18G7.] 
AMERICAN AGRICUETURIST, 
siou is lUut it ruins all the rest of the farm, by 
leatiiiig iho cultivator to neglect iU It deinumls 
large quantities of manure, and all he can make 
goes to the tobacco patch, and ho buys a good 
deal besides. The meadows run out, the pastures 
become barren, the orchard fruitless, and if the 
cuUiv;ilor accumulates fimds in the bank, as he 
tnay, it is by the ruin of his farm. Ten acres 
may be splendid, but the other hundred have 
gone to mulleins and hardback. The influence 
of this crop upon the community is quite as 
disastrous as it is upon the farm. Tlje tobacco 
growing district grows poorer. Other farm 
crops decrease in quality and quantity. Less 
stock is raLsed, less beef, pork, butter and other 
necessaries of life. The lands are all the while 
decreasing in agricultural value, and less capa¬ 
ble of sustaining a thrifty population. If a man 
makes money by the crop, sells out, and goes 
to the cit}’, the community loses by the depreci¬ 
ation the farm has undergone. The value of its 
taxable property is all the while dintinishing, 
we apprehend, under the influence of this crop. 
Other crops, as a rule, bless the farm, and tend 
to make it more pro<luctive. They help to sus¬ 
tain animal life, and if consumed upon the soil, 
return more to it than was taken from it. But 
tobacco is a blight upon the land that raises it. 
Comparative Production in Good and Bad 
Farming. 
J. Stanton Gould, in his address before the N. 
Y. State Agricultural Society, stated that tlie 
average production of winter wheat in this 
Sute in ISOo was 13.36 bushels to the acre; 
oats, 17.10 bushels; barley, 10.27. corn, 28.44; 
potatoes, 98.80; hay, 0.91 tons. Tlie production 
upon the farm of James Geddes, and six of his 
rearcst neighbors, was: of winter wheat, 26 
bushels to the acre; oats, 50 bushels; barley, 
38.12; corn, 45; hay, 2 tons to the acre. 
This shows a ditference of nearly one half in 
favor ot good farming, which consists mainly in 
drainage, deeper plowing, more manure, and 
more thorough cultivation. The largest item is 
manure, and this pays the farmer better for his 
labor, and increases the value of his farm. Statis¬ 
tics show, that the average production of farm 
crops decreased from 1855 to 1805, with the ex¬ 
ception of wheat, corn, and potatoes. The crops 
on the farms of Mr. Geddes and his neighbors, 
show an increasing average. If the farm crops 
of the Stale should be brought up to ^Nlr. Ged- 
dc.s’ standard, the yearly incre.ased product 
M-ould be worth 75 millions of dollars. Good 
farming would soon pay our national debt. 
Firewood ox the Pn.viuiEs. —The impres¬ 
sion, once entertained, that trees would not flour¬ 
ish on the prairies, is found to be erroneous. 
Wherever young trees have been planted and 
cultivated, and protected from tlie ravages of 
vermin and cattle, they grow with astonishing 
rapidity. It is now calculated that a prairie 
farmer need wait only five years to grow wood 
enough from the seed and from transplanted 
seedlings to supply bis own fire perpetually, and 
to keep up his fences. In a few years longer, 
the trees will give him abundance of timber foi 
his own use, and to sell. A few trees recently 
measure<l in Iowa gave the following results: 
No. 1, planted 20 years, measured 10 inches 
above the ground, 91 inches in circumference, 
and is estimated to contain 1 i cords of wood. 
No. 2, planted 10 years, measured 70 inches, 
d will make a cord of wood. No. 3 measured 
,i inches at 21 years ot age. No. 4, 75 iuches, 
and No. 6, 80 inches. It is estimated that some 
single acres of prairie-planted forest, 20 j’ears 
out, will now cut 300 cords of wood to the acre. 
Facts like these account for the change that is 
taking place in public opinion in regard to the 
value of these lands. It is found in practice to 
be much easier to get wood upon the prairies 
than to get cleared fields in the timbered dis¬ 
tricts. The labor of clearing a farm upon heavy 
timbered land is immense, and many of the 
stumps linger through the first generatiou. 
Labor Essential in Agricnltnral Colleges. 
Messrs. Editors : —In the article on Agricul¬ 
tural Scliools in your Januaiy number, objec¬ 
tion is made to making such institutions “ man¬ 
ual labor schools,” and to requiring of the stu¬ 
dents more labor than “ enough to learn Jioic 
to perform all kinds of farm labor.” The italics 
are mine. If the writer means that the work 
on the farm should he for the student’s instruc¬ 
tion and not for his own profit (money) or the 
school’s, I agree wdth him ; I only urge that for 
this purpose^ much labor is essential. I remem¬ 
ber when a boy, to have seen a shoemaker bris¬ 
tle a thread hundreds of times, and I thought 
I knew how to doit, hut xchenltricd, Icauldn't. 
