764 



FARxMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 1 



every iva^un to believe ihe.y will at ienst have a 

 fair heanii<r before the reprersentatives of the peo- 

 ple, I retiiam your fjiend, 



J. P. BCEKMAN. 



PEPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICUL-j 

 TURE, [of the LEGISLATtRE OF NEW i 

 YORK,] ON THE MEMORIAL OF THE STATE : 

 AGRICULTURAL CONVENTION, ASSEMBLED! 

 IN ALBANY ON THE FIRST DAY OF FEB- I 

 RUARY, 1838. i 



Mr. L. F. Allen, from the Committee on Agricul- 

 ture, to whom was referred tne memorial of the State | 

 Agricultural Convention assembled in Albany on the 

 lirst day of February, 1838, 



PEPORTS: 



Although the duties of the Committee on Agriculture 

 have oftentimes been considered rather nominal than 

 active, yet your committee, on a review of past years, 

 and a careful examination of the present condition of 

 the state, have come to the conclusion, that a serious 

 responsibility, at this time, rests upon them; that they 

 are charged with some of the highest duties which de- 

 volve upon the legislature of a state; the guardianship 

 of that primary branch of industry which is the source 

 of our prosperity and greatness, and our sure depen- 

 dence i!i times of public peril and misfortune. Politi- 

 cians may speculate upon the influence which free in- 

 stitutions, or apartizan administration, may have upon 

 the prosperity of a country; commercial men may ex- 

 tol the advantages of an extfinded foreign commerce; 

 manufacturers may claim pre-eminence in conferring 

 independence upon their country; and literature may 

 a,rrogate the exclusive credit of rendering a communi- 

 ty enlightened and polished; yet, after all, agriculture 

 constitutes the broad base upon which the whole su- 



f)erstructure of society depends for support. If that 

 anguishes, either for want of the protection and pa- 

 tronage of the constituted authorities, or from the in- 

 attention and lack of intelligence in its rural popula- 

 tion, the government becomes embarrassed, commerce 

 crippled, and manufactures paralyzed. A maritime 

 war may sweep our commerce from the ocean; our 

 manufactures mav sink for want of a market for their 

 fabrics — as they have done; but agriculture never dis- 

 appoints our hopes, while we continue to enjoy the 

 blessings of a kind Providence, whose favor it is alike 

 our duty and our interest to propitiate, by prudent 

 foresight and dutiful submission to all his requirements. 

 The soil, under judicious management, never with- 

 holds the tribute of reward to those who humbly de- 

 vote themselves to its culture, and phice u|)on it their 

 only suie reliance. Upon this, then, we ought to be- 

 stow our special attention, our protecting care. These 

 truths have been amply illustrated and established in 

 the experience of the two last years. Your committee 

 are persuaded that the condition of the agriculture of 

 any country aribrds a safe criterion whereby to judge, 

 not only of its general prosperily, but of the social and 

 moral condition of its population. 



Tlie recollections of the age will .serve to show, that 

 the relative condition of our agriculture, and that of 

 yiany of the countries of Europe, has undergone a re- 

 markable change within the last forty years. While 

 the latter has been increasing, ours has been diminish- 

 ing in its products. About the commencement of the 

 present century, the exportation of bread stuff's and 

 other provisions, from the northern and middle States, 

 amounted, annually, to twelve or fourteen millions of 

 dollars, principally to the continent of Europe. In the 

 two last years, instead of exportinj; provisions to Eu- 

 rope as formerly, we have imported from thence bread 

 etatls to the amount of seven or eight millions of dol- 

 lars. These facts conclusively show, that the agricul- 

 tural products of Europe have greatly increased, while 

 jOun bave been diminishing, in proportion to our popu- 



lation, r'otwithstanding the vast accession of fertile vir- 

 gin soil which has been constantly enlarging our bor- 

 ders. Whence this great chang-e, but Irom a neglect, 

 on our part, to nurture this great branch of national in- 

 dustry; and a diligent and constant endea\'or, on the 

 part of the governments and people ol Europe to im- 

 prove it.' We have the most ample evidence that the 

 efforts of our cotemporaries on the old continent have 

 been crowned with abundant success. France and 

 Germany have made great advances in agricultural im- 

 provement. The once barren sands of Brandenburgh, 

 and the no less unproductive heaths of Prussia, are now 

 covered, through the active efforts of the Prussian gov- 

 ernment, with plentiful harvests of the finest grain in 

 the world. The soil of England has been made to 

 more than double its products withm the last sixty 

 years; and Scotland has quadrupled her agricultural 

 products since the termination of our revolutionary 

 war. 



While such has been the recent progress of agricul- 

 tural improvement in Europe, what has been our pro- 

 gress in husbandry.' Has it not been retioiira'le.' Have 

 not our cultivated lands been generally deteriorating, 

 under an exhausting system of husbandry.' and have 

 not large tracts, once fertile, on the Atlantic border of 

 our country, been absolutely abandoned, as unprofita- 

 ble for culture, on account of the sterility produced by 

 our bad husbandry? 



Under the view of the subject which these facts pre- 

 sent, the committee feel it their duty to press upon the 

 consideration of the Legislature, who are delegated to 

 take care of the public weal, an investigation into the 

 causes which have led to this great, this alarming 

 change, in the relative condition of the two continents; 

 and to urge them to adopt prompt and efficient means, 

 not to repress the European spirit, which has done so 

 much good to the human famil3^ but to transfuse a 

 portion of that spirit into our own population, and to 

 raise the character of our agriculture, as we can and 

 ought to do, to the level of that of any country on the 

 globe. Fortunately, we are not left in doubt as to the 

 ))rominent means of effecting this desirable object. 

 Other governments have made the experiment for us; 

 have set us the example, and in a measure demonstrat- 

 ed the certaiaty of success. Those governments have 

 patronized and aided this noble art, by protection and 

 rewards; by instruction, in the primary schools, in the 

 elementary principles of husbandry; by nati(>nal boards 

 of agriculture; by agricultural surveys, and by schools 

 of scientific and practical instiuction in the diseases 

 and management of domestic animals, and in the busi- 

 ness of agriculture generally. 



The state of Massachusetts was among the first to 

 encourage the establishment of agricultural societies, 

 and to dispense to them the public bounty. Her con- 

 tinuing to persevere in this policy to the present time, 

 by a renewal of the law, making an annual and liberal 

 appropriation to this object, is at once an evidence 

 that she has found such expenditure salutary, and in 

 perfect unison with the feelings and wishes other en- 

 lightened population. 



The State of Maine has also given an example of 

 great liberality and wisdom, in recent eflbrls to im- 

 prove her agriculture. The bounty which she this 

 _year pays to her citizens, to encourage the culture of 

 wheat alone, will draw from the treasury a greater 

 sum, than all the expenditures, wliich the "empire 

 state" has made directly in aid of her agriculture, put 

 together. 



Several of the states have likewise, with a view to 

 encourage a useful and lucrative branch of home in- 

 dustry, o.-erpd liberal bounties for the cultivation of 

 the mulberry, and the production of silk. A slight re- 

 ference to the proceedings ol the current legislatures 

 of several of our sister states, at this moment, may 

 show the position which our own proud state should 

 assume on this important subject. 

 A bill is now before the legislature of Massachu- 



