290 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH HI, 18 '8. 



(leiisHhle necessary of life. This remark will 

 a|i[)ly to almost our entire Atlantic liorder. — Will 

 any inatliematician tell ns, liow long it will re- 

 quire, according to the riis|)ro|)ortionate ratio of 

 increase, between onr ijopiilation and our means 

 of sulisi.-itence, to reduce us to a state of ahsolute 

 dependnnce ? or, to a state of national want and 

 famine ? 



It is apparent, from the examples of improve- 

 ment which are witnessed in many districts of 

 our country, that we can improve the general 

 condition of our agricidture, if we will adopt a 

 wise and energetic policy. Nay, we have a de- 

 monstration of the j)racticability of doing it, in 

 the now palpable benefits of the law to improve 

 our agriculture, passed in 1819. That law in- 

 volved an expenditure of 40 or 50,000 ilollars, 

 and expired in 1824. It was found fault with by 

 many from political motives, and by mor.s from a 

 S|)irit of envy, in those who either had .'lot the 

 enterprise or the talent to compete succe.ssfully 

 for the rewards vyhicli it gave to industry and 

 skill. And besides, the law, in some instances, 

 was badly, we may almost say corruptly, executed. 

 Yet under all the disadvantages of want of or- 

 ganization, of inexiierience and abuse, has not 

 that expenditure been like manure spread upon 

 our soil ? Did not that law exeite a laudable em- 

 ulation among the whole farming community, and 

 bring into action more skill, mure industry, and 

 more improvement.' Has it not been instrnujen- 

 tal in greatly improving our farm stock, our farm 

 implements, and modes of cullme ? Has it failed 

 to increase the farm products of any one county, 

 of a respectable population, to the amount of the 

 total expenditure ? Or, has it failed to return 

 into the treasury, every year, the gross amount of 

 that expenditure, in the form of canal tolls u()on 

 the increased productions of il:e soil ? We do 

 not put these questions because we hsvc any 

 doubts in the matter, b«t to hviiig the subject 

 liomo !'^ tf"^ i-alin and delibevate consideration of 

 those reflecting men, v>;',,Qse duty and interest it is 

 to scan, to jud^^^ and to act wisely, upon a ques- 

 tion of iiionientous importance to our country. 

 If these men think with us, that the law of 1819 

 has amply renumerated the state, for its expen- 

 ditme, on the increased tolls on our canals, and 

 that it has added millions to the value of our an- 

 nual agricultural products, they will not hesitate 

 to renew that policy which has beea productive 

 of so much public good. The improvements of 

 the last eighteen years might have lieen respect- 

 able without the aid of that law ; but it was 

 that which gave a new impetus to improvement. 

 The fairs and exhibitions which it |)roduced, 

 taught our farmers, that there was yet much to 

 learn in their business ; — that they could improve, 

 in their farm stock, in their farm implements, in 

 their seeds, and in their modes of cidture — and 

 many of them resolutely determined to profit, 

 and did profit, by the lessons of instruction which 

 they then imbibed. And when the spirit of im- 

 provement has begim, it is like civil revolution, — 

 it seldom retrogrades. One improvement leads 

 to others, as naturally as the active mind, having 

 attained to one branch of knowledge, soars to 

 (Other and higher branches. Our southern breth- 

 ren gay, we are ii) advance of them greatly in 

 BgricuUnral injprovement. If this is so, we owe 

 this distinction in rural improvement to the law 

 that was |iassed, upon Governor Clinton's recom- 

 ipendation, in 18}9, 



It requires no science, and very little art, to 

 wear out and exhaust the most fertile soil. The 

 process is simple ; take from it all you can, by 

 close cropping, for a few successive years, and 

 return to it nothing in the form of manure, and 

 the work is done, or far advanced. In this busi- 

 nes.s we have shown ourselves to be no mean 

 adepts. But it does require science, iind art, and 

 perseverance, and capital, to n store fertility to a 

 soil which has become exhausted. This we have 

 not yet sufficiently learned ; but it should be our 

 next lesson ; and the sooner we begin, the sooner 

 shall we profit by it. 



Agricultural improvement is slowly developed, 

 at least to superfii al observers. It requires 

 years to renovate the fertility of an exhausted 

 soil — rto improve the stock of a farm ; or to re- 

 alize the benefis which result from draining, 

 from alternating crops, and from root culture. 

 We are much iin the habit of calculating upon 

 immedialt gains, without looking to remote and 

 ultimate benefits. We .saw not the change, when 

 the law of 1819 was in force^ because its benefits 

 were but partially developed. But we now bear 

 the remark from hundreds, that the approjiriation 

 of 1819, was one of the most benefici.nl to the 

 state that has ever been made by the legislature. 

 The popular vote of the .state would never have 

 i<anc#oned the construction of the Erie and 

 Ci'iamplain canals; and yet the wisdoiTi of the 

 measure is now saiK-tioned by an enliglitene<l 

 won'd. Although the construction of these canals, 

 may .have operated prejudically to some individ- 

 uals an d districts, yet the benefits which have re- 

 sulted .to the. whole state have ain|)ly compen- 

 sated fo." any |iersonal inconvenience or injury 

 they may have caused. So with the law to en- 

 courage a'^Tricultme ; many did not foresee its 

 benefits;, wl.'o now acknowledge that they are 

 palpable and. important. We nmst judge of pub- 

 lic measures \, V their fruits ; an<l before we are 

 competent to <lfi this, the seed must germinate, 

 the plant grow El,''d blossoNi, and the frtiit mature. 

