390 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



December 10, 1831. 



AGRICULTURAL ADDRESSES. 



We are now happy to be enabled to present 

 the readers of our paper, with Major Kirby's 

 Address, delivered before the Jefferson County 

 Agricultural Society on the 27th of September 

 last, at the annual Cattle Show and Fair held at 

 Watertown. 



The style of this Address is clear ; its subjects 

 taken up with judgment and disposed of with 

 skill; and not the less does the performance com- 

 mand itself to the reader's attention, when we 

 here behold the soldier beating his well tried spear 

 into a pruning hook. 



We are pleased to see these Societies grow in 

 the fivor of the farming public. The expense at- 

 tending them is small, compared with the advant- 

 ages gained by competition as to crops, and a so- 

 cial and friendly interchange of opinions, which 

 ought to take place at all their public meetings. 



We will detain the readers of the Genesee Far- 

 mer not a moment longer than to thank the gal- 

 lant orator for the favorable manner in which he 

 speaks of our labors, as well as those of our wor- 

 thy cotemporaries, at Boston and New- York. 

 G? .NTLEMEN, 



I congratulate you upon the auspicious 

 return of our anniversary. Our meetings 

 are always attended by agreeable associa- 

 tions. They biing in satisfactory review 

 the past, and excite cheering anticipations 

 of the future. But this perhaps, more than 

 any former occasion, is calculated to inspire 

 grateful emotions. 



The labors of our society, through a suc- 

 cession of fourteen years, under the able gui- 

 dance and mainly through the indefatigable 

 efforts of our presiding officer, have been, in 

 an eminent degree, crowned with success. — 

 A belter system of agriculture; the intro- 

 duction of improved breeds of cattle, and 

 the cultivation of more intimate social re- 

 lations among ourselves, are some of the 

 fruits of these labors. And at no forinei 

 period, since our org inization, have the pros- 

 pects of the farmer been so decidedly en- 

 couraging as at present. This f ivorable state 

 of (lungs must be ascribed to a combination 

 of other causes with thatjust noticed. 



We are blessed with a country admirably 

 ad ipted to the pursuits of agriculture. Our 

 din ate is salubrious ; our soil possesses a 

 high degree of fertility ; its productions are 

 abundant and varied ; our position enables 

 us to resort, with the facility of water trans- 

 port, to the New-York or the Montreal mar- 

 kets, as either shall offer the highest induce- 

 ments : above a|l, our great artery, the Black 

 River, flowing through the centre of the 

 county, presents for thirty miles a constani 

 succession of water power, already becom- 

 ing lie favorite seat of the mechanic arts, 

 and diffusing activity and vigor through our 

 whole population. 



With these great natural advantages, we 

 should be wanting to ourselves if we were 

 not a prosperous and a happy people. That 

 we have not been entirely regardless of them, 

 is manifested by all the circumstances of 

 our condition. It is but about thirty years 

 since the first inroads of cultivation were 

 made upon the solitudes of the forest, ami 

 we have advanced to a population of fifty 

 thousand souls. We already begin to enjoy 

 the benefit of a home market from the vari- 

 ous manufacturing establishments and flour- 

 ishing villages, which are springing up in eve- 

 ry fart of the county. Many of our pub- 



lic edifices and private dwellings are con- 

 structed of the most durable materials, and 

 in a style to do credit to a country older and 

 more advanced i;i the arts and in wealth. — 

 The neat stone farm hmises with which the 

 country is studded at every point, imparl an 

 air of solid comfort, not surpassed in «nat 

 have been regarded, as the more favored re- 

 gions of our land. Especially, it is believed. 

 that the exports from the county of Jefferson, 

 of the products of her own soil, are greater 

 than those of any other county in the state 

 Other districts are distinguished for some 

 leading staple, to the production of which, 

 the farmer bends every effort. We happily 

 combine, in a lemarkable manner, the pro- 

 ducts of tillage with those of grazing, andj 

 send to market a large surplus of live stock 

 as well as of grain. 



A libeirl support of public institutions, is 

 the characteristic of a nighminded generous 

 people : and to deserve such a character, is 

 i a fair object of honorable ambition It is a 

 gratifying reflection, that the labors of this 

 society have contributed in some degree, to 

 acquire for Jefferson county a good name a- 

 bioad. And could our farmers be made sen- 

 sible of the respect which attaches to the 

 county, from the circumstance of our asso- 

 ciation being so well sustained, I am confi- 

 dent, that they would to a man, contribute to 

 i onr funds, and enable us by a more extended 

 list of premiums, to reach all the oojects of 

 production. 



But however well others may think of us. 

 we must not conceal from ours Ives, that we 

 are yet upon the threshold of improvement, 

 and that the whole field lies expanded before 

 us. Though much has been accomplished, 

 still more remains to be done, demanding 

 united efforts and the most persevering zeal. 



