408 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[July, 



that after a youne man has acquired somewhat of an 

 education he is no loncrer fitted for a farmer, hut for 

 something hetter, liy whieli he can make money faster 

 and easier. All of these notions are radically wrong, 

 and the sooner they are corrected the better. 



First, as to its respectability. I venture to say that 

 farming is an honorable, if not the most honor- 

 able of all occupations ; because it lies at the founda- 

 tion of all others. There is no pursuit, trade or 

 profession that is not dependent on it. All live off 

 the farmer. The soil will not pnxluee sufficient with- 

 out culture. Stop farming and mankind will have 

 to return to savage life and subsist by fishing and 

 hunting. 



Farming is honorable because it is an honest occu- 

 pation. Wlien I say honcxt I mean that it produces — 

 adds something to the common stock and common 

 wealth of the community, besides feeding Itself — 

 causing blades of grass, ears of grain, clusters of 

 fruit to grow where none grew before. 



The manufacturer and artizan add wealth only by 

 converting the raw materials into articles of useful- 

 ness, while the merchant and professional man are, 

 strictly speaking, non-producers — mere assistants, 

 helpers, and some of them not even that. 



Again, farming is honorable because it is the great 

 parent of civilization. Without it there could be no 

 civilization, for the reason that a civilized community 

 could not exist without being in some way supplied 

 by agricultural products. In a new country the com- 

 ing of the first farmer is the harbinger of civilization, 

 as the appearance of tfie first swallow is the harbin- 

 ger of summer. The hunter's lodge may be built in 

 the forest, or the trapper's tent pitched upon the 

 prairie, yet they give no assurance of civilization, for 

 in a few days the lodge may be deserted, and the tent 

 folded and gone ; but when j'ou see the trees felled, 

 the furrow turned, and the corn growing, you may be 

 certain some one has come who means to stay ; and 

 civilization has begun, because the farmer has ar- 

 rived. 



Again, forming has been made honorable, if honor 

 can be conferred upon an occupation, by its illustrious 

 patrons. Many of our great men, who had*the means, 

 owned farms. Washington, Clay and Webster gave 

 their personal attention to the aflairs of their farms ; 

 and it is related of the latter that he was particularly 

 fond of spending his time on his farm at Marshfield ; 

 that he took great delight in his crops, and his fine 

 breed of cattle ; that shortly before he died, when no 

 longer able t« see after his stock, he directed his cat^ 

 tie to be driven uj) to the house where he sat, that he 

 might look once more into their honest faces and 

 smell their fragrant breaths. His cattle knew him, 

 and came lowing to see their sick master for the last 

 time. 



To the young man who hesitates to acknowledge 

 that he is a farmer, or that his ancestors were such, 

 I would say : If lesser examples are not sufficient to 

 convince you, go to these illustrious ones ; learn from 

 the farmers of Mount Vernon, of Ashland, of Marsh- 

 field ! He who led the armies of our infant republic, 

 and earned the revered title of "Father of his country," 

 where did he acquire the exalted patriotism, the 

 Christian fortitude, the mental vigor, the unconquer- 

 able will, and the physical str^ngtli that enabled him 

 t« conquer the armies of Great Britain? I answer, in 

 the country, ui«"in tlic farm, in the garden, where his 

 father taught liim the first precepts of religion and 

 morality. These gi*ew with his youthful growth and 

 Btrengthened with his strength amid the virgin for- 

 ests of Virginia, and ripened into healthy manhood 

 under the sunshine and shadows of Mount Vernon. 

 Were the measures of Clay any less Jjotent in the coun- 

 cils of the nation, think you, because they were often- 

 times originated on his farm in Kentucky ? Or were 

 the speeches of Webster any less eloquent and efl'ec- 

 tive because comix>sed within sight of his waving 

 gr.ain fields, and within sound of his lowing cattle? 

