862 



THE GENESEE FARMEK. 



Pea-liaiilm is the most nutritious of all straw. 

 It contains 14 per cent, of soluble matter, 1^ pt>r 

 cent, of nitrogen, and over 2J per cent, of oil. It 

 approximates more closely in composition and 

 value to hay than any other straw. It should 

 never be wasted. 



TOO MUCH AND TOO LITTLE STOCK. 



It is a great error to keep too much stock. Every 

 fanner should make it a rule to keep his cattle and 

 sheep in a thriving condition. They should never 

 be allowed to decline in flesh. It is poor economy 

 to starve an animal at any season of the year. 

 Every observing farmer knows that cows well fed, 

 and kept warm and comfortable during the winter, 

 will give more milk next summer. Young cattle 

 rarely recover from tl.e eft'ects of a winter's expos- 

 ure and a scanty supply of unnutritious fooil. So 

 with slieep: the woo! from those poorly wintered 

 is not so good in quality or quantity as that from 

 sheep properly fed and cared for. 



If you have too much stock, either sell a portion 

 of it, or buy some kind of grain to feed with the 

 straw, corn-stalks, hay, &c.; and do not forget one 

 thing: a warm, well-sheltered, comfortable barn- 

 yard or stable will *ave much food. In our cold 

 winters this fact is of the utmost importance. The 

 loss which tlie country susfaius from tlie neglect of 

 80 many farmt-rs to provide sheds and barns for 

 their catili- nud sheep, is ineiilcnlable. 



IJut while it is a mistaken policy to keep too 

 Hiucli st'>ck. it is equally poor.ecoBOiuy to keep too 

 little. One of our VVht-atland farmers «aid to us, 

 a ffw days .igo, "I have just. returned from C:in- 

 ada — and it is a splendid country. The land anound 

 Pari*, and all through the oak-opening* of Cliat 

 «£5e.t(K»n, reminded me. of the best districts ia West- 

 era TSew York. But they are >r^mning the land 

 pretty bard. They do not keep stock -enough. It 

 is iili ^raia. I was on one farm of 160 acres, and 

 the whcEe stock on it consisted of 15 sheep, 8 cows, 

 3 head <»l\>"ouug cattle and three or four horses. 

 The fflrrnariiad a stack of peas as long as a freight 

 train, but b«j?eemed afraid to buy sheep to eat the 

 pea-straw;" 



It is possible (that the farmer thinks sheep are 

 too high to puroliiase at this time, and that, under 

 the e\rcniB«tanoe^, at will be better to let the food 

 go to waste tlian to run tiie risk of loosing money 

 by ft decllue in the -raiue of the sheep. As a rule, 

 liowever, it should bft the aim of every wheat-grow- 

 ing farmer to keep ebcep enough to convert into 

 manure all the hay, straw, corn-stalks, pea-haulm, 

 &o., raised od the farm. And generally we tbiak 



it will pay to feeil out the peas, corn, &c., as well. 

 If we would keep up onr land, we must make ma- 

 nure; and the better we feed our stock, the better 

 will be the manure. 



HOW IS A MAN TO LEAKN FAEMINGT 



JrsT as he would acquire any other art or pro- 

 fession : by servuig an opjxreiiticesMp to it. Tliis is 

 really the only safe answer to the question. 



If agricnltural education be not practical, 

 neither is it profitable. Of ccmrse we do not call 

 it useless — no addition to mental wealth is ever al- 

 together useless— hut it stops short of the poiut 

 ■where, in ordinary language, it can be turned to 

 vne. What do young men go Colleges of Agricul- 

 ture for? It is that they may there ham how to 

 make a livelihood and income by farming. But if 

 the education they receive be not practical, it will 

 not enable them to reach this end. The student of 

 agriculture may have acquired a knowledge of the 

 general princi[)]es involved in his profession, but, 

 until he has learned the art, this knowledge can 

 not guide aright. And a graduate of eiiher the 

 Highland Society's examinations, or those of the 

 Roy?l Agricultural College, who has not added 

 practical knowledge to his sciences, will only l)ring 

 his <]iploma to contempt. These, it may be said, are 

 mere assertions; but examples in abundance of the 

 insufficiency of mere general and scientific know- 

 ledge can be cited in illustration of their accumcy. 



No one is less likely than the present writer to 

 contend for a regard to agriculture .exclnssively as a 

 money-making routine of operations. Let ns ad- 

 mit it cordially and gratefully as " the art of all 

 the sciences," aifording, in its intelligent prosecu- 

 tion, scope for the exercise and enjoyment of tlia 

 whole nature of man. The farm is no mere field 

 for dull routine: it is the platform on which the 

 best minds cf the day are successfully employing 

 their highest energies. We must Dot, hi'wever, 

 forget that agriculture is a routine of I'peratioiis; 

 and unless a man knows how each is to b«i per- 

 formed, he is not an agriculturist. Instruction in 

 the details of farm practice is thus an essential 

 part of agricultural education; and unless our agri- 

 cultural colleges take jealous ani! especial care of 

 this, the agricultural degree which they cnnfei 

 .vpon their finished students will prove, agricultur- 

 ally, worthless. 



^Suppose the case, which is not impossible unlest 

 this care be taken, of a farmer writing " M. R. A. 

 0." after his name who can not " make hi^ rent I '' 

 That would be an awkward thing lor the institu- 

 tion which had passed him! It would of courst 

 become the laughing stock of those whose respect 

 it especially desires to gain. And what would be 

 the eflrect on him f Where the pride with which hit 

 diploma was received ? 



" You professed," we imagine him addresainji 

 the auti'orities, "to have done all that your institu- 

 tion could for me. I was conpetent, in your judg- s 

 ment, as an agriculturist I had answered all youi t 

 questions, and ycu made me a member of youi n 

 body, and sent me out with yonr dijiloma, preparer ll 

 to take a farm, and expecting, as I believed yon, U< 1: 

 prosper on it. I found myself incompetent. Yoa; ij 

 chemistry and botiuiy, and your agricultural* 

 lecture were insutficient. I had not learQ«« !li 



