94 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER. 
February  6 
a  Rainy  Day  on  the  Farm. 
HOW  FARMER  GREY  AND  FARMER  BROWN  SPENT  IT. 
There's  a  Itttle  story  I  have  to  tell 
Of  a  rainy  (lay,  and  X  know  full  well 
That  the  circumstances  are  only  too  true, 
And  may  come  home  to  some  of  you: 
But  hence  to  my  tale  for  truth  Is  truth. 
Though  told  In  rhythm  and  rhyme  uncouth. 
The  smoke  curled  softly  and  settled  down 
As  It  came  from  the  cottage  of  Farmer  Brown ; 
The  sky  grew  clouded  and  overcast, 
The  wind  Increased  as  It  blew  from  the  west: 
The  chanticleer  sounded  his  shrill  alarm, 
Clearly  foretelling  the  coming  storm. 
Darkness  came  and  with  It  the  rain 
Beating  all  night  'gainst  the  window  pane, 
But  at  early  dawn  with  its  gray  and  grizzle, 
Had  quieted  down  to  a  steady  drizzle, 
The  which,  as  every  philosopher  knows, 
Fosters  great  numbers  of  fancied  woes. 
Good  Farmer  Brown  wakes  and,  rubbing  his  eyes, 
Takes  one  long  look  at  the  leaden  skies, 
Then  mutters  something,  perhaps  a  curse, 
Though  we  all  will  hoj  e  'twas  nothing  worse 
Than  that  Providence  ought  surely  to  have  known 
better 
Than  send  on  this  day  such  an  111  sort  of  weather. 
As  111-smelling  cellars  make  butter  smell  strong, 
So  the  farmer’s  111-humor  sets  everything  wrong; 
The  wife  begins  scolding,  the  little  ones  cry. 
The  atmosphere  thickens  and  the  tempest  is  high; 
And  all  of  this  comes  just  because  Farmer  Brown 
Had  wanted  to  take  some  grain  to  town. 
He  frets  and  fumes  and  storms  about. 
Threatens  to  chase  the  house-dog  out, 
Spanks  the  children  and  kicks  the  cat, 
Then  searches  the  wood-box  for  his  hat, 
AnX,  losing  his  reason,  begins  to  swear, 
Because  he  doesn’t  find  it  there. 
Home  unpleasant,  he  seeks  to  And 
Rest  for  Ills  weary  and  troubled  mind, 
Seemingly  ever  unconscious  for  all 
That  he.  himself.  Is  the  cause  of  the  squall, 
So  he  picks  up  his  liat  and  slamming  the  door, 
Is  off  through  the  rain  to  the  corner  store. 
There  he  meets  with  the  loafers  and  Idlers  all, 
Gathered  together  both  great  and  small. 
Some,  too,  are  there,  who  of  hard  times  croak, 
At  the  same  time  puffing  tobacco  smoke. 
They  argue  tariff  both  high  and  low, 
And  each  Is  certain  'tls  thus  and  so; 
All  wanted  more  money,  but  none  of  them  thought 
They’d  have  to  earn  every  cent  that  they  got. 
However,  as  politics  seems  to  fall, 
They  give  themselves  up  to  the  vulgar  tale; 
The  air  grows  foul  and  with  filthy  jest 
The  rest  of  the  afternoon  Is  passed, 
Till  shadowy  twilight  comes  again, 
Driving  them  home  through  the  mist  and  rain. 
Farmer  Brown  sought  rest  from  trouble  and  care. 
But  I  hardly  think  he  found  it  there, 
For  at  eve  again  he  Is  surly  and  worn 
Much  the  same  as  at  early  morn. 
He  rolls  and  tosses  about  In  bed, 
Dreaming  of  torrents  and  torments  dread; 
Little-eyed  giants  with  monstrous  tongues, 
Talking  of  tariff  and  other  things; 
Cats  and  dogs  fighting;  man  and  wife 
Treading  a  bitter  and  worthless  life; 
While  tinkle,  tinkle,  all  night  long 
The  spouting  drones  a  monotonous  song, 
And  Farmer  Brown,  when  morning  breaks. 
To  another  day  of  misery  wakes. 
There’s  another  cottage  across  the  way, 
The  dwelling  of  quiet  Farmer  Gray, 
Who  never  frets  or  worries  because 
The  weather  don't  follow  exactly  his  laws. 
He,  too,  had  planned,  for  a  load  of  hay 
Was  ready  for  market  this  rainy  day. 
No  doubt  he  is  sorry  the  rain  began, 
But  resolves  on  doing  the  best  he  can; 
So  he  greets  his  wife  with  a  cheery  face, 
As  she  bends  to  her  work  with  easy  grace; 
He  helps  at  the  house  work,  runs  the  churn. 
Then  at  the  cradle  takes  a  turn ; 
Aids  the  children  with  book  and  slate, 
Always  cheerful,  early  and  late. 
A  while  he  sits  In  his  easy  chair, 
Dealing  his  favorite  book  with  care. 
Weighing  each  word  with  a  thoughtful  mind, 
Searching  its  pages  more  knowledge  to  find. 
