The Lancaster Farmer. 



Prof. S. S. BATHVON, Editor. 



LANCASTER, PA., JULY, 1877. 



Vol. IX. No. 7. 



A BETTER CIVILIZATION. 

 If Aincricnii agriiulturc lias an imsalisllcil need, It 

 |g surely the need for more intellifjenee luul more en- 

 terprising IntereBt on the part of Its working men 

 and women. Krom <me end of the land to the other, 

 its crying defect — recognized liy all— is that its best 

 blood— or, in other words, its best brains and its 

 best energy — is leaving it to seek other liclds of 

 labor. The intluences which lead these best of the 

 farmers' sons to other oecnpations is not so much 

 the desire to make more money, or to find a less la- 

 borious occupation, as It is the desire to lead a more 

 Batlsfactory life— a life where that part of us which 

 has been developed by better education and better 

 civili;;ation for which', in this century, we have work- 

 ed so hard and so well, may find responsive compan- 

 ionship ami encouraging intercourse with otlieis. 



We have noticed the foregoiiis; paragraph 

 ill a nmuber of i)apeis without coinmeiU, 

 and we infer from thi.s that it received the 

 unqualiticd endorsement of all those who have 

 published it. We do not intend to either as- 

 sent or d'ssent, without (lualification ; but 

 when the writer asserts that young men of ed- 

 ucation leave the farm for the purpose of en- 

 joying a "better civilization" than that which 

 tlie farm affords, and to lind a more "respon- 

 sive conipanionsliip and encouraging inter- 

 course with others," we are not sure tltat such 

 a motive is always a iiroper one. Something 

 depends upon what is iu tlie man that he de- 

 sires others sliould respond to, or what is in 

 others to which he desires to respond. Simi- 

 larities unite, whilst dissimilarities disunite; 

 and, intelligent young men leaving the farm 

 with warped or perverted socral affections, will 

 be drawn towards those in the towns whose af- 

 fections are simiarly dwarfed and perverted, 

 and therefore, "the better civilization," al- 

 I hough it may be externally more refined and 

 showy, may be ititenially a hollow cheat. There 

 is something more tlian a cultivated brain ne- 

 (•essaiy to enable a young man to for;n tlie 

 proper social alliliations. 



If heart culture does not go hand-in-haiul 

 with brain culture, there is no moral safety, 

 at least for a young man, either in the town 

 or on the farm. Thousands upon thousands 

 from the country and the farm are going every 

 year down to the moral Jericho of the city 

 and the town, falling into the hands of 

 "thieves and robbers," and are left wounded 

 and bleeding by the wayside; and are passed 

 "on the other .side" liy social priests and 

 Levites, and lind no good Samaritan to bind 

 up and pour oil into their wounds, and set 

 them on their way again. Not that (U! in the 

 cities and towns are literally thieves and rob- 

 bers, but that guided by a false inward moni- 

 tor, thes(^ young men may have naturally 

 sought such associations as the most congenial 

 to their own inclinations. There never was a 

 man yet who fell into temptation, that had not 

 something within him that was in harmony 

 with the tempter. Tho.se who could have mor- 

 ally and socially benefitted him, would have 

 appeared to him as prosey and as void of sensa- 

 tionalism as those he left on the farm, and there- 

 fore, there would have been no ground of aHilia- 

 tion between thcni. Witness the stercorarious 

 insect, who.se natural clement isstenchand filth. 

 See him expand his wings and fly abroad in 

 pursuit of new pleasures. lie describes his 

 circle of flight and pas.ses over perfumed and 

 honey-ladeiied flowers — turns his face away 

 from beauties and from fragrant odors that 

 have attracteil other insects, and finally folds 

 his wings and lights upon a concealed mass of 

 excremcnUtious liltli, and fairly revels therein; 

 because it is in harmony with his habitual 

 instincts, and lie seems powerless to deny their 

 control. 



Man is a mirroromn — a little world, as it 

 were ; and in his moral and physical constitu- 

 tion, reflects some phase, or many phases, of 

 the great mwrorosm of nature which is out- 

 side of and separate from himself; and his char- 



acter, when entirely free from social, conven- 

 tional and legal restraint, will be a correspon- 

 dential reflex of that which he has freely re- 

 ceived, that which is the basis of his internal af- 

 fections and desires. By liabitual perseverent^e 

 in any direction, which is impelled by his 

 ruling aft'ections, he will at length become as 

 unalterably confirmed in his habits as an 

 animal is confirmed in its instincts, with the 

 single reservation that he can be otherwise if 

 he will, but that of his own power alone he 

 ncrer will. Now, if he permits himself to be- 

 come morally a wolf, liow can he possibly be 

 in free and congenial association with those 

 that are lamlis? It is true, that for the sake 

 of social position, worldly fame, or pecuniary 

 compensation, he may assume the gn,fi) of the 

 lamb, but so fiir as relates to the constitution 

 of his soul, he will still be "a wolf in sheeps 

 clothing," and when it conflicts with no other 

 interest, he will be in association with wolves. 

 Every human attribute — every human aspira- 

 tion nr desire — every good or evil affection of 

 the liuman heart, in their multitudinous 

 phases, has its correspondential outbirth in 

 some object of the world of nature, an<l, 

 however externally restrained, will, internally, 

 be in sympathy with them ; and man's civiliza- 

 tion, tor Ijetter or for worse, will seek social 

 cohabitation with these, as naturally as one 

 animal will seek its likes in fetid filth, and 

 another in purity or in fragriint sweets. 



