vol.. XV. NO. 19. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



147 



for the sake of fodder, but two acres would stand cessarius of life : thus becoming more useful after 

 a fair chance of being placed under guardianship than they were, in their death. 



by his old fashioned neighbors. And again the 

 cultivation of the common flat turnip has been but 

 little attended to by us, though extensively cult - 

 vated in Europe. Every one sows a little patch : 

 a corner of the garden ; or a piece in the cornfield : 

 or the cowyard. No man ever "thinks of putting 

 in an acre or two, although all know the i)rofit of 

 this vegetable : all know how beneficial it is to 

 milch cows and all kinds of stock. By accurate 

 chemical analysis, 15 tons of turnips which any 

 body can raise on an acre, contain more nurritious 

 matter than three tons of clover, or five of meadow 

 hay. Besides, it is not unfrequent to get 25 or 30 

 tons from a single acre : that is to say, more than 

 6 tons of clover, or 10 tons of meadow hay. This 

 has been done many times and of course can be 

 done again. Moreover, the turnip culture enrich- 

 es the soil : it is the main sjjoke in the green crop 

 system, and does more than anything else to ren- 

 der light loamy soils highly productive : and as I 

 have before stated, by the assistance of marl or 

 lime, has reclaimed and made productive, sandy 

 [ilains. Now rliese are Cuts, undi'uiable facis : the 

 r(;sultsc)f experiment, of scientific farming in many 

 and various regions. And I ask why is it that 

 we have not learned from all these things ? Why 

 is that we have not done likevvisp .' 



Of stock husbandry, which has been inmh im- 

 jiroved of late years, J have only time to say that 

 the English nation is fir ahead of ours in this mat- 

 ter: and that we may know how niurh we haie 

 to do and what we can do, from the fact that, in 

 Enghin, I, since 1763, the stock of cattle has Just 

 doubled in size, good order, and value. 



Of Furrow drainage, another most important im- 

 provement in firming, which has been made in 

 England, but which has not yet reached this 

 country, I can only now say that it lias not been 

 made very lately, and has spread with such unex- 

 ampled rapidity on account of its usefulness, that 

 in a single district in England in which many 

 millions of drain tiles are manufactured yearly — 

 the supply is not equal to the demand. And al- 

 though it is attended with some considerable ex- 

 pense, tenants are by it enabled to meet that ex- 

 pense, and to pay a rent considerably increased. 



" But, says an English publication, of all the 

 recent improvements in agriculture the introduc- 

 tion and general use of hone maniite is the most 

 important. It is further stated that its influence 

 has been all but miraculous. Crops have been in- 

 creased four and rive fold, by a single thorough 

 dressing, the permanent e(f,.cts of which have 

 greatly increased all succeeding croj is. It is found 

 that no other manure is so useful, or so perma- 

 nent in its effects. And this is not theory ; it is 

 the testimony of distinguished men, of practical 

 farmers, who have specially investigated the mat- 

 ter, and who are well and practically acquainted 

 with all the circumstances. So great is the con- 

 fidence in this manure in England, or rather so 

 great and miraculous are its effects, for there is no 

 doubt on the matter, it has been so much investi- 

 gated, that not only have bone mills been erected 

 for the purposes of better prejiaration, but ship 

 loads of bones have been imported into England 

 from other countries. And it is a singular cir- 

 cumstance that the bones of those who fell on the 

 field of Waterloo, have been cairied to England 

 and used as a manure in the production of the ne- 



I have thus, gentlemen, stated some reasons why 

 you should prosecute agriculture as a science, and 

 hn^e thus briefly noticed some of the modern im- 

 provements in that science, in order to induce in 

 your minds the question " Why may we not ac- 

 complish, what others have accomplished ?" And 

 I ask the question — why may you not.' Who 

 shall say that an American, cannot do as much as 

 an English Carmer ? Who but the American him- 

 self when he says that he cares not for the science 

 or the study of Agriculture, and that he spurns 

 such learned words.' He who adheres to old cus- 

 toms while every body about him is adopting new- 

 er and belter, will fall far behind the age. And 

 that farmer who continues to farm as did his an- 

 cestors, who entertains a sovereign contempt for 

 scientific cultivation, will finil himself every day 

 growing poorer and poorer, because his more en- 

 lightened nciglihors are every day growing rich' r 

 and richer. I know that to treat farming as a sci- 

 ence, to ado|)t the late improvements, or at least 

 many of them, calls for a considerable outlay of 

 money. But the investment is sure: the returns 

 must be enormous for the amount expended : and 

 they will themselves furnish the means of further 

 improvement. There are multitudes of examples 

 of what may be done in this way. Mr Coke of 

 Norfolk, England, furnishes the most illustrious in- 

 stance. Some forty years ago he inhabited a vast 

 landed estate, the increase of which was then, 

 $8000 per annum. Being an active and intelli- 

 gent man, he introduced the Tulliem systein, which 

 consists in a frequent rotation of crops, and in 

 sowing in drills, and in his life time, by the plough 

 and a proper succession of plants alone, he increas- 

 ed the income of his estate to $200,000 ; or in 

 other words he increased its value 24 times. Of 

 him it was said, that "he disdained to hide his 

 head beneath a coronet." Somelhini; like this 

 every man may do. If we have not thousands to 

 double every few years, we have hundreds or tens; 

 and the smaller the sum, the more the need of this 

 result. The means are in every man's bands. 

