SEPT 45 
643 
THE RURAL. NEW-YORKER. 
farm topics. 
RURAL PRIZE 5ERIES, 
PROFITABLE FARMING FOR 
A POOR MAN. 
How to Become a Successful Farmer 
(Th»> ahnvp Id Mio tltli' of n serloB nf essays for the 
best, nf which premiums were offered hr the RtrnAi, 
Ntr,w-YOBKBB last year, the ob.1eet belli(t to assist 
(hose fnrmers who have limited means or those flav¬ 
ine a small capital, about to emrnpe In farming: 
They nre for the most part written by those who 
have passed through the trlnls of an Impoverished 
beginning to real suceess.l 
REQUISITES - FOR SUCCESS. 
ARTHUR YOUNG. 
Concluded. 
Energy and enthusiasm are prime requisites 
for success. These are but other words for 
the home-made, Anglo-Saxon word “push.” 
There is money in that simple monosyllable, 
and when conjoined with good judgment, it 
becomas a key to success not only individual 
but national. Trip up an active, energetic 
man and he will regain his feet in a moment. 
Snatch the prize from him just ns he has his 
hand on it, and he will soon regain it. It is 
such men that havo discovered America, 
spanned it with railroads, built mighty cities 
on its vast prairies, sent great steamers to all 
parts of the world, flashed messages in the 
twinkling of an eye to the uttermost ends of the 
world, and dragged the mighty treasures from 
the bowels of the earth. Cultivate this power. 
Bring into play all the latent, power of nature. 
The more one does the more he is able to do. 
Strike now, and with a will. Put not off till 
to-morrow what ought to be done to-day. 
Get all the education you can. Education is 
the power that must sway the future nation, 
and also the individual education changes the 
one-sided man into the many-sided, thoughtful 
man. 
This much have I said in a general way, and 
what I have said is applicable not alone to 
farmers, hut to all. Before concluding, I will 
give a few special hints—and I must add an¬ 
other word about going in debt. I want no 
one to think that I mean that any one should 
continue asa laborer till be has enough to buy 
a largo farm. No one should be satisfied with 
a salary. It is like mortgaging the future or 
the possibilities of the future, for whatever 
good is done goes to another. However hard, 
however honestly, however well a hired man 
works,the proceeds go into another’s pocket,and 
the cred i fc goes to another’s brains. What should 
be thought of a person hiring out to hunt a 
gold mine, and how would he feel if he found 
it ? As Lngersoll savs : “We are lucking true 
courage, when for fear of the future, we take 
the crusts and scraps and niggardly salaries of 
the present.” But we must not be too inde¬ 
pendent, nor try to be a freeholder with no 
capital at all. We must strike the golden 
mean. 
For myself, I choose farming of that class 
called “mixed” farming, because it is more 
independent. No one cause will lie likely to 
render him helpless who practices mixed 
husbandry, for if he fails in one thing, there 
are other things w'hich he can fall back on. 
If the plague should take his cattle he will 
have some hogs or some corn and wheat, and, 
moreover, he can accomplish more with the 
same force; for while his wheat is growing he 
is preparing for a crop of corn and potatoes. 
Every farmer should have a plan of rota¬ 
tion of crops not one copied from some agri¬ 
cultural book or journal. This may do well 
ouough to begin with, but it must be modified 
by the climate, size of farm, kind of soil, 
amount and kind of help and numerous other 
considerations. 
The odd moments of the Winter time should 
be spent in storing the mind with useful 
knowledge of all kinds, nud especially with that 
which pertains to one’s special line of business. 
