1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



47 



than that which I have thug exposed. The far- 

 mer's son is averse from the father's calling. He 

 does not intend to pursue it, and is always look- 

 ing for some gate hy which to escape from it. 

 The prejudice is hereditary in the farm-house. 

 The farmer himself is not content with his occu- 

 pation ; nor is the farmer' s wife any more so. 

 They regard it as an humble, toilsome, and laljori- 

 ous one ; they continually fret about its privations 

 and hardships, and thus they unconsciously raise 

 in their children a disgust towards it. Is not this 

 frequently sol Is there a farmer here who does 

 not desire, not to say seek, to procure for his son 

 a cadet's or a midshipman's warrant, a desk in 



not at all exempt them from the practices of in- 

 dustry ; and that notwithstanding the current use 

 of the figures of speech, "wearied limbs, sweating 

 brows, hardened sinews, and rough and blackened 

 hands," there is no avocation in our country that 

 rewards so liberally with hesilth, wealth and jionor 

 a given application of well directed industry, as 

 does that of the farmer. If he is surpassed by 

 others in other pursuits, it is not because their 

 avocations are preferable to his own, but because, 

 while he has neglected education and training, 

 they took care to secure both. 



When these convictions shall have entered the 

 farm-hcmse., its respectability and dignity will be 



the village lawyer's office, a chair in the physi- confessed. Its occupants will regard their dwell- 

 cian's study, or a place behind the counter in the ings and grounds not as irksome scenes of humili 



country store, in preference to training him to the 

 labors of the farm ? I fear that there is scarcely 

 a farmer's son who would not fly to accept such 

 a position, or a farmer's dauglitcr who would not 

 prefer almost any settlement in town or city, to 

 the domestic cares of th-e farm-house and the 

 dairy. 



Whence is this prejudice 1 It has come down to 

 us from ages of barbarism. In the savage state, 

 agricultural labor is despised, because bravery in 

 battle and skill in the chase must be encouraged ; 

 and so heroism is still requisite for the public de- 

 fence in the earlier stages of civilization, and the 

 tiller of the soil, therefore, rises slowly from the 

 condition of a villain, a serf, or a slave. Never- 

 theless, ancient, and almost universal as this preju- 

 dice is, I am sure that it is unnatural to mankind, 

 in ripened civilization, such as that to which we 

 have arrived. Of all classes of society we have the 

 least need of hunters ; and we employ very few 

 soldiers, while the whole structure of society hinges 

 on the Agricultural interest. A taste, nay a pas- 

 sion for Agriculture is inherent and universal 

 among men. The soldier or the sailor cares little 

 for learning, mechanics or music ; but the solace 

 of his weary watchings and his midnight dreams, 

 are recollections of a cottage home. The mer- 

 chant's anxieties and the lawyer's studies are 

 prosecuted patiently for the ultiuiate end of grace 

 ful repose in a country seat ; and lunatics, men and 

 women, are won back to the sway of reason by the 

 indulgence of labor in the harvest field, and the 

 culture of fruits and flowers in the garden of the 

 Asylum 



I know that frivolous persons, in what is called 

 fashionable society, who sleep till noon, still con- 

 tinue to depreciate and despise rural pursuits and 

 pleasures. But what are the opinions of sue! 

 minds worth ? They equally depreciate and de 

 spise all labor, all industry, all enterprise and all 

 effort; and they reap their just reward in weari 

 ness of themselves, and in the conteu)pt of those 

 who value hum.an talents, not by the depth in 

 which they ai'e buried but by the extent of their 

 employment for the benefit of mankind. 



The prejudice, however, must be expelled from 

 the farmer's fireside; and the farmer and his wife 

 must do this themselves. It is as true in this case 

 as is the more practical one which the rustic poet 

 had in view : — 



"Tlie wife loo, must hushsnd, as well as the man, 

 Or farewell, ihy husbandry, do what thou can." 



Letthem remember that in well constituted 

 and highly advanced society like ymirs, iutellectu- 

 al cultivation relieves men from hibor, but it does 



ating labor, but as their own permanent home, 

 and the homestead of their clnldren and tlieir pos- 

 terity. Affections unknown before, and new born 

 emulations, will suggest motives to improvement, 

 embellishment, refinement, with the introduction 

 of useful and elegant studies and arts which will 

 render the paternal roof, as it ought to be, at- 

 tractive to the young, and the farmer's life har- 

 monious with their tastes, and satisfactory to 

 their ambition. Then the farmer's sons will de- 

 sire and demand education as liberal as that now 

 chiefly conferred on candidates for professional 

 life, and will subject themselves to discipline, in 

 acquiring the art of Agriculture, as rigorous as 

 that endured by those who apprentice themselves 

 to other vocations. 



DISEASj 



• For the New England Farmer. 

 3D PliUM TREES. 



In reply to the inquiries of your correspondent 

 "W. R. C," I would say, there are various opin- 

 ions in reference to this malady or disease of the 

 plum tree. I am very well satisfied, from personal 

 oliservation, that the circulation of the sap has 

 nothing to do with forming the wart, so prevalent 

 in many sections of the country. But a disease 

 probably arising from an insect that works its pas- 

 sage into the vei'y heart and pith of the twig, or 

 branch affected. I observe that this insect ascends 

 upwards, and in order -to exterminate its ravages, 

 the branch should be cut at least one foot below 

 the wart, and as much farther as is found necessa- 

 ry, until you come to sound, healthy wood and 

 pith, even if the whole tree goes in consequence. 

 Then burn the cuttings. lam satisfied that if one 

 tree is left to destruction, that the disease is as con- 

 tagious to the remaining ones c's the 3-enow8 to a 

 peach orchard. 1 have many standard plum trees 

 and many in nursery rows, all of which are in a 

 sound, healthy condition ; it has always been my 

 practice to watch earel'ully this disease, and cut 

 Ireely, sparing no imperfection of wood. I have 

 seen plum trees not fifty rods apart, some clean 

 and round and others literary covered with black 

 warts ; therefore no one will presume that locality 

 has much to do with the disease. G. B. Slade. 



Somcrsei, Dec, 18<52. 



Corn Shelleu. — The Pennsylvania Farm Jour- 

 nal; published at Westchester, says a macl ine for 

 shelling corn was presented at their late State Fair, 

 that, worked by one horse, had shelled, and was 

 warranted to shell 80 bushels o"corn per houi ! 



