j vw«<v^A>vw^y T w T \i f 'i/ > t/ i u , u , v l »/ 1 ^ i^o^v > uvv‘i/ T bV\/v\^vv\/ , vvvv\i < v T w T y(i f > 
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR] 
PHOGKESS ANT) IMPROVEMENT.’ 
[SINGLE NO. FIVE CENTS. 
ROCHESTER, N Y.-SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1857. 
{WHOLE NO. TOO. 
OL. VIII. NO. 45. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
AH ORIGINAL WSEKLT 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORK, 
WITH AN ABLE CORPS OF ASSISTANT SUITORS. 
SPECIAL CONTKUtimmS I 
Prof. 0 . DEWET, 
Lt. M. F. MAURY, 
Dr. ASA FITCH, 
T. a ARTHUR, 
T. C. PETERS, 
H T. BROOKS, 
EWD. WEBSTER, 
Mas. M. J. HOLMES, 
LTMAN B LANOWORTHT. 
Th* Rural Nzw-Yokkxu Is designed to be nnsuipassod In 
Vain* Purity, Usefulness and Vajletv of Contents, ftnd nnii|ne 
and beamlfn' tn Appearance, Its Condnotor devotes his per¬ 
sonal attention to the supervision of its vailons departments, 
and earnestly labors to render the Rural an eminently Reliable 
0 tilde on the Important Practical, Scientific and othiw Snyects 
Intimately connected with the busiuess ol those whose interests 
It sealonsly advocates. It embraces more Agricultural, Ilorti- 
eulttiml, Scientific, Mechanical, IJterary and News Matter, 
hilerspersed with appropriate and bcantilal Kntrravuigs, than 
any other Journal,—tendering it Die most complete Agiucclto- 
ral Litbrarv AND Family Jochwai. In America. 
l3r"All commnnications, and busiuess letters, should be 
addressed to D. D. T. MOORK, Rochester, N Y. 
Fob Terms and other particulars, see last page. 
Utral 
-A. IsT ADDRESS 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
AT BUFFALO, OCTOBER 9. 1857, 
BY HON. EDWARD EVERETT. 
Mr. President, Gov. King, President Fillmore, Ladies 
and Gentlemen, Friends and Fellotc-Citizens : 
Tn s surpassingly beautiful Bpoc where we'are 
assembled this day, is one of no ordinary interest. 
We are met in fall view of the outlet of one of the 
moat considerable of those inland seas which form 
so marked a feature in the geography of our con¬ 
tinent. We can almost hear thB roar of ita waters 
as they plunge, at yonder world-renowned cata¬ 
ract, to the lower level of the sister lake. The 
prosperous city, under whose immediate auspices 
we are assembled, has. within the experience of 
living men, grown np from a small village on the 
skirts of an Indian reservation, to be the busy 
mart of a vast inland trade. Behind ub, uniting 
in what truly may be called the bonds of holy mat¬ 
rimony, the waters of the mighty lakes with the 
waters of the mighty ocean—enduring monument 
of one of the most honored sous of New York,— 
stretches far to the east that noblo canal, which 
alone, perhaps, among tho works of Its class, has 
sustained itself In the competition with the rail¬ 
road and the locomotive. In from of ns, spread 
out the fertile domains of a friendly neighboring 
power, the home of a kindred race, separated from 
us but by a narrow stream; a region to which wo 
have closely grappled with hooks of stool, or at 
least with books of railroad Iron, and the still 
stronger bonds of a mutually beneficial commer¬ 
cial reciprocity. We have come together, on this 
interesting spot, at the invitation of the New York 
State Agricultural Society, to hold the farmer’s 
autumnal holiday. From the remotest quarters of 
the Empire Stuto and her sister republics, the rail¬ 
roads which have thrown their vast net workover 
the country have afforded a ready conveyance to 
multitudes. Other multitudes have descended 
your magnificent lake, in those anparalled steam¬ 
ers, which, with scarce an interval of time, have 
taken the place of the bark canoe that skimmed 
its surface at the beginning of the century. Oth¬ 
ers from the adjacent province have crossed that 
noble suspension bridge, a wonder of engineering 
skill. In behalf of the respectable association in 
whose name I have the honor to speak, on this spot 
from which tho simple children of the forest have 
not yet wholly disuppeared, from whatever qnar 
ter, by whatever conveyance you have assembled, 
I bid you welcome. Friends, lollow-citizons, wel¬ 
come! The woods have put ou their gorgeous 
robes of many colors to receive you; tho vaporous 
atmosphere bus for this day hung up its misty 
veil, to shield you from the too fervid sun; the 
sparkling waters of Niagara River bid yon " Hail 
and Farewell,” as they hurry downward to their 
great agony; and Autumn spreads before you the 
rustic hospitality of her harvest home. 