Winter is the time the farmer should lay out a 
plan for the coming Summer’s work. The 
manure should bo kept in a place easy of ac¬ 
cess and safe from waste, so as to be quickly 
hauled to the place where wanted for the 
Spring crops. And in this season he should 
study the weather for the coming year, and 
get, if possible, a general idea of what kind of 
n season is before him. For this purpose he can 
use the almanacs of such persons as have at 
least some reputation in forecasting the 
weather, as Vennor, Ti;e and the reports of 
the United States Signal Service. No abso¬ 
lute reliauce can be placed in any of these, but 
they help to form opinions, and he should 
learn a few of the simple means of foretelling 
and some of the signs. Now, I do not mean 
that any one should put reliance in lunar 
and zodiacal signs. While I do uot. wish to 
say there is nothing in these, yet that the 
moon has any influence on the growth of vege¬ 
tation, has not been decided by science. But 
there is a connection between certain phenom¬ 
ena of the sun and the growth of vegetation, 
and as the science of astronomy advances. I 
have no doubt that we may in the future with 
some degree of accuracy, foretell the oriee of 
com and other products. Above all, the 
wide-awake farmer should lie ready to begin 
the Spring work at the first chance. When¬ 
ever nature makes the season he should be 
ready to improve it. He should not wait for 
a certain month or a certain time of the 
month to plant bis crops, but, put his depend¬ 
ence on nature; she seldom deceives, and if she 
gives a time in March to plant com, why not 
plant it ? If vegetation is as well advanced 
then as is usual at eom-planting, then March 
is the time to plant; while, on the other hand, 
if the season is delayed till late in June, do 
not give up in despair, there will almost surelv 
be a time for it to ripen, and a late Fall will 
be pretty sure to follow. 
The weather Is generally right: the fault is 
in ourselves. Here last year was in many 
cases unfortunate for the corn crop. Some 
were easy about putting in their corn, and 
just as most people were ready to plant there 
came about two weeks of bad weather, and 
people thought there would bo no crop. The 
early com endured the bad weather and made 
a good crop, while the late, through a favora¬ 
ble Fall, produced an average crop. 
Another thing of importance next, to 
keeping a sharp watch on nature, is 
to have plenty of help. Have ar¬ 
rangements made for help enough to do 
more than you expect to do. Do not lay out 
too much work, and then if the season is what 
is called o bad one, the plowing and planting 
can he well done, and the farmer is thus en¬ 
abled to keep pace with nature: while if the 
season is a good one, he can always find 
enough to do, even if it is not urging him 
just now. This may look like advice which 
may lead to extravagance, and it will if 
abused. But my observation both on others 
and myself, leads me to believe that, ns a 
rule, farmers lay out more work than they 
can do. and ranch loss follows from hastily 
and ill-done work, and that much is gained by 
having the force ready for an emergency like 
a failure of com to grow or its destruction by 
the worms. These are the times when the 
hours are golden, and In making a crop of 
wheat, a few days or even a few hours have 
saved or lost an entire crop—a fact which I 
on one occasion know to lie true, and I have 
no doubt that others have had similar expe¬ 
rience. 
If a rainy day comes be ready to turn 
to something else. Every farmer should 
have some carpenter tools and a place 
in the bam or somewhere else, so that on rainv 
days he may make n few simple repairs, and 
if he has a little mechanical skill he can make 
gates and numerous other things useful on a 
farm, and do it for a'trifle compared with the 
cost when done by a regular mechanic. 
And when the rain stops, if it is too wet to 
continue at the work he was at before the rain 
came, he should have a memorandum of other 
work which needs doing, such as repairing 
fences, destroying weeds, etc. "When the 
Summer’s work is done and Winter is coming 
on, see that all stock shall be provided with 
suitable shelter and feed, as it is undoubtedly 
a fact that housed stock take much less feed 
in Winter than the unhoused. Have special 
arrangemeuts for those animals nursing 
young, and In this climate nothing is better 
than a bank barn to shelter a cow and young 
calf, or sow and pigs. Here let me remark 
that it takes no more feed to keep a good breed 
of stock than a poor breed, and a well-bred 
animal often takes less feed than a common 
bred animal, and the best bred animal finds 
the best, sale, and will often sell when the 
poorer bred one will not, anil, besides, the 
gratification of owning a fine animal is not 
small. 
All farmers should make their plans to feed 
almost all they raise—never sell any grain, if 
possible. Turn it into beef and sell that, thus 
making an additional gain in manure and also 
usually a fair profit for the time spent in 
feeding. This is a pretty hard problem for a 
person of limited means, but much success de¬ 
pends upon its solution. 
A farmer with children can utilize them 
very nicely in the kitchen garden- a good 
place to keep them from idleness and train 
them up for the future field work in which 
most children are anxious to excel; but a tier- 
son without, children must havo a set time to 
devote to the garden; if not, he will let the 
weeds take it and have none. Ho must, not, 
or rather cannot, depend on spare hour* to 
make garden. 8j>are hours are too irregular 
to favor the growth of plants. Few farmers 
can afford to buy their garden stuff, and much 
less to go without. Vegetables are necessary 
to health. Fruit is not one of the luxuries, 
but of the essentials of life. Ripe, wholesome 
fruits do much to prevent various diseases, 
especially fevers, wheu eaten in small quanti¬ 
ties at proper intervals, and therefore I think 
every farmer should have a good selection of 
fruit on his farm. In selecting he should have 
in view a succession of fruit for every season, 
productiveness, hardiness and early bearing. 
