332 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



MAY 1, 1933. 



AJV ADDRESS 



To the Essex County Agricultural Society, delivered at New- 

 bury, September 27, 1832, at their Annual Cattle Show. 

 By Itev. GiKDNER B. Pehrv. 



[Concluded from page 335.] 

 HoRTicnLTURE is SO much associated with tlie 

 general principles of the Society, and so iutcrcsl- 

 ingand profitahle in itself, that I will not pass over 

 this opportunity of suggesting the expediency of 

 some etTorts on your part to encourage a more 

 general attention to it. Large portions of our cit- 

 izens are professional men, merchants, and me- 

 chanics, we have or might easily have small en- 

 closures, which it would be much to their advan- 

 tage in point of property, health and morals, to 

 cultivate. If this were done in a neat and skilful 

 manner, it would add greatly to the appearance of 

 their places, and spread over the county many 

 now attractions. A garden is also a most lovely ap- 

 pendage to a great farm, and is sure to aiibrd a 

 double reward, in pleasure and comfort, for every 

 hour's labor spent in it. Those who have never 

 effectually tried the experiment, may profess to 

 doubt this observation, and farmers who keep no 

 particular account of their daily expenses, may say 

 that they cannot alFord time to cultivate one. — 

 But experiment will produce the conclusion in 

 most minds which I know it did in one iiitclligenl 

 citizen of the county, who said, ' before I tried, 1 

 thought I could not bear the expense of a garden, 

 but now I can hardly conceive how I bore the 

 expense of a lamily without one.' 



A general and thorough survey of the agricul- 

 tural and manufacturing interest in the county is 

 much needed, and this by practical men. The 

 object of a county society is to lay open and im- 

 prove its own resources ; to encourage attention 

 to those things which promise best in that region, 

 and to communicate such information as will 

 there be useful. How can this be wisely and 

 successfully executed without an intimate and 

 extensive knowledge of what is doing, and the 

 success which has attended individual and vari- 

 ously directed operations. Much of the informa- 

 tion referred to is undoubtedly now possessed, and 

 additional knowledge is acquired every year by 

 the operations of the Society ; yet I am sure, the 

 most experienced will be the last to think that no 

 further investigations are needed. I certainly 

 have not knowledge enough to justify me in say- 

 ing that patronage is unequally or unwisely e.x- 

 tended to any article of produce or manufacture ; 

 from the character of those who have the direc- 

 tion of these things, we may confidently believe 

 that such cannot be the case ; yet I am certain 

 that the best informed among them will he the 

 most ready to receive with candor the suggestion 

 that, after all, this may happen. I am more par- 

 ticular in reverting to this from a striking similar- 

 ity of the articles encouraged by the County As- 

 sociations through this Cotnmonwealth, notwith- 

 standing a considerable variety in the soil peculiar 

 to each, and the different comparative worth of 

 the same kind of produce arising from local cir- 

 cumstances and the occupations of the inhabitants. 

 An analysis of the soil of this country would be 

 attended with great advantage. Every vegetable 

 is a chemical formation, as strictly composed of 

 the mgredients taken from the adjacent soil and 

 tfae atmosphere, as a loaf of bread is from the 

 contents of the flour-barrel and the veast and 

 hquid used to moisten it, and mtist be more or 

 lass perfect according as the elements of which it 



is made up exist, or are present in a more or less 

 just proportion where it is elaborated. A defect 

 or over supply of either of the constituent parts 

 which enter into the formation of a crop, must 

 render the production less abundant in quantity or 

 less excellent in quality, just as too much rye or 

 Indian meal will render the noble New-England 

 loaf less the glory of our tables. All vegetables, 

 not being composed of the same elements, or if of 

 the same, not exactly in the same proportion, it is 

 (]uite obvious that they must require different soils 

 to arrive to the greatest perfection in amount and 

 quality. This principle is in a degree understood, 

 and the practice of farmers, in many things, is in 

 accordance with it ; but it is by no means suffi- 

 ciently understood or regarded. From a want 

 of this knowledge, or disregard to the principle, 

 fields are often laid down with a kind of grass, or 

 planted with grain, or devoted to vegetables, ill- 

 adapted to the soil, and manures used quite un- 

 suited to the object for which they are employed ; 

 animal and vegetable additions made where these 

 are already too abundant ; mineral preparations 

 spread on where the earth is already rendered 

 comparatively sterile by their .«tiperabundance. — 

 From causes which I should not have time to cx- 

 [tlain, such applications may have a temporary 

 good effect, though in the end they must prove 

 hurtful. M.tny manures operate on the earth as 

 strong drink upon the human system, commence 

 with excitement and end with exhaustion. Others 

 encourage the growth of plants, but not in the 

 parts most desired ; they i)crliaps increase the top 

 when the roots are looked for, or tliey nourish the 

 stalks without filling the grain. 



