54 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



TON will Stand conspicuous. When relieved from 

 public burthens, this employment was his greatest 

 pleasure ; and there can be little doubt that his 

 estates at Mount Vernon uikI the vicinity, com- 

 prising several thousaii'l acres of land, were a 

 source of pecuniary profit. Like all the other 

 lands in that part of the country, slave labor per- 

 formed the ^vork. Those who now visit the 

 premises of Washington and see the condition of 

 the fields which were so productive under his 

 personal superintendence, have but too great oc- 

 casion to lament the deterioration which has ta- 

 ken place in a more striking manner where slave 

 labor has been employed than where the hands 

 of freemen have done the work. The estates of 

 the illustrious saviour of his country no longer 

 present that inviting aspect of which we have ac- 

 counts in the history of Washington's retirement : 

 the evidence of what they were exists in the de- 

 caying remnants of buildings that remain. The 

 dilapidated tomb that until lately contained the 

 mortal remains of the sainted hero with the sur- 

 rounding decaying brick fences, and the wild ex- 

 uberance of the oval garden plat in front of the 

 mansion that multiplies its hundreds and thou- 

 sands of shoots in place of the decayed flower 

 and fruit trees that have yielded to time and want 

 of protection, bespeak the beauty of the sceneiy 

 when he who imparled life and animation and 

 interest to this spot lived and was its most inter- 

 esting object. Tiiese are the evidences of what 

 was the pride and glory of Virginia husbandry 

 half a century ago : alas ! that it should be at the 

 same time more striking evidence of what Vir- 

 ginia husbandry has become in less than half a 

 century's remove from the death of Waslungton ! 

 The last earthly business in which the immortal 

 patriot was engaged was the superintendence of 

 ills extensive fai-ming operations. My youthful 

 remembrance extends back to the month of De- 

 cember, A. D. 1799, when the intelligence of his 

 death cast a gloom through the whole communi- 

 ty, and when, with the news of that fact, came the 

 further information that his death was the effect 

 of a severe cold and inflammatory sore tliroat and 

 fever contracted in personal exposure to the sleet 

 aad wet while dii-ectiug tlie agricultural opera- 

 tions of his extended ])laiit;itions. 



JOHN TAYLOR OF CAROLINE, THE ILLUSTRIOUS 

 FARMER A.ND STATESMAN. 



But I have in my mind another eminent Vir- 

 ginia farmer and patriot, less known to the world 

 than Washington, who has done much for the 

 cause of Agriculture, and who was at least half a 

 century in advance of the country in agricultural 

 improvements. For deep thinking and for those 

 powersof discrimination which fail not to apply 

 to their better use all the facts of personal obser- 

 vation and expel ience, I believe few men in this 

 counti-y have ever gone in advance of John Tay- 

 lor of Caroline, who deserves alike the distinc- 

 tion of Farmer and Patriot. 



I have recently turned my attention to a series 

 of essays written by Col. Taylor, which I remem- 

 ber to have seen when they first appeared in a 

 newspaper thirty years ago, and were afterwards 

 collected and published in a volume, and which 

 down to the year 1818, the date of the book be- 

 fore me when preparing this lecture, had arrived 

 at the sixth edition— a proof of rare merit in any 

 work on the subject of Agriculture. 



1 now look into the writings of a distinguished 

 farmer thirty to forty years ago with the more 

 pleasure from finding his ideas coincident with 

 those which for the last two years I have labored 

 to impress upon the people of New England 

 through the columns of the monthly sheet which 

 I have issued. His theory, as my theory, is em- 

 braced in a single sentence, as follows: 



" Such cultivation as unll produce both a subsis- 

 tence and an improvement of the soil, is indispensa- 

 ble to any tolerable system of .l^rricultiire." 



It has been common in some of the southern 

 States to designate the individual by the name of 

 his particular place of residence. Thus we find 

 among the subscribers to the Declaration of In- 

 dependence on the 4th of July, 1776, the name of 

 " Charles Carroll of Carrollton," a designation 

 which lasted during the life of that excellent man, 

 no less distinguished for his civic virtues and his 

 amiable and excellent moral character than for 

 his great agricultural enterprise and wealth. We 

 also recollect the name and designation of anoth- 

 er eccentric Virginia planter jmd politician, "John 



Randolph of Roanoke." So we have " John Tay- 

 lor of Caroline," designating probably his particu- 

 lar plantation, or else having reference to the 

 county of his residence. 



