THE GENESEE FARifER. 



261 



Tkk Valcb op Land. — We have always thought that the 

 rice of farms in the United States was, as a rule, too 

 igh. There are few farms that will pay 7 per cent, on 

 tieir estimated value, and give the farmer a fair compen- 

 atioQ for his labor. 



It is, perhaps, owing to this fact that farms have not 

 dvaaced iu anything like the same proportion as other 

 roperty during the war. The Springfield (Mass.) Repxib- 

 caii has some remarks on this subject, which are worth 

 Dnsidering. It says : 



Land, though the steadiest of all commodities, and gen- 

 rally accounted the safest of investments, because it can 

 Dt burn up or run away, has an ebb and flow motion 

 ke stocks and bonds. The motion of the former may 

 3t be as rapid or violent as that of the latter, but still it 

 there, as the present prices fully show. There are hun- 

 •eds of men at the West who were once considered 

 ealthy, who to-day find themselves laud poor. They 

 ive more than they can manage, and are reduced to the 

 ternative of selling at a sacrifice, if they sell at all, or 

 ; eaten up with interest and taxes. 



There are men in our own vicinity who hold farming 

 nd at an unwarrantable value, and are likely soon to see 

 e bubble burst. The new income assessment, now in 

 "Ogress, will make some strange developments of farm 

 ilues. Lund is valuable, like every thing else, in pro 

 ii-tion to the net percentage it pavs. Some parties who 

 id land to sell, and claimed high percentage, are now 

 langing their tunes, under the income pressure. 

 "^o man can afibrd to pay over $100 per acre for 

 ad," said one of the sagesl and most successful fanners 

 the Connecticut River Valley. We belive that remark 

 ore than ever, when the lands of the West and South 

 e offered so low, and the best lands of the Eiist pay so 

 lall a percentage. A man should have no more laud 

 an he can improve to advantage, and generous taxation 

 ill in time work out such a result. " Little farms well 

 led," are to take the place of large, slovenly estates. 



Early Wheat. — Since the advent of the midge the aim 

 our farmers has been to get an early variety of wheat, 

 le Mediterranean is the earliest kind we have, and it is 

 mparatively " weevil proof," but, though greatly im- 

 ■oved, it is of inferior quality. What we want is a 

 bite wheat as good as the Soules and as early as the 

 editerranean. If anybody has such a variety, we hope 

 will be exhibited— grain, ears and straw — at the Great 

 ternational Wheat Show to be held in this city Septem- 

 r 8-11. Such a variety would we worth millions of 

 illars to the farmers of Western New York alone. 



Mr. Thorne's South Downs. — All of our readers have 

 ard of the celebrated Thornedale Herds and Flocks, 

 lere is nothing superior to them in the, world ! They 

 e an honor to the country. It will be seen by reference 

 our advertising columns that one hundred South Down 

 •es and rams of Mr. Thorne's flock will be sold without 

 serve at public auction on the 2d of September, 

 itong the rams is the " imported prize ram Archbishop" 

 lich took the first prize at the Fair of the Royal Agri- 

 Itural Society of England in 1860. Mr. Thorne pur- 

 ased bim at Jonas Webb's salefor 250 guineas ($1,250.) 



To Canadian WHE.iT-GROwERs. — We hope our Can a- 

 in friends will n«t forget the Wheat Show to be lifeld in 

 is city September 8-11. It will be interesting to them 

 d to us to compare the wheat of the two countries, 

 le expense of sending twenty bushels of wheat from 

 .nada here is very slight, and it will doubtless com- 

 ind a good price for seed — even if it does not take a 

 ize. We hope to see Canada well represented. 



Wheat for the Exhibition.— S. W. Arsold, of Cort- 

 land, De Kulb county, Illinois, writes us as follows: 



"I should like to enter two bushels of spring wheat at 

 the Wheat Show, to be held at Rochester on the 8th, Jttb 

 and loth of September. I can not be present myself. 

 NVill thee please write me how I am to proceed, and U> 

 whom to direct the wheat." 



We are glad to hear from Illinois. The wheat can be 

 sent to our address [Joseph Harris, Rochester, N. Y.,] 

 and we will see that it is duly entered, &c. The entrance 

 fee is $1.00. This must be prepaid. The freight on the 

 wheat should also be prepaid as far as possible. Unless 

 otherwise ordered, the wheat, at the close of the exhibi- 

 tiou, (if it does not take a prize,) will be sold, and the 

 money, after deducting any expenses that may have ac- 

 crued, will be forwarded to the owner. If the wheat 

 takes a prize, the Treasurer of the Society will forward 

 the money at once. In that case the wheat belongs to 

 the Society. 



Be careful to mark the wheat so that it can be readiljf 

 identified. Write us at the time it is sent. 



These remarks apply to nil exhibitors from a distance 

 who can not be present. Let the wheat be forwarded in 

 good season, and we will attend to it. 



Movable Fe.vces.— The Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England offered a prize for the best essay "On Movable 

 Fencing for Sheep." At the last meeting of the Council 

 it was decided thart "none of the competing essays were 

 considered worthy of the prize." In England, where 

 turnips are eaten on the land by sheep, a portable fence 

 that can be moved every day or two is a great desidera- 

 tum. It would also be very useful in this country. 



^-a* 



Literary Noticea 



JENKINS' VEST-POCKET LEXICON. An Engli.sh Diction- 

 ary c.r all e.xoept Familiar Wonis: including tlie principal 

 !?cienliflc and Tt'cWir-al Terms, and Koreien Weishts and 

 Measures. Omitting what Kverybudy Kmnvg, and coniaining 

 what EvCT-ytxidy Warts to Know, an<l can not readily find. By 

 J.\bk,zJknkin3. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippe.ncott& Co. 

 This is a little book that can be carried in the vest-pocket. The 

 selection of words hag been made with much care and good iudir- 

 meht. The work is one which has long been needed, nnd it can 

 not fail to become popula- and nsefid. Even those who have 

 " AVebster's Unabridged" will find this little work of much value. 

 .How frequently do we meet with a word of the meaning of which 

 we are uncertain. We think we will "look it \ip"—whon we get 

 througJi. reading; but we forget to do so. If this little book was 

 in the vest-pocket, we should turn to the word at the time. Every 

 young person should be determined to understand what He 

 reads, and this little book will do much towards correcting the 

 miserable habit of running through a book without fully compre- 

 hending the meaning of the author. 



" What is the quin^cunx mode of planting?" we heard a ladj 

 ask, the other day. We told her, but if no one bad been there, 

 although there was a dictionary in the room, we question whether 

 she would have left her seat and taken up a large dictionary of 

 flfleen hundred pages and looked up the word. This little book 

 being at hand — she would have found in a moment: " Qmricunce, 

 n, one at each corner of a square and one in the center;" and 

 the next time she walked tn any well-managed garden, she 

 would have noticed that all the trees, cabbages, &c., were planted 

 " quincunx" because at a given distance apart more plants can be 

 put on the land than in any other way. 



We advise all our young readers to get this little pocket dio 

 tionary. The publi^her8 send it by mail, postage fl-ee, for fifty 

 four cents. 



