su 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



of 100 acres with from 25 to 50 acres improved and 

 comfortable dwellings can bo Lad for from $6 to 

 $10 per acre, and a little farther south land is still 

 cheaper. Ellenboro is our marketing place, whers 

 every kind of farm produce brings a good price. 

 The country is well timbered, white oak, hickory, 

 sugar maple, walnut, black cak, and beautiful pop- 

 lar timber in abundance, and this is considered 

 on© of the very healthiest countries. I have lived 

 in the country fifteen years, and during that time 

 tliere has been very little sickness; and although 

 this is a slave state, there are not over thirty col- 

 ored persons in this county. We are in what we 

 call Western Virginia, twenty miles from the Ohio 

 river, about sixty miles below Wheeling, and thirty- 

 six miles from Marietta. There are five excellent 

 flouring mills within four miles of us, and the 

 country is well supplied with saw mills. Two 

 steam mills witliiu three miles of us continually 

 sending otf flour to the Baltimore market. Should 

 persons wishing to move here wish to make any 

 further inquiry concerning our country, I will 

 cheerfully furnish them with all the information 

 they require either through the columns of the 

 Farmei\ or personally, by letter. 



Ritchie Cviiti JTmise. Virginia. J. M. WOODS. 



FEEDING CALVES-ONCE MOEE. 



Bdito«6 Genesee Farmer : — Believing that fur- 

 ther controversy between Mr. Maynard and my- 

 self on calf feeding, will not be interesting to your 

 readers, I shall only trouble you with a line or two 

 on the subject. If Mr. M. thinks he can raise 

 better (or as good) calves with his methed as I 

 can with mine, why does he not say so? I think 

 I can not. I have seen calves raised with all sorts 

 of feeding, for twenty- five years past, in England 

 and Canada, and therefore ought to know sorae- 

 tliing about it ; and I can inform Mr. M. that I 

 find no dirticulty in carrying out the plan which so 

 much astonishes him. But Mr. M. has miscon- 

 strued my statements, as any candid reader may 

 see, in paragraphs four, five, and seven, of his last 

 letter ; hence the ditficulty he has in understand- 

 ing them. 



But as Mr. M. truly thinks the game is not worth 

 the ammunition, I purpose to carry it no further, 

 but will state, for his information, that my name 

 and post oflice address is, Joshua Nokkish, Eden 

 Mills, C. W., wrehe I shall be most happy to receive 

 a letter from him at any time on this important 

 subject, and if ever he does come this way I hope 

 he will cjill and see the calves. j. n. 



A'aMagmi:ei/a, C. H'., June Gth, 1S59. 



P. S. — In a communication I sent you as answers 

 to some «)f tlie inquiries of J. S., and published in 

 the June number, page 181, the first word in the 

 last line should be weeks instead of months. 



PouiTRT. — A correspondent says it does not pay 

 to ke«p poultry in large immbers on a farm, as they 

 require too much attending to if kept confined in a 

 yard ; and if not, they range over the farm, doing 

 a great deal of damage at seed time and harvest. 

 He says a small number kept close, and well sup- 

 plied with animal food to keep them constantly lay- 

 ing, wiU pay best. The rule should be to keep enough 

 to pick up food that would otherwise be wasted. 



HOW TO RUIN AN AGBICULTUIIAL SOCEETT. 



The dilapidated condition of very many of our 

 County Agricultural Societies may furnish profita- 

 ble food for reflection — both to those who have 

 run them down, and to those who wish to build 

 them up. And it may even be well for some who 

 do not desire to break down these institutions, to 

 know how the thing can he done ! Well ; here aro 

 some things that the writer thinks have had, or 

 may have, a tendency that way : 



1. Charging more for membership on the day of 

 the fair, than is required if paid earlier. This can 

 not fail to create dissatisfaction — and a dissatisfied 

 member, if to be retained at all, can never be an 

 eflicient laborer in the cause. Moreover, the rule 

 can not be uniformly enforced. One (who under- 

 stands the game) will go to a town committee man 

 and pay the usual fee, even on the moment of mak- 

 ing his entry, — whUe another, walking up to the 

 higher authority, has to pay double. Such trans- 

 actions will leak out — and, of course, must give 

 honest men a bad impression of the managers. 

 Thus, dissatisfaction will be made general. 



2. Take advantage of any mistake a member may 

 make, such as getting his entry into the wrong 

 class, — entrusting his member fee to an agent who 

 fails to have it credited in time, — leaving his certi- 

 ficate of membership at home, — being unable t» 

 get his article or animal on the ground at th<» 

 moment, — or any other trifle that might shut him 

 out from competing for the Society's premiums. 



3. Select judges who will favor the locality whe» 

 the fair is held. 



4. Go largely into permanent fixtures ; and, it 

 you can not pay for them out of the funds furnished 

 by the state, just repudiate the premiums you ha\»» 

 awarded. 



5. Raise aU the funds yon can by life member 

 ships. 



6. If funds grow short, double your member- 

 ship fee. 



7. If this don't do the thing up, conclude to sus- 

 pend offering premiums. And, finally, if you are 

 awa.-e your show is a failure, 



8. Admit no soul within your grounds until you 

 get the dollar! Those who have been taken in 

 will then be ashamed to expose the sell, and your 

 empty tent will be thronged for this time, if not 

 for next! U L-S. U 



Feed the Laxd and it will Feed Yof. — The 

 Homestead well observes, "The true economy with 

 land is to treat it as you would a laborer, from 

 whom you wanted the most work. Let it be well 

 fed, and there is much less danger of over feeding, 

 than there is in case of men or animals. No morei 

 should be cultivated than can be stuifed with m 

 full supply ot plant food. The sun and atmosphere 

 are all ready to give you eighty bushels of com to 

 the acre, and it will not cost a penny more to draw 

 upon them for the necessary amount of heat, light, 

 carbon, and mosture to make this quantity of grain, 

 than to make twenty bushels. Here is an inex- 

 haustible store house of riches, and a well fed soil 

 is the key to unlock its treasures. Give to the soil 

 generously and persistently, and it will give unto 

 you 'good measure, pressed down and nmniufi 

 over.' " 



