AMERICAN AGRJC ULT URIST 
FOK THE 
Farm, GfarcLen, and. Household. 
■'*> UM» 
“AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOISLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.”— Washington. 
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 
Publishers and Proprietors, 2-L5 Broadway 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842, 
German Edition issued at the same rates as in F.nirlisli. 
TERMS: SI.50 per Annum in Advance, post-free; 
Four Copies S3,—Single Number, 15 Cents. 
VOLUME XXXVIII.—No. 8. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1879. 
NEW SERIES—No. 391. 
THE INTRUDERS. — Drawn and Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
Success in farming depends almost wholly upon servation, and a habit of orderly arrangement. In 
a en ion to small details. This is true, indeed, of the single item of neglect of tools a considerable 
an ' _ uslness ’ anc * ' c ' s G l°°king after cents that loss is made every year. The tools and machines 
on a farm now represent a large sum of money. A 
thousand dollars will hardly stock a 100-acre farm 
with all the needed implements. These will be used 
up in ten years even with the most careful manage¬ 
ment, so that the annual cost will be at least $100. 
But by leaving the implements and machines in the 
field, to be alternately roasted in the sun and soak¬ 
ed in the rain, or to be covered with dust in an 
open shed, their useful life is reduced one half. 
Here is a direct loss of $100 yearly, which could be 
saved. Perhaps a larger loss still is incurred in 
neglect of fences. Our illustration points a moral 
in this way, which speaks for itself. Poor fences 
are sufficient to absorb the whole of a farmer’s 
profits. There is the loss of property by intrusion ; 
ousmess. To look after details requires thought, the loss of time in ejecting the intruders; the 
consi eia ion, promptness of decision, constant ob- damage to animals by chasing with dogs, or by the 
the dollars are saved, in whatever way we may be 
working. But in agriculture, in gardening, in fruit 
growing, and in any other manner of cultivating 
the soil, attention to details is the chief concern. 
Neglect for one day, or one hour, may cause a loss 
which many days’ labor may be required to recover. 
This is exemplified in hundreds of ways during a 
man’s life; and it is a strange thing, that repeated 
experiences, at the best, are required to fix the fact 
so firmly upon the mind that it becomes a rule of 
action with us, a habit, or an impulse, to be careful, 
and to watch that small things shall receive proper 
and prompt attention. Perhaps this is more evident 
with those who have to trust much work to hired 
men, than to those who are always about their own 
business. To look after details requires thought, 
consideration, promptness of decision, constant ob- 
COFYBTOHT, 1879, BY ORANGE JUDD COMPANY - . 
beating or punishing of them by irritated owners ; 
and not the least, the cost of keeping a dog, with all 
the drawbacks and expenses incident to this, for 
the purpose of driving trespassing animals out of 
the fields. The constant worry, fear, and uncer¬ 
tainty, which prevail daily and nightly, preventing 
comfortable sleep and giving occasion to many 
nocturnal raids, for the purpose of driving out in¬ 
truders, should be sufficient, without the loss of 
property or products of labor, to induce every 
farmer to take measures for protecting his crops, 
and to trust for safety to solid and substantial 
outer fences and well fastened gates, rather than to 
depend upon the ever-too-late remedy of ejecting 
trespassers by means of a dog. A well trained dog 
may do very useful service on a farm, but one can 
not very well make a fence or a gate of him. In 
many communities the law presents the best bar¬ 
rier against intruders, by compelling each man to 
shut in his own animals by building strong fences. 
Entebed at the Post Office at New Yoke, N. Y., as Second Class Matter. 
