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JVo End to Improvement. — Economy of Agriculture. Vol. VI. 



No End to Improvement. 



He that believes agriculture is perfect, 

 and that we have nothing to do but pursue 

 tlie old and beaten track, as blind animals 

 move round the tread mill, deserves our com- 

 passion. Nature proclaims that neither agri- 

 culture, nor any other branch of natural 

 science, can ever become perfect. The mind 

 of man is capable of indefinite improvement, 

 so are all the productions of nature. For ex- 

 amples, look at the valuable plants in the 

 condition in which they were first found in 

 their native woods. The various kinds of 

 corn, potatoes, cabbages, fruits, &c., were all, 

 before they were touched by the finger of 

 culture, as unlike what they now are, as dif- 

 ferent species are unlike. They are all sus- 

 ceptible of continual improvement, all ever 

 running into new varieties. It is not long 

 ago, that the potato was a useless, unhealthy 

 vegetable in the woods of South America, 

 where it was first found; but it has been so 

 changed by the hand of care and industry, as 

 to become large and healthy, and now sup- 

 plies food for more human beings throughout 

 the earth, than any plant, save corn and rice, 

 and is no doubt destined to as much future 

 improvement as it has received in the past. 

 Compare the maize, or Indian corn, as first 

 seen in the feeble stalk and slender roasting 

 ear around the wigwam, with its hundred 

 varieties in its present maturity, yielding in 

 value its countless thousands to national 

 wealth. And we are just now beginning to 

 see the improvement of which this valuable 

 plant is still susceptible. 



The succession of the seasons — the calm — 

 the storm — the course of the winds — the re- 

 volution of the heavenly bodies — the nature 

 of the eartii — the food of plants — the influ- 

 ence of water, light, heat, and air, on the 

 growth of vegetation — the proper composi- 

 tion of the various soils to furnish the great- 

 est amount of production, will ever be sub- 

 jects too broad for the full grasp of the most 

 profound philosophers, and in the unfathoma- 

 ble profundities of which, new discoveries 

 will be made as long as this frame of nature 

 shall endure. — Me. Farmer. 



Economy of Agriculture. 



There is no subject less understood nor 

 more generally mistaken than this; nor any 

 more essential to the prosperity of agricul- 

 ture. Sufficient to aflTord matter for an en- 

 tire treatise, it cannot be embraced in a short 

 chapter. But a short chapter may put minds 

 upon the track, able to unfold its involutions 

 with every branch of agriculture, and more 

 especially to disclose its value. 



Diminutions of comforts, necessaries and 

 expense, are too often mistaken for the means 



of producing the ends they obstruct; and the 

 rapacity which starves, frequently receives 

 the just retribution of a disappointment, be- 

 gotten by a vicious mode of avoiding it. From 

 the master down to the meanest utensil, tiie 

 best capacity for fulfilling the contemplated 

 ends, is invariably the best economy ; and the 

 same reasoning which demonstrates the bad 

 economy of a shattered loom, will demon- 

 strate the bad economy of a shattered con- 

 stitution, or an imperfect state of body. The 

 cottagers who inflict upon themselves and 

 their families the discomforts of cold house.-^, 

 bad bedding, and insufficient clothing, to ac- 

 quire wealth, destroy the vigour both of the 

 mind and body, necessary for obtaining the 

 contemplated end, at which, of course, they 

 can never arrive. The farmer who starves 

 his labourers, is a still greater sufferer. He 

 loses tiie profits produced by health, strength 

 and alacrity ; and suffers the losses caused 

 by disease, weakness and dejection. In like 

 manner, the more perfect, the more profitable 

 are working animals and implements, and 

 every saving by which the capacity of either 

 to fulfil their destiny in the best manner, is 

 diminished, terminates with certainty in some 

 portion of loss, and not unfrequently in ex- 

 travagant waste. Even the object of manur- 

 ing is vastly aflfected by the plight of those 

 animals by which it is aided. 



A pinchincr, miserly system of agriculture 

 may indeed keep a farmer out of a prison, but 

 it will never lodge him in a palace. Great 

 profit depends on great improvements of the 

 soil, and great improvements can never be 

 made by penurious efforts. The discrimina- 

 tion between useful and productive, and use- 

 less and barren expenses, contains the agri- 

 cultural secret for acquiring happiness and 

 wealth. A good farmer will sow the first 

 with an open hand, and eradicate every seed 

 of the other. 



Liberality constitutes the economy of agri- 

 culture, and perhaps it is the solitary human 

 occupation, to which the adage, "the more 

 we give, the more we shall receive," can be 

 justly applied. Liberality to the earth in 

 manuring and culture is the fountain of its 

 bounty to us. Liberality to labourers and 

 working animals is the fountain of their pro- 

 fit Liberality to domestic brutes is the foun- 

 tain of manure. The good work of a strong 

 team causes a profit beyond the bad work of 

 a weak one, after deducting the additional 

 expense of feeding it ; and it saves moreover 

 half the labour of a driver, sunk in following 

 a bad one. Liberality in warm houses, pro- 

 duces health, strength and comfort; preserves 

 the lives of a multitude of domestic animals; 

 causes all animals to thrive on less food ; and 

 secures from damage all kinds of crops. And 

 liberality in the utensils of husbandry, saves 



