15ii 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol. J 



sin?"" 



•■'11 



:,««' 



lite! 



IB 

 111 



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id J 

 iin, 



A Jietter from Illinois. 



Mcssr: Editors : — The foiluwing is an c.rtrait of 

 B luuer wriiieii by a gciuleiiinn of coneidcrobic iravcl 

 en J acquaintance lb rough toe great west, and so far as 

 refers to your portion oftoiimiy we aic prcpcrcd to at- 

 test to tbe cjrrceiners of bis remaiks, and you may 

 i;onier a lavor on such as may wish to niigraie lu tbe 

 west by giving Ibis a plncc in your paper. 

 Yours, &<:., 



fui;di:ric brackett. 



BraclicU's J/i7is, Itimois- 



" 111 all my ncquaintince tlirnugh tbe far faiiieJ 

 west, I bave not found a 6eiii>ii of country tba; in 

 every respect aa well uniies all the great requisites of 

 tUc farmer as that portion eiiibrncing the south part of 

 Elliugbam and tbe north part of Clay counties, on the 

 %ve3l sidcof tbe Little Wabash river, in ibe Slate of 

 lliinjis. Thcro tl:e prairies aresuiall, averaging; only 

 from one to tlircs miles wide ; high, dry, and ex- 

 tremely fertile; and tbe rivulets or small c.ciks which 

 divide these small prairies arc bordered with as good 

 timber as I ever saw in ilie UnitoJ States. They also 

 a.Turd great quaruilies of valuable rock both of tbe 

 limestone and freestone, and ine.xhaustable vrnter. 



This is ibe only prairie country in which f have 

 ever seen all these great a.lvantnges in such ahviiid- 

 niicc. Spring water is cjnirnon both in the prairies 

 and timber laud, and excellent well w.T.er is obtained 

 by digging from iil'teeii 1 1 thirty feet, any where iu 

 ibf ountry. 



The first year, tiie prairies here arc someK hat harder 

 10 jilough than old blue grass pastures ; tliey arc then 

 ]! lamed in corn, and without any further cultivation 

 they yield from fifteen to forty buehelsper acre. The 

 ne.it year and onward lh■^y are extremely light and 

 productive in all kinds of grain and vegetables buitablo 

 ij th3 eliniato, thus is seen at once tbe great advan- 

 tages that result to persons who locate in the west; — 

 no clearing of farms, only fence and plough ; and the 

 cjiuury being entirely free from stagnant water J 

 have no doubt of its general health. It is woithy of 

 remark tiiat all this part of the country ia entirely hi^e 

 from that distressing disease called the milk eickncso. 



Notwithstanding an almost unpa;nlled drouth from 

 the middle of M iv uiuil the tirst of September, corn in 

 this vicinity will yield at least filly buebels per acie 

 this season. I earnestly recommend this portion o*" 

 country to yourse.f and li iends, but what you do you 

 had better do soon, as tbe land will doubtless be pur- 

 chased rapidly. 



S. range as it may appear there is ye' more than 

 liineicen twontietba of this beau iful and fertile coun- 

 try remaining to be purchaecJ of the Gjvernmentnt 

 .?l,2o perncre. It h.is b„cn overlooked by travellers 

 until lately, for want of roads passing through it, — but 

 it is now aetiling rapidly. Yours tiuly, 



A. B." 



SkiitcUcs of Travel. 



In a recent jaunt as far east as Aladison and Che- 

 nango couniics, that whi^h struck our nticntion most, 

 w.as the great number of rural visitors on the road, 

 journeying, almost without exception, in expensive 

 steel springed corriagea and buggies, with elegant 

 side amps, the horsjd caparisoned with brass mounted 

 or plated harness, tbe dress and baggage of the ira 

 vellors in keeping with tbe equipage. 



Twenty years ago when wc passed through this 

 country our springed carriage was looked on as a 

 straggling exotic, to bo wondered at rntiicr than ad- 

 mired, much less to be desired. Ox teams were then 

 more common than horse teams, I doubt whether 

 there was a farmer then within ten miles square, who 

 f-iuld boast of a spring carriage c.r a plated harness. 

