NEU ENGLAND FARMER 



presents almost the niilv examples in New England ly ; and to i!k>so who are arcustonicd to hear of an taste. You have met liere to-day to celebrate the 

 whore it has been attempted on an enlar;,'ed and : indeprndent estate coming as the profits of a single ^ innocent festivities of these teantiful arts ; and to 



liberal scale; and the munificent proprietor 

 of these beautiful establishments has set an exam- 

 ple of tasteful embellishment, wh'icii though it can 

 bo followed, if followed nt all, only at a very hum- 

 ble distance by the great bony of our farmers, has 

 already imparted a large amount of gratification to 

 the crowds wlio have been permitted to visit these 

 highly improved grounds; and cannot fail to exert 

 a beneficent influence upon the public taste, and ex- 

 tend its effects far and wide, though the sourcesof 

 this influence may notbealwa}*s directly traced. — 

 Wealtli cannot purchase for itself cheaper or far- 

 ther reaching or less exclusive means of benifi- 

 cence than in these rural embellishments, which 

 bring a double compensation in that the more they 

 are enjoyed by others, the greater the pleasure 

 which the liberal owner himself finds in tliem. 



Of the moral and religious influences of agricul- 

 ture, 1 have left myself but little space to speak. 

 Certainly if there be any thing suited to Impress 

 the mind with the sentiment of its dependence up- 

 on a divine Providence, if there be any tiling to 

 make man feel the presence of God near him and 

 always with him, if there be any thing to reveal to 

 man the wide spread and unstinted bounty of heav- 

 en, it is the operations and the results of agricul- 

 ture. 



What an humble ministry is that which man per- 

 • forms in the cultivatioii of the earth ; and yet what 

 wonders follow the exertion of that humble agency ! 

 Who can remark the changing seasons, the miracu- 

 lous influences of dew and frost, of heat and light, 

 of rain and snow ; who can watch the germination 

 of the seed and trace the progress of vegetation, 

 from the bursting of the dry kernel to the gathering 

 of the ripened sheaf ; who can remark the infinite 

 multitudes of animated existences, and the diversi- 

 ties of their form, orgflnization and condition, all 

 sustained by the products of the field ; who can 

 reflect upon that bounty which takes care of all, 

 and from the products of the earth daily spreads a 

 repast for every thing that lives, so that not one is 

 sent empty away ; who can see all this, and fail to 

 lift up his soul, with grateful adoration, to an all 

 present but invisible Benefactor, and see "God in 

 all and all in God." 



Such, my respected audience, are some general 

 remarks which I have taken leave to address to you 

 as not inappropriate to the occasion on which we 

 have assembled. They are perhaps less practical 

 than you may have felt a right to expect; but I 

 shall have other opportunities of supplying this de- 

 ficiency. I might have illustrated tiiem by facts 

 and examples without number, but I have already, 

 I fear, occupied too much of your time. I wish 

 most earnestly that by any efforts of mine I could 

 produce, especially with the young, a higher appre- 

 ciation of the honor of the profession, and of the 

 value and dignity of agriculture as an art and a 

 scienoe. 



It has indeed email pecuniary advantages to com- 

 mend it; yet it is not without its profits. It never 

 refuses an ample compensation and an honorable 

 support to well-directed and intelligent labor, and 

 exemplary sobriety and frugality. Its gains are 

 small but sure; and it is secure from those violent 

 risks to which all commercial and trading pursuits 

 are always exposed, and by which so many fail. — 

 Fortunes in an-riculture are not to be made sudden- 



•Jobn P. Cushing, Esq., of Watertown, Mass 



f one [ voyage or a single speculation, and to those who 

 choose only to reckon by their tens and their fifties 

 and their hundreds of thousands, agriculture must 

 be looked upon with disdain. Yet agriculture in 

 New Enghmd, in instances which every where meet 

 our observation, is the source of an ample and com- 

 fortable subsistence, and as nfien the foundation 

 of a competence and independence in advanced life 

 ascertain and sufficient as a well disciplined mind 

 can desire. 



The profession of agriculture is often cuiitemncd 

 as vulgar. Vulgarity is too often its concomitant, 

 but it has no necessary or essential connexion with 

 it. Much has been done to get rid of the vulgari- 

 ty which has been too justly complained of with 

 f.irirers by getting rid of those filthy, .useless, and 

 detestable habits, tobacco chewing and smoking and 

 rum drinking. The general iinproveraont whicli 

 has already taken place in the houses and premises 

 of many farmers by the disuse of these vile articles 

 is great, and in the interior every where percepti- 

 ble. May the great revolution go on in improving 

 and elevating the character of our rural population. 

 As education likewise advances, the cha'acter 

 of farmers must become more respectable and hon- 

 ored. Education is particularly important to the 

 farmers, not merely as exalting their profession, as 

 giving them the influence which as a class they 

 oughf to claim in the community ; but e.specially as 

 furnishing a needed and delightful resource in days 

 when the labors of the field must be intermitted, 

 and in the long evenings of winter. There is in 

 truth no condition which among us aflxirds a more 

 favorable opportunity for intellectual improvement 

 and cultivation. 



