AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
365 
have to sell out aud change their business, or 
emigrate to the west, where the land has not 
been so long abused as it has in the older States. 
There is some thing in Jake’s insinuation that 
bad help is the cause of bad crops. This is apt 
to be the case where the employer is not in the 
field himself with his hands for a large part of 
the time. I have never yet seen a farm that 
would thrive without the constant oversight of 
the owner. Farming necessarily confines a man 
at home as closely as any other business. There 
are occasions of loss every day in seed time and 
harvest, if lie is away from home. But Jake’s 
trouble is not here, for he does not hire much 
help of any kind, and what he does hire is a 
fair average of farm help. 
One thing that makes him run astern is the 
want of all system in making manure. He does 
not feel that this is an essential part of a farm¬ 
er’s business. He does not make one load where 
he has the material to make ten. An empty 
barn-yard makes a barren corn field. This makes 
a man discouraged, aud he does nothing prompt¬ 
ly and with a will. He runs astern in every 
crop through the season, and in his pecuniary 
affairs at the end of the year. 
But this is not all the trouble with my neigh¬ 
bor. Jake is not what he ought to be morally, 
and this perhaps lies at the bottom of his poor 
farming, as is the case with a multitude of oth¬ 
ers. It takes something more than a strong 
body and a sound mind to make a successful 
tiller of the soil. Manhood . is as much an ele¬ 
ment of prosperity in this as in any other call¬ 
ing. If a man goes to the village and haunts 
taverns, nothing will save his business from dis¬ 
aster. He will make foolish bargains, sell what 
he ought to keep, and buy what he does not 
Avant. If he is tricky in his business dealings, 
he will soon lose the confidence of his fellow 
men, and the market for his produce. Tem¬ 
perance and integrity are about the best stock 
a man can keep on the farm, and with these, I 
have rarely known a farmer to run astern. 
Hookertown, j Yours to command, 
No'j. lath, 1862. ( Timothy Bunker, Esq. 
Notes from Colorado. 
Mr. E. K. Woodbury sends the following 
items to the American Agriculturist: The place 
from which I write (La Porte), lies at the 
foot of the Rocky Mountains, in about lat¬ 
itude 40° 30', where a small, clear, rapid 
stream called Cache la Poudre creek issues from 
the mountains. At this point the Cherokee 
trail, to which the overland mail route has re¬ 
cently been changed from the South Pass, leaves 
the plains for scenery as famous for variety as 
is that of the plains for monotony. 
But little of the land in this region is adapted 
to agriculture, and this requires irrigation, for 
Which the rapid current of the streams furnish 
excellent facilities. Still we begin to produce 
fair crops of cereals, while all sorts of root and 
vine crops thrive most luxuriantly. What tame 
fruit will do we can not yet tell, but we have 
delicious wild strawberries, raspberries and 
gooseberries, currants, plums and cherries, and 
tAVO kinds of cactus that yield palatable fruit as 
Well as beautiful flowers. We are not backward 
in efforts to supply ourselves Avith apples, peach¬ 
es, and grapes, and in regard to the first and 
last, we feel quite confident of success, less so 
in regard to apples, though all three (planted and 
set out this Spring) look promising. There is 
one item on which we shall eclipse you utterly. 
A Yankee or a Kentucky grazier who should 
look at his beautiful pastures, every inch cover¬ 
ed with luxuriant verdure, would laugh at our 
sandy plains, not half covered with grass, and 
the little there is, so short as hardly to give a 
hold to bite it by; but he Avould be wrong after 
all. Within five years, unless the home demand 
uses all our beef, Colorado Avill sell cattle in 
Gotham. From this stream, and I don’t know 
how much further north, doAvn to, or rather up 
(South) to the Arkansas, the foot-hills of these 
Rocky Mountains and the adjacent plains, prob¬ 
ably furnish the be6t pasturage on the Conti¬ 
nent. Even in this latitude cattle do not re¬ 
quire feeding more than three weeks during the 
year, and a majority of the cattle and ponies 
that are not Avorked, do not get a bite of hay or 
grain during the year. E. K. Woodbuhy. 
Agriculture of the Aborigines. 
Little can be said of it, for it did not amount 
to much. Their principal crop was corn, called 
by them meachin. It was of several sorts, red, 
white, yellow, blue, black, speckled, etc., though 
the white and yelloAv were the most common. 
At the far north, they had a kind that they 
called mohausk's corn, which, though planted in 
June, ripened before frost. When the natives 
had occupied a piece of ground for several years, 
they manured it, using at planting, three fishes 
to the hill. The favorite fish for this purpose 
was a kind called aloofes. The early white in¬ 
habitants of New-England followed the exam¬ 
ple, and found it to their benefit. 
After the whites came to this country, the In¬ 
dians (the Indian women , be it known,) began to 
plant pumpkins, squashes, beaus and turnips. 
