10 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



JV[oL. 3j 



Swelled Frnit Buds— Peach Trees— Ciows— 

 iloinls. 



[Extritct nf a hltcr J'r.im Cayuga County. 1 

 At page 161 of your Insl volume, it is ineniione'i 

 that a Julienne pear tree had dropped its leaves during 

 thedroiinht (as it would have done in Autumn ;) but 

 revived by subsequent rains, it hnd taUen a new start 

 (as in spring), Rud tbnt one brnncb had come into 

 full flower. From t!ie same causes, the fruit buds of 

 the cherry, apricot and peach are much swelled, in this 

 quarter ; and those of the last especially, are so far 

 odvaiiced that a few days of mild weather wonid be 

 Bufllcient to expand them. 



Whether they can survive until spring, or not, must 

 depend on the temperature of the winter; but unless 

 it should be unusually mild, I shall entertain no hopes 

 of a crop next season. The exact degree indeed, at 

 which swelled buds perish in winter is not known ; 

 neither do I know whether cherry buds in the same 

 condition, are hardier than those of the peach ; but 

 from some recollections in regard to the latter, I be- 

 lieve they are generally safe here, when the cold is 

 above zero. 



Some wri;ers ascribe the decay of the peach tree to 

 budding I and pretend that seedling trees are more 

 healthy. I have never seen any thing to counlenance 

 the notion. I have trees now in my fruit garden that 

 were budded twenty years ' ogo, and thoy are as 

 healthy as any seedlings in the country, 



On the same day that Congress n>etat Washington, 

 the crows held a convention in the woods near this 

 place ; and judging from tbs thousands that attended, 

 I should rather think it n " mass meeting" than an 

 assemblage of delogatos. I remember several simiWir' 

 gatherings, which have generally been late in the fall, 

 but not continuing more than a day or two. I am 

 ne>t aware that any ornithologist has noticed ibis cir- 

 cumstance. 



On the present occasion they seemed to be in earn- 

 Cot debate, though not more (Jisorderly th»u some of 

 their betters under particulor exuitement If rhey had 

 a apeiker, his voice and authority must have been uu- 

 aViiiling, for their clnmir rose at times, on the wind, 

 like the roar ol Niagara. 



Having neither pay nm rations however, a pro- 

 tracted ss3sion was out of the question, so the adjourn- 

 ment was carried by acclamation, and the dark clrud 

 passed away. Whether the old resident crows of the 

 neighborhood were engaged in the enterpri2a;, is not 

 known ; but they were seen soon after, flying over 

 on their daily excursions, as if, like Gallioofold, 

 they cared for none of those things. 



A few d.iys ago, when the ground was bare and 

 ■well soaked with the late raius, overseers of highways 

 or candidates for that offi-je, especially if they have the 

 bump of observation, might h.lve been profitably em- 

 ployed for a 'inie, in examining the condition of the 

 Poplar Ridge road— the direct stage route between Au- 

 burn and Ithaca. Wherever the grotmd was nearly 

 in its natural stale — that is, had not been disturbed by 

 the plough, the liories could proceed on a trat ; hut 

 on the contrary, who -ever the road had been raised by 

 the scraper, the ruts an. I the mul were so daep that 

 the traveler was glad when lie got safely through. 

 Tne contrast was very remarkable. 



Now what was the cause of this dilTorence 7 

 Simo years ago, I heard one of our Judges, in his 

 testimony before a board of inquiry, say that six years 

 at least were required for a new road to become fully 

 settled and firm, like one that had long been traveled. 

 This opinion, tho result of observation, had no refer- 

 ence to n3w roads through tho woods; but such as 

 are built up b/ the scraper, when sods, and muck, 

 nnj chips, and whatever else is at hand, are canted 



over promiscuously and without discrimination or se- 

 lection into a pile. 



Six years for a road to become settled ■ Why, if 

 this is true, what are our pnth-mastera every year 

 about when they spend the strength of the district in 

 making long deep beds of mctloic carik for us to 

 trav, 1 over. 



But can it be true thot six years are required for a 

 new embankment to settle ! If it were made ol 

 sound etulV— a clean subsoil mixed with sand and 

 gravel. It would nosbe tiue, for it would soon become 

 compact ; but when it is made of such materials as 

 corn and potatoes delight to grow in, it Is true to the 

 letter. The filth with much of the fine earth has to 

 be washed avvny by the rains; and not only that which 

 is on the surface at one time, but all that which the 

 wading home and loaded wheels bring np to the sur- 

 face at another time. All such impurities mi'st be 

 swept away before the road canbecotric firm and good, 

 not sinking under the hoofs of the horse nor the 

 wheels of the cairiage. 



Now all this reasoning corresponds exactly with the 

 condition of the Poplar Ridge road, and with that of 

 every other road in this quarter which is much travel- 

 ed. . For many years, I have observed that the best 

 roads are generally those which are the most neglect- 

 ed Except in regard to bridges, dug ways, and 

 ditching 10 tnrn off the water, the laziest pathmaster 

 is commonly the best, becau3e it is better to do noth- 

 ing than to do mischief. 



When the State of New York shall waken up in 

 regard to loads, she will manage things differently. 

 She will not allow her citizens to be heavily taxed so 

 needlessly. Skillful superintendents will be paid for 

 their services, and our taxes will te usefully applied. 

 Thousands arc annually wasted through false e^jonomy. 

 If her CANAL POLICY were no better than her roarf 

 system, instead of a revenue of two millions, she would 

 have n line of duck puddles. 



The admonition of the prophet, would apply well 

 to our overseers of high-ways. " Cmsc to do ceil. 

