180 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Kxtracts from an AddrJss deliverfd before the Worces- 

 ter County Ag-ricultural Society ; liy Hnn. Levi 



Ll.VCOLX. 



'> The necefsily of labor is intenvoven with 

 the condition of man; and its resnlis are made 

 inseparable from his very existence. Yet a- 

 inidst the artificial arrangements of society, in 

 which individual situalion is sj widely varied, 

 and the immediate supports of life so differently 

 derived, man do indeed appear to have lost 

 sight of the first sources of subsistence, and to 

 reg;ard with indifference, or as of subordinate 

 concern, the only means by which, vinder Prov- 

 idence, their lives are upheld. While enjoying 

 the wealth which Commerce bestow?, and the 

 honors which Learning ami Prolrr-^ional Emi- 

 nence confer, the Art nf Husbanrlrij, and the 

 humble employments of I^Ianual Labor, are re- 

 garded but as of little moment. It is hardly 

 considered that even C'onuneicc consists in an ex- 

 change of the productions of the soil, and that 

 the cultivation of the ground has preceded, in all 

 ages, that state of civilization upon which Learn- 

 ing and all the distinctions of society are found- 

 ed. The necessity, value, and the virtue of la- 

 bor npon earth, are as certain as all earthly ob- 

 jects are important. Whoever doubts of this, 

 neefflook no further for conviction than to the 

 savage state, where man, for foot!, eats man — 

 where letters and the arts are unpractised and 

 unknown — and where, in the instinct of nature 

 only, m;ui lives a rude, fierce animal, and dies 

 unconscious of intellectual and immortal being. 

 To vindicate the arts of Husbandry, and the pur- 

 suits of Agriculture, can therefore neither be 

 necessary, nor becoming the age in which we 

 live. If civilization be a blessing, then is the 

 agricultural state, which can alone uphold it, a 

 primary good; — if the capacity of mind and the 

 jiowers of intelligence constitute the superiori- 

 ty of human nature, their exercise will furnish to 

 every niau the highest assurance of the sources 

 of their cultivation, and of the means, the scope, 

 and the end of their improvement." 



" While, in many of the most fertile parts of 

 nur country, the grower of the produce is either 

 unable to make sales, or must receive the avails 

 reduced by the charges of tedious and expen- 

 sive transportation, and tiie commissions of con- 

 "^ignees, agents and factors — a direct and ready 

 di-iposition of the surplus of our farm«, most gen- 

 erally, may be made at the very door of ll(e 

 larmcr, or, at his election, may be carried, by bis 

 own domestic means of conveyance, at a protita- 

 lile advance, to a sure, (piick and not far distant 

 market in the capital of the State. Strange, 

 that so obvious an advantage !-hould not be more 

 liighly appreciated ! Of what avail is it that the 

 boasted land of the West will produce its hun- 

 ilred-fold to labor, in comparison u'ith the stub- 

 born soil of our home, if the use for the jiro- 

 duct be limited by the consumption of the grow- 

 er? Is it that there is a deticiency of that 

 whereon to live, that the spirit of emigration 

 has gone forth, to redeem the wilderness from 

 the savage, and to reduce the waste to cultiva- 

 tion ? What, though the hills are covered with 

 verdure, and the vallies are tilled with corn — if 

 the value be in the inverse ratio with the plen- 

 ty, how does the abundance advance the inter- 

 est of the cultivator ? Wherefore is it of con- 

 sideration with him, that his garners should 

 overflow, if the price be low, or there be no 

 purchaser for the commodity ? Ke it. that he is 



spared the hard labor of tillage, is there not a 

 counterpoise in the privations of solitude, and 

 in the loss of the aids, and comforts, and im- 

 provements of society? Ask the returning Em- 

 igrant from the West or the South, which 7tuzi' 

 he most biglily appreciates — the rough and 

 hard, but vigorous soil of the East, with the 

 necessity of labor to subdue and improve it, and 

 the conveniences and pleasures of social inter- 

 course for iiis recompense — or extent ot terri- 

 tory, useless fertility and idleness, in a situation 

 where neighborhood is unknown, the means for 

 the education of children are denied, and op- 

 portunities for moral instruction and the public 

 worship of God unenjoyed? Again: address 

 yourself to his calculations of interest, and de- 

 mand of him, upon his practical experience, in 

 which is most profit, the smaller quantities of 

 grain, at their greater value here, or the greater 

 abundance at the diminished prices there ? — his 

 one bushel of corn, worth one dollar, raised for 

 the home market here, or his six bushels to one, 

 worth twelve and a half cents per bushel, grown 

 for exportation there? Nor let your inquiries 

 be thus easily satislied. Hear from him the suf- 

 ferings to which first settlers are exposed, of the 

 terrors of the war-hoop, and of the wild beasts" 

 howl — learn the new and painful diseases which 

 an unused climate generates, ami for which, 

 with " the thousand ills which tleKli is heir to," 

 there is no helping, healing aid at hand. Then, 

 when thus prepared for just comparison, turn to 

 your own situation, and say, why have you not 

 all which in human condition should make satis- 

 fied ? Why leave the land ofyour nativity, and 

 of generous reward to your exertions, rather 

 than enrich it by your industry, and endear it 

 by your labors?" 



