242 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Oct. 



ihe markets, foreign find domestic ; the present and proba- 

 ble supply of agricultural products ; the mode and manner 

 of presenting the principal productions in various markets 

 m the most acceptable form ; the state and prospects of 

 trade at home and abroad, and the changes present and 

 prospective in the commercial policy of our own and other 

 *ountries, with the probable inlluences upon the agriculcul- 

 tural market. The commercial and agricultural press will 

 doubtless come powerfully to the aid of the associations, in 

 all efforts of tliis character, and having these great objects 

 in view. 



In this way the foundation may be gradually laid, and the 

 materials collected for the commencement of those agricul- 

 tural studies, which time and application, with the constant 

 evidence of llieir utility in practice, would ripen into a sys- 

 tem, to be engrafted upon the course of regular studies pur- 

 sued in the colleges, academies and common schools, and 

 made a branch of the studies of the male classes in the Nor- 

 mal School, placed under the superintendence.of an instruc- 

 tor selected for the purpose, and qualified to prepare his 

 classes for teaching ihe studies in the common schools of 

 the State. 



Thus a generation of farmers would soon come forward, 

 well educated in the great and essential principles of agri- 

 cultural production ; in the true relations existing between 

 agriculture, commerce and manufactures, and in the adap- 

 tation and preparation of their products for the agricultural 

 markets. Such farmers, with the continued aid of the 

 schools in which they were taught, would become the best 

 manual labor instructors for their successors. 



The passage of time reminds me that I am extending these 

 remarks beyond the proprieties of the occasion and tJie pa- 

 tience of my audience. A single reflection shall close them. 



However confidently the opinion may be entertained that 

 other circumstances and relations might present a prospect 

 for the agriculture of our State and country more stable, in- 

 dependent and flattering, certain it is, that the future here 

 opened is full of cheering promise. We see in it the stron- 

 gest possible security for our beloved country, through an 

 indelinite period against the scourge of famine. Our vari- 

 ed soil and climate and agriculture double this security, as 

 the disease and failure of any one crop will not, as a neces- 

 sary consequence, reduce any class of our population to an 

 exposure to death from hunger. We see also, in addition 

 to feeding ourselves, that our surplus is almost, if not alto- 

 gether, sufficient, if Aiithfully and prudently applied, even 

 now to drive famine from the length and breadth of Europe. 

 And that it is in our power, by faithful mental and physi- 

 cal application, soon to make it equal to the expulsion of 

 hunger from the commercial world. We see that, depend- 

 ent upon the commercial markets, our agriculture may bring 

 upon our country a high degree of prosperity, and enable 

 us, when extraordinary occasions shall call for its exercise, 

 to practice a national benevolence as grateful to the hearts 

 of the humane as to the wants of the destitute. And we see 

 that by the wider diffusion and more secure establishment 

 of a successful agricultiu-al among our citizens, as a perma- 

 nent employmc^nt, we are laying broader and deeper the 

 foundations of our free institutions, the pride and glory of 

 our country, and prized by its freemen as their richest 

 earthly blessing ; the history of all civil government, con- 

 firmed by the experience of this republic, furnishing demon- 

 strative proof that a well educated, industrious, and inde- 

 pendent yeomanry, are the safest repository of freedom and 

 free institutions. 



Science with Practice. 



Upon this subject the Rev. Mr. Huxtable, of 

 England, observes — 



" By what process of cultivation, when we manure high- 

 ly for wheat, the straw can be so much stiffened as to bear 

 the increased weight of ear, is at present, in my humble 

 judgment, one of the great problems in agriculture that 

 presses for solution ; as it is well known that this stilTness 

 arises from the presence of the silicate potash (an imperfect 

 sort of glass,) chemists have suggested that this soluble sil- 

 icate, or that of soda, should be added to the ammoniacal 

 manures. which we use for wheat : but these salts are ex- 

 pensive ; nor am I aware of any experiments having been 

 made which would justify our incurring the outlay for them. 