Then  when  he  has  finished  he  lays  it  away, 
To  spend  in  his  workshop  the  rest  of  the  day. 
Whistling  an  old-time  boyhood  air, 
He  reaches  the  tools  that  are  hanging  there 
In  perfect  order  on  hook  or  nail. 
With  saw  and  hammer  he  works  wdth  a  will, 
Now  making  a  jockey-stick,  now  a  rake, 
Thus  providing  against  some  next  year’s  break. 
There’s  a  binder  neck-yoke  that’s  near  worn  out. 
And  next  July  may  bring  about 
A  serious  delay  In  harvest  somehow 
When  time  is  more  precious  than  ’tls  just  now. 
So  he  makes  a  new  one  and  lays  it  away 
To  serve  in  its  stead  at  some  future  day. 
Thinking  there’s  surely  no  loss,  ’tls  true, 
If  I  wear  out  the  old  sled  before  the  new. 
There  are  singletrees  which,  though  of  very  best 
make, 
When  heavily  strained  are  likely  to  break. 
And  a  single  moment  tvlien  taking  in  hay 
Is  worth  Just  an  hour  of  a  rainy  day. 
Now  I  hope  that  this  hint  is  sufficiently  strong 
Without  any  kicking  to  help  it  along, 
And  you’ll  plainly  see  that  the  best  thing  to  do 
Is  to  set  to  work  and  make  one  or  two. 
Farmer  Gray  toils  on  in  his  workshop  there, 
Mending  a  hat-rack,  a  broken  chair. 
Whistling  merrily  still  as  before 
As  he  watches  the  rain  through  the  open  door. 
Little  he  cares  for  political  fuss, 
Or  worries  himself  as  the  papers  discuss 
The  great  political  questions  to  be 
Brought  forth  ere  the  coming  of  ninety-three. 
They  don't  concern  him,  but  honest  pay 
Is  all  he  wants  for  an  honest  day; 
He  doesn’t  ask  the  nation  to  give 
Enough  to  the  farmer  that  he  can  live 
In  his  easy  chair  with  Idle  hands, 
While  weeds  o’errun  his  neglected  lands. 
The  money  system  will  do  very  well 
So  long  as  he  has  any  produce  to  sell. 
And  If  he  haB  nothing,  ’twill  profit  him  not 
Howsoever  much  gold  some  one  else  has  got. 
You  see  Farmer  Gray  is  contented  to  be 
A  man  who  is  honest,  happy  and  free, 
While  his  sweet- faced  children  and  cheery  wife 
Add  much  to  the  comfort  and  pleasures  of  life, 
And  when  evening  comes,  though  it  still  may  rain, 
His  conscience  brings  him  no  twinge  of  pain. 
For  he  knows  that  the  day  has  all  been  spent 
In  faithful  toll  and  with  good  Intent, 
While  at  night  his  couch  gives  sweet  repose 
Unbroken  by  dreams  or  domestic  woes. 
And  when  morning  dawns  he  wakes  again 
To  serve  his  God  and  his  fellow-men.  j.  m.  shuli,. 
The  Cost  of  Farm  Labor. 
WHAT  TO  CHARGE  AGAINST  A  CROP  ? 
On  pag-e  867  of  last  year’s  R,  N.-Y.,  a 
correspondent  at  Smock,  Pa. ,  said  he  had 
sold  955  bushels  of  potatoes  from  8)4 
acres,  for  $430.  The  fertilizer  cost  $64, 
and  interest  on  tools  was  counted  at  $10. 
After  deducting  the  outlay  for  the  fer¬ 
tilizer  and  tools,  he  had  $365  to  pay  for 
65  days  of  man  and  60  days  of  horse  work. 
He  wanted  to  know  what  he  should  charge 
for  this  labor,  or  whether  he  should 
charge  feed  for  the  horse  and  food  for 
the  man  at  cost  rates,  or  at  what  the  mar¬ 
ket  would  have  paid  for  the  same.  Here 
are  some  opinions  on  the  matter  : 
A  Montreal  Farmer’s  Estimate. 
In  my  opinion,  J.  II.  R.  has  had  a  small 
return  from  8%  acres  of  land,  considering 
the  amount  of  labor  he  expended  on  it. 
In  this  section  a  man,  horse  and  cart  can 
get  $2.25  per  day,  and  a  double  team  and 
man  $3.50,  without  board,  at  railroading 
or  other  public  work.  I  have  to  allow 
teamsters’  prices,  for  I  buy  all  my  hay 
and  feed  for  horses.  Two  men  by  the 
year  get,  one  $15  and  the  other  $20  per 
month  and  board ;  day  labor  by  women 
and  boys  costs  75  cents  without  board.  I 
think  $10  is  too  much  to  charge  as  interest 
on  tools  working  8%  acres  of  land,  unless 
he  keeps  them  for  the  above  amount  of 
land  and  no  more.  Most  of  my  tools  I 
use  for  nearly  all  the  hoed  crops  on  my 
farm.  The  Aspinwall  potato  planter  I 
use  to  make  drills  and  apply  fertilizers 
for  cabbages,  cauliflowers  and  roots. 
