204 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Jan. 21, 



GEN. HARPER'S ADDRESS. 



[Concluded from page 195. 



Next after the breeding of cattle, and close- 

 ly connected with it, in the list of improve- 

 ments in husbaudry, comes (he cnltiv.ilion of 

 grass crops. They enter essentially into every 

 good rotation. They improve /the soil, while 

 thev supply abundance of food for domestic an- 

 imals ; thus introducing plenty on the farm, 

 while they add constantly to its fertility, by 

 the quantity of manure which they enable the 

 i'armer to collect. To perceive their benefi- 

 cial effect, you need only look at a district of 

 country, or even a sinjle farm, where a proper 

 attention is paid to the' culture of grasses, and 

 compare it vrith another where they are neg- 

 lected. In one you will find smiling plenty, 

 with her lap full of good things : houses and 

 enclosures in repair, stock in good condition, 

 the family and domestics well fed, lodged, audi 

 clothed. For the picture of the other, which 

 will not be so pleasing, 1 refer _vQn to a planta- 

 tion or a farm, where tobacco or wheat are the 

 great objects of attention, to the exclusion of 

 grass. The difference will he striking, but it 

 is founded in nature. The products of the 

 grass cultivation are constantly accumulated on 

 the soil, and constantly augment the prodiictive 

 capita! of the cultivator; while those of the 

 other system, are almost wholly collected into 

 his pocket, and merely supply the means of bis 

 daily expenditure. They disappear in the con- 

 sumption, and leave little behind them (o reno- 

 vate the soil, to augment or repair the build- 

 ings and other improvements, or to increase in 

 any manner the productive poweri of the fes- 

 tablishment. 



Some years ago, 1 erected several buildings 

 at my farm near Baltimore, for which a!i the 

 lumber was hauled from the city. I had a team 

 of four good New England oxen. They work- 

 ed in a wagon which often went to town for 

 lumber, with the horse teams, consislms- of five 

 good horses each, which were employed for the 

 same business. My four oxen went and return- 

 ed as soon, and brought as heavy a load, as any 

 of the live horse teams. This they dnl, not on-j 

 ly in the spring and autumn, but in the middle j 

 of summer. And there is no doubt that if they i 

 had been carefully bred in this state, from a 

 good stock, and well trained, they would have | 

 performed still better : for it cannot be suppos- 

 ed that their northern constitutions were as well 

 ailnptcd to the heat of our summeis, as those 

 of cattle bred among us. 



The next to which 1 would ask your atten- 

 tion is the substitution of mutton for jiork, as 

 an article of food. Of all animals, next to the 

 cow, the sheep is the most useful to man; and 

 in one most important particular, his utility is 

 far greater than hers. His fleece furnishes a 

 most esscnti.il part of our clothing and furniture ; 

 and enters largely into our household manufac- 

 tures, which form the true basis of the m.inu- 

 facturing system, and stand next to good hiis- 

 bandry, among tlie means of promoting individ- 

 va virtue, public prosperity, and national as 

 well as individual iti'lepoiidenco. This most 

 useful animal is more easily raised and kept 

 thau the hog, is far less mischievous and de- 

 .structive, and his flesh is at least equally iiulii- 

 tious, while it is much moie wholesome. Hab- 



it I know has wedded us strongly to pork, as 

 the chief article of food ; but this habit was 

 formed when the circumstances of the country 

 were wholly difTerent, and we ought now to la- 

 bour for its correction. The early state of the 

 country, when the population was extremely 

 thin, and nine tenths of the land were covered 

 by forests, in which swine found abundant sub- 

 sistence, while sheep could not be fed except 

 in very small numbers, and it was still more dif- 

 ficult to protect them from beasts of prey, the 

 preference was naturally, and indeed necessari- 

 ly, given to the hog. VV'ool, loo, was then of 

 little value or importance, because so great a 

 portion of the labour of the community was di- 

 rected to the cultivation of tob.icco, for exporta- 

 tion, and of Indian corn, that ver3' little indeed 

 was left for household maflufaclures ; and es- 

 tablishments for manufacturing, were wholly 

 unknown. Now every thing has changed, and 

 the habit of giving the preference to this de- 

 structive and troublesome animal, over one of 

 the most useful which our all bountiful Creator 

 has bestowed upon us, ought to change too. — 

 The change, indeed, like all tliose which alTecl 

 national customs and h:vbits, must be progressive 

 and slow ; but every lai'mer may do something 

 towards prorsioting it, and by the united and stea- 

 dy endeavours of all, it Ir.ay be much sooner and 

 more easily effected, than would at fitst view 

 appear practicable. In-our endeavours to sub- 

 stitute sheep for hogs, as in those for improving 

 the breed of cattle, great attention ought to be 

 paiil to the selection of the best stocks. Some 

 races of sheep, as in the case of all other ani- 

 mals, are far superior to others, in the qualities 

 which render them valuable. Some excel iii 

 the quality of their wool, some in the quantity ; 

 some in their size, and some in their disposition 

 to fatten. Some are much more hardy, and some 

 ea'iier to raise and keep than otlrers. These 

 ditTeront qualities fit them for the different [uir- 

 poses, which each breeder may have in view. 

