F) 272 THE GENESEE FARMER. (I 



Tliis republic is probably the only civilized nation in the world -which has no national society, 

 either botonieal, horticultural, or agricultural, to promote the introduction from abroad of whatever 

 is useful or ornamental in the vegetable kingdom ; and yet it is not easy to find under one govern- 

 ment so wide a range of cl. mates equally favored by seasonable rains for the almost boundless 

 production of the valued fruits of the earth. Because a good Providence has done so much for us, 

 shall we ungratefully refuse to do any thing for ourselves ? Instead of importing from year to year 

 so many bushels of dead seeds to throiv away, through the government agency, it shouldgive one- 

 half the money expended for agricultural purposes to an independent board or association, fairly 

 representing- the ao-ricultui-al interests of the whole country, and let such association transact a strict 

 professional business, in a common sense and scientific way. If the friends of rural science and 

 improvement at the South will unite with those of the Middle, Northern, and Western States, I 

 have reason to believe, from some correspondence on the subject, that such a society may be organ- 

 ized on a permanent basis. Life is wearing away, and is always uncertain, and wiiatever good we 

 intend to do in our generation we had better be about it. Is it not plain to every reader that the 

 ao-ricultnral interest of the United States needs nothing so much at this time as an iutelligent work- 

 ing head ? Neither talent, nor patriotism, nor money is lacking ; nothing is really wanting but 

 organization among the friends of agricultural im]iroveraent to achieve the most honorable and 

 useful results. Science belongs to no party nor section ; and hitherto it has done next to nothing 

 for the owners and cultivators of American soil. Is this always to be our condition ? For one I do 

 not believe it. Knowledge is too valuable for that, and something effective will soon be done to 

 turn the labor, the capital, and the intellect of this country to a better account. There are before 

 rae wheat and oat plants, grown expressly to test the natural inherent powers of different seeds to 

 yield unlike crops when treated alike in fertility of land and tillage; and the result is a difference 

 in product of sixty per cent, iu the oats, and forty-six in the wheat. How few planters, farmers. 

 or gardeners have ever measured the vital force of different seeds? Friends, vegetable and animal 

 physiology should no longer remain a sealed book. Let us open it and read the first lesson. 



Yours, respectfully, DANIEL LEE. 



Strange, is it not, that the young men of tliis country cannot be persuaded to study 

 the vital force of seeds ? Farmers often change their seed wheat, seed corn, and other 

 seeds, to obtain more vigorous germs. Why, then, should not the natural laws which 

 govern both the improvement and deterioration of agricultural seeds and plants, fruit 

 and forest trees, command our best attention ? To the popular mind, vegetable and 

 animal physiology are indeed a sealed book. If the United States had an efficient national 

 society to employ such a man as Fortune to introduce Tea-Culture, the country -would 

 soon possess another staple second only to that of cotton in its commercial advantages, 

 But for some reason our three hundred agricultural societies fail to sympathize with 

 each other. They remind one of the dark ages under the Heptarchy of England, when 

 seven kings -were armed to the teeth, ever ready, and ever expecting battle. It is the 

 deplorable want of civilization that makes us expend a thousand dollars at militia train- 

 ino-s, and for military purposes, where we give one to increase our agricultural knowledge. 



STUDY THE INSECTS THAT DAMAGE THE FARMER. 



For some reason Agricultural Entomology is less studied and understood than almost 

 any other branch of rural knowledge. This general neglect of an important science is 

 doubtless one cause of the alarming increase of destructive insects in many parts of the 

 country. Let the subject be fully and critically investigated, and the result will show 

 that man unwittingly destroys thousands of birds which Providence intended to subsist 

 on insects, and keep their larvie from devouring the farmer's wheat and other grain, and 

 the gardener's vegetables and fruits. If we study Nature's laws, we shall discover the 

 important fact that no great class of animals, or plants, can be exterminated without 

 inilicting severe and irreparable damage on the human family. Even insects perform 

 important functions in the economy and e.xact balance of organic nature. Subsisting 

 mostly on vegetable substances, they check the strong tendency, in many districts and 

 countries, to the over-production of plants. If there were no insects and no birds, the 

 existing relations between the animal and vegetable kingdoms could not endure a year. 



