250 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PEBRVARY 18, 1835. 



wish 



assert 



immediately preceding the present, greater im- 

 provements have been made in the useful arts 

 than \vere ever made in three or perliaps five een- 

 turies at any known jteriod lieforc. It is true that 

 agrieiiltur« lias not hitherto taken the lead in 

 thesi- advances. The more subservient meelianic 

 arts have fjone forward, as a cm-ps of faitliful 

 pion<>ers, to remove obstruetions and i)repare lii- 

 eilities, leaving agri.-ulture to move with slow, hut 

 becoming dignity, as the main body in the centre, 

 while commerce in flank and rear, closes the pro- 

 cession. To pursue this inetaplior a moment far- 

 ther, it is natural in taking np aline of march, to 

 ask where is the jjoint of destination and at what 

 times we shall arrive at certain stages on the way ? 

 Permit me to answer, if we pursue the course 

 which lies open and straight before us, (and there 

 is no obstacle in the way if we do not place it 

 there ourselves,) and the only point at which we 

 can rest satisfied to discontinue our perseverance 

 in improvement will be the greatest vegetable and 

 animal productions, and in the greatest variety 

 which nature will permit. The time will depend 

 on our industry and perseverance ; it may arrive 

 in twentvfive or fifty years, it may be a hundred, 

 and it may possibly lie never. But shoidd any 

 one here present be alive, and remember the do- 

 ings of this meeting fifty years hence, 

 that person to remember that I here 

 that, at that time, unless i)revented by some unfore- 

 seen national calamity, the agricultural produc- 

 tions of this country will be, from the same labor, 

 from twice to four times what they are at present, 

 and that they may as easily be so in twenty five 

 years as in fifty ; and there is not an individual 

 farmer, w!io, if he avails himself of the means in 

 Ilia power, may not effect the same increase of 

 profits in ten years. I will state the reasonings 

 which have led me to this conclusion, and some 

 • of the facts on which these reasons are founded. 

 The primitive earths of which soil is com- 

 pounded are so ft-w in number and so universally 

 <listributed, that whatever qualities may be found 

 in one acre, another acre may be mixed and tem- 

 pered so ne.irly to resemble it, that the difference 

 c-annot be told! It follows, of course, that what- 

 ever crop one acre has produced, if the soil of 

 another acre is made similar, it will produce the 

 same as tlie first, with the same treatment in a 

 similar season. Let this position be fairly under- 

 stood by any flirmer, and, as it ought to be, adopt- 

 ed as an axiom ; and let the fact be proved to his 

 satisfaction, tliat an acre of liis ground, properly 

 managed, will yield a hundred bushels of Indian 

 corn, with as little labor as it now yields twenty- 

 five ; and it would be an insult to common sense 

 to doubt his readiness to adopt the plan an<! to 

 profit by it. It is true, as I have already stated, 

 that early prejudices and the want of more general 

 diffusion of knowleilge cause accounts of remark- 

 able results in agricuhure to be met with disbelief; 

 but tliat increibility, like mist v.diich obscures the 

 the morning sun, will soon be overpowered by the 

 light of b-jtler information, and those who have 

 iloubted the facts be tiie foremost in [irofiting by 

 them. 



I v/ill now lay before you a few uncommon re- 

 sults in agriculture, whiidi to some here present 

 may doubtless seem incredible, but every one of 

 which is susceptible of such proof as to put all 

 doubt at defiance ; and v.'hich, I hope and trust, 

 will soon become common to you all in your own 

 practice. 



I will begin with Indian corn, as probably it is 

 the staple article of our country. 



John Stevens, of Ilobokcn, has produced on 

 one acre 118 bushels and 2 quarts. 



Eai-1 Stimson, of Saratoga, 896 bushels on 8 

 acres, average 112 bushels; and 900 bushels on 

 10 acres, average equal to 90 bushels. 



In Pennsylvania, Joseph Evsus 136 bushels, 

 John Wolf 127 1-2 bushels, Samuel Anderson 

 123 bushels and 12 quarts, Isaac Vanvookens 120 

 bushels, Isaac Buckingham 118 bushels and 1 

 quart, James Glakey 113 bushels, Jesse Cooper 

 108 bushels, and Degrasse Jennings 120 bushels. 

 All these ajiplied for premiums at the same time, 

 in one and the same county, and each was the 

 average products of five acres. I could go on 

 with a long catalogue of instances, all perfectly 

 authenticated, of more than 100 bushels to an 

 acre, but will recite but one more. In 1831, Mr 

 Charles Bugbee, of Palmer, Massachusetts, where 

 the soil is decidedly acknowledged to be mferiorto 

 the soil of New York, obtained 540 bushels from 

 five acres. 



But the astonishing results of good farming are 

 not confined alone to Indian corn. The richest 

 soil in the world, unless replenished from year to 

 year, will become so exhausted by successive 

 crops of wheat, that it will jnoduce no more ; 

 while the poorest land, by skilful management, 

 may, in aliout the same length of time, be made to 

 yield an abundant crop. Most of the land in the 

 eastern states produced wheat till it became worn 

 out by bad husbandry ; while in England, from 

 land which has been under steady cultivation 

 for more than a thousand years, 40 bushels of 

 wheat are only considered a fair crop. 



