Winter Work

THE dearth of employment in Winter for farm laborers is a great and

growing evil. Thousands, being dismissed from work on the farms in

November, drift away to some city, under a vague, mistaken impression



that there must be work at some rate where so much is being done and so

many require service, and squander their means and damage their morals

in fruitless quest of what is not there to be had. When Spring at length< r />
arrives, they sneak back to the rural districts, ragged, penniless,

debauched, often diseased, and every way deteriorated, by their Winter

plunge. For their sakes not only, but for the sakes also of those who

will employ and those who must work with them hereafter, this drifting

to the cities should be stopped.



In its present magnitude, it is a very modern evil. Far within my

recollection, there was timber to cut and haul to the saw-mill, wood to

cut, draw, and prepare for the year's fuel, with forest-land to be

cleared and fitted for future cultivation, even in New-England. Those

who chose to work with ax or team were seldom idle in Winter. Now, there

is little timber to cut, little land to clear, and coal is rapidly

supplanting wood as fuel. So a larger and larger number of farm laborers

is annually turned off when the ground freezes to live as they may for

the next three or four months.



I recognize the right of the farmer, who has given twelve or more hours

per day to the tillage of his acres and the saving of his crops

throughout the genial months, to take the world more easily in Winter.

He should now have leisure to return visits, to post and balance his

books, and to improve his mind by study and reflection. Having worked

hard when he must, he ought to rest and recuperate when he can. But he

gravely errs who supposes that, the ground being frozen, there is no

longer work to be done on the farm until the ground is fit to plow

again. On the contrary, he who realizes that the farmer is a

manufacturer of food and fibrous substances from raw materials of far

inferior value must see that, so soon as one harvest has been secured,

the cultivator should devote his attention to the collection and

utilization of the elements wherefrom a larger crop may be obtained from

the same acres next season.



And first as to Muck. No one who has not valued and sought it is likely

to know how generally abundant and accessible this material is. I have

found it in inexhaustible supply on the land of a pretty good cultivator

who, after working a fair farm ten years, sold it because (as he

supposed) it was destitute of this basis of extensive fertilization.

"Seek, and ye shall find," implies that those who do not seek will

rarely find; and such is the fact. Where rock abounds, Muck is rarely

wanting. It covers many thousand acres of Jersey sands, where rock is

unknown; but show me a region ridged or ribbed with rock, and I shall

confidently expect to find Muck on it, though none has been known or

supposed to exist there. And he who either has or can buy a bed of Muck

within half a mile of his barn, his sty, his hen-house, may dig and draw

from it all Winter with a moral certainty that it will generously reward

his outlay. Begin as soon after haying as you can spare the time, and

cut an outlet so deep that you may thereafter work dryshod; thenceforth,

dig and pile on the nearest accessible spot of dry ground, to be drawn

away to the barn-yard and out-houses as opportunity presents itself.

But, even though you have done nothing till the ground freezes, do not

say it is now too late, but set to work. You can often team in Winter

where you could not at any other season; and, in digging Muck from a

swamp or bog well frozen over, you are not apt to be troubled with

water. Draw all you can; but dig much more; for no money at lawful

interest pays so well as Muck left to dry and cure for months before you

draw it. I think I do not over-estimate the average value of a cubic

yard of Muck, well cured and mixed with warmer fertilizers before

application to the soil, at one dollar; and I think there are few

farmers in the Old Thirteen States who cannot obtain it for less than

that.



Where Muck is not to be had, I believe the tiller of a sandy or gravelly

farm who can get access to a bed or bank of clay may profitably dig and

draw this, to be used as he would use Muck if he had it, and even for

direct application to the soil. I do not think this method the most

advisable; yet I feel sure that clay spread over a sandy or gravelly

field that has been laid down to grass is worth fifty cents per cubic

yard wherever Hay is worth $12 per tun; but I would wish to apply it not

later than December.



He who has fit places of deposit should draw all his Lime, Plaster, and

other commercial fertilizers, in Winter, so as to be ready for use when

required. Mix your Lime while fresh from the kiln with Muck, at the rate

of a bushel of the former to a cubic yard of the latter, and the Muck

will be ready for use far sooner than it otherwise would be. Be careful

not to mix Lime with animal manures in any case, since it expels

Ammonia, whereas the sulphur of Plaster combines with that volatile

element and fixes it. There are some farmers who do, but twenty times as

many who do not, use Plaster enough about their stables and pig-pens.

They ought to realize that a bad smell implies a waste of Ammonia, which

a farmer, unless very rich, can hardly afford.



Fences should all be scrutinized as Winter goes off, and put into

thorough condition for next season's service.



Fruit-trees should be relieved of all dead or dying branches, all

suckers, and cut back where towering to high, or spreading too wide. It

may be better for the trees to do all pruning in May or June; but the

farmer who defers it to that season is very likely to be hurried into

postponing it to another year--and another.



There is scarcely a forest of second or later growth which would not pay

for thinning and trimming, if well done. That which is out may be turned

to good account as bean-poles, pea-brush, Summer fuel, etc., while that

which is left will grow faster, taller, and more shapely, to reward you

doubly for your pains.



--These are but suggestions. Any farmer can add to or improve upon them

if he will give an hour's thought to the subject. The best laborers can

be hired for a full year at a price not very much exceeding that which

will secure their services for eight or nine months. In the interest

alike of good crops and good morals, I urge every one who can to resolve

that he will henceforth hire by the year, or in some way manage to

employ his laborers in Winter as well as in Summer.