NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



'ubliilied every Saturday, by 'I'flOMAS VV. SlIF.l'AiU), Kn^irs' litiildins:. Congrn ss Stnet, liostnn ; at CJ,5iJ per aim. in ;: lu ance, or 9:!,00 at (lie cloie ol' Uie year. 



Vol. I. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1C22. 



No. 7. 



CONSIDERATIONS 



H oy THE NECESSITY OF ESTABLISHING AN 



AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 



ind h.iving more ol' the chiMren of wealthy citizens 

 educated for the 



PROFESSION OF FARMING. 



(Continued from p. 42.) 



By tlie infallilile oracles of divine inspirntion 

 ve are taught, that no man can ohtain a good 

 haracter as a christian, unless he demies hini- 

 elf, takes up his cross — cuts ofl" a ris^ht hand, or 

 )ulls out an eye, if necessary for his advance- 

 nent to perfection — Figurative expressions, de- 

 oting the extremes of sell-denial, fortitude and 

 oluntary suti'ering. Tiie same doctrine may, 

 vith a qualified propriet\, be addressed to those 

 vho aim at distinction in any of the professions 

 f civil life. Whatever may be the genuis or 

 latural powers, there must be the labor impro- 

 m, hard labor, strong exertions, struggles a- 

 ainst improper propensities, a rigid observance 

 ■f rules, a radical extermination of evil habits, 



scrupulous improvement of time, an unwaver- 

 tig perseverance, and a judicious exercise of a 

 i-ell disciplined reason in the selection of means 

 or the attainment of the objects to be nchievod. 



A generous youth, anxious about his fate; wak- 

 d from his reveries, and adverting to his lost 

 r misapplied time, «ill often exclaim with the 

 oet, 



" The bell strikes one ! — How much is to be done ! 

 My hopes and fears start up alarm'd, 

 .\nd o'er life's narrow verge look down — 

 On what!" 



nd reiiouble his exertions so to improve his 

 atural powers as that they may be displayed in 

 manner the most eminent in the character he 

 as chosen to appear in on the stage of life ; dif- 

 jse to others the greatest good, and procure for 

 imself the greatest applause, with an approving 

 onscience. 



These observations are made to wipe away 

 .10 flimsy objections which that foolish woman- 

 h tenderness, and that contemptible juide, 

 (hich are the usual concomitants of an imbecil- 

 ;y of intellect, may raise against the discipline 

 nd labor that w^ill be required by the institution 

 roposed to be created. 



But perhaps our young gentlemen, or their 

 joli.sh sympathising parents, will be alVaid liiat 

 working like a farmer may spoil the delicate 

 omplexion of their hands, and destroy that mark 

 y which they are to be distinguished fiam the 

 ulgar. What a ridiculous notion of merit ! Wlial 



contrast to the opinions and practice of the 

 lost admired eras of antiquity, when man rose 

 1 unparalleled grandeur! When Cincinnatus, 

 ftcr having, as dictator of the proudest and 

 lost powerful nation on tarth, performed sucii 

 eeds as have shed a superlative lustre of glory 

 bout his name, and transmitted it as an object 

 f supreme admiration through every age, ro- 

 amed to the plough, and resumed his occupa- 

 ion as a farmer for a livinsr. 



Have held the scale of empire, rul'd the storm 

 Of miglity war, then with unwearied hand, 

 Disdaining little delicacies, stiz'd 

 The plough, and greatly independent liv'd." 



lie 



" In ancient time, the sacred plough employ'd 

 The kings and awful Hithers of mankind. 

 And some, compared with whom your insect tribes 

 Are but the beings of a siiaimer's day, 



As in our civil institutions we have nearly 

 emancipated ourselves from all the trammels be- 

 queathed by the ages of barbarism, and with 

 which the nations of Europe yet remain shack- 

 led, so let us also discard such of their customs, 

 and fashions, and rules of taste, as have not a 

 spark of reason to vindicate them; but on the 

 contrary, must, on the slightest examination, 

 a[)pear notoriously derogatory to that indepen- 

 dence and superiority of character of which it 

 is the glory of the Americans to be able to 

 bo;tst. 



All kuids of useful labor and hardihood, con- 

 nected with an unimpeachable moralitv'. and a 

 decorous deportment, deserve respect and hon- 

 orable treatment; and wherever the contrary is 

 customary, a corruption of manners is indicated, 

 which, so far from descending to emulate, we 

 should treat with the proud scorn of conscious 

 superiority. 



