•258 



NEW ENGLAND FARiMER, 



Tel. 29, 1832. 



lieigliteiis their common Yirtues and subdues tlieir 

 defects.' 



Clay aud saud am tlic principal earthy ingretli- 

 ents iu all soils. The operatious of nature have 

 combined the opposite qualities of them in such^a 

 variety of ways, as to [)roduce that diversified tex- 

 ture of soil which is found in every country. It 

 must ho absurd for us to tliiuk the course of na- 

 ture, iu this respect, cannot be usefully imitated by 

 art ; that where sand is founil in its simple state, it 

 cannot be reduced by tlie admixture of clay to a 

 good vegetable moulil. We cannot easily engage 

 in any work more certainly useful, or that will ulti- 

 mately prove more productive. The uphill to be 

 encountered iu this sort of labor shoidd discourage 

 no man ; every step brings gain and brightens the 

 prospect. In these operations the valleys are 

 raised and the hills are beautified. It is work not 

 necessary to be repeated every year or in any 

 <hoi-t s\iccession of years, but when once well done 

 it is done for ages. 



The utility of mixing sand with clayey soil is 

 seldom questioned. « This is generally down-hill 

 work, and sand is carried in much larger portions 

 on to clay, than clay is ever carried on to saud. 

 Hence, probably the notion that it is good to cart 

 sand, but bad to cart clay. The effects must be 

 reciprocal and would arrays so ap])ear, if the 

 work in both cases were equally well performed. 

 Doctrines which demand few laborious duties 

 gain an easy currency, whether they relate to phi- 

 losophy, morals, or religion ; they arc^ likely to 

 grow too popular and to bi; carried into great ex- 

 tremes. This has been the fact in the estimates 

 made of the uses and in the ai)plication of saud ; 

 the results have been so manifestly and greatly 

 beneficial, when properly used, the conclusion has 

 been too hastily drawn that its influcuco must 

 everywhere be salutary, and someliniesit has been 

 used like the good woman's ' sugar, in everything.' 

 The common notion that sand is a suitable appli- 

 c.ition for low and moist lands, is correct only in 

 relation to soils of a particular tc.Mure. Many of 

 the low lands have a very loose and spongy soil ; 

 there may be defects in them, but sand cannot be 

 the proper remedy. Some low and moist lands 

 will be found, on examination, composed chiefly 

 of sand to the depth of several feet. iMi.v sand 

 with sand to any extent and the jiroduet can b<; 

 only saud. Sand-hills arc treasures, but like every 

 other sort of earthly treasm-e, valuable only in the 

 proper use of them. There can be no more ten- 

 dency in sand to stimulate a soil of similar quality 

 to renewed exertion, tlian there is in increiising 

 wealth to stimulate the miser to deeds of generos- 

 ity. The proper uses of sand in agriculture are 

 its application to tenacious soils, for the i)urpose 

 of opening aud destroying the rigidity of them ; 

 and to clay, for the purpose of reducing it to a 

 state in which the roots of jilants can travel and 

 rind nourishment. Sand should always be used 

 in compliance with the rule of mixing differeiit 

 ([ualities. 



In closing a discussion of this sort, it may not 

 be deemed strictly proper to present even a sunnna- 

 ry view of arguments, which, on a different occa- 

 sion, might be used in persuading farmers to an 

 early and persevering engagement in the work of 

 mixing soils. It seems to be the business of this 

 discourse to describe useful courses, rather than 

 urge the pursuit. It may, however, be allowable 

 to direct attention to the growing importance of 

 the subject we have been considering, in language 



used about forty vears ago, bv the late lamented i 

 Dr Mitchell: 



' Hitherto,' said that accurate observer and en- ' 

 lightened friend of progressive improvement, 

 ' Hitherto the American husbandman has cultivated 

 a soil, enriched for ages by the yearly addition 

 of a fresh stratum of mouhl. From the first ex- 

 istence of vegetation upon the dry land, decayed | 

 plants have continually furnished a supply of 

 manure, which the winds and the rains have lib- 

 erally spread abroad. As the supply was annually 

 greater than the consumption, the earth, unex- 

 hausted by its productions, increased in fertihty. 

 The thick lajer of vegetable mould which covered 

 the face of the earth, was a storehouse of food for 

 plants, and their quantity was greatly increased 

 by the conversion of wood into ashes, by clearing. 

 It is not wonderful then, that for some years, new- 

 ly cleared settlements should abound in proiluce 

 and require little more labor, than that of plough- 

 ing and reaping ; for during this period, the pro- 

 vision is wasting which for centuries had been 

 accumulating. But the time will come, and indeed 

 in many i)laces now is, when the land, repeatedly 

 wounded by the plough-share and exhausted of its 

 richness, shall be too weak of itself to make plants 

 grow wil^u their former luxuriance. 



' This may be called the era of systematic 

 AGRicuLTrRE, when man, taking the earth from 

 nature's hand, bare of manure, is so to manage 

 and dispose it artificiHily, that it shall yield first a 

 subsistence and then an overplus to grow wealthy 

 upon. How far art may go in this species of im- 

 provement is yet unknown, as the ultimatum of 

 fertility has ne\ er yet been reached. As far a8 

 experiments have been made, we find the earth 

 liberally aff"ording its produce iu proportion to the 

 labor and skill bestowed in its tillage ; and as llio 

 ingenuity and invention of man may incro!L<e to 

 an unknown and incredible degree, so may the 

 improvements antl management of husbandry keep 

 pace therewith, until the most fruitful spot that 

 now exists may produce a ten-fold quantity, and 

 the land which now supports an hundred men, 

 give e(]ual enjoyment to n thousand.' 



