NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



213 



low to drive a nail. Providence has so order- 

 id it. th;it the material of happinosp, should l>e 

 »illiin the coniprchciisioii and power of all 

 nankind. Your clean people are your prospe- 

 oiis people. Look at the Quakers, the Sha- 

 ;er*, the Moravians, tiiey are an example to us 

 .11. It will do no harm to this society, or our 

 onnly, or anv individual in it, to study these 

 leople and their institutions, that we may look 

 nto the loundation of their extraordinary pros- 

 •erity. Tliin?;s in their places, a pin for eve- 

 y hal,^s their motto. Thank God, the period 

 f liberal knowledsre has arrived, and we are 

 lore disposed to imitate, than to hang', and burn j 

 icm. The thintj to be inculcated in all agri- 

 Itiirnl improvement? is, that whatever be done, 

 one well, and (or this purpose, perfect neat- 1 

 and cleanliness is indispensable. VVherev- 

 these principles prevail in our persons, hous- 

 gardens, fields, yards, stables, there you will 

 d industry, and no waste. If you see a man 

 )out whom these appearances exist, rely upon 

 he is going' ahead, his acres are increasing, 

 cattle thriving, his childien are kept out of 

 dirt, and preparing for some future usefui- 

 i. ,\t the same time, he is gathering about 

 m, the comforts, the refinements, the elegan- 

 es of lite, such as arc suitable io his condition, 

 ot a conch to roll in, nut plate to eat from. 

 r a carpet of course for his floor. These are 

 ly for the rich. But his house will be nsat 

 1 in order and well covered, hi* fences in re- 

 s fruit trees will grow, while he sleeps, 

 d he will have some beautiful shades, tocov- 

 him from the scorching sun, that prevails in 

 r hot summers. — In all our eiTorts, we should 

 ulcate upon our people the duty of not con- 

 ting themselves with the mere necessaries of 

 God has given something more, and it is 

 our enjoyment. — The savage desire? only, 

 at will keep soul and body together. What 

 le, but a miserable wretch ; cruel, selfish, a 

 tton, a drunkard, his hair matted with tilth, 

 body covered with vermin, equally frightful 

 the eye, and terrible to the mind of a culti- 

 ed man ; and how much better are the com- 

 n people in many christian countries, be- 

 jarcd with dirt, surrounded by smoke, living 

 )n potatoes, or the garliage that come's from 

 at men's kitchens ? And what is the fate of 

 se miserable men ? They are loaded with 

 es, they perish with hunger ; their poverty 

 dering them vicious, and their vices com- 

 ling their misery. No, fellow-citizens, if 

 desire to satisfy mankind that you have 

 le discoveries in morals, as well as in the 

 , if you will have a fine country, fine men, 

 women and chililren, you must have line cat- 

 aad horses and sheep, you must cultivate 

 Iruits, and beautiful shades, and these must 

 zommon. Yes, common, no man should live 

 >ng us, who is not educated, so as to desire 

 e refinements. To every reasonable ex- 

 , all this is within the power of the great 

 of our population." 



What a miserable creature is a man, with- 

 pride and knowledge ? Those who are ag- 

 Itural must know, how best to cultivate corn, 

 at, potatoes, onions, parsnips, carrots; they 

 t know that the root of the cabbage may be 

 d six feet from the stalk, for then they will 

 w where the spade and the plough are vvant- 

 They must read the English Farmer's Ca- 





lender, the New England Farmer, and the Mas- 

 sachusetts .Agricultural Repository, or other as 

 usel'ul books, they must thou jiut this and that 

 tonelher, and with the aid of their own obser- 

 vation, eniTeavor to find out the way, to make 

 their lands crumble before the plough, or in ag- 

 ricultural phrase putrid with fatness. For this 

 purpose, they must have the books, or some of 

 the best of them ; there is no better investment 

 of money. Knowledge is a capital, that does 

 not waste, neither moth nor rust corrupts it : 

 it brightens in the using. A man who cannot 

 read, is a poor creature ; he has neither hands, 

 nor eyes, nor ears, that ar,", of any use ; and a 

 man, who can and does not, has but half the 

 use of them. The knowing men are the pros- 

 perous men in every community, and that should 

 decide the question with the people, as to the 

 expediency, of pushing knowledge to every |)os- 

 slble extent. But knowledge has its price, and 

 must be paid for. If we are to be a great na- 

 tion, renowned for order, frugality and induslry, 

 so that strangers shall inquire, whence comes 

 the extraordinary prosperity of these people, 

 what institutions have they not heretofore known 

 to mankind, whence these discoveries for human 

 happiness, and what are they, we must now in 

 our youth, establish those principles and prac- 

 tices, which are to lead to these results. For 

 tills purpose, we must cultivate such a taste 

 among our people, that they shall prefer an ag- 

 ricultural show, to a show of wild beasts; and 

 when they come to these assemblies, it shall be, 

 to take pride and pleasure in the patriotic men 

 who stand foremost in the exhibition of fine sheep 

 and horses and cattle, and to carry home some 

 useful knowledge for their own towns and villa- 

 ges. For this purpose, we must so educate our 

 people, as that every man shall have a just sense 

 of his own value and imjiortance as a citizen, 

 with a good coat for a holiday and a Sunday, so 

 that he shall consider it a dishonor to be igno- 

 rant, a disgrace to be a pauper, but by the in- 

 fliction of Providence, and an indelible infamy 

 to be a common drunkard." 



