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NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JANUARY S, 1834. 



by which distant relations and friends arc brought 

 together and enabled to enjoy the highest pleasures 

 of social intercourse : by which our comforts and 

 luxuries from foreign countries are brought from 

 the sea coast to our own doors, and the almost 

 infinite variety of exchanges of our interior pro- 

 ductions are accomplished ; by which, in short, 

 we are enabled at will to change our locality, and 

 move from place to place for the accomplishment 

 of all the infinitely diversified business, employ- 

 ments, enjoyments and improvement of life, 

 should, surely, be kindly treated, and at all times 

 furnished with suitable food and in sufficient 

 quantity. The patient ox, whose steady and 

 uniform exertion of that superior strength with 

 which nature has endowed him turns up and 

 subdues the most stubborn and refractory soil, 

 pulverizes the earth, and thereby enables the 

 farmer to cover his fields with abundant bar- 

 vests, should certainly he cared for by the far- 

 mer; and allowed to partake liberally of a portion 

 of those products, which he has been so greatly 

 instrumental iu raising. The valuable milch cow, 

 who daily delivers to her owner her rich treasures 

 of ready prepared food ; and the sheep, who gives 

 the covering of his own body to furnish materials 

 for the clothing of man, should not be stinted in 

 their allowance of food. Perhaps the time will 

 come, in the progress of improvement, when the 

 services of some of our useful animals will be dis- 

 pensed with. May we not anticipate the time 

 when the greatest portion of the lands which are 

 now appropriated to the raising of food for the 

 horse and the ox, will he released from this bur- 

 den, and be employed in the more pleasing use of 

 raising food for man ; thereby increasing and cheap- 

 ening human subsistence, and leaving a large sur- 

 plus of property or time, or both, fur the improve- 

 ment of his moral and social condition ? This is 

 not the proper place to enlarge upon r^ is subject ; 

 but I cannot refrain from saying that it does not 

 require much of the spirit of prophecy to foresee, 

 that soon, and sooner than many are aware, we 

 may see steam carriages of every size, traversing 

 our common roads in every direction ; and steam 

 horses, ploughing our lands, and transporting the 

 rich burdens of our farms. Does any one say that 

 these are the dreams of a visionary ? Lei him look 

 back thirty years, and see what would then have 

 been thought of a man who should have predicted 

 what is now actually come to pass, what we can 

 see with our own eyes, and what is daily exhibited 

 to our senses, of the wonderful power of steam ; 

 and consider, that this mighty power is almost 

 daily, by the ingenuity and enterprise of man, ap- 

 plied in some new way, pleasing avid beautiful and 

 useful ; extending gradually, constantly and cer- 

 tainly, to almost every object of human pursuit in- 

 dustry and enterprise. The examples which 1 

 have taken of the principal product of our own 

 climate, and our own immediate vicinity, are but 

 examples. Other products, numerous, various 

 and valuable, too numerous to be noticed in this 

 limited address, are the productions of our farms, 

 and greatly administer to the necessities, comforts 

 and luxuries of the cultivator. The employment 

 of a New England farmer, the business of agricul- 

 ture as it respects him, is not confined within nar- 

 row limits, but takes an extensive range, and 

 includes all those products which can he advan- 

 tageously raised upon a farm, either as food for 

 man, or food for beast; either as furnishing mate- 

 rials for manufactures or articles of commerce • 



either as administering to necessity, or to comfort 

 and luxury. Horticulture, which is but a branch 

 of agriculture, with all its numerous, useful and 

 beautiful variety ot' production ; the cultivation of 

 fruit trees; the introduction and cultivation of the 

 grape, so faj- as it may be suited to our soil and 

 climate; the mulberry tree, to furnish food for 

 the silk worm ; and the production and preserva- 

 tion offoresl trees for fuel and timber, are all legi- 

 timately within the limits of a farmer's industry, 

 ami should be, as circumstances are favorable, the 

 objects of bis care. While 1 am upon the subject 

 of the importance of agriculture, I will briefly no- 

 tice some of the rich products of other countries. 

 The cotton plant seems to have been the gift of a 

 beneficent Providence for the special purpose of 

 furnishing clothing for the greater part of the 

 human race, and especially the poor. It is the 

 cheapest material for clothing yet known, and 

 probably the cheapest that ever will be known. 

 Almost the whole clothing of the inhabitants of 

 warm climates, and a considerable portion of those 

 of colder countries, is supplied by this valuable 

 plant. When we consider how great a portion of 

 the earth's surface is adapted to the cultivation of 

 this plant, the ease with which it can be produced, 

 and that its production may be increased to an al- 

 most indefinite extent, what limits can be assigned 

 by a warm and benevolent heart to the gratitude 

 which is due to the Creator, for so great a boon ? 

