THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



181 



or let every one show to the worlil, that he has 

 not forpotten that he lias a tniiul, becaiiso he has 

 a i'ariii, aii<J works on it. In this respect the 

 a!|ric'iiltiir.ili,«t, liki; all others, must stand on his 

 own in 'lii.-, ami Iw .stiniatci! acconlingly. 

 . Wliii'' iin this point. I wonlil i;laclly whisper a 

 few thin-s in tin- rais <i|' lai nh-r's" ilaM!,'ht(;rs, 

 though I woiilJ nut iinwisdv nir.Idi.. uilh tirk- 

 lish subjects. I would that lll.' Iir;,lll,lid hlU.I- 

 ens of the farm hou.se .-luuld diil\ i-.-^iiniatr iheii- 

 position ill life. Tliey have been too ready to 

 think that the daughters of the tradesman, ortlie 

 professioiml man, or of those of great wealth, 

 were a little better than themselves, because, I'or- 

 sooth, the hand may be a little whiterand smaller, 

 and the waist more waspish. They may perhaps 

 from their local position get a little earlier the 

 latest kink in the fashions, which change you 

 know so rapidly, that a man who lives some way 

 from the village must run his liorse like a steam- 

 engine, or his article will be all out of lashion 



tercourse, too, with those of all classes, which is 



bors are nearer, than among fanners where they 

 are more scattered, they may e.\hibit more ease 

 and h-eedom in manners. Now to what do these 

 things in reality amount ? Todelicacy of person, 

 a ivnspish waist, fisliion, and ease — not one of 

 them more than skin dei'p, inid t\\o of them 

 most undesirable and cheidedly had circumstan- 

 ces in their condition — to wit — delicucy ot' per- 

 son, and no middle, 'i'hey are too often the sign 

 of.a constitution absolutely unfitted to bear the 

 duties and trials of wife, mother, and head of the 

 household. They point with mournful signifi- 

 cancy to an early shroud, and tell too often a tale 

 of sadness and frailty as the lot of their ])os- 

 terity. 



Qji the other hand, what do we generally see 

 in the farmer's home to balance these things of 

 wdiich we have spoken ? There is usually firm- 

 ness of constitution and strength to discharge 

 life's duties, and endure its trials. There is usu- 

 ally health that is not prostrated by a dew-dro|), 

 or laid in the sepulchre by a snow-flake; but 

 shall descend the inestimable l)le.ssing of gen- 

 erations yet to be. 



Though some may lightly esteem these mat- 

 ters, they are of vital tnomeut to the health, the 

 cheerfuluess, the happiness and good of ourselves 

 and our kind. 



It is hut a few years since tlie attention of the 

 public mind has been directed to the melancholy 

 deterioration of tin; health and strength of the 

 human race ; yet it is a plain truth, and one we 

 are morally hound to consider, or I would not 

 name it — that while there is not a farmer here, 

 who would not be very careful to improve his 

 stock of every kind, there are [>erhai)s very few 

 who would bestow one thouiiht on this point in 

 regard to their own race. With the light that has 

 been thrown njion this subject from the press 

 within a few years, this is wicked. It is suicidal. 

 And it is beginning to receive the attention it 

 demands. I need not go farther and say wktrt 

 our race must look for its redemptioii from phys- 

 ical deterioration — for to the gentlemen "a hint 

 ii3 better than a hunch;" and to the ladies " « 

 word to the wise is sulficieiit." 



Another point in which I would that the yeo- 

 manry of the land should rightly estimate their 

 position has regard to its moral influence. It 

 may be doubted if there is any other vocation so 

 tiaturally and abundantly fraught in all its ten- 

 dencies with good morai influences. The farmer 

 more than all others is led to feel his dependence 

 on God ; to realise that all his blessings are di- 

 rectly tiom Him who scndeth the springs among 

 the hills, that go down into the valleys, who 

 looseth the hands of Orion and giveth the meet 

 influences of the Pleiades. He is led to feel that 

 they are the gifts of Him who giveth summer 

 and winter, seed-time and harvest — who createth 

 the hills from his chambers, who is the Father of 

 the rain and hegettelh the drops of the dew — 

 who maketh grass to grow for the cattle upon a 

 thousand hills, and herb for the service of man 

 — who coveretli the valleys all over with corn 

 and filleth us with the finest of wheat. 



