—1871—Culture of Roots

#18

These old-timers appear to be very pleased with their enormous beet roots, and well they should be.

The great, and perhaps the greatest, defect in our New England agriculture, is the small extent devoted to the culture of roots. It is no doubt true that in a climate like ours, where stall feeding for five or six months in a year is a necessity which nature imposes upon us, the grass crop must be our main reliance for the feeding and nourishment of stock. Still, we need something more. Even if it were only for a change of food, as a sort of condiment, a supplement to the regular feeding, we should find a more extended cultivation of roots judicious and economical. But apart from their importance in this respect, it can be shown, we think, that a greater amount of nutriment can be raised from an acre of well-cultivated roots, be they English turnips, Swedes, or mangolds, than can be raised from an acre of grass.

It may not be generally known that even horses soon become very fond of Swedish turnips, and that they thrive upon them as well as carrots, while the cost of raising them is undoubtedly far less, bushel for bushel. It is not necessary, in this connection, to cite instances to show how many tons can be raised upon a given space of land, nor to compare the nutritive value of these roots with that of hay, which might easily be done. The yield of the Swede and the mangold, under good cultivation, and on a suitable soil, is often enormous, and generally, it may be stated, as vastly superior, when its nutritive value is considered, to that of any crop of hay ever raised on the same extent of land.

Swedes and mangolds, therefore, must be regarded as among the most important and valuable of the root crops, and those most worthy of the attention of every farmer. These plants require very different cultivation and treatment. For the former, take a warm piece of light land which has been in grass from some years, and on which the water is not likely to stand for want of drainage, and plough it deeply, about the middle of June, turning in the grass, and then spread on a little well-rotted barnyard manure, and harrow it in with a good harrow,—for this purpose we consider Share’s harrow as the best,—and then mark out the rows with a marker, about twenty-eight inches apart, and scatter a little superphosphate, bone, ashes, or other concentrated phosphatic manure in the rows or drills, at the rate of three or four hundred pounds to the acre. This may be sown by hand in the rows. Then sow the seed in these rows with a seed-sower that will cover the seed well. These are the main points to be observed.

Avoid strong nitrogenous or ammoniacal manures. They cause the plant to run to tops, and make large tops and long necks at the expense of the root, which is the main thing you want in the cultivation of this crop. [The Swede] wants a light, warm soil; it wants no forcing or over-stimulating manure; it wants clean culture, and plenty of room to grow without being crowded.

Now the mangold is quite different. It needs to be sown much earlier, for it requires a longer time to grow. It does best on good, strong, stiff soil, well cultivated, and full of manure left and retained in the soil by previous cultivation. Land that will easily bear three tons of hay to the acre is none too good for it. Plough it early in May. Put it in as good and mellow condition as you can, and plough in not half straw or muck, but solid manure, that has only compost materials enough to hold the liquids, and no more. Plough it in once, and mix it up by a second ploughing. Then harrow thoroughly, and drill it by a small plow or marker. If you have any refuse salt, a little scattered along these drills will do good. A little old rotted manure will help. Sow the seed early, the earlier the better after the land is ready, and take care that it is well covered, and the earth pressed down solid over the seed, so as to keep a uniform temperature and moisture. The seed is slow and difficult to germinate, and these conditions are essential to it. Now if you cultivate these plants well, and keep the weeds out, you may expect ten or twelve hundred bushels to the acre. Much larger crops have been raised. Nineteen hundred bushels have been obtained, and seventy-three tons were raised on Deer Island. Is not such a crop worth taking a little extra pains for?

In feeding out the roots in the winter it is always best to begin with the English turnips, as they keep a shorter time than either Swedes or mangolds. They are very useful as the cold weather and stall feeding approaches, and serve to break the otherwise sudden transition from green and succulent feed to dry hay. After them will come the Swedish turnips, to be continued as long as they last, perhaps till the first of March, when it is time to begin on the mangolds. The saccharine matter in the mangolds is not fully developed till towards the end of winter, and if fed at the beginning of winter they are less nutritive and more apt to scour the cattle. They may be continued in increasing quantities daily till grass.
[Thomas’s]

Harvesting roots. These people appear to be making a pile of mangel roots and covering it with tops. This was a common practice. Later on the pile would be taken to barn or cellar storage, or stored in earth-covered pits closer to the barn.

