216 



THE GENESEE FARMEE. 



And I have seen these same " old residenters " 

 strenuously oppose the opening of roads so as to 

 enable fai-mers thus situated to go to mill, or to 

 each other's houses, without soing so far around. 

 "Why? Because such roads might pass through 

 some part of their three, five, or eight hundred 

 acres, of land worn out half a century or a century 

 ago by theii- ancestors, by raising tobacco, without 

 ever returning anything to the soil, 



I have seen roads — or what are chilled by that 

 name here — running over the highest hrlls and 

 through the deepest vallies, twisting and turning, 

 apparently to seek the very worst places and to 

 avoid the best — going zig-zag, and round about, up 

 and down, over sand and through deep mire — where 

 they might be made upon mucli dryer and harder 

 land, with easy grades, and shortened at least one 

 mile in five; and I have seen farmers hauling man- 

 ure from the city over these roads, having to use 

 four horses to haul a load which might easily be 

 hauled by two, and in less time, were tlie roads 

 made in the proper manner and in the proper places. 



"They order these things ditierently in Flanders," 

 and I trust they will near the Capitol of the Uni- 

 ted States, one of these days, when the "old resi- 

 denters" shall have passed away, and their large 

 farms been divided and sub-divided among " their 

 heirs and assigns." pequod. 



Blaclenahurg^ Va. 



SHALL AGKICULTURE BE TAUGHT IN OITR COMMON 

 SCHOOLS 1 



Eds. Genesee Fakmer: — In my communication 

 (May number Genesee Farmei\) upon the above 

 topic, I partly promised to trouble you and your 

 readers with a few more thoughts upon the same 

 subject. 



Although no arbitrary rule can be laid down in 

 every individual case tor the commencement of an 

 education, yet it is conceded by all that it is better 

 to begin when the mind is, like the soft clay, sus- 

 ceptible of a lasting impression. And it is a fact, 

 that early impressions are the most lasting in our 

 lives. Whatevei', then, we wish to make the most 

 durable, we should labor to give the earliest im- 

 print upon the mind. It is vain to expect that 

 every thing to be learned can be done at once ; but 

 "little by little" is a good motto to adopt in all 

 pursuits. 



If, then, it is desirable to give the rising genera- 

 tion an agricultural education, when is there a bet- 

 ter time than to begin with the youthlul and ex- 

 panding mind? 



This being a foct so self-evident, we will not stop 

 to olfer any other proof. Having, then, come to 

 the conclusion that an agricultural education should 

 begin early in life, here we again ask the question, 

 Shall Agriculture be taught in our common schools? 

 I answer that it can, and I believe will le, before 

 another quarter of a century shall have passed — 

 and may we not hope before another census shall 

 be taken? 



I will now pass to give you some reasons why 

 Agriculture should bs tanght in our common schools. 

 What is more common than tlie question which is 

 continually coming from all parts of our country, 

 "Why are so many of our young men, sons of 

 farmers, turning their backs upon farming, and their 

 faces toward other and more uncertain pursuits?" 



This mystery, Messrs. Editors, is, in my opinion, ■ 

 contained in a nut-shell ; and we will endeavor to ' 

 crack it and bring it to the light. 



Children, when first sent to school, are expected 

 to learn their A B C's ; afterward, to spell words 

 of one, two, three and more syllables; next, to 

 learn to read, write, cypher, study geography, i 

 grammar, astronomy, and perhaps natural philoso- 

 phy, and a few other branches of an English edu- 

 cation, and by this time ho is ready to go away to 

 some academy or high school, where he becomes 

 associated with a class of lads from the city and 

 large towns, who look upon labor as degrading, and 

 upon him as their inferior! if he is ambitious to 

 maintain his dignity, he believes it to be necessary 

 to conform to the wishes, habits and feelings of his 

 classmates ; and long before he has finished his 

 collegiate course of studies, he is most thoroughly 

 finished for anything pertaining to farming or labor. 

 There may be exceptions, but this is the rule. 



Now I am not going to say that farmers' sons 

 and daughters should not be educated, or educated 

 abroad — far, very far from it. But how, and when, 

 and where to do it, I shall reserve for another arti- 

 cle, w. 



Trenton Falls, 27. Y. 



m I « ■ 



LETTEE, FROM UTAH TEKRITOEY. 



Eds. Genesee Farmee : — I received three num- 

 bers of the Genesee lanner, and have read with 

 much interest the contents. I like your paper 

 much, as the articles are short and nmch to the 

 point. I sliall willingly recommend it as a cheap 

 and useful paper. 



In this cold, barren climate, there is much need 

 of information on the cultivation of the aoil — espe- 

 cially as most of the settlers here are strangers to 

 farming and gardening operations. m 



The winter here has been unusually severe — 

 the thermometer has, I believe, fallen as low as 

 22° below zero. Most of the peach trees are killed, 

 and those which are alive are nmch injured ; we 

 shall have no peaches this season, llie apricot 

 blossoms are also killed and the trees much iijjured, 

 as are the apple, pear and plum. Our native cur- 

 rants, and a few plums from the seed of hardy va- 

 rieties, are the only trees that have escaped uninjured 

 by the winter. 



On Saturday, we had a heavy fall of snow ten 

 or twelve inches deep, and on Sunday morning we 

 had a hard frost. Icicles were hanging from the 

 eaves twelve to fifteen inches in length. It was 

 quite a novel sight, to see the green trees and veg- 

 etables above the snow, while the sun was shining 

 over the valley. 



This morning, Monday, we have had a sharp 

 frost, and vegetation looks but sadly. The winter^ 

 has been very severe on the cattle on the range, 

 I was informed this morning, by a person who has 

 just come in from Paiby Valley, in the South, that 

 the snow fell there from two to three feet deep a 

 few days since, and that of the herd of Mujor 

 Wardel & Co., which contained 3,000 head, only 

 about 200 are alive. 



Wheat looks well in the Valley, and we shall 

 most likely have a favorable season for grain ; but 

 the fruit crop will be very meagre. e. sayeks. 



Great Salt Lake, Utah Territory, May 14, 1860. 