Are there not enough schools now that send out 
young men and w’omen w’ho know hoio to do 
almost everything, hut who, wlieu put to the 
test, can do nothing ? The commercial colleges 
advertise their actual business departments as 
their chief attraction, medical student’s dissect, 
law students plead, midshipmen do the work 
of sailors as well as officers, young chemists 
work many hours in the laboratory for practice, 
and with all these the longer and harder the 
drill, the belter. ’Tis a pretty race of farmers we 
educate{?), wlio walk out with kid gloves, cane, 
and sun umbrella, to witness the operations of 
farming, and learn how. In sober earnest, is it 
safe to let our young farmers taste the sweets of 
idleness, to let their muscles grow soft and their 
bones w'eak through inaction ? Farmers must 
work with their own hands. Where is the college 
graduate who has any pursuit requiring manual 
labor ? In their long course of study they have 
lost iMjtli taste for it, and strength. Is it worth 
nothing to retain habits of industry and strength ? 
Is three hours too much time for healthy exer¬ 
cise, too much for learning how to do all the 
operations of the farm, and practising upon 
them until all he both well understood and easily 
done in the best manner ? I have it from the 
best autliority that many of the graduates of 
the Michigan Agricultural College are proving 
themselves to he good practical farmers. They 
labor there three hours per day. G. W. J. 
- - — — - - 
Encourage the Boys. 
A lad from Iowa writes us, that ho thinks 
farmers’ sons ought to have a chance to cam 
something for themselves, to be allowed to make 
little ventures in stock-raising for pocket money, 
and to keep them contented at home. We think 
so too. We suppose a great many farmers do 
this, certainly the great majority of our readers 
do. But many work their hoys w-ith as little 
consideration as they w’ork hired men. They 
take no pains to make farm life attractive, and 
the boys are off at the earliest oppoitunity. 
Tlicy have no joyous memories to bind them to 
tlie spot that ought to be the dearest on earth. 
To learn the worth of money they must have 
money as the result of their labors. To form 
habits of faithfulness, carefulness and economy. 
217 
these and other virtues must be rewarded. 
They should liave responsibilities put upon 
them while they arc very young, and be encour¬ 
aged to make money and to save it. Give them 
a hen, a goose, or turkey, a lamb, or i:)ig, and 
let them have all they can make by good care 
and feeding. A boy of ten or twelve years of 
age, with a little instruction, can manage the 
poultry. Let him take it on shares and see 
what ho can make out of it. Give him a patch 
for a garden, and, if near a market, let him sell 
what he can raise. Give him a half dozen ap¬ 
ple trees or pear trees, teach him to graft them, 
if they need it, and let the fruit be his. Give 
the boys an interest in your business, and make 
them intelligent in it, and they will not be in 
haste to leave tlie homestead. Encourage them 
to read agricultural papers and books, and the 
appetite will grow by what it feeds upon. 
Tlie farm will he the scene of cheerful, well 
rewarded labor, and will always be loved. 
' To Prevent Ruts in Roads. 
The art of road-making is yet in its infancy 
in this country. The roads are not laid out, 
made, or repaired with reference to economy of 
draft in using them. Deep ruts are soon worn 
in them by the common vehicles that pass over 
them; and these grow worse and worse, until 
they are almost impassable in spring. Broad 
cart tires are a partial remedy for these. Long¬ 
er yokes, both for oxen, and for double horse 
wagons and carts, compelling the teams to walk 
ill the same line with the wheels that come af¬ 
ter them, would be a still better remedy. On 
most country roads there are two toe-paths and 
two ruts, and it is noticeable that the toe-paths 
are ahvays in much the better order. Longer 
yokes would bring the paths and ruts together. 
The feet of the teams would break down the 
sides of the ruts, and fill them as fast as they 
were formed. This would improve the road 
bed, and make the draft of loads easier. We 
cannot shorten the axle trees wdtliout increasing 
the danger of upsetting, but we can lengthen 
the yokes with safety. Legislation is needed. 
Decrease of Populatiox ix Agricultur¬ 
al Districts. —The census of 1865, in llhode 
Island, shows a decrease of population in five 
years, in the four farming counties, of 3,878, and 
an increase in Providence co., made up of the 
city of Providence and suburbs, of 14,223. To b© 
sure, these ivere years of war, hut tlie draft upon 
the country for soldiers was no greater than 
upon the city, and the decrease can not be fairly 
attributed to this cause. It is another indica¬ 
tion of that unhealthy public sentiment, which 
prompts men to abandon the slow gains and 
the substantial comforts of rural life for the rash 
speculations and unwholesome excitements of 
the city. The same process is going on in all 
the older States. The only increase of popula¬ 
tion is in the cities and villages. If people 
could better their condition by the change, noth¬ 
ing could be said against it, but this is laiely 
the case. Ninety-five in a hundred who under¬ 
take business in the city fail. On the farm, com¬ 
paratively few fail, and the failures are usually 
traceable to moral, rather than_ commercial or 
natural causes. Society must be in an unhealthy 
condition where production does not exceed 
consumption. Rhode Island, with its unrivaled 
facilities for sea manures, aside from the stable, 
the best and cheapest in the world, ought to feed 
its own population and show a substantial in¬ 
crease in the farming districts for generations. 
