(I 348 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
NOV. 27 
(Kcottomt). 
LACK OF FORECAST. 
Thi 8 is why so many farmers fail in suc¬ 
cess—they lack forecast, which is a great 
essential; so much so, that those who are 
considered by the public to be very smart 
men, are eometimea, in reality, the most 
stupid iu creation. There are numbers of 
farmers who have reduced their workmen to 
jur-fc sufficient, to feed the cattle and chore 
around the homestead till spring and the 
horses and mules will uot move out of the 
stable for days together, while yokes of oxen 
lie completely idle till plowing commences; 
yet, by taking a view of the premises and the 
fields it will be seeu there is manure which 
wili be wanted a mile away from where it iB 
lying and during all open weather moisture 
will be visible trickling away into water 
courses, taking the best part of the dung into 
a ditch leading to a brook which goes on to 
a river and lhence into the sea which, strange 
through true, receives nearly as much fertil¬ 
izing matter as the land ! Yes ; the farmers 
all contribute more or less, in proportion to 
the full into the streams which eventually 
reach tin sea; but the cities give to the 
ocean iu wholesale. 
Then it is astonishing to find all the repairs 
to fencing and to gates left till spring and 
the whole of the plowing on some farms, then 
there will be stooes, logs aud brushwood 
lying in all the corners and much that will 
be in the way when it is time to plant, but 
the smart man don't look so far ahead ; he 
may be seen t inkering some of the old imple¬ 
ments and that will be his main employment 
till spring, which kind of work is considered 
the great desideratum and covers all other 
defects. Give these men a few tools and 
they will"bo always busy aud their minds 
will run on fixing up this and that till it is a 
mania : but question them as to any of their 
plans for tlie*, future, what effect " such and 
such” a course, of cropping will have on the 
fertility of the soil ? What state the farm 
will be in that time seven years ? and they 
are completely lost, for the present is all that 
concerns the smartest farmers of this class. 
Should any of these charact ers undertake 
a dairy and got a nice lot of cows together, 
they cannot see far enough ahead to buy a 
good bull and raise the heifer calves from all 
the best milkers ; taking care, also, to buy a 
bull which came from a good milking strain, 
but they will “ deacon” every one without 
regard to sex, and buy in fresh cows to sup¬ 
ply the place of any not worth keeping on to 
milk, while those who keep sheep will sell 
off all the best ewe lambs as they become fit 
for the butcher, and keep on to breed the 
poor, unthrifty ones, which are not good 
enough to slaughter for lambs. 
Some years ago a wealthy banker owned a 
large tract of land in lowu ; he had upwards 
of 200 cows and 3,000 sbeep to start with, aud 
his proceeding was similar to that above 
stated, only be kept all the wether lambs 
and the male sheep continued to live on iu 
the flock. He had one of these men lacking 
forecast, who managed for him so that every 
time he went West ho had to expend ail 
money received for butter and cheese, in 
buying new milch cows, and the sheep ac¬ 
tually came to be live-sixths males, and there 
were not lambs enough raised to keep up the 
numbers. The last. J heard of that enterprise 
was seeing it advertised for sale, the cows 
having wasted to 180 and the sheep to 2,250. 
Any man with common sense, who had look¬ 
ed forward and taken care of the female off¬ 
spring, might have made a fortune and in¬ 
creased herd mid flock tenfold. 
A W orking Farmer. 
ing season. Only this and nothing more. 
Deep culture is not necessary. Anything 
which will cut off every sprout as soon as it 
peers above the surface will answer. If pos¬ 
sible, cultivate before the thistles appear, cut¬ 
ting off the sprouts beneath the surface. It 
does even more good than waiting till you 
have the miserable satisfaction (?) of seeing 
your euemy. 
Tlmre is no need of beginuing next season 
until the thistles are nearlyin blossom. Then 
turn them well under with a good plow and 
after wards cultivate thoroughly on top. Give 
them no breuth ( ng place. A thistle which 
cannot get above the grauud dies just as a 
man would die with his head under water 
only, unfortunately, not bo soon. Either 
man or thistle would live indefinitely 7 , with 
frequent chances to breathe. If there are 
large stones or stumps iu the held the thistles 
around them must be vigorously kept down 
with a hoe. Be sure and do all the work in 
one season. It takes a great deal less work 
to kill thistles in one season than in two. As 
for taking three or more seasons, that is not 
killing thistles at all—only cultivating them. 
sh eep and hogs. It is the richest food known ; 
it gives a healthy tone to the animal, fatten¬ 
ing the lean ones and maint aining the health 
and vigor of the strong. The great value of 
oil-cake for cattle food has long been known, 
yet it is by no means sufficiently appreciated 
in your country nor upon the part of very 
many persons who own or feed stock is it 
clearly or fully understood. 
