52 



NEW EN(^LAND FARMER, 



Sept. 3, 1830. 



Uitmcls from an address delivered before the Hamp- 

 shire, FranJdin, Hampden Agricultural Society. 

 By Festus Foster. 



' The general principles, necessary to be observed 

 by the agriculturist, are few and simple. It is 

 an established law of nature that death sustains 

 lif;. Some species of animals are supported by 

 the death of others, and some by the destruction 

 of vegetables. Animals, whieh have been found 

 most useful to man, are wholly of the latter kind. 

 The first attention of the farmer, therefore, must 

 be directed to the production of such vegetables 

 as contribute to the support of man and such 

 animals as he has selected for his use. In the 

 production of vegetables, the same law of nature 

 prevails — death is necessary to life. You must, 

 therefore, seek that dark, loamy soil, which has 

 been formed by the decay of vegetables for a se- 

 ries of years, and as you e.xhaust it by repeated 

 crops, add cither animal or vegetable deconii)Osi- 

 tion, and like the fabled Phcuix, one crop will 

 arise from the ashes of another. Excepting a 

 few tender and delicate plaiit.", manures are most 

 efficacious when applied in a state of fermenta- 

 tion. They commurucate a slight degree of 

 warmth and action to the adjacent soil, salutaiy 

 and even necessary to vegetation. Any animal 

 or vegetable substances. Compacted in a mass and 

 imbibing a moderate degree of moisture, will soon 

 pass into a state of fermentation, by which they 

 are decomposed, and fitted to produce another 

 crop. Hence every farmer may manufacture 

 composts ta almost any e.\tcnt. The value of 

 manure is different on different soils. It is p: o- 

 ductive on all, and on some indispensabb. Land, 

 once brought into a state of high cultiration, by 

 returning the proceeds of its crops, wdl not de- 

 generate. Sterile lands, and such as have been 

 exliausted or neglected, hiay be made productive 

 in a few years by compost and the plough. 



' Where different and opposite soils lie contig 

 tious, much benefit may be derived by admixtion. 

 A sandy or gravelly soil may be greatly improved 

 by a covering of loam, mud, or clay. On the 

 contrary, cold, wet, muddy land will be greatly 

 meliorated by a coat of sand or gravel. A soil 

 ■warm and dry, especially if sloping, may be made 

 highly productive by irrigation. If accompanied 

 by an occasional top dressing of barn manures,the 

 fanner will be well repaid. In a- mountainous re- 

 gion, like some parts of the territory within the 

 limits of your society, where precipitous streams 

 abound and whole farms lie on a declivitj', I am 

 ])ersuaded great advantages might be derived 

 from this use of water. A few days labor would 

 aild some tons of fine hay to your annual income. 

 To the agriculturist this must be considered a 

 staple article. It is the su])i)ort of your animals, 

 find the means of enriching your arable lands, 

 and gathering from thence a golden harvest. 



' Upon the culture of plants, I have time to 

 'say but a word, and, that is, treat them not with 

 neglect. They require your friendly visits, and 

 the repeated ajiplication of the hoe. The garden 

 will demand your daily attention. This may be "a 

 pleasant resort, when you have borne the heat 

 and burden of the day, and the evening tide in- 

 vites to meditation. Tlicro you may breathe the 

 fragrant air, succor the young plants emerging 

 from the earth, and watch their ]>rogress through 

 all their changing forms. 



' The cultivation of trees is a subject to which,! 

 think, I may with great propriety invite your at- 

 tention. Not only would I recommend to every 



farmer, an orchard of choice fruit, well fenced, 

 and well pruned, hut a thrifty wopd lot, in which 

 no grazing animal should leed, and from which 

 fuel and timber should be cut with care. We 

 ought to live not only for ourselves, hut fop our 

 children, and for posterity. Situated in a region 

 where much fuel is absolutely necessary to a com- 

 fortable existence, where coal mines arc not to be 

 found, and where the demand for hunber is in- 

 creasing with the wealth and population of the 

 country, our forests already thinned or made bare, 

 — there is great reason to apprehend that in the 

 next and succeeding generations, the scarcity of 

 fuel and lumber will diminish your population — 

 that the expenses will absorb a great portion of 

 the income of your fertile and well cultivated 

 farms, and your splendid villages and temples fall 

 to decay. The time seems to have arrived when, 

 instead of enlarging our fields, we must better 

 improve them ; instead of making strip and waste 

 in our woodlands, we must cut sparingly ; instead 

 of feeding or cutting down the underwood and 

 shoots, we must carefully preserve them. Great- 

 er economy must be adopted in cooking our food 

 and warming our houses. The ail-devouring 

 chimnies of our ancestors must give place to the 

 stove and the furnace. Our houses must be made 

 a better defence against the cold, and their ma- 

 terials must be taken from the earth rather than 

 the forest. 



