10 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



Jan. 15, lS3i. 



VULGAR ERRORS-NO. I. 



"Prick lite moon calf till be roar again.' — Shakspeare. 

 The incongruities of the human mind are so 

 manifold, and its discrepancies are so at vari- 

 ance with sober reason, established fact, and 

 eternal truths that the wild vagaries of one age 

 are no sooner exploded by its own research and 

 experience, than the next, seizing the mon- 

 strosities of the last in preference to their weli 

 established truths, hug them to their hearts, and 

 defend them as creeds, with all the zeal of fa- 

 natics. And it is a truth not to be denied, that 

 we profit but very liitlu by the knowledge and 

 experience of past times, and each succeeding 

 age has to arrive at ihe former's perfection by 

 the tedious process of experience and inven- 

 tion, and even then if unfavorably situated as 

 respects laws and governors, they not only re- 

 main stationary, but frequently retrograde in 

 moral, political, and philosophical science. 



Another of ihe palpable absurdities of our 

 natures, is that eternal shy larking of our minds 

 after something that we cannot comprehend, 

 or hardly figure to our glowing imaginations, 

 even when fancy runs wildin her most mettle- 

 some career; and that religion, society, or av- 

 ocation, that carries in its train the most "pomp 

 and circums'ance," pageantry, idle and unmea- 

 ning and imposing ceremonies, and dark and 

 undefined anticipations, has and ever will num- 

 ber the bulk of mankind as its votaries, — now 

 as ever, 



" Pleased with a rattle, tickled witi a straw." 

 The splendid trappings of the god of 

 war, has laid many a " tall fellow" low, who 

 Jiever would have thought of exposing himself 

 to the " mooving accidents of flood and field" 

 in Ins native "hodden gray." It is the great 

 engine by which kings maintain their power, 

 and priestcraft its influence. The gorgeous 

 mosque and ihe magnific nt Pagoda, are mure 

 powerful arguments, than the everlasting truths 

 of reason. The morgana of the mind is not 

 more deceptive ami illusive than lhat of the 

 vision. 



We look in t' e clouds, in the moon and the 

 stars for our motions and our fate, and many 

 an act of necessity and duty are left undone, 

 ltecause it is not right in the sign, or quarter of 

 the moon. The stars arc in fault fo r our vices, 

 and the clouds are fruitful sources of procras- 

 tination. 



In these enlightened days, is it not the cli- 

 max of absurdity, to suppose that the moon go- 

 verns the vegetable world, or lias any influence 

 on the animal. According to the prevailing pre 

 judioes, different grains and vegetables must 

 bo planled m different quarters of the moot 

 the garden esculents, when the moon is incroa- 

 iiimant! the grains when it is declining. Hogs 

 are to be killed near the full, and castration per- 

 formed near ihe wane. Sheep shorn in the 

 crescent near the change, ground manured in 

 the last quarter lhat weeds may not abound. — 

 Trees planted and grafted just after the full, 

 &c. Children arc to be weaned in one sign, 

 and their hair cut in another; and in fact it 

 would seem by the daily conduct of a majority 

 of mankind, that business of the greatest import 

 was put otT from day to day waiting for the si. 



and as the relics of the astrology of the ancients, 

 the Salem witchcraft of a later period, and the 

 grannyism of our own times, and only gains 

 credence with any class of men, even of the 

 must moderate capacities, by the ease and non- 

 cnalence with which they receive these chime- 

 ras, in preference to giving their mind the least 

 trouole of investigation, or even a question. 



In our next number, we shall examine the 

 propriety and probabilities, that the planets and 

 constellations, exercise any, or what, influence 

 on the matter of this globe ; and if to,what they 

 are. * 



CRANBERRIES. 



A new field is opon for speculation, to those 

 who have low lands, and it is hoped that some 

 of our Monroe farmers will be wise enough to 

 profit by it. The New England Farmer states 

 that Capt. Henry Hall, of Barnstable, has been 

 engaged for20 years in the cultivation of Cran- 

 berries; lhat his grounds have averaged for the 

 last ten years 70 bushels per acre, and t:tat 

 some seasons, he has had 100 bushels. " Mr. 

 F. A. Hayden of Lincoln, has gathered from! 

 his farm, this season, 40U bushels of cranber- 

 ries, which he sold in this city (Boston) for 

 $600." Now, where is the propriety of far 

 mers emigrating to the Michigan, or to the 

 Rocky Mountains, when tbey can be compen- 

 sated for their labor in this manner, in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of our large cilies, where ihe 

 comforts of life, and the blessings of civiliza 

 tion are so easily obtained. Now let us look a 

 httle further into this business — If we go to 

 raising cranberries, where shall we find a mar- 

 ket? This is a very natural question, but is 

 easily answered; go.where Mr. Hayden went, 

 if you are not suited with the New York mar- 

 ket. 



