1R9 



THE FARMER'S MONTH LY VISITOR. 



mixed w.th ,T,cal-or sprinkled with salt-or wheth- 

 er raw or boiled. . 



The value, however, of these vegetables for 

 milch C0W9 is very great. U improves both the 

 quantity and quahiy of the milk, without impart- 

 ing to i't any disagreeable flavor.— ^^/iany?'"/"'"- 



The late Judge Uuel. 



To no man is the country so much indebted for 

 improvement in Ao-nculiure as to this eciitleman : 

 as a ustful, practical, safe farmer, he probably ex- 

 celled all others. Born in humble life, he was ed- 

 ucated in the profession of a meehanic. Betore he 

 was twenty-one years of age, lie was engaged in 

 the publication of a village newspaper at 1 roy , 

 and from thence he afterwards was successively a 

 publish»r at Poughkcepsie, and at Kingston, upon 

 the Hudson river. During the war with Great 

 Britain in 1S13, he established the Albany Argus, 

 and succeeded,against thn late Solomon Southwick, 

 the editor of the Albany Register, in procuring the 

 appointment of State Printer for New York. In 

 " this position he continued to publish the Argus un- 

 til 1821, when he turned his attention more exclu- 

 sively to the cultivation of the ground, having pur- 

 chased a tract of apparently barren sand hil s some 

 three miles out of the city of Albany, on which he 

 ■ettled.and wjnch he converted into "a garden spot 

 of unsurpassed fertility," that became at once to 

 iim a source of great profit and enjoyment. 



Only a few weeks since the death of Mr. Jiuel, 

 Mr. Southwick has also paid the last debt ol nature, 

 havino' suddenly died of apoplexy. 



Of the two rival printer? and editors, bolo- 

 men Southwick was the man of greater genius-a 

 political writer whose style was more nervous ana 

 Flowing. Jesse Buel was not as able and as fluent, 

 but excelled in a political newspaper for his superi- 

 or discretion and judgment. Mr. Southwick, hav- 

 ine once gained a fortune from- the public patron- 

 ag-e, lost it more than twenty years ago by boldness 

 of speculations in Albany city lots, which f.U on 

 his hands, and afterwards struggled with discoura- 

 ging poverty till the day of his death. Mr. Luel 

 probably at no time gained for himselt a large es- 

 tate— made all his calculations safe, and m all like- 

 lihood died worth as much as he ever possessed at 

 any former period of his life. Both of these gen- 

 tlemen conducted periodical publications at (he 

 times of their death. Mv. Southwick published a 

 weekly jotirnal at Albany called the Family iNews- 

 paper, and Mr. Buel published the Cultivator 

 monthly, an agricultural sheet which had gained 

 on Imm'ense circulation : this paper had been grad- 

 ually increasing for the six years in which it was 

 published until it was issued to the number ol 

 twenty thousand. Of these he circulated about 

 two thousand in the State of Virginia. The Cul- 

 tivator has had a grand effect upon the agriculture 

 of the whole country. Millions of money have 

 been, or probably will" bo, added to the productive 

 wealth of the country as the effect of the labors ol 

 a single individual in this journal. 



We are free to confess the opinion that no man 

 in this country who ever undertook to conduct an 

 agricultural newspaper was so capable to impart 

 the ri<rht knowledge to farmers as Judge Buel : his 

 greater exnerience under the careful labors ol his 

 own hands in the field— his industry and tasle in 

 gathering and storing up the knowledge obtained 

 from practical and scientific agriculturists in Lu- 

 rope— his readiness to impart for the benefit of oth- 

 ers -what he had obtained and digested for his own 

 use— qualified him as the unsurpassed conductor oi 

 an agricultural newspaper above all his contempo- 

 raries, and perhaps beyond tlie united talents ofev- 

 ery other man in the Union engaged in a simi- 

 lar pursuit. During the last sum*, er his labors 

 as a writer had not been confined to tlie Cul- 

 tivator alone. He had been indefatigable in 

 bis efforts to improve the education of the rising 

 generation ; and among other plans for aiding in 

 this object, had advocated the establishment of 

 School Libraries. The State of New York having 

 made some legislative provision on this subject, the 

 Messrs Harpers have published a__scrics of vol- 

 umes of uniform size, embracing different subjects 

 which of themselves make a ccnve.iient and use- 

 ful library fdr the use of common schools : iorthis 

 library Judge Buel has compiled one or more vol- 

 umes on agriculture. 



