1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



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year I sowed it with barley, and had a fair crop. I 

 found this swamp improving every year. Last year 

 I plowed and summer fallowed the remainder of the 

 field, where had been meadow for several years. In 

 the fall ("48) I sowed both the fallow and the swampy 

 piece with wheat. It was a fine growing time and 

 all came up well. The swampy part having been 

 cropped so often, did not look as thrifty as the fallow. 

 I got a very fair crop — not less than twenty bushels 

 from the swampy acre. Having had a very good 

 crop from the whole field, I concluded to put it all in 

 wheat again. Preparatory to this I plowed it once 

 and oil the swampy acre I sowed about two busjpls 

 of salt — none on the fallow. All looks at this unie 

 very well, but the swampy piece looks stouter than 

 the other part — another evidence of the beneficial 

 effects of salt as a manure. 



The following anecdotes will further show the 

 utility of salt in killing worms, grubs, SiC. A per- 

 son at York, England, having in one part of his 

 garden very rich ground of about 11 square yards, 

 on which he could never raise anything — it was 

 sure to be destroyed by worms and snails. By way 

 of e.^periment he sowed about three quarts of salt, 

 and plowed it in, after which there was no further 

 difficulty; it produced satisfactorily and luxuriantly. 



My wife, who is partial to a flower garden, says 

 when she wished to preserve any particular flower 

 from snails, (which abound in English gardens,') she 

 would enrich it with salt. The snails would come 

 to the margin of the salt and turn away, which she 

 discovered by the slimy path they make. 



Further, if you put a few grains of salt on a leech 

 that has been extracting blood, it will instantly vomit 

 it out; a great many die, and those that survive lin- 

 ger along, and never appear to regain their health; 

 while those that have the blood squeezed out of them 

 with the finger and thumb, soon (with care) become 

 healthy and fit for use again. John Park. Gates, 

 Monror, Co., J\'. Y., 1849. 



A BIT or PRACTICAL FARMING. 



P. T. Barnum, ot Museum notoriety, has a country 

 seat at Bridgeport, Conn. He has given some atten- 

 tion to farming and gardening, of late, and was elected 

 President of the Fairfield Co. Agricultural Society. 

 We give his experience in farming in his own 

 words : 



Stlting Potatoes.— '-In the fall of 1848," said 

 he, " my head gardener reported that I had 80 bush- 

 els of potatoes to spare. So, of course, I directed 

 them sold. They brought 67 cents a bushel. But, 

 like most all small farmers, he sold the largest, and 

 loft us nothing but 'small potatoes' to eat at home. 

 But the worst is to come. In March, we had not 

 even a dish of small potatoes. So we bought more 

 than, we sold, and paid $1,'25 a bushel at that! My 

 experience, therefore, is, that a farmer had better 

 ascertain first how much he wants for his own con- 

 sumption, before he sends his produce to a cheap 

 market." 



Trimming Fruit Trees by an Amateur. — Another 

 of Mr. Barnum's experiments was in the horticul- 

 tural line, and was related by him with such inimical 

 good humor, thft his large audience was nearly con- 

 vulsed with laughter. " Having been elected Pres- 

 ident of the Fairfield County Agricultural Society," 

 continued he, " I felt the importance of my having 

 a little practical experience as a farmer. Having 



reed a little about pruning, and watched my gardener 

 awhile, I armed myself with a keen carving knife 

 and set to work on my own hook. My first essay 

 was upon a lot of young cherry trees. Half an hour, 

 and my sharp knife gave them quite a symmetrical 

 appearance, and removed all redundant limbs and 

 sap-absorbing sprouts and suckers; and I prided my- 

 self somewhat upon this first effort as a pruner, and, 

 of course, expected suitable commendation from my 

 gardener for the labor I had saved him. Judge my 

 astonishment, then, as he approached with a rueful 

 countenance, and expression of 'Well, sir, you've 

 done it nowil' ' Why, yes, I fancy I have. How do 

 you like my work?' said I. 'Like it! W/iy, sir, 

 you have cutoff all the grafts!!' This was a sad 

 blow to my farming aspirations. But as I never des- 

 pair, I shall continue to go ahead with imprOTemcnt.s, 

 but shall be a little cautious how I use the pruning 

 knife, until I learn to know a sprout from a graft. 

 " I hope the relation of my experience as a- far- 

 mer won't deter many others from seeking the same 

 employment; for if they are capable of using the 

 pruning knife at all, I think they are capable of 

 learning to distinguish, perhaps, at less cost than I 

 did, the useful from the useless, and if they did not, 

 perhaps a little sprouting, a la mode our young day.^, 

 might help to improve their education." 



Hu.iiiN Progres.s. — Every iiidividua!, commuiily and 

 nation, must be interested in the moral, political and physi- 

 cal progress of humanity. It is a stock concern, in wliirh 

 we oil have some share. We have not, however, the slight- 

 est intention of giving eur readers on this Thanksgiving 

 morniTig a moral essaj on the law of human progres.s: but 

 by way of adding a /act, not perhaps generally known, for 

 which the lovcrsof long life and the blessings thereof may 

 be thankful, (JB extract from an oration delivered by Cha's. 

 Sumner, Esq.. nf .Boston, before the Phi Beta Kappa Sorie- 

 ty of Union Colrcge, some lime since, the following tabic, 

 showing the dimillution of mortality in several countries of 

 Europe and m the largest cities thereof: 



Deaths in England in 1690. 1 in 33 ia 1848, 1 in 47 



France in 1775; 1 in 25>i. . .in 1848, 1 in 43 



" Germany in 1788, 1 in 3:i in 18-18. 1 in 40 



Sweden in 1760. 1 in 34 in 184«, 1 in 41 



" Roman States in 1767. 1 in 21^. . .in 1829. 1 in 28 



" London in 1690. 1 in 24 in 1844. 1 in 44 



Paris in 1650. 1 in 25 in 1820, 1 in 32 



" Berlin in 1755, 1 in 28 in 1824.1 in 34 



Vienna in 1650, 1 in 20 in 1829. 1 in 28 



Rome in 1770. 1 in 21 in 1828. 1 in 31 



" Geneva in 1660, 1 in 18 in 1821, 1 in 40 



Although w"e have no statistics like the above in relation 

 to our own country, it is to be inferred that we should com- 

 pare favorably witii any European nation, as we have not 

 been behind any, but have rather led them, in all that tends 

 to the advancement and progress of a great people — m all 

 that elevates and ennobles humanity, and as a necessary 

 conseqitence tends to lengthen out the period of man's brief 

 sojourn here. A little more attention to the laws of health 

 — laws written in the constitution of every man — will ac- 

 complisii much in the physical department of himian pro- 

 gress. Two-thirds of the sickness which afflicts mankind, in 

 a thousand difierent forms, might be warded oil' by proper 

 attention to vigorous and systematic exercise, more plain 

 and simple diet, regular hours of recreation and sleep. — Arg. 

 We are glad to see so influential a paper as the 

 Albany Argus calling public attention to the fact 

 that, "two-thirds of the sickness which afflicts man- 

 kind" may be prevented. The importance of this 

 truth can hardly be over-estimated. Evil habits, 

 such as the excessive use of tobacco and other poison- 

 ous substances, fashions in matters of dress, wet feet, 

 and exposure to miasmatic climates, bring thousands 

 and millions of our race to premature graves. The 

 time approaches when the laws of health will be both 

 studied and obeyed as they deserve. 



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