Published by John B. Uusskll at the corner of Congress and Undnll Streets, (entrance from Lindall Street) Thomas G. Fkssf.inden, Editor. 



v6l. v. 



BOSTON, FUIDAY, NOVEMBFK 17, 1826. 



No. 17. 



ORIGINAL PAPERS. 



l-RAVES FOR MANURE. 



Mr Pkssknukn — For about twenty years past I 

 liavo been in tlio habit of coUectint: aiuiually from 

 1"2 to 'M cart-loads oi" leaves for the ;louble purpose 

 of litter and manure. And I cordially agree with 

 your correspondent (page 1'32) in his recommenda- 

 tion to my brotlier farmers. We raUc them into 

 lic:ips, and make use nf those baskets in which junk 

 hdtllos are generally brunght from Europe, into 

 which the leaves are raked, and from thence load- 

 ed into tlie cart v. ith cosisi-lerable facility. Now 

 is tlie best time in the ye-.r for this pro.^itable hus- 

 bandry, and no farmer who wishes his stock to be 

 coi.nbrtable and cjeanly, an'' to increase his ma- 

 nure, ought to neglect co'lecting a convenient sup- 

 ply from his woodlot, if ht has one tolerably near. 



.Veidon,J\'or. 15. J. KENRICK. 



[Prepared for the J\leto England Farmer.'] 



THE IMPORTANCE OF AGUICl'LTUKE 



Is obvious, not only by its affording the direct 

 supply of our greatest wants, out as the parent of 

 manufactures and commerce. Without agricul- 

 ture there can be neither civili;ation nor popula- 

 tion. Hence it is not only the most universal of 

 the arts, but that which requires the greatest num- 

 ber of operators ; the main body of the popula- 

 tion in every country is employed in the pursuit of 

 agriculture ; and the most powerful individuals in 

 almost all nations derive tlicir wealth and conse- 

 quence from the possession of lands. 



I-NDUSTRV REWARDEn. 



Xenophon in his book of CEconomics, bestows 

 due encomiums on a Persian king, who examined 

 with his own eyes, the state of agriculture through- 

 out his dominions ; and in all such excursions, 

 according as occasion required, bountifully re- 

 warded the industrious, and severely discounte- 

 nanced the slothfii!. In another place he observes 

 that when Cyrus distributed premiums V/ith his 

 ow-n hand to diligent cultivators, it was hi- custom 

 to say, " My friends, I have a like title v.ith your- 

 selves to the same honors and remuneration from 

 the public ; I give you no more than I have de- 

 served in my own person ; having made the same 

 attempts with equal diligence and success. 



DUKNISG JUSTIFIED. 



A certain old Roman used to say that good 

 debts became bad ones by not being called for. 



FARM BUILPINGS. 



Cato the famous Roman, wrote on agriculture. 

 and among other valuable precepts he cautions 

 the proprietors of land not to be too r".sh in build- 

 ing. He recommends to them to sow and plant in 

 early youth, but not to build till soniewliat advanc- 

 ed in years. " A landholder" says he, " should 

 apply himself to the planting of his fields early in 

 his youth ; but he ought to think long before he 

 builds. He ought not to think about planting, bet 

 he ought to do it. When he is about thirty-six 

 years of age, he raiy build, provided his fields ar:' 

 planted." [Or well cultivated.] 



liuild ill such a manner tlial your inlla [f'lrni 

 buildings,] may not need a farm, nor your firm 

 n^ed a villa. Varro assigns proper reasons for 

 this, " In not attending to the measure of the farm 

 many have gone wrong. Some have made thovil- 

 la much smaller, and others much larger than the 

 farm required. One of these is contrary to a man's 

 interest, and the other hunAil to tlie produce of 

 his lands. For we both build and repair the larg- 

 er huiUiings at a greiter expense than is necessa- 

 ry ; ;^ni, when the buildings are less than what 

 the farm requires, the produce is in danger of be- 

 ing destroyed." 



ATTENTION TO AGRICULTURE. 



It is an old remark that " the eyes of a master 

 will do more than his hands," and it is justly re- 

 marked by an agricultural writer that " though 

 every person knows that the presence and atten- 

 tion of the master is of groat importance in every 

 business ; yet every person does not know, that in 

 no business are they so important as in farming." 



OSTENTATIOUS OR PROFUSE CULTURE 



li not less to be condemned than imperfect cul- 

 ture. '-The ancients," says Pliny, " assert that 

 notlung turns to less account than to give land too 

 much culture." To cultivate well is necessary, to 

 cultivate in aii extraordinary manner is hurtful." 

 "In what inauner then," he asks '• are lands to be 

 culti-vated to the best advantage ? ' To this he 

 f n=\'c;s, " In the cheapest manner, if it is good." 



