AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



^ 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Age.cultural Wabehouse.) 



roi,. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 17, 1838. 



NO. 28. 



A CARD. 



[t having been stated in some of the public pa- 

 's, that the Subscriber has taken upon himself 

 Editorship of the New England Farmer, he 

 ims it proper to correct this error. He has 

 ply engaged to afford such aid, advice, and 

 respondence as be can render consistently 

 h bis official duties to the State, or as might 

 jart be connected, with those duties. It will 

 essnrily liapper) in the jirogress of his Survey 

 : many useful facts connected with the agri- 

 :ure of the State, will be gathered up, which it 

 f be in his power to comtnunicate to the pub- 

 ivith advantage ; but vWiich would not be likely 

 ind a place in his public Report. It may be 

 n desirable likewise for him to communicate 

 1 the agricultural public through the medium 

 ne New England Farmer ; and to use it as the 

 ns of circulating important information to the 

 lers; but he will a.ssume no responsibility jior 

 igement, which wHl in any way prejudice his 

 es as Commissioner for the Agrinuitural Sor- 

 of the State. HENRY COLMAN. 



muary 10, 1837. 



mind is fully ma<le up ; that there is not a more 

 liberal or better i)aymaster than the earth ; and 

 that the intelligent, skilful, and faithful application 

 of labor is no where better rewarded than in a-^ri- 



'e have thought it would do a service to the 

 e of careful and liberal cultivation to republish 

 rreatise of George Adams, first published in 

 aon in the year 1816. It was called a new 

 tm of Agriculture for which the inventor ob- 

 >d Letters Patent from the Crown ; and his 

 s were sold at one guinea per piece. He 

 to show the extraordinary amount of produce 

 h can be obtained from a single acre of land 

 r a proper system of cultivation, and manur- 



He maintains that its productive capacity is 

 I to the keeping of 24 Neat Cattle or 240 

 p through the year. VVe deem it a great 



of extravagance and romance ; and we pub- 

 t with no view to endorse its statements ; but 

 a particular view to draw attention to one 

 matter, the maximum product to which land 

 e forced ; and profitably forced. This is a 

 inquiry. The actual amount, which can be 

 led from a single acre under all the cultiva- 

 and the best cultivation, which can be given 

 is most certainly not yet reached ; this trea- 

 'ill show that with us it has scarcely been 

 ned. The question whether there is among 

 :asion or encouragement for such cultivation 



here speak of is another matter. Our own 



culture. 



A NEW SYSTEM OF AGRICULTURE AND 

 FEEDING STOCK. 



BY GEO. ADAMS. 



Preface. — It is not the intention of the author 

 of this work, to engross the time of the can<li(l 

 reader with a long preface ; but to give his opin- 

 ion as concisely us possible of a "New System of 

 Agriculture;" the most important subject, nnxt to 

 religion, that can occupy the minds of F.nglish- 

 men. Trade and mechanics, though in a flourish- 

 ing state, would soon fail, were it not for ihesiip. 

 port which they receive from Agri.-ulture. To 

 this subject, nuny learned and opulent gentlemen 

 have of late years, much to their credit, turned 

 their thoughts, and employed much of their time 

 with a view to its improvement ; hoping thereby 

 to reduce the high price of every necessary of 

 life ; a consideration the more momentous at this 

 time, when the ports that used lo supply us with 

 many neei-!ful articles are shut against us. Every 

 one who is well disposed to his country, will give 

 all possible encouragement to Agriculture, if, in- 

 deed he be convinced that our national stab'ility 

 depends more upon our own resources than any 

 foreign aid. 



The reader needs not to be informed that many 

 of the first character in the kingdom deserve the 

 highest praise for the assiduity they have shewn 

 in the improvement of the breed of cattle, horses, 

 sheep, and pigs. They have, by their unwearied 

 exertions, convinced the world, tbatthey cordially 

 adopted the sentiment of the celebrated Roman 

 Orator, who declared, that " Of all the means by 

 which any thing is acquired, there is nothing bet- 

 ter, nothing more liberal,, nothing pleasanter, 

 nothing more worthy of a (ree mart than Agricul- 

 ture." ^ 



The Author has been a practical Farmer for the 

 last twenty-six years, and has paid great attention 

 to tlie different cultivation of land in most of the 

 counties in England ; and he assures the reader, 

 that the following Treatise is the result of his own 

 practical knowledge, without any relation to the 

 opinions of any other writer on tho subject. 



