NEW EPfGl<AND FARMEK., 



AND GARDENER' S JOURNAL. , 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AonicuLTURAL Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOI» XIV, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 12, 1835. 



NO. 6. 



.. . - _-- =^:*=.^:^r-. 



Jl'UGE UVBL'S GROUNDS. 



Mr Fessenden — 1 had the pleasure lat^t week 

 of spending a day with that distinguished farmer 

 .and enliglitoned and liospitahlc gentleman Judge 

 BuEL of Albany ; and must be allowed to say 

 that to a man who wishes to see the results of 

 judicious cultivation, and enjoy the conversation 

 of a richly stored and well regulated mind, a day 

 spent on his farm, in company with its proprietor, is 

 well worth a journey to Albany. Judge Uuel, 

 like Dr Franklin, by his indu.stry, integrity and 

 honorable course of conduct, has risen to become 

 one of the opulent and truly honorable of the 

 land, enjoying a krge portion of the esteem and 

 confidence of his fellow citizens, having been a 

 member of the Legislature, a judge of one of their 

 <;ourts, and at jiresent one of the Regents of the 

 University. His house is the seat of generous 

 hospitality, and his grounds afford one of the most 

 striking instances of the effects of scientific culti- 

 vation over the natural barrenness of the most un- 

 promising soils. 



A large portion of his grounds are now devoted 

 to a Nursery, embracing all the choice kinds of 

 fruits now cultivated in Europe and America. 

 The trees of the most esteemed European fruitr 

 he has received direct from the London Hcrticul- 

 lural Society. He confines himself to the culture 

 <jf a comparatively sn)ail number of fruits of 

 known excellence, rather than an extended list of 

 high sounding names, many kinds of whiph are 

 oflen worthless and disappoint the hopes of the 

 cultivator. He has in cultivation hut 75 kinds of 

 Pears, 25 of Plums, 18 of Cherries, 33 of Peaches 

 *nd 125of Apples. His collection of Roses, Dahlias, 

 &c. is very extensive and truly splendid. The 

 greatest attention is paid to preserving the exact 

 names of every variety by careful diagrams of the 

 garden, and by labels, so that no errors can occur. 

 He is testing the comparative value of several 

 plants for live fences, and gives the preference to 

 the Honey Locust [Glediisia triac.anthos,) though 

 some skiil is requisite in training and bending the 

 |>lants to make them succeed well, which they 

 certainly do under his management, and should 

 consider them a hcmdsome and efficient fence 

 against any cattle. It is well, however, to state 

 here that many do not succeed with this plant, 

 from not training properly, and I think Judge 

 Buel would do well to give the public more par- 

 ticular directions relative to laying the branches 

 in, accompanied with a drawing. 



Wheat, Indian corn, oats, &c., and Root crops, 

 particularly Ruta Baga, are extensively grown ; of 

 Ruta Baga seed alone, I noticed he has raised 500 

 lbs, this season. 



Among the works lately published in Edinburgh 

 is ShirretTs Tour through North America. Mr 

 S. travelled through New England, Canada, and 

 the Western States, to ascertain the prospects of 

 Agricultural emigrants from Scotland. He vis- 

 ited several times the farm of Judge Buel, and 



also of Mr Wadsworth's of Gcnose, and Doctor 

 Hosack's, as well as many others, not excepting the 

 Indian Hill Farm, at Newburyport ; and, by the 

 way, he makes a favorable allusion to your friend 

 MrNewell'sextcnsivecollection of agricultural im- 

 plements which he visited in Bostou. You will see 

 by the following extracts from this now work, in 

 what light Judge Buel's labors arc considered by 

 an apparently candid and intelligent European 

 farmer: 



"I was fortunate in finding Mr Buel at home, 

 so well known as a farmer throughout the Union. 

 I walked over this gentleman's grounds on my 

 first visit to Alba)iy, and enjoyed the same priv- 

 ilege a third time in October. The surface is 

 highly undulating, the soil inferior sand, and ex- 

 tremely vfct, though capable of being drained. Not- 

 withstanding these disadvantages, good crops were 

 seen, more especially Indian corn and Swedish 

 turnip, the latter having been sown soon after a hay 

 crop with bone manure, manufictured by Mr Buel 

 himself; and the state of the farm is, perhaps, one 

 of the most striking instances ii) America of man 

 overcoming the sterilities of nature. 



