i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
227 
W I) at3lib farming 
AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF AGRICUL¬ 
TURE. 
W HY are we hearing so much now-a- 
days of the decline of farming in 
New England and of the absolute abandon¬ 
ment of fertile farms in Vermont and New 
Hampshire ? Why are the Western farms 
in Kansas and Nebraska plastered with 
mortgages so that the agriculturist there 
can scarcely do more than meet his inter¬ 
est ? Why do the merchants, the bankers, 
the lawyers, the teachers, the ministers of 
our great cities rather look down—even un¬ 
consciously—at the farmer and smile when 
the comic papers make good natured jokes, 
as they do every week, at the expense of 
the “ hay-seeds ? ” Why, when an ex-Pres- 
ident of the United States goes into rural 
life, is he sneered at for “ raising chickens,” 
as if that and plowing and cultivating 
were beneath the dignity of a man of 
brains t 
These questions and kindred ones have 
been presenting themselves to me lately 
and I hope the Rural New-Yorkrr can 
give me some help in solving the problems. 
There are, I know, economic and social 
reasons for this state of things in the agri¬ 
cultural life of the country, and many de¬ 
batable remedies have been proposed. But 
rarely, if ever, is the great remedy, educa¬ 
tion, touched upon in the papers and mag¬ 
azines outside of the distinctively agricul¬ 
tural journals. Protection, Free trade, the 
Single-tax, Government-Control of Rail¬ 
roads, Nationalization of Capital, etc., etc., 
etc., are freely discussed; but who yet has 
suggested a course of lectures on agricul¬ 
ture to the students at Harvard, Yale, 
Princeton, Columbia, or Johns Hopkins? 
It seems to me from my own experience as 
a young man, that what this country needs 
as much as any other one thing is young 
men of brains and education for its farm¬ 
ers, for the good both of the young men 
aud of the country. 
Man—the real, best-developed, ablest, 
most companionable man—ought to live by 
the sweat of his brow in a corn-field as well 
as by the agitation of the gray matter of 
his brain at a counting-room desk. Until 
we begin to understand and appreciate 
this as a nation, the “smart,” “intelli¬ 
gent,” “promising” boys will all be sent 
to college and professional schools and 
the city to become lawyers, doctors, bank¬ 
ers, merchants—in a word to “ make 
money ” and be the men of intellectual in¬ 
fluence—while the dolts are considered 
good enough to work and delve and plow, 
grow wheat aud shear sheep for the benefit 
of their orothers who look down on them. 
I should like to know why, in the name of 
common sense, tv man may not hoe corn, 
plant potatoes, milk a cow, and yet be cap¬ 
able of enjoying a Beethoven symphony, a 
Wagner overture, a Winslow Homer 
painting, or of reading the Century Mag¬ 
azine and the Atlantic Monthly ! I believe 
that he can, and I think our young men 
should be taught that he can. 
Permit me to be autobiographical for a 
few lines to illustrate my meaning. I was 
brought up under the influence of liberal 
and progressive thought, although in an at¬ 
mosphere very decidedly intellectual. I 
mean intellectual as opposed to practical. 
At the proper time I went to a New Eng¬ 
land college. In the same town was the 
Agricultural College of that State and we 
used to call its students “ Aggies ” with a 
patronizing, not to say contemptuous air. 
There were very few, if any, social relations 
between the professors of the two colleges. 
It was uumistakable that the Greek and 
Latin institution, from its President to its 
youngest freshman, looked down on the 
rake and hoe institution. I would to 
Heaveu now that for the good of both my 
physical and mental self I had had some 
of the rake and hoe training ! But nobody 
ever said to me then that agriculture is one 
of the noblest callings. Nobody preached 
to me the Gospel according to Emerson : 
“ I believe in the spade and an acre of 
good ground. Who so cuts a straight path 
to his own bread by the help of God in the 
sun and rain and sprouting of the grain, 
seems to me an universal worKman. He 
solves the problem of life not for one but 
for all men of sound body.” 
(Emerson to Carlyle.) 
In my college vacations I was urged to 
read, to write, to do brain work, but it was 
never suggested to me to go out aud work 
in the garden, or learn to milk our Jersey 
cow, or stable and feed and curry our fami¬ 
ly horse. We had “a hired man” to do 
those things I I was intended for some¬ 
thing better! 
After college came a New York office and 
the ambitions that a New York life begets. 
