THE CULTIVATOR. 
103 
their usual care and determination, their enterprise would be 
crowned with success.” 
We should he pleased to extract largely from these re¬ 
ports, and shall have occasion often to refer to them as 
a magazine of facts collected with great skill, and par¬ 
ticularly valuable as illustrating all subjects connected 
with the matters to which they are devoted. 
WHEAT. 
The experiments which have been made, under legis¬ 
lative encouragement, in some of the New-England states, 
would seem to have demonstrated satisfactorily, that 
that part of the United States is abundantly able to pro¬ 
duce its own wheat, as well as its corn or potatoes, al¬ 
though as circumstances and prices are, the matter of 
profit does not seem quite so certain. It has for some 
time appeared probable to us, that in ordinary cases, 
when the ease with which wheat is raised in the west is 
considered, and the low price at which it is afforded, taken 
into view, eastern farmers, or the most of those in the At¬ 
lantic states, can better employ their lands and labor in 
producing other articles than in raising wheat. There 
are a multitude of crops of great value, such as corn, 
grass, oats, roots and other vegetables, of certain growth 
and ready sale, affording, perhaps, a greater profit than 
wheat at the present time, and as well calculated to im¬ 
prove the soil and promote permanent fertility as that 
crop. 
It becomes, therefore, a calculation of simple profit 
or loss, with the eastern farmer, whether he will at a 
great expense of labor and manure raise his own wheat, 
or by applying that labor and manure to other crops, 
usually considered more certain, find the means of pur¬ 
chasing what flour he finds necessary for his consump¬ 
tion. In the west, the attention of the agriculturist must 
necessarily be turned to wheat, as it is the only crop 
that can bear transportation to market, and of course, 
the only one iii which the fertile new lands of the Avcst 
can be brought into direct competition with the more 
worn soils and laborious culture of the east. As a ma¬ 
terial for bread, as a food for animals, and as an impro¬ 
ver of the soil, Indian corn is not behind wheat in im¬ 
portance ; and so long as the west is compelled to fur¬ 
nish us her flour at so low a rate, it may be considered 
questionable whether, as a general crop, corn should not 
be preferred to wheat. 
In the west, the culture of crops is performed in the 
most simple way possible. In wooded lands, the pro¬ 
cess is merely cutting down and burning off the brush 
and timber ; the rooty surface is scratched with the har¬ 
row, and as it is usually thoroughly burned over, there are 
no weeds, but only a clean earth in which the seeds are 
deposited. The settler has now done his part; nature 
does the remainder, and the crop rarely disappoints the 
expectations. We have often seen on such lands Indian 
corn cultivated by simply taking an old axe, striking a 
blow into the earth, and depositing the seed in the open¬ 
ing so made, a step with the foot in passing being all 
the covering required ; there was no plowing or hoeing 
performed, yet such cultivation gave from fifty to sev¬ 
enty bushels per acre. In the rich prairies and river 
bottoms of the west, corn is grown with still greater fa¬ 
cility, but it cannot be brought into • competition with 
eastern grown corn, unless after conversion into the 
shape of beef or pork, in which its influence is little felt, 
and beneficially, rather than otherwise. The time will 
probably come, when the strong vegetable properties of 
these western soils being exhausted, labor and manures 
will be required to continue their productiveness, and 
then the natural increase in the price of flour may ren¬ 
der it proper for the east to enter more fully into its cul¬ 
ture. 