I am well aware that the wise and merciful 

 Creator, in condescension to the necessities of our 

 race and the ntnnerous animal creation, lias so 

 generally diffused the elements of vegetation, that, 

 allowing for the effect of climate and other ob- 

 vious causes, there are but small portions of the 

 earth which will not catise to grow whatever is 

 committed to it. But there is a vast difference 

 belween a thing's growing and arriving to its 

 greatest perfection, between an article's jtist pay- 

 ing for its culture and yielding a generous profit. 

 It should be recollected that it is not the first fif- 

 teen or twenty bushels of corn, for instance, which 

 constitutes the profit of cultivation, but the two 

 or three bushels which remain after all expenses 

 are met. The man who raises twenty-four bush- 

 els on the acre, may actually make twice as much 

 as he who gets but twenty-two. What is needed 

 is such a knowledge as will enable men to obtain 

 these additional bushels, or teach the farmer 

 where the land is not suitable for corn to be cou- 

 toiit to raise such things as it will produce. In 

 another county in this state, Mr. N., a strong, 

 resolute, working-man, used to say, ' I know that 

 my farm is as good as my neighbor M's, and 

 that I have as good a plough, can hold it vvith as 

 firm a hand, and hoe as well, and I can therefore 

 raise as good a crop of corn ;' his ambition was a 

 little moved on the subject ; he spared neither 

 pains nor labor, and generally got as large a crop 

 as liis neighbor. But it cost hiiu so much more, 

 that he was a loser, while the other received an 

 encouraging profit, and truly rvorked himself out 

 of an estate while his neighbor jforAcrf himself into 

 one. Had he understood the principle o,f vegeta- 

 tion, he would have cultivated grass ; for the pro- 

 duce of some of the more valuable kinds, his farm 

 was peculiarly adapted, and the result would have 



been as happy as, in consequence of his ill-judged 

 practice, it was adverse. This is only a single 

 instance among many, but it shows conclusively 

 that a knowledge of the constituent j)arts of the 

 soil in each field, and of their combinations, to- 

 gether with what each kind of grain, vegetable, 

 and grass require, is indispensable, if men will 

 manage their farming concerns to good advantage, 

 and obtain the largest crops, with the least possi- 

 ble labor. 



The want of fuller information on this subject, 

 is attended with another evil. It renders the de- 

 tails of successful culture, as published in your 

 reports, less useful. For of what advantage can 

 the account of an agricultural experiment be, if 

 the field taken for its reception he composed of 

 different elements, or of the same elements differ- 

 ently proportioned, or held in different combina- 

 tion or solution. The want of discrimitiation 

 here, has often brought such reports into discredit, 

 and occasionally subjected the persons who made 



them to suspicions in respect to veracity, and 



not in a few instances involved men in un|n-oduc- 

 tive labor and expense, essentially injurious to 

 them. 



There are, indeed, so many reasons why suclt 

 an analysis should he made, I am constrained' ta 

 express it as my ojiiiiion that it should early en- 

 gage the attention of this Society. 



Something of this has been virtually done under 

 the patronage of the state, — enough to show how 

 intimately concerned the subject is with the best 

 success of agriculture, enough to convince those 

 who have looked at the result, of the enlightened 

 wisdom of our government, in the provision 

 which they made for the survey of the State, and 

 enough to ntamfest the science and enterprise of 

 those who were engaged in carryiug this order 

 into effect, — but not enough to answer the neces- 

 sities of the connnunity on those subjects which 

 this Society is designed to promote. A careful 



analysis of the soil in every locality is wanted. 



The chemical alterations re<iuired to render it 

 most productive, and the medium by which these 



changes can be effected, should be explained 



And until this is effected, the farming interest will 

 uot flourish as it ought, nor will the noble purpo- 

 ses of this Society be crowned with full success. 

 There are men in this county ably qualified for 

 this business, and there are riches enotigb : if, 

 therefore, the funds of this Society are not ade- 

 quate to the expense of such an undertaking, I 

 am persuaded that a special appeal, made to the 

 public spirit of an enlightened and liberal commu- 

 nity, would meet with the most encouraging suc- 

 cess. I must therefore express my strong hope, 

 that these suggestions will so commend thetnselves 

 to the enterprising and enlightened Directors of 

 this Society, that they will take measures to carry 

 the plan into operation. 



It is certainly desirable to have a more full and 

 general exhibition of the various productions of 

 agriculture and manufacture, than has hitherto 

 been obtained. A desire to obtain the premium 

 for an article offered, when fairly entitled to it, is 

 by no means an ittiproper motive for exhibiting 

 what persons may suppose of peculiar merit ; for 

 thus a man only receives from the public, which 

 is to be benefitted by his improvement, a remu- 

 neration, always small enough, for what as a first 

 experiment must have required special effort and 

 exjjensc. 



This inducement to bring out the results of la- 



