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[EX TR A.] 



PDBUSHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Age.cultubal Warehouse.) 



VOL. xvin.j 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 11, 1839. 



[NO. 10. 



From lUe Albany Cultivator. 



THE CIRCUMSCRIBED FARMER, 

 We mean such as possess a limited capital, and 

 limited desire for improvement, except in their own 

 way, often decline taking an agricultural paper, be- 

 cause it teaches nothing, they say, that is adapted 

 to their practice, or tliat is graduated to their scale ; 

 because, in fact, it is not oral, and delivered by 

 word of mouth, but has been subjected to the oper- 

 ation of the printing press. 



Let us ask these gentlemen, if they were dis- 

 posed to have their son learn a trade, or to become 

 a first rate farmer, would they select a teacher of 

 circumscribed knowledge, who followed the prac- 

 tices of the last century, or knew only how to kill 

 land, or one who was familiar with all the improve- 

 ments of the age, and whose thrift in business 

 would be a guarantee that he worked it right ? Nc-iv 

 the agricultural journal is to the circumscribed farm- 

 2r what the good teacher would be to the boy — an 

 nstructor in the improvements and best practices 

 n his business — written by those who have made 

 ind adopted tliem, and have profited by them — and 

 or the particular benefit of those who have limit- 

 id means, or cannot go abroad for tlie information 

 hey need. The modern improvements in farming 

 JO to economize labor, or rather to render labor 

 nore productive and profitable, and to keep up the 

 ertility of the soil — two objects of as much or of 

 nore importance to the circumscribed farmer, than 

 t is to the one of more extended means. The man 

 eho takes an agricultural journal profits by the e.x- 

 lerience of hundreds; while he who takes none, 

 an profit alone from his own, and from that of per- 

 aps a few neighbors. The adage teaches, that 

 wo heads ara better than one, the world eyer. 



These remarks are preliminary to some e.xtracts 

 '6 are about to make from John Lorain, a philoso- 

 her and a first rate farmer, written for the special 

 istruction of circumscribed farmers, to whose no- 

 ce they are respectfully recommended: 



"In this country land is very cheap: an excel- 

 mt ready cash market for the produce of the soil 

 enerally prevails. This offers every rational en- 

 suragement to the poor but industrious farmer, 

 ho depends principally on his own labor and that 

 f his family for cultivating the soil occupied by 

 im. He is but little afiected by the high price of 

 tbor, or the idleness and insolence of workmen, 

 hich take place in every country where labor is 

 ;arce, unless the laws be oppressively severe. 



" The principal reason why this class of farmers 

 ) seldom become wealthy, and but too frequently 

 jntinue poor, is the desire of immediate returns 



nm r.rnnninir and thp miatnlron \Ao^ timf t1io T^mi\ 



ploughing and cropping can effect this ruinous pur- 

 pose, the grounds rest with no other covering but 

 that of some scattering and debilitated grass and 

 weeds. This exposes the soil to the very injuri- 

 ous action of the sun, wind, washing rains and melt- 

 ing snows. When such grounds are ploughed for 

 crops, instead of being richly stored with grass 

 roots, and well covered by their tops, scarcely any 

 vegetation is found to replenish tliem, or to nourish 

 the crops grown on them. 



" These ruinous practices naturally introduce 

 poverty of soil, and its inseparable companion, pov- 

 erty of purse. This, however, is not all ; it entails 

 on posterity the wretchedness introduced by their 

 inconsiderate forefathers, or an Herculean task to 

 counteract the curse of poverty which their negli- 

 gence had introduced. Whether Satan is also the 

 instigator of this evil, I do not presume to deter- 

 mine, but certain I am, that it is much greater, (so 

 far as farming is concerned,) than the curse en- 

 tailed on the soil by the fall of Adam. That seems 

 to consist simply in brambles and thorns, including 

 in these, such other vegetation as would compel 

 man to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. 