 There is no necromancy in the case ; no peculiar 

 skill is needed. Diligently use the faculties God 

 has given us, and the arlvantages which our insti- 

 tutions secure, and the whole is accomplished. 



We in New England have already done much. 

 Our hills are rough and rocky and sterile; our 

 winters are long and tempestuous; our climate is 

 inclement and unfavorable ; but our arms have 

 been nervous and our hearts strong, and the rough 

 sterile fields have become gardens. The lines 

 fell in rough spots to our fathers, but they have 

 been made very pleasant homes. The founders of 

 New England had difliculties to contend against, 

 but they have been overcome. Just two hundred 

 years ago, in 1636, a gentleman writing to Eng- 

 land of the soil of this country says, " afteT five or 

 six years it grows barren beyond belief; and 

 whereas after, the land in England proves fertile 

 for grass, this yields none at all, but like the land 

 about Dunstable puts on the face of winter in the 

 time of summer." * * " For the present we 

 make a shift to live — but hereafler, when our 

 numbers do increase, and the fertility of the soil 

 doth decrease, if God discovers not means to en- 

 rich the land, what shall become of us I will not 

 determine — but it is protiable we must either dis- 

 band ourselves, like beasts straitened in their pas- 

 ture, and so be liable to destructioD from the na- 



tives (I mean the Pcquods,) or else continuing to- 

 gether be made the subject of some fearful fam- 

 ine and the misery that accompanieth it." How 

 great the change I Two hundred years ago, the 

 10,000 inhabitants of New England feared a fam- 

 ine! Now more than two and a half millions are 

 su|)ported in the same country, and the energies of 

 the land are not developed to the hundredth part! 

 We apprehend no famine now: we fear not the 

 sterility of the soil ; we war not with the Pequods: 

 our midnight slumbers are not disturbed by the 

 bowlings of ravenous wild beasts. Peace, prosper- 

 ity, and plenty is in our land. The little handful 

 has grown to a mighty host. Our efibrts have 

 been prosjiered, and the earth has smiled. And 

 now instead of fears for the issue, and prayers for 

 succor, we confidently anticipate the time when 

 in agriculture, as in everything else, we shall stand 

 preeminent before the whole world. Truly may 

 we say there has been a change ! I And shall it 

 sto])? Or shall it go on .' Shall we rest satisfied 

 with what has been done, now that our energies 

 are just beginning to be developed, and now that 

 we have inducements greater than ever to press 

 onward? By you, Gentlemen, and such as you, 

 is the question to be solved. By directing to the 

 science the same mental jiower, that you devote 

 to anything else, and the same unwearied dili- 

 gence, everything desirable will be attained. True, 

 we have not the great staples, the sunny clime, the 

 fertile soil of the south : but we have not slavery. 

 True, we have not the luxuriant prairies and migh- 

 ty rivers of the West : but we have what is want- 

 ing in those places, the good old fashioned New 

 England habits of economy and industry. We 

 have not the blessings of many other lands : but 

 at the same time we have not the curses that are 

 entailed ujion them. We have everything that is 

 needed to induce our surpassing all other lands in 

 this sci nee : and it rests with you, Gentlemen, and 

 your fellow workers in this cause to say whether 

 or not these results shall be attained. 



NoTK. — The facts stated in the foregoing dis- 

 course, I have obtained from difl'erent sources, 

 troubling myself only about the accuracy of what 

 I have stated. In one or two instances I have not 

 only borrowed facts, but exjiressions. 



It has been with great pleasure that I have 

 learned several instances of the successful use of 

 bone manure by gentlemen living within this Coun- 

 ty. The statement of English Farmers have been 

 abundantly confirmed, its effects having been all 

 but miraculous. 



Rules to be observed in the Management 

 OF Live Stock — the manner of nursino 

 Calves. 



To my Son. — Although it is believed the sug- 

 gestions contained in my letter are worthy of your 

 attention, consideration and practical regard, yet I 

 have little expectation that they will be responded 

 to either by yourself or your fellow-citizens, in 

 the manner which would be most pleasing to me 

 It is hard to persuade farmers to alter the course' 

 of their proceedings. 'I he American fanners 

 have it in their power to improve their course of 

 husbandry surprisingly, by introducing the best 

 breeds of European stock, I have not the least 

 doubt. Could you obtain for use in your neigh- 

 borhood a fine bullock of the improved Durham 

 Short Horned breed, although it were but half 

 blooded, it would be a valuable ii«quisition to the 

 husbandry of that place. 



