18m. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



35 



Would it be better practised if divided into dis- 

 tinct systems ? 



Its practice now presents a confused and jum- 

 bled mass of operations, without definite aims and 

 endeavors. Is it the want of capital which makes 

 farming so mixed and indefinite in its aims and 

 ends? 



Is it the possession of this which makes Eng- 

 lish farmers so successful? 



Can you not then point to some carefully stud- 

 ied and written essay upon this important sub- 

 ject? or induce some man^ like Josiah Quincy, 

 senior, or the late S. W. Pomeroy, or the late Timo- 

 thy Pickering, or the present Hon. J. W. Proc- 

 tor, or others, to make the principles of Rural 

 Economy more plain, and to tell us what is neces- 

 sary in order that agriculture may be prosecuted 

 as naturally and regularly, and with as much suc- 

 cess as the operations of the mechanical world — 

 some one who will show upon what great princi- 

 ples the Flemish husbandry is so successful, and 

 the English tenant farmer pays his immense rents 

 from year to year without even the idea of fail 

 ure once entering his brain ? 



Will you not give attention to this matter, and 

 gratify your anxious readers P 



A Constant Reader and Subscriber, 



Aw> Reader, and Subscbibeb to kvert otecee Jocenal. 

 November, 1857. 



Remarks. — We hope some person of abil- 

 ity and leisure will gratify our friend, and en 

 lighten the waiting thousands who need the in- 

 formation asked for. 



I^or the New England Farmer. 



PATENT OFFICE HEPOBT FOB 1856. 



Mr. Editor : — At no time in the history of 

 this country has there been so much scientific in- 

 quiry and interest manifested in agriculture and 

 its kindrec operations, as at the present time. I 

 need not produce arguments to prove this — the 

 most obtuse observer cannot but be convinced 

 of it, from what he may witness constantly trans- 

 piring about him, whether he is actually engaged 

 m carrying on a farm or engaged in other pur- 

 suits. The improvements in farm implements, 

 the application of manures, rotation of crops, &c., 

 &c., from year to year, all bear witness to this 

 great fact. No less, also, is the fact manifested 

 in the various publications, treatises, &c., which 

 team from the press, relating to agriculture in its 

 different departments ; and while there is none 

 the less science or talent displayed, they are more 

 practical, more within the comprehension of the 

 ordinary farming mind ; and, therefore, these 

 publications are more sought after and read. 

 Compare the state of things in this respect, at 

 the present day, with that of only ten, or even 

 five years ago, and how striking the contrast ! 

 While at the former period, book-farming, so 

 called, was looked upon with suspicion by most 

 farmers, now nearly all, except the "Simon pure 

 old fogy," is willing to acknowledge himself more 

 or less a book farmer ; and the man with only his 

 single half acre, or acre farm, up to the thous- 

 and acre farmer, takes his agricultural paper, 

 and considers his fireside incomplete without j 

 a few books relating to this most interesting! 



branch of human industry, to refresh his mind 

 and enlarge his ideas, as well as to instruct his 

 household generally. At the same time, many of 

 the latter have their tables loaded down with do- 

 mestic and foreign weekly and monthly publica- 

 tions, and a library of books relating to agricul- 

 ture in all its various departments, which would 

 put to shame many a man in the learned profes- 

 sions. And all this brought about in compara- 

 tively a very few years, by the march of progress. 



I have been led to these thoughts by looking 

 over the last report of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment of the Patent Office, lately issued, a book 

 of 536 pages and fifty plates. The plates, typo- 

 graphy, &.C., are among the best ever issued from 

 the office. That of 1855 was far ahead of any- 

 thing of the kind before ; and this of 1856 is su- 

 perior to that. It would take up too much of 

 your valuable paper to name the different subjects 

 treated of in this volume ; they are those, how- 

 ever, most interesting to the great body of farm- 

 ers, and the chief merit of all is, they are short, 

 practical and to the point, upon a great variety of 

 topics. I would go ten miles to see a bed of 

 Peabody's New Hautbois Strawberry, as repre- 

 sented at Plate lU. My desire is, in calling the 

 attention of the readers of the New England 

 Farmer to this volume, that they may secure a 

 copy, feeling assured they will find much in it of 

 great interest ; and its suggestions, if followed, 

 may be the basis of increasing the profits of the 

 farm, and of rendering some of its operations 

 more intelligent than heretofore. 



From long and careful observation, I am well 

 satisfied, all things being equal, the more mind 

 that enters into the operations of the farm, the 

 greater the profit. It is not every book or report 

 written for the especial benefit of the farmer, 

 that accomplishes its purpose. Either from the 

 obscure manner in which it is wi'itten, its techni- 

 calities or some other equally great defects, such 

 labors bear no fi'uit. None of these faults will 

 be found in this book. As a model ai-ticle, take 

 for instance thafwritten by the senior editor of 

 the Farmer, under the head of Fertilizers, "0« 

 the Value and Uses of Swamp Muck." Everything 

 relating to the subject is plainly stated in simple, 

 beautiful language, and directly to the point. "A 

 fool need not err therein." That by Prof. Henry, 

 '^Meteorologij in its Connection with Agricidture" 

 presents this science to the ordinary farming 

 mind in language so simple, clear and interesting, 

 as to command attention ; and if carefully studied 

 by the farmer, he will be enabled to see new 

 beauties in the operations of nature, such as he 

 never thought of before. So in regard to the 

 other subjects treated of in this report. 



Write to some member of Congress and get a 

 copy while you may, and see if these things be 

 so. Norfolk. 



King Oak Hill, 1857. 



Remarks. — We would express our thanks to 

 "Norfolk" for the expression of his favorable 

 opinion on the article "On the Value and Uses of 

 Swamp Muck." That article was prepared by us 

 expressly for the pages of the Patent Office Re- 

 port. It was written in a plain, popular style, 

 and every word and scientific term not in common 

 use among our farmers, was studiously avoided 



