THE CULTIVATOR. 
the condition of our agriculture. Soon the productions 
of the state would, be doubled—soon would the moral 
and intellectual condition of her sons be elevated—the 
entire face of nature would be changed—our rich and 
fertile valleys would double their increase, the barren 
plains be covered with verdure, “ the desert and solitary 
place made glad, and the wilderness blossom as the 
rose.” 
What a vast field is this for the exercise of fond anti* 
cipation 1 What a delightful view is here presented for 
the imagination! 
“ Oh, knew he but his happiness, of men 
The happiest he ; who far from public rage, 
Deep in the vale, with a choice few retir'd, 
Drinks the pure pleasures of the rural life." 
Nor is this the dream of a visionary, or the vagary of 
a heated and over sanguine imagination. What is here, 
by some deemed wild conjecture, or vague speculation, 
has in Europe, even under their despotic laws, become 
matters of history and well established fact. Schools 
of this character' have there been established, not only 
by individual effort but also by the governments. Their 
beneficial effects are felt and acknowledged, in their in¬ 
creased productions, taxable property and value of the 
soil. 
And has not the time now arrived, when our state, 
with her ample resources, Will aid this noble enterprise? 
Will she not extend her hand, open and willing, to pro¬ 
mote this great object? If she will not be generous, I 
appeal to her justice; and I ask whether she can longer 
refuse this pittance 10 poor, degraded, despised agricul¬ 
ture? Is she, who in war nerves her arm, and sends 
forth her sons to battle—she who in peace supports the 
government—pays the taxes—builds our splendid monu¬ 
ments of art—excavates our canals and freights them 
with the fruits of her toils—who feeds all and clothes 
all—and supplies all With the necessaries and luxuries 
of life—is she, I ask, to be denied the meagre pittance 
of a school to educate her sons? If this be so, I turn, 
as my only hope, to the public spirited and benevolent 
individuals in our midst; arid I appeal to their genero¬ 
sity. to know if they are willing that this noble project 
should fall, still-born to the ground ? What an opportu¬ 
nity is here presented, by the founding of an institution 
of this character for posthumous fame—for immortality! 
Have we not in this great state, some patriotic and be¬ 
nevolent Williams, or Brown, some public spirited Gi¬ 
rard, who by doing a great and a good act, will enrol 
his name upon the scroll of fame, as a benefactor of the 
public, and confer blessings unnumbered upon the hu¬ 
man race ? 
Farmers’ Luxuries. 
[From the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture .] 
It has frequently been matter of surprise to us that 
small farmers, from generation to generation, pass 
through life at the same dull pace, going over the same 
rugged ground, plodding the same apathetic routine, 
unambitious to vary and increase their innocent recrea¬ 
tions, when every facility is within their power to vie 
with their wealthier brethren in the possession of so 
styled luxuries. We approve that excellent aphorism, 
“To enjoy is to obey.” Our beneficent Creator has 
placed innumerable sources of gratification wilhin the 
reach of all his creatures. His intention evidently is, 
that the productions of various climes should be con¬ 
sumed by nations “ far asunder as the poles;” that Scot¬ 
land should quaff the vintage of the sunny south, that 
shoals of her herrings should find their way in savoury 
heaps to the inland dwellers of wide continents, or He 
would never have put it into the hearts of men to con¬ 
struct great ships, and to steer their course over the 
trackless teenn by ihe guidance of His heavenly sun and 
moon and stars. If as Lord Bacon says, “Admiration 
is the superlative of praise,” it follows that the more we 
enlarge our sphere of innocent and rational enjoyment, 
the greater the number and variety of proofs of His cre¬ 
ative power and wisdom we collect around us, the more 
must our admiration be excited, and the higher ought to 
be our feeling of gratitude, veneration, and praise. 
“ Use, but do not abuse the good gifts of God,” appears 
to us to be a text worthy of the Creator and His crea¬ 
tures, one that is also, in this restrictive age, cruelly 
neglected. But to our subject ol “ Farmers’ Luxuries.” 
