Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 553 



waving wheat, of wliicli it may be the copy, who made them ? Who 

 made those purple chisters hanging from yonder terrace, and near 

 them those luscious pears and cherries with cheeks as rosy as the 

 blush of morning ; those flowers, which challenge the rainbow and 

 out-plume the birds ; those countless products of vine and briar, of 

 bush and tree, which melt upon the tongue, those triumphs of flavor, 

 such as Eoman epicure never tasted ; that steed, swifter than the 

 wind, more beautiful than those which mythology attached to the 

 chariots of the sun ; '' the cattle upon a thousand hills," rejoicing in 

 their well fed sleekness, who created these ? Why, tke fanner crea- 

 ted them. They are tlie products of his art. Let him stand forth in 

 his own estimation for what he really is, and demand his reward. 

 There may be poor artists in his peculiar scliool. Such are to be 

 found in other departments of art as well. He may still have to do 

 hard work ; so does every heroic worker, whatever his field of labor. 

 He may be fearfully pre-Raphaelite in the getting up of his corn field 

 and potato patch, and put in so many weeds as to greatly mar the 

 efl'ect ; he may still continue for a time to set his crop-pictures in 

 very slovenly frames, and carve the statuary of his pig-sty with noses 

 quite too long for high art ; but every year brings improvement, and 

 perfection is yet nowhere. He is marching on in his glorious art, and 

 let him take renewed courage, for, " as round and round we rvm, ever 

 the right comes uppermost, and ever is justice done." And come it 

 will, for the grand pyramid of civilization, whose apex is yet to reach 

 to heaven, has its foundation upon his genius and his spade. 



Barley. 

 Mr. Emm or Walten, of Buckingham P. O., Bucks county. Pa*., 

 ■writes : In consequence of the repeated failure of the oat crop, some 

 of the farmers in this neighborhood are discussing the feasibility of 

 substituting barley in its stead. But it has been, so long since any of 

 that grain has been grown hereabout, that no one can be found whose 

 experience qualifies him to give proper directions respecting its culti- 

 vation. Buckingham valley is a limestone region, very fertile and 

 highly cultivated, the space between the loamy surface and the 'rock 

 being occupied by a moderately tenacious yellow clay, strongly 

 impregnated with lime. When the spring is backward and wet there 

 is a difficulty in getting the oats sown as early as desirable. Late 

 sowing and the strength of the* soil cause a heavy growth of straw, 

 which falls badly, thereby often reducing the yield one-half, while it 



