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GIFT OF
C.H. Dwinelle

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It>

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE

AND

RURAL ECONOMY..

FROM PERSONAL OBSERVATION.

BT

HENRY COIMAN,

HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND, OF THE

NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF FRANCE, AND OF THE NATIONAL

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES.

" For, in all things whatever, the mind is the most valuable and the most important ;
and in this scale the whole of agriculture is in a natural and just order ; the beast is an
informing principle to the plough and cart, the laborer is as reason to the beast, and the
farmer is as a thinking and presiding principle to the laborer.'' — Burke.

YOL. I

FOURTH EDITION, WITH ADDITIONS.

BOSTON:

PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & COMPANY. I

NEW YORK : CHARLES M. SAXTON. PHILADELPHIA : THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT 'i

& CO. BALTIMORE: GUSHING & BROTHER. CHARLESTON, S. C: <;

m'cARTER & ALLEN. CINCINNATI : H. W. DERBY ' j
& CO. BUFFALO : G. H. DERBY & CO.

1851. ]

4

Clio ■

I/./

* • • ,

• * • f J

^'^rr'^rJ^'rt.* ''ii,.::-'>j

Q.v^ „i e. U.D.,..\i

r\

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by

HENRY COLMAN,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

STEREOTYPED AT THE
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

AVRIGHT AND HASTY 8 STEAM PRESS.

INDEX,

OB

TABLE OP CONTENTS
VOL. I.

pnan.

Names OF Subscribers ix

Preface to First Edition. xxi

Preface to Second Edition xxv

FIRST REPORT.

I. General Facts and Considerations 1

II. Particular Objects of Inquiry 4

III. Science and Agriculture 6

IV. English Agriculture 10

V. English Capital 13

VI. General Appearance of the Country 16

VII. Hedges and Enclosures 18

VIII. Iron and Sunken Fences 20

IX. The English Parks 21

X. Ornamental Shrubs and Flowers. .,. 29

XI. Climate of England 31

XII. Agricultural Population 34

1. The Landlords ; Rents ; and Taxes 34

2. The Farmers 38

3. The Agricultural Laborers 39

Xm. Allotment System 73

SECOND REPORT.

XIII. Allotment System, (continued.) , 81

XIV. Quantity of Seed 109

XV. Steeping Seeds 114

XVI. Spade Husbandry 122

VOL. I. a

7479:17

IV INDEX.

PAGE

XVU. Condition of the Laborers 133

XVIII. Progress of Agriculture, compared witli other Pursuits 144

XIX. Actual Improvements in English Agriculture 148

1. Draining, Irrigation, and Warping 148

2. Live Stock and Vegetables 150

3. Agricultural Implements 150

4. Application of Steam to Agriculture 151

5. Increased Production 159

6. Royal Agricultural Society 160

7. Agricultural Society of Scotland 166

XX. Relation of Landlord and Tenant 167

XXI. Game and the Game Laws 173

XXII. The Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland 175

XXm. Model Farm, and Agricultural School 170

XXIV. Dublin Botanical Garden 186

THIRD REPORT.

XXV. Agricultural Education. 189

1. Glasnevin Agricultural School 196

2. Templemoyle Agricultural School • 203

3. Brookfield Agricultural School 210

4. Larne School 216

5. School at Ealing 218

6. Agricultural College at Cirencester 219

XX VL General Views of Agricultural Education .220

XXVII. Influence of Knowledge upon Agriculture 223

XXVIII. Sciences to be taught 225

XXIX. Chemical Science 226

XXX. Analysis of Soils 228

Soils of Heaths 229

XXXI. Natural Science 237

XXXIL Model Farm 239

XXXIII. Experimental Farm 240

XXXIV. Economical Arrangements at the Agricultural College 240

XXXV. Plan of an Agricultural Institution for the United States. ...244

XXX VL Elevation of Agriculture as a Pursuit and a Profession 248

XXXVn. Rural Manners in England 251

XXXVIIL A Pencil Sketch 252

XXXIX. Life in the Country 256

INDEX. • V

PAGE

XL. Veterinary College 257

XLI. Museum of Economic Geology 263

XLII. Chemical Agricultural Association in Scotland 265

XLIII. Chemical Agricultural Lectures 267

XUV. Employment of Agriculturists 268

XLV. Guano 270

XLVL

XLVn.

XLVUL

XUX.

L.

LL

LIL

HIL
LIV.

LV.
LVL

FOURTH REPORT.

General Considerations 285

Agriculture as a Commercial Pursuit 294

Markets. Cattle Markets 297

Falkirk Tryst 299

The Ballinasloe Fair 300

The Galway Fair 301

1. Temperance in Ireland 301

2. The Galway Women 302

Smithfield, London 304

1. Forms of Business in Smithfield 306

2. Weights and Measures 307

3. Weight of Animals, Mode of ascertaining 308

4. Amount of Business 312

5. Character and Quality of Stock 314

6. Smithfield by Night 317

7. Attempted Removal of the Market from the City 319

8. Chartered Rights 321

Grain Markets 323

Kinds of Bread. Maize, or Indian Corn 324

Grain Markets out of London 325

1. Forms of Business 326

2. Advantages and Convenience of such Markets in the

United States 327

3. Modes of Selling 328

4. Multiplication of Markets in England 329

The Corn Exchange in Mark Lane, London 330

Cora Duties 330

1. Arguments for Protection 332

2. Arguments against Protection 333

3. Moral Views of the Question 334

4. Patriotism and Philanthropy 334

VI

LVII.

LVIII.

LIX.

LX.

LXI.

LXII.

INDEX.

Page

5. Proper Ends of National Policy 335

6. Bread regarded in a peculiar Light 336

7. Peculiar Condition of the English Laboring Population. . . .337

8. Excess of Population 339

Mode of adjusting Labor and Wages 34i

1. Experiment in Germany 342

2. Claims of Labor, and Duties of Wealth 343

3. Results of the German Experiment 345

4. Scotch Customs. A Digression 346

The Dead-Meat Markets 347

1. Slaughter-Houses in London 349

2. Customs of the Jews 351

3. Mode of slaughtering Animals 352

Vegetable and Fruit Markets 355

Market Gardens 373

Covent-Garden Market 378

1. Fruits and Vegetables 378

2. Flowers 380

General Markets 38ii

FIFTH REPORT.

LXII. General Markets, (continued.) 385

LXni. General Remarks and Divisions of the Subject of English

Farming 386

LXIV. The Soil 389

LXV. Theories of the Operation of the Soil 392

LXVL A Modern Discovery 398

LXVIL Soils of Great Britain 401

LXVin. Classification of Soils 403

LXIX. Physical Properties of the Soil 404

1. Wetness of a Soil 404

2. Power to absorb Moisture in a Soil 405

3. Consistency and Friability of Soils 407

4. Temperature of Soils 408

LXX. Peaty Soil 410

LXXL Loamy Soils 412

LXXII. Humus, or Vegetable Mould 413

LXXIIL Peculiarities of Soil 416

LXXIV. Application of Chemistry to Agriculture 417

INDEX. Vll

PAGE.

LXXV. Theory of Agriculture 418

LXXVI. Actual Improvements 420

LXXVII. Ploughing 421

LXXVIII. The English Character. A Digression 422

LXXIX. The Perfection of Ploughing 423

LXXX. Ploughing Match at Saffron Walden 424

LXXXT. General Rules for Ploughing 427

1. Lapping in Ploughing 433

2. Ribbing, or Raftering 433

3. Laying in Beds, or Stitches 434

4. Lazy-Bed Cultivation. 436

5. Correct Ploughing. 440

6. Trench-Ploughing 443

7. Subsoil-Ploughing 448

8. Experiment in Subsoiling Heath Land 451

9. Subturf-Plough 454

10. Perfection of English Ploughing. 454

11. Ploughing Matches 456

12. Horses used for Ploughing 459

LXXXIL A Digression 461

LXXXIII. Improved Machinery 462

1. Machinery lightens Labor 462

2. Machinery increases Production 464

3. General Effects on Labor. 466

LXXXIV. Moral Considerations 468

LXXXV. Harrowing 469

LXXXVL Scarifying, or Grubbing 47^

LXXXVII. General Remarks on the Use of Agricultural Machinery.. . .48J^
LXXXVIII. Particular Examples of Improvement 485

1. Tehidy 485

2. Scobell's Farm 486

LXXXIX. Cornwall and the Land's End 491

Table of Calculations on Ploughing 492

Vm INDEX.

STEEL ENGRAVINGS.

The English Cart Horse Fronting title page to first volume.

A First Prize Short-Homed Bull Frontispiece to Second Report.

A West Highland Ox do Third Report

A North Devon Steer do Fourth Report.

An Aberdeenshire Tolled Bull do Fifth Report

WOOD CUTS.

PAGE.

Side Supports for Posts .20

Fork Spade 122

Smith's Subsoil Plough 455

Rackheath Subsoil Plough 455

Subturf Plough 455

Double Furrow Plough 461

Gang of Light Seed Harrows 472

— Heavy Iron Harrows , 473

Biddell's Extirpating Harrow 475

Scarifier. 479

Chisel Pomt and Wide Hoe, to Biddell's Scarifier. 480

Finlayson's Self-cleaning Harrow 481

Kirkwood's Grubber 481

The Uley Cultivator. 482

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TO THE FIRST EDITION.

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American Institute,

Essex County Agri-
cultural Society,

Massachusetts Hor-
ticultural Society,

Monroe County Ag-
ricultural Society,

Plymouth Agricul-
tural Society,

Berkshire County '
Agricultural So- 1
ciety,

Hampshire, Hamp- '
den, and Franklin
Ag. Society, '

Agricultural Society"
of Newcastle, Del- 1
aware,

Livingston County "
Agricultural So- ]
ciety,

Library of Congress,

Rhode Island Socie- "
ty of Domestic \
Man. and Ag.

Copies.
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I Albany, N.Y. 100

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I Philadelphia, Pa. 40
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Rochester, N. Y. 25

Plymouth, Mass. 25

Pittsfield, Mass. 10

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Mass.

10

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Henry Codman,

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Hon. Nathan Appleton,
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100
50
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
25
13

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E. B. Swett,
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Hon. Martin Brimmer, )
Mayor of Boston, 5
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Hon. John C. Gray,
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Saxton & Kelt,
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James Munroe & Co.
Isaac Winslow,
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Boston, Mass.

George Hayward, M.
John D. Williams,
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D.

Copies.

12

11

10

10

10

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

5

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L. Downer, Jr.

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Jacob Bigelow, M. D.

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William Lawrence,
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Robert Waterston,
Abiel Chandler,
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Samuel Frothingham,
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George Hallet, Boston, Mass.

Samuel C. Gray, "

Thaddeus Nichols, «

N. G. Snelling, "

Isaac Cook, "

Charles P. Curtis, "

George W. Tyler, "

Fitz Henry Homer, "

Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, "

Hon. Rufus Choate, "

Jonathan French, "

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James L. Baker, "

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C. M. Hovey & Co.

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Charles T. Jackson, M. D. "

Samuel Hooper, "

Ozias Goodwin, "

Joseph W. Revere, "

Wm. F. Harnden, "

Wm. J. Niles, '-

Hon. Jeffrey Richardson, "

Wendell Phillips, "

D. Prouty & Co. "
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Alfred A. Andrews, "
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Ebenezer Chadwick, "
P. T. Jackson, "
G. C. Trumbull, ''•
I. E. Teschemacher, "
George Browne, "
Henry L. Daggett, "
William Foster, "
J. G. Palfrey, LL. D., D. D. "
Ellis Gray Loring, "
Edmund Jackson, "
James Boyd, "
Samuel Cabot, "
J. Baker, "
John Pickens, "
Henry Gassett, "
John Lamson, "
Hon. Stephen Fairbanks, ''
Caleb Andrews, "
James Hayward, "
Rev. G. W. Blagden, "
Thomas B. Curtis, "
W. T. Eustis, «
Thomas Lee, "
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Rev. Louis Dwight, "
N. C. Keep, M. D.

Charles McBurney, "

Copies.

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

XI

Copies.
John Haskins, Boston, Mass.

Otis, Broaders, & Co. "

Edward Chamberlain, "

Richard Soule, •'

Henry Burditt, "

William Jennison, "
Miss Clara Crowninshield, '•

Henry Jaques, "

Mace Tisdale, Jr. *'

Charles C. Mead, "

Wm. R. Deane, "

C. P. Bosson, "
Thomas Davis, "
Dr. A. B. Wheeler, "
Joseph lasigi, "
A. B. Weston, "
John G. Chandler, "
Henry Rice, "
Hotchkiss & Co. "
Chs. R. Bond & Co. "
Jas. Ellison, "
Hatch & Co. «
Z. Hosmer, '♦
M. Field Fowler, "
John Preston, "
Wm. A. Davis, "
E. Haskett Derby, "
R. S. Denny, "
Rev. J. I. T. Coolidge, "
Chs. C. Parsons, "
Walter Baker, "

D. P. Simpson, "

E. B. Chase, "
C. M. Hovey, "
Thomas Groom, "
J. S. C. Greene, "
David Paige, "
J. H. Jenks, "

F. J. Oliver, «

S. G. Howe, M. D., South Boston, Mass.
James Brown, Watertown, Mass.

Wm. A. White, "
Joseph Story, LL. D., Cambridge, Mass. 5

Jo^iah Quincy, LL. D. ^ << ^

Pres. ofHarv. Univ. >
Rev. Andrews Norton,
William Pomeroy,
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Prof. Jared Sparks,
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J. E. Worcester,
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Charles C. Little,
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Hon. Theodore Lyman, Brookline, Mass. 5

Benjamin Goddard, " 2

John Howe, " 1

Rev. John Pierce, D. D. " 1

Moses Jones, " 1

Samuel Philbrick, " 1

John Hayden, " 1

Samuel Weld, Roxbury, Mass. 1

A. D. Williams, Jr. " 1

Rev. George Putnam, '• 1

Rev. Allen Putnam, '' 1

Hon. Sam'l H. Walley, Jr. " 1
George R. Russell, West Roxbury, Mass. 1

Joseph H. Billings, " 1

Copies.
Francis Geo. Shaw, West Roxbury, Mass.
Aaron D. Weld, "

George Ripley, "

William Keith, "

John Parkinson, "

Rev. Theodore Parker, "
John Prince, Jamaica Plains, Roxbury,
Francis C. Head, "

Gen. Wm. H. Sumner, "
Charles W. Greene, "

Stephen M. Weld,
John J. Low, "

M. W. Greene,
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John M. Fessenden, "

F. E. Faxon,

Isaac Parker, Waltham, Mass.

Benj. Wellington, "

Rev. George E. Ellis, Charlestown, Mass.
Samuel Jaques, "

John Fenno, Chelsea, Mass.

Hon. Jno. Quincy Adams, > /-. .„„„ -mt^^^
Ex-President of U. S. J ^""^^^^ ^^^^
Rev. Francis Cunningham, Milton, Mass.
Joseph Rowe, "

Danforth P. Wight, M. D., Dedham, Mass
Rev. John White, "

Rev. Alvan Lamson, D. D. "

George Richardson, Dorchester Mass.
Increase S. Smith, "

F. W. Macondray, "

Joseph Peabody, Salem, Mass. 10

Hon. S. C. Phillips, " 5

Nathaniel West, " 5

Hon. Nathaniel Silsbee, " • 3

Francis Peabody, " 2

Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, " 2

Wm. H. Neal, " 2

Hon. D. L. Pickman, « 2

Robert Stone, " 2

John H. Silsbee, " 2

Hon. D. A. ^Vhite, "

J. H. Ward, "

Asahel Huntington, "

Wm. F. Gardner, "

Jno. Fisk Allen, "

Jno. C. Lee, "

Amos Choate, "

D. A. Neal, «
John G. King, "
Oliver Hubbard, M. D. "
Benjamin Merrill, "
Wm. Deane, "
Charles Saunders, "
David Merritt, "
John Jewett, "
Erastus Ware, **
Nathaniel Frothingham, Jr. "
J. Chadwick, "
John Robinson, "
J. S. Cabot, '<
Jno. F. Andrew, "
Nathan Endicott, "
Hon. G. Barstow, "
Joseph S. Leavitt, "

E. Hersey Derby, "
Gideon Tucker, "
D. & J. Pulsifer, "
A. & D. Lord, "
Benjamin F. Browne, "

Xll

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

Copies.
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Rev. Charles W. Upham, "

Frederic Howes, "

Pickering Dodge, "

George Choate, M. D. "

Samuel Briggs, "

Gen. Wm. Sutton, "

Jos. G. Waters, "

Hon. Stephen P. "Webb, "

Charles A. Andrew, "

Caleb Foote, "

Wm. Ives, "

John W. Pepper, "

John G. Treadwell, M. D. "

Joseph E. Sprague, "

N. W. Neal, "

Michael Shepard, "

James Chamberlain, "

B. K. Churchill, "
Henry Whipple,
Henry A. Breed, Lynn, Mass.

""E^Sr^fSS"'! Taunton. Mass.

Hon. Edward Baylies, "

Wm. A. Crocker, "
Stephen Salisbury, Worcester, Mass.
S. B. Woodward, M. D.

Hon. Levi Lincoln, Ex- ) „

Governor of Mass. \

Hon. John Davis, Ex- ) ,,

Governor of Mass. 3

Daniel Waldo, "
Joseph G. Kendall,

Edwin Conant, "

John W. Lincoln, "

S. M. Burnside, "

William Lincoln, "

A. D. Foster, "
W. A. Wheeler,

Isaac Davis, "

Charles Allen, "

Rejoice Newton, "

Hon. Pliny Merrick, "

L. A. Dowley, "

Hon. Thomas Kinnicutt, "

Emory Washburn, "

H. S. Wheaten,

Oliver Dean, M. D., Framingham, Mass.

Wm. A. Lander, Danvers, Mass.

Hon. Daniel P. King, "

Jno. W. Proctor, "

Benjamin Wheeler, '*

Rev. Andrew Bigelow^ "

Benjamin Goodridge, "

Charles Lawrence, North Danvers, Mass.

Enoch Silsby, Bradford, Mass.

Rev. Thomas B. Fox, Newburyport, Mass.

Edward Tappan, Jr. "

Jno. Porter, "

Micajah Lunt, **

Jeremiah Colman, "

Jno. Gray, Jr. "

David Wood, "

Hon. E. S. Rand, "

B. B. Titcomb, "
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Moses Newell, West Newbury, Mass.
Wells Lathrop, South Hadley, Mass.
Hon. David Cummins, Springfield, Mass. 2
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Copies
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Justin Ely, West Springfield, Mass.
Hon. Benja. V. French, Braintree, Mass.
Hon. James H. Duncan, Haverhill, Mass.
Joseph Howe, Methuen, Mass.
Hon. D.Webster, LL.D.,Marshfield, Mass.
Hon. Nath'l B. Borden, Fall River, Mass.

A. Robeson, Jr. "
Wm. R. Robeson, "
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Joseph Kittredge, "
Stephen Barker, "
Jedediah H. Barker, "
Samuel Farrar, "
Hon. G. P. Osgood, "

J. J. Brown, "

Geo. Hodges, North Andover, Mass.

N. W. Hazen, South Andover, Mass.

D. L. Child, Northampton, Mass.

Hon. Joseph Lyman, "

Rev. Rufus Ellis, "

Edward Clarke, "

Wm. Clarke,

Wm. A. Hawley, "

Daniel Stebbins, M. D. "

Hon. Isaac C. Bates, "

Hon. George T. Davis, Greenfield, Mass.

Hon. C. K. Grennell, "

Alpheus F. Stone, M. D. "

Daniel Wells, "

Wendell P. Davis, «

Henry W. Clapp, "

David Willard,

James Deane, M. D. "

Rev. Samuel May, Leicester, Mass.

W. B. Earle,

J. L. Moffat, Newton, Mass.

William Kenrick, "

G. B. Slater, Webster, Mass.

Hon. F. R. Gourgas, Weston, Mass.

Hon. Benjamin Estabrook, Athol, Mass.

Hon. Solomon Strong, Leominster, Mass.

Hon. George B. Upton, Nantucket, Mass.

George W. Wright, "

Henry Swift, "

Barker Burnell, "

John P. Webber, Jr. Beverly, Mass.

Rev. C. T. Thayer, '«

Hon. Jesse Perkins, N. Bridgewater, Mass.

Hon. H. W.Cushman, Bernardston, Mass

Horace Williams, Deerfield, Mass.

Arthur W. Hoyt, "

Theodore G. Huntington, Hadley, Mass.

Col. David Wells, Shelburne, Mass.

.Tames N. Bates, Barre, Mass.

B. D. Whitney, Northboro' Mass,
Gen. Josiah Newhall, Lynnfield, Mass.
Hiram A. Morse, Holliston, Mass.
Wm. R. Rodman, New Bedford, Mass.
S. W. Rodman,

Benjamin Rodman, •*

George Randall, "

Charles W. Morgan, "

John Henry Clifford, "

George Howland, Jr. "

William P. Grinnell, "

William Rotch, Jr. «

William R. Rotch, "

Edmund Gardiner, "

William C. Whitridge, "

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

Xlll

Copies.
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Matthew Luce, "

J. H. W. Page. "

John C. Haskell, "

Thomas R. Robeson, "

Frederic Robeson, "

Joseph Ricketson, "

Daniel Ricketson, "

Abraham Shearman, Jr. **

John W. Coggeshall, "

Samuel L. Dana, Lowell, Mass.

John Avery, "

Samuel Lawrence, "

"William Spencer, "

B. F. French, "

Alexander Wright, "

S. W, Stickney, "

John Nesmith, "

G. W. Larrabee, "

John Clark, "

Rev. H. A. Miles, "

William Boott, "

Daniel Bixby, "

Amasa Farrier, Stoneham, Mass.
John Abbott, Westford, Mass.
H. C. Merriam, North Tewksbury, Mass.
N. B. Robbins, Plymouth, Mass.
Mrs. Susan Sedgwick, Stockbridge, Mass.
Elias M. Stillwell, Lancaster, Mass.
Paul Whitin, Whitinsville, Mass.
John Page, Hardwick, Mass.
S. B. Walcott, Hopkinton, Mass.

Johnson Gardner, M. D. P^^'^^^^'^^'^' 1

William Jenkins, Providence, R. I.
Alexander Duncan, "

Moses B. Ives, "

Rev. Samuel Osgood, "

Joseph Mauran, M. D. "

Samuel B. Wheaton, "

William H. Hoppin, "

Amory Chapin, **

Edward Walcott, "

Hartford Tingley, "

Robert H. Ives, *'

Amasa Sprague, "

R. W. Greene,
Rev. F. Wayland, D. D., ) „

Pres. of Brown Univ. 5
Henry Anthony, "

John I. Stimpson, "

Benjamin W. Comstock, *'
Stephen H. Smith, "

Hon. James Fenner, ) <t

Gov. of Rhode Island, 5
Owen Mason, "

Matthew Watson, "

Josiah Chapin, "

Adam Anthony, North Providence, R. I.
Mark Antony De Wolfe, Bristol, R. I.
Wm. Bradford De Wolfe, "
Jacob Dunnell, Pawtucket, R. I.
James C. Rome, Woonsocket, R. I.
Henry Whitney, New Haven, Conn. 2
Prof. B. Silliman, LL. D. "
Charles Robinson, "

Winthrop Atwill, "

Prof. B. Silliman, Jr. "

William K. Townsend, "

Conn.

tford. Conn.

Copies,
Hon. Wm. H. Boardman, N. Haven, Con.
J. T. Norton, Farmington, Conn.
Simeon Hart,
E. W. Carrington,
W. Wadsworth,
Timothy Cowles,
S. H. Huntington, Hartfo;
Horatio Alden,
A. M. Collins,

D. C. Collins,
Charles F. Pond,
Hon. Jno. M. Niles,

E. W. Bull,
George Tuttle,
T. C. Perkins,
Hon. J. Toucey,
Walter Mitchell,
S. G. Chaflfee,
James Dixon,
Isaac Stuart,
George Brimley,
Solomon Porter,
Solomon Olmsted, East Ha;
Charles H. Olmsted,
S. E. Alden, Enfield, Conn.
Henry Thompson, "
Levi Durand, Derby, Conn.
Charles A. Goodrich, Berlin, Conn.
Norman Porter, "

Chas. W. Rockwell, Norwich, Conn.

Jacob W. Kinney, "

Amos H. Hubbard, "

William P. Green, "

John A. Rockwell, "

Ralph H. Avery, "

E. B. Brown, Mystic, Conn.

Joseph Griswold, Mystic Bridge, Conn.

A. Woodward, M. D., Franklin, Conn.

H. A. Dyer, Brooklyn, Conn.

Wm. G. Johnson, Uncasville, Conn.

J. S. Halsey, Preston, Conn.

Giles Taintor, Windham, Conn.

Hon. C. F. Cleveland, ) tt„_^4.„„ o^

Ex. Gov. of Conn. \ Hampton, Conn.
Daniel Russell, Portland, Conn.
Joseph Hall, "

Joel Hall, 2d,

E. W. N. Starr, Middletown, Conn.
Sam'l D. Hubbard, "

Alfred Hubbard, "

Charles Hubbard, "

Samuel Russell, "

Joseph Hurlbut, New London, Conn.
Chas. A Lewis, "

Wm. P. Cleveland, "

Wm. W. Billings, "

Lemuel Stoughton, East Windsor, Conn.
Azel S. Bowe, "

Erastus Ellsworth, "

Henry Watson, "

Ralph R. Phelps, Manchester, Conn.

E. Holcomb, Granby, Conn.

D. W. Grant, Bloomfield, Conn.

• Filley,

Hon. G. Merrick, S. Glastenbury, Conn.
Daniel Packer, Packersville, Conn.
Bethuel Phelps, Warehouse Ft., Conn.
Alvah Morrell, "

F. W. Wilcox, Salem, Conn.
Lucian T. Pearson, Collinsvillc, Conn.

XIV

NAMES OP SUBSCRIBERS.

Copies.

E. C. Andrews, Portland, Me.

H. J. Little, ''

James Deering, "

Joshua Richardson, "

William Willis, «

Neal Dow, "

John Otis, Hallowell, Me.

Glazier, Masters, & Smith, "

Hon. Reuel Williams, Augusta, Me.

Hon. Samuel M. Pond, Bucksport, Me.

W. A. Hayes, South Berwick, Me.

R. B. Allen, Belfast, Me.

E. Seymour, Brattleboro', Vt.

John PI. Hopkins, Jr., Burlington, Vt.

Rev. John Wheeler, D. D. "

Prof. Geo. W. Benedict, «

E. T. Englesby, "

H. B. Stacey, "

N. B. Haswell, "

Harry Bradley, "

Hon. Geo. P. Marsh, "

Jno. N. Pomeroy, "

Carlos Baxter, "

Luther Loomis, "

N. A. Tucker, "

David Read, "

H. S. Morse, Shelburne, Vt.

L. S. White, "

S. Grout, Bellows Falls, Vt.

Charles K. Field, Newfane, Vt.

Hon. Wm. Jarvis, Weathersfield, Vt.

Jos. P. Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury, Vt.

George W, Palmer, Brandon, Vt.

Hon. Levi Woodbury, Portsmouth, N. H

Hon. Ichabod Bartlett, "

Samuel Lord, "

John Rice, '•'

Jno. N, Sherburne, "

H. W. Peirce, "

Rev. John Parkman, Dover, N. H.

R. B. David, Amherst, N. H.

Josiah H. Hobbs, Wakefield, N. H.

Levi Bartlett, Warner, N. H.

W. B. Walton, Schenectady, N. Y.

Rev. John Williams, "

Jona. Crane, "

Prof. Alonzo Potter, D. D. "

Prof. J. W. Jackson, "

D. & C. H. Tomlinson, "

Alexander Walsh, Lansingburgh, N. Y.

Maj. Gen. John I. Viele, "

Alfred Clarke, East Springfield, N. Y.

John B. James, Rhinebeck, N. Y.

John H. Walsh, Newburgh, N. Y.

Charles Downing, "

A. J. Downing, "

H. D. Grove, Hoosick, N. Y.

Anthony Van Bergen, Coxsackie, N. Y.

Tunis J. Van Derveer, Amsterdam, N. Y,

Willis Gaylord, Otisco, N. Y.

D. D. Campbell, Rotterdam, N. Y.
James R. Craig, Niskayuna, N. Y.
J. Strachan, Waterford, N. Y.

E. D. Windt, Fishkill, Landing, N. Y.
Peter C, Dubois, "
William S. Ver Planck, "
John B. Wakeman, Little Falls, N. Y.
John Caldwell, Salisbury, N. Y.

