THE WISCONSIN FARMER.



         Reality against iagination.

   In the February No. of the FARMER, I re
 lated some of my experience in farming in thii
 part of Wisconsin. One Adams, who seems tc
 have been offended by my statements, gives,
 in the April No., my article a severe overhaul.
 ing, headed - Farn'ng not the Meanest Occu.
 pation after all."
 I never thought or said that farming was a
 mean occupation.  If I grumbled about any-
 thing, it was about the climate. The experi-
 ence 1 had and stated will be endorsed, and
 has been had by all my neighbors. One ol
 them, who occupies the first settled and larg-
 est farm in this town, has, in about ten succes-
 sive years, planted hundreds of apple trees, of
 which only a few remain; and, I believe, of
 these there is not one entirely sound tree. A
 few dozen apples is all that ever has been raised.
 But Mr. Adams thinks if we have bread and
 some half-rotten potatoes, we ought to be satis-
 fied. This will not satisfy me. I want a little
 more; I want some food for my mind. I do
 not raise fruit trees only for the profit they
 will bring to my pocket; I raise them for my
 pleasure.  One apple raised on a tree that I
 have planted is worth more to me than a bush-
 el I buy in the store. I also want some flow-
 ers, ornamental trees and shrubs. I care but
 little about costly furniture.
 I cannot see what use it is to rate farming
 above all other occupations. Does, perhaps,
 Mr. Adams think if mechanics and lawyers
 read his article they will all become farmers?
 I don't fear very much that, on this account,
 the trade will be overstocked to our own dis-
 comfort.
 In the primitive state of society, I suppose
 the farmer's wife had to spin, and weave into
 cloth the flax and wool her husband raised,
 and make it up into garments, he himself de-
pending very much upon his own industry for
his rude implements of husbandry. But in
present times the farmer depends as much on
the mechanic for his necessities and comforts,
as the mechanic for his bread on the farmer.
  Who made this pen I am writing with? who



made this paper? who made this lamp? who
prepared this kerosene which gives this beau-
tiful light? Who made the stage coach which
will carry this letter to the next railroad sta-
tion? who made the magnificent engine that
will further it to its destination? and who
would be able to pervert the laws like a smart
lawyer? I think the calling of a mechanic,
a lawyer, a Physician or an artist is as honor-
able as the calling of a farmer, and in point
of profit and comfort.
  I know more than one mechanic who tried
farming, and after he had spent two or three
years' hard labor and the money saved previ-
ously, went back to his former vocation.
  I have also some imagination; I can imagine
how Mr. Adams sits in his easy chair, sur-
rounded by comforts, and dictates how we poor
mortals in our log cabins ought to feel. But I
will make one proposition: I want Mr. Adams
to come here, with about $200 in his pocket,
and settle on a piece of Government land; or
I will let him have 80 acres of my own uncul-
tivated land for five years without rent. Next
I want him to take the grubbing hoe and ax
in his own hands. Fourteen days' hard work
will clear one acre of land and make it fit for
breaking. In about three or four years, if he
works hard, he may have cleared some 25 to
30 acres, and his money will all be spent, for
breaking, the support of himself and family,
a cow, a pair of oxen, and a plow; a wagon
he will not have been able to buy.
  Now, suppose it should happen that his crops
failed, and some cold winter morning he should
find himself surrounded by a dozen children
destitute of clothing and food! Then I would
Like him to sit down and write an article on
farming. I fear the poetry of farming would
have been lost in the naked reality.



MT. PISGcI, Wis., April, 1863.



ADOLPHUS.



ALTERNATE HUSBANDRY.-It is a great ad-
vantage in the convertable system of cultiva-
tion that the whole of the manure is employed,
and that those parts of it which are not fitted
for one crop remain as nourishment for an-
other.



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