•262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



PEBRUARVao, 1839. 



ASD HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



BoaroN, Wedsesdav, FtDnuAav 2U, 1829. 



STATE PATRONAGE OF AGRICULTURE. 



What claims has the agricultural interest upon tlie 

 government ; and wiiat can the governnicnt do for the 

 improvement and advancement of it.s agriculture? Those 

 arc qucitiuni alvrays entitled to serious consideration ; 

 and which often engage the attention of those reflecting 

 and patriotic minds, who desire the welfare and improve- 

 ment of the community. 



The first duly of e\cry wise and just governmentis to 

 encourage and protect labor. Labor constitutes the only 

 means of subsistence and is the producer of all wealth. 

 "The king is served by the labors of the field " Every 

 individual in the community, from the highest to the 

 lowest, is sustained by agricultural labor. All the arts of 

 life, all the embellishments of life, all that society pos- 

 sesses or gains, all that it can gain or possess, its food, its 

 clothing, its means of comfort, enjoyment, luxury, im- 

 piovenwnt, all «rc dependent upon labor; and primarilv 

 upon agricultural labor. We do not mean to claim for it 

 an importance to which it is not fully entitled. Wc do 

 not design to speak invidiously or dispara^nnzly of any 

 other department of labor. We respect honest and use- 

 ful industry applied in any form, which the wholesome 

 cus'oms or proper wants or innocent gratifications of so- 

 ciety render necessary or desirable. But agricultural 

 labor lies at the bottom Like the utomach among the 

 members in the old Latin fable, it sustains the whole; 

 the limbs all sympathize with it; they arc affected by 

 whatever afiijcts it; and they flourish or decay, not only 

 the limbs but the highest faculties of the mind also, ac- 

 cording as that may suffer or be in health ; as that may 

 be fed or starved ; be nourished or abused. 



What would manufactures be without agriculture.' 

 Whence comes the raw material about which manufac- 

 turers are empldyed ; and how is the living power sus- 

 tained by which everything is put in motion ? What 

 would commerce be without auriculture .' In what is 

 conmierce employed, what is its very end ; what con- 

 stitutes the life of commerce, but the transportation and 

 exchange of the products of agriculltiro. 



We might claim something in fjivor of agricultural 

 labor on the score of morals But we have no disposi- 

 tion to suggest offensive comparisons. Agricultural labor 

 is conducive to health; is unattended with any distrust 

 of its moral rectitude and utility ; calls forth none of the 

 bad passions of our nature ; presents no temptations (o 

 injustice or fraud ; attaches men to their homes and their 

 country ; inspires self-respect and self-dependence ; and 

 by a direct and substantial increase, we might mor.? pro- 

 perly say, creation of the means of subsistence and com- 

 fort, adds as directly to the general comfort and welfare 

 of the whole eorniiiunity. In a wisely governed repub- 

 lic then, agricultural labor will be fostered, patronized, 

 improved ; and all will be done that can be done to ren- 

 der it productive ; to stimulate agricultural effort and en- 

 terprise ; and to render it in as high a degree as possible 

 respectable and honored. 



Wo should be glad to indulge niucli farther in these 

 general considerations; but they arc fnniliar and not 

 needed. We propo.sed to say a few words about the ag- 

 riculture of Massachusetts ; and the patronage, which the 

 State government h;is shown towards it. 



lUis often said that Massachusetts is not suited to agri- 

 culture ; and that she must mainly depend on her manu- 

 factures Her manufacturing industry is surprisiui'lv 



great. The statistical returns gave two years ago the 

 amount of her productive industry as equal to ninetyone 

 millions of dollars. It is well understood that many of 

 these returns were essentially defective In some cases 

 a return lower than the truth was given, from an unwil- 

 lingness with the parties interested to" be exposed to a 

 calculation of profits; in some from a fear of increasing 

 the valuation of the town in the Slate estimate ; in some 

 from neglect and indifference; and from some mean dis- 

 trust of the purposes for which these estimates were asked 

 It is certain therefore, that, if a perfect return had been 

 given, the amount would have been considerably in- 

 creased. We have no means of ascertaining the whole 

 amount of the agricultural produce of the State ; but we 

 believe that its amount, if it could be approached even 

 with tolerable e.xactness, would create as much surprise 

 as the sum total of her luechanical industry. We cannot 

 but hope that under the auspices of a Board of Agri- 

 culture this will presently be accomplished We shall 

 only say in this case, from careful personal observation 

 we are persuaded that the agricultural products of Mas- 

 sachusetts might with advantage be increased ten fold. 

 We refer in this case particularly to bread grains, to the 

 cultivation of esculent vegetables, to her dairy produce, 

 and to her pork and beef We advert only to one fact, 

 which has been fully established to our own satisfaction ; 

 and which we hope to be able to establish as fully to the 

 satisfaction of the public. The fact to which we refer is 

 this : That there is not a single crop raised in Massachu- 

 setts, under good cultivation, in any part of the State, 

 which, excepting in extraordinary cases, does not yield 

 more than ten per cent, profit to the proprietor of the soil, 

 even when labor, including the board of the laborer, is 

 charged at one dollar per d,ay. If it should be asked 

 why, under these circumstances, it does not prove inore 

 productive and profitable than it is, we answer that this 

 is owing to reasons, entirely independent of the capaci- 

 ties of the soil ; but upon which we shall enter at an- 

 other time and in another place. 



Wo believe in the perfect capacity of Massachusetts to 

 raise her own wheaten bread and all her bread grains ; 

 and to pioduce them with an ample profit upon labor. 

