148 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[D, 



ec. z. 



AN AS>9Ili:SS, 



Dtlivered before Ike Hilhbornugk ^gnrullural Sociehj, 

 al their Callk Show and Fair, at Aew Boston, 

 S^pl- 22, 1825 ; 

 By DANIEL ADAM3. Presideut of tlie Society. 



The savage never tills the ground. Jn that 

 slate, and even in the first stages ofcivilization, 



ideas having been adised tn iheir signiliciilion 

 I This I consider a great delVct .-vith agriciilliiral 

 I writers, tiie neglect on their p.irt of giving us 

 clear and explicit definitions of the terms by 

 them m ide u*e of in their writings. There is 

 ; a kind of provincial dialect among farmers, in 

 . ,. , , , districts and countries, and without such dftini- 

 the labor and the exertions ot every individual .^^^ ^^^^^,^ ^,^j^,^ .^^.^ ^^^^, p|.,j„ ,,n^, jnteljigj- 

 are required, during the whole year, to pro-| j^,^ -^ one district or counirv, are totally unin- 

 cure a scanty and precarious subsistence,barelyi .^^ another. Thc'word meuJuic, lor 



Cir-I 



rhese terms are used without any very definite j monstrously deceptive, and in these he is often 



s prolific as a hen i-- 



in chickens. These men 

 discover more anxiely for Iheir opinions, than 

 (or the advancement ci' knowledge ; and in place 

 of selecting facts tor ihe basis of theii works 

 and reasoning from these, their solicitude to' 

 form theories of their own has led them to bend 

 tacts to theories, and thus they have involved 

 both themselves and their followers in endless 

 perplexity and error. It was a pleasant ques- 



tion put to one ofihis character, why ti/a're sheep 



Not al all scrupu- 

 wliereas in England and some parts ol ihisjious ol the fact, he run on a long dissertatioo 

 bar to the introduction ol the arts, liut most el- 1 ^^^^J, jj j^ applied to all mowing ground^ upon colours, such as that black absorbs more 

 fectually chill and render torpid every effort o( ^^,^^.,1^^^ uplands or bog^. Hence, when one of 

 the human mind. Man so situated discovers lit- ^^^^ f;,r,ner3 reads of turning uj. meadows, con- 

 verting them 10 liUasre, and cultivating on them 



sufficient to prolong a wretched existence. Uir-j i|^g,.i'j,,.p" „,|,h „g^ signifies low, sunken, boggy | feed more than black ones, 

 cumstances so adverse, not only operate as a i ' ' 

 the arts, but most el- 1 ' 



tie of those rational faculties, by which, in more 



of the sun's rays than white, and much of this 

 sort of sluiT, little to the satisfaction of him who 



, -. . , ,cw..,5 „ -- --„ I'ropounded the question, while the plain good 



advanced stages ol society, he is so Pm">en"y { .j,,^rio„s kinds of crops, he thiows down the book |Sen-e of the practical farmer cut the gordian 

 distinguished. It is only in situations where the ^ .^ ^^^^^^^j^ ^^^^1,^51^^^ .,„ jj^jj ^.^^ i,e nothing j knot at once by replying— it was because there 

 means of subsistence arc amj)lp, where the '^- 1 ^prg "than the vagary of some visionary brain, i were more of them ' 

 bour of a certain part ot the community is suf- „- . . . . ■, ) r. 



ficient to provide the necessaries of life for the 

 whole,and where a considerable part of the re- 

 mainder are placed beyond the necessity of toil- 

 ing to procure Ihe first necessaries of life, that 

 the powers ot the human mind develope them- 

 selves. To this state of comparative ease and 

 independence, man has been exalted by the in- 

 troduction of .Igricuhure. To this has succeed- 

 ed all the other arts connected either with the 

 comfort or the elegance of life. 



From the period that Agriculture came to be 

 so well understood as to enable a part to pro- 

 duce the necessaries of life in sulTicient abund 

 ance for the whole, the attention ol'the remain- 

 der would be directed to other pursuits. There 

 is a natural propensity in man to aspire to some- 

 thing beyond what he possesses at the present 

 time. The first wants of life being once sup- 

 plied, and a permanent provision mude for them, 

 new desires would be felt. Warm clothing ami 

 comfortable habitations would be the first in or- 

 der : fine clothes and other elegancies would lol- 

 low in succession, together with science, liter.i 

 tore and Ihe fine arts. Such is the iu'^eparable 

 connexion of agriculture with the comfort, Ihe 

 happiness and Ihe exaltation of the human race. 

 In a political point of view, it is perhaps the 

 only firm and stable foundation of national great- 

 ness. As a profession, it strengthens the mind 

 without enervating the body. In morals, it ha^ 

 been well observed, it leads to increase of vir- 

 tue, without introducing vice. In religion, it 

 naturally inspires devotion and dependence on 

 Providence. It is a rational and agreeable a- 

 museraent to Ihe man of leisure, and a boundless 

 source of contemplation and aclivily to the in- 

 dustrious. 



To exhibit to you Agriculture, not only as an 

 art, but also as a science, to point out one prin- 

 cipal defect, and advert to a mean most success- 

 ful for its advancement, will be my object in Ihe 

 j)resent Address. In this presentation to you of 

 the subject, you are are not to anticipate either 

 originality in thought, or elegance in diction. — 

 To be plain, practical, and, if possible, useful, 

 is the utmost bound of my anibition. 