 Taj fc.'.iijrs wju!1 tl-.eii ones a yr-ar fit out a ttarn 



for Salt Point to buy salt, by furnishing each, a horse, 

 with a certain quantum of rope and leather called a 

 luclUhig. 



If I was asked what has produced this great ebaiige 

 in the social condition of our lluiid population, 1 

 should say, it was varied and increased production. 

 The birth or introduction and increase of ihe mechanic 

 arts in the cjunlry has not been a whit behind tbe 

 progress of agricultural industry ; it may be said that 

 from the nature o( their mutual wants, they have 

 incidentally Btimulated each other. Thus has Ham- 

 ilton grown up wiib its endowed semenariea and 

 schools — and log citv has been converted from a little 

 city of logs as its signifioant early name implies, into 

 one of elegant mansions, Grecian cottages, extensive 

 factories, ani workshops. 



There is not so general an appearance of rural thrill 

 in the counties of Madison and Chenango, as in our 

 own Seneca, but with their cold rough hills, and wet 

 hollows they have better pasturage, more butter and 

 cheese, more cattle, ond the eweettst water in the 

 world, we felt that such water in Seneca county could 

 not fail to establish a pel feet temperance reform. 



The bop yards of Madison have of late almost en- 

 tirely disappeared ; over production reduced the pi ice 

 so low that the culture is generally abandoned ; the 

 consequence is that this year the price is unusually 

 high. It is said that one man will clear .$4,1)00 on 

 ten acres of hops this season. He applies to his hop 

 grounds all the manure of a large distdlory, by the aid 

 of which bo is alone enabled to realize such large pro- 

 fits. Hops require a cool moist climate, but dry and 

 very liih land. S. W. 



Waterloo, i<e.pf.lS, 1-SH. 



Indian Co'Ut the Kin;;; of Bdibles. 



A Farmer from Onei Ja comity, now on a visit here, 

 says that our farmers strangely overlook ihc advant- 

 age of our warm dry climate lor Indian corn — hesays 

 that they eeld im fail to get GO bushels to the acre 

 there on an old sward, if they only have sun and dry 

 weather enough to ripen it ; he has seen 60 bushels 

 raised to the acre this season, without the aid of ma- 

 nure, but it was well tended with hoe and cultivator, 

 two iniidements "'but little used" he thinks in our 

 corn fields. Even in the aouih part of Oneida county 

 a great grass region, corn stalks in the bundle are 

 worth ordinarily ^'^ per acre. 



When I see a farmer pedliiig a loaJ of pumpkins 

 ihruugh our village, boasting of their superior size and 

 quality, verily thinks I to niyscll", that man boasts of 

 his own shamcc-'-hc pumpkin growing farmers may 

 have p.umpkins, but they will have no corn this year. 

 Tile kindly inllueiice of n warm sun, while it has 

 done wonders for the thrifty industrious farmer's corn, 

 has proved too strong a siimulous for the late planted, 

 half manured, and woreo tended corn, of the mere 

 pumjikin grower. 



Perhaps there never was a season when corn repaid 

 the labiir and attention bestowed upon it better than 

 this j-ear ; on the other baud never did the neglected 

 field yield less. 1 have seen some fields where the 

 weeds far outweighed the stalks, ar.d others of like 

 soil, where the stalks were worth more per acre, than 

 •.be grass from our best meadows. 



Although glass and potatoes, in cinscquencc of our 

 long drinight arc not half a crop, I have no doubt but 

 that if our Indien corn Imd been early planted on rich 

 land and the earth kejit loose by the lioe and cultiva- 

 tor, the crop this season would have been far above 

 the average. 



I have obiier\-ed that the stalks this year, after the 

 ' corn is ripe are full of saocliarine matter, both horses 

 .Tnd cows devour even the Lutts with avidity. 



Either Irom bad farming or some other cause, it 

 wuuld seem that western NeM-Voik is fast bipins a? 



quondam character nsa wheat growing region, 

 if I mistake nut, its reputation as an Indian 

 growing country has always been loo low, niej 

 ficm the fact that its eultuic has been neglected 

 the more profitable production of wheat. But 

 when wi have no more of nature's own virgin i 

 insure large crops of wheot at tittle expense, wo I 

 that more attention will be paid to that much abij 

 prince of edibles for both man and beast, Indian i 

 Waterloo, Sqtt. IB, \Sil. S. Wi 



Wheat Caiture. 



