The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1853-11-10

whose waves had so lately and SO deeply
engulphed him; SO he hired bit of land
in New-Jersey, removed his family thith-
er, and resolved to turn the chemical and
other scientific knowledge which had so
little availed him as sugar-refncr, to ac-
count in the novel vocation of farmer.
He was very destitute, and of course got
on but slowly at first; and when he first
undertook to lecture in illustration of far
ming as science, I well remember how
very general was the predjudice and deris-
ion he encountered. But he persevered
both in farming and lecturing; and he has
gtoriously succeeded. l. presume there
were many errors in his earlier inculca-
ton; there may be some yet, for he is a
genius, and genius is too apt to leap hast
lily to sweeping conclusions from made
quate premises. But, whatever his faults
the root of the matter was in him, and his
career has proved it. AS lecturer, an
editor, and as a practical farmer, he is en-
riching the vocation he has chosen and by
no means impoverishing himself Begin
ing with nothing, he cannot have cleared
less than 500, 900 in the last six years, and
his income must now be at least $4,000
per annum. And this is not all made by
merely talking and writing about farming,
but in good part by actual work. For ex-
ample: He last year bought ten acres of
naturally good but exhausted and weedy
land adjoining him for $3.50 per acre, pull
verified and fertilized it thoroughly to the
depth of two feet, planted it with cab
bages as close togetheras they coull grow,
and by the sale of his first crop paid for
the manure, labor and land, having the
latter all clear at the years end, and in far
better condition than when he bought
Can any enemy of book farming beat
this? Or is there any of them who would
not like to know exactly how this land was
fertilized and TILED, even though he should
be obliged to read it in book or periodi-
cal? =
Let me next illustrate the i'm portance
and advantages of the careful Analysis of
Soils: HH" I'D
A friend bought, one year ago, a small
farm which had previously been uuder
decent or ordinary cultivation, but which,
it appears, had been for many years main
ly fertilized with Gypsum or Plaster of
Paris-an excellent thing in its place, and
which had doubtless done the land good
service. But the new farmers brother is
a thorough Chemist, devoting much at
tention to Agriculture; andhe was invited
to analyze the soil of this farm with view
to its prospectivs and economical improve
ment. Careful analysis showed signal
deficiency of lime, but superabundance
of sulphur and other ingredients of plas-
ter Of course, at each successive appli-
cation of plaster the plants took up the
lime only, leaving all the residue to lie in
ert in the soil; and so the old farmer had
for years been feeding his soil, at the rate
of twenty to thirty cents per bushel, with
the requisite lime brought from distance
in the form of plaster, while there was
far better lime burned all around him,
and for sale in abundance at six cents
bushel! The less thus incurred may have
averaged fifty dollars per annum-all for
want of an analysis that might have cost
ten to twenty dollars. And there are tens
of thousand to-day farming just as blind
ly as did this old farmer. .r
Can there be any rational wonder that
farmers seldom grow rich by such farming?
How is wise and judicious economy of
means to be attained if ignorance and
waste are toreap the rewards properly due
only to intelligence and frugality? If I
were to buy paper and other materials
used in my basiness as carelessly and
blindly as this old farmer bought manures
and fertilized his land, could not contin-
ue to print papers for single year. Wiser,
more prudent, more intelligent publishers,
would undersell and supplant me, and I
must fail and be driven into some vocation
where ignorance, heedlessness and un-
thrift secure the rewards designed by
providence for intelligence, industry and
economy.
But let us pause at that word Industry
"By Industry we thrive" is an old saw,
which is very well in its place; but the
truth contained in proverbs is so curtly ex-
pressed that it often misleads more than it
directs. Industry is indeed essential to
thrift, and farmers, like other men, often
need to be reminded of it. When 1 note
one who is overwhelmed with ''business, %
which calls him away from home two or
three days in each week, and keeps him
hanging about the tavern or store while
his boys are at play and his potatoes cry
ing for the hoe, | know whittier that far
mer is tending, and can guess about how
long he will have any land to mismanage.
And / think that, in the average, farmers
waste more hours than machines They
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