I naturally became saturated with the idea 
that granite buildings, courts of law, rose¬ 
wood bank-counters, steel safes, etc., etc., 
make up the great, polished, brilliant engine 
of life, and that the farmer is simply the 
grimy, sweating fireman who shovels in 
the fuel. But independent reading and 
observation have changed my views of life 
within five years, and when, not long ago, 
I spent some months of ranch life in Cali¬ 
fornia, learned to milk, took care of horses, 
swung a mattock, plowed, (or tried to 
plow) set out grape cuttings, drove cattle, 
wore cow-hide boots, and a canvas coat, ate 
dinner in my shirt-sleeves, and slept in a 
tent, I found out what an exhilarating 
joyous, un dyspeptic thing life is. More 
than that, I found from personal acquaint¬ 
anceships in California that a man can be a 
farmer and an agreeable gentleman too, of 
refined and uplifting tastes and habits of 
life. 
This, then, it seems to me is what the 
Young American should be taught to day— 
that to be a farmer does not necessarily 
mean to be a drudge and that unless money¬ 
making be his sole object in life, he can be 
a better farmer and live a more successful 
life, the more brains he has, and the higher 
and more cultivated his tastes are. I don’t 
know why Cincinnatus is not as good a 
model for our ambitions to play about as 
Jay Gould. F. A. L. 
New York. 
CATALOGUES, ETC., RECEIVED. 
G ILLETT & HORSFORD. Southwick, 
Mass. —A descriptive catalogue of 
wild flowers, shrubs, trees and vines, with 
a colored frontispiece of our cypripediums 
or orchid lady-slippers, Montanum Candi- 
dum, Pubescens, Acaule and Spectabile. 
Native bog and aquatic plants, native 
ferns, native shrubs, trees, hardy her¬ 
baceous plants are offered in great va¬ 
riety. Those who would accumulate in 
their own gardens an assortment of our 
prettiest native plants should examine this 
catalogue. 
A. L. Wood, Rochester, N. Y.—A cata¬ 
logue of small fruits, large fruits, orna¬ 
mental shrubs and trees. The selection, 
leaving out much that is mediocre, in¬ 
cludes the best varieties in cultivation. Of 
strawberries, Mr. Wood considers the Jes¬ 
sie, Parry, Crescent, Wilson and Charles 
Downing the best for market. He charges 
from 75 cents to $1.00 per hundred plants, 
and from $4 to $5 per thousand. Price 
ought not to stand in the way of a straw¬ 
berry supply. 
A. W. Livingston’s Sons, 114 N. High 
St., Columbus, O.— An illustrated cata¬ 
logue of seeds of all sorts. Mr. L. has or¬ 
iginated some of the best tomatoes in cul¬ 
tivation. as, notably, the Acme, Paragon, 
Favorite and Beauty. His Potato-leaf 
Tomatoes are much smoother than the 
fruit of the Mikado or Turner’s Hybrid, 
which the R. N.-Y., the first year of their 
introduction, proved to be one and the 
same. The Seneca Beauty and North Pole 
Potatoes are new varieties, the former of 
which was tried at the Rural Grounds last 
year. 
C. E. Allen, Brattleboro, Vermont. 
—A catalogue of seeds and plants. Collec¬ 
tions of various popular plants are put up 
and offered at very low prices—seven, e. y., 
for 50 cents. Sixteen pages of the catalogue 
illustrate and describe many of the nov¬ 
elties of recent introduction. 
A. Blanc & Co.—“Hints on Cacti,” 
being an illustrated treatise of 68 pages; 
also an illustrated price-list of rare cacti. 
This will prove exceedingly interesting to 
all interested in the culture of the cactus. 
James M. Thorburn & Co.. 15 John 
Street, N. Y r .—An illustrated catalogue 
of gladioli, lilies, amaryllis, dahlias, pa?on- 
ies, perennial phlox, tuberoses; seeds of 
many flower novelties, of new strains of 
vegetables and, finally, asparagus roots, 
fertilizers and lawn-mowers. 
A. C. Nellis & Co., 62 Cortland 
Street, N. Y.—A highly illustrated cat¬ 
alogue of 20 pages of vegetable and flower 
seeds. Those forwarding one dollar may 
select $1 50 worth of seeds in five cent pack¬ 
ages—that is, 30 five-cent packages. 