 If these giants of intellect, who stood in the very front 

 of the front rank among men, and had reached the 

 tojjmost round of honor and confidence, did not con- 

 sider it dishonorable to be farnu'rs, need you consider 

 it so ? Bismarck, the man who at present controls 

 the imlitics of Europe, who overturns thrones and 

 makes and unmakes emperors at his pleasure, his bi- 

 ographer tells us, loves to shake off the cares of State 

 for a season, and retire to his extensive country seat, 

 to recuperate health and strength of body and mind. 



The distaste for manual labor, and aversion to 

 ^^(^^k, with which many of our young men are 

 troubled, is closely allied to laziness. It is a failing, 

 a disease, an intirmity, which, like other diseases, 

 must be resisted and overcome. Many a man no 

 doubt would prefer to work less, and take the world 

 easy, but is inipelleii liy a sense of duty to be indus- 

 trious. He will receive the reward of bis obedience. 

 A\'lio is more useful and respected in a community 

 than the industrious man ? Who more worthless and 

 contemptible than the loafer? The flat pronounced 

 six thousand years ago is in full force to-day. " In 

 the Kvetit of thy face shaft thou eat bread;" and 

 he that disobeys the sacred injunction pays the pen- 

 alty ; for it is alike true that " idleness i« the devil's 

 wur/i'Khop.'' 



Again, man's jihysical organization is in perfect 

 harmony with the moral side of the question. He 

 seems to be somewhat of a vegetable, and must touch 



ground occasionally to preserve health and vigor of 

 body and mind. He should occasionally smell the 

 fresh turned soil, exercise in the open air, labor in 

 the field, so that the pores of his skin be opened, the 

 excess of bile thrown off, and the iron of the sun's 

 rays let into his system. 



Exercise in the open air (that is judicious exercise,) 

 promotes health. Hence the benefit which the in- 

 liabitants of cities and towTis seek, and generally 

 find, in a trip into the country, to mountains or sea- 

 shore. It is the exercise they take in the open air 

 that does thum good. And it is curious to observe 

 that fashionable young men, who would not on any 

 account perform manual labor, will play base ball, 

 row boats, fish ami hunt, until they come back, as 

 tired, hungry and sun-burned as if they had beeu 

 working iu the harvest field. And that fashionable 

 young ladies, who would scorn to work, will play 

 croquet, and go pic-nicing over the hills, until they 

 return, with dresses torn, hair disheveled, and faces 

 glowing with health, as if they had raked hay in the 

 meadow, or carried water frcjm the spring. Fashion- 

 able people consider it highly respectable to take ex- 

 ercise without an object, and pay for the privilege, 

 but to combine exercise with usefulness they regard 

 as very vulgar. 



Of course it is not meant that a person should labor 

 beyond the power of physical endurance, and to the 

 injury of bodily health, as some do, so that the ac- 

 cumulations of the first half of a lifetime cannot be 

 enjoyed during the latter half, on account of the 

 stittened limbs and racking pains caused by overwork. 



The soil of the earth — the great Book of Nature — 

 like the volume of Holy Writ, yields a ready return 

 to the humblest husbandman; yet the pro'foundcst 

 scholar has never yet fathomed half its mysteries. 

 The more intelligent and educated the man, there- 

 fore, the better fitted will he be for a farmer. To the 

 young man who has received a liberal education I 

 would earnestly and sincerely say, desert not your 

 paternal acres. Be not.deluded into the false belief 

 that your education is not wanted uiwn the farm, or 

 that you could acquire wealth and honor more rapidly 

 in the crowded marts or professions in the city. A 

 rich and varied intellectual, as well as agricultural 

 field, lies open before you at home, ready for the men- 

 tal as well as the steel plowshare. Hesitate not ! 

 falter not ! " Put your hand to the plow and look 

 not back." 



