10 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Jan. 



Is it too much to say that the great Husbandman 

 above has planted us here, as christian, moral, reason- 

 ing beings, from whose government and good seed a 

 a glorious harvest may be reaped in the coming 

 autumn of this Western Nation % Call it weakness 

 or what you please ; such is our faith. Hence our 

 cheerful labor to encourage the wise culture of the 

 farmers, whom Providence has so recently located 

 on American soil. If these come to nought, where 

 is the hope of the world ? Heaven has kindled a 

 vestal fire on our hills and mountains. It has 

 appointed, not Roman Virgins, but iron-palmed hus- 

 bandmen to protect, keep alive and ever glowing, 

 the sacred flame. Farmers ! you have great and 

 most responsible public duties to discharge. It has 

 long seemed to us that your sterling good sense and 

 honesty of purpose were too little felt in directing 

 aright the affairs of your State and Federal Gov- 

 ernments. Your Educational, Agricultural and Eco- 

 nomical Interests are not so strictly attended to, nor 

 so faithfully studied and promoted as they ought to 

 . be, if you would impart to your whole country the 

 highest attainable prosperity. We advocate no 

 untried Utopian schemes. We preach not a disor- 

 ganizing war of class against class. But, we do 

 urge the importance of thoroughly educating, in the 

 largest and best sense of the term, the whole Mind 

 of the nation. From a lamentable delect in mental 

 culture, more than half the hands employed in rural 

 pursuits in the United States, not only misdirect and 

 lose much hard work ; but, they render the soil 

 which is tilled, less and less productive, less and less 

 capable, (without long delay or large expense,) of 

 feeding and clothing a population which is ever 

 adding to the number of hungry stomachs and naked 

 backs, by an abiding law of Nature. This exhaust- 

 ing system of planting and farming, is truly a 

 national calamity. Very few good farmers at the 

 North, have any knowledge of the extent and depop- 

 ulating influence of this abuse of the bounties of 

 God, in large districts of our country. 



If the reader attributes this impoverishment of 

 cultivated lands to a " peculiar institution" in that 

 portion of the Union, where the desolating effects of 

 ignorant husbandry are most conspicuous, he will be 

 mistaken in his opinion. Well-educated, scientific 

 planters find no difficulty in improving their estates 

 with such laborers' as till cotton, rice and sugar 

 plantations. Educate properly the Minds that direct 

 rural industry, and all the rich resources of American 

 soils, whether north, south, east or west, will bo hus- 

 banded and turned to the best possible account for the 

 Union as a whole. This is what we most desire ; 

 and we are pained to know that so many politicians, 

 who enjoy an ephemeral reputation as statesmen, 

 enact our laws and control all educational institutions, 

 flon„i ' - ' and care not to investigate this 



momentous subject. 



Suppose the vast public domain of the United 

 States were wisely managed, and the whole of its 

 nett proceeds sacredly devoted, in all coming time, to 

 the wise development of the great Soul and Heart of 

 the American people? What a mine of moral and 

 intellectual wealth lies unsurveycd, unexplored, in 

 the heads of .the toiling millions'of ibis land, where 

 the People rule ! What is the value of California 

 gold to a Nation of Freemen, compared with sound 

 morality, cultivated reason, true science in every head, 

 and social contentment in every heart 1 If Heaven 

 had withheld our present known capacity to improve 



our race, and denied every sense to enjoy all other 

 pleasures than those we share in common with the 

 meanest brutes, then we should be justified in regard- 

 ing the animal man as everything, and the spiritual 

 man as nothing. Let each be estimated at its true 

 value. First, deal justly by American Mind, and its 

 power over the phy^cal elements of nature, to con- 

 solidate, enrich and elevate our whole population, 

 whether on the shores of the Pacific or Atlantic — 

 whether on the great Gulf of the South, or the great 

 Lakes of the North — will be all that the most ardent 

 patriot could desire. 



Our agricultural, mineral, manufacturing and com- 

 mercial resources, are altogether beyond computation. 

 The danger is, that we shall prove unworthy of bless- 

 ings, so numerous and transcendant. Unmerited 

 wealth and undeserved prosperity have ruined millions 

 of individuals, and induced the speedy downfall of 

 many powerful nations. As our form of government 

 makes -°very voter a minister of state, he should study 

 to infoTm himself in all matters of public policy. ■ A 

 sovereign that reads little and studies less, might do 

 well in some parts of Africa or Asia, but he is out of 

 his kingdom in the United States. 



The larger the number of immigrants that flock to 

 our happy shores, from disturbed and bleeding 

 Europe, the more urgent is our duty to watch closely 

 all demagogues, and provide ways and means for the 

 settlement and improvement of all new comers. We 

 confidently expect soon the annual arrival of a mil- 

 lion of foreigners to reside permanently, and multiply 

 rapidly in this country. It is indeed a land worth 

 coming to ; and not a few of the two hundred and 

 fifty millions in Europe have already found it out. 

 Wake up, young man ! — prepare yourself to act well 

 your part in this wonderful drama. Tell us what 

 can poor, limping Ignorance do, in a race with 

 Science, with its locomotives, its steam-ships and its 

 telegraph wires ? Common people fail to appreciate 

 the value of Science, although not a year or month 

 passes in which it does not double the productive 

 power of human muscles, either in the field or the 

 workshop. Study, then, the uniform and unerring 

 laws of nature ; which, if well understood, will add 

 four fold to thy happiness as a rational being, and 

 place thy name among the honored of the land. 



LIME, ASHES AND GYPSUM. 



WiNTtR is a favorable season, when there is good 

 sleighing to procure such fertilizers as lime, gypsum 

 and ashes from a distance, if it be necessary to go far 

 to find them. As a general thing, when a farmer 

 live s some distance from lime rock and kilns, there is 

 a lack of this mineral in his soil. He does not reside 

 in a large wheat-growing section. Next to good 

 stable manure and the contents of the vaults of 

 privies, ashes, bones, gypsum, common salt and lime 

 are the most valuable food of cultivated plants. Pro- 

 cure and husband these with all reasonable care. 



Much as has been written on the subject of saving 

 manure, particularly the liquid excretions of all 

 domestic animals, the matter is still sadly neglected, 

 as well as that of collecting lime, ashes, and other 

 mineral elements of corps. Such neglect is not 

 creditable to those that practice it. At the South, 

 good farmers take great pains to collect forest Leaves, 

 as bedding for horses, mules, cattle and hogs. They 

 form a valuable material to absorb urine and add 

 much to the manure heap. 



