AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
131 
For the American Agriculturist. 
LESSONS IN LIFE—NO. 2. 
Farm Conveniences.—by a gleaner. 
“ Where did you get your new wheelbarrow 
Mr. A. V' “ Oh, my boys got it up last week, 
while wife and I were ‘snowed in’ over to Uncle 
G’s !” “ Well done,” says the astonished neigh¬ 
bor, “ got up by them ar boys, and that cold week 
tew, why we never thought a doing anything over 
our way, only to bundle up and see to the critters, 
and then back into the house ; I oilers wished 
my boys would take some notion to work with 
tools like, but they don’t seem to.” Now, candid 
reader, you have heard these neighbors talk, let 
me explain a little. “Mr. A.” reads the papers, 
and raises good crops, by the application of that 
same article which a celebrated painter mixed 
with his paint, namely : brains. He knows that 
nature never made a mechanic ; do not start! I 
mean never produced a person whose bump of 
mechanism was so fully developed, that he could 
make a substantial wheelbarrow out of four-inch 
scantling and hemlock fence boards, by the aid of 
a rusty saw, a one claw hammer, and a two inch 
chisel, the identical materials and tools to be found 
in the (not) shop of the first speaker. And know¬ 
ing this, the latter has profited by the remembrance 
of his own boyish years, when he would have re¬ 
joiced at the sight of an edge tool, (with an edge,) 
and has portioned off a comfortable space on one 
side of his carriage-house, placed therein a good 
supply of the most needful tools, and also a 
supply of the different kinds of wood, of various 
sizes and shapes, not bought outright, but sawed 
to his order from logs of his own raising; and 
besides this the apartment contains a stove, for, 
otherwise, many of the days which can now be 
spent there would be wasted. 
Now for the practical part, which our editor al¬ 
ways insists on. What does it amount to 1 I 
answer, much every way. A farmer’s life is made 
up of littles—his income ; his outgoes; and he 
that has to ‘ shell out’ for every article of farm 
use, even to buying a wood-box, will find, as I 
have known, a light purse in his pocket ofttimes, 
and will, besides, be more likely to become dis¬ 
satisfied with farming than he who can help him¬ 
self, to not only grain, meat, fruit, &c., but can 
employ the many odd hours of a cold winter in 
making the numerous -articles of wooden ware 
which every farm establishment needs, both in 
doors and out. 1 would be glad, very glad, to 
occupy a whole page of every number of the 
Agriculturist in giving my ideas of what farmers 
might do to remove the inconveniences found 
about the establishments of so many of them, 
and I would endeavor to make every word prac¬ 
tical too, hut the Editor could not possibly spare 
me the space. [Yes we can for many such chap¬ 
ters.— Ed.] I will, however, beg tor a little more 
room to name some of those things which I call 
inconveniences. 
Let us take the barn for instance ; did you 
ever see a barn with a small, dark granary 1 I 
have, and I knew that if there was not room to 
make it larger, it could easily be made lighter by 
substituting a four light window for a piece of 
board. Did you ever see an old man climbing up, 
in one corner of his barn, on door, and beam, and 
brace, to get to his hay 1 I have, and I knew 
that he had done just so for years for want of a 
ladder. Are there not very many barns needing 
that very thing 1 Does your barn need one! 
Then pluck up the energy and have the ladder 
put up, nay, put it up yourself, then climb up it, 
and stand on the big beam and crow. Once more, 
did you ever see a barn door with a stick set 
against it to answer the purpose of a latch 1 I 
have, and admire the plan, for then, if one is de¬ 
tained away from home, the cattle can knock 
down the stick and help themselves to food they 
often ought to have. 
THE WASTE PLACES AROUND VILLAGES, 
FARMS, &c. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
It has ever been a matter of surprise to me, 
that intelligent citizens should allow the great 
waste of lands which they do. A parcel of ground 
is stony and it is in consequence half tilled, if tilled 
at all. It is run over, leaving here a “ balk," and 
there a “ cut and covered." The plow, the 
harness and the hoe, show the effect ol too great 
contact with stones, to say nothing of the great 
waste of strength of man and beast in working 
among them, while fences and drains are wanted 
near by. Biush is suffered to grow along the 
fences and around stumps monopolizing too great 
a share of the field. A little spring of water is 
suffered to saturate and spoil the land for valu¬ 
able culture for rods around it, when a little drain¬ 
ing would make it the most productive parcel 
upon the farm. Nooks and corners made by 
buildings and fences are left uncultivated be¬ 
cause so small—overlooked as not worthy of at¬ 
tention. 
How many of our villagers neglect the little 
plots where a bed of salad or radishes might be 
cultivated, while they eat stale or wilted garden 
sauce from the markets, and lose the double 
luxury of eating fresh food, and the satisfaction of 
having raised it, joined with the healthy appetite 
derived from pure air and gentle exercise. Not 
long since your correspondent occupied a village 
“ tenament ” in a block of buildings that had at¬ 
tached a back yard descending from the house to 
the north—a very shady unpropitious spot filled 
with refuse from a shoe-maker’s shop, a meat- 
market and a tailor’s shop, with old shoes, stove¬ 
pipes,.etc., until it was not far removed from a 
nuisance. It became necessary for health and com¬ 
fort on taking the premises to abate the nuisance. 