Jiuhistiiial Stojjiijs. 
WHAT 
FARMING 18 AND WHY 
FARMERS FAIL. 
SOME 
PROFIT IN FARMING. 
OUR WAY WITH THISTLES. 
A correspondent writes Be so kind 
as to inform a brother Editor how Canada 
Thistles may be exterminated. Ibis Thistle 
was introduced iu this neighborhood during 
the war between the sections, by feeding 
Northern hav asproveuder to Union cavalry 
It is a spreading pest, that we cannot manage. 
—Jno. W. Finks, Warrenton, Fauquier Co., 
Virginia. 
We are almost ashamed to say how we kill 
Canada Thistles. The method is so simple 
that our correspondent will feel as if we were 
telling him nothing now and possibly be al¬ 
most angry with us for not parading some 
patent nostrum. When the leprous king was 
told by the Prophet of God to bathe seven 
times in the river Jordan, he was offended 
because it was such a little thing, and yet 
that was the only way for a cure. To kill 
thistles, all r.lmt is necessary 7 is to keep the 
sprouts from getting above the surface of 
the ground three or four months in the grow- 
AVe take the following extract from an 
address delivered before the Kishwaukee 
(111.) Fi riners’ Club ;—Profit in farming con¬ 
sists not wholly in dollars and cents. The 
intelligent farmer who loves bis business and 
successfully rears his family in spit© of in¬ 
sects, drouth or storms, and at the Bauie time 
increases the fertility of his soil, without 
being engulfed in a whirlpool of debts, is 
really richer in true manhood and life use¬ 
fulness than many a millionaire with hiB ill- 
gotten gains. We do not expect, and hardly 
care to convince each other, that any one 
branch of farm pursuit is so much more prof¬ 
itable than others as to make us rush pell- 
mell to that branch for which, perhaps, neith¬ 
er aptitude nor education in farm life fits us. 
Of course, as a body of intelligent gentlemen, 
we expect to learn many things from our 
comparison of views and statement of facts. 
For one, T shall be content if we show to 
each other several methods by 7 which farm¬ 
ers with ordinary Intelligence and without 
too constant aud excessive toil, can secure 
enough of this world’s goods to make, life 
happy, home cheerful, our children intelli¬ 
gent, and an accumulating safety fund for 
our declining years. I would not have famwHUtP* 
ei » all rich if I could, for very few of the 
rich men are such as we delight to honor ; 
but I would gladly see that day of jubilee 
that must have so cheered the ancient world 
when debts were banished from existence 
Tins great northwest, aptly styled the garden 
of the world, is crippled from debt till great 
masses of farmers are not really free men. 
Farmers owe the merchant arid lienee, in a 
measure, feel compelled to trade on, in spite, 
it may be, of excessive prices. The imple¬ 
ment vender has many a farmer’s note run¬ 
ning at ten per ceut., piled on top perhaps, 
of a fifty percent, profit to start with ; hence 
such vender or agent has almost complete 
control of many who dare not assert their 
freedom for fear of consequences. We have 
settled this goodly land, eudured many hard¬ 
ships, toiled early 7 and late to rear our fami¬ 
lies and provide comfortable homes for com¬ 
ing years ; and while I rejoice in the success 
of many, still 1 cannot close my eyes to the 
painful fact that more than half the farmers 
of the I Vest are slaves to debt. Farm mort¬ 
gages and notes, with high rates of interest, 
are rapidly 7 eating out their substance. Now 7 , 
if iu our discussions we can suggest any 
branch or branches of farming that will tend 
to lift t he struggling farmer from his difficul¬ 
ties—point out to him a more excellent way 
—we shall have accomplished a good work. 
-♦♦♦- 
OIL-CAKE FOR FEED. 
An English writer to the Millwright ask* : 
Why is it that so much of the linseed oil-cake 
produced in your country, especially in the 
West and North, is exported to England ? It 
must bo that its value as food for cattle and 
stock of all kinds is not known or is not ap¬ 
preciated by stock feeders of your country. 
