THE GENESEE FARMER 



Tork, for any thing in behalf of agricultural education ; 

 but we have not quite given up the State Societies of Penn- 

 sylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and Georgia. Indiana, 

 Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin feebly promise to do 

 Bwnetliing for the increase of rural knowledge at some 

 future period. 



Farmers and Farmino is Canada. — It is with con- 

 siderable reluctance that we admit the superiority of 

 Canada farmers and farming as compared with those of our 

 own much-cherished Western New York ; and we still 

 lope that, taken as a body, our cultivators are in advance. 

 But the more we learn of our neighbors across the lake, 

 he higher is our respect for their general intelligence and 

 ikiU as husbandmen. We ask our readers in the United 

 Jtates to consider the foUowing statements, contained in a 

 jostscript to a business letter, which we feel confident are 

 rom a reliable source : 



"Bristol, C. E., February, 1854. 

 The wheat crop (especially fall wheat) was excellent 

 Q this neighborhood last season. Potatoes also were 

 bundant and good ; one of my neighbors had 1,250 bush- 

 Is from something less than two acres, all sound. I am 

 uite surprised to see the small average of wheat per acre 

 1 New York. In this township there are farmers who have 

 ever less than 30 to 35 bushels per acre, and sometimes 



bushels. I see those who plow deep have the best crops. 

 The winter is quite mild, with very little snow ; but this 



lorning the thermometer was down to forty degrees be- 

 3W zero, being lower than it has been with us for many 

 ears. W. K." 



" Twelve hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes from 

 Dmething less than two acres of ground," is a crop worth 

 liking about, and it reminds one of the best ever gathered 



1 the virgin soil of New York. Will our friend favor us 

 rith some account of the treatment this crop received, 

 le variety planted, the kind of land, whether recently 

 leared of its native forest or not, the manure applied, 

 nd such other facts as cultivators of the potato would be 

 esirous of learning ? 



During the last twenty years much of our best wheat 

 inds has been taxed pretty severely ; and we have never 

 eased to warn the owners of the consequences of this 

 uicidal course. Had it not been for the searching sched- 

 les prepared by the writer for taking the agricultural 

 ensus of this State in 1845 (which have since been exten- 

 vely copied, and recently complimented by Lord Ash- 

 urton). the public would have known comparatively 

 othing of the defective farming in New York. Naturally 

 nough, our State and County Societies -wish to put the 

 est possible face on all our rural industrv. Such flattery, 

 owever, is not calculated to reform what is amiss in our 

 ystem of tillage and husbandry. Hence, our Societies 

 ave done next to nothing to maintain the true balance of 

 '>pganic Nature. 



Filtered Rain Water. — 'Sir. John Kedzie, of this 

 ity, has advertised his filters in this number of the Farmer. 

 Ve have used one of Mr. K.'s filters for some time, and it 

 ■nswers every desirable purpose. Pure, soft, filtered rain 

 rater is much better for drinking, making tea and cofifee, 

 nd cooking meat and vegetables, than hard limestone 

 rater. 



" An Upward Tendency in Land." — A correspondent 

 who has a soul as large as Noble county, in Ohio, writes : 

 " It is surprising that the most outrageously poor farmers 

 in this country are the ones to cry down every thing lik« 

 improvement, and say it is of no use to buy books or pa- 

 pers, for they can farm without them better than with 

 them. There is a great need of more agricultural knowl- 

 edge in this county ; and if your journal takes with this 

 community, we hope to see an upward tendency in land as 

 well as in crops. The whole business of the farmer here 

 seems to be to run his land to death, and then sell out to 

 an Eastern man, for he alone can bring it into fertility 

 again." There is no mistake in reference to the fact that 

 the true way to double the value of farms in any county is 

 to circulate the Genesee Farmer — the oldest agxicultural 

 journal in the State of Nev/ York. 



Our friend has turned his agricultural reading to a prac- 

 tical account; for he writes that he "has doubled and 

 almost trebled the value of his farm in the last four years." 

 So much for wisely profiting by the vast aggregate expe- 

 rience of thousands of the best farmers in the civilized 

 world. It is with the careful and successful practice of 

 such men that our readers are made acquainted. Such 

 acquaintance costs a farmer but fifty cents a year — the 

 price of twelve or fifteen good cigars. 



Osier Willow. — Mr. James Brittan, of Newaygo, 

 Mich., very properly calls our attention to the importance 

 of cultivating the Osier Willow for hedges and shelter, as 

 well as for cuttings and market. He savs : 



" My object in writing to you is to ask why Willow is not 

 used for live fences in tliis country? In England it is 

 reckoned fully equal to wire ; and beside, on the deep bot- 

 toms, it gives a valuable crop in its clippings for osiers. 

 As it grows with certainty from cuttings, and with aston- 

 ishing vigor, it is also considered very useful for sheltering 

 screens ; and the difference between the produce of a field 

 of corn (wheat) exposed to the blasting influence of the 

 unbroken sweeps of the wind, and a crop in the lee of a 

 belt of Willow, is inconceivable. Mr. Barry, in his arti- 

 cle in the Horticulturist, is beginning to have right notions 

 on that subject. His article is valuable. Bu^ to fences 

 again : in every respect Willow has greatly the advantage 

 over every other kind of live fence — it is cheaper (cuttings 

 being used instead of rooted plants) — it is far more beau- 

 tiful — perfectly hardy — and at all times impervious to cat- 

 tle, which no other hedge is. Will you give us an article 

 on that subject for the West ?" 



Our intelligent correspondent is himself the man to give 

 the readers of the Farmer an instructive and interesting 

 " article " on the subject. The one he sends in the type 

 of the Farmers' Compaiiion is not sufficiently condensed 

 to be compatible with the many other claims on our journal. 



Edge Tools. — Mr. D. R. Barton, of this city, has ac- 

 quired such a world-wide reputation as the manufacturer 

 of superior Edge Tools, that some of his chisels and augers 

 have been counterfeited in England and sent to American 

 markets. His axes are almost without rivals in the chop- 

 ping line. 



■ ■!» I mt 



Hay, Stalk and Corn Cutter. — One of the best ma- 

 chines for cutting forage that we have ever seen operate 

 is that advertised in this number of the Farmer by J. 

 Jones «& A. Lyle. 



