120 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



I fancy that leas money for his crop would have 

 been more in his pocket ! And when a crisis comes 

 and finds him in debt for property which will not 

 fetch what he owes for it, and he feels too poor to 

 pay for the Oenesee Farmer, I am confirmed in the 

 conviction. And when I consider that if the spare 

 change had been laid by for a rainy day, that it 

 would now buy double the amount that it did when 

 expended, I fancy that buying — especially on credit 

 — in hi^h-price times, is anything but economy. 



"When a tiller of the soil refuses to subscribe for 

 the Genesee Farmer at three-eighths of a dollar a 

 year, on account of the scarcity of money, I fancy 

 that he is more parsimonious than economical. And 

 when I suggest that the price is perfectly adapted 

 to such hard times, and that the lack of such a sura 

 is a very slight objection, he contends that he must 

 have some favorite political or story paper, costing 

 a dollar or two, and four times the postage of the 

 Farmer, I fancy that, however finely he may talk 

 politics, or criticise literature, he is not a progress- 

 ive farmer, and exhibits but little knowledge of 

 practical economy. 



Four Totcns, Mich., Jan^y, 1853. 



CHOICE OF FABMING AS A PROFESSION FOB LIFE. 



Editors Gknbseb Farmer: — Among the many 

 thousands of families to which your paper makes 

 its monthly visits, carrying its varied and welcome 

 store of information and wisdom, there must be 

 many in which the question is sometimes revolved 

 as to the choice, by one or more of the members, 

 of a profession for life. A few thoughts on this 

 topic, even though not new to the reader, may, as 

 coming from another, be not wholly unacceptable. 

 And here allow me to express th» belief that 

 there ought to be encouraged more widely than 

 would seem to be the case, the habit of looking to 

 some one occupation or business, with a view to its 

 being pursued through life. The peculiar circum- 

 stances which have heretofore made it to some 

 extent necessary in our country, that a man should 

 be upon the watch and ready to jump into any new 

 business that may seem to promise more for his 

 interest, or to have two or three different ones in 

 hand at the same time, are now somewliat changed. 

 At all events, this trait can not be considered as 

 rightly belonging to a settled and well-regulated 

 state of society. 



No young man who has arrived at the time when 

 this question should be considered, should allow 

 himself to live along, carelessly waiting to see what 

 chance may throw in his way, looking for some 

 easy and quick way for making money ; or, what is 

 worse still, willing to live, if he can, without any 

 regular business. Such a disposition is both a sign 

 and a cause of something wrong, and productive of 

 great evil. 



But supposing a young man who has before him 

 a choice as to what shall be his employment for 

 life, and is willing, as he should be, to listen to the 

 advice of parents or friends, — who may, after all, 

 know better than himself in what ho may be most 

 likely to succeed; — supposing he is trying to decide 

 this important question : On what principle ought 

 his decision to be goverened? Ought it to be that 

 of the quickest and largest accumulation of money? 

 This is a point which ought to be well weighed. If 



this should be allowed to be the governing principle, 

 then there are, vsithout doubt, other occupations 

 than that of farming, which hold out the most flat- 

 tering promises. That there have been instances — 

 though few, after all, in comparison with the fail- 

 ures in the same attempt — where fortunes have 

 been accumulated in our great commercial cities, 

 far beyond what the profits of the farm can ever 

 hope to equal, is certainly true ; but I tliiiik it will 

 hardly be contended, by any reasonable person, that 

 such enormous and overgrown fortunes, springing 

 from sudden and unusual gains, tend to the real 

 welfare either of individuals or society. A more 

 equable distribution of wealth, and more gradual 

 acquisition, are doubtless more desirable in a repub- 

 lic like ours. This subject, however, need not here 

 be discussed at length. 



Allow me, then, to state what appears to me a 

 more reasonable and wiser principle, ns well as one 

 much more likely to be successful in answer to all 

 ordinary efforts. It is the principle of fulfilling 

 the most JtonoraMe, iiseful, and happy life. 



Taking this to be a true principle to lay at the 

 foundation of a man^s life and efforts, it will not be 

 difficult, I think, to show that farming off"ers greater 

 advantages for such an object, than any other of 

 the ordinary or secular occupations in society. 



I will not, Messrs. Editors, trespass upon your 

 crowded pages, to pursue this subject further at 

 present. If the suggestion of this thought to the 

 mind of any young man yet undecided as to his 

 future course, may lead him- into reflections upon 

 the true object of life, and help him to distinguisli 

 between the true and the false — between that which 

 is real and that which is bat sham, — my object will 

 be abundantly successful. Some abler pen than 

 mine may perhaps see fit to carry out my argument, 

 and present to your readers, in a future number, 

 the reasons show^ing that farming offers greater 

 advantages than any other business,, for friSlling 

 the most honorable, useful, and happy life. 



SUBURBAN. 



■ ■ 



CASTOB BEANS AND GBOUND MOLES. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — I hear many farmers 

 complain of ground moles, as though they com- 

 mitted great depredations on their grounds. Now, 

 I am inclined to believe that the moles get the 

 credit, while mice actually do the mischief. That 

 moles do burrow in the ground and throw up small 

 ridges of earth, I admit ; but they are at the same 

 time in search of, and do certainly destroy, vast 

 numbers of wire worms, of wliich they appear to 

 be very fond. I have never found a mole in a shock 

 of corn or wheat, or, in short, any other place where- 

 I was convinced he was doing any injury otherwise- 

 than by those small underground canals, which they" 

 seldom travel a second time, but seek their food in 

 a new place, where the wire worm has not been 

 already ferretted out, by which means they benefit 

 us a vast deal more than they injure us by the little 

 upheaving of such narroAV and shallow cuttings. 

 Yet I would state, for the benefit of those who are 

 desirous of getting rid of them, that it is said, on 

 pretty good authority, that a few Castor beans 

 (Palma Christa) planted where the moles are most 

 troublesome, will have the eflfect to duive them 

 away. ». 



GaU*. 2f. T., February, 1853. 



