THE GENESEE FARMER 



303 



and this, in the case of so large a business, is a mat- 

 ter of very great importance. 



" Then, sujiposing a decision to be an-ived at, and 

 the quantity and kind of the accommodation needed, 

 with i'.s position on the farm to be fixed, there still 

 remains to bp designed the arrangement of each set 

 of buildings within itself, so as to insure economy of 

 labor — the planning of each separate farmery for the 

 purpose it has to serve. Here, too, the advice of the 

 manager is required, and would be followed. 



" This is not all : the heath has to be reclaimed 

 piecemeal ; two hundred acres have to be educated 

 per annum — brought out of the wilderness and made 

 productive. How is this to be done without abrupt 

 interference with the existing plan of operations ? or, 

 rather, what is to be the plan of operations which 

 shall not be annually upset by the sudden influx of 

 so much more to be arranged each year, but which 

 shall, instead, naturally stretch year by year at the 

 rate proposed, w'ithout any breakage or confusion ? 

 The difficulty is so to crop the fresh instalment every 

 year that it shall yield an increased maintenance uni- 

 formly throughout the period. It is easy to decide 

 ofi-haud that one-half of every annual slice cut off" 

 'the waste shall grow corn and the other half green 

 crop ; it is not so easy to arrange the cropping of the 

 green-crop half so as to insure a monthly increase of 

 provision for the larger flock of sheep and herd of 

 cattle which will thus year by year have to be kept 

 until the whole work is completed. And yet this has 

 to be done, and it is the work of the bailiff to do it. 



" Apart, too, from the scheme of cultivation, think 

 of the responsibility connected ^^ith the selection and 

 purchase of stock. Annually so many moi'e horses 

 must be purchased. The sheep stock and the cattle 

 have yet to be selected, and annual purchases must 

 be made until the capabilities of the place are fully 

 developed. Here, too, it is not the mere expenditure 

 of so much of an employer s money ; it is his com- 

 mittal to a system and a policy, good or bad, for fu- 

 ture years, that is the really important aspect of the 

 matter. 



" Considei', too, the experience needed in the selec- 

 tion and purchase of tools and machinery — whose 

 threshing machine, whose steam engine, shall be pur- 

 chiised — whose plow, harrow, grubber — what roller, 

 presser, clod-crusher, may be needed — and what power 

 to work these implements, and with them cultivate 

 a thousand acres of such light sandy soil — all these 

 are questions awaiting the decision of the bailiff". 



" Lastly, and chief of all, there are the resolution, 

 temper and energy required to manage and direct 

 the manual labor needed — the prejudices of the dis- 

 trict against innovation to be overcome — and the 

 good-will and hearty co-operation of the working men 

 to be secured. 



" Here is surely scope enough for the exercise of a 

 very high order of ability, and a very great amount 

 of intelligence. Those who have charge of the ag- 

 ricultural education of our future land agents and 

 farmers, would do well to consider whether the intel- 

 ligence and ability which they are trying to confer 

 wiil fit their pupils for a field like thjs. It is when 

 the practical business of farming is commenced that 

 the real relative importance of the different branches 

 of an agricaitural education becomes apparent, and 



that experience in the field and in the market is seen 

 to be essential. That there is no lack of confidence 

 among the young men offbring for situations of the 

 kind is plain from our experience of the last few days ; 

 what sort of a foundation it is built upon is an alto- 

 gether difl'erent thino:." 



THE CROPS. 



The report of the English journals as to the state 

 of their crops is very encouraging. The Mark 

 Lane Express, of July 3d, says: "This we may 

 safely venture to assert : that in the event of our 

 having only a moderate amount of moisture, reasona- 

 bly warm weather, and very few gales, together with 

 an absence of blight, we shall have one of the most 

 abundant harvests on record." There are a good 

 many conditions given above as requisite for the 

 abundant harvest, but the general tenor of the Eu- 

 ropean journals is the same. Returns from all the 

 districts in Scotland, up to July 5th, promise favora- 

 Ijly, particularly in relation to wheat, oats, beans and 

 turnips. A correspondent of a London paper states 

 that "the Algeria harvest is already reaped, and 

 large consignments are on their way to Marseilles, 

 and have already materially influenced prices in favor 

 of the buyer. There is also the most positive cer- 

 tainty that France will be able to sell to English pur- 

 chasers, instead of competing with them in their own 

 market. On the continent the crops are extensive ; 

 and the markets are not only dull, but fast declining. 

 A circular from Rostock calculates on a large yield, 

 at least one-fourth above the usual average of the 

 wheat crop, and more than a full average of other 

 corn. There are the same prospects in the Baltic 

 districts ; and accounts are extremely favorable from 

 Norway, ■ Sweden and Denmark. In Prussia there 

 are excellent prospects of a large yield ; and at 

 Smyrna the grain is unusually plentiful. In Egypt 

 the prices have greatly fallen, and at Alexandria com 

 is most abundant. In the Principalities the corn is 

 being cut by the Russians ; but in Bulgaria the har- 

 vest has been most abundant on the whole. The 

 prospects of the supplies of corn are very good ; po- 

 tatoes promise to be abundant ; and as these two 

 articles have a material influence on the general 

 price of provisions, the food of the people may be 

 expected to grow cheap; and should this anticipation 

 prove correct, an impulse will be given to business 

 which it is now seriously in need of." 



Michigan. — Among the many pai-agraphs going 

 the rounds of the press deploring the state of the 

 crops, it is refreshing to have evidence that " all is 

 not lost that's in danger." The Detroit Tribune 

 says: "Accounts from all parts of the State that 

 reach us through private channels, and our exchanges, 

 unite in saying that the present harvest is one of the 

 best ever known in the State. Wheat, in some lo- 

 calities, may not quite come up to the mark, but in 

 others it will, while corn and oats never looked 

 better." 



Oregon and Washington Territories. — The 

 Weekly Oregonian, of July 15th, says that wheat, 

 oats, potatoes, onions, &c., will be abundant in Oregon 

 and Washington Territories, 



