270 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
MISSION OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 
Abstract ef an address delivered before tbo Ohio 
Agricultural Convontton. by Col. B. D. IlAmils, 
of Moo he’s rural New-York it u. 
In nearly a quarter of a century’s inti¬ 
mate connection with the Proas, and close 
familiarity with the agricultural literature 
of the age, l have witnessed the rise, prop¬ 
agation and success or failure of a host of 
theories, facts, fancies and schemes, some 
of which have borne goodly fruit for the 
sustenance of the people, others of which 
have been nipped by the frosts which take 
such green and unwholesome things, as 
they should always do, but sometimes do 
not. And thus I have often found myself 
walking in a grave-yard of agricultural lit¬ 
erature, atuid the tombs of buried fancies 
or the carcasses of such as pollute the air 
for want of burial. 
This is the experience of every agricultu¬ 
ral editor who has been long time enough 
in the harness to have observed these facts, 
or who has been a diligent reader of what 
has been put upon record. 
The agricultural periodical press is the 
most potent and active agency of our day, 
in the dissemination of this sort of useful 
knowledge among men. The living sym¬ 
pathy between the editor and his readers, 
gives a fresh zest to every issue of the pa¬ 
per, ami the publication of a widely v arious 
correspondence, enlists the co-operation of 
a greatly v aried style of thought and ex¬ 
pression, subjecting the whole to the closest 
criticism and to be viewed from all sides, ac¬ 
cording to t.he knowledge or fancy of differ¬ 
ent people. 
The agricultural paper conies at such in¬ 
tervals of time, and in such convenient 
quantity and variety, that if receives im¬ 
mediate attention; its contents are all 
taken in at a few sittings, and the intellect¬ 
ual man is thereby fed and groomed, to go 
upon the race-course of his duty, and lay 
out his strength to the best advantage. 
The mission of the press is two-fold- 
first, to build up; and, second, to break 
down —to build up that which is good and 
true, and break flown that which is bad and 
false; and the editor should be thoroughly 
furnished for both of these stylos of labor. 
[After discussing bot h these propositions 
in detail, the speaker proceeded to run a 
parallel between the influence of agricul¬ 
tural papers and various other agencies for 
the collection and dissemination of useful 
knowledge. Coming at last to the subject 
of agricultural colleges, he said]: 
It. see.rnnd like a very liberal thing that 
the Government should have made pro¬ 
vision for the endowment of institutions of 
learning, in which agriculture and the 
mechanic arts should receive prominent 
attention. Now let us suppose, for the sake 
of argument, that this endowment had 
been bestowed in the support of a good 
agricultural paper in each State —not to 
make it a gift ooncern, like the government 
seed store at Washington, but rendering 
such assistance as to place it above the 
necessity of depending upon advertising 
patronage for its revenues. The editors 
and contributors could bo suitably paid for 
their services and the best talent of the 
world could be enlisted for the diffusion of 
the best Information at their command. 
Allow for this paper, in Ohio for instance, 
the modest estimate of fifty thousand copies 
weekly for the four hundred thousand 
rural families of the Stato; allow only four 
readers to each family, thus supplied with 
the paper, and you have an aggregate of 
two hundred thousand readers! This paper 
goes to that number of readers every week 
in the year, full freighted with intelligence 
upon all the varied interests of their occu¬ 
pation ; aud there at their own firesides, 
underfill the domestic aud social InlliamceR 
of home aud society they drink in of that 
fountain and grow up into that knowledge, 
at small cost, less iuoonvenience and no 
separation. Who shall estimate the differ¬ 
ence in result between suoh a far-reaching 
and inexpensive agency as this and that of 
the agricultural college upon its fine or two 
hundred student-9 under the most favorable 
auspices? Two hundred against two hun¬ 
dred thousand I The larger number edu¬ 
cated on the farm, amid all the binding 
influences of home, and in the daily prac¬ 
tice of its health-giving and instructive 
labors; the smaller number, sent away 
from home, to be educated off from the 
farm , aud most likely to stay oil' there¬ 
after; their domestic habits broken up, 
their systematic rounds of industry laid 
aside —entering into now associations and 
filled with new ambitions, not the most 
conducive to a love of farm life or industrial 
economy. 
