120 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



progress of husbandry. The nobility, in order to procure 

 money to travel to Palestine, gave liberty to a great num- 

 ber of their serfs and leased out their lands ; they did more, 

 they imported valuable |)lants from Asia, which have been 

 acc'limated in Eunme. 'i'he luxuries of tlic Courts have 

 ajsj produced an effect winch we would not have expect- 

 ed, by putting tlie"lands into the hanos of the people ; be- 

 cause they were better cultivated and augmented the 

 wealth of the country. Though the English considered 

 the profits of the whale fishery as one of great importance ; 

 tliey were nevertheless already, at the latter part of the 

 sixteenth century, surpassed by the benefits of the raising 

 of .Sheep. At first thecc were only produced by the sides 

 of the wool ; but since the time of Elizabeth, tliat nation 

 has manufiictured the finest cloths in Europe, .\gricul- 

 ture, long neglected now became their principal source of 

 wealth — imsbandry was enccuragcd, and in 1(J81I, a bounty 

 was alloived by tlie government of 5 shillings for every 

 quarter of wheat which was exported, while the same 

 quantity cost in London £2, the premiums for other grain 

 were in proportion. In later times it was proved in par- 

 liament that the export of grain amounted in 4 years to 

 170,330,000 qurs. 'i'lie sovereigns soon enacted proper 

 regulations in favor of the husbandman, and the love for 

 Agriculture augmented and made astonishing progress in 

 later time. Savants contributed their observations ; 

 Chemists, Botanists, Natural Philosophers. Naturalists, 

 each of them directed their investigations to the progress 

 of Husbandry. Several excellent works were published 

 upon that subject ; it is true they were not understood 

 by the professional farmer, but the observations they con- 

 tain have been brought to their knowledge, and not always 

 has the son followed the mcdu^ of ctdtivation of his fath- 

 ers. .\t present the state of Agriculture becomes more 

 and more perfect. The advantages \vhich result from this 

 delightful study in relation to population ?.nd commerce 

 are so striking that it is unneccisary to speak of them, and 

 its modern history may be learned by the numerous publi- 

 cations on .\griculturc wiiicli are daily making their ap- 

 pearance in Euro|)c as well as in our country, and to which 

 we hope to contribute by making our readers acquainted 

 with the discoveries wliicli are daily made in both hemis- 

 pheres. 



From the Boston Moruing Post. 

 British Agriculture. 



The Great Meeting of the Royal Agriciihiinil 

 Society of England was ended, after occupying 

 several days in the transaction of business, on 

 tlie 16th of July, by a Grand Dhmerin the Pavil- 

 ion, at Downing College. On the right of the 

 chair (the Duke of Richmond) sat the Hon. and 

 Rev. Neville Greenville, master of 3Iagdalene Col- 

 lege, the senior head of a hon.se pi'esent, and next 

 to him the Dukes of St. Albans and Buckingham; 

 on the lert, the Duke of Kiitkiud, the Hon. A. 

