AMERICAN ■ AGRICULTURIST 
FOU THE 
Farm, Grarclen, and Household. 
“AGIUOULTUUE IS TUE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.”— Washington. 
OBANGE JUDD COMPANY,) ESTABLISHED IN 1842, <TERMS:SI.50 per Annum in Advance, post-free j 
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VOLUME XXXVIII.—No. 2. NEW YORK, FEBRUARY, 1879. . NEW SERIES—No. 385. 
A Picturesque, but a very Bad Practice. 
Our artist lias depicted in the engraving, a style 
of farming that makes an interesting picture, but 
results in small protits. The farmer who does not 
provide shelter for his stock, is pretty sure to be 
the owner of cows that give little if any milk, 
young stock that look as if they belong to a dwarf 
or scrawny race, and cattle that are never fat. The 
frontier farmer and ranchman, may, perhaps, en¬ 
gage in stock-raising and be successful, even 
though he own no barns or shed for shelter, as cat¬ 
tle are cheap, and the loss of a few score head may 
not seriously affect him. But when he is located 
in a region of cold and snow, the direct and indi¬ 
rect losses from exposure would certainly cost more 
than good shelter. The better class of stockmen in 
the frontier States, as throughout the older sections, 
■now have barns and sheds, and find that they pay 
well for the outlay. The article, “ A Nebraska Stock 
Farm,” on page 461, December number, gives an ex¬ 
ample of this fact. Sometimes there is a necessity 
for watering cattle through the ice, after the man¬ 
ner of the sketch in the lower corner of the en¬ 
graving, as when wells and springs fail because of 
a drouth, or water-pipes burst, etc. But there are 
few farms where the most, or all of such accidents 
might not be avoided if taken in time. First, a 
single source of. supply should never be depended 
■upon, but two or more wells or springs should be 
made available, as it is seldom that both would 
fail at once. It is also well to collect water from 
the roofs of the barns and other buildings in cis¬ 
terns by the means of eaves-troughs ; this water, 
if properly protected from the entrance of for¬ 
eign matter, and, if need be, filtered before using, 
will be of great service in a time of scant supply 
from other sources. And, by the way, cisterns are 
much more easily and cheaply constructed than is 
generally supposed. The value of two or three 
animals saved in a hundred, or a few pounds of 
flesh saved or added to each animal, will pay for 
cisterns to supply water for the whole. (For cheap 
cisterns see page 6, last month.) Water-pipes from 
springs should be carefully examined, especially as 
to inlet and discharge, before winter sets in, and all 
pipes, tanks, faucets, etc., put in order. In laying 
the pipes, care should be taken that they are put 
below all danger from frost. The possible conse¬ 
quences of watering cattle through the ice, are: 
few will get as much water as they need, on ac¬ 
count of the crowding about the holes ; some may 
be injured by slipping on the ice, while exposure to 
cold winds, and large draughts of ice-cold water, 
may cause a falling off in milk and flesh, and produce 
disease. The combined pictures also tell another 
story : one who follows such practices is quite sure 
to be a poor farmer in other respects ; he gets but 
small crops, because of lack of properly saved ma¬ 
nure ; poorly cultivated fields, from being behind¬ 
hand in his work, and possibly low prices for pro¬ 
ducts harvested, because he must sell them at once, 
having no means for storing them so that he can 
take advantage of the markets. One part of a man’s 
work is an indication of what may be expected of 
the rest. “ A workman is known by his chips.” 
Wanted, 50,000 Young Men. 
Yes, we want, the country wants, 50,000 young 
men or more, to engage in progressive agriculture. 
Though soil culture employs more than half the 
people of the country who are engaged in any use¬ 
ful employments, all ether ranks of industry are 
better filled than this. Agriculture furnishes the 
raw material for nearly all our manufactures, yet 
while the factories and work-shops are overburden¬ 
ed with skilled laborers, the harvest fields are too 
often worked by the poorest labor that strolls the 
highways. Educated mechanics, formerly success¬ 
ful merchants, and highly intelligent manufac¬ 
turers are seeking employment by hundreds, but 
find the ranks of their callings full, while agri¬ 
culture has plenty of room for such men. Thou¬ 
sands of young men “ are adrift in the large cities,” 
as the New York Bulletin puts it, “ simply because 
they can do nothing that anybody wants done ; ” but 
let them go to the farms of the country and they will 
find abundant opportunity for intelligent, willing 
labor; at low wages, it is true, but sure to result in 
health and happiness, a thousand times better than 
the precarious existence they maintain in the city. 
If the trades and professions have no employment 
for the myriads of idle hands, the farm can furnish 
enough for all. The unoccupied iands of the West, 
the abandoned farms of the South, the many neg¬ 
lected fields all overthe East, all offer opportunities 
for every idle man in the country to gain bread, 
clothing, shelter, and ultimate comfort and happi¬ 
ness ; for out of the soil comes all we eat and wear, 
and out of the forests the material for our houses. 
We are not urging that the tramps and vagabonds 
of the cities be turned into farm laborers, for a 
tramp in the country is even a greater evil than a 
tramp in the city, and it is quite as impossible to 
make him work in the fields as in the shops and 
factories. But it is the unemployed, intelligent, 
active workmen that can find useful employment 
on the farm. And to intelligent young men, and 
active men out of business, but possessing some 
capital, from $1,000 upward, agriculture holds out 
tempting promises, and promises that she will 
fulfill to those who work for them. There are few 
farmers more successful than the merchant who 
conducts his farming on the same prudent yet pro¬ 
gressive business principles that gave him success 
in trade. It is a pleasant fact to contemplate, that 
over four and one half million acres of new land 
were actually occupied by settlers in the Western 
States during the last fiscal year, and especially 
pleasant when we consider that the settlers were 
not emigrants from foreign countries, as in former 
years, except to a small degree, hut were mostly 
from the overcrowded Eastern cities—many of the 
class above described. The real estate dealers make 
the statement, also, that the demand for small farms 
in the Eastern States has never been so great as with¬ 
in the past year or two. This movement tends to 
an improved condition of affairs for the whole 
nation, and we hope it will go on until the old and 
proper balance between city and country is restored. 
But to the young men just coming upon the 
stage of action, agriculture offers special attrac¬ 
tions. There is great need among farmers of more 
education in those branches of science that pertain 
to the breeding and treatment of animals, fertiliz¬ 
ing the soil, growing plants, and all the various 
phases of the calling. Those men who are familiar 
with the advancing thought and practice of the 
time, and brmg the most intelligence to their work, 
are the most successful farmers of to-day. So it 
will be in the future to even a greater degree, and 
those farmers and others who desire their sons to 
become successful, leading agriculturists, and 
prominent in public affairs, should see to it that 
these young men receive as good intellectual train¬ 
ing as those who intend to embark in those callings 
that are universally admitted to require a liberal 
education. Veterinary medicine, agricultural 
manufacturing and trade, and even agricultural 
journalism, are also open fields to young men 
educated in agricultural science and practice. 
Last month, we gave an example of what a col¬ 
lege-educated man had accomplished, by bring¬ 
ing his mental faculties, disciplined by study, 
to hear upon a worn out farm, and then upon 
improvements in dairying and even in pork-raising. 
There are multitudes of other similar illustra¬ 
tions. Like results usually follow like causes. 
COPYBIGHT, 1879, BY OBAK6E JUDD COMPANY. 