Daniel Webster has given utterance to the 

 apothegm, that "The farmer is the founder 

 of civilization," and if there is any truth in 

 the saying, it seems to us that those who 

 imagine there is a " better civilization'" than 

 that which the farm is capable of developing, 

 must be in jiursuit of a most deceptive phan- 

 tom. Farmers are, perhaps, not laboring too 

 assiduously and too self-denyingly for the 

 ])ossessions that ])ertain to this world ; but 

 they may be just as lialile as any other people 

 to laljor too little for those iiossessions which 

 they can cany over into the other life, and 

 constitute their capital in beginning the long 

 lease of eternity. And to possess those 

 elements of character tlierc, the foundation 

 must be laid here. The possessifin of worldly 

 wealth must be regarded as an instrument of 

 use — as a means of attaining a better civiliza- 

 tion, rather than as the end for which human 

 energy is exercised. For this pnrpose, the 

 highest physical and mental culture that their 

 lands, their bodies, and their intellects are 

 capable of attaining, will assure a more cer- 

 tain progress towards a better civilization 

 than placing themselves in rapport with the 

 contaminating influences of the sharji idlers 

 of the towns. Nothing can po.ssibly be 

 morally, socially and physically, more dam- 

 aging to ayoungmauof habitually industrious 

 habits in the country, than to be doomed to a 

 life of idleness in a city or a town ; moreover, 

 idleness is that satanic workshop, in which 

 many of the festering evils which aftlict society 

 are conceived, developed and executed. Social 

 intercour.se, when it is refined and pure, is a 

 great auxiliary to a " better civilization ;" but 

 when it is low, mean, and corrupt, nothing 

 tends to demoralization greater than it. 



Our intentions are the very farthest from dic- 

 tation ; but, if farmers were to solicit onr advice, 

 we should say, so long as it depended upon 

 their own will and ability, that they should 

 remain on their farms. And we say this, not 

 that the town per .<e, or town .society, is nec- 

 essarily demoralizing; hut that often, from a 

 sense of inferiority, induced by a want of con- 

 fidence in them.selves, a lack of experience, and 

 the absence of intellectual culture, the farm- 

 ers defer too much to the conduct and the 

 oiiinions of those who are almost infinitely in- 

 ferior to themselves. And when they finally 

 get their eyes opened, they then only begin to 



see the hollowin s-. and selfishness of that 

 "better civilization" wliich they had so ard- 

 ently coveted. AVe are just as far from intend- 

 ing to cast un<pialified reproach upon cities and 

 towns, for there is perhaps as pure and lofty 

 virtues cultivated and practiced in them as in 

 any part of the world. For the development 

 of the mechanical and commercial interests 

 of the country, there perhaps always will be, 

 and always must be, hamlets, villages and 

 towns. I'ut primarily there must be famis 

 and farmers, or society and civilization could 

 not exist; therefore, agriculture and the agri- 

 cultural interests of a country are paramount 

 to all other interests, and are the founders 

 and sustaiiiers of them; and instead of being 

 made a mere football to be kicked about by 

 the sharpers and shysters of society, they 

 ought to give to society its quality and its 

 tone — through their influence and example, 

 the "better civilization" of the world ought 

 to be engendered and developed. 



Improve and beautify the farra,sofarasthe 

 means arc available and alfowablc. Establish 

 schools, lyccums, museums, and .social as well 

 as religious institutions. Do not devote all 

 your time and energies to physical ;labor and 

 the mere acquisition of material wealth. 

 There is an immortal mind that needs to be 

 provided for, a nolile intellect that needs care- 

 ful culture; and, as these become healthily 

 developed, the necessities for mere physical 

 energy will grow less, because the intelligent 

 pursuit of anj' occupation facilitates its pro- 

 gress, by enabling the sul>ject to adopt the 

 best and shortest methods. Without ignor- 

 ing scholastic training and social effort, try 

 also the advantages of being "self-taught, 

 self-raised, and self supported." Provide 

 for yonrselvps and and your families healthy 

 literature in the form of useful books, news- 

 papers and periodicals, and thoroughly study 

 them. Devote the tranquil hours, which, 

 through an intelligent and economical adap- 

 tation of means to ends, may be upon your 

 hands, to reading, and you will read with 

 much more profit and satisfaction than the 

 denizen of the town, who.se reading maj- be 

 merelj- a monotonous occupation which he 

 feels himself compelled to resort to, in order 

 to "kill time," and to bridge over his long 

 and anxious waitings for the ingress of "the 

 next customer." This course would be <a 

 shorter and more certain road towards a 

 "better civilization," than those fanciful and 

 precarious occupations — either commercial, 

 mechanical or jnofessional — which are sepa- 

 rate and distinct from the tilling of the soil — 

 the employments of the farm. 



LATE POTATO PLANTING. 

 About the ^Oth of June we received from 

 Mr. H. M. Englc several small lots of potatoes 

 of his late crops of last year's planting. These 

 were of the Peerless, Early Rose, Snow-flake, 

 and .Brownal's Beauty varieties, and were 

 far superior to any of the old potatoes 

 then in market, and even preferable to the 

 new crops which were then just coming in. 

 They were as solid and as mild and mealy 

 as we usually find potatoes in January and 

 February. If this retention of original quality 

 was ducto late planting, then, so far as our 

 individual judgment, and the judgment of our 

 family go, we would by all means recommend 

 late planting for the stock that is intended 

 to be carried through the winter and into the 

 following spring and summer. Of course, for 

 immediate use during the early and late sum- 

 mer, an early crop is also desirable, and 

 especially is this desirable when the former 

 croj) is " short'' — as wtis the case last spring 

 — but from this test we are decidedly favor- 

 able to a late crop (other things being equal) 

 for potatoes to keep. 



