AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BV JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62 NOliTH MARKET STREET, (Agricoltural Warehouse.)— ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 26, 1842. 



[NO. n. 



N. E. FARMER, 



flJ^VVe most chcprfully comply with the re- 

 jest of ihe Corresponding Secretiiry of llie Socip- 



before whicli the following well written address 

 ns delivered, to trive it an in.<;ertion in onr col- 

 nns. Tlic profession and circumstances of Mr 

 'ason, do not allow him to become practically ac- 

 jainted with nil the minutia! of agricnlture, and 



cannot be expected of a yonng lawyer, to give 

 e results of personal c.vperienco in farming; but 

 e opinions of men in other pursuits in regard to 

 e habits and customs of farmers, and in regard to 

 eir duties and the matters in which they are do- 

 :ient, are always valuable. We have read the 

 Idress with much pleasure, and we believe it will 

 ! quite acceptable to our readers — Ed. N. E. F. 



ADDRESS 

 elivcred before Ike Jforcester Jigricullural Society, 

 October 12, 1842, by Joseph Mason, Esq., of 

 Templelon. 



Gentlemen ok the Societt — You have assem- 

 ed here on this occasion under circumstances 

 .ghly encouraging to the objects of your meeting, 

 le blessings of Divine promise have again been 

 luchsafed to you in the timely return of seed time 

 <d harvest. 



' The little germs which were cast into the earth 

 t a few months ago, fostered by warm suns and 

 pious showers, and the nightly returning dews of 

 aven, have sprung up and brought forth fruit, 

 me thirty, some sixtv, and some even a hundred 

 d. 



A season of more than common productiveness 

 3 rewarded the labors of the industrious husband- 

 in with an abundant harvest, supplying not only 

 ; most ample provisions for the approaching win- 

 •, but products of superior excellence to exhibit 

 I ■ our mutual edification and improvement. 

 And now, at this closing season of the harvest 

 )ors, you have brought in hither the best 

 lits of the earth and the firstlings of your flocks 

 d herds, not indeed as a sacrifice, but to display 

 !m as a voluntary to the tutelar deity of your 

 ;ation. 



While these exhibitions are highly gratifying to 

 i taste, and afford an occasion of a most interest- 

 (J festival, it can now hardly be doubted that they 

 otribute much to the improvement of agriculture, 

 disseminating a knowledge of the best objects 

 matters of cultivation and exciting among the 

 •mers a generous emulation to excel in the quali- 

 and quantity of the products of llieir farms. 

 But these are not the only advantages which 

 ve been derived from Agricultural Societies and 

 hibitions. Their chief benefits have been con- 

 •red by their instrumentality in awakening and 

 •ecting attention to the subject of agricultural 

 provemenL 



Previous to the establishment of these institu- 

 »ns, but little attention was given in this country 

 improvements in husbandry. It was thought 

 Ifficient to till the earth in the " good old way," 

 id consequently the wasteful and exhausting mode 



of cultivation which was practiced in the first set- 

 tlement of the country, when lands were plenty 

 and fertile, still generally prevailed. It is now but 

 twentythree years since the first anniversary of this 

 Society. Then not a single weekly agricultural 

 paper was published in New England. The JVeiv 

 England Farmer, which is the oldest paper of that 

 cha'racter, was not established till the year 1822. 



About this time, a spirit of inquiry was awakened 

 which has already led to great improvements in 

 husbandry, and which promises still more important 

 results. Who cannot perceive that within the 

 short period to which I have alluded, a most favo- 

 rable change has taken place, in the improved con- 

 struction of the implements of husbandry; in the 

 more thorough cultivation of the soil ; and in fine, 

 in the greater neatness and productiveness of the 

 farms. 



But even such a comparison does not give a 

 just conception of the actual benefits which have 

 already been derived from this increased attention 

 to agricultural improvements. 



The richness of our virgin soil was sufficient for 

 many years to sustain it against the effects of the 

 most exhausting mode of husbandry. For ages 

 had it lain at rest and been annually enriched by 

 a fresh deposite of vegetable products, which form- 

 ed a layer of rich mould upon its surface, which 

 was greatly increased by clearing the country, and 

 the conversion of wood into ashes. Rut this store- 

 house of food for plants was rapidly exhausting 

 where nothing was done but plow and sow and 

 reap, and must have resulted in a progressive dete- 

 rioration of the soil, had not the progress of decline 

 and waste been checked by the introduction of im- 

 provements in the manner of its cultivation. 