American oil-cake commands £50 to £00 per 
ton in England, and as the English are the 
best economists in the world they would not 
pay more for oil-cake than they would for 
anything else if it were not the most valua¬ 
ble for feeding purposes, particularly when 
we consider the extent to which they feed 
for fattening. Experienced English feeders 
all say that, their best beef is that from cattle 
fed on oil-cake meal, and it is universally 
known that the English know how to make 
and appreciate good beef. Oil-cake meal is 
equally valuable as food for horses, cows, 
Ik any one considers “ what farming is” 
or v 7 hat it ought to be, they would come to 
the conclusion that farming ought, to be the 
managing of land so as to keep it in condition 
to pay for occupation, and there may be 
many farms which will pay for occupation 
which will not pay for cultivation ; that 13 
there are vast tracts of country which, from 
the nature of the soil, from the high price of 
labor and from its adaptability to remain in 
permanent actual grass, would pay exceed 
ingly well to graze with any kind of llv 
stock und by raising stock, dairying, fatten 
ing and wool growing, Ace., money could be 
made very fast—this would l>e farming, and 
any system of cultivation and course of crop 
ping on good, free working land, which 
would keep the land rich in plant, food and 
allow of selling enough to cover expenses and 
pay interest of capital and also profit to occu 
pier, would be farming, and good farming 
too. Therefore it is easy to say what farm 
ing is ; but robbing the land is not farming— 
it is a running down of God’s beautiful earti 
and although many men purchase a fine tract, 
of land and accumulate a fortune from the 
fine crops the new virgin soil produces, i 
they take crop after crop without some sys¬ 
tem of reimbursing it for the drain upon its 
productive powers, they are no farmer* in 
strict sense of the word, but real despoilers 
of their country’s wealth and are descrying 
of reprobation. 
Farming, to be worthy of the name, should 
be conducted so that the manure made on 
the farm be applied to produce a very heavy 
quantity of some nutritious food for cattle or 
sheep ; thus, the converting of such an extra 
growth of vegetable food into dung and urine 
:aiu adds to the richness of the soil, so that 
fiat I on can permit the sale of some valua¬ 
ble crop, and the end of the term or course 
will find the land bettor thau before, aud the 
manure made on the farm will have increased 
because the produce from which it has been 
made has been more of it, and consequently, 
on an improving system, the matiure will 
augment in proportion to the crops. 
Market gardening is not farming—fruit 
growing is not farming ; for horticulture and 
agriculture are not one aud the same, and it 
is seldom this kind of mixed farming does 
any good. Near to any great supply of ma¬ 
nure. from livery stables and other city 
sources, of course the soil can he compensated 
and, indeed, be forced to such a degree of 
fruitfulness, that it is not of the least conse¬ 
quence how frequently crops of the most ex¬ 
hausting characteristics succeed each other. 
The truth is, farming requires to he carried 
on as all other successful ways of business 
are. Any shop-keeper, if a man of business, 
will have such articles iu his store as sell 
readily, and as he finds that one particular 
class of goods pays him best for having always 
on hand, he takes pams to have an iue.xhuust 
able supply ; therefore if tine, powerful 
draught horses, good milch cows aud heavy 
loDg-wooled mutton, sheep pay those who 
raise them, and the first and last mentioned 
pay duty and freight from Canada, he has 
only to use his natural common sense, save 
duty, save freight, and make money, instead 
of grumbling at bard times. 
A Working Farmer, 
WEATHER AND CROPS IN ENGLAND. 
The London (English) Farmer of Oct. 25th, 
remarks as follows on the singular weather 
w 7 hich has prevailed this year and its effect 
on English farm prospects : 
We wish meteorologists would give us 
some explanation of the peculiar weather 
which has visited Europe this year. Why 
should there be such a succession of calami¬ 
tous floods as we have experienced ■ France 
has suffered most severely ; Hungary and 
Italy have had tlidr share in the general 
misfortune. As for our own clime we were 
last week, for the third time, swept by one 
of a series of floods that have washed out the 
country so very considerably during the last 
six mouths. It is the year of floods ; and we 
may hereafter refer to any time in the latter 
half of the present century ns belonging 
cither to the antediluvian or the postdiluvian 
period. Violent storms and destructive floods 
have raged throughout the country during 
the last few days. Detailed accounts of the 
damage, done and the incidents by floods 
have already reached most qf our readers, 
showing a great deal of loss in town as well as 
in country, in the factory as well as in the 
field. 
