292 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH ar, 1S33. 



AN ADDRESS 



Delivered before the Worcester Agricultural Society, Octo- 

 ber 10, 1S32; being their Fourteenth Anniversary Cattle 

 Show and Exhibition of Manufactures. By Waldo 

 Flint, Esq. 



[Concluded from page 2S5.] 

 I HAVE gone on the cissumptiou, that tlie profits 

 arising from agriculture, though more certain, are 

 uot so great as those derived from some other 

 branches of industry. It would appear, however, 

 from a document published among the Collections 

 of the Historical Society, that there icas a time, 

 immediately after the settlement of our ancestors 

 at Salem, when the farmer could have had no good 

 cause for complaint, either on account of the bar- 

 renness of the soil, or the smallness of his jiiofits. 

 It is entitled "A short and true Description of the 

 Commodities and Dis-commodities of New Eng- 

 land's Plantation, written in the year 1629, by 

 Mr. Higgeson, a reverend Divine, now there resi- 

 dent." 



" The fertilitie of the soyle," says Mr. Higgeson, 

 " is to be admired at, as appeareth in tlie aboun- 

 dance of grassc, that groweth everie where, both 

 verie thicke, verie long, and verie high in divers 

 places. It is scarce to bee beleeved how our kine 

 and goates, horses and hogges, doe thrive and 

 prosper here and like well this countrey. But the 

 aboundant encrease of come proves this countrey 



high price of labor have hitherto prevented our 

 pusliing the art to a high degree of perfection. 

 Where land is high and labor cheap, the true 

 policy is to make the laud produce to the full e,x- 

 tent of its ability. Our policy, on the contrary, 

 has been to make the most we could of labor. 

 The ])opnlation of our own State has now become 

 so dense, and tlie price of land so much increased, 

 that our interest requires, that we should be mak- 

 ing progress in agricutural skill, unless we are 

 willing to bo undersold, in our own markets, by 

 those whose lands cost less than ours and who 

 happen to have a more kindly soil to cultivate. 

 Much has been accoiuplished within the last few 

 years. The formation of Agricultural Societies, 

 and the introduction of Cattle Shows among us, 

 have already produced very important results, 

 and, probably, in no section of our Commonwealth, 

 have the atlvantages, to be derived from them, 

 been more distinctly manifested than in our own 

 County. We pride ourselves, — ;uid we are, some- 

 times, perhaps, a little more boastful on this sub- 

 ject than is quite becoming our modesty, — in be- 

 ing able to make as goodly an exhibition of cattle 

 as can be made in any other County. That we 

 are able to make so fair an exhibition — is to bo 

 attributed mainly, 1 think, to our annual Cattle 

 Shows. They atlbrd us all an opportunity of see- 

 a variety of breeds together, and of comparin 



to bee a wonderment. Thirtie, fortie, fiftie, si.xtie j,Jtem with each other, and of forming an opinion 



are ordinarie here ; yea, Joseph's encrease 

 Egypt is out-strii)t here with us. Our planters 

 hope to have more than a hundred fould this yerc, 

 — and all this while I am within compasse. What 

 will you say of two hundred fould and upwards.' 

 It is almost incredible what great gainn some of 

 our English planters have had by our Indian 

 come. Credible persons have assured me, and 

 the partie himselfe avouched the truth of it to me, 

 that of the setting of 13 gallons of corne hee hath 

 had encrease of it 52 hogsheads, every hogshead 

 holding seven bushels of London measure, and 

 everie bushel was by him sold and trusted to the 

 Indians for so much beaver as was worth 18 shil- 

 lings ; and so of this 13 gallons of corne which was 

 worth 6s. Sit., he made about 327 pounds of it the 

 yere following, as by reckoning will a])peare : 

 where you may see, how God blessed husbandry 

 in this land." 



Nor was the fertility of the soil the only thing 

 in the country, about those days, to be admired at. 

 The astonishing increase of po]iulation might equal- 

 ly well prove it to be a wonderment. At a Gen- 

 eral Court holden only five years after the settle- 

 ment of Boston, — " Roxbury and Watertown had 

 leave to remove, whither they j)leascd, so as they 

 continued under this government." "And the 

 occasion of their desire to remove," as Gov. Win- 

 throp's Journal informs us, "was, — for that all the 

 towns in the bay began to bo much straightened 

 by their own nearness to one another, and their 

 cattle being so nmch increased." I have already 

 made the remark, that agriculture has always 

 been regarded in this country as an object of 

 fecial interest. The vast extent of our territory, 

 much of which is yet to be peoided by civilized 

 men, — embracing almost all varieties of soil and 

 climate, and capable of yielding almost all the 

 known productions of the earth seems to indicate, 

 that this is to constitute the great business of its 

 inhabitants. The sparsencss of our population, 

 compareil witli that of most countries of the old 

 world, and the consequent low price of land aiid 



of their comparative merits. An improvement, 

 perhaps even greater, has been made in our sheep, 

 and one still more striking in our swine. The 

 products of our dairies, too, though they have, for 

 many years sustained a high reputation, have ftdly 

 kept u|) with the improvements of the age. Our 

 farming tools have undergone a similar change. 