The Author is convinced by experience, that in 

 the general way of feeding stock in this kingdom, 

 there is a waste of at least three parts of the man- 

 ure that is used, and of as great a proj)ortion of 

 the produce of grazing land. He hopes he .•<hall 

 be able to prove, that by adopting the rides laid 

 down in the following pages, three times more 

 stock may be kept and fed upon the land etnploy- 

 ed for that purpose, than are now kept upon it; 

 and that, consequently, two thirds of the land' 

 usually appropriated for cattle might be used for 

 the growth of corn. Uy which means, it is ob- 

 vious we should beless dependent on foreign 

 markets. 



Great encouragement has of late been given to 

 the growth of fine wool (which we can produce 

 equal to Merino;) but let it be remembered, that 

 if we grow enough of fine wool for our consump- 

 tion without ir.portation, we shall not be able to 

 raise enough of coarse wool for our staple manu- 

 facture, unless we augment our keep for an in- 

 creased number of sheep equivalent to the de- 

 mand for both sorts of wool. The Author there- 

 fore, proceeds to state the New System of Agri 

 culture, by which he proposes to improve the land 

 raise more ktep, and feed more stock at less ex' 

 |)ense than has hitherto been attempted by any 

 other person. 



A NEW SYSTEM OF Agricdlture, &c —Every 

 experienced farmer will allow, that a great deal of 

 keep .8 wasted by any kind of stock, and parlicu- 

 hirly by cattle and sheep in a wet season, espec- 

 laby m those counties where the land is naturally 

 wet. I am convinced, that by the present mode 



of feeding stock, three parts of the keep is lost 



Every beast and sheep has s^ix ways of destroying 

 Its keep ;- and it is well known, that to be kept in 

 a thriving state, cattle sbouid have a sufficient 

 quantity of food to satisfy tf.eir wants in a short 

 time, because they fatten quicker by lying much 

 ■•It rest. In some parts of the kingdom particu- 

 larly near London, many persons adopt the econ- 

 omical plan of mowing their grass and taking it to 

 ihe house. This method is a great saving to the ieep 

 for as I have just observed, there are six ways by 

 which beast and sheep destroy their keep, (viz ) 

 by eating, walking, dunging, staling, lying down, 

 and breathing upon it. To prevent these and 

 other inconveniences, I would recommend all 

 feeding stock to be kept in moveable houses, upon 

 grass seeds, clover, cinquefoil, la lucerne, or any 

 other luxuriant keep. These should be mown, and 

 regularly given in sufficient quantities to the stock; 

 by which means, not only four times the quantity 

 of keep will be produced on the same land, but an 

 opportunity will be aflforded of properly disposing 



of the manure,, made by the stock in feeding 



This is a very important consideration. I have 

 no doubt, that upon the usual plan of feeding 

 stock, three parts of their manure is wasted, if not 

 entirely lost. For in or near most grazing lands 

 there are brooks, rivers, or fords of waters. Now 

 in the summer time, the cattle, after they have 

 eaten enough, will get into the water and stand 

 there the greatest part of the day ; consequently 

 the urine and dung which they void during that 

 time will be entirely lost. And as it is well known, 

 that nothing is more offensive to a beast than its 

 own excrements, it is evident, that the keep is de- 

 stroyed upon those parts of the [lasture where the 



stock may chance to leave their dung or urine. 



Again, in those lands where there is no water, the 

 flocks and herds will be seen under the shade of 

 spreading trees or hedges toavoid being tormented 

 by the flies, and thus their manure will be deposit- 

 ed where it is least wanted, and unnecessarily 

 wasted. 



(To b* continued.) 



