THE GENESEE FARMER. 



277 



different breeds of horses which are the best adapted 

 for farming purposes — and see which liind of cattle 

 are the most profitable for the dairy, and which for 

 beef, or working oxen — and all other aninuils the 

 same. They can there discuss upon the merits of 

 each, and which arc the best and most profitable for 

 the farmer to raise. Another thing that is very im- 

 portant to farmers, is to know which kind of imple- 

 ments will work well, and which will not; for instance, 

 reaping and mowing machines, two of the best la- 

 bor-saving machines we have, providing we have good 

 ones — if not, they are only a great bill of expense to 

 keep in repair. It would be better to be without 

 th,em, and all other implements we use that are im- 

 perfecta Then, how are we to distinguish those which 

 arc good from those which are useless ? for they are 

 all extolled by the makers and their friends. We 

 cannot afford to procure them all, for the sake of as- 

 certaining which are the best. We must learn it 

 from our fellow farmers. Let fai-raers have trials to 

 test the diflerent machines and implements, and see 

 which will do the work best, and is the lightest in 

 draught Let their decisions be made public, for the 

 benefit of others. In the Club-room, too, farmers 

 could regulate the rate of wages; for they are often 

 imposed upon by laborers, especially in haying and 

 harvesting, who will club together and say that they 

 will not work for less than so and so. But it is the 

 farmers' place to say what they will give. Let them 

 fix upon some fair price, and then pay no more, and 

 there would not be so much strife among farmers as 

 there often is. 



There are many other advantages to be derived 

 from Farmer's Clubs, which cannot be appreciated 

 except by belonging to one. J , E. B. 



FARMING GOING UP. 



Messrs. Editors: — That the business of farming 

 is going up, is evinced in more ways than one. That 

 it is gaining upon other branches of business, is 

 shown by the increased demand for all farm products 

 over those of the mechanic, manufacturer, and mer- 

 chant. Everything seems on the rise, but nothing 

 (unless it be the streams the past month) so much as 

 the products of the farm. The general rise in price 

 is owing to the diminished value of money, but as 

 this is a subject of political economy rather than of 

 agriculture, and more fit for other journals than the 

 " Farmer," I will dismiss it for the present. The 

 increase of the price of farm products over every 

 other kind of property is caused mainly by the great 

 drawing off from the ranks of its labors, to the 

 mining interest, and to the building and running of 

 Eaih-oads. Another cause is that farmers have con- 

 sidered their business more laborious than other 

 occupations, and as they have generally prospered 

 and become independent, they have fitted their sons 

 for what they have considered higher stations. The 

 consequence is that the profits of farming have 

 come up, till they are ahead of anything else. The 

 product of an acre of land has in many cases the 

 past season, planted with only common field crops, 

 been sold for $50, -SCO, $75, and even up to $200. 

 A few years since this would have been astounding, 

 and set the whole country in a fever, but now it is 

 too common to excite more than a casual remark. 



That farming is looking up by mutual consent, is 

 aJio shown by the fact that farmers are now often, 



made the heroes in our popular tales ; formerly, if 

 they were introduced at all, they came in aa clod- 

 hoppers and bushwhackers, and it was considered 

 entirely out of character to make more of them than 

 plain, honest, blunt, homespun men ; but now 

 novelists allow them to talk logic and science, and 

 smart and accomplisheil young ladies to fall in love 

 with them. This may look like a small mutter to 

 many a matter of fact man, but it is really a signifi- 

 cant feather in the cap of the tiller of the soil, and 

 like straws, shows which way the wind blows. 



The habits, manner, tastes, and tendencies of an 

 age, are shown by its popular literature. I do not 

 make these remarks so much for the purpose of con- 

 gratulating my brother farmer with the fact that we 

 are getting on to the top of the shelf, as for the 

 purpose of showing to the aspiring young man, vv-ho 

 thinks to leave the old farm on which his father has 

 prospered, for some wide and more dazzling field, in 

 which to distinguish himself, that if wealth, happi- 

 ness, fame, and long life is his aim, that it is well to 

 pause and consider whether he should not remain. — 

 The old farm, I will warrant you, will bear an 

 increased investment beneath the surface soil, iu 

 improved stock and implements, and will pay for 

 considerable more labor, if judiciously employed. — 

 It is true that the chances for farmers' sons, in the 

 learned professions, are above mediocrity, for having 

 been subjected in early life to a sound physical train- 

 ing, they are the better fitted for that severe 

 mental discipline that the professions require. It has 

 been said, that " he who lives within doors, does not 

 more than half live." This may not appear literally 

 true in the first generation, but will be pretty sure to 

 be shown up in the second. I would by no means 

 detract from the merits of the learned professions ; I 

 do not hold that every man should be his own 

 lawyer, doctor, or blacksmith ; but I do think that 

 whoever leaves the farm in these times, thinking to 

 "go up," had better consider first whether he i^ not 

 more likely to go down. It is not every young man 

 who has the physical capacity to be a working 

 farmer, and those who have it should prize it as a 

 permanent capital. Agkicola. 



Gorham, JV. Y. 



SCABCITY OF FODDER AT THE V/EST. 



Messrs. Editors: — We have suffered very much 

 the past winter and present spring, from the want of 

 fodder. Hundreds and thousands of cattle have died 

 from want of food, and those which are left are mere 

 ghosts of their former selves. 



Now, the truth is, that last September there was 

 fodder enough in the country to keep every hoof of 

 stock comfortably untU grass grew this spring, had it 

 been properly toiken care of. But no small amount 

 of straw was burned as soon as the grain was thresh- 

 ed, and the remainder was stacked (for not one in 

 five hundred thinks of housing straw) in so careless a 

 manner that two-thirds of it was vrasted. Corn- 

 stalks are seldom cut at all, but left to the frost and 

 winds, so that by the time the cattle are turned in 

 there is little more left for them than there would be 

 on so many bean-poles. 



I want you men of goose quills and printers' infc 

 to teach us farmers to take good care of the straw, 

 and at least top the corn before the frosts come. 



Empire, III. (x. 0. Lvmax. 



