250 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PEBRVARY 13. 18>r. 



But if these li;ive .1 temleiipy to limit .s\iccfss, 

 to leave the mini! iiiioccu|iie(l and nnexercistul, to 

 prevent the attaiiment oi' any elevation of char- 

 aoter, then certainly the period and state of things, 

 which would turn men hack to them, should he 

 met with regret instead of exultation. 'l"he cau- 

 ses of such effects, if such there he, must he soii£;ht 

 in the circunistanctes of c ultivation, such were not 

 the purpose:* cf nature. We cannot overlook that 

 adaptation of all created things to the ends for 

 which they were designed, so complete that we 

 cheerfully rely upon it as conclusive proof of tlie 

 greatest of all truths, the existence of an Infinite 

 Creator. He created the plants of the earth, 

 and man with all his faculties, and " made 

 them crescive in their quality." He ordained 

 the plants and the minds of men to grow hy 

 man's cultivation. The culture of the under- 

 standing and of the fruits of the earth, are equally 

 duties, though perhaps not in equal degree ; and 

 the proper performance of the one cannot he pre- 

 sumed inconsistent with the due discharge of the 

 other. It cannot be supposed that man has been 

 created with an inevitable necessity of engaging 

 in labors not compatible with the growth and ex- 

 ercise of the higher attributes of his nature. If 

 he has been designed for such employments, they 

 are fitted to man lis he is — a being possessed of 

 reason and affections intended to be strengthened 

 and purified, elevated and enlightened, thr mgh a 

 progress of illimitable perfection. Agriculture 

 cannot be intended to check, hut rather to facili- 

 tate this progress. Rightly |iracticed, it must tend 

 to accomplish in man the purposes of creation. 

 It is true that as governments have been couunon- 

 ly framed and adniiiiistercd for the benefit of the 

 few, and against the rights of the many, the agri- 

 cultural classes, owing to a variety of causes, have 

 usually been those from whose oppression the 

 means of supporting this order of things have been 

 drawn. In their scattered dwellings, in ignorance, 

 and with no means of acquiring knowledge, in 

 constant view of an entire equality of wretched- 

 ness among all who labor; with no extensive in- 

 tercourse, even among their own class, and with- 

 out concert, it has been easy to maintain unequal 

 laws over them, without much apprehension of 

 resistance. It has therefore been the effect of 

 most political institutions to depress this interest 

 into a state of subordination and vassalage, so that 

 it might be wielded without any will of its own, 

 as the interest or ambition of the more favored 

 class, called the State, should dictate. Such is 

 now the debased condition of the laboring classes 

 of Europe. Not content in general with drawing 

 from their earnings, what may he required to sup- 

 port the luxury of their landlords, precautious have 

 been taken to prevent the laborer, though he may 

 sometimes a little improve liis condition, from ri- 

 sing above it into auother S|)herc. The laborer 

 has no share of political influence ; no participa- 

 tion of political power, and by the attempt to e.x- 

 ercise any, he would in most countries incur the 

 guilt of treason. 



The same classes which in other governments 

 are thus proscribed, are here the depositories of 

 all political power. They are in any sense . of 

 fact or theory, the people. On their moral and 

 intellectual character depend the honor and pros- 

 perity of the nation. These require that their 

 ranks should be full of those who understand the 

 trusts reposed on them, and in those ranks shoidd 

 be found such inducements as will engage the af- 



fections, and animate the hopes of youth. 'J'hey 

 sluiiild he able to discover m them their way to 

 that estimation and respect, of which it should be 

 the oljject of all education to make them seek to 

 he worthy. When agriculture loses the services of 

 of youth, and they desert ils fields for other employ- 

 ments, it is as though spring should he struck fron, 

 the seasons of the year, or should forget to bloom. 

 In order to this, the spirit of improvement which 

 is diffusing itself so largely into every other de- 

 partment of life, ."should in this be animated. li 

 the agricultural products of Europe are now to he 

 met in onr own market, the competition must be 

 met with new efforts, or the agriculture of onr 

 country will still more decline. 



If the whole ))opulation of the Union shoidd he 

 collected upon New England, if her commerce 

 and manufactures were then to be increased in 

 still greater proportion than this increase of the 

 population, from what shores, and by what navies 

 should the provisions for her supply be freighted ? 