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Root crops were very important in the Agrarian Nation (they are frequently mentioned in the 19th century farm almanacs), and there is renewed interest in growing these crops for animal fodder. The previous almanac excerpt offers a lot of valuable information on the subject. For more insight into this topic, I offer this next excerpt from 1864. Pictures of different kinds of roots follow.

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Now that's a big beet!

 -1864-
About Roots

The root crop requires great labor, unless both the ground and the manure are very free from weed seeds. But they form a most excellent and important article of feeding for stock. especially as an occasional change from other food. No farmer, therefore, can afford to neglect them. Ruta bagas and the English turnips are best fed out in the early part of winter. The mangel wurzel should be kept till later, say as late as March, before being used.

Ruta Bagas.—At eighteen inches apart, in drills, or in ridges, three quarters of a pound of ruta baga seed is enough for an acre. About a pound is usually allowed on an average. Skirving’s King of the Swedes is one of the latest varieties.

Mangel Wurzel.—The varieties of mangels most cultivated here are the Long Red, the Yellow Globe, and the Long Yellow. The Long Red is a very hardy root, and keeps well. It grows fast, and is usually very productive. The flesh is sometimes marbled or mixed, varying very greatly, from almost uniform red to nearly white; but the color does not affect the quality of the root. The Yellow Globe is about ten inches in diameter when fully grown, and often weighs from ten to twelve pounds. The part under ground has a yellow skin, but above ground it becomes nearly brown. The flesh is white, marked with yellow, fine-grained and sweet. The leaves are not very large and stand erect. This is one of the most productive of all the varieties of beet, and is very excellent for stock of all kinds. it keeps sound and fresh late into spring, and it does not sprout as early as many other varieties. It is well adapted to hard and shallow soils. Yield from thirty to forty tons, according to soil and culture. Sow, like the long reds, in drills eighteen to twenty inches apart, and thin out to ten inches in the drills. About three or four pounds of seed are required per acre. Sow from the 1st of May to the 1st of June. Early sowings are most productive. It can be harvested with the common plough.

The Long Yellow.—is a very productive variety. The roots are not smooth, but often forked into many branches. it is excellent for dairy stock, giving a rich color to the milk produced from it.

The White Sugar Beet.— is a valuable variety, much grown in this country for feeding to stock, very good for the table, and when young, tender, well-flavored and sweet. It is cultivated like the Long Red Mangle, that is, sown from the middle of April to the last of May, in drills eighteen inches apart, thinned to ten inches in the drills, on deep, rich, mellow land.
[Thomas’s]
 

I grew these red mangels several years ago to feed my chickens in the winter. I can report that chickens love mangel beets. CLICK HERE to read the story.

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I want to try to clarify for you what kinds of beets the old-timers were talking about in the above almanac excerpts. First, there are Mangel Wurzel beets, which are typically called mangels. In the picture above, my sons (when they were quite a bit younger than they are now) are holding what I assume are "Long Red" mangels. Here is a picture of Long Yellow mangels, or "mangolds"....

Yellow Mangels

English Turnips are the common turnips that some people grow in their garden...

English Turnips

Swedish Turnips were often called just "Swedes" in the old almanacs. It took me awhile to figure out that Swedes are what we now know as rutabagas...

A Rutabaga

###

I suspect there are numerous varieties of red and yellow mangel. Johnny's Seeds now sells a Mammoth Red Mangle seed (which doesn't look very mammoth in their picture), and  Yellow Cylindrical Mangel seed.

For a very insightful and informative article about these old roots I recommend The Roots of Taste.

I see that Keene, New York (in the Adirondacks) has a rutabaga festival. Click Here to see Marcy Neville with a fine example of an Adirondack rutabaga.

If you have experience growing and feeding these kinds of roots, or you know of a good internet link with useful information, please use the comments section here to share your experiences for the benefit of others (now and in the years ahead).

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Root Cutters 

Roots need to be cut up before animals can eat them. This old hand-crank Bamford root cutter was made in England.