The science of Mineralogy as to the soil you work; 

 of Botany, as relates to the crops you cultivate ; of 

 Chemistry, as pertains to both, and the fertilizers you 

 ought to use, will give you sufficient employment for 

 all you have ever learned at college, to say nothing 

 of other subjects that concern the animals with which 

 you will be surrounded, and insect enemies you will 

 have to fight. A wide field and plenty of opportunity 

 to distinguish yourself, and enroll your name among 

 the benefactors of our race. And, when old age over- 

 takes you upon your farm, amid the golden sunlight 

 of declining years, depend upon it he will find you a 

 better man, in better health, with a clearer couscienee, 

 more respected by your neighbors, and the chances 

 are, with more money on your farm and in your 

 purse than if you had bartered your glorious birth- 

 right of a farmer for the feverish excitements of a 

 city life. 



For, remember, while wealth is more evenly distrib- 

 uted among an agricultural jieople, in the city dwell 

 the extremely rich and the abject poor. Fortunes are 

 made and lost sometimes in a day. Many venture, 

 fail and .sink out of remembrance, while the few suc- 

 cessful ones only are held ui> as examples. Who can 

 tell on which side you would be found should you 

 venture. Even if you nuike more money in the city, 

 you also spend more, and at the end of the year 

 you would find yourself worse off than if you had 

 remained in the country. You are liable to contract 

 bad habits, are surrounded by temptations which if 

 yielded to will destroy both health and reputation ; 

 the very atmosphere is full of unseen impurities, and 

 everything you eat or drink is more or less tainted by 

 them : whereas, in the country the air comes to you 

 jnirc, filled with the spicy freshness of the woods or 

 the sweet fragrance of meadows and grain fields. 

 Your vegetables reach your table fresh from the gar- 

 den ; your milk new, rich and nutritious from the 

 dairy ; and your fruit ripe and luscious from the 

 trees within sight of the place where you enjoy them. 

 Even the warmest day is succeeded in the country by 

 a temperature that will render sleeji rifresbing, while 

 in the cities the night dews falling upc^n heated roofs 

 and pavements are thrown oH' in sullocating vapors, 

 tainted with the fumes of the filth and garbage that 

 accumulates along the alleys and by-ways, rendering 

 sleep next to impossible. It is true that minds are 

 sbarpc'ned by attritiini — by being brought into con- 

 tact with other minds. So men sometimes go to the 

 cities to become polished, as the diamond goes to the 

 lapidary to be cut with the dustof its own substance. 

 But the diamond itself is a production of the couutry, 

 and like the mind must have beeu formed before it 

 can be polished. 



And now let me close with a few quotations from 

 the gifted and learned who had tasted both of coun- 

 try and town : , 

 " Now from the town 



Buried iu smoke, aud sleep, nud noiBomo damps. 



Oft lot me wander o'er the dewy fields, 



Wliere fresfiness breathes, aud daBll the tremliliny drops 

 From ttie beut Ijrush, as through the verdaut maze 

 Of sweetbrier hedges I pursue my walk. 



*'Ood made the couutry, aud mau made the town. 

 What wonder theu that health and virtue, gifts 

 That cau alone make sweet the bitter draught 

 That life holds out to all, should most abound 

 And least be threatcaed iu the fields aud groves. 



" Here, too, dwells simple TnUh ; plain Innocence ; 

 Unsullied Beauty ; sound, unbroken Youth ; 

 Health ever blooming ; unambitious Toil ; 

 ('aim Coutemplatiou. aud puetic Ease." 



And now in conclusion I can only wish that such of 

 you who own farms and couutry seats may live long 

 to enjoy them, and those who have none may speedily 

 obtain them. 



THE ORCHARD AND GARDEN. 



Mulching. 



