450 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



will be kept in a state of continual improvement 

 and herein consists, as 1 think, the whole art of 

 good farming. AnJ now, the all important ques- 

 tion presents jtseK^ — how is this very desirable 

 elate of things to be eH'ected 7 I am lully aware, 

 that I am now approaching one of the most 

 complicated and diffii'olt questions in agricul- 

 ture ; and I acknowledge that 1 touch it with 

 great diffidence. If there be any point con- 

 nected with my vocation, on which I have read, 

 and thought, and studied and soukIh inlorma- 

 lion, with more inlentness-, than any other, it is 

 this vexed point. All will agree, that to the 

 continual improvement of our land?;, large addi- 

 tions of manure of some kinds are indispensably 

 necessary. But the difficulty is — what kinds 

 are mopi available — calcareous, or that large 

 class which are generally called putrci^cent ma- 

 nures ? And then what i,s the most suitable 

 lime lor their application, in winter, when the 

 ground is naked, or to the growing cro[)s ? 

 And hoiv are they to be applied, as a top-dressinof 

 or immediately to be covered with the plough 7 

 Alter worryin<r and vexing myself witfi these 

 and many other points connected with manuring, 

 I have concluded to di(=pope of the whole atl'air 

 in the following summary way — take such ma- 

 nures as you can get, and apply them at such 

 time and in such manner as you may find most 

 convenient, and I have never seen any lands but 

 would be benefited by the process. If, however, 

 I were 10 recommend one mode above another, 

 it would be, to lop-dress the grass lands, and the 

 next year or the year Ibllowing, to submit the 

 same fields to a corn crop. Good farnting then 

 mainly resolves itself into this one thing — to 

 possess yourself every year, of a large amount 

 of valuable manure; and if this be all, I Jiave 

 no doubt that everyone now present /ec/s that 

 he can be a good farmer. Among the many 

 anecdotes which are told of the celebrated John 

 Randolph, of Roanoke, I have heard this as 

 one — that whilst a member of the United Siaies 

 Senate and actually delivering one of his eccen- 

 tric speeches, he suddenly paused, and fixin<j his 

 burning eye upon the presiding officer of that 

 body, he exclaimed — "JVlr. President, I have 

 discovered the philosopher's stone — it consists 

 in four short words — pay as you go.'''' I think I 

 have made the same discovery. It consists in 

 making, every year, a larn;e pile of manure, in 

 distributing it in the proper season over our 

 fields, and then, in a course of neat, careful, and 

 diligent culture. It follows, therefore, that the 

 philosopher's stone is no longer a fiction, existing 

 only in the brains of deluded alchymists. John 

 Randolph discovered it in the Senate of the 

 United Stales ; and from traces I have seen I 

 verily believe that if lies concealed somewhere 

 close by my farm pen, my stables, and my hog 

 aties. And the beauty of the thing is, that it is 

 not confined to any particular locality. If you 

 look for it, I doubt not, you will find it in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of your farm pen also. Yes! 

 the farmer, the judicious farmer has at last disco- 

 vered the long sought-for, the renowned philoso- 

 pher's stone, the macic touch of which changes 

 every thing into gold ! 



The great mischief, amonn; us farmers, is that 

 we are in too great a hurry to get ricii. We 

 seem to forget, (hat the golden age has passed 



by, and that we are living under the hard influ- 

 ence of the iron age. We greatly mistake too, 

 as I think, as to that in which our true riches con- 

 sist. One man considers himself rich, because 

 he has a large sum of money to lend out at a 

 usurious interest, ami thus takes advantage of 

 the distresses of the limes. Another is accounted 

 rich, because he owns a large amount of stocks 

 in some moneyed institutions. But the farmer's 

 wealth consists, not in his stocks, not in his 

 houses, but in his rich lands. I recollect that 

 when I began farming, an old friend and acquaint- 

 ance, JVlr. John Carter, gave me a piece of very 

 valuable advice— "make your lands rich," said 

 he, " and in proportion as they become rich,, you 

 will be rich." The old man spoke the truth. 

 The Bible tells us that man was made out of the 

 dust of the earth. 'I'his is true of all ; but the 

 farmer is identified, in a peculiar manner, with the 

 ground ihai he cultivates. Wi en that is poor, 

 he IS poor, and when il)at is rich, he is rich too. 



I have also known many lidrmers to be serious- ' 

 ly injured, and some of them ruined, by indulging 

 in a spirit of speculation. Tliey contrive to get 

 hold of a lew liundred dollars, (honeelly 1 hope,} 

 and instead of first i)ayiiig their debts, and then 

 laying out the balance in manures and other 

 tilings by whicli they might improve their farms, 

 they go away and lay it out in bank stock, or gold 

 mine stock, or in some other humbug foolery of 

 the same kind. Presently slock fluctuates and 

 the gold mine prospects are blown sky liigh, and 

 the poor man's capital vanishes into smoke. 



I hope it will not be ascribed to vanity m me, 

 but I cannot relrain li-om detailing an incident 

 which actually occurred in my own case a I'cw 

 years since. During the rage lor gold mine 

 speculations I was visited by a substantial and 

 highly valued friend of a neiifjiboring county. 

 He came to me in my corn field. At that lime 

 the plants were about a loot high, and I was 

 busily engaged with my hoe in helping up the 

 hindmost hand with his row. He looked at me 

 with a det/ree of surprise, and I doubt not felt a 

 real compassion for me. At lengih said he, alter 

 the usual salutation, why toil tiere in this dull, 

 slow way? And taking from his pocket some 

 beautiful specimens of virgin gold, he exhibited 

 them in all the conscious pride of superior intel- 

 lect. This treasure, continued he, is found in a 

 mine which I am now working to very great 

 profit, and I advise you to abandon this dull pur- 

 suit and embark in the same enterprise. The 

 dazzling spectacle had, I confess, its eftect upon 

 me ; and to cover my mortification I replied, I 

 too am digging for gold, but wiih this difference — 

 you goto the depth of many leet, I to the depth 

 of a lew inches — and ihe event has proved, gen- 

 tlemen, that more gold is to be obtained near the 

 surliace than far below it. 



And here, perhaps, I ought to close my ad- 

 dress, but there are still a tt;w circumstances 

 connected with the character of the good ma- 

 nager, to which I think it important to call your 

 attention. And first, our fiarmer is a man of 

 strict economy in the proper acceptation of that 

 term : not that he is stingy or niggardly in his 

 disposition, but he so contrives to manage hia 

 afl'airs, that every thing has a plenty and nothing 

 is wasted. The best story I ever read was writ- 

 ten by Miss Edgeworth, and is enlited " Waste 