JOHN Taylor's farm. 



The plantation of John Taylor was near Port 

 Royal on the valley of the Rappahannock river. 

 The Rappahannnck river extends within the lim- 

 its of the State of Virginia southwesterly from 

 the Potomac which divides that State from Mary- 

 land, much in the same direction as the latter ri- 

 ver, forming a tongue of land called the Northern 

 Neck. The distance from Fredericksburgh, the 

 head of navigation upon the river to its mouth 

 entering upon the Chesapeake bay, is from seven- 

 ty to eighty miles. The valley of the Rappahan- 

 nock is generally about six miles over ; and Mr. 

 Skinner in the American Farmer of 1820, de- 

 scribes it as one of the most beautiful and pro- 

 ductive vallies of the South. The general char- 

 acter of the soil (he says) is a light sandy loam ; 

 much of it is of a reddish chocolate color, some 

 clayey and stiff; and that near the base of the 

 hills is grey, mixed with white sand and gravel. 

 Near the banks of the river and its creeks is to 

 be found the greatest abundance of rich shell 

 marl : this, on trial, proves to be possessed of as 

 strong fertilizing qualities as any manure what- 

 ever. 



Col. Taylor's residence was about midway down 

 the Rappahannock valley. "His farm (continues 

 Mr. Skinner) was distinguished by the verdure of 

 its fields, the abundance of its crops, and the ce- 

 dar hedges, which for several miles in length, over 

 a level surface, present a beautiful roimd top 

 evergreen ridge, impassible by hogs or any other 

 kind of stock." 



LIVE FENCES : THEIR ADVANTAGES. 



In those parts of the country where rocks, the 

 material for stone fences exist in abundance, the 

 reasons for constructing live hedge fences may 

 not apply with all their force. Where no rocks 

 are to be found and where the outlay can be af- 

 forded, the construction of live fences will be the 

 true economy. Col. Taylor, whose experience 

 was better tlian that of most other men on this 

 subject, says : "Live fences consume much less 

 labor (and they consume no wood) than dead." 

 Experience afterwards removed every doubt of 

 the cheapness, practicability and importance of 

 this fence. The errors of neglecting to cultivate 

 the young plants, to crop or manure them, and to 

 plant a second row on the outside of the fence, 

 were for years committed : these «ere afterwards 

 remedied. Topping, clipping the lateral bnuich- 

 es, culture and filling gaps by bending into them 

 and covering boughs to take root, were also prac- 

 tised. The method of constructing this fence 

 was the digging of a ditch and forming a ridge 

 about two ieet over upon the outside margin 

 of the ditch. The young trees were set in rows 

 on either side of the ridge, the tree upon the one 

 side left to fill up the vacant space of an absent 

 tree upon the other side. The cedars thus set 

 must be hoed twice a year until they gain the size 

 at which they are to remain. Tlie richer the 

 ground the sooner they will arrive at perfection : 

 in Europe they always manure liighly before 

 planting. " The cedar (says Col. Taylor) planted 

 in good soil, well manured and properly cultiva- 

 ted, cropped at one year old and annually, so that 

 it rises only as it spreads ; and clipped at the 

 ends of its branches, those excepted buried at 

 about the middle to fill gaps ; will thicken nearU 

 the ground like box." 



Col. Taylor puts an estimate irpon the live fen- 

 ces much beyond any previous calculations I have 

 seen. He says, " live fences attended with apple 

 trees would, I have no doubt, more than double 

 the population of the eastern sandy portion oft! 

 United States;" and this advantage he attributes 

 to the benefit of making a permanent and con 

 stant use of atmospherical manure, arising froii 

 the security of live enclosures. "By gradually 

 spreading fertility over barrenness, enclosing will 

 increase population to an extent commensurate 

 with its own progress." 



WE MAY THANK THOSE WHO TELL US WHAT WE 

 ALREADY KNOW. 



