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FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 BY 
 
 F'^'^RATCHFORD STARR, M.A., 
 
 ECHO FAEM, 
 
 lilTOHFIEIiD CONNEOTIOUT. 
 
 ILLTTSTRATED. 
 
 ^ 
 
 // V^ 
 
 // 
 
 APR 23 18814 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 
 
 751 BROADWAY. 
 1881. 
 
 (IT 
 
Butered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by the 
 
 ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TO 
 
 MY MUCH ESTEEMED FRIEND, 
 THE BONORABLE 
 
 O. S. SEYMOUR, 
 
 of lAtchfield, 
 
 EX CHIEF JUSTICE OF CONNECTICUT, 
 
 IN TOKEN OF MT EIGH PERSONAL REGARD, 
 
 AND APPRECIATION OF THE 
 
 EEABTT GREETINGS ALWAYS EXTENDED ME 
 
 AS HIS 
 
 BROTHER FARMER. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 What led me to the Farm 9 
 
 Chapter II. 
 City and Country 14 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Litchfield... 20 
 
 Chapter IV. 
 Is Farming Respectable ? 29 
 
 Chapter V. 
 Early Experience --- 36 
 
 Chapter "ST;. 
 Learning to Plow 49 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 Farm Hands 56 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 Farm Animals. 68 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 Farm Buildings and Farming Implements 86 
 
 Chapter X. 
 Can Farming in New England be made Remunerative? 102 
 
 (7) 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 Three o'clock — Time for Refreshments 19 
 
 Learnmg to Plow 50 
 
 Subduing a Runaway Horss 55 
 
 Uncle Bill 58 
 
 Daisy 70 
 
 BuU, Litchfield 73 
 
 Plan of Barns 87 
 
 Interior of one of the Barns 88 
 
 Bam for Dry Cows and Young Stock 93 
 
 Cream Strainer 94 
 
 Rotary Butter Worker, and Prints of Butter 95 
 
 Testing Quality of Milk 97 
 
 BottUng Mlk 99 
 
 Milk Bottle 100 
 
 Hay Loader 101 
 
 Making a Mound of Stones. -..107 
 
 (8) 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 WHAT LED ME TO THE FARM. 
 
 In a young and extended country like this, where new 
 avenues to wealth are continually being opened up, it is 
 not to be wondered at that comparatively few of its men 
 of business work moderately. The high pressure at 
 which others are driving their commercial affairs irresist- 
 ibly impels us to put on more steam than we should 
 otherwise do. The race in many a business career is not 
 unlike the steamer races against both time and each other. 
 
 In common with many other men of business, I made 
 the grave mistake of working so assiduously at my office 
 duties as to disregard frequent admonitions that my health 
 was thus being impaired. I vainly hoped that the inces- 
 sant strain would soon so far cease as to make it safe for 
 me to continue to labor on without rest. Such hoping 
 against hope is a sad delusion. Could those thus cir- 
 cumstanced realize their position, they would speedily 
 seek relief ; but who that is thus engaged in an extensive 
 and increasing business can calmly or rightly compre- 
 hend his condition ? He must retire from it for a season 
 in order to get a correct view of it, 
 (9) 
 
10 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 The dry inland heat of Philadelphia summers told upon 
 me the more severely because of my neglect to exchange 
 it occasionally for my native sea-air. Before I was aware 
 of the fact, my health had become so impaired that 1 was 
 compelled to relinquish at once all ofl&ce duties. Happily 
 I did so before it was too late to recuperate. Thousands 
 of overworked and broken down men of business, who 
 insanely persisted in clinging too long to their business, 
 are now dragging out a miserable existence, a burden to 
 themselves and to all about them. Upon their monu- 
 ments, when erected, should be inscribed "committed 
 suicide by too close and persistent confinement to busi- 
 ness." Had they but acted the common-sense part of re- 
 tiring from a successful business before their health was 
 permanently ruined, they might now be enjoying the 
 competence their business talents secured to them. 
 Looked at even from a selfish stand-point, every one who 
 duly reflects upon this matter must realize that it is his 
 interest to toil in his counting-room, or store, only so 
 long as he can do so with a healthy brain and a healthy 
 body. Should any dyspeptic or otherwise "rundown" 
 man of business read this, let him heed the warning before 
 it is too late. There are so many such, it is not unlikely 
 that this chance shot may hit some of them, whether 
 they be such as are able to retire wholly from commercial 
 pursuits, or the less favored ones who should temporarily 
 rest in the business they cannot afford to give up. 
 
 After being under severe medical treatment, and find- 
 ing that voyaging across the Atlantic and sight-seeing in 
 Europe, though so charming, did not produce the desired 
 cure, I purchased a large-sized yacht and experienced 
 
FARM ECHOES. 11 
 
 such benefit in cruising in her, that when, at the end of 
 the yachting season, I called upon my physician, he was 
 mucli surprised at the change he saw in me, and asked 
 what I had been doing to produce it. When informed 
 that I had "employed another doctor," he was quite 
 taken aback, and in a significant tone of voice asked, 
 *' What doctor ?" Upon being informed that it was " Dr. 
 Yacht," he remarked that as the sea was so beneficial to 
 me I had "better follow it as a profession." The ques- 
 tion of yachting was, however, otherwise disposed of, as 
 none of my family could be with me because of their 
 dread of the ocean, and their illness when upon it. 
 Much of my boyhood was spent in boating, and I have 
 always had a fondness for such amusement. If, therefore, 
 my j)en occasionally jumps the track, and makes a sud- 
 den dash for old Ocean, the reader must pardon the 
 digression. 
 
 After searching for a summer residence among the hills 
 of New England, I found one a mile east of, and about 
 sixty feet above the village of Litchfield, Connecticut, the 
 natural advantages of which so charmed me that I pur- 
 chased it. Sixty-six acres were far more land than I 
 wanted, as I had not the most remote idea of being inter- 
 ested in farming, but that was the size of the property I 
 then purchased. What to do with the surplus land, and, 
 it may be added surplus rocks, I did not stop to consider. 
 
 Clearing and grading the house grounds, gave me a 
 taste for such work, and I was soon busily superintending 
 it on an enlarged scale. Acres of unproductive land were 
 "subdued," to use a local and expressive term. The 
 contest was, at times, such as made it also a decidedly 
 
12 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 appropriate term. The land and rocks had long dwelt 
 together in indolence, and were loth to part company, or 
 to work ; but the latter were forced into substantial walls, 
 surrounding and guarding the fields upouAvhich they had 
 spent so many useless years. The lands, thus freed from 
 an incumbrance as ruinous as a mortgage, were promptly 
 at work honestly and successfully, for their new owner, 
 as if in acknowledgment of his claims upon them, and 
 his detestatiou of ijidolence in any form. 
 
 Each fall I returned to my Philadelphia home, greatly 
 benefited by my out-door occupation of the summer. So 
 charmed Avere we with our country home that each suc- 
 ceeding year found my family and myself arriving earlier 
 and leaving it later in the season. The sixty-six acres 
 grew, not by natural growtli, but by subsequent pur- 
 chases, to nearly four hundred acres, which, with over two 
 hundred acres leased, with the right of purchase, gave 
 the present farm an area of about six hundred acres. 
 
 My personal attention to the work I had laid out, was 
 absolutely necessary. I Avanted certain things done in a 
 certain way, and it was equally " certain " that they would 
 not be so done unless under my strict personal super- 
 vision. 
 
 This, it must be remembered, was Avhen I first came to 
 Litchfield, years ago, and at a time Avhen I was surrounded 
 by ''hands" temporarily employed, .all of whom were 
 strangers to me, and to my way of doing things. Among 
 them were some excellent, reliable men, who are now per- 
 manently or occasionally working for me. General 
 Woodruff, Avlien called from his Litchfield farm by pub- 
 lic duties, Avould instruct his men what to do during liis 
 
FARM ECHOES. 13 
 
 absence, and would invariably be provoked by finding that 
 the work marked out by him had not been completed, if 
 commenced, while he was away. Upon one occasion he 
 was exceedingly annoyed to find that his orders had been 
 totally disregarded, and he so expressed himself to his 
 men. Among them was one whom the others supposed 
 to be half-witted, but it may be safely questioned whether 
 such was the fact, for he followed the General a short 
 distance, after his out-burst of displeasure, and said to 
 him. " Grineral ! Don't you know if a man wants a thing 
 did, he must did it hisself ?" To work a farm by proxy 
 is, as a rule, one of the greatest of follies, and it is not 
 to be wondered at that so many who try it come to grief. 
 If yoii cannot give your personal attention to a farm, 
 you had better not have one. Nine-tenths of the pleasure 
 of owning a farm is found in the superintendence of the 
 work to be done, whether it be grading, draining, tilling, 
 or " subduing " your land. 
 
14: FARM ECHOf:S. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 CITY AND COUNTRY. 
 
 If city men who undertake farming would only realize 
 their ignorance of such work, and keep this fact con- 
 stantly before them during the first four or five years of 
 country life, they would be greatly benefited by so doing. 
 It would guard them against ten thousand mistakes, and 
 be a saving to them of quite as many dollars. They would 
 thus be ever learning, and would probably have more 
 sound knowledge of practical farming at the end of the 
 period named, than many who have spent a lifetime upon 
 their farms, and who have never, for an instant, been out 
 of the ruts in which their forefathers for generations back 
 have travelled ; said ruts having been made considerably 
 deeper by each generation that got into them. 
 
 Whether it be the "greenhorn" from the city, or the 
 equally green one, country born, he who thinks that he 
 knows all that need be known of his particular calling, be 
 it tilling the land, or any other pursuit, gives unmis- 
 takable proof of lamentable ignorance. It is the barren 
 fruit tree which proudly stands erect. Such as are fruit- 
 ful are humbly bowed by their own productiveness, em- 
 blematic of those whose knowledge humbles them, and 
 makes them thirst for more. It not unfrequently happens 
 that city men who commence farming make themselves 
 ridiculous by aping the country laborers in their attire, 
 etc. As well might the ''farm hand," who drives his 
 employer's herd of cattle to a city market, through mud 
 and dust, do so in fashionable city costume as the '"'city 
 farmer," so-called, and often not inappro]iriatoly, don old 
 
FARM ECHOES. 15 
 
 worn-out boots, with hat and coat to correspond. AYhen 
 I see such characters, I cease to wonder why country peo- 
 ple make sport of ''city folks." I would not have those 
 from the city dress in their best apparel while in the midst 
 of their men superintending farm work, but there is an 
 appropriate medium between the two extremes. No 
 texture, nor style of dress, can make a farmer of one who 
 is not a farmer in any costume. 
 
 The city man who goes upon his newly acquired farm 
 for the mere pleasure of working as a day laborer, has 
 made a mistake he cannot too soon rectify. In not a few 
 instances this has been done "for the fun of the thiusr," 
 and the results have shown that the fun was decidedly 
 costly. A much greater amount of frolic could have been 
 secured through other and far less expensive channels. 
 To set before one's friends a bottle of champagne and a 
 pitcher of milk, as has been done by a fancy farmer, and 
 say, "Help yourselves, gentlemen, to whichever you pre- 
 fer, they cost me the same," evidences that sucli farming 
 is by no means profitable, however amusing. 
 
 A strong, healthy man who enters upon such a calling 
 as a business, and who conducts it in a sensible, business- 
 like manner, will soon find that, however much he may 
 desire to work with his hands, this must not be done to 
 the exclusion of the brain work necessary to enable him 
 successfully to accomplish what he has undertaken. 
 
 Countrymen have long been the laughing-stock of a 
 certain class of city people, and vice versa. This debit 
 and credit account is, I think, pretty equally balanced, 
 so that neither side need feel much chagrined. 
 
 Small communities frequently, but not necessarily, 
 
16 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 make small minds. A conceited countryman, who has 
 always lived within himself, who imagines that he knows 
 all that is worth knowing, and who does not believe in 
 any world outside of his own immediate surroundings, 
 is quite as despicable an individual as is to be found in 
 any city upstart. There is as much conceit beneath the 
 coarsest garment, as can be found in those who are the 
 most foppishly dressed. 
 
 Why some city people who visit the country should 
 disregard, except by ridicule, the polite, if rustic, bow 
 of country adults and children, I have never, from early 
 years, been able to comprehend. Every such salute, not 
 as respectfully acknowledged, proves the saluting party 
 the better mannered of the two, no matter what the dif- 
 ference in their external surroundings. A very good story 
 is told of a country girl thus rudely treated. A teamster, 
 bound for the city with a -load of slaughtered hogs, re- 
 ceived a polite courtesy from her, and insultingly laughed 
 at her for ''bowing to a lot of dead hogs." — "Oh, no," 
 replied the girl, '' I bowed to the live one !" 
 
 Like city, like country. ' ' Second-hand " articles of va- 
 rious kinds are for sale everywhere. Who has been accus- 
 tomed to see auction stores, or depositories where " second- 
 hand" goods were for sale, and has not wondered why 
 ''third" and "fourth" hand goods were not advertised, 
 some of the articles having been in at least "thirty " hands. 
 
 This chapter upon the relative politeness of city and 
 country people, must contain my grateful acknowledg- 
 ment of the disinterested generosity of some of my newly- 
 made country acquaintances, else their generosity will 
 exceed my gratitude. 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 17 
 
 It was touching, the promptness and eagerness with 
 which they sought me, when I first came here, and offered 
 me "second-hand" wagons, "second-hand" harnesses, 
 and "second-hand" articles too numerous to specify; all 
 ** nearly as good as new," and all "very cheap." 
 
 There were lots of — not second-hand — but broken down 
 horses offered me, also whole farms, and many of them ; 
 but I cannot say through how many "hands" they had 
 passed. I do not ask the reader to suppose that they who 
 so generously proffered these things were actuated by any 
 other than disinterested motives. He must draw his 
 own conclusions. The eagerness with which the arti- 
 cles were offered, certainly proved the hearty desire of 
 the owners that I should have them, and hence my hearty 
 thanks. Happily this sort of thing did not last long. I 
 had often received similar attentions in my city life, and 
 was fully prepared for them. I tried to give a civil 
 refusal to all such proposals, and hope I succeeded in so 
 doing, though I am inclined to believe that some of my 
 rejections were decidedly emphatic, and that they aided 
 not a little in stopping the annoyance. 
 
 It was so evident that some who came to me on such 
 errands paid me the compliment of taking me for a fool, 
 if I may be permitted to use such a word, that I hope I 
 was justified in seeking comfort, I will not say revenge, 
 in feeling that they admirably personated that character 
 themselves. These cases were, on the whole, exceptional. 
 
 Not a few of the farmers around mo have proved them- 
 selves as noble specimens of refined and honorable men 
 as can be found anywhere. Beneath a rough and un- 
 polished exterior, which might, perhaps, provoke a smile 
 
18 FARM • ECHOES. 
 
 from the city exquisite, I have often found men of the 
 keenest and most delicate sense of refinement and honor. 
 There is a saying more ancient than elegant, telling 
 who made the country and who the city ; one decidedly 
 complimentary to the former, but tremendously severe 
 upon the latter. However distinctly the lines of separa- 
 tion may have been drawn in ''the good old times," but 
 few traces of them are now left. City and country have 
 so intermingled as almost entirely to erase these lines. 
 Each, to a great extent, shares the good and bad of the 
 other. Each sustains the other. 
 
 Do not give this part of the country credit for the fol- 
 lowing, for it belongs to another rural district. 
 
 It is said that three farmers went to New York to sell 
 an article in which they were jointly interested. Having 
 disposed of it advantageously, and being flush of money, 
 they resolved to go to a leading and fashionable restaurant 
 and have ''a grand dinner. New York style." It was left 
 with the proprietor of the establishment to furnish what 
 he considered ''first-rate." They made up their minds 
 that they would have to pay prohcbly as much as five dol- 
 lars each, fifteen dollars in all, and were astounded when 
 called upon to pay forty-five dollars, fifteen dollars each. 
 Of course, there was nothing for them to do but settle 
 their bill and leave. Out they went, full of wrath be- 
 cause of the imposition which they supposed had been 
 practised upon them. Two of the three kept up a long 
 and lively abuse of the proprietor, when the third came 
 to their relief with the consoling announcement "Never 
 mind, my friends ; that bad man has been punished for 
 his sin. I have his spoons in my pocket." 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 19 
 
20 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 LITCHFIELD. 
 
 Though New England abounds in charming villages, 
 none are more lovely in aspect or healthy in location, 
 than Litchfield, Connecticut. Nowhere in our country 
 is there a more intellectual and delightful society than 
 here, though there evidently was a time in the early his- 
 tory of the village when this was not the case, for the 
 wife of one of the first settlers wrote home to her family 
 in England that she '*had no society but wolves and 
 Presbyterians." Poor secluded lady ! It is a pity she 
 did not explain which she most dreaded. 
 
 Litchfield has its Episcopal, Congregational, Method- 
 ist, and Catholic Churches, its first National Bank, its 
 *' Litchfield Enquirer," its three Hotels, and numerous 
 boarding-houses for the summer boarders, who come here 
 in large and annually increasing numbers. 
 
