Designed to improve all Classes interested in Soil Culture 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN —'WASHINGTON 
orange jvdd, a. m., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
t $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE, 
} SINGLE NUMBERS 10 CENTS. 
VOL. xviii. No. l.] NEW-YORK, JANUARY, 1859. [NEW series-No. i44. 
ESPOffice at ISO Water-st., (Near Fulton-stj 
(^“For tlontent*. Term's, ,Vc. see pngre 32. 
[copy RIGHT SECURED.] 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1858 
by Or.noe Judd, in the Clerk’s Office of the District 
Gnurt of the United States for the Southern District of 
New-York. 
53F* N. B.— Every Journal is invited freely to copy 
any and all desirable articles, and no use or advantage 
will be taken of the Copy-Right, wherever each article 
or illustration is duly accredited to the American Agri¬ 
culturist. ORANGE JUDD, Proprietor. 
American Agriculturist iu ©mitcm. 
The AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST is published in 
both the English and German Languages. Both 
Editions are of Uniform size, and contain as 
nearly as possible the same Articles and Illustra¬ 
tions. The German Edition is furnished at the 
same rates as the English- 
January. 
“ Another Spring ! his heart exulting cries; 
Another year with promised blessings rise. 
Eternal Power! from whom these blessings flow, 
Teach me still more to wonder, more to know ; 
Seed time and harvest let me see again ; 
Wander the leif-strewn wood, the frozen plain : 
Let the first flower, corn-waving field, plain, tree, 
Here round my home, still lift my soul to Thee ; 
And let me ever, midst thy bounties, raise 
An humble note of thankfulness and praise J” 
Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy 
Hail to the New Year! Scarcely has the re¬ 
treating footsteps of the Old died away upon our 
ears before the New welcomes us with his joyous 
smile. It comes with its new experiences upon 
the farm and in the household, with its freight of 
precious memories and bright anticipations. The 
landscape is cheerless without, the heavens som¬ 
bre, the bare forest a dull grey, and the fields 
robed in white. But within, all is beautiful, and 
the more so in contrast with the sober aspects of 
Nature. The mind is, even now, all a glow with 
the bursting buds of Spring-time, the full foliage, 
the fair flowers, and the genial skies of Summer. 
No painter ever put upon his canvas such color¬ 
ing, such combination of charms as now light up 
the imagination, when we look forward to the seed 
time and harvest, the labors and enjoyments of 
another year. 
It is good for us who till the soil and receive 
the fulness of its blessings to pause by this new 
landmark and consider the greatness of our privi¬ 
leges, our indebtedness to the Giver of all good, 
and our responsibilities. The farmer’s lot, how¬ 
ever despised by the ignorant and superficial, in 
town and country, is one of high privilege and 
enjoyment. 
He possesses at the outset what so many never 
attain, or only late in life, a fixed abode. He has, 
in most cases in this country, a home of his own, 
either wholly or in part paid for. He owns the 
soil that he tills, and all the fix'ures upon it are 
secured to him by law. He knows nothing of a 
landlord to impose higher rents, and drive him 
out at the close of the year. The acres and the 
buildings, the. trees and shrubs, the springs and 
streams upon them, with all their delightful asso¬ 
ciations, are his for a possession. He has an im¬ 
mediate and a future reward for all his industries. 
The mechanic who makes a shoe or a garment 
gets his pay in corn or barter, and that is the 
whole of his income from his toil. The farmer 
who tills his fields wisely, not only gets his pres¬ 
ent crop, but an enlarged capacity in the soil to 
yield better crops anoiher year. He plants a tree 
that will not only yield fruit this year, but will in¬ 
crease its capacity for yielding for many years to 
come, and will, probably, give him fruit as long 
as he lives. He introduces improved stock, 
which will not only yield its increase the present 
year, but will perpetuate itself for future genera¬ 
tions. No calling so stimulates hope and gilds 
the future with visions of comfort and joy as 
this. 
