No. 7. 



AND GAU])KNl':rv'S JOURNAL. 



107 



Tl'.c first of December, in our elimate, may be con- 

 siilercd n proper time for taking hciup from the water, 

 RnJ the avcr-nge time requiroil for rotting is nbout six 

 weeks. A sled drawn witli a cliain by one yoke of 

 oxen, is a convenient way oC removing hemp from llie 

 pond to the iiplanj to dry. It should be carefully laid 

 on the ground in bundles to dr.Mn, and become still" 

 enough to set up in open bunches ajrainst the fence to 

 dry, where it may stand without injury all winter. 

 Vou will nnderst.mil that the pond must be an nrtiJi- 

 cial one, that it may be drawn off at pleasure. 



Perhaps you may be able to condense something 

 from this that may be useful to so^0 of your subscri- 

 bers. Youra as ever, J. AVILSO^f. 



DscrJicU, Mas$., IS 1-2. 



Comparison of English aud American 

 Farmers. 



Wc publish the subjoined letter with much pleasure, 

 lind have only to regret that, owing to our absence, it 

 did not appear in its proper place. Its references, how- 

 ever, arc perfectly plain and intelligible. We can 

 hardly persuade ourselves that Wm. Howit's account 

 of an English farm dinner can be intended to give a 

 picture of every day's life. If so, ancliorite as we arc, 

 we must go for American sobriety, or what perhaps our 

 friend would call abstinence, not to use any harder 

 term. In one particular, however, there must be a 

 great diflcrence. The farmers whom Howitt describes, 

 are what wc should call the middling classes, the ten- 

 ants of the farms or the managers. Wc have no such 

 class. Our farmers, properly so called, arc all laboring 

 men: and we apprehend upon a comparison of the ta- 

 bles aC the laboring men in England and Scotland with 

 the tables of our farmers, the comparison would be 

 strongly in favor ot the latter. The farmers, whom 

 Howitt describes, would here bclon;; to what we should 

 call gentlemen farmers, men who would as soon think 

 of jumping overboard as jumping into a farmer's frock, 

 and whose whole business is to command and direct 

 the labors of others. In England this class of men, 

 who are alter all mere tenants or overseers, keep their 

 hounds, their race horses and hunting horses, and in- 

 dulge in the luxuries, if so they may be called, incident 

 to such estalilishments, as much, though not as expen- 

 sively, as the highest gentry in the kingdom. Wr 

 liave no such class among ourselves ; and whether the 

 general morals and general comfort would bo increased 

 by their introduction, it will be time enough to s.ay, 

 when it is likely to take place. At present we think 

 there is little probability of it. 



Deah Sir — I consider the letter of S. W. in your 

 March nu.mbcr, so replete with errors, that I cannot 

 let it pass unnoticed. I should have answered it in 

 your last number, but I expected that Mr. Garbult, to 

 whoso letter it was a reply, would have noticed it; for 

 surely he cannot find any dilTiculty in sustaining the 

 position which he advanced, on the superiority of the 

 English climate for the general purposes of agriculture. 

 Now in the first place, I cannot agree with S. W. that 

 if Indian corn could be raised in England, it would 

 better the condition of her " starving population." For 

 I have observed in this country that when the season 

 has been favorable for corn, most otlicr kinds of grain 

 and root crops, and also pastures and meadows, have 

 Buffered. Granting corn to be a valuable crop, still il 

 Is not so valuable a crop that the farmer would wish to 

 sacrifice all others for the sake of r.aising it. It is a 

 well known fact, that the average of all kinds of grain 

 grown in England is higher than here, and the quality 

 of some, as oats and barley, is very superior : this I 

 think may be fairlj' attributed to the climate, unless S. 

 W. chooses to ascribe it to the superior industry of the 

 English farmer over the "case-loving farmers'' of this 

 country. Then there is the horse bean, which cannot 

 be grown here, which I consider equal to corn for all 

 feeding purposes : it is grown to a great extent in Eng- 



land, is ctiltivatcd and harvested at less expense than 

 corn, and is an excellent preparatory crop for wheat. 