Allyn Brothers, Palmyra, Wayne 
County, N. Y.—A catalogue of trees, vines 
and shrubs ; field, garden aud flower seeds 
and small fruits of all kinds. 
F. R. Pierson, Tarrytown, N. Y.— This 
is a very interesting catalogue of plants 
and seeds. Mr. Pierson does well to give 
his first page to an illustration and de¬ 
scription of that queen of hardy shrubs 
Viburnum plicatum. The R. N.-Y. has 
been enthusiastic over it for 17 years, and 
it is glad to see that its enthusiasm is at 
length growing contagious. One plant at 
least should be in every garden. The list of 
roses is excellent. Try a Clematis coccinea. 
Dahlias, chrysanthemums and gladioli are 
well represented. Have you ever culti¬ 
vated that strikingly beautiful and odd 
pelargonium “Happy Thought?” It is 
not new, but, 17 years ago, it was one of 
the novelties that did not disappoint the 
purchaser. And it is just as good to-day. 
THE PURINTON STEAM GENERATOR!, 
IS THE BEST ARTICLE ON EARTH 
For cooking any kind of food for stock. Cooks, bollR 
or earns anything with economy and dispatch. 
Made of boiler-plate steel! 
Safe, durable and substantial 1 
Nothing to get out of order! 
Freezing does not damage It 1 
Easy to manage as a stove'. 
We sell more than all others comb’n’d 
Has always given satisfaction 1 
It will suit you. 
Investigate and you will buy no other 
tW~ We also make Tank Heaters 
and 2-4-6 Horse Boilers ;.nd Engines 
J. K. PURINTON & CO. 
DesMolnes, .... IOWA. 
J. A. Foote, Terre Haute, Ind.— An¬ 
nual catalogue of seeds for the farm, gar¬ 
den and flower border. Mr. Foote calls 
special attention to his stock of broom-corn 
which is larger than that kept by any 
other seedsman. It was he who introduced 
the Learning Corn and he now offers the 
Clarage, an early yellow dent. The Pollitt 
Water melon is announced for the first 
time. The list of potatoes includes the R. 
N.-Y. No.2, Downing, Early Puritan, Green 
Mountain, etc. Our impression has always 
been that Mr. Foote is a very reliable man 
to deal with. 
David Hill, Dundee, Kane County, 
Illinois.— Wholesale catalogue of ever¬ 
greens, European larch, etc. Mr. Hill who 
advertises himself as an “ evergreen spec¬ 
ialist ” offers a good list of trees. 
Importance of Spraying Fruit Trees.— 
This is the title of a circular sent out by 
P. C. Lewis of Catskill, N. Y. The sub¬ 
stance of the matter is that there is little 
use trying to produce sound fruit unless 
you are prepared to use the arsenical solu¬ 
tions to kill the coddling moth. Mr. Lewis 
makes an excellent combination pump 
which has proved very useful for spraying 
fruit trees. Send for the circular. 
Moseley & Pritchard Manufacturing 
Co., Clinton, Iowa. —This firm manufact¬ 
ures the Occident creamery used by many 
of our best dairymen. An excellent de¬ 
scription of this creamery as well as a 
pamphlet filled with interesting dairy in¬ 
formation will be sent to tho>e who apply. 
PEECHEEONS 
AND 
FRENCH 
COACHHOUSES. 
Send for 100 page illustrated 
catalogue. 
JOHN W. AKIN, Scipio, N. Y. 
Platform 
.6 
ffttgon ’ 5»°- The Elkhart Carriage 
Harness Mfg. Co. 
J For 10 Years 
hate sold to 
_ consumers at 
WHOLESALE PRI< ES, saving them the 
dealers’ profit. Ship anywhere for ex¬ 
amination before buying. Par freight 
charges I foot satisfactory. Warranted 
for 9 ytara 64-page Catalogue FREE. 
Addresa W.B* PRATTf 8ec*y* 
Elkhart, - - Ir ' 
Indiana. 
1 T*rm ft ATM* 
$23.0O* 
A WHOLE PRINTING OUTFIT, COMPLEX*. A.» u PRACTICAL, 
Just m shown in out. 3 Alphabets of neat'Pype, Bottle of Indelible Ink, Pad, 
Twee*«rt. in neat case with catalogue and directions ‘HOW TO BK A 
PRINTER.” Beta up any name, print* cards, paper, envelopes, etc., marks 
linen. Worth 50c. T^io best gift for young people. Postpaid on It 25c., 3 for OOo., 
• for |L Ag’ta wan tea. Jngersol A Mro., 66 tortlandt N. Y. City- 
AGENTS WANTED FOR 
WILLIAMS’ GRINDER 
FOR MOWING MACHINE KNIVES. 
