232 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Oct. 



THE CAUSE -AGAIN. 



Eds. Gkn. Farmer : — I most licartily concur in the 

 sentiment " tiiat agriculture lias been too much neg- 

 lected in this country^ and has been considered a 

 matter of too little impo'rtance to attract the attention 

 of scientific men." Our farmers, tcto, may not have 

 "properly respected their calling," and the "sons of 

 farmers, possessing the most inquiring minds, may 

 have abandoned the occupations of their fathers to en- 

 gage in other pofessions or pursuits." Let us suppose 

 also, that the reverse of this has been existing among 

 the farmers of England and Scotland ; yet instead 

 of admitting it to be the cause, I consider it to be 

 only among the consequences growing out of the 

 cause, which has retarded our farmers in the march 

 of agricultural improvement, the cause itself still ex- 

 isting, the subject of the most'interesting inquiry. — 

 That inquiury has long engaged the attention of 

 many of the best men of our country ; it has long 

 been made the subject of special examination by 

 committees, in both our national and state legisla- 

 tures. And the only conclusion they have ever ar- 

 rived at by their examinations, has been "that our 

 farmers are wanting in some peculiar kind of educa- 

 tion. Mr. Barclay, a distinguished Scotch travel- 

 ler, imputed our backward state of agriculture to our 

 peculiar soil and climate. Mr. Nicholas Biddlb 

 impute 1 it to the peculiar pecuniary circumstances 

 of our farmers. Professor Johnston imputed it to 

 some peculiar characteristic of our agricultural pop- 

 ulation. The cause, however, can not be imputed 

 to a want of education, as in this respect our people 

 exceed those of Europe, and Mr. Cobden has very 

 recently admitted that our peasantry are as far above 

 those of England and Scotland in point of education, 

 as they are behind them in the state of agricultural 

 improvement. It can not be imputed to soil and cli- 

 mate, as ours though better on an average, than that 

 of England and Scotland, in New England it is not 

 80. It can not be imputed to pecuniary circumstan- 

 ces, for while the farming in England is carried on 

 by the tenantry, it is here carried on by the land 

 owners themselves. It cannot be imputed to any 

 national characteristic, as in no other respect except 

 in agriculture have our people shown themselves in- 

 ferior to that of any other people in the world. It 

 cannot be imputed to the fact that all our farmers are 

 ignorant of the agricultural improvement in Europe, 

 for Mr. Barclay tells us, that in visiting several in- 

 telligent Scotch emigrants, he found that instead of 

 tlieir having profited by their knowledge of the im- 

 provements in agriculture in Scotland, he found 

 them to have degenerated into the system they found 

 in operation here. The course what ever it may be, 

 must arise from some circumstances in which the 

 people of those countries are differing materially from 

 us. What those circumstances are, is most desira- 

 ble to ascertain. To increase the spirit of inquiry 

 upon that subject, is one of the objects I have in call- 

 ing public attention to it in the way I do. If it is a 

 fact, as I understand you (Mr. Editor) to more than 

 intimate, in the July number of your paper, " that the 

 pursuit of agriculture is more honorable or profitable 

 in England or Scotland than it is here," that alone 

 would be circumstance enough to place us far behind 

 them in the state of agricultural improvement. If 

 such should [irove to be the fact, the next inquiry 

 would be, whether that is a cause admitting of a 

 remedy. To ascertain that fact, it would be most 



desirable that some one acquainted witji the minutia 

 of the farming in the diflcrent countries should favor 

 us with a comparison. An Old Farmer. -^i/<7/s- 

 dale, JV. F., ,dug., 1851. 



AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 



Eds. Gen. Farmer :— In 1833 a bill was introduced 

 into the Legislature of this State, providino- for the 

 establishment of a State Agricultural School. Its 

 necessity was pressed upon the Legislature as the 

 great and important remedy for the backward state 

 of our agricultural improvements. The bill, however, 

 received very little favor or notice from that Legisla- 

 ture. In 1834 the subject was again pressed upon 

 the legislature, by quite a number of petitions, but 

 the agricultural committees in each branch refused 

 to consider it favorably. The friends of the measure 

 then procured the appointment of a joint committee, 

 composed of five members of the house, and three of 

 the senate, to whom it was referred. By them the 

 subject was discussed in all its bearings, and a report 

 was drawn up, expressing certain sentiments, and 

 concluded by recommending the passage of the bill 

 of 1833. Thomas Hertkll and Charles L. Liv- 

 LNGSTON, of New York, John Sujdam, of Ulster, and 

 one other of the committee signed the report ; but 

 Albert II. Tracy, and two others (the latter 'both 

 farmers, ) refused to do so. Having the honor to be one 

 of the committee myself, and although I disapproved 

 of some of the statements expressed in the report, 

 and of some of the details in the bill, after some hes- 

 itation, I was prevailed upon to sign the report, 

 which gave it a majority of the committee. The 

 subject, however, received very little favor in either 

 branch of the legislature, and died without even a 

 discussion. It become from that time, however, a 

 subject of mu:;h interest to me, and I have never 

 heard it agitated by legislators, travellers or others 

 without giving it my serious attention. That the 

 subject of agricultural improvement is one of the 

 greatest importance, every body must concede ; that 

 it is a subject difiicult to be understood, the great di- 

 versity of opinion will demonstrate ; that it is a sub- 

 ject that may be understood, I candidly believe ; that 

 a right understanding of it is necessary to elevate 

 the agriculture of our country to its proper position, 

 there cannot be a doubt ; that a national agricultu- 

 ral congress, such as you mention in the August 

 number of your paper, in which all the interests of 

 agriculture would be discussed, would do much to 

 elicit that light necessary to a right understanding 

 of the subject, I am much inclined to believe, and as 

 far as my humble influence is concerned, I am ready 

 to join in recommending its adoption. To interest 

 farmers in the subject, a system should be devised, 

 and presented for their consideration. There should 

 be town, county, state, and national associations. — 

 Farmers should be taught that, whatever their num- 

 bers in the nation, without the aid of associations 

 all their eflbrts to any end, are exerted only as indi- 

 viduals, and of course impotent. Whereas, in the 

 midst of associated deliberations, the wisdom and 

 experience of all the farmers of the country may be 

 concentrated in devising the means of agricultural 

 improvement, and the influence of all may"be exerted 

 in procuring such acts as may promote their inter- 

 ests, and in opposing such as may work their injury. 

 John F. CoLhi:i.— Hillsdale, Columbia Co., j\\ Y., 

 August, 1851. 



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