 This curse we may all see is irrevocable, but we 

 may also at the same time observe, that if man com- 

 plies with heaven's mild decree, and removes tliose 

 obstacles to the growth of plants which better suit 

 his purpose, agriculture flourishes, and his rational 

 wants are abundantly supplied. 



" But when the hand of folly introduces the addi- 

 tional curse of poverty on the soil, this insatiable 

 monster, like Aaron's serpent, swallows all the rest. 

 Even brambles, thorns, &c. (tlie mild chastisement 

 of heaven,) cannot prosper where poverty has ob- 

 tained dominion over the soil, as may be readily 

 seen, for this and every other vegetation grown on 

 such grounds, looks sallow, starved and debilitated. 

 " That man is inexcusable, and ought to be pun- 

 ished for this sin against common sense, himself, 

 his posterity, and the community in which he re- 

 sides, is evident 



" Before this inconsiderate being enters the for- 

 est, glade or prairie, nature had been for ages en- 

 riching the soil for his use, in the way that has 

 been described. The fertility of it might be pre- 

 served and increased, even by the circumscribed 

 farmer, if a system of agriculture calculated to keep 

 the ground fully replenished with decaying animal 

 and vegetable matter was practised, and due atten- 

 tion were paid to the augmentation of live stock, 

 in proportion to an increase of ability, instead of 

 the ruinous practice of perpetual ploughing and 

 cropping. 



" Reason alone, demonstrates this interesting 

 fact. It has also been clearly proved by actual 



come wealthy, although their mode of management 

 was very inferior to that which has been proposed. 

 They, however, increased their live stock in full 

 proportion to the means furnished by the system of 

 management employed by tliem. 



" From first to last, they have been enabled to 

 live better, and vastly more independently than 

 those wlio relied principally on the plough. The 

 cause of this is evident: milk, butter, cheese, wool, 

 meat, hides and manure, are continually increasing. 

 It is evident that but little manure can be obtained 

 in the beginning ; however, where that little is 

 spread, the product is greatly increased, as is also 

 the fertility of the soil for a succeeding crop and 

 the grasses following it. Where a plenty of good 

 grasses and hay prevail, young cattle will grow as 

 much or more in one year, than they do in two 

 when kept on pasture, fed bare during summer, and 

 on straw through the principal part of the winter. 



" It is considered proper to remark that, although 

 many circumscribed farmers make considerable 

 progress in increasing their live stock, their lauda- 

 ble enterprise, however, is too often suddenly check- 

 ed, before they obtain half the number of domesti- 

 cated animals necessary te the proper cultivation of 

 their grounds. 



"This evil originates in the prevailing error that 

 huge piles of stone and mortar, or boards and scant- 

 ling, are the best means that can be pursued by 

 the cultivator to improve li^s farm. Hence it is, 

 that we see almost in every part of Pennsylvania, 

 where it is possible to effect this mistaken improve- 

 ment, extensive barns and dwelling houses stand- 

 ing on farms, where we do not observe half the 

 quantity of grass or number of cattle necessary for 

 the proper cultivation of the surrounding soil." 



THE NORTHERN SHEPHERD, 

 Is the title of a 12mo. volume sent us by the 

 Kennebec Agricultural Society, for which we ten- 

 der our thanks. It is a report made to that society 

 by a committee appointed for the purpose, upon the 

 diseases and management of sheep. It is divided 

 into three parts, the first on the management of 

 sheep, prefaced by a short description of the vari- 

 ous kinds among us ; the second on the diseases of 

 sheep ; and the third miscellaneous. From the 

 cursory examination which we have been able to 

 give to the work, we think it will serve as a valua- 

 ble companion to the sheep-master and shepherd. 

 There are some general principles laid down and 

 inculcated which we think important ones, and 

 which we propose briefly to notice ; and although 

 we do not intend to go into an argument to prove 

 them to be sound, we think most of them are so 