 Then look at the great extent of the root crops, and 

 the immense advantage of the English climate in not 

 makin" it nccccsary to protect the turniiw through 

 winter. How is it possible, with our winters, to grow 

 root croiis extensively, when all have to he put safely 

 away in cell.>rs or pits 1 



One word to our friend M. B. B., who has given us 

 an account of Mr. ShefTer's root crops to show that 

 root* can be grown extensively in this country. Now 1 

 understood Mr. Garbutt in using the word " exten- 

 sively," asapplyingit to the growth of roots in England. 

 Mr. Sheffer has certainly ilonc well, and deserves great 

 credit, but should an English firiucr, or any frif nd for 

 him, boast of raising G500 bushels of roots, he*vould 

 assuredly get laughed at. But above all, look at tlie 

 verdure of an English pasture, which gives a richness 

 to the face of the country, the absence of which lure 

 gives to an Englishman, on first travelling through this 

 count-y, an idea of barrenness and sterility. Wm. 

 Howitt, in his work entitled " Rural Life of England" 

 says " one of the great charms of the country, ricpciulail 

 on Us climate, is that rich and almost perpetual green- 

 ness, of which strangers always speak whh admira- 

 tion." 



S. W. asks what would become of our " ease-loving 

 farmers if they had to encounter the cold, sour, wet 

 climate, &c , of England! would they not be reduced 

 f'rom bacori and corn bread, to turnips and pea soup — 

 from the dclic.ous v.lieatcn loaf and hot rolls, to oat 

 cakes and potato broth '•" I cannot possibly tell what 

 would become of our farmers, but I can tell how the 

 English far.mcre faro under what S. W. considers 

 such adverse circumstances. And I cannot do Iwttcr 

 than quote again from Wm. Howitt. After describing 

 a substantial luncheon, he comes !o the dinner. '■ The 

 hour arrives; well here they ail are; and hero are the 

 ladies all in full dress. Hands that have been handling 

 prime stock, or rooting in the earth, or thrust into hay- 

 ricks and corn heaps, arc washed, and down they sit to 

 such adinner as might satisfy a crew of shipwrecked 

 men. There arc seldom any of your wisfiy washy 

 soups, except it be very cold weather, and seldom more 

 than two courses; but then they arc courses* all of 

 the meat kind seemingly on the table at once. Off go 

 the covers, and what a perplexing, but unconsumable 

 variety. Such pieces of roast beef, veal and lamb ; 

 such hams, and turkies and geese; such game, and 

 pies of pigeons or other things equally good, with veg- 

 etables of all kinds in season, pe.as, potatoes, cauliflow- 

 ers, kidney beans, lettuces and whatever the season can 

 produce. The most potent of ale and porter, the most 

 chrystalline and cool water, are freely supplied, and 

 wine for those that will; when those things ha\c had 

 ample respect paid to them, they vanish, and the table 

 is covered with jilum puddings and fruit tarts, cheese- 

 cakes, syllabubs, and rdl the knicknackery of whipt 

 creams and jellies that female invention can produce, 

 and then ade.ssert of equal profusion." 



But really, Mr. Editor, I will not tantalize you and 

 myself by enumerating all the good things, but if you 

 have not read the work from which I have quoted so 

 largely, do read it. The authorthen goes through tea, 

 and finishrs up with a substantial supper of hot game, 

 fowls, &c. He then concludes the chapter by remark- 

 ing, "such is a specimen of the fostivitica of what may 

 be called the middle and substantial class of farmers; 

 and the same tiling holds, in degree, to the very lowest 

 grade of them." 



If this be a true picture, which I know it to be, you 

 must agree with me that S. W. has paid a very poor 

 compliment to the industry and intelligence of our 

 American farmers, to suppose that with a climate sim- 

 ilar to England, tlicy would be reduced to live on tur- 

 nips and pia soup, oat cakes and [xitato broth. B. M. 



f'lr l^tr IVcto Gencsct l-'arntcr. 

