AUG 44 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
&mal topics, 
RURAL PRIZE SERIES, 
PROFITABLE FARMING FOR 
A POOR MAN. 
How to Become a Successful Farmer. 
[The Above Is tho title of n series of essays. ior the 
best of whteh premiums were offered by rhe Rcbat. 
New-Yorker last year, the object being to assist 
those farmers who nave limited means or those hav¬ 
ing a small capital, ahout to engage In farming 
They are for the most part written by those who 
have passed through the trials of an Impoverished 
beginning to real success.! 
A "CITY FARMER’S” SUCCESS. 
In I860, we moved from town to a farm, 
True, the farm was paid for, and the land was 
in an ordinary state of cultivation, but with 
very poor fences, no barn, and a poor house 
At moving time, my capital consisted of the 
household conveuiencies, one horse, one cow, 
with a calf, a wagon, and few fanning imple¬ 
ments, a man in poor health, with a wife, a 
large family of girls, and a baby-boy. Things 
did not look very encouraging at the start; 
nevertheless, we started. We hired a horse 
to make the team to put in the Spring crop; 
bought a cow and a calf, so that we had two 
cows and two calves. Next, I bought three 
calves, three or four days old, aud raised the 
five calves on butter-milk aud gruel made of 
coarse flour, adding a little baking soda to pre¬ 
vent diarrhea. Sometimes I had to add white 
oak bark tea. Then we soon had seven cows, 
and the first three years I raised 31 calves in 
the same way. I soon bought a horse and 
some sheep. Most of the farming had to be 
done by hired help. All the time poultry were 
doing good sendee, for we kept about SO hens. 
When hatching time came, we generally set 
six or eight hens at one time. Hatching over, 
we put 30 chicks to a heu and kept them in a 
dry place for four weeks. The rest of the hens 
soon began to lav again. In this manner, we 
some years raised 800 chickens. 
In five years, I had enough cows to begin 
shipping milk to the city, 40 miles distant, 
which can be done without the help of men. 
the girls being able to handle horses ou any oc¬ 
casion as well as the organ. Selling milk did 
not stop the raising of calves. We still raise 
eight or ten each year. We take the calf of 
the cow; teach it to drink milk; add one tea¬ 
cupful of the aforesaid gruel and soda; in¬ 
crease the ration of gruel and decrease that of 
milk till the calf takes all gruel in six or seven 
days. The gruel must be very smooth. I keep 
three work-horses aud raise two colts each 
year. I always select choice heifers for cows, 
to take the place of auy old cows I wish to dis¬ 
pose of. and I always have some young cattle 
to sell each year. I keep 50 sheep and raise 15 
or 20 lambs each year, disposing of as many, 
so as not to overstock the pasture, as sheep and 
cows don't feed on the same pasture welL 
Thus we got along. The old stable gave way 
to a bonk barn; the old house, to a comfort¬ 
able eight-roomed dwelling. Wagon-shed, 
carriage-house and all other necessary out¬ 
buildings also arose. When I look back, 
I cannot see that, under the same circum¬ 
stances, any different course would have 
given any better success. During those years 
of struggle, however, all was not sun-shine 
and prosperity; many a heavy cloud passed 
over us. Only the farmer who has passed 
from poor to comfortable circumstances aud 
who has raised a large family at the same time, 
can realize what a straggle we passed through. 
With the machinery ami farming implements 
now in use, fanning should lie a success; but 
the very first tilings to start out with are good 
brains, energy, aud economy. Laboring with 
the hands is not all that is necessary in success¬ 
ful farming; that should eorne in after the 
brain has marked out a course of well-laid 
plans. Tho farmer who plans well aud car¬ 
ries his plans into effect promptly, is sure of 
success. He should not neglect w hat he has in 
trying to get more, and lose more than he 
gains. A fanner should be intelligent aud 
should keep himself well informed; and to do 
this I don’t know any better way than to take 
a good agricultural paper like the Rural 
New-Yorker. 
A farmer should always have his work laid 
out some time ahead both for wet weather 
and dry. Be not like a man I once knew; 
after breakfast, was over, ask him what was 
the program for the day, and the answer 
would be,“Don’t know,” and at the same time a 
hired man would be waiting to take orders for 
the day. Every farmer should decide on tho 
course best suited to the location of his farm, 
and the condition of his land. On a farm loca¬ 
ted near a town largo enough to give a good 
market, dairying aud gardening would most 
certainly be profitable, if properly conducted. 
The selling of milk causes less labor than 
any other form of dairying which is profit¬ 
able. The milk farmer also feeds his stock 
what he raises on his farm, and in return en¬ 
riches his land with profit again, and by 
adopting the gruel system calves can be raised 
which should bring a profit. 
