12 



THE NEW GEiNESEE FARMER, 



Vol. 3. 



formers, but nil dependin ^ on ibe same principle. 



I have never seen on experiment made by placing 

 grain under Blraw upon glass ; but it is not an un- 

 cumm on proctice for farmers to spread straw upon 

 grass laud for manure. 



Whether sunw upon the surface will produce more 

 edeci than when covered with earth, ia a practical 

 question ; but I see farmers covering the seed of pota- 

 toes with straw, and plowing it in with a shallow 

 furriiw-slice. iM. WEBSTF.R. 



(nr We too were "bred in the Conntry," and 

 hove some knowledge of farming. We were laiher 

 favorably struck with the ■'dibcovery in agriculture," 

 to which our learned correspondent alludes, and are 

 also inclined somewhat to his opinion that the princi- 

 ple 18 not entirely 7icw. We think we can give a 

 stronger instance of ite practical utdity than either the 

 French writer or our correspondent, but we only 

 vouch for its truth so far as having heaid it when a 

 boy from the lips of a resi-ectable farmer who resided 

 on the banks of the Susquehanna. The statement 

 was this. A portion of his farm was hare rock, which, 

 in view of the small amount of lahor bestowed upon 

 it. he made the most productive. Jn the spring of the 

 year he laid down or planted his potatoes on the rock, 

 and covering them over with sira^v, |)uk1 no more at- 

 tention lo them until fall, when he uieiely raked ofl' 

 the dry straw niid exposed a most nl)undunt crop ol 

 the liiicct quality 1 The advantages of this method ol 

 raising potatoes are : 



1. No ploughing. 



2. No hoeing. 



3. No digging — the rake only being required. 



4. They are perftcUy dry. 



5. They ore perlcctly clnen. — Ed. Tkiblse, 



A Gooil Thins ^oi' Farnici's* 



There is no one thing, it is believed, that would in- 

 crease the profits of fanning more, and better enable 

 farmers to know what they are about, than the most 

 rigid accuracy in cxix^riments. Here is the great de- 

 fect ill agriculture in Western New York, and doubt- 

 less elsewhere too — guessing and estimating, but not 

 actually measuring. 



For instance, — a farmer belicveshc has found a very 

 much improved mode of fattening cattle — ^he feeds them 

 so and so — and with this and that ; but how does he 

 know how much better his way is tlian other [woples; 

 and how can he satisfy others that his mode is best, and 

 induce them to adopt it 1 



How can he ? Why let him forthwith procure a 

 weigliing machine, such as we use for weighing hay — 

 costing fifty dollars perhaps — a large siun for most far- 

 mers; and let him perform all his experiments, by 

 measuring his feed, and at the end of every week ac- 

 curately weighing each of his cattle, and observing 

 what kind and mode of feeding incr.-ases their weight 

 most r.ipidly. From such experiments, he will soon be 

 enabled to calculate his prolit and loss to a dollar. Let 

 him jiursuc the same course with liis hogs, and other 

 animals, at the same time that he endeavors, by read- 

 ing and intjuiry, to learn the best on the subject, anil 

 before many years he will have a fund of facts, (and 

 of money too, 1 trow,) of more v.alue, three fold, than 

 the cost of his scales. AVho will be the first to do 

 th.is ■? Who ' " I pause for a reply." 



Again — there are nrany new, and very valuable 

 things, lately discovered in raising crops. It has been 

 found by fair experiment, for instance, that lime on 

 land greatly benefits it — that marsli muck' is of great 

 v.ilue for some crops — Aaisiihsoil ploiLghing vtWl double 

 perhaps the products of tlie soil — that certain modes 

 of culture without additional cost, or certain varieties 

 of seed with little additional care, will add bushels to 

 every acre. But who knows the precise amount of 

 profit — if after all tlicseare any profit at all, except un- 

 der favorable circumstances — if the thing is done oirly 

 by guessing ? A merchant or a banker would find it 

 rather dull business, if, instead of keeping every thing 

 square and accurate, he should set about guessing his 

 profit and loss ! No wonder then, that farmers some- 

 times feel a little dull and heartless. 



Well — how is tliis diiTiculty demoUshcd 1 Why, 

 you have only t« get a lape-lim, costing about one 



dollar, — and measure all your fields— and any farmer 

 who has studied arithemtic, and who has no more than 

 350 acres, can do this in half a day or a day. I'hen, 

 count your loads of manure — register the quantity of 

 seed and every particular in sowing it — and measure, 

 not guess at, the crop which comes from the land. All 

 this, on a fann of common size, would not cost in ad- 

 ilitional time, more than ten dollars ; and how^ much 

 think you, would it be worth'? As much as ten dol- 

 lars 1 How much would it be worth to each farmer of 

 you, who cultivates fifty acres every year, to know, for 

 a certainty, the way in which he could increase the nett 

 products of every acre to the amount of one dollar a 

 year % 



And how mucli value would it he to Western New 

 York, in ten years, if every intelligent farmer would 

 now get a weighing VMc/u/ic, and a hipc-liite, and keep 

 acairaU az-rmmis^ and at the same time inform himself 

 through the New Genesee Farmer of all the best 

 modes of fattening animals, and of raising crops, and 

 of the best seeds, and of the best ploughs, and other 

 implements, and should practise en ^getically, system- 

 atically, mathematically, upon this information ■? 



J, J. T. 



Treasury Ueimrt--!J laiiit lo: jnntectjou can- 

 not fiivora Mniiid e;iiiiHcy""dniv on iiott-- 

 (•o!i!iBHii(i isureave ol inasiufacluriixg in- 

 (hi'tiy in the v.oist of tisnis. 



