AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
FOR THE 
jECarni, Garden, and HouseliolcL 
“AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST 1IKALT1IFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN o 7r — Washington. 
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Entered according to Act of Congress, in May, 1872, by Orange Judd & Co., at the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
VOLUME XXXI.—No. 6. 
NEW YORK, JUNE, 1872. 
NEW SERIES—No. 305. 
Our many inland readers, when they read the 
t .le to the engraving, will look around for the 
’•pi and the farmer. They are both in plain 
ew, and as unlike the farm and farmer of any 
other part of the country as the sea-shore is 
unlike prairie or mountain-side. From their 
close proximity to the sea, most of these along¬ 
shore farms are, if not sterile, at least not over- 
fertile, and the sweeping storms and the salt 
atmosphere restrict the cultivator to a few 
crops, though it often happens that he can grow 
these few in great perfection. The farmer him¬ 
self is something of an amphibian, and is quite 
as handy at managing a boat as a mowing 
machine. Nets are quite as important to him 
as hay-rakes, and the oyster-dredge is as much 
a part of his outfit as the dairy utensils. We 
can recall pleasant visits to more than one of 
these shore-farms, where, if there was not much 
systematic agriculture, there was a great deal of 
comfort. The sea which carries away so much 
of value from the land returns much to those 
who live by its side. Fish, oysters, clams, lob¬ 
sters, and other articles of food are abundant 
and easily obtained, and the sea which furnishes 
the provisions also sends drift-wood to cook 
them with. Fertilizers for the fields are drawn 
|rom the ever-full storehouse of the sea. Fish, 
sea-weed, and marsh mud all go to the compost 
heap, and bring abundant returns from the 
meadow lands au d fields. It often happens that 
the shore-farmer carries on a mechanical trade 
with his agriculture, and this is either boat-build¬ 
ing or net-making. Perhaps this kind of life 
does not tend to make the best sort of “ scien¬ 
tific” farmers, but it does tend to make, what is 
quite important, a useful and self-reliant people, 
among whom we have found more culture than 
their rough exterior would lead one to expect. 
