of rapidity. We passed up to Baltimore in so short a space of time,
and in _such_ a steam-boat, that I dread your incredulity were I to
give you particulars. Let it suffice that _but a few hours_ brought
us to Baltimore, reputed to be in commercial importance the fourth
city in the Union. You know it was my first object to visit the
respectable gentlemen in this place to to whom I have letters, and
most of whom have at one time or another done business with our
house. But on the instant of my arrival I was utterly confounded by
the intelligence that the yellow fever, that scourge of America,
and so justly dreaded by all Europeans, but more particularly by
the inhabitants of northern climates, had made its appearance at
a place called Fell's Point, either in the vicinity of the city,
or forming one of the suburbs; I was in too much consternation to
learn which. Indeed I was so much annoyed by the continual reports
of the _yellow fever_ at _the Point_, and what they called the _bank
fever_ in the city, that I could hardly tell where I was, or what
I was to do.--Luckily, a very good looking gentleman, seeing my
perplexity, and imagining--for I cannot tell how else he happened
to fix upon me--that I was an Englishman, told me that I could not
get out of the city of Baltimore too soon, because it had had the
curse of Cain upon it ever since the celebrated mob business (that
we heard our Maryland friend R. speak about) some years ago, that it
had the plague at the Point, and the yellow or white fever, he did
not care which, at the other end of the town. This would have been
news almost enough to frighten our lamented friend General R. (if he
ever could have known fear;) and instead of visiting the spot where
he terminated his brief career in this world, which I intended to
have done on the moment of my landing, as performing the last pious
act of duty to his memory that affection demanded, I determined to
fly from this new enemy with almost as much precipitation as the
Yankees (by _our_ official accounts) fled from our departed hero
in his various incursions in the states, adjoining the waters of
the Chesapeake. I ordered a post chaise _instanter_. The servant
replied, "it went before day, sir." Is it possible, said I, that
at a house frequented as this is, (Mr. G's.) there is but one post
chaise. Get me one at any rate, I returned in a pretty quick tone,
and have my baggage put to it immediately. "Why, master," rejoined
George, (I thought the better of him for his name, and perhaps,
novice as I am, because he was black) "there is no other post chaise
till to-morrow; but the steam-boat will go at five o'clock, master,
if that will suit you." It wanted but a few minutes of that hour. I
leaped into a hackney coach, (which by the way I was surprised to
see in such a new country, unless it had been moved by steam) and
ere the hour had struck, was safe on board a very commodious vessel,
furnished with every thing to make a night passage pleasant.
It is upwards of one hundred miles from Baltimore to Philadelphia,
by land, even by their lately improved roads; yet, with no
interruption except being transported some sixteen or twenty miles
over good roads, in very bad stage coaches, we enjoyed ourselves in
our births till I was awakened before nine the next morning, by the
steward, who informed me we were at the wharf, in the place of our
destination.
I forthwith repaired, as my previous instructions directed, to the
large and commodious hotel of Mr. R.; where I met with several of my
old friends, and some quondam fellow-voyagers, who, influenced by
business, or perhaps the same instinctive dread of yellow fever with
myself, had found their way to this city.--Here, my dear W., I still
remain. In the twenty-four hours that have scarcely elapsed since my
arrival, I have seen nothing distinctly; for after the monotony of
a sea voyage, and the dizziness consequent on an exchange from the
ocean to _terra firma_, some few days must be allotted to repose.
_Treatise on Agriculture_.
SECT. I.
On the Rise and Progress of Agriculture.
The origin of this art is lost among the fables of antiquity, and
we have to regret, that in the present state of knowledge, we
are even ignorant of the _time_, when the plough was invented,
and of the _name_ and _condition_ of the inventor. When therefore
we speak of the beginning of the art, we but allude to certain
appearances which indicate its existence, and the employment given
by it to the minds, as well as to the hands, of mankind. Such were
the artificial canals and lakes of Egypt. Menaced at one time by a
redundancy of water, and at another by its scarcity or want, the
genius of that extraordinary people could not but employ itself,
promptly and strenuously, in remedying these evils, and eventually,
in converting them into benefits; and hence it was, that when other
parts of the world exhibited little more of agricultural knowledge
than appertains to the state of nature, imagined by philosophers,
the Egyptians thoroughly understood and skilfully practised
_irrigation_, that most scientific and profitable branch of the
art.[1] Like their own Nile, their population had its overflow,
which colonized Carthage and Greece, and carried with it the talent
and intelligence of the mother country. The former of these states,
though essentially commercial, had its _plantations_, and so highly
prized were the agricultural works of Mago, that when Carthage was
captured, they alone, of the many books found in it, were retained
and translated by the Romans. A similar inference may be drawn from
the history of Greece; for assuredly that art could not have been
either unknown or neglected, which so long employed the pen and
the tongue of the great Xenophon.[2] It must however be admitted,
that of the ancient nations, it is only among the Romans, that we
find real and multiplied evidences of the progress of the art;
_facts_, substituted for _conjectures_ and _inferences_. Cato,
Varro, Columella, Virgil and Pliny, wrote on the subject, and it is
from their works we derive the following brief exposition of Roman
husbandry.