This is another style of Bamford root cutter. It is larger and driven by a belt. But the cutting mechanism is the same as the hand-driven cutter and this picture shows shows you the spinning disc with the teeth that cut the roots.

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-1830- Sweet or Carolina Potatoes

#17

Old-timers with a nice pile of harvested sweet potatoes

The Sweet or Carolina Potato, has of late been cultivated in New England with wonderful success. They have ever been raised in great abundance in the southern states, and many have found their way to our markets, where they found a ready sale, at an exorbitant price. It must be very pleasing to our yeomanry, to know that this most delicious root, can so easily be raised in Massachusetts, as it is stated to be in our newspapers and other periodical literature of the day.

It is advisable to plant out the slips early in the season, as soon as the ground becomes dry in April, and choose a high warm situation. The slips may be procured at the seed store of the New England Farmer, 52 North Market Street, Boston. A writer in Taunton Advocate, gives the following mode of cultivating them:

“I raised the last season (1828) a bushel and a half of sweet potatoes from thirty hills, an average lot of them were exhibited at the Cattle Show in Mansfield. They were from six to eight inches in circumference, and from six to twelve inches long. I planted them in hills, which were about the size of a bushed basket, and made as near together as the soil would permit; so that the bases of the hills nearly touched each other. The slips were cut in two, and three pieces were put in each hill, about eight inches apart, and covered an inch or so with the earth.

All the attention which was paid to them after planting was merely pulling up the weeds with the fingers until the potatoes  made their appearance. The vine grows with great rapidity, and soon covers the hills, so that no further attention is necessary. The soil best suited for the potato is a light sandy loam, manured with compost or house dung, spread and ploughed in.  
[Thomas’s]

Sweet Potatoes

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.

I was attracted to this 181-year-old almanac excerpt because I plan to grow sweet potatoes in my upstate N.Y. garden this year, and it will be a first for me. Very few gardeners I know of in these parts grow sweet potatoes, but I have a homesteading neighbor who grows a lot of them and has done so for years. He even uses his potatoes from one year to sprout slips which he plants to grow the next year's crop. That's sustainable agriculture for you.

Sweet potato slips, ready for planting

If, like me, you've never grown sweet potatoes (especially here in the North) it may seem like a hard thing to do. But the 1830 farm almanac excerpt for today makes it sound easy, and my neighbor says it's easy. Like so many other such things, it only seems difficult if you've never done it before.


As a  matter of fact, I will be planting some Beauregard sweet potato slips tomorrow, May 28, 2011. I will plant them as explained in an excellent article in the current issue of Mother Earth News magazine (June/July 2011). The article is by Ken Allen, who lives in Canada and has been growing sweet potatoes for 37 years. Allen is author of the book, Sweet Potatoes For The Home Garden. The book is now out of print but you can read about it and get some insights at This Link.


Why grow sweet potatoes? Well, they are remarkably good for a body (far more nutritious than "Irish" potatoes). They store well (if properly cured, as the Mother Earth article explains), and if you grown your own slips, from your own sweet potatoes, you can be sweet potato self sufficient for the rest of your life. Oh, and they taste good too— I'm partial to baked sweet potato fries.

Baked sweet potato fries.

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The next issue of Agrarian Nation will feature a lengthy essay titled Culture of Roots from Thomas's 1871 almanac.

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Corn—1835, 1859, 1883, 1889—

#15

Brace roots on a stalk of corn

-1835-

Hilling Indian Corn

The practice of earthing up or hilling Indian corn, at the second and third hoeing was thought indispensable, to prevent the corn from getting down on the ground and spoil, but of late it has been proved to have the contrary effect.

A writer in the Courant, over the signature of Cornplanter, whose views so completely coincide with my own, has induced me to transcribe them for the Farmer’s Almanac.—Editor

The practice of most farmers within my acquaintance is, at half hilling to accumulate the earth from two to four inches, and hilling from three to five inches more, making each hill a pyramid of about seven inches elevation. The reason offered in support of this practice is, that the Corn will stand firmer and more erect, and therefore be less liable to be broken down by the wind and rain.