Gardening is a profitable business. If one 
doesn’t understand it, Peter Henderson’s Gar¬ 
dening for Profit, and a good agricultural 
paper would be a great help, using one’s own 
good judgment along with them. The garden 
plot should be long and should lie facing the 
east or southeast if possible, and be sloping a 
little in one of these directions, but not enough 
to wash—so that it will drv off early in Spring, 
or it should be underdrained. It should be 
well manured and plowed in the Fall. Plow 
in Spring again; put fertilizing salt on, 800 
pounds to the acre, to prevent worms in 
the soil, as well as to enrich the ground. 
After plowing it should be thoroughly pul¬ 
verized; then smooth it by dragging the 
corn marker up-side-down over it; or take a 
16-foot plank: put two holes in the side and 
hitch the team to it, and stand on it as it is 
drawn over the soil, and in a few minutes the 
latter will he smooth. Everything should 
be planted in rows the whole length of the 
plot, just wide enough for a horse to walk 
between. In gardening manure is of great 
importance, and always gives a good re¬ 
turn. It can be bought in our towns at 75 
cents per two-horse load. For cucumbers my 
plan is to dig n hole six inches deep and as 
large around as a wash-tub, put two or three 
buckets of good manure in, cover three inches 
with earth, plant plenty of seed. When the 
vines are past danger from bugs, tliiu out to 
six or eight in a hill. When ready for hoeing 
give a rich top-dressing. Fix or eight hills 
will give a barrel of pickles. The seed should 
be planted when the moon sign is in the arms; 
then you will get plenty of pickles. [We are 
surprised so intelligent a man who has been on 
a farm only a little over a dozen years, should 
believe in "the signs of the moon.” A farmer 
who has moved in his father’s and grand¬ 
father’s tracks all his life, might do so of 
course without causing much surprise to any¬ 
body. Eds.] I have vines now bearing that 
have from three to five in a cluster at almost 
every bearing point. On 13 inches of a vine 
I counted 21 from the size of a pickle to some 
only one inch, and eight more have started. 
It is not the amount of gardening, but the 
manner of gardening that brings a profit, and 
just the same is true in farming of any kind. 
Just as you sow or plant, so you null reap. If 
the land is poor, a man with small capital cau- 
Dot enrich it all at once; but surely he can 
by taking field after field, and for garden, 
strip after strip, and by and by the profit 
will come. 
I know of a farm so poor that weeds and 
briars could hardly grow on ft: but it fell into 
the hands of a poor Englishman. Last Fall 
he put in a field of wheat; the year before it 
was in corn, and a man on horseback could 
hardly have reached down to the top of the 
corn. Every one supposed the wheat would 
be the same; but to the surprise of all except 
the Englishman, a crop of good wheat was 
harvested, except on a small strip the growth 
on which was worth nothing, and the secret 
was he put $20 worth of ground bone on the 
land, and the poor strip didn’t get any. He 
also got a good catch of clover and Timothy, 
which is a sure way to enrich his land. He 
also hauled manure miles, and raised a 
good crop of potatoes. He is on the right road 
to success. 
A poor man on a farm, to be successful, 
should eulist the interest and co-operation of 
his family. The best way I know of to do that, 
is to talk his plans over to them, and draw out 
their opinions and suggestions. It will not 
only teach them to plau well, but it will give 
them an interest in the work; they will feel 
like partners in the business and all will work 
for the same end. A man’s wife ami children 
should always be his first counsellors, as they 
arc not likely to counsel against their own in¬ 
terests. Of course he should take all outside in¬ 
formation he can get, that he can approve of. 
If his family understand the condition of the 
business they will be more sure to live within 
the income; an opposite course might ho dis¬ 
astrous. The boys and girls of such farmers 
would be content to stay at home, instead of 
rushing off to cities to get employment that 
would interest them Farmers’ children above 
10 years old should have some stock of their 
own, to furnish their own clothes as far as 
the value of it would go. They should manage 
or plan for themselves, getting good advice 
with regard to their plans. They would then 
soon feel an interest in the work. Our four 
oldest girls have each a cow. and when they 
go out to milk they feel they have an interest 
in the product. Boys should have sheep or 
something of their own.uot given to them and 
then on the slightest provocation taken from 
them. Give them a chance and they will soon 
keep themselves, while helping you. The 
whole family must move along together to in¬ 
sure success. E. MOM. 
Books Recfhretr. 
Forty Years in Phrenology. By Prof. 
Nelson Sizer. Illustrated. Fowler & "Wells Pub¬ 
lishers, N. Y. City. Prof. Sizer, the author of 
this work has been the Phrenological examiner 
in the world-wide place of renown, Fowler & 
Wells office for thirty years. He has met over 
two hundred thousand persons in that time 
and is one of the best readers of character. 