 Learn to do icell." Quit ploughing up the sides of 

 the roads, and destroying your sleigh tracks. Use 

 your scr&pers Icnglhwisa to cut down banksand ridges 

 — not crosswise to haul in sods, muck, and mud. 

 GRAVEL YOUR ROADS ; and if the material 

 is not within one mile, go two. Every load is o real 

 good, for the present time, for the present age, and 

 for posterity. 



TeniperaHCe Reform—IIoine League. 



It strikes us that the present is an era of great re- 

 forms ; great abuses in social life having reached the 

 ultimate point of human endurance, a retrogade move- 

 ment as the unavoidable consequence has commenced, 

 which promises under a kind providence, to bring 

 buck the moral and social health of the nation. 



Tiio great temperance reform is the first in order ; 

 when the benevolent and Godlike of the land, com- 

 menced their labor in thiscauie, they dispaired of do- 

 ing any thing more than to malte the practice of dram 

 « inking odious and unfashionable, in order to arrest 

 e young Neophyte of intemperance in his down- 

 ward course of fashicnable delusion. The poor bloat- 

 ed drunkord was given up as past all [lOwer of reform, 

 his h:ibits were considered too chrome to be within 

 the reach of human aid ! What is the consequence 

 of this neglect of this unfoitunate portion of God's 

 accountable creatures I Verily the words of scripture 

 that the '• last shall be first, and the first shall be 

 last," is now in the rapid progress of fulfilment. 

 Who are now the miracle working missionaries in the 

 temperance cause, 'tis true they do not raise the dead, 

 but they perform those miracles which are the " next 

 o! kin ;" tlicy draw from the kennel of death the 

 long lost abandoned sot, quickening him by the force 

 of sympathy anJ kindness intj a thing of life, and 



health, and usefulness! Every distillery is now ehuf 

 up I The grog shop is now converted from a charuel 

 house of corraption, into the btrsy mart of life and) 

 comfort 1 The more respectoble tavern, now finds itS' 

 bar-room a bootless appendage, while those of lesser 

 note sink tcnantless 



"Ami make no sign :" 



The next reform in order is the Home Leaguew 

 Who that has saxon blood in his veins, docs not feeM 

 a th ill of domestic comfort at the very sound of such 

 a name. But alas, it strikes us that its office is not' 

 properly understood by those who proclaim its dutiee., 

 Unlike the temperance reformers, they call upon Gov 

 ernment to .nid them by prohibitions and restrictions, 

 to arrest that over-trading in foreign finery, whicl 

 can only be eftectiially done by a labor of love and 

 the power of domestic example. Blessed would be 

 that home league ; verily it vi'ould compass more than 

 twenty tariffs, if it could by the power of its action in 

 the home circle countervail a part of those evils which 

 grow out of the equality of our institutions ; I mean 

 the general epidemic for expensive foreign finery, thff 

 grinding waste of that ever changing fashion, and un- 

 limited extravagance, which pervades all grades of; 

 society in our land ; that morbid appetite for extcir- 

 nal show among our men and women, which resisli 

 with demoniac f irce, alike the precepts of morality,, 

 the restraints of insolvency, and the more dark and 

 tangible barrier of grim poverty itself. 



It is said that in England among the genteel classei 

 of community, economy in dress and living is madei 

 a matter of boast, while the family that should iiid 

 in fashionable show beyond its pecuniary ability, isi 

 held up to universal ridicule. Far be it from us to 

 wish to impose restraint upon society in these Unitedl 

 States, inconsistant v/ith our foreign trade, or out! 

 great national progress in refined civilization. Bull 

 we can see no more danger to these interests in thtia 

 curtailing the excessive importation of foreign fab 

 rics, than is now produced by the temperance reforn* 

 in the diminution of our imports of wine and brandy, 



III the beginning Jesus tonght of the beauty of sim«l 

 plicity, and in his perfect life he gave e.xuni])le of iti( 

 truth, St. P.iul preached it and his epistles enjoin i' 

 with eloquent and earnest affection ; the early Chris 

 tians followed the precepts and example of their maS' 

 ter, some of them it is true, in over zeal, carried thi 

 point a litde too far; 'tis said that Chrysostin rebuk 

 ed the "sisters grey," for the too nice fitting of tbei^ 

 simple attire.- At the court of Louis 14th, the Arch 

 bishop denounced from the altar, the meretricious at 

 tire of the females of the court. But m our repnb 

 licttn land in these last days of light and prolestan 

 reform, fashion and extravagance is ten fold mor 

 universal, than in any other part of the ciyilizei" 

 Christian world. It is a gangrene on our social sys 

 tem, whicTa promises, if not restrained, to np'roo 

 morality, and bring all our boasted professions of re 

 ligion to shame. 



AVe have read oi savages so addicted to gambiingf 

 that when they had lost all, they set np their 'owi" 

 children ! We have not done this great sin ; but w 

 have sold our hirihrig/its for tinsel ! our Statn Stock 

 are pledged for the payment of debts based on foreigi 

 finery, and children yet unborn must redeem them ! 



Waterl oo, Pen, l.o, 16J1. ' S. W. 



Mr. Editor. — The following memoranda contaii 

 so much good sense, given in a plain, familiar manner 

 that I believe you will think them worthy of a ploc 

 in yonr columns. They are extracts from letters of 

 practical man to a novice in the business of farming 

 yet may perhaps give instruction to some "old bond 

 at the plough." V. 



Sheep. 



I consider them the most pleasant as well as profit 

 able branc'i of farming — indeed there is no doubt o 



