NEW ElVGLAND farm eh. 



1C3 



given them the |)ovver of controlling:. If 

 they are wives, I suspect they will find tlie 

 husband willing to come into iiny measure liy 

 which their wishes may bo {rratilicd, Rnd his 

 interest promoted. If they are mothers, it is 

 their duty and privilege "to bring up their 

 children in the »vay they should go, so that in 

 old ago tliey may not depart from it."' Timf- 

 will aflord them a rich reward in the prosperi- 

 ty of industrious sons, and in the ripened gra- 

 ces of accnm)ilished daughters. And if they 

 hold neither of the responsible stations of pa- 

 rent or wife, but am just venturing on the stage 

 of life, they should be reminded that Ihcij, too, 

 have their influence, and that it ought to be 

 employed in the great work of regenerating 

 the land. Where is the man so dead to every 

 just, and natural, and honouralde feeling, who 

 would barter the res|)ect and approbation of 

 the fair, for the idle pomp and sjdendour of 

 wealth, and the transitory charms of folly and 

 dissipation? In thus correcting the errours of 

 the ruder sex, the benefit is reciprocal. They 

 not only render man better and happier by 

 teaching him lessons of industry and economy, 

 nnd by effecting his moral renovation, but are 

 themselves imjiroved by llie proces? of in- 

 struction, and lifted for the serious anil impor- 

 tant duties of after life. The prudent man in 

 search of a wile, seeks her not in the retinue 

 of wealth, or among the votaries of pleasure. 

 He looks for her in the shades of solitude, in 

 the exercise of domestic virtue?, juid in the 

 display of those amiable and useful accomplish- 

 ments wliich enliven retirer:»2nt, and which 

 " beautify and embellish the narrow but charm- 

 ing circle of family delights." 



***** 



" It will be recollected, gentlemen, th?? 

 Tvhen 1 had the honour of addressing von, 

 twelve months since, I ilirerted your altention 

 to a subject of great practical importance to 

 farmers, — 1 mean the improvement of lands by 

 the application of manures. I then advised 

 you to make experiments at least, and in this 

 way to ascertain the expediency of turning un- 

 der green crops, as an auxiliary to the litter of 

 your larm yards. In this country, it is imprac- 

 ticable to pursue any rotation of our principal 

 crops, that will improve your lands, support 

 your families, and insure yon a reasonable pro- 

 tit, without great attention to the article of ma- 

 nures. By uniting green crops with your barn 

 yard and fossil manures, you will be enabled to 

 return to the soil as much fertilizing matter as 

 is annually withdrawn from it ; and by pursuing 

 the system recommended by oar best farmers, 

 of always having twice as much of your lands 

 in grass as in wheat, you not only prevent them 

 /rom deteriorating, but you insure them certain 

 and positive improvement. Let me here re- 

 commend to you the renewed npplic.ition of plas- 

 ter paris to your lands. I am aware that many of 

 you who formerly reposed the most im|)licit 

 confidence in its virtues, and ajiplied it exten- 

 sively, have lately abandoned its use altogeth- 

 er, under the impression that it was either in- 

 juring your lands, or at best had become useless 

 and inoperative. Rest assured vou do it great 

 injustice. Admit that plaster has from its im- 

 proper application been the means of im- 

 poverishing our lands; this is no argument 

 against its proper and reasonable use. You 

 Kiay as well refuse to employ iron implements 



mj 



upon your farms, because weapons of war aro 

 made with the same material; you may as well 

 object to the most salutary medicine, because 

 somebody has been injured by incautiously tak- 

 ing a double dose ; nay, you may upon the same 

 priticiple, reject the very aliment of life — your 

 ordinary meat and driidc — because gluttony and 

 intemperance have slain their thousands, hy 

 the excessive use of plaster, your lands were 

 suddenly stimulated ; and all their energies be 

 ing called into action at once, their produce was 

 immense beyond all former example. The 

 vegetable matter that has been accumulating 

 for years, was by some peculiar property in the 

 plaster extracted from the baser soil, ami con- 

 verted into living plants. This, though an ad- 

 mirable process, was of limited duration. The 

 solo virtue of the plaster consisting in this, — 

 iis effect upon dormant vegetable matter, — as 

 soon as this i».atter became exhausted, the plas- 

 ter, having no suliject to operate upon, of 

 course became inert and worthless. Return to 

 vour land some portion of the plaster food, ei- 

 ther in the shape of green crops or barn yani 

 manures, and 1 venture to predict you will re- 

 store to plaster iis primitive virtues. I sp?ak 

 coniidently, because I speak from experience. 

 1 have this year received from the use of plas- 

 ter as decided a benefit as I ever witnessed in 

 life. 



" We now come to the more particular men- 

 tion of barn-yaid manures. Under this head 

 jnay be arranged the litter from your stables — 

 the straw from your barns, and the corn-stalks 

 and other provender from your fields. The most 

 experienced farmers differ materially as to the 

 proper time for applying this species of manure. 

