196 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
the cultivator, who raises the mulberry tree to produce 
silk, to select those kinds for his plantation, which are 
most hardy, and which will occasion the least trouble 
and expense in preserving. 
I should take pleasure, gentlemen, in giving you my 
views upon many other subjects which pertain to your 
business. If what I have said shall be of any value to 
you, I shall be happy in the consciousness of having ful¬ 
filled a high personal duty—that of benefiting my na¬ 
tive State. If what I have said, shall prove of no va¬ 
lue, I have certainly said enough. My object has been, 
the improvement, in their business, in their standing in 
society, and in their public usefulness, of the Farmers 
and Mechanics assembled around me. 
The privileges you enjoy, and the opportunities you 
possess of improvement are great; and with moderate 
prudence and industry, virtues which always triumph, 
your condition in society will be respectable indepen¬ 
dent, and in all probability, happy. Be content, there¬ 
fore, with your lot—with the business which you have 
learnt, and are best acquainted with—and strive to im 
prove in it, for your children and your country. Let 
well enough alone ; and do not hazard present enjoy¬ 
ments for the precarious chance of doing better, in any 
business in which you are not practically acquainted, and 
in which, to you, there will be at least three blanks to 
a prize. And may a kind Providence smile upon your 
labors, and bless you in your stores, in your household, 
and in a pure and approving conscience. 
Address of the Hon. Judge Buel, 
Delivered before the Agricultural and Horticultural So¬ 
cieties of New-Haven County, Sept. 25, 1839. 
I appear here gentlemen, by invitation, to address 
you on the cultivation of the soil, which it is the object 
of the associations here convened to promote improve¬ 
ment in. I have been prompted, in the undertaking, ra¬ 
ther by a desire to render a service, than from a confi¬ 
dence in my ability to perform one; and in the few re¬ 
marks I have to offer, shall need much of your indul¬ 
gence, for defect in style, and deficiency in matter. 
Agriculture and Horticulture are intimately related to 
each other. They both depend upon the soil, and the 
animals and plants which it nurtures, for support, for 
profit, and for pleasure. They both administer, and are 
indispensable, to our wants and comforts. They are 
governed in their operations by the same natural laws. 
Agriculture has cognizance of the farm, which supplies 
our principal wants; Horticulture, of the garden, which 
administers to our more refined appetites, to our health, 
and to the rational pleasures of the mind. The one 
gives us bread and meat, and the materials for our cloth¬ 
ing, the other the choice delicacies for the table, and 
multiplies around us the charms of floral beauty, and 
rural scenery. Both tend to beget habits of useful in¬ 
dustry and sober reflection, and to improve us in all the 
social relations of life. It is befitting, therefore, that 
institutions designed to foster and promote improve¬ 
ments in these primary and associate branches of labor, 
should unite in their anniversary celebration, and in re¬ 
turning thanks to the Supreme Being, for the bounties 
of a fruitful season. 