Copies.
Dr. William Bristol, Utica, N. Y.
E. W. Teackle, "

S. D. Childs, "

Capt. William Mervine, "
Edmund A. Wetmore, "
Theodore P. Ballou, "

Hamilton Spencer, "

S. V. Aley,

John M. Sherwood, Auburn, N. Y. 5

John B. Dill, " 5

Hon. Wm. H. Seward, ) „ „

Ex-Gov. of New York, 5 -^

James C. Derby, " 1

E. Rhodes, Manlius, N. Y. 1

L. A. Morrell, Lansing, N. Y. 2

P. V. C. Miller, Shawangunk, N. Y. 1

W. A. S. North, Duanesburgh, N. Y. 1

L. W. Hall & Co., Syracuse, N. Y. 5

P. N. Rust, " 2

Rev. J. P. B. Storer, " 1

Russell KnifFen, Trenton, N. Y. 1

Elon Comstock, Rome, N. Y. 1

Benj'amin P. Johnson, " 1

Benjamin N. Huntingdon, " 1

Robert Sandford, Lenox, N. Y. 1

M. R. Patrick, Watertown, N. Y. 1
Henry S. Randall, Cortlandville, N. Y.

George I. Pumpelly, Oswego, N. Y. 25

William A. Sacket, "

Samuel D. Tillman, "

C. M. Crittenden, "

A. S. & C. W. Dey,
Thomas H. Swaby, "

C. L. Hoskiijs, "

William Arnett, "

H. C. Silsby, "

George B. Daniels, "

Edward Myndun, "

Thomas C. Magee, Tyre, N. Y.
Jason Smith, "

David Southwick, "

J. W. Bacon, Waterloo, N. Y.
Richard P. Hunt, "

Aaron D. Lane, "

J. Lisk, Junius, N. Y.

John Carman, "

Orrin Southwick, "

William K. Strong, Fayette, N. Y.
John Johnstone, "

Henry Reeder, Varick, N. Y.
John D. Cox, Romulus, N. Y.
G. Dickerson, Covert, N. Y.
Jeremiah Rappleye, *'
A. M. Farley, "

Abraham Ditmus, "

Anson Hopkins, "

John L. Eastman, Lodi, N. Y.
P. W. Severance, "

John De Mott, "

Arad Joy, Ovid, N. Y.

A. B. Dunlap, "

William R. Schuyler, "
Andrew Dunlap, Jr. "
C. I. Sutton, "

Henry Simpson, "

Joseph Craven, "

Hugh Chapman, "

Daniel Scott, "

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

X7

Copies.
John I. Covert, Ovid, N. Y. 1

Henry M. Ward, Rochester, NY. 3

^ Samuel D. Porter, '' 3

L. B. Langworthy, " 2

Matthew Brown, M. D. " 2

C. F. Grossman, "
Henry I. Whitehouse, D. D. "

Ebenezer Watts, '•'

F. Whittlesey, «

" George F. Danforth, "

E. Darwin Smith, "

E. Pomeroy, '•'

Graham H, Chapin, "
■"Edward M. Moore, M. D. "

E. G. Munn, M. D. "

W. W. Alcott,

James H. Watts, "

Nathaniel T. Rochester, "

Henry E. Rochester, "

Thomas H. Rochester, "

- William Pitkin, .— «

Samuel Miller, "

Silas O. Smith, "

Ellwanger & Bari:y, "

Maltby Strong, M. D. "

Amos Sawyer, '•'

Strong & Dawson, "

John Hawks, "

John A. Pitts, «

M. B. Bateham, "

Lewis Thies, "

Aristarchus Champion, "

Josiah Snow, "

Alexander Kelsey, M. D. "

John Allen, "

Fletcher M. Haight, "

M. F. Reynolds, «

A. Gardiner, "

I. F. Mack, "

Philander Davis, "

Robert Wilson, «

Moses Chapin, "

Samuel G. Andrews, "

E. F. Smith, «

Hon. Thomas J. Patterson, "

W. E. Lathrop, "

John F. Bush, "

John Haywood, "

Prof. Chester Dewey, -^i,. "

N. B. Northrop, "

James W. Sawyer, "

John Rolph, M. D. "

James Miller, "

Darius Perrin, "

Rev. Tryon Edwards, "

Charles Hendrix, "

David R Barton, "

Jasper W. Gilbert, "

Everard Peck, "
'Frederick F. Backus, M. D. "

-Elias Pond, "

Isaac M. Hall & Co. "

Horatio N. Fenn, M. D. "

Frederick Starr, "

L. A. Ward, "

Stephen Atwater, "

David Hoyt, "

Leander Wetherell, "

George Shelton, "

H. L. Stevens, "

VOL. I. b

Copies.
John Briggs, Rochester, N. Y.

R. Haight, "
Hon. Thomas Kempshall, "

Joseph Hall, w «

Charles R. Babbett, "

Hiram Smith, "

Lewis Brooks, "

Abelard Reynolds, "

Hiram Blanchard, "

Reuben Sikes, "

George Whitney, '— i- "

Samuel B. Chase, "
William W. Mumford, -^ "
W. A. Herrick,

John Fish, "

John Gifford, "

Aaron Errickson, ^i*^ "

Allen Mason, "

William Kidd, •- «

William Buell, '- "
John B. Elwood, M. D. - "

Charles O. Shepard, "

Francis Brown, "

Thomas H. Hyatt, "

William Gerry, "

William Brewster, "

School District No. 15, "

William Law, "

Lewis Denny, "

Ephraim Moore, "

Josiah W. BisseU, • «

William H. Cheney, "

David Scoville, "

Joseph Strong, "

George A. Wilkins, "

J. George Hodgkins, "

Nathan B. Gamsey, "
Hon. John Greig, Canandaigua, N. Y. 10

Hon. Francis Granger, " 5

Henry Howard, " 2

John Rankin, " 2

Oliver Phelps, " 2

Charles B. Meek, " 2

John A. Granger, " 2

William R. Macao, "

Henry K. Sanger, "
Hon. Mark H. Sibley,

Thomas Hall, "

Charles Shepard, ♦*

Francis W. Paul, "

Thaddeus Chapin, "

Walter Hubbell, "

Alvah Worden, "

Charles Seymour, "

Isaac Pierson, "

Thomas H. Johns, "

Samuel H. Andrews, "

Jos. Bull, "

J. L. Stuart Menteath, "

Alexander Murray, "

William Burling, "

Myron H. Clark, "

Henry Howe, "

Jared Wilson, "

Robert Higham, "

G. R. Parbutt, "

R. C. Pratts, "
Oliver Culver, Brighton, N. Y. ^^""^
Daniel P. Bissell, Moscow, N. Y.
S. B. Piper, Lewiston, N. Y.

xn

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

Copies,
John S. Shuler, M. D., Lockport, N. Y.
James D. Shuler, "

Timothy Backus, "

Wm. A. Townserxd, M.D. "

F. N. Nelson,
T. T. Flagler, "
Aaron Parsons, "
Hon. Washington Hunt, "

A. A. Boyce, "
S. Scovill, "
Edward Hardy, "
N. Dayton, "
O. P. Hoag,
J. Kilbourn,

Hon. Joel McCollum, "
Trumbull Gary, Batavia, N. Y.
Chipman P. Turner, "

H. M. Soper, "

T. Fitch,

J. S. Ganson, **

Junius A. Smith, "

Frederick Follett, "

Albert Smith, "

J. L. Brown, '*

Ambrose Stevens, "

Rufus Robertson, '*

James D. Merrill, "

Shubael Dunham, "

Lucius A. Smith, "

James Brisbane, "

Samuel Heston, "

Byron Densmore, Kendall, N. Y.
Moses B. Gage, "

H. W. Bates,

N. Whitney, "

Henry Higgins, "

Benjamin Gariss, Jr., Bloomfield, N. Y.
Ralph Wilcox, "

Rev. Robert W. Hill,
Frederick F. Rice, "

William H. Hall,
Myron Adams, "

B. C. Taft, West Bloomfield, N. Y.
Jasper C. Peck, "
John Dickson, "
Joseph Hall, "
O. Thompson, "
William H. Olin,
Philo Hamlin, East Bloomfield, N. Y.

G. Collins, "
Frederick A. Spalding, "
Sylvanus Emmons, "
M. S. Newton, Lima, N. Y.
M. W. Brown, "
Henry Grout, "
William Arnold, Jr. '*
George W. Atwill, "
Erastus Clark, "
Ira Godfrey, "
George E. King, "
Alexander Martin, "
Robert T. Leach, "
Clitus Wolcott, Oakfield, N. Y.
P. M. Smith, Le Roy, N. Y.
Peter Snell, "
John Lent, "
William Sheldon, "
A. B. Murphy, "
J. H. Stanley, "
Ebenezer Mead, "

Copies.
S. W. Olmsted, Le Roy, N. Y.

Noah D. Hart, "

William W. Peck, "

Cyrus Brown, Pembroke, N. Y.
William Cathcart, "

Rawson Harmon, Jr., Wheatland, N. Y.
John J. Blackmer, "

Joseph Garlinghouse, Richmond, N. Y.
Hiram Pitts, "

J. C. Shelton, "

Elias S. Gilbert, "

Asa Nowlen, Avon, N. Y.

Hon. Henry L. Young, "
Luther Briggs, Brockport, N. Y.
Hon. E. B. Holmes, "

Horace Wheeler, Honeoye Falls, N. Y.
John A. Davis, "

Stephen Barrett, "

John Christopher, Gates, N. Y.
Charles Godfrey, Geneva, N. Y.

Rt. Rev. Wm. H. Delancey, "
Robert C. Nicholas, "

Jos. Fellows, "

James Reese, "

Gideon Lee, "

Thomas D. Burrall, "

Elisha Johnson, Hornby Lodge, N. Y.
George W. Patterson, Westfield, N. Y.
C. Robinson, Clarendon, N. Y.
Charles Lee, Farmingham, N. Y.
Isaac Colvin, Henrietta, N. Y.

M. W. Kirby,

West Henrietta Library, *'
William C. Cornell, "

James S, Wadsworth, Geneseo, N. Y. 10
W. W. Wadsworth, " 5

James Wadsworth, " 5

A. Ayrault, " 3

E. A. Le Roy, " 2

Thomas H. Newbold, " 2

Daniel H. Fitzhugh, "

George T. Olyphant "

C. H. Bryan, «

David Piffard, "

H. A. Wilmerding, "

William H. Spencer, "

Samuel Fitzhugh, Mount Morris, N. Y.
Lucius Southwick, "

J. R. Murray,

William T. Cuyler, Cuylerville, N. Y.
N. W. Gardner, Royalton, N. Y.
Anson Packard, Bristol, N. Y.
Lewis F. Allen, Black Rock, N. Y.
N. K. Hall, Buffalo, N. Y.

Hon. Millard Fillmore, "
A. & J. McArthur, "

P. Whitney, Niagara Falls, N. Y.
Luther Wilson, Wilson, N. Y.
John Robinson, Palmyra, N. Y.
Micah Brooks, Brooks Grove, N. Y.
Hon. Asher Tyler, Ellicottville, N. Y
Abiel Baldwin, Clarkson, N. Y.
Owen Edmonston, Phelps, N. Y.
E. Willard Frisbie,
S. Hildreth,

Carso Crane, "

Elias Cost, *'

John Lapham, Farmington, N. Y.
A. Oliver, Penn Yann, N. Y.
Henry Welles, "

NAMES or SUBSCRIBERS.

XVll

Copies.
S. S. Ellsworth, Penn Yan, N. Y.
D. A. Ogden, "

George A. Shepard, "

H. P. Sartwell,
Abraham "Wagener, "

Alfred Brown, "

Uri Judd, M. D.
Jonathan A. Hall, "

Nelson Tunnicliff, "

P. S. Oliver, "

S. R. Fish, "

L. E. Lapham, "

John Hatmaker, Milo Centre, N. Y.
A. B. Hull, Angelica, N. Y.
George Fisher, Oswego, N. Y.
George Dean, "Westmoreland, N. Y.
Henry Chamberlain, York, N. Y.
David McDonald, "

Edward Brown, "

Hollo wway Long, "

G. O. J. Du Relle, M. D. "
Paul Goddard, "

John HoUowway, "

John P. Root, "

F. A. Gray, "

Campbell Harris, "

J. B. Harris, •'

James Gilmour, **

Roswell Stocking, "

Angus McBean, "

Artemas Blake, "

Reuben Lafever, Reading, N. Y.
George Edwards, Bath, N. Y.
J. C. Fuller, Skeneateles, N. Y.
R. H. Foster, Lyons, N. Y.

James Dunn, "

John M. Holly,
A. L. Beaumont, *'

A. Hyde Call, Albion, N. Y.
Asa Rowe, Sweden, N. Y.
William D. Dickenson, Victor, N. Y.
John B. French, *'

W. W. Marsh, "

George J. Jessup, Palmyra, N. Y.
Stephen Hyde, *'

Jonathan Townsend, "
Samuel E, Hudson, Newark, N. Y.
Cyrus S. Bulton, "

Daniel Kenyon, "

John B. Crosby, Rush, N. Y.
Joseph Sibley, West Rush, N. Y.
Daniel H. Burtiss, Chili, N. Y.
Elisha Whittlesey, Brooklyn, N. Y.
Ledyard Lincklaen, Cazenovia, N. Y.
Hon. Leman Gibbs, Livonia, N. Y.
Hon, J. Larrowe, Hammondsport, N. Y.
Ralph Plumb, Buffalo, N. Y.
Abner Bryant, "

Albert H. Tracy, "

Samuel Hecox, "

I. A. Blossom, "

Lewis Eaton, "

John Craig, Middleport, N. Y.
William R. Gwinn, Medina, N. Y.
Silas M. Burroughs, *'

John & George Kirby, "
Orrin Scoville, "

Hon. R. H Smith, Perry, N. Y.
Josiah Andrews, "

Mosely Stoddard, "

Copies
Hon. James McNair, Dansville, N. Y.
Moses S. Cole, Parma, N. Y,
John Sargent, Mendon, N. Y.
Joseph Cox, Scottsville, N. Y.

W. W. W'ilcox, Irondequoit, N. Y.

Alexander A. Hooker, •*

D. H. Buel, Benton Centre, N. Y.

Asa Foote, Middlesex, N. Y.

Ira Merrill, West Avon, N. Y.

Saxton & Miles, New York City,

Charles A. Stetson, '*

D. K. Minor, "

J. Prescott Hall, « 5

James G. King, " 5

James Lenox, " 6

I. F. Sheaf, " 5

R. B. Minturn, " 3

Rev. John O. Choules, " 2

S. Verplanck, " 2

Jonathan Goodhue, " 2

M. H. Grinnell, " 2

Robert B. Coleman, «* 2

Rev. Joseph Penney, D. D. "

George Bird, "

H. M. Hayes, «

L. N. Fowler, "

William H. Aspinwall, "

Pelatiah Perit, "

Curtis Holmes, "

Joseph G. Cogswell, "

William Partridge, "

David Felt, "

William H. Cary, "

William Emerson, ' "

Lewis Tappan, "

Orsamus Willard, "

Rev. Henry W. Bellows, *'

Greely & McElrath, "

Joshua Brookes, "

Jacob Harvey, "

C. M. Olcott, "

A. A. Low, «

T. A. Morison, "

John Halsey, Jr. **

H. T. Chapman, «

Isaac H. Frothingham, "

Charles G. Carleton, **

Lyman Cobb, "

J. Atkins, Jr. "

Joshua Atkins, «

George C. Thorburn, "

G. M. Haywood, «

Abraham Bell, "

J. Smyth Rogers, «

George D. H. Gillespie, "

•J. C. Delano, "

John Joyger, "

Charles Congdon, "

Rollin Sanford, «

Jeremiah Brown, "

W. J. Cornell,

Isaac R. Cornell, "

Charles Richmond, Jr. "

N. D. Carlisle, "

F. I. Betts, "

William T. McCoun, «

Daniel Stanton, "

Jonathan Sturgis, "

Charles M. Leupp, "

XVlll

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

Copies.

Shepherd Knapp, New York City, 1

Gilbert K. Lassee, " 1

Henry Woods, " 1

F. W. Guiteau, " 1

E. D. Gillespie, " 1

Wiley & Putnam, " 1

J. S. Bartlett, " 1

LutherBradish,Ex->-«g- -Rochelle NY 1
Lt. Gov. of N. Y. JJNew±Cocneiie,i>i.i. i

Wm. H. Mosely, Castleton, Staten Island, 1
Nehemiah Denton, Brooklyn, L. Island, 1
.John A. King, Jamaica, Long Island, 1
E. P. Prentice, Albany, N. Y.

Henry O'Reilly, "

John Townsend, "

A. Mclntyre, "

J. McDonald Mclntyre, "
Erastus Corning, "

Luther Tucker

Hon. Wm. C. Bouck, ) ,, .

Gov. of New York, 5 ^

Henry L. Webb, " 2

John N. Wilder, " 2

Caleb N. Bement, " 1

Robert E. Temple, " 1

'A. French, Jr. " 1

James M. French, " 1

James Kidd, " 1

Hon. D. D. Barnard, « 1

James Hall, " 1

H. Pumpelly, " 1

Joel Rathbane, " 1

A. E. Brown, " 1

James Wilson, " 1

Prof. E. Emmons, " 1

Hon. J. Koons, " 1

C. P. Williams, " 1
J. P. Beekman, M. p., Kinderhook, N. Y. 10
Martin Van Buren, Ex- > Lindenwald, ,

President of U. S. ^ Kinderhook,

Joel B. Nott, Guilderland, N. Y. 2
Edward C. Delavan, Ballston Centre, N. Y. 1

George Vail, Troy, N. Y. 1

Hon. John Savage, Salem, N. Y. 1

Ezra Nye, Clinton, N. J. 1
Jas. Neilson, M. D., New Brunswick, N. J. 1
Hon. John B. Aycrigg, Pyramus, N. J. 1

J. W. Hayes, Newark, N. J. 1

John S. Chambers, Trenton, N. J. 1

Samuel R. Gummere, " 1

Phil. Dickinson, " 1

Richard S. Field, Princeton, N. J. 1

S. A. Hamilton, " 1

Thomas Hancock, Burlington, N. J. 1

Ira B. Underbill, " 1

Bishop G. W. Doane, " 1

Edward B. Grubb, " L

James Thorn, Bordentown, N. J. 1
Josiah Tatum, Philadelphia, Pa. 30

Jacob Snider, Jr. " 5

Peter Hulme, " 3

Richard Peters, " 2

James Mease, M. D. " 1

John Hare Powell, " 1

William Morrison, " 1

A. Langdon Elwyn, M. D. " 1

Henry Zantzinger, " 1

James Go wen, " 1

Algernon Sidney Roberts, " 1

Thomas Nelson, " 1

Copies

Aaron Clement, Philadelphia, Pa.
E. L. Gary, "

Owen Jones, "

Charles Magargee, "
George W. Carpenter, *'
S. Bradford, "

John Farnum, "

George Blight, "

Athenaeum, "

Pennsylvania Horti- ) „

cultural Society, )
Frederic Brown, "

Charles Chajincy, "

Dr. George Uhler, **

William G. Malin, «
Charles Roberts, "

Dr. Charles Noble, "
Dr. J. Rhea Barton, "
Samuel Bettle, "

Stephen Colwell, "

Adam Eckfeldt, "

Charles Yarnall,
William E. Garrett, «
P. A. & S. Small, York, Pa.
John Evans, "

Samuel Willis,
John Brillinger, "

Samuel Wagner, "

Henry Woods, Pittsburgh, Pa.
John S. Haines, Germantown, Pa.
David George, Radnor, Pa.
Samuel Lippencott, Mauch Chunck, Pa.
Daniel B. Smith, Haverford, Pa.
Ebenezer J. Dickey, Chester Co., Pa.
Pennock Passmore, Westtown, Pa.
Wilson & Heald, Wilmington, Del.
Benjamin Webb, "

James W. Thompson, M. D. "
Samuel Canby, "

Edward Tatnall, «

John Andrews, "

James Webb, "

John Jones, "

Joseph Carr, "

Caleb Churchman, "

Bryan Jackson, "

J. S. H. Boies,

James T. Bird, "

Henry Dupont, "

Edward C. Hewes, "

Anthony Bidderman, "

C. J. Dupont, "

Chauncy P. Holbomb, New Castle, Del.
John B. Le Fever, "

John W. Andrews, Stockford, Del.
Edward T. Bellah, Brandywine, Del.
William S. Boulden, Newport, Del.
Samuel Sands, Baltimore, Md.

William C. Shaw,
J. Swan,

Gideon B. Smith, M. D. "
William Child,

Henry Mankin, "

William G. Thomas,
William C Wilson,
Ramsay McHenry, "

Dr. R. Dorsey, "

W. Cary, Fork-Meeting Post Office, Md.
George Patterson, Sykesville, Md. *

Isaac Webster, Golden Post Office, Md.

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

XIX

Copies.
B. D. Mullikin, Good Luck, Md. 1

Botts & Baldmn, Richmond, Va. 10

Hon. W. C. Rives, Bentivoglio, Va. 2

Thos. S. Pleasants, Bellona Arsenal, Va.

Prof. Fred. Hall, M. D., Washington, D. C.
Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, "

D. A. Hall,

Rev. S. G. Bulfinch, "

K. L. Ellsworth, "

J. S. Skinner, **

Hon. E. Whittlesey, "

J. L. Page,

Darius Lapham, West Liberty, Ohio,
Eli Nichols, Lloydsville, Ohio,
Charles Anderson, Dayton, Ohio,
Cyrus Holt, "

Robert W. Steele, «

J. W. Smith, Maumee, Ohio,
M. L. SuUivant, Columbus, Qhio,
J. SuUivant, "

Julius Brace, Cincinnati, Ohio,
H. Probosco, "

Charles Duffield, "

Charles Stetson, "

E. Brigham, '*
Ely & Campbell, "
Cincinnati Horticultural Society,
J. M. Trimble, Hillsboro,' Ohio,
Abraham Tappen, Unionville, Ohio,
William M. Dawes, Alexandria, Ohio,
Hon. John C. Calhoun, ) t>„„ ji„x„„ o n

Sec'y of State of U. S. \ Pendleton, S. C.
Samuel G. Barker, Charleston, S. C.
Sanford W. Barker. M. D. "
Charles Alston, "

Dr. Benjamin Huger, "

C. Cotes, "

J. H. Hammond, Silverton, S. C.
R. F. W. Allston, Georgetown, S. C.
M. C. M. Hammond, Hamburg, S. C.
George Cross, Charlotte, S. C.
R. F. Davidson, "

Dr. William R. Holt, Lexington, N. C.
Hon. T. Spalding, Darien, Ga.
James H. Couper, "

I"

Copies
Dr. William C. Daniell, Gainesville, Ga
Dr. Horatio Bowin, Clinton, Ga.
Peter L. Clower, "

Z. A. Philips, Mount Meigs, Ala.
Charles Barrell, Montgomery, Ala.
Peter A. Remsen, Mobile, Ala.
Benjamin Whitfield, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Samuel D. J. Moore,
Rev. Basil Manly, D. D
Pres. of Univ. of Ala.
Hon. H. W. Collier,
Charles M. Foster, "

William D. Marrast, "

Hon. J. J. Ormond, "

James B. Wallace, "

John McCormick, **

James M. Crook, Alexandria, Ala.
F. W. Siperly, Delavan, W. T.
J. S. Rockwell, Milwaukee, W. T.
William H. Whiting, Bloomfield, W. T.
William Woodbridge, Detroit, Mich.

^ jtr& J^^^"^"' I Constantine, Mich.

Gen. Calvin Jones, Bolivar, Tenn.

Benjamin Litton, Nashville, Tenn.

M. Benjamin, Wilmington, 111.

Dendy Sharwood, Ottawa, 111.

J. H. Sherman, Carthage, 111.

Cyrus Bryant, Princeton, 111.

Thomas Affleck, Ingleside, Miss.

Dr. M. W. Philips, Edwards Dep6t, Miss.

James Brown, Livingston, Miss.

Moses Liddell, Woodville, Miss.

John R. Liddell, Trinity P. 0., La.

Dr. John Calderwood, Monroe, La.

Branch Tanner, Cheneyville, La.

James L. Peacock, Bel- P n^'^^■^^ t„

grade Plantation, I ^^^'^ C^^^^°^' ^''■

George Truit, Kinniconnick, Ky.

F. Coolwine, Burlington, Iowa,

Robert W. Williams, Tallahassee, Fa.

Richard Mendenhall, Richmond, Ind.

Beadle, M. D., St. Catharine's, U. C.

A^.^ -Po.^^^nr, 5 Woodhill, Water-
Adam Ferguson, ^ ^ ^ ^

W. Young, Halifax, N. S.
Thomas G. Taylor, Pictou, N. S.

List of English Subscribers on the next page.

h*

XX

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS.

GEEAT BRITAIN.

Lady Noel Byron, Esher,

Sir Charles Morgan, Tredegar, Wales, . . .

John Courage, Esq. Dulwich, . . . . .

Earl of Hardwicke, Wimpole,

Sir George Cay ley, London,

Sir John Easthope, M. P «

E. W. W. Pendarves, M. P Pendarves, Cornwall, . .

Henry Morton, Esq » . Chester Le Street, . . .

Countess of Hardwicke, Wimpole,

Lord Portman, London,

Lord Ashburton, "

Lord Hatherton, Teddesley,

Rev. Dean of Westminster, Dr. Buckland, . London,

Miss Montgomery, "

Thomas Spencer, Esq Bransby, Lincolnshire,

John Giblett, Esq Barnsbury Villas, London,

R. J. Thompson, Esq Yorkshire,

Jonas Webb, Esq. Babraham,

Joseph Joy, Esq. Boston,

Messrs. Drummond & Co Stirling, Scotland, . . .

Messrs. Lawson & Co Edinburgh, " ...

Copies.

. 6

. 6

. 6

. 5

. 2

. 2

. 2

. 2

PREFACE.

I HAVE the honor of laying before the public my Fii-st Report on European
Agriculture and Rural Economy. It is to a considerable degree, miscellaneous,
and not so full of that practical information and detail which I design to give
hereafter. I trust, hoAvever, it will not be found deficient in practical value.
Many persons may think that I should particularly point out what is to be
learnt from European agriculture ; but I understand it to be my province to
give an honest account of what I see, premising that there is nothing to be seen
from which something may not be learnt, and that it is for others, and not for me,
to say what they will learn from that which is placed before them. Where we
find ourselves inferior to others, it may be desirable to ascertain how we may
reach the excellence to which they have attained ; and where the advantage is
obviously upon our side, it may be a subject of honest congratulation. In cir-
cumstances, even the most diflTerent, a sagacious mind will gather instruction
from contrast as well as from analogy ; and the success of any man, in any trade,
pursuit, manufacture, or art, is in itself a powerful stimulus to others to exertion ;
and, therefore, an instrument of excellence in any and in every other art or
pursuit. I know no better way than to record my impressions of what comes
under my notice in the field, which I have undertaken to explore, as faithfully as
I can, and with as much detail as seems expedient ; and to do my best, that every
one who reads my pages with candor, will not close the book without finding
something agreeable and instructive, something for improvement in the impor-
tant art to which my labors will be particularly devoted, and something to make
him wiser, better, or happier. These latter are the proper ends of knowledge
and of life ; and this honest aim will in itself sanctify and elevate the humblest
efibrts.

The objects of my inquiry are, of course, various and extensive, and embrace
every thing connected with the cultivation of the earth, the improvements which
are now going on in agriculture, and every branch of husbandry and rural and
domestic economy.

Among these topics will, of course, be comprehended —

The Soils, and especially in their relation to different crops.

Manures and their application.

The Implements of Husbandry, and various Machines for facilitating ana
abridging the labors of the Farm.

The different great operations of Agriculture, such as Ploughing, Sowing,
Cultivating and Cleaning, Harvesting and preparing the Crops for use or
market, with the general application of the Produce of a Farm.

XXll

PREFACE.

Draining and Irrigation.

Enclosing and Fencing.

Redeeming Moor and Heath Land.

Warping and Diking.

The Crops grown — the Grasses, the Cereal Grains, and Esculent Roots for

the food of man or beast, and plants cultivated for clothing, building, and

fuel.
Live Stock of every description — Cattle, Horses, Sheep, Swine, Poultry ;

and their diflferent breeds and classes.
The breeding, rearing, and fattening of Live Stock.
The Dairy.
The cultivation of Silk, Flax, Hemp, Hops, Madder, Woad, Mustard, Chic-

cory, Olives, Grapes, Figs ; the production of Wool and Honey ; of Wine,

Oil, and Sugar ; and various other crops and products which may come

under my notice, and the production and growth of which may be possible

and useful in any part of the United States.
Markets and Fairs ; Farming Accounts.
Agricultural Labor ; wages, condition, and service.
The Management of particular Farms — arable, dau*y, stock, and wool

farms.
Experimental Farms.
Veterinary Establishments.
Agricultural Societies, Museums, and Shows.
Agricultural Schools, Education, and Literature.
The Condition of the Rural Population.
Rural Life — Morals, Manners, and Customs.

These are among the topics which will claim my attention, and upon which,
in the course of my tour, I hope to collect and to communicate much useful in-
formation. The field, I am aware, is a wide one, and no unaided individual
could, under any circumstances, give a full and entire view of these various
subjects, so as to satisfy every inquiry ; but I will do what I can to glean that
which is most valuable, and to direct to more full sources of information the
inquiries of those to whom further information may be desirable.