Introduced in 1S89 proved a Great Success. Also for 
Williams'Automatic Seed Sower 
A new invention—just ready. Descriptive 
Circulars sent free. The very liberal terms 
to agents given to the first applicant from 
any town where no agency is established. 
Itti.scellancous: ^Umtising. 
A SPECIAL FEATURE. 
THE WILLIAMS BROS. M’F’G CO., 
N'niilitic, Hartford Co., Conn. 
DETECTIVES 
Wanu*d m every County. Shrewd men to act under instructions 
in our Sacret Service. Experience net necessary. Particulars free. 
Grunnao DetectiveBamaoCo.44Arc»l*.Clflcinn»ti.Q. 
THE WINNER INVESTMENT CO. 
Handles exclusively Kansas City In¬ 
vestments, and does not handle 
Farm Mortgages. 
PAST INVESTMENTS 
through this company have yielded nearly $3,000,000.00 
profits, every dollar of principal and interest has been 
paid at maturity, and all enterprises undertaken have 
been uniformly successful. 
PRESENT INVESTMENTS. 
We cau demonstrate how to Invest money 9afely tc 
realize an Income of six, seven, eight and ten per 
cent, and profits, in a comparatively short time, of 50 
per cent, 100 per cent,, and even larger, entirely free 
from speculative features. 
For full particulars send for circulars, pamphlets 
and papers: or call. 
HENCH’H 
RIDIN6 or WALKING 
Cult Ivators. 
With double-row Corn 
Planter and Fertiliz¬ 
er complete In one ma¬ 
chine. Crowned with 
Medals since 1879. 
KING the CORN FIELD 
Thousands are In use, giving satisfaction. Agents 
wanted. Catalogue free. Name this paper. 
HENCII & DBOMGOLD, York, Pa. 
“CROMWELL ” 
Uau, Evtra Corlv Send for circular giving 
IVcW CAira Call J full description ana testi¬ 
monials from fruit grow- 
Black Raspberry. Of Nurserv Stock at rea 
sonable rates. 1,000 Sny 
der Blackberries for $1.00. Catalogue free. 
C. S. BUTLER, 
Cromwell. Ct. 
WILLIAM H. PARMENTER, 
Cen’l Ae’t, 50 State Street, Boston; 
Xo. 1 Custom House Street. Providence. R. I.; 
Desk M. Mercantile Safe Deposit Co., 120 
B’wav. X’ew York City, every Wednesday. 
ECLIPSE CORN PLANTER. 
Will plaut Field at d Ensilage Corn, Beans. Peas and 
Beet seed lit hills, drills and checks In hills up 
to 45 Inches: in checks from 86 inches up to any dis¬ 
tance desired, Will distribute all Fertilizers wet or 
dry. Farmers, semi'for • trculars givi’-n truthful fes- 
• tmonials. ECLIPSE CORY PLANTER CO.. 
Enfield, Grafton Co. New Hampshire. 
AGENTS 
WANTED 
Send for 
Circular 
and 
pricelist 
BREED’S UNIVERSAL 
WEEDER A HU CULTIVATOR 
T. B. TERRY, of Chlo, says: “It 
cultivated two 
rows at once; 
hoed them per¬ 
fectly, going 
over seven acres 
in five hours.” 
UNIVERSAL 
WEEDER CO. 
North Wearr. It. It. 
The BEST on Wlieels. " Handy ' Wagons, 
Buggies. Surreys, Spindles. Buck boards. Con¬ 
cords, Phaetons, Cabriolets, Two Wheelers, Road 
Carts,etc. 5S*pagerataliKcue and circular." lhao 
to purchatte direct from the manufacturers,” FREE. 
‘ “ SYRACUSE. N\ Y. 
•5S Murray St.. New York. 
9S Suilhury St.. Boston. 
BRADLEY & GO. 
PABCTOA 2 SITSTONI COBS PLANTES 
Warranted the host corn dropper and moat 
force-feed fertllser distributor In the 
world. 8 *nd 
fob Catalogue 
Address 
A. B. 
FAB4TOAS. 
York, Pa. 
AND PRICKS. MARlOJii OHIO. 