 Extensive manufactories of various kinds are success- 
 fully worked in surrounding towns, but there are none in 
 this village. Its "aristocracy" is accused of having re- 
 tarded its commercial prosperity. Whether this be the 
 case or not, the refining influences which have so long 
 pervaded the community are noticeable everywhere. 
 
 The longevity of some of its inhabitants is, certainly, a 
 proof of its healthfulness. There are several remarkable 
 cases of advanced age in this neighborhood. It was 
 stated by one that the period between the ages of ninety- 
 nine and one hundred was the most critical of human life, 
 so that it is impossible to say who will reach the five score. 
 
 Some years ago a member of the Litchfield Congrega- 
 
FARM ECHOES. 21 
 
 tional Society attended service in the church on the one 
 hundredth anniversary of his birth. The pews were then 
 so arranged that the congregation faced the door, and as 
 he entered all rose as a mark of respect, and remained 
 standing until he was seated in his pew. 
 
 I recently visited a lady residing about four miles from 
 me, who is more than a hundred years old, having been 
 born February 12, 1780. Although suffering from the 
 effects of a cold which had troubled her for several weeks, 
 she bore none of those signs of extreme old age which are 
 so distressing to behold. For eighty years she has occupied 
 the house in which she now lives. In early youth, if not 
 in childhood, she became "a. child of God," and seems to 
 have had great enjoyment in her religious experience. 
 When I dwelt upon the many years she had been spared 
 to test the power of religion, and asked if she had ever 
 had cause to regret the choice she made in early life, she 
 answered most emphatically, "No, indeed." At the re- 
 quest of her grandson (himself the head of a family), 
 she sang a hymn for me, and I was impressed by the 
 selection she made : 
 
 " O when shall I see Jesus ?" 
 No wonder this aged pilgrim, longing for her eternal 
 home, was prompted to ask this question in sacred song. 
 
 The dryness of the atmosphere in this region of country 
 is remarkable. Though the thermometer registers a lower 
 temperature than in New York, or Philadelphia, for in- 
 stance, the winter's cold is not felt so much as in those 
 cities. There is no such dampness here as there, piercing 
 one through and through. 
 
 The history of Litchfield is too well and too favorably 
 
23 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 known to call for any extended publicity at my hands. 
 Interesting histories of this town have been written by 
 Hon. George 0. WoodrufE and by Mr. Payne K. Kilbourn, 
 who narrate numerous thrilling incidents connected with 
 the Indians in the early settlement of the town, and with 
 the War of Independence, Litchfield having been an im- 
 portant depot for military stores and provisions, at the 
 latter period. From these historians I shall make several 
 extracts. 
 
 The Indian deed of this town was executed March 2, 
 1715-16. It may gratify some of my readers to know by 
 whom it was signed, though I do not suppose they will 
 recognize among the signatures those of any old personal 
 acquaintances, unless it be one in the list who certainly 
 has numerous descendants at the present day, scattered 
 everywhere, and I fear not a few of them "descend" 
 fearfully low. It is correctly placed as the second "C," 
 so liable is it to cause people to see double. Who that 
 seeks the companionship of such a crooked thing as a 
 "corkscrew" can expect to keep straight ? 
 (copy.) 
 Signed, sealed, and delivered in our presence. 
 
 Cliusqunnoaz ^ his mark [L. S. 
 Weroamaug ]t Ws mark. Corkscrew his mark [L. S. 
 
 Wognacug % liis mark. Quiump ^ his mark [L. S. 
 
 Tonhocks ~t~ his mark. Magnash + his mark [L. S. 
 
 Kehow ^ his mark [L. S. 
 
 John Mitchell. Sepunkum his mark [L. S. 
 
 Joseph Minor. Poni (^ his mark [L. S. 
 
 Wonposet ^ his mark [L. S. 
 Suckqunnackqueen /" his mark [L. S. 
 
 Taweeume ^ his mark [L. S. 
 
 Mansumpansh (j his mark pi<. S. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 23 
 
 The legal phraseology now in use, "Know all men by 
 these presents," does not seem to have been observed m 
 those by-gone days ; nor yet the one substituted for it, 
 doubtless by some miserable, disappointed, and cross- 
 grained old bachelor, '^Know one woman, so that all 
 men will be sure to know. " 
 
 The following interesting narrative is from " Travels 
 in New England and New York," by President Dwight, 
 of Yale College : 
 
 "Not many years after the county of Litchfield began 
 to be settled by the English, a strange Indian came one 
 day into an inn in the town of Litchfield in the dusk of 
 the evening, and requested the hostess to furnish him 
 with some drink and supper. At the same time he ob- 
 served that he could pay for neither, as he had no success 
 in hunting, but promised payment as soon as he should 
 meet with better fortune. The hostess refused him both 
 the drink and the supper ; called him a lazy, drunken, 
 good-for-nothing fellow, and told him that she did not 
 work so hard herself, to throw away her earnings upon 
 such creatures as he was. 
 
 "A man who sat by, and observed that the Indian, then 
 turning about to leave so inhospitable a place, showed by 
 his countenance that he was suffering very severely from 
 want and weariness, directed the hostess to supply him 
 what he needed, and engaged to pay the bill himself. 
 
 *' She did so. When the Indian had finished his sup- 
 per, he turned to his benefactor, thanked him, and as- 
 sured him that he should remember his kindness, and, 
 whenever he was able, would faithfully recompense it. 
 
 " For the present, he observed, he could only reward him 
 
24 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 with a story, which, if the hostess would give him leave, 
 he wished to tell. The hostess, whose complacency had 
 been recalled by the prospect of payment, consented. 
 
 "The Indian, addressing himself to his benefactor, 
 said : ' I suppose you read the Bible ?' The man assented. 
 'Well,' said the Indian, 'the Bible say God made the 
 world, and then He took him and looked on him and 
 say: 'It's all very good.' Then He made light, and 
 took him and looked on him and say : ' It's all very good.' 
 Then He made dry land and water, and sun and moon, 
 and grass and trees, and took him and looked on him, 
 and say : 'It's all very good.' 
 
 " ' Then he made beasts, and birds, and fishes, and 
 took him and looked on him, and say : ' It's all very 
 good. ' 
 
 " 'Then He made man, and took him and looked on 
 him and say: 'It's all very good.' Then He made 
 woman, and took him and looked on him, and He no 
 dare say one such word.' 
 
 " The Indian having told his story, withdrew. 
 
 "Some years after, the man who had befriended him 
 had occasion to go some distance into the wilderness, be- 
 tween Litchfield, then a frontier settlement, and Albany, 
 where he was taken prisoner by an Indian scout, and car- 
 ♦ried to Canada. "When he arrived at the principal settle- 
 ment of the tribe, on the southern border of the St. 
 Lawrence, it was proposed by some of the captors that 
 he should be put to death. During the consultation an 
 old Indian woman demanded that he should be given up 
 to her, that she might adopt him in the place of a son 
 whom she had lost in the war. He was accordingly 
 
FARM ECHOES. 25 
 
 given to her, and lived throngli the succeeding winter in 
 her family, experiencing the customary effects of savage 
 hospitality. 
 
 " The following summer, as he was at work in the forest 
 alone, an unknown Indian came up to him, and asked 
 him- to meet him at a place which he pointed out on a 
 given day. The prisoner agreed to the proposal, but not 
 without some apjjrehensioDS that mischief was intended 
 him. During the interval, these api^rehehsions increased 
 to such a degree as to dissuade him effectually from ful- 
 filling his engagement. Soon after, the same Indian 
 found him at his work again, and very gravely reproved 
 him for not performing his promise. The man apolo- 
 gized awkwardly enough, but in the best manner in his 
 poAver. The Indian told him that he should be satisfied 
 if he would meet him at the same place on a future day 
 which he named. The man j)romised to meet him, and 
 fulfilled his promise. When he arrived at the spot, he 
 found the Indian provided with two muskets, ammuni- 
 tion for them, and knapsacks. The Indian ordered him 
 to take one of each and follow him. The direction of 
 their march was towards the south. The man followed, 
 without the least knowledge of what he was to do, or 
 whither he was going, but concluded that if the Indian 
 intended him harm, he would have dispatched him at the 
 beginning, and that, at the worst, he was as safe where 
 he was as he could be in any other place. Within a 
 short time, therefore, his fears subsided, although the 
 Indian observed a profound and mysterious silence con- 
 cerning the object of the expedition. In the day-tim.e 
 they shot such game as came in their way, and at night 
 2 
 
26 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 kindled a fire, by which they slept. After a tedious 
 journey of many days they came one morning to the top 
 of an eminence presenting a prospect of a cultivated 
 country in which were a number of houses. 
 
 ''The Indian asked his companion whether he knew 
 the place. He replied eagerly that it was Litchfield. 
 His guide then, after reminding him that he had so many 
 years before relieved the wants of a famishing Indian, at 
 an inn in that town, subjoined, ' I that Indian ; now I 
 pay you, go home.' 
 
 '•'Having said this he bade him adieu, and the man 
 joyfully returned to his home." 
 
 The famous Law School of Judges Eeeves and Gould, 
 established here by the former in 1784, and continued 
 by the latter until 1833, has given Litchfield an almost 
 world-wide reputation. Judge George C. Woodruff says : 
 "Young gentlemen from every section of our nation 
 were educated here, and not a few have been distinguished 
 as statesmen and jurists." He also refers in compli- 
 mentary terms to the Fern-ale Seminai-y opened here by 
 Miss Pierce, in 1792, and continued under her superin- 
 tendence for nearly forty years. 
 
 Aaron Burr (brother-in-law of Judge Eeeves) "became 
 intimately associated with Litchfield." 
 
 Colonel Tallmadge, who had charge of Major Andre, 
 and to whom that unfortunate "Adjutant-General to the 
 British Army" gave his open letter of confession, who 
 escorted that brave, but doomed man to the scaffold, and 
 who subsequently wrote : "I became so deeply attached 
 to Major Andre that I can remember no instance where 
 my affections were so fully absorbed in any man," made 
 
FARM ECHOES. 27 
 
 Litchfield his home after the war, and the Tallmadge 
 House, on North street, is an object of no little interest. 
 
 General Oliver Wolcott, one of the signers of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence, resided in Litchfield. It was 
 in his house, also a prized relic of the past, that the 
 leaden statue of George III. , destroyed in New York, and 
 sent here for that purpose, was melted into bullets. His 
 son, Governor Oliver Wolcott, Jr. , was born here, as was 
 also General Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga. 
 
 The Rev. Lyman Beecher was for sixteen years pastor 
 of " The First Ecclesiastical Society of Litchfield" (Con- 
 gregational). His six sermons on Intemperance, preached 
 here were "among the earliest and most effective means 
 of arousing the Christian world to the evils of intemper- 
 ance." It was in this church that the disturbance took 
 place, because of a proposition by some of the members 
 to heat the building with a stove. Such an innovation 
 was violently opposed by many, but a stove was finally 
 placed m the center aisle. The weather on the succeed- 
 ing Sunday being mild, no fire was made in the stove. 
 
 I am informed by a gentleman Avho was present at the 
 time, though so many years ago, that some amusing 
 scenes were witnessed. Those of the congregation in 
 favor of the stove manifested their delight in various 
 ways. Some availed themselves of the opportunity to 
 Avarm themselves by it before going to their pews, taking 
 care so to protect their clothing that it would not be 
 burned by coming m contact with it. 
 
 The anti-stove members were greatly disturbed. Some 
 were so overcome by the excessive heat as to resort to 
 
28 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 fans. One was obliged to leave the cliurcli, and another 
 actually fainted or imagined that she had done so. 
 
 Dr. Buel's Home for Nervous Invalids, established 
 here by him in 1858, is now in the height of its prosperity, 
 and continues to dispense blessings to many who seek its 
 shelter, and none the less surely, because so unostenta- 
 tiously. The County Court House tells that Litchfield is 
 the County Seat of Litchfield County. 
 
 Lastly, because in chronological order, Litchfield is the 
 home of the late Chief Executive of this State, tlie Hon. 
 Charles B. Andrews. 
 
 This charming spot is about twenty-five miles west of 
 Hartford, and one hundred miles northeast of New York 
 City. It is approached, on all sides, by excellent country 
 roads, and by the Shepaug Eailroad, which connects it 
 with New York, etc., via Norwalk, also by the Nauga- 
 tuck Railroad, which runs from Bridgeport to Winsted. 
 Both of these Eailroads pass through valleys (the Shepaug 
 and Naugatuck from which they derive their names), 
 abounding in wild and beautiful scenery. 
 
 Litchfield is steadily advancing in public favor, as a 
 place of summer resort, as is shown by the annual addi- 
 tion of dwellings erected by the best class of citizens 
 from New York, New Haven, and elsewhere, and by the 
 increase of summer boarders. The village stands proudly 
 upon an eminence of about eleven hundred feet above the 
 sea, as if conscious of its past history and its present at- 
 tractiveness. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 IS FARMING RESPECTABLE? 
 
 No wonder the reader smiles at a question so intensely 
 absurd. 
 
 However unnecessary it may appear to every well bal- 
 anced mind, there are some, I hope not many, whose 
 minds are, unfortunately, not well balanced, and who 
 need to be enlightened upon this subject. 
 
 It is an old saying, and I am sorry to add, a very true 
 one, that " all the fools are not dead yet," for some have 
 crossed my path, in changing from city to country life, 
 Avho manifested such an aversion to the occupation of 
 farming as would cause those not on their guard to sus- 
 pect that there must be something discreditable insepa- 
 rably connected with it. 
 
 Do I go far enough back, and to a source sufficiently 
 high and convincing, whcm I quote from the first and 
 second chapters of my Bible ? 
 
 " God said Let there be light ; and there was light." 
 So it was m regard to the " firmament," etc. " He spake 
 and it was done." Not so, however, in the creation of 
 the "Garden eastward in Eden." ''The Lord God 
 planted " it Himself, we are distinctly told. Having put 
 this garden in perfect order, and having watered it by the 
 river which he made to pass through it, a fit and beauti- 
 ful emblem of that river ''the streams whereof shall 
 make glad the City of God," He placed the man whom 
 
30 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 He created in His own image — man before he had sinned 
 — ^in the garden, " to dress it, and to keep it." 
 
 The laborious work had all been done, man had only 
 '*to dress it, and to keep it." There were no thorns nor 
 thistles then. No ''sweat of the brow," nor aught to 
 weary or sadden. No curse nor death. The labor and 
 toil, the curse and death, came after Adam's sin, and 
 were endured outside the garden, not in it. No place is 
 now exempt from them. Aching and sweating brows are 
 everywhere where there is toil, whether it be in the study, 
 the counting-house, the workshop, or the farm, God's 
 chosen occupation for sinless man was that of "keeping" 
 the field or garden He had planted and stocked for him, 
 God thus made Agriculture the most honored and digni- 
 fied calling in which man could be engaged, 
 
 Noah was no sooner out of the Ark than he " began to 
 be a husbandman " ; so that husbandry was the first oc- 
 cupation of man before and after the flood. Abraham 
 *' was rich in cattle." Lot also "had flocks and herds." 
 
 Isaac "Avent out to meditate in the field at eventide," 
 but it was not, it may safely be supposed, upon the 
 product of that field that he then meditated, for the 
 young man, we are informed, "lifted up his eyes and 
 saw the camels were coming." Knowing the errand 
 upon which they started, his thoughts doubtless centered 
 in the fair young maiden who accompanied them on their 
 return. Afterwards, however, he is found sowing in the 
 land of Gerar, and so successful was his farming, that 
 he made "an hundred fold" the first year, and soon pos- 
 sessed such flocks and herds, and such influence, as made 
 the king dread his power and request him to move else- 
 
FARM ECHOES. 31 
 
 where, and then to seek him, whither he had removed, 
 in order to secure his favor. 
 
 It was not in the palace of Egypt's king that God pre- 
 pared Moses to be the leader of Israel's mighty host, but 
 in keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. It was 
 not in the palace of Saul, but in caring for his father's 
 sheep, that David was qualified to become the ruler of a 
 kingdom. 
 
 Gideon was called from the "threshing floor" to fight 
 and subdue the Midianitish host. 
 
 Elisha, while in the act of plowing, was honored by 
 God with the mantle of the Prophet Elijah. 
 
 XJzziah "loved husbandry," and if the youthful king 
 of Judali had been content with such lawful pastime, he 
 might have escaped leprosy. 
 
 Paul was a tent-maker. The first disciples of our 
 blessed Lord were fishermen, and though the Son of God 
 was a carpenter, yet shepherds, busy " keeping watch over 
 their flocks by night," were the chosen ones to whom the 
 Angels first announced the "glad tidings" of His birbh. 
 He "was of the house and lineage of David," and took 
 many of His parables from agricultural pursuits. He re- 
 peatedly pictured them in His favorite expression "The 
 kingdom of Heaven is likened unto " — and not only 
 represented Himself as "He that soweth the good seed," 
 but gloried in the fact that His Father was "The Hus- 
 bandman." 
 
 Despise not the Abrahamic calling, however much and 
 however justly you may despise the unworthy ones en- 
 gaged in it. They disgrace themselves, not their calling. 
 It cannot be thus tarnished. In turning from sacred to 
 
32 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 profane history, we will carry with ns the echo of the 
 Almighty's voice : 
 
 "the cattle upox a thousand hills ahe mine." 
 