 One will tell you that vegetalde matter should 

 be spread upon your soil in its perfectly dry 

 stale; — another that it should be partially fer- 

 mented before it is applied;— and a third, that 

 it should pass through all the states of decompo- 

 sition in your stercoraries before it is fit for use. 

 The latter doctrine is supported by many of the 

 Pfnnsylvania farmers, whose opinions on this 

 snbj'ect are entitled to great consideration. — 

 The two first are principally entertained by Vir- 

 ginia cultivators. You must not infer, from this 

 difference of opmion, that either party is in er 

 ror. The system which certain peculiarities of 

 soil and climate rany recimrnend in one coun- 

 try, may be very exce(itionalde in another; and 

 indeed it frequently happens, that upon different 

 parts of the same farm it is jirudent to apply 

 manure in different stages of its decomposition. 

 If your land be cold, adhesive and ungrateful, 

 it is advisable to apply it in its perfectly dry 

 state ; for by its fermentation, that degree of 

 warmth in which the soil is deficient will be 

 supplied — its tenacity will be de,?troyed by its 

 mechanical influence — and it will be rendered 

 generous and productive. But if your lands be 

 sufficiently porous, and only so far unproductive 

 as arises from the absence of fertilizing matter, 

 which is certainly the case with a large pro()or- 

 tion of our lands, I would advise the applica- 

 tion of manure alter it had undergone a partial 

 decomposition in your barn yards. After all, 

 there can be no established or universal stand- 

 ard on this subject: your judgment must dictate 

 the proper course to pursue under the various 

 circumstances that may exist. 



'^ 1 shall this day, however, present to the Soci- 

 ety, at its private meeting, a letter from one of 



its honorary member.^,— the late John Taylor, 

 of Caroline, on the subject of vegetable man- 

 ures, from which 1 am well assured some valu- 

 able information may be gathered. And here 

 I am rcniiiided that some tribute is due to the 

 memory uf tliat great and good man, who not 

 only bore so conspicuous a part in the councils 

 of the n;ition, but wa; equally distinguished for 

 his literary and scientific attainments — for his 

 unwearied and successful devotion to agriculture, 

 — for his nffeclionale and amiable heart, and his 

 gentle and couciliating deportment — and for his 

 rigid adherence to that whole series of duties 

 which attach to the humble relations of private 

 life. He now sleeps in the bosom of the earth, 

 which, while living, he so fondly cherished, and 

 so diligently cultivated. Perhaps no gorgeous 

 monumental [lile, or labored epitaph,' denotes to 

 the passing traveller that here is the tomb of 

 moral excellence or of political greatness. Per- 

 haps the clods of his own vallc}' rest unbrokeri 

 upon his remains, and he boasts no other monu- 

 ment than the simple sod — ihej'armer^s sod — 

 placed and nurtured by the pious hand of grati- 

 tude and ad'eclion i!|)on the humble giave of de- 

 parted worth. With us, however, as members 

 of the same association, and co-workers with 

 him in the great cause of agricultural improve- 

 ment, he claims a lasting and grateful remeoa- 

 bra'vce. With his precepts and practice before 

 us, it becomes us to follow, though at humble 

 distance, bis illustrious footsteps. We should 

 learn from his exam|)le that the pursuits of sci- 

 ence, and even the ignoble employments of hus- 

 bandry, are not wholly irreconcileabie with de- 

 voted patriotism and public usefulness — that 

 thdse modern days, with all their reprobacy, are 

 not loo degenerate to prod\ice another and an- 

 other Cincionatus, who, like him of old, would 

 desert the plough lor the senate, and, the emerf 

 gency over, descend again to the drudgery of the 

 field. Let us contemplate this admirable moc -1 

 — meditate upon its many excellencies — ai. I 

 earnestly resolve to " go and do likewise." 



IMPORTANT DISCOVERY. 

 We are informed that Dr O'Neil, of Comber, 

 has discovered a chemical process by which 

 hog's-lard can be converted into an article for 

 dipping and moulding candles, superior to Rus- 

 sian tallow, without any additional expense. — 

 When prepared according to his plan, it is equal 

 to white wax or spermacetti. The candles made 

 of it burn with a sujjerior light, resembling io 

 flame the purest gas. They are altogether void 

 of the offensive smell and greasy touch of other, 

 candles, and, when burning in the closest apart- 

 ment, have no smell, and emit no smoke. They 

 burn by many minutes longer than any other can- 

 dle of the same weight, and with a change of 

 process only in preparing, they can be either of 

 a beautiful golden yellow, or of a snow-white 

 color, which the effects of light or time cannot 

 alter. — JV. Y. paper. 



COPPER UTENSILS. 



A source of danger from the nse of culinary 

 vessels of copper, by Sir H. Davy, viz. — that 

 weak solutions of common salt, such as are daily 

 made by adding a little salt to boiling vegeta- 

 bles and other eatables in our kitchens, act 

 strongly upon copper, although strong ones do 

 not affect it. 



