288 



Neivs- Making — Book-Farming. 



Vol. IY. 



News-MaUing. 



Can any thing, dead or alive, more pitiably 

 unhappy be conceived, than a jaded scribbler 

 for the public press — sitting down to his task 

 at the last moment, with an aching head and 

 an empty stomach — or, vice versa, which is 

 exactly the same in effect. Imagine the for- 

 lorn drudge's sensation, as he doggedly lifts 

 the quill stump, and moves instinctively to- 

 wards the fountain of good and evil, the ink- 

 pot, surcharged with both the gall of bitter- 

 ness and the honey of adulation. He is 

 destitute of topic : his overgrown brain has 

 exhausted its stock of image ; and he can 

 fancy nothing but the ghost of ideas already 

 hackneyed tiirough all the changes of the 

 alphabet — no object that has not been hacked 

 to death by the hungry scissors of borrowers 

 and imitators. Yet must he continue to feed 

 the iron jaws of the press ! There is no re- 

 lease from the undertaking. He is in for it, 

 and sterile or fertile, feasting or starving, his 

 imagination must be wrung daily, yea, hour- 

 ly, for the wherewithal to meet the merciless 

 demands of the demon at his elbow ! 



Other men may eat, drink and sleep — may 

 live, move, and have a being like decent 

 creatures : the merchant may relax in time 

 of sickness, or retire at seasons of enjoy- 

 ment ; the mechanic can forego a job when 

 he breaks a limb, or chooses to go a fishing; 

 the mariner has frequent intennissions amidst 

 the toils and the storms of his career, and the 

 world wags without confusion, nevertheless ; 

 they only, comparatively, feel the conse- 

 quences. Not so with the slave of types: 

 for him there shines no holiday. No repose, 

 no retreat awaits his tired powers. When 

 he skulks, the world comes to an end, and 

 chaos riots ! 



Nor is it merely indispensable that he shall 

 labour at brief and stated intervals — themosl 

 irksome sort of employment, from its very 

 constancy, and regularity, and unceasing oc- 

 currence : he must also put forth his efforts 

 at something new. The reading public has 

 become a spoiled child, with a depraved ap- 

 petite, perpetually hankering after novelties, 

 monstrosities and impossibilities. In tlie fab- 

 rication of these crudities for quidnuncs, a 

 renewal of intellect, once a year at least, 

 should be provided for. Tliere is an end, 

 even to " the spider's most attenuated thread," 

 and what maker of long yarns can be required 

 in reason, not only to spin out, like the spider, 

 the substance of his body, but that of his 

 brains also I Truly this is a cruel world, and 

 the man tliat meddles with paragraphs is a 

 miserable piece of carneous machinery. 



Follow fashion, if reason leads her ; when 

 she don't, kick fashion out of doors, or else — 

 she will turn you out. 



Book-Farming* 



Do the, words produce a sneer"? Be that 

 as it may — the thing, or what is often stig- 

 matized as that thing, is not contemptible. 

 For, what is it I Not an attempt to comply 

 with the advice and copy the example of 

 every one who furnishes an article for an ag- 

 ricultural journal ; not the adoption of every 

 method of husbandry tliat is recommended in 

 print ; not a departure from all the usages of 

 our fathers and neighbours ; not a preference 

 of the theories contained in books, to the re- 

 sults of experience. No ! 1 pity the stupidity 

 of the man who thinks that if we use books, 

 we must close our eyes against the light that 

 is beaming upon us from other sources; or 

 that we must become mere thcorisers, and 

 the victims of ruinous experiments. What! 

 does a man lose his own common sense, his 

 prudence and his judgment, whenever he 

 takes up an agricultural paper, or opens a 

 book upon husbandry! Cannot one make 

 himself acquainted with the doings of others, 

 without losing his power to judge whether it 

 would be well for him, in his circumstances, 

 to copy their examples] Our brains are not 

 so weak as this. The knowledge acquired 

 from books does not make us all mad. But 

 if it did, there would be more zest, and true 

 enjoyment in the learned mad-man's course, 

 than in that of him who has learned out, and 

 who thinks that books cannot make him wiser. 

 I ask what book-farming is? Common book- 

 farming is, learning by means of books, new 

 facts, opinions, results of experiments, mor' .s 

 of operation, and the using such parts of the 

 information as can be turned to profitable ac- 

 count in our individual situations. If this be 

 folly, we are content to be called fools. An 

 agricultural paper will be worth to you every 

 month, if net every week, more than its an- 

 nual cost. — Mr. Putnam^s Address. 



Washington's opinion of Agriculture. — 



The following is an extract of a letter from 

 General Washington to Sir Arthur Young, 

 who was very fond of agricultural pursuits : 

 " The more I am acquainted with agricul- 

 tural affairs, the better I am pleased with 

 them ; insomuch that I can no where find so 

 great satisfaction as in those innocent and 

 useful pursuits. In indulging these feelings, 

 1 am led to reflect how much more delightful 

 to an undebauched mind is the task of making 

 improvements on the earth, than all the vain- 

 glory which can be acquired from ravaging it, 

 by the most uninterrupted career of conquests. 

 'J'"he design of this observation is only to show 

 how much, as a member of human society, I 

 feel myself obliged to your labours to render 

 respectable and advantageous an employment 

 which is more congenial to the natural disjx)- 

 sitions of mankind than any other." 