Under the sanction and patronage of the Massa- 

 tbusetts Board of Education, Messrs. Marsh, Ca- 

 i>en, Lyon and Webb, of Boston, are now pubhsli- 

 inga collection of onirinal and selected works en- 

 titled "The Scliool Library," to embrace two se- 

 ries of fifty volumes each, the one to be in lb mo. 

 averaging from -5 ) to 280 pages, to be called the 

 Juvenile Series, and intended for children of ten 

 and twelve years of age : the other is 13 mo, of 



350 to 400 pages, for the use of more advanced ] 

 scholars and their parents. For this last work 

 Judge Buel had given the publishers encourage- 

 ment that he would furnish the waiter to be com- 

 prised in two volumes. We happened to be in 

 Boston at the ofiice of the publishers on the day 

 the news of Judge Buel's death was received m 

 that city. The public have already been apprised 

 that the Judge was on his way from the city of Al- 

 bany to the ?ity of New IJaven, where he was ex- 

 pected to deliver an address before an agricultural 

 societv on the 25th September, when he was ar- 

 rested' at Danbury, Conn, by a disorder ot which 

 he lintrered until the Cith October, when he died.— 

 Dr. \Vcbb, one of the publishers, informed us that 

 only a few days before, he received a letter from 

 Judo-e Buel, saying he had the first volume for the 

 Library prepared and would send it on his return 

 from Connecticut : but, anxious to procure the man- 

 uscript without delay, the publishers wrote and re- 

 quested it might be sentbelbre he left for Connect- 

 icut. The work had been received and was under 

 the process of stereotyping when we- were at Bos- 

 ton on the yth October. 



Since that period the publishers have sent us the 

 printed volume entitled "The Fiirmcr's Compun- 

 ion; or Essnijs on the Principhs anil Practice oj 

 jlmcricau Hv^bundrij:' For many years we have 

 taken into hand no ,folume more interesting than 

 this posthumous work of its lamented author ; m it 

 he has thrown together more valuable practical in- 

 formation useful to every man interested in tilling 

 the ground, than all the other works we have ever 

 seen. Having asked liberty of the publishers, we 

 intend to make extracis from this book for the \ is- 

 itor. If Judge Buel had done no other service dur- 

 ino-his life than to write and compile this book, his^ 

 merit would be incomparably greater than that ot 

 most men who attain to the higliest political hon- 

 ors. ■ 



The volume of the Boston publishers also con- 

 tains the "address prepared to lie delivered before 

 the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies oi 

 New Haven County, Conn, Sept. 25, ll=3il," which 

 was received and r<?ad before a.very respectable as- 

 sembly at the time its author lay confined to a bed 

 of sickness. For this address a committee of the 

 Soc;ely,of which Professor Silliman of Now Haven 

 was a member, tendered Judge Buel the thanks of 

 the Societies, and expressed the wish that it iiiight_ 

 Le published and a copy be placed in the hands ot 

 every family of the State. The committee also in- 

 fi.rmed Judge Buel that three agents were appoint- 

 ed to promote the circulation ot the Cultivator, to 

 recommend that useful jiublication to the public fa- 

 vor and to more extensive and eliicient patronage 

 in that State. The worthy man livedlong enough 

 to receive the merited compliments of the commit- 

 tee, but not long enough to witness the fulfilment 

 of their expressed intentions. 



ViC believe we can select no matter for the Visi- 

 tor that will be more interesting to tlie reader than 

 an essay from a farmer so distinguished as the late 

 Judge i3ucl. Chapter third of the volume contains 



Some of the Principles of the New Hue- 

 bnudry. 



The new system of husbandry is based upon the 

 belief, that our lands will not wear out, or become 

 exhausted of their fertility, if they are judiciously 

 managed; but, on the contrary, that tliey may be 

 made'progressively to increase in product, — in re- 

 wards to the husbandman, and in benefits to socie- 

 ty, at least for some time to come. It regards the 

 soil as a gilt of the beneficent Creator, in which we 

 hold but a life estate, and wliich, like our free in- 

 stitutions, we arc bound to transmit, imjipaiked, 

 to posterity. 



Tlie principles of the new husbandry teach, that 

 the soil IS the great laboratory for converting dead 

 into living matters — the useless into the useful — 

 manure into plants— plants into animal food ; That 

 plants, like aniimals, are organized beings ; that is, 

 they live, grow, and require food for their susten- 

 ance — have organs to take in food, to elaborate it, 

 to transmit it. through their systems — organs of sex- 

 ual iiiterciuirse, of reproduction, lic , all acting to- 

 gether to one end ; That plants cannot, any more 

 than animals, live upon mere air, or earthy matters, 

 as clay, sand, and lime, but that they require, for 

 their growth and perfection, animal and vegetable 

 matters ; That the effect of growing and carrying 

 off the ground successive crops, is to exhaust the 

 veuetable food in the soil; and thatcontinued crop- 

 pinii- will ultimately render it barren and unpro- 

 ductive, unless we return to it some equivalent for 

 wh^t we carry off. 



The principles of the new husbandry also teach, 

 that by carefully saving, and suitably applying, all 

 the fertilizing matters afforded by the farm ; by an 

 alternation or change of crops, and by artificially 



accelerating or retarding the agency of heat, mois- 

 ture, air, and light, in the process of vegetable 

 growth ; by draining, manuring, ploughing, har- 

 rowing, hoeing, &c., we may preserve, unimpair- 

 ed, the natural fertility of our soils ;— and that with 

 the aid of improved implements of husbandry, and 

 and a good system of management, we may also 

 greatly increase the profits of its culture. 