 Stevenson, the American .Ambassador, and ne.\t 

 to liim Sir Robert Peel, who throughout the even- 

 ing seemed to pay the profomidest attention to the 

 proceedings, and to the elfect any toasts or impor- 

 tant expression had on the meeting. — At -the con- 

 clusion of the dinner, ''Xoii Nobis Domine" was 

 cliaiinted, after which the trmnpeter, who was at 

 the back of the President's chair, juoclainied si- 

 lence by the sound of his instrument, and the 

 President proposed the health of the Queen,whieh 

 was received with great cheering — and then the 

 health of Prince Albert. Sir Robert Peel was 

 culled upon and gave "succe.-ss to the English .Ag- 

 ricultural Society," and lidlowed it \vith a very el- 

 oquent speech. Several other sentiments were 

 offered, when, 



"The noble Presidcnl, in projiosing the ne.\t 

 toast, which was the health of a distinguished in- 

 dividual present, the Hon. A. Stevenson, BlinLs- 

 ter of the United States, and an honorary member 

 of the Society, saiti that be well knew the far- 

 mers of England ; and they w onld all w-annnt 

 him in saying that they wished one and all for 

 peace and tranciuillity. (Cheers.) Wlien war and 

 danger desolated the lairest [jortion of the world, 

 and when their horrors seemed to threaten our 

 homes from abroad, the farmers and laborers of 

 England were found ready to risk their lives in 

 delence of then' country. They were ready again 

 to make the same sacriliee, should the occasion 

 arrive to call for it ; but peace at home and abroad 

 was what they wished for; they did not long to 

 see other nations laid a\ oste that thev might be 

 prosperous ; it was nut their interest or desire that 

 other people's farms should be destroved, their 

 barns burnt, and their tow ns and villages ])lun- 

 derec',. (Cheers.) 'J'liose who wish for tlie liles- 

 sings of peace we meet halfway, and in that spir- 

 it did they meet the good wishes of the American 

 people, whose representative at the court of our 

 Sovereign did them the lienor of being present on 

 that occasion. (Cheers.) The honor.-iblr and dis- 

 tinguished individual tri whom he rdludcd w.t^ one 

 of that great nation which had .sprung from our- 

 selves ; and he, the Duke of Richmond, in the 

 fiameofliie farmers of England, wished it e\ery 



prosperity, and that it might long continue in 

 peace with this country, eidlivating with her those 

 arts and sciences wliich tended to belter the 

 coiidilioii of the human race and make it more 

 haiijiy. (Loud Cheers) With the respect to the 

 honorable gentleman himself; Mr. Stevenson, he 

 had great pleasure in tcsliiying to his character 

 in public and private life, and he was moreover a 

 tried friend of agriculture. He (elt interested in 

 the improvement of agricultural science in Eng- 

 land, as they should that the same good should 

 extend to .\nierica ; tor. tlie object was not only 

 the agricultme of the land we live in, but the ag- 

 rictdture of the world. (Loud Cheers. 



The Hon. A. Stevenso.n, the American Min- 

 i.'tcr, rose to return thanks, and was received with 

 great cheering. He said that it wotdd be an un- 

 worthy atfectation if lie did not say that this was 

 one of the most remarkable and imposing assem- 

 blies that ho liad ever v\itiiessed in the course of 

 a public life, not very short. He feared that he 

 should not be able to do justice to his feelings on 

 the occasion. The kind and hospitable reception 

 which had been given to him, and the very grat- 

 ifying manner in which his name had been asso- 

 ciated with that of their two countries, demanded 

 his grateful acknow ledgements. He received it 

 with jiride and satisfaction greatly enhanced as it 

 was by the kind motives whicli had prompted it, 

 and the flattering mauner in which it had been 

 received by such a distinguished as.sembly. — 

 (Cheers.) Deeply sensible, however, as he was 

 of the high honor done him,he should Init inade- 

 (juately convey what he felt if he coiitined hini- 

 self to an expression of his individual feeling. 

 (Hear.) hi relation to himself personally, it was a 

 matter of little importance, but in another sense, 

 looking to such an as.senibly a's that, represent- 

 ing not only the great agricultural interests of 

 ]''ngland, but of the United Kingdom, the kind 

 and liberal sentiments which had been expressed 

 ^^ould <lo good, and strengthen those relations of 

 amity and peace, which existed belvsecu the two 

 countries. (Cheers.) He theretbre asked leave 

 to thank them in the name of his country, and at 

 the same time to assure them that nothing would 

 be nioj-e acceptable to the govcrmiLcnt and ])eo- 

 ple of the United States, than sejitiments like 

 those \vliieb had been so kindly expressed. 

 ((•Iieers.) 'I'heir noble President, said iMr. S. 

 had been j)lcased to express a wish in allusion to 

 the late neordliations between the two cotnilries, 

 that ihi' present relations of peace and concortl 

 might happily long contiiuie for the benefit of 

 both. He need hardly .say how cordially and 

 sincerely he united in this wish. This was for- 

 tuniilely, he said for mankind, not an age of war. 

 The lime had long .since passed, •when hostility 

 and war was regarded as the natural state of man 

 ami peace only a dithcull and dangerous cxjicri- 

 meiil. — (Hear.) The soldier and the sword, he 

 th.Miked God, were no longer the only seeuiity for 

 nations. The sehc:ohnaster and not the warrior 

 v«as abroad. I\Ioral pow er \\ as taking the (ilace of 

 physical force, and the riders of the world woidd 

 .soon learn, if they had not already, that they 

 must look for security to their thrones to moral 

 and not physical power, and to the ^ irtue and in- 

 telligence of their people. (Cheer.s.) 



Jn this eidightened age, said Mr. S. when the 

 love of peace, and knowledge, and Cliristianity, 

 was overspreading the eai th, was there one Brit- 

 on, or American, one wise or good man, who 

 would not look upon a Avar between two such 

 countries as England and America, as one of the 

 greatest calamities that could befall majikind.' 

 (Cheers.) A war against interest, kindreil, lan- 

 guage, and religion, and for what .' — not Uir ])riii- 

 ei]ile; not for national honor, (the only justifiable 

 caiL'^e for war between nations,) not for eonqurst; 

 but a war to settle the geograidiical lines of a 

 treaty of boundary, the subject legithiialcly of 

 negociatioii and peaceable adjustment. (Cheers.) 

 But England and America, he said were too wi.se 

 to enter into any such war. Neither, he was 

 sine, would fecJ itself called uj)on, in vindica- 

 tion of its honor, or in defence of its rights, to 

 embark in war. The security for jieace, he said, 

 was in the wisdom, and prudence, and foresight 

 of the riders of the two cpiuitries, and in the vir- 

 tue and intelligence of their jieople. (Cheers.) 