.■M:.ssRS. Editors — It appears to mc thnt ttic culture 

 wheal has not rc^eivci lh;it attention from argricuUi 

 writers which its iniitort.-incc(Ic:naa:U I think it n-oulil 

 of great benefit to your readers if our wheat growers woi 

 more generally '^jive us the results of tli.»ir e-vperienoc, 

 tlicir ino:Ie of priictiL-c in liiis bran.:h offiirniing. TJicre 

 pears to l;c liiuoh 'liversily of upiiiiuii on liio:.l points C' 

 nccteJ Willi this auhje.:l; and for one I shoul.I lilci- to ki 

 the opinions and pr.actice of the most successful whi 

 growers in this country; partic'.ilurly with rclcrenec to 

 ii)ani:er of preparing the kml. tlir? time of sowing, quantil 

 of see I, anil mo le of prcp.'iration, if .-iny. 



As far as my own experience ?oei, 1 think I Il:ive olttnil 

 eii tlie licst crops liy fallowing the Inni, with three timi 

 plousliing; thrown into riP^e^ of seven or eight paces wiii 

 sown frnm Ih'j eiu'htli to the sixteenth of geplcmlier ; five li 

 five an I a h-i'f pe.-ks of seel to the .icrc ; prcparel by seal 

 ing in lirnf> water from twelve to sixteen hours before sowJ 

 iiig ; the seed harrov.-cJ in. I Iiave some sea.=:ons sown my 

 wheat about the first of Septeni'jcr, an.l when th.at b.is beoa 

 :lie case I have almost invariably euffe-rcl more or less fnirn 

 tlieravagcs of the fij. I think early sowing renders \\i.;".t 

 more exposed to this evil. Snch is my practice, and if :."y 

 of the c.^r^espon1cllts of the Farmer can suggest iinprovc- 

 inenis on it, I shitll be ha;)py to learn and adopt llieni 



•' Old Genesee,' Jiiffust liil. M. .V. 



Remarks. — We timiik M. S,, for calling the attention of 

 our readers to this sulije::, and wc unite wilh him in the re- 

 questthal others will favor us with a description ofllieir 

 practice in wheat cultivation. We hope however they 

 will be more particular than our friend iM. X., anil not for- 

 get to mention liie kind of soil, depth of plongliintr. kind of 

 wheat. and tiie quantity of produce; and nut omit to sign 

 their names — Kns. 



Tbe following suggestion we believe to be of great 

 importance. The advontage of a wheel over swing 

 ploughs, was fully elemonstrated by ibe accurate and 

 repented experiments of Prof. Puccy in Scotland. 

 Ploughs of nearly the same actual weight were lound 

 to differ in the strength of the d'aught, required to 

 move them on the surface of the ground, as four to 

 one, when without, in one ease, and with a wheel, in 

 the other. This great difiertncc must he obvious, 

 when it is considered, that tbe chief weight of the 

 phmgh is brought by the draught upon the wheel 

 which otherwise has to drag hcavdy along the ground. 

 The friction occasioned by this dragging, it is ploin, 

 must be greatly increased, when fifty or a hundred 

 weight of earth ia eoustnntly pressing upon the mould, 

 board. As very few of our ploughs in this region are 

 furnished wilh wheels, we beg leave to call the atien- 

 tion of funiers to this subject. , 



FoT the KtK Centset Farmer. 



Wheel Ploughs. 



Messrs. Editors : — It is rather lote in tho ecason 

 to talk about breaking-np ploughs. But 1 consider it 

 of much importance, ond hope it may draw cut tome- 

 thing from our brother farmers, that will not bo for- 

 gotien bcfi)re anolhcr tpriiig. 



We ail know that the breaking of the " fallow 

 ground" is the hardest job that we have ill preporing 

 the ground for the seed. It is important then that wa 

 manage this business to the best advantage. We hato 

 in our courtry a gieat variety of " patent uLuglis," 

 some of which we ihink good ones, andoll undoubtedly 

 real improvements upon ihe old fashioned plough?. Of 

 the merits of any particular I'attcrn I ehnil not speak. 

 I '.vill only 3^^■ lo my brother fcrtners, gel the best 



