1846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



9 



tint thousands of generous youth are mistaking 

 their true interest and calling, by turning their 

 backs on the noblest of all professions. A iiiis- 

 takeu public opinion leads thern on to increase 

 the {)rosent lamentable e.vcess of those who are 

 trying to live by their wits. All this is wrong; 

 and although the evil will eventually cure itself, 

 yet thousands of worthy and most estimable 

 young n;3n will suffer to the end of their lives, 

 for tlie fi)lly oi' thc^ times. These ambitious sons 

 of farmers and mechanics should be gratided 

 with a good education. They should have every 

 advantage of learning, every facility for the ac- 

 quisition of science, that the country can aflbrd. 

 They are the ones to develop an Agricultural 

 Literature in America, which shall confer incal- 

 culable benefits on the human family. Rural 

 Labor must be redeemed from the protracted and 

 excessive toil of dull ignorance. If man is to be 

 elevated i;; this republic to that exalted destiny 

 which his Creator has placed Avithin his reach, 

 and bade him to attain, he must ennoble the skill- 

 ful culture of the fruits of his mother earth. — 

 This can only be done hj the common effort of 

 the agriculturists themselves. If thci/ will not 

 lend a helping hand, then will they be justly 

 doomed to the task of giving two or three days 

 work for one, as hewers of wood and diawersof 

 water for others all their days. It was a wise 

 maxim of Dr. Franklin, which held that "God 

 helps those ihat help themselves." Let us then, 

 one and all, place a willing shoulder to the wheel. 

 One generous lift will put the car of agricultural 

 improvement on the riglit track. While ttie rest 

 of the community travel at their ease, drawn by 

 steam, controlled by science, we shall look 

 rather simjjf' to insist on walking at a snails pace, 

 a. id carrying- a heavy knapsack, because our 

 fathers did ^-' fi;rty years ago! 



A little L.^^r;cultural enterprise will make far 

 greater improvement in tillage, wool growing, I 

 and the dairy business, than any yet witnessed in 

 the construction of rail-roads and canals. These i 

 are necessarily local in their benefits, while the | 

 advantages of science can be extended to t!ie fire 

 side of eveiy log cabin in the State. Even a 

 fifty cent journal, devoted to the record of all the 

 discoveries of the age in Agriculture and Horti- 

 culture, ii taken by every farmer, can do much 

 to improve ''Oth the soil and its cultivators. We 

 solicit a ; 'port of 'he proceedings of Town Clubs; 

 and hope to hear of t'ie formation of hundreds 

 during the pres snt winter. Remember that 

 sti'ength — all subduing strength — lies concentra- 

 ted in union. No one man can build a canal, or 

 a raii road. All groat works must command the 

 united labor of th nisands to give them success. 

 Think of tiie hun irixls of thousands of political 

 papers and pamphlets circulated to elect a Presi- 

 dent! What is the labor of one man in such an 

 efix)rt? Tell us candidl}-, are party politics eve- 

 ry thing, and agriculture nothing, that we should 



give millions ibr the advancement of the former, 

 and treat the latter with utter inditlerence ? 



Farmers, is this right ? Is it just toward the 

 most imj)ortant interest of the Nation i You 

 know it is not. Then teach one another, and 

 all unite in making the Genesee Farmer what 

 it should be, the most extensively circulated paper 

 in the Union. A copy should be placed in every 

 Common School Library in the State. Why noti 

 Is its reading unworthy of the perusal of the 

 rising generation '!■ Who will i-eluse to aid in 

 elevating the Mind that must ever fix the com- 

 mon level of a profession that has the highest 

 claim to our best regards '? If it were poa- 

 sible for us to accomplish this object alone, we 

 would not ask for the co-operation of others. — 

 But, kind reader, without your assistance our 

 best efforts will be labor spent for naught. — 

 Nothing truly important, afliecting the communi- 

 ty at large, can be consummated, where the peo- 

 ple are sovereign, without their countenance and 

 support. 



Insects lajmons to Veg'etation. 



Dr. Asa Fitch of Salem, Washington Co., in this 

 state, is writing a series of valuable Es5;ays on the 

 "Insects Injurious to Vegetables," which are 

 published in the Quarterly Joa:-nal of Agricul- 

 ture. W^e have received fro ti the Auth.or, Na 

 3, on the "Wheat Flv," which we have read 

 witii much interest. Fortunately, ['.s yet Wes- 

 tern New York has suffered but little from the 

 insects, whose ravages have been so destructive 

 in the eastern portion of the state. But we m-ay 

 not long be so highly favored in this regard ; aoJ 

 it is well to learn what we can from the srbl ex- 

 perlence of our eastern brethren, as to the best 

 methods of abating the evil. Our Wheat crop 

 is too important, not to take especial jiiins to 

 secure it from tlie depredations of these minute, 

 but fearful destroyers,if possible. The farmini^ 

 community are greatly indebted to Dr. Fitci ;br 

 his careful researches in this matter; and wo 

 shall endeavor to furnish our realers with a fiith- 

 ful epitome of his writings on entomologv, so 

 far as they a;)pear to lie m-jre useful to ag-icul- 

 turists than any equal amount of o'iier realing. 

 The author has well illustrated wit!i Colored 

 Engraving.3, the insects, larvir, &c., which he 

 describes. 



Weevil. — We received from Ge;). HaiImov, 

 some three months ag), about a gill of a ;)ew 

 variety of wheat which was imported from S;)a!n 

 the past season, from which have emerged Jiue 

 dark brov/n weevils. The insects are now fee-l- 

 ing, when not forj)id, on the g'-ain. Tiie vvhcit 

 has been kej)t in a glass vial, and stoppe 1 with 

 paper. 



We suppose this insect to be t'ne Ciircul/o gra 

 naria of Linn; Caluidra g-ariirli. of Dr 

 Harris, 



