888 



NEW ENGLAND FAllMEK. 



Jmio 5o, ib-jt;, 



AN ADDRESS, 



Delivered before the Rhode hUind Socidtj for ih^ 

 Encouragement of Domestic Industry, October 

 15, 1823, by Solomon Drown, M. D. 

 With mutual gratulations on tliis ausj)icious an- 

 niversary, we are constrained to niinglj our re- 

 grets, at being deprived of the pleasure of listen- 

 ing to the strains of eloquence with whinh we 

 should liave been entertained, had the health of 

 the worthy gentleman chosen to address you, per- 

 mitted. But let us endeavour to look round the 

 wide field of Agriculture and domestic industry, 

 which lies open before us ; aud stride to cull some 

 useful fruits — though obliged to abandon the 

 flowers. Tlie time allotted for an- address like 

 this, is necessarily short : A treatise on Agricul- 

 ture, therefore, will not be expected ; nor even 

 a full discussion of a single part of this inunense 

 science. Desultory must be our remarks ; as we 

 can do little more tiian skim over the surface of 

 this vast business — liable here and there to be 

 arrested by some prominent, unavoidable object. — 

 In looking over the county in which we are, and 

 where my eyes first opened on surrounding nature, 

 we may find much tliat would be interesting, even 

 to a stranger. I have not travelled mucli — yet 

 am in'.Uiced to conclude, tliat tliis happy County 

 of Providence comprises more real, important ad- 

 vantages than any other portion of the globe of 

 equal extent. Look at its capitnl, rising slowly, 

 but v/ith sure, progressive spread, in duo propor- 

 tion with the rising strength and beauty of .\'.nerica 

 — it seems destined, like the oak and baobab, to 

 flourish for ages. How happily situated for Com- 

 merce — at the head of a fine bay and river, and 

 naturally secured from invasions of a maritime foe. 

 From its port, the fug of Freedom has been dis- 

 played in the remotest regions of the earth. Ob- 

 serve the flourisliing University, on yon second 

 Acropolis, the pride of Providence. Listen to the 

 music of the implements of mechanic industry in 

 every quarter. Need I mention its fisli-market, 

 with a hundred species of the choicest delicacies 

 of the deep. Soon you may be invited to look, 

 without imagination's aid, at yon canal, with its 

 numerous tow-boats, floating the true riches of the 

 interior country to their destined mart. Penetrate 

 the interior of the country : you cannot proceed 

 far without crossing rivulets that impart fertility 

 to the field with beauty to the landscape. Sip the 

 limpid spring, pure as e'er assuaged the thirst of 

 Hippocrates, who was unsparing in the praise of 

 water. Mark where successive hill-tops, crowned 

 with lofty trees are seen to rise in majesty and 

 beauty. The face of the county indeed, is so 

 diversified with hill and dale, with woodland and 

 with lawn, that the air which fans and perflates it, 

 is pure and salubrious as the gales of f^deu. The 

 botanist and mineralogist may here find ample 

 scope for their researches. — Now linger a moment 

 to hear on tlie soft breeze of tlie morning the tink- 

 ling of the bell that calls to acts of useful industry: 

 how tenfold sweeter than sounds that rouse tlie 

 lazy monk to matins unapproved by heaven, mid 

 naturally deliglitful European scones. Look at 

 tl»e frequent fields of tasselled maize — that choic- 

 est gift of nature to mankind. View with atten- 

 tion the fruit trees, bending with the varied gifts 

 of Pomona, to which the peculiar sweetness of the 

 soil of this county, adds peculiar flavour. But, 

 above all, regard the inhabitants, — firm, indepen- 

 dent, of honourable principles. unbiass'>d and un- 



trammelled by absurd dogmas, theological or po-( 

 litical. I mean nut to confine this remark solely ] 

 to this portion of our happy State. — I may appear 

 too warm in praise of my native county .■■'' Some 

 allowance, no doubt, will readily be made for pre- 

 judice — if attaclmier.t, founded on so much truth, 

 deserves the name of prejudice. 

 1 '• Brf athi'S ihi-re the man, with soul so di-ad, 



; Who never to biins<-ll halb said, 



I '1 Itis is my owii, my nuliveland I 



j Whosf heart hatli iiuVa within hi.n burned. 



As home his footsltps lie li.alh luinei', 

 Fro:>. wandering on a fijroi;.'n stiaud 1" 

 We will now alter our tone a little, and speak of 

 tlie capabilities of the County to receive amoliora- 

 I tive operations. Much land is to be drained; many 

 large stones to be removed ; anl some sterile 

 ' grounds to be fertilized. It Is enough barely to 

 mention the necessity of draining — Mr Burges 

 having in this place last year so- well pointed out 

 the method. But stones — tliore's the rub. How- 

 ; ever there can be no bettor mode of procedure 

 (than in good earnest to set about removing all 

 large stones that woald obstruct the operations of j 

 the plough, ifiic. and pile them \ip in walls ; and 

 where the ground is thickly strewed with smull 

 ones e'en let Ihtm lie. Tiiese stones perhaps arc 

 not so injurious as we may be ready to appreliond. 

