30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



abundant harvests, during which time we neces- 

 sarily find but a limited amount of time for study 

 and reading, though excellent opportunities for re- 

 flecting upon what we may have already learned, 

 and for putting the same to practical uses, Avhy 

 should we not eagerly seek, during the compara- 

 tive leisure of the remainder of the year, for op- 

 portunities to improve the mind, the guide and di- 

 rector 01 all our operations ? 



Fro(/ress now seems to be the order of the day, 

 in everything. We live in an age of inventions ; 

 in the age of steam and electricity ; in an age 

 when every one must be u]) and .sfirriiuj, to keep 

 up with his generation ; and finally in an age when 

 great improvements are made in every department 

 of the arts, in a single generation. Improvements 

 are made, and great improvements are to be made, 

 in Agriculture ; and the farmer, to keep up with 

 his time, must keep thinking, as well as stirring. 

 Agriculture is a vast subject, to which nearly all 

 the Sciences minister. It is not merely to plow, 

 and plant, and hoe, as our fathers planted, and 

 plowed, and hoed, and to gather what chances to 

 grow from such a course. Our lands in New Eng- 

 land, by exhausting methods of culture, are becom- 

 ing ]ioorer, the virgin soils, in a great many in- 

 stances, have been cro])t to excess, and it is oin- 

 business, then, to study methods whereby Ave may 

 not make them hold their present ccnidition merely, 

 but improve them. To this end I would counsel 

 the study of standard agricultural books, in these 

 spare moments ; take and read, perhaps, another 

 agricultural newspaper during these months, and 

 think, and devise experiments to be put into ex- 

 ecution the ensuing summer ; not to any ruinous 

 extent, however, should they prove of no econom- 

 ical value, but moderately, and persi'veriiujhi, and 

 so add your mite to the general cause. Agricul- 

 tural reports of States and counties are of great 

 interest and importance, and should not be omitted 

 in agricultural reading. I need not remind you 

 of vour duties and i')rhn.legcs in the "Farmers' 

 Clubs." 



Several of the natural sciences are so interwoven 

 with agriculture, as geology, botany, and chemis- 

 try, and perhaps I might add meteorology and 

 mineralogy, that some knowledge of them is of 

 great importance to every agriculturlist ; and this 

 knowledge is more easily acquired than is imag- 

 ined by many. It is not above the capacity of any ; 

 and every farmer's son who has improved the op- 

 portunities for a good, common-school education, 

 should not rest satisfied till he has devoted the 

 leisure he may find in one winter at least, to the 

 careful perusal and study of works on one, or more, 

 of these sciences, which, in all probability, must 

 create a thirst for higher attainments. Some 

 knowledge of these sciences is quite necessary to 

 read understandingly some of our agricultural 

 books and reports ; and ten dollars cannot be bet- 

 ter expended yearly, by the farmer, than in the 

 purchase of agricultural books, and papers, and 

 scientific text-books. Take botany, for instance, 

 the present winter, and make that a speciality, 

 procure "Wood's Class-book of Botany," or some 

 of Prof. Gray's botanical works, and in your leis- 

 ure, master as many of its principles and terms 

 as you can ; then as spring opens seize the fii-st 

 flowers a'iid ajiply them ; in the few spare moments 

 that you can find in summer, make a collection of 

 plants for a herharium, and my word for it, if 



your nature is in any wise like that of the mass of 

 people, the pleasures you will derive from the 

 science will amply repay you for all the hours of 

 patient study, and serve as an incitement to fur- 

 ther exertion. But do not be too hasty in your 

 anticipations ; if in two or three years, with the 

 time you would naturally get, you can seize upon 

 any wild flower of the field, and readily analyze 

 the same, you have accomplished not a little. 



And in geology, also, careful reading, from time 

 to time, will put you in possession of much valua- 

 ble information, and bo a source of great profit and 

 pleasure to you. And so Avith chemistry ; time 

 and perscvcruiice Avill put you on easy terms with 

 its elements and techiiicalities. Much time, how- 

 ever, will be required to accomplish all this, and a 

 good deal of perseverance. But the advice I have 

 given I knoAV to be wholly practicable ; and the 

 attainments I have mentioned I know to be within 

 the reach of almost any fanner, young or middle 

 aged, Avho wills to possess them ; and, in time, 

 even much more than this may be accomplished. 



And just here let me say, do not spend too much 

 time over a certain New York"story paper," or sim- 

 ilar publications — much Avorse than Avasting time 

 — Avhen Nature is ready to reveal to her votaries 

 truths so much stranger than fiction, and ])roduc- 

 tive of such high and ixoblc pleasures, and Avhich 

 may be rendered of much practical benefit. 



History, biography, books of travels, and other 

 departments of literature, as Avell as the topics of 

 the day, should receive a share of the farmer's at- 

 tention in this season of leisure. In our farming 

 population there are not a fcAV noble minds — 

 min.ds that can appreciate Avhatever is beautiful that 

 surrounds them, and are not insensible to the poetic 

 charms of nature, that they come into contact Avith 

 in their daily avocations ; and I Avould say, every 

 former's library should contain the AA'ritings of sev- 

 eral of our best poets, and let those volumes, too, 

 be Avell read. 



Indeed, let not these long evenings go unim- 

 proved ; they are the seed time of the mind, to 

 NcAV England farmers ; and around their glowing 

 hearths let refinement and intellectual culture find 

 a place, and receive encouragement, as Avell as in 

 the mansions of the anxious merchant and manu- 

 focturer. Let farmers' sons and daughters be ed- 

 ucated, at academies and other public institutions 

 of learning, if not too inconsistent with the far- 

 mer's circumstances, but at all events, let not the 

 Jiome advantages go unimproved. J. A. A. 



Springfield, Mass., Nov. 11, 1859. 



FARMERS' CLUBS. 



The oflScers and members of Farmers' Clubs in 

 this State, should be aAvai-e that the Common- 

 wealth, by an act of 1859, proposes to assist, to 

 some extent, such clubs already established, and 

 to encourage the establishment of them where 

 they do not yet exist. To avail themselves of this 

 assistance, immediate oflScial notice should be 

 given to the Secretary of the State Board of Ag- 

 riculture, in case of clubs noAV in operation, fur- 

 nishing himwith a copy of their Const itiition, the 

 number of members and times of meeting. In case 

 there are individuals in any town, who are dis- 