 Bonk" l''arm i It j;. 



Ml!. EniToii — I have been an attentive reader of 

 several agricultural papers for four or five years past, 

 and trust I have been well paid in the knowledge 

 gained* at any rate. I have received from them much 

 gratification. I think one great benefit to be derived 

 troni their jierusal, is the exciting a spirit of enquiry. 



I have been termed among my neighbors an expcri- . 

 mental " Book Farmer.'' I have failed in many things, 

 and succeeded in others, but in the most important of 

 all, that is in making money, I have met with a total 

 failure. I propose, therefore, to give to my brother 

 ^rmerj. my practice and experience in full, and my 

 opinions rather generally, on a variety of subjects, al- 

 though somewhat di,sconnected, and yet such as I be- 

 lieve havoan important bearing on the true interest of 

 the farmer. If you deem them worthy of insertion in 

 your valuable paper, I shall feel much gratified in hav- 

 ing furnished them. My motto is, that every disea.so 

 has a remedy; but we must first point out the disease, 

 before we shall be likely-to (iiscover the remedy. 



Would not agricultural pajicrs benefit the fanners 

 still more, if they would examine more fully the Sta- 

 tistics of the Country; and instead of urging us on to 

 over-production in some things, tell us how we rany 

 raise enough (and no more than enough) to supply 

 the market, and at the same time get the greatest re- 

 turns fiir our labor. In my opinion, much more money 

 woulil have been maile by the farmers, if they had 

 been timely informed of the amount of Pork in mar- 

 ket kept over from last year, and how much wouM he 

 required this year to supply the demand, being myself 

 conv inccd that if there had not been more than one 

 half of the surplus produced this year, that the firmers 

 would now have had more corn in the crili, and the one 

 half would have put more n-.oney in their pockets, than 

 the whole amount of the proceeds of their pork has 

 done. Eucli are my views of the effoet that supply 

 anil demand has in cstablLshingpricea. On this branch 

 of the sul>ject and some others which I wish to dis- 

 cuss hereafter, there is a bioaii field left wholly uncul- 

 tivated, that needs deep ploughing with a "strong team.' 

 1 shall attempt only to clearclf someof the underbrush, 

 and leave the use of the subsoil plough to some one 

 who drives a " stronger team," as I am admonished that 

 my stumbUng ponies will net be al)le to do the work 

 elTectually. 



The manufacturing, commercial and mercantile in- 

 terests, h.-.ve for a long time supported papers devote<i 

 cJicluf ivcly to their interests. They have read and co!- 

 leeled the statistics of the country and they better un- 

 derstand the law of supply and demand, and ability to 

 pay, than the farmers. What would the manu.''acturer.s 

 think, if the papers devoted to their interests were to 

 stimulate them to produce or manufacture twice as much 

 as was required for consumption, when the same arti- 

 cle could not bo exported except at a loss of 50 or 100 

 per cent, on the first cost] 



I wish to cast no censure — my only object is to 

 awaken a spirit of inquiry. The farmers in this coun- 

 try never have been awake to their interests. They 

 have been content to let others do their thinking for 

 them, and as long as they continue on in that course, 

 they may CNpect the certain consequence — that, 

 " In every Iniul, and on every soil, 

 Those who think, will govern those who toil." 

 And if we surrender those inestimable privileges to 

 others, on the account of our stupidity, how can we ex- 

 pect that our interests will be properly attended to 1 



Wc ouTht to pursue, in my judgment, a more defi- 

 lute system in all our operations. Wc ought to know 

 the precise and relative eoct of all our productions — in 

 every state, on every degree of latitude and longitude, 

 and according to the several specified modes of cultiva- 

 tion as practised by amajority of the American farmers. 

 With such data before us, we should be able to under- 



