THE GENESEE FARMER. 



143 



farmers could make good boxes or racks to hold 

 the fodder for their animals, and any man conld 

 aail two boards together to make a sheep trough, 

 md there are many ways of threshing corn at little 

 ;ost. Two men and a pair of horses will tread off 

 100 bushels of corn in much less than a day ; a 

 nan with a flail will thresh over 30 bushels in a 

 lay ; or two men with one of Mr. Bukeall's shell- 

 srs will shell over 40 bushels in less than a day. 



Now, if the farmers have the intelligence and 

 enterprise you say they have, is it not strange to 

 ind such a state of things in a rich county like 

 Jaynga ? You ought to take a trip through that 

 jonnty, and induce them to do better : but don't 

 ;ell them they are the best read and most intelli- 

 gent and enterprising farmers on the globe; but 

 ;ell them their faults, and try to induce them to 

 mprove. 



I can not keep any kind of stock profitably, un- 

 ess I have- racks or boxes to put their fodder in, 

 vith mangers or troughs for meal and grain, and 

 Iry and clean beds to lie on. I would rather keep 

 ess stock, and have litter enough for them to lie 

 ipon, with hay, rather than let them lie in dirt, 

 klany yenrs ago, I was of the opinion that a certain 

 amount of hay was worth five to six dollars per 

 on to tread into manure by either cattle or sheep, 

 vhere the owner has not straw enough for that 

 jurpose ; and I am of that opinion still. 



Our wheat looks very well ; I don't know that I 

 :ver saw it look any better at this season of the 

 "ear : but I am a little afraid I shall have some loss 

 >y the white worm that destroyed some of the best 

 vheat in this neighborhood last year, about the 

 ast of April and early in May. I have some fear 

 if a part of mine, but it is too early to be sure of it. 



ITear Geneva, K. Y., Mar. 28, 1S59. JOHN JOHNSTON. 



Remarks. — We thank our respected friend John- 

 ton for his interesting letter. "We have seen many 

 uch farms and farmers as he describes. The pic- 

 ure is to the life. But it can not be that this is a 

 air representation of the American farmer. The 

 cnmense number of corn-sbellers manufactured and 

 old, is evidence that American farmers are not 

 ;enerally as deficient in intelligence and enterprise 

 i8 the remarks of Mr. Johnston on this point would 

 ndicate. The same is true in regard to all labor- 

 aving Implements. Any improved agricultural 

 inplement or machine meets with ready and ex- 

 ensive sale. 



The farmer would doubtless have found it to his 

 aterest to have manured the whole of his land for 

 ifheat ; but instead of censuring him for not doing 

 0, we would rather commend him for manuring as 

 luch of it as he could. To obtain sufiicient ma- 

 ure, is one of the grand difficulties American 

 irmers have to contend with. It does not follow 

 ecause they do not make as much manure as the 

 irmers of England, that they are not intelligent, 

 feat is higher ia England than here. The climate 

 I (better adapted for the production of turnips and 

 ItUer root crops, and the winters are so mild that 



they can be eaten on the land by sheep. England 

 scours the world for cattle-foods and manures. 

 Beans from the overflowing banks of the Nile, lin- 

 seed and cotton-seed cakes from the fertile valley 

 of the Mississippi, Carob beans (the " husks which 

 the swine did eat") from sacred Palestine, dried flesh 

 and bones from Buenos Ayres, nitrate of soda from 

 Peru, and guano from the distant ishuids of the sea, 

 all find their way to the quiet fields of "merrie old 

 England." We once heard one of .the best farmers 

 of England, a thoroughly scientific man, and one 

 whose opinion on this subject is eminently worthy 

 of respect, declare that it was impossible for h 

 farmer to make manure enough on his farm, unlestt 

 he imported some cattle- food or artificial manures. 

 If this is so in a country where half the land is 

 occupied with turnips and clover, grown for the 

 purpose of furnishing manure, how difiicnlt must it 

 be for the American farmer to make all the manure 

 he requires. 



Our friend thinks " men of intelligeiece" would 

 see the advantage of harrowing in manure with the 

 wheat. We think the practice is a good one. But 

 the experiment alluded to by Mr. J. does not prove 

 that such is the case. There is nothing to show 

 that the manure would not have done as mucli 

 good if it had been plowed in. Because a farmei- 

 passes that field daily, and yet does not adopt the 

 practice, it is hardly fair to accuse him of a lack of 

 intelligence — especially as the practice has been 

 condemned (erroneously, as wq believe,) by nearlv 

 all scientific writers and by the majority of practi- 

 cal farmers. 



We have no wish to tell such farmers as onr 

 friend describes, that "they are the best read, the 

 most intelligent and enterprising farmers on the 

 globe." We are quite willing to "tell them their 

 faults;" bxit we are not likely to have the opportu- 

 nity. Such men do not read the Genesee Farmer. 

 That there are many such farmers in the United 

 States, we have no doubt ; but this is no reason for 

 the unmeasured abuse of the American farmers in 

 which too many of our so-called scientific writer.^ 

 have so long indulged. We are not ignorant of 

 their faults — of their comparative slovenliness and 

 love of change — of their indisposition to expend 

 money in underdraining and other permanent im- 

 provements. But these charact«ristic faults are 

 incident to a new country, where rich lands are 

 continually thrown into market, where railroads 

 are developing the resources of new tracts of coun- 

 try, and where there are such abundant opportu- 

 nities for speculation. We can hardly be surprised, 

 however much we may deplore, if even intelligent 

 men are generally willing to sell their farms aiid 