[1] The best practical illustration of this opinion is found in the
valley of the Po--where "every rood of earth maintains its man."
[2] Xenophon wrote several treatises on husbandry, and gave public
lectures on it at Scillonte, whither a weak and wicked government
had banished him.
The plough, the great instrument of agricultural labour, was well
known and generally used among them; it was drawn exclusively by
horned cattle. Of fossile _manures_, we know that they used _lime_,
and probably _marle_,[3] and that those of animal and vegetable
basis, were carefully collected. Attention to this subject, even
made part of the national religion; the dunghill had its god,
and Stercutus, his temple and worshippers. Their corn crops were
abundant; besides _barley_ and _far_,[4] they had three species
of _wheat_; the _robus_ or red--the _siligo_ or white--and the
_triticum trimestre_, or summer wheat; they had besides millet,
panis, zea (Indian corn) and rye, all of which producing a
flour convertible into bread, were known by the common name of
_frumentum_. Leguminous crops were frequent; the lupin in particular
was raised in abundance, and besides being employed as a manure,[5]
entered extensively into the subsistence of men, cattle and
poultry. The cultivation of garden vegetables was well understood
and employed many hands; and meadows, natural and artificial,
were brought to great perfection. Lucern and fenugrec were the
basis of the latter, and peas, rye and a mixture of barley, beans
and peas, called _farrago_, were occasionally used in the stables
as green food. Their flocks were abundant, and formed their first
representatives of wealth, as is sufficiently indicated by their
word _pecunia_. Vines and olives, and their products (wine and oil)
had a full share of attention and use. The rearing of poultry made
an important part of domestic economy, nor were apiaries and fish
ponds forgotten or neglected.
[3] For the first part of this assertion we have the authority of
Pliny; for the latter, the practice of their colonies both in Gaul
and Britain.
[4] Of this last, there were three kinds, neither of which is now
cultivated.
[5] The lupinus albus of Linneus: "many other vegetables are used
for this purpose, particularly the _bean_, but do not answer as well
as the _lupin_; when this is heated in an oven and then buried, it
forms the most powerful of all manures." T. C. L. Simonde. _Tableau
de L'agriculture Toscane_.
If we pause for a moment, to glance at the civil institutions of
this wonderful people, we discover how soon and how deeply it
entered into their policy, not merely to promote, but to dignify
agriculture and its professors.[6] When Cicero said, that "nothing
in this world was better, more useful, more agreeable, more worthy
of a free man, than agriculture;"[7] he pronounced, not merely
his own opinion, but the public judgment of his age and nation.
Were troops to be raised for the defence of the republic? The
_tribus rusticus_ was the privileged nursery of the legions![8] Did
exigencies of state require a general or dictator? he was taken from
the _plough_! Were his services rewarded? this was done not with
ribbands or gold, but by a donation of _land_.[9]
[6] Tanus and Numa were deified for services rendered to agriculture.
[7] Cicero de officiis. L. 2.
[8] This continued till the time of Marius.
[9] As much as he could plough in a day.
With such support from public opinion, it was not to be supposed
that the laws would be either adverse or indifferent to this branch
of industry. We accordingly find the utmost security given to
the labours of the husbandman;[10] no legislative interposition
between the seller and buyer, neither forced sales--nor limitation
of prices--and a sacredness of boundaries never disturbed;[11]
fairs and markets multiplied and protected against invasion or
interruption,[12] and highways leading to these every where
established, and of a character to call forth benedictions and
admiration.[13]
[10] To cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neighbour,
subjected the Roman to death.
[11] Terminus was among their gods.
