\^\ 866 THE GENESEE FAKMEK. (fPj, 



tools of other?,, tbat we hope to see American farmers promptly repudiate. In many 

 respccis they occupy a false position, hecause they neglect to improve their leisure 

 hours, and take little pains to carry the breeding of bullocks beyond the skill and prac- 

 tice of Jacob. We must improve the breeding of husbandmen, before they can do 

 much to improve the breeding of cattle. Man is the starting point, and if the comn»u- 

 nity do nothing for tjie professional education of working farmers, their advancement 

 for the next three thousand years will be no greater than it has been during the last. 

 Let every thinking person consider well this fact, and then co-operate with all that seek 

 to elevate agriculture to the first rank among all learned and useful pursuits. 



The natural sciences have been built up by repeated and careful experiments. These 

 lead the critical investigator from things known to things unknown, which constitutes 

 progress in knowledge. Practical and scientific researches into the laws that govern all 

 constitutional changes in domestic animals, have never been made in this country. 

 Why is this ? The only satisfactory answer that can be given, is the unwillingness of 

 farmers to encourage and support one experimental farm in any State in the confederacy. 

 The census of 1850 shows that the value of the animals slaughtered in a year, for 

 human food, is not far from one hundred and twenty million dollars. The cheap pro- 

 duction of meat is, therefore, a matter of national importance ; and who can doubt that 

 a series of wisely directed experiments in the breeding, rearing, and fattening of neat 

 cattle, hogs, and sheep, would throw new light on these important operations ? 



The popular taste for neat and commodious dwellings, comfortable out-buildings, 

 beautiful and well cultivated gardens, fine orchards, and small, highly productive farmt, 

 needs to be fostered in every neighborhood over the whole length and breadth of the 

 United States. How is this to be done ? Not, certainly, by worshipping the almighty 

 dollar, and disregarding eveiything else. Avarice is incompatible with the " wisdom of 

 a learned man," and improves neither the social nor the moral faculties of the human 

 family. To unlearn bad habits and traditions, is often the first and most difiicult step 

 toward reformation in the management of one's estate. Needful reforms in agriculture 

 demand that great pains be taken to multiply examples of well conducted, beautiful 

 farms, as models for the imitation of others. Perfect neatness and success may be 

 attained without a fortune, as the basis of operations. By concentrating one's attention 

 and means on a farm of moderate size, more comfort, and more money, as well as a 

 more inviting appearance, will be realized. To make a wise use of capital is not so easy 

 a task as some suppose : it requires sound judgment, experience, and cultivated common 

 sense. Let the common sense of every farmer be properly cultivated, and we shall have 

 no more occasion to ask for agricultural schools, and the systematic study of all the 

 elements of soils, of cultivated plants and fruits, and of domesticated animals. The 

 application of the best powers of intellect to the improvement of agriculture, aided by 

 all needful funds and other appliances, will be made so soon as the people comprehend 

 their true interests in this matter. It is uncultivated common sense that still a.sks : 

 " How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plow, that glorieth in the goad, that driveth 

 oxen, and is occupied with their labors, and whose talk is of bullocks ?" Not to try to 

 get wisdom is to take nature's bond that no Avisdom shall be gotten. Wisdom exacts 

 an honest and an earnest effort to obtain her fair hand ; and none but simpletons expect 

 to win her smiles by other means. That great wisdom and practical farming can grow 

 up together, we religiously believe ; and the steady increase of knowledge among the 

 cultivators of the soil, until they shall stand, confessedly, the best educated men in the 

 world, is the object aimed at by their humble servant. Their educational advantages 

 are now extremely defective, and the proper remedy must be found and applied before 

 many more years elapse. We must admit, however, that the locomotive of agricultural 

 progress is not yet built ; nor is the track laid on which it is to run. At present, very 

 few are willing to take stock in the enterprise, and its friends are waiting patiently for a 



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