"Although Mr Buel's farm is much celebrated, 

 it presents few attractions to any one conversant 

 with British agriculture. He is himself, however, 

 an object of interest to the farmer of any coun- 

 try who has studied his profession. His conver- 

 sation on a variety of subjects amply unfolded to 

 me the treasures of an enlarged and well stored 

 mind, and I was delighted to find his views on im- 

 proving agriculture harmonize with what I had 

 longadvocated in my Imndile sphere. At separa- 

 tion he presented me with the printed proceedings 

 of the New York Slate Agricultural Society, of a 

 considerable portion of which he is the author; 

 and I imagine a day spent with Mr Buel one of 

 the richest agricultural treats that can be enjoy- 

 ed in North America." 



After alluding to Judge Buel's disinterested ex- 

 ertions for establishmg an agricultural school in 

 N. York state, Mr Shirreft" copies the whole of Mr 

 Sudam's Report in the New York Legislature, fa- 

 vorable to the memorial o<" the New York Agri- 

 cidtural So<:iety ; and also the Report of the So- 

 ciety, and adds the following remarks: 



" The Report iq attributed to Mr Buel, and is a 

 document creditable to its author and the Society 

 which adopted it. It advocates mental cultiva- 

 tion of farmers as the best means of iraj)roving 

 agriculture, and youth as the seed time of an 

 abundant harvest of himian knowledge. What- 

 ever diversity of opinion may exist in rural mat- 

 ters, every individual who has reflected on the 

 subject, will admit, that the mind of the farmer is 

 the chief improvement of husbandry, on which 

 the agricultural system depends, and by which its_^ 

 advancement can be best efleetcd. Man is the 

 principal animal connected with the farm, and the 

 amelioration of his mind is more important than the 

 improvement of brute formation. Mr Buel knows 

 well the strength of prejudice existing amongst far- 

 mers, the results of their own isolated situation, and 



that youth is generally the onlf season when new 

 impressions can bo made and acted on. In ad- 

 vanced agriculture, the mind will guide the hands 

 as well as all farm machinery, and science and ail 

 art blended together in the relation and loveliness 

 of conjugal imity. Mental illumination of farm- 

 ers is not merely ca'culated to advanec agricill* 

 ture, but to enable them to see, in their profession- 

 al pursuits, the means of serving their fellow 

 creatures, and the exhaustless bounty of Cod. 



" New York is justly considered the leading 

 state of the Union, being celebrated for prison dis- 

 cipline, extensive canaling, common schools, and, 

 if Mr Buel's vigor is spared for a fe v/ years, it is also 

 likely to he distinguish''d for its agricultural in- 

 stitution. 



" The United States possess great advantages, 

 from being new or young countries, in which no 

 class have exclusive ))rivileges, and where the 

 selfishness and prejudices of cla.sscs are seldom 

 manifested. The inhabitants are a mixture of all 

 nations, or the descendants of such, in vvliich the 

 fetters of old customs have been loosened perhaps 

 by collision ; and in measures of general utility, 

 they can at once adopt the wisdom of antiquity, 

 without its folly. Many of their public institu- 

 tions, are illustrative of this, as well as Mr Bu-il'.s 

 Report." 



Boston, August 4, 1835. 



FARMERS A3JO JIIEJCHANICg. 



Miss Sedgwick, or one of the Misses Sedgwick 

 — for there are three of that name who have ap- 

 l)earcd in j)rint — have just issued a new work 

 (rom the jircssof Messrs Monroe & Co. of Bos- 

 ton, entitled " Home," and dedicated to the Farm- 

 ers and Mechanics. The sentiment conveyed in 

 the following appropriate language is no less Just 

 than true. — One of her chai-acters charges her 

 neighbor with the intention of educating his sons 

 for the learned professions, and his daughters for 

 the wives of piofessioiiai gentlemen, to which 

 the latter thus sensibly replies: 



" I shall be governed by circumstances ; I do 

 not intend or wish, Anthon, to crowd my boys 

 into the learned professions. If any among them 

 have a particular talent or taste for them, they may 

 follow them. They must flecide for themselvoa 

 in a matter more important to them than any one 

 else. But my boys know that I should be morti- 

 fied if they sele<-ted these prcfessions fiom the 

 vulgar notions that they were more genteel — a 

 vulgar word that ought to be banished from the 

 American vocabulary — more genteel than agricul- 

 ture or the mechanii; arts. I have labored hard 

 to convince my boys there is nothing vulgar in the 

 mechanic profession — no particular reason for en- 

 vying the lawyer or the doctor. They as much 

 as the farmer and mechanic are working men. 

 And I should like to know what there is particular- 

 ly elevating in sitting over a table and writing pre- 

 scribed forms, or in inquiring into the particulars 

 of diseases and doling out I'liysic for them. It is 

 certainly a false notion in a democratic republic, 

 that a lawyer has any higher claim to reppect:i!i!l- 



