THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



147 



of evergreens, and spruce or piue succeeds hard 

 wood. 



This consideration has led to the adoption of a 

 system of rotation of crops. By a Judicious man- 

 agement in this respect, lands will not only 

 maintain their own, but actually increase in pro- 

 ductiveness. But in a country where the land is 

 particidarly adapted to grazing, it is difficult to 

 carry this system I'ully into effect. Light sandy 

 soils, however, may be greatly benefitted, and 

 their products increased by a projier alternation oi" 

 crops. A course of five or six years is the long- 

 est that such lands will admit with advantage. 

 The particular crops to compose this course may 

 be varied to suit the circumstances of tlie case ; 

 but two crojis of grain sliould never succeed 

 each other without the intervention of one or 

 more hoed crops. 



Says Judge Buel, " There are three classes of 

 crops which alternate beneficially with each oth- 

 er, viz : 1st, Grain, or corn, or dry crops, which 

 mature their seed and most exhau.st the fertility 

 of the soil. 2nd, Grass cropn, which are the least 

 exhaustuig of any : and 3d, Root or Green crops, 

 embracing turnips, potatoes, beets, clover, &c. 

 All green crops are more or less fertilizing, when 

 buried in the soil^ but clover is to be preferred, 

 as well on accomit of its enriching properties to 

 the soil, as that it also affords hay and pasture. 

 I have practised .sowing clover seed with all my 

 small grain crops, though I intended to plough 

 the field the following year. The food which 

 this clover affords to the coming crop, richly 

 compensates for the cost of the seed and .sowing, 

 to say nothing of the pasture it gives in autumn." 

 Agriculture is an exhaustless theme, fn a sin- 

 le address it is impossible even to glance at the 

 numerous subjects connected with it. It will at 

 once be perceived, and what we all know full 

 well without being retniuded of it here, that for 

 successful farming, untiring industry is especial- 

 ly requisite. This may be contrary to the gen- 

 eral current of feeling in relation to labor, but 1 

 am persuaded that it is far better for man, physi- 

 cally, intellectually, and morally., that he be con- 

 stantly emi)loyed in some kind of labor either of 

 (he head or hands. Says an eminent writer, 

 " How many ties there are between even the 

 humblest scene of labor, and the noblest affec- 

 tions of hunianit}'. There is a central point in 

 every man's life, around which all his trials and 

 cares revolve. If is that spot which is conscerat- 

 ed by the name of wife, and children, and home. 

 A secret, and almost imperceptible influence from 

 that spot steals into the breast of the virtuous la- 

 boring man, and strengthens every weary step of 

 his toil. Every blow that i.s struck in the work- 

 shop or the field finds an echo in that holy shrine 

 of his afiections. If he who fights to protect liis 

 home, rises to the point of heroic virtue, no less 

 may he who labons his life long to provide for 

 that home. Peace be within those domestic 

 walls, and prosperity beneath those luunblc roofs. 

 But should it be othciwise, shoidd the time ever 

 come when the invaders step ap[)roaclies to touch 

 those sacretl thresholds, I see from the labors 

 tiiat are taken for them, that wounds will be tak- 

 en for them too. I see in every honest working 

 man around me a hero. I call upon those whom 

 I address to stand up for the nobility or labor. 

 It is Heaven's great ordinance for limnan improve- 

 ment. Let not that ordinance be broken dov.n. 

 What do I say ? It has been broken down for 

 ages. But how, 1 may be asked, is it broken 

 down ? Do not men toil ? They do indeed toil, 

 but they too generally do it because they must. 

 Many submit to it, a.s, in some .sort a degrading 

 necessity ; and they desire nothing so much on 

 earth as escape fi-om it. They lidfil the great law 

 of labor in the letter, but break it in spirit — fulfil 

 it with the muscle, but break it with the mind. 

 To some field of labor mental or manual, every 

 idler should fasten as a chosen and coveted thea- 

 tre of improvement. But so he is not impelled 

 to do, under the teachings of our imperfect civi- 

 lization. On the contrary he sits down, folds his 

 hands and [deases himself with his idleness. It 

 i.s time this opprobrium of toil were tlone away. 

