90 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



had DO footing; hi the Province. The profes- 

 sion of the farmer vv;ls considereil as aliject, low 

 and debasinjr. The daujiiter of a t'armcr, l}ie 

 least above povcrlv. demeaned herself by milk- 

 in'^ a cniv. The sons, again, made lil'le other 

 «3e a*" tlie horses than to ride to cluirch or mar- 

 ket, and instead of being accustomed to i)lo«2fh- 

 ing, drilling', reaping:, composting, and such like 

 operations, they croudeti to the capitol, as 

 clerks and shop-ljoys, and many of them turned 

 smugglers. The plough was far from being 

 accounted honorable, and the handling of it was 

 deemed an act of self abasement." 



Thus it is with mankind, the most preposter- 

 ous of all beings. They glory in tht-ir shame, 

 and are ashamed of their glory I We hope that 

 the portraits we have exhibited, have no fac 

 similes in the Uniteil States. Tiiat the olT-ipring 

 of New England I'armers do not consider them- 

 selves as degraded by attention to the useful 

 and honorable occupations of agriculture and 

 rural economy. We have, however, seen the 

 time when certain of the fair daughters of Co- 

 lumbia, were apparently more solicitous to 

 inuke line llgures in a ball room than fine 

 cheeses in a dairy room — would rathfr make 

 pound cake for a tea party tlian an Iiulian pud- 

 ding for a family dinner — would prefer spend- 

 ing the day in reading romances, visiting and 

 receiving the visits of idle acijuainlance to reg- 

 ulating iiie economy of the kitchen or pantry, 

 mending or making their own apjiarel or that 

 of their fathers or brethren. In siinrt there 

 once existed a sort of females, (now eillier ex- 

 tinct or out oi' I'ashion) wlio pured over nonsen- 

 sical novels till they became *"o genteel, so in- 

 dolent, so delicate, so romantic, so sentimental, 

 so susceptible of every thing that is inexpressi- 

 hly tender and o.i.'iuisite beyond all conception 

 — so very like the Cecilias, the Evelinas, the 

 Docasinas and Cherubinas, whom they made 

 their models, that they were as useless as but- 

 torllies, though as proud as peacocks ! They 

 considered themselves as too nice for the cares 

 and duties of life ; and if one of them was over- 

 persuaded to marry a country suiter who culti- 

 vated the ground, she considered herself as no 

 hotter matched than was the unlucky parrot 

 in the fable, who formed a connubial union with 

 an owl ! i hope the ladies will pardon this 

 sketch, when assured that there are probably 

 none of this species of fallen angels now in be- 

 ing, at least in this part of creation. Time has 

 hecn, also, when certain young men were so 

 much superior to the Emperor of China, that 

 they had rather tend a tavern bar than follow a 

 hrcakin^-up plough — would prefer figuring as 

 dandy sliop-boys with a ho|)eful prospect of 

 being duly qualified for becoming broken mer- 

 rlianls, to living respected and respectable, as 

 hard}', independent, stout-bodied, strong minded 

 yeomen, pillars of freedom, and capital columns 

 in the social fabric. We sjieak oi' these things, 

 however, merely by way of reminiscence — wor- 

 thy to be noted among the memorabilia of for- 

 mer ages. Already, the wise jind the worthy 

 h;i\ e set their faces against the ridiculous and 

 pernicious pritle to which we have adverted, 

 and every good patriot stigmatizes such effem- 

 inacy, such meanness of spirit, such littleness of 

 mind peeping I'lom benetith the veil of pseudo- 

 gentility, with his most pointed reprobation. 

 This kind of fals' pride ntiy now be numbered 

 with the anti(iuated and exploded follies of the 



hoop-pctficoats and full bottomr;<l periivigs of 

 the belles and beaus of olden time. 



II. Agriculture must be made profitable as 

 well as honorable. Unless this can be elTected, 

 we may found societies, multiply premiums, 

 and deliver adilresses, world without ciij, still 

 husbandry, like a beau'itul young lady ol' great 

 pretensions but small property will have more 

 admirei-s than suiters, will be moiv toa-ited than 

 followed. The profits of agr. culture consist m 

 the value of its products after deducting the 

 expense of cultivation. The slight culture, 

 which produces but small crops, is very expen- 

 sive, and often ruinous. None but rich men 

 can afford to be panr farmers. In mo'^t cases if 

 a farmer can double his crop, although at a 

 considerable extra expense of manure and til- 

 lage, he will treble or quadruple his profits. 

 Thus, if by 20 dollars expense of tillage and 

 manure, a cultivator can raise 40 bushels of 

 Indian corn on an acre, worth 75 cents a bushel, 

 his profits, setting aside rent, will be ten dolls. 

 If by 30 dollars expense in cultivation, he can 

 raise, on the same land, 80 bushels, his profits 

 will be thirty dollars. Thus by doubling the 

 amount of his crop, he trebles the amount of 

 his profits. Besides, his land, by being well 

 manured and well tilled, is left in better condi- 

 tion for future crops. 