Of the utility of these celebrations, and exhibition of 
the products of the farm and garden which are made at 
them, I have no kind of doubt. They bring to public 
notice whatever is new and most valuable, in a business 
which highly interests us. They perform the work of 
years, in diffusing useful knowledge in all the depart¬ 
ments of rural labor. They awaken, in the bosoms of 
hundreds, the dormant powers of the mind, which oth¬ 
erwise might have slumbered in apathy. They excite to 
industry, to emulation, and to the study of those laws 
which every where control the visible creation, and 
which enlighten and reward all who humbly seek and 
follow their counsels. Nor is it the cultivator of the 
farm and garden alone that are to be benefitted by these 
exhibitions. Whatever tends to increase and improve 
the products of the soil, serves to augment the common 
stock, and enables the grower to supply the market with 
more and better products, and to buy more liberally of 
the other classes in return. The merchant, the manu¬ 
facturer, the mechanic, and the professional man, have 
all, therefore, as deep an interest in promoting the im¬ 
provement of agriculture and horticulture, as the farmer 
and gardener have. Society is in some measure a joint 
concern, at least so far as relates to what are termed the 
producing classes; the more these earn by their labor, 
the greater is the accession of substantial wealth to the 
community. The amount of honey in a hive, depends 
not upon the number of bees which it contains, but up¬ 
on the labor and skill of the working bees. The farmer 
virtually provides for the other classes, and is at the 
tame time their principal patron and customer; and al¬ 
though his labors are too often held to be low and me¬ 
nial, by those who cannot, or will not, appreciate their 
value, his condition affords the best criterion by which 
to judge of .the welfare of those around him. No coun¬ 
try can long flourish, or preserve its moral and physical 
health, whose agriculture is neglected and degraded.— 
The amount of a farmer’s sales, and of his purchases, 
will depend upon the surplus products of his farm, and 
jipon the profits of his labor. Double these, by an lm- 
royed system ef husbandry, which I feel assured can 
e done, and which has been far more than realized, in 
many old districts of our country, and you will double 
the substantial wealth of the neighborhood, and impart 
corresponding life and activity to every other depart- 
'ent of business. If we look to Spain, to Portugal, to 
tat portion of Italy, to South America, or any other 
country where agriculture is neglected, or holds but a 
subordinate rank, we shall find a degraded population, 
characterized by superstitious ignorance, poverty and 
crime. Every class of the community, therefore, has 
a deep interest in promoting the improvement of the 
soil; and all should willingly contribute their aid to¬ 
wards enlightening, honoring, and rewarding those who 
are honestly employed in its cultivation. 
With regard to the utility of agricultural and horticul¬ 
tural societies, much will depend upon the objects which 
bring together their members. If they associate for sel¬ 
fish purposes, merely to monopolize the spoils, and with¬ 
draw whenever they are disappointed in their sinister 
hopes, jealousies and apathy will ensue, and the associ¬ 
ation will fall, as many under like circumstances, have 
fallen, without public loss or public regret. But if the 
association is formed for mutual improvement, and in 
the benevolent and patriotic desire to do a public good 
—to stimulate and reward industry and enterprise, how¬ 
ever humble their condition—and strives by concentrat¬ 
ed and persevering efforts, to improve the condition of 
a district, of a county, or a state,—then will it inspire 
public confidence, obtain public support and become a 
public blessing. To illustrate this last proposition, I beg 
to refer to some associations which have been tried, and 
whose labors have been crowned with palpable and bril¬ 
liant success. 
The counties of Berkshire, Essex, and Worcester, in 
Massachusetts, have each, for many years, maintained 
an agricultural society; and they each distribute ten or 
twelve hundred dollars a year, one half of which is paid 
out of the state treasury, in prizes to successful compe¬ 
titors in the various departments of agricultural and 
household labor. It is said, and I believe with truth, 
that every dollar thus expended, has made a return of 
twenty dollars, in the increase of agricultural products 
which it has caused; and so satisfied are the inhabitants 
of the benefits of the expenditure, that an increased spi¬ 
rit is annually manifested, by all classes, to maintain and 
perpetuate these nurseries of industry and improve¬ 
ment. 