[12] Assemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, and on
subjects other than those of trade, were not lawful.
[13] The Appian way, yet remains the wonder and reproach of modern
times.
Nor were these regulations confined to the proper territory of Rome.
What of her own policy was good, she communicated to her neighbours;
what of theirs was better, she adopted and practised herself. Her
arts and arms were therefore constant companions. Wherever her
legions marched, her knowledge, practices, and implements followed;
and it is to these we are to look for the foundation of modern
agriculture in Italy, France, Spain, &c. _[Albany Argus_.
(To be continued.)
_The Moral Plough Boy_.
"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not
thine hand."
The words of our motto were probably addressed by an Eastern monarch
to those of his subjects, who followed husbandry, and to whom the
importance of early rising was the greater, as the climate was
excessively warm, and the stoutest labourer found the noon-tide
heat too powerful for the energies of his frame to encounter.--This
is the case in most of the oriental climes, where the morning and
the evening are improved by the cultivator of the soil, as well as
the man of business of every class, cast or profession.--The middle
or hottest part of the day is, in those countries, given to ease
and relaxation; and the charms of conversation, and the sweets of
refreshment, are then the substitutes for toil and care.
But the time thus spent is not lost, because they attend strictly to
the advice of the sacred moralist, and make it up by the fidelity
of their morning and evening labours in the field, the workship or
the counting-room. Besides the earth is there more prolific than
in colder climes, like ours, and to less labour yields a greater
supply, a more abundant harvest.
But abundantly as the earth yields her products, beneath an oriental
sky, still it was there that man was first taught by his Maker,
that she would not yield them without the sweat of the human brow.
Implicit obedience was the first law given to our progenitors in
Eden, as the condition of enjoying life without labour, of being
surrounded by the perpetual verdure of spring, and regaled by
the never-dying fragrance of its odours: But this fair condition
violated, and they were doomed to know, that fruitful as the earth
had come from the hands of its Creator, they should cultivate it
with toil, and care, and anxiety, before it should yield them the
means of enjoyment and subsistence. But for one fatal mistake, they
would never have been called upon to sow their seed in the morning,
and at evening to watch over it with a careful hand.
We have seen then, that the first Plough Boys were obliged to work
early and late; and their successors in the same climes, are still
subjected to the same diurnal labour.
But the American Plough Boy enjoys a milder clime, and may perhaps
think himself less obliged to rise with the dawn of day, or pursue
his labours with the declining sun. He may perhaps flatter himself
that the morning may be spent at a neighbouring bar-room, and the
evening at a shooting-match or a horse-race, and the day still
afford time enough for all the labour that he may have to perform.
But this is, indeed, an error the most fatal to his present, as well
as future happiness. The mid-day beams of the sun are not so fierce
on the hills or vales of America, as on the plains of Asia, where
our first parents were doomed to earn their bread by the sweat of
their brow. But they are still fierce enough to make the PLOUGH BOY
feel their enervating effects, and to impress upon his physical as
well as mental frame the necessity and importance of _sowing his
seed in the morning_, and of extending to it the _vigilance of his
hand in the evening_.
If our American Plough Boys would, one and all, adopt with energy
and perseverance this injunction of oriental wisdom, how different
would be the face of our country, in many places, from what it now
is! How many orchards would be planted; how many fruit trees, of
every kind, would be seen growing in beauty and luxuriance, where
now the eye of the traveller, or sojourner, is obliged to rest upon
nought but wilds and weeds? How many fields would be ploughed and
sown, and cultivated with success, which now lie waste, and barren
as the deserts of Arabia. How many cattle, and domestic animals of
every description, fit for the use of man, would be seen thriving
and healthy, awaiting a profitable market, where now there are none,
or those whose sickly and squalid appearance, bespeaks the indolence
and neglect of their owners! How many substantial rail fences would
be erected, where there is now scarcely a brush bulwark against the
encroachments of man or beast? How many neat stone walls would take
the place of rail fences, and remain as lasting monuments of the
virtue of their owners--for _industry_ and _virtue_ are synonimous
in agricultural life! How many ditches would be seen running through
our swamps, and yielding or restoring to wholesome vegetation, those
nurseries of wild, unprofitable, and poisonous plants; whose dark,
damp shades are not only lost to agriculture; but send forth daily
their pestilential vapours, spreading disease and death among the
Plough Boys!