There Is a temptation, when men assemble on 
occasions of this kind, to exaggerate the impor¬ 
tance of the pursuit in which they are engaged, in 
comparison with the other callings of life. When 
farmers, or merchants, or manufacturers, or teach¬ 
er#, or professional men, oome together to cele¬ 
brate an anniversary, or an important event, or to 
do honor to some distinguished individual, it is 
almost a matter of coarse that their particular oc¬ 
cupation or profession should be represented by 
those ou whom the duty of speaking for their as¬ 
sociates devolves as the most important profes¬ 
sion or calling. No great harm is done by these 
rhetorical exaggerations, which in the long run 
mast correct each other; and which, if they have 
the effect of making men more content with their 
own pursuit, are not very pernicious, even if they 
remain nncorrected. 
Although these claims which men set up, each 
for the paramount importance of hie own occupa¬ 
tion, cannot of course be well founded, it may be 
maintained that each of the great pursuits of life 
is indispensable to the prosperity of all the rest.— 
Without agriculture and manufactures, iho mer¬ 
chant would have nothing to transport or ex¬ 
change. Withoat commerce, the fanner aul the 
manufacturer would be confined to a barter trade, 
in a limited home circle of demand and supply.— 
In this respect, all tho great pnrsuits of life In a 
civilized community may be deemed of equal Im¬ 
portance, because they have each and all for their 
object to supply some of the wants of our nature; 
because each is necessary, to some extent at least, 
to the prosperity of every other; and because they 
arc all brought by the natural sympathies of our 
being into an harmonious system, and form that 
noble and beautiful whole which we caU civilized 
society. 
But, without derogating from the Importance of 
any of the other pursuits and occupations, we may 
safely, I think, claim for Agriculture in some re¬ 
spects, a certain precedence before them all. It 
has been said to be the great and final object of 
government to get twelve impartial and intelli¬ 
gent men into the jury box; by which, of course, 
is meant that the administration of equal justice 
between man and man is the primary object of 
civilized and social life. But the teacher, secular 
or spiritual, might plausibly urge that is of prior 
importance that the community should have the 
elements, at least, of mental and moral culture, 
and be taught the obligations of an oath, beforo 
any twelve of its members Bhould take part in the 
administration of justice. The physician might 
contend that health is of greater importance than 
the trial by jury; and with greater reason it might 
be claimed for agriculture that it supplies the first 
want of our nature; the daily call of the great 
family of man for his daily bread—the call that 
must be answered before the work of life, high or 
low, can begin. Plaintiff and defendant, judge 
and jury must break their fast before they meet in 
court; and, if the word of a witty poet can be 
taken, certain very important cousequencea some¬ 
times happen to culprits, in order that jurymen 
may get to their dinners. 
But, to speak in a more fitting and serions train, 
I must confess that there has always seemed to me 
something approaching the sublime in this view 
of Agriculture, which (such i3 the effect of famil¬ 
iarity) does not produce an impression on our 
minds in proportion to the grandeur of the idea. 
We seem, on the contrary, to take for granted, that 
we live by a kind of mechanical necessity, and 
that our frames are like watches, made, if such a 
thing were possible, to go withoat winding up. in 
virtue of some innate principle of subsistence 
independent of our wills; which is indeed in other 
respects true. But it is not less trxe, that our ex¬ 
istence, as individuals or communities, must be 
kept up by a daily supply of food, directly or indi¬ 
rectly iarnished by Agriculture; and that, if this 
supply Bhould wholly fail for ten days, all this mul¬ 
titudinous, striving, ambitions Immunity—these na¬ 
tions and kindred and tribes of men, would perish 
from the face of the earth by the must ghastly form 
of dissolution. Strike out of existence at once ten 
days’ supply of eight or ten articles, such as In¬ 
dian corn, wheat, rye, potatoes, rice, millet, the 
cate, the banana, and the bread fruit, with a half a 
dozca others which serve as the forage of the do¬ 
mestic animals, and the human race would be ex¬ 
tinct. The houses we inhabit, the monuments we 
erect, the trees we plant, stand iti some cases for 
ages; but our own frames—tbe stout limbs, the 
skillful hands that build the booses and set up the 
monuments and plant the trees—have to be built 
up, re-created every day, and this must be done 
from the fruits of the earth gathered by Agrieul- 
tuie. bverytbing else is luxury, convenience, com¬ 
fort—food is Indispensable. 