But, Gentlemen, although you have much occa- 

 sion for congratulation in the improvements which 

 have already been made in agriculture, you have 

 still greater occasion for further efforts in this work 

 of improvement. 



I cannot. Gentlemen, be expected to give you 

 the results of my own experience. My occupation 

 has not led me to give very particular attention to 

 the practical parts of husbandry. Having, howev- 

 er, passed much of my life in an agricultural com- 

 munity, I have not been inattentive to the great 

 leading interest of those around me. I rejoice 

 that an increased attention has been attracted to 

 the great subject of agricultural improvement. I 

 rejoice that the great value of these improvements 

 is now becoming more generally understood, and 

 that a spirit of inquiry and investigation now more 

 generally prevails. In many of the countries of 

 Europe, as well as in our own, the subject is now 

 commanding the attention of the intelligent and en- 

 lightened. 



In Flanders, Felgium, England, Scotland, and 

 France, greater progress has been made than in 

 our own country. Pattern farms and agricultural 

 schools have been established. Commissions and 

 other measures to obtain and disseminate agricultu- 

 ral information, have been instituted. The light 

 of science has been brought to its aid, and has led 

 to many experiments by intelligent and sciuntific 



agriculturists, based upon practical experiment. 

 The prejudice which formerly existed, and which 

 now exists to some extent against Agricultural So- 

 cietios and "book farming,'' as it is contemptuously 

 called, is gradually yielding to the light of reason 

 and the clear demonstration of stubborn facts. It 

 is, indeed, a prejudice indulged only by weak and 

 ignorant minds, and which tends to degrade the 

 agricultural profession from its true character as 

 one of the noblest of the .sciences, to the mere 

 drudgery of the field, and to place the labor of the 

 farmer on a level with the labor of his ox. 



Is it true that in the great art of 'cultivating the 

 earth, science can afford no light and furnish no 

 improvements ■ Is it true that thought and intel- 

 ligence have nothing to do with it ? Then, indeed, 

 " book farming" is a mockerj# But then, too, may 

 a blockhead be as good a farmer as any one .' 

 Then, too, is agriculture degraded below all other 

 occupations; for among all the other arts which 

 are exercised by man, there is not one which has 

 not become intimately connected with science, and 

 which has not been elevated'' and improved by the 

 connexion. There is, indeed, a sympathetic con- 

 nexion between all the arts and sciences, for they 

 are only the various consequences and results of 

 the universal and harmonious laws of nature. The 

 great improvements which have been made in the 

 arts during the past fifty years, is the direct conse- 

 quence .of the unparalleled progress of physical 

 science during that period of time. Of what incal- 

 culable advantage has chemistry been in the arts 

 of coloring, bleaching and tanning; in extracting 

 metals from their ores, and the conversion of iron 

 into steel ; in the manufacture of glass, paper, 

 paints and varnish ; in purifying and refining the 

 precious metals, and a great variety of manufac- 

 tured articles. Nor have the sciences of mechan- 

 ics and practical geometry been of less advantage 

 in the whole art of building, in raising weights, in 

 the construction of arches and domes, and in esti- 

 mating and applying forces. The application of 

 the principles of science to the construction and 

 manufacture of all kinds of machinery, has led to 

 astonishing improvements in every art to which 

 machinery is applied ; in the manufacture of all 

 kinds of cloth, as well as of a great variety of arti- 

 cles from the metals. But in no manner has the 

 application of science to the arts conferred so ex- 

 tensive and universal benefits, as by the great dis- 

 covery of the use of steam as a mechanic power. 

 Time would fail me were I to attempt to enume- 

 rate the wonderful results of the employment of 

 this power in driving all kinds of machinery, and 

 in propelling cars upon railroads, and vessels along 

 rivers and across the ocean. Nor is there occa- 

 sion for me to do so. It would be a work of supe- 

 rerogation to point out other examples to show the 

 great benefits of science to manufacturers, artists 

 and mechanics. Nearly all the discoveries by 

 which the arts have been advanced, have been the 

 results of patient scientific investigation and expe- 

 riment. The same may be said with equal truth 

 of improvements in agriculture. Hy whom was 

 discovered and made known the [theory of a rota- 