It is not the industrious Plough Boy who will feel the application
of these remarks. He will take care that his fields and his fences,
his flourishing fruit-trees, his overflowing cribs and barns, and
his fat cattle, plump and smooth as a turtle-fed alderman, shall
prove to the world that he never fails to attend to the admonition
of our motto.
But it is to the slothful that this short essay is addressed. Pluck
up the weeds, and the useful plants will take care of themselves.
Reform the indolent, and the industrious will find a new spur to
exertion. Ye careless and slothful Plough Boys, then, be advised by
a friend. Cast off the sin of idleness, which so easily besets you,
and imitate your industrious neighbours. Resolve for the future,
_in the morning to sow your seed, and in the evening to withhold
not your hand_; and you will soon find, that the blessings of
Heaven await those who deserve them; and that health, prosperity,
and a quiet conscience, are the never-failing rewards of virtuous
industry. H. H. Jr. _[Plough Boy_.
Mr. Nicholson's Prize Essay.
_On a Rotation of Crops, and the most profitable mode of collecting,
preserving, and applying Manures_.
(Communicated to the Albany County Agricultural Society.)
Some soils are peculiarly adapted for the growth of particular
plants, and in such case many successive yearly growths of them
may be raised, without manure, and without material diminution
of product. We have known an instance of 14 good crops of wheat
raised successively on the same ground; another of 18 crops of
oats; others of at least 10 of barley, and nearly of 20 rye: But
these were peculiar soils; and although this sameness of culture
was found successful, no inference is therefore to be drawn that it
was the most profitable, or that such soils would not eventually
tire of their favourite crops, and then be found exhausted and
unfit for others. Generally speaking, we conceive that one of the
most important points in husbandry is a judicious rotation of such
crops as are most profitable for culture, and at the same time best
adapted for the particular soils which are to be cultivated. Lands
seem naturally to require a change of growths. Where the oak has
disappeared, after it had lifted its head to the springs of ages,
another oak will not naturally rise, but some other tree. Instances
have been known of lands covered solely with trees of deciduous
growth, where the knots of the pitch pine were still to be found;
a proof that pine was once a tenant of the soil. In the southern
states, where lands have been exhausted with injudicious cropping,
and then thrown out to common, they soon become covered with growths
of trees different from those they originally bore. Some plants are
so unfit for long continuance in any particular place that they are
endowed with migratory powers, either by their winged seeds, which
are wafted abroad by the winds; by their roots, by which they change
their places of growth beneath the surface; or by their vines,
by which they travel above ground, and thus locate themselves in
different situations. Of the first description are the varieties
of the thistle, the milk-weed, and the fire-weed; of the second,
the potato and some other bulbous rooted plants; of the third, the
straw-berry, the black-berry, the different species of the gourd
tribe. The stalks of erect plants fall when they ripen, and thus
the seed reaches the ground at a distance from the roots which
produced them. There seems, indeed, to be generally a disposition
in the earth to require changes in the plants it nourishes, in order
that it may impart the food that is best adapted for each; and
Providence, in his infinite wisdom, has endowed these while growing
in a state of nature, with such properties as are best calculated to
effect the changes. Let the cultivator, therefore, study nature, and
follow her dictates, if he wishes either success or applause in his
employment.
