PREFACE. 6 



writer states that * about the year 1700, the average weight 

 of oxen killed for the London market was three hundred and 

 seventy pounds ; of calves, fifty pounds ; of sheep, twenty- 

 eight pounds ; and of lambs, eighteen pounds. The average 

 weight at present (about the close of the century) is, of 

 oxen, eight hundred pounds ; calves, one hundred and forty 

 pounds; sheep, eighty pounds ; and lambs, fifty pounds.' It 

 would be a curious item in our agricultural knowledge, if 

 information similar to what we have quoted relative to 

 Boston and other American markets were correctly ascer- 

 tained, faithfully recorded, and from time to time laid before 

 the public. We should advance with more celerity and ala- 

 crity along the highway of improvement, if we had means 

 of marking and giving comparative views of the progress 

 which we have made and are making. 



Some idea of the present state of agriculture in England 

 maybe gathered from the following extract from the journal 

 of a traveller : ' Every spot of ground capable of being cul- 

 tivated is improved. Wherever I have been the fields are 

 generally small, inclosed by hedges, and made perfectly 

 smooth by means of cast iron rollers. Numerous trees are 

 left to grow around the hedges, and scattered over the fields. 

 These are so nicely trimmed as to add greatly to the beauty 

 of the country. Not a weed is suffered to grow. The 

 crops all look well, and are much more productive than ours. 

 The cattle and sheep feed on grass up to their knees, and 

 look, as we should say, fit to kill. The slight inclosures that 

 keep them in their pastures would be but a poor protection 

 against our lean, half-fed, unruly animals. Here the cattle 

 have no need to break fences. They have food sufficient 

 within their own domains. I came here under the impres- 

 sion that this country was bare of trees. On the contrary, I 

 find il^ better stocked in this respect than the thick settle- 

 ments of our own country. We wantonly destroy trees as 

 if they were of no value : here they are planted and nursed 

 with as much care as if they bore choice fruit.' 



Although we think the writer last quoted has somewhat 

 exaggerated the defects of American husbandry, we must 

 allow that his strictures are not so destitute of some founda- 

 tion in reality as could be wished. We, however, have of 

 late improved and are improving in every branch of culture, 

 and bid fair soon to possess a system of agriculture as well 

 adapted to our climate and circumstances as Great Britain, 

 or even Flanders can boast of at present. Our fields may 



