Vol. 6. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



187 



From the Rochester Democrat. 



GENESEE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 



There are many good and weighty reasons, why 

 an Institution, capable of teaching in the most 

 thorough and practical manner, both the Art and the 

 Science of Agriculture,8hould be established in VVeri- 

 tern New York. Three-fourths of its popuhition 

 for several generations to come, must live by cul- 

 tivating the earth. On the success of the rural la- 

 bor of this larger portion of the community, the 

 prosperity of the minor portion is directly, and in- 

 seperably, dependent. In discussing this subject, 

 I desire to call public attention to the fact, that the 

 whole population of Western New York, have a 

 common interest, in the present and enduring pro- 

 ductiveness of its soil. 



It is a sad and momentous mistake, to suppose 

 that none but farmers are to be affected by the re- 

 sults which must follow their unconscious using 

 up of the things in this region, which form Wheat, 

 Corn and Potatoes, and then emigrating West to 

 become the powerful competitors of all that stay 

 behind. I ask the thinking, calculating merchants 

 and mechanics of Rochester, Buflalo, Canandaigua, 

 Geneva, Lockport, Batavia, LeRoy and Genesee, 

 whether their interests will be promoted by the emi- 

 gration of one-third of the Agricultural population 

 of Western New York, and by the circumstance, 

 that the remaining two thirds will have to give twice 

 as much work for their aunual crops, as they need 

 to give ? If I mistake not, Livingston county has 

 lost some two thousand and three hundred of its in- 

 habitants, more than their natural increase, in the 

 short space of five years. Genesee, Chautauque, 

 and portions of Erie, Monroe and Ontario, have fared 

 but little better. During the last 17 years, there 

 has been grown annually, in Western New York, 

 an average of six million bushels of wheat, at a low 

 estimate. This gives an aggregate product of 102, 

 000,000 bushels. To form this invaluable seed, cer- 

 tain earthy substances are always used by nature, 

 which are seldom, if ever, abundant in any soil. 

 These constituents of wheat, have been so far con- 

 sumed in the sixteen western counties of the State, 

 that the present annual crop, according to the judg- 

 ment of all the whant growers, as taken at the late 

 census, does not exceed thirteen bushels per acre ! 



Practically, the misfortune is this : the farmers 

 of Western New York have literally worked up in- 

 to the seeds of this bread-bearing plant, about one- 

 half of the particular things in the soil that make 

 good wheat flour : and they do not know what it is 

 that they have taken from the earth, and sent down 

 the Erie Canal in the form of wheat and flour : nor 

 from what source they can renovate their fields, and 

 double their annual harvest, at the least expense. 

 This important information can only be communica- 

 ted to the masses, through the agency of scientifie 

 research, in connection with practical wheat culture, 

 on a scale, equal to that of most practical farmers. 

 The study of science alone will not answer. ScrENCE 

 and Practicr must go together. 



It may be said that to be adequate to the wants of 

 the farming interest of so large a district, agricultu- 

 ral science should be taught in all ouracademiesand 

 common schools — that an agricultural college will 

 be an exclusive, arristocratic affair, which will con- 

 fer its advantages on a favored few. 



To this I would reply by saying, that I concede 

 the great importance of having the science of rural 



economy, taught in our academies and schools. — 

 But before this can be well or properly done, teach- 

 ers must be qualified — instructed somewhere for that 

 purpose. Tell me where, and hoiv they shall be pre- 

 pared for the task? What I have designated by the 

 word 'College,' you may name 'Institute,' 'Teach- 

 er's Institute,' ' School,' or whatever else will 

 suit you, or the public, better. — Names are nothing. 

 Let the young men but know the things in the soil, 

 in air and water, that form all cultivated plants; and 

 understand the unerring laws of the Creator, by 

 which these things are ever governed, whether in a 

 solid mineral, in a liquid, in a gaseous or an organized 

 from, as living plants and animals, and I will be sat- 

 isfied. Believe it or not, the time has come when 

 this knowledge is indispenssble to retain our rural 

 population . 



Is it asking too much, to request that the young 

 men, who will soon have to cultivate the high priced, 

 and partially exhausted farms in Western New York, 

 shall be informed what it is they must have, to make 

 100 lbs of wool, beef, pork, butter, cheese, wheat, 

 corn, oats, peas, beans, potatoes and hay ? Will 

 any man say, that all these great staples can be formed 

 out of nothing ? or out of all things alike? I assert 

 without the fear of contradiction, that full fifty per 

 cent of the labor, now annually expended in the 

 production of these things, is utterly lost to the 

 world, by its misapplication. No man will risk his 

 reputation on the assertion, that no improvements 

 can be made in the present processes, for transform- 

 ing crude earth, air and water, into good bread, 

 meat, milk and ivool. It may be fearlessly asserted, 

 that all improvements in all arts, and all progress in 

 all sciences, originate in the Intellects of men, and 

 never in their hands. It is only by the wise and full 

 development of the former, that you can obtain the 

 highest productive powers of the latter. Infinite 

 wisdom has made it not less for our interest as mere 

 working, eating and drinking animals, than our duty 

 as rational and moral beings, to improve in the high- 

 est degree, those faculities which must mako all other 

 improvements for our physical as well as intellectual 

 comfort. 



Once fairly organised, there is no doubt but the 

 Legislature will deal as liberally in endowing an 

 Institution for making skillful and scientific farmers, 

 as it has for educating young men to practice suc- 

 cessfully medicine, or any other profession. If the 

 object be deemed of sufficient importance to call 

 forth a little effort on the part of the citizens of Mon- 

 roe county, the complete success of the undertaking, 

 will reward their exertions. 



AGRICOLA. 



Dogs and Shebp. — A few nights ago, we learn 

 sixty-three choice ewes, selected for breeders on ac- 

 count of the fineness of their wool, owned by our 

 friend Capt. John A . Holton, of Franklin county, 

 were killed by dogs. 



The destruction of sheep by dogs has long been a 

 sore evil to the farmers of Kentucky. From the best 

 information we have — and we have devoted much in- 

 quiry to the point — we calculate that there are an- 

 nually about 10,000 sheep destroyed by dogs in the 

 State of Kentucky. The destruction of 100 sheep 

 in each county would give this grievous total. We 

 know one excellent farmer, in another county, who 

 alone has lost 600 sheep in years past, killed by 

 dogs. — Frankfort {Ky-) Commonwealth. 



