The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1871-01-19
III viii DO FOE NOW"

The is one Of the tommone9t expressions we
hear from farmers who do not take the Country
Gentleman or any other agricultural paper 1t IS
IN excuse tor any slip-shOp, hap-haZard style Of
farming that thOughtleSs shfteSsness desire to pur
sue The big barn door needs a new board. but
piece nailed over the lower end of the vacant space
will keep things out and do for now The cattle, it
is true, do not break through, but when there
comes driving snow storm things are not kept out
as well.
~ must straghten up that gate one of these days.
It's got saggcd so it don't swing do not wonder
at it, my dear sir. Do YOU remember that You
hung it on that big post driving stake down at
the other end. and bending piece of wire for .
latch? You left it saying, eth do for now"
When does your gate sag, in the few moments
every year it is open, or the days, weeks, months,
when it is shut, with no support whatever at the
htchend? If you had planted post firmly and
made bridge at the bottom for the upright piece
at the end Of the gate to slide upon, furnishing sup
port when the gate is shut and latched, it would
have really saved you much time and veXation, and
added years to the durability of the gate. man
who drags his gate around on the ground year after
wear deserves nothing better than pair Of bars
a gan. BY the way, gap or pair OF bars i, far too
often made to Ito for now. Many time single
pair of bars cost the farmer during having and
harvest the price of two or three gates. 1t often
takes team and from two to five men in waiting
to open the bar-way. when one could swing open
a gate and another drive on without stopping the
horses.
1T will dc ior now," is plainly printed all over
the farms Of the men who love the expression.
They lived in neatly painted cottages once. but
making them 'd0 another wear or So without
painting, has given the rains and sun and wind
chance for a grand Old revel with the capboardS.
pretty white paling surrounded the door ward
and garden but the successive patchngs with Old
boards and rough hcWn stakes, has made il look
like the fences they tell of in Arkansas, made
tireIy Of alligators back bones" The neat little
garden gate-shall describe its one-hinsed, latch
less, hrOken-pitket condition.
onk at the baru-yard of the it-W-do-fol-nOW
farmer. A Ing stone pile with two or three rails
A!ong the top fences one side. This j. particularly
convenient, as he places the hay for his cattle on
thr Stone, .md lhoy 10 not stamp IL U,l6cf t0ot,
n, they stand sln'ering in the south west wind, eat
lu4 Glm the rudely improy ised rack. A zgzag
rI fence bounds another SIDE, and along this, with
two lengths OF rails each, are constructed Sundry
pig and sheep pens in the corners. A third side
boasts board fence, patched up with rails in the
place Of missing panels This Is an ''it'll-do-for-
now han-yall. 1t generally contains from twenty
rods to half an acre of ground spar>ely covered
With wasting manure. And here let me object to
the unnecessary extent of most barn-yardS, entail
mg an unavoidable waste of that source Of farm
pr'S Wealth-manuro. The smallest possible com
pass is the most economical. since il neither takes
an unnecessary area Of tiilabIc lanl nor gives so
wide an extent over which to scatter the manure
"a, Ia make IL Impossible ta collect ii an. | have
noticed tha The hrit1-ei farmers have The smallest
yards.
Looking into the barn of The farmer of the class
OF which we speak, what waste is there. Rails arc
laid upon the ground for floor to the BAY: 'Thev1
Of hay" He forgets that half Of this is vast
ed by moulding, or perhaps he guards against that
is wasted in the bottom. to put fresh hay on the
ensuing year. ! remember an instance where a
man bought place and requiring a quantity of
hay purchased what the retiring owner had left in
the bay. l think he paid $40. ''There was quite a
chunk ut the west end and then, you know. it
must be as much as three feet thick all over the
bottom of the bay;' so he thought he had good
bargain with hay at 81 per ton. But mark; the
man was unacqualnted with ''it-'ll-d0-for-now"
farming, and soon found that he had paid Slj ton
for his hay. You may depend he promptly ''noored"
his hay The granary is an important repository
and your easy-going farmer usually takes some
pains TO ''tiX it every year, stopping rat-hoes with
pieces Of tin, &C.; but | DO not think of half a
dozen granaries that have light enough to enable a
man to perceive rat-hoe unless it is large enough
10 admit Il young bear The hog-pen is another
"do-tor-now,' slab constructed concern, involving
the consumption Of dozen bushels more grain
per hog fattened than the tight, warm rtments
in which real farmers feed their porlers.
Brother farmers, 'it'll-dofor-now is thief that
is stealing away year by year those little items that
20 to make your farm look snug and thrifty, and
the little comforts and conveniences that make
home delightful and happy. In thousand ways
your farms are running down." and what some
careful hand before you has adorned and beautiied
your negligence is laying waste and desolate. Re
lect, as YOU make ready to the bad expression.
by putting rough slab i'll the place OF 4 broken
picket or missing board how many months and
years the unsightly thing will be made to do-for-
now" FRANK j. SIBIEY.