Then consider tho bewildering extont of this 
daily demand and supply, which you will allow me 
to place before you in a somewhat coarse mechan¬ 
ical illustration. The human race is usually esti¬ 
mated at about one thousand miliiona of Individu¬ 
als. If the sustenance of a portion of these multi¬ 
tudinous millions is derived from other sources 
than Agriculture, this circumstance is balanced 
by the fact that there is a great deal of agricultural 
produce raised in excess of the total demand for 
food. Let theu the thoughtful husbandman who 
desires to form a just idea of the importance of 
his pursuit, reflect, when he gathers hi* little flock 
about him to partake the morning’s meal, that 
one thousand million of fellow mon have awa¬ 
kened from sleep that morning, craving their 
daily bread with the same appetite which reigns 
at hia family board; and that If, by a suporior 
power, they could be gathered together at the 
same hour, for the same meal, they would fill both 
sides of live tables reaching ail around tbe globe 
where it is broadest, seated side by aide, and al¬ 
lowing eighteen inches to each individual; and 
that these tables are to be renewed twice or thrice 
every day. Then let him consider that, in addi¬ 
tion to the food of tbe human race, that all the 
humble partners of mat's toil—the lower animals 
are to be provided in like manner. These all wait 
upon Agriculture, as the agent of that Providence 
which giveth them their meat in due season; and 
they probably consume in the aggregate an equal 
amount of produce; and finally let him add in im¬ 
agination to this untold amount of daily food for 
man and beast the various articles which are fur¬ 
nished directly orfndirecily from thesoil, for build¬ 
ing materials, furniture, clothing and fuel. The 
grand total wlU illustrate the primary importance 
of Agriculture considered as the steward—the 
commissary—charged with supplying this almost 
inconceivable daily demand of the human race 
and the subject animals of their daily tosad; a 
want so imperative and uncompromising, that 
death in ita most agonizing form is the penalty of 
a failure in the supply. 
But although Agriculture is clothed with an im¬ 
portance which rests upon the primitive constitu¬ 
tion of our nature, it is very far from being the 
simple concern we are apt to think it. On the 
contrary, there is no pursuit in life, which not ODly 
admits, but requires for its full development, more 
of the resources of science and art,—none which 
would better repay the pains bestowed upon an 
appropriate education. There is, I believe, no 
exaggeration in stating that as great an amount 
and variety of scientific, physical, and mechanical 
knowledge is required for the most successful con¬ 
duct of the various operations of husbandry, as for 
any of the arts, trades, or professions. I conceive, 
therefore, that the Legislature and the citizens of 
the great State over which you, sir, (Governor 
King,) so worthily preside, have acted most wisely 
in making provision t'v /.he establishment of an 
institution expressly for agricultural education.— 
There is a demand for systematic scientific in¬ 
struction, from the very first stop we take, not in 
the play-farming of gentlemen of leisure, but in 
the pursuit of husbandry as tho serious business of 
life. 
In the first place, the earth which is to be culti¬ 
vated, instead of being either a uniform or a ho¬ 
mogenous mass, is made up of a variety of mate¬ 
rials, differing in different places, and possessing 
different chemical and agricultural properties and 
qualities. A few of these elements, aud especially 
clay, lime, and sand predominate, usually inter¬ 
mixed to some extent by nature, and capable of 
being so mingled and treated by art, as to produce 
a vastly increased fertility. The late Lord Leices¬ 
ter, in England, better kuown as Mr. Coke, first c ar- 
ried out this idea on a large scale, and more than 
doubled the productive value of his great estates 
tu Norfolk by claying his light soils. To conduct 
operations of this kind, some knowledge of geol¬ 
ogy, mineralogy and chemistry, is required. The 
enrichment of the earth by decaying animal and 
vegetable substances is the most familiar opera¬ 
tion perhaps in husbandry; but it is only since its 
scientific principles have been explored by Davy 
and Lieb’g, that the great practical improvements 
in this branch of agriculture have taken place, lt 
is true that the almost boundless natural fertility 
of the soil supercedes for tbe present, in some 
parts of our country, the importance of artificial 
enrichment. I inquired last spring of a friend 
living in a region of this kind, on the banks of the 
Ohio, how they contrived to get rid of the accu¬ 
mulation of the farmyard, (a strange question, it will 
seem to farmers in this part of the world,) and he 
answered, “ By carting it down to the river's side, 
aad emptying it into the stream.'' In Another por¬ 
tion of the western country, where I. had seen 
hemp growing vigorously about thirty yeareago, I 
found that wheat was now the prevailing crop. J 
was informed that the land was originally so rich 
as to be adapted oaly for hemp, but bad now be¬ 
come poor enough for wheat. 
