te 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE. 



The vital importance of agriculture, in a national 

 point of view, may be seen in the consequence of its 

 neglect a few years since, when a sjieculating mania 

 seized the minds of the community, and the cultiva- 

 tion of the earth was in a great measure neglected ; 

 when the regular harvests of the field were of too slow 

 a growth, and yielded too small a profit to satisfy the 

 minds of those, who, blinded by visions of golden har- 

 vests to be reaped in a single day, looked upon agri- 

 culture as unworthy of a moment's regard ; and the 

 n.elancholy spectacle presented itself of this immense 

 and fertile country being under the necessity of im- 

 porting bread from Europe ! Had this mad career 

 been persisted in, it is obvious that we must, as a peo- 

 ple, have rapidly descended the path of national ruin. 

 But these schemes have passed away " like the base- 

 less fabric of a dream." More just and sober views 

 have succeeded, and this great pursuit of the nation 

 has been prosperous. 



According to the report of Mr. Burke, the Com- 

 missioner of Patents, for the last year, the value of 

 the grain crops and the great agricultural staples of 

 the country, amounts, in round numbers, to eight 

 hundred and thirty- eight millions of dollars ; the 

 value of the products of orchards, gardens, and 

 nurseries is estimated at fifty-four millions ; the 

 value of live stock, wool and dairy products amounts 

 to two hundred and fifty-two millions ; the value of 

 products of the woods and forests amounts to fifty- 

 nine millions ; making a total of more than one 

 thousand two hundred millions of dollars for the 

 products of the soil for a single year. Prom the 

 same source I give an estimate of the income of the 

 other industrial classes. The income of all the 

 manufactures in the Union for the same year, is es- 

 timated at live hundred millions of dollars ; the 

 profits of the fisheries, seventeen millions ; the 

 profits of trade and commerce, at twenty-three mil- 

 lions ; and of professions, rents, banks and money 

 institutions, one hundred and forty-five millions ; 

 making a total of seven hundred and eighty-five 

 millions of dollars. By these estimates the amount 

 of the industrj' of the country for a single year 

 hi one thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine 

 millions of dollars. Of this immense sum nearly 

 two thii'ds is the produce of agriculture. 



Here is a lesson for those who have regarded agri- 

 culture as of minor importance, and considered other 

 pursuits of more consequence ; and also to residents 

 of our great commercial cities, who, being accustomed 

 to the noise and activity of those crowded marts, have 

 looked upon commerce as the great leading interest 

 of the Union. These estimates will correct such 

 views, and show that, although the interest in com- 

 merce is great, yet, contrasted with that of agricul- 

 ture, it is comparatively insignificant. The same 

 amount of income from trade and commerce as that 

 of 1847, would not in fifty years equal the estimates 

 uf the income of agriculture for that year. 



These extracts and comparisons arc not made for 

 the purpose of undervaluing any of the great indus- 

 trial pursuits of the country ; far otherwise ; — for all 

 the difibrcnt professions are reciprocally beneficial, 

 and go to sv.-ell the aggregate of national prosperity ; 

 — but for the purpose of rescuing the profession of 

 agriculture from the unjust estimate it has held in 

 the minds of some, and of presenting the subject in 

 its true light. 



It is agriculture which enables tis to receive and 

 supply the wants of those thousands of oppressed and 

 destitute immigrants who arc annvially scckin.g an 

 asylum on our shores, from foreign oppression. 



It was a successful agriculture which enabled us 

 so recently to send relief to the famished inliabitants 

 of a traasatlaiitic region ; not only to supply them 



commercially, but to extend the hand of a nation's 

 charity. 



What scene more touching than that, when the 

 destitute inhabitants of that distant land, hourly 

 sinking to the grave for lack of bread, .-aw in the 

 distant horizon, through the mist of death which was 

 fast gathering around their dying vision, the fiag of 

 the republic approaching, Avhose hostile appearance 

 would now fill the greatest nation with apprehen- 

 sion, but on that occasion waving over a national 

 ship, divested of the thunders of war, and hastening 

 on the wings of the wind, deeply laden with ths 

 means of relief to suffering and dying humanity ! 

 Such a scene cannot be fully realized but by tha 

 rescued and grateful sufferers, and will forever stand 

 a glorious memento of the gentle charities of the 

 Christian life to destitute humanity, though the 

 billows of a mighty ocean intervened ! — NuwhaU's 

 Ad. before the Essex Ag. ikicicty. 



Leaves for Manure. — As the season is at hand 

 when the leaves will be falling from the trees, it may 

 be well to remind our readers that they make excel- 

 lent compost when added to the manure heap. A 

 boy, with a horse and cart, can collect a large amount 

 of them in a short time. You will find them to 

 make excellent litter for cattle and horses in their 

 stables ; absorbing all the juices, and retaining them 

 while used in sj^ring. AVe have published, in some 

 of our former numbers, the analysis of some kinds of 

 leaves, made by skilful chemists, by which it has 

 been ascertained that they possess the dift'erent kinds 

 of ingredients essential to the growth of different 

 plants, and especiallj' of those kinds pertaining to 

 the genus of trees from which they fall. — Maine 

 Farmer. 



The Ostrich, or Cochix-China Fowi,. — This 

 variety of fowl so far stu'passes, both in size and pow- 

 er, all that we have ever yet seen in the shape of 

 poultry, as to lead many, who have been permitted to 

 inspect them, to refer them to the family of bustards. 

 They are, however, genuine poultry. Their general 

 color is a rich, brown, deep bay ; on the breast is a 

 marking of a blackish color, and of the shape of a 

 horseshoe ; the comb is of a medium size, serrated, 

 but not deeply so, and the wattles are double. Be- 

 sides their gigantic size, however, these fowls possess 

 other distinctive characteristics, among which I may 

 enumerate the following : The disposition of the 

 feathers on the back of the cock's neck, is reversed, 

 these being turned upwards ; the wing is joined, so 

 that the jjosterior half can, at pleasure, be doubled 

 up, and brought forward between the anterior half 

 of the body. — Richardson on Dom. Fowls. 



A Scotchman who fattens 1;50 head of Galloway 

 cattle, annually, finds it most economical to feed 

 with bruised fiaxsced, boiled with meal, barley, oats, 

 or Indian corn, at the rate of one part flaxseed to 

 three parts meal, by weight. — the cooked compound 

 to be afterwards mixed with oat straw or hay. Prom 

 four to twelve pounds of the compound are given to 

 each boast per day. Would it not be Avell for some 

 of oin- farmers, who stall-leed cattle, to try this or a 

 similar mode ? AVe are by no means certain that 

 ordinary food would pay the expense of cooking; 

 birt fiaxsced is known "to be highly nutritious, and 

 the cooking would not only facilitate its digestion, 

 but it would serve, by mixing, to render the otner 

 food palatable, and by promoting the appetite nd 

 health of the animal, would be likely to hastt^:* .ts 

 thrift. — Albany Culfivator. 



