NEW ENGLAND FARJIER 



rL'I)LISlli:i) BY WILLIAM MCHOIA 



liOGKliS' lU'll-HlNGS, CO.NCKDSS STR KKT, (FOURTrrDOOli nToM" S'rTfrrFTKrF7'7 



[.. IF. 



BOSTON. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1821. 



No. M). 



Address to the Essex .Agricultural •''•ociely, in 



iassachiisclts, at Topsficld, Oct. 6, \S'23. By 



'rederick Howes, Esq. 



griculture is a subject od whicli i( is diffi- 

 to s;iy .Tny thing; that has the merit of be- 

 both orit^inal and usefnl. In England about 

 n hundred difTerent voluines have been pub- 



ed on this subject wilhin the last thiily 

 Though our own country has not been 



irolilic in agricultural i)ublications,yet more 

 been written than most larmcrs have time 

 inclination to ()cruse. It is not with the 

 cialion of communicating any original in- 



lalion on this topic that I ha\e been induc- 



comply with the request of the Trustees 

 nake some remarks on this occasion, but 



1 a wish to call your attention to this most 

 ortant of all arts, to some of the means by 

 ch it may be improved in this county, and 

 jDie of the motives to make spirited and 

 reus exertions lor that purpose. 



a poem on Agriculture, and one of the finest 



• written on any subject, we are told that it 

 not the will of the Deity that the mode of 

 vating the earth should be easy, but that 

 ould require art and labor to sharpen the 

 Is of men by the cares and difficulties at- 

 iog it.* Though this is the sentiment of 

 «then poet, every practical farmer is Gon- 

 ad that it is no fiction. 



sacred writ we are informed that the earth 

 cursed for the transgression of man, that if 

 Id bring forth thorns and thistles, and that 

 should eat bread in the sweat of his brow, 

 supposed by some that after the flood <!; - 



• was removed when the Supreme Being 

 he would no more curse the earth tor .nan's 



Others suppose the earth to 6e sdll un- 

 the influence of this malediction. We 

 I leave this question to be settled by learn- 

 I vines. It is sufficient for us as practical 

 jrs to know that man mrst still get his 

 1 by the sweat of his br)w, that to the 

 ful the earth still brings ;orth thorns and 

 es, but that she abundantly rewards the 

 and labors of the active, industcious, and 

 1 husbandman. Our beneficent Creator 

 laced us here to cultivate the earth, and all 

 eeming difficulties and hardships attending 

 tempered with much kindness, and many 

 ies. They quicken anJ invigorate the cor- 

 ^d and mental powers, and may in their ul- 

 e consequences be real blessings. 

 e of the most important objects for the at- 

 in of a farmer is, by what means the soil 

 le rendered sufficiently fertile for the pro- 

 an- of good c."ops, and where it is already 

 e, by what means its fertility can be con- 

 9 or increased. It is unfortunately the 

 m many parts of the United States, espe- 

 those bordering on the Atlantic, that lands 

 lally fertile, have been so exhausted by a 

 ssioa of crops in tillage with little or no 

 as to be of small value. In some of 



* Pater ipse colendi 

 facilem esse viam voluit, primusquc perartem 

 agtOE, curis acuens mortalia cnrda 



Georgica I, 121. " 



the Southern states this syslem of killing land, 

 as it is termed by one of their best farmers, has 

 been carried to such an extent, that there are 

 many tracts of land which once produced great 

 crops, now entirely exhausted and converted 

 into a barren sand. In our own stale and coun- 

 ty perhaps there are not many instances where 

 the impoverishment of t!ie soil has been so ex- 

 treme, but I apprehend Ihat the fertility of a 

 considerable portion of our latid has been di- 

 minished, that in many instances it is now on the 

 decline, and that there is much land in New- 

 luigland, Ihat will not produce more than half 

 of what it formerly did. 



This practice cannot be to much reprobated. 

 It is disgraceful and ruinous to the farmer, a 

 criminal .aljuse of the bounties of nature, and if 

 universally carried ?o the extent to which it has 

 been in some instances, would render Ihe earth 

 little better than an uninhabitable desert. The 

 powers drawn from the soil by the production 

 of crops, should be restored to it by manures 

 in some shape or other. The farmer whose 

 hjsliandry thus exhausts his land of its fertility 

 ought not to be called a cultivator of the Earth. 

 lut a robber of the soil, a robber of the publicj 

 aid of future generations. This sort of rob- 

 bery has been ten thousand times more hurtful 

 to the prosperity of the community, than all 

 ths highway robberies committed in New Eng 

 laid from its first settlement to the present time. 