Nor is dependence on God the only lesson the 

 farmer's vocation teaches him. When the pres- 

 ent season arrives and vellow autumn pours her 

 horn of |,Ieiity all over'the land— when the full 

 sheaves are bound and cariieiud ui), and the 



golden ears are traced and the fruitage done, and 

 the full cattle gambolled in what were forbidden 

 fields, until the meadows were shorn and the 

 crops harvested — wln'ii thcfse things are, the far- 

 mer whose hiait is not filled with gratitude and 

 praise ami love to llim who gives him all, is not 

 worthy of land enough to support one green 

 sod u|ion his grave. But he does feel these emo- 

 tions. And '■ taught by that Power that pities" 

 him, he learns to pity the destitute and distribute 

 to the needy ; showing hut his love to the Father 

 by loving his children. He may not give them 

 money, but he gives them such as God gives 

 -llim. 



Again, the farmer is exempt from many temp- 

 tations. Upon his own acres he hath his king- 

 dom and his home. He is seldom drawn from 

 home, that sanctuary of all good influences, to 

 the habitual lounging places of village idlers. 

 Such temptations is he removed from ; and those 

 among firmcrs who are subject to them, have 

 usually become so, befiire they had a farm, or a 

 house. .\ie there not fewer crimes among them 

 in [)i(iportion to their numbers, than among any 

 other class of people ? If so, it establishes the 

 good moral influences of their vocation. 



Again, the farmer's .vocation reads him every 

 year the lesson of human life. Each spring he 

 beholds all nature germinating, budding, bursting 

 into bloom and beauty. Each summer hath its 

 fiilness of crowded vegetation and teeming luxu- 

 riancy. Then conieth the season of the sear 

 and yellow leaf, all laden with fruits, like the 

 coming age of man, with wisdom and e.xperi- 

 ence. And .soon the falling leaf the withered 

 herbage and chilling hosts, until winter, with 

 her icy fetters, binds up the waters, and with her 

 snowy mantle enshrouds the dying year and lays 

 it toVest till the resurrection of another spring. 

 Jt is a lesson like unto that which Jesus taught 

 when he pronounced the field the world, the 

 reapers the angels, and the harvest the end of 

 the world ; like, too, to that of an Apostle and 

 of Jesus both, when they spoke of the kernel of 

 corn, or it may chance of wheat, which is not 

 tpiickened except it die. 



Yet one more moral influence, is ever, as a 

 page of the hand invisible, before the farmer's 

 eye. He beholds all nature fulfilling its mission ; 

 diligently, devotedly accomplishing that for which 

 it was designed— every herb yielding seed afier 

 its kind, and every tjci; after its kind, as God 

 appointed. It askilli of him — art thou too fulfill- 

 ing thy Maker's will? art thou too like the green 

 blade and the s[)ringing grass improving each 

 moment till the winter of death cometh ? 



But I would not weary your patience, nor 

 would I on this occasion give you any more of a 

 iecffion than your vocation teaches us with the 

 voice of a God of love. 



In conclusion — I will only add a few brief re- 

 marks on the importance of the farming interest ; 

 there is none of greater, or even of equal im- 

 portance. A good agricultural people may sup- 

 |)ort themselves comfortably and happily even 

 though they should be cut off from intercourse 

 with all other nations. They may be surrounded 

 by enemies, and every harbor blockaded, and yet 

 have the means of living well within themselves. 

