No. 3. 



Agriculture and its Improvements. 



83 



his descendants in all past ages, and must 

 necessarily so continue to time's end. How 

 largely are we interested in its improvement 

 and success! It is, however, a painful truth, 

 that its progress in our country is far from 

 being exiiilarating. Habits, venerated only 

 for'antiquity, are obstinately adhered to, to 

 the exclusion of " book-farming," and this 

 without any investigation into relative me- 

 rits; numerous are the deformities growing 

 out of this error; slovenly managed farms — 

 not arising from idleness — for idleness is not 

 the besetting sin of the tillers of our soil ; 

 farms disproportionate to the means of pro- 

 per cultivation ; fields rendered unproduc- 

 tive by a succession of wasting crops, and 

 then left to be resuscitated by the slow ope- 

 ration of nature. To these might be added 

 many other equally obvious defects, too nu- 

 merous for present detail. 



"It is passing strange, that while the aid 

 of the press is consulted in support of every 

 design, even those of minor importance, or 

 of doubtful policy, agriculture, tlie most im- 

 portant of all, seems alone to reject its influ- 

 ence ; this unhappy prejudice is gradually 

 yielding to better judgment, and we may 

 hope the day is not distant when the farmer 

 will be no more without his agricultural 

 magazine, than he would without his alma- 

 nac. 



" There are certain primary principles so 

 evident as to be within the unaided observa- 

 tion of every tiller of the soil, yet even these 

 often require a friendly monitor to keep them 

 present to the mind : others there are, de- 

 pendent oil scientific research, and seldom 

 to be discovered except by the studious 

 reader. The press, in these cases, is the 

 best monitor and the truest instiuctor. In 

 truth, the few shillings annually charged 

 for an agricultural journal, if properly at- 

 tended to, are the most productive outlay of 

 the farmer. 



" The proper selection of seed grain is an 

 important consideration. The best if possi- 

 ble, should alone be used. Grain is liable 

 to degenerate by long succession of un- 

 changed seed. An occasional change of 

 seed for that of other farmers, will often be 

 found beneficial, insomuch that even that 

 received in exchange, will, although of an 

 inferior quality, frequently yield a produce 

 superior to that given in exchange, espe- 

 cially if the latter has exhibited any symp- 

 tom of degeneracy. The potatoe is a very 

 necessary and valuable esculent ; there is 

 perhaps no vegetable more liable to degene- 

 rate by a continued succession of the same 

 stock in the same soil : were it not for the 

 friendly agency of nature, which annually 

 scatters its seed on the ground, and thus 



gives birth to a new generation, this neces- 

 sary article of food might be entirely lost. 

 This eftbrt of nature never fails in mild cli- 

 mates, but should not be relied on where 

 the rigorous cold of our northern winter sel- 

 dom fails to destroy delicate seeds when ex- 

 posed to its action. An exchange of seed 

 potatoes with a neighbouring farmer, will 

 generally check the menaced evil, but the 

 true mode is to imitate nature; the farmer 

 should every two or three years preserve a 

 small quantity of the seed which is con- 

 tained in the balls growing on the green 

 tops or stalks of the potatoes, and sow the 

 same in a bed in his garden ; the plants 

 when they appear over ground, should be 

 transplanted, and placed at the usual proper 

 distance. The produce of the first year's 

 growth, generally of a size too small for 

 use, may be reserved for the next year's 

 planting. This is deemed an infallible 

 remedy against degeneracy, and gives the 

 best security for good and wholesome crops, 

 in regard to abundance and quantity. 



"The improvement of his breed of cattle, 

 is an object of the greatest solicitude to 

 every farmer. He does not always know 

 how much is directly in his power, in regard 

 to this object. This secret, if it be one, 

 consists, in no small degree, in a plentiful 

 supply of food to the young animal; the full 

 grown beast will eat less and fatten sooner, 

 than were he neglected while young. An 

 early attention to abundant feeding, will 

 improve the humblest stock of cattle, while 

 the best breed, if neglected, or not suffi- 

 ciently fed while young, will degenerate 

 and become in their maturity unsightly and 

 profitless. , 



" Irrigation of land, is a practice of great 

 antiquity. History does not, I believe, any 

 where notice it as a modern invention. Vir- 

 gil, the son of an Italian farmer, who wrote 

 before the Christian era, states that it was 

 practised in his country. Irrigation, when 

 not attended with too much expense, is a 

 valuable fertilizer of the soil. All kinds of 

 vegetation are benefited by a skilful appli- 

 cation of it. Meadows subjected to its ac- 

 tion, will yield double the usual quantity of 

 grass, and may be mowed twice in a year. 

 Grass thus nurtured, will not, although arti- 

 ficial, wear out, but may, by this treatment, 

 be preserved permanently. 



"The overflow of the river Nile, is a dis- 

 play of irrigation on a magnificent scale; 

 on the subsiding of its waters, the agricul- 

 turist almost without an effort, raises an 

 abundant crop. Egyptian grain has, by 

 reason of its quality and abundance, be- 

 come proverbial. Lands adjoining rivers, 

 or streams of water, where the overflows 



