1850. 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



157 il 



I 



urrfcd to procure from countries where the plant is 

 indigenous and grows from tlie seed a new stock, 

 both of seeds and rattoons, for the use of planters. 

 In cultivating this tropical plant in districts bounding 

 its zone on the north, much care and some science 

 will be found highly usend. 



Both seeds and cuttings of tlie best figs and olives 

 o-rown on the coast of the Mediterranean should be 

 procured through American consuls resident at the 

 different cities on the borders of that sea. Figs and 

 grapes, "oil and wine," will some day be numbered 

 among (he staples of the southern States. 



There is reason to believe that the most improved 

 varieties of wheat grown in England and France 

 will be a valuable acquisition to this country : and 

 our wheat-growers woidd esteem it an especial favor 

 if only a few bushels were procured for general dis- 

 tribution. With the small sum appropriated for the 

 .purpose, about eighty tliousand packages of seeds 

 have been put u|) and distributed within the last 

 three months. With a better organization, and 

 greater facilities for collecting seeds and cuttings, 

 vastly more good might be done. 



There are now some 200,000 copies of agricultural 

 papers and periodicals printed, which circulate more 

 or less in every State in the Union. These are doing 

 an invaluable service to the country. They cannot, 

 however, enact laws for collecting, annually, reliable 

 statistics of the results of labor and capital employed 

 in agriculture. Truthful statistics form the basis of 

 all refi rms — of all progress. State Legislatures 

 must av 1 in this great work. If "knowledge is 

 power," Ignorance is weakness ; and the removal of 

 this weakness is one of the highest duties of every 

 republican government. Either the assessors or col- 

 lectors of State and county taxes should be provided 

 with blanks to collect useful information, as well as 

 money, from the people. 



VII. — HOW CITIES EXHAUST THE FERTILITY OF LAND. 



There has been enough of the elements of bread 

 and meat, wool and cotton, drawn from the surface 

 of the earth, sent to London and buried in the ground 

 or washed into the Thames, to feed and clothe the 

 entire population of the world for a century, under a 

 wise system of agriculture and horticulture. Down 

 to this day, great cities have ever been the worst des- 

 olaters of the earth. It is for this that they have 

 been so frequently buried many feet beneath the rub- 

 bish of their idols of brick, stone, and mortar, to be 

 (xhumed in after ages by some antiquarian Layard. 

 Their inhabitants violated the laws of nature, which 

 govern the health of man and secure the endurmg 

 productiveness of the soil. How few comprehend 

 the fact that it is only the elements of bread and meat, 

 evolved during the decomposition of some vegetable 

 Qv animal- substance, that poison the air taken into 

 human lungs, and the water that enters the human 

 system in daily food and drink ! These generate 

 pestilence, and bring millions prematurely to their 

 graves. 



Why should the precious atoms of potash, which 

 organized the starch in all the flour, meal, and pota- 

 toes consumed in the cities of the United States in 

 the year 1860, be lost forever to the world "^ Can a 

 man create a new atom of potash or of phosphorus 

 when the supply fails in the soil, as fail it must under 

 our present system of farm economy ? Many a broad 

 desert in Eastern Asia once gladdened the husband- 

 man with golden harvests. While America is the 



only country on the globe where every human being 

 has enough to eat, and millions are coming here for 

 bread, how long shall we continue to impoverish 

 ninety-nine acres in a hundred of all that we culti- 

 vate ? Both pestilence and famine are the oflspring 

 of ignorance. Rural science is not a mere plaything 

 for the amusement of grown-up children. It is a 

 new revelation of the wisdom and goodness of Prov- 

 idence, a humanizing power which is destined to 

 elevate man an immeasurable distance above his 

 present condition. To achieve this result, the light 

 of science must not be confined to colleges ; it must 

 enter and illuminate the dwelling of every farmer 

 und mechanic. The knowledge of the few, no mat- 

 ter how profound, nor how brilliant, can never com- 

 pensate for the loss sustained by neglecting to 

 develop the intellects of the m^ny. 



No government should be wanting in sympathy 

 with the people, whether the object be the prevention 

 of disease, the improvement of land, or the education 

 of the masses. One per cent, of the money now 

 annually lost by rcison of popnlar ignoi-ance would 

 suffice to remove that ignorance. 



I 'have the honor to be, with great respect, your 

 .obedient servant, DANIEIi LEE. 



Hon. Thomas Eweank, 



Commissioner of Patents. 



HINTS FOR JtTLY. • 



The principal work for this month is Haying and 

 Harvesting. It was always our delight, even in our 

 most juvenile days, to visit the hay-field. And now, 

 we never feel so^much in love v;ith the farmer's life 

 as when we swing the scythe among the tall grass 

 or rake the new mown hay. The farmer should see 

 tliat his corn is hoed, garden weeded, cabbage set, 

 and other small matters attended to, so that nothing 

 may be in the way of haying and harvest, and then 

 ho can put all his force at the work. Now is the 

 time to see that scythes, forks, rubbers, hay rigging, 

 &.C., are on hand and in order. 



Cut your June and wild grasses early, even before 

 clover, if you desire to have it worth anything. Clo- 

 ver hay must also be cut early, or when the last sets 

 are in blossom, and the first ones a little turned ; and 

 observe one well established principle, that If that 

 cut in the forenoon is not cured sufficiently to take 

 in the same day, that as soon as it is fairly wilted it 

 should bo put up in cocks of 75 or 100 lbs., and left 

 from three to four days ; and on a fine sunny morn- 

 ing open it, and by ten o'clock it is ready to load. 

 By this process the leaves and blossoms are preserved 

 in a fine fragrant state — the real old hyson — and 

 not the black, tasteless, bean-stalks and hop-vines of 

 the old process. If you have any fears that the hay 

 is too green when taken in, pack it away loosely and 

 let it settle by its own v/eight, and finely and evenly 

 sprinkle on four quarts of salt, and not more, while 

 unloading. 



Stacking out hay is a ba.d business, unless it is 

 thatched, or made up by an artist — it shoidd be in 

 the barn, or under barracks. An open, rainy fall and 

 winter destroys at least one quarter, and if it stands 

 over one year, the mice destroy the balance. 



Buckwheat should be sovm early in July, about 

 three pecks to the acre. 



Sow round turneps and cut Canada thistles the 

 last week in this month. 



