Year: 1859




Agriculture.


All practical subjecss are in their nature some.
what prosaic and dull 70 the generality of Journal
readers. This is lsmentably true in the present
age. Now. when lght, triAing. demoraliziug lite,
nature is the staple producton Of the literary world
and even an Edward Everett will condescend to a.
sist in increasing the already too wide circulation
OF oftawdry stuff whersan ver-excited mag gination
Is made the nourishcr # unholy passions where
the hearth stone is longer free from the pernic
'ous influence Of an immoral and hollow philosophy
where the very foundation of good morals is threat
ened by the repeated assaults of crack kbraned tale
writers where, in . word, the specious habliments
OF an inflated style is more preferable than solid
mental food in the form Of useful and practical
knowledge. how can expect to escape the aecusa-
tion Of being a dull and unentertaining writer.
Had any desire to pluck the laurels that spring
from the modern hot bed of popular applause. 1
might. from self interested notions be induced to
drop the pen from my puny fingers. and in despair
give over all hopes Of successfully vicing with a
Sylvanus Cobb or an Emmcrson Bennett Such is
not the desire object Of X. Y. and wishing only
humbly to add his mite to the stock Of practical in
formation now in the possession of the Agricultur-
lists Of Crawford County he will continue to scrib
ble and they can rate the contribution at its real
value and he will be perfectly satisfied.


The first point I, which would call attention is
that our farmers generally endcavor to do more in
the way of land tlling than they capable of
co'npiishing. do not mean by too arduously
studying the theoryE agriculture. by any means.
but mean they ~ ht in more than they can wor-
| thily :" tend Most farmers are erroneously OF the
opinion that the more land they cultivate the more
produce they will have at the harvest. This is
not the case as experience teaches. a small
farm well titled is the scent of plenty in country.
l venture to s.S that hundred per cent more
can be produced upon one acre of ground we'll cul-
tivated than upon two but half TILED This is a
simple truth established by experience and yet too
often our farmers foolishy and apparently wilfully
neglect it They will put in one hundred and six.
ty acres fland when they have not force enough to
do justice to more than forty The inevitable con-
fequence is, they it all without really cul-
| tivating any of it. At harvest they accordingly
reap about half crop. Paying attention to the
computation of cost they forget the value ofand
the interest the cash invested in their land and
think they are all the time making money. when in
reality they annually sinking it. The conse-
quence is We have few rich farmers, legitimately
speaking. Itis life struggle from year to year
unless they turn their attention part to the rails
ing OF stock The horse market will not justify a
large investment in stock, and the expense of tax
ing horses to foreign markets generally destroys all
profits, and at the end Of the year by balancing
the debts and credits the farmer will find he is
some the loser the years labor. All this is oh
waited by paying more attention to the farm. BY
putting in - no than he can cultivate the
farmer may keep himself busy all the time. and at
the end of twelve months find that from his farm
he has made something. OF course the raising Of
hogs will form part of his labor and compensate
him well at Christmas. Let our farmers then de
termine that they will not attempt to overdo them
selves. but rather, by putting in smaller extent Of
| land. make their soil dothem ample Justice Let
every acre, every foot count let them keep the
plough going pretty constantly conquer the ground
of noxious weeds. pay attention to drainage use
manure literally. Manure which they have been
accustomed to allow to waste, let them propose
plans in which to preserve and by udiciously deal
ing it out upon the soil, render their lands doublv
productive Let them forget their indolent habits,
and remember that although they may have land
that will produce pretty well with very little labor
Yet that land will wear out in the of time un
less they doctor it and preserve its fertility
| If they permit it to deprccate much they will be


forced to double labor hereafter and perhaps be
at the trouble and expense of making new purchases
upon which to live until they can recruit the soil
which they have wantonly allowed to exhaust it
self Agriculture is making rapid strides towards
its well merted position among the sciences and the
day not far distant when farmer in the long set
tied States will be Of necessity highly educated
MANA scientific man. Agricultural chemistry
already holds separate place in the catalogue OF
sciences. and but for unfortunate ebulition OF
passion we might even be in possession OF
many useful facts. which the death of the accom-
plshed Professor Webster deprived US. One work
on Agricultural Chemistry which he gave to tn,
world badc fair promise of the vast resources of q
mighty intellectual store house. 1t is to be sin
cerely hoped that all will join as one man in furthur
ing the propagation of knowledge on this all mpor
tant branch of human industry. Let US by al
means establish society. and each month devot.
sometime to meetings at which we may discus.
all matters appertaining to the subject. K
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