This subject, which is gaining additional promi- 

 nence every year, owes much of" its unpopularity to 

 the abuse of its application. I have in my mind's 

 eye an instance that illustrates the damage dime the 

 system, simply by employing workmen who were 

 not conversant 'with the principles involved. What 

 could ever induce a rational being to cover the sur- 

 face of an orchard two feet deep with straw, is more 

 than the majority of fruit growers could possibly 

 guess; and yet such was the fact. Of course it in- 

 jured the trees, soured the soil, and made a capital 

 home for all Huinner of injurious insects, besides 

 whole villages of mice. The advantages to be de- 

 rived from the use of mulching material may be 

 summed up somewhat as follows : First, the desire 

 to keep the soil moderately moist and cool. Secondly, 

 to prevent the surface from baking hard through the 

 eondjined influences of the rays of the sun and the 

 high winds. Thirdly, as a preventivefrom weeds. For 

 newly planted trees all of these are necessities ; the 

 mulch preserves the surface moist and cool, and this 

 is precisely the condition under which young fibres 

 are formed. It keeps the soil open and ijorus, an- 

 other sine qva noii. for the formation and growth of 

 young roots. That it smothers out the numerous 

 weeds that would invariably start was the surface 

 not protected, is a self-evident fact. 



For three or four seasons past we in the Middle 

 States have suffered terribly from the severity of the 

 drouths, and had it not been for the benelieial 

 ett'eets of mulching, in many instances the losses 

 would have been frightful. Parjidoxical as it may 

 appear, water applied as we will does not answer 

 the purjwse altogether. We need something more ; 

 shade is absolutely essential, together with an 

 equal temperature. Nature sets us" an example in 

 this resiwet in the fall of snow. It is not so much 

 the moisture contained in the covering that falls so 

 lightly and covers up our plants so evenly ; not 

 at all. It is the adequate protection afforded the 

 roots, that no matter how severe the sueceiiding 

 weather may be, these are preserved cool and un- 

 changeable so long as the snow shall last. I know 

 not of a more beautiful illustration in horticulture 

 than this lesson that nature vouchsafes to teach us. 



The material that should compose our mulch differs 

 with the plants to be protected, as well as with the 

 season when it is applied. We may rest satisfied, 

 however, that all green or unfermentcd substances 

 are deleterious in their nature, and not unfrequently 

 do more barm than good. We occasionally hear of 

 instances, however, where such have been used with 

 good efl'ect— as, for example, the use of turnip-tops 

 for mulching strawberry beils. Still the principle is 

 bad, and should be discouraged. Heat and moisture 

 engemler deeomimsition in green vegetable tissue, 

 and the heat consecjuent upon rapid decomposition 

 is very injurious to plant life, when placed in im- 

 mediate juxtaposition therewith. It calls into 

 active life innumerable forms of fungoid structure, 

 many of which are the forerunners of disease, and 

 all are deleterious in their effect upon the^health of 

 the higher orders of vegetation. It forms a proper 

 hot-bed for the propagalit)n and dissemination of 

 millions of insects, the greater portion of which 

 damage the roots and bark of our trees and plants. 

 And lastly, it imparts a sour and saddened character 

 to the soil beneath, which must affect the well-being 

 of the plant. 



What are the best materials to be used is not so 

 easily answered, although there are some things like 

 spent tank-bark that really seem adapted to almost 

 all manner of ])lants. The bealtbiest pear-trees 1 ever 

 saw were keft constantly nuilched with a good thick 

 coat of this, and each autumn a slight sprinkling of 

 well-rotted manure was scattered over the surface. 

 Tank-bark is apidicable to most kinds of growing 

 ])lants, from the largest orchard trees to the straw- 

 berry beds in the garden. Straw, not too long, and 

 pliable, cannot well be excelled. It is clean and af- 

 fords a pleasant shade, devoid of any deleterious 

 effects. Hay I do not like, unless very coarse, and 

 green grass kills more than it cures. Manure should 

 never be used in a fresh state, although such is oc- 

 casionally resorted to artiund large trees. 



Plants in pots — that is the ordinary varieties 

 usually grown for this purpose, including roses — are 



