isr,7.] 
AMKRICAN AGKICTJT.TITRTST. 
51 
Walks and Talks on the Farm—^o. 8S. 
My best paying crop on the farm last year 
•wxs Beans. They cost but little l.abor ami bring 
a iTw.id price. I h.ave just sold them to the 
seed-store for $3 25 per bushel. Tiie early kind 
lurneil out b<*tler than last rear, but the late 
sort was nipped by the frost, and is not so good. 
I ha I to have them picked over by hand at a 
cost of 15 cents per bushel. 
Beans have always been, theoretically, a 
favorite crop with me. And I am now more 
than ever convinced that, on wheat farms at 
least, they should always form a part of the 
rotation. True, we cannot always hope to get 
such a high price for them aithey have brought 
thi.H year. But I think they will pay to grow 
even for feeding out on the farm to sheep. They 
are very nutritious, and nothing except oil cake 
make^iuch rich manure. The vines are excel¬ 
lent fodder. I was fortunato in getting the erop 
well cured. The growth of vines was unusally 
large—completely covering the ground, and 
though the frost struck them before they were 
pulled, I find that the sheep ate them with 
avidity. In faet, they seem to like them fully 
ns well as clover hay. 
John Johnson writes me th.at he is fattening 
over throe hundred sheep Like nearly all of us, 
he paid more for them than they could have 
l)een bought for later in the season. But he 
thinks that there is not<?n« tighUi as many sheep 
l)cing fattened this winter as last, and conse- 
fpiently they are likely yet to bring a fair price, 
lie urges me to feed a little oil cake, and I am 
doing so. I bought a few tons of it at $50 per 
ton. It is a high price, but less than it has been 
for several vears. If it M-ere not for the manure 
I question if it would pay. But if, as Mr. Lawc,s 
c.stimatcs, the manure from a ton of oil cake is 
wortli $28, and you can buy cattle or sbeep ill- 
fed for two or three cents less per lb. than you 
can get for them when fat in the spring, w-e may 
l)e sure that wc can afford to buy oil cake 
enough at least to use up all our fodder. 
Feeding straw and stalks alone to any kind of 
stock is of rather doubtful economy. We must 
feed a little grain or cake with it to get out its 
full value. With hay, the case is somewhat dif¬ 
ferent, as it contains both grain and straw—or 
rather, it is cut while all the juices which would 
go to form grain are still in the stems and leaves. 
But for fattening animals, it is still desirable to 
feeil out a little grain or roots in addition. 
Farmers feel the high taxes this winter more 
than ever before. They are higher in this town 
tlian at any time during the war. The effect, as 
a general rule, is to check improvements. There 
is less work being done than for some time past, 
and wages will come down. But it is no use 
holding^back. Tim taxes must be paid, and we 
shall have to gel the money out of the land. If 
we stop work w'C shall be 'worse off instead of 
better. After all, the money paid for State and 
county taxes does nbt leave the country. It 
soon finds its way back again into circulation. 
If farmers only had to pay high taxes, or if 
tliev were merely local, it would be all loss and 
no gain, but as they arc general, all over the 
country, we will not complain. I^ct us lend all 
our energies to make the land as productive as 
pnn-dblr, and we shall find it less difilcult to pay 
the liigh tuxes tlian we anticipated. Our CounU', 
State and National debt is really a mortgage on 
our farms, but as everybody’s farm is thus mort¬ 
gaged it does not affect any one farmer as an 
ordinary mortgage would. Let us be cheerful 
then, and keep on ■working. The prospects of 
farmers are as good now, compared with other 
occupations (e.xcept office holders), as ever. 
llow much do you suppose I paid the Doctor 
fur that cow ? One hundred and ten dollars 1 
I am a little ashamed of it, but try to persuade 
in^'self that I should not have given so much to 
any one else. She comes in very early, is a well 
built cow,*\vith a trace of Shorthorn blood in 
her, and is in high condition. The latter point 
I think more of than the generality of farmers. 
I kke to see a milch cow pretty fleshy in the 
spring, for if she is a good milker you will get 
all the fat she has stored up during the winter 
back again in the form of butter before the sea¬ 
son is over. Tliis cow gave, last summer, two 
lbs. of butter a day. And if she will do this for 
me, I would rather give $120 for her than- $60 
for one that Avill give only one pound of butter 
a day. For of course she will not eat as much 
again food. 
The high price of cows will prove a boon to 
farmers if it teaches us to feed our milch cows 
better. lu the dairy districts I presume they 
have paid more attention to this point, but there 
are not a few farmers that have treated their 
milch cows and young stock during the winter 
months as though they did not care Avhether 
they lived or died. And even now, while cows 
are so scarce and high, I can take you to several 
farmers in this “ highly enlightened commu¬ 
nity,” in this “ centre of the garden of the Em¬ 
pire State,” where cows, colts and young cattle 
are wintered in the field wdth no other shelter 
than a rail fence ! 
