m - im — igxu iTf M ! ■' * ' ? » j «a«»^wgg^«w 



178 



Sl)c farmers iftontljl j) fatsitor . 



From the Albany Cultivator. 

 M eans of advancing the Interest of the Farmer. 



Eds. Cultivator— Whatever will destroy the 

 fondness for change, and create, a thirst for n 

 scientific knowledge of his business— whatever 

 will gratify such thirst in the highest degree, at 

 the least possible expense— whatever will give 

 him the most correct knowledge of the effect ot 

 his labor, when preparing the soil and putting in 

 his seed— whatever will create in him a true 

 taste for his business, a proper pride and self- 

 respect, which follows a suitable education in all 

 other business and professions— that which will 

 enable him to observe the sublime and beautiful 

 operations of nature, and fit him for converse 

 with her, that he may receive her promises in 

 advance oi his toils, with a certainty of a cor- 

 responding reward, instead of a sickly hope, 

 stimulated by the flattery of chance, will be 

 found among the best means to advance the in- 

 terest of the farmer. There is no other pursuit 

 that more requires preparatory knowledge, than 

 that of tilling the ground ; any other business 

 may depend upon experience alone, better than 

 that of farming; as the result of experiments 

 with the soil cannot be known oftener than once 

 a year, it requires more than a life-time, perhaps, 

 to establish any one fact, unless directed by a 

 well grounded theory; then they become the 

 most important auxiliaries to science, in extend- 

 ing the bounds of correct knowledge in the 

 most important of all arts. 



For the older portion of the farming commu- 

 nity, such as could not bo expected to attend ag- 

 ricultural schools, fanners' associations might be 

 formed in every town, which should support an 

 extensive agricultural library, situated in a cen- 

 tral part of the community, where regular meet- 

 ings might be held, and such subjects discussed, 

 relating to the object of the association as would 

 be found most pleasant and profitable, avoiding 

 always political and religious controversies. If 

 no public speaker should be present, a free in- 

 terchange of opinions, in a familiar conversation, 

 would no doubt, be found pleasant and of great 

 utility in combining the experience and know- 

 ledge of the whole association— not for the ben- 

 efit of one— but each and every member present; 

 and if the proceedings should be published, as 

 has frequently been done in similar associations 

 which have already been established, much good 

 will be derived from them by other communities 

 and individuals. The place of meeting would 

 be a kind of Farmer's Exchange, where each 

 would be able to learn the state of the market 

 among themselves, and by each taking an agri- 

 cultural periodical, they would learn the state of 

 the market elsewhere; which, in addition to 

 other valuable information, would prepare them 

 to meet the most wily speculator; who might 

 wish to buy their produce for less than its fail- 

 value, on bis own grounds. 



But for the rising generation, there should be 

 an agricultural department in all our common 

 schools and academies at least, and perhaps col- 

 leges, which, together with such other purely 

 agricultural institutions as may be found neces- 

 sary, would make our country, within a few 

 years, blossom like the rose, and through the 

 medium of our telegraphs, railroads and steam- 

 boats, diffuse a spirit of improvement over the 

 whole habitable globe. 



It is plain that the most essential knowledge 

 should be first acquired; therefore, a piece of 

 ground should be a'.tached to every district 

 school, especially in the country, and tilled by 



the students, under the superintendence of a 

 competent agriculturist. The common objection 

 to this seems to be the strongest argument that 

 can show the necessity of it; the fact that it is 

 almost impossible to prevent the destruction of 

 every thing about the premises of a common 

 school, by the mischief-loving and careless part 

 of the attendants, shows the necessity of an ear- 

 ly check to that now all pervading and most 

 pernicious propensity to destroy public property, 

 or any other that immediate self-interest does 

 not prompt us to protect. This propensity nev- 

 er can be more successfully corrected, with less 

 pain and expense, than in early youth, nor is it 

 more impracticable than to correct any other ha- 

 bit, which if not restrained early, amounts in the 

 older urchin to an uneasy propensity, resem- 

 bling that which causes a horse to bite a fence 

 or shade tree, or any thing within reach of the 

 bridle which restrains him from running at large. 

 It would be placing our species on a level with 

 the horse, to maintain that this disposition could 

 not be successfully treated, if taken early and 

 properly managed. 



In striking out a course to "advance the inter- 

 est of the farmer," all narrow-minded policy 

 should be set aside. If it should be thought ne- 

 cessary to endow an extensive State agricultural 

 institution, it could not interfere in the least, 

 with a similar department in our common schools 

 and academies, neither could one do away with 

 the necessity of the olher. Instead of the object 

 of one being accomplished by the other, the util- 

 ity of each should and would be taught and 

 learned in the other; thus would they harmon- 

 ize, like the high and low notes in a most de- 

 lightful piece of music, touched by the fingers 



of nature herself. 



DEAN. 



The Loafer. 



