THE GENESEE FARMER. 



J09 



of fruit, &c., withoiit any regard to expense. The 

 writings (and may we have more of them) of such 

 men have given birth to expressions like the follow- 

 ing: " It is all well enough for rich men to take agri- 

 cultnral papers and to write for them. If I was able 

 to follow out their plans, and do as they do, I should 

 like it well; but since 1 cannot, I must be content 

 with doing the best my means will allow." The 

 great expense attending the operations of the former 

 so obscures the mpntal visions of the latter, that he 

 does n<.»t discover that the same principle which ena- 

 bles the man of wealth to rear five hundred beauti- 

 ful and profitable trees, will enable him to rear five. 

 So he consoles himself for the deficiency, with the 

 idea " I must be content with doing as well as my 

 means will allow." But soon he discovers that some 

 of his neighbors, whose means are as limited as his 

 own, have devinfed from that " good old way." One 

 is rearing much better stock than formerly; another 

 is nnderdraining; a third is subsoiling, and making 

 various other improvements, which he never consid- 

 ered his means would allow him to make, and in fact 

 never saw the propriety of making. He sees the 

 wonderful eflect of these "new notions," and his cu- 

 riosity is so much aroused, that he determines to as- 

 certain where his neighbors obtained them. Conse- 

 quently, one fine morning he walks over to where 

 neiorhbor B. is plowing with two teams. One of the 

 teams turns a furrow in the usual manner, only a 

 little deejier. B. follows with the other one, a sub- 

 soil plow, loosening up the earth in the bottom of 

 the common furrow to the depth of one foot. After 

 the usual salutations, A. says, in rather a deprecia- 

 ting tone, 



" You appear to have some curious ideas in re- 

 gard to farming; where did you get them?" 



"O. I take the Genesee Farmer; I have taken it 

 nearly three years. It contains many short Essays, 

 written by common farmers, like you and me. These 

 Essays are written in competition for prizes, and 

 treat of a great variety of subjects, subsoiling among 

 the rest." 



A. almost says " fudge," but restrains himself, and 

 asks, " Do you expect your crop will repay you for 

 all this extra trouble and expense?" 



" [ have no doubt of it. You know Mr. C has 

 experimented two seasons with the subsoil plow. 

 Two years ago he planted two acres with corn; 

 treated it all prec^isely alike, except that one acre was 

 plowed in the usual manner, and the other was sub- 

 soiled (the subsoil being a gravelly hard-pan.) The 

 result was, the heavy rains which came on just after 

 planting, deluged the corn upon the acre which was 

 not subsoiled, while the loosened subsoil upon the 

 other acre drank in the water, leaving the corn to 

 grow and come to maturity, without any interrup- 

 tion. 



" Well, I do not know but it would be a good 

 plan in a wet season." 



" Yes, and in a dry one, too. Last season Mr. H. 

 experimented in the same manner and to the same 

 extent. The season, you recollect, was extremely 

 dry. The corn upon the subsoil land struck its roots 

 deep into the moist, pulverized earth, and seemed to 

 bid defiance to the scorching rays of the sun, while 

 that upon the other acre drooped and withered so 

 much that it proved a total failure, with the excep- 

 tion of a few puny stalks, and a little unsound corn." 

 , A. feelB the force of such reasoning, and mentally 



determines to subscribe for that paper, and read for 

 himself. How often is the paper of which you 

 speak issued, and what does it cost? 



" It is published monthly, and costs fifty cents a 

 year." 



A. starts for home with some new idea working 

 upon his brain. He begins to believe that if Mr. B. 

 can subsoil, he can too. He traces many of the 

 " new notions," which he finds among his neighbors, 

 to their origin, and ascertains that they were derived 

 from that little paper which costs but fifty cents a 

 year, and contains so many prize Essays. Con,se- 

 quently he improves the first opportunity to become 

 a subscriber, and is now zealous in recommending it 

 to others. He has also come to the conclusion that 

 " doing as well as my means will allow," is doing 

 much better than he formerly supposed it to be. 



The prizes competed for should not be passed 

 over in silence. It may safely be presumed that 

 very few farmers would take the pains to write Es- 

 says in competition for the prizes offered, were the 

 mere value of such prizes, in dollars and cents, the 

 only consideration. But their character is such as 

 to lender them worthy an effort by every farmer 

 who wishes to make additions to his library of such 

 works as may throw much light upon the various 

 branches of his occupation. In many a time of need, 

 they will prove to be his true and steadf-ist friends; 

 friends which no enemy can alienate, and which he 

 may safely introduce and recommend to the rising 

 generation. M. Gakxset. 



Middleburgh, A*. Y. 



HOW CAN FATHERS RENDER FARM LIFE AT- 

 TRACTIVE TO THEIR S0NS1 



Standing on the dividing line between childhood 

 and manhood — with the joys and sorrows of the first 

 still fresh in my memory, and the strong hojres cf the 

 second firmly rooted in my heart, I claim a hearing 

 in this important matter. 



First of all I say " remember;" remember your 

 own boyish days, with their lights and shades, their 

 days of toil and of relaxation; remember your own 

 thoughts and feelings as a "son," toward your father. 

 Ponder well his system of farming and also of gov- 

 ernment, and then, 'after having added the weight of 

 experience which the years since gone have given 

 you, study diligently to know whether his plan can 

 be improved, whether your own homestead cannot 

 be made still pleasanter than the one your memory 

 calls " home." How few that have reached the posi- 

 tion of father, but can recollect distinctly some peri- 

 ods in their minority when the parental will clashe - 

 with their own — when in their heart they said " he 

 is unreasonable." Now, when the youthful fire has 

 departed, and calmer, maturer years have come in- 

 stead, is the time calmly to review those sconces and 

 pass judgment. If the father was right, then, as a 

 father, follow his footsteps; but if still the voice of 

 judgment says "I was right," then be careful never 

 to place your own son in the same or like predica- 

 ment. 



I speak candidly when T say that the aged are 

 quite apt to cling to ideas cherished in younger 

 years, even though science and experience teach 

 somewhat differently. Many a son who reads in an 

 agricultural paper of some new and valuable discov- 

 ery in the vegetable kingdom, or some rare improve- 



