So. 3. 



RepJy to an i.'lddress to Jersey Farmers. 



101 



Rcylj- to an Address to Jersey Farmers. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Sir, — Although I am but a plain man, and 

 get mv bread by wiorp than the sweat of my 

 brow, yet, as I do my duty in keeping- down 

 the weeds and reading the Cabinet, I may, 

 I hope, be allowed to give an opinion on a 

 learned dissertation which appears at page 

 57 of the Cabinet, as copied from the Ledger, 

 in which the writer has displayed great soli- 

 citude ;br the Jersey Farmers, and has taken 

 much pains to bring them acquainted with a 

 manufacture, which he considers well adapted 

 to fill up tlieir " odd times," as Mrs. Jenkm- 

 son says. A^ow, there is not an article in the 

 Cabinet which I do not repeatedly read over 

 before the next number arrives, but after pe- 

 rusing the paper above mentioned half a do- 

 zen times, I must confess I do not yet quite 

 understand it — in consequence, of course, of 

 my own short sightedness — but so it is. 



[a the first place, he tells us, the " resources 

 ;in- manure in our state are limited." Now I 

 -lioald suppose it ratlier the reverse, for, lying, 

 IS lie remarks, within reach of two of the 

 largest and best markets in the union — and in 

 this respect he has justly called us " favored" 

 — we have the means of obtaining fi-om thence 

 inexhaustible supplies of manure, in many 

 instances as back carriage, and in others, by 

 water conveyance, to any extent. But it 

 ^eoms to me a paradox, to hear that " our 

 warm, open, and in many places sandy soils, 

 require rather active manure." Why, I 

 should say, these manures are expressly cal- 

 culated for soils of an opposite nature ! 



He then goes on to press upon us " the 

 study of the sciences," and concludes the 

 paragraph, by reiterating the request, that 

 we would " make ourselves acquainted with 

 the sciences." Now all this is, I dare say, ac- 

 cording to the book, and very good ; but if he 

 were himself a farmer, he would see that this 

 is, to us hard workers, quite out of place. — 

 He then tells us, that it is impossible to pro- 

 cure as much wood ash, " which we know 

 contains potash," as would manure a large 

 portion of land, and therefore recommends to 

 our notice, the vise of soda, — " an alkali tliat 

 can be procured from various substances, and 

 in great quantities ;" and that at present it 

 can be procured, at one place on the Brandy- 

 wine, Delaware, for four dollars per hundred 

 pounds. He before observes, "the caustic 

 nature of potash and soda as manure, is so 

 great, that it is necessary to seek out some 

 safe and economical way of applying them, 

 by forming combinations with other sub- 

 stances." Now lie does not seem to know — 

 that in the leached ashes, which may be 

 purchased on the wharves of the cities in al- 

 most any quantity, is contained the potash and 



soda, already combined with substances ex- 

 actly fit for immediate use ; and I agam re- 

 mark, these may be obtained in any quantity. 



But, all that he has said, is introductory to 

 his ]:)!an for " finding employment for regular 

 establishments, and making a new and useful 

 branch of business." Now all this is very 

 well, but much more applicable to those who 

 are seeking for such employment, than for us 

 Jersey Farmers, who have more than suffi- 

 cient to employ us, did we only devote our- 

 selves to our more i-mmediate concerns, and 

 leave to others the making of " agricultural 

 soap !" A person who trades in " salted sal- 

 mon, herrings, and all kinds of fish," smiled 

 at the idea of cutting off heads and fins for 

 making " agricultural soap," for the sake of 

 saving in the expense of the barrel and cost 

 of transportation. He thought it the most ri- 

 diculous idea imaginable, and said, " ask the 

 gentleman to calculate the value of these ar- 

 ticles contained in a barrel, and which now 

 sell for the price of the fish, and strike the 

 balance in favor of converting them into ag- 

 ricultural soap !" 



But the writer seems entirely to have over- 

 looked our inexhaustible beds of marl, which 

 the geologists tell us contain twelve per 

 cent, of potash, combined too with a substance 

 peculiarly adapted to "our warm, open, and 

 in many places sandy soils," giving them 

 tenacity, and adding, or rather creating a sta- 

 ple to our sands, which enables them to pro- 

 duce and carry crops, equal to almost any in 

 the union. Our resources for manure limited T 

 Why, they are inexhaustible ! and althougji 

 I do not wish to discourage " the study of the 

 sciences," amongst those for whose use such 

 a study is best calculated, yet I cannot help 

 thinking that a Jersey farmer might be ex- 

 cused, on the score of having something much 

 more necessary to attend to than " to become 

 acquainted with the laws by which nature 

 controls every thing that they do." I beg 

 once more not to be considered as objecting 

 to the "study of the sciences" — that is a sub- 

 ject which merits the attention of men of high 

 attainments in science and philosophy, and 

 who are more likely to do justice to it : I only 

 deprecate the idea, that it is necessary, or 

 oven desirable, for the employment of the 

 husbandman, whose daily, labor is only sufli- 

 cient to obtain for his family their daily 

 bread, 



I must add, I have known the most egre- 

 gious follies perpetrated under the sanction 

 of "science," that ever entered the head 

 of mortal, and I consider the proposal con- 

 tained in the article on page 64 of the Cabi- 

 net, the ne plus ultra. It is from the Farm- 

 er's Register, and the production o^ a writer 

 on the subject of " Vegetable Physiology." 

 To be sure, he modestly ventures to propose, 



