AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST*. 
260 
week with hay and three bushels corn meal 
at 75 cents, #2 25-—increase 25 lbs. The 
second week, I fed them one and a half 
bushels meal and nine bushels ruta bagas— 
with this they eat very little hay—increase 
50 lbs. The third week, fed the same as 
the first—increase the same. 25 lbs. The 
results stand thus : 
1—3 bu. meal, $225—gain 25 lbs., at 6 ets., $1 50 
do.' ruta bagas, at Skis'! j 50 lbs. at 6 cts. 3 00 
3—The same result as the first. 
I continued to feed according to 2d experi¬ 
ment, and never saw oxen take on flesh fas¬ 
ter and become sooner fit for the butcher. 
Be careful always to feed clear meal two or 
three weeks before slaughter, as otherwise 
the beef may have the flavor of the bagas, 
My bagas cost me to raise about 6 cents a 
bushel. Cattle never cloy on bagas, and I 
conceive them to be the only root that will 
pay for raising to feed. All stock like them. 
1 think them worth more than potatoes by 
the bushel, as they never sour as potatoes 
do, while four bushels of bagas are as easily 
raised as one of potatoes.” 
Maine Farmer. 
For the American Agriculturist 
RELIEF FOE THE POOR, 
Messrs. Editors : A great change has 
taken place in many parts of this country. 
Many families, particularly in our large cities, 
that were once happy, and comfortable, 
have within a very short period been reduced 
to poverty; and, indeed, we are reminded of 
the old maxim, “ one half of the world don’t 
know how the other lives.” At this season 
of the year, when the chilly winds come 
whistling around our dwellings, and freezes 
up the earth, and we are compelled to stay 
at home by the warm fireside, we should re¬ 
flect for a moment and think of the fate of 
the poor and suffering around us. If we 
look at the dwelling’s of poverty, we all 
find some of these are desolate and their in¬ 
mates haye gone to beg ; others are at home, 
but in a critical condition; we find they 
have no food, no fuel, and not sufficient cloth¬ 
ing to keep them warm. They will not all beg, 
for if they do, they will be called impostors ; 
and some would rather starve. We must 
admit that rum causes a great deal of this 
suffering, but not all; for if we take into 
consideration the number of workmen em¬ 
ployed in summer, compared with winter, we 
may be able to account for the greater part 
of this starvation. There are doubtless 
thousands of hands out of employment at 
this season of the year, for many hundreds 
of hands have been discharged in a single 
instance. They can not get work, for there 
is nothing to do, or not sufficient work for 
all these hands; wages are considerably 
lower, breadstuff's are extremely high, and 
consequently they can not live in the cities. 
Now what is to be done i They can not go 
to the almshouses, for alas! there is no 
room there. They can not live hy begging, 
for there is always so many going through 
the country deceiving the public, that they 
can not tell who needs and who does not. 
Such are the facts, and they need no com¬ 
ment. Is this not an alarming crises 1 Those 
who have plenty should think of this awful 
state of things! Farmers who have reaped 
the reward of their labors by good crops and 
good prices, to you we appeal to assist us in 
our efforts to drive poverty and the fear of 
it from the land. Can it be that this flour¬ 
ishing country, with all its grandeur and 
magnificence, all its -wealth and power, can 
be called the land of poverty. Would that it 
were otherwise ; but how can it be Avhen it 
is so unequally divided. When we compare 
the man with his millions, to the one who 
has none, we can not but think if he will 
give to the poor he will lend to the Lord. 
But we who have only a few hundreds or 
thousand’s, should give and let. others live, 
and we will never regret it. If we help 
them through this trying season, they may 
probably be able to repay us for our kindness, 
when the working season comes. They as¬ 
sisted us in gathering our crops. But for 
them we might have been in their condition, 
and it is our duty to lend a helping hand. 
Some farmers and others affirm that it is 
their own fault, and that they might have 
been in good circumstances had they taken 
care of their money. It is true that many 
have trifled away their money by drinking, 
&c.; but we find those who have large fami¬ 
lies were compelled to spend it as fast as 
they earned it, and could not lay it by for a 
rainy day; and it is among large families 
that poverty is the worst. At this season 
there are many hands leaving the cities to 
seek employment in the country. It is true 
there is not much work to do on the farms 
in winter; nothwithstanding this, farmers 
should employ them for charity’s sake. They 
can cut wood, grub and clear up the land for 
spring work. A great many farmers have 
sons to do the work in winter, but they should 
let them have a season of recreation ; and 
they can spend the time in reading good 
books, and papers. Time spent in this way 
is not lost, and, no one will ever be sorry 
for it when the spring comes. This knowl¬ 
edge will always come in play. Then we, 
who are farmer’s boys, should take agricul¬ 
tural papers, and subscribe immediately to 
the American Agriculturist , for it is certainly 
the best of the kind in this country—so 
thinks a FARMER'S BOY. 
UNEMPLOYED LABORERS. 
ADDRESS or THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN EMIGRANT 
PROTECTIVE AND EMPLOYMENT SOCIETY, TO THE 
CITY AND COUNTRY PRESS. 
The great number of persons dependent on la¬ 
bor for their daily bread, now out of employment, 
owing to the unusual depression in all the depart¬ 
ments of business, and the large influx ot foreign 
emigrants, is the occasion of the present address. 