It will, perhaps, be urged, by some, that in- 

 dividual farmers will gain very little, if any 

 thing, by that general increase of tiie products 

 of the earth, which is said to be the result of 

 new and imjiroved methods of husbandry ; be- 

 cause the less there is grown, the greater (vill 

 be the price of produce. But here Commerce 

 lends her aid to her elder sister Agriculture, 

 and enables the farmer to realize a handsome 

 equivalent for his surplus produce. Po|)ulatioii. 

 likewise, increases in an exact proportion to 

 the increase of the means of subsistence. It 

 the farmer finds provisions, mouths to consume 

 it will not long be wanting. -Besides, it is said 

 that New England is destined to become a great 

 manuficturing district. But this can never be. 

 unless New England is great in agr.culture. 

 The plough and the loom must be next door 

 neighbors, or neither of them can long be driv- 

 en to advantage. Manul.icturers will be induc- 

 ed to settle where provisions are cheapest, and 

 tliey will not be comparatively cheap in New 

 England, unle«s agriculture is iirosecutcd with 

 uncommon skill, as well as with indefatigable 

 industry. 



Improvements in agriculture are becoming 

 the order of the day in America, as well as in 

 Europe. It will be ruinous to an individual 

 farmer to fall greatly in the rear of his neigh- 

 bors, wlio arc rapidly advancing. Like a man in 

 a crowd, which is pressing in one direction, if 

 he stoo|)s through indolence, or falls thro' weak- 

 ness or inadvertence, be will run a great risque 

 of being trodilen under foot. A man may atford 

 to raise but 26 bushels of Indian corn to an acre, 

 when his neighbors and those who supply the 

 market raise the same quantity. But if 60 

 bushels becomes the average crop, and he con- 

 tinues at 2o, the prosperity of others will ruin 

 him. 



III. We come now to the last head, which we 

 proposed to consider, to wit, the skill or science 

 necessary to make a man a complete agricul- 

 turist. 



The handy work? of husbandry — the mere 



manipulations, snch as using the scythe, hoe, 

 axe or -^pade, may. in early lite, be easily learn- 

 ed. But dexterity in those processes, although 

 a valuable acquisition, will no mure make a man 

 a farmi-r, than knowing how to handle a broad 

 axe and chisel would constitute him an archi- 

 tect (iualitied to superintend the building of a 

 palace or a temple. To be a finished farmer 

 is to be a philosopher, a botanist, a chemist, 

 besiiles possessing a talent for observation, and 

 an ample fund of good sound, practical sense. 

 Good >ense, however, is of more consequence 

 to the cultivator than any, or indeed than all 

 the other before mentioned qualifications, ."sci- 

 ence without good sense will be apt to till a 

 man's head with visionary schemes, and urge 

 him on to ruinous projects. Such a person will 

 be liable to form an attachment to erroneous 

 theories and injurious processes, merely be- 

 cause he can give what he calls good reasons 

 for being wrong; and will ruin himself by rule, 

 according to sound maxims laid down by good 

 authors — not because the maxims are incorrect, 

 but because our gentleman-farmer, with every 

 kind of sense hut common sense, abounding in 

 that kind of knowledge which profiteth nothing, 

 whose light of intellect is like that of a jack a' 

 lantern, glimmering to betray, misapplies hi* 

 rules to cases for which they never were de- 

 signed, and to which they are altogether inap- 

 plicable. Good sense without science is prefer- 

 able to science without good sense, but fli# ' 

 union of both is necessary in order to produce 

 the bc'i ed'ect of cither. 



.•\s science without good sense will sometimes 

 lead into great errors, so industry without skill 

 is not only of little avail, but often injurious. 

 A man may work hard, but if he does not 

 •• work it right,-' he may as well fold his hands 

 with the sluggard and give care to the wind as 

 go to bed with the whip-poor-will, rise ^vith 

 the lark, and toil with the emmet. 



It maj' be asked, in ivhat does this skill, which 

 1^ the essence of farming, consist? To answer 

 this question would be to give a complete trea- 

 tise on agriculture and rural economy. By at- 

 tempting to do this, I should at once exhaust 

 your ])atienco, and betray my own incapacity. 

 But lest you should think that 1 am stepping 

 altogether out of my sphere in attempting to 

 address experienced cultivators on subjects of 

 this kind, I beg leave to premise that I had the 

 honor to be bred a farmer, and wrought on and 

 superintended a farm till about twenty years of 

 age. Since that period 1 have never lost sight 

 i>f my original occupation, but have attempted 

 to add to my knowledge, derived from experi- 

 ence, by reading, observation, and conversation 

 with practical farmers, on subjects counectcd 

 with their profession. 



By undertaking to survey the whole field of 

 agriculture 1 should not only be lost in its im- 

 mensity, but, by running over more ground than 

 1 can cultivate, be guilty of an error which has 

 often been censured in my practical brethren. 

 1 shall, therefore, for the remainder of this 

 iddress, confine myself to some remarks on 

 SOIL, a knowledge of which may be said (with- 

 out a pun) to compose the ground work of agri- 

 cultural improvement. 



" Let every planter, with discretion meci. 



The force aiul genius oi each soil explore, 



To what adapted, what it shuns averse ; 



AVithont this necessary care, in vaiu 



He hopes au ample harvwt." ■ 



