Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1859 — IMPROVEMENT IV AGRICULTURE. [ARTICLE]

IMPROVEMENT IV AGRICULTURE.

The following is from the eloquent pen of a friend of ours. Although it was intended morely for private eyes, yet, inasmuch as it contains some sensible remarks, we take the' liberty to lay it before the farmers of Jasper. We are in hopes of securing occasional articles from his pen for our columns.' Speaking of agriculluriXghejjftys: “I am convinced that it Is a subjectYvhich cannot receive an attention more thap eominensurjfW; with its iniportance—it ' being iin art, which suddenly and of late has, awakeped into surprising activity, and seemsdestined to do more for the promotion of the welfare of mankind by bringing acre after acre of this habitable globe, being already exhausted by a primitive and ude method of cultivation, under the hands of practical agriculturalists, thereby substituting for an ill-fed peasantry a well-conditioned and happy yeomanry. Truly in no department of human industry has the improvements been more rapid—whether we contemplate the mprovpments made in agricultural implements, the increasing number of the different kinds of crops and the rotation of the same, the application of numberless and varied fertilizers, the adoption of a new system of draining, the introduction and founding of new' breeds of cattle and sheep, and the methods of rearing and fattening them, all of which and many others are the results of modern industry. The strong opposition once made to the reception of new ideas has been broken down, and now the victory over ignorance and prejudice seems complete. And with all this comes great intellectual improvement. The varieties of knowledge are more numerous. It has becflttie highly honorable and..important for all classes to become acquainted to some extent with the science of agriculture; and the wide dissemination of knowledge upon this subject is depending not a little upon the circulation of periodicals under the direction of those who labor assiduously to bring before the minds of the farming population the benefits of every discovery, the tendency of which is to make the co ntry wiser, wealthier and happier.” roads are all the go here just now—not Union Plank Road, which 8 is belaw par in this community—but plank sidewalks along our streets. One has already been laid from Liberal Corner down beyond the mill a short distance, and is to be continued the whole length of the street. Another is in contemplation from Thompson &, Son’s Corner., to the Methodist Church, and a third from Sayler’s Corner to the Baptist and Presbyterian Churches, with a branch running down by Dr. Moss’ residence. This is a‘inovetnent in the right direction, and the walks should be jushed along every street. have had no Indianapolis papers •ince Saturday.