I leave you t o strike a balance between 
the extent, cost and result of these two 
agencies for a practical education of the in¬ 
dustrial classes. 
Do you ask me if I would desire or advise 
such an endowment of the agricultural 
press? 1 answer,—No. It is contrary to 
the genius of the American mind, and the 
spirit of American institutions—which 
teach personal independence and self-re¬ 
liance as the cardinal doctrines of the Re¬ 
public. In the prosecution of their busi¬ 
ness the conductors of the. press have laid 
a foundation which is safer and better than 
to depend upon the patronage of the State. 
[After speaking of the great numbers of 
people who are reached by the periodical 
press, t he speaker concluded his address as 
follows:] 
To-day I stand in the Capitol of Ohio, 
speaking to an audience of two or three 
hundred people; what I may write to-mor¬ 
row, of t he t ransact ions of this Convention 
and of other matters, will go out upon the 
manifold leaves of the press, to the homes 
of halt a million of people, from the At¬ 
lantic t.o the Pacific, across the ocean to the 
kingdoms of the old world, and to the far- 
off islands of the sea! 
If 1 have seemed to magnify the reach 
and mission of the press, and to assign it a 
place above others, 1 have also shown by 
fact s and figures that we have justly earned 
that high position by the energy and intel¬ 
ligence with which we have pushed our 
conquests into the highways and by-ways 
of tho earth, and sent the gospel of labor 
as an evangel of peace, to greet the people 
at their own homes, and to throw around 
them the bonds of a common fraternity 
and to endow them with the franchises of 
a noble independence. 
In the. pursuit of this, our chosen occu¬ 
pation, we ask for no endowments or special 
legislation from the State, but only a fair 
aud open field in which to sow our seed and 
reap our harvests, amid the competitive 
businesses of the world. 
“EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES.” 
I wot ED reply through the Hr hat. New- 
Yorker to “Reform,” of Johnstown, Ful¬ 
ton Co., N. Y., in the matter of treatment 
of hired help. In a former article “ Re¬ 
form ” stated how the hired help of that 
County were oppressed by employers. I 
was much surprised, but did not discredit 
his statement. T informed him where bet¬ 
ter things existed ; and as his heart bled for 
the poor, and as he had ample means and 
time, I suggested that he inform the suffer¬ 
ing ones where better tilings prevailed. 1 
referred him to Livingston County. Hut 
“Reform” discredits my statement, ami 
says he has seen much of the world and 
knows it is t be same throughout the land. 
Much seeing nor many years will make no 
one wise without the power to discriminate. 
1 f “ Reform ” should utter such an appeal 
in Livingston Co., for its working men, as 
for the half-paid, half-starved of Fulton Co., 
they would reply, “ dry the moisture about 
your dewy eyes, old boy; if we can’t take 
care of our interests iu that direction, we 
deserve to go under.” 
1 have but little reverence for that court 
at Johnstown which decided that a young 
man could not support a wife with an in¬ 
come of 820 per month; a less heavier court 
would have known that there are those who 
cannot support a wife with an income of 
ono thousand dollars per mouth; and that 
tens of thousands of others have and are 
supporting not only a wife, but a family 
also, on less than the first mentioned sum. 
With regard to myself, r have a wife and 
family aud am not an uncommon man- 
weak in body but strong in the purpose to 
live, if possible, outside of charity. 1 com¬ 
menced in this town, working for farmers 
by the day. My pay did not amount to 
twenty dollars per month—but fifty to 
seventy-live cents per day for all work ex¬ 
cept harvest; that was $1.25 to $1.50 pel- 
day; this was the extreme of my wages for 
years—as long as L worked for others. 
To-day. and for several years, farmers 
have paid $1-30 in Winter, 82 for Spring 
work and from $2 to S3 for haying and har¬ 
vest, and $2 for all Fall work/ 
In twenty-five years, wages have more 
than doubled in Livingston Co. Has the 
poor man's cost of living doubled? Not 
necessarily, by a largo balance. Will not 
“Reform” place these facts [or will ho con¬ 
tinue to disbelieve) before the suffering poor 
of Fulton Co., and prove in deed, and not 
in words alone, that he desires to relieve 
their distress; for Livingston Co. can em¬ 
ploy audfeed hundreds more. 
