172 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DECEMBER la, 1833. 



THEORETICAI- AMD PRACTICAL PARMER. 



The following article taken from an Englisli 

 publication, contains correct and useful obser- 

 vations. 



There is no way in which a fanner may more 

 advantageouslv improve himself in his art than by 

 inspecting the practice of other districts and of 

 other countries, but as the opportunity of inspec- 

 tion cannot always be conunanded, the want may 

 be supplied by obtaining circumstantial descrip- 

 tions. To derive the full benefit from either 

 source requires caution and the powci- of discrimi- 

 nation ; for in no art do so many circumstances 

 combine in the production of the results as in 

 agriculture, and a difficulty generally arises in de- 

 termining to what cause a particidar eftect is 

 mainly to he assigned. Individual sagacity with- 

 out scientific knowledge may go a great way in 

 solving this difficulty, and in determining to what 

 extent an old course may safely be tUtcred, or a 

 new oiie introduced, or why failure or success has 

 ensued. We find that, in a certain place, the ac- 

 cumulated sagacity of ages has, without being able 

 to ascribe any general princii)le for the eftect pro- 

 duced, established a practice suitable u|)on the 

 whole to the circumstances of the sitiKition — but 

 if the perfecting the art in every situation be the 

 object, the necessity of scientific knowledge can- 

 net be too strongly impressed. 



Theoretical and jiractical farmers liave been 

 sometimes contrasted to the discredit of the form- 

 er. A mere practical farmer is a«ian who knows 

 how to manage to good advantage a ceitaiu piece 

 of ground. A mere theoretical fernier is a man 

 who understands the principles on which the ope- 

 rations of agriculture depend, without having ac- 

 quired dexterity in their application. The one 

 may lie less successful tlian the other A first, but 

 place thetn in a new situation, or let mem have 

 to determine on the introduction of a iew prac- 

 tice, there can be little doubt wliicli of tiem. sup- 

 posing them equal in intellectual endbwmetits, 

 will bo most likely to succeed — or in thi descrip- 

 tion ol" the farm "to be here given, whiAi will be 

 mostly to detect what part oi" the systeik is erro- 

 neous;, and what correct. Experiments ii agricul- 

 ture are carried on under many disadtantages. 

 We have it not in our power to vary ai will the 

 circumstances in which they are tried, or lo repeat 

 an experiment in precisely similar circuristauccs, 

 and thus we may be led lo ascribe to a cause what 

 does not justly belong to it. Fortunately, lAwovci-, 

 the results in agricluture have their foundation ii 

 sciences, in which we have sufficient contiol o\er 

 circumstances, and in which the facts can 

 eralized, and pruiciples established with tli 

 pletest certainty. Chemistry and vegetable phys 

 iology aflbrd the only sure means by whth the 

 art of agriculture can be brought to periictioii, 

 and Davy and Sinclair have done more towtnds its 

 advancement, than might have been accomdlislied 

 in centuries by practice unguidcd by sfflence. 

 Much luis been done, where the knowleflge of 

 general principles was wanting, but their usf is to 

 diffuse the capacity for improvement, to mike its 

 progress more certain and more rapid, and If) pre- 

 vent the adoption of error. Some person, may, 

 for instance, have raised an excellent crop after 

 dressing his laud with salt, and thousands o^ bush- 

 els are immediately applied as manure, tint no 

 man who understood chemistry and vegetable 

 physiology would ever have imagined that laud 

 could be made more fertile by such means. 



There is everv reason to expect that these effect the puiTpose, and in winter the gleanings of 



sciences will soon be more generally understood. 

 In tovras, tlie means of acquiring the knowledge 

 of physics is supplied to mechanics ; and all other 

 classes will- be forced to keep ptice with them. 

 It seems absurd that any human being who can be 

 kept at school for eight or ten years of his life, 

 should arrive at the end of his education, in igno- 

 rance of the laws by which the events in nature 

 around him take place. In relation to the aptitude 

 of the human mind, this branch of knowledge 

 might well be taught ju-ior to that which is denoted 

 literature, at least the one should accompany the 

 other, and it is not difficult to conceive plans by 

 which it unght tbrm a part of the course of in- 

 struction in even every countn,' school, without 

 much additional demand of time or of exiieiise, 

 The usefulness of the luiowledge here recommended 

 is obvious, and it is unnecessary to insist on the 

 amount to which it would add" to the sources of 

 pleasure to all famers, whether proiirictors or 

 tenants. Evei-y land owner living in the country, 

 is to some extent a fanner, or a ]>lantcr, or a 

 gardener : there is not an object around him that 

 can occupy his attention for a moment, in which 

 his interest would not be much increased by th(! 

 uiKlorstauding of physical science, and yet what 

 class in society is so generally unprovided with 

 this fund of intellectual recreation and resource 

 against the tedium of idleness ? 



the cow-houses answer the end. What is made 

 in siiriiig and summer is taken to tlie field as 

 often as possible, put up into heaps over which 

 tlie horses and carts pass, and then well covered 

 over with earth. 



From the N 

 COIjI.ECTI3fG MABrCRE. 