The Highland Society of Scotland affords another il¬ 
lustrious example of the utility of agricultural associ¬ 
ations, when conducted with a view to public improve¬ 
ment. This society was organized in 1784, but so few 
were its members, and so limited its means, that it at¬ 
tracted but little public notice, nor effected any great im¬ 
provement in husbandry, till the commencement of the 
nineteenth century. Yet it had sown the good seed 
which never fails, under proper management, to yield to 
the husbandman a bountiful harvest. Nor did it fail in 
this case. The society now numbers twenty-two hund¬ 
red members, embracing most of the opulent and influ¬ 
ential men of the country, of all professions, and distri¬ 
butes annually in prizes, about seventeen thousand dol¬ 
lars. In no country or district has agriculture made 
more rapid strides in improvement, than it has in Scot¬ 
land, since the organization of this society; and although 
it may not have been the only, it most assuredly has 
been a principal cause, of this wonderful and salutary 
change. Up to 1792, the agriculture of Scotland, to 
adopt the language of the Edinburgh Quarterly Journal 
of Agriculture, was “ wretched—execrably bad, in all 
its localities! Hardly any wheat was attempted to be 
grown; oats full of thistles was the standard crop, and 
this was repeated on the greater part of the arable land, 
while it would produce twice the seed thrown into it; 
turnips, as part of the rotation of crops, was unknown, 
few potatoes were raised, and no grass seeds or clover 
were sown. A great part of the summer was employ¬ 
ed, in the now fertile shire of Fife, in pulling thistles 
out of the oats, and bringing them home for the horses, 
or mowing the rushes, or other aquatic plants, that 
grew on the bogs, around the homestead.” But a change 
soon came over the land. The seed which had been 
sown by the Highland Society had germinated, and its 
luxuriant foliage already covered the soil. In 1815, ac¬ 
cording to the authority I am quoting—“ beautiful fields 
of wheat were to be seen.—drilled green crops every 
where abounded,—the bogs had disappeared,—the this¬ 
tles no longer existed,”—naked fallows were abolished, 
draining was extensively introduced; wet lands were 
made dry; poor weeping clays were converted into tur¬ 
nip soils ; and “ whole parishes were completely trans¬ 
formed from unsightly marshes, into beautiful and rich 
wheat fields, and where the plough could scarcely be 
driven for slush and water, were heavy crops per acre, 
and heavy weight per bushel.”* The improvements in 
Scotch husbandry have continued to advance, until, ac¬ 
cording to the estimate of Sir John Sinclair, and Profes¬ 
sor Lowe, both high authority,—until the acreable pro¬ 
ducts of her soil more than double those of our Atlantic 
states. 
The means adopted by the Highland Society to effect 
these radical improvements in Scotch husbandry, are 
such as may be employed by us with almost a certainty 
of corresponding success. “ In the days of its youth 
and feebleness,” says the Quarterly Journal I have just 
quoted, “ the Highland Society sent the leaven of the 
turnip husbandry into all the glens and straths of the 
north, by offers o( small prizes to certain Highland pa¬ 
rishes, and the same may be said as to the growth of 
clover and the finer grasses. As it advanced in strength 
as to numbers, and to cash, attention was turned to pre¬ 
miums for stock; then came offers of reward to men of 
science to discover better implements and machines, to 
diminish friction, and consequently draught, such as in 
the threshing mill, and other parts of agricultural ma- 
* Quarterly Jour. A§. for June 1839, p. 70. 
chinery. Still advancing in the scale of intellect and of 
science, premiums were offered for essays to bring to 
light the facts connected with chemistry and natural phi¬ 
losophy; and, under the auspices of the society, was 
set up the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, a work 
which has been the vehicle of conveying so much use¬ 
ful information to the agriculturist, that we humbly 
venture to say, it ought to appear on the book-shelf and 
table of every farmer’s parlor. After this, the great 
stock shows were resolved upon.” At the Glasgow 
show in 1838, there were exhibited for prizes, 461 neat 
cattle, 121 horses, 274 sheep, and 47 swine; total 903 
domestic animals, in 634 lots. Of the other kinds of 
competitors, the numbers were as follows: 
For Butter, ... 18 
“ Full Milk Cheese,. 15 
“ Skim Milk Cheese, .. 6 
Wool,. 8 
“ Roots and Seeds,. 13 
“ Implements,. 28 
In 88 lots. 