Who ever heard of small farmers indulging in those 
horticultural dainties and delicacies that require the aid 
of frames and hotbeds to perfect their growth ? Yet who 
would point out a legitimate objection to an enjoyment 
so entirely innocuous? Why should cucumbers, (in 
frames of course, we mean) grapes, peaches, melons, and 
even pine-apples, be reserved for the gratification of pa¬ 
trician palates, any more than that the bloom of delicate 
tinted flowers should be kept sacred for the solace ofthe 
eyesight of the wealthy; or that their grateful odour 
should refresh exclusively the olfactory nerves of the 
aristocracy? Employment is the bliss of life : there is 
not a more unhappy being than the man or woman who is 
not obliged to exert those mental and bodily functions 
which have been beneficiently bestowed upon us, to be 
used for the preservation of our health ; nor can there 
exist a more sickly, silly, pretty sounding, pernicious, 
little southern phrase than “ Dolcefar niente.” “ Amaro 
farniente” would be nearer the truth. Luxuries that 
may be attained, without unjustifiably employing time 
and capital, are not only perfectly admissible at the tables, 
of those who can afford them, but the man is to be ap¬ 
plauded Who seeks to secure them. The extra delica¬ 
cies which we obtain by bur manual dexterity and in¬ 
dustry we ore fully entitled to enjoy. 
A man, however his time may appear to be entirely 
occupied by his business ( we speak not, it is obvious, of 
our unhappy brethren in squalid lanes and dismal manu¬ 
factories), say thatof a farmer, for example, has always 
many hours in a week entirely unemployed, which are 
lolled, or dozed, or smoked, or drunk away, unless he 
have a love of literature strong upon him. A very few 
of these wasted hours might be turned to great advan¬ 
tage by devoting them to the cultivation of luxuries ; and 
not only luxuries for self-gratification but for the sale of 
them, whereby many little enjoyments of other kinds 
might be easily attainable. 
Farmers who cultivate their own land possess advan¬ 
tages ior the accomplishment of the plan we advocate 
beyond those who rent their farms, who are bound by the 
terms of their leases from using the manure for any 
other purpose than the benefit ofthe land under tillage. 
In some parts of the southern portion of our island, we 
have been informed that the occupant is restricted from 
the privilege of manuring his garden with any portion 
of it. This is as arbitrary as it is absurd, since it is an 
admitted fact that manure is in a better condition for 
farming crops after it has undergone that first stage of 
fermentation, which is precisely the state in which it would 
effect the desired end in obtaining 11 farmers' luxuries .” 
An outlay of a very few' pounds in the first instance, 
would ensure a valuable return, without any increase or 
renewal of expense for many years. Melon-pits, peach- 
pits, &c., have a fearful sound ; a poor man would as 
soon think of a service of plate for his table as of such 
costly and exclusively patrician erections in his garden ; 
but we hope to prove to our farming friends, especially 
such of them as are industrious themselves, and have 
one or more sons at home to assist in the labours ofthe 
farm, that the erection of a melon-frame, peach-pit,* &c. 
with their costand management, is to be as easily and 
cheaply obtained as any other portion of his stock. 
If a man have a mechanical turn, as it is styled, (and 
how desirable, how valuable, is a talent for carpenter¬ 
ing and bricklaying in all situations where the income 
requires strict attention to meet the demands of a fami¬ 
ly !) many, many pounds may be annually saved by ex- 
ertingthat talent. We have seen this exemplified in an 
industrious family, in which the results have been most 
satisfactory. Practical plans are those which we advo¬ 
cate and advise; with vague schemes we would not 
puzzle ourselves or our readers. The stagnant state of 
our agricultural brethren is beginning to interest the 
lords of the soil, and associations are forming to better 
their condition, by teaching them many elementary prin¬ 
ciples of subjects on which they are profoundly ignorant. 