 This is particularly the case in all measures to 

 improve agriciiltuie. It is the province of wis- 

 doin to look ahead--to sow the useful seed, and 

 to wait the coming .harvest for the recompense. 

 We must sow in the spring — and cultivate well 

 in the summer, if we \would gather an abundant 

 harvest, in autumn. 



We may almost lay it down as a maxim, that 



THE MENTAL AND MORAL CONDITION OF AN AG- 

 RICCLTURAL DISTRICT, IS .'N THE RATIO OF ITS 

 IMPROVEMENT IN HCSBANDRT. To borrOW the 



spirit of a political saying — as goes agriculture, 

 so goes the State. There is certainly much truth 

 in the remark, that where tliR farming is slovenly 

 and bad, ignorai ce, indolence, aud vice, most 

 generally abound : and that where agricultural 

 improvement is most advanced, the population 

 are most industrious, most intelligent and most 

 moral. Knowledge begets a love of knowledge ; 

 and when a man has acquired enough of it to 

 convince him of its utility in his business, he 

 considers it a part of his farming capital, and he 

 is anxious to increase his stock of it, as thi; read- 

 iest means of improving his condition in life, in- 

 de|)endent of the mental pleasures which it im- 

 parts. Hut not having acquired the requisite de- 

 gree to enable him to appreciate its value, or to 

 show him the defects of his system of manage- 

 ment, he plods on, with listless indifference, in 

 the ways of his falhera ; and as great success, 



now-a-days, seldom rewards su*h labors, he toi 

 often becomes spiritless and dissatisfied, and re 

 laxes into indolence, of which vice is too fre 

 quently the concomitant. 



Under the existing state of things, how does i 

 become us to act .' What are we to <lo ? Sha 

 we fold our arms, leave agriculture to declin 

 further, or to shift for itself, and depend upo 

 more propitious seasons, and other Providentii 

 interpositions, to supply our wants? Shall W' 

 depend upon the cotton, rice, and tobacco of th 

 south, which constitute our almost entire e.X|)orti 

 to pay for the foreign commodities which w 

 consume in the north ? Or shall we, animate 

 by the enterprise and love of independence w'hic 

 were wont to animate our fathers — lake in han 

 resolutely to provide abundantly for ourselves, li 

 encouraging and enlightening agriculture, eleva. 

 ing its character, and stimidating it to new effort 

 by suitable honors and rewards? 



As regards the means of improvement, muc 

 has been done, and much is doing, by the agr 

 cultuial periodicals of the day. The first i 

 these was established at Baltimore, by John i 

 Skinner, in 1819; and we can now enumera 

 nearly twenty, that are diffusing light, awakenir 

 enterprise, and inciting to industry, in every se 

 tion of our country — Probably one hiindre 

 thousand farmers, are now deriving instructio 

 anil improving their practice, by the perusal ■ 

 these journals ; and it is not extravagant to sa- 

 that the benefits they are dis[)ensing to the natic 

 are equivalent to millions of dollars every yea 

 But what is one hundred thousand compared • 

 the gross agricultural population of the union 

 and how much greater woidd bo their benefit.s 

 these Journals had access to every farm house, i 

 even to every school-house, in the .State .' Bi 

 sides giving much that is useful in the science, ( 

 the first principles of husbandry, they are coi 

 tinuslly advertising their readers of every in 

 provement which is being made in the [uactic; 

 operations of the (arm — of new seeds, all 

 plants, and the mode of cultivating them, and i 

 every improvement in labor-saving machine 

 In twelve numbers of the Cultivator may be nt 

 ticed more than a hundred and twenty comim 

 nications, mostly from practical farmers, residin 

 in the different states, detailing their practice i 

 different dci)artiTients of husbandry, thus niakio 

 their improvements known, in a short lime, to il 

 twenty thousand patrons. 



By thus concentrating, as it were in a focu 

 the practical knowledge of the country, and the 

 scattering it, like the solar ray.s, into every corn* 

 of the land, to fructify the earth, and by th'u 

 rendering it subservient to the benefit of al 

 some individuals have been enabled to obtain' 

 clear profit of fifty, one hundred, and even or 

 hundred and fifty dollars, on an acre of corn, t 

 an acre of Swedish turnips, who had never bi 

 fore obtained a profit of thirty dollars an. aci 

 from either. And the benefits of these splendi 

 results are not confined to the individuals wl. 

 effected them : they are heralded in the agricultl 

 ral journals ; beccpiiie knov\'n all over the countr 

 and every new and successfid effort at improv 

 ment, soon has its fifty, himdred, and its thousar 

 imitators. 



Suppose, for instance, what we hope will jf 



prove true, that an individual should discover « 



effectual preventive of the ravages of the HessA 



1 fly, or grain worm — instead of benefiting hiinm 