My  manure  does  not  cost  a  cent,  except 
the  cartage  two  miles  from  the  city.  I 
planted  12  acres  of  potatoes,  not  all  at  the 
same  time.  Here  is  as  close  an  estimate 
as  I  can  make  of  the  cost  of  the  labor  on 
three  acres  the  past  season  : 
Fall  and  spring  plowing  and  harrowing .  $12.00 
One  day’s  planting  with  the  Aspinwall  planter.  3.50 
Fertilizer .  32.00 
Cultivation  four  times  with  one  horse  and  man  9.00 
Weeding  by  day  hands .  3.00 
Applying  ParlB-green  and  cart .  5.00 
Plowing  out  with  digger,  two  horses  and  man. .  3.50 
Potato  picking  by  day  hands .  15.00 
Carting  one  mile  to  the  root-house .  9.00 
Interest  on  tools  and  harness  for  three  acres...  2.00 
Seed,  45  bushels  at  50  cents  per  bushel .  22.50 
Total . $118.50 
The  small  potatoes  for  feed  for  cattle  paid  for 
marketing.  The  land  had  been  heavily 
manured  the  previous  year  for  garden 
truck.  The  yield  of  potatoes  was  800 
bushels  marketable  potatoes  at  40  cents  per 
bushel . $320.00 
Outlay .  118.50 
Clear  profit . $201.50 
Or  $07  to  the  acre. 
Last  year  on  the  field  joining  this  one 
the  crop  was  so  rotten  that  I  left  it  on 
the  ground.  r.  brodie. 
In  Steuben  County,  New  York. 
I  should  consider  that  the  hired  man 
cost  about  $1  per  day,  or  about  $65  for 
the  man  labor.  The  cost  of  the  horse 
labor  is  more  difficult  to  determine  ;  the 
usual  price  among  farmers  is  50  cents 
and  board ;  suppose  we  say  75  cents  per 
day  for  the  horse  labor,  then  for  60  days 
it  would  be  $45,  or  $90  for  the  team  ;  $65 
more  for  the  man  would  make  $110,  and 
$110  from  $365  would  leave  $255  profit 
on  the  crop  ;  but  should  we  not  charge 
the  crop  with  something  more  than  the 
exact  amount  of  the  labor  expended 
upon  it  ?  There  are  many  rainy  days 
and  many  days  in  winter  when  the 
horses  do  not  work ;  but  the  cost  of 
keeping  them  goes  on  just  the  same.  1 
claim  that  this  crop  should  be  charged 
its  proportion  (with  the  other  money 
crops  of  the  farm)  of  the  cost  of  caring 
for  and  feeding  the  team  when  idle.  In 
figuring  the  expenses  of  the  farm  we 
should  count  everything  consumed  in 
the  family  at  the  exact  market  value, 
less  the  cost  of  marketing.  Why  should 
we  charge  ourselves  only  18  cents  for  a 
bushel  of  potatoes,  when  that  bushel 
would  sell  in  the  market  for  50  cents? 
Suppose  we  thought  sweet  potatoes 
would  be  good  for  a  change,  and  should 
sell  the  bushel  for  50  cents  and  invest 
the  money  in  sweet  potatoes,  the  charge 
on  our  expense  account  would  be  50 
cents — would  it  not  ?  It  costs  us  to  live 
just  exactly  the  market  price  of  what  we 
consume,  less  the  cost  of  marketing 
what  was  raised  on  the  farm. 
WEBSTER  EDMUNDS. 
On  Southern  Ohio  Bottom  Land. 
If  the  correspondent  had  given  the 
actual  cash  value  of  his  land,  the  appraise¬ 
ment  of  it  on  the  tax  duplicate,  the  rati 
of  taxation,  the  number  of  bushels  he 
kept  for  family  use  and  for  seed  next 
year,  together  with  the  items  he  gave,  a 
fairer  and  more  business-like  estimate 
could  be  made.  He  does  not  state  what 
kind  of  fertilizer  he  used  for  the  crop, 
but  I  infer  that  it  was  commercial,  and  if 
so,  I  do  not  believe  his  wheat  crop  will 
derive  much,  if  any,  benefit  from  it,  as 
my  experience  teaches  me  that  the  $64 
worth  of  fertilizer,  and  even  more,  dis¬ 
appears  with  the  crop  removed.  If  he 
had  used  a  ton  of.  fertilizer  to  the  acre, 
then  his  wheat  crop  would  derive  some 
benefit  from  the  excess,  but  it  would 
have  cost  him  three  or  four  times  $64. 
J.  II.  R.’s  method  of  feeding  his  hand  on 
18-cent  potatoes,  I  do  not  consider  a  fair 
one,  for  the  reason  that  the  potatoes  had 
in  the  market  a  cash  value  of  from  35  to 
45  cents  per  bushel,  and  the  land  should 
have  credit  for  all  it  produces,  at  the  cash 
value.  Now  I  should  put  down  the  full 
value  of  the  labor  of  the  horses  and  hand, 
when  he  works  with  them,  at  the  price 
( C<mtinued  on  next  page.) 
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