For different localities different lists of fruits 
are necessary; for any one variety has a lim¬ 
ited territory where it succeeds best. 
A young farmer with limited means must 
be careful bow he invests in new kinds of 
wheat aud corn and the like. Leave such ex¬ 
periments to those who have more means, for 
all farmers of means should devote some 
space and time to experiments, because stock 
will degenerate and grain will deteriorate, and 
then comes a necessity for a change, and to 
change for the 1 letter one must learn the ad¬ 
vantage of each kind, aud experimenting as 
a rule is more expensive than profitable. 
As a rule, beware of patent rights, and in¬ 
deed of traveling vendors of all kinds. AH 
articles of real merit will soon be found for 
sale in your town, and, above all, never sign 
your name to a paper for anyone yon do not 
know, either personally or by reputation; for 
too often unprincipled persons by chemical 
and other means change the meaning of the 
paper, and a simple order for goods may turn 
out a note for hundreds of dollars. 
I think that we should give more time and 
money to making our homes beautiful. In 
this we let our city cousins surpass us. While we 
have more of the natural beauties we neglect 
too much to'utilize them. If we would only 
try, we could, at but a small outlay, make our 
surroundings perfect paradises of beauty and 
comfort; but we neglect this and the boys and 
girls when they visit their city cousins, see 
things so much nicer, they wish they could live 
in town and in this way partly they come to be 
dissatisfied with their own lot and to think 
they are inferior to their cousins in town. If 
a person ever attains to anything he must re¬ 
spect himself and his vocation. We must have 
a pleasant home if we want the boys and girls 
to love it and their calling. They must feel 
that they are not inferior to any person, as in¬ 
deed they are not, and I think in many ways 
they are superior, because they have the ad¬ 
vantage of pure, wholesome air and many 
other advantages of which their city cousins 
are deprived. “We are just wbat we think 
we are ” If we think we are inferior, miser¬ 
able, despised beings, it will not belong till we 
are just such beings, while if we think we are 
the equals of any, that is the great, step to gain 
equality. It is this feeling of inferiority that 
makes the bright, smart hoy of the farm rush 
off to the city to receive the wealth, honor 
and position that are there awaiting only for 
him to come and claim them. Some have been 
successful: we can point, them out in the White 
House and the Senate Chamber, among the 
railroad magnates and bank presidents: hut 
these are the exceptions. Yet how many 
have worried out a miserable existence and 
found to their sorrow that they had bartered 
their independence for an abject vassalage 
and become the slaves of the caprice of their 
customers and patrons, and lost their free¬ 
dom, frankness, nobility and often their 
health. Contentment is a jewel and a king¬ 
dom in itself. 
Then the boys should be taught self-respect 
and to understand the greatness of their posi¬ 
tion, and they will seldom leave it for other 
paths to glorv and wealth which so often 
prove misleading and bring those who travel 
thorn to ruin in the mazes of city life. 
But what is the use of giving advice and 
offering experience to others; few heed 
advice and the experiences of others are 
scoffed ah Lectures at best make but a 
transient impression. 
But personal experience is a very harsh 
course of instruction, and a lesson once learned 
in that school is seldom forgotten. So to 
make a success of life we must mark well our 
failures and seek the causes, finding out if they 
could not possibly be shunned, aud if there are 
any means by which a repetition of the same 
mistakes may bo avoided. Wheuever a mis¬ 
take lias occurred do not fail to seek the 
cause for a future guide. 
In conclusion. 1 want to impress on all the 
fact that it is attention to the little things that 
distinguishes the successful from the unsuc¬ 
cessful man. The general processes of farm¬ 
ing are the same; but. farmers side by side 
have different degrees of success, and often 
the variations of soil are not enough to account 
for all the difference. This one has done his 
plowing 1 letter and haR left no elbows in his 
furrows and no skipped places; then he has 
pulverized the soil better aud did uot have 
to hurry so much to get the seed in in season, 
and throughout his management was just a 
little better— not much, but just a trifle so as 
to make a few bushels more to the acre in a 
good season, and possibly many bushels more 
in a bad season, for a bad season is wbat tests 
the skill of a farmer. In a good season the 
crops sometimes seem determined to succeed 
in spite of all opposition. Therefore I think 
that the observation of causes and effects, 
coupled with a judgment capable of apply¬ 
ing the lessons learnt among the greatest 
elements in the success of farmers, for the 
farmer has to deal with much which he can¬ 
not control to any great extent, so he must 
observe when he can best exert the little 
power he may towards”control. 
