No. 3. 



Dialogue between a Father and Son. 



81 



with the prospect. Can I do any thing more 

 for you ! 



Wheat. — No, but there is something tliat 

 you must do for yourself — you mu^t increase 

 tlie size of your stack yard — I go for nothing 

 less than forty bushels per acre. 



2. Corn. Sykes. — Well, I am glad to see 

 you looking so amch belier ; your first appear- 

 ance was very weak and sickly, and my neigh- 

 bors wanted to persuade me it was because 

 I sowed the seed with Buckminster's drill, 

 but I knew that could not be the cause, for I 

 never saw any machine operate better ; I only 

 wish the handles were a little longer and 

 lower. 



Corn. — My sickly appearance was owing 

 to your own good management. 



Sykes, — Why, how could that be 1 

 '' Corn. — You know that you are in the habit 

 of ploughing a leetle deeper every time, and 

 thus a, small portion of the sterile subsoil was 

 brought to the surface, and in this the seeds 

 were sown ; and the roller of the drill passing 

 over (a capital invention) pressed them so 

 closely into the clay, and rain falling imme- 

 diately after, and following the track of the 

 roller, the surface became so hard and dry, 

 it was Vv'ith difficulty that I could penetrate 

 it, and for a few days I know I looked misera- 

 bly : I however soon got to the manure be- 

 low, whMi you had so bountifully supplied, 

 and now I feel as though I could mount to the 

 height of ten feet. If the season should be 

 favorable, 3^ou may put me down for 110 bush- 

 els per acre. I am in no fear of the weeds 

 which I see springing up around me, you'll 

 take care of them, I know. 



No. 3. Sugar Beets. Sykes. — Ah ! Mons. 

 Sugar Beets, how do you do "? How you like 

 our country and climate ] How you like the 

 exchange ] 



Beets. — Ah! Mons. Farmer, I like your 

 country ! I like your fine, light and sunny 

 days — they make saccharine; I like the ex- 

 change too, 'tis all in favor of America. But 

 what for you not make sugar] make plenty 

 su^ar — more than in France ; great remune- 

 ration ! sweet recompense — no trouble, all 

 pleasure, all profit. 



Sykes. — I am not prepared to make sugar 

 this year, next year I will do it, without any 

 fear for the result. In the mean time, un- 

 like most other speculations, the growth 

 of the sugar beet is about the most profita- 

 ble crop which a farmer can grow lor win- 

 ter food ; horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, and 

 poultry, all are fond of it ; and better than 

 all, it contributes, in a surprising degree, to 

 the farmer's comfort during the dreary time 

 of winter, as it enables him to meet his animals 

 without reproach, and gives him the means 

 of fattening his stock at a time that others are 

 starving ; and he can rear house lamb, which 



about Christmas, would bring a fine price in 

 the market. In the introduction of this crop 

 to notice, there has been no mistake, and in 

 substituting it for a crop of" barley, I have re- 

 lieved the land of an exhausting crop, and 

 adopted one that is ameliorating ; requiring 

 neither fallow or dung, wlicn the Innd is in 

 good heart — so farewell, Mons. S. Beet. 



S. Beet. — Adieu Mons. Fanner, "vivela 

 Republic America !" 



4. Potatoes. Sykes. — Well, the progress 

 which you have made in growth d uring the last 

 two days surprises me ! But never, tor a mo- 

 ment, have I doubted the fulfilment of my 

 most sanguine expectations respecting this, 

 my favorite crop. 



Potatoes. — But you have lefl us nothing to 

 do but to grow : your labors began last au- 

 tumn, when you ploughed the land deep, and 

 laid it high and dry for the winter ; and be- 

 fore others could geton their land in the spring, 

 you had planted your crop. Then again, your 

 judicious management in not moulding us up 

 — we have only to go on to maturity, while 

 the crops of those who keep moulding, never 

 know where to be, or what to be at ; for just 

 as they have discovered the height at which 

 to form the bulbs, comes the hoe, and buries 

 them so deep as to ruin them : they are there- 

 fore compelled to begin to form their bulbs 

 higher, to be within the influence of the sun, 

 leaving their first formed bulbs to their fate ; 

 but, exhausted in a degree by the double exer- 

 tion, they are weakened, so as not to be able 

 to bring the higher crop, any more than the 

 lower, to perfection, and so both are much re- 

 duced, both in quantity and quality, having 

 many small and useless bulbs ; happy, how- 

 ever, if they escape a third, or even a fourth 

 moulding. Men are very silly to suppose that 

 potatoes don't know their own business best ; 

 their fear, that without moulding, they would 

 form their crops on the surface, is very child- 

 ish ; why, even they thert)selves would not be 

 guilty of any thing so thoughtless ; their de- 

 sire is, only to find the spot where they shall 

 be within the reach of the sun's rays, and 

 men need not fear that they will get above it. 

 All the crops that are not moulded up, are 

 free from those half-formed bulbs, or warty 

 excrescences, which are so apt to deform those 

 which have been nursed into the rickets; and 

 there are very few small bulbs, for the root is 

 not anxious to form more than it knows it can 

 bring to perfection. Ey your excellent man- 

 agement, you will secure a harvest ten days 

 earlier than 3^our neighbors, a crop larger in 

 quantity, and superior in quality, and which 

 will command an extra price in the market — 

 put us down for 760 bushels per acre. 



5. Clover. Sykes. — Well, this is the finest 

 crop of clover in the country, and will soon 

 be lit for the scythe. 



