THE CULTIVATOR. 
23 
mer, which are an enormous drawback upon the profits of his labor, 
we will only quote from Arthur Young, who made an agricultural 
survey of the country some forty years ago, the amount of these 
burdens in the county of Essex, a district sixty miles long by fifiy 
broad. The tithes amounted to 4s. 9d. (94 cents) on the acre.— 
But I will give gross sums: 
Rents,. £936,320 
Tithes,. 225,620 
Poor rates,. 500,000 
Exceeding, in the aggregate, seven millions, three hundred thou¬ 
sand dollars, which the farmers of one county annually pay, to the 
landlords, the clergy and paupers ! And yet, says our account, 
with ail these burdens, their profits from the improved modes of 
cultivation, were greater in 1805, than when the expenses were 
much less. Let us imitate their industry and their skill, but may 
we long be exempt from their rents, rates and tithes. 
Let us now examine the statistical data of New-York Agricul¬ 
ture. The cultivated lands in our state were estimated, in 1825, 
at 7,160,967 acres, and their aggregate value, at the average value 
of $25 per acre, at $179,124,175. The farm stock was estimated 
to swell this amount to two hundred and twenty millions. Let us 
suppose, what we believe will be making a pretty fair allowance, 
that the farmer upon 100 acres, which, witli the necessary farm 
stock, we will put down at $3,000, produces twenty percent upon 
this capital, or $600 a year. Deduct seven percent from this sum, 
for interest upon the capital, or for rent, and he will have left, for 
his labor, and family, and other expenses, $390. Upon this esti¬ 
mate, it will be perceived, our lands do not yield one-third of the 
produce per acre, upon an average, that, is produced upon the farm 
lands of England. And even the farming in England, we believe, 
is badly managed in many districts, and is less productive than ei¬ 
ther that of Scotland or Flanders. We certainly have the capaci¬ 
ties, if we will call them into action, of successfully competing, in 
every branch of productive labor, with the population of the old 
world. 
In recurring to the history of agriculture, we find, that a century 
ago, it excelled in the Netherlands, embracing Flanders, and in 
some districts of Italy, particularly in the valley of the Po. In the 
former of these countries, a judicious system of rotation, suited to 
soil and local circumstances, had been adopted; clover and roots 
had been introduced, and manures were sedulously husbanded and 
discreetly applied. In addition to these improvements, irrigation 
had been extensively adopted in the valley of the Po. Although 
these countries have, during the last century, progressed but com¬ 
paratively little in agricultural improvement, they nevertheless re¬ 
tain a degree of preeminence, at this day, and furnish practical ex¬ 
amples highly worthy of our imitation. So recently as 80 years 
ago, agriculture was in a most wretched condition, both in Great 
Britain and France. Most of the improvements in English hus¬ 
bandry have been made within the last seventy years; those of 
Scotland during the last fifty years, and those of France since the 
period of her revolution, or within the last thirty years. These 
improvements, which have contributed essentially to the prosperity 
and happiness of the human family, were brought about by the spi¬ 
rited exertions of a few distinguished individuals, such as Young, 
Sinclair, Davy, Chaptal, Bakewell, and others of minor note, 
though probably not less efficient; by the application of science to 
husbandry, and the co-operation of societies formed to promote its 
improvement. Among the leading features of the great practical 
agricultural improvement which has so recently taken place in Bri¬ 
tain, Loudon places at the head—the introduction of a better sys¬ 
tem of rotation—the drill system of growing turnips, about 1765; 
the improvement of live stock, by Bakewell, about 1770; the use 
of lime in agriculture, and the system of convertible husbandry, 
which commenced about 1765; the improved plough, by Small, 
about 1790, and the thrashing machine, by Merkle, about 1795; 
the system of draining, or tapping springs, discovered by Anderson 
from principle, and by Elkinton, by accident, about 1765; the re¬ 
vival of the art of irrigation, by Boswell, in 1780; the field culture 1 
of the potatoe about 1750; the introduction of the Swedish turnip 
about 1790, of spring wheat about 1795, and of mangold wurzel at 
a still later period. The British Board of Agriculture, and the 
Highland Society of Scotland, have effected much towards im¬ 
provement; and perhaps no conntry in the world has made greater 
strides, at any period, in bettering the condition of her husbandry, 
than Scotland has, during the last half century, under the fostering 
auspices of the last named society, and which is dispensing its la¬ 
bors of usefulness, with untiring patience and unabating energy. 