We believe that you may render important as¬ 
sistance to us, in our efforts to mitigate this evil, 
by enabling us to ascertain what openings yet ex¬ 
ist for the moral and industrious, among this un¬ 
fortunate class of our City population, both ot na¬ 
tive and foreign birth. We are convinced, that 
there are many localities within a reasonable dis¬ 
tance ofNew-York, where labor could be profita¬ 
bly employed—that at the present moment, there 
are thousands of families in our own and neigh¬ 
boring States, seriously inconvenienced for want 
of domestic help, while servant girls in New-York, 
of unexceptionable character, are out of situations, 
and reduced to the necessity of pawning their 
clothes to pay their boarding bills, and that agri¬ 
cultural and other business interests are suffering 
for want of the strong arms of the sons of toil, 
who are pining in cellars in our City, and depend¬ 
ing on public or private charity, for scanty and 
precarious subsisience—and all this for want of a 
proper correspondence between the employer and 
employd through the medium of such an Institu¬ 
tion as this Society. 
We believe, also, that it will be wise policy on 
the part of the employers to anticipate the wants 
of the ensuing spring, and engage their help now. 
A business reaction may confidently be anticipa¬ 
ted, and all the avenues of industrious pursuits 
will be open and occupied by busy interprize ; la¬ 
bor will be proportionably in demand, and the 
difficulties which met the Society last year, in 
filling orders, will return with increased force. 
There is reason to believe that the supply of 
labor furnished by foreign emigration will another 
year be diminished. The Eastern War, so obsti¬ 
nate and sanguinary, and which will doubtless rage 
witli increased violence next year, will not only 
enhance the price of agricultural produce, but call 
thousands to the battle-field who might otherwise 
seek our quiet shores, and engage in the occupa¬ 
tions of peaceful industry. 
We therefore gentlemen, respectfully and ear¬ 
nestly request you to give a place in your respec¬ 
tive journals to this communication. In so doing 
you will impart a three-fold good—relief to our 
charitable Institutions and City taxes—the means 
of an independent and honest livelihood to the 
unemployed and destitute poor—and benefit to 
those who need their services. 
Letters (post-paid) addressed to the General 
Agent, Rev. D. R. Thomason, American Emigrant 
Society’s Rooms, No. 13 Astor-place, New-York, 
will be promptly answered. Applicants, in person 
or by letter, may be made at either of the Society’s 
Offices, Nos. 13 and 14 Astor-place, or No. 27 
Greenwich-st. Signed on behalf of the Society. 
PETER COOPER, President. 
Mortimer De Motte, Cor. Secretary. 
i^gPOther papers arc requested to copy. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
BOOK YOUR EXPENSES. 
There was not a little sound sense and 
business discrimination in the merchant who, 
happening to see his son take from his till 
three cents to pay for a cigar, exclaimed 
authoritatively, “ Book it, Joe. Book it!” 
The foolish expenditures of almost every 
man would be very much curtailed if every 
cent that passed out of his hands had a place, 
a date, and a purpose on the cash book. 
The entry of “ cigars,” “ pachewing,” “plug,” 
“pipes,” “smashers,” “cocktails,” “ju¬ 
leps,” &c., with priceannexed, and now and 
then a dollar for some purpose of perdition , 
would furnish no very pleasant theme for 
meditation in a calm review of the past. 
It is by guarding the avenues to the treasure- 
house, that the treasure is preserved. It is 
by stopping the streams therefiom, that the 
water in a fountain accumulates—and no¬ 
thing would be more efficacious in doing this 
than a knowledge of the amount and purpose 
of every expenditure. 
If every man, every farmer in New-Lon- 
don County, would commence the first of 
January, debt and credit with himself, and 
righteously make an entry of every cent 
received and expended, and every Saturday 
night review the transactions of the week 
and balance accounts, the County would be 
thousands of dollars richer one year from 
the date of this writing, than by continuing 
the present loose way of doing business, be¬ 
side laying the foundation of permanent 
prosperity for many a man, now repiningly 
struggling against adverse fortune, which in 
truth, is but the inevitable result of his own 
folly. 
And to urge upon every man, especially 
every farmer, a system of strict accounts is 
the object of this article. 
The writer would propose the following 
method, as having been successfully adopted 
by many intelligent farmers : 
On the first of January, settle with every 
man, and balance accounts by taking or giving 
notes, if it is not possible to do so other¬ 
wise. Every one at this particular period 
of the world has a right to his just dues, at 
least once a year. 
When your accounts are once balanced, 
never, if possible, commence a book account 
with any man. It may not always be in 
your power to do otherwise, but most far¬ 
mers can sell for cash and buy for cash, 
which is very much better than trusting 
every one, and expecting to get trusted 
every where. 
Purchase you a blank book, and write out 
on its first page an inventory of your prop¬ 
erty. So many acres of land—so much ; 
so much stock, specifying the kinds, and 
value of each respectively—so much guano, 
carriages, wagons, harnesses, farming tools, 
specifying each article with its cash value 
annexed. On the next two succeeding 
pages make out an abstract of your assets 
and liabilities in the shape of notes, book 
accounts, if such you haye, and see ho>y 