While I offer a few suggestions upon some 

 of the defects in our system, I am conscious 

 that the contribution I shall be able to bring 

 to the common stock, b ill be humble indeed ; 

 for, my life having been devoted to other 

 pursuits, I have but a very limited experi- 

 ence to draw upon, and must make amends 

 for my lack of knowledge, by the abun- 

 dance of my zeal for the cause in which we 

 are engaged. 



A leading defect in onr system is the oc- 

 cupation of farms too laige lor our means 

 of cultivation. This arises from the cheap- 

 ness of land and deamess of laboi. Hon 

 many of us grasp more land than we can 

 manage to advantage, and how frequently 

 are we seen toiling behind the proper season 

 of our work, with every operation hurried, 

 and not one done properly, nor in its appro- 

 priate time. Seed is sown too late, upon 

 ground imperfectly prepared ; a feeble 

 growth ensues, which comes forward strug 

 gling forthe ascendency with noxious weeds. 

 In laying down to grass, we often practice 

 the miserable economy of saving seed by not 

 using one half enough; and to supply the 

 consequent deficiency of fodder, resort is 

 had to pasturing our meadows fall and 

 spiing. In a few years June grass and Blue 

 grass predominate, and the crop becomes 

 not worth the expense of harvesting ; when 

 we break up, to go through the same unpro- 

 ductive process. What farmer can thrive 

 under such management? Most of you 

 will say that this picture applies to my neigh- 

 bor's farm, not mine. The exceptions are 

 numerous and honorable ; but is it not true. 



In fanning, whatever is worth doing at all 

 in some of its parts, of too many of us ? 



The remedy is simple and obvious. Let 



us limit our crToits to such a compass that we 

 can till thoroughly all that we attempt to 

 cultivate. Our toil will then become a 

 pleasure; every thing will be done appro- 

 priately, and an abundant harvest will crown 

 the year with gladness. 



To keep land dry. clean and rich, are fun- 

 damental principles, which if carried out 

 fully into practice, will not (ail to insure a 

 constant succession of good crops. With 

 slight exceptions, nature has provided us with 1 

 tire first of these requisites by the undula- 

 ting surface of our soil. The second is to' 

 be attained by a diligent use of the plough 

 and hoe. "\s to the last, we have much to 

 learn. The preparation and application of 

 manure, has occupied much of the attention 

 of scientific cultivators in all ages and coun- 

 tries ; and volumes are filled with detailsof 

 experiments, upon the various methods of 

 restoring to the soil the properties which we 

 are constant abstracting from it. 



Our soil, originally cove' ed by a rich ve- 

 getable mould, the accumulation of centu- 

 ries, and for a while yielding abundantly, e- 

 ven under the most imperfect cultivation, 

 becomes, in process of time, partially ex- 

 haufted bv the severe and injudicious course 

 to which it is frequei ih subjected. Relying 

 upon its'natural fertility, we have too much 

 neglected the means, amplj within our reach, 

 of preserving its productive powers at their 

 highest pitch. There are various modes of 

 applying manure b, which it may be made 

 to contribute to the fertility of the soil; but 

 it is of importance to know in what way the 

 greatest good is to be derived, in regard 

 to barn yard manure, almost the only kind 

 in use among us, when applied as a top dress- 

 ing to trrass land, though the succeeding 

 crop will be essentially benefitted, yet much 

 of its virtue is wasted bv evaporation. It is 

 unquestionably betier to apply it on land un- 

 der tillage. Until ot late years it was not com- 

 mon to use it till thoroughly rotted; but nu- 

 merous and critical experiments have es- 

 tablised the fact that more than half its fer- 

 tilizing properties are 'bus lost ; and it is a- 

 greed bv the hest modern authorities, that 

 it should be hauled out and ploughed in be- 

 fore fermentation akes place in order that 

 the gasses evolved bv thai process, may per-, 

 vadethe soil and impart to it their stimula- 

 ting properties 



Wheat constitutes one of oui most v; lua- 

 ble products, affording, under proper treat- 

 ment, a sure and rich return for the labor 

 of the husbandman. It forms a prominent 

 object of cultivation upon almost every firm, 

 and yet there is no crop in the management 

 of which hiore ignorance, or negligenoe pre- 

 vails. Our wheat ranks with the best in 

 market ; and it is an object of impor ance 

 to preserve this character, for the dilference 

 of price between grain of lirsi and thai of 

 inferior quality, is a handsome profit upon 

 the whole operation of raising it But it 

 must be confessed thai the reputation of ou* 

 county for wheat, suffers from the gross neg- 

 ligence of some, who sow foul seed in Octo- 

 ber and harvest weeds, chess and smut in 

 August 



In raising wheat, three things demand at- 

 tention. The proper pre| aration of the 

 ground ; the selection ol clean seed, ami 

 the sowing of it in good season. 



Newly cleared laud will yield good crops 

 of wheat under almost any treatment; ami 

 with such the practice of letting it follow oats, 

 peas, or corn will continue. But upon older 

 farms, it will be found more profitable to dis- 



