60 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



gtpt. 11, 1S29. 



r-*i 



roR TUE HEW E.tGLAXll FABHER. 



ANTIQUITY AND CXCELLENCY OF AG- 

 lUCLLTLRE. 

 Mr Fesse.nbe.n — Uendiiig in the New En<,'lun(} 

 Farmer of tlio l-llli August, au extract from an 

 address, occasioned the following rellcctions ; 

 which you will give a place id your paper if you 

 cioose. 



Agricidturo has formerly been considtTcd a low 

 calling — hut t>li:dl tliat culling be deemed mean, 

 from the various branches of which, the King of 

 kings mill l.ord of lords borrows names as his sig- 

 nificant titles ? as, Shepherd — Lord of the bar- 

 vest, &c. \ 

 Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the 

 most profound [jhilosophers of bis timi>. Brought 

 up in one of the most si)lLiidid courts of the world, 

 (lud the adopted son of I'liaraoh's daughter, — 

 aud fmally, to consummate hisgrcalness, hc,atlen;l- 

 c<l by all the grandeur, and the terror of the Shei- 

 nah, led forth from bondage the armies of the 

 living God. Hut hy fur the happiest hours of his 

 life were s|)cnt in the rural scenes of iMidian. 



Our inunortal Washington retired from the 

 highest station in which mere man was ever 

 placed, to be a cultivator of the ground. 

 " In ancient times, tjie plough employed 

 The kin-ja and awful fathers of mankind : 

 And some, (with whom compared, your insect tribes 

 Are but tlie beings of a summer's day,) 

 Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm 

 Of mighty war ; then with unwearied hand, 

 Disdaining little dchcaciep, seized 

 The plougli, and greatly independent lived." 



Thomson'. 



Agriculture was the i)eculiar characteristic of 

 the golden age. When the Almighty had com- 

 plel il the work of creation, and pronounced it all 

 good, he placed our first ])arcnts in the garden of 

 Eden to dress it and keep it. In envying those 

 who are renowned in other callings, the farmer 

 etoop.^ below his dignity. Shall we covet the ho- 

 nors of the conrpiering hero ? His crown, which 

 is einhlazoiicd with a brother's gore, and gemmed 

 with the tears of the widow and the fatherless, 

 nui^t lie low ill the dust, anil his implements of 

 dcatli 1)0 beaten into ri.oLoiisiiARES and prun- 

 iNG-iiooKS, before the return of the golden age. 



That there is not in the theory of agriculture as 

 wide a field for the iirogress of genius and the 

 exhibition of talent, as in the learned professions, 

 is on opinion as erroneous as it is destructive of 

 the interests of farming. When we arc told that 

 " Solomrui's wisdom excelled all the wisdom of 

 the cast country, and all the wisdom of Egypt : 

 that be was wiser than all men," and are told what 

 were the prodiiclioiis tif his pen : the climax is 

 completed by informing us that " he spake of 

 trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even untc 

 the hyssop that springcth out of the wall : he 

 spake also of beasts, and of fiiwl, and of creeping 

 things, and of fishes." The very reason that men 

 of genius and erudition write no more upon the 

 eiibjei-t of ngrieiiltnrc is, their publications are not 

 read. Let i^very farmer purchase a treatise on 

 ilgriiMiIlure.and every neighborhood take on agri- 

 cultural paper or iournal ; and wc should soon 

 icc as miirh genius enlisteil in the cause nf fiirm- 

 ing, as ill thai of the arts and xciinccs. While a 

 well wrillcn novel is worth to its author $40,000, 

 an a^frii'ultiiral work will nut defray the expenses 

 of pnblication. A Hrhidiistio eduration has long 

 been considered oh destructive of useful agricul- 

 tural knowledge : but this error has now but little 



influence. Yet hut few are sensible how illy qual- 

 ified an illiterate jtersou is fur making and report- 

 ing experiments on the most common proceasea 

 of manuring land, and growing crojis. A thou- 

 sand causes, unnoticed, because unknown, pro- 

 duce ctlects which the unlearned ascribe to that 

 which is wholly extraneous or foreign. Let the 

 former not be afraid of "ioot knowledge." It is as 

 important in the history of agriculture, oy in the 

 history of ony event, or any fact, worthy to be 

 transmitted to posterity, or commiiuicaleil to co- 

 teniporari(!s. Tradition is a very imperfect mode 

 of conveying knowledge — it is but continued ru- 

 mor. Without the aid of letters, the father 

 spends his days in arriving at the knowledge of a 

 few facts by experiments, and but a moiety of 

 these are coinniunicatcd to the son ; who, during 

 his life, by his own experience, adds hut little to 

 the stock of knowledge which he inherited. It 

 was through ignorance that our agricultural fore- 

 fathers lost their rank in society : and until they 

 become well inform-d they will not rise to their 

 Jiativc dignity. 



But whatever be our calling, industry is neces- 

 sary in order to attain to excellence, and pecu- 

 liarly so in farming. If land be not improved, the 

 curse of God rests upon it. If useful plants grow 

 not, thorns ond thistles will. Solomon says, " I 

 went by the field of the slothful, and by the vine- 

 yard of the man void of understanding ; and lo, 

 it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had 

 covered the face thereof" But I leave so disgust- 

 ing a ))icturc, and close as I began. 