TE.MPERANCE. 



There is one subject, closely connected with 

 the interests of every farmer, on which I feel fiilly 

 competent to advise ; without, however, arrogating 

 to myself any merit for having made any impor- 

 tant discovery or improvement, I can only re- 

 spond the sentiments of thousands of others, 

 familiar to all, but unheeded by many ; sentiments 

 which should be reiterated again and again from 

 one end of our continent to the other, till all, of 

 every clas.s, are constrained to sec their importance. 



It is not my design to write a formal es- 

 say on temperance and its blessings, 5r to trace 

 the frightful progress and delineate the bane- 

 ful effects of intemperance ; but let me bo per- 

 mitted to add my veto to the yet too com- 

 mon practice with farmers, to resort to the bottle 

 for a spur, when the labors of an oppressive day 

 are drawing hard upon their strength. I can 

 speak with confidence on this subject, as mv 

 knowledge is the result of experience. I assert 

 then, without fear of contradiction, that ardent 

 spirits do not add permanently to the strength or 

 vigor of the laboring man, but their exhilirating 

 effects are sure to be followed by a corresponding 

 langom- of depression. Without some very power- 

 ful and conclusive reason, the farmer should be 



tell last man to countenance or support a ].ractice 

 which he sees is making such ravages. Let him 

 look around him and impure for the cause why so 

 many farms are so badly managed ; why so many 

 buildings are going to decay, why there are so 

 many (blapidated walls and fences, and unruly 

 cattle ; why so many uneducated and ragged chil- 

 dren, and why so many estates are mortgaged to 

 merchants, lawyers and doctors ? be will generally 

 find the cause to be, not that their davs;litrrs an- 

 more fond of eitravagance and finery than of labor, 

 but that the occupants caimot labor in their fields 

 without the stinmlating, deleterious and disarrang- 

 ing aid of a bottle of nun. This is the canker 

 which is gnawing at the vital interests, not only of 

 the farmer, but of our common country. 



And now, brother fanners, ])ermit me to direct 

 your attention to a few of the i)rimnry reasons, 

 why this practice ought, in my opinion, to receivi: 

 your unqualified disapprobation. 1st. No satis- 

 factory reason can be given why it ought not to 

 be discontinued. 2d. It has been discovered that 

 the idea that ardeirt spirits are necessary for per- 

 sons in health, or as a remedy for exhaustion 

 or fatigue, is a fatal delusion, which has caused 

 the ruin of thousand.s. 3d. That they possess no 

 one good quality which ought to redeem Iheni from 

 the execration of every virtuous member of so- 

 ciety. 4tli. That the good they ever have donc^ 

 or ever can do, is infinitely insufficient to counter- 

 balance the evil. 5th. That they are entailing on 

 oin- posterity a curse, which has nothing but its 

 own shocking deformity to recommend it, as it is 

 totally incapable of being compensated by any sub- 

 stantial good. 6lh. They ccrtaiidy impair the 

 physical, the moral, and the intellectual faculties, 

 mid ))roduce premature indjecility and old age. 

 7ih. They eft'ectually eradicate the finer sensibili- 

 ties of our nature, love, benevolence, cheerfulness, 

 &c, ivnd make us susceptible of the grosser pas- 

 sions, such as anger, hatred, revenge, cruelty, &c. 

 8th. They drive reasonfrom her throne, prostitute 

 the dignity of intelligent man and transform him 

 into a brute. 'Jth. They fill our penitentiaries with 

 convicts, our jails with criminals and debtors, our 

 infirmaries with invalids and lunatics, our streets 

 with vagabonds, our country with drunkards, our 

 grave yards with premature victims, and our world 

 with wretchedness and wo. And to balance this 

 dark account, what good do they do ? You who 

 yet advocate tlieir use will say, pcrhajis, that they 

 are necessary for the laboring man in hot ^veather, 

 when the system is highly excited by heat, to drive 

 it out and cause a grateful and free jierspiration, 

 as well as to prevent the dangerous effects of cold 

 water. But I believe you would suspect the man 

 a fool, or beside himself, or trifling at least, who 

 should go into a tavern on a day like some we had 

 in December, rubbing his ears, kicking his boots, 

 and calling for a glass of spirits to drive the heat 

 out! Nor woulil you think much more favorably 

 of him who, in perfect health, iu the dog-days, 

 should wrap himself in his great-coat and swallovr 

 a dose of brandy and pepper, to keep him warm 

 or prevent his catching cold ! The ridiculous no- 

 tion that the nature of spirits changes wth the' 

 season, that they cool in summer and warm in 

 uinter, is too absurd to be cherished by the en 

 lightened farmers of New England. 



But the most dangerous opinion, and which 

 should bo received with extreme distrust, is thai 

 which attributes to them the power of defending 

 the system from the injurious efli-cts of cold water ;ij 