Citmmj. 
A LADY ON ELECTRIC LIGHTS. 
On. cruel electricity, that gives so strong a light. 
In many an unprotected lamp you flashed supremely 
bright, 
You shone upon our pretty gowns, illuminated 
flowers. 
But all too ruthlessly lit up these pallid cheeks of 
ours. 
’Twas at the Horticultural, and ferns and flowers 
werp there. 
The beautiful gloxinias, and orchids passing rare: 
They faced the Incandescent lamps as erst they faced 
the sun. 
While many a cheek grew strange of hue and felt It¬ 
self undone. 
And vainly art aids nature now In unobtrusive way, 
This lamp malign of Edison’s Is worse than brightest 
day; 
A veil may serve to screen from sun, but when In 
evening dress, 
There’3 nothing ’twlxt these awful lamps and female 
loveliness. 
Then, men of science, you must aid and tell us, If you 
please, 
How we shall make our charms withstand such glar¬ 
ing lights as these: 
For If the ladles And these lamps still turn them pale 
and wan. 
They’ll lead a feminine crusade ’gainst Edison and 
Swan. 
THE WIFE OF A “ GENIUS.” 
MARY WAGER-FISHER. 
No collection of published letters has 
amused me so much as those of Jane Welsh 
Carlyle, the wife of Thomas Carlyle, who, 
since his death, has probably been more writ¬ 
ten about than any other Englishman of let¬ 
ters of this country. Indeed, to take up a 
journal or magazine without seeing something 
about the Carlyles was exceptional, and when 
the private correspondence of Mrs. Carlyle 
appeared, it seemed that the Carlyle family 
had been turned inside out like a pocket, and 
there was nothing left to tell. One can easily 
imagine to what a hight of indignation the 
sparkling little woman would have risen 
had the hint ever been given to her that her 
letters would be given to the world after her 
death. And why her husband should have 
wished them to be published, carefully edit¬ 
ing and annotating them, is only explicable 
on the ground that, he wanted all the world to 
know what a bright, lovable, long-suffering 
woman she had been, and what a morose, con¬ 
ceited, selfish and self-cultured monster he had 
been. Carlyle had tremendous energy in one 
direction—the thing npon which he was at 
work, and over which he toiled with might 
and main. While at work upon it he was 
gruff and cross, absorbed utterly, dyspeptic to 
the death, irritable beyond nil reason; and to 
keep cooks from crowing, lambs from bleating, 
pianos from being thumped and unwelcome 
visitors from troubling the “heavenly silence” 
of his study, seemed to be the mission of Mrs. 
Carlyle. After his book was finished and he 
went off to recuperate, she battled with ma¬ 
sons and carpenters, carpet-beaters and glaz¬ 
iers, and what with nailing carpets down with 
her own hands, re-covering furniture and 
painting floors, she got the house in spink and 
spank order for the return of the Grand Mo¬ 
gul, with the probability staring her in the 
face that when he arrives! something would 
fail to suit him, and the whole confusion 
would have to be gone through again. This, 
with a continual combat with bed-bugs aud 
bad servants, darning aud mending her hus¬ 
band’s clothes, and trying to bring their ex¬ 
penses within a very limited income, was the 
mission filled bvMrs. Carlyle. And vet this wo¬ 
man was as gifted in her way as was he in his, 
She had been idolized as an only child, reared 
in luxury, surrounded with suitors for her 
hand, and still with a strange pertinacity, she 
had given her hand to this great awkward, 
lowiy-born Scotchman (Scotch mule would 
better express it), and all because she had 
faith that he had the elements of greatness in 
him, aud would one day be famous. All that 
she hoped for iu that respect happened, and 
more. But she lived too" near the man to ad¬ 
mire him, and evidently felt contempt for the 
admiring people who came to express their 
admiration to the “Great Carlyle.” Like her 
husband, she suffered incessantly from ill- 
health, which did not seem either to destroy 
her beauty or to dim her brightness. All in 
all, she seemed to have got on fairly happily 
with him, except during a short period, when 
he devoted himself, innocently enough, of 