 The produce of the fiuan can never go out of 

 fashion. It will always be called for and always 

 desired. It is at the "foundation of all other oc- 

 cupations. Without the farmer's labor and pro- 

 duce here and elsewhere, neither the merchant 

 the mechanic, the artificer, the professional man 

 nor any other, can carry on his avocations, for he 

 could not be adequately sustained and led. Farm- 

 ing, good larming, is better by all odds to a conn 

 try tlian the richest mines of gold that were ever 

 opened. Its gains are just so much wealth cre- 

 ated from the earth. Thev are so much increase 

 of its capital every year. "Every cullivate.l field, 

 every shooting bla<Ie that grows therein, and in 

 this vicinity, every tree of the fore.«t, as well as 

 those bearing fruits, is each moment of time add- 

 ing to the wealth ancf capital of the country. It 

 is'the best kind of capital. It gives rise to no 

 vices or evils in its jiursnit and production, hut 

 on the contrary tends to the increase of health 

 and the promotion of every moral virtue, as well 

 na of a good and healthful iiopulation of the 

 country. 1 conceive it would be the true policy 

 of a state and nation to lend whatever aid may 

 be in their power to bestow, consistent with other 

 interests, to the advancement of its agriculture, 



and the enriching, improvement and cidture of 

 every acre of land within its borders. Such a 

 country would have wealth and plenty beyond 

 estimation. It would be found in every road, 

 upon every hill and plain, and in every valley 

 and forest. If it were wise and expedient to 

 legislate for any one class of a community, as a 

 class, I would hold up high my hand for that of 

 the farmers ; and I would hold up both hands 

 high against legislation in favor of other classes, 

 so long as the sterling interests ot agriculture 

 are neglected. Farming actually enriches the 

 very earth and soil we live upon, and the whole 

 are benefitted. Its blessings are like the influ- 

 ences of the sun and the growth of all things — 

 imperceptible at any one time, yet universal, and 

 in the aggregate beyond estimation. In short, to 

 till the ground was the original, God-appointed 

 duty, earliest given to man; and in Him who is 

 unchangeable, it shall he the last to be forsakeii, 

 or lightly esteemed. Nay — this shall not be, 

 while out of the earth cometh Bread. 



From tlie Farmer's Cabinet. 

 American Farming. 

 Mr. Editor, — The present sunshine and very 

 pleasant season of leisure remind me of the 

 promise which I partially made in my last, to 

 take up the subject on the comparative difference 

 between the pursuit of agriculture in this coun- 

 try and England. To do this, a person should 

 have had experience in that line of life in the 

 old country as well as a knowledge of the modes 

 and customs in this, and the climates of both ; 

 and with these the writer believes he is tolerably 



It is generally acknowledged that the differ- 

 ence in the price of labor between the two coun- 

 tries is the only drawback with which'lhe farmer 

 in this has to contend. Now, in England, it is 

 customary to calculate the value of things in the 

 firming business by the sum |)aid for rent; thus, 

 if a larin \s well-situated and very near an excel- 

 lent market, these advantages are said to be 

 worth half a rent extra; and if it he well water- 

 ed, healthy, with a dry and early soil, in a good 

 neighborhood, well fenced, with good dwellings 

 and extensive homestall, it is put down as worth 

 half a rent more, or double the value of the same 

 quantity of land ill-situated and badly circiim- 

 stanceil ; and I know of no better mode of esti- 

 mating the advantages to be derived from pecul- 

 iar circumstances in this country. Well, then, at 

 what shall we fix the difference between the 

 value of farm labor in this country over that of 

 England ? shall we put it at once to three rents? 

 Then all that we have to do is to show that the 

 advantages peculiar to this country are equal to 

 three times the rent paid in England, and then 

 we start lair. 



In the first place, rents in this country are not, 

 on an average, one-half so high as they are in 

 England — here is one rent. 2d, the forwardness 

 of the seasons, by which the farmer is enabled 

 to secure his crops, both hay and grain, so early 

 as July, during long days and fine weatlier, often 

 performing the labor of two days in one, with 

 the advantage of immediately re-cropping his 

 land on the removal of his first crops for the use 

 of himself and his out-door stock in the coming 

 winter, with a moral certainty of obtaining a 

 season of sufficient length to bring them to full 

 maturity, and after that to enjoy sufficient space 

 to winter-fallow every acre of unemployed land 

 during the fine weather of autumn — all this is 

 cheap at another rent. 3d, then the freedom 

 fj-om tythe, which although it is said to amount 

 to a tenth only of the produce, might be .safely 

 put down at a fifth, for the clergy bear no part o"f 

 the extra expense, labor of draining, fencing, 

 manuring, clearing, or extra fallowing and im- 

 proving, nor, although they cany off a tenth of 

 the crop, do they ever return one tenth of the 

 seed with which to re-sow the land for the next 

 year's crop, but take their share after it has been 

 cut, bound, and made fit to carry at the expense 

 of the farmer^thus carrying away a tenth of the 

 farmer's labor as well as a tenth of the produce. 

 And if to tythes we add church rates, Easter of- 

 fering.s, Christmas dues — all these, with other 

 taxe.s, and rates, and duties which fall due every 

 day of a inan's life, in the shape of ta.xes upon 

 houses, windows, horses, carriages, servants, 

 roads, and lares upon these ttixes—a\\ this is far 

 too cheap at another rent. .\iid alter this come 



