Litchfield enquirer., 1857-05-07
Gge &ittb6tla Gnquu&r
Idtlh : ed, Conn, Thursday May 1882.


~-.----~-~--~
To seek home in the West, seems the prevailing
mind Of nil casses of citizens in this vicinity The
farmer. the mechanic. and even the legal profession
seem to have csught the mania, and therefore all
household furniture is for sale cheap and the paper
. fulI Of advertised farms.
In fact 50 general has been the exodus this spring
it is difficult matter to find tinker or blacksmith
anil many unfortunate house wife is compelled t.
wait tn" itnerant sclssorgrinsier, who also
Soldering iron Some of the emigrants will succeed
Others. after years of extreme hardships resulting
in tbs loss ri children aud wives and in the prostra
tsl ~ Their own once vigorous frames will return
shome bcreft cf their fortunes and companions, t,
brakea hearted and neglected. within a stones throw
of the scl,ooouse where they played or the churcl
where they were married = :...:.'
1t is melancholy fact, that the best portion o
CTR rural districts are moving West the worth,
and industrious leaving behind the idle and the vic
ious, and th.t instead of healthy and progressing
Influence being exerted, feeling OF dissatisfaction
and longing to re away, pervades the minds of our
young men and women. The story of the fertile
fields that Yield almost without cultivation, the
price current Of grain, the enormous cargoes daily
shipped FROM the harbors of the large towns the
magic growth cities the fortunate results of land
speculation, are temptations too allurlns f.r our
young to Withstand :.
Now q remedy must he found for this Western
fever, which, year after year. saps the lfeblood of
our rnral Districts, or we Shall soon have another
Goldsmith chanting his melancholy poem and a
Deserted Village''Abe anything but the fancy of a
poets braii. -. =
There is alone remedy. This neglected, and
we must succ,ir'b before the wealth and power of
Our Western brothers. 1t is within our reach, but
will not come to us without excrtion and like any
good thing, mist be the result Of hard and patient
inlnsty. These sterile hills must be made prolific
these mry, bogey flats reduced to meadow and pas
lures these cold, sour farms, now half neglected
Icgcucratcd and turned to account as feeding ground
for stock. tho raising of which our neamess to mar
ket will ever render profitable.
Now, it Is feature of the policy of manufactures,
that great portion of the profits shall be devoted
to IMPROVEMENTS the result is that most Of our
mechanic arts have approached nearly to degree of
perfection. and that out rival the world in the
'''P'''s W pOWcT VI machinery.
This same principle applies to farming if our farm
ers, Instead o investing every cent that can be SPAR
ed from bcyoIi the common necessities of Support
in Railroads. Bank stock, MOI tgages would appro.
pirate their surplus funds to the establishment of
agricultural schools, the furnishing of scientific
libraries s,:'l procuring Of improved farming instru-
ments II instead Of buying vast tracts of land and
nj iuNsnr 10 with a of
omy which only half cultivates, would expcnd their
capital In improving the breed of their horses cattle
sheep and even fowls if instead of raising, year
after year, miserable, watery pithy Rutabagas and
diseased potatoes, they would send to Europe for
seed and then with modern fertilizers the soil
they might miniature paradises all the coun
try, irs'ead Of great ancultivated deserts. In a
ncghnrins city, few years since, the inhabitants
were gr nin. IN Ter the weight of their pauper tax
A moncm theorist whom many pronounced hall
mai, suggested remedy, which was, to buy a
sandy desolate tract of hundred acres and erect
upon it noble building at the expense of some
thirty or forty Thousand dollars. After long de-
bate and great, opposition his plan was adopted and
tho result H. though scarcely ton years have elapsed
since It's completion, the city derives a handsome
income from the ktfm, the poor are well provided
for, AMI the land, from sandy, pine barren, reclaim
Cd to fertile and very productive plantation.
Examples of this character are not uncommon,
and flour farmers wonld profit by them, they would
have no occasion to sever old ties and seek their
fortunes ia the wcst With proper attention, and
the application of ssiene every inch of soil in New
England may he made productive and the source of
revente Instead Of going to Michigan for cranber-
ries We should have them growing in our own
swaiups; Instead Of raising scarcely sufficient of
pears an,l arptcs k~ family consumption, and pos
sessng orcheras crooked covered with moss, and
half blown down. We should receive hundreds Of dol
lars fur fruit and own orchards of the MOST thrifty
character Tho hits Of Warren famous for
ws,wt,eborrsss 'cusivaiion wosld make them a
most profitable crop and turn which way you will,
there Is the land on one hand and the market on
Zee other Our agricultural fairs grand institu
tons they bring together the farmers and suggest
new iles- hn. they will never change the sterile
soil of New Engiasri into garden this can be &C
sossplishcd alone by education and the application
If science and to meet this requires lavish expen.
di,ure of funds.
Did our farmers who are striving to accumulate
fortune for their families reflect little more than
they wont to do, they would perceive how richs
or an inheritance they would leave their children
in well-llel farm and judciously selected Gb,a
~, than in ai the bunk stock they may collect t.
be squandered by heirs more likely to be fools thar
wise men. We earnestly invite the attention of all
those DESTROYS ofscling out and removing West, te
the peruS. of these arguments
ny the arrival of the Africa in New York, on the
LIST inst, foreign news Of some importance has beer
receiveth substance of which ia. that the French
have interposed in the affairs Of China-that the
Crcassans have beaten the Russians, causing los,
of 500 Of their best troopsand that Queen Victoria