iT'oL. XX, Secokd Sekies. 







ROCHESTER, N. Y., MARCH, 1859. 



No. 3- 



AKE AlKLEEICAN FARMERS INTELLIGENT 1 



"Some editors of affrieultural papers seem to try which 

 if them cau hlarnc;/ the farmers the most. One editor of 

 lU excellent agricultural pmpejp said, some month or two 

 ;go, that the Americsn farmers were the most iwklligent 

 ■nd odcrpridnij of any on the globe. This, I thought, was 

 ike a minister of the gospel preaching to please sinners, 

 n order to fill the pews, because I did not think he wrote 



liat he biiUeved." 



The above extract is from an article in the 

 Country Gentleman.^ written by our respected 

 riend and correspondent, John Johnston. From 

 he fact that we entertain such sentiments, and 

 lave used language similar to that quoted, we pre- 

 ume the shot is aimed at us. 



TVe beg leave to assure Mr, Johnston, that 



- hough we may not always write what we believe, 

 I ve always believe what we write. TTe expressed 

 1 >ur deliberate conviction, when we wrote, " The 



American farmers, as a class^ are the most intelli- 



l ;ent and enterprising in the world." Is there any- 



hing so improbable in this that we must be ac- 



;used of blarneying our readers? Certainly we 



- lad no such intention. If we consulted merely 

 >ur own interest in what we wrote, it would not 

 >e good policy to extol the American farmers at 

 he expense of those of other nations. Many of 

 )ur best and most active friends and correspond- 

 ints are English and Scotch, while we have thou- 

 iands of readers who are of foreign birth. It is as 

 contrary to our interest as our inclination to say 

 )ne word calculated to give them offence. It is 

 ;rue that, in speaking of American farmers, we de- 

 signed to include all who cultivate the land in the 



!K Juited States and the British American Provinces. 



Taking tliem as a whole, they are eminently dis- 

 '" iinguislied for their intelligence and enterprize. 



The best farmers in the world, at the present 

 "" ;ime, are undoubtedly those of England and Scot- 



and. M. dk Laveegne, an eminent French writer, 

 : iccords them this high position, and proves, by re- 

 ii iable statistics, that, notwithstanding "the supe- 

 :;;jiior soil and climate of France," the yield of cereal 

 "jrains is not half as much as that of England; 



while "the average return of an English sheep 

 farm is six times greater than of a French one." 

 He states, too, that "the English cows give twice- 

 the milk of French cows ;" while in the produc- 

 tion of meat, the English farmer is still further 

 ahead. A well-known German writer, Stook- 

 HARDT, in his Chemical Field Lectures, also gives- 

 the English the credit of being the best and most 

 scientific farmers. He says : " Let us inquire only 

 of English agricnlturists ; * * * let us calculate 

 the sums which have been expended in that coun- 

 try, by agriculturists themselves, with the view of 

 extending and deriving larger returns from chemis- 

 try ; and we shall not only arrive at a knowledge 

 of the extraordinary and viighty efforts made in 

 England, and the extremely slight attention paid 

 in Germany to chemico-agricultural oljects, but 

 also at the conviction that there a harvest has 

 already been reaped, while cautious Germany is 

 still debating the question whether the seeds sown 

 by chemists possess a germinating power or not." 

 The italics in the above extract are Stockhabdt's. 



The point we have to determine, therefore, is 

 whether the English or the American farmers, as a, 

 class, are most intelligent and enterprising. The 

 question is not whether the English or the Ameri- 

 can farmers produce the best crops, but which are 

 the most intelligent and enterprising. It would be 

 absurd to say, because a farmer residing near a 

 large city obtained better crops than one more re- 

 mote, that therefore the one was more intelligent 

 than the other. "We must take into consideration 

 the circumstances of the two farmers — or of the 

 farmers of different countries — before we can 

 arrive at a just conclusion. 



"We have had considerable acquaintance with 

 both English and American farmers, and are quite 

 satisfied that, as a whole, the Americans are the 

 most intelligent and enterprising. There are a 

 greater number of thoroughly-educated gentlemen 

 among the English farmers — many eminently sci- 

 entific men who are an honor to the profession — 



