204 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Sept. 



and the generous offer to give from one to five 

 hundred dollars toward establishing an Agricul- 

 tural School. At first sight, there would seem 

 to be little difficulty in raising !ft6,000 to pur- 

 chase 100 acres of good land, as a foundation for 

 such an institution. One half of our subscribers 

 giving a dollar a piece, or 600 of them contribu- 

 ting ten dollars each, would secure the object. — 

 ]f a farm was purchased and held by trustees for 

 a public institution, we have good reason to be- 

 lieve that the Legislature would give $6,000 

 more to erect suitable buildings and place the 

 school on a permanent basis. But they would 

 hardly be justified to grant public funds to erect 

 buildings on any man's private property ; nor 

 will individuals be likely to give money lor such 

 purpose. But the advantages of uniting the study 

 of analytical chemistry and other sciences with 

 practical agriculture are not appreciated. The 

 popular mind seems not to grasp the immense 

 benefits of giving to 100 young men the use of 

 one acre each, to cultivate under judicious in- 

 struction at school, and thus aid them in paying 

 for their board and tuition, by having all that 

 their best skill can produce, while learning both 

 the science and art of agriculture. Men will 

 not believe that any improvement in education 

 on the common collegiate system adopted more 

 than a century ago, is attainable. We have long 

 contended that an important improvement in the 

 education of farmers and mechanics is entirely 

 practical — but what can one man alone do in 

 opposition to popular prejudice, without capital 

 sufficient to found an institution ? We have 

 had no difficulty in getting pupils. The only 

 •bstacle has been to get land and suitable build- 

 ings for boarding, lodging, rooms for study, re- 

 citation, museum, cabir et and laboratory. These 

 necessary conveniences we never had. Nor can 

 they be hired at any reasonable rate. 



The time will come when the study of the 

 natural sciences that have a direct bearing on 

 rural affairs, will be jopular in this state. They 

 will be taught in all our academies, colleges, 

 and high schools, as well as at institutions estab- 

 lished on purpose to connect their investigation 

 with the art of tillage, fruit culture, &c. But, 

 before academies can teach analytical chemistry 

 in its application to agrioulture, their teachers 

 must obviously go into some Laboratory and 

 learn the trade. And where can a Laboratory 

 to teach practically agricultural chemistry be so 

 cheaply maintained as on a good farm where 

 students can work three or four hours a day at 

 some healthful rural labor, and thus pay a por- 

 tion of their expenses ? Who will deny that in- 

 dustry and economy are important lesions to 

 be taught to boys^ and young men ? We are 

 right in this matter, but shall not pursue the sub- 

 ject. J ' 



Don't forget to attend y^ ur County Fair, and 

 become a competitor for the premiums. 



Salt for Plum Trees. 



Judge Cheever has called on us to say that he \\a^ lost 

 three plum trees in consequence of putting salt rownd them. 

 The trees were from two to three inches in diameter, and 

 he used two quarts of salt to each. He was induced to ap- 

 ply the salt in consequence of having seen it recommended 

 as a remedy for certain diseases in.lUe i)lum tree, and as a 

 piomolive, also, of their growth and thrift. As to the quan- 

 ti y he tlwnghl he had seen it advised in the Cnltivator. — 

 In this we think he must have been mistaken, as we can 

 find nothing of the kind. Jn the Horticulturist for Deccr - 

 her, is a communication from S. A. Shurti.eff, Rl. D., of 

 Brookline. near Boston, in which he states that in the win- 

 ter of 1839-"40, he gave each of his plum trees a " dressing 

 of about tvvo quarts of salt." He was careful, however, 

 not to put it nearer than a foot to the body of the tree. — 

 The salt was that which had been used for pork, and he 

 cautioned the gardner not to use the brine; but he, not- 

 withstanding, did use aliout a gallon of it round one tree, 

 wliich killed it. Dr. iS. states that he used .^alt in the same 

 way the next season, and, as he thinks, with beneficial re- 

 sults, so much so that he is " fully convinced that it is, if 

 pro, er y and judiciously us(d, a sure preventive of both the 

 fungus [b/ar/c hint or wart,] and thecurculio." We should 

 be glad to hear.from others who have tried salt for plum 

 trees, and hope results will be furnished fof the benefit of 

 tl e public. It is in this way only that we can ascertain 

 with certainty the specific operation of any substance. — Al- 

 haiiy Cultivator. 



We beg to assure our friend the editor of the 

 Cultivator, that all "specifics" are e.xtremely 

 dangerou.s, whether administered to man, his do- 

 mestic aniinals, or cultivated i)lants and trees. — 

 A "specific," as salt for plums and quinces, a 

 [nostrum, and quackery are nearly synonymous 

 1 terms. Certainly, all are not quacks that rec- 

 ommend "specifics," as Mr. Downing does iron 

 for yellows in peach trees, and as another gen- 

 jtleman does com.mon salt for quinces, in the Au- 

 gust number of the Horticulturist, whom its edi- 

 tor endorses. We are anxious, as a matter of 

 public good, that the conductors of the Albany 

 agricultural and horticuhurcl journals should lake 

 true scientiiic ground in regard to the feeding of 

 all living things on the farm, whether animal or 

 vegetable. Common salt is very useful to sheep 

 and quince trees in very small doses ; but salt 

 alone will make poor mutton, wool, quinces, or 

 plums. Equal care, equal study sliould be cen- 

 stantly given to supply every other constituent 

 of the animal, or vegetable, as well as the chlo- 

 rine and sodium of salt, — as well as iron to peach 

 trees afflicted with the weakness called " yel- 

 lows." 



We repeat the remark that, all "specifics" 

 3re dangerous remedies. Had Judge Cheever 

 been told tliat common salt formed less than the 

 twentieth part of the small quantity of ash or 

 minerals in a healthy plum tree, he would have 

 been more cautious how he used this mineral 

 for the manufacture of the wood and fruit of the 

 trees, to which it was fatally applied. Twenty- 

 five years study and experience have taught us 

 the proneness of the popular mind to adopt a sys- 

 tem of empiricism in the treatment of all dis- 

 eases. The splendid fortunes made by the deal- 

 ers in nostrums or specifics furnish proof posi- i 

 tive that the people really love humbug. For 