 But as the use of them for common food, and of ! 

 their wool for common clothing, is the object 

 which 1 wish most to press on your attention, I | 

 consider that breed as the best fur our purposes, | 

 which in a given time and with a given quantity 1 

 of feed, is found to produce (he heaviest carcns- 1 

 es and trie heaviest fleeces. . i 



None of the breeds, however, will be profila 

 ble, without care and attention, good keeping i 

 and good management. They require shelter i 

 no less than cattle, and perhaps even more; al-j 

 though it should be calculated to keep them dry | 

 and clean, rather than to keep them warm, fori 

 which nature has most abundantly provided. — i 

 Nor ought less attention to bo paid to their food, [ 

 both in winter and in summer. Dry pastures, 

 are indispensable, and enclosures for their pro-, 

 tection. The details for feeding them, during 

 the season when pastures fail, i forbear to touch. : 

 For them 1 rel'er yon again to the publication 

 which 1 have already had occasion to mention, 

 and which, as a source of useful information on 

 agricultural subjects, I cannot mention too olten, 

 or too earnestly recommend. 



The comforts of the farmer, and of course his 

 genera! prosperity, \vill be very much increased 

 by atlL-ntion to some other objects, which, al- 

 though of less importance than these, are highly 

 deserving of his care. Among them I will briefly 

 notice dairies, ice houses, fruit trees, and vines. 



The labor and expense of constructing a con- 



venient dairy and ice house, are very inconsider- 

 able ; and hardly'any farm is destitute of a toler- 

 ably good situation for both. The advantages to 

 bo derived from them are not, I apprehend, suffi- 

 ciently considered. How large a portion of the 

 food of every family might consist of milk, and 

 the articles made from it! Without a dairy, for 

 which every spring affords a situation, and a few 

 logs will furnish the materials, they can neither 

 be made well nor pieserved tor use. And yet 

 how many farms, and large ones too, where 

 much labour is at the disposal of the owner, do 

 we see without this convenience ? How much 

 food is daily lost for want of it. Ice houses 

 are still more rare, and yet their constrnction is 

 as easy, and their benefits hardly interior. A 

 hole dug in the earth, a pen of logs built in it, 

 and covered with a roof of straw, make a very 

 good ice house, perhaps the best. 1 have two 

 on my farm ; one built in this manner, by my 

 oun people, and the other expensively of stone. 

 The former is much the best. Filling an ice 

 house is supposed to be, and generally is, the 

 great difliculty. Here, again, my experience 

 may be of some use. My two ice houses are fil- 

 led from a very small pond, made by damming 

 up a stream of inconsiderable size. Almost any 

 spring is large enough for this purpose; and 

 where it is inconvenient to make a dam, on ac- 

 count of the shape of the ground, a pond of suffi- 

 cient demen^ions is very easily dug, into which 

 the water m,'y be turned before the frosts com- 

 mence. It freezes very readily in this manner, 

 and a much smaller surface will siippl}' an ice 

 iivuso, '!i,r,i would be readily believed without 



Residos the comforts of an icehouse, its direct 

 J^enefils in preserving fresh provisions, and keep 

 ing milk and butter in its best stale (hiring the 

 hottest weather, will soon repay the expense of 

 making and filling it ; and the cost of an ice pond 

 will soon be re-imbursed, by the washings from 

 the adjacent lands which it will annually collect, 

 and which make an excellent lop dressing tor 

 almost every kind of crop. 



Among fruits the apple is by far the most use- 

 ful ; and being the best adapted to our soil and 

 climate, is the most easily raised. They who 

 h;ive leisure and means for attending to objects 

 of mere enjoyment, will cultivate other frnits, 

 and especially the peach and the pear. Cut ev- 

 ery farmer ought to plant a good apple orchard, 

 as an object of profit. The trees are easily rais- 

 ed or obtained, ihey thrive well with moderate 

 care, and if planted far enough apart, they do 

 not impede the cultivation of the land. Some 

 care they must have, but it requires very little'- 

 time or labour. When they have grown beyond 

 the reach of cattle, they do not prevent the find 

 from being u^ed as pastures, by which they aie 

 benefitted, as well as by its frequent cultivation 

 in grain, jiotatoes, or other cleaning crops. 



When we recollect the variety of modes in 

 which the apple is used, the length of time for 

 which it may ho preserved, after all other fruits 

 have failed, the number of wholesome and pala- 

 table disl'.es into which it enters, and the healthy 

 and pleasant beverage ^vhich its juice supplies, 

 we may well be surprised thai so many farms 

 should be found without an ap[de orchard, or 

 even a few trees to furnish fruit for the table. 

 Its last proporty, that of supplying us with an 

 agreeable and wholesome beverage, which by 

 proper altenlion, might be substituted for ardent 