 The noble Chairman, ".said Mr. S. had done him 

 no more than justice in sujiposing thai he had 

 done every thing in his jiowcr, botli officially and 

 iniUiiduali>, to cherish and invigorate the friend 



ly relations of their two countries, upon the pres- 

 ervation of which he believed the prosperhy and 

 happiness of both nations essentially depended. 

 He therelbre, only s]ioke the sentiments of his 

 own country, when he assured them that its peo- 

 ple and Government desired peace, solid, perma- 

 nent peace with all nations, hut epecially good 

 understanding with Great Jhitain, ii])on terms 

 compatible with the rights and honor of both. 

 (Cheers.) Mr. S. ihen asked whether he might 

 be indulged for a moment in a bricfUotice of this 

 association, and the great benefits it was calcula- 

 ted to besto\v on agriculture. (Cries from all 

 pai-tsofthe pavilion to go on.) He rejoiced, he 

 said, in liaving hr.d it in his power to attend on 

 the present occasion. Besides the op]iorlunitv 

 it afforded him of witnessing for the two las't 

 days proceedings so congenial to his fiieluigs, it 

 enabled him to express in person his dccj) sense 

 of the high honor which tlie Society had done 

 lihn, in deeming him worthy to become one of 

 its lionorai7 members. (Clieers.) He only re- 

 gretted that it would not be in his power to re- 

 pay such an honor by some corresponding bene- 

 fit, worthy of such an Association, and of the in- 

 terest he fell at its success. He could therefbrc, 

 only offer the humble tribute of his homage and 

 his best wishes. In such an assembly, it would, 

 he was quite sure, be needless, if he were com- 

 petent to expatiate upon the subject of agrieul- 

 tiu-e, and its claims to support. He, however, 

 felt a disposition to throw out one or two sugges- 

 tions, which might not be entirely imworthy of 

 consideration. (Cheers.) 



All, he said, cjinciiiTcd in assigning to agTicul- 

 ture a high iilace in the scale of iudividiilil and 

 national interest — (hear,hear) — but yet he thought 

 they did not give it the importan'ce it merited, 

 and to which it justly asjiired. In other words, 

 that too many supposed the object of agriculture 

 was alone for jiurposes of subsi.'»tenee. Now, a 

 more fallacious oiiinion could not, he thought, ob- 

 tain, than that the responsibilities of agricultm-c 

 stopped at the jiroductioii of food lor eaters. Fur 

 othei-AV ise — the duties of agriculture, he said, were 

 like tliose of morality.they spread beyond the cir- 

 cle of providing the means of subsistanee, into u 

 wide e.xjianse, created by the obligations arishig 

 out of a state of society, and were connected with 

 all the great national interests. — (Cheers.) Hence 

 the support of government — the encouragement 

 of commerce, the basis of manufactures, the sub- 

 sistence of the learned professions, dejieuded up- 

 on the iin])ortance and interests of agrieulfurc. 

 (Cheers.) It was the source from which all clas- 

 ses not truly derived subsistence, but prosperitv. 

 As an objcctof universal benefit, then, it was just- 

 ly entitled to universal jiatrouage. (Cheers.) Mr. 

 Stevenson said that agricidture had been justly 

 considered national property — the whole country 

 one great farm, and the inhabitants ;,5 one great 

 family: in which, however, those who worked 

 the least had the most jirofit. Now, if this was 

 true, as he believed it to be to a certain extent, 

 ihen those who aie not farmers had as great an 

 inlcrist as the f;u-mer himself, uiasmueh as the 

 whole class employed in agricultural labor wore 

 first to be subsisted, and that of the other classea 

 out of the stu-plus, and of course the larger the 

 surplus, the greater would be the profit." This 

 was a selfish argument, if might be said, but yet 

 he tliought it not the less strong. (Hear.) 



Of all the modes which had been resorted to in 

 aid of agriculture, the most beneficial were asso- 

 ciations of this cliaraeter — societies for the col- 

 lection and diffusion of knowledge; the iiilro- 

 duction of useful c.vperiments; the writings of 

 able and distinguished men ; and that excite- 

 ment and emulation so essential to all improve- 

 ment. Science was tibsolutely necessary to mod- 

 ern agriculture. Theory and practice reflected 

 light on each oilier, and this was the more felt, 

 as of all puusuits, there was no class so wedded 

 to old habits, and w liicli were so unyielding, as 

 those who cultivate the soil. This v,"as the case 

 both ill the old and new world. He rejoiced, 

 therefore, in the giant strides which agriculturo 

 was making in every quarter of the globe, under 

 the beneficial aids of prastieal science. This was, 

 he said, one of the great benefits which the soci- 

 ety would .accomplish. (Cheer.s.) If any m,".n 

 doubted the extent to which science had bene- 

 fited agriculture, let him visit England and Scot- 

 land — England, ■which had justly been said to be 

 the Garden of all EurojK<. And why wun if to? 



