AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BKKCK &. CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warkbocsi.) 



vol., XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 14, 1838. 



NO. 36. 



ADDRESS 

 f Dr. J. C. Detknian of Kinderhook, .V. Y. before 

 the Jlgiicultural Convention in Albany, J^. Y. 

 Feb. 2d, 1838. 



Gentlemen : — Haviii',' lieen seleoteil by your 

 irtiality, more tlian twy i'.iuc.ss, to fill the oflice 

 ■ president of this society for tlie last year, it is 

 ade my duty at the expiration of the term to ad- 

 ■ess you. In doing so, I could wish to make it 

 ore than a simple matter of forjn. Were my 

 liiities equal to my inclination, I would throw 

 ound the great suhject w ', have met to discuss 

 id improve, tlie mo«t captivating eloquence, and 

 e most convincing wrgiiment. But, gentlemen, 

 make no pretensions to the first ; and, being a 

 rmer by choice, if I can impart any interest to 

 y subject, it is in the lessons 1 have drawn from 

 y own practical observations in husbandry. 

 On an occasion like this, two years since, we 

 ere favored with an address from a most worthy 

 id liberal-minded member of this society, but 

 ho is now no more, on tiie necessity of educat- 

 g our young men for fanners, and thus to make 

 em more fully appreciate the responsibilities 

 ey owe to the advancement of their profession, 

 their country, and to society. On a similar oc- 

 sion last year, the subject selected for our con- 

 leration was, a history of ngrieulture from the 

 rliest time until that period. Both were topics 

 iportant and interesting, and peculiaily calcii- 

 ;ed to awaken our altenlion, deepen our imprcs- 

 His, and make us better and wiser u'eii. 1 could 

 ish to impart an equal interest to the subject I 

 ve chosen ; and that is, what ought to be the 

 iXt step in the farlher improvement of agricul- 

 re. 



All who hear me will doubtless agree with me, 

 at as husbandry \vas the first instituted, so it is 

 II the most important pursuit of man, and there- 

 ire, whatever tends to its impiovement, is anoth- 

 advance towards the attainment of a common 

 Ijssing. All will likewise concede, that ours 

 s heretofore been more a laboring of the bauds, 

 (in the head ; and that, whilst we have literally 

 ifilled the command to " earn our bread in the 

 eat of our brows," we have not opened the 

 irces of knowledge, ami called science, which 

 8 shed so much light upon other subjects, to the 

 I of labor, but have been willing to plod on con- 

 it, in too many instances, with the annually re- 

 ced pittance we have gleaned from the soil. — 

 It, can it bo that science, vvhicli afTordS us so 

 ich intellectual gratification, and has opened so 

 iny fountains of wealth ; which has made us 

 ire conversant with the innumerable works of 

 s Deity, and enlarged both our enjoyment and 

 pacity ten thousand fold — can it be that she is 

 bid by the farmer to enter his domain, lest she 

 )uld teach him lessons that may mortify his 

 de, or alarm his prejudice ? Or will he assume 

 I ground that agriculture cannot be increased, 



and we must be content with our husbandry as it 

 is ; that farther innovation cannot advance it ; and 

 that however much the mind has done for other 

 pursuits, ours admits o( no deeper research nor 

 clearer investigation? Gentlemen, could 1 be 

 persuaded to adopt this opinion, I would erase my 

 name from the roll of the members of this society ; 

 for to me llie great charm of agriculture is the 

 hope of its advancement. I cannot think that a 

 God of infinite wisdom, who gave the immortal 

 mind to man, with powers to look into the world 

 around an.l above bim, and by his intellect to make 

 all in the universe subservient to his' interest or 

 his wants — has decreed, that in the cultivation of 

 the soil, which contributes so largely to his sup- 

 port and happiness, man is forevor to follow only 

 the dictates of instinct, and not the lights of re- 

 flection and reason. No. Our mefitnl faculties 

 are the noblest part of our creation ; they give us 

 command over tlie beasts of the field and the 

 fowls of the air ; they enable us to comprehend 

 and know God as the Author of our existence, 

 and the giver of our bounties ; and it is the im- 

 provement of them only that can make us accep- 

 table in the sight of Him, who is hims<;lf both 

 omnipotent and omniscient. The brute may per- 

 ish, and the works of our hands crumble by time, 

 and be lost in the lapse of ages ; but the immortal 

 mind, enlightened by the study of the past, and 

 looking with hope to the future, stretches forth 

 her sleepless energies to understand creation as it 

 is, and ultimately t:iKe home with her the sublime 

 pleasure that the acquisition of knowledge has 

 im()arieil. Cannot then the mind be made to op- 

 erate U))oii the stubborn .soil, to make her more 

 abundantly yield lu-r increase ? Most assuredly it 

 can ; if we but call to our aid all the li^lit which 

 science has shed, and is shedding, and ililigently 

 and systematically apply ii, our calling will not 

 lag behind other avocations in the steady march 

 in improvement. 



