206 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
June. 
city. Many that have gained a competency are seeking 
a home in the country. And young men that a few 
years since left their father’s farm, thinking it would he 
a fine thing to work in a manufactory or machine shop, 
are becoming weary of such a life. Although receiving 
good pay, it is irksome after awhile, to be controlled by 
the factory hell, in their “ goings out and comings in.” 
Very unpleasant to think that the burden of life is to 
“ Eat, work, sleep, and then 
Eat, work, and sleep again.” 
Hence, discontent arises, and magnifying the evils of 
their situation, they pine for the free and independent 
life that the farmer enjoys. And so, many that left the 
farm and became artisans, return again to the vocation 
of their early days. 
Radical changes may sometimes he wise, hut they are 
often disastrous. A person by changing his occupation 
does not change his character, nor acquire thereby a new 
accession of energy or wisdom. It requires time for 
one to adapt himself to a new situation or a new pursuit ; 
there are disappointments to meet, and evils to encoun¬ 
ter that imagination had not suggested, and many have 
verified in their own experience the sentiment of Watts, 
“It is a poor relief we gain, 
To change the place and keep the pain.” 
The “signof the times,” if we read them aright, do 
not indicate so great a degree ot prosperity as has been 
enjoyed for a few years past. Should there be a still 
greater depression in the manufacturing interest, other 
interests will also suffer, and there will be greater in¬ 
ducements to engage in agricultural pursuits, as those 
always give promise of the means of living. Therefore 
it would be unwise for farmers, at present to think of 
“ selling out” and changing their vocation. W. L. Eaton. 
Good and Bad Farming. 
Eds. Cultivator —Having long been a reader of your 
journal, and having grown up under its teachings, I take 
this opportunity to let you know what I am about. The 
farm I now occupy, contains over 500 acres, 200 of which 
are under improvement, 100 are marsh, and the rest 
timber and pasture land. The soil is composed of a rich 
black loam, mixed with fine gravel. This being my 
second years’ experience as a farmer, you will not expect 
great things. In giving you a description, I shall draw 
a picture of farming as it is done in our neighborhood, 
with few exceptions. In the first place as manure de¬ 
mands our first attention, we manage it in the following 
manner. Our straw, (of which we have great quanti¬ 
ties,) is stacked on the ground, and pulled out and trod 
under foot by cattle. These huge piles are left to fer¬ 
ment one, two, or three years, till they become less 
bulky, and then you hear farmers say—“ manure does 
no good”—never thinking that in the exposure it has 
been subjected to, it has lost much of its fertilising pro¬ 
perty. 
Next comes plowing for spring crops, which is done 
by beginning somewhere in a lot and going somewhere 
else on the other side, without any regard to width of 
land or straightness of ridge. The plows are without 
wheels, and are drawn by two light horses or oxen, at a 
depth of from three to five inches. There are some ex¬ 
ceptions to this kind of management among those who 
take the Cultivator j but I am speaking of those who 
have skinned their farms till the bones begin to stick out, 
in the shape of mortgages. Now I farmed it one year 
in this way, and cleared about $200. This set me to 
thinking, the result of which was (after long consulta¬ 
tion with the Cultivator, old and new volumes,) the sale 
of my light teams and the purchase of heavy ones. I 
rigged my plows with wheels, obtained labor-saving ma¬ 
chines, cleaned out the manure from my yards twice a 
year, plowed it in once, and then plowed some two inches 
deeper, thus mixing the manure and subsoil together. 
The result of this different management was $400 profit. 
I now keep three books; one a memorandum-book, in 
which is noted everything that needs doing; one a day¬ 
book, in which I note what has been done each day, and 
one for accounts. There are a few things that are very 
important to farmers here: 1st, to save manure; 2nd, 
stock their farms to clover; 3d, deep and thorough 
plowing. L. D. Watkins. Elba, Mich. 
Farmers should Read. 
Messrs. Editors —As this is the season for study and 
mental improvement with farmers, it is to he hoped that 
it will be improved to the best advantage. 
Could the body of farmers in the several states, im¬ 
prove their leisure time in the study of the farm, and in 
gaining general knowledge, a greater impulse would be 
given to improved agriculture than all the “ Fairs” have 
done in the last five years. It is true our yearly fairs 
please the eye and improve the mind, and help to keep 
up a friendly feeling among farmers. Yet it is the study 
of the farm by the farmer, that leads way the to perma¬ 
nent improvements. Examples from intelligent farmers 
go a great way in introducing improved methods. Yet 
there are but few farmers who make improvements, unless 
they are in all respects reading and thinking men. 
Of all classes of laboring men, farmers have the most 
leisure in course of the year, and they ought to be the 
best educated. It has been the practice, in what are 
called the “Professions,” for men to spend years in 
close mental application to fit themselves for their calling. 
And what business is followed which requires a more 
varied study than that of agriculture? That it is 
generally carried on by a scanty supply of “ head-work,” 
I am ready to admit. But this does not prove that it 
is, or should be necessarily so. It only proves that the 
farmer is willing to plod on from year to year at a hap¬ 
hazard rate, with a less amount of knowledge of his 
business than would satisfy any other class of men. I 
am often surprised, in asking farmers to take and read 
an agricultural paper, to hear them reply that they 
w’ould take it, but they have not the time to read it. 
In nine cases out of ten, the plain English of this is they 
have not the will or disposition to read. The worst of 
all excuses that the farmer can plead, is that he has not 
the time to read. Every individual has time to spend 
well or ill, as his tastes dictate. That farmer who does 
nothing more than dig and delve, from the beginning to 
the end of the year, lives to a very small purpose indeed. 
There is a satisfaction found in reading and improving 
the mind, which can only be appreciated when it is expe¬ 
rienced. The farmer who only reads his weekly newspa¬ 
per, during the long winter evenings, knows very little of 