Phrenology is losing no ground, and as a 
proof of this fact, one needs only to step into 
the rooms at No. 753 Broadway foran houror so 
and they wil I be satisfied of it. There are many 
droll instances in this work, and the sparkle of 
the quick, ready wit of the writer is to be seen 
all through it. 
The Trivial Life. In two Parts. Part 1 
Fpinsterbood. Part 2, Meum and Teum. G. 
P. Putnam & Sons. N. Y. City, Publishers. 
Price 50 cents per vol. These are the two 
latest of the Trans-Atlantic Series of novels, 
which number 17. They offer a diversity of 
pleasant reading, and is just the kind to be 
appreciated when one wished to be interested 
without taxing the brain. 
Authors and Publishers, A manual of 
suggestions for beginners in literature, com¬ 
prising a description of publishing methods 
and arrangements. Preparation of M. S. for 
the Press, instructions for proof-reading, etc.? 
etc. G. P. Putnam & Sons, Publishers- 
Price *1.00. 
Notes ok Talks on Teaching given by 
Francis W. Parker at the Martha's Vineyard 
Summer Institute df 1882. E. L. Kellogg & 
Co., No. 21 Park Place. N. Y., Publishers. 
Price §1.00. 'This is a sketch—an instan¬ 
taneous photograph, as it were—of a great 
living teacher at work teaching teachers; con¬ 
sequently it is a book for students. It is well 
printed on good paper, in English cloth, and 
has a cut of Col. Parker. 
Germany Seen Without Spectacles; or 
random sketches of various subjects penned 
from different stand-points in the etnpi re. By 
Henry Ruggles. Late Consulate at Malta and 
Barcelona Price §2.50 This is a volume of 
206 pages, printed on finely tinted paper and 
in large type. A well-written and very in¬ 
teresting work, full of bright, pleasant inci¬ 
dents, as well as useful information. 
X. Y. Z.. a detective story. By Anna 
Katharine Green. G. P. Pntnam & Sons- 
Publishers. Price 25 cents. 
Topics of the Time, a series of Representa¬ 
tive Essays on Questions of the Day. By 
Titus Munson Coan. G. P. Putnam & Sods, 
Publisher*. Price 25 cents each. 12 vol. pp. 
$2.50. Cloth, $6.00. Vol. 1. is Social Prob¬ 
lems. Vol. 2. Studies in Biography. Vol. 3. 
Studies iu Literature. 
Her Saii.or Love. By Katharine S. Mac- 
quoid. G. P. Putnam ct Sons, Publishers. 
Price 50 cents, pp. One of the Trans-Atlan¬ 
tic Series, and a pleasant little love story to 
read these warm Summer days. 
The Reading of Books; Its pleasures and 
profits. By Chas. F. Thwing. Lee & Shep 
ard. Publishers. Price §1.25. A useful hand 
book for any reader, especially for those who 
desire to know how to read systematically. 
Cobbett and his Grammar. By Robert 
Waters. Teacher of languages and Literature 
in Hoboken Academy. James W. Pratt, N. 
Y. City, Publisher. This is a work which 
should be placed in the hands of every scholar 
Many young people dislike to study grammar, 
and declare that they uever can understand it. 
Yet it is of vast importance that they should 
do so. and thoroughly too. If this work was 
universally used in our schools Kith public 
and private, the old feeling of distaste for the 
study of grammar would exist no longer; hut 
instead, it would become one of the favorite 
studies. There is also a complete biography 
of the life of William Cobbett. which is full of 
interest, showing his ability as a farmer, as a 
soldier and a writer. Also to live the life of 
an exile, which he became iu consequence of 
his free speech and ideas of justice, and beiug 
the editor ot a paper called the Register, he 
had aliuudant opportunity of declaring his 
principles, which he did fearlessly. 
The Natural Cure of Consumption, Brights 
Disease. Rheumatism, etc. By C. E. Page, 
M. D. Fowler & Wells, Publishers. Price 
§1.00. This is a work in which the author 
strongly advocates hygienic treatment, w hich 
he considers is the best for all diseases, but 
especially those which are described in this 
book. 
Encyclopedia Brittannica. a Dictionary 
of Arts, Sciences, and general literature. J. 
M. Stoddard & Co.. Phila., Publishers. The 
15 vol. of the ninth edition of this highly 
valuable work has been issued. It needs no 
word of ours spoken in its favor, as it is too 
well known in the literary world. 
Deep Breathing: As a means of curing 
weakness of the t hroat and lungs. Translated 
from the German by Edgar S. Werner. Hol¬ 
brook & Co., Publishers, N. Y. City. 
