119 



the labor of catcTiing, tlie proprietor expects to realize large profits. A 

 great mauy hogs are beiug fed at the slaughter-pen, where parties are 

 killing cattle for the hides and tallow — tallow extracted in steam tanks. 

 After the tallow is drawn off, the steamed offal is fed to the hogs. Some 

 of these hogs have been shij^ped to Xew Orleans. I have heard no com- 

 plaint against them, although the offal is very offensive after coming 

 from the tanks. 



THE FIRE BLIGHT. 



Lucas County, Ohio. — The fire-blight in pear trees has been very se- 

 vere this season on clay soils. On sandy soils, which are slightly mixed 

 with rotten or decomposed iron ore, they have almost entirely escaped. 

 Query : Is it not a deficiency of iron in the soil which occasions the 

 disease? 



EEPEESEI^TATION OF HUSBAJiTDEY. 



Eegret is felt by the true friends of agriculture, that so few farmers 

 should be found in the halls of legislation, and especially in Congress. 

 If it is true that national detriment results from the non representation 

 of tenant-farmers in the British House of Commons, an affirmation re- 

 cently made as a fact to be deprecated, how much greater the loss from 

 lack of agricultural representation in a nation of independent, thrifty, and 

 intelligent farmers ! It is not that there is the slightest difficulty in find- 

 ing men of the breadth and brains of an aA^erage Congress among the 

 farmers ot any individual State ; but farmers are isolated, and unable to 

 combine with facility; they are more independent, and thus in feeling and 

 fact are less inclined to "crook the pregnant hinges of the knee where [poli- 

 tical] thrift may follow fawning ;" they are comparatively single-minded 

 and conscientious, and are therefore averse to the insincerity and sinuosity 

 of the genus politician. While agriculture is thus unrepresented, its 

 interests suffer. Ambitious lawyers, scheming merchants, speculators, 

 and railroad monopolists, men who do not represent the producing in- 

 terests, and who are at best the expensive go-betweens of production 

 and consumption, have an impelling personal interest in seeking legisla- 

 tive position, and they, therefore, obtain it. Commerce has yearly had 

 its millions in subsidies, improvements of navigation, light-houses, and 

 other aids ; railroads have millions of dollars of money and of acres of 

 land, and their managers are permitted to water their stock and drain 

 the resources of the farmers for double dividends. Now, the farmers 

 want very little money in appropriations in aid of agriculture, but they 

 do need an exemption from adverse legislation — statesmen understand- 

 ing and conscientiously working for their interests — protection against 

 rings of land monopolies and the tyranny of freight combinations. Farm- 

 ers have the numbers, wealth, and ability to protect themselves, by 

 acting in concert, in combination against combinations, as a grand 

 " ring," which shall overwhelm all mercenary " rings" whatever. To 

 the honest masses of the rural popuhition, both on account of integrity 

 and numbers, must the country look for its salvation from unhallowed 

 greed and knavery in legislation. Then let the agricultural classes 

 combine and make sure they are represented in State and national 

 legislatures. 