 This is our creed, which for aught we can see, we think 

 we shall be ready to sign in good faith as often as our 

 respected friends at Andover are required to subscribe 

 theirs. 



It will be said that we have made a trial of the wheat 

 cultivation; and that it has proved a failure. The bounty 

 which was expected to reach fifty thousand dollars, and, 

 in the sanguine anticipations of some men, even vastly 

 more than this, will fall short of ten thousand, as it is 

 now said by the chairman of the Coninaittee of Agricul- 

 ture. But some of the occasions of the failure of the 

 wheat crop arose from circumstances, wholly independent 

 of the capacities of the soil ; for some of these a perfect 

 remedy or preventive has been discovered. In many 

 cases the wheat crop failed from the severity of the 

 drotight. Other crops suffered severely The potato 

 crop was not even half a crop in any pari of the Stale. 

 In many cases the wheat crop failed from the attacks of 

 the grain worm. For this we believe a perfect preven- 

 tive is discovered. In some cases it suifered from the 

 rust occasioned by the peculiar state of the weather, 

 when the wheat was in a condition most susceptible to 

 injury. .Against this, of cour.se, no human skill or saga- 

 city, could afford any protection. Separate froni these 

 cases, facts and experiments of the most decisive charac- 

 ter have come to our knowledge which fully satisfy us, 

 that with due care and by a proper and not a difficult 

 mode of cultivation, which we shall hereafter fully de- 

 tail, the wheat crop may be rc;;arded as ceitain a crop as 

 any grown in the State; and evcrv farmer in the Stale 



may calculate with as much confidence upon raising hii 

 wheat as his potatoes. 



The wheat bounty of the last year has done an im- 

 mense service in turning the public attention particularly 

 to the cultivation of this important crop ; in introducing 

 into the State wheat seeds of various kinds and of the 

 best description ; in inducing the most exact observation 

 in regard to the mode of culture, to life injuries to which 

 the plant is liable, and the causes or occasions of its fail- 

 ure. We are satisfied farther that owing to these obser- 

 vations and inquiries and the general attention which the 

 whole subject has received, the certainty of growing it 

 here to advantage has been determined and the true 

 melhod fully tested. All this we think is an immense 

 gain to the State; very far more important than the nu- 

 merical amount of bushels, which have been gathered. 

 These are the effects of the small bounty given by the 

 law of the last year. How far it may be desirable to 

 continue this bounty for another j ear or years, we per- 

 haps are in duty bound to submit entirely to those by 

 whom the decision is to be made. At any rate wc shall 

 not now enter upon it ; but have other views in regard 

 to the legislative patronage of the agricultural interest, 

 which we may suggest at a more convenient season. 



H. C. 



AGRICULTURAL MEETING. 



The fourth -Agricultural meeting was holden at the 

 Representatives Chamber on Thursday evening last. 

 Hon. Mr Tha.\ter of the Council. beiugin the chair, in 

 the necessary absence of Mr Bates. The subject an- 

 nounced for the evening was that of Manures. The 

 Commissioner of Agriculture submitted to the meeting 

 two valuable communications— one from Dr C. T. Jack- 

 son, the Geologist of Maine, on the subject of soils lor 

 wheat, the application of lime, and its cfi'ecls upon the 

 soil ; and the other from I. Whipple, Esq. of Lowell, on 

 the use of saltpetre, and the advantages, which, within, 

 his own experience, have resulted from it 



The intelligent and skilful editor of the BostoVCulti-" 

 valor, Wm. Buckminster, Esq. of Framiiigbam, stated 

 that in his opinion the experiments of Mr Whipple in 

 relation to saltpe're would have been much more satis- 

 factory, if it had been applied by itself, and not in con- 

 junction with other manure. This may he so ; 5'et under 

 the circumstances in which it was applied, a^d with the 

 fact that the beneficial effects of this application wore 

 visible for six years after it was put on the laud, the pre- 

 sumption in favor of its efficacy is certainly very slron;;. 

 The value of saltpetre, however, as a most powerful 

 manure is not now to be for the first time detcrniint .1 

 We have many facts in this case direclly to the point, 

 but have net now room lo enlarge on them. 



BIr Buckminster also controverted the doctrine of Dr 

 Jackson, that manures are sometimes lost by infiltration. 

 We understood Mr B. to state that they were never lost 'n 

 the subsoil; but that their benefit was derived, to use his 

 own expression, "from leeching up and not leechin<T 

 down " These doctrines of Mr Buckminster were ably 

 opposed by Dr Keep of Boston, who is well skilled in 

 ciiemistry and geology, and r ame successfully to the de- 

 fence of his absent friend Jackson. Dr Keep is not 

 ignorant of airricultural matters, having been brought up 

 in that New England Eden, the alluvions of Connecticut 

 liver. Dr Keep as an accomplished dentist among us, 

 has long been distinguished for his skill in extracting 

 roots of teeth ; and in this case he showed Himself quite 

 competent to go to ihe root of other matters 



Other gentleincu took part in the discussion ; and it 

 is proposed to continue the subject at the next Farmer's 

 Meeting on the ensuing Thursday at the same place at 

 7 o'clock. These conversations have proved highlv in- 

 teresting and must be useful. It is pleasant lo see intel- 

 ligent minds thus brought into collision, where there is 

 no room nor occasion, even in the utterance of the most 

 opposite opinions, for any ill language or ill-humor. 

 Truth is the great and exclusive object of all minds, 

 which have tasted the genuine spirit of philosophy : and 

 in the collision of such minds the sparks which are elic- 

 ited irradiate but do not burn where they chance to 

 fall, ' 



H. C. 



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