508 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the Acadian Recorder. 



Extract from " Minutes of an Agricultural Tour, per- 

 formed by John Young, (the able author of " Let- 

 ters of Agricola") through the easteru parts of -No- 

 va Scotia, in 1823. 



" Pictou. Visited the Academy — a light, 

 airy and elegant bailding, at once an ornament 

 and honor to the (own. Saw several boxes of 

 moths and butterflies disposed with much taste, 

 not I mean with respect to their genera and 

 species, but so as to produce on tiie beholder a 

 pleasing effect. They were designed for Ed- 

 inburgh, and must satisfy the curious in natu- 

 ral history there, that this province enjoys a 

 most delicious summer, which could bring forth 

 different kinds into life, and spread over their 

 wings so many brilliant and dazzling colors. — 

 The method of fixing them into these little cab- 

 inets is extremely simple. The inside of the 

 box is neatly pasted over with white paper, 

 and then on the bottom and the lid, pieces of 

 cork about half an inch square, are stuck with 

 glue in the quincunx order, so that in whatev- 

 er direction the eye views them, they seem 

 ranged in straight lines. Pins are then passed 

 through the bodies of the insects, and fixed to 

 the corks, generally four in each. The wings 

 are carefully dilated, in order to shew the fine 

 tints which nature's pencil has laid on them, 

 and also to discover the back and body, which, 

 in many species, are dressed in the richest vel- 

 vet or protected with the softest down. Ab- 

 stracted from all considerations of utility, these 

 boxes were a feast to the eye, and as far as 1 

 could judge, displayed a very happy combina- 

 tion of forms and colors. 



" (Quitting the institution and crossing over 

 into the main street, I was accosted by one of 

 my acquaintances, au inhabitant of the town, 

 who said with rather a droll cast of his eye, 

 " Ah, so you have been visiting our college ; I 

 thought a farmer would not have troubled 

 liimself with such things." ''All the far- 

 mers in the province, 1 replied would be much 

 benefitted, were Institutions like this set 

 down in every county ; for it is my opinion that 

 »o man can cultivate the earth skillfully, who 

 is ignorant of the principles of a good educa- 

 tion.'' 



" This sentiment of my friend is not uncom- 

 mon among a certain class of men. They 

 think that a plough needs nothing save a stout 

 back and a powerful brawny arm. Than this 

 there can be hardly a more mischievous opin- 

 ion. Agriculture is a complete science, placed 

 forever beyond the reach of an unlettered un- 

 derstanding. The ordinary rules of practice 

 may be comprehended and successfully followed 

 )iy those to whom knowledge is a " sealed foun- 

 tain ;"" but in obeying these rules they act from 

 a blind impulse, and can never reach the point 

 <if controlling and regulating them. It is the 

 want of education which has so long kept 

 back our farmers from adopting those im- 

 provements that had grown up in other coun- 

 tries; and till this want be supplied by such 

 academies as that at Pictou, we cannot expect 

 from them the best directed efforts, nor the 

 higher degrees of enterprizer Intelligence, 

 in all states of society, is the forerunner of 

 wealth; and ignorance has been formerly, and 

 fver will be accompanied with sorry cattle, im- 

 perfect implements, faulty modes cf manage- 



ment and prejudicial views in all the great op- 

 erations about a farm. The introduction, there- 

 fore, of a bettor system of education will dis- 

 pel the clouds that have too long brooded over 

 our people : and I cannot but congratulate this 

 district on its library, its printing press, its phi- 

 losophical apparatus, and even its boxes of but- 

 terflies. An Academy of this kind should be 

 supported not merely by the merchants, but by 

 the farmers of Pictou; and they may rest satis- 

 fied that their sons, trained in such a school with 

 a little dash of philosophy, will be able to 

 plough, sow and drill better than the gaping 

 boors who despise learning. 



" The Agricultural Society of the West Riv- 

 er was founded among the first of those now 

 existing, and gave the example of the first 

 ploughing match in the Province. What par- 

 ticular causes here awakened this spirit it is 

 not easy to trace; but the effects are strongly 

 marked, and strike the travelhr as soon as he de- 

 scends to the foot of Mount Tom. The ridges 

 in the fields lie in straighter Hues, and are better 

 rounded oS' than what arc to bf met with else- 

 where. The very air itself bespeaks an im- 

 proving district, and the happy, contented 

 faces of the inhabitants are sure indications of 

 ease in their circumstances, and of comfort at 

 their fire sides. All along the road there are 

 every where specimens of a superior style of 

 ploughing, and in the neighborhood of the 

 town, there are farms whose management 

 would discredit no country. The fields are 

 cast into regular shape — the fences kept .'n 

 good order — and the houses and barns possess 

 that neat look which is (he ordinary concomi- 

 tant of industry and competence. 



