362 



x\E\V ENGLAND FARMER 



MAT 18, 184S. 



For the N. E. Kariner. 



IMPORTANCE OF UNITING PRACTICK 



WITH SCIENCE AND OP OBSERVING 



NATURAL OPERATIONS. 



Mr Editor — The researches of scientific men 

 and llie application of chemical principles will, we 

 doubt not, at eoine future period, reduce the art of 

 agriculture to a state of far (;roater perfection than 

 lilts yet been attained. Kut wc think theorists 

 should not ti:0 strenuously insist that scientific 

 rules shall iinmediutely jjovern all priiclice; they 

 should be slow to denounce all the recurniiionda- 

 tions of merely practical men, aa nothiiifj better 

 than " tra<h." All science has resulted from inti- 

 mations {,'iven in practical life, and what li'.d been 

 proved in the results of often repeated eiperiinents, 

 will in most eases prove a much safer rule to gov- 

 ern the practice than one deduced fr<3m analoyiral 

 reasoning. The chemists of Europe eeem to attach 

 more' importance to this idea, than some of our own 

 countrymen. They recommend caution to farmers 

 in extending experiments on principles not clearly 

 proved useful in experience. Choptal, after di- 

 recting for years the labors on a large estate, and 

 in connection ifith deep philosopiiical research, says, 

 " I feel that the facts which I have been able to 

 collect upon various subjects, are still insufficient 

 for the establishment of indisputa-ble principles re- 

 garding them." He says again, '' Writing fcjr the 

 agriculturist, I have often borrowed his language, 

 and nearly always relied on his experience for the 

 truth of the principles I have advanced." And 

 again — " Example is the only lesson profitable to 

 the husbandman ; when one is placed before his 

 eyes and his reason is convinced of itu goodness, 

 he is not slow to follow it; and by no other way 

 than this can improved methods of agriculture be 

 introduced and propagated." Would that nil our 

 chemists, like Cliaptal, carried theory into practice, 

 and labored rather to prove the correctness of prin- 

 ciples in the results of experiments, than lo reduce 

 suddenly all practice into conaistency with specu- 

 lative principles. 



Additional theoretic knowledge is wanted, and 

 would prove highly conducive to the prosperity 

 and happiness of the gteat body of our agricultu- 

 riats ; but to att(.'mpt th« communication of it mere- 

 ly througli mandates from the closet, is very like 

 an attempt to abolish suddenly southern, slavery 

 through northern preaching. We must make a 

 more direct approach to the husbandman ; we must 

 go with him into hia fields, and show him there the 

 evils he is suffering in consec|uence (jf wrong man- 

 agement, and tho powers of knowledge to remove 

 tlioso evils. If we bo ourselves nothing more than 

 noviciates in science, still we can do something in 

 tho relation of our own experience and suggestions 

 we shall be able to make, in aid of our neighbor's 

 research and his pursuit of use()jl knowledge. 



What is moat essential in the cultivation of the 

 earth, is, through the kindness ofiVovidence, made 

 obvious even to cursory observers. it is, like the 

 most interesting truths of our religion, made so 

 plain that he who runs may read. The operations 

 in nature are continually proving to us what opera- 

 tions with our hands will conduce lo the increased 

 products of our fields. Wc see the sand-hill car- 

 ried by the winds and rains into the valleys, into 

 the mud and peat swamps ; on the edges of the 

 swamp, where there is a proportional mixture of 

 the mud and sand, we observe a luxuriant vegeta- 

 ble growth. Hero our instruction is complete. 



We have sstisfactory proof of the utility of pene- 

 trating these swamps, removing the redundant mud 

 on to sandy fields and supplying Uie place of it in 

 the swamp with sand from the hill. This simple 

 process, if farmers could be induced to engage in 

 It only so far us comparatively leisure days might 

 allow, would in a very few years put a. new and 

 more inviting aspect on the face of our country. 

 It would efieclually remove occasions of travelling 

 every spring fifteen or twenty miles for a load of 

 salt hay, to keep the breath of life in a few half 

 starved animals, and also occasions of going south 

 or west for corn lo keep families from famishing. 



The mixture of the swamp und sand-hill wc re- 

 gard as the farmer's fir.^t lesson. There are other 

 lessons not less clearly enforced in operations und 

 appearances in nature, to some of which attention 

 may hereafter bo invited. M. A. 



Mmj Oth, 1842. 



From tho Union Agriculturist. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 



Heilginfr. — From all of my observations during 

 my last summer tour, I am led to put very little 

 faith in this mode of fencing, unless it flourishes 

 better upon the prairies than in any other part of 

 the United States. It is with extreme regret that 

 I am obliged lo ucknowlodge that I have never yet 

 seen a single instance where hedging has answer- 

 ed a good purpose of making a durable fence. I 

 doubt whether an instance can be found v/here it 

 has lasted as long after it came to maturity, as it 

 took to bring it to maturity. In Delaware, I saw 

 great quantities of hedging, and a groat portion of 

 it offered about as much protection against a drove 

 of long nose hogs, as so much in extent of cobwebs 

 would do. And allliough rails were seven or eight 

 dollars a hundred, farmers were compelled to give 

 up the hedge fence and use rails. The ditJicully 

 is in the climate or soil, for I saw numerous in- 

 stances where it had been planted and tended with 

 the best of skill of experienced English hedgers, 

 hut they could not prevent the blight or worm from 

 destroying the tlioin, any more than we can pre- 

 vent the same cause from destroying the plum tree. 

