368 



THE GENESEE FAEMEPw. 



NOTES FOS THE MONTH-BY S. W. 



Trfe Criticism. — I have often heard the farmer 

 readers of the Genesee Farmer give to its veteran 

 editor the praise of being one of the most watchful 

 sentinels of the agricultural press, hoth in saving 

 the ftinner from imiiosition and frauds in special or 

 spurious manures ; and also from false doctrine and 

 em))iricism in the form of printed publications, 

 ostensibly sold for the benefit of fanners, but 

 reall}' to get tlieir money. But on reading his 

 sksliing criticism, in tiie last Farmer^ on Secretary 

 Klippart's book, I could but feel that the strictures 

 on that perhaps pretentious issue, would liave con:ie 

 more legitimately from those of whom the antlior 

 has so Hberally borrowed, so awkwardly under- 

 stood, and so sadly misrepresented. What must 

 those indefatigable experimenters in the science of 

 vegetable growth and nutrition, J. B. Lawes and 

 Dr. Gilbert, tliink, wlien from the published 

 retjults of their costly, consecutive experiments in 

 growing wheat for tlie last eigliteen years, the 

 American author, instead of giving the practical 

 result^s of their labors, copies only the analysis of 

 some of their experiments on the composition of 

 the wheat grain, and erroneously gives this to his 

 readers as the gist of their disagreement with 

 Llebig in his " mineral theory." Verily, if the 

 old adage is true, those gentlemen should exclaim, 

 " Save us from our friends." But methinks Secre- 

 tary Klippart is fortunate in having such an 

 analytical reviewer as the editor of the Genesee 

 Farmer^ for ho may be so far benefitted by his 

 strictures as to be enabled to give us a corrected 

 and improved second edition of Ms book IIow 

 much better for an author to be even a little 

 scathed by true criticism, than to be cursed by that 

 stereotyped praise, now so universally bestowed on 

 every book as it falls from the press, on to the 

 editor's table. The day was when a book was 

 always read, if its contents were not always men- 

 tally analyzed, before it was praised ; but in this 

 fast age, such a consummation must often be 

 dispensed with, as the number of books now pre- 

 sented for editorial puffing, not criticism, is legion. 

 Ifc is said of the wife of one of our Presidents, that 

 on a busy day of her soir6e, she was seen reading 

 a new book. To excuse herself for being tlius 

 employed, she told her friends that the author had 

 sent the book to her that morning; and as he 

 wonld be at the soir(5e, sur le soir, she wanted to 

 be able if possible to speak to him favorably of 

 his book. lIow many autliors, when they ask for 

 an approval of their bantling, become impatient of 

 that true criticism, without which they can not 

 hope to grow in the graces of book-making. 



The Address of llox. Jonx A. Dix, at the 

 New York State Fair. — This nddrass, at our 

 great agricultural festival, wa.s truly a broad and 

 statesmanlike production, applied to the rural 

 interests, not only of this State, but of the whole 

 Union. IIow mucli better to show the farmers 

 the importance of the foreign demand for their 

 products, and its progressive increase, than to 

 stimulate their prejudices against our great com- 

 mercial interests, by an overweening wail, in favor 

 of prohibitory laws in the shape of tariffs for 

 ^ iancreased protection to our manufacturing industry, 

 just as though our manufactures were not now 

 thriving and increasing by the aid of fixed and 



daily improved machinery, to an extent tlie old 

 world never so quickly attained ; and what to the 

 protectionist must be the greatest puzzle of all, is, 

 that those trades and manufacturing mills and 

 workshops have succeeded best tliat have been a 

 tariff' to themselves, in their superior industry and 

 economy, and without any legislative bounty in 

 the shape of an emasculating taritf for protection. 



Again, Mr. Dix does the State rural some ser- 

 vice, in the practical manner in which he ex{)iode8 

 the long stereotyped slanders of the soil of the 

 great unclaimed area of Long Island. After 

 spending more than twenty summers on this 

 matchless island, and well noticing the late very 

 productive farms made on those long yclejjed 

 barrens, he says: "The delusion was natural 

 enough with those who only knew central Long 

 Island by description; for one of her grave histo- 

 rians pronounces this region to be 'a vast barren 

 plain, with a soil so thin and gravelly that it can 

 not be cultivated by any known process,' And 

 yet," says Mr. Dix, " from personal survey, the 

 soil of this whole region, with some inconsiderable 

 exceptions, consists of a rich loam, from twenty to 

 thirty inches in depth. Some of the best farms of 

 the island, or in this part of tl)e State, have during 

 the past five years been made in this condemned 

 region. In a few places, the gravel with which 

 the surface soil is underlaid crops out, but these 

 localities are believed not to exceed two per cent, 

 of the whole island'" " Of all the districts of this 

 State," .says Mr. Dix, " this has the finest summer 

 climate, and the winters are mitigated and made 

 temperate by the surrounding waters. Closer ob- 

 servation and sitccessful experiment have dissipated 

 misapprehension in regard to its fertility ; they 

 have shown that its soil is warm, genial and pro- 

 ductive ; and there is no hazard in predicting that 

 it will at no distant time become the garden of tlie 

 city of New York." 



It is refreshing to learn that the State Commis- 

 sioners for equalizing the taxes of the different 

 connties of this State, have made a stir among the 

 dry bones on Long Island, by marking up tlie tax- 

 able lands in Queens and Sutiblk counties about two 

 and a quarter millions of dollars. 



Good Stock the Most Profitable. — In my 

 father's yard during the winter are several head of 

 cattle, young and old. Some are natives, but the 

 greater portion are grades with from one-half to 

 seven-eights Short-horn blood in them. All the 

 stock are treated alike, and receive the same food, 

 and the same care and attention. The cows are 

 warmly stabled, and the young stock have good 

 warm sheds, and jdenty of straw. The native 

 cows eat their meals quickly, and then grab all they 

 can from thtir neighbors. The native stock in the 

 yaiil do tlio same. The grades eat quietly and con- 

 tentedly, and submit to being jdundered of their 

 last morsels by the others. Yet the grades come 

 out in tlie spring increased in size, in good condi- 

 tion, and witli sleek coats, while tbe natives seem 

 to atop growing and get so poor it requires a sum- 

 mer pa-sturage to got up their condition and start 

 their growth agaiji. — W, S. 



^ I m ■ 



Thk number of sheep killed by dogs, in Ohio, in 

 1658. was 60,536; and the number injured, 36,441. 