PROPER ESIPLOIMEKT. 



" The ancients" according to Pliny, " consider- 

 ed him a bad master of a family who does in the 

 day time what he may do at night, except in the 

 time of a storm : a worse, who does in common 

 days what is lawful on holidays, and worst of all, 

 who in a good day is employed more within doors 

 than in the fields." — Loudon. 



ON THE MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES 

 OF HORSES.— Co7!<i)!«e(/ /com page 7S. 



ON THE BREAKING AND TRAINING OF THE HORSE. 



Prerious to laying down any rules on this head, 

 it vvill be necessary to inquire into the degree of 

 understanding possessed by the horse, which, with 

 that of other brutes, has generally been called in- 

 stinct. Natural historians have attempted to ex- 

 plain this faculty ; but many of them have indulg- 

 ed in such reveries, as to render their works un- 

 worthy of attention or belief. 



Reason may be said to consist in the faculty of 

 associating ideas, and forming conclusions, inde- 

 pendently of corporeal action, relative situation, 

 or the presence of the objects reasoned upon. — 

 But instinct, says Mr Lawrence, seems to be con- 

 fined to tlie faculty of discriminating bf tween nox- 

 ious and iunoxious food, the avoiding dan^'or ei- 

 ther by flight or resistance, and to the performing 

 of certain necessary functions, which, it is suppos- 

 ed, the animal has not been taught by others In- 

 stinct may be improved by age and expen^nre; 

 but it will never render a brute capab:e of think 

 iug abstractedly, or without the concurrence t 

 , ; crtain signals or appearances, which he has been 



accustomed to associate with particular actions.* 

 Thus we find in most animals even of the fero- 

 cious tribes, an apparent attachment to their feed- 

 ers : but it is prub.ible^at this attachment is less 

 tlie cflect of gratitude, than the result of simple 

 recollection of the source from whence they satis- 

 fy one of the most uraent calls of nature. Hence 

 the horse can distinguish- the voice of the person 

 who feeds him from any other, and will e.Npre.ss 

 his satisfaction by neighing ; but may not this tes- 

 timony of joy arise solely from the expectation of 

 receiving his accustomed allowance of corn ? For 

 by constantly feeding him immediately after per- 

 forming certain actions, he will acquire the habit 

 of repeating those actions when demanded of him 

 at other periods. This practice ought to consti- 

 tute the practice of horse breaking ; but how sel- 

 dom is it adopted. The horse is, by nature neith- 

 er vicious nor intractable ; the chief source of his 

 opposition aiise.s from fear. But if, by gentle hab- 

 it, he is convinced that no injury is intended him, 

 he submits, still jTeseiving his natural vivacity, 

 and becomes the pk-asant in.--trument of most of 

 our comforts and luxuries. Unfortunately howev- 

 er, violence and privation of rest, and food are 

 generally substituted for the means here recom- 

 mended. The colt which is naturally sluggish, 

 endures this treatment, and surrenders himself to 

 the will of the merciless rider ; but the colt of 

 mettle and spirit defends himself with all his pow- 

 ers, and worked up to desperation is transformed 

 from a genoroi's to a mischievous and dangerous 

 animal. 



It is advisable, says Mr Lawrence, to accustom 

 colts to the halter at three months, to handle and 

 caress them, to lift up their legs with the hand, to 

 strike the feet gently with a hammer, and to place 

 bags stuffed with straw across their backs. By 

 pursuing this method, a colt may be broken in, at 

 a proper age, vith very little trouble or danger. 



Deane's New England Farmer observes that 

 " the way of breaking a young horse that is most- 

 ly used in this country, is highly absurd, hurtful 

 aud dano-erous. He is mounted and ridden before 

 he has been used to the bridle or to bearing any 

 weight on his back. If he will not go forward he 

 is most unmercifully beaten ; by which his spirits 

 are broken, and his strength impaired. If he rears 

 up, he is pulled backwards, with the risk of hurt- 

 ing both horse and man. If he runs and starts, as 

 he probably will under such management, he flings 

 the rider, perhaps is frightened, gains his liberty, 

 and is encouraged to do just so the next opportu- 

 nity ; and the unfortunate rider blesses himself, as 

 he has reason to do, if he escape without broken 



* The most extraordinary faculty in brutes is 

 that of finding their way back again, when they 

 have been removed to a considerable distance from 

 their homes. 



TiMs has been attempted to be explained by the 

 sue; osition of their recollecting' the appeararc of 

 objects on the road, or the Aiffeicut scent oC the 

 earths over which thev have pr,ssed. Bu' -..= both 

 of these must present themaelves in an in 'erted 

 nr.'or of succession on their return, it is oiflicult 

 f.o conceive that their nnderst .nding cm be equ"' 

 to the task of such a countermanagement. 