He has, or may have, what so many lack, the 
necessaries of life. His main business is the 
feeding of the world, the production of meats 
and breadstuff's. At the smallest cost he can 
spread his table the year round with the most 
wholesome vegetables and meats; milk, with no 
suspicion of stump-tail decoction, delicious fruits 
fresh from the tree, and bread made after the pre¬ 
mium recipe by hands accustomed to the grate¬ 
ful toil. Gaunt famine can never look in at his 
door, nor poverty utter its starving cry at his 
basement window. He has enough to eat and 
drink, and to spare, and the thought of want for 
the necessities of life never crosses his mind as 
an anticipated reality. Oh! what would thou¬ 
sands in the city, at this season, give for such a 
position 1 
He has, too, one of life’s greatest blessings, 
constant employment for his head and hands, and 
employment, too, that pays—always pays, if not 
so well at some periods as at others. However 
remunerative the toil of the mechanic or manu¬ 
facturer, he has no assurance that it will continue. 
Almost all other occupations are liable to be over¬ 
done. The market becomes glutted with an 
over production, and business must stand still un¬ 
til the articles of trade are consumed. But con¬ 
sumption very nearly keeps pace with the pro¬ 
ducts of the farm. The world must be fed, and 
nothing but bread and meat will satisfy its hun¬ 
ger. Multitudes are now seeking employment in 
the city and can find nothing to do. But the 
farmer has always something on hand to do that 
will give him bread and meat another season. 
The Winter is not lost to his purposes. It is full 
of cheerful toil—the procuring of fuel and its 
marketing in the neighboring city or village, the 
care of cattle, the procuring of muck and the 
composting of manures, these all pay, and these 
are kinds of work never finished. 
It is the privilege of the farmer, too, to live 
with his family, and to retain his children under his 
influence, more completely than most others can. 
He is not troubled to find employment for his 
sons. There is enough to do and good pay for it 
in working the soil. He can take hi3 sons with 
him to the labors of the field, year after year, and 
if he be something more than a farmer, and worth¬ 
ily fill his place as a father and a citizen, the at¬ 
tributes of his manhood will pass over into his 
sons. Wisdom will distill from his bps upon will¬ 
ing hearts, until the characters of his children 
are formed, and they are fitted for their life 
work. 
All the influences of the farm are conservative 
and healthful in their tendencies. Rightly pursued, 
there Is no occupation so favorable to physical 
health. There is manly exertion to strengthen 
the muscles and knit the frame. There is pure 
air, and refreshing sleep in roomy apartments. 
There is the Book of Nature ever unrolled before 
the young, with all its lessons of wisdom and 
faith. There is something humanizing in the 
daily care of the domestic animals, and the heart 
must be stupid indeed that does not learn pity 
and tenderness from these ministrations. 
“ To more than man this generous warmth extends, 
And oft the team and shivering herd befriends ; 
Tender solicitude the bosom fills, 
And pity executes what reason wills 
Youth learns compassion’s tale from every tongue, 
And flies to aid the helpless and the young.” 
It is among the objects of our devout thanks¬ 
giving that we were born in a farmer’s house, and 
grew up amid scenes like these; that we have a 
bit of American soil beneath our feet that we call 
our own, where we and our sons get health, and 
bread, and character. He who murmurs at a lot 
like this must be hard to suit. 
Well, here we are again with our readers, at the 
beginning of another year's intercourse, which we 
fain hope will be even more pleasant and pro¬ 
fitable than that of the year just closed. But a 
painful thought comes over us. Of the multitude 
of readers of the Agriculturist, young and old, 
whom we one year ago addressed with our New 
Year’s greeting, probably full four thousand have 
been Cut down by the reaper, Death, and have 
been gathered into the garner of the grave. One 
out of every twenty-five or thirty die annually. 
In the year before us, then, of those who read 
these lines, probably more than ten thousand at 
least will finish their labors here, and pass hence 
Those of us who least expect this are quite as 
likely to be among the number as those who may 
have forebodings of death. Is our work •'one 1 
Let us start this very day on such a course, Jiat 
whatever the event may be with us, whether we 
remain, or emigrate to the regions beyond the 
flood, this new year may be a happy one. 1 nat 
such may be the case with each of you, dear 
readers, is the ardent wish of your friends and 
fellow-laborers—the Editors. 