MAGAZINES, ETC. 
The Century. This is the Midsummer 
Number and fills all requirements. Some of 
the contents are: A Woman’s Reason. The 
Bread Winners. The New Silk Dress Story, 
Nights with Uncle B,emus, an illustrated 
article, Bob White the Game Bird Of 
America, and one humorously illustrated; The 
Oldest Club in America. Poetry, Topics of the 
Times, Bric-a-Brac. 
St. Nicholas. This delightful magazine 
for the young, is essentially, this month, a 
holiday number, taking its readers to the 
mountains, the seaside, and by brooks and 
breakers. Our Special Artist; an amusing 
sea story. “ Lady of the Chingachgoock:” an 
excellent story for girls, called “ Zintha’s For 
tune also the serial's Tinkham Brother’s Tide 
Mill, by J. T. Trowbridge, and 44 Swept 
Away,” by Edward S. Ellis, and many other 
stories, with sketches, pictures, etc . etc. 
Harper’s Magazine. This is trulv a 
brilliant number. It has eight fully illus¬ 
trated articles. The Heart of the Alleghanie 
American Horses, Vallombrosa. The German 
Crown Prince, The Canadian Habitant. War 
Pictures in Times of Peace. The British Yoke 
and the Modern Yacht. There is also Par^ 
Four of the novel A Castle in Spain, a storv by 
Harriet Prescott Spofford, called Best Laid 
Schemes, with poems. Editors Easy Chair 
Literary Record, Historical Record and 
Drawer. 
The Manhattan. This is comparatively a 
new magazine. The number for August being 
the second of Vol Two. The frontispiece is an 
engraving of Savonarola, and is followed by a 
finely written and illustrated article, called 
Florence the Beautiful. Three chapters of 
Julian Hawthorne’s story Beatrix Randolph; 
My Diary in Engadine. Kate Field; The Ger¬ 
man Colonv in London. Helen Zimmern; Her 
Price, which is concluded in this number; One 
of Philadelphia's Jewells. Margaret P. Janes; 
with Poems. Town Talk, Salmagundi, etc. 
AFTER GRADUATING—WHAT ? 
Father always told us children that he 
would send us through the High School, and 
after that we must "scratch for ourselves.” 
You see there are a good many of us, and had 
father been as rich as Croesus, it would have 
marie quite a hole in his fortune to give each 
of the half-dozen a college education. 
We didn’t take it at all to heart, for you may 
be sure that girls and boys who have always 
lived in the country, with freedom to run aud 
romp and to become friends to the ugly little 
bugs and worms, aud every plant and tree, 
can’t bring themselves to love the thought of 
boarding-school—even at the subdued age of 
18 or 20 yearn. I needn’t say we never wished 
that we could attend the good day-school at 
the village two miles distant, for we did some¬ 
times feel a wee bit envious of our former 
classmates who seemed to be striding way- 
ahead of us. 
But we had each other aud found any 
amount of comfort in a general consolation 
meeting once in a while. These meetings 
sometimes began in a funeral style, but al¬ 
most invariably ended in the best of spirits. 
We four girls considered ourselves the “grown¬ 
ups” of the family, for the other two children 
were little boys. In due time, we girls each 
finished the High School course which gave 
us a fair knowledge of Latin, lower mathema¬ 
tics, philosophy’, literature and like branches. 
Each one. as she finished, found a nook at 
home to he filled; so when I, beiug the young’ 
est, got through last, we found ouiselves all 
home together. I am proud to confess, how¬ 
ever. that my sisters were far ahead of me 
when 1 graduated, for hadn’t they built right 
up on their foundation! They- had studied 
as a sort of recreation from other work, and 
I was proud of their accomplishments. 
I had always built air-castles about how I 
should teach just as soon as l had finished 
my allotted course and then go to school 
after awhile. I counted in this way: "You’ll 
be 17 when you graduate; three years can be 
spent, in teaching, and then you’ll lie plenty 
young enough to go to school some more.” 
But 17 years and the course completed found 
me the worse for wear, aud much in need of 
rest. Moreover I was, as younger sisters have 
a fashion of being, a great deal more ignor¬ 
ant of house-work than was for mv own good. 
So, demolishing my alr-cartles. I reasoned 
in this wise: “You are a sort of a good-for- 
nothing and the best thing you can do for your¬ 
self and all concerned is to stay at home for 
at least oue year, take the burden of work 
from the home-folks, make yourself useful 
since you can never be ornamental, and you 
can feel that you are earning your living if 
ymu haven’t left the home-nest, and whatever 
else you do, don’t whine©.” 
Then* 1^settled myself to work—not sor- 