The land drenched and super - saturated 
with rain cannot be worked until we have 
had mauy line, dry days to compensate for 
the great down-pour. Wheat sowing is at a 
stand-stiil ; the plowing of stubbles as a prep¬ 
aration for spring fallows cannot be proceed¬ 
ed with. It is unwise to attempt to till land 
in a wet, sloppy state. It is better to delay 
wheat sowing and the usual autumn cultiva¬ 
tion a little longer than to meddle with the 
ground in its present wet condition. Such 
heavy wet weather at this time will tell 
heavily upou the keeping qualities of our 
root crops exposed toits influence ; and store 
stock of all kinds will feel it severely. 
THE COUNTRY THE PLACE 
MECHANICS. 
FOR 
In these hard times for workingmen iu all 
branches of business, the following sensible 
advice from an exchange is timely and ap¬ 
propriate :—The demand for mechanics in 
country places is always growing. It is a 
mistake to suppose that carpenters, brick¬ 
layers, and masons need to crowd into a city 
to find employment. Iu the country, where 
a mechanic can have a few acres of land upon 
which he may spend part of his time not 
otherwise occupied, he need never be short, 
of work. He can keep a horse and tide to 
his work, losing less t ime iu doing so than if 
he lived in a city. He can keep a cow, some 
pigs aud fowls, and raise, with the help of 
his children, a large share of his supplies. 
His family will have better health and enjoy 
themselves much more than in the crowded 
city, having flowers and a garden to amuse 
them. They may dress less expensively, will 
w ear out fewer clothes, and the rent will not 
have to be provided for every month, or if it 
has, it will be but a trifle compared with city 
rents. Farmers everywhere are improving 
their buildings, putting up better barns and 
fences, and competent country mechanics 
could procure profitable jobs and could do 
the work at. much cheaper rates than in cit¬ 
ies. One well finished job brings others, for 
nothing is so catching ns improvement, and 
our experience has been, that many fanners 
do without new 7 barns or houses because of 
the difficulty of procuring competent me¬ 
chanics at a reasonable price. There ate very 
few 7 good farmers now in the East or the 
West that are not able to have good farm 
buildings, and at the present time village 
mechanics have more steady employment 
and can save more money—if they earn less 
—than those who work in the cities. 
®Ik| Gktutyit. 
IMPERFECT FLOWERS ON VINES. 
1’lease inform me why so many of the 
flowers on our vines are false. AVo planted, 
at different times last spring, squashes, cu¬ 
cumbers, citrons aud melons, all of which 
produced false blossoms principally. Please 
answer, and oblige.—o. w. D, 
The plants you name produce two distinct 
sorts of blossoms, which are distinguished by 
botanists under the names of pistillate and 
Htaniinate. The first corresponds with the 
female iu the. animal kingdom, and the latter 
with the male. It is (rum the first, only 
that we obtain fruit. The small embryo of 
the same is always to be plainly seen at the 
base of every pistillate blossom upon vines 
long before the flower expands. Now 7 , as a 
general rule, there are a far greater number 
of .staminatc, or, as you would probably 
term them, “false flowers,” than pistillate 
or productive, lor a good, strong melon vine 
that will yield a half dozen ripe fruit may 
bear hundreds of staminatc or unfertile 
flowers during the season. 
The two sexes of flowers are necessary 7 for 
the production of perfect fruit; but why 
nature should be so prodigal with the stam- 
inate is somewhat a mystery 7 , unless it be to 
insure the fertilization of Llie pistiliute flow¬ 
ers beyond the possibility of a failure. We 
find this same prodigality exhibited even to 
a far greater extent in some kinds of trees 
than in the vines named. For instance, in 
the chestnut there are frequently several 
thousand staminatc flower- to one pistillate 
and among our evergreen trees we find the 
disproportion of sexes still greater. 
Now, if cucumber, squash und similar 
vines are grow ing in a poor, unfertile soil, or 
the weather is not favorable to development, 
thejfew pistillate flowers w Inch do appear on 
them may also blight and drop off the same 
as the staminates, no fruit succeeding even 
a fair show of blooms. 