 The Ancients engaged extensively in farming, and 
 deemed it the loftiest occupation in which they could be 
 employed. Cincinnatus, Cato, and others, might be cited 
 as representative men of their times, who left their plows 
 and hastened to the rescue of their country. Though 
 they did not beat their " swords into plowshares," they 
 gladly returned from the fields they had reddened with 
 the blood of their enemies, to those they made ''white 
 unto the harvest." Farmers by j^reference, they were 
 the ablest of statesmen and warriors when thus needed. 
 
 Down through the intervening ages there have been 
 hosts of just such brave and true men, though not so 
 conspicuous, who have been trained in farming districts 
 and in farm pursuits, for just such heroic deeds. 
 
 Connecticut boasts of her Putnam, who left his plow 
 for a like noble purpose. Washington's chief delight was 
 in working his farm ; and he was as great and as honored 
 there, as when leading the army or presiding over the 
 affairs of this nation, which, in common with all other 
 nations, to-day looks to its rural districts for defence 
 from any present or impending foe. 
 
 The following is quoted from "Letters of Agricola," 
 published at Halifax, N. S., in 1822, by John Young, 
 Esquire, Secretary of the Provincial Agricultural Society 
 of Nova Scotia, and Honorary Member of the Massachu- 
 setts and Montreal Agricultural Societies, who did much 
 through his writings, and by his practical and successful 
 
FARM ECHOES. 33 
 
 farming at Willow Park, Halifax, to advance the science of 
 his chosen and honored profession. " In England, Dukes, 
 Marquises, Earls, Baronets, and all ranks of nobility emu- 
 late each other, not merely in patronizing husbandry, but 
 in actively engaging in it. " Would that the large landed 
 proprietors in England and Ireland were more generally 
 engaged in agricultural pursuits. There is infinitely 
 more honor and more enjoyment in these employments 
 than in the jjastime in which some indulge. To monojj- 
 olize vast tracts of the most fertile lands in these fertile 
 Islands, and persist in keeping them in an unproductive 
 state, neither tilling them, nor suffering them to be tilled ; 
 thus denying to thousands of poor but honest husband- 
 men a means of subsistence, rather than permit them to 
 labor for their own support, and for the direct and mani- 
 fest benefit of their employers or landlords ; is very much 
 like having ten talents and burying them all in a napkin. 
 If there are duties devolving upon the rich, as well as the 
 poor, such landed proprietors fall far short of performing 
 theirs. The grand inscription upon the Eoyal Exchange, 
 in London, 
 
 "The earth is the Lord's and the fuhiess thereof," 
 is a silent but decided rebuke to them. 
 
 Were it only the private interests of such men that 
 suffer by this exclusiveness, or whatever it may be called, 
 there would be no such ground for complaint as is called 
 forth by this great national abuse. 
 
 Prince Edward Island, one of the fairest and most pro- 
 ductive garden spots on earth, suffered long and sorely 
 from that remnant of the feudal system. Seigniories. The 
 burden became too grievous to be longer endured, and 
 
S4 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 the Colonial Government, not many years ago, threw off 
 the yoke by purchase. A disheartened people, thus re- 
 leased, were encouraged to improve what now became 
 their property, and have ever since steadily and surely 
 added to the prosperity of the Island, as well as to their 
 own. There is no reason to suppose that the former pro- 
 prietors were any the worse off for having received an 
 equivalent for what they sold. 
 
 To. retard, in any way, the prosperity of one's country, 
 especially in diminishing its food-yielding- cajjacity, is to 
 prove one's self its enemy. 
 
 The model farm of the late Prince Consort of England 
 was the pride of that model man, and is one of the grand- 
 est monuments to his honored name. 
 
 It was said, I think, by Jefferson, that '' If God had a 
 peculiar people upon earth, they were the farmers." The 
 *'if " here is to be regretted. God certainly has His ''pe- 
 culiar people :" not, however, the farmers, nor any other 
 class of men as such, but all who rightly discharge the 
 duties devolving upon them, whether in the pulpit, on 
 the farm, or elsewhere. The husbandman is a co-worker 
 with God in a "peculiar" sense. No other class of men 
 are such to a greater degree except those ordained of Him 
 to the Divine Ministry. The one studies the Inspired 
 Book, and labors to unfold its mysteries, and make 
 known its truths. The other is constantly studying 
 God's book of Nature, and finds it so filled with mystery 
 as to be an independent and conclusive Avitness for its 
 Creator. He sees God everywhere in Nature, and finds 
 it but a short step to turn from Nature to Nature's God. 
 
 Every thoughtful, right-minded farmer has an inspira- 
 
FARM ECHOES. 35 
 
 tion not found in any other calling. He works God's 
 earth, preparing it for the desired crops, and when all is 
 ready he plants the seed. There his work ceases. He 
 can do no more, for God alone can ''give the increase." 
 In due time myriads of blades of grass or grain make 
 their appearance as so many messengers sent by the 
 Almighty to tell him of the coming harvest. He rever- 
 ently feels that God and he have thus worked together, 
 and goes forth with grateful heart to receive the ripened 
 grain direct from the hand of the Creator. 
 
36 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 EARLY EXPERIENCES. 
 
 I left Philadelpliia early in the spring of 1870 for Litch- 
 field, Conn., to put my summer residence in order for 
 my family. From East Litchfield Station, on the Nau- 
 gatuck Eailroad, I came by stage three miles, over roads 
 up hill nearly all the way, and very heavy from the frost 
 coming out of the ground. 
 
 At the summit of tlie hill, having reached an altitude 
 of nearly twelve hundred feet above the sea — quite high 
 enough for any stars belonging to this planet, I alighted 
 at my new home, and, as I wrote my family, " went two 
 feet into the mud." My letter created no little surprise, 
 as all who read it, or heard of it, supposed that I had 
 been mired np to my knees, but such was not the case. 
 The mud was quite harmless, and though I went into it 
 "two feet" — that is, both feet — the depth was not more 
 than an inch or so. 
 
 I had often seen much Avorse roads, though none half 
 as bad as some I have heard of, where, for instance, a 
 man was working his way along as best he could, and 
 came to a hat which he picked up in the middle of the 
 road. To his surprise he found he had lifted it from the 
 head of a man enveloped in the mud, who smilingly looked 
 up and asked for an explanation. The hat was at once 
 replaced upon the head of its owner, with an apology, and 
 
PAEM ECHOES. 37 
 
 with an offer of assistance. — '^ Oh ! no, I thank you," was 
 the reply, "I have an excellent horse under me, and shall 
 get along nicely, though somewhat slowly." 
 
 Numerous mechanics were busy (I hope they will for- 
 give me for using the word), finishing Avork upon my 
 house and house stable, commenced the previous fall, at 
 the time I purchased the property, so that my dwelling 
 did not offer many attractions. 
 
 A good-natured friend, who accompanied me from 
 Philadelphia, had been warned in advance that he would 
 have to rough it, and he enjoyed the roughing exceed- 
 ingly. He did not suffer as I feared he might, but I 
 had grave apprehensions that he would suffer in another 
 way, for his appetite became almost boundless, such was 
 the effect of the climate upon him. 
 
 The record of one breakfast will show that I had good 
 cause for alarm. As to the number of cups of coffee at 
 that meal, I cannot say positively ; but after having 
 helped him three times to beefsteak, I remained at the 
 table until he had eaten sixteen griddle cakes of about 
 double the usual size, and then asked to be excused for a 
 short time, as it was necessary that I should give direc- 
 tions to the men at work on the grounds around my house. 
 I found him eating beefsteak on my return. How much 
 of this was due to Litchfield air, and how much to an 
 excellent imported cook, I leave it with my readers to 
 imagine. It may be well to add, and it will undoubtedly 
 surprise them, that my friend is yet alive. 
 
 It IS all important that the steamers, in shooting the 
 rapids of the St. Lawrence, get into the right part of the 
 current before it becomes too strong, otherwise they could 
 
38 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 not choose their position, nor change it if wrong, and 
 would inevitably be dashed to pieces. 
 
 So I felt, on entering upon the new and untried work 
 of clearing land, etc., I must get started right. It would 
 never do to make a wrong beginning. Everything de- 
 pended upon my being thoroughly posted at the outset. 
 This I fully resolved should be the case, nor was it long 
 before I realized that I had accomplished this, and a little 
 more. There was an ugly old hitching post right in the 
 way where I wished to make a carriage drive. Out it 
 must come, happen what would, though I had no idea 
 that anything of that kind was going to happen, until 
 all was over, and I too. Indeed, I did not, for a few 
 moments after, know exactly what had occurred. I was 
 no sooner conscious that I was heels and post overhead, 
 than I " righted " myself, and made a careful survey all 
 around, to see if there were any lookers-on. It was a 
 comfort to know that there were none. The secret was 
 wholly with myself, externally, and, I may add, internally, 
 for my bones ached some. There certainly was a "hitch" 
 in that post that I was not prepared for. I had taken 
 my first lesson, and proved myself equal to getting out 
 old hitching posts. I had also learned some of the ups 
 and downs of country life, and when the back of my head 
 came too suddenly in contact with the ground, I saw stars 
 that I am sure were not members of my family. 
 
 It afforded no little amusement to many of the old 
 farmers to see the way in which I began to clear land. 
 I frankly acknowledge I was, at times, wholly at a loss 
 how to proceed. I was as much ''at sea" as though I 
 had been in mid ocean. 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 39 
 
 Some excellent advice was occasionally volunteered. It 
 was always thankfully received, and suitably acknowl- 
 edged. Sometimes absurd suggestions were seriously 
 made to me, but not seriously entertained. 
 
 All attempts to argue with me were thwarted as I in- 
 variably and good naturedly assured the parties at the 
 outset, that I was ignorant upon all such matters, and 
 had made up my mind to learn by experience. One in- 
 stance of this kind will suffice. 
 
 Not far from my stable was a large ledge of rocks, in 
 the midst of an ugly, swampy piece of land. Of course, 
 such places, especially those in the vicinity of my dwel- 
 ling, received the earliest attention. The swamp was 
 drained. The huge ledge was torn to pieces by j)owder, 
 and the rocks from it were used in building walls and in 
 filling up the hollow where the swamp had been. Hun- 
 dreds of loads of earth from a near and accessible bank 
 were then carted into it, and an ample supply of muck 
 was spread over the surface and well worked into the 
 earth. The muck had previously been piled up and dried, 
 subject to a winter's frost, and the spreading was done in 
 the middle of summer. Muck beds in the vicinity had 
 been left undisturbed by my neighbors, who enjoyed many 
 a hearty laugh at the idea of the ''city farmer" expecting 
 to produce any crop by any such means. 
 
 A few gave their opinions concerning my methods un- 
 asked, and in terms by no means complimentary. All 
 agreed that muck was never so used ; that it should be 
 put into a compost heap, etc. , etc. It was in my power 
 to turn upon them and ask why their muck beds had 
 never been put to any such use, and why they did not 
 
40 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 make compost hoaj)s, etc., but I preferred to fall back 
 upon my stereotyped answer *'You know I am learning 
 by experience. Several person? liave told me just what 
 you have. I have heard all that you and they have to 
 suggest, now I am going to wait and hear what the muck 
 ha? to say. It shall speak for itself next summer." 
 
 Grass seed was sown in this much abused ground, and 
 'Hook "well. Early next spring I called the attention 
 of one who had most heartily enjoyed my supposed blun- 
 der, and who happened to be passing, to the promising 
 prospects of the grass. " Oli !" said he, "that is a mere 
 spurt. That will never mature. I told you so last sum- 
 mer. It will all die out, see if it don't." 
 
 " Do you really think that such will be the case ? " I 
 asked. ''How can it go back ?" The old laugh of half 
 pity and half ridicule was given, and off went my self- 
 satisfied, though really much esteemed, brother farmer. 
 No land on my farm yielded such an abundant crop of 
 hay that summer as did that once SAvampy and unsightly 
 spot. 
 
 So mortified was the good man to whom I just referred, 
 that he came to me a year or two afterwards, and asked 
 me to please never tell any one what he had said, as he 
 was thoroughly ashamed of having made such a mistake. 
 The mistake was in treating all muck alike ; that which 
 13 cold and sour in the same way as that which is of a 
 totally different nature. 
 
 One field included in my original purchase was so un- 
 promising, so absolutely worn out and exhausted, that I 
 was puzzled to know what to do with it. It Avas so covered 
 with mossy clumps as to drive out of existence every 
 
FARM ECHOES. 41 
 
 blade of grass. Again and again I walked over that deso- 
 late field hoping to devise some means to " subdue " it, 
 and make it profitable, but eacli time came to the con- 
 clusion that it was an elephant on my hands, one that 
 had not yet been mastered. Thougli measuring about 
 nine and a half acres, it was simply worthless. The 
 taxes upon it must be paid annually, and what could I 
 do with it ? Should I give it away ? I would be richer 
 without it than with it. I did not like the idea of jriv- 
 ing away what I bad Just paid for, nor could I see any 
 generosity in presenting to a neighbor such a piece of 
 property. 
 
 As I met the more thrifty and successful farmers, I 
 asked their opinions as to what was best to be done with 
 that field. They all knew it well, but no two gave the 
 same advice. This seemed very strange and was the first 
 thing to inspire me with confidence in my own judgment 
 in farming matters. Here were four intelligent farmers, 
 all having years of experience, and yet no two of them 
 would treat that field in the same way ! What an odd 
 field it would be, thought I, if handled in all the four 
 different ways recommended. 
 
 After giving the matter the requisite attention, I re- 
 solved to branch out on my own account. Something 
 must be done and promptly done if that wretched field 
 was to be put into a paying condition. 
 
 The opinions of all the four farmers were collected as 
 best they could be, and carefully weighed in the scale of 
 common sense. Ideas were here and tliere culled out of 
 this confused mass, and coupled with some that were 
 original. Havmg thus gathered sufficient material to 
 
42 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 warrant ray doing so, I went vigorously to work, de- 
 termined to accomplish what I had undertaken, whatever 
 difficulties might present themselves. 
 
 The results proved a decided success. That field has 
 each year yielded me a handsome return for the money 
 and labor expended upon it. Had 1 faltered, I do not 
 know that I should ever again have had courage to attack 
 such an unpromising piece of ground. It does not do 
 for a beginner to lack courage, even on a farm. He must 
 have nerve, and plenty of it, for there are few jDlaces where 
 it will be put to the test as on a farm properly conducted. 
 There must be no ''old feerds" nor "young feerds," 
 as is shown in the experience of the sea captain who, 
 after many years of ocean travel, decided to give up the 
 sea, and settle upon a farm. He took with him, to his 
 farm, an old monkey he had brought with him from the 
 West Indies, a notoriously mischievous scamp. Among 
 the farm hands was a boy named John, who had re- 
 peatedly been complained of for bringing the cows home 
 too late in the evenings. Finding that his orders were 
 not obeyed, the captain impressed upon John more 
 strongly than ever, that the cows must be got home in 
 time to be milked before dark. 
 
 "John, ai'nt you foerd to come through the woods 
 in the dark?" he asked— "Feerd ! What is feerd?" 
 inquired John. — "If you don't know what feerd is, I 
 will teach you, if you don't get the cows home early 
 enough." John continued to be late, and the captain, 
 fully resolved upon carrying out his threat, started from 
 the house with a large white sheet. Arriving at the 
 woods, he took his position on a stump at a turn in the 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 43 
 
 path, where the boy would come suddenly upon him. As 
 John came in sight, the captain, wrapped in the sheet, 
 extended both arms full length, and expected his boy 
 would make for home full speed. John, however, stood 
 calmly before the mysterious object, and, after surveying 
 it for a while, as calmly exclaimed : " What can that be ? 
 Master spoke about " feerd,' I guess that must be 
 *feerd.' Yes! That, I guess, is Old Feerd, and that 
 other by his side must be Young Feerd." 
 
 Hearing of another "feerd,"' the captain stole a sly 
 side glance to his left, from under the sheet, and was 
 surprised to find such an object near him. Alarmed 
 by the apparition, he took to his heels and was closely 
 followed by the monkey, who always felt bound to do 
 just what his master did, and, like him, was robed in 
 white. 
 
 There is usually a garden, even if only a small one, 
 connected with a farm. Some country or farm gardens 
 that I had seen before coming here, appeared to abound 
 in nothing but sun-flowers, probably because there were 
 so many of that delicate and modest-faced plant as to 
 keep the sun from all the others, and thus kill them, 
 poor things ! 
 
 It is well that farming is not inseparably connected 
 with gardening, for I have no taste for the latter, though 
 a decidedly keen one for the products of a well-kept 
 garden. Mine is a taste that makes fruits and vegetables 
 fresh from a garden, preferable to those that have spent 
 the best portion of their brief existence seeking a pur- 
 chaser, often not finding one until over-ripe old age. 
 
 When I first came here I was presented by a friend 
 
44 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 with numerous valuable cuttings, and felt in duty bound 
 to gi\e them my personal attention. They were all 
 planted with the utmost care, perhaps too much of it, 
 for not one of them took root, so far as could be seen. 
 It did not occur to me to ask the members of the Chinese 
 Embassy, when they honored me with a visit a year or two 
 ago, whether they had heard of, or seen, before leaving 
 China, any of these cuttings or the results of them. I had 
 planted them years previously upside down, and if they 
 appeared anywhere, it must have been at the antipodes. 
 
