AN IRREGULAR COUNTRY HOUSE— See Page 490. _.__ A HELPING HAND OWN AND Lountry: Town and C AMERICAN HOME BOOP OF PRACTICAL AND SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION CONCERNING HOUSE AND LAWN; GARDEN AND ORCHARD; FIELD, BAR AND STABLE; APIARY AND FISH POND; WORKSHOP AND DAIRY; AND THE MANT IMPORTANT INTERESTS FEETAININO TO pOJVl£:^TIC f^COjNOJVlY AJ^D ]?AJVIILY Ji^ALTH. By LYMAN C. DRAPEE, SECBETAET WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, n>- ^„ AND "W .'^:Ayr'' C E O F F U T , ADTHOE OP "THE HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT." ETC. T>A^O HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS. PUBLISHERS: MOORE, WILSTACH & MOORE, 143 EACE STREET, CINCINNATI. New Toek : 52 Bleecker Street. 1870. SOLO TO SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by MOORE, WILSTACH & MOORE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United Slates for tlie Southern District of Oliio. f REFACE This is peculiarly a volume for Working Men and Women — a class which, numbered technically, is very largo, and in its broader signification includes all Americans. We need not apologize, in this age of books, for adding one to the catalogue ; but we may tell the reader, briefly, how this one happened to be undertaken, and how we have been enabled to make it wider in its scope than any industrial work that has i^reeeded it. During thirty-five years of rambling through the West and Southwest in quest of new materials for a series of biographies of such bold pioneers as Generals George EoGERS Cr^ARK, Kenton, Sevier, Eobertson, Sumter; Gov- ernor Shelby; Boone, Brady, and their heroic compeers, manj' valuable unpublished facts pertaining to farm culture and management, domestic econ- omy, and methods of preserving and restoring health, were learned from those whose experience had verified their value. Several manuscript collec- tions of curious statistics, useful recipes and practical experiments having, meantime, fallen into our hands, this work was suggested and begun. Cer- tain of its utility, our efforts, for the past five years, have been directed to a proper arrangement and digestion of the materials, and a completion of them so as to include the very latest discoveries in practical science, the most recent experiments in field-culture, stock-raising, fruit-growing, and subordinate branches of farming, and the last word concerning household management and health in the home circle. We have striven to make an honest and a useful book, as a contrast to certain ponderous volumes by which our rural people have been defrauded — volumes that are largely filled with turgid paid-for puffs of farming imple- ments. We have omitted most of the Latin equivalents for common names, feeling that, in pages for plain readers, constant interruption by a dead lan- guage would tend to confuse rather than enlighten. In one important particular, we believe this work differs conspicuously from all others. While our relation to it is chiefly editorial, yet in the agri- cultural chapters we have not only given the approved routine of farm operations, but have endeavored to cumulate experiments, and from tlioir average results draw some approximate solution of those vexing problems of planting and harvesting, breeding and feeding, about which so many have dogmatized. One accurate experiment is worth a thousand theories. While we have been reasonably minute, wo have left many simple opera- tions to the suggestion of the reader. A man who don't know enough to trundle a wheelbarrow, roll a log, or dig a post hole without being told, can never manage a farm. He had better hasten to engage in some other calling. The index is very full, directing the reader at once to any topic sought; wiiile, still further to increase the ease of reference, we have adopted an alphabetical arrangement in such chapters as are susceptible of it, which will be found a convenient guide to each variety and subdivision. A cycloptedia like this, necessarilj' treating of so many subjects upon which hundreds of volumes and thousands of essays have been published, could not be i^repared without citing niany authorities. "While we have not felt obliged to refer to the source of every suggestion, we have aimed to award amjjle credit to those of whose experiences we have availed ourselves. Prominent among our creditors stands the Press — especially the agricul- tural journals of America — a faithful brotherhood of teachers that are doing more for the enlightenment and enduring welfare of this Ecpublic than any other interest or institution, except the common school. It is pleasant to be able to add that our publishers, who have fully appre- ciated the demand for such a work from the first, have generously incurred every expense that could render it alike useful and attractive. As a result, it contains more matter, and is more profusely illustrated than any other book for the industrial classes ever published in America. With these few paragraphs of "preliminary egotism," we submit ourselves to that sturdy usher, the Printing Press, for an introduction. To the thought- ful Plowboy, who meditates as he follows his team, and wonders at the unceasing miracle of vegetable life in the earthj' laboratory ; to the perplexed Planter, who strives to educe a method from the conflicting theories about cutting seed potatoes, preparing seed corn, drilling wheat, or sowing broad- cast ; to the skillful Harvester, who studies how to get the most out of his crop this year, and increase it next j'ear; to the thriving Farmer or Villager , who thinks of building; to the Stockbreeder, who asks how he may improve his herds, and the Dairj^man who inquires if it pays to steam food ; to the Gardener, the Fruitgrower, the Vinedresser, the Apiarian, the Sportsman ; and last and most earnestly to the Mother of every family who is busy at home, presiding tenderly over all the human interests that center there, we come with cordial greeting, and extend A Helping Hand. Madison, AVisconsin, December 15, 1869. Ta ble of Contents INTRODUCTORY ESSAY BY HORACE GREELEY. Page. FIRST TRUTHS IN AGRICULTURE 13-15 TREATMENT OF THE SOIL 16 PRACTICAL TILLAGE IN THE WEST; 1, Be thorough; 2, get good land; 3, use of fertilizers; 4, home manures cheapest; 5, irrigation; 6, prairie irrigation; 7, constant improvement necessary; 8, green manuring — clover; 9, thorough farm- ing cheapest ; 10, deep plowing urged — steam plow; 11, benefits of drainage 16-19 HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. ORIGIN OF FARMING; Palestine, Egypt, China, Phoenicia, Rome, Great Britain. 