Aj^ricuhure is not only an art to be pr.actisi;ii, 

 hut it is a science to be STUDIL^D. Hence h.ive 

 •ii'isen those distinctive appclhilions among agri- 

 iiilUiral men, such as husbandman or farmer, 

 practical farmer, theoretical firmer, gentleman 

 larmer, book faimcr, accomplished fanner, and 

 jiractical scientiti'; farmor. or agriculturalist. — 



But here lies the difficulty ; the -^-riter is describ- j Some of our books on agriculture, especially 

 ing operations carried on upon his uplands, | some of the earlier publications, were wrilten 

 which Ihe reader, in his own mind, Iranslers to by men of this desciijilion of character. They 

 some s:i'cm/J, through which perhaps an animal , had studied agriculture in the closet, but had 

 cannot be made to pass without hazard or loss, j never seen it exemplified in the field. Their 

 In imitation therefore of an example, which | ilirories were not grounded on experience. — 

 I would recommend to all writers on agri- j Theory without experience, is no better than 



lailh without works. Either may intlate Ihe 



culture, I will proceed to classify and define 

 thp=e several lerm=, already introduced, all 

 which are of frequent occurrence, not only in 

 books, but also in conversation. 



In Ihe first phice I remark, that some of these 

 tern;s are used in a manner nearly synonymous 

 and ought to be considered purelv so. Such 

 are the words husbandry and agricullure. Hus- 

 handrv is a word purely English ; agricuhure, 

 and its derivative agriculturalist, arc ot Latin 

 nrii,rin. The latter are more classical than the 

 for.-.ier, an<l are perhaps more frequently used 

 bv learned men, who, you know, are fond of 

 words which smell a little of the Lalin and 

 Greek. They are however to be considered 

 the same in signification, and whether we use 

 the terms farmer, husbandman or agriculturalist, 

 we make no discrimination in Ihe meaning or 

 sense. These are properly g-e«eric terms, that 

 i=, terms applied to a class, or genus, which ad- 

 mits of being divided into siiecics. They are 

 terms applied indiscriminately to all men as a 

 body, wlio in any way direct their attention to 



imagination, hut neither will edify the under- 

 'lanJing or warm the heart. Il is this, in no small 

 dejrree, which has brought what is sometimes 

 called hook-farininu; into so much disrepute, and 

 surely not wilhnnl some degree of reason. But 

 then Ihe prejudice is carried to a veiy unwar- 

 rantable length, even lo the rrjeclion of tdl 

 book*, so that now there are Ihose atnoitg our 

 larmcrs, who pass for plain, honest, and even 

 sensible men, on whom you could no more pre- 

 vail to read an agricultural book, than you cuiild 

 or. a Mahometan to read the Bible ! 



The Proc/icu/ Farmer is one who practise? 

 flgriculture as an art, or vocation, but who has 

 never studietl il as a science. I know nol how 

 to speak of this character with any degree of 

 particularit)', lest there should be thought (d he 

 SQimething petulant or even harsh in my remarks. 

 1 would not however handle the suhjert deceit- 

 fully. 1 would be honest, 1 would be just. But 

 as this character will be again brought up lo 

 view, I shall content myself here \vilh exhibi- 



agriculture.' The species into which this genus ; ling only two or three traits of il, which, al 



of men admit of being divided are three, desig- 

 nated by these three specific terms — practical 

 farmer, theoretical farmer, and practical scientific 

 farmer, substituting in all cases, il you please. 



though perhaps not ^'cncni/, are yet but too evi- 

 dent in many indivichiait of the species. 



It has been remarked by a certain writer, that, 

 "The more we really need information" — on 



the word husbandman or agriculturalist, in place! any subject, no matter what — "The more we 

 of Ihe wordylirmcr, without any variation of the j really need information, Ihe less anxious are we 

 sense. I further observe that Ihe term iook-\gcnereilhi lo obtain it." This I am sorry to be 

 farmer, if used al all, I would have applied ex- 1 compelled to say, is one distinguishing trail in 



clusively to the theoretical farmer, and Ihe terms 

 accomplished fanner, gentleman farmer, lo the 

 practical, scientific farmer ; although I do not 

 approve of the use of the latter in any sense as 

 a specific term, because we arc all gentlemen. 

 Having thus classed these several terms, I shall 



many individuals of Ihe character under consid- 

 eration. The less Ihey know of Ihe science of 

 agriculture, Ihe composition of soils, the econo- 

 my of plants, their growths, nourishment, the 

 principles into which they are resolved by de- 

 composition — the less they know of Ihese and 



now proceed to some remarks on Ihese three lolher subjects connected with their profession, 

 specific characters ; and first on the theoretical Ihe less Ihey feel the need of information. And 



in exact proportion as is their ignorance, so, 

 generally, is their indifference, until, in many 

 instances, it settles into downright aversion to 

 all that light, on agricultural subjccls, which, at 

 the present day, is bursting on the vision of those 

 who have eyes open to receive it. 

 .\iiT5lher trait in the character under consider- 



farmer. 



'i'hc Theoretical Farmer is Ihe worst of all 

 farmers ; so much so, that he is no farmer at all. 

 He is all theory, without any experience. He 

 rarely descends to facts. He soars so hiurh in 

 the aerial flights of fancy, that he almost loses 

 sight ol' this mundane si)here. His books are 



