612 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 8 



animals,"* is credit given to the Farmers' Register, 

 which is named as the source, and as "a highly respecta- 

 ble agricultural periodical, published at Richmond, U. 

 S." By the way, our correspondent, to whom this journal 

 was indebted for that communication, may well con- 

 sider it a compliment to his theoretical opinions on this 

 subject, that they should have been so republished in 

 this British work, as its conductor, the Rev. Henry 

 Berry, is one of the most judicious breeders in Eng- 

 land, and esteemed as the highest authority on improved 

 live stock,and all matters connected with their breeding. 

 The next article republished from the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, is the translation made for this journal, from the 

 Journal d' 'Agricultural des Bays-Bas, of Dr. Bronn's es- 

 say on " The influence of the origin of seeds on the quan- 

 tity and quality of crops." We have, by our com- 

 ments, at several times, endeavored to attract more at- 

 tention to this interesting and valuable piece, and 

 thought it strange that it should have been so little no- 

 ticed; and still more so, that the British public should 

 now be indebted for it to our translation, instead of to 

 the original article, as it appeared in the Belgium jour- 

 nal. The presenting the first translation of a foreign 

 article is certainly a merit in a journal very inferior 

 to being the source of one entirely original, of equal 

 value: still the service is worth some acknowledgement 

 — and not the slightest has the British journal made to 

 our's, for this translation. 



From the form in which is presented the portion of 

 the Essay on Calcareous Manures, it may be consider- 

 ed as the commencement of the publication of an en- 

 tire English edition. The extract embraces the whole 

 of the first five chapters, excepting the 2nd, ("On the 

 soils and state of agriculture of the tide-water district 

 of Virginia," which is omitted,) and the closing 

 words indicate that in the next No. the work was to 

 be continued. But there is not the least editorial note, 

 nor even the mechanical indication made by a change 

 of type, to show that the entire article is not there ori- 

 ginal, and appearing for the first time. It will scarcely 

 be deemed a contradiction to this assertion, that the 

 author's name is given, followed by the letters U. S. 

 which probably serve as little to point out locality to 

 an English reader, as the letter N. S. W. or G. B. 

 would to us that an author was an inhabitant of New 

 South Wales, or of Great Britain. It is true (notwith- 

 standing the omission of all credit to the original 

 source, and of the preface, and of the chapter which 

 applies more particularly to our localities,) that a dili- 

 gent reader would gather from the general purport, 

 the country whence the work was derived, and to 

 which it was more especially designed to apply. 

 But probably few would be induced to give so much 

 attention to what appeared under so deceptive and un- 

 inviting a guise. 



The mechanical arrangement of this No. of the 

 British journal, would furnish still stronger ground for 

 our charge. In the Table of Contents (printed con- 

 spicuously on the first page,) all the three articles 

 above named, are classed under the head of "Branch 

 1. Original communications, fyc." and neither of them 

 even stands in the subdivision of that Branch, "Notice 

 of New Publications." The "Branch II. Agricultural 



* See page 193, Vol. I. Farm. Reg. ' 



Intelligence," is devoted to subjects of quite a differ- 

 ent character — and selections of entire articles, are not 

 named, as a separate branch, and do not come within 

 the usual range of the publication. This incorrect ar- 

 rangement, however, might have been caused by the 

 printer's mistake — and would not have been complain- 

 ed of, if the borrowed articles had been properly ac- 

 knowledged elsewhere. 



But putting aside all personal considerations, it is a 

 subject of congratulation that this commencement ia 

 made by a British journal of the use of American ag- 

 ricultural opinions. In agricultural science and prac- 

 tice, the best informed communities, as well as indi- 

 viduals, may often learn something of value from the 

 far more ignorant — and the latter may gain still more by 

 having their opinions and and practices judged, and 

 tested by the more enlightened. There is no depart- 

 ment of science, or art, in which free and reciprocal 

 communication of opinion would be more serviceable 

 than in agriculture — and none on which there has here- 

 tofore been so little. European agriculturists, vain of 

 their acknowledged superiority, perhaps hold all Ame- 

 rican agriculture in contempt, and as unworthy of 

 other notice: and our farmers generally, encased in 

 the still more impenetrable armor of contented igno- 

 rance, consider all English farming as inapplicable to 

 us, and that nothing profitable can be learned from its 

 study. Either country would certainly be wrong to 

 copy fully the practices of the other in any one respect 

 — yet either may learn much, and profit much, by 

 knowing, comparing, and judiciously combining, some 

 of the practices of both. Through this journal no 

 pains have been spared to spread before our readers the 

 best selection of recent European agricultural infor- 

 mation — and not without some (already known) good 

 fruits to our country; and the particular circumstances 

 which have called forth these remarks, induce the 

 belief that similar means of deriving information 

 will be so made use of by our European fellow la- 

 borers, that both countries will derive from the course 

 redoubled benefit. 



SEASON AND CROPS. 



Since the latter part of October, when our last ob- 

 servations on the season were written, the weather 

 has been very generally and unusually warm — a few 

 days of that time only, previous to the 24th of No- 

 vember, having been cold enough to be suitable to this 

 region. Much the greater part of November has indeed 

 been at least as warm as is usually the corresponding 

 partof October. Of course, (and in direct contradic- 

 tion to our former anticipation,) the Hessian fly has 

 not only been destructive, to the wheat but to an 

 alarming extent. Some land has been ploughed up 

 and sown again. 



Many farmers have already discovered that their corn 

 was too little cured to be housed, when it was done at 

 the usual time — and have had to throw out of their cribs 

 the greater part, to stop the progress of mouldiness. 

 All will need to be attentive to this important matter. 

 This evil has not been experienced before, since the 

 remarkable year 1816. No better proof could be fur- 

 nished of the predominance, through the past summer, 

 of unusual cold and moisture. 



