AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
FOR THE 
TTarm, Grax-clen, and. ILLoutsell old. 
“AGRICULTURE 18 THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN.”-Wi»binotoh. 
ORANGE JUDD, A.M., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
< $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE!. 
( SINGLE NUMBER, 10 CENTS. 
VOLUME XX—No. 1. 
NEW-YORK, JANUARY, 1861. 
NEW SERIES—No. 168. 
Office at 41 Park-ltow, (Times Buildings.) 
Contents, Terms, Ac., on pages 28-32. 
Entered according to act of Congress in the year I860, 
oy Obanhe Judd, in the Clerk’s Office of the District 
Court of the United States for the Southern District of 
New-York. jgjlpN. B. —Every Journal is invited freely 
to copy any and all desirable articles, if each article or 
illustration copied, be duly accredited to the American 
Agriculturist. ORANGE JUDD, Proprietor. 
Slmcricait Slqrtcultuvtft tn ©cnwut. 
The AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST is published in 
both the English and German Languages. Both Editions 
are of the same size, and contain, as nearly as possible, 
the same Articles and Illustrations. The German Edition 
is furnished at the same rates as the English, singly or in 
clubs. A club may be part English, and part German. 
Nineteen Years. 
“ Farewell to tlie ’teens ” were the closing 
words sent to the printer last month. Tlie-ofi'en- 
ing of the twentieth year is, to us,' an event of no 
little significance. May we then be excused for 
indulging in a little self-complacent talk ?,... 
Glancing at our book shelves, there stand nine¬ 
teen volumes, so many chronicles of the past. 
Upon the backs, in gilt indices, we read: Vol. I, 
1843; Vol. II, 1843; Vol. Ill, 1844;... .Vol. 
XIX, 1860—the first ten of octavo size, like boys 
m uniform, followed by nine portly quartos. 
A thousand reminiscences are called up in 
glancing over these year records: the origin of 
ihe Agriculturist; its early struggles ; its first sub¬ 
scriber ; the labors and anxieties of its founder, 
still in active life, but with locks whitening with 
care and age; the large circle of thinking men 
avIio have in these long years contributed to its 
pages; the wider circle of those to whose homes 
it has been a visitor for a part or the whole of 
its existence, and the transformations in and 
around those homes, that have grown out of its 
hints and suggestions.Again we think of 
the printers, who have year after year labored 
to straighten into shape the thousand upon thou¬ 
sand pages of hieroglyphic manuscript, and 
whose nimble fingers must have moved to and 
fro at least three hundred million times in arrang¬ 
ing the speaking types; of the uncounted mil¬ 
lions of printed sheets that have dropped from 
the press, and after folding, stitching, and wrap¬ 
ping, have been deposited in the “ old Dutch 
Church Post Office,” and thence been sent hith¬ 
er and thither over the broad continent.... Now 
we are carried back to the little basement office 
on Broadway, where the paper first saw the 
light of day; thence to the second story home 
at 189 Water-street, where it remained so many 
years; and finally we take a satisfactory survey 
of the present spacious and beautiful office 
where the Agriculturist has secured a lease against 
all intruders for a decade of years at least. 
