The Portland daily press., 1864-04-06
Wednesday Morning, April 6. 1864.
Money Making Farmers.

hohtl 1udhtHk ttDttiss
Where are the men, then, who have grrbbet
out of the reluctant eastern soil their stock
ing-legs OF specie and their funds at the bank
They are not wholly myths: there are such
Find me man. who by aptitude at bargaining
tiet US not call it jockeyism) can reduce the
labor estimates in his accounts by third
and who. by kindred quality can add to the
amount OF sales by third; who can, by dint
of early rising and perpetual presence, stretc
the ten-hour system into twelve or fourteen;
who, by conquest Of all finer appetites, can
reduce the home consumption 10 a third OF
the figure named in my estimates, aud you
have type OF one class. A union of tremen-
dous energy and shrewdness; keenly alive 70
the phases of the market; an ally Of all the
hucksters; sharp to pounce upon some poor
devil OF an emigrant, before he has learned
the current rate OF wages gifted with quick
scent for all offal, which may be had for the
carriage, aud which goes 10 pig food or the
fermentation of compost.
think have limited at character which
those will recognize who know the neighbor-
hood OF. large New England towns; a prompt
talker-not bashful-full Of life-selectman,
perhaps; great in corner groceries, .fore-
handed, interchangeable, trenchant. with su eve
always to windward.
If were to sketch another type OF a New
England farmer, who is, in small way sue
cessful--it would be sharp-nosed man, thin
wiry, with blueness about the complexion
that has come from unlimited bulfetings OF
northwesters one who has been moderator
at town meetings 10 his day, and upon school
committees over and over; one who has
sharpened his tongue by occasional talk at
society" meeting-to say nothiDgo of domestic
practice.
l think of him AS living in two-story.
white lpuEp 1r IL fal.
closely upon the road aad whose front rooms
he knows only By halfyearly summations to
minister's tea drinking. or the seserer ordeal
Of the sewing circle. His hands are stiff and
bony; all the callosities of AK and seythc and
hoe, have blended into one horny texture the
whole Of the epidermis; yet his eye has keen,
shrewd flash in ii, from the depths OF sixty
years and under the hair OF his temple, YOU
may see remaining bit Of bleached skin.
which shows that he was-ffty odd wears ago
"a fair complexioned boy.
lie has grown gray upon his struggling
farm OF one or two hundred acres vet il Is
doubtful II the farm will produce more now
than on the day he entered into possession.
Some walls have been renewed aud the Old
ones are tottering. Broken bar-ways have
been replaced by new ones; the wood pile has
its stock year after year: and every tenth year.
when oil is down, the house has its coat of
lalib--llul-CAt Uclli1 iulAcT anu palUIGT-Sage
under the caves, for which ladder work he
employs a country journeyman, who takes
half pay in pork and grain. When .helnn is
low he clears some outstanding rye field and
commences new bit OF wall-a disunited
link, which possibly his heirs may complete.
Every year six, ten, or twelve hogs grow into
plethorlc proportions; every year they are
butchered, under great excitement OF hot
water, lard -tryings, unctuous fatty smells
sausage stnffIng and sales 10 the packer of
the town, Every year he tells their weight 10
his neighbors. between services at meeting.
with his thumb AID forelnger in the pocket
of his black waisteoat and the same sly twin
kle in his eye.
Every spring he has his 'yeals"-four. six.
ten, as the case may be; and every spring he
higgles in much the same way with the town
butcher, in regard to age, to price, and TO
latness. Every summer / see him in black
hat aud black dress coat, on his wagon box.
with butter flrkins behind, lthe covers closed
on linen towels by the mistress at home dri-
wing to the market. And il trot behind him
on his return, see that his exchange has pro-
cured him gtwo-gallon jug of molasses. a say
ory bundle of dried Goldfish, a moisty paper
parcel of brown sugar, tight little bag of
timothy seed, and new hoe, or dung fork
But he never allows his spendings 10 take up
the gross sum Of his receipts; always there
goes home modicum, which grows by slow
and gradual accertion into notes (secured bv
mortgage) ofsome unthrifty neighbor, or an
entry upon the columns of his book AT the
Savings.
There Is no amateur of them all, who re-
eeives as much into third, for what he may
have to sell, nor any one who spends as little.
by two thirds, Tor what he may have to buy.
IL is incredible what such a man will save In
the way OF barter; and equally incredible how
rarely he finds occasion TO pay out money at
all. Yet he Is observant of propreties: his
pew rent at the Westinghouse and tax bills
are punctually honored. If l bargain with
him, he loves deliberation he has an opinion,
but II only appears after long travail and COM
parison of yiews-in the course OF which he
has whitfield a stout billet OF wood to q very
fne point II address him in the field, he
stops, leans on his hoe, aud is willing to Law
ish upon me the ouly valuable commodity for
which he makes no charge, to wit, his time.
Such farmer repairs his barn promptly,
when the sils are giving way; he does not
hesitate at the purchase OF a ''likely pair of
cattle" at bargain; he will buy occasional
bags OF guano, upon proof in his turnip patch,
or on his winter rye; but ifa sub-soil pillow is
recommended, he gives sly twinkle TO that
grey eye OF his, and complimentary allusion
10 the old Eagle No. H." which settles the
business.
Such men are, in their way, money makers:
but rather by dlnt of not spending. than by
large profits. These back-country gentlemen
have their famiies-edueated thanks TO our
school SYSTEM; boys, lank at the first. in
short-arrned goats, and with pinch of the
vowel sounds in their speech; but thew do not
linger around such homestead: they come
10 the keeping of hotels, or of wood-yards on
the Mississippi; many are written down in
the dead books of war.
Our money saving farmer has his daughter
too, with her Chrysanthemums and striped
grass at the door, aud her pink monster Of
Hydrangea. She has her Lady's Book, and
her Ledger, and on such literary food grows
space; but such reading does not instill a
healthy admiration for the dairy or butter-ma-
king; rosy cheeks and incarmlned arms do
not belong to the heroines of her dreams. l
do not think she ever heard Of Kit Marlowe's
song:
Come live with me, and be m love"
The faint echoes Of the town in fashion