se 



24 



iiiiyt iTavimr'js iHmitl)li) Visitor. 



their regret, that tlieir choice lias been unwise ; 

 that they left a certainty lor an uncertainty ; and 

 like the younger son in the itarnblo, they may de- 

 sire to return to their father's liouse, where is 

 _ bread enough and to spare ; these evils may fall 

 upon the individuals themselves, but agriculture 

 r sustains no real loss. 



The views here advanced are happily illustra- 

 ted in our own county. Worcester has more per- 

 Bous engaged in agriculture, and produces a great- 

 er amount of agricultural products, than any oth- 

 er county in the State. According to the late cen- 

 sus, the number of persons engaged in agricul- 

 ture is 17,.583; the numl>er engaged in manufuc- 

 tureg and trades, is 11,778, and the number en- 

 gaged in all other callings is 921) — making in 

 round nujubers 17,500 engaged in agriculture, 

 aud 12,700 in all other |)ursuits. These numbers 

 relate entirely to males ofa sufficient age to be la- 

 borers. We may safely assume llial the women 

 and children, and (he aged and intuni, will be as 

 numerous in one calling as in another, according 

 to their numbers. This would make in round 

 numbers, a population of 55,000 dependent upon 

 agriculture, ami 40,000 dej)eudent upon the oth- 

 er callings for support. 



Now, where do the 17,500 find n market for 

 their produce .' Tlieir crops may as well be cut 

 off in the field by Jiost or blight, as to be left 

 upon their hands for the want of purchasers. 

 It is to no purpose that the earth yields a return 

 for their labors beyond their own consumption, 

 unless these products can be disposed of to ad- 

 vantage. And what do the 55,000 produce for 

 the market which the 40,000 cannot consume ? 

 Look through the whole catalogue of agrici^kur- 

 nl products, and you will at once preceive, that 

 the county, as a whole, has little or no surjilus. 

 The most important crop, and ono whicli, if 

 sold at the market price, would yield the largest 

 sum, is hay ; but there is very little of this arti- 

 cle sent out of the country. Potatoes, another 

 and important crop, are substantlaliy consumed 

 within our borders. Of grain of all kinds, ihs 

 40,000 consume twice as much as the 55,000 

 can supply. Of poultry, their is as much 

 brought into the country, as there is carried out. 

 What, then, have the tannere to sell, which the 

 manufacturers aud mechanics do not wish to 

 purchase .= Do they grow wool ? All that the 

 farmers in the county grow for the market, 

 would not supply two of our largest woolen 

 mills. A small (jiiantity of beef Is sent to the 

 Boston market. Butter and cheese are produc- 

 ed in the county beyond the demand. But the 

 quantity of beef, butter, and cheese produced in 

 the county, does not greatly exceed the demand ; 

 and the surplus wonid full short in voiue of the 

 flour and grain which are brought iii'.o the coun- 



I mention these things, not to show the pov- 

 erty of the county, but the reverise. I mention 

 them to show that the county i^rich, not only 

 in agricultural products, but in a market which 

 €>ves to fheni a value ; a market amply suffi- 

 eielit to consume whatever the farmer has for 

 gnl^. In this respect Wr situation is peculiarly 

 favorable. The county is comparatively inde- 

 pendent. She is substantially beyond theireach 

 of causes which may affect injuriously snfne oth- 

 er parts of the Conimonwealth. What though 

 our farmers have been driven from the sea-board 

 market, by the peopling of the feitilc valleys of 

 the West, and by the opening of tiew channels 

 of communication, wliich comioct .them with 

 our metropolis; we have a market within our 

 own borders, and can dispose of the fruit of our 

 labor at our own doors. Let the West then 

 pour her produce into our sea-poits, and thereby 

 strengthen the t:3 vliich binds her lo New Eng- 

 land. Let horbecouK' more and more connected 

 with UB in the business relation of life; it will prove 

 a mutual blessing. If she su[>plies our sea-jiorts 

 with the great staples of hor agriculture, she 

 will want our fabrics in return ; and our mechan- 

 ics will increase, and our mills will multiply, till 

 all our rude waterfalls becoine tributary to our 

 artisans, and our wnsta places become markets 

 in the midst of us. This would check the tide 

 of etpigration westward, and keep our ])opula- 

 lion at home. This would give a spring to in- 

 dustry in all departments of human labor, and 

 the tillers of the soil K'ould participate largely 

 tn tho advanlAi.'es. 



