AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
363 
thousand farmers in this State, who take no agri¬ 
cultural paper, and you will find that they have no 
idea that they need light upon the methods of hus¬ 
bandry. They are routine farmers, and pursue the 
same course now,in all essential respects,that they 
did twenty years ago. They do not reflect at all 
upon the philosophy of their occupation,and pursue 
the cultivation of the soil, as if it were not an im¬ 
provable art. They see their lands running out, 
year after year, but propose no remedy but to 
desert them, and seek a new home in the West. 
If in the wheat region, and the insects diminish 
this crop, they make no war upon them, but turn 
their attention to barley or rye. These are the 
men that plow four inches deep, and despise the 
radicalism of subsoiling and underdraining. They 
make a little manure, and use it upon the soil as 
if it were medicine, instead of food for plants. 
Their stock is lean and pot-bellied, either refuse 
that nobody would purchase from them, or bought 
of others because they were cheap. They think 
they understand their business thoroughly, and 
do not want John Johnson or any other believer in 
tile, to tell them to make a crockery store of 
their farm. They do not believe in book farm¬ 
ing and do not want to read any thing, that an 
editor, stuck up in the city, can write about 
their business. Their fathers were farmers, 
and they have always got a living out of 
the soil, and they would like to know what 
more could be expected of them. 
There are other self-satisfied souls, but entire¬ 
ly of another type. They take the papers, and 
read them, are some of them gentlemen of means, 
and buy every book they can lay hands on, which 
treats of agriculture and the kindred sciences. 
They quote Liebig and Johnston, talk of the ex¬ 
periments of Lawes, and the transactions of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, and then leave all 
their farm operations to a foreman who is about 
as well fitted for a forestick, as to direct farm 
labor. He plants corn in April, and sows oats in 
June, makes fences and digs ditches when the 
hay harvest is waiting to be gathered, picks Win¬ 
ter apples in August, and lets all his beets and 
root crops stand out till December. With such a 
foreman, the head of the establishment of course 
has no occasion to learn anything. His farm is 
only a big sieve, and his money wastes through 
it gently as April showers—chiefly valuable, as 
it gives employment to needy laborers, and il¬ 
lustrates the necessity of a man’s understanding 
his business, if he would make money by it. 
| There is another class still, who suppose that 
large crops are necessarily profitable. They 
have large means accumulated in other employ¬ 
ments, or are, perhaps, actively engaged in busi¬ 
ness in the city, while they resort to farming as 
a pastime. They literally play the farmer. They 
buy a suburban property of fifty or a hundred 
acres, and do all manner of fantastic things with 
it, just to see how much money can be expend¬ 
ed upon a play-thing. They spend a hundred dol¬ 
lars in manure and labor upon an acre of land, to 
get a crop of corn worth seventy five dollars. 
Seventy bushels of corn is a large yield, but it 
should not cost over fifty dollars to make it a good 
sample of farming. If the cultivator sinks twenty 
five dollars an acre in his fancy crops, he becomes 
a Pyrrhus in agriculture, and a few such victo¬ 
ries will ruin him. Diogenes has discovered 
quite a number of farmers of this stamp, and ad¬ 
mired their elegant “ residences,” and their 
splendid barns. These are all well enough in 
their places, but are not to be taken on faith as 
good farming. Diogenes hopes that his corres¬ 
pondent makes farming pay, but he is unable to see 
it, even with the help of figures and his lantern. 
Rural Life for Consumptives. 
[The Agriculturist is not a Medical Journal. We refuse 
to even advertise medicines—except an occasional gratis 
“notice” of medical humbugs—and our general advice is to 
“ throw physic to the dogs.” If we need a house built, 
or one repaired, we go to the professional builder—the 
best one we can find. So if this body of ours be out of 
repair we go direct to the best man we can find who 
makes it his life’s business to study into and assist in re¬ 
pairing this “house of the soul.” We once attended a 
course of medical lectures—for the science of the thing, 
not with a view to practice —and learned enough of the 
mechanism of that curious and wonderful structure, th'e 
human body, to be afraid to tinker with it, any more than 
we would undertake to mend a locomotive engine. This 
may be a sufficient excuse for not publishing the thousand 
and one “ recipes ” and “ cures ” continually sent to us. 
There are, however, common sense matters relating to 
health, which are not out of place in these columns, and 
we may occasionally throw out items of unprofessional 
advice for the preservation of health, with advantage to 
our readers. Before us is the following from one of our 
regular contributors, who has,we believe, been himself 
snatched from a consumptive’s grave, supposed to be 
yawning near at hand ; and as “pulmonary consumption” 
is one of our country’s most dreaded scourges, we insert 
the article for the many valuable suggestions it con¬ 
tains.— Ed.I 
Dear reader, you who are depressed with fore¬ 
bodings of early dissolution, let us look at your 
case. You have, perhaps, a narrow chest, a pale 
face, occasional darting pains in the side, and 
above all, a cough. Hence, your doctor has mark¬ 
ed you in his books as a consumptive. And you 
have made up your mind to that effect, especial¬ 
ly as you inherit pulmonary tendencies. But here, 
remember for your encouragement, that all chil¬ 
dren of consumptive families do not inherit the 
taint alike ; and statistics show that the children 
of such households, who exercise freely in the 
open air, have two chances of escape to one of 
those who follow sedentary pursuits. 
