300 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



are the markets, we can not compete with them so 

 well in tills respect as wo can in the production of 

 grain. It would be much better for us if the re- 

 verse were true. If the competition was in pro- 

 ducing grain instead of meat and wool, we could 

 stand it.. The more beef, and pork, and mutton, 

 and wool we raised, the more manure should we 

 make, and the richer would our land become. But 

 now the more graia we raise, and the less stock we 

 keep, the more we imvpoerish our soil. 



I never feared the midge ; and I fear it leas to- 

 day than ever. The farmers of Monroe county 

 and of Western New York have demonstrated that 

 the principles I deduced from scientific investiga- 

 tion in 1857 are correct. We have not abandoned 

 wheat culture in Western New York, and we 

 never shall. The midge has proved a blessing 

 rather than a curse. It has compelled us to sow 

 less land and cultivate it better. 



A few weeks ago— just before harvest — I took a 

 ride through the towns of Wheatland, Cnledonia 

 and York, and saw no indications of any intention 

 to abandon wheat culture. The magnificent crops 

 then on the ground, and the number of excellent 

 fallows, would have convinced the editor of the 

 London Mark Lane Express that his prophesy that 

 the United States would soon be compelled to 

 import wheat was not likely to be fulfilled this 

 year or next. Mr. John MoVean, who accom- 

 panied me, and who has lived in Wheatland for 

 over fifty years, stated that he had never in all 

 that time seen the wheat look better. On these 

 oak openings the soil is undoubtedly more produc- 

 tive to-day than it was twenty or thrrty years ago. 

 This may seem strange, and the more so because 

 the great portion of the soil has never been ma- 

 nured. How has this been brought about? One 

 word explains the whole : Clovbe. 



When I first came to this country, many things 

 surprised me. 



I was surprised at the excellence of American 

 beef and the inferiority of American mutton, and 

 I was not surprised that the beef sold for half as 

 much again as the mutton, while in London mutton 

 •was worth a cent a pound more than beef. 



I was surprised that farmers paid so little atten- 

 tion to their gardens. 



1 was surprised to find so many farmers with 

 large, handsome houses and elegantly-furni*;hed par- 

 lors that they seldom used. In England, at that time, 

 we had a window tax, and the houses there have 

 few windows. One of the first things that struck 

 me was the number of windows in American 



houses, and the great effort that was made tt 

 shut them up and exclude the glorious Americat 

 sunshine and the invigorating American atmos- 

 I)here. 



I was surprised that everywhere I went th< 

 people tiiought that particular spot the mos' 

 fertile, the healthiest, and the best place on tht 

 Continent. I was surprised, nevertheless, tha 

 everybody was willing to sell. 



I was surprised at the excellence of the whea 

 and the inferiority of the barley. 



I was surprised to see the farmers so roug 

 looking, and yet so intelligent. 



I was surprised to see the country ladies st 

 much better looking than the men, and withal » 

 interesting and fascinating. 



I was surprised to find that farmers sowed bn 

 one kind of grass-seed, and that they paid so littl 

 attention to their permanent meadows. 



I was surprised to see them plow so wide, an^ 

 still more surprised that under the influence of ou 

 cold winters and dry, hot summers these wid 

 furrows tumbled all to pieces and formed, afte 

 all, a very fair seed-bed. 



I was surprised that farmers raised so few pes 

 and beans, and thougiit so lightly of clover-haj 



I was surprised that farmers could make a livin 

 from crops of wheat of from ten to twelve bushel 

 per acre. 



I was surprised to hear rotten straw called mj 

 nure. 



I was surprised at many other things — 8 

 the grand net-work of railroads — at the majE 

 nificent rivers and lakes — at the marvelous rapidit 

 with which the country was settled, and at the er 

 terprise and practical intelligence which has a< 

 complished such astonishing results in so short 

 time. But I do not think that any one thing sui 

 ])rised me more than this : the luxuriance of tl 

 clover crop in Western New York ! I had jus 

 come from the very fountain-head of agricultun 

 science, and from the greatest experimenting fan 

 in the world ; but never had I seen such crops c 

 clover as I saw on many farms in this section. 



I am not alone in this 0|)inion. Robekt Riti 

 8KLL, an intelligent Scotch farmer, and the editc 

 of the Journal of the Highland and Agricultun 

 Society of Scotland, who visited this country i 

 1853, and on his return wrote an excellent wor 

 on American agriculture, says : 



"I drove about twelve miles to the west c 

 Rochester, N. Y., to \\»\t some farms in the towi 

 ship of Riga. The sowing of wheat was g'lin;^ 

 very briskly on luuny of the farms that we passet 