More than fifty years’ experience in this branch of agriculture, has taught me that this is erroneous both in theory and practice. By accumulating earth upon the roots of the corn, they are deprived of that influence of the air and sun which is necessary to a healthy and vigorous growth. Every one acquainted with the natural growth of this plant, must have observed the peculiar formation of the brace roots which sprout upon the stalk in a circular form, a very little below the surface of the ground, radiating from the stalk in every direction. In like manner are the stalks of wheat, rye, barley, &c. furnished with their brace roots, and stand in no need of hilling up to give them strength and firmness, in their position. They are evidently designed to stay the stalk and hold it in an erect position, not unlike the shrouds or guy of a ship to sustain the mast. To render these braces sufficiently hard and strong to answer the design of nature, they  must have the influence of the sun and air; but when buried by several inches of superincumbent earth, they become soft, weak, and brittle, and nature, to remedy this evil, sends out another set above the former. These occasion an unnecessary waste of nourishment of the plant, and at that advanced season of the year never become sufficiently indurated to perform their office to the best advantage.

If those farmers who may take the trouble of reading this article, should doubt the correctness of this reasoning, they are respectfully invited to test it by experiment upon a few rows or hills. For many years past the writer has practiced upon the principles here recommended, and has uniformly been successful in his crop.

It may also be remarked that great injury is done both by the plough and hoe at the time of hilling, by breaking and wounding the long fibrous roots so necessary to the growth and strength of the stalk. After the weeding or first hoeing, neither the plow or hoe should be allowed to penetrate any deeper than is necessary to destroy the weeds and grass, this ought to be repeated as often as they spring up.
 [Thomas's]

Horse-drawn corn planter

-1859-

Depth for Planting Corn

If corn is planted three inches deep, it will come up and grow thriftily for a while, until it is three or four inches high; then it will stand still ten days or a fortnight. If now we examine the roots, to ascertain the cause of this check upon the growth of the corn, we shall find that a joint has formed about an inch and a half above the kernel, from which new roots have sprouted, and that the roots first formed below the kernel have rotted. While the process of changing roots is going on, the plant ceases to grow perceptibly above ground. The stalk and ears flourish as well after this change as corn planted shallower, but there is a loss of about a fortnight in the growth and maturity of the plant. The lesson to be derived from this fact is, obviously, that to have early corn, it must not be planted more than an inch and a half deep

[Leavitt’s]

-1883-

Ratio of Corn to Cob

With corn on the cob the proportional weight of the cob is, on an average, about one-eighth. Different varieties will vary slightly, but the general ratio will be one to seven.

[Thomas’s]

This World War I poster encouraged farmers to save their best corn for seed. I'm not sure why the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis was part of this effort. (click to see an enlarged view of the poster)

-1883-

Corn For Seed

When you select corn for seed, have an “ideal ear” in mind. Let it be an ear medium in size and diameter, the kernels deep, the cob small at the butt, holding its bigness towards the point till very near the tapering off. It should be capped over, and the kernels should hold their size towards the point, and at the butt run out straight and not crinkle. It will pay to look long for such an ear. Study its past history also. It must come from a prolific ancestry. We ought to  know its parents, and breed it with all the care we take to get the choicest stock. The best seed will yield, without manure, more than inferior seed with it, and the best seed will yield, in the same circumstances, double the quality of the inferior. Why shouldn’t plants have as strong a hereditary character as animals?

[Thomas’s]

-1889-

The old rule for planting corn was, not till the leaves of the oak are as large as a mouse’s ear, and that is, usually, the third week of May.

[Thomas’s]

Farm children hoeing corn

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Please note that in the first excerpt (1835) the author remarks that corn was designed with brace roots to stay the stalk. To suggest that something in nature was designed implies that there is a Creator/designer. This is, of course, in keeping with the biblical worldview that was prevalent in the Agrarian Nation. Such a belief is now disdained by the modern scientific and educational institutions which explain brace roots and all other amazing aspects of the natural world with godless evolutionary theories.

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As for the 1883 excerpt about saving choice ears of corn from the harvest to supply seed for the next year's crop, that's just good common sense. Farmers down through history have saved part of their crop for seed. But it would appear there was a time when they were not so selective of the ears that they saved, and the excerpt above was an encouragement to be more selective.

