THE ge:si:see farmer. 



19 



of sustaining a flagging discussion. He should be 

 empowered to obtain and engage the assistance of 

 all wJio are cjualified to give useful informafion. It 

 will greatly promote the interests of the club, if, 

 besides keeping the minutes of the club, the Secre- 

 tary is able to make a brief and condensed report 

 of the views advanced by the ditferent speakers, 

 and publish the same in the local newspapers. By 

 this means public attention is called to the proceed- 

 ings of the club, and useful; information will be 

 spread abroad to the benefit of the whole farming 

 community. We would farther state, that the office 

 of Secretary ouglit to be filled by a practical farmer, 

 as he will thus be best acquainted with the views 

 and feelings, and modes of expression common 

 among farmers ; and we believe tliat every neigh- 

 borliood win be found to possess farmers well qual- 

 ified to fill this office, and fill it well, if they can 

 only he induced to try. 



An excellent plan for conducting a farmers' club, 

 is at each meeting to fix on a subject for discussion 

 at the next meeting, and to appoint one of the mem- 

 bers to open the discussion with a Avritten paper on 

 the subject. Having given subjects at stated peri- 

 ods, will not only induce the farmers to think and 

 prepare themselves, but will also tend to elevate 

 their views and feelings as regards farming as a 

 pursuit, and will cunsequently make them respect 

 themselves and every member of their own class. 

 A very important part of the preparation to be 

 made by those anxious to start or continue a farm- 

 ers'* clr.b, consists in the selection of suitable, useful, 

 and interesting subjects for discusssion ; as a club 

 will soon cease to exist if its discussions are of no 

 use to the members. 



The subjects suitable for discussion are almost 

 endless. We can only indicate a very few of them ; 

 each clab can determine what is most suitable for 

 itself. On the breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, and 

 pigs most profitable for tiie neighborhood; the in- 

 troduction and ase of labor-saving implements ;" the 

 best method of making and saving manure, and the 

 crops to w^hich it can most prt)fitably be applied ; 

 the beet and cheapest methods of preparing the 

 ground, and the best time for sowing the various 

 crops grown in the neighborhood ; the best and most 

 profitable rotation of crops; the best and surest 

 method of eradicating the various noxious weeds 

 that may infest the locality ; the profits of drain- 

 ing; the relative merits of good, middling, and par- 

 Bimonious farming; the best methods of construct- 

 ing, and the most convenient methods of arranging 

 farm buildings; the root crops most suitable to the 

 neighborhood, and the best methods of their culti- 

 vation ; the details of dairy management ; the rela- 

 tive profitableness, under given circumstances, of 

 tlie dairy, or grazing for beef. We need scarcely 

 add that no subject of a party — political or religious 

 character— should ever be introduced for discussion 

 at any farmers' club meeting. 



It is not fine, set epeeches, that are wanted at club 

 meetings, but the practical experience, and experi- 

 ments, w^hether successful or not, of the member, — 

 the Bucceesfiil experiments as examples for imita- 

 tion, and the unsuccessful as warnings to avoid and 

 to prevent others from repeating them. 



Iq conclusion, we would say, that the influence 

 of farmers' clubs will be most beneficial to young 

 fwmrs^ aa from the discossions of the club the 



inexperienced will have the opportunity of hearing 

 of the results of practice, and thus be enabled to 

 conduct their labors on the most approved systems. 

 It will tend, too, to make our farmers shake off that 

 lethargy with which theyhave s© long been afflicted, 

 and make them use means to qualify themselves for 

 that position in society wliich their large prepond- 

 erance in numbers, and rapidly increasing wealth 

 undoubtedly entitle them to. a tenant farmee. 



Cdbourg, C. K, Km\ iWi, !?'=>". 



HOW CAN WE MOST PROFIT 1BLY AND AGREE- 

 ABLY SPEND OUR WINTER EVENINGS] 



As summer is the season for husbandry, so win- 

 ter is the season, with the farmer, for mental cul- 

 ture ; it is in fact the only time a farmer has for liter- 

 ary cmusement or instruction. As a class, farmers 

 are jerhaps the most untutored in the community, 

 which is more their* misfortune than their fault. 

 While the professional man, the merchant, and the 

 mechanic, are carefully educated for their business, 

 the young man who ultimately becomes a farmer, 

 in hundreds of instances can neither read nor write. 

 The most lamentable indifterence is manifested by 

 parents and guardians, to avail themselves of the 

 existing institutions of learning, so numerous and 

 so wtll sustained. 



Is it any wonder, then, that so little taste is man- 

 ifested by them with regard to literary amusement 

 or instruction? Unable to acquire, theoretically, 

 any information of their business, they are content 

 to go on in antiquated systems a quarter of a centu- 

 ry behind the age, satisfied if they do as their fath- 

 ers did before tliem, and seeking no progression. If 

 th's be true in many instances regarding their farm- 

 ing operations, and unfortunately it is so, how much 

 more true is it in regard to mental occupations. In- 

 capable of amusement from periodicals or books, 

 their winter evenings are squandered away in list- 

 less indifference, or under the stupefying influence 

 of the tobacco pipe, or worse still, at the tavern, 

 where, among vicious associates, the obscene jest, 

 tlie coarse buft'oonery, and other demoralizing influ- 

 ences blunt their moral perceptions, and lay the 

 foundation of degraded manhood and premature old 

 age. Now we believe there is no way in which we 

 can employ our evenings so agreeably or profitably, 

 as by reading; and here we would adopt an old 

 maxim — " a judicious friend should choose the books 

 you read." By reading, we do not mean that a 

 man's taste for such should be as voracious as an 

 ostrich's stomach, devouring all that comes in its 

 way; theheapsofnovelsthatareannually "spawned" 

 and published have a most pernicious influence, and 

 can not be too carefully avoided ; but what we do 

 mean, is to read a well written non-political, non- 

 sectarian newspa]ier, and an agricultural paper or 

 two. Here permit me by digressing to say that the 

 method adopted by you of getting farmers to write 

 for the Genesee Farmer, thus giving the results of 

 practical experiments, is far superior to the imprac- 

 ticable theories of " agricultural professor.^," no mat- 

 ter as .scholars what their abilities may be. Judi- 

 cious reading is one of the only aTuusements that 

 leaves no "sting behind." Aurelius, tlie Emperor, 

 used to say he had more pleasure from what he had 

 read and written, than from all tlie victories he had 

 gained, or all the realms he had conquered ; and he 