 England, on an extent of territory considerably less 

 than that of New England, contains a population 

 equal to that of the whole United States, at the last 

 census. Yet such is her coni.dence inithe resour- 

 ces and products of her own agriculture, that the 

 wnportation of all such articdes as they can supply 

 is reslramed. How wonderful is the spectacle, 

 when having provided for her own consumption, 

 we see that narrow island, loaded and crowded 

 with its millions, excelling the world in arts and 

 commerce, imparting from the stores of its abun- 

 dant fertility, grain for the food of the people scat- 

 tered over this broad continent. Whan an illus- 

 tration is this of what agriculture may be made to 

 accomplish ! Yet all the improvements that have 

 made the agriculture of that country so produc- 

 tive, date back to a period little beyond the last 

 half century. Before this time, land was looked 

 upon as a source of power, rathei than of reve- 

 nue. The object of cultivation was a mere and 

 a very wretched subsistence. The only modes of 

 cultivation, were those which descended liketheir 

 religion and their laws, from their ancestors. Such 

 however, since that time, has been the progress of 

 improvement, it is now doubtful, whether witli all 

 the advantages of labor-saving machinery, the ad- 

 vances made in nianiifactnres.have much exceed- 

 ed those made in agriculture. In the meantime 

 the inci ease of her population has only been equal- 

 led by that of the United States. The stock to be 

 maintained from the products of the soil has mul- 

 tiplied in a still greater ratio. A greater luxu- 

 riance ju the productions of the earth, the fruit of 

 a richer culture, has added to the size and improv- 

 ed the symmetry of the domestic animals. At the 

 beginning of the last century, the avs rage gross 

 weight of the cattle brought to the market in Smith- 

 field, did not exceed three hundred and seventy 

 pounds, and that of sheep, twenty-eight pounds ; 

 the present average weight of cattle in the same 

 market, is eight hundred pounds, and of sheep, 

 eighty pounds. And the limits of improvement 

 are by no means supposed to be attained. It is 

 the opinion of practical men best acquainted with 

 the subject, that the raw produce of the Island 

 might well nigh he doubled, without any greater 

 proportional expense being incurred in the pro- 

 duction.* 



Previous to 1763, no improvements had been 

 made in the agriculture of Scotland. There was 



no rotation of crops ; fallows were iniknovMi; the 

 process and the impleuienls were alike wretched ; 

 neither turnips, clover or potatoes had hetn so 

 much as heard of, but corn followed corn in un- 

 broken succession.* To introduce the new sys- 

 tems, which have been attended with so much 

 improvement, has been the work of a few names, 

 as well entitled to the memory and honors of ]ios- 

 lerity, as any that are borne on the pages of his- 

 tory. It will be the dawn of a brighter day to 

 this interest, when more adequate justice is done 

 by public opinion, to the merits and services of its 

 benefactors, 'j'he title of Father of Scottish Ag- 

 ri ultiire, conferred on William Dawson, was an 

 expression of public gratitude, scarcely less hon- 

 orable to his countrymen than to him. liy the 

 system of culture which he introduced, the pro- 

 duction has grown to be twelve limes greater than 

 formerly, while the fertility of the soil is kept up 

 with a proportionate increase of profits. 



We thus see that in Great Britain, agriculture 

 has furnished hands for the labors of manufac- 

 tures, and has then run with them an equal race. 

 Their manufactures have been multiplying, and 

 vill.'.ges springing into existente in the same man-' 

 ner as in our own vicinity. The land has there 

 been tasked to equal the produce to the demands, 

 however large they might be. Something ap- 

 (iroacbing to the sameefi'ect may here be witness- 

 ed in the immediate neighborhood of manufactur- 

 ing settlements. They have encouraged farming 

 by creating a demand, and providing a ready mar- 

 ket for its products. Still, even in these uistricts, 

 the supply is very deficient, and the prices high. 

 If hitherto manufactures have nourished agricul- 

 ture, it cannot be told how soon manufactures may 

 seek a return of the benefit, in the form of a more 

 abundant and cheaper supply. 



The example of England teaches what may be 

 effected by systematic and scientific modes of cul- 

 tivation. So far, that country furnishes a model 

 for imitation, and no farther. Better would it be 

 that our agricultnit> should retrograde an hun- 

 dred years, than that any conceivable iminove- 

 ment in it. should be purchased by the adoption 

 of the policy of that country, under which this in- 

 crease of production has been effected. 'I he land- 

 lords grasp all the profits, and amid this immense 

 accession of national wealth, the laborer, who has 

 earned it all, receives only the boon of the ex- 

 change of wheat bread instead of rye. An increas- 

 ing family, sickness or old age, write his name on 

 the list of paupers. 



It is true that the agricultmal improvements 

 made in Great Britain have been idlecled under 

 commercial regulations directly designed lor their 

 encouragement. 'J he tenure of lands has enabled 

 one hand to grasp the profits of many. By these 

 and other means the price of land has been kept 

 so high that no man, not ahead}' in the possession 

 of riches, could purchase, and so many have been 

 in this situation, with no dependance hut tiieir 

 labor,that they have been obliged to work on such 

 terms as the landholders imposed. In this man- 

 ner to the rich has been applied the stimulus of 

 large gains, and to the poor that of an unbending 

 necessity. The rieh have made farming a study, 

 and applied to its management the rules and prin- 

 ciples of science. The labors of the tenant have;! 

 received direction from Ihi; studied skill and scien- 

 tific knowledge of the landlord. 



Edinburgh Review, No. 126. 



* Edinburgh Review. 