’ , , „ Etbky-Day Laborer. 
Caledonia, Livingston Co., N. Y. 
FROM SOUTHEAST MISSOURI. 
I have traveled quite extensively both 
South and West, at different, times, and 
while I acknowledge eaoh Stat e has many 
desirable and charming situations, the sur¬ 
rounding circumstances forbid a poor man 
of even hoping to ever settle there and se¬ 
cure the farm he covets. While the soil on 
the prairies is all that could be desired in 
richness and fertility, the water is very 
6oarec and poor, the winds very annoying, 
and severe iu the Winter, and tho settler 
continually in trouble about wood and 
building timber. Urea, in Southeast Mis¬ 
souri. I find the usual variet ies of soil found 
along rivers, streams, and uplands, with 
excellent timber of various kinds, and 
abundance of water. The latitude is such 
as to guarantee mild and short Winters, be¬ 
ing some eighty miles South of St. Louis, 
and between thirty-seven and thirty-eight 
degrees Nort h. Although there have been 
white settlers in this county for seventy 
years, and the soil and general features of 
tho country the most inviting to the farm¬ 
er and stock grower, yet t he populat ion at 
this time is less than ten thousand, and a 
very' large per cent, of t his number is in and 
about the various mines of Iron, copper, 
lead and zinc, with ores among the richest, 
in the world. St. Louis having been the 
great central point of all westward travel, 
and no public conveyance to this part of 
the State, is why Eastern men have never 
found it out. While many travelers have 
passed through the Northern and Central 
parts of Missouri, and the public prints 
have been filled with long and interesting 
letters from those sections, Southeast 
Missouri has had no one to speak for her, 
and hence the fairest and most desirable 
part of the whole State is comparatively 
without inhabitants. 
Those who settled here in an early day 
were so well pleased with the make of the 
country that t hey all secured large bodies 
of land, expecting that the time would 
speedily' come when the county would be 
thickly' settled, and their lands very valua- 
able. Hut these settlers were from the 
wrong side of Mason and Dixon’s line, and 
of course never advertised for settlers to 
come and buy t heir lauds, or even described 
them, and the tide of emigration passed 
North. This part of the State is yet to be 
brought into notice, and, 1 hope, to he set¬ 
tled by Northeastern families. 
Tho old sottlers have nearly all gone to 
their several resting places; each one find¬ 
ing it out in his field or fence corner, along 
the orchard; showing a spirit of aristocrat¬ 
ic independence and selfishness, even after 
death. These secluded and private bury¬ 
ing places are generally overgrown with 
weeds and bushes, and are constantly 
springing up (or appearing) before the laud- 
viewer, as it were, like ghosts iu a thicket, 
and, soon, the ideas associated with such 
places become stereotyped, aud are classed 
with heathen customs and relics of bar¬ 
barism. 
Slave labor having made homes and sup¬ 
port for them in other years, then sudden¬ 
ly leaving them, they have found out that 
modern democracy, bad whisky and bush¬ 
whacking (Ku-Klus) would not plant and 
gather crops equal to slaves; and hence 
nearly all the land in Southern Missouri is 
for sale—all wanting to “leave this old and 
worn-out country and go to Texas.” That 
is the Mecca of tho “Hiker’s” brightest 
dreams. Four-fifths of South Missouri are 
yet in the woods; few' new farms are being 
opened up by the “natives,” mid the first 
that was cleared has been declared “worn 
out,” and left to grow over with briers and 
bushes; while other portions in the same 
field (or enclosure) that have been under 
the plow for twenty, thirty and forty years, 
producing as many crops, have never had a 
load of manure, or any other artificial fer¬ 
tilizer applied. And yet, strange to say, 
fair average crops of corn, oats, barley and 
wheat are yearly harvested from these very 
fields. Their wheat is generally grown 
after corn, and nearly every boy and man 
that I have seen plowing had but one horse 
or mule to a shovel plow, and went twice 
between tho rows, i. e. two furrows, aud 
then the seed was put on and a limb of a 
tret* or bush dragged over it and left. 
T think these native Missourians are to be 
classed with t he sorriest and shabbiest farm¬ 
ers out of Mexico. They step in the old 
footprints, aud followup the agricultural 
examples set by their worthy ancestors, 
I abominate clover and all other methods of 
fertilizing the tenacious and faithful soil, 
and seem to expect a paying crop annually 
for all time to come. 
