212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Jan. 27, 



AN AZI9RSSS, 



Delivered at ConcoiJ, before the Society of Middlesex 

 Hiisbaudmeu anil Mamifactnrers, October 5, 1825; 

 by Re7. CHARLES BRItJGS. 



(^Concluded from page 205.) 



There seems, at the present rlny, to he nn 

 unusual iiilprest excited upon all suhjects. Aii;l ! 

 a spirit ol'<!et'p inijiiiry has gone abroad among 

 those, who cultivate the earth. New ardour is ^ 

 in.'spired, and new amiiition is awakened among, 

 them. .\nt\ scarcely will you lind the indivi(hj-l 

 al, who would consent to see the light of im- ' 

 provement shining on the farms of his neighbours j 

 and his own farm covered with the darkness of; 

 past ages. Almost every farmer, thanks to our| 

 Agricultural Societies, cherishes a spirit of emu- ! 

 lation. He is unwilling to lag behin<) the age ; I 

 he is desirous, liiat his fields sliould look as j 

 green and fertile, his buildings as neat and com- j 

 niodious, and his animals as large and valuable, 

 as those around him. Anil this spirit of em- 

 ulation and inquiry, which is now awake, wants 

 only to be properly directed. 



As all improvements in husbandry depend up- 

 on experiment, every farmer who ivould " help 

 forward the age," and himself too, must be con- 

 tinually making experiments. Those, who pos- 

 sess the ability, should analyze the diflerenl 

 kinds of soil, and learn thoir adaptation to par- 

 ticular plants. A knowledge of this kind would 

 be highly useful. For when a plant is wedded 

 to an uncongeni.il soil, the union is always un- 

 fortunate ; the one ret'uses su[iport, and seems 

 unkind; and the other pines and sickens with 

 neglect. .\s similarity of tastes and views, a- 

 mong men, is favourable to the growth of friend- 

 ship ; so, among plants and soil?, similarity o( 

 ingredients in their composition in<lica;es their 

 adaptation, and promises happy rt;sul;s. " If, 

 says a certain writer, in the examinaiion of the 

 soil we di-cover ingredients, which, from a sim- 

 ilar process, we ascertain belong to the compo- 

 sition of some plant, and to that peculiarly, we 

 may rationally infer that sucli soil is extremely 

 well ailapted to the production of such plant; 

 and when the analysis has been properly con- 

 ducted, the inference is generally sustained by 

 actual experiment.'" Jlut all farmers cannot 

 be Chyniists and experimental Philosopher*. — 

 Still, they all can, and should, make experiments 

 on their farm^. 1 do not mean those costly ex- 

 periments, that are sometimes made. Leave 

 ihem for those of lavger fortunes, who will note 

 their results and send them abroad tor the bene- 

 fit of their less wealthy brethren; — but ex- 

 periments to ascertain the best time for plough- 

 ing, jdanting and sowing ; and the best methods 

 of doing them — to find out the best kinds of 

 grains, grasses, and roots, and the best modes ot 

 onltivatiiig them — experiments upon the vari- 

 ous kinds of manure ; upon gyp'^um, or plaster 

 of Paris, lime, ashes, salt, and sall-pelre, kc. — 

 to learn their relative value, to what kinds of 

 soil they are best suifeil, and in what quanilties 

 they ought to be applied. These, and a thons 

 and other experiments, that will be suggested 

 |i> a person of observation, can be made with 

 very little expense or inconvenience. 



Besides making experiments himself, every 

 wise farmer will acquaint himself with, the ex- 

 periinents of others, that is, will read. By this 

 means he may learn more in one year, than he 



would from individual experiment, in half his 

 lifetime. I know there is prejudice, existing in 

 the minds of many, against what is sometimes 

 called '-book farming"— that all knowledge, 

 derived from books on agriculture, is consider- 

 ed as unpractical and unprofitable. Some, it is 

 true, have made an injudicious use of their 

 reading. And what is there, under the sun, that 

 is not liable to abuse ? But the most of our 

 farmers have good sense enough to reduce these 

 hooks to practice without the least risk of fail- 

 ure. 



I It requires, indeed, but little reflection to be 

 convinced, that this prejudice is nnfoundod.— 

 ■ Agricultural books snd publications arp the re- 

 isnlt of individual observation and expeiienre.— 

 JThe materials, of which they are composed, 

 were mostly furnished by practical agricultural- 

 lists, and before they were committed to paper, 

 ! vvere regarded as the best authority. Suppose, 

 j that at one of these annual occasions, a farmer, 

 : who is a great enemy to " book farming,"' should 

 j happen, (1 sav happen, for it is not very proba- 

 ble he would,) to obtain a premium f..r raising 

 Ian extraordinary crop of corn ; and that the ac- 

 I count, he should communicate to the Society, of 

 the method of raising it, should be published in 

 some agricultural journal or paper ; would it, 

 let me ask him, by that means lose all its value; 

 and be calculated to lead those astray, who 

 should place confidence in it? What roysteri. 

 ous agent can there be connected with these 

 harmless types, whose political veracity, in hi* 

 own newspaper, he never has doubted, thlt 

 they cannot be trusted on the subject of agricul- 

 ture '? Dismiss then, you that are wise, anjt 

 would be in easy circumstances in your decliii- 

 ing years, and have something respectable (^ 

 leave to your sons and daughters, dismiss yo«r 

 prejudices against " book farming,"' and diirinjr 

 the long winter evenings avail yourselves of Ihs 

 labours of other*, and mature your plans for an- 

 ! other season, and by the next harvest you will 

 I reap the fruits of it. Every one, w ho owns an 

 ! acre, I had almost said a foot of land, who would 

 j find new resources to pay all his taxes, town, 

 i county and state; who would raise the respect- 

 I ability of his family, and multiply his cnmtorts; 

 who would live a better citizen, and die a bet- 

 I ler man, must be familiarly acquainted with that 

 : Farmer of farmers, the ' Nf.w-Exul.v.vd F-armer.' 