 Did I say the production of other countries ? It is 

 the production of our own country, though a dif- 

 ferent climate. Yc's, within the limits of the 

 United States there is land enough adapted to the 

 cultivation of this plant, and more than enough to 

 clothe all its inhabitants. How pleasing, if time 

 would permit, to trace this material from the sim- 

 ple state in which it appears, as an article of com- 

 merce, through the almost infinite variety of its 

 manufacture, from the coarse garment of the day 

 laborer, to the rich muslin of the palace ; admin- 

 istering to the necessities, the comforts, tite luxury, 

 and the pride even, one or all, of every individual in 

 the community ? But, I forbear ; the task though 

 pleasing would he inappropriate, and I will mere- 

 ly say that if this simple material, the cotton of 

 commerce, should he traced through all its variety 

 of manufacture, and all the modifications of its 

 use throughout the greater part of the habitable 

 globe, it would manifestly appear to any benevo- 

 lent mind that its gift to man was a signal in- 

 stance of the benevolence of the Deity.- — The 

 sugar cane is also the production of our country, 

 though not of our climate. Sugar was once a 

 luxury; it is now a comfort most extensively dif- 

 fused, and has almost become a necessary of life. 

 It is a nutritious and healthy food, enters exten- 

 sively into the cookery of the middle and higher 

 classes, and gives a zest to the delicacies of the 

 epicure. The extensive and various use of this 

 article among all classes of the community capable 

 of purchasing it, show it to be one of the most im- 

 portant productions of agriculture. It shows, sat- 

 isfactorily, how much the discovery, cultivation 

 and use of a single useful plant will conduce to 

 the comfort and happiness of man ; and affords 

 ample encouragement to the farmer to discover 

 and introduce to cultivation other extensively use- 

 ful vegetables. 



The tea plant is of extensive use, and furnishes 

 a valuable article of commerce. Though the 

 countries where this plant is cultivated, to which 

 it is indigenous, and where alone probably it can 



be cultivated to advantage, constitute but a small 

 part of the earth, yet a sufficient quantity may be 

 produced to furnish to every member of the com- 

 munity at a moderate expense the indulgence of 

 this favorite beverage. It is not necessary to take 

 up time in eulogizing this vegetable. Its good 

 qualities are known to all. It enters so extensive 

 ly inio the domestic economy of every civilized 

 community ; it has such an intimate acquaintance 

 with household affairs, that every individual has 

 felt its comforting, consoling and exhilarating 

 power. It is sufficient merely to name it among 

 the agricultural productions of the earth which are 

 most distinguished for extensive usefulness. It 

 may seem inappropriate in an address to the farm- 

 ers of New England to speak of the valuable pro- 

 ductions of distant countries. But agriculture is 

 the art of cultivating the earth in such a manner as 

 to lender it useful to man, and the successful culti- 

 vation of useful plants in other countries may 

 afford to the farmer here useful information as to 

 the cultivation of our own important products, 

 and at some future period hwid to the discovery of 

 some plant which by its congeniality to bur soil 

 and climate and skill in its cultivation, may take 

 the same place in the commerce of the world and 

 the extensive benefits which it distributes, as the 

 cotton plant, sugar cane and tea plant. 



Let not the circumstance that other portions of 

 the earth produce plants apparently more valuable, 

 calculated to have a more extensive circulation, 

 and to occupy a larger space in the commerce of the 

 world discourage the New England farmer, or les- 

 sen in his eyes the importance of his own agricul- 

 ture. The productions of your agriculture are 

 such as are adapted to your soil and climate, and 

 though not so showy, nor so well calculated for 

 distant transportation, being bulky ; the same value 

 cannot he brought within fo narrow a compass, 

 and they are not in such extensive demand over 

 so great a part of the earth as the products of some 

 other countries; yet the productions of your agri- 

 culture are substantially useful and highly valuable. 

 They furnish to you and your families the neces- 

 saries, comforts, and some of the luxuries of life; 

 and there is sufficient demand for the surplus to 

 enable you to purchase in sufficient quantities the 

 rich products of those seemingly more highly fa- 

 vored countries. Though your lands may not bo 

 so fertile, though your productions may not fur- 

 nish such valuable articles of exchange and an 

 extensive commerce as those within the tropics, 

 yet the climate in which your products are raised 

 is comparatively mild and temperate, and you 

 have the means of personal comfort and happiness 

 to a much greater extent than the inhabitants of 

 warmer countries. The same fervid sun, the 

 same heated atmosphere which ripens and brings 

 to perfection the vegetables of the tropics, ener- 

 vates the body, diminishes the strength greatly, 

 impairs the comfort and endangers the health of 

 the laborer ; and at the same time brings into ex- 

 istence tnyriads of reptiles and insects. Let not 

 then your comparative agriculture be undervalued, 

 and because you cannot produce what are called 

 the great staples of the world neglect and under- 

 rate those useful productions with which Provi- 

 dence has blessed you. It is enough that there 

 are plants adapted to your soil and climate, which, 

 if properly cultivated, will abundantly supply all 

 your wants, either directly by their own use, or 

 indirectly by furnishing the means of purchasing 

 others. It is enough that the farmer here, by a 