These, however, are not instances of a permanent 
and normal condition of things. In the greater 
part of the Union, especially in those portions 
which have been for some time under cultivation, 
the annual exhaustion xuast be restored by the an¬ 
nual renovation of the soil. To accomplish this 
object, of late years every branch of science, every 
resource of the laboratory, every kingdom of na¬ 
ture, has been placed under contribution. Battle¬ 
fields have been dug over for the hones of their 
victims; Geology has furnished lime, gypsum aud 
marl; Commerce has explored the remotest seas 
for guano, and has called loudly ou Diplomacy to 
assist her efforts; Chemistry has been tasked for 
the production of compounds, which, in the pro¬ 
gress of science, may supersede those of animal 
or vegetable origiu which are prepared by nature. 
The nutritive principles developed by decaying 
animal and vegetable organizations are univer¬ 
sally diftused throughout the material world, and 
the problem to be solved ia to produce them arti¬ 
ficially on a large scale, cheap enough for general 
use. In the meantime tho most simple aud fa¬ 
miliar processes of enrichment, with the aid of 
mechanical power and a moderate application of 
capital, are producing the most astonishing re 
VAN v-c 
JW.Oi:r sc. 
BLACK POLAND FOWLS. 
Although the *• chicken fever” has subsided,] 
and the “Shanghais” have been the subjects of I 
ridicule for several years past, furnishing an ex- J 
cellent mark for the unfledged wit of the cockerels 
of the 'tottio genua yet we never saw a finer exhi¬ 
bition of poultry than that made at the New York 
State Fair lu Buffalo; 3nd the too much praised 
and too badly abesed Shanghais were fully repre¬ 
sented, standing high in their own estimation, as 
well as that of others, and regardless alike of the 
fl*tterie3 of friends and the wit of foes. Several 
lots of Black Polands in the collection attracted 
onr particular notice, and among these was one 
coop of exceedingly fine hirde, owned by E. A. 
Wendell, of Albany, and another by E. S. Ralph, 
of Buffalo. YVe give a very coi reel and liie-like 
engraving of these fowls. The body ia perfectly 
black, glossed with metallic green, top-knot white. 
suits. The success which has attended Mr. Me- 
chi’s operations in England is familiar to U3 all.— 
By the application of natural fertilizing liquids, 
sprinkled by a steam engine over bis fields, they 
have been made to produce, it is said, seven aunud 
crops of heavy grass. 
Simple water i3 one of the most effectual fertili¬ 
zers, and in some countries irrigation, carried on 
wiih no moderate degree of hydraulic skill, ia the 
basis of their husbandry. While walking, on one 
occasion, with the late Lord Ashburton, in his de¬ 
lightful grounds in Hampshire—just before he de¬ 
parted on hia special mission to this country—in 
one of the intervals of our earnest conference on 
the Northeastern Boundary, he told me that he 
had expended ten thousand pounds sterling in 
condnoiing round his fields the waters of the lit¬ 
tle river—the Itchen, I think—that flows through 
aud that it wa3 money well laid cut. Pardon me 
the digression of a moment to say that 1 could 
not bu honortho disinterested patriotism which 
lei this kind-hearted, upright and intelligent mao, 
at an advanced age (with nothing on earth to gain 
or desire, and with everything of reputation to 
risk,) to leave the earthly paradise in which I saw 
him, and to cross the Atlantic in the winter, in a 
sailing vessel (his voyage was of fifty one days,) to 
do his pari in adjusting a controversy which had 
seriously menaced tbe peace of the two countries. 
The famous water-meadows of the Duke of Port¬ 
land, at CLipatone, have been often described, 
where the same operation has been performed ou 
a still more extensive scale. Mr. Colinau’s inter 
esting volumes on European agriculture contain 
accounts of other works of this kind, but I coniine 
myself to those which have fallen under my own 
observation. 
Nor are these the only operations in which ag¬ 
riculture calls for the aid of well-instructed skill 
That moisture, which iu moderation is the great 
vehicle of vegetable nourishment, may exist in 
excess. Vast tracts of laud are lost to husbandry 
iu this country, which might be reclaimed by dykes 
and embankments, or become fertile by drainage. 