Hail, ye who are highly favored of God I While 

 others rise in the morning to be immured in shops 

 and crowds, yours is the privilege of going forth 

 to inhale the exhilirating bi-eezes, to enjoy the 

 beauties of creation, and view the excellent work- 

 ings of Providence. You arc emphatically the 

 lords nf the earth. It is you who may be said to 

 "look through nature up to nature's God." ' You 

 are co-workers with the Lord of the harvest. 

 It is nature's God who cares for the husboud- 

 man. 



Hail, sacred Agriculture ! daughter of the 

 skies, genius of Elysium! Thy reign commenced 

 ill Eden, and shall soon be limited but with earth's 

 remotest bound. STOCKBUIDGE. 



.'higu3l 27, 1829. 



ueighbora advised pulling down the stables, c 

 sideriiig the diseo.se as infectious ; but having, 

 going to the stables early in the iiioraing, been i^ 

 most suffocated and blinded by obnoxious toi 

 cxuiiiined the burn stones, laid on a stilf cl 

 and the floor had sunk so low below the drain 

 not to admit of the draining away of the ur 

 This struck me to be a sufiieieut cause to afl 'i^ 

 the brain of any animal confined in it, the so r" 

 as it had the homes. I therefore had the fl 

 taken up, relaid, and properly drained, and 

 walls and ceiling, manger, cribs. Sec, washei 

 quick lime: and from that time, for ten \eai 

 have never hod o diseased horse. — Eng. I'ul. 



Fruit atealing. — The strong arm of justice fi 

 its way into the smallest villages, as well as 

 largest cities of our country. — Passing the iii 

 lust week in Greenfield, we were attracte<! 

 crowd around the windows of one of the prii 

 pal hotels, and curiosity, (and we Yankees ha\ 

 modest share of it,) led us to the scene. It 

 peared from the witnesses, that a young man 

 been detected in stealing fruit from a neighhoi 

 garden, an annoyance, if wc can judge fi< 

 formation of societies tor the jirevention of wh 

 in the towns on the Connecticut, and the lo 

 parts of the state, is much complained of. 

 undoubtedly thought, as many ]iresunic to 

 that it was no theft, and the gratification to liirr IW 

 .much, and the loss to the owner so trifling, I 

 probably it would never be discovered ; but 

 know of no instance of petty theft which jiarta 

 so much of the aggravating character, ns 

 kind of light pilfering. The young man was fi 

 $20 and cost of court ; rather a severe pun 

 nient, but a caution which may prove saluiar 

 others. — Berkshire .-tintrican. 



DRAINING STABLES, &c 



Whilst recommending the careful and eflectiial 

 draining of stables, for the preservation of the 

 urine, as the most valuable part of animal manure, 

 I also state a circumstance, which cannot be 

 thought unworthy of notice to ogrieulturists, 

 which occurred to me, to show how necessary this 

 is also to the health of animals. 



I took jiossession of some stables with the horses 

 that had been some time kept in them, and to 

 my misfortune, in a very short time I found that 

 the horses kept in those stables hud been subject 

 lo that dreadful disease called the mad staggers, 

 for several years. Some horses had died, and the 

 horses then there, and which bad Ijeeii for some 

 time kept in the stables, were in a wretched con- 

 dition. Two fine fresh horses which were put 

 inio them, were within a few months seizeil wiili 

 the mad stagi^rrs, ami one of them literally killed 

 himself by knocking his head against the manger 

 and stall ; the other was saved by copious bleed- 

 ing, and removed into a fresh stable, but was so 

 reduced as to be lessoned iu value one half. Mv 



DEB.\TING SOCIETIES AND LYCEl > 



We have noticed that most, perhaps all. of 

 Lyceums iu this slate, take the form of deba 

 societies. Tiiis appears to us, injudicious, 

 leads to the choice of questions for discussion, 

 both sides of which, the arguments appear ti 

 nearly equal, and on which, therefore, it is iliili. 

 to give a decision. Such questions arc not je 

 rally, the most profitable ; nor are they likeh 

 be satisfactorily decided, except in the miiul 

 the disputants ; each of whom will be too lil, 

 to decide in favor of the side he has defi'iu 

 The speakers also, will labor, not purely for In 

 but partly for victory. 



Our advice would be this: — .As the season '''^ 

 vances, and evtningn come again, let those v 

 wish fi>r a Lyceum, begin. Let them not 

 to enlist the whole town, and do something spl 

 did — hut uEoiN. Let them select some «i>rk 

 Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, History, or wl 

 ever they wish most to understand. Lci th 

 assemble statedly to read it, and to converse uj 

 it, and thus help each other to understand il. 

 there are more than two of them, let one 

 chairman, for the sake of order. Let them fr 

 time to time, appoint such other oflieers, 

 adopt such regulations, ns they shall find neces 

 ry. IaI them have confidence in Ihtmselirf 

 persevere in their iinilertaking, and the) 

 have a good, profitable, and respectable Lvc-cu 

 SutVu'ieiit talents are lobe found in every M-hi 

 district, and all who know enough to dr~ire 

 have information enough to n|:tiiN, wiih a n 

 Ronable prospect of success. — I'ermonI Chroiiid 