To the successful and happy pursuit of agricul- 

 ture as a livelihood and profession, we must first of 

 all things bring our desires within the healthful 

 limits of sfibriety, and acquire such habits of indus- 

 try as shail make work a pleasure. When tlms 

 entered upon and pursued, no profession, no condi- 

 tion of life, affords, under the influence of sound 

 judgment and religious principle, a fairer chance of 

 earthly happiness, better opportunities of sound 

 mental improvement, and a condition of more res- 

 pectability. , 



New England, our beloved New England, pre- 

 sents the means of this rational rural felicity in 

 rich profusion to all her sons and daughters, who 

 will avail themselves of their advantages and per- 

 form their own part well. Its rough climate, though 

 so often reproached, is in the highest degree favora- 

 ble to labor and to intellectual power and improve- 

 ment. The condition of society in New England 

 is full of advantages for rural enjoyment. May 

 her children continue to love and lionor her. 



Her soil is hard, but it may be made eminently 

 productive. The winters are long, but the time of 

 labor is in this way curtailed, and a better opportu- 

 nity presented for the cultivation ofthesocial aflTec- 

 tions, the interchange of delightful sympathies, and 

 the general improvement of the mind. Her social 

 institutions, her churches, her school-houses, and 

 the general advancement of education, all favor her 

 agricultural condition and progress. 



The mechanic arts in her borders have reached 

 an extraordinary success. May the sister arts of 

 agriculture and horticulture still advance on her 

 soil with the rapid strides of a few past years, un- 

 til eveiy hill-top and every valley ofher picturesque 

 territory is enriched and adorned by their skill and 



bring offerings of the rich fruits and the gay flowers 

 of your cultivation to that Gracious Being, who has 

 most signally blessed us in our gardens and fields. 

 Thank him from your hearts for his wonderful, 

 ceaseless, and unstinted bounty. Speed the plough 

 and honor the cultivator of the soil. Let every 

 blessing upon your labors attach you the more 

 strongly to your homes ; and remember that the 

 best return we can make for the extraordinary be- 

 neficence which distinguishes our condition, is to 

 enjoy with innocence, to improve with' diligence, 

 and to impart with lii>erality. 



For the New Englaiul Farmer. 



the'indi.\n corn crop. 



Mr Editor — In every country there is an adapta- 

 tion of soil and climate to some particularcrops which 

 may be cultivated with more certainty of success 

 than any other crop. The prosperity of the farmer 

 very much depends on llie selection of plants 

 which are indigenous in the country, or proved by 

 long experience to prosper and mature in the soil 

 and climate as the leading objects of his attentiort, 

 In New England, too little attention has been 

 given to this subject, and our agricultuie, in many 

 instances, like several other brajiches of business, 

 has been carried on amid so rapid and expressive 

 transitions in the objects of pursuit, that numbers 

 have exhau.^ted thoir capital, and without lookina 

 at all into the indiscretions of their course, have 

 endeavored to cast all the reproach on soil and 

 climate ; ascribing to go id mother earth all the 

 whims of a capricious or avaricious step-mother 

 The proper remedy of this serious evil may be 

 found in reflection, inquiry, and discussion. Wc 

 anticipate highly beneficial results from the week- 

 ly discussions in the State-House this winter, anc 

 have been particularly interested in that on the 

 subject of Indian corn. We tliink this discussior 

 of more than ordinary importance at the preseni 

 time, because several unfavorable seasons and 

 some gales of wind have disheartened many of oui 

 farmers, and inclined them either to abandon the 

 crop, or assign it a very subordinate and neglectec 

 place in the annual course of cropping. And, ever 

 some professed theorists have in direct terms en- 

 courage. I this neglei;t, saying, we had better at 

 tewd to other crops, particularly in the vicinity o 

 the city, and import our Indian corn. We have 

 no patience with such recommendations, for w( 

 firmly believe there is no more occasion to impor 

 corn into .Massachusetts than there is to import 

 granite, which we are annually sending in largi 

 quantities to distant states. We think the transi 

 tion course, which has produced most of our de 

 pressions and difficuities, is the moving cause o 

 these vast importatiyns of corn into this common 

 wealth, the aggregate amount of which no one cat 

 view without surprise, and some serious apprehen 

 sions of the ultimate eflects. In asserting that ou 

 soil is capable of producing, and that our farmeri 

 ought to raise all the Indian corn used in the state 

 we are not presenting merely theoretic positions 

 we have that best kind of evidence, experience, ii 

 the case. Our agricultural course commenced ii 

 1S02 ; it has been pursued ever since, almost ex 

 clusively by the aid of hired laborers. Till 3816 

 the most disastrous year to the crop of Indian con 

 we have ever known, in imitation of neighbors, w« 