21-22 HOW TO MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE ; 1, Homestead surroundings ; 2, co-operative farming; 3, progress instead of routine; 4, mental and social training 22-25 HOW LARGE A FARM SHOULD BE 25-26 ACCURATE EXPERIMENTS NEEDED 27 SOILS. CONSTITUENT PROPERTIES 28 ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF SOILS 29-30 HOW TO IMPROVE AND ADAPT THEM ; Experiments and tables 31-34 FERTILIZERS. QUALITIES AND USES 35 RELATIVE VALUE 36 IMPORTANT EXPERIMENTS WITH DIFFERENT MANURES 37 MODES OF APPLICATION CONSIDERED 38-39 AIR, AMMONIA, ASHES, BONES 39-40 THE COMPOST HEAP— How to make ; a covered shed ; manure cellars ; garden compost 40-42 FALLOWING AND GREEN MANURING; Red and white clover; buckwheat; rye; peas 42^4 GUANO AND ITS APPLICATION 44-15 LIQUID MANURE; LIME 45-46 MUCK; PEAT; NIGHT SOILS, and their value 46 PHOSPHATE OF LIME— The great bed in South Carolina 46-47 (5) 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PLASTER; SALT; SEA-WEED; SAND; SOAP-SUDS; SULPHATE OF IRON 48 PROFESSOR VILLE'S NEW SYSTEM 48-50 PLOWING. PRACTICAL EFFECT OF PULVERIZATION 51 NECESSITY OF DEEPER PLOWING— Nine good reasons for 5^-53 HOW TO PLOW AND WHEN 54 DRAINAGE AND IRRIGATION. BENEFITS OF UNDER-DRAINING ILLUSTRATED 55-57 WHAT LANDS NEED DRAINING— Ex.imples; surfiice and under-drains 57-58 HOW TO CONSTRUCT DRAINS AND LAY TILE ; Depth and distance ; size of tile; cost per acre 58-60 ADVANTAGES OF IRRIGATION; How and where to irrigate 60-Gl FIELD CROPS. CROPS OF THE COUNTRY FOR TWELVE YEARS; Amount and prices G2-C.S ROTATION OF CROPS; Its iniportiince; courses illustrated 63-Gl> BARLEY, BEANS, BEETS, BROOM CORN, BUCKWHEAT— Varieties; prepara- tion of soil, and methods of culture 66-70 CABBAGE AND CARROT; Value for food; profitableness; varieties, and how to grow them 70-72 CORN; Value for feeding; varieties; seed, selection and preparation; planting; cultivation; manures; harvesting and housing 73-82 COTTON; History of culture and manufacture; climate; Sea Island and Upland; how to raise, pick, and prepare for market; profitableness; the cotton gin 82-86 FLAX; Sowing; tilling; gathering; rotting; linseed oil and cake 87-89 GRASS AND HAY'; Varieties and relative nutriment; when to sow ; thick and tliin seeding; wlien to cut grass; overcuring injurious; management of pasture ^ landa ; stacking hay 89-98 HEMP AND HOPS; Culture, harvesting, curing, and profits 98-106 INDIGO, JUTE, MADDER, AND MUSTARD 106-108 OATS; Proper soil and seed ; sowing and reaping; varieties— the Norway and Sur- prise . 108-111 ONIONS; Soil; sowing; pulling; tracing and roping ; profitableness 111-113 POTATOES; History; nutritive value; preparation of soil; special manures; cut or uncut seed ; planting; cultivating; harvesting; storing; raising under straw ; causes of degeneracy ; varieties — the Early Rose; rot and preventives 114-126 POTATOES, SWEET; Sprouting; planting; after-treatment; gathering and keeping 126-127 PUMPKINS AND SQUASHES; Relative value of varieties 127-128 RAMIE, OR CHINA GRASS; Use as a textile fiber, and probable value to the country • 128-131 RICE; RYE; Production and yield 132-133 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 7 Page. SUGAR CROPS ; Statistics of product ; Beet Sugak, cost and mode of making ; Sugar Cane, growth and manufacture; Corn Sugar, process of making from stalk and meal ; Maple Sugar, tapping trees, gathering sap, buckets and boil- ers, cost and yield; Sorghum, soil, planting, culture, manufacture 133-347 TOBACCO; Curious facts concerning its use ; soil adapted to its growth; manures; transplanting; topping; cultivating; harvesting, curing, carting, and housing; stripping and casing 147-151 TURNIPS; As a fertilizer; for feeding; varieties; soil; sowing; after-culture; gath- ering 151-153 WHEAT; Origin, history, and product; a look ahead; causes of degeneracy; soil; clover; mineral manures; varieties; selection of seed ; thick t«. thin sowing; advantages of drilling; time and depth of sowing; winter-killing Spring har- rowing; time and mode of cutting; shocking and stacking; threshing, cleaning, and marketing; rust and smut; how to measure a xipening crop 153-169 THE VEGETABLE AND FLOWER GARDEN. BEAUTY AND UTILITY IN THE GARDEN 171-172 DEEP TRENCHING; The hot-bed 173-174 GARDEN SEEDS ; Purity and vitality ; period of germination ; amount of seed necessary 175-176 VEGETABLES RAISED FOR FOOD; Modes of cultivation 177-197 FLAVORING AND MEDICINAL HERBS 185-189 FLOWER GARDEN; Plan; preparation of beds; seeding; transplanting; water- ing; general culture; description of annuals, biennials, and perennials; bulb- ous and climbing plants; roses; flowering shrubs and trees; evergreens and shade trees; the lawn and its adornment 197-216 FRUIT AND FRUIT TREES. ORIGIN OF FRUITS 217 UTILITY AND HEALTHFULNESS 218-219 PROFITS OF FRUIT CULTURE, and value of Product 219-222 WHERE TO PLANT THE ORCHARD 222-223 PROTECTION OF ORCHARDS; Tree Belts 223-225 HOW TO SELECT FRUIT TREES 22.5-226 CONDITIONS OF TRANSPLANTING 226-231 DIRECTIONS FOR PRUNING 231-234 METHODS OF PROPAGATION; Planting; grafting; budding; cuttings; layers... 234-236 GENERAL SUGGESTIONS ON MANAGEMENT 237-243 FRUIT-GROWING IN THE SOUTH 243-244 THE APPLE AND ITS VARIETIES.... 244-250 APRICOTS, CHERRIES, FIGS, AND NECTARINES 250--2r)I THE PEACH, PEAR, PLUM, AND QUINCE; Varieties and culture 251-2.39 SEMI-TROPICAL FRUITS 2.59-261 THE GRAPE; Its varieties, cultivation, productiveness, and profit 261-283 CtRAPE WINE; Varieties best adapted for ; methods of manufacture 283-289 STRAWBERRIES, RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, GOOSEBERRIES, CURR.\NTS, AND CRANBERRIES; Varieties and culture 289-304 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. FOES OF THE FAEM. Pack. INJURIOUS INSECTS AND DISEASES 306 ENEMIES OF THE APPLE; Insects and diseases described; preventives and remedies suggested 306-310 THE CHERRY, CURRANT, AND GOOSEBERRY; How to protect 310 FOES OF THE GRAPE; Treatment of diseases, etc 311-313 PEACH, PEAR, PLUM, QUINCE, AND STRAWBERRY; Methods of defense... 313-317 ENEMIES OF GARDEN AND FIELD CROPS; Protection against their rav- ages 317-324 WOOD FOR THE FARM. DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS ; As affecting civilization, climate, health, and fer- tility 325-328 PLANTING OF TIMBER ; Profits ; varieties ; period of tree growth ; cost ; mode of culture; shade for cities 329-336 TREE BELTS FOR FARM PROTECTION ; Effect on .soil, atmosphere, and cli- mate; for defense of crops, of orchards; best trees for belts ; how and where to grow them 336-344 FUEL; Different kinds of wood compared ; relative value of wood, coal, and peat; how to burn coal 344-347 LIYE STOCK. THE STOCK PRODUCT OF THE COUNTRY 348-349 CATTLE; Breeds and breeding; necessity for improvement; introduction of thor- ough-bred stock; periods and conditions of gestation; no more scrub bulls 349-355 BREEDS OF CATTLE; Durham; Devon; Ayrshire; Alderney ; Hereford; Brit- tany . 355-360 SPECIMENS OF GOOD COWS 360-362 TO ASCERTAIN THE AGE OF CATTLE 362 GUENON'S MILK MIRROR— " Infallible Sign" 362-365 SPAYING COWS; Oxen for work 36.5-367 MANAGEMENT OF COWS; Milking; preventives of jumping; calves 367-370 DISEASES OF COWS; Methods of treatment 370-372 DISEASES AND AILMENTS OF CATTLE 372-377 CARE AND FEEDING OF CATTLE; Yards, stables, stalls, stanchions, racks, shelter, water; exercise or quiet; diflerent food compared; cutting and steaming food — great advantages shown; cheap steaming apparatu.s; soiling; roots 377-392 THE HORSE ; Breeds compared ; how to ascertain the age; modes of feeding; stables; taming and breaking — the Rarey method ; diseases - 392-406 SHEEP GROWING; Wool supply; breeds compared; feeding and management; diseases •• 406-423 HOGS; Breeds; habits and uses; feeding; how to make pork economically ; diseases. 423-4.32 TABLE OF CONTENTS. POULTRY, BEES, AUD FISH CULTURE. Page. BREEDS OF FOWLS; Concerning egg."! ; how to make hens lay ; feeding; disea.ses. 433-443 TURKEYS, DUCKS, GUINEA FOWLS, GEESE 443-144 THE HONEY BEE; Product,'!; liow to tame and liandle; directions for swarming; wintering and feeding; bee hives, and how to protect; Italian bees; profitableness 444-457 FISH CULTURE ; History ; how to lay out fish ponds ; hatching and rearing ; profits 457-4(53 THE DAIRY. VALUABLE STATISTICS; English and American systems compared; Western dairying; management of milk 463-468 BUTTER MAKING; Details of process ; conditions of good butter; French and Devonshire methods 468-475 CHEESE MAKING; General directions; the Cheddar process; the American factory system; advantages of 475-479 ARCHITECTURE OF THE HOMESTEAD. RESIDENCES; Various styles ; suggestions concerning color and surroundings; size and arrangement of rooms ; chimneys and cellars; balloon frames; laborers' cot- tages; plans illustrated; ventilation 480-493 BARNS; Ea.st, West, and South compared; economy of housing stock; size, location, capacity, cleanliness ; how to plan ; designs for diflerent sized farms; a Western stock barn; a three-story barn, illustrated; dairy barns; light and ventilation 493,506 DAIRY ROOMS; ICE HOUSES; CORN CRIBS; PIG PENS; POULTRY HOUSES; CISTERNS; PUMPS; ETC.; Plans illustrated 506-513 FENCES; Aggregate cost; shall we fence stock out or in; present system wasteful and unjust; law of highway and division fences; stone walls, ditche.s, wooden and wire fences illustrated; varieties of hedges, and method of culture 513-523 THE WORKSHOP -TOOLS AND IMPLEMENTS. THE HOME WORKSHOP; Convenience and profit; construction and outfit; the workbench and its equipment; care of tools and how to sharpen 524-530 IMPLEMENTS; Ancient and modern compared; the best are cheapest; list" for equipping a farm 530-532 PLOWS ; History and improvements ; sheet steel and c.xst steel ; steam as a motor — the coming plow ,. ; 532-537 HARROWS, cultivators, drills, and planting machines 5.37-539 JIOWERS AND REAPERS; Nothing new under the sun ; reapers of 1815 and 1840, illustrated; qualities of various machines considered; automatic binders 539-542 OTHER HAY MACHINERY; The horse-rake, tedder, and fork; loading and stack- ing machines 542-545 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS. THRESHING, CUTTING, HUSKING, AND SORGO MACHINES; POWER ^'''"' FOR THE FARM; STUMP PULLERS, POTATO DIGGERS, PORTABLE CORN MILLS, WINE AND CIDER MILLS, AND OTHER FARM AND HOUSEHOLD IMPLEMENTS 545-553 FARM ECONOMY. PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ; How to make farming pay better; how to lose money by it; book farming; luck 554-5.59 DIRECTIONS FOR MEASURING; How any farmer can measure and map his land; weiglits and measures; the cental system; how many pounds to a bushel; table of measures; corn and wheat in bulk ; estimating weight of cattle and hay by measurement .559-567 GENERAL HINTS ON TILLAGE 567-.569 BUTCHERING, AND DRESSING HIDES 569-572 THE EARTH CLOSET; How to make and manage 572-674 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. EQUIPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HOUSE; Paper hangings, carpets, and other furniture; household ornaments; arrangement and care of flowers, pictures, etc 575-583 THE LAUNDRY; Washing, cleansing, dyeing 5S3-592 THE TOILET; Care of hair, complexion, teeth, etc 592-596 HOUSEHOLD PESTS; Defenses and antidotes 596-598 DOMESTIC UTENSILS; Cleansing and repairing; paint, whitewash, and glue 698-603 ECONOMY OF LIGHTS; Ink making; preserratives of leather 603-604 TEMPERATE BEVERAGES— recipes for 604-609 CATSUPS AND SYRUPS 609-610 JELLIES, JAMS, AND MARMALADES 610-611 PRESERVING AND CANNING FRUIT 612-616 PICKLES, SOUR AND SWEET, AND VINEGAR-MAKING 616-621 CURING AND KEEPING MEATS; Hams, beef, pork, bacon, souse, tripe, sausages; trying out lard 621-G27 KEEPING OF DAIRY PRODUCTS— MiUt, butter, cheese, care of eggs and honey; various domestic hints 627-632 THE KITCHEN AND DINING-ROOM. WHAT TO EAT AND HOW TO COOK IT, And the sanitary conditions of diet... 633-639 TIME REQUIRED TO DIGEST DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD 634-635 NEW PROCESS OF MEAT PRESERVING „... 640-641 BREAD AND BREAD MAKING; Wheat, Graham, rye and corn, yeast, etc 641-648 BISCUITS; rolls, buns, rusk, muffins, short-cakes, crackers, etc 648-662 BATTER CAKES— griddle cakes of different kinds, fritters, crullers, doughnuts, waffles, etc 652-666 SWEET CAKES— varieties and directions for making 655-659 SOUPS AND SOUP MAKING 659-CGl J TABLE OF CONTENTS. 11 Page. ,pw TO SELECT MEATS, ETC 661-662 (&AVIES, SAUCES, AND STUFFINGS 662-663 BEEF; Methods of cookinjr 663-(i('>.') MUTTON, PORK, AND VEAL; Methods of cooking 665-667 POULTRY; Dres.^iing and cooking 667-6(i9 FISH AND OYSTERS 669-670 EGGS; Modes of cooking 670-671 VEGETABLES— Directions for cooking; salad making.. 671-676 TABLE DRINKS; Rules for preparing 676-6S0 PIES, TARTS, AND PUDDINGS 680-688 CUSTARDS AND OTHER RELISHES 688-690 VARIOUS SUPPER DISHES 690-691 COOKING FOR THE NURSERY 691-694 THE ART OF CARVING- Directions and illustrations 694-698 FAMILY HEALTH. CAUSES OF SICKNESS AND CONDITIONS OF RECOVERY; Rules for the preservation of health; suggestions about bathing; the air we breathe; eflects of sunshine; how to walk and sit 699-706 EFFECTS OF DIET AND DRESS 706-709 SLEEP; Conditions of .sleeping .soundly; early rising 709-711 TOBACCO AND ALCOHOLIC STIMUL.'\.NTS ; Results of using 711-712 BRAIN WORK AND EYESIGHT 713-714 CARE OF CHILDREN 714-71.5 DISEASES; Modes of treatment, alphabetically arranged 715-762 THE CREAM OF FACTS. ROMANCE OF MODERN SCIENCE ; A dream of the future ; persecution of phi- losophers and reformers; estimate of " the Good Old Times" 763-765 CANALS, STEAMBOATS, AND RAILROADS; History of their origin and progre.ss 765-768 THE MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH— Its invention and improvements 768-769 THE PHOTOGRAPH AND STEREO.SCOPE 769-770 ORIGIN OF THE LUCIFER M.ATCH 770-771 PHILOSOPHICAL AND SCIENTIFIC BREVITIES..: 771-774 FACTS OF HUMAN LIFE; Vit:il stati.stios; average length of life increasing; comparative longevity in difi'erent occupations; facts of physiology; average height; statistics of marriage. 774^778 LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD; Origin and growth of the English language; number of words in use 778-779 THE UNIVERSE; Vrstness of creation; number of stars; the solar system repre- sented; the earth — its age, velocity, and motions; the aurora borealis 779-782 DIFFERENCES OF CLIM.\TE; Zones of vegetation; the weather — signs of changes; moon's influence, etc 782-788 THE WONDERS OF NATURAL HISTORY; Plant reproduction; a veget.able animal ; animalculse. etc , 788-791 SOCIAL AMUSEMENTS; Charades, illusions, puzzles, problems, scientific experi- ments 791-797 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. FACTS FOB THE CURIOUS; Amount of gold in the world; freaks of currency; remarkable trees; Yo-Semite falls; lightning statistics; tax comparisons, eccen- tricities of great men, etc 797-800 STATISTICS OF AMERICAN FARMS 800-801 CUB EXPORTS — Cotton and breadstuffs 801 STATISTICS OF AMERICAN LIVE STOCK — Number, price, and value by States 802 NAMES OF DAYS AND MONTHS — Their origin and significance 803-804 CURIOUS FACTS OF HISTORY 804-805 STATISTICS AND HISTORY OF THE BIBLE 805-808 DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUS ; Tlie Northmen in Green- land in 972 ; Vinland (New England) discovered and colonized in the year 1000 ; Prince Madoc's voyages in 1170; traces of his settlement 808-811 OUR COUNTRY — A glance at the future 811-812 ]?iR^T ^RUTII^ IN yVQRICULTUF(E: INTEODUCTOEY ESSAY. BY HORACE GREELEY. Our earth, like the other planets forming our solar system, and probably like those composing other systems, is composed of various substances or elements existing in the form of solids, fluids, and gases, respectively, vfhereof the proportions are constantly changing. The ancients supposed the elements to be four only — Earth, Air, Fire, and Water— ^but more modern research has demonstrated that Air and Water are compounds or chemical combinations of certain gases known as Oxygen, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen, respectively. Water is composed of Oxygen and Hydrogen, in the proportion (by weight) of eight of the former to one of the latter. Air is composed of one part (by ,weight) of Oxygen to a little less than four parts of Nitrogen. But Oxygen combines easily with nearly every metal except Gold and Silver, forming Oxides, and it is thus a principal ingredient, in combination with one or more mineral ores, of most rocks and ■ earths. If this globe could be retorted or dissolved in a chemist's crucible, and thus reduced to its elements, so far as they are cognizable by the science of our day, more than half of its entire weight would be resolved into Oxygen— a gas of which the very existence was first discovered by Dr. PKiESTLET,less than a century ago. The learned now substantially agree in the conclusion, that our earth first had a sepa- rate, definite existence in a state of heated vapor or gas, which, gradually cooling at the surface, was contracted or condensed, and formed a crust or shell of rock, enclosing and confining the still fiery vapor which formed the bulk of the globe ; that this matter fre- quently burst through its thin shell, causing earthquakes, and forming volcanoes; that such was the origin of what are now quiet and often wooded mountains ; the lower chains being first formed, when the crust was comparatively thin ; the higher at a more recent period, when that crust had attained far greater strength, enabling it to present greater resistance to internal fires and perturbations, thus rendering eruptions less frequent and more violent; and, when they did occur, throwing up those mighty mountain chains known to us as the Himalayas, the Andes, etc. The volcanic activity still manifested in the earthquakes of South America, the Sandwich Islands, etc., may indicate that these are of more recent formation than the hemisphere known to us as the Old World. While its crust was much thinner, the earth's surface was naturally much warmer than now, causing a perpetual ascension of vapor, which necessarily returned to the ground again as rain Observations prove that the sky was more humid, the' annual rainfall more copious, and the volume of our streams and rivers far greater, than now. At a later period, cold prevailed, and a rigorous climate was nearly or quite universal, causing (13) 14 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. vast glaciers to form and endure for ages on the slopes of hills which have known no per- manent ice since the dawn of authentic History. Vast icebergs floated across the seas, then nearly or quite universal, often grounding upon submerged rocks, or scraping and knocking oft' larger or smaller fragments, and thus triturating or pulverizing them. The soils with which Agriculture now deals are composed of matter which was once gas, next water, afterward rock, and at length, often in combination with oxygen and other gase.-;, became what we now see it. Soil and climate at length favoring, plants finally ap- peared — at first, mainly ferns and mosses, but in time every .description of annual, bush, and tree. These, in their processes of growth and vigorous life, absorbed or took up eartlis, even hastening the decomposition of rocks, and, decaying, restored them to the soil in a finer and more digestible form. This process is still active; and the earth, apart from Man's labors and his devastations, is slowly, steadily becoming more fertile and productive. Its soils are increasing in depth through the decomposition of rocks, and in fertility through the continual growth and decay of plants and trees; but this tendency to melioration is counteracted by the influence of rains, streams, and floods, which annually wash away millions of tons of their best ingredients, to squander them upon the thankless oceans. Fires, also, are sometimes destructive of fertility ; while putrid and noisome exhalations waft away valuable elements from the husbandman's fields and gardens to squander them on lakes, mountains, woods, and deserts, where they are of no sensible use to mankind. Thougli a little use has been made of Iron, in some concrete forms, by horticulturists, while it is known that several rocks contain potash, sulphur, phosphorus, and other ele- ments of plants. Agriculture has, thus far, learned how to dissolve or convert with profit but two species of rock in aid of production. These are popularly known as Lime and (•ypsum or Plaster of Paris,* but are in fact both limestones ; the former being a carbonate or chemical combination of Lime with Carbonic Acid in the proportion of about five parts of Lime to four of Carbonic Acid; the latter a combination of Lime with Sulphur, in the like proportion. To chemists, the former is known as a carbonate, the latter as a s^dphalc,o{ Lime. The carbonate is made available to farmers by burning the rock to dissolution, which expels the Carbonic Acid, leaving the Lime free. The latter is simply broken and ground, when it is fit for use. It has been held that Lime is only useful as a solvent of vegetable matter; but the fact that it enters largely into the composition of bones, would seem inconsistent with this hypothesis. Gypsum is of use not merely be- cause its elements enter into the composition of animal and vegetable structures, but because its Sulphur is held to have a far greater affinity for Ammonia than for Lime; so that when liberated by grinding and sown over the ground, especially on eminences, or hill-sides, the Ammonia which has been taken up by the breezes that wander at will over barnyards, pig-pens, decaying carcasses, fetid marshes, drains, etc., eagerly combines with the Sulphur of the Gypsum, forming a Sulphate of Ammonia instead of a Sulphate of Lime, leaving the Lime free. Ammonia is one of the most potent stimulants of plant growth, which explains the seeming disparity between the small quantity of Gypsum applied (usually a bushel to a barrel per acre), and the great results said to be produced. Though soils appear to respond most unequally to the demands made upon them by Gypsum — those which are located near salt water receiving little or no benefit, and some others responding but feebly— it is probable that no other purchased or commercial m,a- nure ever returned, in the average, so large or so prompt a recompense for the cost of * So called becau^ the city of Paris is built over a bed of this rock, decayed or rotted on its surface, and thus constantly imparling fertility to the soil, even where its surface is a few feet above the Gypsum. INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. J5 its application as Oyps ini. I firmly belipve that it has often given ten for one — ten dol- lars in the increased quantity or value of crop for each dollar's worth of Gypsum applied to the soil. Common Lime has often effected great and enduring improvement, but in no Buch proportion as this. TREATMENT OF THE SOIL. The soil or finely pulverized earth, mainly mineral in its origin, is often twenty, fifty, and even in places a hundred feet deep; there are valleys in which it is even deeper. The valley of the Sacramento and the San Joaoquin, in California, has been pierced a thou- sand feet at Stockton, without encountering a suggestion of rock — the strata thus trav- ersed being alternately sand, clay, and vegetable mold. Usually, however, the farmer need concern himself only with that yard in depth of his soil, which lies nearest the surface; aJid it is to this that my remarks shall henceforth be confined. Nine-tenths of this soil usually consists of decomposed rock, distinguished as sand, clay, or loam, which last is mainly a mixture of clay and sand. Sand, when nearly jjure, was deposited by running or Howing water, by currents. Clay is rock decomposed or de- posited in still water, as Limestone was. Neither sand nor clay is often found entirely free from the presence of the other. To these are added the products of vegetable de- composition or decay, which seldom amount to three inches in depth of the surface; though the prairies of the West, the bogs and swamps of the East, are often mainly vegetable to a depth of several feet. These are among the richest soils on earth, though the bogs, being wet and sour, need sweetening and curing to render them of service to the farmer. Lirne, Salt, Wood-ashes, are the alkalis usually employed to this end; Wood ashes, when abundant, are best; but a combination of Quicklime with Salt (the sweepings of salt-stores or vessels, the refuse of packing-houses), will usually be found cheaper and more attainable. PRACTICAL TILLAGE, Let us suppose a young farmer to have recently come into possession of one or tvro hundred acres of fair land, which he is determined to improve and till to the best advan- tage; how shall he begin and proceed ? East of the AUeghanies and north of Cape Fear or the Santee, the most obvious difficulty is the general inequality of the surface, constraining petty or patchy cultivation. Almost every acre of good natural soil will have a rocky ridge or ledge on one side, a marsh or quagmire on the other ; and these will be so interlaced and chequered, that, on a farm of a hundred acres, it will often be difficult to find ten acres together, not broken into ■by some sort of natural interruption or obstacle to tillage. Hence, were these lands naturally as fertile as the Western prairies (which they are not), it would still be impos- sible to grow Grain or Vegetables upon them so cheaply or abundantly as they are grown in the West. A. heavy expenditure in blasting, digging, and drawing away of stone on the one hand, and in draining marshy, boggy grounds on the other, is the indispensable prerequisite to any extensive grain-growing on the sea-board, save on the broad, rich intervals of the Connecticut, and some other rivers. I will consider, therefore, what should be done by the young farmer on a Western soil. L The first admonition I would impress on his mind is, Be thorough. Plan to make few .fences serve, but have all of these thoroughly good fences — not seminaries for the edu cation of breachy cattle. Begin by fencing off two pasture-lots, not too far from your barns; inclose these in high, strong fences, and never let your cattle pass beyond these and their yard, save on special occasions, when they are allowed to gather the fodder of 16 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. a field rtrhence corn has been taken. No farmer can afford to graze his meadows, whether in Spring or Fall ; he should not admit cattle among his fruit trees ; and he makes a great mistake if he allows them to range and browse his woods, for they will destroy many of the best young trees, leaving the worst to take the ground. I have twenty acres of wood, whence I have rigidly excluded cattle for the last fifteen years, and the forest trees are rapidly changing their character for the better in consequence. There were but few Sugar Maples in those woods when I bought them ; now there are many; and White Ash, Tulip, and Hickory, are also coming in, where hungry cattle used to browse them to death, leaving the ground to the Hemlocks, Dogwoods, Red Oaks, etc., wliich they disdained to eat. I tell you, farmers, that, as you can not afford to grow un- grafted fruit, so you can not afford to grow such forest trees only as your cattle refuse to eat Better exclude your stock, and improve your forests by planting such trees as you ^leed or fancy. II. Next, I would have you realize thai good land pays better for fertilizing than poor. There are some who imagine that, because their land is good, it does not need or will not jjay for enriching, which is a great mistake. If your soil contains nine-tenths of the elements required to secure a good, bountiful yield of Wheat, Corn, or Oats, you can better aflbrd to add the remaining tenth than you could to add two, three, four, or five- tenths to a poorer soil. If it now yields a first-rate crop without manuring, it will be less and less able to do so after each crop hereafter grown on it. You may have a large balance in bank, yet if you keep drawing and never deposit you will surely exhalist it; and so the farmer who grow.s crop after crop on a rich soil, burning or wasting the stalks or straw, and selling the grain, is surely hastening the day when that soil will have ceased I'.o be productive. III. The farmer is a manufacturer of useful and high-priced staples from elements of far inferior value. He procures what costs him but little, and transforms it into some- thing that is worth and will sell for far more. It is his art to know in what shape he may buy cheapest that which will sell for a much larger price. His soil is generally valuable in direct proportion to its composite or heterogeneous character. If it be pure sand or pure clay, it is of little worth ; whereas, the same area of equally mingled or blended sand and clay would be fruitful and valuable. Thus the Platte, Kansas, and other streams which traverse the Great American Desert, bear there- from the elements which form the rich, fertile bottoms of the lower Mississippi. To plow often, plow deeply, and turn up the subsoil to air, light, and warmth, are of them- selves conducive to fertility ; though they may be countervailed and overborne by taking off crop after crop of grain or other seed and adding nothing in return. Deep, thorough, frequent working of the soil, so far as it is cultivated at all, is the basis of all good farming. IV. As to Fertilizers, Plaster excepted, ilte nearest are generally the cheapest. We send half-way round the globe for Guano, at a cost to the farmer of $60 (gold) per ton, yet allow materials to run to waste, and poison our waters and atmosphere, which would afford an equal amount of plant-food, at less than half the cost Every good farmer will make the most of the excretions of his animals to begin with; and to this end he will have a barn or cattle-yard, hollow in the center, and raised on every side (like a saucer), so as to give his animals dry footing in the wettest weather, yet keep the center moist, and prevent any escape of liquids. Into this yard he will cart Muck (if he can get it), Leaves, Weeds (cut green). Stalks, Straw, and every other vegetable substance that he can find no better use for; if these are deficient, he will cart in load after load of Swamp Muck, Leaf Mold, or even Turf or Loam, if he can get nothing better. Muck is worth INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 17 drawing a mile if his land is quite poor, but not if he can get prairie soil in abundance at hand. To make a big pile of manure, and have it thoroughly ripe for use when he wants to apply it, is the second step in good farming. If he can not make enough of this, he may buy what are called Commercial Manures — Flour of Bone, Phosphates, Lime, and even Guano; but his cheapest and best fertilizer (after Plaster, if not before even that) will be that made under his own eye, in his own yard. And of this the more he makes, within his means, the richer he will become. Millions of farmers have gone into bankruptcy for want of home-made manure; I never heard of one who was bankrupted by making and using too much of that. On our Eastern granitic soils, I am satisfied that unleached Wood-ashes are worth thirty to fifty cents per bushel, according to quality ; but on a Western prairie, of which the soil is largely composed of ashes, and whose grain is much cheaper, they can not be worth so much ; still, no wise man will ever sell any nor will he leave them unused. Even Leached-ashes are worth carting half a mile, and applying to very light, warm soils. I think Shell Lime (unslaked) pays on my place, where it costs twenty-five cents per bushel applied. I doubt that any Lime that can be procured in the West will ofteir pay that price. Yet I advise every one who can get Quicklime for that price, to buy a little, and give it a careful trial; sowing and leaving strips alternately, staking them carefully, and watching the result, not on the first crop only, but on the two or three succeeding. I suspect that there are many sections of the West that it will pay to lime ; and, I am sure, that fiumers in this region, who have made Pork extensively for sale, would have lost money thereon but for the manure that, carefully saved, proved of nearly equal value with the meat. We have barely begun to realize the value of manures. The older, and in some respects better, farmers of China and Japan are thei'ein our masters. V. But we have even more to learn with respect to the agricultural uses of Water. An old and successful farmer, who lives near me, sums up his observations and experience in the maxim that "' Water is the cheapest and best fertilizer on earth." Of course, every rule is subject to exceptions; yet I firmly believe our American farmers more faulty in respect to water than elsewhere. After traversing fruitful, bounteous Lombardy — the vast plain which gently slopes from the Austrian Alps down to the Po — and of which the annual, product is fully doubled by water, and having also witnessed the marvelous re- sults of irrigation in Utah, I can not patiently abide the general indifference of our farm- ers to the subject. I estimate that fully One Million American farmers could dam and turn aside a brook or runnel, so as to irrigate at pleasure from two to ten acres of their several farms, at a cost of $100 for the first outlay, and $10 per annum afterward, if they would; and that the average increase of their products, respectively, would not fall below $100 per annum. This, of course, is but a beginning. Ultimately we must dam larger streams — rivers, even, and irrigate by means of little canals, from ten to a hundred square miles from a single dam. Let the water be drawn off when it is higliest and richest, and sent meandering gently among fields of grain, and grass, and vegetables, ready to be let on as their needs shall indicate, and we shall have an instant increase in our pi-esent annual product, to the extent of many Millions, with a steady augmentation of the fertility and productiveness of our Agriculture for ages to come. Every acre wisely irrigated one year, will prompt the irrigation of two more acres the next year; and so' on, till all our lands that can be flowed, by skillful engineering, at a cost below $50 per acre, will have been provided with the means of illustrating the marvelous produc- tiveness of the narrow valley of the lower Nile. VL Nor shall we stop here. I hold the prairies admirably adapted to Inigation. Choose the highest points or swells that can be found; dig on each a deep well, and 18 INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. place a self-regulating windmill over it ; dig a basin by its side, and the windmill may take its own time for filling it. If the water be brackish, or hard, or otherwise mineral ized, so much the better as a general rule, tliough there may be exceptions. When the suns of May and June have thoroughly warmed the reservoir, begin to draw it. off through shallow ditches, leading along the highest swells or ridges, and let it ooze out from time to time to give moisture to the growing crops during the thirsty heats of July and August. I do not believe there is a prairie county in which Irrigation may not be largely inaugurated at a net profit, at least, of nearly twenty-five per cent, per annum on the total cost. VII. Good farming vindicates itself by a constant increase of the capacity of the soil. The farm that would scarcely keep a dozen head of cattle when the good farmer first took it in hand, soon amply subsists twenty, and by-and-by forty or fifty. It turns off more produce year after year, but in the shape that least exhausts the soil — in Beef, Pork, or Live Stock, instead of Hay and Grain. Nine-tenths of all that the soil yields is thus returned to it as manure, while the free use of Muck, Gypsum, etc., is continually increas- ing its product in quantity and value. As a general rule, I hold that no farmer ever enriched himself by a husbandry that impoverished, or even failed to enrich, his farm. VIII. Certain plants — Clover pre-eminent among them — draw nourishment from the atmosphere and impart fertility to the soil. These are wisely grown by every good farmer ; but to one who has not Muck at command they are indispensable. Wherever the soil is deficient in vegetable matter— as I have often found it, even in the West, on the openings or " barrens " — Clover affords the cheapest and readiest corrective. If 1 were buying land my first inquiry would be, " Will it grow a good stand of Clover ? " If it will, it may easily be made to produce Wheat, Corn, or almost anything else ; and, though turning under the crop is the shortest way to fertility, it may be mowed or fed off, and the sod turned under, with very good eflect. Perhaps taking off one crop and plowing in a second — say in August for Wheat — is the better policy for the Northwest. IX. A farmer who grows W^heat, Corn, Oats, Barley, etc., to feed or sell, naturally wishes to make a profit on the labor he employs, and to secure a fair recompense for his own. To this end, he turns a large quantity of earth over and over, with plows and other implements, in order to bring his land into the right condition for seeding, as well as to keep the ground mellow and the weeds down thereafter. Now, it is plain to my mind, that he should seek to achieve the desired result with as small an expenditure of strength as will answer. In other words, if upsetting a thousand tons of earth will sub- serve his end, he can not afford to reverse and pulverize two or three thousand tons for the purpose ; or, more plainly, large crops must be grown, in the average, to greater profit than small crops. I doubt that any light crop of grain ever paid the fair cost of growing it; while I think few really heavy crops are grown at a loss. Good farming implies good crops, as well as good management in producing them. X. But, while I would have a given quantity of grain grown with the least displace- ment of earth that will suffice, I urge the farmer not to seek his economy through a reduction of the depth of his plowing. On the contrary, I am sure that our average furrow is quite too shallow, and should be considerably deepened. I know the excuses for shallow plowing — deficient team-power, hurry for seeding, etc., etc ; but they are ex- cuses only, not conclusive reasons. Our hot Summer suns and protracted drouths, which seem to increase both in frequency and duration, with the natural, inevitable demands of plants for ample room to strike their roots deeper, and run them ferther in quest of nourishment, call urgently for deeper plowing I have seen a large crop of Cabbage grown in a dry, hot season, from a field well subsoiled, which would not have yielded INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 half so much if plowed but a single furrow of the ordinary depth. In my judgment, one foot is as little as any land should be plowed ; and this depth should be gradually increased by subsoiling so fast as the requisite power can be obtained. I hail with glad- ness every premonition of the coming Steam Plow, not so much because Steam will pul- verize our soils more cheaply than we now attain that end, but because it is sure to do the work more thoroughly, more profoundly. The rich, deep soil of the prairies predicts and demands the Steam Plow ; its coming can not be much longer delayed; and when it shall have become as familiar as the Reaper and the Cultivator now are, I am confi- dent that we shall pulverize the soil to a depth of at least two feet, and find that none too much. Then we may defy a drouth of five or six weeks to stop the growth or curl the leaves of our corn ; then we may defy the protracted rains often experienced in May and June, to stop our work or keep our young plants for days under water. We shall still employ and profit by Irrigation to increase the luxuriance of our crops; but we shall no longer watch the skies with painful apprehension that five or six weeks of daily, fervid sunshine without rain will blast our hopes of a harvest. XI. As to Drainage, while I have done my share of it with great profit and satisfac- tion, I can not hope to commend it to the present favor of Western farmers, who think they can buy land already dry enough, for less than the cost of draining marshy ground. And yet, I would urge that marshes — in fact, any lands surcharged with stagnant water, which leaves it mainly by tlie slow process of evaporation — are unhealthful; breeding agues and other bilious diseases — that they breed also mosquitoes and other detested insects, and are often unsightly obstacles to symmetrical and economical cultivation. Let any farmer begin by draining his loctiest acre, from which the requisite fall can be obtained— draining it completely and durably — and I am sure he will not stop with that, but proceed to drain more and more, as means and time shall allow. I have twelve to fifteen acres of natural bog or peat swamp, from which a suflScient outlet is secured with great difficulty, the level being maintained for a full mile below it — yet I have drained it so that I have Corn growing on eight acres of it, and have had good Oats and Grass this season on the residue, where, though surrounded with tillage for two centuries, nothing but weeds and coarse, worthless swamp grass had grown till I took hold of it. I believe this land to day worth all it has cost me, which is twice what a farmer living and working on his own land need have paid to achieve like results. Farmers who have facilities and opportunity to oversee your own work which I can not command, do better if you can ; but, if not, go and do likewise I AGRICULTURE: Its History, Pbooress and Prospects, and How it may be Made Attractive. Agricttltuke may be defined to be the art of cultivating the earth in such a manner as to cause it to produce, in plenty and perfection, those cereals, vegetables, and fruits which are useful to man, and to the animals which he has subjected to his dominion. The word is made to include the preparation of the soil, the plant- ing of seeds, the culture and harvesting of crops, and the breeding, feeding, and management of live stock. Agriculture preceded manufactures and com- merce, and rendered both possible; it is at the basis of all other arts, and was coeval with the dawn of civilization. Systematic husbandry seems to have immediately succeeded the sav- age .state in all races; when population in- creased, and hunting and fishing became too precarious for a relialjle subsistence, man sup- plied his needs by a tillage of the earth, and the permanent adoption of a pastoral life. The first mention of agriculture is found in the writings of Moses. From them we learn that Cain was a "tiller of the ground," that Abel sacrificed "the firstlings of his flock," and that Noah was a husbandman and planted a vineyard. The Chinese, Chaldeans, Egyptians, and Phoenicians evidently held this art in much esteem. The Carthaginians carried it to a lilgher degree than their colemporaries, and Maoo, one of their famous generals, wrote twenty-eight volumes on agriculture. Hesiod, Xenophon, and Aristotle, among the Greeks, and Cato and VlRGlL for the Romans, added their hand-bociks on the practice of husbandry, and their poetical tributes to its praise. The early agriculture was of course very ruile, and the variety of crops very limited — some simple cereals, and some coarse roots. Fallowing seems to have been a universal prac- tice with the southern nations; but it consisted merely in a suspension of cropping for one year, during wliich the field was generally over- (21) I run and exhausted by rampant weeds. As man emerged from the condition of a savage, and abandoned the hunter state, the practical work of tillage seems to have been intrusted to cap- tive slaves, while the stronger and more intelli- gent families, clans, and races were involved in a constant struggle for supremacy, in the brief intervals of which they gave to husbandry a lazy superintendence. From such farming little progress could be expected to result. The soil was in its virgin fertility. Few weeds ofl'ered their obstruction. The ground was scratched, the seed thrown in, and a harvest reaped. Agriculture was every- where mechanical, nowhere scientific. No con- siderable improvement could be made as long as the soil, by the simplest processes, supported the population of a country without it. In Egypt and Jlome we find the first traces of the use of manure, in those districts where the population had become dense. It was there that military chieltains came to the plow, drawn thither by the proud thought, as Pliny expressed it, that "the earth took pleasure in being cultivated by the hands of men crowned with laurels and decorated with triumphal honors." In Great Britain, before the Nor- mans came, the need of artificial aids was little felt, and agriculture was little studied. As late as 1600, Lord Bacon showed himself worthy to be impaled upon Pope's epigram, by having his large collection of books upon agri- culture piled up in his court-yard and burned. "In all these books I find no prineipleii," wrote the vandal, "they can, therefore, be of no use to any man." Yet it may be said in extenuation of the act, that the volumes which composed that feu dejoie were no doubt crude specimens, for farming was then the coarsest of all crafts, and farmers were ignorant and vulgar boors. Oats and barley were almost the only vege- tables eaten, and the common people had little 22 agriculture: meat, except the wild game which the forests afforded. " No hoed crops or edible vegetables were cuUivated," says Macauley, " and even as late as the reijj;n of Henry VIII, Queen Catharine was obliged to send to Flanders or Holland for salad to supply her table. Keil'her Indian corn, nor potatoes, nor squashes, nor carrots, nor cabbages, nor turnijjs were known in England till after the beginning of the si.Kleenth century. The poor pea.«ants sub- sisted chiefly upon bread made of barley, ground in a quern, or hand-mill, and baked by themselves. Neither was clover yet cul- tivated." For a century before the American revolu- tion England was an exporter of breadstuffs, but after that time she wa.-* an importer; and we find the shrewdest Englishmen seeking methods to increase their harvests and their herds. Up to that date the farmers do not seem to have really understood the cause of the productiveness of the soil, nor to have known wliy persistent cropping caused infer- tility. But now fens and marshes were drained, wild tracts were subdued, barren lands were irrigated ; the character and effect of animal, vegetable, and mineral manures were studied; subsoiling and the rotation of crops began to be practiced; And while many exhausted fields slowly recovered their verdure, an awakened in- terest was also taken in the breeding of stock — that .strong right arm of the succe.'ssful farmer. Thus agriculture, begun in its simplest form by him who was given a garden and ordered "to dress and to keep it," has come down to us. Agriculture needs to emploj' seven-eighths of the inhabitants of every civilized country. Its pursuit tends to give health to the body and vigor to the mind; it is favorable to long life, to virtuous and temperate habits, and to knowledge and purity of character; it should be the best school of personal happiness, as it is the true support of national independence. It had such charms for Cincinnatus, that un- der his first mild consulship, the perils that Bnrrounded the Roman republic kept him only sixteen days from th& tillage of his little farm. Is agriculture less attractive now than it was formerly? It can not be denied that as it !ims been practiced for the last century in this country, it has been nuicli less delightful and remunera- tive than the unagricultural orators and poets would fain have us believe. Farmers and farmers' wives are not enthusiastic in iiraise of their calling, .\lthough it can be siiown that they have accumulated more property than the average of mechanics, miners, or speculators, many of them feel that they have worked early and late, subdued their rebellious fields by the hardest knocks, and worn themselves out by a life of drudgery. Hoping to jirofit by the pa- rental experience, the boys rush to the cities, where four merchants in five fail to make a living, and where ten willing men are waiting for every vacancy; and the daughters, remem- bering the mother's weary face, become school- teachers, store-tenders, or factory girls. By this process, thousand.-! of farms all over the ] East have passed into the hands of a phxhling j foreign peasantry, out of the hands of Ameri- Ican families tired of hereditary drudgery. I Such a state of things is surely to be deplored. The prosperity and happiness of a nation al- ways depend on the thrift and happiness of its rural people. AVhat is the remedy for this di-ssatisfaction ? The remedy may be said to be complex : 1. The home miist be made more attractive. Farmers' houses ought to be pleasanter than any other. Standing in the midst of a rural landscape, with no crowding to compel slatternly habits, with plenty of room for flowers, hedges, garden, lawn, all relieved upon a background of summer green, Nature conspires with the thritty former to make his home supremely picturesque and inviting. Yet this condition generally implies a certain degree of culture and refinement in the owner. As long as he is coar.se and rude in his tastes, he will not be ainioyed by a rickety well-curb, and wiil be apt to regard, a pile of old rails before his ficnt door as ornamental as a climbing jjorch of roses, or a hedge of arbor vilae. No wonder that so many boys who have caught glimpses of better things, rush away, disgusted by the re- pulsive aspect of farm life. How often is it base iind mean! the box-like house going to decay; the tuiiible-down fences; the obtrusive piles of neglected tools, wagon wheels, old iron, and infinite rubbish; the horses half starved and wandering at large, the filthy, bony cows, the squealing pigs, of land-pike variety; the whole dreary waste of fields skinned and plundered from year to year, scaixely any of its product given back in fertility, all its beauty concealed and extinguished! Without any expen.se, ex- cept a little time and taste, our farmers' homes can be embellished and rendered delightful; and only thus can the best youths of this gen- eration be induced to remain in the homestead of their fathers. 2. Co-operative fai'ming should be encuuraijcd. ITS IlISTORV, PROGRESS, ETC. Donald G. Mitchell says that being in a street-car in St. Louis, last summer, he fell into conversation with the driver, who said lie was on his feet some seventeen hours a day, and was paid for it two dollars; that his knees often swelled so that lie could hardly stand. Mitch- ell asked, "Why don't you give it up, and go to work on a farm? You can get as good wages, and live decently." "Oh!" replied the driver, "I have had enough of that — it's too lonesome; I w.ant to see folks." Now, the man may be called a fool by some, but he expressed a fact, and one which induces many men, and women, too, to give up a life of comfort, security, and independence on the land, and to crowd into cities, where they can have neither comfort, security, nor independ- ence, and where many of ihcm sink into suf- fering and di.sgrace. What is the remedy for this unfortunate con- dition of things? It is to make farming more agreeable. How? By enabling men and women to see more of one another, and so to gratify a. great social desire, which will tend to make farming not only the most secure and in- dependent life, as it now i.s, but also the most agreeable. This is to be done by working in co-opera- tion, and not single-handed and alone. Mitchell proposes this way: Let three to five farmers in a neighborhood combine for nuitual help, each one owning his own farm, etc., etc. Instead of each man plowing alone, let the whole five combine to work one day for one man, and finish his plowing up; the next day for the next man, and so on, using up the week. Then, with sowing or planting, let the same system be employed, thus using up five days in the week, provided all the days were fair. At any rate, let the system be car- ried throujih. The work will be done faster, with more heart; the young fellows will see one another, they will talk together, and dine together, and get some social interchange, which they must hare. . The women and younger members of the family must also have some social e-xciteraent and pleasure. Let these five families then set aside one afternoon or evening, or both, of each week, when they will all meet at one lionse, for social entertainment, for eating, for reading, talking, singing, dancing, and so on. Let this evening be sacred to this matter and not be infringed. Wi' shall then have fewer sickly women and children, and fewer dissatisfied boys and girls in farmers' hou.ses. Isolation and individual- ism will not work well. Co-operatiun will. Let us try it. 3. Progrenslre fdrming imist be mhslituted for routine farmin (J. — The most intelligeni, practical farmers agree in believing that relief lies in breaking up the traditional routine that has passed from generation to generation, and in substituting modern and more rational methods. The farmers who are dissatisfied with their lot, who complain that farming is "to delve all your days and nothin' to show for it," are gen- erally the plodders, who have learned little that is new since their fathers inherited the homestead. Routine is naturally fatiguing and disgusting to the human mind. Let every farmer resolve to break it up, and substitute science in its place, and we shall hear no more of a farmer's life being a slave's life. Scientific farming does not mean the adoption of fancy ihetjries; it means a willingnesa to learn from the lairs nf na- ture and the experience nf other practical fanners, how to exchange bad habits of husbandry for better ones. The art of agriculture, as generally prac- ticed, is to-day behind every other art. Farm- ers have studied less to perfect tluinselvcs in their calling than have the members (jf any other trade or profession. How many thou- sands there are, in every State, who never see an agricultural journal or book! Such farm- ers hick new ideas more than they lack new implements. Their minds need subsoiling more than their grounds! Routine farming, as it has been and still is widely practiced, t's drudgery — one of the most wearying and unprofitable of employments. Scientific farming, as it is to be, and as it has already begun to be — farming based on Nature's laws and the average experience of farmers — is the most plea.sant, remunerative, and satisly- ing occupation of man.* This is the almost uniform testimony of those who have broken out of the ancestral ruts, and have learned a better way. The time has come when the fanners of the country, even of the Middle and Western States, must do something to arrest the declin- ing fertility of the soil, and tlie centriiugal tendency of their most intelligent sons. The •.Vrcording to thi? cenpus showings of 18i;o, the totnl I'ahie of cnpita] investcrl in lantlfl tind impli-nientp in this ■0!intry was $ti,s«|-,<,((io.iHj