156 



AN ADDRESS, 



Delivered before the Hillsborough ^gncjllural Society, 



at their Caltlc Show and Fair, at J\'tw Boston, 



Sept. 22, 1825 ; 



By DANIEL ADAMS. President of tie Society. 



(^Concluded from page 150.) 



Inquiry, as yet, is but lilde exci'.eH on ngri- 

 cullural subjects. By far (he greater propor- 

 tion of our practical farmers are satisfied with 

 tlieir OH-n limited experience, jvithout availincr 

 themselves of (lie advantage «hich might be 

 derived from a knowledge of the vien's and the 

 experience of others, although the means of ac- 

 quiring this knowledge are now so increased as 

 to be effectually within ihe reach o'evcry man. 

 Who among us, lot me ask, reads Ihe New- 

 England Farmer, a weekly agricultural paper, 

 published in Boston, devoted almost exclusive- 

 ly to the interests of agriculture ? This paper, 

 now just entering on the fourth ye.nr of its pub- 

 lication, has received the unqualil'ied approba- 

 tion of such characters as Lowell, Quincy, Pick- 

 ering, Lincoln, and others no less distinguished. 

 But these, perhaps some will say, are gentlemen 

 farmers ; men distinguished for their erudition 

 and their polilical wisdom ; but as loinrricullurc, 

 what can they know of that? They neither 

 hold the plough themselves, nor ilrive. True 

 —but although they do not hold the plough, they 

 direct it, and as to a driver, their leans are train- 

 ed to go without one. Dr. Johnson once ob- 

 served, that "the man «:ho knows which taay 

 to direct his views, sees much in a little time." 

 Such are the characters I have mentioned. — 

 Their views are directed by Ihe light of sci- 

 ence. They have not only studieil agriculture 

 in the clcset, but they have contemplated it in 

 the field, and have pvomiiilfiaA ;^^^«vlI-^.^ tensive 

 and highly cultivated estates, in all Ihe various 

 products of the farm. They are what we call 

 practical, scicniifc agricuhurnlisis, with whom 

 many of iis in the county of Hillsborough, with 

 our three acres ofcorn. as many of English grain 

 an acre of potatoes, and a yard of turnips, are 

 no more to be compared, than a fire-bug with 

 a sun-beam 1 But it is not from such characters 

 as these only that the New England Farmer 

 Tcceives its support. It is highly estimated by 

 the plain, sensible, practical farmer, and in some 

 of the most agricultural and best cultivated dis- 

 tricts in Ihe United States, is almost as generally 

 read as the newspaper. Notwithstanding, at 

 the close of the last volume, which was in Au- 

 gust last, the publisher numbered only eight sub- 

 scribers in the county of Hillsborough ! 



Again let me ask, who has read Ihe American 

 Orchardist, a [ilain, practical treatise on ihe cul- 

 ture and management of ihe apple and other 

 fruit trees, together with llie most apjiroved 

 methods of manufacturing cider, compiled from 

 the latest authorities, nnd adapted to Ihe use ol 

 American f.irmcrs. This is a cheap and valua- 

 ble publication. It contains no speculative or 

 vision.iry projects, nor does it recommend any 

 untried experiments. There is no branch o( 

 American husbandry which calls more loudly 

 tor reform tiian that to which this treatise re- 

 faics. In the usual practice trees taken from 

 fhc nursery are ycrkcd out of the ground much 

 like a surgeon extracting teeth, and with their 

 mangled roots crowded into a small hole, exc.i- 

 taled out of the hard earth, of about (he depth 



NEW EiSGr. AND FARME R. 



and dimensions of a porridge-pot; — our orchards, 

 in many instances, so infested with vermin, one 

 would think lliey were visited with all (he 

 plagues of EgypI ; — now and then, at least, a ci- 

 der barrel standing with its putrid lees through 

 a hot summer, sending forth pestilence and 

 death; — and then the cider, such as I have 

 Sbmetimcs seen it, vile, fillhy, abominable stnfi', 

 that would make a hog sjueal lo dip his nose in 

 it! 



I might go on to mention the Agricultural Re- 

 pository, published semi-annually by the .Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural Society, (he New Hamp- 

 shire Agricultural Re[]osilory, and other works 

 of a similar nature, but I forbear. Now the fact 

 that these and like publications are no more 

 read among us, is incontrovertible evidence ot 

 the low and degraded state of our agriculture. 



In new countries, as before observed, agri- 

 culture may be made a profitable concern with- 

 out knowledge, without intelligence. But when 

 the virgin fertility of (he soil shall have become 

 exhausted, and all its products feeble and sickly, 

 it is then (hat agriculture, to he successfully 

 praclised, assumes (he dignity of a science. As 

 such it is not 10 be acquired like other mechanic 

 arts by patient drudgery and plodding dullness. 