I do not know in what place, rather than here, I can better acknowledge the
kindness and hospitality which I have received from gentlemen with whom it
has been my happiness to become acquainted ; add to this the utmost readiness
and courtesy in rendering every assistance in their power to my inquiries. The
kindness is sensibly appreciated ; and these acknowledgments are due to many
noblemen of the highest rank in the empire ; and to many gentlemen of more
humble condition, who, if they have not the nobility of rank, have even a higher
patent — one without which the most brilliant insignia of external distinction
become dim — the nobility of intelligence, wisdom, and most active and exten-
sive usefulness. I should be glad here, if it were proper, to illuminate my page
with the names of many distinguished individuals, of whose courtesy and kind-
ness the recollection will not fail, while any record remains legible on the
tablet of my heart; but this would be contrary to a rule which, with me, has
always been absolute in cases of this nature, lest I should be thought even to
approach a violation of the confidence of social life. One may wound almost as
much by public praise as by censure that delicacy of sentiment which, satisfied
with doing good, shrinks from notoriety and ostentation. Nor would I in any

PREFACE. XXIU

way impair or hinder that frankness of communication and manners which con-
stitutes the charm of social intercourse. This would be sure to be checked if
we knew that a reporter for the public were constantly present ; and, if the hum-
ble expression be allowed, it would hide itself in its burrow, as sure as it per-
ceived that one of the feline or the canine race was always at the mouth of its
hole waiting its coming out.

My agricultural tour, therefore, must not be expected to have much of per-
sonal and private narrative; though I am aware, that, from this very circum-
stance, it may lack much of that interest which, with a large class of readers, it
might otherwise possess. However strong, on these accounts, the temptation, I
shall certainly not report many interesting conversations to which I have been a
party ; nor describe the eminent or the more humble individuals to whom I have
had the honor of an introduction ; nor, after the example of some tourists, tell of
the private visits which I have made, and the charming families whose honored
guest I have been ; nor speak of the " accomplished men, and the delightful
women, and the beautiful daughters, and the promising sons," in the houses
where, to use the only term by which true English hospitality may be expressed,
I have been domicUicdedj and to do only justice to many of whom, and to a con-
dition of society in the highest degree polished and improved, would not be for
me an easy task. I say nothing of the impropriety of stealing for the public the
likeness of a friend, without his consent, and without allowing him to choose his
position, his dress, or his painter; for, as an agriculturist, this is not the species of
live stock which I came to examine, and in which those for whose benefit I travel
would be most interested. Yet, while I shall scrupulously avoid all person-
alities whatever of this description, I shall feel at perfect liberty to give, as far
as I am able, a true picture of rural life in England, and of the condition and
habits of the rural population ; and if, in doing this, I shall, in any ca e, be
thought to go beyond tlie strict line of what may be called the practical and the
useful in an agricultural tour, with the candid I shall find an apology in my desire
to alleviate the dulncss of dry details, by occasional topics more light and xraagi-
native. It is not unreasonable for me to wish to attract to my pages, I k pe for
their benefit, a class of readers who would be certain to be repelled from £\ mere
skeleton, however accurately and beautifully all the bones were put together, and
all the joints and articulations displayed ; but who would be delighted to con-
template the same subject covered with flesh, instinct with life, radiant with
health, and clothed in the habiliments of elegance and fashion. Every one
knows the variety of tastes every where existing. He who caters for the public
v/ill be, of course, anxious tliat each guest at the table should find something
which he likes. Though, perhaps, a large portion of mankind might be best
satisfied with plain boiled and roast, and content to eat their dinner out of
pewter plates, and from a plain and coarse oaken table without a cloth, such as
I have seen at Haddon Hall, nearly two centuries old ; there are not a few who
would prefer the refinements of modern life, a porcelain dish to a wooden tren-
cher, a silver fork to the natural use of the ten digits, the French entries to the
more substantial covers ; and who, little as it may contribute to the actual sup-
port of life, find as high a pleasure in the fittings-out of the banquet, its arrange-
ments, neatness, order, beauty, and in the splendid pyramid of flowers which
often crowns its centre, as in any mere gratification of the appetite. Under any
circumstances it would be idle in me to presume to spread an elegant and
splendid table for my guests ; but while I shall be anxious to furnish that which
is substantial and nutritious, I shall be equally desirous that at least the dessert

XXIV PREFACE.

shall be made up of the best fruits which I can gather. Though I am not able
to present them in vases of gold and silver, or of diamond glass, or Sevres or
porcelain china ; yet if the peaches and the strawberries should be seen blushing
under a few of the leaves of their own foliage, or if a simple bouquet of the
flowers of tlie sweetbrier and violet, or a handful of the half-unfolded buds of the
moss-rose, the queen of flowers, should be sought to relieve the monotony of the
table, I hope that my taste will not be condemned, but will be regarded only as
in conformity to the rule sanctioned by a high antiquity, that of mingling " the
agreeable with the useful."

There are other grounds upon which I claim the indulgence of my readers.
We have often heard of the vexation of an artist, who is compelled to paint
a picture to order ; and, willing or unwilling, well or ill, under the most brilliant
spell of poetical excitement, or in an hour of the most sleepy or prosy dulness,
he must work at it, and have it completed, and varnished, and framed, and sent
home to be criticized, by a certain time. To a degree, similar objections lie to
all forced intellectual labor ; and in many such cases, a powerfully excited
desire to do well, and not to disappoint the wishes and expectations of kind
friends, presents, in itself, no small hinderance to success, and, strange as it may
seem, is sometimes the cause of failure. It must be obvious to any one what
disadvantages I labor under in being obliged to give my reports before I have
completed my tour. In this case, I yield of necessity to an impatience of curi-
osity on the part of my friends, which I would neither condemn nor blame, but
which certainly presents a strong claim upon their candor.

1 am painfully aware of the greatness of the undertaking, and the sacrifices
which, at my time of life, it demands of me, and the difficulties in the case of
meeting even my own wishes. But the object being exclusively a public object,
and one in respect to the utility of which, however imperfectly accomplished,
there can be no dissent, I look confidently for the aid and encouragement, so
essential to my success, of the intelligent, disinterested, and public-spirited,
among the friends of agricultural improvement. Such aid in any form will be
gratefully appreciated.

In whatever light I regard the subject of the improvement of agriculture, my
sense of its importance is contimially strengthened. In its social, political, and
moral bearings — in its connection with the subsistence of mankind, with their
general comfort, and with the progress of civilization — no subject, purely sec-
ular, more demands the attention of the political economist, the statesman, and
the philanthropist. If the familiar experience of half a century in all the labors
and details of practical husbandry, a considerable acquaintaince with the agri-
culture of the United States, and an enthusiastic attachment to rural life and
rural pursuits, give me any power to be useful in the advancement of this great
cause, that power shall be exerted. I do not know to what object the short
remainder of my life can be more rationally devoted.

HENRY COLMAN.

2 Spring Gardens, Charino Cross,

Londorij 1844.

PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION,

In presenting a second edition of European Agriculture to the public, I take
the opportunity to acknowledge gratefully the patronage of ray subscribers, and
the favorable appreciation of my labors by a liberal and enlightened community.

I hope that tlie work will do some good by the information which it commu-
nicates ; and I am happy in the assurance that it has already done, and will con-
tinue to do, much good in calling the attention of the public to this great and
important subject, this most essential interest of the community. Every, even
the most humble, effort to enlighten the public mind on this subject, to interest,
if I may so say, their affections in it, and to elevate and ennoble it in the public
estimation, is so far a contribution to the oest interests of society.

At the present time the world seems mad with the thirst for gold. The unex-
pected discovery of a large deposit of this precious metal in California seems at
once to have carried this passion up to the boiling point, and brilliant dreams of
wealth acquired without toil, and gold to be gathered in handfuls at pleasure,
seem to have startled many sober minds, and to have moved them from their
propriety, and to be drawing them away from the cahn pursuits of honest indus-
try and the certain gains of habitual diligence and wholesome economy, into a
race to be suddenly rich, in which tlie competition will be crowded, the dangers
to health and life many and great, and, under the best circumstances, the results
to possession, enjoyment, and morals altogether uncertain. I firmly believe that,
with no more expense than it now demands to reach this golden paradise, with
no more toil in tilling the earth, with entire security and peace of mind, and
with no danger to health or morals, many a young man might establish himself
far nearer home in our beneficent country, on a small farm ; and, in the wholesome

XXVI PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

pursuits of rural industry, would, in the end, become a far richer and happier
man than nine out of ten of those who, under a burning sun, in a climate full
of danger to life, among a population of tlie most heterogeneous character, and
all burning with unmixed avarice, and entirely out of the protection of law, with
the hardest toil, and amidst the most severe privations, seek for riches and happi-
ness in the sands of San Francisco.

My work will be found in this edition considerably enlarged, and all pains
have been taken to insure accuracy. There is some miscellaneous matter, but
not wholly irrelevant to the subject ; and as it has been my constant aim to make
it so, the work will, I trust, be found of an eminently practical character; and as
full and as exact details are given in regard to every agricultural operation or
subject as t]je nature of the case seemed to demand.

In regard to the plates of animals some distrust has been expressed as to their
accuracy. This, in a measure, grows out of an incredulity as to the extraordi-
nary improvements which the British farmers have made in this matter. I have
only to say that the drawings have been made from life by some of the best
artists which the country affords ; that every pains has been taken to render
them correct likenesses ; that I have seen several of the animals of which cuts are
given, and, as far as my judgment goes, know them to be exact ; and in respect
to those cases in which I have not seen the originals, having seen many animals
of the same breeds and families, have not a doubt of their accuracy.

Boston, Mass. Feh. 1849.

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

FIRST REPORT

I.— GENERAL FACTS AND CONSIDERATIONS.

Most of my friends are aware of the circumstances which have
induced me to undertake an agricultural tour in Europe. The
enterprise was suggested among some friends, at the show of the
New York State Agricultural Society, in Albany, in September,
1842 ; and, upon proposals being issued for its accomplishment,
the project met with so much favor as to warrant my sailing for
England, in April, 1843.

Ploughing the sea is somewhat different from ploughing the
land ; but under an experienced pilot, and with favorable winds,
we made a broad, a deep, and a comparatively straight furrow,
throwing off continually floods of jewels from the mould-board ;
and in the short space of seventeen days, completed the brilliant
line, and unyoked the team in the harbor of Liverpool. Here,
for the first time, I set foot in England, the green isle in the
ocean, the sight of which had been so long the object of my
desire ; the brilliant centre of so many youthful imaginations,
the home of my fathers, and the advance-guard — if so it may
be proper to speak — among the nations of the civilized world in
the march of human improvement, in learning and civilization,
in science and the useful arts, and in all the elements of social
greatness and prosperity.

It would be impossible to describe my emotions on that occa-
sion. If small things may be compared to great, then, if it were
1

& EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

not — as with the bold and adventurous Genoese — the discovery
of a new and unknown country, yet it was to me an unexplored
country; and it was, in truth, almost the first time I had realized
the greatness of the enterprise upon which I had embarked.

Some persons may smile at the application of such language
to a mere agricultural tour. Things are great or small by com-
parison ; and that work may be considered great to any one,
't*-*"t which,; in: its proper- performance, demands the exertion of all the
talents whicH he. may possess. I cannot but look upon an agri-
tV^i V<Jyliu^«'i? tp^ir/in Europe, in the present condition of the art and
science, — for in both lights it has now come to be viewed, — as
most important ; combining a variety of inquiries and observa-
tions which would severely tax the highest powers that might
be applied to this object. It is for me to assume only the hum-
ble office of a pioneer in this great work ; and if I can be so
happy as to render some essential service to my country, in facil-
itating the labors of those who shall come after me, in effecting
a small clearing that others may more easily bring the field into
a state of complete and productive cultivation, I shall be consoled
under all the imperfections of my attempt with the conviction
that I have not labored in vain.

I cannot help feeling that there is a higti responsibleness
attached to my undertaking — ^ a responsibleness not merely to
the kindness of friends, on both sides of the water, who with an
extraordinary liberality and good will have favored the enter-
prise, but to the great cause itself of agricultural improvement ;
that the information collected and given might be drawn from
authentic sources, selected and combined with judgment, and
presented in a condensed, compact, and practical form.

A person who has had no experience in such a matter, who is
not accustomed to such investigations, can form no just idea of the
diiSculties of accomplishing in this case what one would desire
to do ; and of the impediments, and, I regret to add, in many
cases the vexations and disappointments, which, in its prosecu-
tion, he will be compelled to meet with. Before I left home, a
friend — in many respects highly intelligent, and eminent for his
sound judgment, and, withal, a liberal and devoted friend of an
improved agriculture — said to me, ''that there was nothing to
be learned in England ; that he himself had travelled much in
England, by post, and had occasionally alighted and talked with

GENERAL FACTS AND CONSIDERATIONS. 3

laborers, whom he saw in the fields by the road-side, but he had
learned nothing from them." And another friend, whose emi-
nent position in the community should have saved him from an
immature judgment, expressed an opinion that " the climate of
England was so different from the United States, and the cost
of labor in England was so much less than in America, that the
agricultural practice and experience of Great Britain could have
no application to the United States." Now, entertaining as I do
the high respect for these two gentlemen to which their intelli-
gence and position in society entitle them, I have come, not
without some reluctance, to an entirely opposite conclusion — a
conclusion which my own observation, in the course of my
progress, has daily more and more confirmed.

There is a great deal to be learned in England, which can
scarcely be said to be known in the United States. There is a
great deal of agricultural practice in England, which may with
adv^antage be transplanted to America ; and although, as is most
obvious, every agricultural operation must be modified by the
climate of a country and various local circumstances, yet, in
respect to many facts of a practical nature, the knowledge that
under any circumstances a thing is practicable is often of great
importance, as it excites to inquiries and experiments which may
evolve many other valuable facts ; and inquiries and experiments
will often suggest modes of operation by which even the difli-
culties of climate and situation may be counteracted or over-
come. Plants and animals are often naturalized to localities
very different and distant from their native homes. If the com-
mon history of the plant be true, one of the most valuable and
nutritious of esculent vegetables, the potato, is an example of a
removal from a warm to a temperate, and even a cold climate :
and of a conversion from a root very inferior in size and quality,
to a vegetable most productive in its yield, universally relished,
in the highest degree farinaceous and nutritious, and, under the
best cultivation, perhaps yielding per acre as much food for man
or beast as any other plant which could occupy the ground.
Then, again, to suppose that a knowledge of the agriculture of
a country is to be acquired by a transit through it on the box-
seat of a coach, or in a railroad carriage, or by a casual conver-
sation with laborers by the road-side, who, especially in England,
where labor is so much subdivided that the knowledge of a man

4 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

in that condition of life seldom extends beyond the particular
service to which he has been trained, is a judgment of which,
upon further consideration, an enlarged mind would not be tena-
cious. In respect to any other matter of importance, it would
not be the most likely way of obtaining full and authentic infor-
mation. Why should it be deemed so in respect to agriculture ?
This art, in its improved condition, combines so many arts and
such various subjects of inquiry and observation, that a close
scrutiny and long-continued inquiry are as indispensable to a
thorough knowledge of it as they are in respect to any of the
branches of commerce or manufactures.

After travelling many hundreds of miles over this rich and
highly-cultivated country, and seeing many of the landlords, and
tenants, and laborers, in their own domiciles and homesteads, in
their stables and fields, and enjoying the most free communica-
tions, I feel that I have, as it were, only begun to see what is to
be seen, and to learn what is to be known, and that every step
of my progress is developing new and valuable objects of inquiry
and remark.

II. — PARTICULAR OBJECTS OF INaUIRY.

What should an agricultural tour embrace ? To this the
proper answer is. Every thing connected with the cultivation
of the earth, the production of food for man and beast, and the
condition of those to whom agriculture is a business and profes-
sion. In my preface I have enumerated generally the objects of
inquiry. The various operations of husbandry, the implements
by which these operations are carried on and facilitated, the
plants cultivated, and the live stock produced and maintained,
constitute the principal subjects to be observed and treated ; but
the subdivisions into which these great topics spread themselves
are very numerous, and it is as important to consider them in detail
as in the gross. It may be expected by some persons that I
should merely point out in what respects foreign differs from
American agriculture ; or, otherwise, that I should only suggest
for adoption in the United States such methods of culture as, in

PARTICULAR OBJECTS OF INq,UIRY. 5

my opinion, would constitute an improvement upon American
agriculture. This would be assuming too great a responsibility,
and would display a confidence in my own judgment with which
I would not willingly be chargeable. I design to give, as well
as I am able, a full account of subjects which come under my
immediate observation. I shall not hesitate to pronounce my
opinion whenever I deem it proper so to do, because intelligent
minds for whom I write will be no further influenced by it than
as it appears reasonable ; but I shall, in all cases, endeavor so
fully to state any matter in discussion, that they will have the
materials before them for making up their own judgment, and
with that I shall not any further willingly interfere. Even agri-
culture, like every other subject not susceptible of mathematical
demonstration, is not without its disputed and disputable points,
into which, of course, something of the heat of passion may at
times infuse itself. Political agriculture is full of such topics,
and will be cautiously avoided by me so far as in any way it
presents itself as matter of party contention. The diflerent
breeds of live stock, neat cattle, and sheep, have each their parti-
sans ; often influenced solely by their own honest preferences
and convictions, founded — as they at least persuade themselves
— upon experience and observation ; and in some cases, it will
not be denied, by private interests — a stimulus which is too sel-
dom absent from most of the disputes and contentions in life.
Now, if a man should pronounce a preference over all others
for the short-horns, he must expect to be tossed by the long-
horns ; if he sides with the Herefords, the Durhams will shake
their heads at him ; and if he advocates, above all others, the
claims of the polled Scotch, the Angus, or the Fife cattle,
the West Highlanders will be down upon him with a ven-
geance. So it is with the South Downs and the Leicesters. —
meek, quiet, placable animals themselves, — who may be seen
feeding peaceably together out of the same manger, and lying
down without passion in the same pen ; but not so their owners
and breeders. A spirit of rivalry pervades every department of
life. Under due restraints and discipline, it is productive of the
most useful results ,* but it too often blinds the judgment, and
becomes fierce and vindictive. We are not satisfied with the
undoubted good qualities of what belongs to ourselves ; but we
resolve upon exposing the defects and faults, whether real or
1*

6 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

imaginary, of what belongs to our neighbors. It is not enough
that our own children are handsome, good-tempered, clever, and
accomplished ; but we insist upon it that those of our neighbors
are ugly, morose, and ill-endowed. Perhaps agriculture presents
a more limited field for any ill-natured emulation than almost
any other department of life. Here men cannot conceal their
discoveries and improvements. Here there cannot be long any
monopoly of advantages. Here men perceive how rapidly and
widely improvements and discoveries extend themselves. In the
present condition of the world, for a man to pretend to keep any
distinguished agricultural improvement to himself would be
very much like his holding up his umbrella before the sun, so
that it might not shine upon other people. All he can be sure of,
in this case, is to keep himself in the dark. A liberal and intelli-
gent mind perceives at once, that the light which his knowledge
or improvements shed upon others, is always reflected back upon
himself.

HI. — SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.

It must be admitted, however, that although a good deal of
selfishness and bigotry might remain, — for, alas! how can it be
otherwise as long as human nature is human ? — there is a spirit
of liberal inquiry abroad in respect to agriculture, blazing in the
valleys, and beaming from the hill tops, and every where diffus-
ing an invigorating, a stirring, and a healthful radiance. One of
the wisest of our race, who applied his heart, as he says, to un-
derstand wisdom, has told us that there is nothing new under
the sun; what is, has been; and the human mind is not likely
to spring suddenly a mine of truth, which has never before been
touched ; nor may it expect at once to accomplish the solution
of recondite problems, which have bafiled the most penetrating
and puzzled the most sagacious minds. It would be the gross-
est injustice to many men of the brightest powers, of profound
investigation, and of most liberal and disinterested views, — who,
though they have gone out, have left a brilliant track behind
them, — to say that agricultural science has never before been

SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE. 7

prosecuted with zeal, intelligence, and in the spirit of true
philosophy.

I am not a believer in the immediate approach of an intellec-
tual millennium ; nor can I persuade myself that philosophy has
just been born into the world, and that all preceding ages were
ages of comparative barbarism. It is true that the natural
sciences are now prosecuted with singular advantages and suc-
cess ; that, in a particular manner, chemistry has, in a measure,
been created within the last half century ; and that it promises
to render the most essential aid to agriculture. Excepting, how-
ever, the stimulus which it has every where given to inquiry
and observation, and the exact experiments which it is prompt-
ing farmers — even in the humblest departments of agriculture —
to make, it cannot as yet point to very many positive practical
triumphs. Sanguine as I am, in common with others, in its ap-
plication to agriculture, ultimately and perhaps speedily yielding
the most beneficial fruits, it has not yet even approached a solu-
tion of many of the profound secrets of nature. Whether this
triumph is ever to be achieved by human sagacity ; whether,
with our present faculties, we are capable of entering into these
sacred mysteries, and of lifting up even a corner of the veil
which Heaven has drawn over them, it would be idle to conjec-
ture ; but they are, as yet, a sealed book to us. In the spirit of
the Book of books, '' Let us wait at Wisdom's gates, let us watch
at the posts of her doors ; " let us knock, humbly hoping that
they may be opened to us. Those who have gone before us
have done the same, and were favored with many largesses,
which they have bequeathed to their children. Let us do them
justice by gratefully acknowledging our debt to them ; and not
wrap ourselves up, as we are very liable to do, in the vain con-
ceit that they knew nothing, and that we know every thing.

We talk about uniting science with agriculture, as if this were
the first time of asking the banns, when we may be sure the
marriage was consummated years and years ago. A science,
technically speaking, is a particular branch of human knowledge,
which has been systematized and drawn up in regular form ; its
particular principles and rules defined, its department circum-
scribed, and its peculiar vocabulary arbitrarily established. In
this respect, chemistry, botany, and mechanics are sciences ; but
science, in an enlarged sense, is the observation of nature — the
accumulation and comparison of facts, and the deduction of

8 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

inferences from them, either for the acquisition of more knowl-
edge, or for practical application and use. I venture to assert
that, without any knowledge of the particular and technical
terms of art, whose utility I am not disposed in the smallest
degree to deny, wherever the mind is at work there is science ;
and many men, who hardly know the letters of a book, are yet
profound observers of nature, and may be denominated scientific
agriculturists ; because they are full of knowledge, which they
are constantly applying to practice. Now, without any dispar-
agement of former times, I think it must be admitted that the
universal mind of the agricultural world was never so powerfully
stirred as it is at this present time. We must do what we can
to keep it awake, and to direct the application of its powers.
*' Practice with science," is the terse and comprehensive motto
of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. Philosophy now
comes down from her high places, and takes Labor by the hand,
that they may walk together among the works of God, and, with
an enlightened and commendable curiosity, '' search into the
causes of things." This is the highest office of the human
understanding.

Nature proceeds by fixed laws. She is not a confused jumble
of things ; to-day one thing, and to-morrow another. All the
relations of the different parts of nature are mutual and exact,
and every thing moves on in a beautiful agreement with every
other thing. The ancients were accustomed to speak of the
music of the spheres ; this refers to the harmony which prevails
throughout the universe, so that no discordant note is ever
sounded. There is a reason for every thing ; there is a rule by
which every thing is directed and controlled. It is not enough
for us to say, " This is a mystery ; it is in vain for us to inquire ; "
or, " Here is an arbitrary and miraculous power in nature which
we can never understand." There may be many things beyond
our comprehension ; there is nothing which should be beyond
our inquiry. There is a wonderful power at work always in
vegetation. The development and progress of vegetable life,
the relations of the soil to the plant produced, the effects of light
and air, and dew and rain, and frost and electricity, the nature
of manures, their uses and their results, may all be considered as
mysteries as yet, to a great degree, unresolved ; but from what
we see in other parts of Nature, which have come under our
observation, and where some portion of her laws has been fully

SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE.

revealed, an intelligent mind can have no doubt that all these
things rest upon certain determinate principles, and are governed
by laws as fixed as any which prevail in other parts of the system
of nature. Whoever examines the minutest crystal, will find
that in the same classes the laws of aggregation are the same ;
whoever examines any species of plants, perceives an exact sim-
ilarity of formation and habit pervading whole classes and tribes.
The established principles of gravitation and attraction, and
above all that most wonderful discovery of chemical equivalents,
all demonstrate the existence, throughout nature, of fixed laws
and determinate forces, whose operation is universal and invaria-
ble. There is every reason to believe that the laws of vegetable
and animal life, and growth and nourishment and decay, are
equally well established, and equally universal, and equally inva-
riable. The ascertaining and discovery of any one of these laws
is positive knowledge — is, properly speaking, science; and any
mind, acute and observing, may, in the daily routine of humble
life, become familiar with many of these great laws ; and read,
at first-hand, on the illuminated pages of external nature, the
most useful and the most sublime truths, though it has never
been taught to read by the alphabet of science, nor been allowed
admission into the schools of philosophy.

It is said of one of the greatest of human intellects, a mmd
whose sublime discoveries constitute a divine revelation, second
only to the written word, that he was led to the discovery of the
great principle which binds worlds and systems in one harmoni-
ous bond, by the falling of an apple. The cultivator of the
earth has before him not merely the fall but the growth of the
apple, which, from the germination of the seed to the maturity
of the tree, from the opening of the blossom to the ripening of
the fruit, is full of lessons of wisdom ; and, in every stage of its
progress, reveals the power and the skill and the beneficence of
that divine agent, who fills all in all.

England presents at this time a more brilliant example, than
any age or country has before witnessed, of the application, I will
not say of science, for that would not comprehend the idea which
I wish to express, but the application of mind to agriculture.
The practice of agriculture, and the philosophy of agriculture,
are matters of universal interest. Men of all grades and condi-
tions are laboring in this great cause, and are asking for the how^
and the why, and the wherefore. The brighter intellects are

10 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

directing their talents to agricultural inquiries : and the humblest
in their humble, but not inefficient way, are seconding their
^efforts. So many minds concentrating their rays upon the same
point, they must be sure to illuminate it with an extraordinary
brilliancy.

Agriculture is now getting to be recognized as the command-
ing interest of the state: so it must ever be as lying at the
foundation of all others. Few persons are apprized of their obli-
gations to agriculture ; and it is difficult to estimate the extent
of these obligations. Every man's daily bread, his meat, his
clothing, his shelter, his luxuries, all come from the earth. The
foundation, or, as the French would say, the matei^iel of all com-
merce and manufactures, is agriculture ; and its moral influences
are innumerable and most powerful. It will be found likewise,
upon an observation of the difterent conditions of difl"erent
nations or communities, that a laborious agriculture is, in a high
degree, a conservator of good morals ; and that those countries
are, upon the whole, and on this account, most blessed, not
where the fruits of the earth are yielded spontaneously without
care and without toil, but where its products come only as the
reward of industry, and the powers of the mind, as well as the
labor of the hand, are severely taxed in a struggle for the means
of subsistence and comfort. Every one recognizes labor as the
source of wealth. How few things have any value, which have
not been either produced or modified by labor ! and in what
department is labor so productive, so essential, and so important
as in that of asriculture ?

IV. — ENGLISH AGRICULTURE.

I will not dwell longer upon these considerations, with which
every intelligent mind must be impressed ; and which must,
more or less, constantly present themselves to our notice in that
field of observation which we have entered. I shall proceed to
present some general views of the agriculture of England, and
shall descend, in the course of my reports, to such details as may
be deemed useful and practical.

The condition of practical agriculture in Great Britain, as far

ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 11

as I have had opportunity of observing it, must be pronounced
highly improved. Many parts of the country present an order,
exactness, and neatness of cultivation greatly to be admired ; but
a sky is seldom without clouds, and there are parts of England
where the appearance is any thing but laudable, and where there
are few and very equivocal evidences of skill, industry, or thrift.
We are often told in America, that England is only a large gar-
den, in which art, and skill, and labor, have smoothed all the
rough places, filled up the hollow places, and brought every thing
into a beautiful and systematic harmony, and into the highest
degree of productiveness. This is not wholly true ; indeed,
though there are many farms to be altogether admired for the
degree of perfection to which their cultivation has been carried,
yet there are not a few places where the indications of neglect,
and indolence, and unskilfulness are but too apparent ; and where,
in an obvious contest for victory between the cultivated plant
and the weeds, the latter triumph from their superiority both in
force and numbers. I shall, however, most cheerfully admit
that English farming, taken as a whole, is characterized by a
neatness, exactness, thoroughness seldom seen in my own coun-
try. An American, landing in Liverpool, is at once struck with
the amount of labor every where expended ; the docks, and the
public buildings, and the lofty and magnificent warehouses aston-
ish him by the substantial and permanent character of their
structure. The railways, likewise, with their deep excavations,
their bridges of solid masonry, their splendid viaducts, their
immense tunnels, extending in some cases more than two miles
in length, and their depots and station-houses, covering acres of
ground, with their iron pillars and their roofs, also of iron, exhib-
iting a sort of tracery or net-work of the strongest as well as
most beautiful description, indicate a most profuse expenditure
of labor, and are evidently made to endure. He is still more
overpowered with amazement when, coming to London, he
passes up or down the River Thames, and contemplates the sev-
eral great bridges, among the most splendid objects which are to
be seen in England, two of which are of iron and three of stone,
spanning this great thoroughfare of commerce with their beauti-
ful arches, and made as if, as far as human presumption can go,
they would bid defiance to the decay and ravages of time. If
to this, he adds (as, indeed, how can he help doing it ?) a visit
to the Thames Tunnel, — a secure, a dry, a brilliant, and even a

Ife EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

gay passage under the bed of the stream, where the tides of the
ocean daily roll their waves, and the mighty barks of commerce
and war float in all their majesty and pride over his head, exhib-
iting the perfection of engineering, and a strength of construction
and finish, which leaves not a doubt of its security and endurance,
— he perceives an expense of labor which disdains all the lim-
ited calculations of a young and comparatively poor country.
He remarks a thoroughness of workmanship which is most
admirable, and which indicates a boldness and bravery of enter-
prise, taking into its calculations not merely years but centuries
to come. We have, in America, a common saying in respect to
many things which we undertake, that " this will do for the
present," which does not seem to me to be known in England ;
and we have a variety of cheap, insubstantial, slight-o'-hand
ways of doing many things, sometimes vulgarly denominated
''make-shifts to do," which we ascribe to what we call Yankee
cleverness, of which certainly no signs are to be seen here.
Agricultural operations and improvements are here in general
conducted and finished in the most thorough and substantial
manner.

