]NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY THOMAS W. SHEl'ARD, ROGERS' BUILDINGS, CONGRESS STREET, (POUR'JIl DOOR KRO.M ^-lATE STREET.) 



JTOL. I. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1B23. 



No. 43. 



• riiP following " Report^ ddiicrcd before the Provin- 



I I AgricnUuml Sociely,'''' in Nova Scotia, will, wc 



I ;t, be found interesting and useful, as well to the 



i ill f man as to the Cultivator. It was obligingly sent 



1 VIS ill a pamphlet (of which it composes a part) en- 



tlc.l '• An Abstract of the Proceedings which occurred 



i lb'' two Meetings of the Provincial Agricultural So- 



du.ring the session of 1823." The author of the 



t, John Yocno, Esq. is Secretary to that Society, 



i lias obtained much, and well merited celebrity, by 



Miitings entitled "• £,f /(erj o/^^grico/a," which we 



vr frequently quoted in the progress of our editorial 



rs, with those marks of approbation to which they 



I ir to us to be entitled. 



REPORT, 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



PROVINCIAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 It IS an observation verified by a long and uni- 

 rm experience, that all the arts, whether of 

 [lament or utility, are of slow growth. The 

 ventor generally sketches nothing more than 

 riule draught which, though bold in the de- 

 'n, is likely to be inelegant in the execution; 

 ,d his humble race of imitators follow the track 

 linted out without a single spark of that divine 

 e which threw the first light on the path of 

 eir labours. At times a genius arises, bright- 

 er more fortunate than the rest, who makes 

 mc small advances either in facilitating the 

 ode of operation, or in mastering some of the 

 thculties with which it is beset ; and in. this 

 u, the art, from trivial beginnings, proceeds 

 a series of steps to some degree of excel- 

 ire. But this is all the work of lime. The 



in any of the common manufarturcs, these in a : of curiosity and research waz cast round on ev- 

 short time would diffuse themselves over the cry quarter to explore the resources of the 

 v.orld, and be adopted by all nations; but very country — and some few essays were made in the 

 diftercnt hitherto has been the reception given plans recommeniled, but with a visible distrust 

 to the real improvements which have originated of the doctrines and reasonings on which their 

 in husbandry. Here prejudices of a most un- i ellicacy was assumed to rest. The farmers pass- 

 yielding temper are arrayed against the progress ' ed the year ralher in speculation than in action ; 

 of melioration ; and nothing has been found more I and amused themselves, some in defending, otL- 

 impracticable than to change or abolish any 1 or.* in attacking and vilifying the new order of 

 practices which have once taken root in a coun- 1 things. The spring of 1820, when the second 

 try. Husbandmen of all others are tenacious of | grant of j£lOOO was obtained, opened under be!- 



what has been transmitted by their forefithers. 

 The methods of cro[)ping — the structure of the 

 implements — the species of the cattle — which 

 have come down to them impressed with the 

 seal of antiquity, are regarded with a sort of sa- 

 cred reverence ; and it has always been an ex- 

 tremely hard task to clear the way for any inno- 

 vation. This adherence to existing, forms has 

 rendered the inventions of one country not ea- 

 sily transferable to another, and has caused, in 

 different States, almost as wide a dissimilarity 

 in the systems of agriculture, as in the plans and 

 maxims of government. Hence the Roman 

 plough, which had but one handle and no mould 

 board, and which on these accounts was faulty 

 in the construction, maintained its ground from 

 the origin of the republic till the final extinc- 

 tion ofthe empire in the middle of the fifteenth 

 century — a period of nearly two thousand two 

 hundred years. And since too the introduction 

 of summer fallow into Scotland was of no earli- 

 er date than the reign of Queen Anne, although 

 it had long before existed in the South of Brit- 

 ain, in the Low countries, and in France — pla- 

 o;^!e«>! throughout its whole length is distin- 1 ces with which the Scots had frequent inter- 

 iished by many pauses or intervals: and what course, particularly after the accession of James 



begun in one age, continues unfinished and 

 iperfect in the next. It often takes many gen- 

 ations to carry the system to its ulterior pitch 



improvement, and to conquer the various 

 ipedmients w^hich are successively presented. 



The justness of these views could he shown 

 )lly by a reference to the history of the ele- 

 iiit arts, which have at once delighted and 

 gnified mankind, and given grace and slabili- 



to social life. But it would be idle to wan- 

 ;r so far, when we can arrive at the same il- 

 latration by a plainer and more direct road : 

 If the mechanic arts have been as sluggish in 

 icir progress as the ornamental ; and among 

 lose none has taken a longer period ingrowing 

 p to maturity than that of agriculture. Though 



sprang up in the very infancy of civilization, 

 ad has been more or less cultivated in every 

 2;e and country, it is still very far from pertec- 

 on ; and in it there are questions of great mo- 

 lent, both speculative and practical, which have 

 ot been, and which perhaps cannot in the pres- 

 iit condition of human knowledge, be satisfac- 

 orily solved. 