In the late report of the Secretary of the Treas. 

 ury we find an ingenious argument in favor of in- 

 creased protection to our home manufacturers ; 

 we should have been better pleased to see from the 

 same maslcr pen, an apology for that moderate 

 protection which our present tariff for revenue in- 

 cidentally gives our home industry. 



In times like the present when the whole nation 

 is prostrated by that reaction which has succeeded 

 inflation ; wo cannot but expect from the fathers 

 of the nation, such councils as will tend to turn 

 the people back to retrenchment and reform, in- 

 dustry and econffray, instead of encouraging the 

 delusive hope, that an increased tariif on foreign 

 fabrics will bring back high prices and a prospe- 

 rous trade to the country. 



The Secretary says that " nothing is 'better es- 

 " tablishcd by our experience and the experience 

 " of other nations, than that the augmentation of 

 "' duties, dees not augment in an equal degree the 

 " cost of the article to the consumer; in many 

 " cases it appears not to increase that cost at all; 

 " very often the price to the consumer is kepi 

 " dov.'n notwithstanding the increased duties." 

 We would ask then how is our manufacture to be 

 protected by an increased duty ? But we appre- 

 hend that this part of the Secretary's argument 

 applies only to the ultimate consequences of pro- 

 tection ; infiation and high prices are the first 

 fr«ils, and the only ones coveted by the manufac- 

 turer ; competition, over production, low prices 

 and bankruptcy follow. The high tariff of 1S2S 

 ruined half the manufacturers in New England by 

 the con^letition it induced, and the only argument 

 we now know of .in favor of high protection, is 

 that we should create an evil that good may grow 

 out of it. During the palmy days of Bank mak- 

 ing, when money became scarce, new Bank Char- 

 ters were applied for in order to supply the defi- 

 ciency ; but now when a reaction has deranged the 

 currency, we seek to increase the tariff in order to 

 make up for the fluctuating vicious state of the cur- 

 rency, and our consequent losses by bad debts. 



Ask an intelligent manufacturer which he had 

 rather have, all the States south and west, sound 

 and punctual customers, or an increase of 50 per 

 cent in the tariff of duty on foreign fabrics, and 

 what will be his answer, "a nimble penny is bet- 

 ter than the slow and doubtful shilling?" It is 



true that we have bought too ranch from abroad, 

 because we have bought more than we have sold ; 

 but if our present tariif will not prevent this, how 

 can we hope a higher one to do it ? If the increas. 

 cd duty raises the price in our market, the foreign 

 producer can still compete with tis, as the increas- 

 ed prices will ofl'sct the increased duty, and when 

 the price falls our manufacturers will be no better 

 off than they are now. 



A member of Congress fMr. Marshall) in advo- 

 cating protection, says, " our manufacturers must 

 be guarded and fondled in the first days of their 

 childhood," very true, but the over zealous friends 

 of protection w'ould destroy the health of the child, 

 by feeding it strong meat and stimulating drinks, 

 instead of the more simple aliment suited to its ten- 

 der age. Under the protection which our revenue 

 bill incidentally gives to our various manufactures, 

 they have been continually on the increase. Our 

 cotton goods are now exported in large quantities, 

 which could not be done if they depended on a tar- 

 iff to protect them. We know of no one branch of 

 industry which suffers from foreign competition at 

 this time, unless it may be Iron ; and as Govern- 

 ment has for some years back admitted rail-road 

 Iron free of duty, .it would now be no more than 

 a just retribution to our Iron manufacturers, to es- 

 tablish the duty, as sundry memorialists have pe- 

 tioned, at the rate charged by the compromise act 

 in the year 1839. 



Much is said and written of late, about foreign 

 restriction on our bread stufi's, still we find that last 

 year England admitted our bread stuffs under the 

 lowest grade of duty to the amovmt of six millions 

 of dollars ; through the Canadas much of our flour 

 and provisions finds a foreign market at a low rate 

 of duty. If England admitted our bread stufls 

 free at all times, it would only lower the price of 

 her own corn, without materially increasing the de- 

 mand for ours ; we should also have to compete 

 with Europe for the English market, and Russia 

 and Poland can raise grain cheaper than we can, 

 because their labor is cheaper. But if we had the 

 exclusive privilege of supplying England with all 

 the foreign corn she needs, it would in ordinary 

 years be very little ; New England alone consumes 

 more of the production of the West in one year, 

 than is exported to all parts of the world in sever- 

 al years ; and this market, based on the rapid pro- 

 gress of manufacturing industry, under the healthy 

 protection which is given by the provision of the 

 compromise law, will be found continually increas- 

 ing, even in times like the present, when a general 

 bankruptcy threatens the more agricultural por- 

 tions of the country. If the agricultaral states 

 had not involved themselves in debt, our manufac- 

 turing stntss would be in a very prosperous con- 

 dition at this time. S. W. 



Walerl oi,. Nor. =1?.. Igll. . ^ 



Smutty Wheat iu Old Genesee. 



Ma. Ge.n'r:see Fakmes— 



If worthy of a place in your valuable and extensively 

 read paper, and if, in your opinion, beneficial to the far- 

 mers of Western New York, I should like you to ha nd 

 round to them through your columns, these few remarks 

 in relation to that great evil, — Smut in wheat, 



Y'our readers in New England and elsewhere, will 

 probably many of them, on casting their eyes upon the 

 caption of this communication, exclaim with surprise, — 

 What, smutty wheat in old Genesee'! That garden 

 of the Empire State 1 Can it be, that the wealthy, the 

 intelligent, the enterprising, the successful farmers of 

 that favored region allow their priiiccly fields, their ex- 

 cellent soil to produce I his detestable fungi % Yes, Mr, 

 Editor, and however it may reflect on our character 

 ahread as wheat jjrgwerrs, the fact caau»t be denied, tha 



