AND HORTICULTURAL RECxISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agbicdltural Wahehoose.) 



9L. xvm.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 11, 1839. 



[NO. as. 



AGRICU LTURAL. 



measure a joint concern, at least so far as relates 

 to what are termed the producing classes ; the more 

 these earn by their labor, the greater is the acces- 

 sion of substantial wealth to the community. The 

 amount of honey in a hive, depends not upon the 

 number of bees which it contains, but uponthe la- 

 bor and skill of the working bees. The farmer vir- 

 tually provides for the other classes, and is at the 

 same time their principal patron and customer; and 

 although his labors are too often held to be low 

 and menial, by those who cannot or will not appre- 

 ciate their value, his condition aifords the best cri- 

 loriuu by which to judge of the welfare of those 

 around him. No country can long flourish, or pre- 

 serve- its moral and physical health, whose agricul- 

 ture is neglected and degraded. — The amount of a 

 farmer's sales, and of his purchases, will depend 

 upon tire surplus products of his farm, and upon the 

 profits of his labor. Double these by an improved 

 system of husbandry, which I feel assured can be 

 done, and which lias been far more than realized, 

 in many old districts of our country, and you will 

 double'the substantial wealth of the nei^'hborhood, 

 and impart corresponding life and activity to every 

 other department of business. If we look to Spain, 

 to Portugal, to a great portion of Italy, to South 

 America, or any other country where agriculture 

 is neglected, or holds but a subordinate rank, we 

 shalllfind a degraded population, characterized by 

 superstitious ignorance, poverty and crime. Every 

 class of the community, therefore, has a deep inte- 

 rest in promoting the improvement of the soil ; and 

 JA shsuia willingly contribute their .aid towards 

 enlightening, honoring, and rewarding thosp who 

 are honestly employed in its cultivation. 



With regard to the utility of agricultural and 

 horticultural societies, much will depend upon the 

 objects which bring together their members. If 

 they associate for selfish purposes, merely to mo- 

 nopolize the spoils, and withdraw whenever they 

 are disappointed in their sinister hopes, jealousies 

 anu apathy will ensue, and the association will tall, 

 as many under like circumstances have fallen, with- 

 out public loss or public regret. But if the asso- 

 ciation js formed for mutual improvement, and in 

 the patriotic desire to do a public good; to stim- 

 ulate and reward industry and enterprise, however 

 humble their condition— and strives by concentrat- 

 de and persevering efforts, to improve the condition 

 ofa district, of a county, ora state,— then will it 

 inspire public confidence, obtain public support, 

 and become a public blessing. To illustrate this 

 last proposition, I beg to refer to some association 

 which have been tried, and whose labors have been 

 ..■crowned with palpable and brilliant success. 



The counties of Berkshire, Essex and Worces- 

 ter in Massachusetts, have each, for many years, 

 maintained an agricultural society ; and they each 

 distribute ten or twelve hundred dollars a year, one 

 half of which is paid out of the state treasury, in 

 prizes to successful competitors in the various de- 

 partment.-* of agricultural and household labor. It 

 nd I believe with truth, tliat every dollar 



Address 



divered before the Agricultural and Horticultural 

 Societies ofXew Haven County, Sept. 25, 18.39. — 

 By Hon. Jesse Buel. 



I appear here, gentlemen, by invitation, to ad- 

 ess you on the cultivation of the soil, which it is 

 e object of the associations here convened to pro- 

 ote improvement in. I have been prompted in 

 e undertaking, rather by a desire to render a ser- 



e, than from a confidence in my ability to per- 

 rm one ; and in the few remarks I have to offer, 

 all need much of your indulgence, for defect in 

 yle and deficiency in matter. 

 Agriculture and Horticulture are intimately re- 

 ted to each other. Tliey both depend upon the 

 il, and the animals and plants which it nurtures, 

 r support, for profit, and for pleasure. They both 

 .minister, and are indispensable, to our wants and 

 ■mforts. They are governed in their operations 

 ' the same natural laws. Agriculture has cogni- 

 .nce of the farm, which supplies our principal 

 ants : HorticuIture,of the garden, which adrainis- 

 rs to our more refined appetites, to our health, 

 id to the rational pleasures of the mind. The 

 le fives us bread and meat, and the materials for 

 ir clothing : the otiier the choice delicacies for 

 e table, and multiplies around us the charms of 

 Dral beauty and rural scenery. Both tend to be- 

 st habits o*" useful indu-stry and sober reflect. .-/ 

 id to improve us in all the social relations of life. 

