No. 129. J 181 



economy are the leading features in every branch of their hus- 

 bandry. We will quote here the opinion of Liebig, the great 

 German agricultural chemist on the system of English under- 

 draining. He says : " The system of draining which has been so 

 extensively followed in England brings the land into a state of a 

 great filter through which the whole soluble alkalies are drawn 

 off in consequence of the percolation of rain, and it must there- 

 fore become more deficient in its soluble efficacious elements. 

 Attentive farmers must have observed that after a certain time 

 the quantity of grain on land laid dry according to this principle, 

 that the produce of grain bears no due proportion to the produce 

 of straw." If this is the case in the wet moist soil of England, 

 it must be much more so in our comparatively dry soil, and the 

 straw still more increased at the expense of the grain with us by 

 the English system of under-draining. We Americans are a 

 people in many respects peculiar to ourselves. These peculiari- 

 ties arise, in a great measure, from our happy form of govern- 

 ment, and the tenure by which all our land devoted to farming 

 is held. Every man may be said, with us, to be the owner of the 

 soil on which he lives. Yes, every man, for the exceptions are 

 so few compared with all the lands of the nation and owners of 

 them, that they are hardly worth noting. No landlords to look 

 up to for orders and pay rent to as in most parts of Europe; each 

 man with us is his own landlord, and he is truly one ; as many 

 farmers, in every section of our immense country, live better, 

 more happy and independent than many princes in Europe. Here 

 with us, if one man has the means of living a little more expen- 

 sively than his neighbor, the latter possesses means enough to 

 give him all the necessaries and comforts of life without its su- 

 perfluities; both classes feel equally independent and equally 

 satisfied with their lot. No absolute distress meets the eye iu 

 scarcely a neighborhood of any farming section of our country ; 

 not, as in many parts of the old world, a thousand mouths peti- 

 tioning for bread, or ready to do any thing they may be told or 

 bid to get it. This is not only the case in the large cities and 

 towns there, but in many of their agricultural districts. Two or 

 three enjoying, if they could enjoy with so much distress around 

 them, the comforts and luxuries of life, and thousands starving 