The walls enclosing many of the noblemen's parks in England,
which comprehend hundreds, and, in some cases, thousands of
acres, are brick walls, of ten and twelve feet in height, running
for miles and miles. The walls round many of the farms in
Scotland, called there " dikes," made of the stone of the coun-
try, and laid in lime, and capped with flat stones resting vertically
upon their edges, are finished pieces of masonry. The improve-
ments at the Duke of Portland's, at Welbeck, Nottinghamshire,
in his arrangements for draining and irrigating, at his pleasure,
from three to five hundred acres of land, — without doubt one of
the most skilful and magnificent agricultural improvements ever
made, — are executed in the most finished and permanent manner ;
the embankments, the channels, the sluices, the dams, the gates,
being constructed, in all cases where it would be most useful and
proper, of stone or iron. These are only samples of the style in
which things are done here. The important operations of em-
banking and of draining, especially under the new system of
draining and subsoiling, are executed most thoroughly. The
farm houses and farm buildings are of brick or stone, and all
calculated to endure.

I cannot recommend, without considerable qualifications, these

ENGLISH CAPITAL. 13

expensive ways of doing things to my own countrymen. We
have not the means — the capital for accomplishing them ; but
we might gather from them a useful lesson ; for, in general, we
err by an opposite extreme. We build too slightly — we do not
execute our improvements thoroughly — we have little capital to
expend, without which, of course, no substantial improvements
can be effected ; and labor, with us, is with more difficulty ob-
tained, with far more difficulty managed, and requires to be much
more highly paid than here. I hope I shall be pardoned for
adding, as my deliberate conviction, that we are too shy of in-
vesting money in improvements of this nature, however secure,
because they do not yield so large a percentage as many other
investments somewhat more questionable in a moral view, and
vastly more so in respect to the security which they ofter.

There are circumstances in the condition of things here, which
certainly warrant a much more liberal expenditure in improve-
ments than would be eligible with us. Here exist the right of
primogeniture and the law of entail, so that an estate remains in
the same family for centuries; and a man is comparatively sure
that the improvements which he makes will be enjoyed by his
children's children. Things are entirely different with us —
houses in our cities are continually changing hands, and are
scarcely occupied by one life ; and in the country, even in staid
New England, few estates are in the hands of the third or fourth
generation in the direct line of descent. I shall not at all dis-
cuss the comparative advantages, expediency, or propriety of one
or the other system. I leave those inferences to others — my
business is with the fact as it is ; and, like short leases, it has an
obvious tendency to hinder or discourage improvements of a
substantial and permanent character, involving a large expense.

v.— ENGLISH CAPITAL.

Another marked distinction, already alluded to, between the

condition of the proprietors of the soil here and with us, is in

the amount of capital existing here. It is absolutely enormous,

and almost distances the system of enumeration which we are

2

14 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

taught at our common schools. Let me mention some facts
which have been stated to me on credible authority ; and let me
premise that a pound sterling is about equal to five dollars United
States currency. Under a law of the present government, here,
levying a tax upon every man's income when it exceeds one
hundred and fifty pounds sterling a year, persons liable to taxa-
tion are required to make a just return of their income under a
heavy penalty. A confectioner, in London, returned, as his
annual income, the sum of thirty thousand pounds sterling, or
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or six times as much as
the salary of the President of the United States ; which showed,
at least, how skilful he was in compounding some of the sweets
of life. A nobleman, it is said, has contracted with a master
builder to erect for him, in London, four thousand — not forty —
not four hundred — but four thousand houses of a good size for
occupation. In some of the best parts of London, acres of land,
vast squares, are occupied with large and elegant dwelling-
houses, paying heavy rents, in long rows, blocks, and crescents,
and all belonging to some single individual. One nobleman,
whose magnificent estate was left to him by his father, encum-
bered with a debt of some hundred thousand pounds, by limit-
mg, as it is termed here, his own annual expenditure to thirty
thousand pounds, has well nigh extinguished this debt, and, in
all human probability, will soon have his patrimonial estate free
of encumbrance. The incomes of some of the rich men in
the country, amount to twenty, twenty-five, fifty, one hundred
thousand, two hundred thousand pounds sterling — even three
hundred thousand pounds annually. It is very difficult for New
England men even to conceive of such wealth. A farmer in
Lincolnshire told me that the crop of wheat grown upon his
farm one year was eighteen thousand bushels. The rent annu-
ally paid by one farmer in Northumberland, or the Lothians,
exceeded seven thousand pounds, or thirty-five thousand dollars.
These facts, which have been stated to me by gentlemen in
whose veracity I have entire confidence, and who certainly are
incapable of attempting any " tricks upon travellers," show the
enormous masses of wealth which are here accumulated. A
gentleman of distinguished talents and fine classical attainments,
and who adds to them a public spirit in agricultural improve-
ment worthy of his education and his high standing in the
community, has recently added to his property, by the purchase

ENGLISH CAPITAL. 15

of lands, to the amount of two hundred thousand pounds ster-
ling, that is, a milHon of dollars ; and his estate, now in cul-
tivation, and under his own personal inspection, and, with the
exception of about four hundred acres lying in one body,
amounts to six thousand acres. Another gentleman, of high
rank, in respect to whom and to whose amiable family I have a
constant struggle to restrain the open expression of my grateful
sense of their kindness, and who — an example here not uncom-
mon— to an extraordinary brilliancy of talent and an accom-
plished education unites the most active spirit of agricultural
improvement, has, though not all in his immediate occupation,
yet all under his immediate supervision, a tract of more than
twelve thousand acres in a course of systematic cultivation or
gradual improvement.*

The income of a single nobleman, from his coal mines,
exceeds one hundred thousand pounds sterling a year ; and I
believe this is not the largest of the coal possessions. With such
wealth as this, men may make what improvements they please,
and attempt what experiments they may deem worth trying;
but should such imaginations ever visit a New England or a
United States farmer in his dreams, if JGsop's fable of the frog,
who attempted to swell himself to the size of the ox, did not
cure him, he might be deemed a fit subject for a lunatic asylum.
There are other circumstances in the case which are to be added,
and those are the cheapness of iron, the abundance of coal, and
the admirable facility and skill with which the former material
is wrought. Wood, and especially the soft woods, which are so
much wrought among us, are here scarce and dear, and, there-
fore, seldom used for building purposes ; bricks, and, in many
parts of the country, good building stone, of the best quality,
are abundant. Most of the cottages which I have seen have
brick or stone floors, though many have only hardly-trodden
clay and earth ; and the entries of the best houses are generally

* 1 mention these examples — to which, from my own knowledge, I might
add many others — in the form I do, for the purpose, by the way, of showing my
American friends that agriculture here takes its proper rank among the liberal
professions, and that not merely as a recreation, but as a business ; and in all its
minute and practical details, it is not deemed incompatible with the highest
distinctions of talent, education, and rank, but rather as a pursuit in which tlicy
all may most usefully and honorably lend their combined influence.

16 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

payed, and the staircases made of stone. A fence of iron, afford-
ing a sufficient protection against cattle, is made here at a less
expense than many wooden fences are made with us.

VI. — GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY.

I may be allowed to put down marks of difference in the
general appearance of the country, as compared with my own,
as they strike my attention. I need not say that England is
entirely devoid of a feature which strongly marks the newly-
cleared parts of my own country, and that is the stumps of trees,
which have been cut down, or the large, naked, and dead stand-
ing skeletons of trees, which have been girdled, that the pioneer,
in subduing the wilderness, might have a chance of getting bread
for himself and his family, while he was endeavoring to tame the
wildness of nature and to convert the forest into a fruitful field.
England exhibits, of course, nothing of this, for the days of its
youth have long since passed, and its agriculture reckons its pa-
triarchal centuries. But there is another thing remarkable : the
cultivated fields are entirely free from rocks and stones, excepting
the limestone and flint pebbles in the chalk formations. In the
clay soils and on the peaty moors, they, of course, are not to be
looked for ; but, where even they once existed, they have been
entirely removed or buried, and there is nothing to interrupt or
impede the progress of the plough. This is not so generally the
case in my own country as is to be desired. It is, indeed, an
affair of very difficult accomplishment in many cases, where, in a
granitic region for example, the stones are often within stepping
distance of each other all over a farm, and where every fresh
ploughing seems to turn up a fresh crop of stones. On the
other hand, there are too many cases where, with equal ad-
vantage to the purse as pleasure to the eye, such unsightly rub-
bish might be removed or buried ; yet there are fields, within
my own knowledge, where I may say, with confidence, the
same piles of stones which were collected for removal, full
half a century ago, retain their original position until this
day ; the plough, whenever they are broken up, being always

APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY. 17

compelled, at no small expense of time and trouble, (as a
sailor would say,) to give these heaps a good berth; and only
going near enough to them to refresh and invigorate the roots
of the briers and bramble bushes, by which they are usually
ornamented, and which, to my taste, are quite as offensive in a
farmer's field as the "mustachios and imperials" so often seen
upon the monkey masque, which passes, by the mere indulgence
and good humor of society, for a human face. Throughout
those parts of England which I have seen, there are, as I have
already remarked, an exactness, a finish, and a cleanness in the
cultivation, which impress a stranger most agreeably, and de-
serve the highest commendation. There are, occasionally, im-
mense tracts of unenclosed commons, and heaths, and moors,
where there is no cultivation, where nothing grows, and, in some
cases, little can ever be made to grow ; or which, otherwise, are
abandoned to the growth of furze or gorse for the protection of
the game, and for the pleasures of the chase. These are called
preserves, and are leased to sportsmen occasionally, or, rather, the
right to kill game upon them is leased, at a rate which we should
deem a high rent, even for purposes of cultivation. An eminent
agriculturist has shown that, in England and Scotland, there are
full 10,000,000 acres in heath or moor, all susceptible of being
brought into productive cultivation. These lands, of course,
remain as they are hy voluntary neglect or design. But I refer
to the cultivated and improved lands ,* and here there is every
where a surprising neatness and finish — every thing is done, as
it were, by line and measure ; the corners and the head lands are
thoroughly cleaned, the open ditches are kept unobstructed, the
crops are drilled in straight lines, and a newly-ploughed field
resembles a plaited ruffle from the ironing board of a good
housewife. Such exactness is exceedingly beautiful, and,
though it may appear, at first, to consume a good deal of time,
will be found, in the long run, to be more economical than the
slovenly way in which things are often done in many places,
which I am reluctant to name. There is a pleasure aflbrded by
such neatness which is very great, and which can be properly
appreciated only by those who have been largely endowed by
nature with the organ of order.
2*

18 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

VII. — HEDGES AND ENCLOSURES.

The green fences in England, by which the farms are sur-
rounded and divided, are often a beautifal feature in the land-
scape. Where they are complete, and neatly trimmed and
formed, with here and there a single plant left to rise above the
rest, which many deem more beautiful to the eye than a demo-
cratic level, and when seen Avhitened with their blossoms in the
spring, or blushing deeply with their fruit in autumn, they are
exceedingly pleasing to the eye. In general, they are formed
of the white thorn, and sometimes of the holly, and not unfre-
quently of these two plants intermingled. But I must confess
myself somewhat disappointed in the condition of the hedges
throughout England. Of course there are many exceptions, and
perhaps the cases to which I refer should be considered as
exceptions to the general fact ; but in frequent instances they
are greatly neglected. There are many vacancies in them : they
are not well trimmed ,* they are intermingled with various weeds
and rubbish ; and, instead of being confined to a width of four
or six feet, they are often seen with their pernicious accompani-
ments occupying more than a rod in width. I inquired why
this was permitted ; and why, when the rest of the face was so
clear and bright, such dirt spots were allowed to remain : the
answer was, " that they Avere left thus for the protection of the
game, and that they made excellent covers for partridges and
foxes." When so much care and expense are incurred in the
protection of this kind of game, it is to be hoped that it may
suggest always the higher duty of taking care of the human
game, the hungry and ragged children, which in some parts of
England are as numerous, and growing up as wild, and many of
them as little taught, as the rabbits in a warren.

The enclosures in England are of various extent, from ten to
twenty and fifty acres. There are some farms with scarcely a
subdivision, and in these cases the stock are soiled. In parts of
England, however, they resemble the divisions of New England
farms, and are of various sizes, but generally small, and of all
shapes, and often not exceeding four or five acres. It is reported
of a farmer in Devonshire, that he lately cultivated one hundred
acres of wheat in fifty different fields. There must have been

HEDGES AND ENCLOSURES. 19

here a great waste of land and labor. One of the most compe-
tent judges of agricultural improvement in England says, how-
ever, that *'his tenants never wish to have more than one
ploughed field on a farm."

The loss in land by too many fences, the loss of time in culti-
vating in small fields instead of large, on account of the necessity
of more frequent turnings, and ploughing the head lands by
themselves, and the actual cost of making and of maintaining the
fences, not to add that these fences are a shelter for weeds, and
a harbor for vermin, are serious considerations. The statement
of an intelligent practical farmer in Staffordshire, on the highly-
improved estate of Lord Hatherton, whom I had the pleasure of
visiting with Mr. P. Pusey, M. P., as given to Mr. Pusey, is well
worth recording. Speaking of the farm called the Yew-Tree
Farm, he says, " The turnip field is sixty-five acres ; it was, two
years back, at the time I entered upon the farm, in eight enclo-
sures. I have taken up 1914 yards of fence, and intend divid-
ing it into three fields : it will take 800 yards of new fence.
The field in which I was subsoiling is forty-two acres; it was in
six enclosures. I took up 1264 yards of fence ; if I divide this
field, it will take 300 yards of new fence. The land Lord
Hatherton mentioned on my Deanery Farm was originally in
twenty-seven enclosures; ninety-one acres. I took up 4427
yards of fences ; it will now lie in five fields, and will take 1016
yards of new fence."

''I cannot," he adds, "really say what land is gained by the
different operations ; but some of the fences were from three to
four yards or more wide, that the plough never touched ; my
new fences are upon the level without ditches. In the whole
of the old fences there was a great number of ash-trees, which
are all stocked up, as well as a good part of the oak, only leaving
a few for ornament and shelter. I think the greatest gain in
land will be from getting rid of the trees."*

This is the experience and opinion of a sound practical farmer,
and is entitled to great weight. In some of the counties large
enclosures prevail. In parts of Lincolnshire the enclosures
embrace about fifty acres each ; and on the best managed farms
which I saw, these fields were mostly laid either in parallelograms
or squares. In the fens or redeemed lands of Lincolnshire, the

* Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. iv. part 2, p. 306, note.

20 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ditches around and through the land form sufficient and the only
fences. In the county of Northumberland, and in the Lothians,
the enclosures are very extensive, and, excepting on the outlines,
no fences appear. The plough, in such case, when it starts,
takes its course, and runs to the end of these long fields without
interruption.

Mr. Pusey, in Berkshire, on one of the best managed estates
which I have visited, has induced many of his tenants to take
away the inner fences and leave the fields open. Sheep are, of
course, never suffered to graze or roam at pleasure over these
large fields, but are fed in enclosures formed of movable hurdles
in different j)arts of the field, where their manure is required.
Cattle never go at large upon them ; and the convenience of
cultivating where the lands are thus open, to say nothing of the
beauty of the appearance, in addition to other advantages already
alluded to, is at once obvious and decisive.

VIIL— IRON AND SUNKEN FENCES.

I shall speak in this place of two kinds of fences which are
common on. gentlemen's seats, and one of which may be safely
recommended to my own countrymen. The first is an iron
fence, called here an invisible fence. This is made of stout iron
wire, about one third of an inch in diameter, and consists of four
or five bars or rods, with upright pieces of iron, about an inch
and a quarter in width, and about one third of an inch in thick-
ness, placed at about six feet distance from each other. Through
these upright and flat pieces of iron the bars or rods are passed,
and they serve to keep them secure. Every alternate one of
these upright bars has a foot to it, and being sunk in the ground
about a foot or more, serves as a post to keep the fence steady ;
and occasionally these posts, if so they may be called, have side
supports, thus ; 1 these, of course, increase the strength of
the fence, but /k they are not indispensable. These fences
are very cheap, / I \ on account of the abundance of iron and
the facility with which it is wrought ; and being kept painted
commonly of a green color, they do not appear until you approach

THE ENGLISH PARKS. ^1

near them ; but no animals attempt to pass them, and, when well
taken care of, they are durable, and, it is obvious, may be easily
removed from place to place.

There is another kind of fence often formed, called a sunken
fence ; or ^^ ha ! ha ! " from its generally taking persons by sur-
prise, as it does not appear until you reach it. A trench is dug
as deep as it is required that the height of the wall shall be from
the bottom of the trench ; one side of ihe trench is perpendicu-
lar, and against this side the wall is erected ; the other side is
made slanting at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and the
slanting side is grassed, and may be mowed clear to the bottom,
so that no land is lost ; but, in truth, a small amount is gained.
The object is to conceal the fence, so that when placed round
the grounds of a gentleman's house, the prospect of the lawn or
field is not interrupted by an unsightly wall ; and the grounds
within the enclosure may be cultivated or embellished in any
way with shrubs, or flowers, or fruit, and yet the cattle feeding
beyond it, whom no visible obstruction appears to keep at a
distance, are effectually excluded, as no animal attempts ever to
leap such a fence.

IX. — THE ENGLISH PARKS.

I will take this occasion to speak of the extensive parks which
are to be seen in many parts of the country, and which consti-
tute a truly magnificent feature in English scenery. These are
the open grounds, which surround the houses of the rich and
noble in the country. By open, I do not mean entirely free
from trees, because many of them are exceedingly well stocked
with trees, sometimes standing single, at other times in clumps ;
sometimes in belts, sometimes in rows, and squares, and circular
plantations ,• and more often scattered, as if they were carelessly
thrown down broadcast. The ground under them is kept in
grass, and depastured by cattle, sheep, and deer; and affords
often the richest herbage. With some exceptions, a plough is
never suffered to disturb these grounds ; and in the neighborhood
of the house, which is generally placed in the centre of them,
the portion which is separated from the rest, as I have observed,

22 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

by an invisible or sunken fence just now described, for the culti-
vation of ornamental trees and shrubs, is kept so closely and
evenly shorn, that to walk upon it seems more like treading upon
velvet than upon grass. Nothing of the kind can be more beau-
tiful ; and I never before knew the force of that striking expres-
sion of the prince of poets, Milton, of " walking on the smooth
shaven lawn ; " for it seems to be cut with a razor rather than
with a scythe; and after a gentle shower it really appears as if
the field had had its face washed, and its hair combed with a
fine-tooth comb. It is brought to this perfection by being kept
often mown ; and I have stood by with perfect admiration to see
a swarth mowed evenly and perfectly, where the grass to be cut
was scarcely more than an inch high.

These parks which I have described abound, as observed, with
trees of extraordinary age and size. They are not like the trees
of our original forests, growing up to a great height, and, on
account of the crowded state of the neighborhood, throwing out
few lateral branches ; but what they want in height, they gain
in breadth ; and, if I may be excused for a hard word, in um-
brageousness. I measured one in Lord Bagot's celebrated park
in Staffordshire, and going round the outside of the branches,
keeping witliin the droppings, the circuit was a hundred yards.
The circumference of some of the celebrated oaks in the park of
the Duke of Portland, which we measured together, when he did
me the kindness to accompany me through his grounds, seem
worthy of record. The Little Porter Oak measured 27 feet in
circumference ; the Great Porter Oak is 29 feet in circumference;
the Seven Sisters, 33 feet in circumference. The Great Porter
Oak was of a very large diameter, 50 feet above the ground :
and the opening in the trunk of the Green Dale Oak was at one
time large enough to admit the passage of a small carriage
through it ; by advancing years the space has become somewhat
contracted. These indeed are noble trees, though it must be
confessed that they were thrown quite into the shade by the
magnificent Kentucky Buttonwood or Sycamore, of whose
trunk I saw a complete section exhibited at Derby, measuring
25 feet in diameter and 75 feet in circumference. This was
brought from the United States, and indeed might well be
denominated the mammoth of the forest.

In these ancient parks, oaks^nd beeches are the predominant
trees, with occasional chestnuts and ashes. In very many cases

THE ENGLISH PARKS. 23

I saw the beauty and force of that first line in the pastorals of
Virgilj where he addresses Tityriis as '• playing upon his lute
under the spreading shade of a beech-tree.^^ These trees are
looked upon with great veneration ; in many cases, they are num-
bered ; in some, a label is affixed to them, giving their age ;
sometimes a stone monument is erected, saying when and by
whom this forest or this clump was planted ; and commonly
some record is kept of them as a part of the family history. I
respect this trait in the character of the English, and I sympa-
thize with them in their veneration for old trees. They are the
growth often of centuries, and the monuments of years gone by.
They were the companions of our fathers, who, it may be, were
nourished by their fruit, and reposed under their shade. Perhaps
they were planted by the very hands of those from whom we
have descended ; and whose far-sighted and comprehensive
beneficence embraced a distant posterity. How many revolu-
tions and vicissitudes in the fortunes of men have they surveyed
and survived ! They have been pelted by many a storm ; the
hoarse and swift wind has often growled and whistled among
their branches ; the lightnings and tempest have many a time
bent their limbs and scathed their trunks. But they, like the
good and the truly great in seasons of trial, have stood firm and
retained their integrity. They have seen one generation of men
treading upon the heels of another, and rapidly passing away ;
wars have burst forth in volcanic explosions, and have gone out ;
revolutions have made their changes, and the wheel again
returned to its starting point ; governments and princes have
flourished and faded; and the current of human destiny has
flowed at their roots, bearing onwards to the traveller's bourn
one family and one people after another ; but they still stand,
green in their old age, as the mute yet eloquent historians of
departed years. Why should we not look upon them with rev-
erence ? I cannot quite enter into the enthusiasm of an excel-
lent friend, who used to say that the cutting down of an old tree
ought to be made a capital off'ence at law ; yet I deem it almost
sacrilegious to destroy them, excepting where necessity demands
it ; and I would always advise that an old tree, standing in a
conspicuous station either for use or ornament, should be at least
once more wintered and summered before the sentence of death,
which may be passed upon it, is carried into execution.

The trees in the park of the palace of Hampton Court are,

24 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

many of them, the horse-chestnut and the lime, of great age and
eminent beauty ; several straight lines of them forming, for a
long distance, the approach to the palace. On a clear, bright
day. at the season of their flowering, I passed through this mag-
nificent avenue with inexpressible delight. I passed through
them again late in the autumn, when the frost had marred their
beauty, and the autumnal gales had stripped off their leaves ; but
they were still venerable in the simple majesty of their gigantic
and spreading forms. I could not help reflecting, with grateful
emotion, on that beneficent Power, which shall presently breathe
upon these apparently lifeless statues, and clothe them with the
glittering foliage of spring, and the rich and splendid glories of
summer. So be it with those of us who have got far on into
the autumn, or stand shivering in the winter of life !

The extent of these parks, in many cases, filled me with sur-
prise. They embrace hundreds, in some instances thousands, of
acres ; * and you enter them by gates, where a porter's lodge is
always to be found. After entering the park gate, I have rode
sometimes several miles before reaching the house. They are
in general devoted to the pasturage of sheep, cattle, and deer. ;
In the park at Chatsworth, the herd of deer exceeded sixteen\
hundred. These deer are kept at no inconsiderable expense,
requiring abundant pasturage in summer, and hay and grain in
winter. An English pasture is seldom or never ploughed. Many
of them have been in grass beyond the memory of any one living.
The turf becomes extremely close and hard ; and the feeding of
sheep and cattle undoubtedly enriches the land, especially under
the careful management of one eminent farmer, — and many
more, doubtless, are like him, — on whose pasture grounds the
manure of the cattle was daily collected and evenly spread.

In speaking of the parks in the country, I surely ought not to
pass in silence the magnificent parks of London, as truly mag-
nificent they must be called, including St. James's Park, Green
Park, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, and Regent's Park.

Kensington Gardens, exclusive of private gardens, within its
enclosures contains 227 acres ; Hyde Park, 380 acres ; Green
Park, connected with St. James's Park, 56 acres ; St. James's
Park, 87 acres ; Regent's Park, 372 acres ; terraces and canals
connected with Regent's Park, 80 acres — making a grand total

* Windsor Great Park contains 3500 acres, and the Little Park 300 acres.

I

THE ENGLISH PARKS. 25

of 1202 acres. To these should be added the large, elegant, and
highly-embellished public squares in various parts of London,
and even in the most crowded parts of the old city, which, in
all, probably exceed 200 acres. These magnificent parks, it
must be remembered, are in the midst of a populous town,
including upwards of two millions of inhabitants, and are open
to the public for exercise, health, and amusement. They are, at
the same time, to a degree stocked with sheep and cows.

It is impossible to over-estimate the value to health of these
open spaces, and the amount of recreation and rational enjoyment
which they afford to this vast population. In each of the large
parks — Kensington, Hyde Park, and St. James's — there are
extensive bodies of water, artificial lakes, in some places adorned
with elegant bridges, and in St. James's Park studded with
pretty islands and shrubbery. Here large varieties of aquatic
birds are kept, to the great amusement of the thousands of chil-
dren, who coax them to the shore with crumbs of bread and cake,
the birds being so tame as almost to feed out of their hands, and
for the instruction of older heads. There is likewise an exceed-
ingly beautiful and tasteful cottage, of Gothic architecture, at the
end of the lake in St. James's Park, for the residence of the
keeper of the birds. There are always to be found in some parts
of the parks, or at the keepers' different lodges, some cows kept,
where a glass of milk, unadulterated and fresh from the fountain,
can be had for those persons who, for health or pleasure, seek
the delicious beverage in its purity. The numbers and tameness
of the birds in these pleasure-grounds is a beautiful circumstance,
which it might be well to consider in some other quarters.
Their safety and lives are held sacred ; and the birds gratefully,
and, to a feeling heart, delightfully acknowledge this kindness
by the most expressive confidence, alighting fearlessly in the
path before you, as though they would invite you to cultivate
their acquaintance. Man, in general, is a great savage, and a
ferocious and insatiate animal of prey. He makes continual war
upon many of the animals below him, not for subsistence merely,
but for pleasure. His conduct towards the brute creation shows,
too often, how certain he is to abuse unlimited power, and con-
veys a strong argument against despotic authority. Indeed, his
war upon the birds merely as matter of sport, always makes me
look upon him with a degree of shuddering, and feel that a man
who can find his pleasure in the wanton destruction of little
3

ni

5J6 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

birds, the most humble of all animals in their claims, the most
delicate, innocent, and pure in all their tastes and habits, and
comparatively useless for food, puts himself beyond the pale of
humanity, and could scarcely, with safety, be trusted with a
child. It were worth considering always, how many of our
pleasures are purchased at a most bitter expense of happiness and
life to others ! Two or three days' coursing, manly and health-
ful as the exercise on horseback undoubtedly is, and strongly
exciting as the sport is, did not quite reconcile me to it ; and the
wailings and shriekings of the affrighted and dying hares, in the
jaws of the hounds, sounded in my ears, for several days after-
wards, like the cries of expiring children.

I shall not be straying from my proper duty if I urge the
beneficent example of London strongly upon my own country-
men. In Boston, excepting the Common — containing about
forty-five acres of ground, exceedingly beautiful in its location
and improvements — and some few openings upon a very limited
scale, there is a large and constantly increasing population crowded
together in one dense mass, with narrow streets and confined
alleys, and basement stories, doomed to a comparative privation
of Heaven's freest and greatest blessings — light and air. A
Botanical and Pleasure Garden has been laid out, and is mjlin-
tained by private subscription, accessible to subscribers or upon
the payment of a light fee, which it is earnestly to be hoped, for
the credit of this city, long distinguished by its liberality and
public spirit, may receive every encouragement, so that its im-
provements and advantages may be greatly extended. New York.
with a population of three times the extent of Boston, is scarcely
more favored, excepting in the width of its streets ; for, with the
exception of those delightful grounds, the Battery, at the very
extremity of the city, the open space in front of the City Hall,
dignified, par excellence, by the name of the Park, and the open
grounds attached to St. John's Church, and the University, but
not accessible to the public, the city has no provision of this kind
for public recreation and health. As there is little room in the
city proper which can now be obtained, she ought at once, at
any expense, to secure the charming grounds at Hoboken, to be
devoted forever and exclusively to these objects. Having already,
with the most honorable enterprise, achieved one of the most
extraordinary undertakings of the age, or indeed of any age, —
that of bringing, by a capacious tunnel of forty miles in length, a

r

THE ENGLISH PARKS. 27

river of pure water into her city, and dispensing, Avith an unre-
strained munificence, to those who cannot purchase it, this most
important element, next to vital air, of human existence ; let her
go on and make the other provision, to which I have referred,
for the health and comfort of a population already great, and
destined to increase with an unexampled rapidity beyond any
bounds which the imagination would now even dare to prescribe.

