EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



425 



has been the guest of the most intelligent | has made it yield a crop of eighty bushels 



of the nobility — tor there, agricultural 

 knowledge is the pride of the first aristoc- 

 racy in the kingdom — and has not failed 

 also, to sift, with the ingenuity of a " Mas- 

 sachusetts commissioner," the modus operan- 

 di of the humblest practical ditcher. Mr. 

 CoLMAN is conversant with the condition 

 and prospective capacities of American ag- 

 riculture ; he has personally a happy way 

 of communicating information ; so that we 

 cannot doubt he has cleared up many doubts, 

 removed many prejudices, and left a more 

 favorable impression in that part of Europe, 

 which he has already traversed, of the 

 genius of American agriculture. 



Touching the second point of view, in 

 which we consider Mr. Colman's tour, viz: 

 how it affects his readers and countrymen at 

 home, Ave can of course only give an opinion 

 in part, as his Reports are not yet finished. 

 Only Great Britain has yet received his at- 



of oats to the acre. 



Looking at Mr. Colman's publication, 

 so far, in the light of an interesting contri- 

 bution to scientific and practical agriculture, 

 we think it deserving of general commenda- 

 tion. Its value will perhaps be better un- 

 derstood and appreciated, here at home, ten 

 years hence, than at the present moment, 

 for the very plain and sufficient reason that 

 the practice and the principles which it dis- 

 plays, are unquestionably in advance of the 

 means, and the amount of previous agricul- 

 tural knowledge, possessed by many of his 

 readers. Yet we may not safely assert this 

 as true, for any length of time, however 

 true at the present moment, since, Avatching 

 the progress of these matters, we confess 

 we are often startled at the rapidity with 

 Avhich it strides onAvard. 



In a popular point of view, Ave are confi- 

 dent that Mr. Colman Avould have been 



tention, and Ave anticipate that lessons even j far more successful if he had not given the 

 more instructive, Avill be drawn from the present work to his original subscribers, but 



practice of France and Germany- — countries 

 more nearly like our own in many points of 

 farming practice. 



The eight numbers already published, 

 abound Avith the most valuable and interest- 

 ing accounts of the highly improved condi- 

 tion of English husbandry at the present 

 moment. The ample details given on the 

 subjects of draining and sub-soiling, alone, 

 will, if properly appreciated and put in prac- 



published it in the usual way, or perhaps still 

 more thoroughly digested and matured, a 

 year after his return home. A much more 

 popular, and Ave think scarcely less useful, 

 publication, Avould have been produced, if 

 he had given a graphic and lively Note book 

 of Agricultural Travel i7i Europe, to his 

 tAventy-five hundred subscribers, leaving 

 the present Avork to follow after it. There 

 is a vast deal in the ag-riculture of Great 



tice by his countrymen, be Avorth millions | Britain, and we may add in Mr. Colman's 

 to the country. Those farmers Avho doubt account of it, that is of little or no practical 

 the Avisdom of investing capital in the im- value to most American farmers. Some of 

 provement of their farms, we refer gladly the latter, little accustomed to solid treatises 

 to the account of such experiments as that Avill, Ave fear, turn away from ]\Ir. Colman's 



of Mr. Dennison, of Yorkshire, Avho took a 



excellent numbers, as too heavy, or too pro- 



barren, sandy and boggy heath of four hun- found to rouse their attention, Avhile they 

 dred acres, the best of Avhich previous- I have been thoroughly interested, and often 

 ly let for 2s. 6d. per acre, and by draining [ highly instructed, by such an easy and at- 

 and sub-soiling it in a scientific manner, \ tractive account as that agreeable vATiter 

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