A few men from Ohio have recently set¬ 
tled in this section, and, under their im¬ 
proved method of culture, old, worn-out 
fields have again responded with beautiful 
harvests, and are now seeded to clover and 
timothy of the finest growth and appear¬ 
ance. It is a fine fruit-growing country, I 
am told, and, judging; from the great abun¬ 
dance of apples and peaches that I have seen 
all along my line of travel, it is all they 
claim for it in that line. The varieties of 
fruit grown East are not seen here, as little 
attention has ever been given to fruit. 
Grapes of several different kinds have 
here and there been planted, and are doing 
remarkably well. 
I am of the Opinion that if a goodly num¬ 
ber of Eastern men would come out here 
and settle, t he farms under their manage¬ 
ment would double in price and value every 
third year. I mean the “oh/, worn-out 
land ” and the uncleared land. There is 
great need of more land being cultivated, 
as the county does not produce near enough 
to supply her own citizens. A great deal 
has to be shipped every year from St. Louis 
to the miners and citizens of the various 
villages throughout these mining counties, 
and hence the home markets here are bet¬ 
ter than at St. Louis. 
I have no land to sell, and onlj' speak of 
tin* country as it appears to me. Have 
been here since last .July, and have traveled 
over this and 8t. Genevieve County “rite 
smartly.” * n. a. t. 
Farmington, St. Francois Co., S. E. Mo. 
FECUNDITY OF DUCKS AND HENS. 
The English people are noted for raising 
ducks, and they often make interesting ex¬ 
periments. Ono was lately made to test 
the relative fecundity bet ween ducks and 
hens, and to determine which of the two 
would produce the larger number of eggs 
in a given time. For the purpose three 
hens and three (lucks were selected, all 
hatched in February, and nourished with 
suitable food. In tho following Autumn 
the ducks had laid 22o eggs, while the hens 
in this case had laid none. In the following 
February the laying began again with the 
ducks, aud continued uninterruptedly till 
August. They showed no inclination to 
set. and became very thin, but subsequently 
fattened up somewhat. In the mean time 
the hens had not been idle. The total num¬ 
ber laid by the hens amounted to 7, or 80 
eggs each; and tho ducks produced 802, or 
101 each. Although the eggs of the ducks 
were rather smaller than t hose of the liens, 
yet they proved to be decidedly superior in 
nutritive material. 
- 
POULTRY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
To Prevent liens Eating Their Eggs. 
— Last Winter 1 had great trouble with my 
hens. They would eat their eggs. It was 
not because they were not fed lime, meat, 
etc., and plenty of it. Is there any way of 
stopping theni doing this thing?—R. P. S., 
Wilmington, Del. 
There is one way we have seen recom¬ 
mended. Make a laying-box with a false 
bottom, forming an inclined plain, down 
which the egg rolls, as soon as laid, into a 
receptacle beneath, thus placing the egg 
out of the reach of the lien at once. Just 
how this is made we cannot say, but we 
fancy any Yankee can make one; and since 
our correspondent is a Yankee, his eggs are 
safe. __ 
Commendation of the Rural.—I find 
your paper a very useful one. I had about 
sixty good bens, aud about one week ago 
several were dying every day; but upon 
going to the Rural New-Yorker I found 
a recipe which has cured them, bj' giviug 
only a few doses—Mas. E. Vermixya. 
We arc sorry Mrs. V. did not state what 
troubled her chickens, and what recipe she 
used. We should be glad if, whenever our 
readers find anything or recipe recommend¬ 
ed in the Rural, of value, they would give 
the details. It will help others as well as 
themselves, if they do so. 
Lumps on Chickens' Feet.— War. n 
Snow (see Rural New-Yorker Sept. 28, 
p. 201) is informed that the lumps on chick¬ 
ens' feet are caused by chickens jumping 
from the high roosts with a hard thump. 
These lumps often make the chickens very 
lame. Therefore the way for Mr. Sxow to 
do is to have lower roosts, or a rack for 
them to walk down on Instead of jumping 
down.— T). t. r., Pittsburg , Pa. 