 1 Most of our farmers cultivate too much land 

 In many parts of this country 100, or even 150 

 acres would not be called a large farm. The 

 evils of possessing so much land are obvious; 

 groat expense of labour, and imperfect cnltiva- 

 Uon ; by which the land is impoverished, and 

 comjiaralivelv but small jirofils realized. It is 

 a common i<lca among farmers, that the best in- 

 vestment of properly, because the safest, is in 

 land. When, therefore, they have accumulated 

 a sum of money, they will, if possible, enlarge 

 their farms, lint, in most instances, it would be 

 much more for their interest to convert all their 

 surplus money inio specie, ami lock it up in 

 their desks or bury it deep in tb.eir cellars, than 

 to multiply their acres bov'M.d the moans of 

 good cultivation. Ilisremaiked by a certain 

 writer, that " The farmers of jVeze Kngland are 

 yet to learn the immense prndnclive poxi-rr nf a 

 perfectly cullivnIcU acre/'' To rai-e 100 bu'dieU 

 of corn, a man will plant 5 or ti acres! llinv 

 murh labor would be saved, and how much 

 would his land be increased in value^ if, instead 



of dealing out bis manure over this large field 

 as if it were Calomel, he would plough if info 

 two acres, (some would say one acre) of the 

 best of his land, and gather his hundred bushels 

 I'rom them? And, instead of mowing over 20 

 acres, with his hired hands, in order to get 10 

 or 12 tons of hay, how much better would it be 

 for him, with the hands which nature gave him, 

 to mow only lialf a dozen of well prepared 

 acres, and obtain an equal number of tons I'rom 

 them. I feel very confident, that, with tew ex- 

 ceptions, every man who owns a firm of 80 or 

 100 acres might, by a wise and improved culti- 

 vation of one half of it, and perhaps less, real- 

 ize more produce, and f'ar greater profits, than 

 he now does from the whole. One half, there- 

 fore, had better be sold ; unless by converting 

 into pasture land, it will yield him more than 

 six [ler cent, interest ; for he miist remember 

 that it must be fenced and taxed. In one of the 

 lioinan writers on husbandry, is the story of 

 lParidiu=, '■ who had two daughters and a vine- 

 yard. When the eldest was married, he gave 

 ;her a third part of the vineyard; notwithstand- 

 ing which he obtained from two thirds the same 

 crop as Irom the whole. When the other 

 daughter was married, he portioned hei with 

 lialf of what remained, and still the produce ol" 

 his vineyard was undiminished."' 



The farmer that would accumulate wealth, 

 must accumulate manure. He might as well 

 think of raising cattle without hay, as grass 

 without manure. I cannot give particular di- 

 rections on the subject. Individvials are differ- 

 ently situaterl, and possess diflerent means of 

 fertilizing their land. Every farmer should 

 look about him, set his wits at work, and "• rake 

 and scrape " every thing that may be convert- 

 ed to this object. There are, on many farms, 

 hidden treasures, over which the oivner walks 

 ue*on.scionsly ; rich and inexiinustible mines— 

 not of silver and gold— but mines, whose riclv 

 st«res, by no visionary alchymisl, can readily be 

 transmuted into these precious melals. I mean 

 peat or turf meadows. It is well known (hat 

 pfi\t is composed mostly of carbon; and when 

 divested of its antiseptic qualities, or "a ca- 

 pacity of resisting putrfstaclion,'' if becomes one 

 of file most efficient of the manures. The ex- 

 periments anil discoveries of Lord .Mcadowbank 

 on Ibis subject, are so important, that they 

 ousht to be known by every agriculturalist.* 



The means of making our faims more pro- 

 duclive, are greater th.in we are aware of — 

 Even the vilest weed, that grows in the garden 

 nf the sluggard, and, like its vegetable owner 

 and patron, curses the soil it occupies, may be 

 converted into something belter; and at length 

 compensate its mother earth, for her fostering 

 care, and expensive ei'r.ication. Nay, erery soil 

 beneath our feet may be made the handmaid ot' 

 t'ertility. 



Haliits of industry and economy, although im- 

 portant to all, are particularly essential to the 

 well being of the farmer. Whenever he neg- 

 lects his calling, or gets above his business, that 

 moment his prosperity will 'Iodine. To devote 

 himself to the soil, is his duty, his honour, and 

 his happiness; and he ou-rht ever to remerabeF 

 that simple but instructive ad.ige ; — 



" tie, iriat by tlie plougli would thrive, 

 " Hirr.silf must litlw r field or drive." 



• Ste the N. V.. larmtr, vol. iii. pages 332, 340, 34tf. 