Cranberries, unlike most other kinds of small 

 fruits, are capable of being transported to Eu 

 ripe, without suffering by the voyage, and we 

 have seen American cranberries sellmg in Lon 

 don at eight dollars per bushel, as fresh. as 

 when first gathered from the marshes Now 

 let us compare this kind of farming, with rais- 

 ing wheat in the northern part of Ohio, and 

 Michigan, where we believe the price the last 

 season, has been about 40 cents per bushel, 

 and the produce 25 bushels per acre. We will 

 suppose that the cultivation of one acre of 

 land in either crop to be the same, but this is 

 for ihe sake of brevity, and is in favor of the 

 wheat: wo will allow the wheat to he threshed 

 for every tenth bushel, and that the cranberries 

 cost twenty cents per bushel for harvesting. 

 The produce of one acre of wheat, '25 bush 



gan ; now this is all well; t* ere are some peo- 

 ple who seem to require care to make them 

 happy, and thus by emigration, they can in- 

 crease their cares twenty fold, on the same 

 amount of business. 



TO FARMERS. 



As the forepart of winter has been mild, i'. 

 should occur to you that bees eat more during 

 mild than cold weather; they should he looked 

 to — perhaps some of the late swarms want 

 feeding; and a few pounds of honey, given 

 them after they have consumed their stock, 

 may save the swarm. Do not give it to them 

 in such a manner that they will get into it — 

 put it on dry comb or on pieces of soft bread. 

 There is no stock pays better for the attention 

 you bestow upon them than bees, and none 

 suffer sooner by neglect, therefore look to them 

 often. 



els at 48 cents is 



Cultivating same 

 Threshing same 



Net profit 



$5 



1 



6 



*«0 



to come right, a contingency that seems never Thus it would appear that the net proffit of 

 ■to arrive. Now, kind reader, we are sceptics one acre of cranberries in N«w England, would 

 enough to consider signs and times, as meta- be equal to twenty-one acres and a quarter of 

 physical humkqg and astrological nonsejise;, |l wheat in the northern part of Ohio and Michi- 



Thc produce of one acre of cranberries 70 



bushels at $1,50 is 



Cultivating same 

 Packing same 



Net profit 



$6 

 14 



CO 



20 



$85 



INVENTION FOR REPUBLICS. 



A new kind of Bee Hive has lately been in 

 vented, which promises to be of great utility 

 to those engaged in raising bees. It consists 

 of a number of cells, about the size of small 

 beehives, or about from twelve to fifteen inch- 

 es square, and from fifteen to eighteen inches 

 deep, arranged like the pigeon holes in a wri- 

 ting desk, or a number of bee-hives piled upon 

 their sides. The number of these cells may 

 be according to the taste of the builder : say 

 four rows up and down, and ten long, making 

 forty cells. These should be enclosed in a 

 tight house, of sufficient dimensions to allow a 

 oerson room to pass freely before and behind 

 them, and they should be supported at such a 

 distance from the floor as to be convenient for 

 examination. In front of these there should 

 be a number of small holes made through the 

 side of the building, sufficient fur the bees to 

 pass in and out. In the back end nf each cell 

 there may be a slide, or door, for the purpose 

 of taking out the honey. The building, if 

 made of wood, should be carefully made, not 

 allowing cracks or joints, through which mice 

 cuuld enter, and a door in tlio rear for the kee- 

 ner to go in and out at. Into these cells a 

 number of swarms of bees are introduced, and 

 it is said that they work as well as in hives of 

 common construction — that they never leave 

 the hcuse by swarms, as long as there is an 

 empty cell for the young colony to emigrate 

 to. There is no necessity for destroying the 

 bees to gettbe honey. They are not troubled 

 with the moth, where the house is tightly 

 made, and where the door is well secured, they 

 are not so liable to be r-rhbed by — man, 



O" It is a fact worth recurring to, that the 

 ti pier, and those generally intemperate, arc 

 not fond of fruits, particularly those of fine and 

 delicate flavors, while temperate persons, fe- 

 males aud children, possessing unvitiated pal- 

 ates, have tastes and propensities directly the 

 contrary ; and observe it when yon will, the 

 debauched, the intemperate, and the boorish, 

 care but little about the garden, the flower, or 

 the fruit tree There is nothing in their coirr- 

 posilion that is congenial with their natures. 

 but to the intellectual, thinking, and unsophis- 

 ticated lover of natnre, and its productions, 

 the garden and the field is the paradise of earth; 

 and its blooming, verdant, and fragrant inhab- 

 itants, the Fairies and Uouris created to ad- 

 minister to their necessities, pleasure and pro. 

 fit. 



