1838 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



ro7 



British Board of Agriculture was more especially 

 produced by ilieir very minute surveys and 

 volun)inous reports oftlie actual condition oi" agri- 

 culture in each county of the kingdom. Never 

 was a great national expenditure more judiciousiy 

 and profitably made; and unquestionable benefiis 

 were almost immodialely obtained. The surveys 

 liad scarcely been in operation when they brought 

 iirst to public Knowledge two most important 

 modes of improvement, which, though known and 

 practised lor many years in particular sections of 

 England, had never been known, or even heard olj 

 elsewhere. One ol'ihese was the plan of" warp- 

 inir.'' or raising and making gieat ani valuable ad- 

 ^litions to the soil of alluvial lands, by arresling the 

 muddy contents oftide-wators ; and the other was 

 Elkingion's plan of vertical draining, which, 

 when thus made known, obtained for the disco- 

 verer the distinguished and rare honor and reward, 

 ol a parliamentary grant of jt 1000. But though 

 these cases are more manifest, and therefore more 

 striking, it is likely that there were hundreds of 

 others, of more general application and value, of 

 which the knowledge was diHiised by these surveys, 

 to the hundred-fold greater profit of agriculture. 



Though surveys, being executed by but few 

 persons, would m some respects be of much less 

 value than working agricultural societies, which 

 would combine the labors of many individuals, | 

 yet the former would have a decided advantage in 

 one important respect. Agricultural societies, 

 hovvever zealous and industrious, would not report 

 much else than the good or commendable prac- 

 tices, or such as were so deemed. But surveyors 

 would be required to exhibit the actual slate of 

 asrriculiure — the defects and the evils, as well as 

 the subjects for approval and imitation. This 

 would be an important part of their duty ; and to 

 know fully the existing evils caused to agriculture 

 by ignorance and bad management, would be 

 one of the most important preliminary steps to- 

 wards reform, both general and particular. 



The intimate acquaintance which the members 

 of an agricultural society would have with the 

 soil and agriculture of their own county or dis- 

 trict, would be a very important advantage to their 

 investigations, which would be wanting to a sur- 

 veyor of districts to which he was almost a stran- 

 ger. But on the other hand, the stranger, if a ju- 

 dicious observer, will be apt to be struck with 

 many subjects of interest and value to all persons 

 similarly unacquainted with the locality and its 

 practices; and which residents there would not 

 appreciate, whether for good or for evil, because 

 Ihey could not compare them fairly, and without 

 prejudice, with other practices elsewhere. 



In the present very imperfect state of our agri- 

 culture, it would not be requisite to have surveys 

 made as minutely, nor reports as voluminous, nor 

 to be at an expense, for the whole, at all approach- 

 ing to those of the English Board of Agriculture. 

 A very cursory and general, though correct view 

 and exhibition of Virginian agrriculture in its pre- 

 sent state would suffice for this part of a general 

 system of action; and at a future time, when great 

 improvements had been produced, there would be 

 more inducement for having surveys conducted 

 more carefully, and reported more in detail. 



The state of Massachusetts has the honor of 

 having led the way and otiered the example to 

 her more agricultural sister states, of ordering and 



supporting an agricultural survey. The agricul- 

 tural commissioner of that state, the Rev. Henry 

 Colman, is now actively engaixcd in that duty; 

 and we doubt not but that the profit hereafter de- 

 rived by the commonwealth will fully accord with 

 the public spirit and liberality which induced the 

 measure, and the distinguished ability of the indi- 

 vidual selected lor the labor. Yet Massachusetts 

 is scarcely an agricultural country, so unkind 

 arc her soil and climate, and so much are her in- 

 dustrious citizens devoted to other pursuits. The 

 interest of Virginia in agriculture, and the profit 

 which might be derived from a like measure of im- 

 provement, are twenty fold greater than those of 

 iter noble sister Massachusetts. 



In several of the next points for consideration 

 we will merely copy views which have long ago 

 been offered lo the readers of this journal in ano- 

 ther form, with merely such present additional re- 

 marks, as may be necessary for explanation or 

 extension. The following passages are copied 

 fi-om the "Sketch of the progress of agriculture in 

 Virginia, and the causes of its decline and present 

 depression," published in Vol. III. of Farmers' 

 Register. 



Jlgricultural Professorship?. 



"If agricultural professorships were established 

 in our principal institutions of learning, young 

 landholders who are there acquiring liberal edu- 

 cations might easily obtain a competent know- 

 ledge of the seneral principles of agriculture, 

 without sacrificing the other useful parts of scien- 

 tific instruction. If this object would not be a suf- 

 ficient inducement to remain one more year at 

 college, it would be an advantageous exchange in 

 such cases, if the study of theoretical agriculture, 

 and its connexion with chemistry and some of" 

 the branches of natural history, took up the time 

 usually devoted to metaphysics and the higher 

 branches of mathematics — the study of which will 

 be of use to but \'e.w men, except as a good men- 

 tal exercise — a kind of gymnastics for the mind. 

 It will be easy to ridicule the agricultural instruc- 

 tion that could be acquired from the lectures of a 

 professor — a mere man of books and of theory. 

 But though it is freely admitted that no such 

 course of instruction, alone, could make a farmer, 

 yet it would be the best preparation for the future 

 acquisition of practical knowledge. It would be 

 folly to look to the lectures of a professor for in- 

 struction in practical operations: but we might ex- 

 pect them lo furnish the general and true princi- 

 ples of agriculture and its kindred sciences, (so far 

 as they are connected,) without some knowledge 

 of which no man can avoid committing continual 

 blunders, and meeting with continual losses, as a 

 practical tiller of the earth. For example: a farm- 

 er cannot know whether he is proceeding right or 

 wrong in the very important operations of prepar- 

 ing, preserving, and applying manures, without 

 some knowledge of the chemical ingredients of 

 the materials used, of the changes produced by 

 fermentation, and of the functions of the plants 

 which are designed to be fed, and of the composi- 

 tion and properties of the soil intended to be en- 

 riched. Even a little knowledge on these points 

 would serve to guard against serious waste and 

 loss on every fiirm — the total amount of which 

 makes a hundred fold greater national and annu- 

 al loss, than all the expense of agricultural pro- 