I haint no home on earth, 



JNor no where else 1 e'pose ; 

 Misfortune follows me 



Where'er about 1 goes ; 

 I s'pose that when I dies, 



From Satan I'll be driven, 

 And made to loaf about 



Outside the walls of Heaven, 

 With none to lake me in — 



No friendly hand to greet me — 

 JNo voice to cheer me up, 



Nor a darned soul to treat me. 



Cotton on Red River. — The Washington 

 (Ark.) Telegraph states that the whole amount of 

 cotton to be shipped from above the raft this year 

 will not reach (3000 bales. Last year over 25,000 

 bales were shipped. If the crop had not been 

 destroyed by the overflow, the amount of cotton 

 raised in the region above the raft would have 

 reached forty thousand bales. 



California Coat of Arms. — California has 

 prepared a coal of ai ms and a seal. Upon the 

 foreground is a grizzly hear feeding upon a clus- 

 ter of grapes. Upon the right is a representa- 

 tion of Minerva, holding the Gorgon shield in 

 one hand, and a spear in the other. The reverse 

 is the representation of the miner with pick and 

 spade and implements of mining, toiling for the 

 precious treasure. In the middle, a river, in 

 which are seen steamboats. In the distance is 

 the snow-clad tops of the Sierra Nevada ; and 

 on the top the motto, " Eureka," (I have found it.) 



The Way to Get Rich. 



The only way by which capital can increase 

 is by saving. If you spend as much as you get 

 you will never be richer than you are. " 'Tis 

 not what a man gets, but what he saves," that 

 constitutes his wealth. Go, learn the first two 

 rules of arithmetic, learn addition and sub- 

 traction. Add to your present capital any 

 amount you please — subtract the sum which you 

 add, and tell me if the last amount will not be - 

 the same as the first. Every merchant should 

 in every year of his life, make some addition to 

 his capital. You may get but little, and then 

 next year you will get more, for you will have 

 the profit on the sum you save. There is no 

 royal road to wealth any more than to geometry. 

 The man who goes on spending all he gets, and 

 expects that by some lucky hit he shall be raised 

 to wealth will most likely sink into poverty, — or 

 in case of adverse fortune, he has no resource ; 

 whereas by economy, he may lay by a stock that 

 may serve as a provision in case of adversity. 

 A man says that the times are hard, the sea- 

 sons are bad — the laws are bad. Be it so; 

 but, were the case reversed, it would make no 

 difference to you. Look at home: you spend 

 more than you get ; how can you be otherwise 

 than poor ? How many a respectable family 

 have fallen from a high station, which they 

 worthily and honorably filled, because neither 

 the gentleman nor the lady had been familiar 

 with the first four rules of arithmetic. Had 

 they known how to compare their receipts with 

 their expenditures, and to see which preponder- 

 ated, all their difficulties might have been avoid- 

 ed. A very small acquaintance with the princi- 

 ples of commerce is sufficient to teach that if a 

 man spends more than he receives, he will ne- 

 cessarily fall into poverty. — Hunt's Merchants' 1 

 Magazine. 



Why is not the Farmer properly Estima- 

 ted ? — It is a lamentable fact, that the fanner 

 does not occupy that elevated position in society 

 that his occupation justly entitles him to. He 

 is looked upon as a being quite below the lawyer, 

 physician, divine, artist, merchant or even a 

 merchant's clerk. To be a farmer, is to be no- 

 body, a mere clodhopper, a digger of bogs, and 

 ditches, and dung heaps, and free to wallow in 

 the " free soil " he cultivates, provided he never 

 seeks to elevate himself above that position, to 

 what the world is pleased to term "good socie- 

 ty." Hence comes the desire of " the boys "to 

 escape, not so much the drudgery of their em- 

 ployment, as from the idea that they are looked 

 upon and estimated as mere drudge.*. 



What blindness, folly, and false philosophy is 

 this ! The result of these false premises is, that 

 the " professions" are crowded to the starvation 

 point ; clerks not only go begging, but become 

 beggars, or worse ; merchants are multiplied, 

 and good, old-fashioned labor is going out of 

 fashion. 



While we would give all due honor to the • 

 professions, the farmer, who is the producer of 

 all, both in food and raiment, and adds to the 

 comfort and sustenance of the human family, 

 need not feel that he is below occupations that 

 gain their support from the lolly, pride, misery, 

 or wickedness of their fellow creatures. 



If the aspirations of farmers were half as 

 strong to elevate their sons as farmers, as it is 

 to make them merchants, or professional men, 

 and, perchance, loafers, we should soon be 

 taught to look to the agricultural class for the 

 best bred, as well as best fed men in Amer- 

 ica. — Barman's Address. 



Philosophy. — Experimental philosophy is said 

 to be asking a young lady to marry you. 



Looking indifferent and say you were only in 

 fun when she refuses you, is natural philosophy. 



Committing suicide under like circumstances, 

 is moral philosophy. 



Life. — Life is but a walk over a moor, and 

 the wild flowers that grow upon our path are 

 too few not to gather them when they come 

 within sight, even though it may cost us a step 

 or two aside. It's all in the day's journey, and 

 we shall get home at last. 