"Whether the improved aspect of the coun- 

 try be attributable to the society would not 

 have been a question at this time of day, had 

 there not existed men who were disposed from 

 the very first to raise a clamor against the gen- 

 eral conviction. I had hardly entered on this 

 district before I met with one of those, who to 

 my inquiries about the success and utility of 

 the West River Association, replied in a 

 long siring of declamatory matter, and ended 

 that he thoui,'lit their society had led its mem- 

 bers astray, and done more mischief than good. 

 The premiums, he said, for the best crops on 

 one acre had tempted the members to cart all 

 their manure on a ])articular spot, to the evi- 

 dent disadvantage of the rest of the farm ; and 

 had tempted them to bestow their chief cnre 

 on the old worn out land, instead of removing 

 the stumjis and taking in the new. Whenever 

 1 fall in with a sturdy veteran of the old school, 

 1 no more think of opposing him, than of fight- 

 ing with the Cossacks; and I yield that hum- 

 drum assenf, which would do any thing bul 

 please a very keen observer. Every man is free 

 to form his own opinions and to express them ; 

 but he must have a high idea of his own discre- 

 tion, who imagines that he discovers (laws in 

 what is approved of by the generality of his 

 neighbors. That some one of our farmers may 

 have injudiciously expended his manure on pur- 

 pose to win a prize, tnay, 1 apprehend, be tair- 

 ly confessed ; but that the system of encour- 

 agement to one acre is wrong must be sup- 

 ported by very strong evidence to gain be- 

 lief. 



" It will be recollected that the fertility of 

 this country in comparison of others was stout- 



ly denied for the first two years of our pre 

 gress ; and it became, therefore, a matter c 

 first moment to undermine an opinion, whici 

 cut the sinews of all industry. The hand be w 

 comes feeble, if its efforts either are fruitles intl 

 or are repaid with less than the average o 

 wages. Improved cultivation was not worth 

 to be introduced here, unless it was to return 

 fair adequate requital ; and in order to set thi 

 controversy at rest, it was essential to ascertait 

 on a large scale of experiment, how much ou 

 soil could produce. By limiting the competi 

 tion to one acre, the poor man as well as th w 

 rich could enlist as a soldier in this good wai|(ic 

 fare, and fight the battles of his country. 



" But another capital and noble effect has r« 

 suited from the plan. Our old lands at th 

 commencement of the societies, had be© 

 brought into such a wretched condition ths 

 they were absolutely abandoned to weeds an 

 natural grass, and the forest was yearly invade; 

 for the raising of bread corn. A belief hs 

 gone abroad, that they were of very little ust 

 and they stood low on the score of fertility.- 

 The a.>;e and the fire more than the plougj ilF 

 were relied on for producing wheat; and thi| 

 most of our farmers were of opinion that 

 worn out soil could not be renovated. TM ti 

 prizes on one acre have done away with at lol 

 these ]irejudices ; and it is now found that tb 

 new settlers have no chance in a general cod 

 petition. The productiveness of the old lan( 

 hUs opened a new mine of wealth, where 

 was fonncrly supposed there was nothing bu 

 poverty and barrenness. 



" But I believe that it is impossible topleai 

 ail men by any set of measures; and therefoi 

 the trite story of the clergyman, who accej)t< 

 of a church on the condition of giving whate 

 cr sort oi weather his hearers would ask, b 

 trays a clearer insight into human nature thi 

 is supposed. He knew beforehand, and pr 

 sumed on it, that they would never agree, whil I e 

 ther he was to send them sunshine or rain." 



iE 



From the United States Gazette. 



On the Manufacture of Grass and Straw Bonna 

 No. I. 



I regard the manufacture of straw, chip, art j], 

 grass bonnets and hats, so important to the pet 

 pie of the United States, that I desire to offer i 

 them through your paper, some remarks t 

 the subject, in tiie hope of persuading thei 

 to consider it seriously, and that they will lia 

 Iheir influence with Congress, to increase tlji. 

 duty upon Leghorn hats, so as to enable tb' jfi 

 American I'abric to become firmly established , 

 an event which cannot be expected to take plac- 

 so leng as the present low duty is continued. 



In the National Gazette of Philadelphia ( 

 6th Jan. last, we fitid the following extract : ", 

 is stated, that in the counties of Worcestail l 

 Aiiddlesex, Norlblk and Bristol, Massachuset 

 there have been manufactured about 300,01 

 bonnets in a year, at an average price of ^2,7 

 per bonnet, amounang to ^^825,000, emptoyift ij^' 

 25,000 persons, most of whom were female! j 

 from the ages of four to twenty years. ThoSf 

 employed in platting straw, have been enable 

 to support themselves, and in many instanc 

 to assist those of their immediate friends 

 destitute circumstances. The business is no' 

 a stand. The bonnets that three years 



to 



