The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-01-05
Winter on the Farm
Recreation to be Enjoyed.

Recreation to be Enjoyed.
1t is a popular idea that there is little
to do on a fsrm in winter. Counter.
ance is lent to 1t from the disposition
of many farmers to waste the time,
but the thoughtful and enterprising
never see a time when mere idleness
Is welcome. When one cannot work
out-of-doors, he car work In the house,
posting accounts, reviewing the years
successes o%rireverses, planning for the
next season, ordering his supplies of
commercial fertilizers, his trees or
plants for spring planting, hiring
laborers, assisting, perhapes, In house.
hold dairy matters, or engaging in
good reading or s%ociability. The last
is not to be regarded as unimportant.
We cannot safely ignore "society" and
in winter is an excellent time for its
enjoyment and its genial influences.
For the very old or feeble much expo
sure to the weather may not be agree
able; but in all those regions where
sleighing prevails, the young and
strong find it a specially attractive
season. There is something about
snow and a sharp atmosphere that is
exhilsrating to both human beings and
animals, and a ride behind good
horses, particularly by moonlight,
when the snow creaks and sparkles,
the stars seem 10 dance, the horses
spring to their work, and nothing is
blue but the sky above, is an occasion
for rather more enjoyment than ever
the "balmy spring" affords.
But, referring to this matter Of soci-
ability in winter farm life, and sleigh
ing as an adjunct, let me suggest that
IL is not for young folks alone. My
idea of sociability in all ranks is, that
to secure the best results in culture,
there should be nothing like divisions
as to ages. Children's parties, young
peoples parties, and old folks s%ociables,
do no answer the true purpose of such
gatherings. They promote awkard-
ness and clannishness, and sometimes
coarseness. The immature young man
will sometime make a fool of himself
in q company of about his W age ex-
clusively, and 80 will the young lady of
the same order. Their lamentable at
tempts at "smartness" may occupy the
attention. of the company, to its detri-
ment, and be mistaken for admiration,
while the presence of parents and
guardians would have a SOLDERING
and restraining influence, not nee
essarily irksome, but it would tend to
make young people weigh their words
| with more care. While it need not
restrain mirth or decorous hilarity, it
would tone down, and one mp at the
same time, the intercourse Of all; and
this is especially needed in farming
circles. The children, of course, are
radimental learners; the youths and
maidens of sixteen and upward
know quite as much as they think they
do; while parents are apt to think they
know too much to feel much interest
in what is purely social on sHch Occasi-
Ons. But something o little out of the
rut of farming is the true design of such
gatherings. The farme rs and his wife
should be tue men and women as
well as farmers - a little given to litera-
ture as we'll as pork ana potato grow
ing able TO talk about books and their
worth, with something of the same
ease with which they talk about their
%neighbors' failings, and with more
profit. 1t is worth a good deal merely
to try to be agreeable, and a man or a
woman Of any age who succeeds at it at
- RoAt 10 DCttCt oOlO W wi I
at home, where there is often a dispo-
sition to neglect it. Manners, or an
easy address, have a vast deal to do
with what we call success in life, and
the great majority can easily be train
ed to them, or train themselves, by
care and observation. In rural regi-
ons, winter affords the best opportuni.
ty for this culture.
WORK TO BE DONE.
But, in addition to the intellectual
and social opportunities which win
ter brings by day and night, a great
deal of profitable farm work can
be done by an enterprising family.
Stock feeding is becoming more and
more a great industry, needing only
some very thorough study of its prin-
ciples to make its advantages available
to the farmer at a season of compare
tive leisure. The great need of all
farms in the old.setiled portion of the
country is manure. The ordinary farm
stock does not begin to supply this
need, particularly in connection with
the waste of pasturing and open out
door winter feeding. The cities, great
as are their resources, do not supply it.
Gardeners, truckers and fruit growers
near at hand, are ready 10 take all and
more. They have learned the value of
high farming, and hesitate at no ordina-
ny price for manure. The farmer at a
distance must look elsewhere than to
cities. Stock-feeding is an available re-
source. To say that it requires study
and care is only to compliment it; did
it not require such attention, it would
not be worth noticing. The study re-
CURED is a knowledge of the principles
offeeding, and the qualities of the va.
rious cattle foods in the market, or such
as are raised oil the farm. One prin-
ciple is that the most profitable system
of feeding is that which begins with
birth and keeps the animal growing
without cessation until its highest de.
velopment is reached. The old prac.
tice Is to take any kind of old or gaunt
stock, no matter what its past treatment
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