There is a feeling among many eastern farmers, not¬ 
withstanding the proof that the experience of the last 
few years has afforded, that the east can never, under 
any system of farming, be made to produce wheat as it 
once did. This opinion is absurd; wheat is properly 
the grain of the world, and is now grown in increased 
quantities on lands from which it has been cropped since 
the days of Julius Caesar. The renovation of lands, af¬ 
ter being reduced almost to sterility, it is true, must be a 
work of time, and requires usually far more skill and 
labor than to preserve lands, naturally in good heart, per¬ 
manently in a state of productiveness. The true course 
seems to be, to lessen the quantity of land under culti¬ 
vation, where it is nearly run down, and thus give to 
less land the labor and the manure now spread over a 
larger surface. The deterioration caused by naked fal¬ 
lows can and must be remedied, by a rotation of crops, 
deeper and finer tilth, and liberal and judicious applica¬ 
tions of manures. Naked fallows should never be per¬ 
mitted, unless they become indespensably necessary to 
free lands from foul stuff; and the cultivation of hoed 
crops will, if the course is thorough, usually effect this 
object in a still more complete manner. Green crops, 
(the roots, &c.) which, having large tops, draw much of 
their nutriment from the atmosphere, must be alternat¬ 
ed with the grain crops ; the skinning system abandon¬ 
ed ; the ambition to cultivate a great number of acres 
done away ; and in its stead a desire to reap a large pro¬ 
duct from a few acres, implanted ; the principles of the 
new husbandry be studied and practiced ; and the time 
will come when wheat crops of thirty bushels an acre 
will not be a novelty on lands now pronounced utterly 
unfit for its culture. 
The excellence and nearness of markets in almost 
every part of New-England; the facilities with which 
every product of the earth can be disposed of at a hand¬ 
some profit; the varieties of pursuits, such as the ma¬ 
nufacturing, mechanic, and commercial, which furnish 
profitable employments for multitudes, and prevent 
the weight of population from pressing on the agri¬ 
culturist, as it must of necessity do more or less in the 
west; all contribute to render the production of any sin¬ 
gle crop of comparatively little moment, and perhaps 
that of wheat, as a whole, the least of any. Nothing 
can be more true than that the farmer, if it can be done 
at a reasonable expense, should grow on his own farm 
all that he requires in his family, of which the soil is 
susceptible; but it is also true, that if his bread is the 
product of his own labor, it in effect matters little whe¬ 
ther that labor has been given to wheat, or corn, of ve¬ 
getables for market, or silk, or any of the thousand 
things which by exchange can be converted into food 
with mutual benefit to all parties. But whatever crop 
may be attempted, the grand object to be kept in view, 
is the permanent improvement of the soil, and any one 
that effectually accomplishes this, be it wheat, or corn, 
or roots, cannot in the end be an unprofitable one. 
Mr. Webster and English Agriculture. 
There are no individuals more fond of travel than the 
people of the United States; and not a year passes in 
which men of ability and the talent for accurate obser¬ 
vation, do not spend more or less of their time abroad. 
It is unquestionably a pleasant and instructive manner 
of spending a few months, or even years, in this sight¬ 
seeing in Europe; but while volume after volume on 
the antiquities, the customs and habits, and the works 
of art and luxury observed by tourists, have appear¬ 
ed, we do not recollect a work by an American on the 
state of foreign agriculture, or scarcely so much as an 
allusion to the topic by any one. This may in part 
have arisen from the fact that few tourists are acquaint¬ 
ed with agriculture at home, and therefore incompetent 
to describe its situation or processes abroad; or that 
in a rapid transit over a region, there is little opportu¬ 
nity for accurate observation; still, to whatever cause 
it is owing, it cannot be otherwise than a subject of re¬ 
gret that the cultivation of the soil has attracted so lit¬ 
tle notice by those who have witnessed the state of farm¬ 
ing and its improvements in other countries. We should 
know what others are doing, that we may determine 
whether our course is the most beneficial; if we buy 
our bread of a neighbor who has no larger or bet¬ 
ter farm than we have, it becomes an important inquiry 
to us, how he manages to sell, while we are compelled 
to buy. 
