No. 7. 



Asricultural Address. 



221 



this region, and the circumstance of the 

 bed of the Euphrates lying on a higher level 

 than that of the Tygris, enabled the wise 

 Chaldeans to open a perfect net-work of 

 sluices and canals from the former river, 

 which after irrigating the country, were ab- 

 sorbed by the soil, or discharged into the 

 Tygris. 



Even the use of the artificial grasses, 

 which is sometimes claimed as a modern 

 improvement, was familiar to the ancient 

 farmers of Italy and the provinces, as we 

 are informed by Gibbon ; particularly the 

 Lucerne, which derived its name and origin 

 from Media. Other descriptions of clover 

 were no doubt introduced with the alternate 

 system of husbandry, which must have ac- 

 companied the seeding of the artificial 

 grasses. 



Thus do we find ourselves forestalled, in 

 the adoption of the artificial grasses and al- 

 ternate husbandry; and there is reason to 

 believe that we should rather regret our ig- 

 norance of the methods of tillage practised 

 by the ancients, than deplore their ignorance 

 of our improvements. Lucerne is not yet 

 fairly domesticated, and there are individuals 

 yet living who have witnessed the introduc- 

 tion of red clover into our system of rotation 

 of crops. This great ameliorator, I was in- 

 formed by the late James Vaux, was first 

 imported and sown by him, on a farm in 

 this vicinity, — now partly belonging to John 

 Shearer, Esq., — previous to the American 

 Revolution. From hence it rapidly spread 

 throughout the State. Some years ago, I 

 tried the experiment of importing white 

 clover seed from Germany, in some parts of 

 which country it is used instead of the red. 

 It added much to the beauty of the pastures, 

 but the excess of it was found too difficult 

 to dry, when making hay. Our country 

 likewise claims to have been the first in 

 which plaster was introduced to stimulate 

 crops. The venerable General Scheetz, now 

 in his 84lh year, remembers when he was 

 yet a boy, that a vessel arrived at the wharf 

 in Philadelphia, containing some lumps of 

 plaster among the ballast. A German pas- 

 senger, having hired with a farmer in White- 

 marsh, informed him of its virtues when ap- 

 plied to grass; whereupon a specimen was 

 procured, reduced to powder, and spread, 

 with such benefit, as to insure for the fu- 

 ture, a regular and constantly increasing 

 demand. 



Farmers have been accused of parsimony; 

 and are perhaps prone to err on the side of 

 extreme caution, not only in reference to 

 novel modes of tillag-e, but especially do they 

 demur to the adoption of new and untried 

 breeds of animals. This is not surprising, 



for the farmer has no superfluous cash to 

 throw away on doubtful experiments. His 

 money comes hard, and is held tight. To 

 succeed in his business he must economize; 

 moreover, experiments in farming are unlike 

 those in chemistry or optics, whose results 

 are instantaneous — they are the work of 

 time ; and long years may be consumed in 

 doubtful, or disastrous researches. Though 

 every good farmer must possess habits of ac- 

 curate observation, his attention is neverthe- 

 less constantly distracted, by the various du- 

 ties of the farm. He has seen speculations — 

 that of the Morus Multicaulis, for instance — 

 explode like the South Sea bubble. The 

 introduction of Merino sheep, likewise, was 

 an era of wild and ruinous speculation, 

 which some of you may remember. Both 

 of these experiments will probably result in 

 permanent benefit to the interests of the 

 country; but accompanied as they were, by 

 so much individual suffering, it is too much 

 to require us to repeat the dose very often. 

 We are now invited to introduce the Alpaca 

 from South America, on account of its supe- 

 rior wool. From its history, and an exami- 

 nation of a specimen now in the menagerie 

 in Phikdelphia, it would appear to unite the 

 characteristics of the sheep and camel. It 

 has been introduced into Europe, and through 

 the medium of a company formed in Boston, 

 we may ere long add it to our list of domes- 

 tic animals. 



It cannot be expected of individual farm- 

 ers in this country, to perform a duty, which, 

 if undertaken at all in foreign nations, is the 

 work of government. An intelligent friend 

 who travelled last summer through Spain, 

 informs me that so attentive is that govern- 

 ment to this object, that it has recently im- 

 ported from Africa large herds of elephants 

 and camels, to inhabit an extensive tract of 

 waste land, on the banks of the Guadal- 

 quiver. To these have been added, with 

 more doubtful expediency, a species of tiger, 

 comparatively harmless, for the sake of its 

 brilliant skin : so that our amateurs need 

 only visit the vicinity of Seville, to witness, 

 as did my informant, the habits of some of 

 these animals in a state of nature. 



Closely connected with our subject, I may 

 mention on the same undoubted authority, 

 that throughout Andalusia there is now a 

 general revival of agriculture. The famous 

 Vegas of Granada and Malaga are once 

 more blooming gardens, as they were in the 

 times of the Moors. The accumulated wa- 

 ters of the hills, are during the day dammed 

 up in reservoirs; and under the sujierin- 

 tendence of a public officer, they are distri- 

 buted through thousands of sluices, to irri- 

 gate the fields at night. As a natural 



