254 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Nov. 



opportunity for mental culture, for reading, study 

 and reflection, and may, if he will, lay up day 

 by day a little useful information and be contin- 

 ually filling up his mind with important facts and 

 valuable knowledge, to use and improve upon as 

 occasion in after life requires. 



If the farmer, then, is ignorant — if, in point of 

 intelligence and influence, he stands second — is 

 not the fault his own 1 — is it not because he has 

 neglected to improve the means, and take advan- 

 tage of the circumstances within his reach for 

 acquiring knowledge, as well that which is gen- 

 eral as that relating exclusively to his own busi- 

 ness ? If the farmers will improve a due portion 

 of their leisure hours by study and reflection, 

 instead of lounging them all away in idle con- 

 versation, and with vicious companions — if the 

 precious time which their occupation affords 

 them for improvement be wisely occupied in the 

 cultivation of the intellect as well sa in the en- 

 joyment of social pleasures — it would not be long 

 before they would stand forth the first in point 

 of inielligence, and be thus prepared to exercise 

 their proper influence and assume their true po- 

 sition in society. 



The press with its mighty power steps in to aid 

 and assist the farmer ; it gives him an intelligent, 

 truthful companion, which he may safely intro- 

 duce into his family circle, and when properly 

 selected, is sure to make all wiser and better. 

 He may take his " Genesee Farmer," his " Cul- 

 tivator," his " Farmer's Library," or his " Hor- 

 ticulturist," by his fire side, in the long winter 

 evenings, and commune with them and learn 

 many useful and amusing lessons. The truth is, 

 the farmer has no excuse for being behind his 

 neighbor, of whatever class or profession, in 

 mental acquirements and in general knowledge ; 

 and I am glad to know that many, all over the 

 land, are second to none in these particulars. 

 In the good little county of Yates, there are 

 many who till the soil, who labor day by day on 

 their farms, who stand second to none in intel- 

 lectual culture and strength — who, when occa- 

 sion requires, can wield the pen or tongue in 

 vindication of their rights, and to instruct and 

 enlighten their fellow citizens on any subject of 

 general interest. And this may and should be- 

 come universal, and an ignorant dolt of a farmer 

 should form an exception to the class, and be 

 looked upon as a disgrace to the calling. 



I have no idea that every farmer ever can or 

 will become an orator, author, or scholar ; but I 

 do think that all may be and are guilty of gross 

 neglect if they do not become well informed, in- 

 telligent men, and be fully qualified and pre- 

 pared to discharge honorably every duty, public 

 or private, which may devolve upon a citizen in 

 a free country. The means are within the 

 reach of all — the facilities are at the door — they 

 have but to be used, and I ask the farmers of 

 New York if they will not bestir themselves and 



strive after an intellectual and moral elevation — 

 seek to thus raise to its proper pre-eminence 

 their noble calling. The power is in your hands 

 — you can do it if you will. The advance is 

 now being made— every year adds to the num- 

 ber of well informed farmers; but let the mo- 

 mentum of advance be increased, and then the 

 consummation so devoutly wished for will be 

 sooner effected, viz : the rescue of agriculture 

 from a secondary position in society, and its ele- 

 vation to its true position above and at the head 

 of all other callings, in point of intellectual, mor- 

 al, and political standing and iufluence, as well 

 as in numbers and wealth. 



This subject is by no means exhausted, but 

 my sheet is full and I must close till another 

 month. D. A. Ogden. 



Fenn Yan, Sept., 1847. 



Hydraulics for Farmers. 



BY C. N. BEMENT. 

 NUMBER IV. 



Ellswortli's Syphon Ram. — This apparatus, 

 invented by Erastus W. Ellsworth, Esq., of East 

 Windsor Hill, Conn., is intended for elevating 

 water from springs, wells, and other sources, 

 wherever sufficient falls of water can be obtain- 

 ed in their vicinity, for the operation of a sy- 

 phon. In principle it consists of a combination 

 of the syphon with a machine long known as the 

 hydraulic ram ; but is different in its construc- 

 tion and mode of operation, from similar combi- 

 nations, which have heretofore been attempted, 

 and proved of little value for practical use. It 

 has now been operated a sufficient length of time 

 to place its durability and utility beyond conjec- 

 ture, and to give it at least a tolerably fair title 

 to the rank of a useful machine. 



One of these machines was put in operation 

 by L. B. Armstrong, last fall, at the house of Mr. 

 G. Harvey, at Sandy-Hill, Washington county, 

 the operation of which is described in a letter to 

 me, as follows ; 



Dear Sir— I comply with your request, made at the time 

 I was at the American in September last, to inform you of 

 the result of my trial of Ellsworth's Self-acting Pump. I 

 did not receive the pump until some time about the first of 

 October. 'I'he setting up ocrupied about ten days ; and 

 when things were all riglit, off she went and has not stop- 

 ped since ; and what is more, it has not required a mo- 

 ment's attention from that time. The elevation overcome 

 is thirty-eight feet; the AiII fifteen feet, of the longest leg 

 of the syphon. The amount delivered is half a gallon per 

 minute, about one-sixlh of the wafer used. There are some 

 little alteriitions needed in the leather of the valves, which 

 will add much to ihe syphon. But as the weather was 

 cold when I put up the apparatus, I did not seek to make 

 the machine do its work, and considering certainty of ope- 

 ration through winter, without stopping, more desirable 

 than a large per cent, of water raised, I did not like to strain 

 the pipes with the full power of the machine, as the quaa- 

 lily raised is more than is needed. For sixty-seven sturdy 

 knocks per minute, eacli one something like the blow of a 

 heavy mallet in the h.and of a stalwart carpenter, " is a 

 caution" to put down none but strong and sound pipes. 

 L. B. Armstrong. 



