360 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
worth of the improvements so that in fact, oftentimes 
•'farmers are found to be constantly getting worse instead 
of better. There is another thing too that hinders im¬ 
provement, and that is the fact that so many young men 
leave their fathers’ farms the moment they can escape 
from them. They will do anything else rather than 
farm it.” Educate a boy and he is pretty sure to go 
to the professions. I was struck with this when at Mr. 
Clift’s. During some conversation with him, he stated 
to me that he wished to part with a portion of his farm. 
I was somewhat astonished at this, as after all the toil 
and labor of so many years, I thought he was ready to 
enjoy himself in contentment under the shade of his own 
dwelling, or wherever else his fancy might lead him. 
Upon asking his reasons for wishing to sell he stated 
that his family had never been large, his children were 
married and settled in life ; and his son whom he had educa¬ 
ted handsomely with the intention of making him a farm¬ 
er, had chosen a profession; this left' him in declining 
years to manage his farm alone, and he felt the care of 
the whole of it was more than he wished for at his time 
of life. Now this case is by no means a solitary one; 
others of a similar nature have come under my observa¬ 
tion and have often impressed me with a feeling of sad¬ 
ness. 
Such is the feeling towards agriculture by many of 
our young men, that they will go to fill situations in the 
large cities, in which they must give up all the freedom 
and independence of the farmer’s life and become almost 
dependants upon the will of others. 
In speaking to a friend, but a short time since, about 
the education of the agriculturist he remarked, <£ Edu¬ 
cate them! why the moment you educate them they 
will leave the business—they will not be satisfied with 
its profits;” and this is the general feeling. When an 
educated man is found in the ranks of the working 
farmer, men in other callings and professions wonder at 
his choice. 
Now in the name of reason and truth is agriculture 
such a poor business—does it afford such a poor return 
to labor and capital, that no man who wishes to live 
decently and respectably will enter into it, and that 
every man who has wit enough to get into any other 
business will leave it? Is it so menial a vocation as to 
debar from its ranks the man of talent and education? 
Heaven forbid! If there is a dark problem about it to 
be solved it must be solved, and it must be solved too 
by men of talent and education. Certainly no man will 
deny that the farmer, of all other men, is entitled, or 
ought to be from his toil, to all the comforts of life 
which other men have as the reward of their toil. 
If other men in other callings are robbing us of our 
rights and preying upon our very life’s blood, it is time 
that we call together a convention of farmers to know 
what measures ought to be taken to secure to us our 
rights. But if upon reflection we find that we are re¬ 
ceiving a fair compensation for our labor and our capital, 
or that if we do not receive it the fault is our own, and 
comes from a want of knowledge or skill in our business, 
let us seek by a more thorough education, both practical 
and scientific, to acquaint ourselvesbetter with whatever 
of agriculture we are deficient in. That every man can 
become rich in any occupation is not to be expected, or 
Nov. 
even desired, but that the farmer can by industry, ener¬ 
gy, and skill, make for himself a handsome competency 
we believe, and the experience of such men as Mr. 
Clift fully proves it to us. Very truly yours, H. C. W. 
Putnam Valley , N. Y., Sept., 1851. 
The Canada Thistle. 
On a recent visit to several counties in the state of 
New-York, I was surprised to observe the great extent 
to which the Canada thistle had spread since my depar¬ 
ture from this region, thirty-four years ago. At that 
time, this pest of the farmers was scarcely known; now 
it seems to be an almost universal occupant of every 
part of Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Saratoga 
counties,—the only counties visited by me,—and I pre¬ 
sume of every northern county in the state. Why is 
this permitted? I saw many of the fields pretty well 
cleared of it, but in every part visited by me, the road¬ 
sides were completely occupied by them, as if these pla¬ 
ces were reserved by the public as nurseries, to ensure 
a supply of the pest for all the neighboring lands. I was 
delighted beyond measure with the wonderful improve¬ 
ments in agriculture, everywhere exhibited; such crops 
were never seen in my day, in that region; such an ap¬ 
pearance of universal thrift, of healthy and prosperous 
industry, I confess I did not expect to find, even in that 
hive of busy enterprise. But my picture of rural hap¬ 
piness was bordered and sprinkled—as if intended for 
embellishment,—with the horrible hedge-hog pest of the 
Canada thistle, and illuminated brilliantly by the ox-eye 
daisy. This was not so in my time. Perhaps we. then 
did not possess the cultivated taste enjoyed by our more 
enlightened successors. Perhaps we were not then 
thought worthy of a visitation from our northern neigh¬ 
bors. But one thing I well remember. It was a stand¬ 
ing rule, a Median and Persian law, that every member 
of the farm operatives was required to exterminate every 
pestiferous plant that he met with on the farm or on the 
road-side — u cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground,” 
was the sentence passed and executed. Had this rule 
been universal, the Canada thistle would not now have 
been the theme of comment by every one. The fault 
seems to be in each man only looking to his own fields, 
and every body allowing the road-sides to take care of 
themselves, forgetting that a single plant on the road¬ 
side, will replant many fields with its seeds, for miles 
around it. It is of little use to exterminate the pest in 
the field, if neighboring plants be allowed to grow. 
This evil has now become so great, that the exertions 
of individuals here and there will be of no avail. Noth¬ 
ing but hearty, unanimous co-operation, can accompish 
the object. The whole people must act simultaneously. 
They should set apart certain times from the middle of 
June to the middle of July, when every body should 
turn out and make an exterminating war upon the Ca¬ 
nada thistle. They should be cut off close to the ground, 
not so deep as to touch the roots, and the tops gathered 
into piles to dry, and then burned. Not only the fields 
should be thus cleared, but all high-ways and bye-ways 
should be thoroughly cleared. After this general cam¬ 
paign is accomplished, the whole people should form 
themselves into a guerrilla band, and make individual 
war upon any thistle that shows its head above ground, 