 Ashamed of toil art thou ? Ashamed of thy din- 

 gy work, and dusty labor-field — of thy hard hand, 

 scarred with service more honorable than that oi 

 war — of thy soiled and w-eather stained garments 

 on which mother nature has embroidered, midst 

 sun and rain, midst fire and steam, her own her- 

 aldic honors? Ashamed of these tokens and ti- 



tles, and envious of the flaunting robes of imbe- 

 cile idleness and inanity ? It is treason to nature, 

 it is impiety to heaven ; it is breaking heaven's 

 great ordinance. Toil, either of the brain, of the 

 heart, or the hand, is the only true manhood, the 

 only true nobility. 



Labor may be excessive and bent'e injurious ; 

 it may, through ignorance, affect little and hence 

 be dull and plodding— which shews the impor- 

 tance of employing the mind as well as the body 

 in our business. Mind is the great master power 

 which instructs, guides and abridges human 

 labor. 



" Knowledge is power," it is wealth. Let it 

 not he said that the least informed part of the 

 community will do for f-irmers. No human em- 

 ployment requires more varied or accurate knowl- 

 edge than that of the fanner. That they may 

 carry into their occupation a " zeal according to 

 knowledge," it is necessary that they be well in- 

 formed on subjects connected with agriculture. 

 This would impart to their efforts a certainty as 

 to the result, which would cheer them onward in 

 their course. It would also enable them to be 

 more enterprising as well as discriminating in 

 the adoption of new modes of culture. There 

 has formerly been complaint that farmers had no 

 enterprise. I once heard an eminent manufactur- 

 er remark that farmers were the slowest class in 

 the community to adopt new and improved 

 methods in their business. " Let an invention be 

 announced," said he, that will reduce the cost of 

 manufacturing a yard of cotton cloth, a single 

 cent, and the manufacture, forthwith avails him- 

 self of it, at almost any cost, throwinir aside his 

 old machinery. But farmers will look on, and 

 see improved kinds of grain, or stock, or a new- 

 process of cultivating land.s, year after year, with- 

 out any efibrt to adojjt the improvement them- 

 selves. One of my neighbors,'' continued he, 

 " several years since reclaimed a piece of swamp 

 land that was utterly worthless, and it will now 

 pay the interest of a hundred dollars per acre : 

 yet some farmers in the immediate vicinity liave 

 lands equally worthless, that might be made 

 equally valuable at an ex])en.se of twenty-five or 

 thirty dollars an acre. But they will let them 

 alone till doomsday before they touch them." 



These remarks were undoubtedly true at the 

 time they were made and to some extent may still 

 be applicable to farmers. But the great body of 

 them are not now destitute of enterprise. If any 

 proof of this were wanting the avidity with which 

 the Tree Corn, the Morns Multicaulis, the Rohan 

 Potatoes, and the Black Sea Wheat, were purcli- 

 ased, would abundantly furuisli it — to say noth- 

 ing of Durham Short Horns, South Down Sheep, 

 and Berkshire Swine. And if we look at the re- 

 sult of some of these investments, it might per- 

 haps furnish a clue to the reason why farmers are 

 sometimes so slow in adopting real improve- 

 ments. Having been caught once with chaff, 

 they are more chary than they should be with the 

 wheat in view. They are in some respects situ- 

 ated difterently from the nianuliicturer. He, be- 

 fore making an outlay of money for improved 

 machinery, can examine the machine in all its 

 parts, witness its operation in all its processes, 

 and ascertain almost to a certainty lliat it will 

 subserve his interest to purchase it. 'fhe farmer, 

 on the contrary, cannot know the full operation 

 or value of what he would purchase but by mak- 

 ing the trial himself If he sees the vegetable 

 growing or grown, he cannot be certain that he 

 knows all the causes that have contributed to its 

 perfection. Its favorable location, the genial cli- 

 mate, the fruitful soil, the stimulating manure, 

 and the extraordinary season may have all com- 

 bined to produce it, and the want of any one of 

 these may cause a failure. So much time must 

 necessarily elapse between committing the seed 

 to the earth and its maturity, that opportunity is 

 afilbrded for imposition ; and facts prove that 

 there are men in the community disposed to 

 practi.se it. So with animals. We .see the spe- 

 cimen. It is a perfect one of its kind, combining 

 all the desirable qualities we would engrafl up- 

 on our own stock. But this may be nothing but 

 an extraordinary individual of the species, forced 

 into monstrous growth perhaps by extra keeping. 