' ThcrQ is one species of trees entitled to your 

 particular regard. It is the sugar maple. This, 

 flourishing on almost any soil, yields to none in 

 cleanliness and beauty, is excellent for fuel, and 

 furnishes sugar little inferior to that of cane. One 

 hundred of these extended on the margin of your 

 fields, or set in the form of an orchard, would af- 

 ford an ample supply of sugar and molasses for 

 half a century or more, and when they began to 

 decay, reward you with fifty or an himdred cords 

 of the best fire-wood. The expense of trans- 

 planting them will be but trifling, their injmy to 

 the land, if any, inconsiderable, and a few years 

 will give to them great beauty and value. 



'The value of the locust and of the mulberry 

 deserve particular notice, but they are believed to 

 bo duly ai)preciated by your Society. 



' In the management of your various animals, 

 having selected the best bloods, you have onlv to 

 provide for them warm, dry, and commodious 

 shelters, and deal out to them sweet and whole- 

 some fodder, and pure, clean water. Neatness 

 and cleanliness in this department will contribute 

 much to the health, growth, and corpulency of 

 your stock. A slattern in the house is not more 

 disgusting and unprofitable, than a sloven ii. the 

 barn. In the treatment of those patient and do- 

 cile animals which perform your labor, let me 

 crave your mercy. Neither suffer them to moan 

 with hunger or thirst, nor to be loaded or driven 

 beyond their strength. A mild and generous usage 

 will secure their attachment, excite their courage 

 and resolution, and dispose them to volunteer 

 their most vigorous efforts in your service. Your 

 interest, as well as the dictates of humanity, re- 

 quire that you abstain from all cruelty and abuse, 

 and that your dominion over them be tempered 

 with lenity and kindness. 



'To carry into.effect the objects of your asso- 

 ciation, and give to your occupation nil the im- 

 provements of which it is susceptible, will require 

 the unremitted energies of your mind, as well as 

 much vigorous bodily effort. Agrieultmo, like all 



arts and sciences, is progressive, and must never u 

 be suffereil to rest, or retrograde. Your observa- 

 tions must be mad'e with accuracy, and your re- 

 searches pursued with ardor. Placed in a coun- 

 try containing a great variety of soil, in a climate 

 nild and healthful, uniler a government, which 

 •an impose no burdens on you without your con- 

 sent, owners of the land you occupy, furnished 

 with iheniost approved implements, and having 

 lor your guide the experience of former ages, and 

 the means of making new experimems under the 

 most favorable circumstances, it would be strange, 

 " passing strange," if you made no advances. I 

 have said, that heretofore the sciences held no 

 fellowship with agriculture. A better day has be- 

 gun to dawn upon that long neglected occupatiotr. 

 Men of genius and learning liave devoted their 

 talents to ligliten the burdens of the laborer, and 

 give success to his efforts. As the |)owers of na- 

 ture begin to be developed, and its laws are better 

 understood, difliiculties diminish and experiments 

 succeed. The sciences have already done much 

 to aid your cause, and may be expected to do still 

 more. A new era has commenced, in no longer 

 confining science to the cell of the monk, and the 

 chatnber of the philosopher, but in communica- 

 ting it to the world at large, and applying it to use- 

 ful and practical purposes. The discoveries of 

 the geologist, and the experiments of the chemist 

 are spread before you, through the agency of the 

 press. Much mutual benefit may also be expected 

 frotn your Society and similar associations. They 

 emphatically mark the spirit of the age, as distinct 

 from that of any former period. Other nations 

 have had their festivals and their fairs. The 

 Olympic games of Greece, and the gladiatorial ex- 

 hibitions of Rome characterize the age and ruliui; 

 passion of each of those great empires, which in 

 succession gave law to the world. But when, < - 

 where has public attention been excited and di- 

 rected to the interest of agriculture and the me- 

 chanic arts ? When have men of wealth, and 

 science, and influence, taken such a deep interest 

 in the welfare of the laboring i)artof the commu- 

 nity? When was information upon these sub- 

 jects so widely diffused and so eagerly sought ? 

 These signs of the times indicate that a better 

 state of things is to be expected — that causes are 

 in operation which, if continued, will effect a 

 mighty revolution. The united efforts of the 

 great mass of intelligence cannot be fiuitless. l?y 

 repeated experiments and careful observation?, 

 from year to year, something will be gained 

 Whatever discoveries or improvements are made 

 by one, will become the property of all, and never 

 be lost. 



' Agriculture and manufactures are not insuhi- 

 ted interests. They are intimately connected 

 with other arts and occupations, with the sciences, 

 and the laws and policy of our own country arul 

 of foreign nations. The prosperity of the agri- 

 culturist depends not increlj' upon the quantity 

 and quality of his produce, hut upon the readines.s, 

 certainty, facility, and advantage with which he 

 can vend the surplus, or exchange it for such ar- 

 ticles as he may need. The same doctrine is true 

 in its application to the manufacturer. It is in 

 vain that he produces the best wares, imlpss tlu-y 

 can find a market; and the easier and cheaper 

 they can be conveyed, the greater will be his 

 profit. Whatever, therefore, tends to furnish a 

 sure anil stendy market, or to diminish the cxpcn- 

 scs.and risk of transportation, or to reduce the 

 price of crticlee to b« received in excha«ge, is to 



