Revieivs. — Colman^s Address. 107 



t would not surprise any one if he were to find occasion- 

 ally the same train of ideas pervading some of these ad- 

 dresses, though clothed in entirely different language, illus- 

 trating a different subject, yet all arriving at the same re- 

 sult — the improvement of agriculture. It is almost impos- 

 sible to say any thing new upon agriculture; yet so vari- 

 ous are the topics that, to an individual of the intelligence 

 and practical experience of Mr. Colman, there is no neces- 

 sity of making one address the text for another. 



The subject of the present address is the improvement 

 of the art of cultivatiou, and the improvement of the con- 

 dition and character of the cultivator. 



" An art is perfect, when it answers completely the end to which it is 

 directed. The end of agriculture is to render the earth productive. The 

 perfection of this art is when the earth is made to produce all that it is 

 capable of producing, at the least expense, and without irreparably ex- 

 hausting its productive powers. The expense of cultivation, and the ex- 

 haustion or ruin of the soil, are material considerations. Men engaged 

 in business, or familiar with matters of finance, know how ill-judged and 

 pernicious is that management of stock or capital, which, in seeking to 

 make large dividends, is gradually, slowly it may be, yet certainly, ex- 

 hausting the principal. Husbandry like this cannot be too severely con- 

 demned. It is as unnecessary as it is unwise, for it is among the beauti- 

 ful and benevolent arrangements of Divine Providence, that the earth 

 should contain within itself a recuperative power ; under good manage- 

 ment it is capable of recovering its exhausted energies ; and under a 

 wise system of cultivation, manuring and rotation of crops, its fertility 

 may not only be preserved but increased." 



Mr. Colman then proceeds to show how far the art of 

 cultivation is from having reached perfection, if this test is 

 applied — a single glance, even at the most favored portion 

 of one agricultural district, western New York, showing 

 at once the smallness of the average yield, compared with 

 what may be actually produced. The great staple article 

 of wheat, in many counties, does not yield an average prod- 

 uct of twenty bushels to the acre, while certain fields are 

 known to the author, from which have been taken even as 

 high as sixty-four bushels to the acre. So in regard to 

 corn. Twenty-five bushels per acre is the average yield 

 of corn in western New York. Yet it is well known, that 

 one hundred, one hundred and twenty-eight, and even one 

 hundred and thirty bushels, per acre, have been raised as 

 far north as New Hampshire. Grass, and other crops, are 

 named with the same results : but we shall let Mr. Colman 

 speak himself on this subject. 