" Let us not deceive ourselves by supposing 

 that our systems of education are perfect, while 

 so much yet remains, that is quite practicable. 

 The education that the great mass want, is a 

 knowledge of the arts of lite, and I should think, 

 that any man who should prepare a plain an<l 

 practical treatise upon agriculture, and the arts 

 immediately connected with it, for the use of 

 common Schools, would render an invaluable 

 service to the public. Who knows any thing of 

 scliools, that does not know, that the time of an 

 intelligent boy, is in a great measure wasted, 

 who spends it upon his arithmetic, his writing 

 copies, his spelling book, his reader's assistant, 

 and his Dwight"s geography (for this is about 

 all) for the long period, from three and four 

 years of age, to twelve and fourteen, when he 

 leaves the school. Why should not an agricul- 

 tural school book be written, as well as books in 

 many other branches of knowledge ? all that 

 we can communicate by teaching in any science, 

 is that which is now known, and as much is now 

 rendered certain, in that department of know- 

 ledge, as in many others. No, fellow citizens, 

 we must raise the standard of knowledge and 

 tast'C, and not remain ignorant, that our agricul- 

 j ture is in almost an infant state compared wit 

 ! that of many other nations ; we deceive our- 



selves by supposing, that their superiority con- 

 sists wholly ill capital, and the cheapness of la- 

 bor — Not so — It really docs not require capital 

 to imt to the plough, half the lands, that 

 arc now in tillage— nor to know, that between 

 one plough and another, there is a difference 

 of between two and six hundred per cent, as to 

 economy of labor — Nor for the purpose of adopt- 

 ing, substantially, the admirable contrivances, 

 English and Flemish, for the saving of manure, 

 a saving which would p'«y all our taxes, slate, 

 county, and town — Nor to know, that lands in 

 tillage should be reduced by the plough and 

 the liarrow like onr gardens by the spade, to a 

 powder, so that many a fine little creeping fibre 

 of the plant, may travel on in cotnpany upon 

 the same soft easy road, and when they are tir- 

 ed of the journey, niay rest together upon a 

 good bed. — It does not require capital to plough 

 a field four and five times instead of twice, 

 'till there is not a cold, matted, impervious clod 

 left — It is the -ui'orA:, the u-ork, that is wanted, 

 and not the afternoon farmer — It is not capital 

 that in twenty years, has doubled tlie value of 

 the produce of the fields of this county, which I 

 know to be the opinion of many an intelligent 

 farmer — Nor is it capital, but knowledge, that is 

 necessary, for any man to find out the best pos- 

 sible way of doing in the best and cheapest man- 

 ner, the thing to be done. — It is not your igno- 

 rant people that perform any thing, even the 

 most common operation of farming', in the best 

 manner — Their way has always the least con- 

 trivance and management in it, takes the long- 

 est time, is the coarsest, most slovenly, and 

 wasteful." 



i!fi :^ i^ vl/i ^ 1^ ^ 



" We talk of the want of capital, and turn with 

 disgust or incredulity, from the accounts of Eng- 

 lish farming, as though because they live on an 

 island, are surrounded with damps, have land- 

 lords and tenants and not our fine Sun, cultivate 

 turnips and cabbages, that therefore, we have 

 nothing to do with their agricultural arts. But 

 do they not as ive, live upon veal and mutton, 

 beef and pork ? Have they not meadow lands 

 and grass lands ? Do they not with us, culti- 

 vate beans, peas, oats, rye and wheat, and if so 

 are not their arts worth knowing by us? And 

 does this require capital? It would to be sure, 

 require some money to build a pit for the saving 

 of manure, with brick work in terras niorter, 

 after the manner in Flanders, but it would not 

 take the odds and ends of more than a dozen days, 

 for any common farmer to dig a pit in his yard, 

 to be well clayed at the bottom, and covered at 

 top, so as to be a receptacle, with the aid of 

 proper conductors from his stables, for all that 

 passes from his animals. The making of manure 

 by raking and scraping, and every possible con- 

 trivance should be the first law to the farmer. 

 We justify ourselves in our slovenliness and low 

 ideas, by complaining of a want of capital — No, 

 let us not mince the mailer, one lo another, it 

 is knowledge, pride and neatness, that we want. 

 It really does not require a capital in money to 

 raise a fine cow or horse, always sleek, fat, 

 clean, that shall pass its days rejoicing in life, 

 with gratitude to its master (for we may desire 

 to believe that the poor brute has some such 

 thoughts) no, the half that is wasted, will do 

 that, and then the animal is of double the value. 

 But it does require a stock of shiftlessness, lazi- 

 ness, and hard-heartedness, to bring up a herd 