The number of persons present at the exhibition was 
estimated at over 17,000, besides workmen and official 
people,—notone thousand of whom probably left the ex¬ 
hibition without carrying home with him some newly 
acquired knowledge in his business, or some new stimu¬ 
lus to improvement and industry. Not only has Scot¬ 
land profited by the labors of her agricultural society, 
but Great Britain generally, and even the United States 
have been highly benefited by them. The information 
which that society has promulgated, has been widely 
disseminated among us by our agricultural journals, and 
has contributed not a little to the improvement of the 
agriculture of our country. And in England, which had 
been thrown into the back ground by the superior im¬ 
provement of Scotch husbandry, it has within the last 
year, induced the formation of the English Agricultural 
Society, on a broad and liberal scale, which promises 
important advantages to English husbandry, and to ag¬ 
riculture generally. 
As evidence of the utility of horticultural societies in 
multiplying and improving the products of our gardens, 
and in promoting rural embellishments, I would refer to 
the neighborhoods of Boston and Philadelphia, where 
societies of this kind have long existed, and to the Hor¬ 
ticultural Society of London. In the first named cities, 
and their environs, the progress of horticultural improve¬ 
ment has been manifestly great. Many new and choice 
fruits, culinary vegetables, and ornamental plants, have 
been introduced, culture has been much improved, the 
markets better supplied, and prices cheapened. The 
London Society, although its garden has been establish¬ 
ed but about twenty years, has concentrated in it, from 
both continents, and from the islands of the sea embrac¬ 
ing every clime, more than five thousand varieties of edi¬ 
ble fruits, including fourteen hundred varieties of the 
apple, and seven hundred of the pear, and an innumera¬ 
ble number of ornamental plants, many of them before 
unknown in our catalogues. Its collections of pears, 
which embrace hundreds of recent origin, from Flan¬ 
ders and from France, have been already broadlyspread 
over these states, and supply our dessert with a succes¬ 
sion of this delicious fruit. As a corresponding mem¬ 
ber of this society, I have participated, and have ena¬ 
bled others to participate, in the good which it has been 
generously diffusing abroad. In 1825, and at subsequent 
periods, I have been supplied liberally with grafts of 
the choicest fruits which it had collected. 
The great obstacles to horticultural improvement, are 
ignorance of the relative merits of different kinds of fruits 
and culinary vegetables, and of the proper modes of cul¬ 
tivating and preparing them for the table. The genera¬ 
lity of country gardens exhibit but a scanty assortment 
of vegetable productions, and these are but badly culti¬ 
vated, and often of inferior quality. The tendency of 
horticultural exhibitions is, to show the good and bad in 
contrast, or rather to promulgate a knowledge of the 
better sorts, of their culture and use, to excite useful 
competition, and to demonstrate the utility of garden 
culture, as a source of health, pleasure, and profit. I 
have had many fruits presented to me, which the donors 
considered of the first quality, but which I found, on 
comparison, to be of secondary, or inferior grade. The 
man who has seen or tasted only inferior fruits, may 
well mistake them for good ones. It is as easy to culti¬ 
vate good fruits as bad ones; and no one eats so good 
fruits as he who cultivates them himself. It is as easy 
to cultivate the vergaleu as it is the choke pear; the 
green gage as the horse plum; and yet the difference 
between them, in all the qualities which we most es¬ 
teem, is incomparably great. But till we can show our 
neighbor better fruits, he will continue to cultivate and 
rest content with his choke pear and horse plum. 
With regard to what is termed ornamental gardening, 
or the cultivation of flowering shrubs and plants, there 
is an objection, real or affected, often made by very ma¬ 
ny people, on the ground that it yields no profit. If the 
great object of life was to accumulate money, without 
enjoying any of the comforts which it confers, save the 
gratification of animal appetite, the objection would be 
conclusive. But we are endowed with other and higher 
appetites than the mere brute; and Providence has eve¬ 
ry where surrounded us with suitable objects for their 
development, and innocent gratification. And shall we 
reject the proffered benefaction so kindly tendered for 
our benefit, because it adds nothing to our pelf? And 
what is there in the natural creation, better calculated 
to soften down the rough asperities of our nature, to 
