wounds of injurious pruning, and, in some 

 instances, with scarcely a scar to show the op- 

 eration had been performed." 



Corn Fodder. — Lyman Call, East Dur- 

 ham, P. O., writes the Canada Farmer that 

 he keeps a dairy of twenty-six cows, the milk 

 of which is disposed of at a cheese factory ; 