Perhaps, you are a dyspeptic student, and have 
overworked your brains, and robbed your stom¬ 
ach. Or you are a merchant, who in early 
struggles for w'ealth have given ten minutes to 
dinner, and very often gone without it altogether. 
Or you are a poor seamstress, singing the “ Song 
of the Shirt,” with a hacking accompaniment. 
Perhaps you are a vegetarian, and in spite of your 
canine teeth, have abjured meat, and have wilted 
like the plants you have eaten. Or you are a 
tailor, sitting on your board night and day, like a 
Turk—though more crooked—in confined air, 
and with little or no exercise. Or, it matters not 
how, you have run down, have lost your natural 
strength, and seem to be in “a decline.” 
Now, let us cast about a little, and see what 
can be done. The gist of what the doctors teach 
us in regard to the cause of consumption is this : 
depraved nutrition. Poor food, poor air, poor chyle, 
impoverished blood, followed by the fatal sedi¬ 
ment of tubercles deposited in the lungs. Can 
anything be done to help you! ’Doubtless there 
can. If you have hereditary tendencies to this 
disease, you can be fortified against it. Call all 
your forces Into play. Every known cause of de¬ 
bility must be avoided—such as foul air, exhaus¬ 
tive work, late hours, hard study, poor diet, indo¬ 
lence, pining grief, and reckless exposure to the 
vicissitudes of climate. Never attempt morning 
walks or work of any kind on an empty stomach, 
whatever the “ knowing ones ” may say about 
early rising and exercise in the so-called pure 
morning air. Do not sit or stand in a draught of 
cold air. Then, of course, bring into play the op¬ 
posite causes. Above all things, make sure of 
fresh air and generous food. “Life itself,” says 
one, “may depend on good dinners and time to 
eat them.” And we will add to this, flannel worn 
next the skin, and dry feet. 
Now, we wish to show (and we speak from ex¬ 
pedience) that country life is eminently favorable 
for avoiding the occasions of disease, and for 
warding off its attacks. In the country, there is 
no need of breathing impure air. You need not 
inhale the stench of foul gutters, nor the fumes 
and ashes of anthracite coal from myriad chim- 
nies and forges, nor the escaping gas from the 
vast net-work of pipes above ground and below, 
nor the ten thousand “ well defined and separate 
smells ” with which city air is always redolent. 
You need not eat poor food. Instead of depend¬ 
ing entirely on the public markets for your sup¬ 
plies, uncertain of their purity and freshness, you 
may have the fat of the land in its very best con¬ 
dition. Vegetables you can have, just plucked 
from the garden ; and meats of the best quality 
from healthy animals properly fed. Fruits you 
may gather and eat, from bush and tree, with the 
bloom and dew upon them. 
So in reference to exercise. Would you ride 
on horseback 1 In the country there is ample 
room, and every variety of scene—in hill and 
dale, wood and open plain—to interest the 
thoughts. Much might be said in favor of this 
kind of recreation. Nearly two hundred years 
ago, the learned Sydenham declared : “ Of all 
the remedies for phthisis (consumption,) long and 
continued journeys on horseback bear the bell.” 
And the experience of the two centuries since, 
confirms his position. The benefit seems to be 
connected with the amount of vigorous exercise 
gained with so little fatigue ; the happy effect of 
the jolting upon the liver; the abundance of 
fresh air inhaled ; the fine edge it gives to the 
appetite, and the cheerfulness it imparts to the 
spirits. Gallop, then, ye weakly ones, over the 
hills and far away, and at every prance of your 
steed, breathe in new vigor ! 
Farming and gardening also afford excellent 
exercise. We should hardly advocate either of 
these for consumptives, where hard exhausting 
labor is required. But the superintendence of 
a farm or garden, and the doing of light, volun¬ 
tary labor, would be very beneficial. What can 
be more soothing to excited nerves and depressed 
spirits, than these light occupations 1 What more 
inspiring of hope and cheerfulness and trust! 
Every muscle of the body is brought into play, 
yet none are necessarily overtaxed. Exercise is 
got without thinking of it, and appetite and good 
digestion ensured. Ask the cook if it is not so. 
How much better this than a long, forced walk, 
dragging one’s self through weary streets ; how 
much better than violent antics in a gymnasium, 
just for the sake of so much exercise, measured 
by the clock! 
Horseback riding has undoubtedly saved many 
persons from the grave, but hardly more than 
farming and gardening. For ladies, especially, 
this last mode of exercise is very beneficial. The 
artificial in-door life of most females now-a-days, 
is sadly breaking down their constitutions. Em¬ 
broidery, painting, music, novel-reading, late 
hours, and confinement in close, over heated 
rooms are enough to destroy the best health. 
Now, if the ladies could be imbued with a love 
of gardening—not gardening with satin slippers 
and white kid gloves, but practical gardening— 
making it a daily employment for an hour or two, 
it would go far to counteract the evils we have 
mentioned. Let them go out properly shod, and 
with sun-bonnet and rubber gloves. Then, let 
them sow, and plant, and train, and weed, and 
prune ; and, as surely as there is truth in any 
thing, they will avoid most of the ills to 
which female flesh is heir, coughs will seldom 
be heard among them, and they will become, to 
the despair of the doctors, “distressingly healthy." 
