^\)c iavmcr's iHoutl)lij llisitor. 



167 



most honorable ami most useful : if Agriculture 

 cannot pay the expense of hibor, no other foun- 

 dutlon will be left for us to build upon. Manu- 

 factures can never llourish here, if there is no in- 

 iliiceinont for the tarnier to raise crops, the sale 

 of which will unable him to buy anil pay for ihc 

 uriicles of manufacture. It is the f^lory of our 

 country that Ihejdepenileneo of all productive 

 callings is mutual — that the eye cannot say to 

 the hand I have no need of thee, and that the 

 hand carniot say to the feet, I have no need of 

 thee. Whatever conduces to the support and 

 stability of one pro<luctive caliiu;,' in this free 

 country contributes to the support and stability 

 of every other useful calling. Greater than all 

 others in nundiers supported, more important 

 than all others as their foundation, is the occu- 

 |)atlon of the farmer. 



Pursuing this occupation in a humble manner 

 .Tiid muL-r disailv intages which few of you, gen- 

 tlemen, have bad to encounter, for the last ten 

 years 1 have derived more satisfaction than I had 

 realized either in the pursuit of a trade of twen- 

 ty years, to learn which my youth had been de- 

 voted, or in a life devoted mainly to public em- 

 ployment fur other ten years. In the last em- 

 ployment I ihinli 1 have discovered the fact that 

 the business of Agriculture hereafter is to ad- 

 vance so as to be considered not only the most 

 honorable employment giving the greatest satis- 

 faction, but that employment which shall be most 

 certain of indiviilual gain. 



In the results of events as they have transpired, 

 I have come to the conclusion that every acre of 

 our lands possesses the elements of wealth : 

 from the lowest sunken ssvamps and morassqs 

 yet to be drained, to the high rocky mountains 

 up to the point where vegetation ceases — as well 

 the now barren plains as the hardest rocky pan 

 hills — no land is so poor as to forbid the a|)pli- 

 catitin of labor to make it profitable for some- 

 thing. 



But the great point, to which I would turn the 

 present attention of Hirmers, is the art which ev- 

 ery one can teach himselfto practice, of making 

 one acre yiehl the crop and the profits which it 

 has been couiniou to obtain from two acres and 

 four acres, and sumetimes ten acres. The pleas- 

 ure given me from the agricultural pursuit has 

 in nothing been greater than the evidence which 

 has come to me as demonstration that all our 

 soils possess within themselves the elements of 

 resuscitation to an illimitable extent: with aids 

 slight in thoni>elves in most instances can the 

 resuscitation of what have been considered worn- 

 out or barren soils, be carried to the highest 

 slate of improvement. 



In the course of this (levelopen)ent (and I will 

 instance the Hospital fin-ui— what it was four 

 years ago, and what it now is— as proof unking 

 out niy case)— I have satisfied myself that the 

 more [nofitable ciillivalion, regarding the crops 

 of two consecutive years, when the greatest ex- 

 pense has been applied, is the improved thorough 

 cultivation — more piofitable in proportion as the 

 work of renovation ba.s been made more thor- 

 ough. 