 Permit me to advise your readers that further ex- 

 periments are useless. Jf they would fence their 

 hind with live fence, they must seek sonic other 

 live thing beside any of the family of thorns, or 

 they will surely bo pricked in a fender place. Cot- 

 tle can be cheaply fenced against, sheep can be 

 tended by a shepherd, {one for a whole neighbor- 

 hood of small sheep owners,) and hogs must be 

 confined, before our prairie country can be brought 

 under cultivation. 



Locust and many other trees of rapid growth, 

 could bo set a few feet apart, and upon them nail 

 strips of boards that would make a sorter live fence. 



Chesnut, 8yc»more, cotton wood, locust, butter- 

 nut, or white walnut, black walnut and elm, could 

 either of them be planted so near to each other, 

 that while small they could be loppsd down and 

 twisted together, and would very prohably make a 

 good fence against cattle, and by proper constant 

 trimming every year, might be prevented from 

 spreading so as to be troublesome. So much for 

 hedging. Now for 



J)ilchin(r and lUut Grass. — Notwithstanding all 

 the failures in making "sod fence," I am still con- 

 fident that our extensive proiries will aoine day bo 

 found without any other resource than tho earth 



itself. When coal or peat can be liad, brick wii 

 be used. But when the land is well set m li'u( 

 grass, there will bu no difficulty in making a feiici 

 of ditch and bank, the sides of which will be steel, 

 enough to stop cattle, and the blue grass sod 

 tough as to prevent the frost from throwing it do 

 This sod will flourish on the almost porpendicH 

 pidcs of a bank, 4 feet high and 4 feet thick, whii 

 independent of the ditch necessarily made in m 

 ing tho bank, is suificicnt to stop any well bi 

 cattle, and will be found moro durable and less 

 pensive than hedging. If these are facts, it is 

 porta nt that this kind of grass be early introdu 

 And if they are not facts, I should like to be 

 rected, for this is one important object lo be gai 

 by an interchange of opinions through your ci 

 .unins. 



Scraps of Time -How very wasteful we 



of these odds and ends of one of the good thina 

 which we never can replace, after they have onci 

 gone by upon thair fleeting course. We shouU 

 not only work to teach our children, but ourselves 

 •to use these scraps for some useful purpose. To 

 spoak in a phrase that all occupants of log cabin 

 will understand, I will say, that a newspaper is tbt 

 best chinking with which to fill up the crackM of 

 time that so often occur in our common occupatioa 

 And they will serve to keep out a deal of the fool 

 winds of tho world that are so apt lo blow upon tht 

 unoccupied mind. 



Even now at this vary time, this scrap is penned 

 to fill up a little space, an unocqupied moment, to 

 do H Inch I stand by a western window with my 

 shert resting upon my hand, while tho beauty of t 

 clear winter evening twilight, enables me to say, 

 this little scrap of time is not entirely lost to ill* 

 world or nie. Who knows but I may have doM 

 some one a scrap of good, in this scrap of tho o<Ul> 

 and ends of time. And perhai« this very icrl^ 

 will be read a thousand limes at just such a mpl 

 menl, and as the light fades away lill the eyi 

 grows dim over tho page, will not the mind be ii 

 a proper train to reflect that so fades away life, 

 and him that would be useful and happy while lift 

 lasts, must not put off the beginning of a good 

 work until the twilight of life. 



Twilis;ht on the Prairie. — And now, so soon the 

 light of joy is gone. Hast thou never observed 

 that tivilight upon tho prairie is much shorter ihao 

 in a timbered country .' It seems but a few abort 

 minutes after the shades of night commence, be- 

 fore all is blended in one dark mass, and yel thi 

 time between sundown and dark is (juite lengthy. 



And now for you who are tired of^ twilight medi> 

 tations, that word lengthy occurs at a fortunaW 

 point ; for like other tedious prosers, I needed cau- 

 tioning to remind me that I was getting lengthy, 

 and being so reminded, I will just remind you that 

 I am the odd end of an old acquaintance of youM, 

 whose name you have before seen Just is it itkll4i 

 here as the representative of 



SOLON ROBINSON. 



Iioke C. H., Indiana. 



Painting. — Buildings should be painted in mod- 

 erate weather in fall or spring; Uien the oil will 

 remain upon tho outside, imbibe the oxygen from 

 the atmosphere, and form a body with the other in- 

 gredients. But if pajnt bo put on buildings in hoi 

 weather, tho wood will absorb the oil, and letM 

 the coloring matter to wash ofT. The durability 

 of paint is increased by giving the building a coal 

 of oil first, letting it dry In. 