When we take a view of the works of Deity, 

 we are lost in astonishment at the comprehensive- 

 ness of the mind that conceived, the power that 

 created, and as far as we can follow them, the 

 beautiful and exact laws that regulate and control 

 the whole machinery of anitriate and inanimate 

 nature. We see order, the first law, the great law 

 that governs equally the movements of the worlil, 

 or tlie formation of the most insignificant insect. 

 If we go farther, we see it is given to finite man, 

 when ho makes one branch of the works of the 

 Almighty a subject of stuily and reflection ; if he 

 first looks back and sees how far others have 

 gone, compares their ideas with his own ; ukes 

 constant advantage of the thousand arguments 

 thai nature is beautifully and daily unfolding to 

 his view — if he arranges his materials and gives a 

 systematic operation to all his movements and 

 thoughts, persevering in his plan, and neverdoubt- 

 ing of ultimate success, — we see him at last bring 

 orderout of confusion, and what was before slight- 

 ed because it was not understood, now becomes 



uses. It is to labors like these, that we are in- 

 debted for our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, 

 geology, botany, languages, &c. &c. and all the 

 advances in the sciences and arts that contribute 

 so much to the happiness and intelligence of civ- 

 ilized mail. But to an uncultivated intellect, that 

 does not avail itself of the labors of the past; 

 where the mind has not been expanded by read, 

 ing and redection ; whose notions are of one kind 

 to-day, of another kind to-morrow ; where con- 

 jecture supplies the place of arranged facts, and 

 prejudice is a bar to a ju.«t elucidation of the laws 

 of reason and nature ; where all is crude, confus- 

 ed and mixed up — the good with the bad, the 

 ii.seful with the nseles.', sense with nonsense, and 

 reason with folly — and united, too, as they are 

 with a boastful desire to give opinions to the 

 world, as the emanation of reason, and the clear 

 results of a long expeiience ; what else must fol- 

 low, but that darkness will continue to cover the 

 land, and gross darkness the people. These last 

 observations apply with a peculiar force to the 

 past and present state of our farming operations. 

 Although we have cultivated the earth for thous- 

 ands of years, we have yet no arranged system of 

 action, and the beautiful law of order, which God 

 has stainpe<l upon this as one of his works, we do 

 not yet understand ; for we have not yet learned 

 to reason from cause to eflfect. To be sure we 

 sow \n spring and reap in autumn, a'ld gather 

 iffto barns to supply our wants, and those of our 

 flockSi But did not onr father Jacob do so ? did 

 not the patient Job do so ? and likewise Boaz, the 

 kind-hearted husband of Ruth, at least five thous- 

 and years ago ? And what has been done for the 

 advancement of agriculture, between these gener- 

 erations and outs? It is a fact, gentlemen, that 

 something like improvement in farming has taken 

 place only within the last fifty years. It com- 

 menced in England and Scotland, and thqse cou.i- 

 tries have for some time experienced the benefits 

 of what they call their improved husbandry. — 

 Within that time they have doubled their products 

 liut in one important point they have a manifest 

 advantage over us ; that is, they can employ three 

 hands as cheaply as we can one, and have their 

 board in the bargain. Still, although much has 

 been done there to increase the products of the 

 earth, yet, in iny humble conception, radically 

 and permanently to improve, they must adopt 

 another and better plan, and instead of raising 

 farmer* by instinct, they must be rearctl by edu- 

 cation. Instead of a man of any age turning far- 

 mer, and at once ignorantly triumphing in his 

 success, and boasting of his knowledge, he muKt 

 be taught by a dear-bought experience, that he 

 has undertaken a business he does not understand^ 

 because he cannot compete with one who in early 

 youth has had his miiul expanded by both scien- 

 tific and practical culture. 



We have all seen the absolute necessity that the 

 lawyer the physician, the manufacturer, and the 

 ditisan, shouki go through a regular course of 



of importance as wo are made acquaioted with its ' study, reflection and practice, to fit them for the 