Philadelphia has set a better example than most other cities in
this respect, in having laid out her streets of a capacious width,
in having given to most of her houses yards or gardens of a good
size, and in having formed, in different parts of the city, public
squares of some extent, which are equally ornamental and useful.
But she has done little compared with what she might have
done ; and it is to be hoped that she will be prompted to add to
a city, the most convenient and beautiful in the Union, some
public gardens and pleasure-grounds, admission to which shall be
freely offered to her inhabitants; and more especially for the
benefit of that class of them who can have no such indulgences
but as the offerings of public beneficence. Baltimore has noth-
ing that deserves the name of a square or a pleasure-ground,
unless we are to rank under that designation the beautiful enclo-
sure which she has recently purchased for a cemetery ; a place,
indeed, for a melancholy and instructive pleasure, but more
properly devoted to silence and seclusion, and not at all of the
character to which I refer. Lowell — destined to contain a large
and laborious population, and of a character particularly demand-
ing such places of recreation, with an unlimited extent of land
at her disposal costing scarcely any thing, and with an inv^est-
ment in her manufacturing establishments of ten or eleven mil-
lions of dollars — has not a public square so large as a pocket-
handkerchief. This omission has always impressed me with
painful surprise. Knowing, as I do, the high character of the
gentleman who founded and built this flourishing city, now
grown to manhood almost in a day, I can ascribe such an omis-
sion only to a want of consideration, and to the fact that the
population has already extended far beyond any calculations
which they could, with sobriety, have formed at its commence-
ment. It is not too late to supply this omission, which interest,
as well as philanthropy, most strongly dictates.

Cleanliness, fresh air, and pure water, and the opportunity and
the means of relaxation and innocent recreation, are almost as

28 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

essential to morals as to health. No one can doubt, in this
respect, their direct and beneficial influence. The rich can take
care of themselves, and can flee the sources of pestilence, and go
after health and recreation Avhere they are to be found. Not so
with the poorer and humbler classes in society, to whose labor
and service the rich owe all their wealth and many of their
pleasures. Whoever goes into the low places in crowded cities,
into the subterranean abodes where these wretched beings con-
gregate like rabbits in a warren, or, rather, like swine in their
sties, and enters into the melancholy statistics of mortality, in
such cases will learn some measure of the suff'ering which is
here endured. In London, and other places of a similar char-
acter, the presence of the police and the officers of the peace,
always in such places in strong force, will remind him that there
is a connection not to be overlooked between condition and
character, between destitution and crime, between outward filth
and impurity of mind, neglect of person and neglect of morals.
The most crowded parts of London are the most vicious parts ;
and a new should not neglect the experience of an old country.
A city without public squares and public gardens should provide
them, and on a most liberal scale. In a pecuniary point of view,
as rendering a residence in the city the more desirable, and so
increasing the value of estates in it, I have no doubt that it
would yield ample advantages and profits. But health and
morals are not to be measured by any pecuniary standard ; and
where wholesome water, and fresh air, and light, and sunshine,
and cleanliness are concerned, no expense and cost are to be con-
sidered as exorbitant. To talk about the value of land in such
cases, and to place this in competition with health, comfort, and
morals, is equally short-sighted and inhuman.

The public parks and pleasure-grounds in London are highly
ornamented with shrubs, plants, and flowers, and accessible to
the public for exercise and recreation. In St. James's Park, and
in some others, metallic labels are affixed to the foreign plants
and shrubs, with the botanical and the vulgar name of the plants
upon them, and the class and the country to which they belong.
This is a beautiful arrangement, and well deserving imitation ;
furnishing instruction, as well as satisfaction ; inciting to the
study of botany, and opening a sealed book to the unaided and
curious student of nature. Every one knows the advantage of
teaching by example ,* and >vhat an interest is given to the

ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS AND FLOWERS. 29

objects, which the natural and visible world presents, by the
associations which science throws around them. This practice,
I found, prevailed in other public gardens and pleasure-grounds.
It was the case in the beautiful and highly-cultivated botanical
garden in the neighborhood of Liverpool, which, though created
and supported by private subscriptions, and for scientific pur-
poses, is yet free of access to the public one or more days in the
week. The same is the case with the very tasteful garden in
Sheffield, a romantic and charming piece of ground, which,
though on a small scale, combines many attractions ; and like-
wise with the Arboretum at Derby, embracing, I think, about
eleven acres, and formed into a garden and pleasure-ground for
the public recreation. This last is the fruit of individual mu-
nificence. Mr. Strutt, an eminent manufacturer at Derby, em-
ployed Mr. Loudon — the late distinguished horticultural writer
— to lay out, plant, and ornament these grounds, at an expense
of ten thousand pounds sterling, or fifty thousand dollars ; and
then, with eminent liberality, gave them to the city of Derby
for the public use and enjoyment of its inhabitants. Tens of
thousands of pounds expended in the erection of a Corinthian
column, or a marble mausoleum, would not have formed so
durable or extended a memorial of him; and thousands upon
thousands yet unborn, in the enjoyment of this beneficence, will
invoke blessings upon his memory.

X. — ORNAMENTAL SHRUBS AND FLOWERS.

The cultivation of flowers and shrubs is a prominent feature
in the landscape of England ; and a circumstance which has
given no little gratification to my national pride, has been the
profusion of American plants, azalias and kalmias, magnolias and
rhododendrons, and a large variety of pines and firs, which are
seen in the shrubberies and plantations and pleasure-grounds,
both public and private. A very large establishment in London
is exclusively devoted to the sale of American plants ; and they
are every where admired for the splendor of their foliage and the
beauty of their flowers. Greenhouses and conservatories are
3*

30 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

almost universal in the country, where any thing like a garden
exists; and the better class of houses are surrounded and adorned
with a great variety of flowering shrubs and plants, presenting,
through the season, a charming succession of gay and brilliant
ornaments. Even the laborer's humble cottage, ordinarily, I
am compelled to admit, any thing but a picturesque object, will
occasionally have its flowering shrubs adorning its door-way, and
the ivy hanging its beautiful tresses over its window, forming, as
it were, a mirror, set in a frame of the richest green. The vil-
lage of Marr, in Yorkshire, not far from Doncaster, and the
village of Edensor, in Derbyshire, near Chatsworth, and the
village of Lord Brownlow, in Lincolnshire, the best built and
by far the handsomest villages I have yet seen in England, to
cottages of an excellent and tasteful construction, monuments of
the liberality of their proprietors, add these beautiful rural embel-
lishments of shrubs and flowers, and compel a reflecting mind to
admit the moral influence of such arrangements upon the char-
acter and manners of their inhabitants. Churches and ruins,
likewise, are often seen spread over with the richest mantlings
of ivy ; and, among many others, the venerable and magnificent
remains of Hardwicke Hall, for example, are covered, I may
say, in the season of its flowering, with a gorgeous robe of it,
matting its sides with indescribable luxuriance, climbing its
lofty battlements, and fringing its empty windows and broken
arches, as though Nature would make the pall of death exqui-
sitely beautiful and splendid, that she might conceal the hideous-
ness of decay, and shut from the sight of frail mortals these
aff"ecting monuments of the vanity of human grandeur and pride.

I have said and written a great deal to my countrymen about
the cultivation of flowers, ornamental gardening, and rural em-
bellishments ; and I would read them a homily on the subject
every day of every remaining year of my life, if I thought it
would have the eflect which I desire, of inducing them to make
this matter of particular attention and care. When any man
asks me what is the use of shrubs and flowers, my first impulse
always is, to look under his hat and see the length of his ears.
I am heartily sick of measuring every thing by a standard of
mere utility and profit; and as heartily do I pity the man who
can see no good in life but in pecuniary gain, or in the mere
animal indulgences of eating and drinking.

The establishment of horticultural societies in Salem, Boston,

CLIMATE OF ENGLAND. 31

Worcester, New Haven, New York, and Philadelphia, — and I
speak of these societies in particular because I have attended the
exhibitions of most of them, — has rendered an immense benefit
to the country, not merely in the introduction of new and vahiable
fruits and vegetables, and in what they have done to improve
and perfect the cultivation of those long known among us, but
in the improvement of the public taste, and the powerful stimu-
lus they have given to the cultivation of flowers and the forma-
tion of gardens and ornamental grounds throughout the country.
Few countries in temperate latitudes are richer in the floral
kingdom of nature, and the luxuriance of vegetable growth and
the splendors of vegetable beauty, than the United States.
Why should not flowers be cultivated ? Was the human eye,
that wonder of wonders, that matchless organ of our physical
constitution, that inexhaustible instrument of exalted and varied
pleasures, made in vain ? Are the forms of beauty in the natu-
ral world, infinitely multiplied as they are around us, made for
any other purpose than to be enjoyed ? And what better means
can we take to strengthen the domestic affections, of all others
the most favorable to virtue, than to render our homes as beauti-
ful and as attractive as possible ? Who does not see constantly
the influence of external circumstances upon character as well as
comfort ; and perceive how greatly order, exactness, and personal
neatness contribute to form and strengthen the sense of moral
exactness and propriety ?

The horticultural establishments of England, their vegetable
gardens, their flower gardens, their shrubberies and plantations,
their greenhouses and conservatories, are upon the most exten-
sive scale.

XL — CLIMATE OF ENGLAND.

Another marked difference in the agricultural condition of
England and the northern portion of the United States, is in the
climate. 1 cannot speak with any confidence of Scotland, but
the climate of England must be pronounced highly temperate.
It is favorable to the growth and the constant vigor and freshness
of the grasses. It is not only temperate, but moist. The last

32 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

season may have been peculiar. I landed in Liverpool near the
end of April ; and there was more or less rain for forty-six days
in succession, until I became quite satisfied that an umbrella was
as necessary as a hat. When the clear weather finally set in,
we had two months, or more, of as fine weather for harvesting
as I ever knew, with scarcely the intervention of a day's rain ;
yet there was nothing of the parching heat of our summers, and
I saw no land burnt up by drought. It is now December, and I
have scarcely seen any ice, and not a flake of snow ; and there
is no frost in the ground. Many persons speak of this as the
usual temperature, and say that the cold weather does not com-
mence until after Christmas. The dews appear to me very light,
owing, as I suppose, to the mildness of the days ; and there have
been none of those blowing clouds of dust with which our air is
often charged, and which, with us, after long droughts, are very
disagreeable. Of thunder and lightning this season I am unable
to recall a single instance ; and at no time of the day has the
heat been in the slightest degree oppressive.*

Their insular situation exposes them to frequent and dense
fogs, which interpose to prevent the earth being ever parched by
drought ; and the rains to which they are subject keep the earth,
where it is of a retentive character, much soaked with water,
and preserve an almost perpetual greenness of vegetation.

In many parts of England, the crops of turnips are never pulled
until they are wanted for feeding in the course of the winter ; in
other places, they require a very slight covering to protect them
from the frost. In most cases, sheep do not require to be housed ;
and in some cases, neat cattle get their chief living in the fields
through a great part of the winter, though I cannot but regard
this practice as very bad husbandry. Ploughing appears to be
seldom interrupted for any length of time ; and wheat is sown

* The annual average depth of rain in England is about two feet. In 1840,
for instance, the depth at Aberdeen was 24.627 inches ; at Empingham, 18.58 ;
Epping, 20.767; Falmouth, 31.511; Gosport, 25.525 ; Greenwich, 18.24 ; York,
24.72 inches. That is perhaps not much below the average of the continent of
Europe. Some portions of Western Europe, however, are exceedingly wet ; 123
inches have been noted to fall at Coimbra, in Portugal, in a year. The fill of
rain is still greater in the West Indies. At St. Domingo, 120 inches ; at Cay-
enne, 116 inches ; at Maranham, 277 inches. So that even under the equator, a
sufficient supply of rain water can be obtained for the service of the inhabitants.
— Farmer's Almanac.

CLIMATE OF ENGLAND. 33

from October to April. In parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, and the states south, the farmers enjoy similar advan-
tages of a mild temperature ; but north of these, the despotism
of frost and snow commences, and holds undisputed sway for
four months in the year. Yet, notwithstanding this, our seasons
are quite long enough for the perfect ripening of all the crops
grown among us; and, with a little extra labor, even the valua-
ble green crops, which here play so important a part in the feed*
ing of stock and the enriching of the land, might, if deemed
expedient, be raised and used among us. Of this, however, I
shall speak hereafter. These remarks apply only to what has
come under my own personal observation ; and I can be said to
have seen, as yet, only a small part of England. The winter
management of farms here is a matter of as much importance as
the summer husbandry, and will claim my particular attention.
The disposal of the produce, the fattening of animals, the breeds
or kinds of live stock most likely to make a good return to the
farmer, and the whole management of the manure yards, are
subjects in relation to which much useful instruction is to be
obtained.

It would seem as though a country with so rough and severe
a climate as New England, and with such long winters as prevail
there, which, for more than a third part of the year, interrupt
entirely all the out-door operations of husbandry, must be ex-
ceedingly unfriendly to agriculture, compared with one where
the winters are open and field-labor is practicable through the
whole of the year. This is, indeed, the case ,* yet there are
some compensations for these privations and disadvantages,
which in New England are duly appreciated, as the winter, when
labor is to a great degree suspended, is the special season for the
education of the young ; for reading and mental improvement,
and for the most friendly and social intercourse. If these cir-
cumstances may be thought to have no connection with agricul-
ture, strictly so called, yet they are certainly to be considered in
reference to the condition of the agricultural population ; and in
every circumstance which renders their condition more comfort-
able and happy, and, above all, which advances their intelli-
gence, we may ordinarily look for a corresponding improvement
in their cultivation and rural husbandry. A New England village
resembles, to a great degree, a united and happy family, where
perfect equality prevails ; where a friendly sympathy is every

34 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

where active and strong ; and where all seem bound to con-
tribute, according to their power, to the general welfare, comfort,
and improvement. Society exists in the United States under
circumstances so entirely different from those in which it is found
here, that a comparison can hardly be instituted between them.
The intercourse to which I have here referred, can scarcely be
said to exist in England ; the general character of the laboring
population being not many removes, as far as intellectual im-
provement is concerned, above that of the other animals which
cultivate their fields.

In several respects, it must be admitted, the mild temperature
of the English climate affords singular advantages. The wintes
season furnishes the best opportunity for draining and ditching ;
the active operations of the farm being, in a degree, suspended,
labor is obtained at a low rate ; and as a great portion of field
work, in England, is done by the piece instead of the day, the
shortness of the days makes no difference of expense to the
employer.

XII. — AGRICULTURAL POPULATION.

I have referred to some differences in the condition of society
here, and in the United States, and those differences it may be
well to understand. The agricultural population in England is
divided into three classes — the landlord, the tenant farmer or
occupier, and the laborer.

1. The Landlords ; Rents ; and Taxes. — The landlord
is the owner of the soil. Most of the landlords are noblemen or
gentlemen, and are looked up to with a deference and veneration,
on account of their rank, with which those of us who have been
educated in a condition of society where titles and ranks are
unknown, find it difficult to sympathize. They own the land.
Some few of them keep portions of their vast territories in their
own occupation, and under their own management ; but, by
most of them, their lands are leased in farms of diff'erent sizes,
seldom less than three or four hundred acres, and in many cases
eight hundred, a thousand, and twelve hundred acres. The rent
of land varies in diff'erent places ; in some being as low as five

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 35

shillings ; in others rising to almost as many pounds. Rents are
in general paid in money. Sometimes they are valued in kind ;
that is, the tenant engaging to pay so many bushels of wheat, or
so many bushels of barley, or such amount of other products ;
but in these cases, also, the landlord usually receives his rent in
money according to the current prices of these articles. The
rents are paid in semi-annual payments. The fair rent of land
is sometimes estimated at a third of its products ; by some, a
different rule is adopted, which is, after all the expenses of culti-
vation and the usual assessments are deducted from the gross
proceeds, that the balance remaining should be divided equally
between the landlord and the tenant. In general, however, as
far as my observation has extended, the rate of rent is not deter-
mined by any particular rule, other than that which prevails in
most commercial transactions, that each party makes the best bar-
gain for himself that he is able. It is only just to add that in all
the cases, without exception, which have come under my remark,
there has seemed to me, on the part of the landlords, a fair measure
of liberality ; the rents in general bearing a small proportion to
the legal interest of the money at which the lands are valued, and
for which they could be sold at once ; lands costing £60 sterling,
or 300 dollars per acre, being frequently let for 30s. or £2 ster-
ling per acre, that is, less than eight or ten dollars per acre. We
are not well satisfied in the United States with a return from
our land under five or six per cent, on its cost ; but the landlords
here seldom obtain more than two and a half per cent, or three
per cent, on the price which the land would command, if brought
into the market. The low rents which are obtained show the
abundance of wealth, and how greatly an investment in land is
valued for its security; and the active competition for leases,
which appears in almost every part of the country when farms
are to be let, seems to imply that the rents are reasonable, and,
more than that, liberal. As I shall not hesitate to put down my
impressions of the country, of men and things, with the utmost
frankness, avoiding all personalities, I must say that there has
appeared to me on the part of the landowners, with many of
whom, among the largest in the country, I have had the pleasure
of becoming. acquainted, the most marked liberality in the man-
agement of their great estates, both in the terms and continuance
of their leases, and in the aid rendered to their tenants in making
improvements. The liberality and amount of the expenditures

36

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

indeed strike an American with astonishment. In the United
States, and especially in the northern parts of it, where there is
a constant struggle to live, where men have to contend with a
severe climate and a stubborn soil, and where money is compara-
tively scarce, the accumulations small, and the farms extremely
limited, and where the first lesson taught to a child, even in
his swaddling clothes, is a lesson of self-dependence, it is not
surprising that men should be compelled with extreme care to
husband their small means, and that a frugality, in itself highly
commendable, should sometimes verge withia the limits of mean-
ness. This, indeed, is far better than that reckless expenditure,
without regard to one's means, which we sometimes see, and
which is almost sure to involve the individual who indulges in
it in irretrievable debt and ruin. But there cannot be a doubt
that in New England we often commit a great error in withhold-
ing a reasonable expenditure in the improvement of our lands ;
and that we are not sufficiently impressed with the obvious truth,
that a proper expenditure of capital is as important to a success-
ful and improved agriculture, as to the successful prosecution of
any branch of manufactures, trade, or commerce.

Leases may be annual, or at will, or for a term of years. When
land is taken by the year, it is understood that the tenant has six
months' notice of the intention of the landlord not to renew his
lease, if such intention exist. The lands in England are bur-
dened with taxes from which the United States are free. These,
in many cases, amount to a sum equal to the rent of the land.
The tithes, or tenth of every article produced, are not now taken
in kind, but are commuted and paid in money. The poor and
parochial rates are often heavy ; these all are paid by the tenant,
unless a special agreement is made to the contrary.

Some persons are disposed to question the right of individuals
to such extensive tracts of land, which, in many instances, they
neither cultivate themselves, nor suffer others to cultivate, and
which descend undiminished through successive generations in
the same family. The legal or constitutional right is determined
by statute ; upon the moral right, or the right founded upon prin-
ciples of political justice, I am not disposed to enter, as this
would lead me to discuss the foundations of all property — a sub-
ject foreign from my purpose. The tithe system, as it exists
here, strikes a foreign and unpractised eye as a singular feature in
the condition of things. A tithe, or tenth part of the produce

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 37

of the land, according to the provisions of the Levitical law in
respect to the Jewish priesthood, was taken for the support of
the estabhshed religion ; and the priests and clergy of the differ-
ent parishes were accustomed to levy it in kind, and to exact it
to the extremity of every tenth portion of the honey made by
bees in the farmer's hives, every tenth chicken in the good
wife's poultry-yard, and every tenth egg laid by her fowls. In-
deed, the monks, if reports be true, had always a remarkably
keen appetite for honey, and poultry, and eggs. By one of the
kings of England, the possessions of the church were seized and
confiscated ,• and the right of claiming tithes, in many parishes
or districts, was given to his friends, reserving a very small por-
tion for the support of the clergy. A great portion of the tithes
are now, therefore, held by laymen ; and in some parishes, for
example, where the tithes amount to several thousand pounds,
the clergyman gets only as many hundreds ; and the tithes of
any particular parish or place, or rather the right to enforce and
receive them, is as much a matter of sale or traffic as the land
itself. It is not for me to quarrel with the institutions of a
country of which I am neither citizen nor subject ; but it is
obwous that every burden upon the land must, to a degree,
operate to the prejudice of agriculture ; and the matter of levy-
ing a tax originally intended exclusively for the support of
religious institutions, after it has long since avowedly ceased to
be applied in any form to that object, is an affair for those to
consider who are especially affected by it. I have not deemed it
necessary to inquire into the amount paid in this way, Avhich
varies considerably in different places ; but the amount stated to
me by one farmer, the occupier of 250 acres of land, and whose
rent is £370, is at least £60 sterling (or 300 dollars) per year in
parochial rates, including all but specific taxes. The poor-rates
are in many cases extremely burdensome upon the land, the
wages of the laborers being in general so limited as not to admit,
but in rare cases, of their laying aside any of their earnings for
old age, or seasons of sickness and calamity. The support of
the poor formerly rested, in a great measure, upon the religious
houses, which were very largely endowed with lands and posses-
sions for this very object ; but when these houses were broken
up and the property taken by the state, this burden was trans-
ferred to the backs of the landholders or occupiers. The indi-
vidual possessions of the landowners are sometimes enormous,
4

38 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

amounting in many cases to scores of thousands of acres, and in
one instance within my knowledge, to seventy-five thousand
acres ; and in another, I believe, to more than a million acres.

2. The Farmers. — Next come the farmers, who lease the
land of the landowners. These men are not like farmers in the
United States, who themselves labor in the field ; they rarely do
any personal labor whatever. They are, in general, a substan-
tial and well-informed body of men ,• and many of them live in
a style of elegance and fashion. Many of them are persons of
considerable property, as indeed they must be in order to manage
the farms which they undertake. The capital necessary to
manage a stock or an arable farm must be always estimated at
double or treble the amount of rent ; and, in general, cannot be
set down at less than £10 sterling, or 50 dollars, per acre. The
stock required for a grazing is, of course, much more than for an
arable farm ; but in no case can success be looked for without
ample means of outlay. In no respect does the agriculture of
England differ more from that of the United States, especially
from that of the Northern States, than in regard to capital. Our
farmers, in general, have little floating capital. They attempt
to get along with the least possible expenditure. Under such
circumstances, they operate to very great disadvantage. They can
never wait for a market. They cannot bring out the capabilities
of their farms; and the results of their farming are consequently
limited and meagre. The difference between a new country
contending, as it were, for existence, and an old country operat-
ing with the accumulations of years and centuries, is most sensi-
bly marked ; the expenses incurred on some farms in England
solely for manures purchased, exceeding thousands of pounds
sterling, and the cost merely of grass seeds, are perfectly surpris-
ing to an American farmer ; yet experience has demonstrated
that, in these cases, the most liberal outlay of capital is the most
sure to be followed by successful results.

The farmers in England, as far as I have had the pleasure to
meet with them, are a well-informed set of men, especially on
subjects connected with their particular pursuits. There, of
course, is the variety among them which is to be found in other
classes ; but their manners, without exception, are courteous and
agreeable, their hospitality distinguished, and their housekeeping
— and I speak with the authority of a connoisseur in these mat-
ters— is admirable. Indeed, it has not yet been my misfortune

I

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 39

to meet, in England or Scotland, with a single instance of negli-
gence in any private house which I have visited ; but, on the
other hand, the most exemplary neatness. I cannot say as much
of all the hotels or taverns in the country, many of which are
far inferior in all respects, and none of them superior in any, to
our best hotels. There is one circumstance in English manners
so much to the credit of their housekeeping, that I shall, for the
best of reasons, venture to remind my American friends of it,
although I fear that any reformation in the case is hopeless. In
no private house which I have visited have I been smothered or
offended with tobacco smoke ; and I have seen the offensive and
useless habit of chewing tobacco since I came to England in but
one solitary instance, and that was on the part of an American.
At public dinners, the same reserve is not practised, and the
atmosphere becomes as thick as a London fog. I will not inter-
fere with any gentleman's private pleasures ; but I will lose no
fair opportunity of protesting against a practice which has little
to recommend it, and in respect to which I think we have good
grounds to ask, What right has any man to indulge in any
mere personal or selfish gratification, in-doors or without, at the
expense of his neighbor's comfort ? I know very well the value
to my own country, as a branch of agriculture, of the produc-
tion of tobacco ; but I cannot look upon its cultivation with
much complacency. Nor does the exhausted condition of the
soil, where tobacco has been some time cultivated, reconcile me
to its culture. Indeed, how much were it to be wished that
instead of the production of an article useless for subsistence and
pernicious to health, there could be substituted the cultivation
of plants for the food and comfort of millions now suffering from
the want of them !

3. The Agricultural Laborers. — Next to the farmers come
the laborers ; and these three classes preserve the lines of distinc-
tion among them with as much caution and strictness, as they
preserve the lines and boundaries of their estates. These dis-
tinctions strike a visitor from the United States with much
force; but, in England, they have been so long established —
are so interwoven in the texture of society — and men are, by
education and habit, so trained in them, that their propriety or
expediency is never matter of question. The nobleman will
sometimes, as an act of courtesy and kindness, invite his tenant-
farmer to his table ; but such a visit is never expected to be

40 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

returned. The farmer would under no circumstances invite the
laborer to his table, or visit him as a friend or neighbor. I do
not mean to imply that there is, on the part of the higher classes
of society in England, any insolence or arrogance in their treat-
ment of their inferiors. Free as my intercourse has been with
the highest and the middle classes, I have seen no instance of
this, nor any thing approaching it, but the contrary ; and the
best bred men in the country — the true gentlemen — are dis-
tinguished by their courtesy and the absence of all ostentatious
pretensions. While they naturally fall into the orbit, in which
birth, education, and the political institutions of the country
have accustomed them to revolve, the well-principled among
them would, I am sure, be the last persons, by any assumptions,
voluntarily to mortify one below them with a sense of his
inferiority.

The farm laborers are, I will not say in a degraded condition,
for that would not, in any sense, apply to them, unless where,
by their own bad habits, they may have degraded themselves ;
but they are in a very low condition, and extremely ignorant and
servile. They rarely, as with us, live in the house of their
employers, but either in cottages on the farm or in a neighboring
village. They are, usually, comfortably clad, in this respect
contrasting most favorably with the mechanics and manufac-
turers in the cities and large towns ; but they are, in general,
very poorly fed. Their wages, compared with the wages of
labor in the United States, are very low. The cash wages paid
to them seldom equals the cash wages paid to laborers with us,
and our laborers, in addition to their wages in money, have their
board ; but the English laborers are obliged to subsist themselves,
with an occasional allowance, in some instances, of beer, in hay-
ing or harvesting. The division of labor among them is quite
particular — a ploughman being always a ploughman, and almost
inseparable from his horses ; a ditcher, a ditcher ,• a shepherd, a
shepherd only : the consequence of this is that what they do,
they do extremely well. Their ploughing, sowing, drilling, and
ditching or draining, are executed with an admirable neatness
and exactness ; indeed, the lines of their work could not be more
true and straight than they usually are, if they were measured
with a marked scale, inch by inch. They speak of ploughing
and drilling or ridging by the inch or the half inch ; and the
width of the furrow slice, or the depth of the furrow, or the dis-

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. s 41

tances of the drills from each other, will be found to correspond,
with remarkable precision, to the measurement designed. But
they appear totally destitute of invention, and have, evidently,
little skill or ingenuity when called upon to apply themselves to
a work different from that to which they have been accustomed.
Their gait is very slow ; and they seem, to me, to grow old
quite early. The former circumstance explained itself to me
when I examined and lifted the shoes which they are accustomed
to wear, and which, when, in addition to being well charged
with iron, they gather the usual amount of clay which adheres
to them in heavy soils, furnish at least some reason why, like an
Alexandrine verse, 'Hhey drag their slow length along." There
are occasional instances of extraordinarily good management
where they are enabled to accumulate small sums ; but in no
case, under the best exertions, can they make, from the wages
of labor, any thing like a provision for their old age and decay.

They are little given to change situations, and many of them,
both men and women, live and die in the same service. Several
instances have come under my observation of thirty, thirty-five,
and forty years' reputable service ; and many where persons, even
upon the most limited means, have brought up large families of
children without any parochial assistance. But, in this case,
they are all workers ; the children are put to some sort of service
as soon as they are able to drive the rooks from the corn, and no
drones are suffered in the hive. I visited one laborer's cottage,
to which I was carried by the farmer himself, who was desirous
of showing me, as he said, one of the best examples, within his
knowledge, of that condition of life. The house, though very
small, was extremely neat and tidy ; the Bible lay upon the
shelf without an unbroken cobweb over its covers ; the dressers
were covered with an unusual quantity of crockery, sufficient to
furnish a table for a large party — a kind of accumulation which.
I was told, was very common ; and their pardonable vanity runs
in this way, as, in higher conditions of life, we see the same
passion exhibiting itself in the accumulation of family plate.
The man and woman were laborers, greatly esteemed for their
good conduct, and had both of them been in the same service
more than forty years. I asked them if, in the course of that
time, they had not been able to lay by some small store of money
to make them comfortable in their old age. I could not have
4*

42 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

surprised them more by any question which I could have pro-
posed. They replied, that it had been a constant struggle for
them to sustain themselves, but any surplus was beyond their
reach. I cannot help thinking that the condition is a hard one
in which incessant and faithful labor, for so many years, will not
enable the frugal and industrious to make some small provision
for the period of helplessness and decay, in a country where the
accumulations of wealth in some hands, growing out of this same
labor, are enormous.

