1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



41 



tically, shall be made the leading object of study 

 — the primary design of the institution. Such 

 schools the farmers need, as moral institutions, 

 where teachers may be made, and prepared, and 

 sent out over the State. I say, and so will the 

 farmers of the State generally say, God speed 

 all efforts for the education of the people. But 

 I do insist that, as farmers looking towards the 

 elevation of our own calling, the elevation of our 

 own class, we should go on right, nor turn to the 

 right hand nor the left, until we have secured 

 educational advantages for our own business, and 

 which shall of itself tend to lift up our occupa- 

 tion to its real dignity — its high and rightful po- 

 sition. Have not the farmers of New York 

 been almost criminally negligent on this point 1 

 Have they asked for their rights in the matter ? 

 — and of course they have not obtained them un- 

 asked. 



I here repeat, what I have before said, there 

 is nothing in the pursuit of agriculture to re- 

 strain or prevent the development, in all their 

 power, of the intellectual faculties — nothing to 

 stint the mind, or repress its noble aspirations. 



Let no farmer think so meanly of his pursuit, 

 and above all let no father imbibe so false a no- 

 tion, and as a consequence turn the child of his 

 hope away, to waste his energies and morals be- 

 hind a counter, or in a professional gentleman's 

 ofRce. I speak not this in disparagement of 

 merchants, lawyers or doctors ; but I speak what 

 I believe, when I say that nine out of ten of 

 f irmers sons who are placed in stores and offices, 

 either become enervated in mind and body, or 

 else become dissolute, dissipated, and a source of 

 grief to friends and parents. Better keep your 

 bright and active boys on your farms — better in- 

 ure them to labor — better educate them for far- 

 mers, mechanics and laboring men — than thus 

 expose them to moral and physical wreck and 

 and ruin. 



Education, as a means in the prosecution of 

 agriculture — as the great lever to lift the calling 

 up to its true and lofty position — should be rung 

 in the ears of the farmers of the State. Knowl- 

 edge is the corner stone upon which we must 

 build men of accurate, scientific information, 

 men of mental culture, and intellectual attain- 

 ments. This is what the farmers of the State 

 want, if they would lift up and hold up their 

 calling to its legitimate and commanding posi- 

 tion. Ignorance is incompatible with indepen- 

 dence. The farmer must be a hewer of wood 

 and a drawer of water, to other and vastly infe- 

 rior classes, or else he must come up to an equal- 

 ity in scientific acquirements and mental power 

 with them. Will any farmer deny that, as a 

 profession, we want at the present time, science, 

 with its light and improvements, in the culture 

 of our farms, and in the production of our 

 crops ? We must and we may grasp these po- 

 tent engines of power, and wield them with ir- 



resistible force in the up building, and in the sure, 

 steady and continued advance and prosperity of 

 our own great calling. D. A. Ogden. 



Penn Yan, Jan., 1847. 



Water for Stock in Winter. 



It is important that domestic animals should 

 have a constant supply of pure water in winter. 

 Many cattle in our country do not have this priv- 

 ilege, and thereby are left to suffer for the want 

 of it. In this section of country the land is sel- 

 dom supplied with running brooks, and therefore 

 cattle and sheep oftentimes have to do without 

 it. Some farmers of my acquaintance are of the 

 opinion that cattle will do well without water. — • 

 This I will admit ; but how will they look when 

 spring arrives ? Great care and attention is re- 

 quired of the farmer, in the winter season, in 

 taking care of his domestic animals. Cattle and 

 sheep should have good shelters, and a plenty of 

 good hay to eat and water to drink. Every far- 

 mer should have a well in his barn yard, or near 

 by, that his cattle and sheep may drink any time 

 they wish. Some farmers say that sheep will da 

 better not to have water than to have free access? 

 to it. This does not look reasonable, nor do I 

 believe any thing in it, because nature teaches us 

 better than to believe in such absurd doctrines- 

 Many farmers in this section winter their stock 

 exposed to the inclemencies of the weather, and 

 will not believe that protection is of any use. — 

 Those who practise this mode of wintering ani- 

 mals, are the very ones I have often tried in vain 

 to get to subscribe for the Genesee Farmer, So 

 long as such men will remain ignorant of the 

 facts published in the Farmer, just so long they 

 will follow in their predecessors foot-steps, and 

 keep sheep and cattle exposed to our long and 

 cold winters. If cattle do not have water their 

 food cannot do them as much good. The greater 

 part of the food that cattle and sheep eat in the 

 winter is very dry, and of course must create a 

 thirst for drink ; and if that thirst cannot be 

 quenched, they will grow poor, and by spring 

 look as if they had been pretty poorly wintered. 

 Cayuga Co., Jan., 1847. W. S. T. 



If we would enjoy ourselves we must take the 

 world as it is, mixed up with a thousand spots of 

 sunshine — a cloud here and there — a bright sky 

 — a storm to-day, calm to-morrow — the chill pier- 

 cing winds of autumn and the bland, reviving 

 air of summer. 



No man, says an exchange, should be ashamed 

 of the occupation which secures to him an hon- 

 est livelihood. 



In all your undertakings consider the end you , 

 have in view, and be sure it be really good, or 

 at least innocent. 



Take great care to fix right principles in your 

 mind, and often review them. 



