358 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Not. 
be referred back to the products of a little potato 
patch applied to mental improvement. 
Although we have given a prompt denial to the 
excuse for a neglect of reading and study, that 
there is a deficiency of leisure time, yet we propose 
here to examine it more minutely. It is admitted 
that to those who have not examined it carefully, 
there may appear to be some plausibility in it. 
Truly, in the summer season, especially, and during 
the hours of daylight in the winter, farmers may al¬ 
ways find something to do. Allusions are elsewhere 
made, on the one hand, to the constancy of rural 
occupation, and on the other hand, to the opportuni¬ 
ties of persons thus occupied for ample intellectual 
culture. As the subject is of vast importance, a few 
paragraphs may well be devoted, to a better com¬ 
prehension of the nature of these opportunities. 
They will be found far more numerous and ample 
than is supposed. The experience of hundreds and 
of thousands of persons habitually employed in 
manual labor of some kind or other, is in confirma¬ 
tion of the views here presented. It is too well 
known to require, in this place, any particular ac¬ 
count, of individuals both in this country and else¬ 
where, who have risen to eminence, having laid the 
foundation for it in habits of study and reading 
amidst the most constant applications to mechanical 
or agricultural occupations. Among these individ¬ 
uals will be recognized those of the first grade of 
distinction in the learned professions and of political 
life. Such instances will be more and more fre¬ 
quent as the subject becomes better understood. 
The evenings, themselves, afford an average of 
three hours each for one half of the year. This, 
in the thirty-five years between the age of fifteen and 
fifty, is sufficient, if properly applied, for the ac¬ 
quisition of more knowledge from books and study', 
than is ordinarily acquired during a course of clas¬ 
sical and professional study in our best public insti¬ 
tutions. Three hours a day, for six months, Sun¬ 
days excepted, will be four hundred and fifty hours; 
and this multiplied by thirty-five, the number of 
years supposed, will be fifteen thousand seven hun¬ 
dred and fifty hours. Now if we suppose a course 
of classical and professional study in our public insti¬ 
tutions to embrace a period of eight years—four in 
college, and four besides; and, that each individual 
is occupied eight hours a day, for two hundred and 
twenty-five days, each year, the rest of the time 
being Sundays and vacations, the entire period of 
his study in the eight years, will be fourteen thou¬ 
sand and four hundred hours, less by about one-tenth 
than is at the control of every farmer, without in¬ 
terference with his labors, and putting the summer 
six months entirely out of the calculation. Thus it 
will be apparent, that every farmer between the age 
of fifteen and fifty years, in his long evenings, has 
one-tenth more of leisure which might be devoted 
to intellectual improvement, than the average period 
which young men devote to classical and professional 
study in the best public institutions in the country. 
Yet how little is this realized ! How few take ad¬ 
vantage of it ! How few are aware that such is the 
fact ! Yet, how many might, by this means alone, 
arrive at a position as scholars, in society, of w T hich 
they do not dream ! 
Nevertheless, valuable as these evenings are, when 
standing alone, it may easily be seen, as we shall 
show, that they are but a fraction—a small fraction— 
of what is within the reach of the agriculturist. We 
beg our readers not to be alarmed. We are to ad¬ 
vocate no relaxation of manual labor—no neglect 
of attention to the various details of occupation in 
the best forms of husbandry. Far be it from us to 
encourage a relaxed viliganee in the supervision, or 
a superficial adhesion to the most thorough systems 
of practical farming. Far be it from us to attempt 
invigorating the mind by reducing the support of 
the body; or by pursuing mental wealth by impover¬ 
ishing the purse. The process we shall recommend 
will be attended with no such liabilities. Indeed* 
the reverse will be the consequence. 
If manual labor, particularly in agriculture, were 
similar to the labor of the merchant, or to profes¬ 
sional occupation, our hypothesis would be unsound, 
and of course impracticable. The labor of the lat¬ 
ter is not manual, but almost exclusively intellec¬ 
tual, leading also to physicial exhaustion. Not such 
is the labor of the agriculturist. With few excep¬ 
tions, his labor is as mechanical as the action of a 
clock. After his subject is once understood, the ac¬ 
tion of his mind is not required ; his thoughts can 
scarcely be said to be upon it. A man, for instance, 
in walking, moves his feet mechanically, seemingly 
without the slightest volition. Of course, his 
thoughts may be on any other subject; the solution 
of a mathematical problem ; or, questions in history, 
philosophy, and metaphysics. Indeed, how peculiar¬ 
ly favorable to the workings of the meditative mind is 
the exercise of walking, far more than the seclusion 
of the closet ! This gentle physical action seem¬ 
ingly puts the mental machinery into motion; the 
vigor and elasticity of the one, facilitates corres¬ 
ponding developements in the other. Besides, what 
an enlivening influence is here imparted to the mind, 
by the beautiful array of nature spread over us in 
unmeasured loveliness ! Who can inhale the rich 
odors of her vast domain, floating on every passing 
breeze, or behold the graceful waving of trees and 
grass, or hear the rich, untaught melody of the 
feathered creation, during his morning walks, and 
not experience a fresh impulse of thought in his own 
bosom? The individual that can do it, barely de¬ 
serves the name of man; is but little elevated above 
the brutes. 
Notes on Farming in Ohio. 
Eds. Cultivator. —From Massillon I went to 
Coshocton. That town is but little changed in ap¬ 
pearance from what it was a dozen years ago. The 
canal being on the opposite side of river, (Musk¬ 
ingum,) the town of Roscoe, at the junction of the 
Ohio and Erie and Walhonding canals, has the most 
of the business, and gets the produce for a consid¬ 
erable extent of country around. At Roscoe, there 
are two very extensive flouring mills, and this year 
there is wheat enough to keep them in full opera¬ 
tion . 
In the immediate neighborhood of Coshocton, 
there is a change. What used to be called “the 
plains,” which fifteen years ago produced little else 
than scrub-oaks, has now been converted into farms 
of the most flourishing appearance. Several bro¬ 
thers by name of Burt, and other families from 
Orange county, N. Y., w T ent there and bought con¬ 
siderable tracts of this plain land, at very low prices, 
and instead of its being the poorest land in the county, 
it is now considered almost equal to the best bottom 
or alluvial lands. It is easy to cultivate, and with 
a proper rotation of crops, and the judicious manner 
in which the owners manage it, it is very produc¬ 
tive. There seldom occurs a failure of a crop. The 
wheat and other small grains, do better her e than on 
the bottom land. I have heard of crops of corn that 
were 90 to 98 bushels to the acre, last year; and 
this year the prospects are good for crops equally as 
large. The bottom lands are very rich, and very 