May these institutions prosper ! In the mean time, let 
us, in our humble way urge upon every farming man 
these simple truths—that active employment is a privi¬ 
lege, a boon bestowed upon the working classes as a 
compensation for the want of that wealth which the poor 
erroneously covet through ignorance of its attendant 
miseries ; that industry brings contentment, that blissful 
feeling which wealth can never bestow ; that the fiat 
which has been called “ the curse of the ground,” 
namely, “Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of 
thy brow,” is one of the kindest and wisest of the Crea¬ 
tor’s commands ; that he who best knows how to exert 
the mental and bodily powers which have been given 
him for his benefit, is a wise and enviable man ; that 
“ knowledge is power,” and not only power, but happi¬ 
ness. Hence no one should sit down in the supine con¬ 
sciousness of being a farmer, and merely a farmer, to 
plough, and sow, and reap and jog to market, and count 
his gains, and take his pipe and glass, and so to bed the 
whole year round, and “ seek to know no more.” As 
we have said already, there are many hours, nay, whole 
days, when the routine of a farm moves sluggishly, nay, 
when it must stand still; these are the opportunities that 
have been beneficently ordained, and which a mind of 
energy will gladly employ, in order to better his own 
condition, and, by the influence of example, that of his 
children and dependants. 
Idleness is mischief, it is seldom mere inaction ; and 
no stronger proof of the truth of this axiom need be ad¬ 
duced than the evident improvement in the morals of 
our artisans in the thickly populated towns, since the in¬ 
troduction of Mechanics’ Institutions. Those hours 
which they formerly passed in idleness, in beer and gin 
shops, fostering aspirit of fierce discontent and disaffec¬ 
tion, are now devoted to peaceful acquisition of science 
to attain wisdom as well as knowledge, to elevate their 
minds and to improve their condition. 
Parents are little aware of the immense benefit, in 
every possible way, that results from encouraging indus¬ 
trious habits in their children Very young lads may be 
made of essential use in a homestead, and at the same 
time their enjoyments would be to themselves delight- 
* Our farmers want neither melon-frames nor peach-pits. 
These fruits generally ripen well in the open ground of our 
genial soil and climate. The farmers luxuries wh cli a boun¬ 
tiful Providence has placed within their reach, and fur then- 
use, are the fruits and culinary vegetables, which our 
climate will mature, and which add as well to the health 
as to the innocent enjoyments of Ife- —the apple, the pear, 
the plum, the grape, &.C of the best varieties—Ihe beet 
ttie onion, the melon, the tomato, the rhubarb, the asparagus, 
&c. which are the desire of the rich, which the grower alone 
can enjoy in perfection—and which, we are sorry tosav, very 
few of our farmers do duly appreciate or enjoy. And the 
ornament d department, which may tend much to improve 
our minds, and to enlarge the sphere of our innocent enjoy¬ 
ments, is almost wholly neglected, as though the Giver ol 
all Good had prohibited the use, to the tiders of the soil, of 
what he has placed w ithin their reach, and impliedly for their 
special beaafit,— GvwL Galt. 
ast 
73 
ful amusements. A boy who evinces the slightest turn, 
for mechanics, should always be indulged in his partiality 
and be encouraged to try his skill. A chest of rough 
and simple tools might be given as a reward, and oppor¬ 
tunities afforded, should his father be unable to instruct 
him, for the acquirement of the right handling ol his 
hammer and plane. Once set afloat, his own enthusiasm 
will carry him forward, and his parents will reap the 
double recompense of adding to their slender income by 
his pleasant exertions, and of seeing the effects of indus¬ 
trious habits upon his mental and bodily health, which, 
but for their judicious fosterage, might have been laid 
waste by idleness with all its train of evils. 
Shpep Husbandry. 
BREEDING—THE GENERATIVE AND URINARY SYSTEM'S. 
[From the Library of Useful Knowledge, Farmers' Series-.'] 
The object of the sheep-master is to raise and to re¬ 
tain that animal which will pay best for the consump¬ 
tion of its food. With the breeder of cattle, this is a 
very simple affair—he selects and cultivates that ani¬ 
mal which will attain the greatest maturity and weight 
in the shortest lime, and on the least quantity of food. 
