76 Frederick Law Olmsted 



bring up their families in what they consider comfortable 

 circumstances, with the usual system and management. I 

 should think by the use of the proper tools and machinery 

 which a man of intelligence and information could procure 

 and invent, at least half of the most disagreeable and hard 

 labor of our old-fashioned farmers might be dispensed with 

 to advantage. But I doubt whether taste for its peculiar 

 pleasures, or inclination or ability for its manual exertions, 

 will make you a farmer. If you could, however, — and of this 

 you are the best judge, — ^become interested in its operations 

 for a year or two, and connect yourself with its present rapid 

 advance as an honorable and learned profession, you would 

 not only find it a sufficient means of support, but an agree- 

 able and healthful pursuit. 



From notices m farm journals, such as the Cultivator, 

 Frederick Olmsted was led to select the farm of Mr. George 

 Geddes called "Fairmount, " near Owego, N. Y., as the place 

 to pursue further his apprenticeship in agriculture, since Mr. 

 Geddes^ had been awarded first prize for the best-ordered 

 farm in New York State. 



On March 19, 1846, Frederick wrote to his brother from 

 Hartford : 



I shall start I think directly after the election, I presume 

 going to Albany first, and then on west to Syracuse, etc., 

 with letters from Mr. Norton and Tucker of the Cultivator. 

 Father has obtained 15 new subscribers for the Cultivator 

 here. ^ Perhaps, and I should prefer to, come per New Haven 

 and N. Y. and first with Professor O's letter to Owego. 

 Please do say what you think about it. I should like to make 



' "Mr. Geddes' father was prominent in building the Erie Canal and he 

 was himself an engineer, as well as a farmer, and interested in politics, so that 

 Mr. Olmsted had plenty of stimulus to think while he worked, and in the 

 evening to discuss a wide range of subjects with an intelligent man." From 

 Biographical Introduction by F. L. Olmsted, Jr., to Seaboard Slave States, 

 edition of 1904. 



^ Mr. John Olmsted's firm in Hartford was a regularly accredited agency 

 for the Cultivator and its name appears on the title-page. 



