t>6 



AGRICULTURE. 



nil limes, both before ami after sowing; for, after 

 the fire lias been over the ground, the sod of timothy 

 should be introduced as soon as the other crops will 

 admit, to prevent briers, alders, firr-dirrries, &c. 

 from springing up from Mich xred> ax were not con- 

 sumed by the fire. The timothy should stand four 

 or five years, either for mowing or jasture, until the 

 small roots of the forest-trees are rotten; then it 

 may be ploughed ; and the best mode which I have 

 observeu is, to plough it very shallow in the autumn ; 

 in the spring, cross-plough it deeper, Jiarrow it well, 

 and it will produce a first-rate crop of Indian corn, 

 and potatoes, and, the next season, the largest and 

 l>est crop of flax that I have ever seen, and be in 

 order to cultivate with any kinds of grain, or to lay 

 down again with grass. These directions are to be 

 understood as applying to what are generally called 

 I <'i-/i lands, and the chopping may be done any time 

 in the winter, when the snow is not too deep to cut 

 low stumps, as the leaves are then on the ground. 

 By leaving the brush spread abroad, I liave known 

 such winter choppings to bum as well in a dry time 

 hi August as t hat which had been cut the summer 

 before." The agricultural implements and farming 

 operations of the United States are, in most particulars, 

 very similar to those of Great Britain. Circumstan- 

 ces, however, require variations, which the sagacity 

 of the American cultivator will lead him to adopt, 

 often in contradiction to the opinions of those who 

 understand the science better tlian the practice of 

 husbandry. In Europe, land is dear and labour cheap; 

 but in the United States, the reverse is the case. 

 The European cultivator is led, by a regard to his 

 own interest, to endeavour to make the most of his 

 land ; the American cultivator has the same induce- 

 ment to make the most of his labour. Perhaps, 

 however, this principle, in America, is generally 

 carried to an unprofitable extreme, and the fanners 

 would derive more benefit from their land, if they 

 were to limit their operations to such parts of their 

 possessions as they can afford to till thoroughly and 

 to manure abundantly. A man may possess a large 

 landed estate, without l>eing called on by good hus- 

 bandry to hack and scratch over the whole, as evi- 

 dence of his title. He may cultivate well those 

 parts which are naturally most fertile, and suffer the 

 rest to remain woodland, or, having cleared a part, 

 lay it down to permanent pasture, which will yield 

 him an annual profit, without requiring much labour. 

 The climate and soil of the United States are adapt- 

 ed to the cultivation of Indian corn, a very valuable 

 vegetable, which, it has been supposed, could not 

 be raised to advantage in this country.* This 

 entirely and very advantageously supersedes the 

 field culture of the horse-bean (vicia/aba), one of the 

 most common fallow crops with us. The root hus- 

 bandry, or the raising of roots for the purpose of 

 feeding cattle, is likewise of less importance in the 

 United States than hi Great Britain. The winters are 

 so severe in the northern section of the Union, that 

 turnips can rarely be fed on the ground, and all 

 sorts of roots are with more difficulty preserved and 

 dealt out to stock, in that country, than in those 

 which possess a milder climate. Besides, hay is more 

 easily made from grass in the United States than 

 in Great Britain, owing to the season for hay-making 

 being generally more dry, and the sun more power- 

 ful. There are many other circumstances which 

 favour the American farmer, and render his situation 

 more eligible than that of the European. He is 



* Mr Cobhett has lately attempt*! to raise Indian < 

 In a book which he pubiUhed in Loudou 



corn in 



published in London, 1829, 



A TrttUae on Cobbett't Corn, he professes to have met with 

 much success in the culture of it. 



generally the owner as well as (lie occupier of the 

 soil which he cultivates; is not. burdened with 

 tithes ; his tax.es are light; ami the product of his 

 lalxmrs will command more of the necessaries, com- 

 forts, and innocent luxuries of life. The American 

 public seem, at present, fully aware of the impor- 

 tance of spirited and scientific agriculture. The 

 state of Massachusetts has appropriated considerable 

 sums to add to the funds of the auriculiural societies 

 in that commonwealth. Institutions for the promo- 

 tion of husbandry, cattle slums, ami < \hibitions of 

 manufactures are common in every pan of the ' nion, 

 A periodical publication, entittea the .////' 

 Farmer, is established at Baltimore, and another, 

 called the New England Farmer, is published in 

 Jiostoii. Men of talents, wealth, ami enterprise 

 have distinguished themselves by their laborious and 

 liberal efforts for the improvement of American 

 husbandry. Merino sheep have been imported by 

 general Humphreys, chancellor Livingston, ami 

 others, and are now common in the United Siati -. 

 The most celebrated breeds of British cattle have 1m i. 

 imported by colonel Powel of Powelton, near Phila- 

 delphia ; and there prevails a general disposition, 

 among men of intelligence and high standing in the 

 community, to promote the prosperity of American 

 agriculture. We shall conclude with a fk-w brief 

 notices of some of the most prominent benefits and 

 improvements which modern science has contributed 

 to the art of agriculture. The husbandmen of anti- 

 quity, as well as those of the middle ages, were des- 

 titute of many advantages enjoyed by the modern 

 cultivator. Neither the practical nor the theoretical 

 agriculturists of those periods had any correct know- 

 ledge of geology, mineralogy, chemistry, botany, 

 vegetable physiology, or natural philosophy ; but 

 these sciences have given the modern husbandman 

 the command of important agents, elements, aid 

 principles, of which the ancients had no idea. The 

 precepts of their writers were conformable to their 

 experience ; but the rationale of the practices they 

 prescribed they could not, and rarely attempted to 

 explain. Nature's most simple modes of operation 

 were to them inexplicable, and their ignorance of 

 causes often led to erroneous calculations with re- 

 gard to effects. We are indebted to modern science 

 for the following among other improvements : viz. 

 1. A correct knowledge of the nature and properties 

 of manures, mineral, animal, and vegetable; the 

 best modes of applying them, and the particular 

 crops for which particular sorts of manures are best 

 suited. 2. The method of using all manures of ani- 

 mal and vegetable origin while fresh, before the sun, 

 air, and rain, or other moisture, has robbed them of 

 their most valuable properties. It was formerly the 

 practice to place barn-yard manure in layers or 

 masses for the purpose of rotting, and turn it over 

 frequently with the plough or spade, till the whole 

 had become a mere caput mortuvm, destitute of. 

 almost all its original fertilizing substances, and de- 

 teriorated in quality almost as much as it was reduced 

 in quantity. 3. The knowledge and means of che- 

 mically analyzing soils, by which we can ascertain 

 their constituent parts, and thus learn wliat sub- 

 stances are wanted to increase their fertility. 4. The 

 introduction of the root husbandry, or the raising of 

 potatoes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, c. extensively, by 

 field husbandry, for feeding cattle, by which a given 

 quantity of land may be made to produce much more 

 nutritive matter than if it were occupied by grain or 

 grass crops, and the health as well as the thriving 

 of the animals in the winter season greatly promoted. 

 5. laying down lands to grass, either for pasture or 

 mowing, with a greater variety of grasses, and with 

 kinds adapted to a greater variety of soils ; such as 