 The plough, the shovel, tlie hoe, are all much 

 more convenient and effective, as well as more 

 sightly implements than they were only a few 

 years since. The whole aspect of things is 

 changed for the better, as must be apjiarent to 

 every jierson who merely passes through the coun- 

 try. Larger and more commodious barns arc 

 seen rising on the ruins of the old ones. Dilapi- 

 dated fences, prostrate gates, broken barn-doors, 

 creaking mournfully on a single liinge, are now 

 comparatively rare occurrences, and we are be- 

 ginning to learn, that there is no economy in turn- 

 ing out our cattle and our hogs'( would, I could say, 

 gee.se, also,) into the highways, to pick up a misera- 

 ble living at the expense, and to the great annoy- 

 ance, of the public. An air of neatness and com- 

 tbrt about our farms and our farm-houses, is be- 

 ginning to be more generally valued and culti- 

 vated. 



But notwithstanding all our boasted improve- 

 ments, and though we live, as every body says, in 

 a most "extraordinary age," I cannot but think, 

 that our ancestors had in some respects, much 

 more correct notions of what is comfortable than 

 any of their descendants. Who does not love to 

 visit, on a warm summer's day, some of our oldest 

 agricultural towns, and enjoy the coolness and 

 serenity, which are every where to be found be- 

 neath the shade of their wide-.spreading elms ? It 

 is very much the fashion with lis, to erect our 

 houses on the highest points of our own high hills, 

 and there they are too often suffered to stand in 

 solitary grandeur, without so much as a single 

 tree of any kind to guard them against the burn- 

 ing suns of summer or the driving storms of 

 winter. Without regard to appearances, without 



regard to personal comfort, it does seem to me, 

 that economy alone, a bare wish to save money, 

 should be a sufficient inducement to us to plant 

 forest trees in the neighborhood of our houses and 

 out-buddings. They absolutely cost nothing. 

 Every farmer's wood-lot will furnish him with all 

 the necessary varieties, and a few hours' labor, on 

 a lowering day, in transplanting them, and a very 

 little attention afterwards in guarding them from 

 injury while young, are all that is wanting to in- 

 sure their growth. They will furnish a refreshing 

 shade both for man and beast, during the noon-tide 

 hours of heat and rest from labor ; they will give 

 an agreeable coolness to our houses in summer 

 and will add to their warmth in winter, beside 

 saving many a little charge for broken windows 

 and shattered window blinds. 



In another particular, I think, we have not fol- 

 lowed up the example set us by our forefathers, — 

 I mean, in the cultivation of fruit trees. I am, 

 happy, however, to admit, that we have been of . 

 late improving in this respect. Great praise is 

 due to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 and to individuals in our own ucghborbood, for 

 their exertions to excite a deejier interest in this 

 department of agriculture. Very considerable 

 sums are annually expended for foreign fruits, 

 when at a trifling expense of time and money, we 

 might supply our tables whh fruits of the choicest 

 flavor of our own raising. There is great practical 

 good sense in the dying advice of the Laird of 

 Duinbiedikes to his son, Jock. " When ye hae 

 naithing else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a 

 tree ; it will be growing, Jock, when ye'er sleep- 

 ing. My father tauld me sae forty years sin', but 

 I ne'er faud time to mind him." And the advice 

 which follows, though not altogether ajiposite to 

 the subject under consideaation, is certainly not 

 less valuable. " Ne'er drink brandy in the morn- 

 ing, Jock ; it files the stamack sair." It is some- 

 times said by way of excuse for not cultivating fruit- 

 bearing trees and vines, &c., that there is little use 

 in attempting it, inasmuch as the fruit will certain- 

 ly be appropriated by those, who have not had the 

 trouble and expense of raising it. I know that 

 , petty larcenies of this sort are quite too common, 

 and it is a lamentable fact, that individuals are 

 sometimes concerned in this miserable work of 

 darkness, who would claim the reputation of being, 

 in their ordinary transactions, at least, " indifl'er- 

 ent honest." I have noticed that associations have 

 been formed in some towns for the pur])Ose of de- 

 tecting such midnight depredators, and they will 

 undoubtedly produce beneficial cftc'cts. Let pains 

 be taken to bring the guilty to cxenqilary punish- 

 ment, and the offence will soon cease to exist. At 

 all events, let every man, who has land suitable 

 for the purpose, when he has nothing else to do, 

 be sticking in a tree, and, in the cou.se of a very 

 few years, fruit will become so common, that any 

 man however depraved he may be, will he ashamed 

 steal it. 



There is another subject, to which I would beg 

 leave to call the particular attention of this Socie- 

 ty, — the preservation of wood lots. In many of 

 our towns, and particularly in those where facto- 

 ries are located, the price of wood has risen, with- 

 in the last ten years, twenty-five and even up to 

 fifty per cent. Fuel has already become a very 

 im))ortant item in the expenses of a family. I am 

 not prejiared to point out what should be done ; 

 but the last winter's experience should admonish 

 us, that all reasonable care ought to be taken to 