Although it is difficult to compare the average crops of different 
countries with any degree of accuracy, I will nevertheless endeavor 
to do it from the imperfect data to which I have had access, so far 
as regards some of the staple products of the soil, premising at the 
same time, that the comparison affords but an imperfect view of the 
relative amount of farm profits, the disparity in the price of labor, 
and the general economy of farm management, not coming under 
notice. 
Flanders is a flat, wet, and generalty sandy country, illy adapted 
to the wheat crop. Yet the average product of different districts, 
in this grain, according to Radcliff, varies from 20J to 32 bushels 
the acre; mean average over twenty-six bushels per acre. Lowe 
gives the average product in Scotland, of wheat twenty-four, bar¬ 
ley forty-two, and oats 48 bushels the acre. Loudon states the 
average product in Britain at 24, 28 and 32 bushels; mean average 
26 bushels the acre. In 1790, Washington, in a letter to Arthur 
Young, computed the average crop in Pennsylvania, then one of 
our best wheat growing states, as follows:—wheat 15 bushels, rye 
20, barley 25, oats 30, Indian corn 25, potatoes 75. Strickland, 
in a report made to the British Board of Agriculture, forty years 
' ago, gave the average wheat crop of our state, at 12 bushels the 
acre, and of Dutchess, then as now, our best cultivated county, at 
16 bushels. An intelligent correspondent of the Baltimore Farmer, 
who dates Philadelphia county, expresses his doubts whether the 
average produce in Pennsylvania, with the exception of the potatoe 
crop, is as great as it was half a century ago. I am inclined to be¬ 
lieve, that in our state there has been a manifest improvement in 
that period; for although some districts have retrograded, others 
have advanced with a good deal of celerity. Well managed farms 
may be selected in the old river counties, where improvement has 
made the greatest advances, upon which the average crops have 
been more than doubled during the last few years; where wheat 
has yielded an average crop of 25 to 30 bushels an acre, corn 70 to 
80, potatoes 300, and other crops in proportion, and where culti¬ 
vated grasses and roots have still more added to the profits ol the 
husbandman. The maximum produce of our grain crops may be 
stated, wheat 40 bushels, Indian corn 100, rye 35, oats and barley 
60. In this estimate I leave out of view the fertile west, where 
nature has been profusely bountiful of her gifts, and where man 
seems to think the soil inexhaustible, and confine my remarks to 
the valley of the Hudson. These facts suffice to show, that while 
the condition of our husbandry is bad, it is susceptible of great im¬ 
provement. What has been done in one district, or on one farm, 
may be done in others. And if we despair of the present genera¬ 
tion, to make the desired improvements, let us take care at least to 
qualify our sons to become better managers than their fathers. 
From the estimate I have made, of our agricultural products, it 
would seem that they amount to about 43 millions of dollars per 
annum. Now if this convention can be instrumental in adding 
merely ten per cent, to this amount, by inducing a more profitable 
mode of culture, they will be instrumental in adding annually four 
millions, three hundred thousand dollars to the capital of the state, 
independent of the enhanced value of the lands consequent upon 
their improved culture. But if they can succeed in awakening, in 
our legislators, and in our fellow citizens at large, a spirit of hearty 
co-operation in the work of improvement, the value of our agricul¬ 
tural products may be doubled. “ Agriculture,” says Sully, “ may 
be regarded as the breasts from which the state derives its support 
and nourishment.” 
The inquiry next presents itself, how are these d< sired ends to 
be brought about? We can make good farmers as we make good 
officers for our navy and army: Teach the pupil the science as well 
as the art; instruct the head as well as the hands, and subject him 
i to system and discipline. Give us an Agricultural West-Point to 
begin with, where may be concentrated and taught, all that is use¬ 
ful in theory and excellent in practice. 41 The education of the 
head and hands must always go together, or the health, strength 
and efficiency of the physfeal and mental powers of man can never 
be duly developed and maintained.” Raise the standard of instruc 
tion in our common schools, the nurseries of statesmen as well as 