 M(ir over, seme interesting facts mentioned by Professor 

 Johnston (Jouriud of Agrictdture, p. 10;j, 1845) shew that 



there is already abundant.silica in our cultivated soils, and 

 that plants are able to decompose and extract silica for their 

 use, even from the most stubborn silicates. If there be al- 

 kali enough at hand, the vital forces of the smallest living 

 plant will form the silicates it needs — a process w hich man 

 accomplishes only by the blast of the hottest furnace. I 

 think, therefore, that in seeking to remedy weakness of 

 straw, we should rather try to diminish that rankness of 

 vegetation in our corn crops, which causes that weakness ; 

 and this I think wc can accomplish by a simple application. 

 I think there is one cheap and effectual remedy : it is com- 

 mon salt. This will make the straw heavier and stiffer, and 

 correct the tendency of the ammonia, in the manure, to 

 produce a rank vegetation. Mr. Prideaux, of Plymouth, in- 

 forms me that wheat ^rown very near the sea stands up 

 better than that grown inland. 31r. Hannam testifies to the 

 in( reascd weight of the straw. Mr. Gardiner ( Highlmid 

 Tniiisartioiis, p. 239, 1844) states. ' tliat 3 cwt. of salt per 

 acre, thrown over wheat in May, produced no change of 

 color, but improved the tillering of the plants, which had 

 small stiff, shining, wiry straw.' 



"Bones digested in sulphuric or muriatic acid have the 

 same tendency to check rank vegetation and to strengthen 

 the straw ; see Mr. Gardiner's Experimpiit, p. 242 ; also an 

 experiment of Mr. Fleming (Jolmstoii' s Lectures, Appendix, 

 p. 28,) who dissolved his bones in muriatic acid, and ap- 

 plied the mixture to oats sown upon moss : he says that the 

 straw appeared as stiff and shining as if it had been grown 

 upon stiff loam. 



" I think, then, that a perfect top dressing for the wheat 

 crop, on light lands, should be composed of 2 cwt. of bone.s, 

 well digested in 1 dwt. of sulphuric acid. 5 cwt. of shoddy, 

 and 3 cwt. of salt ; thus, in good years you might, I believe, 

 grow six quarters of wheat per acre. On all light soils this 

 assistance to the wheat should be given in the spring ; but 

 as in clay the decomposition, of the shoddy is so slow, I 

 should apply this manure when I sowed the wheat on my 

 heavy land in the autumn. There is yet anotlier way of 

 growing a heavy crop of wheat on clay : lime the fields in 

 autumn, two or three weeks before sowing ; top dress, in 

 the spring witli superphosphate of lime, 3 cwt. of salt, mix- 

 ed with 30 busliels of clay ashes, \\ liich have repeatedly 

 been soaked in urine. I am vain enough to believe that 

 this manure, suggested for wheat, will prove valuble, and 

 quite worth the half-crown which you paid for your tickets.'' 



Speaking of the lecture of which the above is 

 an extract, the Mark Lane Express remarks : — 

 " We earnestly recommend every farmer to get 

 a copy of this lecture ; it is published by Sim- 

 onds, of Dorchester. A cheaper eighteenpenny- 

 vvorth of useful information has never been of- 

 fered to the agriculturist." 



Three New York shillings for a single lecture 

 — the price of the Gene.see Farmer a year to 

 most of its subscribers. The tickets to this lec- 

 ture were sold at a "half-crown" each. 



How many days and weeks have we not .spent 

 in delivering agricultural lectures, the analysis 

 of soils and fertilizers, for nothing 1 The first 

 whole year (1844) that we wrote for the Gene- 

 see Farmer we received jvisl four dollars in Can- 

 ada money for the service. Our compensation- 

 now, it is but jiistice to say, is all that the Pub- 

 lisher ouglit to pay at the low price of this jour- 

 nal. If each number was sold at six cents in- 

 stead of three, the great principle would be prac- 

 tically acknowledged— that "the laborer is worthy 

 of his hire." It would be an easy matter to charge 

 six cents instead of three ; but "book-farming" 

 is so lightly esteemed in this country, that prob- 

 ably threc-fourlhs of the readers of the Farmer 

 would stop their paper. 



Dig potatoes early. Look out for the rot. 