For those who may not know, it is rare to find a farmer these days who selects and saves his own seed corn. Hybridized corn seed was developed and introduced to farmers in 1930. The seed from such corn can not be replanted, and new seed must therefore be purchased from the seed companies every year. Hybridized seed brought greater yields, but it also brought greater dependency on the corporate seed suppliers.

The next development in corn seed technology came in the 1990s when patented, genetically modified (GM) seed varieties were introduced to farmers. The Future of Food is an excellent documentary which explains the history of genetic modification and points out its dangers. You can watch the first 10 minutes at this YouTube link: The Future of Food.

With the introduction of GM seed, very few farmers today can  save their own seed, even if they want to (watch the movie for an explanation). Corporations (primarily Monsanto) now own and control most of the seeds that farmers use, and the extensive biodiversity of seed varieties that once existed is no longer there.

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The next installment of Agrarian Nation will feature Farmer's Calendar almanac excerpts for the month of May from the years 1859, 1862, 1866, 1870 and 1874.

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—1880—Hot-Beds

#14

The market gardeners around Boston and most of the large centers of population, depend largely upon hot-beds for starting early vegetables for market and for family use. There seems to be no reason why every farmer should not do the same. They are started and operated at a season of comparative leisure, and so cost but little, either of time or money; while a supply of vegetables, both early and late, does much to keep down the expenses of the table and to promote the health of the family.

The first steps in the preparation of a hot-bed are taken in the fall, by selecting a suitable loam and throwing it into a heap for use in winter or early spring. The construction of a proper frame is usually deferred till the leisure time of winter. To make a frame, two-inch stuff is taken and spiked to corner-posts or joists, making the back side twice as high as the front so as to give the proper inclination to the sashes. The frame may be four or five feet wide and nine or twelve feet long, according to the object in view. For a family supply merely, the smaller size will be sufficient. If the back and front are fastened by screws and iron bolts, the frame can be readily taken to pieces and laid away when not in use, and so made to last a long time.

A bed of nine feet long will require three sashes. A piece of wood three inches wide and two inches thick should be set in where the sashes meet, extending from the front to the back, for them to run upon, and the piece may extend back a foot or two beyond the body of the frame. A south or southeast exposure is best. Dig down a foot, making the hole six inches larger every way than the frame. Drive down joists at the corners, and nail to their outsides two-inch plank, letting the top come up about to the top of the ground, the size of this structure corresponding to that of the frame, so that the latter will sit firmly upon it.

The bed itself is made about the middle of March. Coarse fresh horse-manure from the stable is used for heating material. It is to be shaken up well and thoroughly mixed, then put evenly into the bed and beaten down with the fork, but not trodden upon. Raise it up two feet, the back part a little higher than the front, making the whole about six inches higher than it is intended to have it stand, to allow for settling.

Alternate layers of tan-bark and manure, or a mixture of leaves and manure,  are sometimes used to get a steady and continuous heat. After the bed is formed as indicated above, the sashes are put in, when the heat will begin to rise in two or three days. The sash can then be slightly raised to let any steam pass off, and soon after the loam can be spread over the manure lightly to the depth of six or seven inches. The bed will be ready to receive the seed a day or two after the loam is put on, and this is sown in drills crosswise. If the manure ferments so rapidly as to give out too much heat and steam and to endanger the roots of the plants, it is safer to sow the seed in small flowerpots set into the soil up to the rims, and these can be raised and lowered again when the heat moderates. A large stick, thrust down into the bed in several places and withdrawn, has the effect to lessen the heat. Constant watchfulness is needed to secure sufficient ventilation, to prevent overheating and a feeble growth, and the frames should be opened for the purpose whenever it is safe to do it, but the external air is to be let in cautiously, when the air is not too cold.

Cucumbers and similar plants are sometimes sown upon pieces of inverted sod in the bed, and they can be removed to the garden without injury as soon as the season admits of it. In the same way cabbages, cauliflowers, tomatoes, melons, celery, lettuce, potatoes, peppers, and many other plants can be started in the hot-bed to be transplanted as soon as the spring is sufficiently advanced.

Though some experience may be required to inspire complete success, the object to be gained is important enough to warrant it.
[Thomas’s]
.