To the honor of several proprietors, the kindest provision is
made for the decayed and superannuated. In some cases, the
wages of the laborers are continued to the end of life ; and in
some, as I saw with great pleasure, comfortable cottages are pro-
vided for the old and infirm : they have their rent and fuel with-
out charge, and a regular stipend as long as they live. This was
the case at the seat of the late distinguished farmer, the Earl of
Leicester, formerly Mr. Coke ; and likewise on the estates of the
Duke of Devonshire, where even the old schoolmaster of the vil-
lage is pensioned, and has a house and a liberal allowance pro-
vided for him. Several other instances have come under my
observation, where the superannuated and decayed laborers were
kindly provided for and received a pension adequate to their
comfortable support. This is as it should be. In every just
community the rights of honest labor ought to be respected and
secured. I confess it would be far better for them to be able to
provide for themselves than to be dependent upon the precarious
bounty either of individuals or the public ; but I should be un-
willing to overlook any act of justice or honor. It is obvious
that the prospect of a supply from the bounty of the landlord
can only apply to those who are in the direct employment of the
landlord, and not to those who serve the tenant farmer, whose
situation and permanency, where the lease of the farm is only
for the year, are always, to a degree, doubtful.

It cannot be denied that those who labor with us are alto-
gether a superior class of men to the English laborers ; I refer,
of course, to the natives of the country. A considerable portion
of our labor is now performed by foreigners, v/ho, when they
unite sobriety and frugality with faithful industry, are sure of
good treatment and success ; indeed, I have known several
instances of laboring men, and some of them in my own employ-

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 43

ment, who, by good conduct, have supported themselves, and
have accumulated, after a few years' service, their four and five
hundred dollars and upwards, that is, their eighty and their hun-
dred pounds — an acquisition which, in England, a laboring man
would not dream of as the result of his labor, sooner than he
would dream of receiving a pension of the same amount from
the government. With us the laborer is vastly better paid than
in England. With us the laborer always is, or always may be,
the owner of the house in which he lives, and of as much land
as he chooses to cultivate. Here the cottager is always a mere
tenant, subject to the pleasure of his landlord ; and, though there
are many cases where allotments of small portions of land are
granted them for a garden spot, and for the obtaining of some
small supplies for their families, yet there are many where no
indulgence of this sort is allowed, not even so much as a cabbage
yard. The laborer here is doomed to remain in the condition in
which he is born — he cannot rise above it. The provision for
the education of the children of the laborers is, in most parts of
England, extremely limited and meagre. There are some
national schools, and there are, in many places, schools estab-
lished and supported by the liberality of the landlords, for the
benefit of the laborers in their own villages, and on their own
farms. Sunday schools are likewise kept up in all the parishes
which I have visited ; and I should be happy, if it were allowed
me, to adorn my page with the names of some noble women,
who, with a benevolence truly maternal, take a deep interest in
these institutions, and generously support them, and, better than
that, personally superintend them. These are bright examples.
In one case, at a small country village, on a Sunday, I saw more
than four hundred of these children, cleanly and plainly dressed,
entering the parish church, and taking their seats together, be-
having with the most exemplary propriety. When they lifted
up their voices in the solemn chants of the church, and their
gentle and shrill tones were heard above all the rest, I could not
help lifting up my own heart to God in thanksgiving, that the
highest truths of religion can be taken in by the humblest minds;
that here was at work an instrument of their elevation, which
no human power could forbid ; that here they were taught to
recognize the dignity of their moral nature ; and that there is
one place, where all earthly distinctions betray their insignifi-

44 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

cance, and every human being may, on equal terms and with
equal confidence, invoke a common and a universal Father.
This school was entirely supported by and under the care of a
noble woman, who, to the highest distinctions of rank, education,
fashion, and fortune, adds the far higher attributes of a deep
sense of religious duty, and an earnest desire to be useful.

The Sunday schools do not, every where, confine themselves
to religious instruction, but reading, writing, and the elements
of arithmetic, are also taught, because, in many cases, the chil-
dren of the poor are kept so constantly at labor as to have no
other opportunity of getting this instruction. The education
given them is of a very limited character, and does not extend
beyond reading, writing, and the first principles of arithmetic,
exclusive of religious instruction. The British and foreign
schools, which are established by aid from the government —
which measures its bounty by what may be raised by private
subscription in any parish or village — require the catechism of
the established church to be taught, and the attendance of the
children at the church, under the penalty of exclusion from the
school. The National School Society allows the attendance of
the children at such church as the parents choose ; but the cate-
chism of the established church, and no other, is allowed to be
taught in their schools. The schools supported by the liberality
of the dissenters are, comparatively, few ; and in most of these,
without doubt, the same interest is active, and the same influ-
ences are at work, to attach their children to the particular sect
by whose patronage the school is established and sustained. I
speak now of England. I am not yet able to speak of the con-
dition of things in Scotland, although it is constantly boasted of
that the education of the Scotch laborer is always provided for,
and that the Scotch laborer, in point of instruction, is far superior
to the English. This remains for me to see.

The condition of the laborers in this country is a subject of
such deep concern to the community, on the ground of pecu-
niary profit as well as of philanthropy and justice, that I shall, in
the course of my inquiries, revert again to it. I do not feel that
as yet I am sufficiently well-informed to speak with much con-
fidence on the subject ; but I shall not leave it without some
further remarks. The common Avages of farm labor vary, for
men, from six shillings to twelve shillings per week ; but I think

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 45

a fair average would be eight to nine shillings sterling. A shil-
ling may be reckoned at twenty-four cents, so that the monthly
wages for a man may be put down at eight dollars and sixty-
four cents. This is the whole, where labor is paid for in money,
excepting, as a matter of kindness, the farmer generally brings
the coals for his laborer. There are cases, too, in which the
farmer stipulates to supply his wheat to the laborer at a fixed
price, which is to be unaffected by any changes in the market.
Six shillings, only, a week are reported to be paid in some
places, but I have met with no case less than eight shillings and
sixpence a week.

It may be interesting to some of my readers to have a more
particular account of the wages and condition of the labor-
ers, and for that reason I will give some statements of their
condition in that part of the country where wages are paid in
kind.

In the neighborhood of Haddingdon, in East Lothian, I vis-
ited a laborer's cottage, being one in a range of six cottages, in a
district of country highly cultivated and improved, and present-
ing some of the finest examples of agricultural improvement
which I have ever seen. The wife, a very tidy and civil woman,
about forty years of age, was at home ; her husband and daugh-
ter laboring in the field. This was a very good specimen of a
neat cottage, and its inmates had passed the greater part of their
lives in it. It had no other floor but the hard ground ; and two
beds were fixed in the wall, like sailors' berths on board ship.
The shelves were covered with crockery ; and a Bible, and a
few religious and other tracts lay upon the mantel-piece. A
cake made of pea-flour and barley-flour was baking over the
fire, of which I was asked to eat, but the taste of which did
very little towards quickening my appetite. There was, besides
the one in which I was, a small room for coal and lumber,
where, in case of great emergency, a lodging might be made up.
One of her neighbors in the same block, with no larger accom-
modations, had eight children to provide for. Two grown-up
daughters, with one smaller one, occupied one bed j the parents,
with one child, occupied the other ; the two grown-up sons slept
in the lumber-room or coal-house. There is often much closer
lodging than this. The husband of the woman, in whose cot-
tage I was, was a ploughman, and likewise a bondager — a species

46 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

of service or contract which requires him to furnish a female
laborer, at ten pence per day in ordinary work, and one shilling
per day in harvest, whenever her services are required. If he
has not a wife or daughter who will answer this purpose, he
must keep a woman in his house to be always in readiness when
required. His wages were —

18 bolls of oats, at 4 bushels per boll, ... 72 bushels.

2 bolls of peas, " "<'... 8 •'

4i bolls of barley, *' ''''... 18 "

and £1 for " lint " — or shirts.

This payment of wages in kind, if the rate is fairly fixed, is
certainly an equitable mode. Its effect upon the laborers, as in
this case, as they themselves have grain to sell, is to make them
the advocates of high prices, and, consequently, the friends of
those restrictive measures by which foreign competition in the
grain market is prevented. The employer likewise keeps a cow
for the laborer ; or if he has no cow, an allowance is made to
him of five or six pounds in money. He is likewise allowed
1000 square yards of ground for potatoes, which the farmer
ploughs and manures for him ,• but which he cultivates in extra
hours. For the rent of his house he gives twenty-one days'
work in harvest, if required ; but should it happen that only
twelve or fourteen are required, it is accepted as an equivalent.

For the woman's work he receives a fixed amount per day,
whenever she is employed ; and for her six months' service in the
year he pays her three pounds. For the other six months he
pays her nothing more than her board and some clothes. The
farmer brings his coals for him, which he purchases at a small
sum, being small coals, here called pan-icood. The value of
three shillings and sixpence in coals will serve him through
seven weeks in winter. Seven loads (one-horse loads, I suppose)
of coals are purchased at the quarries for three shillings and six-
pence. The farmer's shoes cost him ten shillings, and one pair
will last him eighteen months. His daughter's working shoes
last her a year : this is exclusive of her Sunday's shoes. In
most parts of Scotland, the women, in the summer season, wear
only their natural sandals and hose, which have, indeed, the ad-
vantages of being easily washed, and easily repaired ,• but in this
part of Scotland they form the exception of wearing shoes and

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION.

47

stockings the whole year. Their living consists of bread made
of barley and peas, rneal or oaten porridge and milk, and pota-
toes ; and they generally have a pig. They cannot, of course,
lay up any money ; and she added, in her own pleasant dialect,
that "the lassies have muckle sair work in harvest." They
depend on the sale of their surplus grain for what little money
they need. I will do justice to her modest merit, and say, to
the shame of thousands rolling in unstinted luxury, that she
spoke of her condition as comfort-able, and expressed strongly
and religiously her contentment.

The wages paid in the county of Northumberland, where the
Scotch system of farming is carried to a high degree of perfec-
tion, is as follows, as given by several gentlemen, familiar
with the subject, to the parliamentary committee : —

FIRST EXAMPLE.

36 bushels of oats,
24 '' " barley,
12 '' '- peas,
3 " " wheat,
3 » '• rye,
36 to 40 " potatoes,

24 lbs. of wool,

A cow's keep for a year.

Cottage and garden.

Coals carrying from the pit,

£4 in cash.

SECOND EXAMPLE.

10 bushels of wheat,
30 " '' oats,
10 " " barley,
10 '' " rye,
10 " •' peas,
A cow's keep for a year.

800 yds. of land for potatoes,
Cottage and garden,
Coals led,
£3 10 s. in cash,
2 bushels of barley in lieu of
hens.

THIRD EXAMPLE.

36 bushels of oats,
24 " '• barley,
12 " •' peas,
6 " '' wheat,
1000 yds. of land for potatoes,

A cow's keep,
House and garden,
Coals led,
£5 in cash.

48 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

The following, which is a specimen of the half-year's account
between a large farmer and one of his laborers in a part of North-
umberland, is worthy of observation : —

Dr. to

£. s. d.

Jane Thompson, (the bondager,) 121 J days at lOd., .513
Catherine Thompson, (a child,) 24 harvest days at Is. 1 4 0
Do., 73J days at 5d., ...... 1 10 7J

Elizabeth Thompson, (a younger child,) 7 J days, ..019^

1 15 9

Isabella Thompson, (a dress-maker at other times,) ^

35| days at Is., )
Do., 20 harvest days at 2s. 3d., ... 2 5 0

Wife, 9 harvest days, ....103

His old father, 52 days, 3 18 0

John Thompson's half-year's cash, 2 10 0

£19 6 8*

This account, it will be seen, with the exception of the last
item, does not include any portion of the laborer's own service,
but that of his family only. The diiference in the price of
harvest work at different periods, as between one shilling and
two shillings and threepence, is probably owing to labor becom-
ing more scarce, on account of the general ripeness of the crop,
or the hurrying state of the weather.

The Scotch laborers seemed to me, from a very limited obser-
vation, strongly attached to their employers. On one farm, where
I had the pleasure of visiting, one of the laborers had been in
the employment of the same family forty years, and another
sixty ; to each of whom, although their labor now was of very
little value, the farmer continued the same rate of wages, which
they had in early life. This indeed would seem to be no more
than just, that the honest laborer, whose life had been spent in
the service of another man, should not be turned adrift in his old
age ; but, alas ! how rare is justice !

Of the extraordinary frugality with which some persons in
humble life live, even where prices are high, I may give an

* Parliamentary Report on Employment of Women and Children in Agri-
culture. 1843. p. 297.

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 49

example, which came under my observation. In Arbroath, near
the magnificent ruins of the ancient abbey of Arbroath, I heard
the movements of a hand-loom, and I took the liberty, with due
ceremony, of going in. A middle-aged Scotch woman, of pleas-
ing appearance and neatly dressed, was weaving. I asked her
how much she was able to earn. She replied that if she rose
early, at five o'clock, and worked all day through the week, after
paying for the use of the loom and the cost of winding her
spools, her week's work would amount to four shillings. She
received n® parish assistance. She paid three pounds sixteen
shillings for the rent of her house. Her fuel cost her ninepence
per week ; and out of the remainder — less than two shillings —
she had to support and clothe herself and an aged mother, who
was very infirm, and incapable of helping herself. What the
support that either of the poor creatures could have under such
circumstances must be left to conjecture. The woman spoke of
her circumstances as being difficult, but she made no complaint,
and presented an example of true Christian 'philosophy, which
would have done honor to a superior education and the highest
condition in life.

In all parts of the country, women are more or less employed
on the farms, and in some parts in large numbers ; I have fre-
quently counted thirty, fifty, and many more in a field at a time,
both in hoeing turnips and in harvesting. I have found them,
likewise, engaged in various other services — in pulling weeds, in
picking stones, in unloading and treading grain, in tending thresh-
ing-machines, in digging potatoes and pulling and topping tur-
nips, in tending cattle, in leading out dung, and in carrying lime-
stone and coals. Indeed, there is hardly any menial service to
which they are not accustomed ; and all notions of their sex
seem out of the question whenever their labor is wanted or can
be applied. The wages of women are commonly sixpence and
eightpence, and they seldom exceed tenpence a day, excepting
in harvest, when they are as high as a shilling. The hours of
labor for the men are usually from six o'clock, A. M., to six,
P. M., with an interval of an hour for breakfast and an hour for
dinner. The women rarely come before eight o'clock, and quit
labor at six, with the usual indulgence for dinner. Many of the
laborers walk two and three miles to their work, and return at
night. Their meals are taken in the fields, and in the most
simple form. The dinner is often nothing more than bread.
5

dO EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

In the season of harvest, immense numbers of Irish come over
to assist in the labor, and this presents almost the only oppor-
tunity which they have, in the course of the year, of earning a
little money to pay the rent of their cabins and potato patches.
Nothing can exceed the destitution and squalidness in which they
are seen ; starved, ragged, and dirty beyond all description, with
the tatters hanging about them like a few remaining feathers
upon a plucked goose. At their first coming, they are compara-
tively feeble and inefficient ; but after a week's comfortable
feeding, they recover strength, increasing some pounds in weight,
and, if they are allowed to perform their work by the piece, they
accomplish a great deal.

I found in one case on two farms — which, though under two
tenants, might be considered as a joint concern — more than four
hundred laborers employed during the harvests, a large proportion
of whom were women, but not exclusively Irish. The average
wages paid the rnen in this case was one shilling sterling (or
twenty-four cents) per day and their food, which was estimated
at about ninepence (or about eighteen cents) per day. Their
living consisted of oatmeal-porridge and a small quantity of sour
milk or buttermilk for breakfast ; a pound of wheaten bread,
and a pint and a half of beer at diimer ; and at night, a supper
resembling the breakfast, or twopence in money in lieu of it. I
was curious to know how so many people were lodged at night.
In some cases, they throw themselves down under the stacks, or
upon some straw in the sheds, or out-buildings of the farm ; but
in the case to which I refer above, I was shown into the cattle-
stalls and stables, the floors of which were littered with straw ;
and here the men's coats, and the wom>en's caps and bonnets, upon
the walls, indicated that it was occupied by both parties promis-
cuously. This was indeed the fact. Each person, as far as
possible, was supplied with a blanket ; and these were the whole
accommodations and the whole support. This was not a singular
instance. I am unwilling to make any comments upon such
facts as these. They speak for themselves. They are matters
of general custom, and seemed to excite no attention. I do not
refer to them as matter of reproach to the employers, who were
persons of respectable character and condition, and whose fami-
lies were distinguished for their refinement. But it presents one
among many instances in which habit and custom reconcile us
to maay things which would otherwise offend us ; and lead us

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 51

to view some practices, utterly unjustifiable in themselves, with
a degree of complacency or indifference ; and as unalterable,
because they have been so long established. I believe there is
only one part of the United States where any thing resembling
such a condition of things prevails, or would be permitted ; and
there only among a class of beings whose claims to humanity
seem not very well established in all minds, and whose degrada-
tion, on account of their complexion, appears absolutely hopeless.
But, even here, this indiscriminate consorting is not common ;
nor would it be permitted by any respectable planter.

This condition of things should certainly save this country
from the reproach, if it be one, which some English tourists are
disposed to attribute to American manners — that of treating the
sex with too much courtesy and deference. I cannot bring
myself, however, to view the subject with any lightness what-
ever. My confident conviction is, that the virtue of a community
depends on nothing more than on the character of the women.
In proportion as they are improved, and treated with deference
on account of their sex, the women are brought to respect them-
selves, and the character of the men is directly improved ; char-
acter itself becomes valuable to both parties. But in proportion
as the condition of women is degraded, and they are considered
and treated as mere animals, self-respect is not known among
them ; character is of no value ; and the moral condition of such
a class, or rather its improvement, is absolutely without hope.
Nor is it without its pernicious influences, which must be too
obvious to require to be pointed out, upon the classes in the com-
munity above them. Much fault as some persons have been
pleased to find with the deference paid to the sex in the United
States, I should be very sorry to see it in the smallest measure
abated. I do not believe, taken as a whole, there is a more
virtuous population upon earth, than are the women of New
England and the Middle States; and nowhere is there a greater
decency and propriety of conversation and manners. I speak of
these portions of the country in particular, because with them I
am intimately acquainted, and have a right to speak with confi-
dence ; but I have no reason to say that the same respectability
of character does not prevail in other parts of the United States.

I do not claim for my country any thing like an immaculate
condition of society ; very far from it : but I do claim for them
a highly-improved moral condition ; and have no hesitation in

q5^. EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

saying, that in most of our country villages prostitution is un-
known, and an illegitimate child is a comparatively rare occur-
rence. I add with equal confidence, that under the influence
of our free schools and universal education, and the disinterested
and philanthropic exertions among all sects for the religious
education of the young in Sunday schools, the beneficial and
ameliorating results fully equal every reasonable expectation.
This comes of the value of character, and the lessons early incul-
cated upon them to respect themselves as women. I would, if
possible, strengthen this sentiment ; and therefore would in no
department of life render less prominent the distinctive barriers
between the sexes. In all my intercourse with society in the
United States, and with opportunities as large as any man of
observing all classes among them in the various conditions of
life, I have never known an instance of a woman going to a
public bar for drink, or sitting down in a public bar-room with
men, or alone, to regale herself. The ale-houses and gin-shops
in England are as much accustomed by women as by men, and
the results of such practices are exactly what might be expected
— an extreme vulgarity of manners, and a large amount of
drunkenness among the lower class of women. What, as a
matter of course, comes with it need not be told ; but the records
of the police courts leave no one at a loss.

My observations in this case must be understood as applying
solely to the lowest class : these constitute a very numerous por-
tion. They apply likewise mainly to cities and large towns.
In respect to the deportment of the middle and the highest
classes — with whom my intercourse, through their kindness,
has been familiar and extensive — nothing in manners or conver-
sation can be farther removed from that which is vulgar or
offensive ; and for propriety and the highest degree of refine-
ment, nothing can be more exemplary and delightful.

In districts strictly agricultural, the low rate of wages does not
admit of much expenditure in this way; and, if there are in-
dulgences, they must be at home in the village ale-houses, and
only occasional. For a considerable portion of the year, the
farm laborers are not allowed any beer,* in the ha^^ing and
harvesting, their allowance seldom exceeds one pint and a half,
which, as it is small beer, cannot be considered excessive. I
could not learn that any allowance of whisky or spirit is ever
given them by their employers, or that it is ever carried by them

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 53

into the fields. The drinking, in this country, with the lower
and laboring classes of people, seems, in a great degree, confined
to the licensed houses, of which, certainly, there is nowhere
any want. In passing through the village of Glossop, in Derby-
shire, a modern and an exceedingly well-built village, in a dis-
tance, I should judge, of less than three fourths of a mile, I
counted, as I passed along on the box of the coach, thirty-five
licensed retail shops, most of which were probably for the sale,
among other things, of intoxicating liquors. Indeed, the number
of licensed retailers in every village in England is quite remark-
able, and would seem, in many cases, to include almost every
fourth house.

I am not disposed to object to the employment of women in
some kinds of agricultural labor. The employment of them in
indiscriminate labor is liable to the most serious objections.
Nothing can be more animating, and, in its way, more beau-
tiful, than, on a fine, clear day, when the golden and waving har-
vest is ready for the sickle, to see, as I have several times seen, a
party of more than a hundred women and girls entering the
field, cutting the grain, or binding it up after the reapers. In
cultivating the turnips, they are likewise extremely expert. In
tending and making hay, and in various other agricultural labors,
they carry their end of the yoke even ; but in loading and lead-
ing out dung, and especially, as I have seen them, in carrying
broken limestone in baskets on their heads, to be put into the
kilns, and in bearing heavy loads of coal from the pits, I have
felt that their strength was unnaturally taxed, and that, at least
in these, cases, they were quite out of "woman's sphere." I
confess, likewise, that my gallantry has often been severely
tried, when I have seen them at the inns acting as ostlers, bring-
ing out the horses and assisting in changing the coach team,
while the coachman went into the inn to try the strength of
the ale.

As far as health is concerned, the out-door employment of
Avomen is altogether favorable. As far as virtue or moral purity
is concerned, out-door employment in itself is not more objec-
tionable than employment within doors. Indeed, from the
inquiries which have been made into this matter, and the elabo-
rate reports that have been given to the government, it does not
appear that the agricultural districts, where the custom of out-
door employment for women prevails, are more immoral than the
5*

54 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

manufacturing districts. But the natural effect of such employ-
ment upon women is to render them negligent of their persons,
and squalid and dirty in their appearance ; and with this neglect
of person, they cease to be treated with any deference by the
other sex, and lose all respect for themselves. Personal neglect
and uncleanliness are followed by their almost invariable con-
comitants, mental and moral impurity and degradation. The
working likewise promiscuously with men, which is done con-
tinually, must expose them to rude jests, and to language and
manners which, among the lower class of men, are too often
grossly indecent and immoral. In all other respects, many kinds
of out-door agricultural employment must be, and is, as it is
admitted, favorable to health and vigor. The general health and
vigor of such women, so many hours engaged in reasonable exer-
cise in the open air, contrast most favorably with the effemi-
nacy, debility, and early decay of those who are confined in
heated and close manufactories, or in sedentary employments
within doors. Nor, in point of moral conduct, as far as mere
occupation is concerned, is there any reason to suppose that the
agricultural classes would suffer in comparison with the manu-
facturing classes, or with the host of young women in cities,
employed in various trades and in-door occupations. We have
few instances, in the free states, of women being employed in
field labor. The women in Wethersfield, Connecticut, have for
years been accustomed to the cultivation of onions, doing every
thing for the crop, excepting ploughing and manuring the land ;
even to preparing it for the market. They certainly h^ve
suffered no evil, but, on the contrary, have derived much benefit,
from the occupation. Nowhere, it is believed, can men, depend-
ent upon their own exertions for support, find wives better able
to manage their household affairs, more frugal, more industrious,
or more tidy, than among the industrious young women of Weth-
ersfield. It must seem strange to many persons if I also add, as
I know I may with truth, that many of these young women are
persons of good education, and to a degree, allowing for the
retired condition of society in which they have been brought up,
even of refined manners : so totally different, indeed, are the
conditions of the laboring classes in England and the United
States. In truth, no comparison can properly be instituted be-
tween them. In general, among the laboring classes in England,
their low condition, their ignorance, and want of education, and

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 511

the almost absolute impossibility of rising above the estate in
which they are born, render them, to a great degree, reckless
and improvident. Character becomes consequently of far less
importance than it would otherwise be. There are wanting,
consequently, the motives to that self-respect, which constitutes
the highest security of virtue ; and under such a condition of
things, it is not surprising to find a laxity of morals, which pro-
duces swarms of illegitimate children. This is attended by the
usual consequence — an absence, on the part of the parents, of
that sense of obligation to support and provide for their offspring,
which is to be found in its purity and strength only in legal
wedlock.

There are two practices in regard to agricultural labor, not
universal, by any means, but prevailing in some parts of Eng-
land and Scotland, which I may notice. The first is called the
" gang system." In some places, owing to the size of farms being
greatly extended, cottages being suffered to fall into decay and ruin,
laborers have been congregated in villages, where have prevailed
all the evils, physical and moral, which are naturally to be expected
from a crowded population, shoved into small and inconvenient
habitations, and subjected to innumerable privations. In this case,
the farmer keeps in permanent and steady employment no more
laborers than are absolutely required for the constant and uninter-
rupted operations of the farm ; and relies upon the obtaining of a
large number of hands, or a gangj as it is termed, whenever any
great job is to be accomplished, that he may be enabled to effect
it at once and at the smallest expense. Under these circum-
stances, he applies to a gang-master, as he is termed, who contracts
for its execution, and through whom the poor laborers must find
employment, if they find it at all ; and upon whose terms they
must work, or get no work. The gang-master has them then
completely in his power, taking care to provide well for himself
in his own commissions, which must, of course, be deducted
from the wages of the laborers, and subjecting them, at pleasure,
to the most despotic and severe conditions. It is not optional
with these poor creatures to say whether they will work or not,
but whether they will work or die — they have no other resource
— change their condition they cannot — contract separately for
their labor they cannot, because the farmer confines his contracts
to the gang-master ; and we may infer from the Reports of the

m

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Commissioners, laid before the government, that the system is
one of oppression, cruelty, and plunder, and in every respect
leading to gross immoralities. The distance to which these
laborers go is often as much as five or six miles, and this usually
on foot, and to return at night. Children and girls are compelled
to go these distances, and consequently must rise very early in
the morning and reach home at a very late hour at night. Girls
and boys and young men and women work indiscriminately
together. When the distance to which they go for work is ten
miles, they are sent in carts. When the distances are great,
they occasionally pass the night at the place of work, and then
lodge in barns, or any where else, indiscriminately together. To
talk of morals in such a ease i« idle. One of the gang-masters,
who has been an overseer seventeen years, gives it as his testi-
mony, under oath, '' that seventy out of a hundred of the girls
become prostitutes," and the general account given of the opera-
tions of the system shows an utter profligacy of mind in their
general conversation and manners, when morals must follow of
course. If they go in the morning and stay only a little while,
on account of rain, or other good cause, they are paid nothing.
The day is divided into quarters, but no smaller fractions of
time are in any case allowed to them. Then the persons em-
ployed are required, in many cases, to deal with the gang-master
for the supplies they receive, in payment for their labor. The
results of such a system are obvious. The work being taken by
the piece, the gang-master presses them to their utmost strength.
The fragments of days, in which work is done and not paid for
to the laborers, are all to the benefit of the gang-master, who,
in such case, gets a large amount of work done at no cost.
These poor wretches, being unable to contract for themselves, or
to get any work but through him, he of course determines the
price of the labor, and, one may be sure, puts it down to the
lowest point. But his advantages do not end here, for there is
no doubt that he gets a high advance upon the goods which he
requires them to purchase of him, and thus their wages are
reduced still lower. No just or benevolent mind, it would seem,
can look upon any such system in all its details, as given in the
Commissioners' Report, but with a profound sense of its injus-
tice, oppression, and immorality.

One of t?ie gang-masters says, '• If they go to work two hours

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 57

and a half, it is a quarter of a day. If they go a long walk,
seven miles or so, and it comes on a wet day, there is the walk
all for nothing. Children of the ages of four, five, and six, work
in the gangs. They earn 9 d. a day, the big ones ; the small,
4 d. ; children of seven years old, 3 d. a day." " It is the ruin of
a girl," says a parent, one of the laborers, '' to be in such a place
as that." " My children's hands are so blistered," says another
of the parents, '•' pulling turnips, that I have been obliged to tie
them up every night this winter. Pulling turnips blisters the
hands very much — they are obliged to pull them up — they
must not take turnip crones (a sort of fork) for fear of damaging
the turnips."

" The gangsman, or leader," says another witness, '' pays the
Avages of all employed in the gang, and, of course, makes his
profit entirely from their labor, as the farmer takes care that the
gang system shall not cost him more than the common system
of individual laborers. The leader's profit, as I have heard, is
sometimes 15 s. per day. The assembling of twenty-five and
thirty women and children and lads, of all ages and conditions
and characters, together, has a most fatal eftect upon their morals
and conduct." Another respectable and reverend witness says,
" The gang is superintended by a lazy, idle fellow, of profligate
manners and a dishonest character — such, at all events, are the
characters of two in my own neighborhood."

