Litchfield enquirer., 1860-12-27
Agrifultural.
THE PROSE AND POETRY OF FARM
 INC

The New Englander for November contains capital article upon Agriculture as profession by Donald G. Mitchell, the Ike Marvel of liter ature, but de tacto successful farmer Tn the suo urbs of New Haven The sentence gives in condensed form bit of unpalatable truth IT or the man who can afford to buy almost every thing that he needs, and sell very little that ne raises farming is delightful amusement TOT the man who can afford to sell almost everything that he raises, and to buy little or nothing that he needs. farming is lucrative employment" 1'o the oft-paraded statistics of premium reports, he briefly replies: The hens that lay golden epes never cackle; at least we never heard them" The question as he states it is this : sWhether farming upon the whole, is profes- sion warranting certain degree of fscientiic cul- ture, and giving room for it's display; whether it is worthy to enlist the energies and the ambi- tion of young man who has a good life to live, and career to make ?"-a queer question that he helps to answer by sagacious hints and inti- nations. A farmer, he says, should have prac- tical familiarity with those facts whether of sci ence or experiment, which have bearing upon his trade. He should understand chemistry in it's application to farming, but not the less gath CT assiduously those unexplained facts for which no chemist can account:
 "The botanist must explain to him why the Canada thistle, and the wild carrot, and the jehnswort, thrive SO heroicaly in spite of bad. treatment; he wishes to learn their weak points; where lies the heel of these Greeks; what de- gree of heat in the compost pile will destroy the germnating power of seeds; and is the law of one seed the law of another seed?"
 He should know enough also of the veterina- ry art to put aside the cant of horse ockes about .splints, spavins and ringbones, always lie if you are selling and not half the truth if you are buying" He must be a man of business and of means, for:
 " He has his system to decide upon, his labor to engage and direct, his stock and implements to buy and then-his crops to sell, his bills to pay, and his books to balance. Superphosphates, and Mir. Quincys eulogy on American farmers, won't help him much at these things. Money may; indeed no farmer can start fairly without "There must be system, there must be prudence, there must be executive capacity; and without them, all the geologic chemic, or other knowl- edges will be like the dry shreds of exegetical learning to preacher who has no fire of faith flaming in his soul"
 With all these qualities, there will still be diff faculties to encounter. One of these is the dff- culty of securing efficient laborers "American laborers are not to be found. American blood is fast, and fast blood is impatient with hoe among small carrots. It is well enough that blood is so fast and hopes so tall. These tell grandly in certain directions, but they are not available for working over heap of compost" !" Farm labor, to be effective must have the per sonal oversight of the master. There is breadth and significance in the old saying of Palladius, |" Paesentio domini provectus est ogri," which nay be literally rendered, "If you would push a crop through, look after it yourself" Another difficulty is the lack of desirable market facilities. The middle-man stands between the producer ahl the consumer, and monopolizes the profit. In nis respect farmers might help each other pyJuseious combination, but they lack coheren- cy as aaass. They have very little esprit-e1e- corps: Where is too much of isolation and .so.a'on MAi inevitably prey upon farmers purse as m it ~Aapon his head and upon his neaft: Iheh Young America has a growing aversion n to massasl i.ssl lahoF--He is a gentleman anu sai'h nFhi Policeman take off his coat? He is s sann U' n culture, and mortified to find that or- 's :" sdgacity and d rude energy surpass him iu saccess. He learns with pain that knowledge is not confined to books, and that the shrewd- aess that can mold raw laborers into effective help, tells more upon the years profits than the theories of Liebig, or the experiments of I.awes.
 "The difficulties we have hinted at are, many of fthem gradually disappearing the labor ques- tion specially, is becoming simpliied by the in troduction of new and effective implements which enable the farmer to reduce the number of his hands. But since they do exist,-and we think that our representations, though they may seem to show the shady side of the business. will be sustained by the testimony of practical men,-it is best to meet the whole truth in this natter whatever ugly faces it may wear No man conqners difficulty until he sees it plainly. Oaks are fine things; and rivers are fine things ;; and so are sunsets, and morning-glori and new-mown hay, and fresh curds, and spotted calves but, after all, farm and farming do not absorb all the romance of life or all its sateest herocs There is width, and beauty, and inde. pendence indeed but there is also-sweat, and anxiety, and horny hands, and great deal of hay-dust in the hair. But if a man. as we said, be thoroughly in earnest, if he have the sagacity to see all over his farm-to systematize his la- bor to carry out his plans punctuay and thor oushly; if he is not above economies, nor heed less of the teachings of science, nor unobservaut of progress otherwheres, nor neglectful of such opportunities as the Yale agricultural lectures afford:-let him acork; for he will have his re-