can and ought to compel him to perform his duty in this respect, if he neglects it. Every person must use his own property so as not to injure that of his neighbor: this should deter each of us from allowing any weed to mature its seed, so as to be wafted upon our neighbor's premises. Let each of us then, attend diligently to our duty in this respect, and I doubt not that our good example will either encourage or shame our less diligent neighbor into the performance of his duty, and save us the necessity of a resort to even remonstrance on the subject.

It is believed that good husbandry will eradicate all weeds: let us, therefore, nerve ourselves for the encounter of these pests, and never lay aside our implements of warfare, until, with the Roman General, we can triumphantly exclaim, "veni, vidi, vici."

As worthy of the especial attention of every farmer, I would particularly notice the weed commonly known among us as "toad flax.” In its grasping, self-appropriating disposition; in the rapidity with which, by root and seed, it will overrun our land, and in the tenacity with which it clings to the slightest foothold it may obtain in the soil; it has, I believe, no successful rival in the great family of weeds-not even excepting the high dignitary among agricultural tormentors, the "Canada thistle :" with it we must do battle to the death-it will make with us, no compromise-it claims all, and it will take all, wherever it obtains the mastery. To study its habits, is, perhaps, the surest mode of ascertaining its cheapest and most ready destroyer. "Every bane has its antidote :" and a full measure of honor and reward is due to him who shall discover the antidote for this. Careful cultivation, in a series of crops, which admit of the frequent use of the plough, the cultivator and the hoe, will, it is said, not only destroy it, but convert it into an excellent manure; but it seems to choose for its abode, high, broken and stony land, and there, this slow process must prove ineffectual. The fact, however, that it selects such ground as is most congenial to its nature, and the further fact, that it is never-at least as far as my observation extends-seen in low, wet, or clay soils, and especially muck, may be a remedy we want. I am now trying the experiment of its application, and trust that others will do likewise.

The whole family of worms and bugs, which help to fill up this mighty creation-of which we "lords" are, after all, but atoms-and which, in working out the inscrutable ends of their existence, frequently thwart our purposes, and interfere with or utterly frustrate our plans, is also well worthy of our attention. To particularize or even enumerate them, would far exceed both my ability and the limits.

which your patience would allow to this discourse the naturalist finds a fruitful, interesting and instructive source of inquiry in the study of their nature, habits and transformations; and we may deduce valuable practical lessons from the facts which he has already ascertained. So far to make ourselves acquainted with their natural propensities or instincts, as to be enabled to convert them from instruments of evil, into active laborers in our behalf, would be a valuable employment of our time. We must know how to use them or destroy them.

Having thus cursorily referred to the farmer's great enemies in husbandry, permit me also briefly to notice some of the helpmates, animate and inanimate, which require his particular attention.

First in the list of these stand his domestic animals: experience has long since shown that all animals, when well-cared for, well-fed, and well-housed, could be supported at much less expense, and would be much more capable of performing their duty towards us, than if left to battle in an unprotected state with the cold and storms of our inclement and fitful climate. A certain amount of animal heat is necessary to the health, and indeed to the existence of every animal: heat, it is now well known, is obtained by the consumption of the very materials which, under different operations of the system, would be used to form the flesh and the fat of the animal: if then, by protection from out. ward cold, we prevent the escape of an undue portion of this heat, we actually save to ourselves the food which would be required to replenish it, whilst we have at the same time the gratification of knowing that we have materially added to the physical comfort of our beasts. True economy, as well as humanity, requires of us to furnish all animals with an abundant supply of food suitable to their condition, and agreeable to their palate; to study and note the different effect of the various articles of food we use, will afford interesting employment for our leisure time.

But the great and all-engrossing object of the farmer's attention, should be the cheap accumulation of the best manures. Every thing which has life must have food, vegetable as well as animals; and to supply the most and best food, at the cheapest rate, is the perfection of husbandry. To effect this purpose, a careful and diligent use of the means which are bountifully supplied by Providence, is alone requisite. To know how best to use those means, and which to select, when a choice is presented to us, will of course require study and experience. I know too well the hardy yeomanry of our land to fear that they will shrink from the performance of all requisite labor to ef[Assembly, No. 100.]

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fect this object show them the way, and they will be sure to follow it. Let us all then pursue our avocations with an observant eye, and let us carefully note our observations. The farmer should emphatically be a student of Nature and of her works-her broad pages lie open before him, spread out in his every-day path, so that "he that runs may read." Days and hours may be saved at all seasons, and even weeks and months in the season of winter, Nature's long sabbath of repose; when the facts thus gathered may be examined, analyzed and compared, and useful lessons be deduced to guide him in his after course. The time which would otherwise have been wasted in listless idleness, or, still worse, in the perusal of the vapid productions of six-penny literature or of party virulence and abuse, will thus be profitably and happily spent in promoting the true and permanent interests of his calling. Onward, then! let onward be our cry, and onward be our progress.