It was stated last November, in the Poughkeep- 

 sie Journal, that E. Holbrook, Esq., had raised 

 780 bushels of jjink eyed potatoes from an acre 

 and that with little labor, mostly performed by the 

 plough, and that he had raised from another acre, 

 1,089 bushels of ruta baga turnips, weighing 42 

 pounds to the bushel, equal to 33 tons, 3 qrs. and 

 18 pounds ; and that the measure was made by 

 disinterested persons, who were willing to testify 

 to the production. And tlie same or similar im- 

 provements, in almost every agricultural produc- 

 tion, whether vegetable or animal, are the constant 

 and natural results of good management. Nor is 

 the advantage confined alone to increase of quan- 

 tity ; the quality of the articles, and, consequently, 

 the price in ruarket, is frequently enhanced in 

 nearly the same ratio. The produce of a well- 

 conducted dairy is sought for with avidity at an 

 advanced price, even when ordinai-y articles of the 

 kind will scarcely sell at all. In the article of ci- 

 der, when that which is common will not bring a 

 dollar a barrel, that which is first rate will general- 

 ly command cash at five dollars. 



And even here, with increase of quantity, qual- 

 ity, and price, the farmer of talents and cnterprize 

 docs net stop. He reflects that to all these advan- 

 tages he can add variety to his stock of goods, by 

 introducing such foreign articles as arc adapted 

 to the climate where he is situ.ited. He reflects that 

 the vast sums of money which leave the country 

 annually for wine and silk — an expense probably 

 in which he himself is not exempt from bearing a 

 share — might not only be saved to the country, 

 but that he could thereby convert a tax into an 

 income. 



We may view these things as problematical, and 

 even visionary, but we can find them confirmed 



by successful practice within a day's ride in any 

 direction. 



Will any one here believe that the next genera- 

 tion will be found plodding on in the same path 

 which their grandfathers trod — scratching over 

 an acre of sterile ground to get fifteen or twenty 

 bushels of corn ; and throwing their manure into 

 the river, or moving their barn in consequence of 

 its accumulation. The very admission of its pos- 

 sibility would be a libel on common sense. 



But this change cannot be effected at once. It 

 must take jdace by gradual advances, as the day 

 follows the night"— at first faintly and doubfully 

 gleaming, while the stars shine with brilliancy,' 

 but climbing on by imperceptible degrees, soon 

 changes the gloom of night to the blaze of day. 



But the clouds of superstition and prejudice, 

 which have rendered our night of ignorance still 

 more gloomy, are fast breaking away, and bright^ 

 constellations are ushering in the perfect day of 

 improvement. A Buel, a Colman, and many 

 others,* may be considered, not only as stars adorn- 

 ing our yet benighted hemisphere, but as harbin- 

 gers of the glorious morning of science which is 

 soon to follow. 



Science and art, which were designed by Nature 

 as twin sisters, for the mutual benefit and support 

 of each other, have been from time immemorial 

 alienated and estranged by the artifices of design- 

 ing men. But, thank Heaven I they are becoming 

 liaVi)ily reconciled. Science, tired of spinning 

 hypothetical cobwebs in secret, has at length 

 found out that she is indebted to her long despised 

 sister, not only for the common comforts of life, 

 but even for the instruments with which she makes 

 her discoveries ; and Art, finding herself no longer | 

 insulted, instead of groping in darkness, as hereto- 

 fore, is now making rapid advances in the perfec- 1 

 tion of her labors, as she pursues them by the 

 light of science. Every branch of the useful arte 

 is now assuming an improved character, as it 

 begins to be conducted on scientific principles: 

 but in no branch whatever is the knowledge ot 

 those principles of more importance than in agri- 

 culture. 



The same overbearing spirit, which has hereto- 

 fore monopolized all the honors, all the respecta- 

 bility, and most of the weaUh, has endeavored 

 and still endeavors, to claim all the learning 

 We have two or three professions, which, howevei 

 necessary, (and I have no disposition to questioi 

 either their usefulness or their respectability,) can 

 not produce a single article even for their owl 

 subsistence, but which are with great cmphasii 

 styled the learned professions ; while the farmer 

 who feeds them, and who furnishes the material 

 to clothe them, is in grateful return greeted by th* 

 sweet-sounding appellation of clodhojiiier. Then 

 can be no shadow of objection to giving learninj 

 to the man who labors for our spiritual good — t 

 the lawyer, who settles our temporal di.sputcsj- 

 or to the physician who heals our nudadies. 

 why, in the name of common sense, is it nc 



*Tlic list of those whose talents are devoted to th 

 improvement of agriculture in the United Slates is to 

 numerous to be here inserted, if wc iiosscsscd it; bt 

 Ihere is one individu-il whoso name it would bo an ur 

 pardonable disregard of merit to omit. Doctor II. Pn 

 KiNE, United States Consul at Campeclie, has devoted f 

 much talent, time, and money, to the subject, that it r 

 fleets disgrace on his country that he has not been in\> 

 encouraged. 



