92 



Letter from Solon Robinson. 



Vol. VI. 



Letter from Solon Robinson. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



After spending a week in and about your 

 city, I cannot bear to leave it without a part- 

 ing word to the many warm-hearted friends 

 that I have found here. I am one that holds 

 that self-esteem is a virtue, for it is that 

 which makes us all proud of doing good. It 

 is that which makes me proud of the recep- 

 tion that I have met with among a very large 

 number of the agriculturists of this vicinity. 

 But it is not a kind of self-esteem that makes 

 me proud of the honour conferred upon me 

 personally, for I am a stranger, personally 

 unknown, even by character, except by my 

 writings ; but on account of the cause that 1 

 advocate have I been most flatteringly re- 

 ceived wherever I have been. Oh, sir, the 

 spirit of improvement is abroad. That " band 

 of brotherhood" that 1 long to see cementing 

 us all together, is forming. That joyful day 

 is coming, when all the agriculturists of the 

 land will" feel as though they belonged to one 

 family, and that their occupation was, and of 

 right ought to be, the most honoured of all 

 others. 



On Tuesday last, I paid a visit to several 

 of the farms upon the far-famed Brandywine 

 hills of Westchester. If, Nebuchadnezzar- 

 like, I am ever " turned out to grass," may it 

 be upon such fat pastures as I saw there. At 

 the farm of Samuel Worth, I found a most 

 beautiful drove of Ohio oxen — fine, large, 

 red, and upon such grass I need not say, very 

 fat. This I find is a common practice, to 

 drive lean oxen from Ohio, to take on a coat 

 of Pennsylvania fat ; and from this source 

 comes the fine juicy beef with which your fine 

 market houses abound. Many of these same 

 cattle are driven into Ohio while quite young, 

 from still further West, so that the places of 

 their nativity and death are often a thousand 

 or more miles apart. And as the great West 

 improves, her almost boundless pastures will 

 furnish an everlasting supply for the Eastern 

 markets. 



At the farm of Joseph Cope, I found an ex- 

 cellent specimen of South Down sheep, and 

 a choice Durham bull, selected by himself in 

 England. It would do some of our Western 

 farmers (slovens, rather,) good to visit this 

 farm, to see a place for every thing, and every 

 thing in its place, in doors and out. For be 

 it known that there is one within the house 

 well worthy of the name of "Farmer's wife." 



At the farm of Paschall Morris, we — I for- 

 got to say tliat in this excursion, I was ac- 

 companied by Caleb N. Bennet, of Albany, 

 whom I met in Philadelphia — we saw much 

 to admire. A farm under a high state of im- 

 provement — a beautiful lot of short-horns — 

 Berkshire hogs, and Bakewell sheep — a very 



neat dairy house, with a churn driven by 

 horse-power. Mr. Morris makes butter for 

 the dignitaries of Washington, and here, let 

 me assure them, that they may be assured of 

 the perfect neatness of the manufactory. Mr. 

 Morris is a young Philadelphian of wealth 

 and intelligence, who has devoted himself to 

 a noble pursuit ; and his lovely wife is a sweet 

 flower, that adorns her pleasant home, and 

 makes the visiters at her hospitable mansion 

 feel " at home." I have neglected to mention 

 that we arrived in the evening at West- 

 chester, the delightfully situated seat of jus- 

 tice of Chester county, and were soon visited 

 by Dr. Darlington, a well-known agricultural 

 writer, with a cordial invitation to breakfast, 

 which we accepted ; after which the Doctor 

 drove us over to Mr. Morris', but was pre- 

 vented by official engagements from spend- 

 ing the day with us. He however, trans- 

 ferred us to good hands, and a good carriage, 

 in which Mr. Morris spent the day, until late 

 in the evening. And his acts of kindness, 

 similar to which are now everywhere to be 

 seen among the " strong bond of brotherhood" 

 which is forming among the friends of agri- 

 culture, did not end with that day, for at an 

 early hour the next morning, his carriage was 

 at the door to take us down to the agricultural 

 fair, at Wilmington, whither we were also 

 accompanied by Joseph Cope. 



But the limits of this letter will not permit 

 me to record the high praise that I intend to 

 do hereafter, to Wilmington ; not so much on 

 account of the display of stock and imple- 

 ments, as upon the ennobling spirit that 

 seemed to pervade the whole population. The 

 Horticultural exhibition, which is connected 

 with the Agricultural Society, showed the 

 power of " female influence," and the room 

 in the evening, showed a greater amount of 

 female loveliness than is often to be met with 

 upon such occasions. 



The excellent dinner of the Society, from 

 which " all intoxicating liquor" was banished, 

 was one of the most pleasant of my life. After 

 dinner, we partook of the " real old Virginia 

 hospitality" of Dr. J, W. Thomson, the Presi- 

 dent of the society; and in the morning I had 

 to deny myself the great pleasure that I 

 should have enjoyed in spending a few days 

 among the large circle of friends that I found, 

 (although a stranger,) in Delaware. Both at 

 Westchester and Wilmington, the subject 

 of organising the Natioiial Society of Agri- 

 culture, was taken up with enthusiasm, and 

 approving resolutions passed and delegates 

 appointed. 



I beg you to assure the numerous friends 

 of agricultural improvement in and about 

 Philadelphia, whom I was prevented from 

 visiting on account of my pressing engage- 

 ments, that I duly appreciate their good 



