THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of the Earth will always bi- in proportion to the culture bestowed upon it." 



Vol. VII.— No. 1.] 



8th mo. (August,) 15th, 1842. 



[Whole No. 91. 



JOSIAH TATUM, 



PROPRIETOR AND PUBLISHER, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Edited by the Proprietor and James Pedder. 

 Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



Editorial. 



This Number of the Cabinet being; the 

 first of another volume, and the Proprietor 

 and late Editor, having; associated in prepar- 

 ing and arranging its materials, there would 

 seem a propriety in introducing themselves 

 to their readers, in the new capacity of joint- 

 editors, by a brief exposition of their views. 

 Recollecting, however, that from time to 

 time, for the six years that the Cabinet 

 has claimed the attention of the Agricultu- 

 ral community, the views of its conductors 

 have been freely expressed, and its objects as 

 freely explained, we do not feel that there is 

 much for us now to say, that can be new, or 

 that can throw further light upon the ground 

 that should be occupied by a farmer's month- 

 ly paper. When we say, as was said in the 

 first Number of the first volume of the Cab- 

 inet, " that it is designed to promote the in- 

 terests of practical agriculture," we throw 

 open a field as broad as can be desired for an 

 agricultural paper, and express in these few 

 words, almost all that may be necessary to 

 designate the goal, to the attainment of 

 which, our efforts will continue to be direct- 

 ed. " To eat his bread in the sweat of his 

 face," was early promised as man's inherit- 

 ance. We purpose to strike into no new 

 path — we make no promise of a " royal 

 road," that shall lead to luxuriant pastures 

 and well filled barns, without the toil of tra- 

 vel. 



To him who is at all conversant with 

 former modes of tillage — who recollects the 

 state of agriculture in this vicinity, even so 

 lately as fifty years ago, it must be obvious, 

 that if other arts have made bold advances, 

 that of agriculture has by no means, been 

 stationary. We ask for the character of the 

 farmer, credit for the enterprise and perse- 

 verance, he so richly deserves, and with the 



Cab.— Vol. VII.— No. 1. 



lack of which, he is so often unjustly charg- 

 ed. The average produce per acre, in corn, 

 wheat and grass, has probably, more than 

 doubled in Pennsylvania and the adjacent 

 states, within the last half century. And is 

 it possible that this should have been the 

 case, if our farmers had been indifferent to 

 the progress of every thing else around them, 

 and had only treated their lands with the ex- 

 hausting processes, that follow upon inactiv- 

 ity and lack of thrift"? Who that is fifty years 

 old, does not recollect the introduction of 

 clover — the use of plaster and of lime, 

 and the effects that were at once produced 

 by these additional means — these fresh stim- 

 ulants, that have ever since been spreading 

 and multiplying themselves in all directions, 

 and in the hands of the skilful manager, 

 with a success, that has made fields that 

 were barren, to laugh with abundance? — 

 Look again at the use of marl, in parts of 

 New-Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia, and the laborious industry with which 

 these regions are explored, and their rich 

 treasures borne away, to change the very 

 character of the soil, and to treble and qua- 

 druple the crops of its owner. Has there 

 been no intelligence — no forecast manifested 

 in these operations'? It is to enlighten this 

 intelligence — to throw forward this forecast, 

 and to place within reach of every farmer, 

 every facility for the enriching of his land, 

 and the improvement of his condition, that 

 the efforts of the Farmers' Cabinet will be 

 directed. And is the farmer to derive no 

 benefit from these efforts] This appears to 

 us impossible. Had the man who first intro- 

 duced the artificial grasses — who first used 

 plaster, lime and marl, been able to keep the 

 secret of their effects to himself; — if this 

 knowledge had not been spread far and wide 

 by books, and by conversation, what, we 

 would ask, would now be the state of our 

 agriculture ? Knowledge delights in its own 

 diffusion; and the great improvements to be 

 witnessed in the face of the country, are fair- 

 ly attributable to the rapid spread of every 

 species of information, tending to enlighten 

 the farmer in his calling. Who that recol- 

 lects the hard and watery potatoe, that he 

 was obliged to be satisfied with fifty or sixty 



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