The rubbish was buried in large pits dug for that 
purpose. The ground was then thoroughly 
spaded, and amid the jeers of neighbors, it was 
planted with cabbage from a neighboring hot-bed, 
and a bordering of beans and a plot of cucumbers 
added. The ground was cultivated each morn¬ 
ing at sunrise, and at the proper time a more noble 
growth of cabbages I never saw. Two would 
have been a pretty good load for a man. The 
table was supplied with delicious vegetables while 
our good neighbors came in for a share. Need I 
say that I was abundantly repaid by the health 
and comfort of the exercise, by the pleasure I 
took in seeing them prosper, and the conve¬ 
nience of having them 1 
Again, fruit-trees could, and ought to be intro¬ 
duced among the shade trees upon vacant places. 
We have heard much commendation bestowed 
upon those who plant shade trees, and they do a 
benevolent act. But would it not be noble 
to set fruit trees on our village “ greens ?” The 
pear, the chestnut, the cherry, the plum and even 
ihe apple-tree, might be trained to grow tall, and 
would be an ornament, and with proper regula¬ 
tion might be a benefaction. 
Again, our public streets should be bordered 
with trees. In some European Countries, we 
learn the., j i /, and the fruit in the Fall is sold 
to the highest bidder, and the proceeds appropri 
ated to promote further culture, and to keep the 
streets in repair. Our public school grounds 
ought to be thoroughly furnished with fruit-trees, 
and a parcel of ground devoted to floral culture 
and vegetables ; a bed of radishes and salad 
would give a relish to the “ bread and butler ” of 
the scholars’ dinner. A good harvest apple, a 
choice plum, a ripe cherry, would not come 
amiss on the occasion. 
But I would not recommend it lor the pleas¬ 
ures of the palate alone. I would make the 
school-yard and the school-room inviting by 
strewing the path of science with flowers and 
golden inducements. Let the school aspect be the 
farthest possible removed from that of a prison. 
Let good taste be cultivated, practical science 
taught, and the mind made practical by the strong¬ 
est incentives. Let none say that children would 
destroy such things, or that such embellishment 
is impracticable. It has been done and can be 
again, without difficulty in most of our country 
schools. “ Where there is a will, there is a way.” 
Ballston Spa, N. Y. C. T. H. 
SIRUP FROM THE NEW SUGAR-CANE, 
An Estimate of the Cost of Cultivating ter. 
acres, making the Syrup, Profit, <$c. 
We are not yet prepared to advise fully in 
regard to the particulars of trying the new 
Sugar-cane for syrup this season. We have 
planted an acre solely to experiment on this 
point, but have not yet decided what kind of 
mill we shall procure, nor what boiling ap- 
partus will be best adapted to our own cir¬ 
cumstances. The common two and three 
cylinder roller presses, in general use at 
the South, will do the business, but we are 
in hopes to find one better and cheaper, per¬ 
haps in that prepared by Messrs. Hedges & 
Free of Cincinnati. With respect to the 
cost of manufacture, in a recent conversa¬ 
tion with Mr. Samuel Clapham, of Cold 
Spring Harbor, N. Y., we requested him to 
furnish an estimate of the cost of culture. 
Messrs. Clapham & Hewlett are putting in a 
large surface solely for making syrup, or 
sugar if found practicable. We give his re¬ 
ply, but with the present limited experience 
we are not prepared to say that 500 gallons 
of syrup per acre will be an average yield 
here, though last year Mr. Hewlett obtained 
70 gallons from one-fourth of an acre, with 
but a rude pressing apparatus of his own 
construction. Nor are we certain that it 
will be best to undertake to save seed from 
the canes used in making syrup or sugar. 
The figuring is evidently too high : 
Cold Spring Harbor, L. I , May 4, 1857. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
According to promise 1 send you an estimate 
of the cost of raising and producing syrup from 10 
acres of Sorghum. In making my calculations 
of the cost, I have reckoned everything at ihe- 
full prices, and I am sine that I have not over¬ 
estimated either the quantity or the price of the 
syrup : 
Ten quarts of seed (present price $1 per quart).. $10 00 
Planting and cultivating 10 acres, at $15 per acre, 150 00 
Two men 30 days pressing, at $1 each . 00 00 
Two horses 30 nays pressing, at $1 each. 60 00 
One man and one boy boiling 30 days, at $1 50. 45 ( 0 
Ten cords of wood, at $4. 40 00 
Use of pressing machine and boilers, 334- percent. 
on cost $250. 85 00 
Sundries. 50 00 
Total.$500 00 
105 barrels for syrup, at $1 25. 206 25 
Total cost of 5,OOOgallons (14 cents per gallon).. .$706 25 
The leaves or dry lodder, 1 consider, pays for cutting 
and carting. 
PRODUCE or TEN ACRES. 
5,000 gallons of syrup, at 50 cents per gallon.$2,500 00 
250 bushels of seed, at 50 cents per bushel. 125 00 
, $2 625 00 
Cost of producing as above. 706 25 
Net profit...$1,019 75 
Yours, &e., S. C. 