1-. Fur 



A PHYSICIAN remarked to us the otlicr day, that 

 he never yet mqt with a farmer who considered 

 manure as his gold mine, the treasures of which 

 are to l>e collected in small grains, and most care' 

 fully preserved ; but that all consider it rather /is 

 iron ore, not worth collecting in small quantities, 

 nor of being preserved from tlie wastes of ex- 

 posure to winds, heat, and storms. T)ie follovviiig, 

 from the Fiu-in Rcjjorts of Kyle, in Ayrshiic, 

 speaks a different language : — 



To increase the manure raised on a form is a 

 constant aim. A large portion of the straw is con- 

 sumed by the cattle imd horses, and no hay is ever 

 sold. A considerable quantitj' of vegetable matter 

 is collected from plantations and wa.stc places, and 

 with this and the refuse of straw, the farm-cuuit 

 and the approaches of it arc kejit littered so as to 

 collect the droppings from the cattle and horses. 

 Tlie whole is occasionally carried off to the dung 

 heap and new litter applied. It is suqirising how 

 much dung may be produce<l by constantly col- 

 lecting all refuse, which, if allowed to lie would 

 soon disappear. The hoi-ses are never allowed to 

 pasture, from the first of June to the end of Octo- 

 ber, they fed in the house on green food, consist- 

 ing of red clover, rye gia.ss, and vetches. The 

 calves that are reared are also fed in the same v\ ,iy 

 in a yard, and in the course of the pasturing 

 season, convert a great deal of vegetable mat- 

 ter into excellent manure. There are ah\ays, 

 too, at this season, a few pigs fed entirely on 

 whey ; and by these means much dung is maile 

 even in summer. There is no danger of dung 

 made by animals hi yards overheatmg in the 

 warmest season, but without considerable precau- 

 tion stable litter will then he veiy soon consumed 

 away. For the jnirpose of preventing its rapid 

 fermentation, peat moss was for some years used 

 and regularly mixed with it in layers ; but earth 

 of any kind, or road scrapings, will be found to 



BOOK FAKSIUVG. 



A MODERN writer, in giving a description £•£ the 

 rincrs of Wales, divides them iuto two classes, 

 rmere of the old school, (or jjractical nieia) and 

 look farmers. In sjieaking of the latter, he says, 

 they are the aerialists of Marshall," and " are 

 ose who know agriculture by reading about it. 

 leory is their ne plus ultra ; as they generally 

 i)w tired before they are much acquainted with 

 actice. The practice of the country they come 

 reside in, is all wrong, and the inhabitants all 

 ages. They bring ploughs and ploughmen gen- 

 ally from a distance ; aud when the masters re- 

 t^|-. , the ploughmen return and the ploughs ai"e laid 

 aside. They hold farmers of tlie old school (aa 

 they call them) in sovereign contempt, who in re- 

 tpni, deride all their puerihties, and, hi their own 

 quaint phrase, style their meffectual attempts to 

 Establish an improved syteiu of Agriculture, ' a 



'ash in the pcm.' Their opinions of manuro 



e])(nd on the book they have read last. If Je^ 

 (1 TuU is their favorite author, soil requires noth- 

 ; but ploughing and stirring. With A, lime is 

 (n)th{ng ; with his brother B, only a few miles 

 isiant, and on the same kind of soil, lime is notk- 

 !r." How often do we see specimens of tliis 

 me class of people in our own countrymen who 

 ould pass themselves off for scientific farmers, be- 

 irc they have even learned to be familiar wjtii the 

 nitst common terms made use of by ]jractical men. 

 Thiy talk of the difterence of soils before they 

 have learned to distuiguish one from the other, and 

 of the vast improvements which they are about to 

 introduce into the agricultural world, as soon as 

 time will ))ermit. Mauy of these aerialists are so 

 fortunate as to come into tlie possession of farms, 

 but are prevented from introduchig their talked of 

 imin'ovenients by ungrateful judgments, or foreclo- 

 sure of mortgages, put an end to the agricultual 

 career of these castle builders, who leave their 

 farms, declaring it impossible to do anything in 

 the business so long as they are suiTounded by a sot 

 of men who care nothing for improvements; who 

 go dressed in home spun ; make every member of 

 tlidr families work six days in the week ; eat or 

 drink nothuig but what is produced from their o^vn 

 farms; in short, Vi'ho are mere savages ; who never 

 allow their daughters to be instructed in music, or 

 painting, nor their sons in dancuig, both of which, 

 from their constant application to business, have 

 constitutions too gross and healthy to ever experi- 

 ence the delights of the dyspepsia, or the exquisite 

 sensations of the gout, which are often enjoyed ex- 

 tensively by our wunld he farmers. 



Because the term Book Farmers has been ap- 

 flied to a class of jjeople of the above description, 

 let not our }oung jiractical farmers ever for a mo- 

 ment tliink that a man can know too much about 

 his own business, nor that constant reading unfits a 

 man for handling a plough, the cradle or thescythe j 

 nor that his acquaintance with vegetable physiolo- 

 jy will render hun less capable of raising diem in 

 ,ierfection. A farmer should consider that his 

 mind is like his granai-y, most valuable when filled ; 

 and like it, also, great care is necessaiy when filling, 

 see that no foul or invaluable matter enters to 

 decrease its worth. 



