J 846. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



131 



We shall refer to this subject again, and woul 

 be happy to see an accurate geological map of 

 Western New York, on a much larger scale 

 than is adopted in the one which embraces the 

 whole State. Western New York has mineral 

 treasures, adapted by Providence to tire produc- 

 tion of grain, which desferve to be belter known 

 and appreciated by its rural population, than they 

 now are. 



The second division in the Onondaga rocks 

 is the Gypseous Shales. This rock comes to the 

 surface in this town, (Wheatland,) which we are 

 now studying, and shall report progress in the 

 Farmer for July. In concluding, we again com- 

 mend the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture to 

 the attention of all Western New York farmers. 



Apropos of Farmers. 



I KNOW a farmer who has but fifteen acres of 

 land, off of which he supports his family — he con- 

 tinues to get 40 bushels of wheat from an acre, 

 and from 50 to 70 bushels of Indian corn, be- 

 sides corn fodder in. abundance. Instead of im- 

 poverishing his lands by these heavy crops, such 

 is his economy in saving, making, and applying 

 his manures, that his farm grows riclier. This 

 farmer applies his knowledge of figures to his 

 own calling. He says he cannot afford to gi-ow 

 half a crop, as the deterioration in fences, and 

 the interest of money on hand is the isame, crop 

 or half-crop. It is needless to say that this man 

 takes two agricultural papers. 



, I know another farmer who has 78 acres of 

 land, a fine calcareous clay loam, ameliorated by 

 quartz and limestone pebbles, with a sprinkling 

 of small boulders. He barely subsists his famil}', 

 in a very primitive way, on the avails of his 78 

 acres. His corn-field is plowed, or rather half 

 plowed, late in the spring, the weeds run a race 

 with the late planted corn, until late in June, 

 when the hoe and the plow give the stunted plants 

 the end of the I'ace. Now comes a drouth — the 

 already enfeebled plants have no organic power 

 to make the extra heat available ; hence they are 

 pinched by that very influence which gives frui- 

 tion to the well-tended and early planted field. 

 But the drouth has at least served this man with 

 an excuse for his short crop of Indian corn ; 

 thus saving his pride at the expense of his pock- 

 et. His wheat fallow is a little better managed 

 than hif- corn-field, but his crop is always foul, 

 sometimes .short, and the grains generally shrunk- 

 en. To bring the year around without running 

 into debt, this man pinches his famil}^ in the or- 

 dinary comforts of civilization; go to his house 

 in a winter's day, ten to one he is asleep on his 

 bed, or sitting cosily by the fire. Ask him to 

 subscribe for an agricuUural paper and he is no 

 longer cosy; all the Goth and Vandal in him is 

 arou.sed, "I want no book to teach me how to 

 farm. Look at my neighbor Progre.ss — he is a 

 book farmer. What use are his Durhams, and 

 Berkshires, and all his big crops ? He spends 



it all ; it only makes his family proud ; how inad 

 it makes me to see his children sent by every 

 day to the village school." I do not retort upon 

 this man the fact, that his district school cannot 

 be respectably sustained, because the district 

 contains too many such men as himself, I let 

 him alone in his glory. I assail no man, who, 

 like the hedgehog, is armed at all points. 



I know another fu-mer, a mild, quiet German, 

 who seems instinctively to have that German 

 love of the beautiful and true, which is only an 

 acquired taste with us restless Americans. \Vhile 

 we strain after the ultimate good, they quietly 

 improve that which is within their reach. This 

 man's farm gives an earnest of the industry and 

 good sense of its proprietor. Not a thistle, nor 

 a briar, no aldar bound fences ; all is neat, clean, 

 and arable. The house rather plain ; if it dis- 

 plays no taste, neither is it like too many of our 

 fine farm houses, — a caricatui-e on all orders, 

 and good taste to boot. The barn is large, well 

 ventilated, with painted blinds; the fences per- 

 manent and strong; what is lacking about these 

 premises in ornament, is amply made up in neat- 

 ness, and the appearance of positive comfort. — 

 This man modestly says, "/c7« con yiight guth 

 Engl'sh Ze.Lr?j." Still he takes the papers, and 

 the well thumbed leaves of his last year's Culti- 

 vator, show that its contents have been under- 

 standingly read by him. 



I know another farmer, a gentleman, a scholar, 

 and a christian, so far as the fashionable modifi- 

 cation of Christianity will admit. He complains 

 that he cannot farm by book, because his hired 

 men object to the drudgery of the prescribed 

 preparations. He speaks twice to his horses, 

 wliei-e he condescends to speak once to his men. 

 Yet, strange to say, he boasts of the cleverne.s.s 

 of his horses, while he complains of the intracta- 

 bility of his men! 



I know yet another tarmer, if you please, a new 

 beginner, but an enthusiast in his calling. Fie 

 soon found that he could do nothing by way of 

 improvement, without awakening in the mind of 

 his head man, or factotum, an enthusiasm akin 

 to his own. This man at first demurred to haul- 

 ing swamp muck into the barn yard, lest it should 

 spoil the manure. Now he has become an ar- 

 dent student in vegetable economy, and in the 

 philosophy of vegetable growth and nutrition, as 

 it is taught in the agricultural papers of the day. 

 Here is at least one laboring man, exalted from 

 the character of a mere mercenai-y drudge, to 

 to be a respectable co-worker with the Chemist in 

 his laboratory, and on a grander scale. — Cultiva- 

 tor. S. W. 



Waterloo, April 7, 1846. 



By adding two and a half drachms of carbonate 

 of soda to three pounds of fresh or salt butter, 

 possessing a disagreeable flavor, renders it per 

 fectly sweet. — F^ar, Herald. 