There are, however, some honorable exceptions to 
this apathy on the part of American travelers in Eu¬ 
rope; men of the first standing, who have not thought 
it beneath them to attend to the farming operations of 
those countries, the methods of agriculture pursued, the 
influence which climate has on the productions of the 
earth, and the causes of that general superiority which 
their husbandry exhibits over ours. One of the latest 
of this class of observers, is Mr. Webster, who appre¬ 
ciating the importance of the agricultural interest to the 
country, and the necessity of advancing it by every 
practicable method, gave to the subject much of his at¬ 
tention during his late residence abroad. The results 
of his observations, which he presented in an address, 
before one of the agricultural meetings of the Massa¬ 
chusetts legislature last winter, and which has been re¬ 
vised by himself before publishing, now lies before us, 
and is an interesting and instructive paper, fully prov¬ 
ing the discrimination and extent of his observation, and 
the benefit which would ensue, if those who travel would 
avail themselves of their opportunities as successfully 
as he appears to have done. As we cannot find space 
for Mr. Webster’s remarks in exlenso, we must be content 
with giving a brief abstract of the most important points 
alluded to by him. 
“ The primary elements which enter into the consideration 
of die agriculture of a country, are four; climate, soil, price 
of land, and labor.” 
In all these points England differs from this country. 
The climate of each country is materially affected by 
its respective situation in relation to the ocean. As the 
prevailing winds in both countries are from the \Vest, 
the equalizing and moderating influence of the ocean is 
continually experienced on the temperature there; and 
the consequence is, that our winters are colder, and our 
summers hotter than in England. This alone creates a 
material difference between their agriculture and ours. 
“ The soil of England is mainly argillaceous; a soft and 
unctuous loam on a substratum of clay.” 
This was the predominant characteristic in the parts 
he visited. The soil in this country is generally harder, 
containing more stones, and in that respect more difficult 
to work, than in England. 
The price of land in that country is another import¬ 
ant element in agricultural calculations; it may be 
stated three times as high there as in Massachusetts. 
The price of labor differs, in different parts of Eng¬ 
land ; but on an average it may be set down at one half 
the price it commands here. 
English cultivation is more scientific, more systema¬ 
tic, and more exact, a great deal than ours. A great 
population is to be supported on a small surface; lands 
are dear, rents are high, and labor cheap ; careful and 
skilful cultivation is the natural result of this state of 
things. It is on the fundamental idea of constant pro¬ 
duction without exhaustion, that the system of English 
cultivation, and indeed of all good cultivation, is found¬ 
ed. England is not original in this. Flanders, and per¬ 
haps Italy, have been her teachers. This system is re¬ 
duced to practice in a rotation of crops. White crops 
are not allowed to follow one another. White crops are 
wheat, barley, rye, oats, &c., and in this country corn s to 
be included, though not as exhausting as some of the oth¬ 
ers. The green crops are turneps, potatoes, beets, 
vetches, tares, &c., but the turnep is the great green crop 
of England, and its cultivation has wrought such chang¬ 
es, that in fifty years, it may be said to have revolution¬ 
ized English agriculture. Plants derive a large part of 
their nutriment from the air. The leaves of plants are 
their lungs ; and the larger the surface of leaves exposed, 
the greater the supply of food from this source, and the 
less exhausting the crop. A large proportion of the tur¬ 
neps are fed off where they grow, and thus the earth re¬ 
ceives the direct benefit of the manures, both solid and li¬ 
quid. A large amount of land is cultivated in turneps, 
and fields of ihree, four, and even five hundred acres, are 
met with. The rotation of the white and green crops 
judiciously arranged, keeps the fields continually pro¬ 
ductive, and constantly improving. 
Draining is another part of farming in which the 
English have made great progress. Covered and tile 
draining'is preferred, and if expensive at first, the in¬ 
crease of the crops, and the permanent amelioration of 
the soil, amply rewards the outlay. Draining, owing to 
the difference noted in the character of the soil, can 
never be as extensively required or practiced in this 
country as in England and Scotland; yet there are large 
quantities of land in this country, now almost worthless, 
which draining would render most valuable and fertile. 