 I am, certainly, not alone in my aversion to garden 
 exercise, for Mr. Warner's account of his " Summer in a 
 Garden," convinces me that he has not spent a second 
 one there, and never will. A record kept one summer 
 showed that twenty-four different kinds of vegetables, 
 and thirteen varieties of fruit, including peaches grown in 
 the open air, were raised on my premises. 
 
 The numerous letters written me after the publication 
 of the proceedings at the meeting of the State Board of 
 Agriculture, held at New London, December, 1877, at 
 which I was unexpectedly called upon to explain the re- 
 sults of my experiments in blasting with dynamite, lead 
 me to suppose that a repetition of my remarks will not 
 be out of place here. 
 
 The Board having been called to order by Hon. E. H. 
 Hyde, Vice-president, Mr. T. S. Gold, the Secretary, said : 
 '' I have been unable to present to the audience the ques- 
 tions from the question-box for lack of time, but there is 
 one question which I promised to present, and as I see a 
 gentleman before me who is able to answer it, I will read 
 it now. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 45 
 
 "Has any one present had any experience with Dyna- 
 mite, or Giant Powder, in clearing rocks from land ? If 
 so, will he give the result ? 
 
 " Mr. Starr, of Litchfield, can give us some information 
 on that point." 
 
 Mr. Starr — " I will say that I know but very little 
 about this matter, except from results as shown on rny 
 fields. A Mr. Parmelee, who makes it his business to 
 blow up rocks with dynamite, passed my place, and I 
 asked him to experiment in one of my fields, which I 
 expect to clear next summer. There were a large num- 
 ber of rocks in the field, such as could not very well be 
 blasted with powder, and I asked him what he could do. 
 I said : ' I want you to experiment, and if you can satisfy 
 me I will let you work here for a day or two.' I pointed 
 out a rock ten and one-half feet long, five and one-half 
 feet wide, and nine or ten inches in depth — such a rock, 
 as any one will see, would be difficult to blast with pow- 
 der, because there is not depth enough to drill into it. I 
 took out my watch, and in precisely seven and one-half 
 minutes from the time he began to work the rock was in 
 atoms. I selected another and larger rock, also a shallow 
 one, and he shattered it in about the same number of 
 minutes. This satisfied me that it would be for my 
 interest to let him work in that field that afternoon — it 
 was just at noon — and I was so much pleased with the 
 result of that day, that I kept him at work for two days 
 and a half on my farm. His charge was, I think, eighty 
 dollars, which covered everything — material, and his 
 time. I have used many kegs of gunpowder, during my 
 six years' experience, in blasting rocks, and am free to 
 
46 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 say, that the same amount of work could not have been 
 accomplished with ordinary blasting powder, and the 
 same number of men, in less than a month. I thus 
 answer your question as to whether ' it pays to use 
 dynamite. ' The field was left by Mr. Parmelee in a de- 
 cidedly chaotic state. The rocks are so shattered and 
 crumbled as to give the field the appearance of a perfect 
 wreck. It is well worth going many miles to see. Though 
 the number of rocks is many times greater than before, 
 they are now reduced to a size easily handled, and can 
 be readily removed. 
 
 *' The action of dynamite is remarkable. For instance, 
 one very large rock, white quartz, which you know is 
 almost impossible to drill, was one of the stones which 
 he destroyed on this field. The firsb blast threw this 
 rock from its bed to the surface, and took off a small 
 piece. This rather disappointed him, and the gentlemen 
 who were witnessing his proceedings. He put a cartridge 
 against the side of this rock above ground, secured it to 
 the rock by two or three shovelfuls of mud. Powder, 
 you know, would blow off that mud, and leave the rock 
 untouched, but the dynamite has so shattered it that I 
 can pick off numerous pieces with my hand. Some 
 pieces weigh a pound, and some five or ten pounds. It 
 is completely shattered. 
 
 ' ' The difference between blasting or destroying rocks 
 with powder and dynamite, is this : You can make your 
 own calculations as to the relative expense. In blasting 
 with powder, you drill the rock ; with dynamite, you drill 
 the ground. My rocks may be harder than other rocks ; 
 they certainly are much harder than my land. The man 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 47 
 
 makes a hole under the rock, and all that he wants is a 
 little mud or water, to fill up the hole after putting in the 
 charge. The resistance ajiparently amounts to nothing, 
 so instantaneous is the discharge of this j)owerful agent. 
 Powder must be kept confined, and it works its way out 
 at the weakest point ; but with dynamite the discharge is 
 so sudden and severe that it shatters the rock to jDieces, 
 regardless of weak points. The rocks were not thrown 
 as far as by powder. I was so pleased with the result of 
 the dynamite on this one field that I set the man at work 
 on three large rocks in another field, which I had never 
 thought of getting rid of with powder because of their 
 size. My men had dug trenches under those large rocks ; 
 in one place, I suppose, they must have gone down ten or 
 eleven feet, so you may judge of the size of the rock. 
 The discharges were to take place at 12 o'clock, noon, so 
 that persons who were interested could come and see 
 them, and there was quite a crowd present. The dis- 
 charges threw pieces of the rocks but a short distance, 
 but they completely shattered the boulders." 
 
 Mr. Webb — "Would the stone be suitable for building 
 walls?" 
 
 Mr. Siarr — ''A majority of the stone would not be fit 
 for building walls. The dynamite destroys the stones to 
 a much greater extent than does powder ; it disintegrates 
 them. But I have enough for walls, and enough for the 
 ravines, which the great Master who put the rocks on the 
 ground provided as a receptacle for them." 
 
 I would caution all inexperienced persons who pro- 
 pose using dynamite not to meddle with it themselves, 
 but to employ one who is familiar with it. It is too dan- 
 
48 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 gerous to trifle with, though I have held part of a cart- 
 ridge of it in my hand Avhile it burned as a blue light 
 would burn. 
 
 The field to which I had reference is now one of the 
 best, if not the best, on my farm. Each of the last three 
 years, while at work upon it, it has yielded about a thou- 
 sand bushels of beets (Golden Globe Mangel Wurzel) to 
 the acre, which reimbursed me for the amount expended 
 upon it. One year I experimented with five different 
 kinds of beets, but though I should prefer the red beet 
 on some accounts, I find the Golden Globe by far the 
 most prolific. 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 49 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 LEARNING TO PLOW. 
 
 A novice in farm matters, my first impulse was to learn 
 how to plow and do other such farm work, so as to make 
 •myself a thorough master of every department, and 
 thereby the more effectually supervise the whole. 
 
 My farm was then only being put in good working order, 
 so that I had none of the more important matters to look 
 after, which soon engrossed my personal attention, other- 
 wise I should never have touched a plow. Such labor 
 can be better, and more economically performed by those 
 accustomed to it. Moderate work with his hands oc- 
 casionally, and any amount of toil with his brains, bring- 
 ing his business knowledga so to bear upon his new en- 
 gagements as to keep them well and constantly in hand, 
 alone give promise of success to him who exchanges city 
 life for one on a farm of large proportions, and requiring 
 executive ability in whoever controls it. • 
 
 No man in his senses would like to take passage in a 
 vessel, the captain of which deemed it incumbent upon 
 him to labor at the ropes and sails in common with his 
 '' before the mast " men. The safety of the craft, and of 
 all on board of her, and the success of the voyage, depend 
 upon the executive officer rightly discharging his duty. 
 Because he is not seen running to and fro with the deck 
 hands, it must not be inferred that he is a mere ''figure 
 head," having nothing to do. He has quite enough of 
 3 
 
50 
 
 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 his own legitimate "work to attend to, and if it bo faith- 
 fully performed, he is the hardest worked man on board. 
 
 Brain work is indisjiensable to the successful merchant. 
 It will supply a vast deal more manual labor than can be 
 accomplished by his hands. If more laborers are needed 
 on his premises, it is economy for him to hire them rather 
 than to ape them, even Avere he inclined to engage in any 
 such pastime. 
 
 By working in their respective spheres, the employer 
 
 LEARNING TO PLOW. 
 
 and the employed each make capital by and through the 
 other, and thus mutually benefit each other. 
 
 The reader may want to know how I succeeded in my 
 first and only attempt at plowing. Everything being 
 ready, and not a few lookers-on to witness results, I started 
 on a course due south, at least it should have been, but 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 51 
 
 it certainly was not. Though "^due" there, I never 
 reached that point. It was an ordinary plow I had, yet 
 it acted in a most extraordinary way, going southeast ; 
 then southwest. Indeed the oxen proved so stupid that 
 they could not be made to "head" as I ordered them. 
 " Hard a port " had no more effect upon them than " hard 
 a starboard," notwithstanding I shouted such commands 
 as loudly as was possible without the aid of a speaking 
 trumpet. 
 
 At times they were bound N. N. W., then N. N. E., 
 though "due" south, and I began to suspect that I was 
 driving a more intelligent team than I had at first sup- 
 posed, and that the knowing creatures, aware of my fond- 
 ness for sailing, were "boxing the compass" for my 
 gratification. Their persistent disregard of all such 
 orders as "Port your helm," however, convinced me that 
 such was not the case, but that they were stupid or stub- 
 born. It must be taken for granted that the whole 
 diflBculty was with them. 
 
 It was not pleasant to feel that I had been imposed 
 upon in having such stupid brutes recommended to me, 
 and for which I hud paid full price. How could any 
 farmer claiming to be respectable, thus defraud me ! 
 
 Difficult as it may be to the reader to realize the fact, 
 it was necessary for me to drop all such explicit terms as 
 I had been using, — could any be more explicit ? — and 
 come down to "Haw," "Whoa," and "Gee." I soon 
 found an opportunity to leave the field, and handed the 
 plow to another, taking good care not to return to it. 
 
 It was not through my hands coming in contact with 
 the plow that I was to gain the requisite knowledge, even 
 
52 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 upon that branch of farm work. It was through my 
 head, not my hands, that I was to acquire sufficient ex- 
 perience to enable me, at a glance, to decide when the 
 plow, or other instrument, did its full share of work, and 
 effectually. 
 
 From childhood, I have been an admirer of politeness, 
 and I was touched by the courteous consideration for each 
 other, shown by four men who Avere plowing on the same 
 piece of ground, a thing that has not been repeated since 
 that early experiment. Number one would lead off, and 
 get well on with his furrow, when it so happened that 
 his whip-lash needed attention, and he would stop to 
 repair it, by giving it sundry turns and twists around its 
 end of a long limber twig or small bough — his "whip 
 stalk." Numbers two, three, and four, immediately fol- 
 lowing, were thus kept back, and — can you credit it ? — 
 not one of them remonstrated. All, most amiably, waited 
 for number one, without manifesting the slightest im- 
 patience, however long detained, and though hired by the 
 hour ! Number one would hardly get started again, when 
 the whip-lash of number two Avould bring him to a sudden 
 stop, thus again detaining numbers three and four in his 
 rear, also number one, who had reached the end of his 
 furrow, and was composedly waiting for the others, so 
 that he could commence his return trip, and thus get 
 ready for another repair of his whip-lash. I will not say 
 that it never occurred to him to make any such repairs, 
 while he was Avaiting for his comrades, but I do say that 
 he never availed himself of any such opportunity, for any 
 such work. My eyes the sooner detected this game be- 
 cause my hands had so early been withdrawn from the 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 53 
 
 plow. My work was essentially that of an overseer, or 
 general manager, not that of ploAving, or working with 
 any farm implement. 
 
 It made a Avonderfnl difference, putting the four plows 
 into four separate pieces of land, so that the stoppage of 
 any one, in no way imj)eded the others. Even the whip- 
 lashes showed the benefit of this change. Oxen that 
 dread the sight of a whip-lash have my hearty sympathy. 
 They pay dearly for its too free use at times, especially 
 if the driver happens to be in a bad humor, and has 
 nothing else upon which he dare vent his anger. I too 
 have paid dearly (many dollars) for the abuse of ox 
 whip-lashes by needless stops to ''repair" them. 
 
 I have often seen oxen that seemed fully to understand, 
 and, be in league with, their drivers, Avho were really 
 anything but "drivers." It was never necessary to say 
 ** Wlioa" twice, in order to halt them. It was lonsr asfo 
 said that omnibus horses were the only animals that 
 knew the luxury of "woe," but that is certainly a mis- 
 take and must have been said by some city man. Oxen 
 indulge in that luxury quite as heartily as do horses. 
 Those four pairs did at all events. Their "Avhoa" 
 became a woe to me so great as to be unbearable. 
 
 I believe in oxen for certain farm work. These noble 
 animals, when properly trained, as in some parts of our 
 country, do a vast deal more work than do the imper- 
 fectly trained ones that saunter at a snail's pace, as is too 
 generally the case. Such lazy brutes do not pay nearly 
 as well as do the more sprightly ones. The mevitable 
 consequence of their laziness is that they make their 
 drivers equally lazy. I would not intentionally do oxen 
 
5-i ' FARM ECHOES. 
 
 wrong. It may be, and it, doubtless, frequently is the 
 case, that lazy drivers make lazy oxen. 
 
 I often wonder if King Pharoali had to endure any 
 such trials. Though he wore the crown of Egypt, he 
 too was a farmer or keeper of cattle ; and he proved his 
 appreciation of them when he questioned Joseph respect- 
 ing his brothers, just arrived from the land of Canaan : 
 " If thou knowest any men of activity among them, then 
 make them rulers over my cattle." As much as to say : 
 If there are any lazy fellows among your brothers, don't 
 let them disgrace my cattle by going near them. 
 
 Horses are vastly preferable to oxen on farms properly 
 cleared. Their superiority is the more apparent when 
 long distances have to be travelled in drawmg hay, grain, 
 or any other load, and in plowing, harrowing, etc. 
 That is, they can be got over the ground much more ex- 
 peditiously. A person was asked the length of a fathom, 
 and replied that '"it depended upon circumstances." 
 "Circumstances" often determine the speed of horses as 
 well as of oxen. If any of my city readers have not 
 learned this by experience, they can easily do so. Let 
 them hire a cab for the trip to a certain part of the 
 city, and then hire another, or the same, by the hour. 
 If, in the latter case, they do not feel like putting their 
 heads out of the cab window and asking the driver whose 
 funeral they are attending, they Avill be more highly 
 favored than most people. 
 
 I have referred to the training of oxen. Horses are, 
 of course, differently handled ; sometimes not in the best 
 way, however, for the trainers, if tlie story of the sea 
 captain who turned farmer, and resolved upon "subdu- 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 00 
 
 ing " ca runaway nag that had been sold him, be true. lie 
 took with liim a brother tar and a kcdge anchor with a 
 long stout rope, one end of which was attached to it, tlie 
 other end being ''made fast" to the hind axle of the 
 wagon. Feeling secure with such precautions, he allowed 
 his horse to have very much liis own way, but when it 
 
 SUBDUING A BUNAWAT HORSE. 
 
 became evident that the animal was having it all its own 
 way, and was ojBf at full speed, orders were given to " Let 
 go the anchor." It was "let go," and ''held" so well 
 that the result was a too sudden stoppage of the wagon. 
 
 I do not know what amount the Traveller's Insurance 
 Company paid under this claim, but I take it for granted 
 that the captain had sense enough to make provision for 
 his family by an *' accident" policy in that excellent 
 institution ! 
 
56 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 FAEM HANDS. 
 
 During my summer visits, in former years, to one of 
 onr most cliarming sea-shore resorts, I became interested 
 in an eccentric and favorite old fisherman, known to all 
 who belonged to, or visited the place, as ''Uncle Bill," 
 and I had many long and amusing talks with him. The 
 old fellow would not go to "meetin," because, as he al- 
 leged, they once "talked agin" him there. 
 
 Efforts were made to take the ''meetin" to him, and 
 I at times witnessed some funny scenes at his house en 
 Sunday evenings. 
 
 At first there was a sort of battledoor and shuttlecock 
 game, I trying to improve my opportunity, and he cleverly, 
 but not rudely, endeavoring to defeat me in what he well 
 understood to be the object of my visits. In the midst 
 of a serious talk one Sunday evening — serious on my side, 
 at least — and when I supposed I had the attention of the 
 whole family, especially as he called upon the "gals" to 
 sing a hymn for me, he suddenly exclaimed : "Have you 
 seen the fiddle Len made ? Len, get the fiddle, and let 
 Mr. Starr hear you play it." 
 
 I was an attentive listener for a time to as go.od music 
 as might be expected from an old cigar box, of which the 
 "fiddle" was constructed, and then started the shuttle- 
 cock in motion agam. It was sure to come back to me 
 
FARM ECHOES. 57 
 
 speedily in some shape, I well knew, but that gave me 
 tlie opportunity of returning it. 
 
 My interest in the old man increased as I became better 
 acquainted with him, and much more satisfactory inter- 
 views than those to which I have referred, were had with 
 him. 
 
