Litchfield enquirer., 1865-07-13
Agrifnltural Depart1lel1t.
PREPARED EXPRESSLY FOR THE ENQUIRER BY
 T.s. GOLD. West Cornwall, Ct. 10 sshom aN Communications should De addressed
WASTE IN FARMING,

Farmers are so often accused, as class, of being close and tight, of being too careful and saving, that the real state of the case is over. looked, and a partial acknowledgem ent of the truth of this charge satisfies us that we really use all available means to get ahead in the world, neither wasting our substance nor neg lecting any chance to increase it. -t3 ID Now we.believe, that so far is this from being true, that the farmers as class are more wasteful than any other in the community, in fact that we have yet to learn the first princi ples of thrift and frugality. .+.s-. ...s Let us have little self-examination and see how we stand. Will all practices bear criticism
 First as to tools: The mechanic has chest or shop where he keeps all his tools. When ever they get wet they are carefully cleaned, dried and oiled. They are always kept in place and ready for use. What farmer thinks his hoe or his spade worthy of such care r. Yet more than half his strength is wasted in using such a tool covered with rust. To say nothing of his harness, guiltless of oil,. and often left in the open wagon or on the fence, through sun, and dew and rain, see the tools near his barn-cart. sled, stone. boat, wagon, harrow, blows, horse-rake, hoes, chains, shoYels, crowbars, axes, in fact all the tools of his business, in season and out of season. They are alike exposed to the weather The axes take more harm during the season of dis use in summer than in the use of the winter. The rakes and forks and scythe -snaths s need to be renewed each having season, not be- cause they are worn out, but they have been wasted by neglect. r.
 To say nothing of the loss on the tools, how much time is spent in looking them up ?- Where is the hammer? Who has not ioined..in the hunt for this wandering tool? Notice the loss by weeds among our crops consuming the manure, and taking up the room. Don't they sometimes get the largest half?
 Manures, the life-blood of successful farm ing, are often allowed to leach and drain, to burn and evaporate, till more than half their value is wasted. If the merchant exposes his
 NJ . | rN | goods to such 2 degree of damage, can he sell them at profit The crops anu the nelu are the farmers paymasters, and will they pay full price for manure that has lost all its strength? Poor seed. poor varieties of fruit, and poor tillage may be mentioned here. The merchant or the manufacturer counts 8 fair interest on his capital as one of his expenses. Are there not many fields that do not pay a fair interest on their cost, to say nothing of the expense of care and fencing? These neg lected fields, growing continually worse, are only burden upon the rest of the farm. As there are unproduc tive fields, so there are un- profitable animals that eat without any cor responding return. Is there not half differ ence in the amount of milk given by different COWS, or of the growth of swine, or of labor in teams of horses and cattle. Does not the same strength accomplish twice as much with a good tool as with bad one?
 We throw out these suggestions as opening the subject for each one to make such person al improvement as his own case demands.