December 19 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Were They Really “Good Old 
Times?” 
Progress in American Agriculture. 
KOUI! CENTURIES OF GROWTH REVIEWED. 
Ancient and Modern American Agriculture. 
The wonderful contrast between the aboriginal and 
the modern agriculture of this continent is certainly 
not exceeded in interest by that relating to other in¬ 
dustries. Not even the amazing change that has taken 
place in the means of locomotion and the distribution 
of products, surpasses that in the production of the 
fruits of the soil, and the arts of tillage. When we go 
back in thought to the poor Indian planting his corn, 
beans and pumpkins in shallow holes in the ground, 
dug out with the crudest implements, and fertilized 
with decayed fish planted with each, and turn our at¬ 
tention to the steam plows, the gangs of harrows and 
drills, the self-binding harvesters and the steam thrash¬ 
ers, and compare the great mills which are rolling out 
their thousands of barrels of finished flour daily, with 
the hollowed stones and the rough pestles by which 
the aborgine prepared his meal, we cannot help being 
startled at the amazing change. Truly our agriculture 
has progressed with the same gigantic strides as have 
our other industries, and may lay good claim to be con¬ 
sidered as the equal of any other of our arts 
When our forefathers landed on the inhospitable 
shores of New England they saw the worst of all that 
was found in this direction. There the 
soil was not fertile and the climate was 
not favorable to the pursuit of agricul¬ 
ture. There was none of the semi-civil¬ 
ization that had been reached in the Far 
West, where the natives irrigated their 
land, grew abundant crops and stored 
the surplus in capacious granaries not 
at all unlike our present silos, ground 
their corn in mills, and lived in comfort¬ 
able habitations, made by skilled labor, 
quarried in the solid rocks and fortified j 
with great skill. 
But the aborigines were, nevertheless, 
helpful to the newcomers and the rough 
agriculture was taken up by the pilgrims 
and carried on in the same way by those 
who cleared off the forests, and pene¬ 
trated the country, ax in one hand and 
gun in the other, to carve out of the 
wilderness the farms whose story of 
painful toil and privation is buried 
under the now fertile land that is cul¬ 
tivated with all the modern improved im¬ 
plements. 
From the ancient clam shell which 
served the aborigine for plow and hoe, 
we have passed by slow gradation up to 
our present high methods of culture. 
The willow basket, in which the ancient 
farmers stored their grain, has given 
place to the granary and the elevator; 
but it was not by any sudden transition 
that it has been accomplished. How 
many of the gray-haired men of to-day 
remember the laborious clearing of the 
fields, the mattock and the hoe which 
prepare the narrow clearing for the first A 
crop, and the hand work by which the 
harvest was secured. Buried in the deep woods a 
score, or many of them, miles from a store or a 
neighbor’s house, the men of but a comparatively few 
years ago, were but little better off than their savage 
predecessors. They were worn and bowed by hard toil 
and a premature old age, and had little less of discom¬ 
fort than those who first landed on the never-to-be-for¬ 
gotten New England rock. The grand fields, the ver¬ 
dant meadows, the highbred herds, the convenient 
creameries, the indispensable railroads, the capacious 
barns, the attractive and happy homes, all these, not 
forgetting by any means the schools and the churches, 
are the fruits of the hardships of the pioneer farmers, 
who, by hand and ax, painfully subdued the wilder¬ 
ness amid toils and poverty close akin to those of the 
Indians. All this lasted for nearly two centuries dur¬ 
ing which no greater comparative advances were made 
than in the last two score of years. All this should 
not be forgotten when we go back to the original con¬ 
dition of our agriculture, and our gratitude is well due 
to those who stood in the gap between the present and 
the ancient past. 
What is involved in all this labor may be realized 
from the facts that the first plow was brought to 
America in 1617, and used in the Virginia colony; that 
in 1637 there were but 37 plows at work in the colony 
of Massachusetts, and for 12 years before, the settlers 
used to pull up the bushes with their hands, and cut 
the roots with mattocks. For many years afterwards 
the fortunate owner of a plow went around to work 
for others not so well fixed, and the majority worked 
the soil with a spade, a wooden fork and a wooden 
harrow. They grew corn, tobacco, squashes, pump¬ 
kins and potatoes, the seeds of which were procured 
of the Indians. In 1648 it was said in congratulation 
of their success, that there were several hundred acres 
of wheat growing, but the frosts destroyed the greater 
part of it. And in this poor way our hardy forefathers 
began the work of which, as we look around us now, 
we see the amazing fruits. 
Our vast cotton crop has all sprung from the small 
beginning when, in 1801, 84 small bales of 200 pounds 
each were exported as the first product of the planting 
begun three years previously. And this result was 
only due to the cotton gin, the first and the most im¬ 
portant invention of early American ingenuity. From 
these small beginnings we may see with the eye of 
history the slow advance made up to the memory of 
many living persons, who remember the Ohio Valley as 
an unknown territory, and the home of hardy pioneers 
who fought for its possession with savage animals and 
still more savage men. The now great West was then 
a terra incognita , and penetrated only by the hunter 
and trapper, who first explored its rich possibilities. 
The story of the settlement of all this broad land is 
written in the blood of martyrs, in fire and slaughter, 
and in the sweat of infinite labor. Few realize the 
change, who now speed on the wings of the wind—so to 
speak—past the myriad homes and fertile farms which 
to-day are feeding the world. henry stewart. 
Macon County, N. C. 
Bushel of Rural New-Yorker No. 2 Potatoes. Fig. 
Potato Culture in 1759. 
M iller’s Gardener’s Dictionary published in MDCCLIX. 
tells us that there were then but two varieties of the 
‘ ‘ common potato, one having a red Root and a purple 
Flower,and the other a white Root and a white Flower.” 
