FOR ENGLISH IMMIGRANTS. 1 3 



WHAT CONDITIONS IMMIGRANT FARMERS FROM GREAT 

 BRITAIN MAY FIND IN KENTUCKY. 



The old country farmer or farm laborer, brought up and trained under 

 certain local conditions as to methods of farming, various crops and 

 social customs, must necessarily become a learner in some respects and 

 for a time, and be obliged to relinquish some old-established habits of 

 life and of management, when he emigrates to this new country. 

 Hence, the climate, crops, and methods of farming are, in some respects, 

 different from those to which he has been accustomed, as well as the 

 habits of the people. 



The intelligent and educated English farmer, however, will find this 

 but a temporary inconvenience. He can readily learn the nature of our 

 peculiar crops, and in a short time acquire from the native farmers the 

 modes of husbandry best adapted to them. To him there will be no 

 great difficulty in laying aside for a time the local prejudices or prepos- 

 sions of his home training, and in adapting himself to the new condi- 

 tions of this country. 



Indeed, after a brief apprenticeship in making himself acquainted with 

 our different climate, crops, and husbandry, he may, in consequence per- 

 haps of his wider experience in modern scientific agriculture, find him- 

 self able to improve our farm methods, and to become a teacher instead 

 of a learner. 



Notwithstanding the local differences between farming in the old and 

 in the new country, many farm products are necessarily the same in 

 both. Our great staple, Indian corn (maize), it is true, is unknown as a 

 crop in Great Britain, and hemp and tobacco, great staples here, are but 

 little cultivated there; but our farm animals are just the same. Horses, 

 mules, sheep, and hogs are profitable live stock here, and we cultivate 

 the same grasses, and raise wheat, barley, rye, and oats, flax, &c, here 

 as they do in Great Britain. 



The celebrated "Blue-Grass" of the rich limestone region of Ken- 

 tucky, is the "smooth-stalked poa or meadow grass" of England {Poa 

 pratensis). The timothy or herd grass {Phleum prateiise), the orchard 

 grass {Daclytus glomeratd), as well as other good grasses grown in Great 

 Britain, flourish here, and the clovers, especially the red clover (Trifo- 

 liiim pratense), are used with great advantage on all our soils generally, 

 not only for pasturage or for hay, but for fertilization. Our Indian corn, 

 so very productive here, supersedes many of the feeding and fattening 

 stuffs of England, furnishing food for both man and beast. It figures 