The fruits of the experience of such a man 

 John Taylor ought not to be confined to the time 

 and neighborhood in which he lived. An acute 

 observer of men and things, with the talent to 

 present ideas and describe theories as well ns 



mere matters of fact, I would adapt his knowl- 

 edge to the purposes of our pi-esent occasion. Ho 

 says " we are more pleased with being reminded 

 of what we know, than in being instructed in that 

 of which vye are ignorant." I am pleased with 

 this idea — its truth and its force are confirmed to 

 me by my better experience. Thei-e are many 

 things to us known of which it is necessary that 

 we should be reminded. No strange or novel 

 opinions in relation to agriculture are likely at the 

 moment to do us good : we can only reason from 

 our previous knowledge ; and we shall be poor 

 tiirmers indeed if we adopt whatever theories are 

 offered in utter disregard of all our previous e.\- 

 perience. We hardly need to go beyond our own 

 towns and neighborhoods to ascertain the effica- 

 cy and perfect safety of every experiment neces- 

 sary to the renovation of the great agricultural 

 interests so indispensable to the welfare of the 

 people and the furtherance of every other in- 

 terest. 



Proceeding in company with the veteran farmer 

 and stiitosniaii of whom I have given some ac- 

 count, \'. !iai I s1k'!I have to offer on this occasion 

 will li. tri T .-;itisty iny.<(_'li; because I shall feel more 

 assuiaiici> of sat'oty when guided by the wisdom 

 of a practical man than when proceeding over 

 ground that has not before been travelled. 



AN INDISPENSABLE NECESSITY. 



Col. Taylor says — " The necessities of Agri- 

 culture are Fertility, Tools and Industry." 



" A capacity of land to produce something does 

 not satisfy an indispensable necessity of Agricul- 

 ture. It must produce enough to defray all the 

 expenses of cultivation, to supply the inevitable 

 wants of the labor employed upon it, and to pay 

 the taxes. If it produces less, the farmer must 

 perish or resort to some other mode of subsis- 

 tence. Hunger, the loosest professor of moral 

 rectitude, must become his preceptor; and the 

 poverty arising from heartless attempts to gain his 

 subsistence, is his last comforter. No refiige ex- 

 ists from a calamity produced with inflexible cer- 

 tainty by an insufficiency in the" soil to supply him 

 with necessaries but to desert his home, to enlist 

 under the banner of vice, or to improve his 

 land." 



UNFORTUNATE EXAMPLES AROUND US. 



It is the misfortune of every new country that 

 its first or virgin fertility presents to the agricul- 

 turist no present necessity for taking steps to im- 

 prove it ; and that when this virgin fertility evi- 

 dently retrogrades, it is easier to dive into the 

 bosom of new earth than to repair that which is 

 wearing out The consequence of this state of 

 things is, that while the land affords a present 

 means of subsistence, tliere is no improvement to 

 give assurance that abundance will always be pro- 

 duced. 



We see around us in various directions farms 

 that were formerly productive. On them arable 

 lands have been in cultivation twenty or thirty 

 years ; and the crojjs of corn, or wheat, or oats, 

 or grass, have been constantly growing less until 

 the land may be said to be worn down and worn 

 nut. The occupant is discouriiged. He supposes 

 this land has no capability to produce beyond 

 what he carries to it. His mowing grounds, at 

 first yielding abundance of good hay, have been 

 gone over many years, until the produce has be- 

 come so light that the crop will hardly pay for 

 getting it. His pastures, which at first furnished 

 feed in profusion, are covered with moss and 

 other materials which cattle will not eat. His 

 flocks dwindle — his labor, scarcely sufllcient to 

 furnish the means of subsistence, affords nothing 

 of gain for future necessity. Increase of debt, 

 under the circumstances, is inevitable — the man 

 soon becomes di.sconraged, and he either feels 

 obliged to desert his home or give himself aDd Ida 

 family over to misery and vice. 



EVERY FARM MAY BE IMPROVED. 



Now there is no farm in this sad condition that 

 may not be renovated and improved much easier 

 than is generally supposed. The worn out arable 

 land does not require all that he supposes to ef- 

 fect a renovation. Lands considered worn out 

 possess within themselves the elements of fertili- 

 ty. Col. Taylor says : " The efficacy of good 

 ploughing towards fertilizing the earth depends 

 in a great degree upon embalming a mass of veg- 

 etable matter below the surface, and thus protect- 

 ing against the depredations of heat, moisture and 

 air, until its essence is c.Tught 



absorbed bv 