I will not dwell upon tho evils of a management of this kind.
It is obvious what a power such a man, the employer of these
people, has over them ; and it is as easy to infer what is likely
to be the character of young persons, more especially, placed under
his control. When are men to be just ? and when are men, who
live upon the hard labor of others, and who hold not merely their
physical but their moral destiny in their hands, to feel their
responsibleness as Christians and as men ?

The most melancholy circumstance in the case is given in the
testimony of one witness, a clergyman, who says, " that he fears
the gang system will and must increase, especially upon large
farms." It would not be unreasonable to fear that God would
send blight and mildew upon fields where human life and virtue
are thus sacrificed, and decency and morals thrown to the winds ;
and where the crops are watered with the tears of these wretched
victims of injustice and oppression.

58 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

There is another system of employment, which prevails in
Northumberland and in some parts of Scotland, to which I have
already alluded : this is called the bondage system, but it does
not appear to me liable to the strong objections which the name
would seem to imply. In this case, the laborer, when he con-
tracts for his services, makes a condition that he will, as may be
required, furnish a woman as an additional laborer ; and he
receives so much per day for her labor, according to the number
of days she may be employed. In such case, if he has not a
wife or daughter to supply the place, he engages some young
woman who lives in his family, and to whom he pays such a
sum by the year as may be agreed upon, in money, clothing, or
otherwise, and she lives in his family as one of the family for
the whole year. There are few forms of servitude which are not
liable to abuses, and the greater the state of dependence and
weakness, so much increased is the liability to abuse ; but where
the employer is a conscientious and just man, such a contract
may be mutually advantageous.

In parts of Scotland, what is called the Bothie system prevails.
and the support of the laborers is a very summary process. The
wages are paid in money or kind, as may be agreed upon ; and
the laborers, if single men, are furnished with a room, fuel, and
bedding ; with two pecks of oatmeal on Monday morning, and
with a daily allowance of new or of sour milk — occasionally
they may have beer and bread for dinner instead of the porridge.
Nothing more, however, is done for them. They prepare their
porridge for themselves in such way as they choose ; but this
comprehends the whole of their living. It would not be true to
say that this diet is insufficient for the support of a laboring man.
as it must be admitted that few laborers exhibit firmer health, or
more muscular vigor, or really perform more work, than many of
these men. This mode of living would, however, I think, be a
little too primitive for the New England taste, though on matters
of taste we are told there is to be no dispute. Having myself
visited a Scotch Bothie, I cannot, how much soever the economy
of the arrangements may be praised, much commend the style
of the housekeeping. Indeed, it is not difficult to infer that
where young men at service are turned into a hovel together,
and without any one to look after their lodging or prepare their
meals, the style of living cannot have the advantages even of the

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 59

wigwam of a North American savage ; for there, at least, there
is a squaw to provide the food and look after the premises.*
The wages of a Scotch laborer are about £12 sterling per year,
and living as above ; and for a woman, as a field laborer, four
shillings sterling per week, or about eighty-eight cents, out of
which she provides for herself.

The condition of labor forms, as is obvious, a most important
element in the agriculture of a country. Human labor, indeed,
seems far more essentially concerned in agriculture than in either
commerce or manufactures* A few hands may manage a large
ship, freighted with immense wealth, and performing voyages
which equal the circuit of the globe. A child may superintend
a large number of spindles ; and a single power wheel sets in
motion a vast and complicated machinery. Agriculture h£is
already derived vast benefits from mechanical ingenuity, and may
confidently anticipate from this source an immense extension of
her power ; but there can be no question that she must, at least
for a long time to come, continue mainly dependent upon human
labor. The cost of labor, therefore, and the general support and
condition of this labor, are alike interesting to the agriculturist
and the philanthropist.

In an old country like England, where labor is so abundant, it
is to be expected that the rules of labor should be exact and
stringent ; indeed, without this the management of a large farm
would be impracticable. The women usually begin work at eight
o'clock, and, resting an hour for dinner, they work until five, or,
in a pressure of work, until six. The ploughman must feed and
clean his horses at four o'clock in the morning, and at six o'clock
the plough must be under way. At two o'clock, his horses are
put up for the day, and he devotes himself until six o'clock to
their cleansing and feeding, and to the care of his plough and
harness ; eight hours in the field, and the ploughing an acre of

* Of the Bothie system, as it is called, or employment of unmarried men,
living together in a bothie or hovel attached to the steading, it is hardly neces-
sary to say, that a more effective means of demoralizing and brutalizing a peas-
antry could not be devised than that of crowding together a parcel of young
men, half of them perhaps strangers, Irish, or bad characters, in a hovels by them-
selves, without even an attempt at moral superintendence. This is one of the
worst evils that has attended the introduction of the large farm system. —
Laing's Prize. Essay.

60 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ground, being considered a full day's work. The other laborers
begin labor at six o'clock in the morning, and work until six in
the afternoon, with the intermission of half an hour for breakfast
and an hour for dinner. No laborer leaving his employment
before the termination of his engagement, without good and
sufficient reason, can recover any portion of his wages ; and no
employer, without equal reason, can dismiss a laborer before the
end of the term for which he is engaged. In general, however,
laborers continue for years in the same employment, especially
married men ; and it is extremely interesting, speaking well both
for master and servant, to see men and women who have remained
in the same service twenty, thirty, forty, and even fifty years,
and their children coming forward to take their places. In such
cases, they become, as it were, an integral part of the establish-
ment, and both parties are equally benefited.

In some parts of the country, as in Lincolnshire for example,
twice a year, in the spring and autumn, are held, in some princi-
pal market towns, statute fairs, vulgarly called ^' Statties," where
young men and women wanting service assemble, and persons
wanting laborers or servants go there to supply their wants.
Such arrangements have certainly many advantages ; but they
have also their evils, and the assembling of large numbers of
men and women, in such cases, with, not unfrequently, the usual
accompaniments of a Fair, are said to lead to much dissolute-
ness and dissipation. This is to be expected. This arrange-
ment serves to average the rate of wages, and must be to all
parties a great saving of time. In the present condition of
female labor in the United States, there could be none but the
worthless to offer themselves in this way ; but with respect to
young men seeking employment, there would be great advan-
tages in having a day and place fixed in some principal town,
when and where persons wishing for employment might be
found by persons wishing to employ them ; and such an " Ex-
change " might be annually held to advantage. An arrange-
ment of this kind has often recommended itself to my mind for
its convenience, and I have, before this, urged its adoption.

I have endeavored, with strict regard to truth, to state what I
understand to be the condition of the agricultural population in
this country. Further inquiries may serve to correct or modify
my views on this subject. I am perfectly aware how difficult it

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. Q^

is for a foreigner to obtain a correct knowledge or to form a fair
judgment of the customs and manners of any country which he
visits; and especially where his residence is limited, and his
observations necessarily partial. Feeling no prejudices, and
having no private interests or partialities in the case, other than
those which are inseparable from an education in another condi-
tion in society, and under political institutions differing entirely
from those which prevail here, I am desirous, above all things, to
hold my diind open to the light of farther and more exact
inquiry.

It does not need any long experience to learn that first impres-
sions are not always the most correct ; and every intelligent and
candid mind must allow that most men have some reasons
which, to their minds, appear sufficient for what they do ; that
many customs which have prevailed for ages, however objection-
able at first sight they may appear to us, have grown out of
peculiar circumstances of time and place, which sanction their
expediency at the time of their origin, if not the propriety of
their continuance : and that, in respect to many acknowledged
evils, it is far more easy to deplore the existence than to point
out the remedy. While circumstances of this nature prompt to
caution and forbearance in our judgments, they do not require
us, at the expense of our moral sense, to regard these evils in
any other than their true character, to palliate either their nature
or extent, or to look upon them, under any circumstances, in
utter despair of their removal or alleviation. Nor will they
excuse any neglect of air proper and possible exertion to remedy
an acknowledged evil.

The condition of the laboring agricultural class is certainly, in
many parts of England, exceedingly depressed ; and though in
frequent instances it may be called comfortable, in few that I
have seen can it be considered prosperous. Their labor is not
extraordinarily severe ; they are by no means treated with un-
kindness, or, excepting through the misfortune of the ill temper
of their employer, with severity ; they are decently clad, and
there is a great amount of active benevolence every where at work
to assist them, and to alleviate their distress in sickness and mis-
fortune. But they are very poorly fed ; with many exceptions,
they are wretchedly lodged j their wages are inadequate to their
comfortable support; and their situation affords little or no
6

62 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

hope of improvement, — at least the power of making it better
does not rest, where it should, with themselves.

It is a painful, though not an unheard-of anomaly, that, in the
midst of the greatest abundance of human food, immense num-
bers of those by whose labor this food is produced are actually
suffering and perishing from hunger ; that where ten millions of
acres of. improvable lands, capable of being made productive
lands, lie uncultivated,* millions of hands, which might subdue,
enrich, and beautify this waste, from necessity remain unem-
ployed ; and that, in a country where the accumulations of
wealth surpass the visions of Oriental splendor and magnificence,
there exist, on the other hand, such contrasts of want, destitu-
tion, privation, and misery, as would surpass belief and defy the
power of the imagination, but for the support of incontrovertible
and overwhelming evidence. Under the present institutions of
the country, a perfect remedy is hopeless, and an alleviation of
these evils is all which can be looked for. An entire revolution
in the institutions of the country, in the forms of society, and in
the condition of property, could only be efiected by violence ;
and the consequences of such a revolution it would be frightful
to contemplate. But should a revolution occur, and the frame-
work of society be broken up, and its elements be thrown into a
state of chaotic confusion, what sagacity could predict the
results, and what security is there that in any re-arrangement
these evils would be rectified and the rights of labor any better
protected ? I say the rights of labor ; for who, under any cir-
cumstances, will presume to deny that they, by whose labor the
earth is made to yield her fruits, and all accumulations of wealth
are obtained, have not, indeed, in common justice, a perfect
claim to a full share of the products of their own toil ? I care
not what claims arbitrary and despotic power may set up ; nor
by what laws and rules she may seek to appropriate to her own
use or luxury much the largest portion of these products ; but I
claim for the laborer an ample share of the fruits of his industry
on the obvious grounds of natural right and justice, and the
plainest principles of Christianity.

I am not at all disposed to quarrel with any of the institutions
of this great and enlightened country — great and enlightened,

* Journal of Royal Agricultural Society, vol. iv. pt. ii. p. 308.

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION.

6S

as a whole, beyond almost any precedent. I am not disposed,
in any offensive form, to profess my own preferences for insti-
tutions to which birth and education may have strongly attached
me, founded as they are on the great principles of universal
liberty as the birthright of every man, and of social equality as
conformable to nature, and the only relation in which men can
stand to their Creator, or under which they would dare to ap-
proach him. But, to my mind, it is obvious that no great im-
provement can take place in the character and condition of the
laboring population while they remain a distinct and servile class,
without any power of rising above their condition. At present,
the most imaginative and sanguine see no probability of their
rising above their condition, of being any thing but laborers, or
of belonging to any other than a servile and dependent class.
The low state of their wages absolutely forbids the accumula-
tion of any property. They cannot own any of the soil which
they cultivate. The houses which they occupy belong not to
themselves, and they may at any time be turned out of them.
They must ask leave to live, or they must take it by violence or
plunder when they will not be suffered to live. Their only
home is the grave.

In a country where labor is superabundant, and the price of
land places it utterly beyond the reach of those who have no
means to purchase but from the scanty products of their own
manual labor, the condition of the laborer is that of absolute
dependence. In a condition of society where artificial ranks and
classes exist, and where all the wealth and all the power are in
the possession of the upper, or, as they are sometimes denom-
inated, the favored classes, the barriers which hem in the lowest
clajss — without property, without power, Avithout education,
without even a home which they can call their own — are, of
course, impassable. In a country where labor is scarce, where
land is cheap and free, and where the advantages of a good edu-
cation are offered gratuitously to all, where no arbitrary distinc-
tions of rank exist, and every man, by the force of his own talents
and character, may occupy that condition in society to which he
chooses to aspire, it is obvious how different is the situation of
the laboring portion.

I believe it is impossible for a man who lives in a state of
entire dependence upon others to have the spirit of a man ; and

64

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Avho, in looking out upon the beautiful and productive earth,
where God has placed him, is compelled to feel that there is not
a foot of soil which, under any circumstances, he can claim for
himself; that there is not a tree nor a shelving rock by the road
side, where he can shelter himself and gather under his wing the
little ones whom God may have cast upon his care, but he is
liable to be driven away at the will of another — at the caprice
of avarice, selfishness, pride, or unbridled power ; that the use
of his own hands and limbs is not his own ; that he cannot,
but at the will of another, find a spot of ground where he can
apply them ; and that even the gushings from the rock in the
wilderness and the manna which descends from heaven are
intercepted in their progress to him, and doled out too often in
reluctant and scanty measure.

This will not be pronounced an exaggerated or colored portrait of
the condition of the agricultural laboring population of England.
I suppose that, with the exception of some few rights of common,
where some miserable mud-hut has been erected, and the pos-
sessor has a kind of allowed claim during his life, few instances
can be found of a laborer's owning, in fee simple, a cottage, or
so much as a rood of land. I recollect, in passing through a part
of Derbyshire, in a region which farms the contiguity of several
large estates, the coachman, by whose side I was seated, said to
me, that this was the Duke of Devonshire's village, and this the
Duke of Rutland's, and this the Duke of Norfolk's, and so on ;
and I could not help asking myself, with some sinking of heart.
Where is the people's own village ?

In a part of Lincolnshire, an excellent landlord and friend, dis-
tinguished for his integrity and philanthropy, was kind enough
to take me to visit several of his cottages, that I might see, as he
said, some of the best examples of this kind of life. It was on a
Sunday evening. The houses were humble, but they were neat
and comfortable. The inhabitants of one house which we
entered were advanced in life, and alone ; for, although they had
children, their children had been under the necessity, as soon as
capable of service, of leaving home in search of a livelihood.
The appearance of these people was altogether respectable, but
there were two incidents, which, though very small in themselves,
at least furnished matter for grave reflection. The landlord had
given notice, a few days previously, to some of his

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 60

quit, because, with a viev\^ to the small profit to be derived from
their board, they had taken lodgers into their families, who were
not agreeable to him. The old people whom I was visiting,
though they had occupied the same place for perhaps more than
thirty years, and felt themselves quite too far advanced to seek
a new home, were suffering under the apprehension that they
too might, in some way, have involuntarily incurred the land-
lord's displeasure, and might be turned out of their homes like-
wise ; and the woman said that her husband, through fear of
such an event, " had had no sleep for several nights." In another
house, which we visited, we found the woman of the house had
just returned from attending the accouchement of a neighbor, the
wife of a laboring man ; and she told us that when she an-
lounced to the father the birth of twins, he received the intelli-
gence with sadness, and replied, that " it would have been a
kinder act if Heaven had been pleased to have taken them both
away." Where honest and laborious people, in advanced age,
feel constantly that they may be turned adrift, at the caprice of
their landlord, from the home of their youth, and where a father
regards the birth of a child as a curse, the benevolent mind sees
evils in the condition, which it must lament if it cannot remedy,
and which it must lament the more, in proportion, as all remedy
seems hopeless. The landlord in this case, as I am persuaded,
was incapable of committing, knowingly, any act of injustice or
unkindness ; but it is obvious to what abuses such a power is
liable, and to what evils a relation of such servile and abject
dependence may subject one.

In the present condition of society in England, no material
alteration, however, is to be looked for in the position of the
laboring classes. Their lot seems to be sealed, and they must
remain in this condition of servility and dependence. They
cannot rise above it. They are not slaves ; but they are not
free. Liberty and independence, to them, are words without
meaning. They have no chains upon their hands, but the iron
<jnters into their souls. Their limbs may be unshackled, but
their spirits are bound.

At the anniversary meeting of the Northamptonshire Agricul-
tural Society, several aged and respectable laborers were called
in and advanced to the upper table to receive the premiums for
good conduct, '' which they had merited," in the terms of the
6*

66 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

report, '• by many year:^ of faithful servitude.^^ I confess, as I
said on the occasion to the noble president, this term sounded
harshly to my ear, and the more, if it expressed their true con-
dition. Go where they will, the same barriers impede their
advance ; and if the ambition of wealth, or rank, or influence,
of which they see such glittering examples continually passing
before them, should ever dawn in their minds, it would kindle
only to be extinguished under inexorable circumstances.

There are persons who see in this condition no evil nor hard-
ship. I am not about to expatiate upon its evils or hardships,
if evils or hardships there be in it. If, in the present condition
of society, pecuniary gain is to be the only worthy object of
pursuit, and a pecuniary standard the only rule by which the
goods of life are to be measured, and the human frame is to be
regarded as only so much organized flesh and bone to be worked
np at our pleasure into the means of wealth and luxury, then
the improvement of the character and condition of the laboring
classes is not a subject to attract the attention of the political
economist, excepting so far as the perfection of the machine may
conduce to the increased amount of the work to be accomplished
by it. But, if a better rule is to prevail, and men are to feel
their moral responsibility to each other, and the physical comfort
of those by whose toil we live, and the moral improvement of
those upon whom, as well as upon their more favored brethren,
God has equally impressed his own moral image, are to be cared
for, the condition of the laboring classes deserves the most serious
attention and the most cordial interest of every man who has a
spark of patriotism, public spirit, or philanthropy in his bosom.

This attention is now given, in various parts of the country,
by many persons of distinguished benevolence and active useful-
ness, who know no higher pursuit, and find no richer pleasure,
than in doing good. They are not willing, while they enjoy the
loaf, to put their laborers ofl" with merely the under crust, and
not always enough of that.

The census of Great Britain reports the number of laborers
employed in agriculture at 887,167, and these, with their fami-
lies, compose a population of not less than 3,500,000, or one fifth
of the whole population of the kingdom. The wages of labor,
according to the reports of the committees of Parliament, vary,
in different counties, from 7 s. sterling to 12 s. per week ; and the

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 67

rent of their cottages may be said to average about 1 s. 6 d. ster-
ling per week, or £3 18 s. per year.* It may interest some of
my American readers to learn the expense of some of the families
of the cottagers, as they are given from authentic sources, as
below: —

•' H. Sopp, laborer, has a wife and four children ; earns 9 s. 6 d.
a week ; spends 7 s. 2 d. in flour and yeast ; has been without
tea, cheese, butter, soap, firing and candles, clothes and beer, for
three months."

" Slements, laborer, has a wife and four children ; earns

lis. 6d. per week ; spends 7 s. 3d. in flour and yeast."

" PuUen, laborer, has a wife and six children ; wages lis.

6 d. ; flour and yeast, 9 s. 7 d."

I shall quote, further, the actual expenses of a laboring man
with a wife and six children, in March, 1841 -, and " this will
afford an average view of the manner of living of the agricultural
population of the southern and midland counties of England."

6 gallons of flour, . . 8 s. 0 d.

Yeast, 0 3

1 lb. of meat, and i lb. of suet, 0 8

1 lb. of butter, 10

1 lb. of cheese, 0 6

i lb. of candles, 0 3J

Jib. of soap, 0 3J

Potatoes, 10

Worsted, starch, cotton, and tape, .... 0 3

Total, .... 12 3

" This leaves nothing for rent, clothing, education, or any
other expenses, the only fund for defraying which consists of
the extra earnings during harvest-time, a resource which, in many
parts of England, is greatly limited by the periodical influx of
Irish laborers. It is obvious, from a glance at this statement,
that the bulk of agricultural laborers in the country are, at the
best, just able to struggle on from hand to mouth, and that any
suspension of employment, rise in the price of provisions, or

* One shilling sterling may be reckoned at 24 cents 4 mills ; when a sover
eign, as now, is estimated at $4.88.

68 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

unforeseen casualty, must, of necessity, compel them to resort to
charity, or to descend to a coarser diet, and exchange the habits
of an English for those of an Irish peasant." *

* The condition of living among the poor agricultural laborers may, perhaps^
find some strong ilkistrations in the subjoined note, which is for those only to
read who take an interest in so humble a subject : —

" A poor man can seldom afford to purchase even the coarsest joint of mutton ;
but if he lives near a town, he can often get the sheap's head and plitck for less
than 1 s. 6 d., indeed very frequently for a shilling ; and with these his wife can
make up four hot meals. These substantial and truly savory meals may be eaten
with potatoes only, as bread is not necessary.

" No instruction is necessary for the making of pies and puddings," (that is,
because the laborer is never expected to have them,) " whether of fruit or meat ;
but we may just remark that a meat-pudding (when a laborer can afford it) is one
of the most substantial and savory dishes that can be brought to a hungry man's
table ; and if, instead of putting pie-crust over the moat, you cover it with mashed
potatoes, and put it either into the oven or bake it by the side of the fire, it
will answer quite as well as paste. In Cornwall, there is a common practice,
among those cottagers who bake at home, of making little pasties for the din-
ners of those who may be working at a distance in the fields. They will last
the whole M^eek, and are made of any kind of meat or fruit, rolled up in a paste
made of flour and suet or lard. A couple of ounces of bacon, and i lb. of raw
potatoes, both thinly sliced and slightly seasoned, will be found sufficient for the
meal ; the pasty can be carried in the man's pocket, but it costs 4 d., aa
thus : —

i lb. of flour, Id.

Suet or lard, Id.

Potatoes, Oi d.

i Ih. of bacon, 1| d.

" Oatmeal is a frequent diet of the Scotch and Irish peasantry. The prepara-
tion is simply to put a handful at a time gradually into a pot of warm water, and
a little salt, simmering it over the fire and keeping it stirred with the other hand,
until it becomes as thick as a pudding ; or in about ten minutes time. It may
then be eaten with a little treacle, or with a piece of butter put into the centre ;
but the better way is to eat it with cold milk, taking a spoonful of the stirabout
with a mouthful of the milk ; for if boiled in milk, it is not near so good. Fine
meal does not answer the purpose, and the coarse ground ' Scotch oatmeal ' is
tlie best. Now, about half a pound of this, along with three pints of milk, will
make a substantial and a very wholesome breakfast or supper for the family. It is
indeed a hearty food ; and the cottager, who seeks to support his wife and chil-
dren both frugally and healthfully, should never be without it. The price in
London is 4 d. per quart, and the quart weighs nearly 1| lb. ; so, supposing the
milk to be bought at 1 d. the quart, three good meals can thus be got for 8^ d.

" Potatoes will ever be the peasant's standard vegetable ; for, if of good mealy
quality, they contain more nutriment than any other root ; and three or four

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 69

The following was given me as the wages paid on a farm
in Lincolnshire, where the wages are more liberal than in

pounds are equal in point of nourishment to a pound of the best wheaten bread,
besides having the great advantage of better JUling the stomach.

" The liquor in which any meat is boiled should always be saved for the mak-
ing of soup, and the bones even offish should also be preserved ; for although quite bare
of meat J yet if stewed down for several hours, they will yield a species of broth,
which, along with peas or oatmeal, will make good soup. A lot of bones may
always be got from the butchers' for twopence, and they are never scraped so
clean as not to have some scraps of meat adhering to them.

" This done, the bones are to be again boiled in the same manner, but for a
longer time, and the broth may be made the next day into a stew with rice.

" Nor is this all ; for the bones, if again boiled for a still longer time, will once
more yield a nourishing broth, which may be made into pea-soup ; and when
thus done with ( ! )" (for, alas ! every thing mortal has an end) " may either be
sold to the crusher, or pounded by yourself, and used as manure for your garden."

These directions are extracted from a Treatise, of which I do not question the
utility, on Cottage Economy, published in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural
Society, and which certainly contains many valuable suggestions for the poor
cottager. The perfect coolness and calm philosophy, however, with which the
writer descants upon a single sheep's head and pluck making four savory din-
ners for a family ; and a pasty made of any kind of meat or fruit rolled up in
flour and lard, with a couple of ounces of bacon, and half a pound of raw pota-
toes thinly sliced, and slightly seasoned, carried in a man's pocket when lie goes
to work a good distance from home, being ample for his dinner ; and upon pota-
toes having the great advantage over bread of better filling the stomach ; and the
advice respecting the cooking of the same bones again and again, three succes-
sive days, make one think, to use Burke's expression, " that the Norfolk Squares
must have dined" before they could have attained this high degree of phi-
losophy.

The directions for eating the stirabout or oatmeal porridge seem likewise
very kindly given to those who appear to have so little use for their mouths as
hardly to know the way to tliem. " The better way is to eat it with cold milk,
taking a spoonful of the stirabout with a mouthful of the milk."

The contrasts constantly presenting themselves in human life are often strik-
ing and instructive ; and it may not be without its moral use if, Avith the labor-
er's " savory " viands, his sheep's head and pluck, his cold pasty, and his bpnes
boiled three times over, together with the wholesome advice, given in the same
treatise, " to pinch and screw the family even in Uie commonest necessaries," until
he get a week's wages beforehand, that he may not run in debt, (query, what in
the name of humanity does ^^ pinching and screioing" mean in this case, unless
it be to boil the bones again after they are pounded ?) we compare the bill of
fare at the dinner given to the council of the Royal Agricultural Society, by the
mayor in behalf of the city of Derby, at the late agricultural show, holden in
July, 1843, in that hospitable town. This bill, as well it may be, is printed on
blue satin paper, in letters of gold, in keeping with the banquet

70

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

many places, and the farming of the highest order of excel-
lence : —

ROYAL HOTEL— DERBY
The Mayor's Banquet to the. Royal ^Agricultural Council, July 11, 1843.

Bill of Fare.

FIRST COURSE.

Three turbots and lobster sauce.
Three salmon and shrimp do.
Five dishes of fiUetted soles.
Five dishes of trout.
Ten tureens of turtle soup.
Eight do. of green pea do.
Eight do. of soup Julian.

SECOND COURSE.

Four haunches of venison.

Four necks of do.

Five couples of boiled chickens.

Four hams.

Three calves' heads, stewed.

Four quarters of lamb.

Four geese. .

Four veal fricandeau and ragout

Four pigeon pies.

Two rumps of beef, stewed.

Four savory pies.

Five turkey poults.

Five tongues.

Three surloins of beef.

Three legs of lamb, and gooseberry

Lobster patties.
Stewed kidneys.
Sweetbreads.

Mutton cutlets with tomatas.

Veal tendons.

Curried lobsters.

Veal cutlets and mushrooms.

Curried rabbits.

Lamb cutlets and cucumber sauce.

Eight leverets.

Eight couples of ducks.

Eight couples of roast chickens.

Eight plumb puddings.

Eighty dishes of Bake well do.

Eight do. of apricot do.

Twenty do. of cheese cakes.

Thirty do. of maids of honor.

Cherry tarts, and currant do.

Jellies, blanc manger.

Rhenish cream, &c., &c.

DESSERT.

Ices, grapes, peaches, cherries.
Nectarines, strawberries, raspberries,

pines.
Almonds and raisins.
Candied fruits.

Damson cheese, Tartarian cheese.
Orange marmalade.
Preserved ginger.
Sponge cakes, pound cakes.
Fruit, brandy, wine, biscuits, ginger

cakes, &c., &c., &.c.

Wines at pleasure.

In these comparisons most certainly I mean no disrespect to any human being.
I myself, with a large party, had the honor to sit down at the hospitable and ele-
gant table of the Mayor of Derby, who, in company with many of the citizens
of that ancient town, spared no effort to make the visits of their friends as agree-

AGRICULTURAL POPULATION. 71

The Foreman —

Has a house and garden (about 3 roods) rent free ;
He keeps three young men, for which he has £15 a

year each, £45 ;
He has 6 bushels of malt for each man,

— 1 quarter do. for himself,

— the best wheat at 48 s. per quarter,
I — seconds do. at 32 s. "

I — four pigs kept in the yard with his master's.

He feeds and kills his own bacon, 5

and has £24 in cash, and two cows kept. ^

The Shepherd —

Has a house and garden (about 2 roods) rent free,

— 2 quarters of wheat at 48 s. per quarter,

— 2 bushels of malt,

— a cow kept, and

— £22 a year in money.

