Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-07-05
A PktpAr NEW ENGLAND LIFE
The Thrift Of the Yankee Farmer
How he Cares for His
Stock-Stone Fences.
Use that Swamp Land is Put
tO-The Charming Lasses
Who Wear GLASSES.
Cor. San Antonio Express.

have not kept the promise OF sending
you an occasional note during my trlI
East. As the loss is not great to you
or your readers, however, l feel that !
can count on your forgiveness.
Were you ever permitted peep Al
the hearthstones of New England
That privilege has lately been mine
and, in clumsy way, | will tell you
how a New England farm looks and i:
managed. The contrast of size be.
tween a Massachusetts, farm and a
Texas rancho is great. The vastness
of the latter and the narrowness of the
former are, possibly, the most striking
features of each. And the owners, too
seem to have caught their spirit from
the dimensions of their respective
plantations. Frugality and order reign
on one, wastefulness and contemptu-
GUS disregard of order mark the other.
Small farms and a rock soil, which
yield reluctantly, even when freqently
enriched by fertilizers, have compelled
the Yankee farmer to the practice Of
rigid economy and unceasing labor.
These habits of thrift are bringing
them reward. The small surplus
which last years balance shows, in a
carefully nursed NEST egg" that has
grown aplce until now New England
is a repnted creditor of a large
part of the West. Farms vary
In size from twenty to one hundred
acres. the latter being exceptionally
large. The labor is done by the farm
er and his boys, until the latter grow
up and emigrate Westas they generally
do, aud by one or two hired hands
This, to your readers, will seem a small
force TO run farm with; but, as the
crops are chiefly hay and vegetables, it
is quite large enough; the most impor-
tant products are beans and potatoes.
| think the beans must all 20 to BOs-
ton vicinity. Long graces and baked
beans seem TO be the regular diet
Of a Massachusetts, man. They
breed dyspepsia in a Texans stom-
ach. FrijOles have attained a Ger
tain popularity, but | believe the
compound has not been introduced.
The utmost order, as | said before,
prevails, and every convenience and
labor saving apparatus which science
has discovered is put into use. The
.wo or three cows and the horse are
put away, and well housed and have
an abundance of fresh pure water
pumped from the coolest of wells into
troughs right under their noses. This,
| think, may partially account for their
sickness oil appearance and long years
of usefulness. / have always main
tanned thst the diseases of cattle in
Texas we're due, chiefly, to the impu-
rity of the water they drank. Ny OBJ
servations on New Hampshire farm
confirmed my opinion. Substitute
artesian wells for the absurd mudhOles
which out in west Texas they call
tanks" and no country in America
can breed better cattle, or do it so
proftably. On every farm | visited
there appeared to have been good
crops OF stones, which the farmer
had harvested and converted into
fences. Nowhere did l see that mon
ster ofugliness, the old fashioned rail
fence, or its modern western substi-
tute, the wire. Timber is, by far, too
scarce and dear for the former.
Now and then, one sees pieces of
ground worth from $40 to $50 per
acre, which are permitted to grow up
into a sort of caricature Of a western
forest. Knowing how dense the
population Of the State and its de-
mands on the soil, / asked the reason
for this. My friend stated, in reply,
that where land was swampy or too
poor to yield a profitable return for
filling it was allowed to grow up this
way for the fuel which could be cut
from it. This seemed a little absurd
at first, but when he produced figures
to show me that the interest on such
an investment was not below the cur
rent rate for money, | mentally DOTTED
my hat to another evidence of the
smartness of the Yankee.
For three or four days | bore the
agreeable relationship of guest &c
some old ladies with young hearts, who
reside in one Of the most pleasant
hillside villages Of all Massachusetts,
With charming tact, they managed Il
have me meet quite number of young
ladies. They we're delightful New
England blossoms, of the regular
Priscilla type, fairly bristling with
virtues aud hedged with an awe.
inspiring propriety. They we're IN
commonly smart OF speech and ad
dicted to spectacles. What abominabl,
things these spectacles are, TO be sure
Now, ii there is anything which car
stir the very recesses Of fellow s soul
it is to look into the depths of a re
sponsive eye-the kind which the poet
who had been there, said "spak,
again" Just fancy having your mos
earnest glances, your most tender an,
telling glances, car0med oil by bit o
unsympathetic glass, onto the LADY,
nose-pretty and pug though it be-o
losing its force and influence 10 III
meshes Of her invisible net. / comics
1t IS most exasperating.
In spite Of the boosted culture q
the East, and the undisputed exec
lence Of its public schools, a surprisin
r Ignorance exists in regard to the Yves
y its Importance aud resources. The
}. fancy their own little rock bound pieC
n of ground Is the Union, and al
o hemmed in by such wall of eonce
IS that they cannot, or will not. lear
q their mistake. But there is hone d
them. The Texas Siftings has lauqhC
u its way into tue Green Moul
g tains Of Vermont, and through n
IT villages aud hillsides of Massachuset
rs and New Hampshire. May we n,
n rely upon the pervading humor
u Sweet to introduce them to the exis
n | nnaa NJ tho o,,toida ,,-o,lI