1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



263 



Radishes. — Seed maybe sown among other 

 crops, where they will be partially shaded. 

 Leave- a few early for seed. 



Tomatoes. — Transplant into well-prepared 

 soil for the main crop. Try a few trained to 

 stakes, keeping all side shoots pinched in short. 

 Trained thns they may be set nearer together 

 and they are said to bear and ripen better. 

 Guano and liquid manure promote rapid 

 growth. 



Weeds — No good gardener will need any 

 prompting here. Seed is so easily dissemin- 

 ated and in such a variety of ways, that so long 

 as there are careless gardeners, farmers and 

 unimproved land, they will be a source of con- 

 tinuous annoyance to the neat, practical culti- 

 vator. Vacant spots are a standing reproach, 

 and will not be tolerated in any well-kept 

 garden. 



Small Fruits. — Blackberries and raspber- 

 ries, — keep all canes and new growth properly 

 tied to stakes or trellises. Cut out and keep 

 down all new shoots, except such as are wanted 

 for next year's bearing, or for increased plant- 

 ing. Thin the clusters, where large, nice spe- 

 cimen fruit is desired. • 



Currants. — Keep the gi-ound well culti- 

 vated and free from weeds. A good mulch 

 about the roots will prolong the season of 

 fruits, as well as add to its value. 



Gooseberries are better for having the 

 ground around kept a little moist, and the 

 bush and top open to air and sun. 



Stawberries. — As soon as the crop is off, 

 clean out all grass weeds, &c., and keep the 

 runners cut clean ; hand-pick and destroy the 

 ■worms that destroy the foliage. 



W. H. White. 



South Windsor, Conn., 1S71. 



For the Keic England Farmer. 

 FARMERS SHOULD BE EDUCATED. 



BY EMORY A. ELLSWORTH. | 



It has been the prevalent opinion among all 

 nations, since men began to be educated, that 

 learning and mental culture were utterly use- 

 less to the farmer in the pursuit of his voca- 

 tion ; and not until very recent times have 

 men awoke from this absurd delusion to the 

 fact that education is of the greatest impor- ' 

 tance to the successful pursuit of husbandry. 



About fifty years ago Europe began to ap- 

 _prehend this truth, and founded many schools 

 for the advancement of agriculture and the 

 training of young men for the successful pur- ; 

 suit of this most difficult and complicated art. ' 

 But in the United States, and especially in 

 Massachusetts, where general education is so 

 highly esteemed, and where institutions of 

 learning are so numerous, this subject is still 

 considered of little importance, and receives 

 slight attention from the mass of the people. 



It is a mystery how this idea has so long 

 held its sway against the powerful current of 

 advancement in science ; but it is apparently 



owing to the hereditary ignorance and un- 

 reasonable prejudice against learning of that 

 large class of our citizens, known as the 

 "practical farmers," who, being ignorant of 

 the first principles of science themselves, have 

 exerted their intluence to prevent this great 

 forerunner of progress fi'om affecting their 

 vocation. 



There is a notion among this class of peo- 

 ple, that uneducated men are by far the better^ 

 workmen, and in proportion as they become 

 educated, in like degree they become lazy and 

 unwilling to perform manual labor. This no- 

 tion probably arose from the fact that edu- 

 cated men I'arely turn their attention to man- 

 ual labor, for the reason that their services 

 are much more needed in educating others, 

 than in the province of agriculture or the in- 

 dustrial arts. Perhaps it would be more 

 proper to say better renmnerated, since well 

 informed men are few ; but wherever intelli- 

 gence is combined with manual labor, improve- 

 ment and advancement are certain to follow. 



Since practical farmers have ever ridiculed 

 and scorned the idea of accepting book-farm- 

 ing to direct their efforts, how could men of 

 science intrude into the domain of agriculture P 

 This seems to be the prevailing opinion of 

 those who till the soil, and this also accounts, 

 at least in part, for the undeveloped condition 

 of the science. 



Agriculture was the primitive employment 

 of men. Long before the condition of society 

 called for the other useful arts, it was the 

 prominent and almost the only branch of in- 

 dustry. King and subject, master and ser- 

 vant, labored together in the field or vineyard, 

 or watched their Hocks and herds, side by side, 

 on the plains of Palestine. Agriculture, 

 though the oldest, is nevertheless the rudest 

 of all the useful arts. 



Now why is this ? It is partly because the 

 farmer has been working blindly, disregard- 

 ing all the guide books which would direct him 

 to success, if he would only consult them. 

 He has labored on until discouraged for want 

 of success, he has turned his attention to 

 other fields of labor, or still plods on in dark- 

 ness to obtain but the bare necessaries of life. 



The laws of nature furnish the key to pro- 

 gress in agriculture, and not until these are 

 understood can the farmer expect reward for 

 his efforts ; not until these are fathomed can 

 men till the soil with an intelligent object in 

 view. 



About the beginning of the present century 

 the labors of scientific men were first turned 

 to the condition and improvement of this much 

 neglected branch of industry, and to-day, by 

 the light thrown upon it by modern discov- 

 eries, agriculture can obtain a place among 

 the sciences. In many departments it is no 

 longer a blind experiment, but a positive sci- 

 ence. It is no longer a bewildering mass of 

 uncertainties, but leads to satisfactory and 

 unmistakable conclusions. 