HIS OWN PRACTICE THE TARMEn's GDIDE. 



Every farmer can distinguish bctweeu a sandy 

 and a clayey soil, and can readily perceive that 

 the defects of one, may, in a measure, be remov- 

 ed by an aduiixlure of the other. Evcij' farm- 

 er can understand that plants, like animals, are 

 organized beings; that they live, and grow, a;Ml 

 require food for their sustenance; tlial^this food 

 is principally animal and vegetable matter, duly 

 prepared by fermentati(ui and decomposition ; 

 that every crop exhausts this fertilizing (]uallty in 

 a greater or less degree, and consequently, if no 

 return is made to the soil by manure in some 

 form, the land will becoiue comparatively barren 

 and unfit for cultivation. Every one can rotn- 

 prsherid the fact, that different plants require 

 differejit food, both in kind and in quantity, and 

 hence it is unwise to continue tlie .same crop 

 upou the same soil from year to year. All can 

 comprehend that |)lanls,"like animals, diaw sus- 

 tenance fiom the atniosjihere ; that the leaves cf 

 plants are the lungs through which they respire ; 

 and, as green crops luive more leaves "than dry, 

 that they inhale more from the aliiio,=phere, and 

 dravv less from the soil than the i]vy. All can 

 i'eadily perceive, that either too much or too little 

 moisture will retard the decom|iosition of the 

 fertilizing qualities in the soil, and hence that 

 some lands will be improved by draining, and 

 some by irrigation. All can luideistand that, as 

 our crops will be in proportion to the oruanic or 

 fertilizing matter contained in the soil, the great 

 art in husbandry consists in enriching the soil, 

 and hence that the first attention of every farmer 

 should be turned to the business of increating 

 the quantity of manure. All can understand, 

 that as all plants feed upou animal or vegetable 

 matter, these are the great ingredients in the ma- 

 nure heap, and hence that nothing of this kind 

 should be suffered to waste ; and that manures 

 should be so placed as not to suffer from the 

 drenching rains, or be e-\])osed to the evaporating 

 power of the sun and wind. 



These practical principles, developed by 

 seieuCe and confirmed by experience, can he 

 understood by every farmer ; and when they 

 are carefully oJ'Served, he will find that his labor 

 yields him a greater return. These principles 

 have given a new cha.'acter to the agriculture of 

 Great Britain within the last firty years. The 

 system of <lraining aud irrig'Qtion has converted 

 some of her useless jieat bogs r>y morasses into 

 the iiiDsl productive porticius of lisr territoiy, and 

 some of her barren hill-sides into a fruitftd soil. 

 And the system of rotation inxrojis hae enabled 

 her ngricultmists, not only to preserve tl;eir lands 

 from deterioration, but to increase their lertility. 

 By this mode of liusbandry, the corn crop of 

 Cieat Britain has been doubled within a half ceii- 

 tuiy, and such has been the improvement in her 

 agriculture, that its annual Income has been es- 

 timated at $2,706,000,000,— Hudson's Jlddress, 



FALSE PRinF. COKRECTET>. ., 



The growth of agricultural im[irovement is re- 

 tarded by several obstacles. It is the fate of 

 every thing human to be attended with difficul- 

 ties. From this rule, farming is not exempted. 

 The first obstacle in the way of agricultural im- 

 provement, which 1 sliall mention, is the low es- 

 timate which has been put upon this calling. It 

 has too often been regarded as an employment 

 wliicli requires nothing but physical power — 

 mere brute fwce; and consequently, if a young 

 man exhibited any considerable degree of talent, 

 he tnust be put to some other calling. The nat- 

 ural tendency of this has been, to degrade agri- 

 cultural labor, find to impress upon those who 

 had a^iy aspirations after distinction, the impolicy 

 of grovelling in the dust, as cidtivaling the soil 

 has sometimes been regarded. The effect of this 

 has been to draw talent away fioin agrieulttire, 

 and to create an impression that the calling was 

 not aa respectable as some oihers, ftlany a young 

 man has been driven from agriculture, and 

 brought to ruin by this cause. And if it were 

 not ungallant, I would say that. some of our youn^ 

 women, faultless in every thing eliic, have been 

 BO far deceived as to prefer a husband employed 

 in other pursuits than agriculture. But the re- 

 verses which have attended other jiursuits, will, 

 I trust, soon teach them, that the permanent 

 home of the farmer's wife is greatly to be pie- 

 ferre<l to the changing abode and variable ffu tune 

 of many other classes of our citizens. 



