102 



NEW ENGLAND FAR:MER. 



Feb. 



tion which we cheerfully sustain as an incident to 

 the great rebellion. 



Resolved, That the admission of said products, 

 while those of other countries are excluded by 

 tariff regulations, would bo an unjust discrimina- 

 tion in favor of Provincial productions. 



Resolved, That any change by which free trade 

 in wools and woolens should be permitted, or ap- 

 proached, would be injurious to both these import- 

 ant interests. 



Resolved, The tariff on wool and woolens was 

 agreed upon in joint convention of wool growers 

 and woolen manufacturers, and its repeal would 

 be likely to result in injury to the agricultural in- 

 terests of the country. 



Resolved. That we acknowledge our profound 

 obligations to President Grant for the wise recom- 

 mendations in his annual message on the subject 

 of reciprocity with the British provinces. 



Resolved, That the Secretary be directed to fur- 

 nish our Senators and Representatives in Congress 

 with copies of these resolutions, with a request to 

 present them to the President and both Houses of 

 Congress. 



On motion of Henry Clark, 



Resolved, That this Society have learned with 

 pleasure of the organization of the Vermont Dai- 

 ryman's Association, believing that it will be an 

 important element in the progress of agricultural 

 improvement in our State, and the Vermont State 

 Agricultural Society and Wool Grower's Associa- 

 tions most cordially welcome the Association, and 

 commend it to the support of the friends of agri- 

 culture in Vermont. 



On motion of C. Horace Hubbaxd, 



Resolved, That the granting of a charter to the 

 Vermont Horse Stock Company for the improve- 

 ment of the horses of Vermont, is a move in the 

 right direction, and we would commend the same 

 to the farmers of the State. 



Board of Directors. — Edwin Hammond, Middle- 

 bury; John Gregory, Northfield; Elijah Cleave- 

 land, Coventry; Geo. Campbell, Westminster; 

 Henry Hay ward, Rutland ; Noah B. SafFord, White 

 River Junction; Henry B. Kent, Dorset; Lawrence 

 Brainard, Jr., St. Albans; David Goodell, Brattle- 

 boro'; Edwin S. Stowell, Cornwall; James A. 

 Shedd, Burlington ; Henry Chase, Lyndon ; Geo. 

 A. Merrill, Rutland; C. Horace Hubbard, Spring- 

 field; S. G. Holyoke, St. Albans; Lemuel S.Drew, 

 Burlington. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FARM HELP. 



Whether Mr. Jameson, in his reply in the 

 Farmer of Dec. 25, has fairly answered my 

 objections to what I regarded as his gross mis- 

 representations of foreign and native help, 

 your readers can judge better, perhaps, than 

 myself. He reiterates not simply his belief, 

 but his positive knowledge, that "most of the 

 foreign population employed among us are 

 not qualified to take charge of a farm," &c. 

 Admitting this to be true, does it prove his 

 former assumption that all such are "unskilled 

 laborers." In every branch of business we 

 find men of great skill and proficiency as work- 

 men — menoi good steady habits, valuable citi- 

 zens and neighbors, who do not possess that 

 tact and taste which qualify them for taking 

 full charge of any business. To urge this 

 as an objection to foreigners, when probably 

 Mr. J. would admit that many home bred far- 



mers' sons are equally deficient, is to treat the 

 matter unfairly. 



Mr. J. says that I am probably aware that 

 the men in England who manage farms so 

 well as to pay from $10 to $20 an acre rent are 

 not seeking work in this country. I admit 

 they do not, and alluded to the fact that there 

 were such farmers in the old country, to show 

 that foreign laborers who are brought up 

 under a superior system of farming have a 

 good chance of becoming skilled workmen. 



Mr. J. objects to hiring Scotch and Irish 

 help, because they do not spend their money 

 in the town in which it is earned. This 

 strikes me as illiberal in the extreme. Does 

 Mr. J. suppose that we are living under some 

 despotic power? Does he not know that it 

 is the right of every son of t:)il to spend his 

 hard gained earnings where he pleases ? How 

 is it with Mr. Jameson himself? Does he 

 spend all his earnings in the town of Irasburg? 

 Does he not, like other men, soend his money 

 where he can make the nio.-t of it ? 



The charge made by Mr. J. in his first 

 letter, and alluded to in his second, that far- 

 mers send their sons into the city and hire 

 help a part of the time, I regard as a misrepre- 

 sentation of the ca^e. I know that there are 

 thousands of fathers and mothers who would 

 gladly have their sons around the domestic 

 hearth, and would dj by them what is right 

 and just. But they leave, not because that 

 good mother and worthy father have turned 

 them away. No, sir ; their hearts yearn for 

 the presence and company of their children. 

 The fact is that the children of our day have 

 lost that respect for their parents which they 

 ongbt to have aad which children did have 

 forty years ago. Our young men when about 

 sixteen years of age become restless under 

 parental control, imagine they know more 

 than old people, and insist on having their own 

 way. So, after making more or less trouble in 

 the family they leave the old people and go to 

 the city and the factory. From personal ob- 

 servation for many years of the career of such 

 young men, I know that hundreds of them 

 fall into temptation and are ruined. I think 

 it unjust to charge farmers with driving their 

 sons to the city. 



As to Mr. Jameson's insinuation that Scotch- 

 men have no regard for the comfort of their 

 wives, I have patience only to ask him to com- 

 pare the frequency of divorce in Scotland and 

 in Vermont. I wish he could give expression 

 to his views without such ungentlemanl}- flings 

 and misrepresentations of any class of his fel- 

 low citizens. 



It gives me mnch pleasure to close this arti- 

 cle with an expression of perfect agreement 

 with Mr. Jameson on one subject, — that of 

 having a farm house for the laborer and his 

 family. Such is the practice in Europe, but I 

 almost wonder that he should approve of it. 



D. M. H. 



East Canaan, N. H., Dec. 26, 1869. 