" Habit and prejudice are powerful opponents 

 to improvement, and they are in a great mea- 

 sure incident to the business of Agriculture. 

 The cultivation of the earth, is a practical les- 

 son, taught to the Husbandman in earliest lite. 

 He is instructed in the ways of his father, and 

 the mode which experience has approved as 

 safe, will be reluctantly yielded to the mere 

 promise of experiment. Hence, from genera- 

 tion to generation, men pass on in the track of 

 their predecessors ; believing that the path 

 which is explored, is in the only direction to 

 their object, and that those who deviate, wan- 

 der to their destruction. To conquer this stub- 

 born habit of reflection is the greatest efiort and 

 best result of .Vgricultural Associations. In vain 

 may the to)igue and the pen be employed to sat- 

 isfy the practical man of the errors, which a 

 lilo of labor has confirmed, and the experience 

 of ages has consecrated. He is either deaf, and 

 blind, and dumb to your appeals, or answers you 

 in the language of distrust, and with the re- 

 proach that the}' are theories of idle specula- 

 tion only. But make for him the experiment, 

 exjilain to him the method, exhibit to his uatu- 

 lal senses the successful result — he will hesi- 

 tatingly yield credit to ocular demonstration, 

 and tardily follow in the footsteps of improve- 

 ment. 



" Of the same pernicious tendency with con- 

 firmed habits in the mode of husbandry, is preju- 

 dice (or f arm, size, or co/or, over useful proper- 

 ties, in domestic animals. Forgetting the trite 

 saying, '■ that hiiidsome is which handsome 

 does," (the Ladies will pardon me — this vul- 

 gar adage is aj)plicable only to brutes,) farmers 



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'.VI 



are too prone to consult/ancy rather than judg- 

 inent. and to prefer the beautiful, though indif- 

 ferent in quality, to the more valuable of ordi- \- 

 nary appearance. This bad taste is to be ovet^ 

 com^ by a sense of interest. When it shall be 

 known that the form we least esteem may be 

 best ad.ipied to laborer fatten — that the color we 

 most dislike is the characteristic of a breed hj 

 far the most productive to the dairy, the stand- 

 ard of excellence will become that of profit— 

 and the kind which is best fitted to our partica 

 lar object will be the first sought for attain- 

 ment. The enlightened Agriculturalists of Ea 

 rope, with the nicest care, select their breeds 

 for the [leculiar qualities they desire ; and so 

 distinctly preserved are they to the use for 

 which they are obtained, that the characteristic 

 husbandry suited to soil and gituation in differ- 

 ent distrxts, can bo readily determined bv 

 passing observation of their cattle only. In this 

 respect, we are vastly bi'hind the Farmers of 

 England. While good animals of the ordinary 

 race are common and cheap with them as with 

 us, the immense jirices which they willingly 

 pay tor the more rare and valuable breeds bear 

 strong proof of their superior discernment, or 

 better spirit of improvement. Happily here, 

 also, correct opinions are becoming inllucntial, 

 and that prejudice, or feds e economy, which has 

 hitherto excluded from our possession the finest 

 stork of Europe, is yielding to a generous en- 

 terprize in its introduction, and to a liberal en- 

 couragement of the best means of improving 

 our own race of valuable animals. 



"•• One other most obvious impediment to our 

 agricultural advancement, is of so general en- 

 durance, 3'et so easy of corrective, that 1 must 

 solicit your patience, while 1 briefly notice it. 

 The use of implements of husbandry of imper- 

 fect construction, or in bad condition, it is con- 

 fidently believed, is a greater annual tax to the 

 yeomanry of the country, than all the assess- 

 ments imposed by law. The hindrance to labor 

 in time, the greater liardship of its accom])lish- 

 nient, and its less effectual operation, by the 

 ■' toggl'd chain," the " rack'd carl," the " dull 

 plough," the " toothless harrow," the brokea 

 lioc, and spade, and rckc, anilfork, if kept in ac- 

 curate account by each individual, would pre- 

 sent an aggregate of loss reproachful to many, 

 and criminal even to the most careless. Good 

 instruments in the business of husbandry, are no 

 loss important than in the mechanic arts ; nnd 

 to Farmers I appeal, w hat mechanic would thejr 

 give employment in the u^e of tools out of or- 

 der ? or, what compensation would they mike 

 him ior time spent to repair them ? The great 

 advance in agricultural t^kill, within the few last 

 years of spirited enterprize, has been attended 

 with corresponding improvements in implements 

 to facilitate labor; and it is as decidedly for the 

 interest as it is lor the comfort of the husband- 

 man, to possess those of the most thorough and 

 approved models." 



I« 



li 



From the Metropolitan. 

 PLAKTtNG OF STOJ^E FRUIT. 

 On this subject, one pertinent fact faithfullj 

 related, is worth forty curious conjectures, and 1 

 the following is such an one. On the 28th day 

 of November, 1775, 1 removed a cherry-tree, 

 the body of which was thicker than the calf of 

 mv leg, and on the loth of June next following, 

 gathered six pounds of very fine cherries from 