In regard to changes of crops, a general rule has been recommended
of alternate growths of leguminous and culmiferous kinds, and of
green crops and grain crops; but perhaps it would be quite as
philosophical to insist upon alternate growths of fibrous, and
tap-rooted plants; the former deriving their food from the surface
of the earth, the latter from greater depths. But the value of
crops, and the expense of raising each, should be duly estimated in
making selections for rotations. Let us say, for instance, that the
average crops of wheat, barley, and Indian corn, at their greatest
extent, may average 50 dollars in value to the acre, after the grain
is ready for market; crops of rye, oats and peas, not more than two
thirds of this amount; buck-wheat, considerably less. From lands
suitable for ruta baga, or mangel wurzel, it would seem that from
five to six hundred bushels to the acre may be expected with good
culture; which at 18 cents per bushel, a price certainly not beyond
the proportionate value we have just given to the grain crops, will
average about a hundred dollars to the value of an acre. The entire
expense of either of these crops of roots, when ready for use, is
not essentially greater than the expense incurred in producing grain
crops; of course, it must be evident that these afford from 30 to 50
dollars an acre less of clear profit than a crop of either of the
roots first mentioned. With a proper application of the requisite
quantity of manure to ruta baga, it may be successfully grown on
almost any dry soil, when well and deeply mellowed, from the sandy
to the deep rich loams. Soils of the latter description are best
adapted for mangle wurzel. Either of these roots, when steam boiled,
and especially with the addition of some meal, will answer all the
purposes for which grain is used for feeding cattle of all sorts,
from the horse down to the hog. Even stage horses, which, from the
severity of their labour, require the most nourishing food, have
been kept in England on hay and steam-boiled ruta baga. Mr. Cobbett
says, "a hog of a good sort may be sufficiently fatted with this
root when steam-boiled." Allowing, what we believe can hardly be
admitted, that a bushel of oats contains as much nutriment as three
of this root, still it is evident that the usual product of one acre
of it will go as far in keeping horses as four of oats. Neither of
these root crops require any considerable expenditure in seed, and
on this account, if on no other, they are preferable to crops of the
potato and of the Jerusalem artichoke, which in the article of seed
are perhaps the most expensive of any whatever. We however consider
crops even of these roots more profitable than those of grain, and
particularly the potato, when judiciously cultivated in climates
most suitable for its growth. For the various uses of this root
for culinary purposes it stands indeed without a rival. In point
of profit we would also give to the carrot, the parsnip, and the
onion, a preference to crops of grain; but the soils well adapted
for them is more limited, and their culture is more expensive;
and although they should form a part of the products of the farm
we cannot recommend them as being in all instances proper for a
judicious rotation of crops. The common turnip, and the cabbage, are
also entitled to attention. The pumpkin is as nutritious as the
same weight of any root or vegetable whatever, and its culture is
cheap; but whether its product, in weight, can be made to compete
with that of roots, is a matter of which we are not informed. If 15
tons to the acre could be usually obtained of this species of gourd,
we should be induced to pronounce the crop, in point of profit and
use, unrivalled as a preparative for a crop of winter grain. The
crop would be found among those which are least expensive in seed,
in culture and in gathering; none would occasion less exhaustion of
soil, nor require less for manure, as a little gypsum to the hills,
or drills, will be found to have a powerful effect on its growth,
but of its more complete cultivation we shall presently speak.
In Pennsylvania, and farther to the south, a successful mode of
culture has been put in practice of growing Indian corn and potatoes
in alternate rows or drills, and in this way about a sixth more of
product in the aggregate, is obtained from the ground, than if these
two sorts of crops were cultivated separately. Such is found to be
the fact, and the reason for it seems to be that each crop has, in
this way, more space given for the extension of its roots in search
of its favourite food, and each has the like room above ground
for deriving from the air the nutriment that is most suitable.
Corn, in particular, it is well known, is liable to much injury,
if planted too closely. There is, indeed, a variety of cases where
this mingling of growths is found very advantageous, and whenever
we shall venture to recommend the practice, it will be founded on a
conviction of its utility. There are also some instances, even in
this northern latitude, in which two crops may be had in a season
from the same ground, and any case where it may be advisable shall
be duly noted.
It should farther be observed that in suggesting what may be deemed
the most suitable changes of crops, no reference will be had to
the actual state of farming among us, but merely what the state of
farming ought to be; and in pursuance of this course, we shall,
in a great measure, discard the idea, too long prevalent in this
country, that we should make the most of our labour, not the most
of our land; we shall, on the contrary, insist that, generally
speaking, making the most of our lands, under a proper course of
husbandry, is the right way to realize the most from our labour. We
shall therefore begin with the most usual soil of this country, the
dry, arable lands, which are usually suited for a variety of crops.
Of the stiff clays, the hard gravels, and light sands, soils which
abound but little here, we shall speak in particular. In ploughing
we shall advise that the usual depth be about six inches, or about
a third deeper than our farmers commonly plough: but that the depth
should sometimes be greater than this, and sometimes less. We
shall also insist on the ploughing being done in the most perfect
manner, and not in the slight way too often practised; and we shall
farther premise that the plan of culture we recommend is necessarily
connected with the business of the dairy, to greater or less extent,
and with that of the grazier, in feeding and fatting cattle of every
description. Such we conceive to be the only true and profitable
course to conduct farming in this country, but deviations from
this may in some cases be found equally profitable. In general,
however, we advise to this course of farming, for in this way the
greatest quantity of manure is afforded, and for most lands manure
is essential for obtaining the greatest crops, and of course for
realizing the greatest profits.