The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-11-14
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.


Now England Farming.
The farmer should remember one fact
that even if a fortune cannot be made II
a single year %cultivating an average ares
of five acres to a farm IN grain and pota
toes, yet his is the only business that
furnishes nearly all the necessaries ano
comforts of life free of cash cost, anc
the safest occupation, since less thar
five per cent. of the total of insolvent
persons are farmers. give in ilustra-
tration q Boston book-keeper who, on O
yearly salary of $1,000, had by great
economy and self-denial saved up 800
per year ; realizing the risk he run OF
losing his health, situation, and savings
if he remained a clerk, he purchased a
small farm and moved on to it. Charg-
ing himself with all that he and his
family consumed from the same during
a wear at the same rates that he had
formerly been obliged to pay in Boston,
to his great surprise he found at the end
of the year that he had consumed
81, 900 worth, besides having sold quite
an amount of farm products. With
such a result he had nc desire to return
to his / 200 position, depriving his
family and himself of such health and
comforts as their city life had never
afforded.
That the farms of New England, az
eraging 103 acres each, are too large, or
that insufficient capital or energy is en-
ployed, is self-evident from the fact that
only five acres each r under cultiva-
ton, only seventeen acres each in grass,
with thirty-one acres in woodland. The
farms of England average forty-one acres
each !; France has 5,000,0 600 farms less
than six acres each ; Prussia has 1,099,-
600 less than four acres !; the less area a
farmer cultivates the more care and
skill he exhibits, and few farmers pro-
duce in proportion to the acres they
owl.
As a larger number of the discouraged
residents of our cities make up their
minds to go back to mother earth, where
they started from, for support. sub
division of these large farms will take
place, and the rural districts will be
enabled to support a much larger popu-
lation, and to increase the products Of
the soil, and thereby 'sdd to the pros
perity of this section of the country.
No occupation to-day presents a surer,
steadier, or more remunerative prospect
than agriculture, and if farmers will only
realize that many of them are not Guilt
waiting as many acres even as their fathers
did, Notwithstanding the improved tools
and implements for fastening and re-
lieving farm labor-if such will take
hold with renewed zeal and pride in
their calling, New England al make
rapid strides toward making herself self
supporting in reference to her food sup
ply.-7he C%ultivator.
The Crop of Potatoes.
Many farmers have large crops Of
potatoes that cannot be sold readily.
Now, what is it best to do with thema
Shall they be sold for what they will
bring, or is it best to put them in the
cellars? Or in the absence of cellar
room, is it best to cover them in the
field ? When they can be sold at a fair
profit, my advice is to sell them in the
fall ; but if they cannot be thus sold,
either store them in your cellar or bury
them in the field, and trust to your
chances to be able to sell them during
the winter around home, or to forward
them to a market early in the spring,
where there is transportation by water in
April. Canals are of little beneftto pota-
toes growers except in the fall, as they
are not open early enough in the spring.
A great many potatoes "a be sold in
villages and large towns during the
mild weather, and they must be sold
before they sprout much, Potatoes are
worth twenty-five cents a bushel to feed
to stock-raw to COWS and horses and
cooked with meal for swine.
To buy potatoes in the field, select a
place a little elevated and dig down as
low as you can drain the excavation. 1t
may be two feet, one foot, or but a few
inches, according to the drain that
will command it. Suppose that you
have 200 or 800 bushels to bury, the bed
should be made about eight feet wide
and as long as necessary, with the pota.
toes four or five feet deep in the center.
When all are in position take long rye
straw and set it against the two sides of
the heap thick enough to shed rain.
Then throw earth against the sides of the
pile six or eight inches thick, but none
at the top where the straw meets, as an
air hole must be left open here till about
the time when the ground may be e1-
pected to freeze, when a thick covering
of earth all over must be applied. In
cold climates, as in the Northern States,
this covering should be from fifteen to
eighteen inches thick ; and if the straw
is we'll applied, the potatoes will stand
any weather that may be expected.
This system is better than to put them
into deep pits, as was the custom fifty
years ago.-T. B. Miner.
A Valuable Table for Farmers.
The following table contains the
number of pounds in a bushel of the
different articles named: