84 



NEW" ENGLAND FARMER 



SEPT. 13, 18 4 3. 



SPEECH OF MR COLMAN AT THE DIN- 

 NER OF THE HIGHLAND AGRICULIU- 

 RAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND. 

 Tlie great animal Show of tliii Society, took 

 place at Dundee on the 8th and 9th of August. 

 The grand dinner took place on the 9th, the Duke 

 of Richmond in the chair. After a number of 

 toasts and speeches, the chairman gave — 



" The distinguished visitors who have honored 

 us with their presence." 



Our fellow-countryman, Henry Colman, Esq., 

 rose and said : 



My Lord Duke: — I fcrl myself greatly honored 

 by being called upon to join in the festivities of 

 the evening. I am delighted to find myself among 

 the enlightened and accomplished farmers of Scot- 

 land — among the most enlightened and the most 

 accomplished farmers in the world. Sinclair's 

 Husbandry of Scotland was among my earliest ag- 

 ricultural reading; and this, together with the pub- 

 lications of the Highland Agricultural Society, 

 among the most valuable ever given to the world, 

 uniting, in an eminent degree, " science with prac- 

 tice," have made me always strongly desirous of 

 seeing Scotland. To my great regret, I passed 

 through the Lothians by night — (I mean to see 

 them by broad daylight) — but the gardening from 

 Edinburgh to Leith, and the agriculture, since 

 leaving the Firth of Forth, until I reached the Tay, 

 have more than realized my expectations. I have 

 seen a great deal of good farming in both hen)is- 

 pherea ; but in exactness and neatness of cultiva- 

 tion, in the richness of the crops, and the beauty 

 of fields waving with their golden treasure, and in 

 the admirable condition of the fences and the farm 

 buildings within this district, I have never seen 

 this farmi.'ig surpassed. 



It is often sneeringly asked — excuse me for say- 

 ing by blockheads — what has science done, or 

 what has science to do with agriculture ? I an- 

 swer, all that its friends claim for it. To science 

 and philosophy are directly due the in)proved con- 

 dition and productiveness of these fields. Science 

 is the observation and aocuniulation of facts ; phi- 

 losophy is the wise and judicious application of 

 these facts to practice. The high and improved 

 condition of those fields, the improved implements 

 employed in their cultivation and management, the 

 construction of the farm buildings and appurtenan- 

 ces, the improvement of the live stock kept upon 

 them, the application of labor and capital, and the 

 whole arrangements, so as to bring about a profita- 

 ble result, are all the work of wisdom, gathered 

 from the only true source of wisdom — experience 

 and observation. If the hand has labored success- 

 fully, it is only because it has been directed by a 

 ■wise and enlightened mind. Wherever the mind 

 works, there is science. The more the mind is 

 improved, the more agriculture must be improved. 

 And no art, when we consider its various details 

 and relations, presents so wide a field for scientific 

 inquiry ; no one, in its bearings upon human im- 

 provement and comfort, is more worthy to occupy 

 the highest powers of the most gifted intellect. 

 What I desire is, to see the profession of agricul- 

 ture occupying its proper place among the humane 

 and liberal professions ; not merely as a servile 

 drudgery, not as a matter of mere trade, of pecu- 

 niary calculation — for these are low views of its 

 character — but as a profession and art, in so claim, 

 ing the aid and contributions of all the branches 

 of natural science, and its bearings upon individu- 



al and social virtue and hapi)iness, so full of moral 

 and religious cotisideralions. as to render it, as a 

 pursuit of life, worthy of the best men and the best 

 minds. I claim for an enlightened and improved 

 agriculture a place among the highest pursuits of 

 philanthropy. In its proper character, no pursuit 

 is more beneficial. Its true end is to multiply the 

 productions of the earth. In proportion as these 

 are increased, human happiness, and consequently 

 human improvement, are best provided for. 



I received a letter from abroad, a few days since, 

 from a gentleman, congratulating himself upon the 

 prospect of a short crop, because, as he said, it 

 would increase prices. I have no sympathy with 

 such sentiments. I detest them. I should be glad 

 to see bread as plentiful as the ancient manna, 

 though I should be sorry to see it attainable in any 

 case without labor ; and I trust I may profes^ my 

 creed without giving offence to any party, which 

 is, to make bread cheap by increased production. 

 This will secure to the landlord his rent, to the 

 tenant his profits, and to the poor man his supply. 

 What seems to me, as a passing traveller through 

 your rich, beautiful and magnificent country, most 

 to demand the attention of the influential and pow. 

 erful, is the condition of the laboring classes. In 

 a Christian country, abounding in wealth and 

 knowledge, no honest, sober, and industrious man 

 should ever be compelled to suffer for the food 

 which is needful to sustain his body, or the bread 

 of wisdom and life, which may feed his mind and 

 soul. IJut his physical necessities must be sup. 

 plied before you can provide, with any success, 

 for his moral and intellectual wants. In passing 

 through your beautiful country since I crossed the 

 Firth, I was delighted to see the improved condi- 

 tion, in thiMr external appearance, of the new cot- 

 tages, compared with that of some of the old, which 

 are etill standing. This is as it should be. The 

 man who, by his toil and sweat, under the blessing 

 of heaven, brings bread from the earth, upon the 

 plainest principles of common justice, as well as 

 every consideration of humanity, should have the 

 full share of the fruits of his own labor. 



The condition of society is portentous. Ava- 

 rice and ambition are still rife enough in every de- 

 partment of life ; but I think men are every where 

 waking up to a sense of the inalienable rights of 

 humanity, and great minds are every where becom- 

 ing conscious of their great duties to mankind. Do 

 not let us linger behind the age, nor impede this 

 great movement. The noblest purpose that can 

 actuate the mind, is a purpose of benevolence ; 

 and the sentiment which, above all others, refresh- 

 es and elevates it, is the consciousness of duty 

 performed. You, my Lord Duke, in the course of 

 a life which has not been long, have been called 

 to great duties, and to arduous and perilous exer- 

 tions. Now you will pardon me for saying, that 

 which I cannot doubt, that when the field of battle 

 has been won by your valor, the pleasure which 

 then filled your bosom was not in chasing a flying 

 and terrified enemy, nor in waving the ensigns of 

 victory over fields crimsoned with blood and strew- 

 ed with the dying and the dead. O! no — but you 

 then found your richest pleafure in having per- 

 formed what you deemed your duty to your coun- 

 try, in breaking the rod of the oppressor, and in 

 vindicating the rights and liberties of mankind ; 

 so, ton, my Lord, in the patriotic and generous de- 

 votion of your time and talents to win a more hum- 

 ble field, and to achieve victories, not by the sword 

 but by the plow, your highest gratification, and 



that of your higliminded associates will be fonn( 

 not in any mere triumphs of art or skill, not in an 

 selfish or merely pecuniary accumulations, but i 

 multiplying and improving the productions of th 

 earth to the widest extent, by all the appliance 

 of industry, art, and science, that so the geners 

 and universal comfort and happiness of all classes 

 of thoso who must take care of themselves, and c 

 those whom others must take care of, may be ever 

 where promoted. 



My Lords and Gentlemen — I beg leave to ex 

 press my deep admiration of the success of th 

 Highland Agricultural Society, as witnessed in th 

 splendid exhibition of this day — to repeat m 

 thanks for the kindness with which I have bee 

 received, and to express the wish that those " h 

 live by the field may see that there is always plor 

 ty of bread and plenty of clothing, and plenty < 

 kindness, for the honest and industrious labore 

 and — what I believe has never been wanting i 

 Scotland — a free and useful education for his cliiU 

 ren. 



NEW METHOD OF MAKING MANURE. 

 The subject of increasing their store of manure 

 is wisely occupying much of the attention of tf 

 farmers, for they find them indispensable in an in 

 proved system of agriculture. The following e) 

 tract is taken from the ''Farirer's Mine of Wealtl 

 or .Manure and Tillage ;" a very valuable wor'< h 

 Mr Hermance, just published by Saxton & Mile 

 It gives a somewhat novel method of making mn 

 nure ; and by strictly following it, the farmer wi 

 find that he can greatly incrfase his resources, an 

 work up into fertilizing matter what has hitherl 

 been considered mere rubbish, and greatly in h 

 way. For full particulars, and the benefits of th 

 process, we must refer to the work itself. — Jlme^ 

 ^igricult. 



" 1. Form your barn-yard with a gradual df 

 scent to one side, so that the liquid formed by th 

 rains will flow gently to that side. Make the bo 

 tom as hard and smooth as possible, that there ma 

 be little or no waste by soaking into the eartl 

 Arrange your stables, hog-pen, iSic, in such ordc- 

 as to throw all the litter and manure into the ypri 

 9. Sink'a vat or reservoir at the lower side n 

 the yard, of sufficient capacity to contain the juic 

 of the yard. The most common form of the vat i 

 six feet width by three feet depth, and twelve fcE 

 or more in length, according to the size of th 

 yard, and the amount of liquor flowing from i 

 When the vat is more than twelve feet in lengtl 

 It will be best to divide it by partitions into two o 

 three parts, so that if at any time you want to us 

 only part of the liquor, yon can do so without an 

 inconvenience. It will be farther desirable t 

 have the vat so connected with the yard, that whe 

 once full, and you have commenced your manufac 

 ture, if additional rains come before you shall hav 

 completed your heap, you can present the liqni 

 so formed from running into your vat, either b 

 keeping it back in the yard, or by turning it i 

 another direction. 



3. In this vat mix the following ingredients a 

 nearly as you can, without actual measurement o 

 weight : to every barrel of liquid add 4 lbs. o 

 stone lime just slacked, 4 lbs. wood ashes, of gi oi 

 quality and dry, or an equivalent of leached ashes 

 or 1-4 lb. of potash ; 1-4 lb. of salt, or its e.juiva 

 lent of old brine; 2 ozs. of saltpetre; 20 lbs. piasi 

 ter of Paris, or mud, or muck; 10 lbs. of excre 