Experience also proves that draining contributes mate¬ 
rially to the health of a district. 
Mr. Webster gave some examples of the manner 
in which irrigation is practiced in some districts, and 
the beneficial results. For irrigation, a stream below 
a town is preferred to one above, for the reason that it 
contains more fertilizing matters. From such a stream 
the water is taken in a canal and carried in such a man¬ 
ner that it can be allowed to escape in small quantities 
as required, and after irrigating one set of meadows, is 
again received in another canal and performs the same 
effect in other and lower places. The land is not flood¬ 
ed in this case; the water does not stand upon it, but is 
applied for a few days, several times in a year, say in 
March, May, July, and October. On lands thus irrigat¬ 
ed, three crops of hay are cut in a season,, of not less 
than two tons per acre at each cutting. 
With respect to implements of husbandry, Mr. Web¬ 
ster was of opinion that the English on the whole had no 
advantage over us. Their wagons and carts were no 
better, their plows he thought were no better any where, 
and in some counties far inferior because unnecessarily 
heavy. As a whole he thought English implements cum¬ 
bersome and heavy, requiring more strength of team, or 
power in movement, than American ones, and their per¬ 
formance no better. 
Of the plants cultivated in England, and but little 
known in this, the common English field bean is the 
most important. It produces from twenty to forty bush¬ 
els per acre ; is one of the best kinds of food for ani¬ 
mals, particularly the horse, and requires a well manur¬ 
ed strong clay soil. 
The raising of sheep in England is an immense inter¬ 
est. She probably clips fifty millions of fleeces this 
year. “ The average yield may be six or seven lbs. per 
fleece.” The principal classes are the long and short 
wooled, and the Leicester and South Down may be con¬ 
sidered the types of these respective varieties. The com¬ 
mon clip of the former was from seven to eight, and the 
latter from three to three and a half or four pounds. 
Oxen are rarely trained in England for the yoke; 
though in Devonshire and Cornwall ox teams are some¬ 
times employed. In traveling thousands of miles in 
England, Mr. Webster saw only one ox team, and here 
they were harnessed like horses, and worked one before 
the other. Cattle are reared for the dairy and the butch¬ 
er almost exclusively. 
The cattle of England had greatly impro ved, and were 
still improving. He had seen many of the best stocks 
and best animals, and thought the Short Horns import¬ 
ed into this country were often good specimens. He 
thought the improved Short Horns "the finest cattle in the 
world, where plenty of good feed and some mildness of 
climate invited them. But since we must raise animals 
for work, he thought the Devonshire furnished excel¬ 
lent animals for our use; and their hardy nature made 
them better suited to the coarse and sometimes scanty 
herbage of New-England, than the 1 Short Horns. The 
latter he thought the best, altogether, for the western 
states, where there is an overflowing abundance, both of 
winter and summer feed, and where, as in England, bul¬ 
locks are raised for beef only. The Leicester sheep 
were like the Short Horns. They must'be kept well, 
and should always be fat. The South Downs are high¬ 
ly esteemed, both for wool and mutton, and are well 
adapted to their light soils, hilly lands, and a scantier 
herbage. 
In conclusion, Mr. Webster said— 
“ Agriculture feeds us; to a great extent it clothes us; with¬ 
out it we could not have manufactures, and we should not 
have commerce. These all stand together, but they stand to¬ 
gether like pillars in a cluster, the largest in the center, and 
that largest is agriculture. Let us remember too, that we live 
in a country of small farms, and freehold tenements; in a 
country in which men cultivate with their own hands, their 
own fee simple acres; drawing not only their subsistence, but 
also their spirit of independence and manly freedom, from the 
ground they plow. They are at once its owners, its cultiva¬ 
tors and its defenders. And whatever else may be under¬ 
valued, or- overlooked, let us never forget that the cultivation 
of the earth is the most important labor of man. Man may 
be civilized, in some degree, without great progress in manu* 