Not very wisely, they used the hills of corn for 
bean-poles. Of the dried cornstalks, they made 
fodder in Winter : they also wove the husks into 
mats and baskets. Pop-corn was a favorite dish 
with them; the popping being done in hot ashes. 
Some of the com thus roasted was eaten as 
Yankees eat ft; much of it was pounded fine in 
stone mortars, and then made into pudding or 
bread. They also raised “ sweet corn,” which 
they ate as Ave do; they likewise boiled and 
dried and stored away a good deal in bags for 
Winter use. They, however, depended very 
much on the husbandry of their boAvs, traps, 
and fishing-rods. 
Keep away from New-York. 
A young man writes to the American Agri¬ 
culturist, from Bergen Co., N. J., as follows: “I 
have a few hundred dollars with Avhich I am 
thinking of starting some business in NeAV-York 
City. A friend advises me to stay on my father’s 
farm, and go into the business of raising poul¬ 
try for market; which do you advise ?” . Simi¬ 
lar inquiries are addressed to the Editor, almost 
weekly, from all parts of the Union. To all 
such we give the general answer: By all means 
keep away from this or any large city. Bet¬ 
ter raise poultry, pigs, pears, or any other pro¬ 
duce, that would afford even a moderate income, 
than swell the number of anxious, careworn, 
and in most cases disappointed men who are 
struggling agahist the tide of competition which 
makes success in a large city the rare excep¬ 
tion. Not more than one out of every hundred 
engaged in business here, grows rich; while at 
least eighty die poor. A larger number grow 
rich by farming, and not twenty, probably not 
ten, per cent, of those engaged in agricultu¬ 
ral pursuits are ever reduced to poverty. This 
is the money view of the case. Moral statistics 
would sIxoav .a yet more fearful risk to be en¬ 
countered by changing a country for a city resi¬ 
dence. We consider the chances of “ doing bet¬ 
ter ” by removal to the city about equal to the 
chances of safety in springing upon a locomo¬ 
tive in full motion: oue man in a thousand 
may do it unharmed and be carried SAvil’tly 
to the end of the route; the multitude would 
be quickly crushed. Sane men Avould choose 
the safer way of jogging over the ordinary 
highway with a steady team, or on foot. 
Rustic Work, in Fine Country Seats. 
Every one knows that it is very pleasant to 
meet with rustic arbors, seats and grottos in 
the retired parts of fine country places. Has 
any one ever stopped to consider why we enjoy 
such scenes ? A traveler, in his description of 
the elegant grounds of Woburn Abbey, hits 
very near it. He says: “ There are a number 
of ornamental cottages scattered around the 
margin of Woburn Park, of much exterior taste, 
and adorned by rustic work of various kinds. 
In some of them is an apartment for the recep¬ 
tion of small parties from the Abbey, who wish 
to amuse themselves by allusions to primitive 
simplicity; for it is one of the enjoyments of 
those who are habituated to live in a style of 
high art and refinement, to take occasional 
refuge in the contrast ‘produced by comparative art¬ 
lessness and simplicity." That is it—the love of 
contrast. 
Farmers Produce Wealth. 
We are not disposed to underrate the impor¬ 
tance of other callings, but in the actual produc¬ 
tion of commodities, the farmer confessedly 
ranks highest. He comes the nearest to being 
a creator of Avealth. 
Compare, for a moment, the nature and re¬ 
sults of other pursuits with those of the husband¬ 
man. Take the manufacturer. He does but 
change the form of materials already produced 
to his hand. He adds, indeed, to their utility, or 
beauty or convenience,' and in so doing is a pub¬ 
lic benefactor, but lie is less a creator of values 
than the farmer. The miner does but bring up 
the crude ores already lying in the boAvels of the 
earth; he does not create iron, lead, gold and 
silver. Yet let him receive his' just reward. 
The man of commerce produces nothing, adds 
nothing to the world’s wealth that did not exist 
before. He is simply a medium for the exchange 
of commodities. The commerce may be be¬ 
tween individuals or nations, yet the result is 
the same; it is only a barter of equivalents— 
an exchange of six for half a dozen. 
Something more than this can be affirmed of 
agriculture. It positively adds Something to the 
stock of commodities. The crops gathered from 
a thousand hills were not here last Spring; the 
nation is positively richer by so much. Or rath¬ 
er, what remains over, after the cost of produc¬ 
tion is taken out, is so much added to the com¬ 
mon stock of wealth. Yet, let not the farmer 
put on any unseemly airs. He could accom¬ 
plish little without the aid and sympathy of 
other callings, and his products would be of lit¬ 
tle value Avithout them. The eye can not say to 
the hand, I have ho need of thee. Each frater¬ 
nity of laborers is the friend and patron of the 
other; their interests are common. Let them 
hold each other in high esteem. 
People usually consider two hands enough 
for all purposes, but we recently saw a man on 
Nassau street, who had got a little behind hand. 