Every thing in man of an effeminate cast 

 must detract frotn his character, and if vohinta- 

 rih' acquired, or cherished as a matter of value, 

 deserves contempt. Such is the lady-like lily 

 hand of a petit maitre ; which is about as pro- 

 jter an object to be proud of as the long nails of 

 tiie Asiatic beaux, cherished and guarded with 

 idolatrous care, to shew that they are above the 

 rank of laborers, and for the preservation of 

 which, elegant ivory tubes are worn at the ends 

 of their lingers. 



A number of considerations not capable of 

 cnunieration, besides those already anticipated, 

 crowd on the reflecting mind in favor of an in- 

 stitution, especially in our country, that shall 

 have for its primary object, instruction in the- 

 oretic and practical agriculture. But it may be 

 asked, on the introduction of the subject, why 

 have not institutions of this kind been formed 

 and patronized in older countries, especially in 

 England, where agriculture has so much engag- 

 ed the attention of its tirst characters^ and where 

 it has been carried to such a height of perfec- 

 jtapn? The reason is obvious. In most foreign 

 countries the fee of the soil is generally in the 

 gentry, who besides their tenantries, have ex- 

 tensive farms under their immediate superin- 

 tendence ; who make farming in some measure a 

 business, and who can afford to make experi- 

 ments and communicate such as result in im- 

 provements of consequence, to those, who, pur- 

 suing a steady course, known to be saf? and ])ro- 

 fitable, will not hazard a departure from it with- 

 out such a demonstration. Such improvements 

 are moreover communicated to their societies 

 or boards of agriculture, by which they are pub- 

 lished for the benefit of the public, and thus con- 

 stantly reciprocated among all who are engaged 

 in its interests. — The sons of such gentlemen 

 farmers, from the practice of which they are 

 the constant witnesses, can hardly fail of acquir- 

 ing a proficiency in the knowledge of agricul- 

 ture, so far at least as to qualify them for its 

 superintendence. Thus, then, every landlord's 

 farm, becomes to a certain degree, a school of 



practical agriculture, where experiments are 

 constantly made, by wealthy, scientilic, and 

 practical men, to ascertain the best methods of 

 prolitable culture ; where the knowledge of it 

 is transmitted as a family inheritance, and sheds 

 its meliorating influence immediately over a 

 wide circle of tenantry, and remotely over the 

 kingdoiii at large. And even in those countries 

 there are not wanting sottto arrangements in 

 th?ii' academical establishments for teaching the 

 scientilic parts, if not the actual practice of agri- 

 culture. But here circumstances are widely 

 different. With but very few exceptions, we 

 have no landlords and fewer still of that class 

 who turn their attention to farming. It is the 

 glory of our country, that with such rare excep- 

 tions, every farmer is the absolute, independent 

 lord of his own territory, little as it may be, and 

 works it with his own hands, and by his rfVvn 

 hired laborers: His children are his pupils, 

 whom he teaches from their infancy the mys- 

 teries of his calling; but the mediocrity of his 

 circumstances, and his habitual prudence will 

 not permit him to hazard experiments for 'im- 

 provements. What he knows of it as practised 

 by his father, will be known by his children, 

 and they will probably during their lives, follow 

 his track without deviation. Under such cir- 

 cumstances, agriculture must remain at a stand, 

 although, like other arts, its past progressive 

 improvements, warrant the presumption that to 

 its future no limits can be assigned. 



The Agricultural Societies, organized and 

 brought into action of late, operate princi|)aliy 

 by the stimulus of emulation; and the good that 

 they are calculated to do, and will unquestiona- 

 bly do, if continued with the spirit ^vith which 

 they have started, and with the improvements 

 which time and experience will indicate, must 

 be great, very great, in a department of busi- 

 ness which of all others is the most important to 

 our country. But it is evident that the good 

 derived from them is conveyed through one 

 channel, broad indeed and deep, and having at- 

 tached to it numerous ramificatious ; still there 

 may be oihers leading to the same port, and as 

 essential to the efl'ectual promotion of our na- 

 tional prosperity'. The institution now propos- 

 ed will not be their rival, but rather a co-oper- 

 ator. Its essential difference of character will 

 be, that, availing itself of all the improvements 

 that have been made, and arc constantly mak- 



in the science and practice of agriculture, 

 it will be a school where they will be taught in 

 that perfection to which they have been carried 

 by all those variegated means, and by all the 

 experience of every nation, and every age, since 

 men first emerged from a state of barbarism. 

 It is intended not so much to give instruction to 

 farmers as to make farmers from the other clas- 

 ses of society, which are stocked with such a 

 superfluity of members that hordes of them must 

 otherwise remain useless, or worse than useless 

 to the community — and while this is doing it 

 will shed a light over the profession, that may 

 be greatly useful, even^to those who are most 

 eminent in it. 



Tlie farming department in America cannot 

 be overstocked, at least for centuries before us, 