 The poor fellow died the last summer I was at that 
 sea-shore resort, and it has always been a mystery and re- 
 gret to me that some of the summer visitors, who for 
 years had fished with him, did not visit him in his ill- 
 ness. Their neglect of duty stands out in marked con- 
 trast with that of a New York physician, who recognized 
 the occasion as one that warranted his laying aside pro- 
 fessional etiquette, and who most faithfully endeavored 
 to restore the sick man to health. 
 
 The name, ^' Uncle Bill," having become a favorite one 
 with me, I gave it to one of my "farm hands," whose 
 picture is on the following page. It is an excellent like- 
 ness of one who was quite as original in his way as was 
 the fisherman. 
 
 Soon after I assigned this name to him, he said to me: 
 "1 am glad you call me Uncle Bill." — "Why?" I in- 
 quired. — "Because some of these days some strangers 
 will be passing and hear you call me Uncle Bill, and they 
 will think that you are my nephew." 
 
 One day he asked me why he was like the Duke of 
 Devonshire. Confessing my ignorance, he informed 
 me: " Because the Duke has his summer residence and 
 his winter residence, and so have I." Pointing to the 
 farm house where he lived in the summer, and then to 
 my dwelling, which he took charge of during my sojourn 
 
68 
 
 FABM ECHOES. 
 
 UNCLE BILL. 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 59 
 
 in Philadelphia, he added : " That is my Chatsworth, 
 and that is my Ardwick Hall." He startled a member 
 of my family one day, who questioned him in regard to 
 the disappearance of sundry young chickens, by saying 
 that the "ox had eaten them." — '* Surely oxen don't eat 
 chickens, Uncle Bill." — " Oh, no, ma'am ; not the hoxen, 
 but, you know, the ox." — A further explanation revealed 
 the fact that the hawks had made off with some of my 
 l^oultry. 
 
 Uncle Bill looked and felt old. He was an old man, 
 but not in years. The hardships and exposures of 
 his life, much of it spent in deep coal mines in England, 
 had been such as to make him prematurely aged. A 
 slight lameness, caused by an accident in a coal pit, 
 made him appear the more infirm. It was a source of no 
 little gratification to him to realize that he had my fullest 
 confidence. As a faithful watcher over the interests en- 
 trusted to him, he prized the title of " My old watch 
 dog." Woe to those whom he detected neglecting duty 
 on the farm ! All such offenders were reproved by him in 
 terms neither elegant nor mild. 
 
 At one time, during a severe illness which he felt might 
 end in speedy death, he expressed a wish to communicate 
 something to me alone, and in confidence. He . sum- 
 marily ordered the other occupants of his room to leave 
 it, and I stood at his bedside fully prepared for some im- 
 portant revelation — perhaps a death-bed confession of 
 something as yet a secret to all but his God and himself. 
 
 Could it be some dark deed in his past life, now Aveigh- 
 ing more heavily than ever upon his conscience, in view 
 of the near approach of death, and that he longed to 
 
60 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 unburden himself of it to one from whom he thought he 
 might receive comforting advice ? Judge of my surprise 
 and relief, when I found that what he had to communi- 
 cate was the confession of his neglect to inform me, at 
 the time of its occurrence some year or two previous, 
 that one in my employ had left open for a night, a door 
 which ought to have been locked. He found it open early 
 the next morning, and had ever since felt that he had 
 neglected his duty in not at once reporting the fact to me. 
 There was a tone of sadness in his voice which told, as 
 plainly as did his words, his regret at this failure of duty. 
 It was no light matter to him that I had placed confi- 
 dence m him, and that he had seemingly abused it. 
 
 I shall never forget the impression this made upon me, 
 nor, I hope, the lesson it taught me. I exclaimed : 
 " Happy Uncle Bill, to be thus prepared. Is this all that 
 troubles you ? " 
 
 Here was a soul about to enter eternity, as we supposed, 
 and it had no greater burden resting upon it than this 
 trifling matter. To tell of this open door, and then 
 feel that he was prepared for whatever might take place, 
 proved a childlike faith and trust rarely to be met with. 
 The eye of faith was evidently lookmg upon another 
 ''open door," and so steadfastly as not to see any of the 
 difficulties which distress those who do not take as liter- 
 ally as did he, the precious promise of a precious Saviour : 
 *' I am the door : by me if any man enter in he shall be 
 saved." Why do so many really good people make such 
 a tremendous mistake as to continually and morbidly 
 dwell upon their '' unworthiness," as though self condem- 
 nation were a preparation for Heaven ? We should go to 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 61 
 
 " The Sinner's Friend," because of our sins, and with our 
 sins, and leave them with Him. If He, as the great sin- 
 bearer, and sin-pardoner, relieves us of our sins, what have 
 we to do with them ? Thenceforth we have to do with 
 Christ, not with our sins. He cannot be the bearer of 
 them, if we bear them, or even attempt to share the 
 burden. There is no such co-partnership. There is 
 ample and profitable self-abasement in exalting Him who 
 died to redeem us. 
 
 Our faith and trust must ever be in Him only. Tliey 
 take " the lowest place" who reserve the highest — not for 
 their church, nor church forms or ceremonies be they 
 what they may ; not for any frame of mind, joyous or 
 despondent, nor for emotions however devout ; not for 
 any vows, nor for any almsgiving ; but for their Saviour 
 and their God. 
 
 " For no foundation io there given 
 On which I'd place my hopes of Heaven, 
 But Christ, the comer stone." 
 
 Uncle Bill and I had, on several occasions, conversed 
 upon this subject, and he had assured me of his trust in 
 Christ, as the only and all-sufficient Saviour. These as- 
 surances, made when he was in comparative health, were 
 now verified at the supposed dying hour. His was a 
 "steadfast" faith — "Both sure and steadfast." This 
 good man never wholly recovered from this illness, though 
 he lingered along the journey of life a while longer. 
 
 On his tombstone is engraved : 
 
 "Honest, Faithful, Trustful." 
 
 I doubt if there ever were a better set of men — a more 
 
03 FA KM ECHOES. 
 
 faithful and industrious set than arc to be found on this 
 farm. Thoy have been selected after years of culling out. 
 Such as labored so vigorously in my presence that they 
 had to rest the moment my back was turned, have been 
 allowed to rest, but not at my expense. 
 
 All are made to understand, when engaged, that I have 
 no limited hours in which they are to Avork, but that they 
 must work whenever needed, night or day, and I do not 
 know of one who would not most readily respond to a 
 call at any time during the twenty-four hours, or all the 
 twenty-four, if necessary. Eegular hours are, as a gen- 
 eral rule, rigidly enforced. AVlien not absolutely needed, 
 the men have their stated hour for breakfast and dinner. 
 Their services are dispensed with as early in the evening 
 as possible. They literally go by "clock-work," but as 
 the bam clock ticks with equal vigor all through the 
 twenty-four hours, so they stand ready to do service 
 whenever special duties are to be discharged. 
 
 The term "Farm hands" is used only because it is 
 one commonly understood, for I do not like it. I could 
 not be content with the mere mechanical labor of the 
 men's "hands." I must have their hearty interest and 
 co-operation, and that is secured by so treating them as 
 to prove that such feelings are reciprocal. It has often 
 been remarked by farmers that they cannot get " farm 
 hands " to work for them as industriously as do mine. 
 Strangers visiting the farm have often told me the same 
 thing, and I have been asked to explain how I secured 
 such services. There need be no secret about it. If men 
 are properly treated by those wlio employ them, whether 
 it be on a farm or elsewhere, they will, as a general rule. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 63 
 
 properly treat their employers. If laborers are treated 
 as mere animals, capable of doing a certain amount of 
 work, what right has the employer to find fault if they 
 act as such? He may, in disgust, call thfm "brutes," 
 but did he not hire them as such, and has lie not, to some 
 extent, made them what they are ? He Vho drives hard 
 bargains with those in his employ, and proves a hard 
 master in his treatment of them while in his service, must 
 expect to reap as he has sown. Some excellent christian 
 men appear to be totally unmindful of the duty they owe 
 to those in their employ. It should not be a mere mat- 
 ter of dollars and cents. Though if it were only such, 
 it pays vastly better to secure the hearty sympathy of 
 tliose working for us, rather than have them heartlessly 
 and grudgingly do as little as they possibly can — for their 
 pay, not for us. 
 
 I hope there are but few, if any, merchants who would 
 deduct from the salaries of their clerks the time spent in 
 vacation, or lost by sickness ; yet how many keep a rigid 
 account of the moments a laborer may be off ditty. Has 
 not the laborer an equal right to deny to his employer a 
 moment's more work than he is compelled to give ? I 
 think so. 
 
 Generous and kind treatment on the part of the em- 
 ployer, begets like generosity and kindness on the part of 
 the employed, and only thus can caiiital and labor har- 
 monize. 
 
 There is a debit and credit side to this account. The 
 employer and the employed must each give to the other 
 ft quid pro quo. 
 
 One winter afternoon, in Philadelphia, several years 
 
64 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 ago, I Avas asked for a penny by some little girls who 
 were sweeping the falling snow from the street crossings. 
 A briglit and mischievous-looking lad, who was evidently 
 having some fun at their expense, ran in front of me, and 
 extending his hand, said in a most beseeching and pite- 
 ous tone : " Please give mo a penny, sir — for doing 
 noffin." It has always been a source of regret to me 
 that I did not ascertain that youngster's name and ad- 
 dress, and try to make something of him, for there cer- 
 tainly was material in him to work upon with fair pros- 
 pects of success. 
 
 I enjoyed the sport of that little boy, but there is no 
 enjoyment in employing those whose indolence prompts 
 them to do ''noffin" more than they can possibly help. 
 We are all busy here ; those regularly in my employ, and 
 such as are hired by the day or hour. 
 
 On one occasion the owner of an excellent ox-team and 
 cart was engaged to help get in my hay. At the end of 
 the third day he respectfully informed me that he would 
 not be able to work for me any longer, as he must cut 
 and house his own hay. His team had been sandwiched 
 in between two of my own, so that each did its equal 
 share of work, which proved too much for him, for he 
 assured his friends that "if any one says that the men 
 on Starr's farm don't have to work hard, they lie." My 
 regulars were not a little amused at this outburst of a 
 volunteer. 
 
 Profanity and intemperance have ever been prohibited 
 on this farm, as senseless and degrading. Oaths are 
 never heard on the farm, except when uttered by some 
 stranger, who is politely informed that he is speaking in 
 
FARM ECHOES. G5 
 
 a ''foreign language, not understood or allowed here." 
 There was some "tall swearing" when I first came 
 here, and I had fre(|ucntly to draw swords with such 
 offenders. 
 
 On one occasion a teamster in "dumping" a load of 
 stones, savagely ordered them to " the bad place," be- 
 cause on<3 of them struck his foot. I was passing along 
 the road at the time, on my way to that field, but was 
 not seen by the men until I entered it. When the team- 
 ster Avas ready to discharge his next load of stones, I was 
 on the spot, and greatly astonished him and the other 
 men, by feeling a number of stones, and expressing sur- 
 prise at finding them all "quite cold, and just like other 
 stones." "What does Mr. Starr mean ?" was asked by 
 several. More stones were felt and commented upon in 
 like manner. It was not long before one of the men 
 comprehended my meaning, and enlightened the others. 
 
 "The stones had been sent to and were not hot." 
 
 Having thus secured the attention of all the men, I en- 
 deavored to prove the folly that had been committed. 
 No damage had been done to the stones. They were just 
 as they were before being cursed, but not so the guilty 
 one who cursed them. He could not harm a lifeless 
 stone, but he could and had harmed his ever living soul. 
 Some friendly advice was given and respectfully received. 
 The offender would not promise never again to utter an 
 oath, but he most heartily assured me that he would 
 "try hard never to swear again,'' and it is my belief that 
 he has tried hard enough to succeed. There is a good 
 deal that is manly about him, and he is likely to accom- 
 plish whatever he undertakes. 
 
66 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 What can be more ridiculous than profane language ? 
 I never hear it without thinking of the little boy who 
 had been provoked by something, and in revenge told 
 his mother that he would teach his little sister ''to say 
 some bad words. " When asked by his mamma what the 
 bad words were, he replied: "Dandy Jim and Daddy- 
 long-legs." 
 
 If those addicted to this low vice must have some 
 strong adjectives to give spice and power to their sayings, 
 perhaps too tame without them, why not "hallow" 
 their Maker's name by keeping it for only sacred use, 
 and, in lieu thereof, take up such impressive and digni- 
 fied words as those quoted by that little boy, now a noble 
 christian gentleman, or others equally forcible and grand, 
 such as "gingerbread and molasses," " shovel and tongs," 
 etc., etc. 
 
 Though for many years an abstainer from intoxicating 
 drinks, I have never sympathized with those ultra ones 
 who denounce all who do not agree with them upon the 
 important question of total abstinence. I grant to all 
 the right I claim for myself — freedom of thought and 
 action. True, there are many who drink in moderation; 
 excellent christian people ; but it is equally true that 
 there are many so under the dominion of alcohol as to be 
 Avholly unable to use it in moderation. Their only safety 
 is in abstaining from all intoxicating liquors. To en- 
 courage such, and to disprove the too often repeated as- 
 sertion tliat " only reformed drunkards sign the total 
 abstinence pledge," are sufiicient inducements to enlist 
 in the good cause those who are willing to come to the 
 rescue of these less favored ones. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 67' 
 
 If what are called " rectified spirits " would only 
 ''rectify" those who partake of them too freely, I should 
 at once cease to be a total abstinence man. Do what we 
 may, we can accomplish but little for others, as compared 
 with what has been done for us by the good Master 
 above ; and the more we deny ourselves for the sake of 
 others, the more closely we shall resemble Him, and the 
 more obedient shall we be to His command to follow 
 Him. 
 
 As to the men on Echo Farm, I tell all before engag- 
 ing them that they are free to act as they wish ; that they 
 can drown their bodies and souls in liquor if they prefer 
 to do so, and are prepared to take the consequences, but 
 that I am equally free to do as I wish, and that no 
 drunkard will be employed by mo. 
 
 None of my men are required to sign any total absti- 
 nence pledge, though I am glad to say that several have 
 voluntarily done so. They know full well that it is per- 
 fectly useless to come to me with any excuses, however 
 plausible, if found guilty of having imbibed too freely. 
 Not even the plea that they had " taken a little whiskey 
 to keeji their feet dry, the roads were so wet," could 
 satisfy me that a pair of water-proof boots would not 
 have answered the purpose quite as well. We understand 
 each other now, and it is due to all of them to say that 
 they are temperate, though not all total abstinence men. 
 I not only refuse to employ drunken men, but will not 
 purchase drunken cows. I once sent a trustworthy per- 
 son to examine a valuable cow that had been offered me 
 for sale. The report of her was highly favorable, with 
 this one important exception: she was found ''almost 
 
68 PARM ECHOES. 
 
 dciid drunk." The poor creaturo had eaten too freely 
 of apples that had been lying in a pile for several 
 weeks, and fermented, and she was too- much "over- 
 come " to stand up. A mixture of cider and milk does 
 not seem very tempting. 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 FARM ANIMALS. 
 
 Before referring to the more useful animals of the 
 farm, allow me to introduce to the reader, if not the 
 most ornamental, certainly the most amusing creature I 
 ever owned. 
 
 At the time I purchased my country residence, a little 
 nephew of mine was promised a pet lamb to play with 
 Avlien he visited me the following spring. Shortly before 
 the lad's visit, I made inquiry for such an animal. One 
 of my men informed me that he knew where one was to 
 be had, and he was accordingly sent to purchase it. We 
 were all greatly astonished and amused to see — not a 
 spotless, snow-white lamb, such as we had pictured in 
 our imagination, but the most coal-black and impish- 
 looking creature I ever beheld. A wether lamb whose 
 diminutive size, for it was quite young and small, made 
 it appear the more ridiculous as we took our first look at 
 it, by the aid of a lantern at night. His antics, that 
 first night, gave promise of amusement, and never was 
 
FARM ECHOES. 69 
 
 a promisG better kept. He became a great pet, and 
 contributed largely to the merriment, or fear, of those 
 who made his acquaintance. Whether merriment or 
 fear predominated depended very much upon the hilarity 
 of the lamb, and his mode of showing it. He was ap- 
 propriately named " Daisy." 
 
 The lad for whose special benefit the lamb had been 
 procured, had a full measure of sport with him the first 
 summer, but it afterwards became apparent that too 
 great familiarity was dangerous, for it was clear that 
 
 Willie had a little lamb, 
 
 His fleece as black as jet, 
 And if too near him Willie went, 
 
 He was sure to be upset. 
 
 This was nothing to the discredit of the boy, for some 
 gentlemen whose bravery upon the battle field had never 
 been questioned, eagerly sought refuge behind a fence, 
 when they saw Daisy making for them. However nimbly 
 they vaulted over walls, Daisy was much more nimble 
 than they, and was '* over "about as soon as any of 
 them. Leaping walls was one of Daisy's delights. Un- 
 like politicians and cats, he was never on the fence, but 
 took a decided stand one side or the other. 
 
