18ii>. 



THE GENESEE FARM Eli. 



17 



AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS. 

 BY LGBICOl \. 



Tmk importance of Agriculture as a pursuit is 

 acknowledged by all, although but few, compara- 

 tively, appreciate it as they should. Its successful 

 prosecution requires mental us well as physical 

 energy, and it is nol among the least of the favorable 

 indications of the times, that the importance of 

 ••duration adapted to a progressive and enlightened 

 system of farming, is exciting public attention. My 

 object at present is to offer your readers some con- 

 siderations in favor of Agricultural Associations, as 

 connected with improvement. 



Since 1841 State and County Societies have been 

 in operation in this State, and the question arises, 

 '•Have they been the means of advancing the true 

 interests of the farmer? — What is the tendency of 

 these Societies V The farmers in any county, as a 

 body, have few opportunities of mingling together, 

 of exchanging opinions and learning the results of 

 the efforts of each others mode of operations. Once 

 a year, however, through these associations they are 

 brought together : every improvement which has 

 been made, every experiment tried, becomes the 

 subject of conversation, and many a farmer has 

 returned to his farm, with new incentives to action, 

 and with new resolutions that his course shall be so 

 changed as to advance the interests entrusted to him. 

 A spirit of emulation is aroused, and the appearance 

 of the farms in many of the counties of this State, 

 affords the best evidence that a spirit has been 

 aroused to some good and valuable purpose. The 

 mere assembling together of a body of intelligent 

 farmers, for a common purpose, relating to their 

 profession, cannot fail to arouse a spirit of inquiry in 

 every right mind. The importance of his profession 

 is more deeply impressed upon the farmer — and he 

 feels that he has interests at stake that take a far 

 wider range than the limited spot where he dwells. 



But the influence of these associations are by no 

 means confined to their annual meetings. The pub- 

 lication of their proceedings — the valuable articles 

 from practical farmers which find their place in the 

 Agricultural Journals of our country, are exercising 

 continually a most salutary influence. Every new 

 discovery made by the farmer is, through his asso- 

 ciation, or by himself, directly spread before the 

 public — and the example of one man, it may be, in 

 this direction, will in the end induce many others to 

 make new and vigorous efforts to advance the cause. 



Can any one doubt that the improvements in the 

 various breeds of animals in this State, which to the 

 most common observer must be apparent, have not 

 Jirisen in a great measure from the influence which 

 Agricultural Societies have exerted. What has 

 induced our farmers in so many instances to adopt 

 an entire new system of farming, by which their 

 products are increased, their farms cultivated in a 

 much neater and more systematic manner ? Is it too 

 much to say that here, too, the influence of these 

 associations has been felt ? Have not these Asso- 

 ciations done much for the improvement in the 

 cultivation of fruit in our State — a branch of the 

 farmer's business of no ordinary importance ? The 

 experience of the year which is now past, so far as 

 the information has reached the writer, has proved 

 most bountiful in proof of the value of these societies. 

 More and deeper interest is apparent among all 

 classes of community, and the Annual Shows are 

 now the holidays not only of the farmers and their 



u ives and daughters, but of every class in community . 

 How few indeed can be found, who do not desire to 

 have it understood, thai they take a deop interest in 

 the success of the farmer* Many professional men 

 and merchants cv.u be found in ("very village in our 

 State, who delight, to give attention to the cultivation 

 of fruit, and to appear as competitors al the shows, 

 and thus plainly indicate that they have been made 

 to feel thai the farmer's pursuit i's one of no little 

 importance. 



There are many other considerations which are 

 apparent to every one, which (night he urged, bul 

 those already adduced are sufficient to satisfy your 

 readers of the importance of these Associations. 

 Shall they, then, be sustained? Will the farmers 

 more generally come up to their aid, and give their 

 influence and exert them -rives to extend far mare 

 widely their benefits, and make them, in every 

 respect, what they should be ? These are questions 

 which come home to the bosom of every farmer, and 

 may I not ask that each ponder them well, and let 

 them receive the attention which they deserve. 



Let no one imagine that I undervalue the labors 

 of the Agricultural Journals of our country. I most 

 cheerfully award to them great merit. They have 

 done nobly for the cause, and I could wish that they 

 might find a lodgment in every farm house in our 

 land, instead of a comparative small proportion, as 

 they now do. The language of the editor of one 

 of these journals at the West, a journal that is 

 freighted monthly with blessings for the freemen of 

 that new world, expresses much on this subject. 

 After giving a very interesting account of the Show 

 of the State Society at Buffalo the past season, he 

 says : — "I am confident, since being here, that this 

 Society does as much as any one thing, rf not more, 

 to keep alive the cause of improvement. If it should 

 be said, that its influence is not equal to that of the 

 Agricultural Journals, I will reply that the Agricul- 

 tural Journals are themselves sustained by it. Could 

 such an institution as this, or even a dozen smaller 

 ones — well distributed — be kept in vigor, in the 

 region of circulation of the Prairie Farmer, its circula- 

 tion would be quadrupled, if not more, in three years." 



Such are my views, and I ask, do they not com- 

 mend themselves to every mind, upon a moment's 

 reflection ? If then you would encourage improve- 

 ment — if you would sustain liberally the Agricul- 

 tural Journals of the country — if you would do 

 most for the cause which I doubt not is dear to you 

 — encourage and sustain the Agricultural Asso- 

 ciations around you, by your own personal efforts, 

 and by encouraging your neighbors with you to go 

 forward and sustain them and increase their influence 

 and their usefulness. 



Never grow anything carelessly. If it be worth 

 growing at all, it is worth growing properly. Jeru- 

 salem Artichokes and Horseradish are both treated 

 ill, but there is no comparison in their quality when 

 treated as weeds, and when cultivated as they should 

 be. Both ought to be planted in clean ground every 

 year, though horseradish i-s better two years old or 

 three ; and as they come ready, clear the ground of 

 them. Artichokes may be cleared out once a year. 



Never buy any quantity of seed without knowing 

 the party you buy of; and before you depend on it 

 for a crop, put a hundred grains in a hot-bed, and 

 see what proportion is alive and what dead. 