 Ellis, an old writer on husbandry, says, "It is 

 strange, at first sight, to see great crops of wheat 

 and otlier corn grow (seemingly) amongst vast j 

 quantities of stones — where hardly any mould can 

 be discerned. — The owner would not give one 

 load of stones for several loads of dung, because 

 these stones have several advantageous properties 

 in them ; preserving the roots of grain from being 

 dried and scorched by the great heats, by keeping 

 in the vapour of the earth, &c." Mills, in his 

 System of Practical Husbandry, observes, "Nothing 

 can excuse leaving a stone in any ground so large 

 as to interrupt the plougli. — Some spots, very fer- 

 tile in several kinds of grain, seem to consist of 

 nothing but stones ; and instances are given of 

 fields being rendered barren by taking away the 

 stones whicli covered tliera.f Theophiastus ac- 

 counts for thij in a hot country, where it happened 

 to the Corintliians, by saying, that tlie stones sliel- 

 ter the earth from t!ic scorching heat of the sun, 

 and thereby preserve its moisture. The same 

 liolds true even in our colder latitude^ wliere the 

 lieat of the sun is less apt to hurt us ; and Mr 

 Evelyn is clearly of opinion that husbandmen ra- 

 ther impoverish tlian improve, those grounds which 

 are almost covered with stones, especially where 

 c<H-n [i. e. grain] is sown, if they pick them off" 

 too minutely ; because they thereby expose the 

 land too much to the effects of heat and cold." It 

 is mentioned in Young's Annals of Agriculture, 

 that Mr Macro, of Rufiblk, having often suspected, 

 that removing stones from turnip land did more 

 hurt than good, resolved to convince himself by 

 experiment : he theretoro gathered up all the 

 stones of one .square rod, after the turnips wore 

 folded off", and laid them equally over another 



* In this little panegyrick, which sfeni? confine.) |,> 

 the county of Providence, no sort of dispaia^ement wn? 

 meant to the other Counties in the State ; for no per- 

 son liviiio; can possibly have a higher or more favoiua- 

 blc opinion of the wliole little State of Ivhode-Isi.am) 

 ANn Providenck pI.ANTATlo.^s than myself. I.itlle 

 more was intemldl than a query, whether any district 

 of no greater extent th.-in the County of Providence, 

 could be found comprising so many advantages. 



1 1 have heard of similar instances in this country. 



square rod, by the side of it, then sowed them with 

 barley, and marked them out, and at harvest time 

 collected them separately, as likewise another 

 square rod by the side of them, which had only 

 the natural quantity of stones. — From this single 

 experiment, the result was in favour of the largest 

 iiuanlity of stones. In some parts of the soutli of 

 Scotland, the soil is said to be composed in a great 

 measure of gravel, and of stones of a smooth sur- 

 face, as if worn by the running water. After 

 being ploughed, the whole surface of every field 

 appears to be composed of loose stones lying al- 

 most in contact witli each other. Lord Karnes 

 says, some industrious farmers, with great labour, 

 collected and removed the stones from a few of 

 tlieir fields, with a view to their improvement : 

 and the succeeding crops were wholly blighted 

 in the tender blade, and never cam.e to maturity. 

 The stones upon the surface were supposed to 

 have prevented the exhalation of the moisture 

 from tlie shallow and extremely porous and open 

 soil wliich they covered, and to have contribute J 

 to foster the young plants, by reflecting powerful- 

 ly from their smooth surfaces tlie sun's rays in 

 every direction around them ; but when they were 

 removed, the soil, in that bleak climate, becauie 

 at once too cold and loo Ary for any purpose of 

 agriculture. The farmers, therefore, who had 

 with so much toil and cost removed the stones 

 from part of their lands, could think of no better 

 remedy, than with e.iual t^il, to bring them all bacli 

 again and carefully replace them in their fields." 

 It is added, that the soil immediately resumed ii - 

 v.ontod fertility.* 



Such autliorities in favour of small stones, ex- 

 isting in the soil, may help to relieve the minds of 

 some who live in the parts of the State, where they, 

 abound; — and having to partake of this species of 

 consolation, I feel willing to impart a share of it to 

 tliose alike circumstanced. 



Having thus got over the stony ground, wlmt 

 is to bo done with our barren, worn out lands ? — 

 It does not seem riglit io e''enht them /i"e, too, witli- 

 outan attempt at melioration — A'eit scgne.i jactanl 

 terra, says Virgil ; nor let infertile grounds lie neg- 

 lected. — Plougli in green crops; or rather let them 

 remain to shade the soil, then rot ; trench plough ; 

 — institute a good rotation of crops ; — burn earth : 

 — not the poor sandy 'soil, but otiier parts of the 

 farm; — dig mud: — any thing ratiier than give them 

 up as irrccdaimable. Paring and burning, or some 

 similar process to procure fertilizing matter, should 

 be more frequently resorted to ; not to burn, how- 

 ever, so as to incinerate and utterly destroy the 

 texture of the substances subjected to tliis opera- 

 tion: — but witli a smothered heat, coal-pit-wise, so 

 as only to torrefy the earth, and carbonize the 

 roots and fibres, &c. in such manner, that the so- 

 luble carbonaceous matter (the reputed t'ood of 

 plants) may remain t"or application to the soil. This 

 carlh-buming, as it is called, will furnish an excel- 

 lent manure for such lands ; and on almost any 

 farm an unbounded quantity can be prepared with 



* I was informed by the Rev. Mr (iann, ininiediatelv 

 after the exercises — (hat on examining llic remains of 

 coridiills, on a spot thai had he.n j'lanted by the ab- 

 origines, four stiines were found in each. In the oldf s* 

 book extant. .Tob, chap. viii. v. 17, is (his fignradve 

 expression : Jiis rnuls are vrnpped about the tirap, nnd 

 srclh III', place uf stones. — Or, as in a tr.anslalion of the 

 Vulgate. His roots mitlli/itt/ in a hri:p of slants 

 nnd s;row gteons there. Thus we fimt that the irn<.t 

 ancient writers, and the first rude cultivators of this 

 country, were alike apprized of the efficiency of stones 

 in promoting vegetation, , 