Neighbor Sloe has sold all his straw to the 
paper makers, and now lets his cattle run in the 
fields to pick up what grass they can find under 
the snow. It’s a ;fact. 
I was glad to see the Agriculturist^ last 
month, recommending currying cows and fat¬ 
tening cattle. Animals that are stabled need it 
more than those in the yards, but it is beneficial 
to both. When I want a little recreation I take 
a currycomb and card the cows. They like it 
beyond anything. I liave seen them stop eating 
their corn meal as soon as I commenced. I wish 
the practice was general. A man that curries 
his cows will not be apt to starve them. 
There is another thing in the Agriculturist 
this month (January), that I like the allusion 
in “Hints about Work,”, to future prices of 
farm products. W^e are all interested in this 
matter, and there is no way in which the Agri- 
cultwrist could benefit its readers more than by 
giving all the facts which have any bearing on 
the subject. Of course, no one can predict with 
any degree of certainty what prices will be a 
year or a month from this time, but still some 
idea can be formed by a careful consideration ot 
the facts. But the difficulty is to get the facts. 
These the Agriculturist could give us even moie 
fully than it now does. The advice it gives to 
“sell when you can get a fair price” cer¬ 
tainly correct; and, on the other hand, bold 
on to any article that is below the cost of pro¬ 
duction, if there is a chance for a rise. 
iVhat do you find to do on the farm in win- 
’ asked a city friend. “ What do you peo- 
in the city ever find to do?” I replied, 
ttever sources of discontent Bicre may be 
rm life, want of occupation is not one of 
1 I do not pretend to do much woik 
fif. I would like to, do more than I do, hut 
^ot afford it. There are but few men wlio 
can work both with their hands and their brains. 
But there is no lack of work for man and horse, 
provided it is properly laid out. In stormy 
weather you can grind grain, chaff fodder, 
tliresh beans, and if you have a tool-house, vfith 
a stove ill it, you can repair tools and imple¬ 
ments, paint wagon wheels, cultivators, har¬ 
rows, plows, &c., and get everything ready for 
spring. 
We have been latterly busy drawing stones to 
build fences. There are hundreds of tons of 
stones on my fiirm that liave been taken out 
of the lq,nd and drawn into large heaps. It is 
no little labor to draw these stones on a wagon 
or a stone-boat in the summer, even if we had 
time ; but with sleds it is less work to load, not 
having to lift them so high, and you can draw 
a much heavier load. In the summer time it 
would cost me nearly as much to draw the 
stones as to build the fence; and when the ground 
is wet ill the spring and fall it is still more ex¬ 
pensive, and, besides, injures the land. It is 
rather cold work handling stones, but the winter 
is the time for moving such heavy materials. 
Did I tell you of a discovery the Deacon made 
last summer ?. He has a small ditch running 
through one of his fields which carries off the 
water from ten or fifteen acres of my farm. 
Last summer he observed that there was a hole 
in this ditch into which the water soaked avva}^ 
He took a crow-bar and enlarged the hole. I 
have two long underdrains discharging into the 
ditch, and during the heavy rains of last fall 
there was a great quantity of water discharged, 
but this hole tooh every drop of it. I presume 
the hole goes down to a fissure in the rock. If 
it was opened out and then stoned up so as to 
prevent choking, I see no reason why it should 
not prove a permanent outlet for all the ivater. 
There is on my farm a low spot from which 
there is no outlet, into which flows a considera¬ 
ble quantity of water, which all disappears. 
The great difficulty in draining is to get a 
good oiillct. There is scarcely any land that 
cannot be readily drained if the natural water 
courses were kept free from obstructions, and the 
ditches which run into them were deepened and 
widened and kept clean. But as this must be 
done by the several farmers through whose land 
the water courses run, any one of them can 
seriously damage all the rest by his negligence 
or obstinacy. This matter demands the imme¬ 
diate attention of our legislators. A well con¬ 
sidered law, compelling fiirmers to clean out 
water courses, &c., or in case of refusal authoii- 
zing the proper authorities to do the work and 
assess the expense on the property benefited, 
would do much for agricultural improvement. 
he Deacon last night was telling me of an 
resting fact in regard to wheat, which he 
n-ved on his farm some years ago. He and 
ther farmer had bought some wood which 
back of my present farm. By going across 
farm they could save a mile or so ot 
■el. They obtained permission from the 
lerto draw their wood during the winter, on 
dition that they should pay for any damage 
e to a piece of wheat tliey had to go over, 
ore spring the snow broke through oGca- 
laily, and they expected to have to^ay con¬ 
n-able damage. But during the summer the 
3 at on the track was far superior to tlie rest 
he field The snow being pressed hard, cliil 
'melt in the spring for along time after it 
all disappeared from the rest of the hei . 
sre may haye been some droppings from le 
