THE GENESEE FARMER. 



247 



of home. Patriotism, true and genuine, the only 

 kind worthy of the name, derives its mighty 

 strength from fountains that gusli out around the 

 hearthstone ; and those who forget to cherish the 

 household interests, will soon learn to look with 

 indifference upon the interests of their common 

 country. 



We must cultivate the roots — not the tops. We 

 must make the family government^ the school, the 

 farm, the church, the shop, the agricultural fairs, 

 the laboratories of our future greatness. We must 

 educate our sons to be farmers, artizans, architects, 

 engineers, geologists, botanists, chemists — in a 

 word, practical men. Their eyes must be turned 

 from Washington to their States, counties, town- 

 ships, disti-icts, homes. This is true patriotism ; 

 and the only patriotism that will perpetually pre- 

 serve the nation. — Gov. Wright. 



NOTES FEOM DOWN EAST. 



Road Making. — I am not prepared to say which 

 is the hest system of regulating road making, but 

 I wUl tell you how it has operated with us. For 

 the last ten yeai's preceding 1859, our roads in this 

 place have been built on the " contract system " 

 for a teiTxi of five years each. Proposals were re- 

 ceived, the lowest bidder obtaining it, thus placing 

 the superintendence entirely in one man's hands. 

 The contractor took it to make money, and, as a 

 natural consequence, the roads were neglected — 

 just enough being done on them to "clear the law" 

 and at the end ot two terms or ten years the roads 

 were almost impassable. Last spring the people 

 rose almost en tnasse in favor of the "old surveyor 

 system," and opposed to the "contract system." 

 The city was divided into districts, with a surveyor 

 chosen lor each district, and the people empowered 

 to "work out their road tax" at so much per hour. 

 Each person being interested in making their own 

 road, they are alread}' fifty per cent, better, and 

 no doubt but by autuum they will regain the old 

 standard. 



Breeding. — In the June number of the Farmer 

 a correspondent says that "heifers should not breed 

 antil four years old." This is a new doctrine to us 

 of this section. We generally allow them to breed 

 t two years, or three at the longest. It " would'nt 

 )ay"" for us to keep them till four years of age 

 sefore breeding, and I presume the 2^ay is the high- 

 est consideration with most others. But perhaps 

 iie had reference to breeding for excellency of stock 

 without regard to cost. 



Management of Calves. — Your correspondents, 

 N. &i\Ci E. Matnakd, can not seem to agree on 

 this subject. We genei'al'.y take the calf from the 

 BOW as soon as it has sucked and thoroughly cleaned 

 the udder; first learning them to drink new milk, 

 then new and skimmed together, and lastly all 

 jkimmed, warmed, and a very little corn meal, un- 



ooked, stirred in the milk ; but a small quantity 

 i)f meal at first, gradually increasing as they grow 

 jlder. If too much is given at once, or if it is fed 



rregularly, it will scour them. 



May-planted Corn. — The remarks of S. W., in 

 the last (July) Farmer^ in regard to early planted 

 lOrn, perfectly coincides with my opinion. 



"India Wheat*" — Can you or your correspond- 



ents give particulars in regard to raising, etc.? 

 We have sown some this season but are unac- 

 quainted with it. 



Hungarian Grass. — Is this nothing but a vari- 

 ety of millet, or is it a "humbug?" g. e. b. 



Belfaat, Me., July 9tk, 1S69. 



DEOPSICAL LAND. 



The advocates of drainage expect farmers to be 

 possessed of common sense enough to discriminate 

 between land that will pay for draining and that 

 which will not. If there are those that can not 

 so discriminate, the draining of a few acres will 

 show plainly whether it will or not, so that even 

 if one has very little judgment in the case he need 

 not essentially err. Every man may have observed 

 that one part of a field will, in general, produce 

 fine bright straw, (it may be wheat or other grain) 

 with plump heavy ears, giving a satisfactory return 

 for seed and labor expended, while immediately 

 adjoining such part of tlie field another portion 

 produces dark colored straw, (if not rusted,) and, 

 lean ears with light unremunerating grain. Now 

 did it ever occur to the farmer to ask himself the 

 reason why one part of the field brought good 

 grain and the other bad ? For surely he must see 

 there was a local cause. I will tell you how it is : 

 the part giving good grain is sound, healthy land ; 

 the part giving bad grain is dropsical and diseased. 

 Whatever manure may have been applied to it, did 

 little or no good, and whatever vegetation it pro- 

 duced was unhealthy like itself. To prove what I 

 say, let a ditch be dug in the sound land, and there 

 will be no run of water, even in a wet time, unless 

 there is a snow-bank melting near by, which runs 

 into the ditch from the surface. Then let another 

 ditch be dug through the disemcd land, two and a 

 half feet deep, and in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred there will be a free run of water, and that 

 coming at or near the bottom of the ditch. And 

 if the dropsical portion is thoroughly tapped, it 

 will bring for a number of years much better crops 

 than the land that was healthy from the beginning. 

 In many cases such land will pay the cost of di-ain- 

 ing by the excess of the first crop, where it can be 

 drained for $15 to $22 per acre. — Johi Johnston, 

 in Boston Cultivator. 



SCAEIFYING PEA OR BARLEY STUBBLE FOR 

 WHEAT. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — In this country, 

 wheat is frequently sown on land from which a 

 crop of peas or barley has been taken. But where 

 a crop of wheat is grown in this way, we find that 

 the land, after the wheat is sown, becomes very 

 foul. The plan I have adopted is this : As soon as 

 the crop of barley or peas is removed, which is 

 usually some three or four weeks before the time 

 for putting in the wheat, I set a three-horse scari- 

 fier to work to tear up the soil, and bury all the 

 seeds both of the weeds and seed grain as may 

 have been left on the surface. These germinate 

 and come up in a week or two, and are then turned 

 under and destroyed, when I plow the land and 

 get it ready for the wheat. In this way my crops 

 of wheat are as clean, or nearly so, as those where 

 the land has been summer-fallowed g. l. m. 



AncasUr, C. W. 





