Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1853-11-04

tHtE1 - Nt EiHEA. HIlu VI nN~
sorvatlon wherein the extent and disas-
trous effects Of ignorance among farm
ers Is moro strikingly exhibited than In
that Of Insect Life and Ravages. II
has pleased the All-Wise 10 subject Az
riculture TO the chances and porils Of
Insect depredatIons, as well as to weeds,
drouth, frost, Inundatlon, and other
evils. Tho end Of all these IL benih-
cence-the evolution and discipline Of
Mans capacities through the necessary
counteraotion and combat. Plants and
domestic animals rlghtfuly look 10 their
owners for efficient protection; and no
who allows his sheep to be killed by
wolves, bis fowls TO be carried of BY
foxes, or bis grain TO be devoured by In
seets, ls culpably faithless TO bis depend
ents and his duty. Yet how listlestly,
thoughtlessly, hopelessly, do we see
farmers stand by while their crops are
destroyed by worms, birds or weevil,
without seeming 10 know that they have
anything TO do In the premisesl No
Turkish latalism Is binder or blanker
than theirs. II is hardly yet six weeks
since saw whole counties OF my own
State covered and devastated by grass
hoppers, who stripped the dry uplands Of
every blade OF grass, almost every green
leaf, cutting the green oats from their.
stalks, the fruit from the trees, devouring
corn ir the ear, making the cleared land
a desert, and pushing the cattle TO the
very verge Of starvation. Yet there
stood the farmers, gazing gloomily from
day to day at the destruction Of their
cherished hopes Of a harvest, and the
utter desolation Of the whole cosntry,
yet not one asking another, "what
shall we do 10 arrest this sweeping raw
age! How shall we most readily, and
cheaply and surely clear our lands of
these verminsl" | do not pretend to
know what the proper remedy was or is;
but this do know that had been one
Of these farmers, would have found a
remedy or bankrupted myself in the
search. should have first Intercepted
the best writer's on Agriculture and Nat
ural History, and, Ia case Of finding no
guidance there, | should have sowcd one
acre Tiny land bountiIulIy with Salt;
the next with Plaster; the next per haps
with Nitre; a fourth with Potash; and
so on, using in all cases substances that
| knew would be paid for by future har-
vests, unless had reason to belieyc
something else would be more efficient.
Thus, before one week had elapsed, (
would have found some caustic that
grasshopers could not abide; aud having
found IL, would have applied Il until the
last cormorant, among thcm had been
driven into tho woods or turned over on
his back.
And this Ia tho spirit In which every
such invasion should bo met and over
come. Had the farmers OF any township
promptly met when the rayages first be.
came serious, aud agreed that one Of
them would try one possible antidotc and
another, according as they happened re.
spectivoly 10 have the material at COM
mand, and meet few evenings later 10
compare notes on tho results OF their
several experiments. they could not have
Tailed TO discover an efficient remedy
within the first week. But they did
nothing, and hence many OF their farms
are desert, their Fall crops next 10
nothing. and half their cattle must bs
sold or killed for want Of food.
Our farmers generally think and work
better out OF their own vocation than In
II. A distant and towering evil arouscs
their hostility aud evokes .ther energy
much more readily than one OF less i'm
posing but more mIschIeyous character
which assails them In their homes. Let
the word 20 forth, can army Of inyaiers
have landedl' and tens Of thousands
snatch inslinclively their muskets and
take the roaa; but here are armies all
around them who are plundering them
worse than any Invaders would, yet hard
ly attract their notice. The Hessians
who were hired ID subjugate our fathers
had no rest for their feet until the last
OF them was killed, captured or hun
ted home, more than seventy years
ago; yet Their attendant parasite, the
Hessian Fly, has been plundering us
ever since without resistance, and Is now
as formidable aud destructive as ever. |
cannot believe flies more difficult 10 con.
quer than men, IL we would but fairly set
about IL.
~. And here let me retrace my
steps TO illustrate point In Industrial
Economy which have already incident
ally touched, but have not illustrated as
It's importance deserves and as the pro-
vailing misconceptions render necessary.
| refer to The Proportion OF Means TO
Ends, which the Artisan must always
bear In mind, but which the Farmer
seems too often TO forget. No artifcer
presumes that the labor and material 70
quired for fine table will suffice for n
piano.iorte; nor that steam engine can
be constructed as cheaply as churn.-
But the farmer, seeing trees and plants
grow around him with weed-like facility
and tenacity, often indolently imagines
that any tree will grow so, and plants
his rare and delicate fruit-trees, II he
plants such at alias II they were oakso or
loeusts.
But nature IL nexorable in her re-
quirement that the labor aud care essen
tial 10 the production OF choice fruit
or plant shall be proportionate to the
value of the product. You may grow
Pine on yellow sand or Hickory on blue
clay, but IL you want choice Pears or
Peaches you must devote much labor aud
expense In preparing and enriching the
ground wherein your trees are 10 be set.
Too many farmers not needing this law.
or supposing that Nature may somehow
be circumvenied, obtain worthless fruit
or none at all and so abandon the culture
in disgust and despair.
There Is not now one grape vino or
fruit tree, except Of the coarsest and
commoncst kinds. where there should
be twenty, taking one State with anoth-
er; and one consequence Of this is an
enormous and periIous consumption Of
flesh as food, to an extent unknown In
other countries. We are nationally
surfeited with pork and tainted with
ScroIula, not because we are so fond OF
pork, but because. for an important por-
tion o. each year, the majority of our
population can get little beside. "The
loolishness of preaching" will never
snfIice to correct this alteration; for men
who work must eat, though their food
be not the best; but give us an abun-
dance OF the choicest fruits and vegeta-
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