72 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Ma^ch 



no palings — no shed crammed with dry fuel for 

 such a season as this — no, nothing, whatever, in- 

 dicating that the people possessing this generous 

 soil are an intelligent, industrious and thrifty 

 people. Cattle all along the way were roaming 

 the barren fields, browsing on dry weeds or decay- 

 ing wheat stubble, and shivering in the cutting 

 blast. Many of them were standing, gradually 

 contracting their limbs as if to make the last 

 plunge to mother earth. How they are sustained 

 is a mystery. I saw few stacks either of hay or 

 straw. The corn-fodder is generally left in the 

 field. Sometimes the cattle were there, over- 

 turning the shocks and trampling upon what they 

 did not eat. 



I am aware that the portions of country over 

 which I passed, on the rail road, may not be of so 

 good soil, or so highly cultivated, as they are on 

 the county roads, — that is generally the case, — 

 but the indications, all along, even in the villages, 

 did not suggest a considerable degree of refine- 

 ment, intelligence, or thrift. This cannot be the 

 fact, however, in many portions of the State of 

 Ohio ; for underlying all this, is a colossal power, 

 which is making itself felt more and more every 

 day. It has had a Legislature but fifty-six years, 

 and yet has 2,500,000 people ! 



Among the timber the Black Walnut abounds, 

 and is frequently found seven to ten feet in diam- 

 eter. The Elm is a forest tree, and runs up as 

 straight as an arrow to a great height. The white, 

 or yellow pine, is rarely found in this region. 

 Beech is plentiful. The cultivation of pear trees 

 has scarcely found its way here yet. Some per- 

 sons have introduced the dwarfs into their gardens, 

 and with such success as to encourage further 

 effort. Apples seemed to be plenty — at least they 

 were in the baskets of all the " hucksters " about 

 the streets, and in those of the boys who came 

 into the cars to sell. 



I have greatly enjoyed my visit here, although 

 under such benumbing circumstances. The cold 

 is intense. Thermometer 12° below zero. The 

 storm that came in with the New Year, still con- 

 tinues to rage. Trains are everywhere delayed, 

 and passengers farther west are suffering terribly. 



But I ought not to close my letter without 

 expressing my warmest thanks to our mutual 

 friend, John G. Neil, Esq., of this city, for the 

 kindest attentions, from himself and his interest- 

 ing family during my entire stay here. He is the 

 proprietor of a large property here, in which is 

 included a farm of six hundred acres, a portion of 

 which lies within the city limits. I could not go 

 over it at such a season, but hope to at some future 

 time. With a warm heart, but awful cold every- 

 where else, I am, Truly Yours, 



Simon Brown. 



BAD EFFECTS OF IBRIGATION. 



In consequence of the long season during which 

 no rain falls in California, it was supposed that 

 irrigation would prove to be the one thing need- 

 ful in that State. For this purpose artesian wells 

 were dug, and, in connection with mining, expen- 

 sive canals were built, and water was very exten- 

 sively used by farmers and gardeners. At first 

 the result was quite satisfactory, and much was 

 published in the papers of that State of the al- 

 most miraculous effects of irrigation on the varied 

 productions of the soil, from garden vegetables to 

 fruit trees. We read these statements with much 

 interest, and must acknowledge that it is with 

 feelings of regret and disappointment that we now 

 find the practice generally condemned by the best 

 cultivators of California, where, it will be remem- 

 bered, the seasons are divided into wet and dry, 

 and consequently but little or no rain falls there 

 for several months in succession. 



In a late article upon this subject, the editor of 

 the California Farmer states that fever and ague 

 and kindred diseases are this year unusually prev- 

 alent, and do not yield as formerly to medicines, 

 and expresses the belief that irrigation is promi- 

 nent among the causes of the present wide-spread 

 sickness in that State. Innumerable ditches, res- 

 ervoirs and canals, he says, have flooded great ex- 

 tents of the surface, for both mining and irriga- 

 tion, leaving the soil in a fit condition to yield its 

 malarious influences to the action of sun and air 

 upon its superabundant moisture and vegetable 

 matter. We copy the following from a late num- 

 ber of the California Farmer : 



We are also confident that the fruit and vege- 

 tables raised on irrigated lands are not only not 

 as good and nutritious as those otherwise grown, 

 but that they are absolutely unhealthy, and the 

 eating them tends to produce the very disease 

 which we now lament. 



Any one who has given that careful attention 

 that we have done, in noting the quality of fruit 

 and vegetables, grown with or without irrigation, 

 cannot but have found that there is a vast differ- 

 ence in the two classes; that grown without irri- 

 gation being fully ripe, rich, luscious and beauti- 

 ful, while that grown by irrigation is seldom fully 

 ripe, and the juices being cold and watery, with- 

 out flavor, and the effect upon the stomach not 

 satisfactory. 



There can be no question in our mind of the 

 injurious effect of such fruit and vegetables upon 

 health. We would call attention of all persons 

 who buy and sell fruits, and those who buy for 

 use, to the fact that all fruits grown on irrigated 

 orchards are the first to decay. They seem to 

 melt away, a mass of watery substance, while fruit 

 not irrigated keeps for weeks, and when they do 

 decay, it is by a slow process, or dry rot. 



Vegetables, too, raised by irrigation, will not 

 keep. Cabbages hastily grown, as hastily perish. 

 They mold and melt away a mass of jelly, and so 

 with squashes, and other garden stuff thus grown. 