Without going into further detail of my own 

 agricultural labors of the present season I may 

 say that as the result of deep plonghing and ma- 

 nure compost, of which a few casks of lime 

 were the most expensive ingredient, on five acres 

 of light intervale laud, which produced not half 

 a ton of hay to the acie when ploughed from 

 the sward four years ago, I this year obtained 

 twenty-two stout loads of hay, equal I believe 



after the shrinkage, to three tons to the acre. — 

 The same laiul since haying has grown a second 

 crop which in the subsoiled part would now 

 mow from three-fourths to a ton of rowen hay 

 to the aero: what of this shall not be fed olT af- 

 ter the corn crop is taken away I shall suffer to 

 remain for the benefit of the next year's crop. — • 

 This five acres gave me last year seventy-five 

 bushels of oats to the acre. The clear profits of 

 the present year per acre after paying all expen- 

 ses of labor will bo twenty-four dollars, equal 

 to the interest upon a capital of four huiulred 

 dollars to the acre. Seven acres of land in the 

 same field prepared in the same way, subsoiling 

 the land to the depth of twelve to sixteen inches, 

 and manuring three sucpessive years with about 

 twenty loads, consisting of fom- parts out of five 

 of black muck, tempered by lime with tile one 

 part manure from the cow yanl and stables, will 

 give nie an equal crop of oats not yet threshed 

 as the same crop of last year: the fine catch of 

 clover and its growlli thus far leaves me reason 

 to believe that the crop of hay next year upon 

 the satne land will be not less than that follow- 

 ing the oats of last year. Encourivged thus in 

 the process of subsoiling, which is done by a 

 heavier team following the team with the com- 

 mon plough directly before the succeeding fiu'- 

 row is turned over, my whole pJanting ground 

 of about seventeen acres has been subsoiled for 

 the present year: this I did just before the 

 ground closed up last litll. Of the ground thus 

 subsoiled ten acres in one lot is upon the pine 

 plain west of the river along the turnpike near 

 the line of Bow : to this ten acre lot I had car- 

 ried a compost heap made entirely without sta- 

 ble manure, consisting in the main bidk of turfs 

 taken from the top of the ground from my lot 

 laid out for the Northern railroad, but mixed 

 with spent materials of the chip yard at my for- 

 mer residence and the remains of sojue old 

 privies that had long been buiied up: upon the 

 top of the compost pile was strewed fifty bushels 

 salt, and mixed with it one hundred and fifty 

 bushels of unleacbed ashes. The ]iile was car- 

 ried to the lot in the winter, but was sufficient 

 to go over only seven-tenths of the ground, 

 spread upon the surface, and harrowed in. The 

 lot was marked ofT at the distance of three and 

 a half feet in the furrow and planted with pota- 

 toes early in May. Not more than ten bushels 

 of seed to the acre were planted: generally a 

 single potato orjialf of a large one was dropped 

 in the furrow at distances of eighteen inches and 

 two feet apart. With every potato a large tea- 

 spoonfid of Peruvian guano was deposited near 

 it, covering the guano with the soil immediately 

 after it was laid down. Seven acres were thus 

 disposed of The three acres having no compost 

 were disposed of in this manner: To about fifty 

 bushels of unleached ashes half a ton of ground 

 plaster of Paris was added ; and to the ashes and 

 plaster was added about six hundred pounds of 

 Peruvian guano, the bea[il>eing mixed by shovel- 

 ling over two or three times. A single handful 

 of this composition was dropped in the furrow 

 at intervals of eighteen inches and two feet, and 

 near it was dropped the potato. Without the 

 compost the crop of potatoes was nearly if not 

 quite equal to that of the compost and one fourth 

 less guano to the acre applied in a different way. 

 The potatoes came out of the ground early and 

 were so rapid in growth through the monlh of 

 June that there was no good chance of hoeing 

 them more than once. The subsoiled ground 

 made the whole piece like a garden. Early in 



July the drought was severe at Concord and for 

 several miles north : I remember on the visit of 

 the President that on the day the mud was ancle 

 deep in the streets of Lowell, the dry dust vvaa 

 of an equal depth in Concord street covering the 

 procession as with a cloud. This drought, if my 

 land had not been subsoiled, would have nearly 

 annihilated my potato crop upon the pine plain. 

 The potatoes had just set at the roots and wero 

 starting for the growth— they were at the critical 

 period most to be affected by drought ; this was 

 so severe as to yellow the outside lowru- leaves 

 and change the color of the potato stalk as if it 

 was ripening. Subsequent rains afterwards ral- 

 lied the growth of the crop, which I cannot 

 doubt was much injured by the drought. As ev- 

 idence of it the proportion of small potatoes was 

 imusually large. As it is there have been dug 

 from this field about one thousand bushels of 

 potatoes large and small, seven hundred and fifty 

 bushels of which went to Boston market prior 

 to the first of October: two acres remain to be 

 dug, which will make the crop to exceed twelve 

 hundred bushels. Of these there has been not 

 to the amount of a single bushel exhibiting any 

 signs of rot. 



1 have purchased and procured, for my next 

 year's planting, two tons of African guano : little 

 of this article has yet been used in New Eng- 

 land—it is dangerous to be used as coming in 

 direct contact with soils. It will kill seed corn 

 wherever it touches; and it is so powerlid in a 

 season of drought, that while it will make corn 

 of luxuriant green in a bed of sand when laid at 

 a proper distance, it will inevitably burn up and 

 wither the growing stalks if brought into too 

 near contact. It is the strongest manure that 

 ever has been used within my knowledge— its 

 annngnia is about one hundred for one of the 

 strongest and richest stable nnmure. It shows 

 its strength in throwing out additional ears to the 

 corn blades, filling the ears to the points, and 

 sometimes throwing the ear into a double head. 

 Touchiivg the growing corn blade it early ex- 

 tends the roots far over the ground : I have traced 

 these to the distance of three feet, within four 

 weeks from the time of planting. This guano, 

 like fire ami water, is a good servant, but a bad 

 njasler. If exposed to acid and attnosphere, it 

 will flee away entirely : put to the touch of most 

 kinds of seed, it will kill it as efiectually as the 

 soaking in strong lye. Its best application would 

 perhaps be a general admixture with soil or ma- 

 nure, entirely covered over, until the ammonia 

 passes into the veins and arteries of the vegeta- 

 ble production which is aided by it. Saving 

 ninety parts in a hundred in the price of trans- 

 port, and easily applied to many acres in the 

 hurried season of putting in crops, guano is des^s 

 tined to become the best of mamnes. These 

 remarks will ajjply to a light soil only as to the 

 peculiar value of guano for a single year : its 

 effects on the crops of future years remains to 

 be developed. 



To sum up the whole of what I svould say, the 

 great principle of renovation of the soil, is the 

 enlargement of the field lor vegetation by ^oing 

 deeper from the surface, and the supplying and 

 bringing into action the mineral manures to be 

 found near by if not under the sm'face of the 

 most sterile soils with their action to be aided 

 by the action of the artificial vegetable and ani- 

 mal manures. Fire and heat are necessary 

 agents acting upon the soil : so is water. All of 

 them in undue quantities would be as deleterious 

 as they are useful in the proper time and quanti- 



