1846.] Prize Farm Report'. 153 



Nay, it is not conceded in every system of mental philosophy 

 ever promulgated, that the appetites and desires are endowed whh 

 an ardor and a vehemence, to which the intellect is a stranger; 

 and that the passions, if unregulated and unchastened, rush to 

 extremes infinitely more wide and more ruinous than the under- 

 standing can ever reach? Why then, when we find the mind 

 which was once so feeble, now capable of concerting vast plans 

 for wealth, for ambition, or other forms of personal aggrandize- 

 ment, — why should we doubt that the little tricks and prevarica- 

 tions of the schoolroom may grow up into fradulent bankruptcies, 

 or stupendous peculations and embezzlements? States and em- 

 pires are no more to the man than the toys of the nursery to the 

 infant; why then, should not corruption in politics, and hypocrisy 

 in religion, grow out of the artifices and pretexts of the play- 

 ground? If we would enjoy an immunity from the latter, we must 

 suppress the former. How much easier and safer to crush the 

 brittle egg than to kill the coiling serpent! 



PRIZE FARxM REPORT. 



BY GEO. GEDDES, ESQ. 



[The specific details which are furnished in this report and the 

 confidence which may be placed in its statements make it a docu- 

 ment of uncommon value. Mr, Geddes, we know, has correct 

 views of the nature and capacities of his farm, not only as a M'hole, 

 but of the different parts, and in consequence of this knowledge 

 is able to adopt and carry on a husbandry suited to its capacities. 

 He has special reasons for what he does, and hence in the results 

 which follow, Mr. Geddes has not farmed it without a remunerating 

 profit. The formation on which his estate is bottomed is the On- 

 ondaga salt group, and in which all the gypsum of New York is 

 contained; and it is a curious and interesting fact that the owner 

 finds it highly advantageous to use so much plaster when it 

 abounds in the rocks within a few feet of the surface. In the for- 

 mer numbers of this Journal we have given some account of the 

 soils of this county and of this farm, which may be referred to 

 in common with this report, whh advantage.] 



The following answers to the interrogatories of the New -York 

 State Agricultural Society are respectfully submitted: 



1. My home farm consists of three hundred acres. Thirty are 

 in wood. About ten acres of the side hills are unsuitable for 

 plowing, and are only used for pasture; the remainder is under 

 cultivation, except what is required for roads, yards, &c. 



