NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



555 



earnest co-operation of every one who is willing 

 to labor in its behalf. Such an union of effort can 

 never be realized, nor the good that extensive and 

 perfect co-operation can alone secure, if the friends 

 of the farming interest divide themselves into two 

 or more parties. So far from undervaluing daily 

 experience in tillage and husbandry, or holding 

 out a promise that the Berkshire county farmers 

 should have "a scientific report" from me, I was 

 engaged, when invited to address them, in culti- 

 vating with my own hands, (albeit not unused to 

 such employment) my farm of 109 acres in the 

 District of Columbia. For thirty years I have 

 steadily contended that field culture and mental 

 culture ought to be more closely associated, and 

 warmly cherished together, than they now are ; 

 and to elevate equally both the science and prac- 

 tice of agriculture in all the States. I will not 

 conceal my anxiety to see Massachusetts found an 

 agricultural institution, for the education of her 

 sons, in a way that shall make them at once the 

 best farmers and the wisest statesmen. Judging 

 from what has been seen at the federal metropo- 

 lis during the last three or four years, American 

 statesmanship is even more defective than Ameri- 

 can agriculture. The much-needed remedy is in 

 the hands of the people, a large majority of whom 

 are farmers. American statesmanship is a thing 

 of their making ; and if some of it does not re- 

 quire a second summer fallowing to kill the weeds 

 and improve the harvest, lam no judge as to what 

 kind of statesmen a nation of upright, intelligent 

 farmers ought to produce. The men who follow 

 the plow are not to be benefited by flattery. As 

 sovereign rulers of this republic, they hear far 

 more of their rights than of their duties. It is 

 the unseen neglect of the latter that blights the 

 character of Congress. Who more than stock- 

 growers breed demagogues, and breed them down- 

 wards ? 



Of all things, our country most needs wise ag- 

 ricultural statesmen. How are they to be called 

 into existence ? Not from a lawyer's office ; not 

 from a doctor's office ; not by trusting again ad- 

 vantages and appliances which have been too long 

 tried, and found wanting. 



Yours, truly, Daniel Lee. 



Rochester, N. Y., Oct. 25, 1852. 



Remarks. — We agree with the writer of the 

 second paragraph above, "that no man can thor- 

 oughly understand and teach the business of cul- 

 tivating the soil, who does not [or has not, Ed.] 

 engaged practically in it with his own hands." — 

 The story of the heiress whose husband desired 

 her to have some brown bread baked, illustrates his 

 position. She directed the cook to prepare the 

 bread. How much of each kind of meal shall I 

 use, madam 1 About three pecks, was the reply. 

 So the gentleman and his lady had six pecks of 

 rye and Indian for their breakfast ! She had plen- 

 ty of cook books, undoubtedly, but never knew 

 practical experience. A man may be a practical 

 farmer who never mows or holds the plow, but he 

 cannot be a thorough teacher of farmers unless, at 

 some time, he has had large personal experiences 

 in all the details of the farm. He cannot state 

 facts with confidence and force, because they are 



not the results of his own acts or observation, but 

 the declaration of others. 



Dr. Lee is not only a practical farmer, but one of 

 the most intelligent and energetic among us. He 

 clearly sees the wants of this great industrial class, 

 and knows how to meet them. As editor of the 

 Genesee Farmer, he is exerting an important influ- 

 ence in the land, while he is scarcely doing less by 

 his active personal efforts. 



Our correspondent "P." is one of New Eng- 

 land's well-known and honored sons, generous and 

 high-minded, and we are confident would not in- 

 dulge in any criticism which he thought unjust or 

 unfair. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THINGS UNSEASONABLE OR WRONG. 



Mr. Editor: — "Hints" are not often welcome 

 to editors, unless administered in the form of 

 "mint drops ;" yet I will offer a few for your con- 

 sideration. 



Your useful and interesting paper contains many 

 facts and suggestions for practical use, but not al- 

 ways applicable to the present time. Peradven- 

 ture, in January, we shall see "How to raise ear- 

 ly cucumbers," — "When to cut wheat," — "To 

 make ice cream," &c.,or in July, it maybe, "The 

 best method of preserving winter apples," — "A 

 model Ice-house," — or "How to restore frozen po- 

 tatoes," &c, — and we rejoice in the possession of 

 such information, which we are firmly intending 

 at the proper time to use. But when that time 

 arrives, a thousand other excellent articles have 

 driven those useful suggestions from our mind, or 

 so confused our memory, that we cannot recollect 

 them with sufficient accuracy, nor refer to the pa- 

 per in which each is to be found. Consequently 

 much of the desired benefit is lost. 



What I propose is, that each number have its 

 proper index, perhaps at the top of the first col- 

 umn, for convenient reference, so that to refer to 

 any desired article at a future time, it may not be 

 necessary to "rummage" through the whole pa- 

 per. At the end of the year, the matter for each 

 index, if not distributed, would be ready to be col- 

 lected into one. If I have not tried your patience 

 by such a long "hint" to begin with, I would sug- 

 gest another, viz. : — that care be taken, in copy- 

 ing from other papers, to take nothing of an ir- 

 reverent or profane character. In your number 

 for last week, a witty and profane Irishman uses 

 the term "By Jabers" — plainly, "By Jesus." — 

 Such an expression I am not willing that any 

 in my family should see, especially through my 

 instrumentality. This expression is not the first 

 of the kind in your paper, nor are such instances 

 wanting in professedly religious papers ; but I 

 must charge it to inadvertence, though this makes 

 it none the less an evil. 



The more common practice in respectable pa- 

 pers, of quoting a passage of Scripture to give a 

 "point to wit," I may be charged with "puritan- 

 ism" in condemning, though indeed it does cause 

 me pain, and seems to me wrong in the sight of 

 God. 



Having "broken the ice," and found all the 

 fault necessary, — (for indeed I heartily place your 

 paper as high as the highest in excellence among 



