1-54 



THE GENESEE FARMER, 



AGBICULTITRAL PAPERS. 



" On the,propriety of farmers supporting none but purely agri- 

 cultural papers, a-s such; and is their publication monthly often 

 enough ? " 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — I am decidedly 

 jn favor of siippofting only purely agricultural 

 papers as such. I am desirous of hav-ingthe editor 

 of my gricultural paper devote his wAoZe attention 

 to the subject. Let us have fish or flesh— no hotch- 

 pot, if a literary paper is desired, then I should 

 subscribe for one devoted to literature. So, an 

 educational journal sliould contain articles pertaiu- 

 iug to that cause from the title page to finis. The 

 good agricultural paper will be full of matter for 

 the particular benefit of the agriculturist. A paper 

 devoted to agriculture, education and literature, is 

 like the man wiio is Jach at all trades. Some of 

 the departments will certainly be neglected, often 

 all of them. JSiumerous instances could be men- 

 tioned to sustain the position. An editor is fre- 

 quently supposed to be a universal genius — a kind 

 of walking encyclopedia — a factotum, capable of 

 doing everything, not only, but also of answering 

 every inquiry. 



All are aware that a person can devote a life 

 tune with profit in investigating the various depart- 

 ments of agriculture and horticulture. Should not 

 the editor who assumes to instruct thousands upon 

 that subject, make himself fully master of his sub- 

 ject ? The school boy writes milk and water arti- 

 cles upon all and any subject, but he writes without 

 thought, without .experience, without originahty, 

 and without benefit to any one save himself. — 

 Would any one be so foolish as to expect a master 

 piece of painting from the easel of an artist, who 

 claimed to be equally expert with the brush, the 

 chisel, and the poet's pen ? Would you expect to 

 find the most skillful physician in the person who 

 divided his attention between tlie use of the lancet, 

 the prepai-ation of the attorney's brief, and the 

 study of divinity ? The devout minister is not 

 likely to be the shrewd and staccessfullawyer, or 

 skilful surgeon. Nor can we expect to find the 

 editor, wlio has turned his attention to " teaching 

 the young idea how to slioot," to writing agricul- 

 tural articles, or reviewing literary works, well 

 qualified to enlighten the farmer upon the best 

 rotation for crops, the proper soil for certain ceri- 

 als, the kind of manure best adapted to some par- 

 ticular locality, the best method of draining, irri- 

 gating, etc., etc. 



No argument is necessary to convince a reason- 

 able mind that an editor can devote all of his time 

 to the preparation of a first class agricultural jour- 

 nal— that he can do so to the advantage and profit 

 of his subscribers. There are those who do so 

 devote their time, and of course they make the 

 better class of agricultural papers, Sliall we as 

 farmers support them? No one can doubt the 

 propriety of giving our hearty support to papers so 

 edited. For our agricultural reading, we should 

 subscribe only for purely agricultural papers; for 

 our political reading, all will peruse political papers ; 

 and for religious instruction, let us tfdce the purely 

 religious paper. Tliat is the principal; but each 

 could contain a few brief news items without injury. 



Were I to read only one agricultural paper, I 

 should want to have it published weekly ; but 

 purely agricultural papers are not yet well enough 



sustained to authorize a weekly publication thereof. 

 But for myself, I prefer four or five monthly agri- 

 cultural papers, published in various parts of the 

 country, to one weekly — the cost being about the 

 the same. Here, in Minnesota, the farmer reads 

 the agricultural journal published in New York, 

 in the New England States, in Ohio, in Wisconsin, 

 and Illinois, and in Miimesota, as soon as we have 

 one. Most farmers thinTc they can not afford more 

 than three or four dollars a year for all of them ; 

 consequently they must be published monthly and 

 not weekly. The person who gets all his agricul- 

 tural reading from one monthly in this age, need 

 not be astonished if he does fall behind his neigh- 

 bors in agricultural knowledge. If my acquain- 

 tance would not subscribe for more than one, I 

 should certainly advise Mm to take the Genesee 

 Farmer. e. hodges. 



Marion jOhnM-ead Co., Minnesota. 



A PROPOSITION FOR A PRIZE ESSAY. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — Through the polite- 

 ness of Dr. W. W. Philips, I have received the 

 January, February, and March numbers of the 

 Genesee Farmer, and I am so well pleased Avith it, 

 that I must be pardoned for expressing my opinion 

 of it through its columns. It has been my practice 

 for ten years past to take and read carefully at least 

 three agricultural journals, and I regret that the 

 Genesee Farmer has not been one of them. I 

 scrible for all I take, too. 



I am pleased to find that you have such a host of 

 able, ■practical contributors — writers who under- 

 stand what it takes to contribute agricultural 

 improvement. I pledge you my word, that I 

 would not give a red copper for a system of plan- 

 tation economy which does not contemplate the 

 annual increase of the fertility of the soil. All 

 other systems are dangerous humbugs. God frowns 

 upon the man who, with impunity, exhausts the 

 soil that supports him, and is to support his pos- 

 terity — the man who has no higher aim in life than 

 to pocket the dollar, at the expense of coming gen- 

 erations. 



You keep this subject — the improvement of the 

 soil — prominently before your ■ readers. This is 

 right. That is the object of every truly valuable 

 agricultural journal. And the improvement of the 

 former's mind, as well as his soil, is not left out of 

 the question. Well, they are inseparably connected. 

 Improve the mind on rural affairs, and the improve- 

 ment of the soil will follow in the wake. I must 

 do something too. I must try to leave the world 

 better than I found it. Let me therefore make a 

 proposition to your readers, to this effect. I pro- 

 pose to be one of twenty who will give $5 each to 

 the writer of the best essay on the improvement of 

 exhausted lands, to be published in the Genesee 

 Farmer the present year, the premiuiiis to be 

 awarded by a committee of three, chosen by the 

 editor of the Genesee Farmer. 



Now, who will respond? Who feels like doing 

 something for the agricultural press, and the agri- 

 cultural public? Speak out, one and all. If we 

 get $200, we will give $100 of it to the man who 

 the present year may make a series of agricultural 

 experiments of the greatest utility to the rural 



world. C. D. DAEMON. 



Edwards Z><poi, Miss., March 1S5S. 



