1852. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
117 
Odds and Ends. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —In remitting my animal subscrip¬ 
tion, allow me to avail myself of the kind and conside¬ 
rate invitation extended to your readers, towards the close 
of the article addressed to correspondents in this month’s 
number, among whom I count myself as one more ac¬ 
customed to guide the plow than the pen, although I 
certainly think you cannot blame the li weaker fry” for 
not showing their heads after having been accustomed to 
the strong and sterling articles from such pens as are 
wielded by Holbrook, Agricola, Norton, and a host 
of others. In reading your valedictary on the first page 
of this month’s number, I was forcibly struck with the 
announcement that the u twenty.first year” of your labors 
as an agricultural editor, had now expired. Twenty-one 
long years spent in the promotion of an object, acknow- 
ledged by the wise and good of all ages and all nations, 
to be eminently worthy of the highest talent and the 
highest ambition. 
What a host of interesting associations must cluster 
around the heart, when the scenes that have transpired 
during those long years,are by “ fond recollection brought 
to the view.” Think of the mighty influence which has 
been exerted, as the monthly leaves of the Genesee Farm¬ 
er and The Cultivator have found their way to thousands 
of hearths and homes, scattered all over the land. Who 
can tell how many fields, long since made nearly barren 
under an exhausting system of cropping, have been once 
more made to blossom as the rose, and yield their rich 
burdens of golden corn, under the guidance of an im¬ 
proved practice as taught in the pages of those sterling 
journals, thus amply rewarding the labors of the husband¬ 
men, and filling their hearts with food’and gladness? And 
how many young men, think you, dazzled by the seduc¬ 
tive influences thrown around the 11 professions,” and the 
still more dangerous allurements of trade and specula¬ 
tion, have been brought to fall in love with agriculture, 
and in consequence are now enjoying the solid pleasures 
that cluster around the home of the intelligent cultiva¬ 
tor of the soil, simply through the influence of these 
journals. Could the truth be known, I have no doubt 
that hundreds, if not thousands, of such young men 
could be found, who are to-day thankful that they were 
induced, to follow this peaceful calling. Would to God 
there were thousands more. The perusal by one individ¬ 
ual, of one article adapted to that individual’s circum¬ 
stances, has often been the means of great good to him 
and his family alone. Multiply this by the thousands of 
others who have read the same, and to whom it may have 
been equally a message of good, and tell me if you can 
the amount of human happiness that has been the result. 
Surely if the man who “ makes two blades of grass to 
grow where but one grew before,” is entitled to praise 
as a benefactor of his race, you, my dear sir, who have 
been for twenty-one years successfully engaged in this 
useful cause, can have no fears as to the verdict posterity 
will pronounce on you. 
But much remains yet to be done. As has been w r ell 
remarked, “ the scientific practice of agriculture is yet 
in its infancy”—millions of acres of as fine land as ever 
lay beneath the sun, are year by year wasting away un- 
derthe exhausting process of continual cropping, and 
their owners are either indifferent and careless about it, 
or else being aware of the real state of things are sighing 
for the fresh prairies of the west. Tell them of a better 
way, and they shake their heads dubiously, and tell you 
they “ dont believe in book farming—the land is all worn 
out—never was good for nothing, and its no use.” Ask 
them what they will take for their farms, and of a sud¬ 
den they brighten up, and very complacently tell you, 
they think them worth from 30 to 40 dollars an acre, 
when not a mother’s son of them is making two per cent 
on the money, and many actually running behind. Even 
in this comparatively young state, this is the condition of 
things, and an old and respected citizen remarked to me 
the other day, that he was well satisfied the acreable 
produce of even this county, (Trumbull,) which boasts a 
population as intelligent as any other, was yearly dimin¬ 
ishing ; and yet the majority slumber on regardless of 
future consequences. If Queen Victoria should send a 
graceless scape goat to set fire to some man’s hay stack, 
the whole country would be burning up with virtuous 
indignation—but here is an annual waste of productive 
capability that cannot be measured by any thing less than 
thousands of stacks of hay, and yet but few regard it. I 
say but few, for we have some who are awake, and are 
trying to turn the current into a better channel. We 
have an agricultural society, that for a few years has been 
doing good, though the last fair was pronounced decided¬ 
ly poor, and many as usual predict failure. The sovereign 
people can’t afford to pay a shilling for the privilege of 
seeing a few pumpkins and squashes—not they—and this 
in the heart of “ cheesedoin”—but enough of this for pre¬ 
sent. Allow me, my dear sir, in closing, to congratulate 
you on the success which has attended you in the course 
of your long career as an agricultural editor, and may 
kind heaven spare your life at least as many more years, 
that you may not only continue to cheer the husbandman 
in his labors, but may see an abundant harvest as the re¬ 
sult of your own. Buckeye. Trumbull county, O , 
Dec. 17, 1851. 
A Model Farm School. 
The want of a definite system of Agricultural Educa¬ 
tion, which has made the many discussions on this impor¬ 
tant subject, of little practical avail, is beginning to be 
remedied. In the Granite Farmer of Feb. 4, is an arti¬ 
cle headed 11 A Model Farm School ,” from the pen of 
Henry F. French, Esq., who has distinguished himself 
as a writer-of clear, practical common sense, in the Hor¬ 
ticulturist, and in different Agricultural Journals. The 
plan proposed has the merit of simplicity and practica¬ 
bility, features which are seldom combined in schemes of 
this kind. He proposes a farm of two hundred acres, 
differing as much as possible in soil, upon which should bo 
erected a building with lecture-rooms, apparatus, library, 
8tc.., to accommodate some fifty students. A model farm¬ 
house, barn, and out-houses, to be constructed, and the 
farm stocked with the most approved breeds of domestic 
animals. A principal to have the entire control of the 
Institution, under the supervision of a Board of Agricul¬ 
ture appointed by the State, and to be thoroughly vers¬ 
ed in every branch of scientific and practical farming. 
He would have so much of the elementary branches of 
instruction taught, as would enable the student to pursue 
successfully the higher branches of Chemistry, Natural 
Philosophy, Natural History, Veterinary Medicine and 
Surgery—the whole course of study to have especial re¬ 
ference to application on the farm, and all the labor to be 
performed by the students in rotation. 
These are the principal features of the plan, as detail¬ 
ed in the article referred to. Could such institutions be 
founded in every state, or still better, in every county, 
they would be of immense value—would meet the wants 
of the great body of farmers. But there is still an im¬ 
perative want of a nucleus to all these Model Schools— 
an Institution where teachers can be educated, and sci¬ 
ence pursued farther than would be possible on a farm. 
Yet we are by no means certain that these Model Schools 
should not be started first; for then the need of such a 
higher institution would be more keenly and generally 
felt 
