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THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



Farmers and MANUFAcruRUEts. — I wish to iotroduce a subject which I thiuk of vast importance to 

 the farming interest, hoping that it will be taken up and discussed by abler pens. 



We are a nation of farmers, and it is preposterous to suppose that we can consume every thing 

 witliin ourselves that we raise. Europe, as a general thing, supplies its own inhabitants with bread- 

 stuff;, and other edibles, and clothing. We must therefore depend mainly upon a home market for 

 the sale of our surplus products ; and in order to increase and maintain this home market, the 

 mechanical and manufacturing interests should be encouraged. The hands which are employed in 

 these pursuits, are so many taken from agriculture, and as they and their families must be fed and 

 clothed, it gives a better chance to those who remain. Where we have the raw materials in 

 abundance at our disposal, it would seem to be the better policy to manufacture it ourselves than 

 to import it from other countries. Take fur instance the article of iron : our country abounds with 

 ore, fossil, coal, and forests for the manufactiu-e of charcoal, which might be used extensively in 

 fusing and smelting, and our hardy and enterprising countrymen would make the best of bloomers, 

 &c If all the iron that is used in this comitry Wiis manufactured here instead of importing such 

 immense quantities from abroad, it would furnish employment for many of our citizens and 

 foreigners who are flooding this country, besides saving millions of money at home for circidation 

 among us. Tliere has been an improvement in the piice of iron since last year ; nails have risen 

 one cent per poiind. This advance I have cheerfully paid, in hopes of seeing this branch of homo 

 industry sustained. I might mention the manufacture of other articles which would be advan- 

 tagious to the country, but I do not wish to tax your columns too heavily at this time. 



There is, however, one branch of manufactures carried to considerable extent which might well 

 be dispensed with — that is, the manufacture of whisky* — an article which is worse than useless, 

 except for medical and mechanical purposes. But it is not my purpose at this time to make out a 

 temperance lecture. My object is to show its bearing upon the farming interest. In this I am 

 aware that I shall come in collision with the opinion of nwiny eminent men ; but let us impartially 

 examine the sulyect for a few moments, that the public may be able to judge whether I am right 

 or wnmg. Here is an indispensable article of food for both man and beast, which an Allwise 

 Providence has mercifully bestowed upon us for our comfort and support, converted into an article 

 of which, to say the least, is useless. The strongest argument made use of by the advocates of dis- 

 tilling is, that it creates a market for our coarse grain ; and the question is often asked. What 

 should we do with that article, were it not for the stills ? I would answer, feed it to your young 

 stock, and fatten your pork, beef, and mutton. In this way your grain is worth at least twenty- 

 five per cent more than to sell it at the ordinary prices, as all the manure will be left on the farm- 

 Some farmers are so peniuious that they will senmp and pinch their stock for the purpose of having 

 something to sell. The result is, their crow rates amount to more than they get for their grain or 

 hay — that is, many of their animals die by actual starvation and neglect; and what do survive 

 become so poor that it takes them half the summer to recover what they lose by bad wintering. 

 Tims their fields are disgraced by a diminutive race of animals, besides being a serious drawback 

 on the profits of the farm. 



Young animals should be kept growing until they reach maturity. If they are suffered to get 

 poor and stop growing they will retrograde, and never att^oin a full size ; and without grain, or 

 something better than hay, it is next to impossible to keep them in that condition, especially the 

 first winter. It is a well-known fact that still-slop pork is soft and oily, and docs not possess the 

 intrinsic value of that which is fattened by the farmer on more substantial feed. Tlie former governs 

 the market, and what little is made by the farmer has to come in competition with it, and come 

 down to the same leveh 



The last, but not the least objection, is tlie great waste of manure. Our agricultural journals 

 very justly urge upon us the necessity of more economy in making and applying manure. Tliey 

 tell US, to a mathematical demonstration, the exact number of pounds and ounces of grain-forming 

 elements which are extracted from tlie soil in the production of a given quantity of wheat, which 

 is carried off to our seaboard cities and elsewhere, never to return. I do not know but this is all 

 correct, as I am not a chemist; but there is one thing I do know, and that is, there are thousands 

 of tons of tlie best kind of manure annuidly washed down our mill streams fi-om the different dis- 



* I was onpc a mrmber of n lyran'l jury ■who found a bill of indictment ngaiiist an ex-member of the Asscml)Iy, for 



keeping a niililic nuisiinee (a »MI1 and hoi; pen) in tlie upper part of a village, whf>so flllli floated down throngli said 



I viJlage. 'niis was as it should bo. Every still should bo considered a public nuisance, and if they were all struck out 



of existence the country would be better off. 



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