FARMERS SHOULD WRITE FOR AGRICULTURAL JOURNALS. 
371 
FARMERS SHOULD WRITE FOR AGRICUL¬ 
TURAL JOURNALS. 
As the season has arrived for the renewal of 
subscriptions to your journal, I would give, 
through your columns, some reasons why agricul¬ 
ture 1 papers are not better patronized, with some of 
the leading objections urged against them. 
The first, and probably one of the strongest ob 
jeeiious, is, that a large proportion of farmers are 
averse to innovations, new plans, and or 
in other words, of “ new-fangled notions.” The 
manufacturer and mechanic ure ever on the alert, 
and ready to avail themselves of any improvements, 
inventions, or discoveries, that are made by inge¬ 
nious men and learned professors. Talk tO these 
farmers of the benefits that they may derive Hum 
the aid of science, they will look at you with an 
incredulous smile and ask—What do scientific men 
know about plowing, sowing, raising stock, &c.'l 
Point out to them the advantages of a different 
mode of applying their manure, or a different sys¬ 
tem of rotation of crops, they probably will admit 
that it looks reasonable and right, but the “ old 
system,” the “ system of their fathers” is good 
enough and has always supported them. Thus we 
have hundreds of honest, hard-working farmers, 
who do and are willing to trudge on in the old way. 
These men cannot be induced to take an agricul¬ 
tural paper. They say that they have not time to 
read • for, during the day, they are busy at work, 
and evenings, they are tired and sleepy; and if 
they read it, they say that they cannot understand 
the “ high-flown tails.” aRont sarton, Y yQo n, Ar o . 
The second class of farmers who object to taking 
agricullUJctl paper's, m e men wliu learned tins arl uf 
farming in their youth—“ it is their trade and they 
understand it thoroughly”—and they “ wonder that 
editors of newspapers attempt to teach farmers 
farming.” Happy souls! How enviable their 
condition. 
your experience and correct the evils that you 
complain of; if you have made any discoveries oi 
improvements in preserving and applying manures, 
in raising crops, in rearing and managing stock, 
write out a statement and send it to Mr. Allen, oi 
some other editor, and 1 doubt not, it will be thank¬ 
fully received and published. Would that he book 
farming J All theory and no practice'? To all 
such objectors, I say, write yourselves, and make 
thejp apers w hat they should be—practical journals 
practical results, will ever be regarded as valuable 
by intelligent men. The observations and expe¬ 
rience of many intelligent, practical farmers, who 
have hitherto remained silent, would be a valuable 
Ti T L tr UuiCil /^atare, and of incal¬ 
culable benefit to their co-laborers, tu Tyudi f di¬ 
mers, I say, do not withhold your contributions 
because you are not skilled in grammar. It is not 
fine writing that we want, but facts and ideas con¬ 
veyed in an intelligible manner. Farmers should 
learn, that, by an interchange of experience and 
opinion through the medium of agricultural journals, 
they can confer mutual benefits upon each other. 
They should also remember that these journals are 
published for the dissemination of a knowledge of 
the best modes of making, preserving, and applying 
manures to different crops; the best and cheapest 
methods of preparing the soil; the best and most 
economical manner and time of seeding and harvest¬ 
ing particular crops ; the best kinds of crops for a 
particular soil or climate ; and the best breeds, and 
Loct manner of fpAiimg nr managfingr any Dar- 
ticular kind of stock, &c. &c. 
No man uau fail to perceive that these results 
can be best attained by educated, intelligent, and 
practical farmers, aided by the almost daily dis¬ 
coveries, by means of science. G. P. Lewis. 
Huntington , L. I., October , 1848. 
We have a third class, wno uujecr, un me gmaua 
that the contributors are mainly scientific and theo¬ 
retical men, or retired merchants who are known as 
“gentlemen farmers,” without practical knowledge 
or experience, who support their farms, instead of 
their farms supporting them. Their knowledge of 
farming, they say, is gained by reading, and occa¬ 
sionally riding or walking over their farms, and 
publish accounts of overgrown cattle, fine sheep, 
and immense crops, raised at the cost of double 
their value, with whom the real farmers are 
neither willing nor able to compete. “ Such farm¬ 
ing will not answer for them, nor benefit them in 
any way.” They have to get a living from their 
farms, and have no other resources to rely upon. 
The first class of objectors are only to be over¬ 
come by the example of their more intelligent and 
enterprising neighbors. The second class of these 
modern Solomons and oracles of wisdom, who can 
learn nothing more, must be “left alone in their 
glory,” until time and the march of improvement 
leaves them so far in rear that they are willing to 
confess their ignorance and call for light. As 
to the third class, the remedy is within their 
reach. They have the privilege equally with the 
amateur farmers, of contributing to agricultural 
journals. Then, practical farmers, at once avail 
yourselves of this privilege. Give us the result of 
WTB A-CTlQiT Or CUT EEOM QTTNFTT.OWF/R 
SEED. 
I venture to address you for some information 
with reference to sunflower seed and its manufac¬ 
ture into oil. I desire to know if there is any ap¬ 
propriate machine invented for hulling the seed; 
one which hulls, and separates at the same time; 
and what is the process of separation. 
Without experimenting, I have thought that 
winnowing would not answer, supposing there is 
not difference enough, if any, between the relative 
weiglit oi Kernel and null. 1 nave soph a state¬ 
ment that a buckwheat hulling machine had been 
employed satisfactorily; but as I do not know the 
nature of that machine (whether it separates as it 
hulls), I am not disposed to try it, without more 
knowledge. The statement I saw, gives the re¬ 
sult of two quarts of oil to each bushel of seed, 
ground up hull and all, and six quarts if the hulls 
are separated from the kernels. Hence the im¬ 
portance of removing the hulls. 
What would be the cost of the machine for hull¬ 
ing, and a suitable press for extracting the oil % 
What price would the seed command to ship to 
your market for sale % A reply to the above from 
any of your correspondents will very much oblige 
D. Danforth. 
Eufaula , Ga., October 10th, 1848. 