This deluxe modern-day cold frame is well made and equipped with counterbalance weights on a pulley to make opening easier. It looks deep enough that it could also be used as a hot-bed frame. Just add horse manure—fresh, coarse, mixed, and beaten down (but not trodden upon).

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I have a neighbor with horses. In past years he has brought me a few loads of horse manure for my garden. He brings it in a small manure spreader, backs it into place, and the spreader flings the load into a pile. All that flinging mixes the manure and straw bedding real well. A couple days later the pile is steaming hot.

These days many growers use electric heat mats to get their garden seeds off to an early start in a favorable environment. But the old-timers didn't need heat mats and electricity. They had lots of horse manure. 

Today's excerpt is just another fine example of economy, resourcefulness, and sustainable agriculture, all of which was everyday practice when America was an Agrarian Nation.

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One more thing....I think the idea of sowing seeds on inverted pieces of sod, instead of in containers, is simply brilliant.


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The next installment of Agrarian Nation will feature excerpts about Corn from farm almanacs of 1859, 1883 & 1889.

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—1866—Maxims For The Farmer

#13

-1-

Never get in debt when you cannot see your way out again; when you owe, pay as fast as you can, and prompt, according to your promise.

-2-

Never enlarge your farm, when half what you now have is not half cultivated.

-3-

If you own  more land than you can till well, are in debt, or need funds to make necessary improvements, sell part of  your farm and use the money to pay your debts, and make your improvements.

-4-

Never borrow money to build a showy house when a less pretentious one would answer better; and never lend money when you have undrained or poorly tilled land to improve.

-5-

Do not enter upon speculation with other people’s money or your own, unless you see clearly that you will make profits, and even then, do not do it to the neglect of your farming.

-6-

Do not mortgage your farm for money to buy goods; very few men can enter the mercantile business without training for it, and not become bankrupt.

-7-

Do not change your kind of farming business because what you raise this year is low priced for that which is high; ten chances to one your crop will be up next year, and that which is up now will then be down.

-8-

Do not try to grow those crops for which your farm is not well  adapted.

-9-

Be present with your hands as much as possible, otherwise little work will be done, and that little poorly. No business requires the master’s oversight more than farming.

-10-

Cultivate a little, well, rather than much poorly. Who does not remember the story of the farmer who had two daughters? When the first one was married he gave her one-third of his vineyard, and yet he had as many grapes as formerly; when the second married she took  half of the remainder for her portion, and yet the yield of the farmer’s share was not lessened.

[Leavitt’s]

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In the next installment of Agrarian Nation I will republish a lengthy essay from Thomas's 1880 farmers almanac titled, Hot-Beds.

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The Milch Cow—1825, 1842, 1843, 1849—

#12
.

-1825-

Keeping Milch Cows

Cows, by good keeping, afford a greater clear profit. Give a cow half a bushel of turnips, carrots, or other good roots per day, during the six winter-months, besides her hay, and if her summer-feed be such as it should be, she will give nearly double the quantity of milk that she would do, if kept, during winter, only in the usual manner; and the milk will be richer and of better quality. When thus fed, they consume less hay and are less liable to several diseases which originate in poor keeping. Raw potatoes, as they commonly lessen the quantity of milk, ought not to be given to milch-cows; but if steamboiled they will not have this effect, besides being much more nourishing. In summer, milch cows should have the best or first feeding of each pasture-lot; they should have plenty of water and that which is good; they should have plenty of shade to retire to in the heat of the day; and be kept quietly, neither worried by dogs nor clubbed and stoned by children, nor driven too great a distance to pasture; for these all affect their profitableness in milk.

[Maine]
.

.
-1842-

Best Food For a Milch Cow

Sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins and ground oats are unquestionably among the best articles of food for milch cattle. These cause the milk and butter to assume a fine flavor and rich color, at the same time the quantity and quality are greatly increased.