Mr. Miller says that “this plant has been much 
propagated in England within 30 Years past; for 
although it was introduced from America about the 
Year 1623, yet it was but little cultivated till of late ; 
these Roots being despised by the Rich and deemed 
only proper Food for the meaner Sort of Persons; 
however, they are now esteemed by most People ; and 
the Quality of them which are cultivated near London, 
I believe, exceeds that of any other Part of Europe.” 
Again he says : ‘ ‘ This Plant is always propagated by 
its Roots; for it rarely perfects Seeds in England 
(an interesting fact) “ and if it did that Method would 
be more tedious and uncertain ; and as the Roots 
greatly multiply if planted in a proper soil, there can 
be no Occasion for trying any other Method of Culture.” 
Evidently the improvement of the potato by seedling 
cultivation had not been thought of at that time. It 
is worthy of note that the preparation of the land, the 
cutting' of the “ roots,” the distance between the 
“ Rows, as also in the Rows, Plant from Plant” were 
then essentially the same as now. No hilling up is 
alluded to. “ Plow the land deep,” Mr. Miller says 
“ two or three times, and the deeper it is Plowed, the 
better the Roots will thrive. In the Spring, just before 
the last Plowing, there should be a good Quantity of 
rotten Dung spread on the Ground, which should be 
plowed in the Beginning of March. The sooner they 
are planted in the Spring after the Danger of Frost is 
over, the better it will be especially in dry Land. In 
the last Plowing, the Ground should be laid even, and 
then the Furrows should be drawn at three Feet Dis¬ 
tance from each other, and about seven or eight Inches 
deep. In the bottom of the Furrow the Roots should 
be laid, at about one Foot and an half asunder; then 
the Furrow should be covered in with the earth.” 
Mr. Miller urges upon the cultivator to let the land 
so remain until near the time when the shoots are ex¬ 
pected to appear above ground and then harrow both 
ways. 
“ This,” he says “ will destroy the young Weeds, 
save the Expense of Hoeing, as also break the Tipper 
Surface of the Ground.” 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. may be surprised to learn 
that even in Miller’s time, manuring “in the Furrows” 
was condemned. 
“ In places where Dung is scarce,” he says, “ many 
Persons scatter it only in the Furrows, where the Roots 
are planted; but this is a very poor Method; because 
when the Potatoes begin to push out their Roots, they 
are soon extended beyond the Width of these Furrows, 
and the new Roots are commonly formed at a Distance 
from the old; so will be out of the Reach of this Dung 
and consequently will receive little benefit from it. 
And as most of the Farmers covet to have a Crop of 
Wheat after the Potatoes are taken off the Ground, so 
the land will not be so thoroughly dressed in every 
Part, nor so proper for this Crop as when 
the Dung is equally spread, and plowed 
in, all over the Land; nor will the Crop 
of Potatoes be so good.” 
It is advised that the “ Roots ” as soon 
as harvested should have a “ good 
Quantity of Sand, or dry Earth, laid be¬ 
tween them, to prevent their heating; 
nor should they be laid in too large 
Heaps for the same Reason.” 
What would these old-time farmers 
have thought could they have grown 
such potatoes as are shown at Fig. 322. 
The picture shows a bushel of Rural 
New-Yorker No. 2 Potatoes grown by 
Mr. Prichard of Tekonsha, Michigan. 
There are just 48 potatoes in the bushel 
basket ! They were grown on light, 
sandy soil with very little extra care. 
Mr. Prichard says : “ I have seen a good 
many potatoes both in the Old and New 
World. I never before saw such pota¬ 
toes as these; all are large.” No greater 
evidence of progress could be given than 
the contrast between this bushel of 
potatoes and the small scraggy, ‘‘roots” 
that were cultivated and eaten by the 
Indians and early settlers. The Indian 
squaws with clam shell and stick pro¬ 
duced little tubers a trifle larger than 
one’s thumb. Now a man may sit on 
a comfortable seat, under shade, and 
plant, cultivate, dig and sort such pota¬ 
toes as we see in the picture. Truly the 
world has moved, and yet not all the 
potatoes grown in the year 1891 are as 
large and fine as are those shown here; 
22. for the crop is affected not only by 
tillage and fertilization, but also by 
the character as well as the exposure of the soil. As 
Ilosea Biglow said 
An’ you will see the taters grow In one poor feller’s patch, 
So small no self-respectin’ hen that valued time ’ould scratch, 
So small the rot can’t tlnd ’em out, and then agin, nex’ door, 
Kz big ez wot hogs dream on when they’re ’most too fat to snore. 
There have been careless and lazy farmers in all 
ages. There always will be and they will always be a 
drag on the more enterprising. 
Farming on Worn-out Land. 
THE FIRST INTENSIVE FARMING. 
Most people appear to think that the problem of how 
to restore worn-out soils to a profitable condition is a 
modern trouble—something that our ancestors knew 
nothing of. The usual opinion regarding the agricul¬ 
ture of the first white settlers is that it was carried on 
upon a wasteful system by rude and clumsy operations 
on a strong, virgin soil. This was true of many of the 
pioneers who went into the forest, cutting down and 
burning trees until their soil was like a bed of ashes. 
They could not help growing crops on such soils, and 
it is no wonder that manures and fertilizers were of 
little use to them. In the books they left behind them, 
there is no record of anything like a ‘ ‘ hungry soil — 
for their soils were all fat and well-fed. The Pilgrims, 
who settled at Plymouth, Mass., were not so fortunate, 
as the following extracts from their journals will 
show. They grappled with and mastered a problem 
that has conquered and shamed thousands of their 
later descendants and sent them away from their 
birth-places seeking newer and stronger lands. The 
Puritans had no live-stock—their first cattle came 