 K consists not in the corporeal aliility of turning 

 the glebe and blindly committing the seed to the 

 iailhful bosom of the earth, (bus entrusting all 

 to the nnenlighlcned efforts of nature, without 

 the direction of scientific skill. '• The ignorant 

 and unlettered boor,'" observes an elegant writ- 

 er, " is no more capable of being a successful 

 farmer, than the team which he drives. He 

 may fell the forest and burn the timber, and by 

 his"ill directed and unenlightened efforts, ma^ 

 obtain a stinted and ungenerous crop ; but he 



nature in her coyer m6o(l=, lo draw forth her 

 latent beaulies, and to inilucc her lo display. he 

 full luxuriance of her charms. 1'iiese she cnly 

 reveals to (ho<e ardcn( and scientitlc admirers, 

 who penetrate her seque'^lered recesses, who 

 study her in all (he winding, and mazes of vog- 

 e(a(ion, and who labour to acquire (he knovl- 

 edge of soils, (he application of composts nnd 

 manures, (he structure of implemenls,(he habits 

 of plants, and all those philosophical imprnv?- 

 inents to which husbandry has bcrn indebted 

 during the last century, and which have been 

 converting England, France, the Netherlnnd:, 

 Italy and a great part of Germany into little less 

 than well cultivated gardens."' 



The short of the story is this ; — Agricukuri 

 combines deep pliilosophy zi'ith ttscj'ul practice. — 

 Principles must be s(udicd, experience must be 

 acquired, and' these two operations must be go- 

 ing on together in the mind of every man, who 

 would aspire lo the noble emulation of being 

 considered an accoinptislicd farmer. 



In conclusion I remark — 



Jlgricuhnral Societies are -xcll calculated, and 

 hove proved eminently successful in advancing the 

 a:friculture of this and every country where they 

 have gone ijito operation. 



Should some one say, but little effect as yet 

 has been produced by these societies in our own 

 stale ; our reply is ready. — .\n abundant harvest 

 is not lo be expcc(ed from that licid, whatever 

 may be the natural fertility of its sod, from 

 which have been withheld the labor and the ex- 

 pense of effectual cultivation. Would you see 



[Dec. 9, 



the wonder working effects of these societies, 

 you must look abroad, lo other states and coun- 

 tries, where they have been quickened into life 

 by the sunshine of legislalive patronage, and 

 where the whole .Tgricultural intercsi,almost as 

 one man. has stepped forward for their support. 

 There the uniform effect of (he formation of 

 tiiese societies has been a sudden and very won- 

 (lertul increase of agricultural knowledge, and 

 a consequent and necessary excitement of emu- 

 1 ilion and cn(erpri5e. And indeed what is the 

 business of this day, but so many lessons on ag- 

 riculture ? Would ynu know what has been done 

 already by men oi like occupation with your- 

 selves in different parts of tlie country — would 

 you know how it has been done, under what cir- 

 cumstances, at what expense,and with what suc- 

 cess ? — Then listen to (he repor(s of (he seve- 

 ral committees, which are aboiU to be read be- 

 fore you. These committees are eleven in 

 number — five on dilTerent descriptions of slock ; 

 five on different descriptions of manufaclures j 

 and one on agricultural products and farms. — 

 Seventy-four sensible, practical farmers and me- 

 chanics, some of them more or less scientific, 

 are engaged in discharge of the duties of these 

 several committees, aided on articles of domes- 

 iic manufacture, by the intelligence of a nu.Ti- 

 ber of ladies equally familiar with the opera- 

 lions of the dairy, the spinning wheel and the 

 loom. Some of the best cultivated farms in ihe 

 county of Hillsborough, various descriptions of 

 slock, and numerous s|iecimens o( domestic man- 

 lificture most worthy of imitation togoliier with 

 all their respective and attendant circumstance', 

 have passed under the inspection of these com- 

 mitlees. And is it possible their reports on 

 these several subjects shall contain nothing lo 

 ;,.i^.icst rne larrhefT — N^othing lo prove his 

 emulalion, to engage his attention, or to excite 

 his enquiry? — nothing lo strengthen his hand- 

 and encourage his heart? — no new inforaialion, 

 practice, or imjirovemcnl, no( one solitary hint 

 or suggestion, which having been adopted and 

 found successful by some of his brelhren, he 

 may carry home, and with evident ailvantage 

 adop( in(o his own practice? The r, mmiltee 

 on agricultural products ami (arms, particularly, 

 have devoted six days lo this service, have (rav- 

 elled by compu(a(ion 116 miles, have \iewcd 

 ihirly-sever. dilToreBt farm*, and one hundred and 

 forty different crops. This method of awarding 

 premiums en agricultural proilucts, by an actual 

 inspection of tlic crojis and oC the farms on which 

 they are growing, by a commi((ee sent out for 

 that purpose, was adopted by this society in the 

 year 182J, and has been uniformly practised 

 since. It may be worth the while lo attend lor 

 one moment to the instructions given this com- 

 mittee on receiving their commission. In that 

 instrument Ihey are told, that •' it is not Ihe in- 

 tention of (he Execudvc Commidee lo encour- 

 jge Ihe r.iising of great crops at too great ex- 

 pense ; nor to encourage a high stale ol cultiva- 

 tion on a small part ol the farm, while the other 

 jiarts are neglected. You will therefore,"' say 

 ihesc iu'^lructions, ''in making your awards on 

 agricultural products, take hi'o consideration Ihe 

 situation of the farm, Ihe nature of the soil, the 

 former and present mode of cultivation, Ihe 

 quantity and quality of manure used, and the. 

 ABiLiTV of the owner lo make improvements and 

 husband Ins farm uell ; and In deciding on two 

 crops, if one be large and considered simply with 



