112 



Agricultural Address. 



Vol. X. 



effected. Two interesting results will fol- 

 low. The owners and tenants of small 

 farms will gain by it ; for on large tracts at- 

 tention cannot so well be paid to the truck 

 patch, or the poultry yard. Small farms fa- 

 vour high culture. The general products of 

 the districts will thereby be enlarged, the 

 country will be more thickly settled, and the 

 whole community benefited. Another re- 

 sult will be the introduction of such a rota- 

 tion of crops as has been already advocated 

 as essential to a complete developement of 

 our agricultural resources. 



The groundless fear of expense, and es- 

 pecially of the payment of wages, has done 

 much to hinder the agriculturist from mak- 

 ing a profitable advance; and this is the 

 more to be wondered , at as farmers are 

 generally the proprietors of the soil. Ten- 

 ants cannot be expected to make permanent 

 improvements; for without long leases, which 

 are not often granted, there is no interest to 

 induce them. On short leases, or rather on 

 our system of letting from year to year, with 

 frequent change, the con.stant complaint is, 

 that the farms run down and are soon in bad 

 condition, and in wretched repair. The sys- 

 tem abroad ought here to be adopted. The 

 plan with us is to reserve the hay, straw, and 

 manure remaining at the close of the year. 

 Hence there is no inducement to economy. 

 Every thing is consimied, but with no regard 

 to the production of manure. Now most of 

 he farms in the care of guardians are thus 

 rented, and by the time a minority of eight, 

 ten, or twelve years is past, the patrimony 

 is not worth much more than half its value 

 when it first descended to the heirs. Were 

 a system universally adopted by which the 

 remaining stock of hay, straw, or other fod- 

 der, and the manure in the yard, could be 

 appraised and taken at the assessed value by 

 the incoming tenant; or by the guardian or 

 owner of the farm, upon his refusal, much of 

 the complaint against tenants would cease. 

 Out of this appraised value might be de- 

 ducted the expense of repairs made neces- 

 sary by the neglect of the former tenant. 

 The same arrangement might also be made 

 as to the grain in the ground. Still, on 

 short leases, farms cannot be improved ex- 

 cept by special agreement at the expen.-e 

 of the landlord. But experience has again 

 and again proven that a profitable outlay 

 may often be made, although the expanse 

 incurred may seem great. Take, for in- 

 stance, a wet meadow covered with alder 

 bushes and growing in tussacks, affording 

 no profit to the farmer. The cost of clear- 

 ing, and French draining ten acres in this 

 state, if well done, especially, v.ill seem 

 large. It would, perhaps, pay for half as 



many acres of dry ground. But it is already 

 enclosed, and the fences must be kept up, 

 wet or dry. The taxes are to be paid, either 

 v.'ay, and 100 acres on the hill would not 

 remove the eye-sore. And when at last it 

 is done, the meadow ploughed, levelled, 

 sown, and in good grass, the full advantages 

 will be realized, not for one but for many 

 years. In much the same manner the pro- 

 priety of bringing some out field into good 

 culture, at an outlay of even ten or fifteen 

 dollars per acre, might be shown. All good 

 farmers make such improvements and rejoice 

 to see them made by others. Now, if these 

 heavy outlays are expedient on what was 

 waste land, how much better, at small cost, 

 to bring np our Jields, already in some de- 

 gree of tilth, into high cultivation. On 

 naturally good soil it is easier to make a 

 field which bears 40 or 50 bushels of corn 

 to the acre, produce 80 or 90, than to bring 

 an outlaying field into ordinary culture. 



It may be a poor argument, but it is a 

 good fact, that tlie neat farmer is always a 

 thriving one. In other words, he who is not 

 always calculating the immediate profit of 

 every stroke of labour, or every penny laid 

 out; who is willing to spend half a day in 

 driving a nail here, or setting a stake there, 

 before a dilatory man would say it was 

 wanted : who will pay wages to clear out 

 the fence corners, turn the whole yard full 

 of manure, re-set a worm fence, or dress up 

 his ditches, and make a compost therefrom, 

 where a close man would grum ble at the board ; 

 such an one always proves not only a good 

 farmer, but a thriving one, has always more 

 change in his pocket, and more time to spare 

 than the slovenly husbandman, whose barn- 

 doors have broke from their fastenings, and 

 whose fences have gone to rest among the 

 elder bushes. 



Gentlemen, in the midst of the bu-siness 

 of this day, I could not consent to detain 

 you long; yet the brevity of my address 

 has rendered it impossible to do justice to 

 the subject, were I equal to the task. It is 

 much to be desired that the advantages of 

 agricultural associations should be known 

 and appreciated. The petty chapman, whose 

 small wares and limited dealings ^eem un- 

 worthy of thought, deems it necessary to 

 exercise all his skill to fit his goods to, and 

 take advantage of a changing market. The 

 store-keeper, and on a larger scale, the mer- 

 chant, surveys carefully the sphere of his 

 operations, and studies well the causes which 

 may work to his advantage, or his loss. The 

 manufacturer descends to the very minutise 

 of his trade, examines every process with 

 scrutinizing care, makes himself master of 

 all its details, superintends every operation 