Land is yet too abundant and cheap in America 
to admit of great expenditures in this way, except 
in very limited localities; but the time will no 
donbt come when, in the populous portions of the 
country, especially in tbe neighborhood of large 
cities, the sunken marshes which now stretch 
along our coast will be reclaimed from the ocean, 
as in Holland: and thousands of acres in the in 
They are excellent layers, quiet in their habits 
though not so much so as the Asiatic fowls, and 
very seldom wane to sit, unless old. For this 
reason they have been called everlasting layers. 
We have kept this variety for many years, and like 
them well, when pure, but they are a miserable, 
ill-looking fowl when crossed. Although we have 
tried in a score of ways, we could never get a 
decent cross. The Polands should not be kept 
Bf.er becoming two years old, as they generally 
lose much of their beauty and value at this age. 
Although no author has mentioned the fact, we 
think they are more sensitive in regard to cleanli¬ 
ness than any other variety. A dirty or ill-venti- 
i lated house will invariably lead to disease and 
j loss. The only objection to them is, that the top- 
knot often grows so large aa to partially obstruct 
I the sight. In such cases it must be cut 
( been redeemed by artificial means from the ocean 
—a considerable tract covered by the lake of Har¬ 
lem, within a few j eara. Now, if we could add a 
new territory to the UnioD, as large us the kingdom 
of the Netherlands, by the peaceful operations of 
husbandry, it would be a species of annexation to 
which 1 for one should make no objection. All 
the resources of science have been called into op¬ 
eration in that country, under the direction of a 
separate department of the government to sustain 
the hydraulic works which protect it from the 
) ocean. The state oc things is similar in tbe fens 
of Lincolnshire and Bedfordshire. Ail tli6 3 pare 
revenues of the Grand Duke of Tuscany have been 
appropriated for years to the improvement of the 
low grounds on the coast of that country, once the 
abode of the powerful Etruscan confederacy, 
which ruled Italy before the ascendancy of the 
Romans, now, and tor ages past, a malarious, unin¬ 
habitable waste. 
But when science and art have done their best 
for the preparation of the soil, they have but com¬ 
menced their operations in the lowest department 
of agriculture. They have dealt thus far only with 
what we call lifeless nature, though I apply that 
word with reluctance to the generous bosom of our 
mother Earth, from which everything that germi¬ 
nates draws its life and appropriate nourishment. 
[•Still, however, we take a great step upward, when, 
I in pursuing the operations of husbandry, we as- 
I eead from mineral and inorganic substances to 
vegetable organization. We now enter a new 
world of agricultural research; the mysteries of 
assimilation, growth und decay; of seed time and 
harvest; the life, the death, and the production 
of the vegetable world. Here we stilt need the 
light of science, but rather to explore end reveal 
than to imitate :be operations of nature. Tne 
skillful agricultural chemist can mingle soils and 
componnd fertilizing phosphates; bat, with all his 
apparatus and all bis re-agents, it is beyond his 
power to fabricate the humblest leaf. He can give 
you, to the thousandth part of a grain, the compo¬ 
nent elements of wheat,—he can mingle those ele¬ 
ments in due proportion in his laboratory,—but to 
manufacture a siogle kernel, endowed with living, 
reproductive power, is as much beyond his skill as 
to create a world. 
Yegetable life, therefore, reqnires a new course 
j of study aid instruction. The adaptation of par- 
ticular plants, o particular soils and their treat- 
| omnt, on tq,, one hand, and, on the other, their 
terior, now given up to alder swamps and eranber- i nutritive powers as food for man and the lower 
ry meadows, bs clothed with grass and corn.— I animals, the laws of germination and growth the 
There are few farms of any size in the country ! influences of climate, the possible range of im- 
which do not contain waste spots of this kind— | provability in cereal grains and fruits, are topics 
the harbor of turtles, trogs and serpents—which , of vast importance. The knowledge — for the 
might be brought, at moderate expense and some | most part empirical— already possessed, upon 
hydraulic skill, into cultivation. Other extensive j these points, is the accumulation of the ages 
tracts are awaiting the time when the increase of I which have elapsed siuce the foundation of the 
population and the enhanoed value of land will i world, each of which has added to the list its gen- 
bear the expense of costly operations in engineer- i eroua fruit, its nutritive grain, its esculent root, its 
ing. The marshes on the sea coast of New Eng- textile fibre, its brilliant tincture, its spicy bark 
land, New York and New Jersey, probably exceed its exhilerating juice, ita aromatic ess nct>, ita 
in the aggregate the superficies of the kingdom of fragrant gum, its inflammable oil—some so long 
the Netherlands, the greater part of which has ago that the simple gratitude of infant humanity 