 I am sorry to say Daisy was a " black sheep " in charac- 
 ter, for he became a noted thief, so expert, in picking the 
 pockets of the men, as to make it unsafe to leave a coat 
 or vest within his reach. His fondness for tobacco must 
 have originated with the men, who probably gave him 
 some to see what he would do with it. If they were the 
 guilty ones, they paid well for thus training him, as he 
 helped himself freely, at their expense, whenever an op- 
 
70 
 
 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 portiinity offered. Knowing where and how to get it, 
 he would search the coats and vests laid aside by the men 
 while working in the fields. One day, while surrounded 
 by a large force of men, clearing the field, I heard the 
 shout : ''Daisy is at the coats !" Looking up, I saw his 
 head buried in the pile of coats upon a ledge of rocks 
 near me, and ran to drive him off. When close by him 
 
 he raised his head as high as he could, holding in his 
 mouth one end of a Avatch chain, the watch dangling 
 from the other end. The rousing laugh of the men in- 
 creased as the mischievous creature shook his head, sway- 
 ing the watch backward and forward, so close to the 
 rocks that I made up my mind that I should have to 
 provide the owner of it with another. Daisy appeared 
 conscious that he was doing a smart thing, and kept up 
 the swaying motion, until I took the watch uninjured 
 from him. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 71 
 
 A few days after this Daisy again made himself con- 
 spicuous, and in the same place. The old cry " Daisy is 
 at the coats " drew the attention of every one in the field 
 to him. His head was again buried in the pile of clothes. 
 Eemembering the watch, I made all haste for him, and 
 was convulsed with laughter as I saw him draw his head 
 from the pocket of one of the coats, holding in his moutli 
 a tobacco pipe. The pipe happened to be bowl upper- 
 most, and in the comer of his mouth, giving the wretch 
 the air of an accomplished smoker. The roar of laughter, 
 from all hands, exceeded that of the previous occasion, 
 and Daisy certainly appeared to enjoy the sport, for he 
 stood motionless, head erect. There was no occasion for 
 a rush at him, as when he was playing with the watch, 
 so that I let him have his own way for a few minutes. 
 He allowed me to take the pipe out of his mouth, though 
 he was undoubtedly luxuriating in the taste of tobacco. 
 
 So much has been written concerning the relative merits 
 of the different breeds of cattle that there is no need for 
 me to give more than a general account of those that 
 compose my herd, especially as these remarks are merely 
 ** echoes " from my farm. 
 
 If I purchase a 3'acht, it is presumed that I want her 
 for voyaging on the Avater. If I buy a carriage, it is for 
 land travel. So it is in regard to cattle. I buy what I 
 deem most suited to the purposes for which they are in- 
 tended. For just this reason owners of Shorthorns, Dev- 
 ons, Jerseys, Guernseys, and Ayrshires, etc., have made 
 their selection. If animals are wanted for beef only, as in 
 certain parts of our country, the larger they are the better, 
 if equally good in other respects. If for quantity of 
 
72 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 milk, regardless of its quality, another breed may be 
 chosen, though some of my Jerseys give twenty quarts of 
 rich milk per day. If for richness of milk, richness of 
 butter, and richness of meat when butchered, I know of 
 none that can equal the best class of Jerseys. I do not 
 mean the pretty little creatures so often purchased, and 
 at large prices, merely for their beauty, but the full size, 
 Americanized cows, born and brought up in this country, 
 and which seem to me far handsomer than the toy cattle 
 sometimes seen on fancy farms. 
 
 Large sums are frequently paid for a painting of a hand- 
 some cow, perhaps many times the value of the original. 
 The purchaser sees his money's worth on the canvas, and 
 gladly rewards the clever artist. A few years ago, I 
 greatly enjoyed looking at a large exhibition of valuable 
 paintings imported from Europe. Among them was one 
 of a few sheep so admirably executed that you could al- 
 most imagine them to be clothed in real. wool. Some 
 farmers who saw this picture inquired the price. Upon 
 being informed that it was two thousand dollars, they 
 expressed surprise, and could not be convinced that it 
 was worth so much money, though told by its owner that 
 *' there was two thousand dollars' worth of avooI alone in 
 the picture." 
 
 While alludmg to the different breeds of cattle, it will 
 not be out of place to acknowledge my ignorance of any 
 such breed as was referred to by the clergyman who, m 
 dwelling upon the Prodigal Son, became much excited 
 over the young man's happy return to his home, and 
 pictured in graphic terms, the " fatted calf " which he 
 assured his hearers the fond father had been fattening for 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 73 
 
74 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 many years in anticipation of the joyous event then 
 celebrated. Calves^, nowadays, cease to be such when 
 they become yearHngs. 
 
 A school commissioner asked the scholars during an 
 oflBcial visit, "What is Kentucky famous for," and was 
 answered " For its mammoth calves." 
 
 My herd consists of over one hundred and ninety Jer- 
 seys, and two superior prize cows of the Ayrshire breed 
 with which I am experimenting in order to test their 
 value as compared with Jerseys. ''Litchfield" still 
 proudly heads the herd, and is the admiration of all who 
 see him. He appears to as great advantage as when he 
 stood the severe test at the Centennial Exhibition at Phil- 
 adelphia, where he won the Centennial award, also the 
 special first prize offered by the American Jersey Cattle 
 Club for the best Jersey bull. For quite a number of 
 years excellent judges of cattle have been making ex- 
 tensive selections of the best to be found on the Island 
 of Jersey, and it stands to reason that this must long ago 
 have drawn from that charming little Island their choicest 
 animals, and that this country has now the best stock of 
 that breed, as of others. Such long continued taking out 
 of the one scale, and putting into the other, must surely 
 have "tipped' the beam " ere this. 
 
 I read, and hear, much that is absurd in regard to 
 "points" in Jerseys, and long ago made up my mind 
 that my schoolmaster was very remiss in not teaching me 
 how to spell that simple word. I spell it "pints," and 
 am fully convinced tliat the chief "point " of a cow is the 
 number of pints she yields, unless she is wanted for other 
 than milking purposes. There are, of course, certain 
 
FARM ECHOES. 75 
 
 distinctive marks which it is important to note. My 
 schoohiiaster was also at fault in demonstrating to me, 
 as he did occasionally and conclusively, that one rod 
 made an acre, whereas I have since discovered that it takes 
 forty. Happily for me he did not know this. One was 
 quite enough. 
 
 As to "^ solid color," about which so much is said and 
 written, and upon which many put so much stress, it can- 
 not amount to more than mere outward appearance, for 
 surely milk does not come from colored hair, nor flow 
 more profusely from one color than from another. It is 
 very natural to have a preference for color, and I fully 
 agree with those who would rather have a solid fawn- 
 colored cow, than one of any other shade, all other 
 things, points and pints, being equal ; yet I think a large 
 herd of different colored cows, say solid fawn, fawn and 
 white, squirrel gray, and gray and white, is a handsomer 
 sight than would be a herd all of the same color, what- 
 ever that might be. 
 
 This question of color is purely one of fancy. People 
 have differed upon much more important "points" than 
 it, and, far back into the past, if the statement of the 
 " colored " brother be correct, that the people before the 
 flood were divided into two classes — "the diluvians, who 
 were in favor of the flood, and the anti-diluvians, who 
 were opposed to it." The reply made by one who repre- 
 sented his cow as "nearly solid color, so nearly so that 
 but for a few dark hairs she would be all white," was an 
 excellent burlesque upon the rage for " solid color." 
 
 It is a great mistake to overfeed cows. The tempta- 
 tion to do so, in order to make them give a large yield of 
 
76 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 milk, is very great. Such a course may secure the desired 
 object for a time, but the evil effects are sure to present 
 themselves before long. It is safest, and certainly most 
 profitable, to feed moderately, and thus secure the health 
 of the animals and of their progeny. 
 
 "Silos," "Ensilage," are echoed from various parts 
 of the country, and astonish us with their new and mar- 
 vellous stories. If we throw overboard one-half of what 
 is said in their praise, enough is left to deepen the interest 
 they have already created. While some are rushing 
 wildly into an undeveloped theory, others are calmly and 
 judiciously exploring its mysteries, and the results of 
 their investigations will determine one of the most im- 
 portant questions that has ever arisen regarding agricul- 
 tural products. 
 
 I do not question the excellence of the artificial food 
 given to cows and other animals, as I do not, and cannot, 
 know all about it. Because of the impossibility of know- 
 ing all about it, as I know all about the grasses, grains 
 and beets I give my pets, I refuse to use any. 
 
 Sometimes, in travelling, I have been inclined to suspect 
 that hotel men were feeding me on artificial food, it was 
 so awfully tough. If the art of making roast-beef and 
 beef-steak out of gutta-percha has been discovered, I 
 shall be inclined to suspect that I have been thus victim- 
 ized. So long as I protect my herd, it shall not be 
 troubled in any such way. That I may not be accused of 
 being too particular, I acknowledge that the best of every- 
 thing is good enough for my animals, though none too 
 good. Dwelling upon this subject I am reminded of the 
 unfortunate fellow who had been advised by his doctor 
 
FARM ECHOES. 77 
 
 to eat "animal food." When asked by the physician 
 how he liked the diet, he replied that he could get 
 along very well with the beets and carrots, but that, do 
 his best, he could not swallow the cut feed. For the 
 benefit of the uninitiated, it may be well to explain that 
 " cut feed " is hay cut short, say about an inch in length, * 
 and mixed with grain — oats and corn ground together — 
 and frequently bran. A little water is usually put with 
 it. Doubtless much of the manufactured food for cattle 
 is pure, but as there is great danger of adulteration, and 
 quite as great difficulty in detecting it-without a thorough 
 analysis, which cannot well be made by farmers, too 
 much care cannot be taken in guarding against such im- 
 position. 
 
 '^ Experiment Stations," springing up in different parts 
 of our country, have already accomplished much good, 
 and, if rightly conducted, will prove of incalculable value 
 in stock farming, as well as in every other branch of 
 agriculture. 
 
 Those whose chief object is to get cheap food, or cheap 
 anything else, without having due regard to its excellence, 
 expose themselves to fraud, and — perhaps unconsciously 
 — tempt the mannfacturers to adulterate in order that 
 they may make the required reduction in price. The 
 best is generally the cheapest, and should invariably be 
 sought. 
 
 Dr. Albert E. Ledoux, says the '^ N. Y. Observer," in 
 " addressing the National Agricultural Society upon the 
 subject of mixed and manufactured seeds, stated that 
 Professor Nobbe, of Germany, had made a thorough ex- 
 amination of the stock of prominent European seed- 
 
78 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 dealers^ and the investigation revealed the following 
 facts : The average per cent, of pure seed in commercial 
 samples was fifty-nine. Of this fifty-nine per cent, , only 
 eighteen per cent, was capable of germinating. One 
 sample of orchard grass contained the seeds of forty-five 
 other plants. Another contained ninety-five per cent, 
 of dead seed. Three tons of seed sold as red clover con- 
 tained two tons of yellow clover. Old seeds were reno- 
 vated by boiling, dyeing, roasting. Weed seeds were 
 stained and used to adulterate lots of expensive seeds. 
 He discovered that in Bohemia and elsewhere large fac- 
 tories for the manufacture of seeds were running, with 
 warehouses at Hamburg and other commercial centers. 
 '" No one unsuspecting would detect this adulteration 
 even if practised to the extent of twenty-five per cent. 
 In Bavaria and Austria women and children were em- 
 ployed to gather weed seeds from the roadsides and 
 ditches, which were shipped to England, sorted and sold 
 as grass seeds. American seeds were also examined, and 
 with results almost eqiially astonishing. For instance : A 
 sample of red clover seed contained no less than fourteen 
 thousand four hundred foreign seeds in a pound. These 
 foreign seeds were of forty-four distinct species, among 
 them thistle, sorrel, milkweed, dandelion, knot-weed, 
 burdock, darnel, goose grass, blue weed, wild carrot, ox- 
 eye daisy, pig-weed, chick-weed, and dodder. The sam- 
 ples of American seeds, however, for the most part bore 
 favorable comparison with the European specimens. 
 Summing up the results of his investigations. Professor 
 Nobbe said that American grasses contain, on the average, 
 seventy-nine per cent, of pure seeds, while the average in 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 79 
 
 Germany is only sixty-two. The average per cent, of 
 grass seed capable of germinating is in the United States 
 fifty, in Germany forty-two. The average percentage of 
 pure seeds in American clover is ninety-three, in Germany 
 ninety-four : clover seed capable of germinating, in 
 America fifty, Germany forty-two per cent. The moral 
 of all which is : " Buy your seeds of established and well 
 known dealers, who have a reputation to maintain and 
 who cannot afford to make money at the loss of it." 
 
 As the faithful mariner carefully, and at all times, 
 studies his charts, and keeps a constant oversight of his 
 compass, taking nothing for granted, but always making 
 sure of his position ; so should farmers, with equal vigil- 
 ance, supervise their affairs. Well conducted agricultural 
 newspapers should be studied with a view of ascertaining 
 what improvements are being made. Every department 
 of the farm should be under the direct personal control 
 of its owner, and a minute account be kept of every thing 
 that is brought to or taken from the farm. 
 
 I do not believe in having any regulation that is not 
 enforced. No rule governing the affairs of this farm is 
 more rigidly adhered to than the one requiring every 
 animal to be kindly treated. Apart from the inhumanity 
 of cruelly treating cows, especially those so fastened in 
 their stalls that they cannot, if they would, defend them- 
 selves, there is a direct gain in treating them kindly. No 
 person — I cannot say man, for no true man would do it — 
 guilty of beating any of my animals, is retained one hour. 
 The only " licking " is to be done by my cows, not on them. 
 They do it as an act of affection, not in anger, and love to 
 thus caress each other, and those who are kind to them. 
 
80 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 While travelling some two years ago, I saw three 
 wretched sjoecimens of humanity ill-treating a cow in the 
 most frequented street of a town through wliich I was 
 passing. One of the three was in advance, pulling hard 
 on a rope attached to the poor creature's horns. Another 
 was on her back, pretending by clownish behavior to be 
 riding a horse ; and the third was beating the hind legs 
 of the jaded animal with a large sized stick which had 
 been splintered at the end by the blows that had been 
 given. I am sorry to add that none of the lookers' on, 
 and there Avere not a few, were manly enough to put an 
 end to this brutality. I was a stranger in that town, and 
 knew none of the parties concerned, but that poor cow 
 was relieved of her persecutors before she passed me. 
 
 I often wish that the men who milk my cows were all 
 good singers, and that they would thus use their voices 
 while filling their pails. I am sure the pails would be 
 better filled. Now and then I hear the welcome voice at 
 milking time, and delight in it, however diflBcult it might 
 be for strangers to recognize it as the voice of song, be- 
 cause of the absence of what is sometimes called " music," 
 but the cows understand it to be for their benefit, and 
 not only take the will for the deed, but jxiy generously 
 for the entertainment in an increased supply of milk. 
 One of the most valuable cows in my herd had a great 
 aversion to any one standing in front of her and stroking 
 her head. Some four years ago she was very ill, and was 
 carefully watched day and night by myself or some re- 
 sponsible person. 
 
 Ever since then she has not only been willing to be so 
 petted by me, but delights in it. She has most certainly 
 
FARM ECHOES. 81 
 
 not forgotten the kindness then shown her. This is 
 more than can be said of some human beings. A few 
 years ago a lad employed to watch the cows while in their 
 summer pasture, and whose fondness for them was mani- 
 festly reciprocated, was sitting on the stone wall at the 
 road side, with some of them quite close to him. A man 
 walking past playfully seized the boy by the shoulders 
 and shook him. This so enraged one of the cows that 
 she did her best to hook the offender. 
 
 Hours were spent by this boy, every fine day, sitting 
 on the grass reading, and supporting his back against 
 the cows that were lying down. They all liked this 
 companionship, and patiently waited his pleasure. I 
 have more than once wished for a picture of this youth- 
 ful herd-keeper with my pets. 
 
 A party of scientific gentlemen from New York, who 
 came to visit the farm, went to a field to see the young 
 stock. There were quite a number of j^earlings and 
 calves in the field, and the visitors expected to see them 
 run away as they were approached by strangers. Instead 
 of this being the case, the little ones gathered around the 
 visitors as though bidding them welcome. The caresses 
 were quite as hearty on the part of the animals as on the 
 other side. ''Oh !" exclaimed one gentleman, "if Mr. 
 Bergh were only here to witness this sight, how much he 
 would enjoy it." 
 
 I began by naming my animals from trees — Cedar, 
 Chestnut, Filbert, Locust, etc. — but soon exhausted the 
 list. Names are now obtained by young lady visitors 
 leaving their cards at the reception-room of the 
 dairy. On one occasion a large party of ladies and 
 
82 PAEM ECHOES. 
 
 gentlemen visited the farm, and among other qneries, 
 I was asked liow names were obtained for. so many ani- 
 mals. The question was answered, and I mentioned sev- 
 eral names thus secured, adding : ''There is one name I 
 think exceedingly pretty ; it is that of a friend of the two 
 
 sisters and Just referred to. She has never been 
 
 here, nor have I ever seen her, but she certainly has a 
 
 very pretty name, A S ; don't you think so ?" A 
 
 smile on every face led me to suspect that the name was 
 familiar to them, and that there was some pleasant asso- 
 ciation connected with it. I was not a little surprised 
 to find that the young lady in question was one of the 
 party. She expressed a desire to see her namesake, and 
 was much pleased with its looks and playful ways. 
 
