176 



Soma of the Principles of the New Husbandry. Vol. IV. 



■^nder the old system the profit was £1 9s. 3d. 

 •—under the new £17 Gs. 9d. — an increase 

 of more than 1100 per cent. The medium 

 value of the acreable profit in England is 

 stated at from twenty-seven to thirty-six dol- 

 lars per annum. 



We have spoken of Mr. Coke as one of the 

 best farmers of the age. He owns a large 

 estate in Norfolk, England, a portion of which 

 he has been personally improving for half a 

 century, the residue being occupied by ten- 

 ants. The rental upon his estate has risen, 

 in fifty years, in consequence of the improve- 

 ment in husbandry which he has introduced, 

 from £5,000 to £40,000. 



The HofRvyl Agricultural School farm, in 

 Switzerland, under M. Fellenburgh, com- 

 prises two hundred and fourteen acres. Lord 

 Brougham, after visiting this farm, and mak- 

 ing inquiries of the Principal, says he found 

 the average annual profit of the pattern-farm 

 alone, for a period of four years, amounted to 

 £8S6 sterling, equal to about $4,000, ex- 

 clusive of the cattle concern, which is kept 

 separate. 



The last case we will cite abroad, is that 

 of the farm belonging to the Agricultural 

 School of Moegelin, in Prussia, under Doctor 

 Von Thaer. The school was established in 

 1809. In twelve years the value of the farm 

 was increased from 2,000 to 12,000 rix dol- 

 lars, by the improved mode of cultivating it. 



The cases we have quoted, v/e admit to be 

 extraordinary ones ; yet they are not witliout 

 parallels in our own country. Agriculture 

 has been in a state of progressive improvement 

 in the valley of the Hudson, for thirty or 

 forty years. The lands have been increasing 

 in value in consequence. The change has 

 been so great/in some districts, that farms 

 which twenty years ago were sold for twenty 

 to twenty-five dollars an acre, have recently 

 been sold for one hundred to one hundred and 

 twenty dollars an acre ; and in other cases, par- 

 ticularly on Kinderhook plains, farms whicli 

 were bought thirty years ago at five and ten 

 dollars an acre, have lately commanded sixty 

 and seventy dollars. Few farms of tolerable 

 land in Dutchess, Orange, or other river 

 counties, contiguous to the Hudson, can now 

 be bought at less than from one hundred to 

 one hundred and fifty dollars an acre, in con- 

 sequence of their increased productiveness, 

 caused by improved husbandry. 



Doctor Black has demonstrated, in his prize 

 essay, published in the American Farmer, 

 that every acre of arable land in New Jersey, 

 which now sells at from ten to thirty dollars 

 per acre, is intrinsically worth five hundred 

 dollars per acre; that is, if put under a judi- 

 cious system of husbandry, every acre may bo 

 made to yield a net profit of thirty dollars per 

 annum, equal to the interest on five hundred 



dollars, at six per cent. And Mr. Johnson, 

 of Maryland, in a speech which he made in 

 Congress in 1837, cites a case in Delaware, 

 near Dover, where land was bought, a \^e\v 

 years ago, of medium quality, at thirty dollars 

 an acre, by Messrs. Sipple and Pennewell, 

 which has paid in its product for all outlay in 

 improvement, and the owners are now re- 

 ceiving, in the farm crops which it gives, an 

 annual clear income equal to the interest of 

 five hundred dollars an acre. 



We will offer but one other illustration in 

 support of the great superiority of the new 

 husbandry. It is that of John Robinson, Esq., 

 an intelligent and industrious Scotch farmer. 

 Fifteen years ago, Mr. Robinson bought a 

 farm on the banks of Seneca Lake, three 

 miles from Geneva, at ten dollars an acre. 

 The farm was considered worn out. Mr. 

 Robinson, with the aid of sheep, lime, manure, 

 and good husbandry, has made it produce, 

 over and above the expense of culture, and 

 the support of his family, an annual income 

 equal to the interest of one hundred and fifty 

 dollars an acre, — and the farm is still in a 

 state of progressive improvement. The in- 

 come from four hundred acres is now $4,000. 

 Mr. Robinson has refused $100 per acre for 

 the whole. 



We might multiply instances of worn out 

 lands being brought into a highly productive 

 and profitable state, by the new husbandry, if 

 it were necessary ; but almost every old set- 

 tled district furnishes examples in point. 

 Enough has been shown, or may be seen, to 

 justify us in saying, that under the new sys- 

 tem of husbandry, every acre of arable land, 

 if any where contiguous to navigable waters 

 or a good market, may in a few years be made 

 to yield a net annual profit, equal to the in- 

 terest of two hundred dollars. And we may 

 add, that with such an income, and the in- 

 dustry and economy which belong to republi- 

 can habits, there are few employments in life 

 better calculated than agriculture to render a 

 man independent in circumstances and in 

 mind, and rich in all the elements of substan- 

 tial happiness. 



Ijinie Toiir Orcliards» 



The efltct of lime on grounds in which fruit 

 trees are planted, is stated to be very benefi- 

 cial ; it improves their health and promotes 

 their growth, and is said to improve the 

 quality of tlie fruit. Tfie food or pasture of 

 the trees is increased in quantity and improved 

 in quality by the application ; and it is doubt- 

 less an important agent in destroying the 

 grubs and worms which are so destructive to 

 fruit trees by the wounds which tiiey inflict, 

 as well on the tender absorbent fibres of the 

 roots, as on the branches and trunk. 