[Maine]

-1843-

Keep No More Cows 

Than You Can Keep Well

One cow well fed, will produce as much milk as two indifferently treated, and more butter; and if the cow be wintered badly, she will rarely recover during the succeeding summer, so as to become profitable to the feeder. Cows should by all  means be housed in extreme weather, and particularly those which give milk, or a failure in the quantity of milk will be experienced. Wherefore, instead of keeping 20 cows poorly fed, and but half of them stabled, sell ten, and give the remaining ten food in amount equal to what the 20 originally had, and you will receive quite as much milk and butter in return as was derived from the former mode of treating twenty. Potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, and ground oats, are unquestionably among the best articles for food for milch cows.

[Thomas’s]

-1849-

Marks of a Good Cow

As the marks of a good cow, Mr. Sheldon, at the Legislative Agricultural Meeting , in Boston, enumerated the following: A lean head, hazel eye, flat horn, small neck, open rib, large milk vein, bag running well forward and back, teats fair size, and standing well apart, and a thin skin. For working oxen, and for beef, Mr. S. thought the Durham had been an improvement to our stock. One reason why we have better cows now, is that they are kept better than in former years.

[Thomas’s]

.
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Woven into today's excerpts are five paintings by the 19th Century artist Julien Dupré (1851-1910). I will post more of this man's wonderful paintings here in the future. They provide us with a look at European peasantry, a way of life that is now gone but it is worth remembering and understanding as we study the Agrarian Nation of early America.

There was some question and discussion about the "pail ring" around the milkmaid in the Julien Dupré painting that I showed in the previous excerpt (#11). In the painting above, the milkmaid is using a wood frame instead of a metal ring, and the painting shows this forgotten implement in better detail (you can click the picture to see an enlarged view).

As for the almanac excerpts, please note that root crops and pumpkins were commonly fed to cows in the 19th Century. We will learn more about root crops for feeding farm animals in future excerpts here.

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The next excerpt of Agrarian Nation will feature Maxims For The Farmer from Dudley Leavitt's 1866 Farmer's Almanac.

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—1881—A Farmer's Creed

#10

According to the Canadian Farmer, the agriculturists of Canada met in convention not long ago, and adopted for themselves the following creed: 

“We believe in small farms and thorough cultivation; we believe that the soil lives to eat, as well as the owner, and ought, therefore, to be well manured; we believe in going to the bottom of things, and therefore deep ploughing, and enough of it, all the better if it be a subsoil plough; we believe in large crops which leave the land better than they found it, making both the farm and the farmer rich at once; we believe that every farm should own a good farmer; we believe that the best fertilizer of any soil is a spirit of industry, enterprise, and intelligence; without these, lime, gypsum and guano would be of little use; we believe in good fences, good farmhouses, good orchards, and good children enough to gather the fruit; we believe in a clean kitchen, a neat wife in it, a clean cupboard, a clean dairy, and a clean conscience; we believe that to ask a man’s advice is not stooping but of much benefit; we believe that to keep a place for everything, and everything in its place, saves many a step, and is pretty sure to lead to good tools and to keeping them in order; we believe that kindness to stock, like good shelter, is saving of fodder; we believe that it is a good thing to keep an eye on experiments, and note all, good and bad; we believe that it is a good rule to sell grain when it is ready; we believe in producing the best butter and cheese, and marketing it when it is ready.” 

The farmer’s almanac commends this creed to the farmers of Maine as “sound doctrine.”

[Maine]

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First of all I'd like to thank Mr. Grant Wood of Iowa for the wonderful rural paintings he has provided for today's Agrarian Nation excerpt.

As for the excerpt itself, I must say it is a delightful declaration of what farming was once all about, and what it should be about in any healthy Agrarian Nation. Please note that the creed isn't focused on just growing crops and making money. It's about responsibly stewarding the land. It's about the home and children—a whole family working together. It's about economy, and order, and kindness, and a clean conscience, and producing a top quality product. 

I like that so much that I think I will edit it a bit and put it on the sidebar of this web site as the official Agrarian Nation Creed.

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If you have not read my most recent monthly blogazine essay at The Deliberate Agrarian, I recommend it to you. I discuss this web site and I tell the story of finding the "Rosetta Stone of the Agrarian Nation." Here's The Link (scroll down the page about half way to read the story).  
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In the next installment of Agrarian Nation, I will post Farmer's Calendar excerpts for the month of May from farm almanacs of 1840, 1851, 1857 and 1858. 
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