 . is befiting, therefore, that institutions designed 

 ) foster and promote improvements in these prima- 

 7 and associate branches of labor, sliould un;te in 

 leir anniversary celebration, and in returning 

 ranks to the Supremo Being, for the bounties of a 

 •uitful season. 



Of the utility of these celebrations, and e.thibi- 

 on of the products of the farm and garden which 

 re made at them, I have no kind of doubt. They 

 ring to public notice whatever is new and most 

 aluable, in a business which highly interests us. 

 ?hey perform the work of years, in diffusing useful 

 cnowledge in all the departments of rural labor. — 

 They awaken, in the bosoms of hundreds, the dor- 

 nant powers of the mind, which otherwise might 

 lave slumbered in apathy. They excite to indus- 

 .ry, to emulation, and to the study of thoso laws 

 »hich every where control the visible creation, and 

 ivhich enliglitcn and reward all wlio humbly seek 

 ind follow their counsels. Nor is it the cultivator 

 Df the farm and garden alone that are to be bene- 

 fited by these exhibitions. Whatever tends to ii)^ 

 crease and improve the products of the soil, serves 

 to augment the cnmmon stock, and enables the 

 grower to supply the market with more and iietter 

 products, and to buy more liberally of the other 

 classes in return. The merchant, the manufactu- 

 rer, the mechanic, and the proYession:)! man, have 

 all, therefore, :is deep an interest in ]jromotiiig the [ is said, 

 improvement of agriculture and horticulture, as the thus expended has made a return of twenty dollars, 

 farmer and garde°ner have. Society is in some in tlie increase of agricultural products which it 



has caused ; and so satisfied are the inhabitants of 

 the benefits of the expenditure, th.at an increased 

 spirit is annually manifested, by all classes, to 

 maintain and perpetuate these nurseries of industry 

 and improvement. 



The Highland Society of Scotland affords anoth- 

 er illustrious example of the utility of agricultural 

 associations, when conducted with a view to public 

 improvement. This society was organized in 1784, 

 but so few v.ere its members and so limited its 

 means, that it I'ltracted but little public notice, nor 

 effected any gieat improvement in husbandry till 

 the commencement of the nineteenth century. Yet 

 it had sown the good seed which never fails, under 

 proper management, to yield to the husbandman a 

 bountiful harvest Nor did it fiiil in this case. — 

 'ihe society now numbers twenty two hundred mem- 

 bers, embracing most of the opulept and influential 

 men of the country, of all professions, and distri- 

 butes annually in prizes, about seventeen thousand 

 dollars. In no country or district has agriculture 

 made more rapid strides in improvement, than it has 

 in Scotland, since the organization of this society; 

 and although \l may not have been the only, \i 

 most assuredly has been a principal cause of ti.is 

 wonderful and salutary change. Up to 1792, the 

 agriculture of Scotland, to adopt the language of 

 the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, 

 was " wretched — execrably bad, in all its locali- 

 ties ! Hardly any wheat was attempted to be 

 grown; oats full of thistles was the standard crop, 

 and this was repeated on the greater part of the ara- 

 ble lai'd, w^.le , it would prpduce twice the seed 

 thrown into it; tur.iips, as part of the rotation of 

 crops, was unknown, few potatoes were raised, and 

 no grass seeds or clover were sown. A great part 

 of the summer was einpl'*ed, in the now fertile 

 shire of Fife, in pulling thistles out of the oats, and 

 bringing them home for the horses, or mowing the 

 ruslies,°or other aquatic plants, that grew on the 

 bogs, around the homestead." But a change soon 

 came over the land. The seed which had been 

 sown by the Highland Society had germinated, and 

 its luxuriant foliage already covered the soil. In 

 181."), according to the authority I am quoting- — 

 "beautiful fields of wheat were to be seen,— drilled 

 green crops every where abounded, — the bogs had 

 disappeared, — tlie thistles no longer existed," — na- 

 ked fallows were nboli.shed, draining wa.« exten- 

 sively intro-juced : wet lands were made dry; poor 

 weeping clays were converted into turnip soils ; 

 and "whole parishes were completely transfornied 

 from unsightly marshes into beautiful and rich 

 wheat fields; and where the plough could scarcely 

 be driven for slush and water, were heavy crops 

 per acre.and heavy weight pfr bushel." The im- 

 provements in Scotch husbandry have continued to 

 advance, until, according to the estimate of. Sir 

 John Sinclair, and Professor Lowe, bolh^ high au- 

 thority,— until the acreable products of her soil 

 more than double those of our Atlantic States. 



The means adopted by the Highland Society to 

 effect these radical improvements in Scotch hus- 

 bandry, are such as may be employed by us with 

 almost a certainty of corresponding success. 



la 