The dairyman wishes to add another quality to the ap¬ 
titude to fatten, namely, the yielding, and for a conside¬ 
rable time, a large quantity of milk. The sheep-breed¬ 
er also derives bis profit from two sources, the early 
maturity of the carcass, and the quantity and useful pro¬ 
perties ofthe wool. Both will occupy bis attention; 
the first, in every case, and as his grand object; the se¬ 
cond, as valuable, but regarded more as a subsidiary.— 
How shall he attain his objects ? He looks carefully over 
Ins flock, and he observes that some of his sheep—the 
food and general management being the same—fallen 
more quickly than others. There is the same attention 
paid to all, but the profit is abundantly more from some 
than from the majority of their companions. He is anx¬ 
ious to account for this. He compares these sheep with 
some of their fellows, and he observes that there is an 
evident difference of conformation, a fineness of hone, a 
roundness and compactness of form, a condensation of 
substance, and a beautiful proportion of every part.— 
He studies jbis, and he finds that there is more or leas 
of this conformation in every sheep that materially out¬ 
strips his fellows. He inquires farther, and if he has 
employed different rams, the one that possesses most per¬ 
fectly this peculiarity of form, and its accompanying ap¬ 
titude to fatten, was the parent of .these promising sheep, 
or their dam had these points in cons derable perfection. 
He now begins to form some notion of the kind of ani¬ 
mal that the profitable sheep should be ; and he has liv¬ 
ing proof that these valuable properties may and will 
descend to the offspring. 
His pride and his interest are involved, and he exa¬ 
mines these flowers of his flock with still closer atten¬ 
tion. He finds that, in the handling, the-y present as 
great a difference to the feeling as they do to the eye. 
There is a softness, a springy elastic softness, in dis¬ 
tinction from the hard, harsh, unyielding nature of the 
skin, and the texture immediately beneath it in others, 
which once impressei on the mind, can never be for¬ 
gotten ; and he associates this with the certainty of 
earlv maturity. 
Having satisfied himself with regard to these things, 
he dismisses the ram that does not exhibit these quali¬ 
ties, or that fails in getting lambs possessing them; and 
the ewes that do not approach to the beau-ideal which 
he has formed in his own mind, or whose lambs are in¬ 
ferior in appearance or in thrifliness. He fattens these 
and sends them to the butcher. He collects together 
the lambs as soon as their form and qualities begin to 
develop themselves—a little experience will enable him 
to judge accurately of this at a very early age—and 
without hesitation he discards those that are not up to 
the mark, whether ram or ewe-lambs. He puts by & 
few of the very best of the males for a second examina¬ 
tion at no very distant time, and every faulty one is 
selected from the ewe-lambs, and prepared for the butch¬ 
er as quickly as may be. In this way the flock is sys¬ 
tematically and rapidly improved, and the breeder is 
well repaid for the diligent attention which he has given 
to this important object. If his fiock is large, he will 
find in this principle of selection, every thing that he can 
want. 
There is one point more, the importance of which 
he cannot overrate— he should never preserve a lamb that 
has an evident and glaring defect. In proportion as his 
flock improves, he should regard this as a rule that ad¬ 
mits of no exception; for the principle that “like pro¬ 
duces like” extends as powerfully to the defects as to 
the excellencies of the animal. The progeny infallibly 
inherits the defects as well as the excellencies of the 
parent, and no improvement in a good point, already 
possessed to a considerable extent, can compensate for 
the introduction of an obvious blemish. 
On this principle of selection, the breeder will conti¬ 
nue to proceed, if his fiock is tolerably large, and he 
will even be jealous of the introduction of a foreign 
breed. The good qualities of his sheep, transmitted 
from one generation to another, are no longer acciden¬ 
tal circumstances. They have become a part and por¬ 
tion of the breed, and may be calculated upon with the 
greatest degree of certainty. They constitute the prac¬ 
tical illustration of the term blood. It would be long 
ere the good qualities of a stranger would form an iden¬ 
tical portion of the sheep; and no animals will else¬ 
where thrive so well, or improve so rapidly, as on the 
pastures on which they and their forefathers have, ge¬ 
neration after generation, beeu accustomed to wander. 