 I have studiously endeavored to guard against a mis- 
 take too often made by those who exchange city life for 
 farm life, and who, instead of taking up a specialty and 
 perfecting it, foolishly attempt too many things to allow 
 of success in any of them. They must deal in horses, 
 cattle of various kinds, sheep, swine, poultry, etc. 
 Others succeed with horses, but I am sure that I should 
 not, having neither the talent nor the inclination for 
 that kind of stock raising. Sheep arc unquestionably a 
 profitable investment when properly cared for, but it is 
 not in my power to devote the necessary attention to 
 them. Even Daisy was too much for me, and had to be 
 disposed of, not, however, to the butcher, nor to one who 
 would eat him, but to one sure to treat him kindly. 
 
 Of swine I have but few. Merely enough to consume 
 the skimmed milk from the dairy, not needed for the 
 calves. It is freely admitted that I have no fondness for 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 83 
 
 pigs, and that I have never been able to make anything 
 but 23igs out of them. Mr. Edward Burnet, of South- 
 borough, Mass., and others, have succeeded admirably 
 with these creatures. So much for their making a spe- 
 cialty of this branch of farming. 
 
 There must be a certain amount of danger in keeping 
 such animals, if there be any truth in the story of tlie 
 Ehode Island pig that decided the destiny of this coun- 
 try by bringing about the Avar of 1813. It is said that a 
 pig broke through a defective fence of two neighbors in 
 Ehode Island. Angry words were followed by a lawsuit. 
 The defendant (the pig owner) called upon a lawyer 
 whom he had employed on previous occasions, and found 
 that he had already accepted a retainer from the other 
 party. His anger was thus kindled, and his influence 
 was successfully exerted in defeating the election of tiie 
 lawyer to the State Legislature. One vote decided the 
 election of a Senator to Congress. England's " Order 
 in Council " to seize and confiscate American vessels, and 
 forcibly take sailors from them, had stirred up a warlike 
 spirit at Washington, and an immediate declaration of 
 war was also carried by one vote. If this be really so, 
 and the vote of the Ehode Island Senator did precipitate 
 a war which would have been averted by a few weeks' 
 delay, the obnoxious "Order in Council" having been 
 revoked, but unknown to the authorities at Washington, 
 because of the absence of "cablegrams," then that pig 
 caused a decided commotion between this and the mother 
 country. Farmers who keep pigs must see to it that 
 their fences are in good condition. 
 
 Let me add, before taking leave of my animals, a few 
 
84 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 words about some pets that were on my farm for years, 
 but which cannot be considered as necessarily belonging 
 to a farm. I refer to three dogs, as perfect specimens 
 of their respective breeds as are usually seen, yiz : A 
 large and exceedingly graceful English greyhound, named 
 *' Chinsfachcook," a direct descendent of the famous 
 greyhound, "Master McGrath," which was knighted by 
 Her Majesty the Queen of England, and two little ter- 
 riers, one a " Scotch," the other a " Skye." These three 
 dogs were great favorites, and accompanied my family 
 and our visitors in their walks and drives. The swift- 
 ness of the hound was wonderful, as were some of his 
 leaps. It was a comical sight to see the little Skye, with 
 his very long body and very short legs, rolled almost into a 
 ball, in his frantic endeavors to keep pace with the hound, 
 who was conscious of his powers, and took evident de- 
 light in racing with his diminutive, but decidedly ambi- 
 tious companion. The Skye felt in duty bound to give 
 chase to all intruding animals, regardless of their size or 
 strength, and often paid dearly for his folly. On more 
 than one occasion he was seen to pursue a fox, but never 
 to overtake it. Not so, however, the hound. He could 
 soon outrun Eeynard, but would not attack him. Once 
 he and a fox that he had overtaken, played together for 
 several minutes, when the cunning of the creature de- 
 tected that a fox-hound was after it, and oif it dashed 
 into the woods, leaving Chingachcook without even a 
 parting salutation. The Scotch terrior was happiest 
 when tormenting cats, and would make for them when- 
 ever he saw them. But once, that I know of, was he 
 mastered by one. The cat, driven to extremities, sprang 
 
far:! ECIiOL3. 85 
 
 upon his back and remained there, though the dog was 
 crazed by this unexpected performance on her part. 
 Never was a dog more incensed, and could he have dis- 
 mounted pussy, he would assuredly have put an end to her 
 existence, though she possessed ninety times nine lives. 
 As he, in his bewilderment, rushed past a tree, the cat 
 again showed her dexterity by springing from his back 
 into it, and seeking shelter among its boughs. Master 
 Scot was evidently glad to be released, and thereafter 
 that cat was not disturbed by him. 
 
 So many of our visitors became apprehensive of hydro- 
 phobia, that I felt it my duty to part with the dogs. 
 This was done most reluctantly, for I was very fond of 
 them, though I cannot confess to a fondness for such 
 animals quite equal to that of some persons I have known. 
 The most remarkable instance of this kind that has 
 ever come to my knowledge was in Canada. I was 
 travelling through that country and called upon a friend 
 — one of the leading physicians of the city — whom I had 
 not seen for years Our intercourse sufEered a temporary 
 interruption. The doctor was applied to in most be- 
 seeching and pathetic tones to cure a dog that had been 
 fighting with a cur which proved more than his equal. 
 
 *'Doc-tur — ah! doc-tur, do cure my poor dog!" — 
 " Cure your dog ! " exclaimed the astonished M. D. 
 "What have I to do with your dog, sir ?" — "Ah ! doc- 
 tur, just see how he is lacerated — do cure him." — "I 
 can't do anything for your dog," again replied my friend, 
 and in a tone which indicated some warmth of feeling. — 
 " But ah ! doc-tur, I am so afraid he will die, and if my 
 poor dog should die, what would I do ? I could stand at 
 
86 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 the grave of my parents without shedding a tear, but 
 oh ! I cannot part with my dog." This was too much 
 for the " doc-tur," and in some way the front door of his 
 dwelling, where the conversation took place, was sud- 
 denly closed between the enraged "doc-tur" and the 
 two puppies on the outside. It was some little time be- 
 fore my medical friend calmed down. 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 FARM BUILDINGS AND FARMING IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 I have prided myself not a little upon having excellent 
 barns. Great care was taken in planning and building 
 them. Thousands of visitors, some days numbering over 
 ninety, have expressed admiration of them. The cattle, 
 for whose special benefit they were erected, have given 
 unmistakeable signs of approval of them, and have cer- 
 tainly thriven splendidly in them. No wonder then that 
 I was somewhat taken aback a few months ago, when ad- 
 dressed by a tramp, who pointed to my largest and best 
 barn, and asked what building it was. Upon being told 
 that it was a '*barn," he replied: **0h! I thought it 
 was a poorhouse. They have poorhouses just like it in 
 the old country." The fellow passed on, no doubt en- 
 joying his little joke, and I comforted myself by think- 
 ing what excellent poorhouses there must be in the *' old 
 country," though I could not call to mind ever having 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 87 
 
 Been any such in my visits there. Perhaps I had not 
 been in tiie oldest parts of the ''old country." 
 
 My principal cattle barns form three sides of an oblong 
 square with a southern exposure. 
 
 The room one hundred feet by forty feet is eleven feet 
 high, and is lighted by eighteen large double-sashed win- 
 
 100 x40 
 
 35 
 
 s L J 
 
 ID 
 
 PLAN OF BARNS. 
 
 dows, opening top and bottom. It contains stalls for 
 forty-eight cows, twelve in each of the four sections, so 
 that they have ample room, much more than is usually 
 allowed, but none too much in my opinion. There is a 
 free circulation of pure air, both the cow-room, and the 
 
88 FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 cellar below it, being ventilated through the cupolas on 
 the roof. 
 
 Three wide passage-ways run the entire length of the 
 room, one on either side back of the cows, and one in the 
 center, toward vv^hich they face, and from which they are 
 fed. There are also three passage ways crossing the 
 room, one at each end and one in the center. 
 
 The wash-room (a) or as the men call it, the ** parlor," 
 communicates with this room, and every man is required 
 to wash his face and hands, and brush his hair before 
 milking. 
 
 Too many persons give a well kept dairy all the credit 
 for clean, pure milk. Cleanliness and purity begin at the 
 
 -(t~ 
 
 INTEKIOB OF ONE OF THE BARNS. 
 
 barn. When milk is taken to the dairy in proper con- 
 dition, it may by good management in that department, 
 be kept pure, but no dairy, however magnificently kept, 
 can transform an impure article Into that which is fit for 
 use. Some ladies who were visiting the barn, passed out 
 of the "parlor" on one occasion, as I was making my 
 customary tour of inspection, and commented upon what 
 they were pleased to call "exquisite neatness." Referring 
 to the regulation that the milkers must wash, etc., before 
 milking, one playfully asked if they wore kid gloves 
 while milking. As they were all strangers to me, I 
 did not like to say, " No, but my cows are frequently 
 milked with calf-skin srloves." 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 89 
 
 The floors of the cow stables are sanded every day, 
 summer and winter, though the animals are there during 
 the summer only long enough to be milked, morning and 
 evening. The sand is procured from the shore of a 
 charming lake (the largest in the State, I believe), three 
 miles distant. These floors are so evenly, and artistically, 
 covered by the sand, especially one in charge of a man 
 who is a genius in such business, that many visitors have 
 been reluctant to walk on it. A city lady not long ago, 
 visited the barns in company Avith her city-bred son. 
 While waiting for the doors to be opened, she became 
 apprehensive that her son's dress might suffer, and sug- 
 gested to him that he had better roll up his pants so as to 
 keep them clean. He promptly acted upon this precaution- 
 ary suggestion, and had no sooner done so than the sliding 
 doors opened and revealed such a floor as led him to at 
 once take the reef out of his pants, to use a nautical term, 
 and in they both walked, interchanging a hasty and ex- 
 pressive glance, followed by the aforesaid genius, who 
 was not a little amused by these proceedings. It may 
 be asked why this daily spreading of sand upon the barn 
 floors ? The answer is because of cleanliness and purity, 
 and because it keeps the animals from slipping. Not 
 only so, it pays the expense of gettmg it, when placed on 
 my lands. In planning the barns, care was taken to have 
 the feed for the animals stored immediately over them, 
 60 as to avoid the expense and delay of moving it any 
 great distance at the time of feeding. 
 
 Over the north room to which reference has been made, 
 two hundred tons of hay can be stored, which is more 
 than enough for the forty-eight cows beneath, and for 
 
90 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 those in the adjoining room, which is fitted np with box 
 stalls. 
 
 This hay loft is approached by a massive walled and 
 curved roadway, packed with stone in the center, thirty 
 feet wide, and rising to a height of twelve feet, where it 
 connects on the north side, or back of the bam with a 
 double "barn floor" in the middle of the loft, and upon 
 which four loads of hay may be driven at the same time. 
 The hay is taken from the wagons by horse-forks (one 
 over each of the two mows), and a ton of it is frequently 
 unloaded in four minutes, and in four forksful — one a 
 minute. 
 
 But one fork has been used at a time, consequently 
 but one wagon can thus be unloaded at a time, but as 
 steam power will probably be used hereafter, I hope that 
 two wagons can be unloaded at once. An accurate ac- 
 count is kept of every hay crop — the day it is cut, the 
 field from which it is taken, the Aveight, and the barn in 
 which it is placed. 
 
 The "Weight is ascertained upon a pair of Fairbanks' 
 scales, well protected from the weather by a building 
 erected for that purpose. A little over three hundred 
 tons of hay are now gathered each season, a large portion 
 of which is in the barns on the afternoon of the day on 
 which it is cut. So much for the invention of Mowing 
 Machines, Tedders, and Horse Rakes. 
 
 From twelve to sixteen acres of grass have frequently 
 been cut, cured, and housed the same day. The largest 
 quantity drawn from the fields and placed in my barns 
 in any one day was a few pounds less than thirty tons. 
 
 The building forming the east side of the square. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 91 
 
 shown on page 87, is one hundred and ninety-one feet 
 long and thirty feet wide. The first floor was originally 
 divided into six rooms, one each for oxen, bulls, calves, 
 horses, wagons, and harness, etc., but the increase of the 
 herd rendered it necessary to remove the oxen, horses, 
 wagons, and harness, etc., to another building, so that 
 those three adjoining rooms are now thrown into one, 
 which is filled with cows. 
 
 The ox-room has been fitted up with box stalls for 
 calves and yearlings, the nursery, or calf-room, with its 
 twenty little stalls, being too small for present wants. 
 The animals in this barn have a full supply of hay im- 
 mediately over them, as is the case in all my barns. 
 
 The building on the west side of the square has recently 
 been enlarged to its present size, one hundred and fifty- 
 one feet long, and contains stalls for fifty-two cows. It 
 connects with the North Barn, forty feet wide, which 
 makes up the length of the one hundred and ninety-one 
 feet barn on the east side. 
 
 The Dairy Building, also recently enlarged, now meas- 
 ures thirty-six feet by sixty-two feet, and is two and a 
 half stories high. 
 
 It contains on the first floor, a reception-room for 
 visitors, who are admitted to the Butter Department on 
 "Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from eleven o'clock 
 A. M, until four o'clock P. M. , churn-room, engine-room, 
 room for washing tins, etc., three milk-rooms, one of 
 which is a tank-room, and two rooms for milk and butter 
 boxes. A large, well-aired cellar, with cemented walls 
 and floor, is used for bottling milk. 
 
 The second story contains a large room for milk boxes. 
 
92 
 
 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 93 
 
 These boxes are taken to this room as they are returned 
 from New York and Brooklyn. Thence the bottles are 
 carried to the wash-room adjoining. Tlie boxes are then 
 cleaned and got ready for use again. When needed they 
 are lowered to cellar by elevator, from there they are 
 sent by four two-horse teams to the railroad depot for 
 transmission to Nen York and Brooklyn. 
 
 The boiler-room connects with the dairy on the north, 
 and hot-water pipes extend thence to every part of the 
 dairy building, for heating and for washing purposes. 
 
 The ice-house, having a capacity of more than five 
 hundred tons, is not far from the dairy. 
 
 Some cows, generally those not giving milk, are kept 
 in the barn shown in the picture on the opposite page. 
 
 The horse-barn measures sixty-six feet by forty feet, 
 with a communicating L fifty feet long, which gives 
 room for fourteen horses in a row. The wagon-room, 
 forty-six feet by forty feet, has but one post — a mas- 
 sive one in the center of the room — thus giving ample 
 space for wagons and for moving them as desired. 
 
 Quite a small churn was first used in my dairy. This 
 was replaced by a larger one, requiring two persons to 
 turn it, one at each end. An increased demand for but- 
 ter called for a yet larger churn, which was worked by 
 l^ony power. A full-sized horse was soon needed, and 
 now the churning is done by steam, in a large-sized fac- 
 tory churn of a new and greatly improved pattern. 
 There may be others quite its equal, perhaps better, but 
 it does its work so well that I know of no change that 
 could be made to advantage, unless it be the inven- 
 tion of a churn that will produce good butter at one end 
 
94 
 
 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 by putting hay or grass in at the other end. When such 
 a labor-saving machine is constructed, and when pipes 
 are laid from country dairies directly to the city resi- 
 dences of families who prefer to be thus supplied with 
 milk, without the aid of railroads or milkmen, then there 
 will be a decided panic in the butter and milk markets. 
 It would be something new for madame, in her city 
 home a hundred miles away, to ask by telephone for so 
 many pounds of butter, or so many 
 quarts of milk from any cow she 
 might be pleased to select, and 
 have it on her table within a few 
 minutes. Visionary as this may 
 seem, substitute "a few hours" for 
 ''a few minutes," and my fiction 
 becomes a fact, for a telephone con- 
 nects my farm with the Western 
 Union Telegraph office in the vil- 
 lage, and orders from distant cities, 
 for any of the products of my dairy 
 can thus be immediately executed 
 — by rails, however, not by pipes. 
 The cream is not churned until it has been strained 
 through holes smaller than an ordinary-sized pin would 
 make. Owing to its richness and solidity, it is necessary 
 to force it through. This is done by a pump with 
 double "plungers," the strainer can, at the bottom of 
 which the strainers are attached, being first placed on 
 another can. The butter is thus made all of one con- 
 sistency. 
 
 To avoid the unnecessary handling of the butter, it is 
 
 CBEAM STRAINER. 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 95 
 
 worked upon an ingeniously contrived turn-table, by 
 which it is carried, by cog wheels, under a revolving^ 
 cone-shaped, and grooved presser, which makes deep 
 channels down which the buttermilk escapes to the edge 
 
 ROTABT BUTTER-WOKKEB. 
 
 of the table. It is then led by pipes to a tub placed un- 
 derneath to receive it. 
 
 Luxuriating here in the purest and richest of cream 
 and milk, and realizing that many thousands of the resi- 
 
 PBINT OF BUTTER. 
 