Tillage and cultivation have not only had to 

 urmount the obstacles which are common to all 

 he other pursuits of life, but they are encom- 

 lassod with extraordinary diflficulties, and are 

 ;ept back and checked by some peculiar causes 

 if retardation, Thus, if any remarkable dicov- 

 'ry were to take place in architecture, n ship- 



to th? English crown. 



If fgriculture, as has been now represented, 

 be so 'ardy in its movements — if its prejudices 

 be of so stubborn and immutable a nature — and 

 if its discoveries be so difficult of transmission 

 from one place to another, whence happens it 

 that the brief annals of our agricultural career 

 present appearances so utterly at variance with 

 those which have occurred in other countries ? 

 by what friendly agency have we been propel- 

 ied forward at a rate of progression so prodi- 

 giously different from that of other people ? and 

 how comes it to pass, that innovation on receiv- 

 ed opinions and established practices have en- 

 countered here so little effectual resistance and 

 trampled on every obstacle? Before answering 

 these questions let me recal in a hasty manner 

 the events of every successive year since the es- 

 tablishment and incorporation of this Society, 

 during which our whole system has undergone 

 in some of its parts a partial, and in others a to- 

 tal revolution. 



In the Session of 1819 the first grant of £1,500 

 was given to the Central Board — a portion of 

 which was laid out in the encouragement of sum- 

 mer fallow, of liming, and in the erection of oat- 

 miUs. Although little was eflected in these ob- 

 jects during the currency of that year, much at- 

 tention was drawn to them, and a more than 

 common zeal evinced to follow up the directions 

 of the Society. The minds of men were arous- 

 uilding, ia steam navigation, m road maising or ed, as it were, from a fatal lethargy — the eye 



tor auspices. The trials of the past year, im- 

 perfect and scant}' as they were, had partially 

 dispelled some ofthe doubts which shed a ma- 

 lignant influence on exertion ; and a faint idea 

 began to be entertained, that Nova Scotia with 

 industrv might possibly prove independent in 

 broad corn. The erection of oatmills gave some 

 colour to the first dawnings of hope ; and the 

 new scheme of prizes, by which was meant to 

 be ascertained the quantity of white and green 

 crops procurable from an acre, promised a fair 

 opportnnity of contrasting the fertility of our soil 

 with that of other countries. You all know the 

 issue of that comparison, and the elevation it 

 communicated to the public mind. Oatmeal 

 now came rapidly into repute, and obtained in 

 the eastern districts. In the course of eighteen 

 months, thirty one mills for manufacturing it 

 were at once the reward and triumph of your 

 labours ; and for these altogether £260 only 

 were offered in the shape of bounties. At the 

 next meeting of the Legislature in 1821, the 

 new system had begun to settle firmly in its 

 foundation, and to present for the first time au 

 air of stability. The theory had been put to the 

 test, and partly grown into practice. The in- 

 credulous began to mistrust their former conclu- 

 sions — the wavering gathered confidence, and 

 waxed more and more confirmed. Manures, 

 throughout the whole province, were collected 

 with greater care, and every source was exam- 

 ined from which materials could be drawn to 

 augment their quantity. The method of tilling 

 was now perceptibly improved — the drilling of 

 green crops was now coming into fashion — new 

 implements were fabricated in several places, 

 arable cultivation was obviously on the increase, 

 and silently encroaching on the grazing husband- 

 ry. In the autumn of that year the effects of 

 this fresh and growing energy became apparent 

 in the superabundance of all sorts of vegetables 

 and roots. Potatoes and turnips were poured 

 into the capital in so full a tide as completely to 

 inundate us ; and these first fruits of plenty de- 

 rived from our own territory were gladly hail- 

 ed as a sure presage of that fullness in bread 

 corn which would attend the future labours of 

 the plough. Under these circumstances the last 

 grant of £800 was voted — a sum which has been 

 found totally inadequate to forward the objects 

 deemed more essentially connected with the 

 present stage of our progress. 



After this succinct account, the various steps 

 of which are within your remembrance, it will 

 be the business of this report to trace what may 

 be considered as the causes of this rapid and 

 singular change in Nova Scotia, and to mark 

 such new occurrences of favourable omen as 



