REVIEW OF PROFESSOR JOHNSTON’S NOTES ON AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 
11 
appearance when they peer up amidst the 
green herbage surrounding them. A stranger, 
at first sight, is exceedingly apt to take them for 
diminutive cattle, or black sheep, scattered over 
the field.” 
The following is a description of land in 
the very best farming district of New-York 
state—the far-famed Genesee county. We give 
it here as it forms an admirable descrip¬ 
tion of the slovenly confusion too often seen in 
the neighborhood of farms. We have toiled 
through such a place, in the heat of summer, 
within a gunshot of a farm house belonging to 
a farmer who was considered quite a scientific 
agriculturist. 
“Weeds, and rough-looking grasses, and 
fallen trees, which seemed to have been rot¬ 
ting for ages; old stumps, some black and 
half-burnt, others grey and half-rotten. Trunks 
of trees, some ten, some twenty or thirty yards 
in height; some rotten and ready to fall; some 
sound, and some strong; some black and half- 
consumed by fire; some crumbling to pieces by 
decay; some split, some hollow, some fallen, 
some standing; some with their roots pulled up, 
but most of their roots in the ground; some 
amidst the grass, some in the orchards, some 
amidst the corn. Fancy such a scene and con¬ 
dition of affairs on an English farm !” 
Fancy, indeed, it would be, for none tan have 
any idea of the reality, until they have visited 
this or some other new country. Much of the 
appearance of things described is a necessary 
accompaniment of all clearings of forest land. 
One thing noticed is worthy of attention; that 
is, the burning of stumps prevents their decay v 
when decay is the very object sought. It is 
better never to set fire to a stump unless it is 
rotten enough to consume entirely, and even this 
may be considered doubtful policy, as the rot¬ 
ten wood is a constant .source of fertility to the 
surrounding land. The same may be said of 
dead trees, however unsightly they may appear, 
particularly to an Englishman; they serve to 
keep the land fertile during their gradual decay. 
We even doubt the policy of burning piles of 
logs. If left to decay, which they will do in a 
few years, the residue is a mass of fertilising 
matter. Col. Williams, a planter on the Pee 
dee, in South Carolina, buries the logs instead 
of burning them, and finds his account in it. 
Many farmers are in the practice of picking up 
and burning all the chips and trash upon clear¬ 
ings. Better let them be and slowly decay. 
Here is what the same sensible writer says of 
our farming tools, which shows that he is not 
like some of his countrymen. Aye, and some 
of our own, so strongly wedded to their idols 
they can see no good in nothing else:— 
“ The agricultural implements in the United 
States are much lighter in construction than in 
this country, the plows particularly so. These 
are well adapted for the peculiarities of the 
land. It would be impossible to plow land re¬ 
cently cleared, with all the stumps and roots 
scattered here and there, with the heavy plows 
of this country. It is astonishing to see how 
easily the farmer turns aside from the stumps; 
and even should he fall foul of one, the plow is 
so light, that he can fillip it past the obstruction 
very easily. Old-country farmers are disposed 
to find fault with them, but they are soon taught 
to perceive that they are very well adapted to 
the kind of labor they have to perform. With 
reference to other implements, the same rule 
holds. The hayforks are amazingly light and 
handy—a young boy can easily use them. 
Scythes, hatchets, &c., are all made exceeding¬ 
ly light and portable, and in this, we think the 
Yankees show real wisdom. There is no real 
utility to be gained by having huge, heavy in¬ 
struments to deal with. A farmer who had had, 
both in this country and in America, much ex¬ 
perience as a hard-working man, told us that the 
result of his experience, was, that more work 
could be done in the same space of time, and 
with less fatigue, with the Yankee tools than 
with those of this country. The axes used for 
felling trees are very light; we must confess 
that, at first sight, we thought that heavier heads 
would have been better; but a sight of the 
execution they performed in good hands, on the 
sturdy sons of the forest, soon showed us our 
mistake. The horserake is almost universal¬ 
ly used for gathering the hay off the fields, and 
forming it into cocks. There is scarcely such 
a thing as reaping grain by hooks, as here per¬ 
formed, the common scythe, or more generally 
the cradle scythe, being used. It is astonishing 
how much one man can cut down in a day. 
There is great rivalry in this point amongst 
farm servants.” 
The following extract will delight many a 
Yankee boy whose pride is to exhibit the hand¬ 
somest and hardiest yoke of oxen at the “ Fair.” 
We really wish this extremely intelligent trav¬ 
eller and commenter upon our farming opera¬ 
tions could be present at some of the great 
shows of working oxen—a class of domestic 
animals with which we can challenge the world 
for competition, both in beauty of form and 
matching, as well as their wonderful docility 
and strength. He might then witness feats 
worthy a well-trained pair of horses and skill- 
