Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1850-09-05
GREEN MOUNTAIN

IS all but living creature; and he whose
bnsiness has been slanderously said to be
! but" of the EARTH earthly" should surely
understand the soils nature, its elements,
its likings, and its diseases.
The farmer should understand physiolo-
py. Under his care he has the noblest
forms of creation--the OK, the horse, the
sheep. Can he spend life among them,
and not know how the heart beats-how
the nerves thrilI-where lie the muscles
what arc the principles Of actions, and the
seats of disease-how the fat grows-and
how the bones are formed! Can he be
breeder, who has never studied the peculiar
ties of races? Can he be any thing but an
emplric. who undertakes to feed aud tatten
cattle. without knowing Of what the food is
composed, and what parts of the body re-
quire this or that element!
The farmer should have knowledge OF
medicine. g. of the elements OF surgery Tor
though. in this respect, when applied to hn-
man ailments, it may prove that "a little
knowledge is dangerous thing, yet many
a fine animal is allowed to become dogs
meat. because its owner could not dlstIn-
Cuish between fever and an inflammation
set bone nor bandage a wound
The farmer should be botanist, The
primeval curse of mother earth was, that
she should bring forth thorns and thistles
and many other noxious weeds besides.
have since ;been added to her progeny
How great the amount oftoil expended, 81
how serious the loss Of crops, from such
plants as Canada thistle, burdock, Turkey
weed and a host OF others, let those tell who
have been the sufferers. Many books have
been written on such things; many plans
have been given Tor eradlcating them; but
unless the farmer can distinguish them
unless he knows their character, histories,
and modes of growth, how unaded does he
90 at his task Besides, botany, IN all its
shapes, is the natural science of the count
ryman. How does the seed terminate .
How does the tender leaf unfold itself q
How is the blossom impregnated and the
fruit formed ? What will lnjure, what i'm
prove each plant! All these are questions
which every farmer should have studied g.
ascertained. And can any one be content
to spend life in ignorance of the names
and characters of the trees and flowers that
are SO gorgeousIy spread around him, paint
inc his fields and woods with their thous-
and hucs, aud rendering this outward world
mass of beauty?
The farmer should le-or, shall we say,
should wish to be-a naturalist. No one
has so many opportunities of observing and
noting the habits and peculariies Of ami
mails, birds. and insects. In some cases,
this knowledge may be of lnestimable SER
vice. 1t must always be pursuit of pleas
ure, and cannot fail to refine and improve
the mind 81 sensibiIities, both towards the
inferior creation and towards man.
But time would fail to tell of what farm.
ers ought to know and understand. There
is no knowledge which would not be ser
viceable to him. There is none which will
not elevate him in the scale Of intellectual
beings; and, what prehaps, is more impor-
tant to many, there is scarcely a physical
science which he will not find putting mon
ey into his pocket constantly. How many
times in a life would barometer save a
whole harvest How many blacksmiths'
and carpenters bills may be escaped by the
humble knowledge Of the use Of tools +
Now, if our farmers would but become self
instructors, and if, instead of doing Just as
their great. grandiathers did before them
they would think and learn for themselves
t,n
able, carry m re weight in society, nor be
more ardently sought after by the active
and intelligent Of all closes. Instead o
our young men rushing from the country
to the city, city youths would yearn to be
farmers; and instead of the chief emulation
being who should save most, the strife
would be who should accumulate the mos
by the proioundest experiments, most sue
cessfully carried into practice BY thest
, means, farming would cease to be the mer
drudgery of dirty industry" and ever
r operation would become scientific, base,
on great principles breeding new thought
, and new results, and ending in valuabl
acquisitions. Instead of the poet describ
ing the farmer as one who
/ "Wandered on, unknowing what he sough
j. And whistled as he went, for want of thought,
: we should have farmers themselves distir
4 gushed authors of valuable works; scier
g ti6c, at all events, if not poetic. Som
such great minds we aIreal y have employ
ed in farming, but, unfortunately, that
: not yet the character of the class.
Y MICHIGAN, Jan. 5, 1850. G. F.