A good farmer would not only endeavor to 

 :Teserve the original fertility of the soil, but 

 '0 increase it, till it was carried to the highest 

 iegreo of which if is .susceptible, consistent 

 with his interest and profits, it is a in.~at im 

 portant inquiry by what means can a sufhcient 

 quantity of manure be obtained, what kinds will 

 be the most beneficial in proporlion to th<; ex- 

 pense, what are best adapted to the soil of his 

 farm, and what willbe the most beneficial ap- 

 plication of them? Here the inost learned man 

 and Ihe most skilful farmer, will find ample 

 occasion for all the knowledge they have deriv- 

 ed from study and practice, science and experi- 

 ence. 



Barn or stable manure is one of the best 

 means of enriching land where it can be procur- 

 ed in sufficient quantities ; but according to our 

 present modes of farming this can seldom be 

 done, except in the vicinity of large towns, and 

 even then, I doubt whether farmers can afford 

 the high prices for stable manure at present de- 

 manded. It is not difficult for a man of fortune 

 who regards not the expense, to enrich his land 

 so as to produce great crops. But the question 

 with farmers in general is, and ought to be, how 

 It may be profitably done. If the expense ex- 

 ceeds the product, it will not do for them. It is 

 not sufficient that the crops are large, but do 

 they afford a net profit. The true object of the 

 farmer is to cultivate his land in such a manner 

 as will afford the largest profit, after deducting 

 rents, taxes, labor, and all expenses of cultiva- 

 tion. 



The manure from the barn I believe might 

 be very much increased, perhaps doubled or 

 Irippled, if the yard were covered with earth, 

 turf, or Tegetable matter to a depth sufficient to 



al)Sorh all [in- liquid inaniiro. Eviiry part 

 should be secured as much as possible from ex- 

 halation liy the heat of the sun. 



ll seems to be generally agioed by Enn-lish 

 Agriculturalists, that stable manure by termonf- 

 iug loses a great part ofits value. Mr.'Coke, Ihe 

 great KngUsli Commoner and Agiiculiuralist 

 says, Ihat by using his manure fresh, it went twice 

 as far as it did formerly, when used after fcv- 

 menlatinn. As a general rule it cannot bo 

 doubted that it is much beller to apply manuie 

 to land in tillage than in grass. In Ihe latter 

 case a great portion of it is lost by evapfciu- 

 tion. 



MiNERAi, M.iMT.ES. It seems very desirable 

 that the mineral manures should have a much 

 more effectual and extensive trial than thev 

 ever have l\m\ in this rounfy. The virtues of 

 lime have been so highly "extolled, and it has 

 been in fact so powerful a fertilizer of land 

 in other couiliies, that it deserves a full and 

 lair experinien: here. Esper:ei;ce seems to 

 have shown that lime when applied in so small 

 a quantity as twenty bushels to Ihe acre, may 

 alter the texture and constitution of Ihe soil, 

 and render it fit lor the production of crops of 

 which it was before incapable. 



A late and excellent writer on agriculture 

 says, " it is iiiconceivable what effect lime has 

 on the produ'Uiveness of the earth. Philoso- 

 phers have investigated its nature and proper- 

 ties to find mil the secret spell by which it 

 works, and while some have attributed the ef- 

 fect to its pc.ver ol decomposing putrescible 

 matter, or !oV.s r.ffinity to.- carbunic acid, oth- 

 ers have ascribed it to the change elTected on 

 Ihe conslilulion of the soil. All however are 

 agreed that r^o land after its first ^nd natural 

 richness has been exhausted by cropj.ing, can 

 continue fertile without a mixture of li.is fos- 

 sil. Its use was the first thing which rev-.ved 

 English agriculture after it had long languished 

 in the most abject state, and the first thing 

 which raised Scotland to opulence and indepen- 

 dence. Lime, as a manure, has found its way 

 into France and Germany, and it is blended with 

 the soil along the shores of the Baltic. In 

 Southern latitudes this mineral manure is more 

 generally applied, either incorporated with 

 clay in the shape of marl, or combined with 

 sulphuric acid in that of gypsum."* 



There is one circumstance which seems to 

 render the beneficial effect of lime in our 

 county very probable. The soil of Essex 

 with very few exceptions, is either what 

 Geologists call the primitive rocks, earth re- 

 sulting from the decomposition of these rocks, 

 or of alluvial, the washings and depositions of 

 the primitive. We have I believe no lime- 

 stone, and the quantity of lime in our soil must 

 of course he much smaller, than in a soil rest- 

 ing on lime stone. The less we have in our 

 soil, the more beneficial would its application 

 probably be, and greater in such a soil as ours, 

 than in one of a different formation. An addi- 

 tional incitement to the use of it is, that in 

 Pennsylvania, where probably more lime has 



* Letters of .Agrjcola. 



