40 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



<if BU ; and the New Hampshire man must have had capital 

 or he could not have found yam and paid for making the 

 xtocliings. But " capital has hitherto been in the service 

 nf ihe evil one." Rather strange business for the evil one 

 to be employed witli, 



■" Interest is a contrivance of the devil." If so. he has 

 dono .some good, for it has been the means of thousands of 

 active, industrious men to procure capital which enabled 

 them to earn the comforts, and become the owners of, an 

 iadependent home, and productive members of community. 

 Money is only a representative of wealth, and wealth is 

 the fruit of productive industry. If A. saves the value of 

 fifty days work from his year's earnings, and B. needs the 

 value of it to enable him to commence business, what in- 

 justice, cruelty, or inhumanity is there in B's compensut- 

 lag A. for the use of liis (ifty day's labor, which is interest 

 fjr tnoupy. If the lenders of money received no compen- 

 sation, there would be no money to lend, and the enter- 

 prizing community would not have the means to carry on 

 thoir business; and society would not have the benefit of 

 Cheir skilful industry. 



But thttse poor laborers, who are so much abused by the 

 inhuman capitalist and money lender, are not money bor- 

 rowers ; tliey pay no interest ; the devil's contrivance 

 does not tax tlicm. It is the active and enterprising men, 

 ((who are called capitalists) who borrow money and pay in- 

 terest : and if he is such an inhuman being, it matters lit- 

 tle if he should be shaved by the devil's contrivance. — 

 Such ore tlie facts settled by the experience of all civiUzed 

 society. 



But, ray dear sir. I can say, with sincerity, that I believe 

 you ha i no intentions of interfering with the active enter- 

 prize of community, when you penned those articles. — 

 Your laudable zeal for literary acquirements, and your 

 great love of Agricultural Chemistry, has led you to see in 

 vivid Rolors, the evils which exist in society ; and that 

 they originate in the unequal division of property, and to 

 »emedy tiiem it is only necessary to instruct. 



A Laborer. 



Blonroe County, January 14, 1847. 



The Farmer.— His Position, Responsibiiities, 

 and Duties. 



NUMBER SI.K. 



There are in the State of New York over 

 11,000 School Districts, giving a school house 

 within siglit of almost every farm in this wide 

 domain. It is a sublime spectacle to behold a 

 great State so dotted over with places for mental 

 discipline ; but let us extend the inquiry, who 

 compose the trustees and officers of these school 

 districts, who have control over them in ninety- 

 nine cases out of a hundred '? They are farm- 

 ers ; and it is no common responsibility — no or- 

 dinary privilege — which the agriculturists of tl e 

 State have thus cast upon them. The education 

 of the masses, the mental training of the millions 

 is in their hands, and under their direction. — 

 But let us now, for a moment, turn from the gen- 

 eral to the specific, and see if we cannot find in 

 these nurseries of learning a convenient and 

 most potent agency for the elevation and im- 

 provement of agriculture. Who can estimate 

 the influence of the 11,000 .schools in the State 

 of New York in disseminating agricultural in- 

 formation, and in fitting and j)i'eparing the sons 

 of farmers to pursue intelligently and success- 

 fully, the noblest of all pursuits, viz: that of till- 

 ing the soil ? And, I ask, may not this mighty 

 power be used ? May not Agricultural Chemis- 

 try be taught in our district schools? May not 



the nature and properties of soils be learned in 

 them 1 May not the nature and adaptation of 

 soils, the objects, uses and influence of manures, 

 be taught in them ? May not the best and most 

 approved methods of cuhivation, of rotating crops, 

 be matters of instruction in them ? May not ev- 

 ery school district in the State have all the appa- 

 ratus necessary for analyzing the soil of every 

 farm in such district, and that too, without taxa- 

 tion, by reserving for a year or two a portion of 

 t le library fund ? All these interrogatories 

 must. I think, be answered in the affirmative. — 

 And few, I think, will deny their practicability. 

 Who compose the great, the overwhelming mass 

 of scholars in the district school ? Who but the 

 farmers sons ? In the winter the large boys at- 

 tend, and there it is that, in connection with oth- 

 er studies, they might pursue those above indica- 

 ted ; and having thus studied the principles du- 

 ring the winter, they are prepared, during the 

 summer, to apply, by practical experiment, and 

 every day farming operation, the knowledge thus 

 acquired. I ask the farmers of the State to think 

 of this matter — to apply their minds seriously to 

 the subject. It does appear to me that no sys- 

 tem could be better devised, or better fitted for 

 its end, than our district school system, for the 

 aim and design above indicated. How easy for 

 the farmers to use the agency thus placed in 

 their own hands, and under their own keeping, 

 for the permeuient elevation and advancement of 

 their noble calling. We want more books than 

 we have, and those we shall soon have, for the 

 supply will be forthcoming if the demand ex- 

 ists ; and when we have these, let the farmers in 

 the different school districts see to it that the stu- 

 dies above alluded to be introduced into their 

 schools, and that they form a part of the course, 

 one of the permanent branches of education, in 

 their schools. How easy and simple the work, 

 the whole matter is in the hands of the farmers 

 themselves, and they must accomplish it. No 

 body else will look to it, for no one else is in- 

 terested in its consummation. The men who 

 till the soil, who labor with their hands, who 

 earn their own and the bread of the world, must 

 cast about and by their own efforts secure the 

 desirable end. The work is not to be accom- 

 plished in a day, nor a year ; it must be a slow 

 and gradual work, requiring time, patience and 

 perseverance. Let the farmers of the State fix 

 their eye on the work, and niarcii steadily, firm- 

 ly on, and they will reach it. 



I have observe \ in the papers some discussion 

 in regard to a University for western New York, 

 a thing in itself all right and proper ; but I would 

 say, and would urge as a high and solemn duty, 

 that the farmers of the State secure first, and as 

 of more consequence, than all things else in the 

 way of schools, Agricultural Colleges and Uni- 

 versities, or two or more high schools for the 

 State, where agriculture, theoretically and prac- 



