EDITORS TABLE. 



257 



To THE Patrons of the Genesee Farmer.— The 

 undersigned lias sold the Genesee Farmer to Mr. James 

 ViCK. Jr., late proprietor of the Horticulturist, and some 

 s associated with the writer in conducting this journal. 

 Mr. V. is an experienced and successful publisher, as well 

 as a practical printer ; and while the undersigned will 

 continue to write for its pages as heretofore, the patrons of 

 this old reliable work will gain much by this accession of 

 skill and strengtli, to be extended to every department and 

 interest connected with rural affairs. 



DANIEL LEE. 



The above announcement will inform all the friends of 

 the Farmer, old and new, that the subscriber has again 

 returned to his old and well-loved work. From 184'J to 

 1S54, I had almost entire control of the Genesee Farmer, 

 and under my management its circulation rapidly increas- 

 ed, and it became the most popular agricultural journal in 

 the country — numbering on its books 40,000 good paying 

 subscribers. Since the Farmer has been controlled by 

 others, the circulation has decreased. I now retm-n to the 

 work, determined to make the Genesee Farmer second 

 to no agricultural journal in the world, and expecting it to 

 receive the support from the intelligent farmers of the 

 country that it shall merit — namely, a circulation of 50,000. 

 Let all the old friends of the Farmer now engage in the 

 work in earnest. Send in communications — important and 

 interesting facts. A good list of subscribers, enclosed in 

 a letter, witli the n^onej, is quite an interesting matter. 

 JAMES VICK, Jr. 



The Season and the Chops. — The year 1855 will 

 long be remembered in many parts of the United States 

 for its extraordinary frnitfulness. Since the summer of 

 5, when Governor Clinton broke ground in Ohio, for 

 making its first State canal, we have had occasions fre- 

 quently to travel through that large and excellent farming 

 Commonwealth, and never before have we seen the crops, 

 taken as a whole, so abundant as they now are. The 

 Hessian fly and wheat fly have done some injury, but not, 

 we apprehend, to any general and serious extent. In 

 western Pennsylvania, and especially in Westmoreland 

 county, where this article is written, wheat is remark- 

 ably good ; some fields that are just cut, and the grain in 

 shock are estimated at forty bushels per acre. All the 

 farms of this character, visited by the writer, have a lime- 

 stone soil. In some places, wheat, oats, and grass are so 

 luxuriant in growth as to be badly down, flat upon the 

 ground, or "lodged." 



In 18-15, the potatoe disease first began to be seriously 

 felt in tliis country ; and from that year to the present we 

 ha,ve never seen potato plants look so healthy and vigorous 

 — abounding in blossoms, and every promise of sound tu- 

 bers and vines, as well as an abundant yield. One can 

 hardly imagine a greater blessing ia the food for the mil- 

 lion, than the ability to raise a full supply of edible pota- 

 toes in future at a cheap rate. 



The Corn crop is not forward, but the reverse ; it has 

 however the right color, and the weather is everything that 

 the corn-grower can ask to push this great staple forward 

 to its ultimate maturity, and a glorious harvest. In some 

 places streams have overflown their banks and damaged 

 large fields of corn, planted on low bottoms. These mis- 

 fortunes, though serious losses to a fe\v, will not affect the 

 aggregate crop to an appreciable degree. Jlure corn and 

 wheat, by many millions of bushels, will be gathered this 

 year than ever before in this Kepublic. 



Nor have the producers of butter and cheese been less 

 favored by timely rains and first-rate pasturage. A more 

 perfect contrast, viewed in connection with the drouth and 

 general lack of grass last year, can hardly be imagined. 

 Then cows and other stock were nearly starved, and often 

 lacked water as well as food. Now there is a plenty for 

 all beasts, and there soon will be for the poor and rich 

 alike, through the great mercy of Providence. Thankful- 

 ness of heart well becomes a Christian people for whom 

 Heaven has done so much by sending the early and the lat- 

 ter rain. 



The market price of grain the coming fall and winter, 

 will depend much upon the foreign demand for our surplus 

 bread stuffs. If Europe wants any unusual quantity from 

 us, prices in this country'will be most remunerative to the 

 farmer. In any event, prices will not fall very low before 

 another fall harvest, for there is no surplus in the country. 

 Agriculture was never more prosperous than it now is, and 

 long may it continue to bless both producer and coHsumer. 

 Families that have been paying a dollar and a half a 

 bushel for potatoes, may well rejoice to g^it a bushel at 

 one-fourth the money ; and oats that have been selling at 

 sixty cents, are now being contracted in the interior at 

 twenty cents a bushel. Hay has fallen from twenty to five 

 dollars a ton ; and wheat from two and a half dollars a 

 bushel to half that sum. This vast surplus will secure a 

 large increase of h*eight to all river, lake, canal, and rail- 

 road companies, who, together, have so much capital in- 

 vested in the carrying trade of the United States. Our 

 inland commerce, immense as it is, depends mainly on till- 

 age and husbandry for its support ; while our foreign 

 commerce and the whole mercantile and manufacturhig 

 interests look to the soil and its fruits for their wealth and 

 power. Acriculture feeds all, clothes all, and otherwise 

 sustains all. 



Agricultural Suggestions from Travel. — If a 

 farmer can have his choice in the matter, he will find that 

 the best country to live in which has lime enough in the 

 soil and sub-soil to make hard spring and well-water, and 

 at the same time sutHciently uneven in its surface for all 

 surface water to run off, and never stagnate any where. 

 In Pennsylvania, west of the mountains, there is a pretty 

 large area of this character— a region that naturally pro- 

 duces excellent wheat, clover, barley, oats, tiuiotby, and 

 root crops ; where agues and fevers are much less frequent 

 than in the Genesee Valley, and other lake districts of 

 Western New York. Rich lands, good health, and good 

 markets are rarely found together ; but in the coal region 

 above Pittsburg, on the Monongahela and its tributaries 