Let {he wealthy and influential— those whosc 

 talents and station give them the ability to influ- 

 ence |ud)lic sentinienl, give their attention to the 

 neglected art of husbandry, and these fal.se no- 

 tions will soon he dispelled. We have a noble 

 esamjile of this in the I'resident of this Society, 

 (Gov. Lincoln,) whose elevated stations have nev- 

 er for a moment withdrawn his afi'ections from 

 th^ art of hnslianJiy. And the presence of the 

 Chief JMiigistrate of the Commonwealth, and 

 other distinguished indiviilual..i, shows the cause 

 of .agriculti.-re is not thought to be beneath the 

 attention of the rulers q( the land ; and 1 trust 

 the day is not far distant, when all our public 

 men will give their ir^fluence to that calling upon 

 which we are all dependent (or our daily suste- 

 nance. If the profession;;! men in our country 

 towns would devote two hours in a d;iy n|ion aii 

 average, to manual labor upon the soil, it would 

 contribute lo their pecuniary resources, add to 

 the public estimate of this calling, and in no way 

 impair tht.Tr nsefuliuss iu their own. Man was 

 made for action. His powers of body and of mind 

 are developed only by exercise; and where one 

 man impairs his health and shortens his days by 

 labor, a much greater niunber bring on infirmi- 

 ties and premature death by indolence. — Hudson's 

 Address. 



01?" The enviable condition of the farmers 

 with their fiimilies in Worcester county — the 

 noble hearts and stern sinews of their well-edu- 

 cated sons, and the native beauty, the roseate 

 healthful liices, and well instructed rapacity to 

 preside either in the jiarlor or kitchen of their 

 fair daughters — fully authorize the high value 

 placed by Mr. Hudson .on the farmer's occupa- 

 tion.— £</. F. M. Vis. 



The present Lieutenant Gov. Dickinson of 

 New York, a resident of Broome ccunty on ihe 

 Susquebaunah river, is a lawyer of fine talents 

 .'Uid excellent morals. It is most encouraging to 

 the farmer to find such men coming forward to 

 assert the dignity and the respectaliility of the 

 farmer's occupation. Om- most valuable popu- 

 lation, male and female, is our practieaJ popula- 

 tion — the lust kno^^lcdge and intelligence is with 

 those who know how to labor in their vocation, 

 and who never could have known without being 

 conversant in the hrhor itself. No man or wo- 

 man can be eminent for usefulness without physi- 

 cal labor: mind itself can accomplish no valua- 

 ble purpose without submitting lo the di'i'dgery 

 of great physical efforts. The pride of wealth 

 gained without labor is the great weakness of 

 man; and a beautiful farm without l,he ajititude 

 of practical life is less auspicious to wordly en- 

 joyment and coinfori than a misshapen face w itli 

 a ciillivated intellect. We are right glad to find 

 that our agricultural enthusiasm of the last five 

 years finds daily additions of such men as Mr. 

 Dickerson who at length are convinced of the 

 truth of the aphorism that, without the improve- 

 ments of our farms all other improvements iuusl 

 lag behind.— E'/. Far. M. Vis. 



From Ihi.' Albany Argus. 

 The Disnity of Agricultural Tabor.— The Val- 

 ue of Education. 



At this lime we tran.^fer to the Argus an ex- 

 tract from Lieut. Gov. Dickinson's address before 

 the Queen's County Agricultural Society, as the 

 public mind is more deeply interested in ques- 

 tions of this character, than it ever baa been be- 

 fore. 



There is a spirit of agricultural enquiry abroad, 

 which is becoming productive of the happiest 

 results to all classes of the community. The 

 reekles-s improvidence aud consequent suffering 

 of the last few years, is slowly forcing into the 

 estimation of the rising generation, truer and 

 better notions of agricultural labor. The " toil 

 hardened hand" and the sun burnt fiice, are no 

 longer regarded as a reproach, even by the young 

 men of our cities. It is deemed to be far more 

 honorable and dignified to earn the rewards of 

 honest toiling indii.^tiy, under a bnliling sun, ihap 

 to live in idleness or to pass the life of a mere 

 gentleman. This increased and we may add 

 inoreasing i-espect for labor among those whoex- 

 c.rl so much inftucnce upon public opinion, is a 

 cause of gratet"iil exultulion. 



One of the most healthy changes of she limes,^ 

 arising from this improvement iu th© tone »f 