 PRINT IN NAPKIN AND BOX. 
 
 dents of New York and Brooklyn were actually suffering 
 for the want of these blessings, I resolved more than 
 
96 FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 three years ago to supply that want. Milk was sent from 
 my dairy to tliose cities in one quart tin cans, and cream 
 in pint and half-pint tin cans, all the cans being sealed 
 here, and not opened until the seals were broken at the 
 residences of the consumers. Glass bottles were substi- 
 tuted for the tin cans> and there has ever since been such 
 a demand for the milk and cream thus put up, as has ex- 
 C3eded my ability to supply it, though my herd has been 
 more than doubled, and will probably soon be twice as 
 large as now. 
 
 By special agreement made with some reliable farmers 
 in this neighborhood, thoroughly pure and rich milk in 
 a limited quantity is received from them. They are 
 bound by a written contract, duly signed and witnessed, 
 to observe all the regulations deemed necessary to secure 
 the best and purest milk, and from Jersey cows (fre- 
 quently called " Alderneys "), so soon as the change from 
 *' native cows" can be effected. To prevent the possi- 
 bility of mistake or fraud, the services of a medical gen- 
 tleman of high professional standing have been secured 
 to test the milk from every herd, my own as well as the 
 others to which I have referred, also the milk of each 
 and every cow in all these herds. These tests are most 
 thoroughly made, and a full written report of all is given 
 me. The effect of this frequent and searching profes- 
 sional investigation has been most beneficial, and the 
 farmers, who at first stood in no little dread of it, now 
 fully realize the decided advantage it is to them. Every 
 cow that has not given satisfaction has been promptly 
 disposed of by them, and there is now a healthy rivalry 
 — an esprit de corps — among them, just such as I have 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 
 
 97 
 
 TESTING QUALITY OF MILK. 
 
98 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 been desirous to create, one which is producing much 
 good to themselves, and which confers a benefit upon a 
 larger number of city families than could otherwise be 
 reached, and vastly greater than they have any idea of. 
 I have offered a premium to the farmer who, by the doc- 
 tor's report, has the best record at the end of a certain 
 specified time. 
 
 All the milk sent from this farm (except such as is 
 known as special, being always from the same cow, and 
 wanted for invalids and infants) is put into a large 
 tank, made at an expense of several hundred dollars, be- 
 cause constructed of the best and purest materials. After 
 being sufiiciently cooled in this tank, which is surrounded 
 by iced water so as to extract the animal heat as quickly 
 as possible, the milk is drawn, twenty bottles being filled 
 at the same time, through as many nickel-plated faucets. 
 It is only in this way that consumers can have milk of 
 unvarying quality. Every precaution that can be thought 
 of is taken. All the milk is strained and re-strained 
 most carefully. Each of the glass bottles in which it is 
 shipped is sealed with a label upon which is printed the 
 date it leaves the dairy. Twenty bottles are packed in a 
 strong wooden box, which is locked before it leaves the 
 dairy. These boxes are placed in a railroad car, which is 
 locked by my men, and unlocked by the agents at New 
 York. It will be seen by the picture of the bottles used, 
 that the families who take the milk are required to wash 
 them. This should be done as soon as they are emptied. 
 Two, and sometimes three persons are kept busy at the 
 agency washing them, as they are taken there by the men 
 who distribute the milk, and five persons are kept 
 
FAKM ECHOES. 
 
 99 
 
 BOTTLING MILK. 
 
100 
 
 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 actively employed in the dairy washing them as they are 
 returned here. No bottle is used until it has thus been 
 thoroughly cleansed. 
 
 I have endeavored to heed the admonition : 
 
 " Be not the first by whom the new is tried, 
 Nor yet the last to lay the old aside." 
 
 New farming implements are carefully examined be- 
 fore they are purchased, and thoroughly tested before 
 
 MILK BOTTLE. 
 
 being put into active service. I had, for instance, heard 
 much of a Hay Loader, and was induced to buy one. In- 
 stead of waiting until the haying season, when all hands 
 would be busy, and when time should not be occupied in 
 making experiments that could be previously made, I had 
 some old hay put in a "windrow," and the loader tested. 
 A man was placed in the wagon to receive the hay and 
 distribute it in the vehicle, but it came in so fast that he 
 became alarmed, and fearing that he would be buried 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 101 
 
 alive, called lustily to the driver to stop, much to the 
 amusement of all present. 
 
 Numerous inventions are submitted to me, some of 
 which are recommended almost as strongly as was the 
 
 
 HAT-LOADER. 
 
 "scarecrow," which was said not only to keep off the 
 crows, but also to so impress upon them the sin of theft, 
 that they would bring back all they had stolen in previ- 
 ous years. 
 
103 J'ABM ECHOES. 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 CAN FAEMING IN NEW ENGLAND BE MADE 
 REMUNERATIVE ? 
 
 ** Does farming in New England pay ?" is not an un- 
 common question. As well might it be asked, "Does 
 merchandizing in New England pay ?" " Does trading of 
 any kind in New England pay ?" " Does it pay to engage 
 in the shipping or manufacturing business, or in the legal 
 or medical profession, in New England ?" 
 
 The thousands of New Englanders who have engaged 
 in no other occupation than farming, and who have, 
 through industry, frugality, and good sense, acquired not 
 only a competence, but an independence, conclusively 
 prove that farming in this section of country can be 
 made remunerative. Thousands who have had neither 
 this industry, frugality, nor good sense, have proved with 
 equal certainty that tlieir attempts at farming in New 
 England have been failures, because of the absence of 
 these requisite characteristics. 
 
 Because farming here, or elsewhere, can be made re- 
 munerative, it does not follow that it will necessarily be 
 so. The farmer has, as a general rule, quite as much to 
 do with these results as has his farm. Farms are photo- 
 graphs of their owners. As well might it be asked, 
 ** Does farming pay anywhere ?" as to ask if it pays in 
 New England. AVhy should it not be profitable here as 
 elsewhere. Some kinds of farming cannot be success- 
 
FAEM ECHOES. 103 
 
 fully prosecuted here, but this does not apply to all kinds. 
 Some pay better here than elsewhere, and vice versa. 
 
 All branches of farming are not alike suited to all 
 localities, nor to all climates. The vineyard of California, 
 the cotton of the South, the grain of the West, each claims 
 its proper soil and air. Though these products would 
 not thrive in our more rugged, but far more invigorating 
 climate, our crops thrive best in it. As in this section 
 of our country, so in the others named, the product is 
 not of the soil only, but of the industry and skill of the 
 husbandman. Success is not to be expected anywhere 
 where energy and thrift are not co-laborers with the soil. 
 
 True, some unsuccessful ones leave this part of the 
 country, and prosper elsewhere, not always, however, be- 
 cause of the change of locality, but frequently because 
 of the change in themselves. They have been forced to 
 work as they would not work before. It must not be 
 supposed that this remark in any way applies to the 
 many worthy and industrious New Englanders who go 
 hence to seek their fortunes, in other, and, to them, 
 more genial climates, and who contribute largely to the 
 prosperity of whatever place they select. "Without per- 
 sistent energy and pluck it is impossible to gather gold 
 or grapes in California, grain in the West, cotton in the 
 South, or, in the Northern and Eastern States, the pro- 
 ducts peculiar to them. 
 
 Grant it that our soil is more sterile than in some other 
 places. It is not nearly as much so as is supposed. In 
 the wise providence of God, our people are more hardy 
 than the average type of men, and are thus fitted for 
 their work. In many portions of this much-abused sec- 
 
104 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 tion of our country, the soil is as rich and productive as 
 can be found anywhere. Who that settles upon a farm 
 and spends much of his time driving about the country, 
 pleasure seeking, instead of busying himself and his 
 horses in clearing and enriching his fields, can expect to 
 make farming pay? The argument that "It costs 
 nothing" to so amuse himself, because the horses and 
 vehicle are his own, not hired, is a common, but false and 
 ruinous one. Just what he and his team might have 
 accomplished by persistent energy during those hours of 
 self-indulgence, multiplied by the number of the many 
 days in each year so occupied, gauges the loss he has thus 
 sustained ; a loss as real as though that amount had been 
 taken from his purse and thrown into the sea. Daily 
 (perhaps morning and evening) driving to the post-oflBice, 
 avowedly for letters and papers, received, it may be, as 
 often as once a week, and which might just as well be 
 obtained through a passing neighbor whose legitimate 
 business took him to the village, is as costly and injurious 
 as is the daily lounging in village stores to gossip and 
 help make others idle. " Time is money" is a significant 
 notice occasionally displayed in city stores and oflBces. 
 It should have a conspicuous place in every country store 
 where the proprietor wishes to do a profitable business on 
 a cash basis, and expects to save his crackers and cheese 
 from too frequent sampling. Loafing costs many more 
 dollars than is generally supposed, and is an unprofitable 
 Investment for the loafer and for those on whose premises 
 he loafs. No city man of business, be his occupation 
 what it may, can succeed if he thus wastes his time and 
 energies, nor can any farmer. It is indeed painful to 
 
FAUM ECHOES. 105 
 
 travel through some farming districts of our much fav- 
 ored laud, and see dilapidated dwelling liouses and barns, 
 some unoccupied and forsaken ; and so comparatively few 
 new ones near them to take their places as evidences of 
 continued life and vigor. The tale they tell is a sad 
 one in too many instances, and may be easily learned. 
 
 Indolence and intemperance are twin vices. Too often 
 they are like the Siamese twins, and cannot be separated. 
 Each sustains the other, if it does not create the otlier. 
 This double-headed curse leaves sad traces wherever it 
 goes, and if there is one woe deeper than another, it 
 drags its enslaved victims into the deepest. The very 
 ground seems to cry out against it, as it wastes under 
 neglect and foreclosed mortgages. No superscription by 
 the hand of man reveals the cause of this scene of desola- 
 tion and death, but the wayfaring man, if not a "fool," 
 may clearly discern in it the inscription by the hand of 
 God upon the pages of inspiration : 
 
 " They have erred through wine, and 
 Through strong drink are they out of the way." 
 
 They probably began to indulge moderately in intoxi- 
 cating drinks, but became enslaved and ruined by them. 
 Their children were, perhaps, driven from what might 
 otherwise have been to them a happy and prosperous 
 home. Farming (if such an inappropriate term can be 
 used in this connection) was made offensive to them, and 
 they eagerly escaped from the degradation to which a 
 drunken parent had brought them. Did that lost parent 
 sin alone ? No ! Who, then, will undertake to fathom 
 the depth of that ''woe" pronounced by an offended 
 
106 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 God against " him that givcth his neighbor drink ?" I 
 am thankful that there is as little of this terrible cA'il in 
 this section of the country as in any I have ever seen. 
 With gratitude let it be added, I know of no such de- 
 serted farms in this neighborhood. 
 
 Some farms are so outrageously neglected that it would 
 be better were they entirely abandoned by their occu- 
 pants, who are playing the dog-in-the-manger game. 
 They occupy, but will not improve, and because they oc- 
 cupy, others who would improve and prosper, are deter- 
 red from so doing. These cumberers of the ground have 
 much to say about farming "not paying." They cer- 
 tainly speak from experience, and should be credited to 
 the extent of believing their statement, but I should be 
 sorry to credit them in any other way, or believe that 
 their farms could not be profitably worked. If it will not 
 pay to take judicious care of fields, cattle, farming im- 
 plements, etc., it certainly will not pay to neglect them. 
 
 The merchant who puts no money into the bank would 
 be unreasonable were he to expect that he could draw any 
 out ; and so with the farmer who neglects to enrich his 
 fields, but hopes to get crops from them year after year. 
 He starves himself who starves his fields, and Justly so. 
 Land that is generously enriched will be generous in its 
 yield. Like its divine Master, it "loveth a cheerful 
 giver." It is quite true that there are "sermons in 
 stones." The earth too is a sermonizerof no mean order. 
 Its preachmg is thoroughly practical and convincing. 
 Saint Paul listened to its teachings, for did he not echo 
 the voice of nature when he told the Corinthians that 
 '* He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and 
 
FARM ECHOES. 
 
 107 
 
 he who soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully." 
 If farming in New England cannot be made remuner- 
 ative, where did the many farmers who are well-off finan- 
 cially get their money ? Some of them, doubtless, regret 
 that they have not kept their funds in their legitimate 
 business, by continuing to improve their lands and mak- 
 ing them yet more profitable, rather than invest in out- 
 side securities which have proved disastrous — investments 
 of which they knew nothing definitely, but which they 
 hoped would yield a large return. They have discovered 
 
 MAKING A MOUND OF STONES, 
 
 to their sorrow that the bulls and bears in those city 
 menageries called '' Stock Exchanges," are far more dan- 
 gerous animals than are the country ones which they can 
 control without foreign aid. What better investment can 
 a farmer have than corn *' stalks "and plow "shares?" 
 If " it paid " to clear a portion of the farm, why not 
 make yet further improvements and get a larger return 
 from it ? Farms do not clear themselves. At least I know 
 of none that have done so, nor do I know of any super- 
 human aid that will do the work, although I believe that 
 our globe revolves. One farmer cannot be convinced of 
 
108 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 this. His is an unusually rocky farm, and he insists that 
 if the earth did "go round," and his farm ever "got 
 bottom side up," there would be a great rattling of stones 
 below, and that he "rather guessed" he would be saved 
 the trouble of getting any more stones off his land. 
 
 The surplus stones on Echo Farm are packed into 
 ravines, and covered with earth. When there are no 
 ravines to fill up, they are piled in large mounds and 
 Covered with earth. The crops on these covered stones, 
 both in ravines and mounds, have always been large, 
 and less affected by drouth than in surrounding fields. 
 
 The farmer who imagines that his work for the year is 
 completed when he has gathered his hay crop, shoots as 
 wide of the mark as does the merchant who considers 
 that his debt is discharged when he gives his note for it, 
 payable "ninety days after date." 
 
 The work of a thrifty farmer is never finished. Each 
 day, whether it be in June, December, or any other 
 month of the year, brings its work, and plenty of it. 
 The haying season is not the only busy one on a farm, 
 though the old proverb: "Make hay while the sun 
 shines," has doubtless created a contrary impression. 
 Sunshine is needed for other and equally important 
 work, especially in the fall of the year, when leaves are 
 to be gathered for bedding animals, and when the sun- 
 shine is most valuable, because we then have so little 
 of it. Dried leaves make the best bedding, and are an 
 excellent fertilizer. 
 
 The censure " Nothing but leaves," certainly does not 
 attach to our trees. In ornament and in use, they do all 
 that is expected of them. Robing themselves in their 
 
PA KM ECHOES. 109 
 
 delicate and beautiful spring costume, the richness of 
 whose verdure increases as the seasons advance, they add 
 tint to tint, each leaf seeming to rival the others in gran- 
 deur, until they bid us their autumnal adieu. Their 
 beauty then gives place to utility, and every farmer 
 should rejoice that it is with leaves, as Pope said of men : 
 
 " Another race the following spring supplies." 
 
 The farmers around me looked with no little distrust 
 upon my introduction into this neighborhood of Jersey 
 cattle, and long remained incredulous. They are now 
 convinced that their fears were groundless, and many of 
 them are exchanging their so-called "native cows "for 
 Jerseys. Others are sure to do so ere long. 
 
 The following is the substance of a conversation I had 
 with a neighboring farmer about two years ago. He had 
 just praised my Jerseys very liighly, and I naturally in- 
 quired why he did not keep the same kind of stock. "I 
 cannot afford to do so," was the reply. — "That is 
 strange," I remarked. "I certainly cannot afford to 
 keep such animals as you have, and yet yon tell me that 
 you cannot afford to keep Jerseys, such as I liave. There 
 seems to be a contradiction here." 
 
 " How much do you get for your calves," I next 
 asked. 
 
 " About a dollar or a dollar and a half before they are 
 fattened." 
 
 " Mine sell for from one hundred dollars to three hun- 
 dred dollars when quite young. There is a great dif- 
 ference in our figures, is there not ?" 
 
 "Yes." 
 
110 FARM ECHOES. 
 
 " Do your cows eat less than mine ?" 
 "No. I believe mine eat more than yours." 
 " Are yours more hardy than mine ?" 
 "I used to think so, but have changed my opinion." 
 " Do yours give as much, and as rich milk as mine ?" 
 "I think mine give as much as yours, but Jersey cows 
 give richer milk, I believe, than any others." 
 
 " Do mine need more care and attention than yours ?" 
 " I suppose they don't need it, but they have more at- 
 tention than I give mine." 
 
 "No more care is bestowed upon mine than is good 
 for them, therefore less would be injurious to them, and 
 a loss to me." 
 
 It is not necessary to repeat any more of this con- 
 versation. Suffice it to say that the farmer alluded to 
 has changed his views, also some of his cows, and is now 
 a firm believer in Jerseys. 
 
 Many who come to see this farm ask me if farming in 
 New England can be profitably conducted. I tell them 
 that they are on Echo Farm, so named because of the 
 many excellent echoes which abound on almost every 
 part of it, and that if they will consult these echoes they 
 will assuredly get just such information as their question 
 calls for. They have but to inquire : 
 
 " Tell me, Echo, if farming can pay here ?" 
 Echo answers : "Farming can pay here." 
 Strange as it may appear, the more distinctly this 
 question is put, the more audible and emphatic will be 
 the answer : 
 
 "Farming can pay here." 
 

 
 
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