Passing over the associations connected with 
the paper itself, and its successive development, 
we are tempted to take a rapid review of our 
personal history; and we would here pay a pas¬ 
sing tribute to the little Genesee Farmer of 
the olden time, for it was perhaps the awaken¬ 
ed thought instigated by early reading that 
paper, that led us to inquire whether Science 
could not aid in the culture of the soil, as well 
as in other pursuits. Before the days of the Agri¬ 
culturist , while in the vigor of opening manhood, 
with a somewhat mature experience in the varied 
labors of farm life, we had decided to seek in an 
eastern college, not only what of discipline the 
mind could gain from a study of Greek and Latin 
roots, but what of assistance practical science 
could render to the cultivator in ascertaining 
and overcoming the deficiencies of the soil. We 
recall the years of anxious study, the interest 
with which we read the beautiful theories of 
Liebig and others, who seemed to have discov¬ 
ered, now in one direction, and then in another, 
tjie true relations of plants to the soil and the 
>atmosphere, and the means of harmonizing those 
, relations, and supplying at small labor and cost 
the connecting ties which should make them 
take kindly to each other. We well remember, 
when we subsequently entered the weird 
• chambers of old Yale’s chemical laboratory, 
and toiled on month after month, and even year 
after year, amid bottles of acids and alkalies, 
and a hundred other re-agents, surrounded with 
crucibles, and retorts, and filters, and balances, 
and in an atmosphere suggestive of the nether 
regions—now examining the .very vitals of a 
grain or stem of wheat, of oats, of corn; then 
separating the silex, the lime, the potash, the so¬ 
da, the magnesia, the iron, the phosphoric acid, 
and other known and unknown elements of 
various soils,gathered from New-England, sent in 
from the Middle States, and furnished by Ham¬ 
mond, of South Carolina, by Phillips, of Mis¬ 
sissippi, and others; anon weighing a half dozen 
or more beautiful compounds, gathered by chem¬ 
ical manipulations from a mass of reeking ma¬ 
nure from the barn-yard, or from the rotten car¬ 
casses of birds and fishes brought from the 
Islands of Peru and Icliaboe; followed by anx¬ 
ious inquiry how these various elements of 
plants, soils, and manures, stand related to each 
other. Nor can we forget the disappointment 
we have since felt, as we have gradually been 
forced to the conclusion, that, though Nature has 
allowed chemistry to invade her domain and 
gather a few hints, yes many of them, useful 
to the practical cultivator of the soil, yet she 
still maintains an almost Japanese tenacity in 
resisting the enterprising inquirers after the 
laws by which she rules her empire. Though 
somewhat disappointed in not learning as much 
from chemistry as we had fondly anticipated, 
our time spent in that direction is of inestimable 
value, in that it lias, at least, taught us that there 
are many things that we do not know; that 
much of the so-called agricultural science is yet 
unreliable; arid that the teachings of some of the 
self-constituted doctors and professors of agri¬ 
culture are but the visionary dreamings of im¬ 
practicable theorists—if nothing worse. 
.... Again we call to mind the timidity with 
which, after repeated solicitations from the 
founder of this journal, we entered its sanctum 
as associate editor, and ere long found its re¬ 
sponsible duties resting mainly on our shoulders; 
and subsequently, almost without our seeking, 
the triple cares of editor, publisher, and propri¬ 
etor, were altogether upon us... .Well, for years 
past, aided by a noble and faithful corps of asso¬ 
ciates, we have tried to discharge these duties, 
and have sought to further our own interests, 
by honestly striving to promote the inter¬ 
ests of our readers. How well we have suc¬ 
ceeded, we of course leave others to judge. A 
circle of readers and patrons larger,- by far, than 
at any former period, is an indication, at least, 
that we have not mistaken our calling, and is a 
strong incentive to renewed exertions, as we 
now begin the labors of the twentieth volume. 
The bond between our readers and ourselves is 
pleasant, higher we trust than a mere com¬ 
mercial one—so much paper and ink for so 
much money. We are laborers together to pro¬ 
mote each other’s elevation and happiness. 
Let us work while the day lasts. Of those 
whose names stand on the first hooks of this 
office, how few remain on this stage of action. 
The word “ deceased ” lias been written against 
many a name during these nineteen years, and 
doubtless is written for many others by the re¬ 
cording Angel. We are all hastening onward 
through this life’s pilgrimage. Our plowing and 
sowing, our harvesting, and consuming, and 
marketing the products of our fields, will speed¬ 
ily be over. The year we now enter upon will, 
to many of our number, be the last. Let us put 
our houses in order at the very commencement 
of the year; let us sow any good seed yet to be 
sown for the harvest of the next life, and root 
out any foul weeds that have been hitherto per¬ 
mitted to grow. If this be done, with that Om¬ 
nipotent aid vouchsafed to all who will seek for 
it, it matters little whether prosperity, or storms, 
or drouths, visit our outward fields. If the soil of 
the heart be in order—tlie fallow ground all 
broken up and planted with good seed, and wa¬ 
tered with the dews of grace—tlie new cycle 
we now enter upon will be what we heartily 
wish to all our readers—A Happy New Year. 
The successful men iu the business world 
are not those who merely labor hard with their 
hands, but those who think and plan much. 
Thought is developed by contact with other 
minds, either by speaking or reading. Farm¬ 
ers, who have less opportunity than others for 
conversation, should supply the deficiency, as 
far as possible, by reading the thoughts of others. 