 The purchaser cannot know beforehand, that 

 with his means of kee])ing, it will even be as 

 good as his old kind, nor whether its progeny will 

 be superior, or whether it is suitable to cross with 

 his own. But when all this is admitted, fai-mers 



might in some respects display more enterprise 

 on these points than they do, without coinpro- 

 mlting a reasonable chance for success. 



Again, want of capital is a prominent hin- 

 drance to the enterprise of farmers. They see 

 the defects of their husbandry, perhaps, and 

 would remedy them. But the laudable fear of 

 increasing debt or of increasing what they al- 

 ready owe, deters them from attempting it. This 

 presses upon them like an incubus, paraliziug 

 their energy, repressing their enterprise and con- 

 firming hem in their old modes and habits A 

 farmer of ordinary means, visits, perhaps, the es- 

 tablishment of a wealthy and extensive agricul- 

 turist. He views with admiration the fine order 

 and excellent arrangement of the various farm 

 buildings — examines the convenient agricultural 

 machines, the superior farming implements, the 

 improved stock, &c. and imagines he has found 

 out the golden secret of fiirming. But he goes 

 home, contrasts his establishment with the one 

 he has visited, counts the cost of the various im- 

 provements he would adopt, compares the 

 amount with his means, casts a gloomy look at 

 the debt it will create, gets discouraged, and at- 

 tempts to do nothing beyond his accustomed 

 routine of cultivation. Now this is all wrong. 

 He visited the wealthy man with too high expec- 

 tations ; and now in his despondency he estimates 

 its value to him too lightly. He ought not to ex- 

 pect to have every thing in the style of the weal- 

 thy. He should reflect that many of the things 

 he saw there, are unsuited to anj' but an exten- 

 sive establishment. He should not have visited 

 it for the purpose of servile imitation, but that 

 he might exercise his judgement and ingenuity in 

 applying the hints he might obtain there, to his 

 own business. These may be many and valua- 

 ble ; and it is by reflecting on such hints, and ex- 

 perimentalizing, that agriculture is to be improved. 



In estimating the importance of agriculture to 

 a community, we omit one of its greatest ad- 

 vantages if we do not take into the account its 

 moral tendencies. It has been truly said that the 

 " yeomanry are the great reservoir of the virtues 

 of a nation." Keep this class virtuous, and the 

 republic is safe. Vice may revel in our cities, 

 but whilst their population can be yearly replen- 

 ished from a virtuous country, there is no great 

 danger of its becoming a national sin. How im- 

 portant then that this fountain be kept pure, that 

 the streams therefrom may beautify and bless 

 the land. This seems doubly requisite from the 

 nature and habits of the population of our rock- 

 bound State. 



Vast numbers of our young men annually go 

 out from among us, to various parts of our ex- 

 tensive country to fjc moulded by the moral or 

 immoral influences that surround them, and in 

 turn to exercise their influence for good or for 

 evil on those with whom they are brought in con- 

 tact. How necessary that these missionaries, as 

 they may be called, go forth, and with principles 

 — good principles, as a security to their integrity 

 and virtue. The youth who leaves the paternal 

 roof, to encounter in our large cities, the collect- 

 ed vice and infidelity of the land, should be pre- 

 pared to visit those "sinks of iniquity" as the 

 physician visits the sick, " not to catch the dis- 

 order, but," as far as his influence goes, " to cure 

 it." The unfortunate man and woman, who in 

 oiu' western wilds, encounter toil and privation 

 and disease, should carry with them from the 

 granite hills, and chrystal .streams of their own 

 New Hampshire, something more pure than the 

 one, and more lasting than the other, to cheer and 

 encourage them in their lonely hours of des- 

 pondency. Something which will tell them of a 

 land fairer than ever their imaginations paint- 

 ed the exuberant regions of the West, Of that 

 land of pure delight, whose " fields stand dressed 

 in living green." 



The prosperous man, whose uncounted acres 

 in the fertile priaries of Illinois, — or whose un- 

 told thou.sands in commercial operations, tempt 

 his heart to avarice, should be invested with an 

 antagonist principle, whose promptings shall hap- 

 ly teach him that of all these good things he is 

 only a steward, and that he should " use them as 

 not abusing them." 



But I weary your patience. Permit me in con- 

 clusion, Mr. President, to congratulate the mem- 

 bers of the Association on the success, thus far, 

 of their eflbrts to advance the interests of agri- 

 culture. The advantages have not been confined 