These principles do not rest upon mere the- 

 ory. They have been long reduced to practice, 

 thoroughly tested, and their correctness amply ver- 

 ified. They have, in their practical application, 

 virtually converted Flanders into a garden, and 

 rendered it so fertile in human food, that each acre 

 is said to be capable of supporting its man. The 

 system which these principles inculcate, has chang- 

 ed Scotland, in a little more than half a century, 

 from comparative sterility and unproductiveness, 

 into one of the richest and most profitable agricul- 

 tural districts in Europe. It has increased the pro- 

 ducts of the corn harvest, in Great Britain, in six- 

 tv years, from 170 to 340 millions of bushels. It 

 lias doubled, trebled, and quadrupled the agricul- 

 tural products of many districts in our own coun- 

 try. It has augmented the value of farms, in some 

 of these districts, two, three, and four hundred per 

 cent.— from twenty and thirty dollars, to one hun- 

 dred dollars and more per acre. It has made every 

 acre of arable land, upon which it has been prac- 

 tised ten years, and lying contiguous to navigable 

 waters or a good market, worth at least one hun- 

 dred dollars, for agricultural purposes. 



We will state some cases of comparison, between 

 the products of the old and new system of farm- 

 ing, to illustrate more fully the advantages of the 

 latter. 



The average products of Flanders are stated by 

 Radcliffe as ibllows ; wheat 32 bushels, rye 32 1-4, 

 oats 52, potatoes 350, per acre. Flanders has gen- 

 erally a flat surface, with a light, sandy soil, lUj 

 adapted to wheat. It is naturally very similar tc 

 the sandy disliict upon the sea-coast in New Jer- 

 sey, Maiylai d, and the sandy plains in the vallej 

 of the Conni eticu'. 



In the fort, e d stricts of Scotland, according tr 

 Sir John Sinclair, and in propitious seasons, "the 

 farmer may confidently expect to reap, from o2 b 

 40 bushels of wheat; irom 42 to 50 bushels of bar 

 ley ■ from 52 to 64 bushels of oats, and from 2o tc 

 32 bushels of beans, per statute acre. As to greer 

 crops, 30 tons of turnips, 3 tons of clover, and troic 

 8 to 10 of potatoes, per statute acre, may be confi- 

 dently relied on. In favorable seasons, the cropv 

 are still more abundant." Professor Lowe gives the 

 average products of Scotch husbandry soinewh<> 

 lower than the above. It is tube remembered, tha- 

 sixty years ago, the average was probably not on 

 quarter so much as it is now. 



Loudon states the average product of wheat I' 

 England, at 24, 28, and 32 bushels per acre— raea.' 

 average 26 bushels. 



The preceding references are made to old-sei 

 tied countries— to lands which have been und.-r 

 culture for many ccnluries—to lands which weio 

 once worn out by bad husbandry, but which havo 

 been renovated and rendered highly productive fc; 

 the new system. , . « 



In ITflO, General Washington, in a letter to Ar- 

 thur Young, computed the average crop in Penn- 

 sylvania, then one of the best wheat-grown ; 

 Stales, as follows :— wheat 15 bushels, rye 20, brr- 

 ley 25, oats 30, Indian corn 25, potatoes 'o. IV: 

 Strickland, who resided in Maryland about for',- 

 years ago, in a report which he made to the British 

 Board of Agriculture, gave the average product c. 

 our wheat crop at 12 bushels the acre, and 1 

 Dutchess county, then, as now, our best cultival 

 county, at 16 bushels. 



Bor'dlcy, about the period we are referring .", 

 stated the average yield of Indian corn, onih.j 

 Eastern Shore of Maryland, at 15 bushels perac 



These quotations are sufiicienl to show, that -.n 

 our old-improved districts, the crop.^ do not in a.-/ 

 wise compare with those grown in Flanders, bf-. 

 land, and EngUnd,— and this difference m prod "t 

 is owing entirely to the different modes ol manag.r, v 

 the soil ; for wherever the new system has haJ . 

 fair trial among us, it has been as succcsslul as 

 has been in Europe. 



We will illustrate still further the difference - 

 tween the two systems, by stating the products, - ; 

 their value, on the same land.i, under the old i . t 

 under the new system of husbandry. 



We are furnished, in Rees's Cyclopedia, v 

 many statements, demonstrating the superiorit; ■'- 

 the new over the old system. We will [uote st - - 

 of them. The first comparison is made "n a tr... 

 devoted to grazing, breeding, and tillage ot 31 ■ 

 ores, in Yorkshire. Under the old mode of ■ 



bandry, the net profits amounted to £316 11 

 uudertt* new avetem th« tame landa gav» a 