Permit me to address a few words to the fair daughters of our land, and I will tax your patience no further.

Man is a gregarious animal, and, as such, government is essential to his comfort, I may even say, to his very existence. The ingenuity of the world has been exhausted in the search for the best form of such government. Despotism-Constitutional Monarchies-OligarchiesRepublics and Democracies-all have had their advocates; but in all, and above all, is a government, (apparently undiscovered by political economists) over-ruling and directing their action by its unseen influence-which unites in itself the useful points of all the others, unanimity of counsel and action, energy, secresy, strength, consent of the governed, and this is-need I name it? PETTICOAT government. Most sober is the truth, tho' in comic verse 'tis told, that

"Lords of creation, men they call,

And they think they rule the whole;
But they're much mistaken after all,

For they're under woman's control."

The influence of woman, as sister, daughter, maiden, wife or mother, for evil or for good, is all-powerful, ali-prevailing: it was her soft blandishments which lured man from his allegiance to his God, and filled Creation with misery and sin. And so too, it was woman, when godless France, maddened by the scenes of blood and carnage through which the unrestrained course of human passion had led her, and rioting in the shameless excess of demoniac fury, seemed, from the exhausted patience of the Almighty, to have called down upon herself, the fearful curse," She is joined to her idols, let her alone!"-when

godless France, thus bereft, fell into the iron grasp of "the man of destiny," it was woman, (woman, embodying all the virtues and lovely qualities of her sex, in the Empress Josephine,) who guided and controlled the energies of that master mind, to curb, subdue and direct the turbulent spirits of his age, and wield them all for good; and it was not, until the cold and selfish principles of worldly policy had induced him rudely to sever the tender bond which united him to his guardian angel, that he ceased to be, notwithstanding all his crimes and inconsistencies, "a minister for good."

In the humbler sphere in which it may be the lot of each one of you, fair hearers, to move, the influence to be exerted is equally potent, though less extensive in its results. To your influence, more than to all else, we look to mould the infant mind-to guide, instruct and direct the youth in his path to manhood-to console, support, and assist the man, in the maturity of his powers, and to sustain him in his downward path to the imbecility of second childhood. Your position is most commanding and important-your duties are weighty, your ability to perform them is unquestionable. Home is the appropriate, the peculiar sphere for the exercise of your power; husbands, lovers, brothers, are the subjects of it; love-all-pervading, all-powerful love-is the instrument by which you attain and exercise it. Illuminating and cheering home with your smiles, in contented employment, and despising the borrowed plumes of idle extravagance, your duties must be, will be, well and faithfully performed.

PUBLIC POLICY IN REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS, &c.

[Remarks of B. P. JOHNSON, President of the Oneida Society, at the late County Fair.]

GENTLEMEN OF THE SOCIETY-A kind Providence has permitted us once more to assemble, to enjoy the festivities of our annual meeting. An occasion like this should be improved, and I know of no other way in which it can better be accomplished, than by adverting to those subjects which are of peculiar interest and importance to the farmer.

I regard Agriculture as preeminently the leading interest in this country, and as having a direct bearing upon our interests and prospe

rity as a nation. It is a subject of such moment as to demand the wisest heads and most matured minds, to present it before the public in such a manner as to impress upon all its importance.

While I would not arrogate to myself any superior knowledge upon the subjects which are so interesting to us all-still I esteem it a privilege which your kindness has afforded me, to make such suggestions as I hope may be profitable, and lead others to enlist in the great work in which we are engaged, and afford to us the benefit of their experience and observation.

The farmers of Oneida have within their reach stores of information, which might readily be obtained, and which would enable them very materially to improve their husbandry; and while many are evidently improving the means which are afforded them, it is not too much to say that the great majority of our farmers are very deficient, as it respects the improvements which are in progress, not only in other lands but even in our own country. It is gratifying, however, to be assured that progress is making-that an advance in every branch of agriculture is apparent.

The exhibitions we have witnessed the last two years, as well as that which gladdens every heart here to-day, gives assurance that with us there is an onward progress-and such as should lead all to take courage, redouble their exertions, and spread far and wide the benefits resulting from improved systems of husbandry.

One great object which the farmer should ever keep in view, is the continued improvement of his land-such a succession of crops should be cultivated as will enable him to receive not only the greatest present return, but such as will enable him for years to come to receive the richest reward from the soil, while at the same time that soil should be continually improving. That this can be done, the example of Flanders and of England, and other portions of Europe, afford the most conclusive evidence.

A system which proceeds on any other basis than this, will soon deteriorate our finest lands. Unless the soil is nourished with manures adapted to it, it will soon cease to return its usual yield. Many a farmer who has been either too slothful or too penurious to replenish his fields, finding them less productive than formerly, concludes that his land is worn out, and he migrates to some other region, and there commences a like system, which will sooner or later produce like results. It is a truth which will ever remain, that the soil, though a bountiful