Four laborers have the following yearly wages, from May-day
to May-day : —

2s. 3d. per day, from May-day to Michaelmas,

Is. 9 d. " from Michaelmas to May-day,

2 s. 3d. per acre for grass and clover mowing,

7 s. '' for corn cutting,

16 bushels of wheat, at 6 s. per bushel,

1 bushel of malt, without charge,

1 cow kept, do.

able and comfortable as possible ; and certainly in this respect no persons could
have succeeded better. Nor am I disposed to find fault with the luxuries with
which any gentleman or company are disposed to entertain their guests. But
the contrast here presented between the condition of the producer and the con-
sumer — between him whose toil creates the food and him who eats it — cannot
fail to read a most important and instructive lesson. What its moral uses are, I
think, no fair and reflecting mind will be at a loss to perceive. I shall not,
therefore, as in iEsop's fables, write the moral at the bottom, but I shall leave the
whole to my reader, without note or comment ; feeling sure that if it leads to
no serious reflections, there must be a melancholy obtuseness of intellect ; and
if it stirs no pity and no humanity within him, there is reason to fear that all
the springs are cut off", and the well is utterly dry. Such, alas ! are but too
often, though not always, the melancholy effects of luxury and prosperity.

ii

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Each laborer pays £4 4 s. for a house, and has about 3 roods

of garden. *^'^ ^ Jiiodfi^ iuod a ^i;H

It

Calculation of what each man receives,

90days, at2s. 3d., £10 2 6

21 acres of grass and clover mowing, at 2 s. 3 d. . 2 7 3

18 " of corn cutting, at 7 s., . . . 8U«opo . 6 6 0

172 days, at 1 s. 9 d., - ,. . 15 1 0

Cow keeping, . . . r 'J rt, 8 8 0

•^ 42 4 9

Deduct house-rent, 4 4 0

Net yearly wages, 38 0 9

"The English laborer," says an assistant ' poor-law commis-
sioner, '•' even if he has transcendent abilities, has scarcely any
prospect of rising in the world, and becoming a small farmer.
He commences his career as a weekly laborer, and the probabil-
ity is, that, whatever may be his talents and industry, as a weekly
laborer he will end his days." '' This is the best side of the
picture : what is the reverse ? If he has no chance of rising in
the world, how many chances has he of falling ? If he is thrown
out of employment ; if he has a large family of girls or young
children ; if he yields to temptation, and becomes irregular in his
habits ; what is to become of him ? The answer is obvious :
for a time he will be assisted by casual charity, and struggle on
against extreme privations ; but if the causes of distress continue,
one or other of two things will be his final lot — he will either
be enrolled among the 1,072,978 paupers receiving parish relief
under the new poor law ; or he will be starved out of the coun-
try into some large town, and absorbed in the floating population
who tenant the cellars and lodging-houses, and live by the worst-
paid description of manufacturing industry, or by thieving, pros-
titution, and casual employment." *

As I have before remarked, it is much more easy to point out
and deplore an evil, than it is to suggest a remedy. A republican
would say that the evil is fundamental, and grows out of a con-
stitution of society establishing different ranks, the appropriation

* Laing's Prize Address.

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 7^

of the land in a few hands, the high price of land, the depressing
sense of dependence, and the hopelessness of competition and of
all attempts to acquire influence, respect, or wealth, incidental
to, and inseparable from, such a framework of society. Persons
born to affluence and distinction, and persons who have never
felt their efforts checked or suppressed by a sense of a depend-
ence which they cannot escape, can very imperfectly estimate
the effect of these circumstances upon character. But whether
desirable or not — and, in this matter, I would leave every man
to the enjoyment of his own honest opinion — as all expectation
of a change in the constitution of English society seems as vain
as to expect to reduce the inequalities of the surface of the coun-
try to a common level — it only remains to consider what alle-
viations of the evils of the condition of the laboring classes can
be successfully attempted. The inquiry is one which most
deeply concerns religion and humanity. It is only just likewise to
remark, — and I do it with the highest pleasure, — that the subject
is now interesting innumerable benevolent persons in the highest
ranks and in the middle conditions of life, to a degree perhaps
never before known ; and that many of the brightest minds are
now concentrating their energies upon its investigation and cure.
It is with equal pleasure that I can say, that I have found among
many of the landlords the most watchful attention to the welfare
of their laborers, and every kind provision for them in sickness,
decay, or misfortune. Alas ! that there are so many who do
not come within the reach of this provision, and so many who
refuse or neglect to make it.

XIII. — ALLOTMENT SYSTEM.

That which seems to be admitted on almost all hands to have
operated to the most advantage, is what is termed the allotment
system. In this case, the laborer hires of the landlord a small
piece of land, — and it is generally limited to one quarter of an
acre, and seldom exceeds half an acre, — for which he pays such
a rent as may be agreed upon ; and he and his family cultivate it
7

74 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ill their spare time, either before going to work or after having
returned from their day's work. The manner in which this
land shall be appropriated is generally determined or prescribed
by the landlord ; though, in some cases, it remains optional with
the laborer. These small lots of land, though generally leased at
a moderate rent, — in some cases, as at the Duke of Devonshire's
village of Edensor, at a rent merely nominal, — bring at the rate
of from one pound to eight pounds an acre, though, in the latter
case, the land generally lies contiguous to some large manufac-
turing town, where the laborer finds an opportunity of disposing
of many small products at a high price. In general, the land so
taken, exclusive of some few garden vegetables for daily use, is
applied to the growing of potatoes and wheat, and alternated
with these two crops.

The eflfect of these allotments upon the character of the occu-
pant is quite remarkable. He becomes himself, for the timo
being, an owner of the soil j he has a feeling of independence
which nothing else can give, and which at once exalts his char-
acter. He is able to avail himself to advantage of the labor of
his wife and children, who in some cases perform most of the
work on the ground in hours which would otherwise be wasted
or misappropriated. His ground yields him a large supply of
vegetables for his family, and enables him to keep and fatten a
pig or two, and likewise some poultry, which very much conduce
to his comfort, and that of his family. The cultivation of his
ground likewise occupies hours which might otherwise be spent
in the drinking-house, where nothing good is to be learned, and
where the foundation- of the ruin of many a laborer is laid ; and
the ruin of his family follows generally, as matter of course.
Besides these advantages from the allotment system, his youngest
children are here early trained to habits of industry and care-
fulness.

The mere keeping of a pig in such cases is a matter of serious
profit, and not of that only, but of pleasure ; and I have been so
much struck with the remarks of one of the commissioners on
this subject, that I transcribe them for the gratification of my
readers : —

'' Of such a pig, the first product of allotment, garden or potato
headland, it is the fashion among political economists to speak
disrespectfully. Now, whatever might be the superior profit, to

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 75

the cottager, of saving the money which he spends on his pigs
and buying his bacon in the market, this, as it never has been,
and never will be so saved, we may dismiss. In the mean time,
his pig, besides its usefulness, is also a real pleasure to him ; it is
one of his principal interests in life ; he makes sacrifices to it ;
he exercises self-control for its sake ; it prevents him living from
hand to mouth, stupidly careless of the future. I am persuaded
that a greater act of cruelty could hardly be perpetrated, than the
discountenancing this practice, or rather amusement and enjoy-
ment, among the poor." *

So much for the moral effects of this simple matter of the poor
man's keeping a pig, in which I perfectly agree with the writer,
and honor the benevolence which discerns, even in these humble
matters, a moral utility. It is difficult to say, why, when the
rich man finds his pleasure in his hunters, his dogs, his game, his
menageries, and aviaries, the poor man should not have his
pleasure in his pig ; an animal, indeed, not always of the most
agreeable endowments, nor of very refined manners, but yet in
temper and manner susceptible of a considerable improvement by
education, and entitled to no small respect for his usefulness,
since if his master feeds him when living, he returns the kindness,
when dead, by feeding his master ; a merit which cannot be
ascribed to some other domestic pets far more expensively cher-
ished and caressed.

Too much indeed cannot be said in favor of the allotment
system, of its justice, its humanity, and its usefulness. Its influ-
ence upon the happiness of the poor, and its moral tendencies —
its tendency to prevent idleness and dissipation, and to produce
sobriety, industry, and frugality, and especially to keep men at
home, and attach them to their homes, most strongly recommend
it. Many facts prove that the laborers in some instances pay
full double the ordinary rent of the land, and find their account
in it. In most cases, however, the lease of a farmer forbids his
under-letting any portion of his land ; and allotments can only
be granted under special agreement, or by the particular consent
of the landlord. This is not always to be procured ; nor is it
always without strong opposition from the farmers themselves.

It will perhaps be asked, by some of my readers, why do I

* Sir H. Doyle's Report on Employment of Women and Children, p. 295.

76 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

enter so fully into the condition of the rural population in Eng-
land, when we have nothing which bears a resemblance to it in
the United States. This latter is one of the very reasons why
I do it; but I hope that others will present themselves, upon
reflection, which will at least excuse, if not justify me. I may
as well give some of those reasons in this place ; then, perhaps,
I may be heard with more patience.

I have promised my friends here, and in the United States,
that they shall have my honest impressions of whatever comes
under my observation connected with agricultural and rural
affairs, and the condition of the rural population. In the next
place, I see in the list of my subscribers the names of many, who
will take a much stronger interest in such views, than in details
of crops, accounts of live stock, and the practical operations of
husbandry, which I shall go into at large in the course of my
reports ; certainly I am bound to consult, in some measure, their
tastes. In the next place, we shall find in the management of
small farms and small allotments, examples of successful culti-
vation, which cannot be without their use and application to
farming on a much more extended scale. Lastly, I cannot think
it will be without its use to compare the condition of a laborer,
where to him land, under the present condition of things, is unat-
tainable, and labor superabundant, with a condition of labor
where, as in the free states, every industrious man can have land
of the most fertile and productive character almost at his pleasure,
and where the price of land places it within reach of his labor ;
where every man may have his home, and sit down quietly
without the apprehension of removal ; where it is not a necessary
study with him how often he may have meat, or how many
days in the week he may have bread ; but where, with industry,
sobriety, and frugality, he may always have more meat and more
bread than he requires, and something for the poor and. the
stranger.

I shall take the liberty here of inserting an account, sent me
by a kind friend, of the working of the allotment system in a
village within his neighborhood — I believe in Lincolnshire. It
is an interesting and instructive account. His opinions respect-
ing the size of farms must rest upon his own responsibility. I
neither endorse nor deny them. On the subject of the size of
farms I shall speak at large when my views have become matured
by further observation.

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 77

" Scampton is the property of a gentleman (Sir George Cay-
ley, Bart.) of liberal views and enlarged benevolence. One of
his first movements, upon succeeding to the estate some thirty
years ago, was to provide for the comfort of those who, under his
superior tenants, were to be the immediate laborers upon his land.

" To fourteen cottages allotments of land were made. A
field of sixteen acres was set apart as pasturage, that each cot-
tager might keep a cow ,• and another field of twenty-six acres
was appropriated as mowing ground, that all might be provided
with fodder for the winter. Each cottage had an acre of tillage
land allotted to it in the field, and something like another half
acre as garden ground, around its little homestead.

" A cow club, or insurance, was established, to enable those
cottagers who lost a cow by casualty, to replace her immedi-
ately, and without loss of time.

" In the spring of the year, the cows are valued by a compe-
tent and disinterested person. Each cottager pays sixpence in
the pound on the value of his cow. Cows above fourteen years
of age are not insurable. If a cow dies within the year, the
owner receives three fourths of her value. The dead cow is the
property of the club.

"Sixpence in the pound, annually, has actually covered, to
three fourths of the value, all casualUes upon a run of twenty
years. .. f

" Under the inspection of a shrewd and spirited agent, the
whole affair has worked to admiration, and been productive of
peace and plenty amidst the little community whose happiness it
was designed to promote. No burning of stacks here, because
every man has one of his own. No invasion of the rights of
property, because every man is a possessor of property, and
anxious to guaranty his neighbor's rights, that he may hold his
own in the better security.

" The rent that each cottager pays is something less than £10
per annum. The produce that is yielded, much to the credit of
the humble cultivators, is abundantly ample to cover the out-
goings, and leaves a surplus that makes them comfortable.

"The acre of tillage land is remarkably productive. It is

divided into two allotments : half an acre is in wheat, the other

half in potatoes ; alternating the crops, of course, every year.

On this short rotation, the land has not suffered, but actually

7*

78 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

increased in fertility/. For the last ten years, the crops of wheat
have yielded twenty bushels to the half acre. The twenty
years preceding, eighteen bushels was the average. Instances
of twenty-seven bushels to the half acre have been known.
The half acre of potatoes, with others grown in the garden, are
usually fed to pigs, and instances have been known where the
cottager has sold twenty pounds worth of pigs and well supplied
his own family with bacon. It is common for them to sell from
ten to twenty pounds worth of pigs, or pork, per annum, and
still keep a good supply for family use. Some of the cottagers,
who have been blessed with careful wives and good cows, have
sent twelve pounds of butter, per week, to market, during all the
flush of the feed.

'^ It must be understood, that while the cottager's allotment
of land is thus multiplying his comforts, he has a constant sup-
ply of work, and current wages, from the neighboring farmers.
His own farming is done after his master's day's work is com-
pleted, with perchance a day now and then, as at seed-time and
harvest.

" Happy, comfortable, and superior in condition, as these cot-
tagers appear, yet the system that makes them so has often been
called in question. It has been observed, that the children of
cottagers, thus happily situated, are not over anxious to go to
service, and not over apt to keep their places when they do go.
There appears a latent consciousness about them that the house
of their parents is well supplied with bread and bacon.

" Perhaps the evil, if it be one, has a deeper origin than at
first sight appears. May it not be traceable to our social system,
the genius of which delights to keep property in large masses,
under great proprietors ? These proprietors have a similar predi-
lection for large divisions of their property — large farms, and
men of large capital to work them. All this may be well —
very well suited to the cast-iron consciences of the political
economists; but it creates a chasm between the large farmer —
the farmer of two hundred and fifty acres, with a capital of
twenty-five hundred pounds, and the mere laboring cottager.
The latter can never hope to pass so great a void. There are no
intermediate resting-places. There are no farms of twenty,
fifty, or a hundred acres, to which the successful and deserving
cottager can be promoted. The steps of the ladder are out.

,^^ ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 79

Having obtained the rare blessing of a cottage allotment, the
language of his heart is, ' Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for in
our present condition we must die.' His highest ambition
being achieved, and the family little more to hope for, it is not to
be wondered at that some little laxity should be observable. Let
the great landlords of the land supply a motive by a more
natural division of their property — let them encourage the aspi-
rations of the industrious cottagers by small farms in prospective,
and larger beyond them, and the energies of our peasantry will
never be found to flag. But this is, perhaps, scarcely to be
hoped for."

I shall go still more largely into the subject of allotments, as
presenting one of the first and most efficient means of bettering
the condition of the agricultural laborer. My own convictions
are strong on this point ; and they are sustained and strength-
ened by the testimony of many men of large experience and
shrewd observation. The laborer finds, in an allotment, a means
of turning his spare hours to advantage, and in a mode of labor
which, from its very character, being in the association of his wife
and children, under his own control and management, and for his
own immediate and personal benefit, becomes a pleasure instead
of a toil. He finds in it the means of eking out his scanty
wages ; of providing, to a degree, for an occasion of sickness, or
other suspension of his employment and wages. He is enabled
to bring from this source many rare comforts to his own frugal
table; and has himself, if he is a man of feeling, — and why
should he not be? — an opportunity of enjoying one of the
richest of all pleasures, — that of making a small contribution to
relieve an unfortunate or a sick neighbor. It presents a good
school of industry for his children, under his own immediate
inspection. It quickens his own intelligence in making agricul-
tural experiments upon a small and useful scale, and rouses a
spirit of wholesome emulation in his crops even with the master
farmers. It removes him from strong temptations to gambling,
low dissipation, and intemperance. It gives him an interest in
the soil ; it attaches him to his home ; it involves him in all the
risks of the public safety ; and makes him the friend of public
peace and order. It gives him the spirit of a man, raising him
above the sense of slavish dependence, and the dread of becom-
ing a pensioner on public charity. In so doing, it at once exalts

80 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

him in the community ; induces a most wholesome self-respect ;
inspires a just regard for the rights of property ; attaches him the
more strongly to his superior, who thus shows his willingness
that he should walk erect instead of keeping him upon the
ground with his foot upon his neck ; and presents innumerable,
constant, and powerful motives to improvement and good con-
duct. I wish it were in my power to convey to those, who have
been born to affluence, rank, and authority, the force of these
sentiments upon minds altogether differently circumstanced from
themselves ; but I know it would be difficult — I fear it might
be impossible. A consciousness of absolute dependence, so ex-
tremely difficult to be engrafted in the human mind, seems
indispensable to teach us our duty either to man or God.

That the whole of this subject has an important bearing in its
economical and moral aspects upon my own country cannot, I
think, be overlooked by a reflecting mind j and, in the course
of my reports, will, I trust, be made more fully apparent.

^

l^^-'-'^

1

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1

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W:^

V^v\

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

SECOND REPORT

XIIL — ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. {Continued,)

My First Report was concluded with the important subject of
allotments of land to laborers. This subject, without an explana-
tion, would scarcely be understood by a majority of the farmers
in the United States. The agricultural laborers, or, as they are
here termed, the farm-servants , are seldom or never owners of
land. They receive their wages in money or produce, as I have
already described ; and some of them, living in compact villages,
have not even a small piece of ground for a garden, though, in
many parts of the country, the cottages have small gardens at-
tached to them. The unmarried laborers sometimes live in the
houses of their employers ; but this is not now a genersd nor a
frequent practice. The married laborers live in cottages on the
estate, or in a neighboring village.

It is obvious how great advantages a poor family in the
country may derive from a small piece of land, and how much
produce may be obtained from it for their support and comfort
by the application of even a small amount of labor, which other-
wise, without such opportunity of applying it, would be lost, or
rather would not be exerted. Many persons, therefore, have
leased to their laborers small portions of land, varying in size
from a quarter of an acre, or even less, to an acre, and in some
cases more than this, to be cultivated in such crops £is the laborer
may select, or as may be prescribed by the proprietor. One

82 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

condition is usually made absolute in these cases — that the land
should be cultivated with a spade, and not with a plough. The
results therefore become the more interesting.

I shall give here an account of a successful attempt at the
improvement of the condition of the poor rural laborers by allot-
ments of land, cultivated by the spade, uniting with these allot-
ments, at the same time, a provision for the education of the poor
children by whose labor these grounds are cultivated. The
accounts have a twofold value, in showing the practicableness
of meeting the expenses of education by the labor of the pupils,
and the increased and extraordinary product which may be ob-
tained from land under the spade husbandry.

" A friend to the more general diffusion of a sound education
amongst the peasantry of the United Kingdom, who has long
witnessed the success with which education may be, without cost,
combined with instruction, in the best modes of cultivating the
soil, begs to submit to those who are impressed with the impor-
tance of the effort, the few following facts : —

^' A landed proprietor has established what are termed ' Agricul-
tural Schools,* upon the principle of uniting our present national
with agricultural instruction, by making the labor of the little
scholars,* while under tuition in the art of husbandry in the after-
noon, to compensate the master, in the way of salary, for the
instruction they receive from him, in the usual course of our
national education in the morning. Schools have already been
established upon this plan at the villages of East Dean and Wil-
lingdon, and they are attended with the happiest results. The
usual quantity of land required for the purpose does not exceed
five acres ; and for this the master pays a rent, certainly equal to,
and in most cases beyond, that of the adjoining land, occupied
by farmers. In the case of the Willingdon school, there is an
appropriate house, for which the master pays an additional rent.
The only payment in money to the master is the usual penny a
week from each scholar.

'' Nor can any reasonable objection be made to this plan on
the ground of so employing the boys in the afternoon. The
girls in our national schools are taught, and for the same number
of hours, to work with the needle, the use of which is not more
important to them than that of the spade and the hoe to the
boys.

^-^ ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 83

•'As various questions will naturally suggest themselves to
those who read this statement, the following answers, by the
schoolmaster, to numerous inquiries already made, are inserted
here : ■ —

''Reply of the Master to Inquiries respecting this School.

" * I have twenty scholars, to whom I teach reading, writing,
and accounts, the Church Catechism, Collects, and Psalmody on
the national plan, with the approbation of the vicar, without any
salary, for one penny per week from each boy, from nine to
twelve o'clock ; and from two till five in the afternoon cultiva-
ting the land. I have not lost one from dissatisfaction, but I am
glad to say that they willingly assist me.

" ' I am satisfied that I can keep two cows on the same quantity
of ground, stall-fed, where I could keep but one if I allowed her
to graze ; and grow more corn.

" ' I have no grass land, and all the first winter my cows had
only straw, turnips, and mangel-wurzel, till green food came on in
the spring ; and now my hay is the clover I sowed with the grain
crop last year.

" ' I have experienced a great deal of good from the liquid
manure from the two tanks, one from the cows and the other
from the pigs.

" ' I have just killed a pig weighing twenty-nine stone seven
pounds, and one before about the same weight, which I have
used in my family. I have a wife and four children.

'"It is allowed that my oats are the best sample in the parish.
1 tied my oats in sheaves, and set them up the same as wheat,
which saves a great deal of scattering : this is the general prac-
tice in Cornwall and Scotland, and, I hear, in some parts of
Kent, and is particularly useful for barley to malt.

" * I thrash my corn over the cow-house, as in Cornwall,
Switzerland, &c., which keeps it perfectly dry, being thus kept
from the damp ground.

" ' I am entirely supplied with water by the rain which falls on
the house, preserved in a tank in the ground.

" * The quantity of land I rent is five acres, on the side of the
South Downs, at £3 an acre; this with £5 for my house,
makes £20, which I have paid for the year ending Michael-

iH EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

mas last, though I might have taken off my crops, and lived
rent-free ; but I preferred staying and teaching, though I have no
salary ; and so, I think, would many others.

" ' I have now three cows, a heifer, and a calf, standing oppo-
site to each other, with a road between their mangers for feeding
these stall-fed cattle, which have never needed a farrier; and
from skim milk I have made cheese like the Dutch cheese.

" ' George Cruttenden.

" ' WiLLiNGDON, near Eastbourne, Sussex, JlprH, 1842.'

" ' At your request, I send the particulars of my produce last
year, which I am perfectly satisfied with, leaving me a balance of
£40 after every thing is paid, though the last was an unfavorable,
dry summer.

" ' I am likewise happy to say, the principal farmers of the
parish have taken into their employ six of my scholars, all under
twelve years of age, into their service since Christmas, and two
of them under nine ; and all, after leaving my day school, where
they paid me one penny a week in addition to their work, have
each paid me fourpence a week out of their wages, for evening
instruction ; and their master is now using the liquid manure the
same as I do, which I have found most beneficial.

"^I have a wife and four children, whom I support in a
comfortable way, and wish I could see many of my neigh-
bors do the same ; but that is not the case.

" ' G. Cruttenden.
• «*WiLLiNGDON School, April U, 1843.'

" A landed proprietor at Willingdon, seeing the success of this
school, recommended the establishment of a similar school in the
adjoining parish of East Dean, where, in the spring of 1842, five
acres of land were let to John Harris, an infirm man, who, two
years before, had been in the Eastbourne Union House, with his
wife and seven children, where, at three shillings per head, they
cost at the rate, yearly, of £70 4 s., which is equal to the rent of
three hundred and fifty-one acres of sheep-walk : now he is
supporting his family on only five acres, and, when recommended
to give up his five acres, said, ^ he had rather continue to pay
rent, rates, tithes, and taxes, and teach without a salary, than
have fourteen shillings a week without the land.'

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. ' 85

" Hai'ris, in the Union House, resembled a mouse in a granary-
devouring the fruits of labor ; but does not this same Harris, on.
his five acres, resemble the mouse in the fable, releasing
the famishing lion? for by his rent he is helping to support
the owner of the soil, by his rates the poor, by his tithes
the church, and by his taxes the state, which surprises those who
have long been accustomed to hear it is requisite to let land in
large farms, for the supply of food for large towms.

*' But do not the higher rents paid for allotments of land
by the spade than the plough, show that, after supporting the
cultivators and their families, they send more to market per acre
than the great farmers ?

'' It was the eagerness of laborers in Sussex to hire land, that
suggested the possibility of some men to obtain as much as five
acres, undertaking to teach reading, &c., three hours daily with-
out a salary, without at all anticipating that twelve boys, aver-
aging eight years of age, by their labor for three hours after noon,
could well pay for their instruction in school before noon ; but
a trial of upwards of three years has put this beyond doubt, as
dozens of signatures in the visitors' book testify, of clergymen
and members of both Houses of Parliament, not only of this
neighborhood, but also from Ireland and Scotland, amongst
whom was Mr Townshend Mainwaring, M. P. for Denbigh, who
inspected these schools April 29th, 1843, and entered in the East
Dean visitors' book, that he was much gratified by the complete
success which appeared to attend the simple principle upon which
the school was conducted.

*' And these self-supporting schools require much less superin-
tendence than where the master has a fixed salary, because, if he
neglected or misused the boys before noon, their parents are not
likely to send them back to work for him after noon.

" He is interested in cultivating the land well, as it is the only
support of his family.

" Landlords are interested in letting land to masters who pay
high rents.

" Rate-payers are interested in able-bodied men being enabled
to maintain themselves.

" Parents are interested in sending their children where they
early learn to earn their livings in that state of life unto which it
has pleased God to call them.
8

86 EUROPEAN AGRICULTLRE.

" The farmers around, seeing the great produce from stall-
feeding and liquid manure, are interested in taking additional
hands into their service.

'' The more food that is raised from the soil, the more there
will be to exchange for clothing, and thus an increased home
msirket be provided for om' manufacturers ; who, the more they
earn, the more they have to lay out in meat, &c.

"And to effect this, there is no deficiency in capital. There
is no want of hands, as our Union Houses are overflowing with
the able-bodied ; nor is there any want of land, as the heaths,
commons, and grazing land, even round London, show."

It is stated, likewise, — and it is a fact deserving of all remark,
— " that, during a course of twelve years, out of four hundred
rents, only three rents have been deficient, though the tenants
were taken without reference to character, and told the rent
would not be demanded if not tendered ; but the desire of keep-
ing the land has secured the annual payment, and only one, during
the whole of that time, has been convicted of a misdemeanor."

''In fifty parishes in one county in which there are above

three thousand allotments, after the most careful inquiry, our
agent heard only of one commitment to prison in 1840, and not
even one in 1841, out of the whole three thousand families."

The general condition on which allotments are granted being
that they shall be cultivated by the spade, the extraordinary
product obtained in this way deserves to be remarked. The
statements to which I shall refer are drawn from the reports of
a committee of Parliament, and seem, therefore, entitled to con-
fidence. I have myself visited several allotment grounds in
different parts of the country, and am quite satisfied that the
results under this system of management are not overstated. On
this subject I shall say more hereafter ; but it may not be out of
place if I give here some examples which have been referred to.

Jesse Piper, in Sussex, holds an allotment of four acres. He
obtained, in 1842. forty-two bushels of wheat from three quarters
of an acre of land ; he had two hundred and fifty bushels of
potatoes from three fourths of an acre ; he had ten bushels of
barley from the other land, and kept two cows, and three and
sometimes four pigs ; he considers that there might be an acre
of grass, and the cows were kept entirely upon the produce of
the four acres ; a portion of this was not arable, as some trees

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 87

were growing upon it. A peculiarity in this man's management
is, that he works one of his cows in his cart, and calculates that
her labor saves him an expense of five pounds ; she is milked
in the morning before she is put to work, and, although worked,
she makes eight pounds of butter a week, besides furnishing
some milk for the family. This is a sort of Robinson Crusoe
management, which is well deserving of attention. It would
not be easy to find a reason why the female of one class of ani-
mals should be exempted from work, rather than of another ; and
there is no ground to suppose that, with good feeding and careful
usage, moderate labor would be injurious to the health of an
animal ; much more likely is it to be conducive to health, and
even, in such case £is this, to the more liberal secretions of milk.
Other circumstances in this man's economy are worthy of ob-
servation ; he saves all his liquid manure in a tank by his own
house, and mixes with it a proportion of soot and salt ; he throws
his land into heaps, and puts the liquid upon the heaps, and then
spreads it abroad — ''because," as he remarks, "his land is so
near the chalk, that if he put his liquid manure upon the land,
three fourths of it would be wasted — it would go clean away, so
as never to get it again ; but when put in a heap of mould it is
retained."

Produce of four Acres ^ held by J. Piper ^ in 1842.

£. s. d.

42 bushels of wheat, at 7 s. 6d. per bushel 15 15 0

250 do. potatoes, at 15 d. per do. . 15 12 6

Food for one cow, which gave 4 lbs. butter per week,

at Is. per lb 10 0 0

The other cow do. do. do. do. . 10 0 0

Food for three pigs, at 20 st. each, and at 3 s. 6 d. per st. 10 10 0

£61 17 6
This example shows the extraordinary results of minute and
exact cultivation, and the value of economy in husbanding with
extreme care all the resources for manure. The cow is an ani-
mal I have always looked upon with the greatest respect for her
justice and her liberality ; in this case she pays for her board by
her yield in milk and butter, and adds to it her labor, or, as
is said in case of a free passage on board ship, '' she works her

§s

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

own passage ; " but the good creature's usefulness does not end
here. When she has completed her round of beneficence, her
benefactions do not close with her life ; her hoofs are made into
glue ; her horns into combs ; her bones into knife-handles and
cane-tops ; her hair worked up into plaster ; her skin into shoes f
and her meat into food. Who can wonder that the Hindoos
always regarded her with a religious veneration ?

The next instance presented by the Parliamentary Reports is
that of J. Dumbrell. His allotment is six acres, and is managed
by himself, his father, (seventy years old,) and a child of nine
years old. " The soil is chalk, on a deep soil, in a valley."

His stock consists of two cows and a heifer, and from two to
three pigs. His succession of crops is thus described : " First,
Italian rye grass, cut four times, watering it each time with
liquid manure after cutting it ; then tares ; then clover ; then
cabbage comes in, and mangel-wurzel ; and second cut clover,
and sometimes three ; and that carries us all the summer
through : then we begin upon the roots in winter, turnips and
mangel-wurzel, and straw."

The following is the statement of his produce for 1840 : —

£. s. d.

From two cows in nine months and a half, from the
16th of Jan. to the 26th of Oct., made 400ilbs. of
butter, which at 1 s. per lb 20 0 3

The cow, all the year stall-fed, yielding a third more
than the other, which grazed half an acre ; and their
two calves sold for . 5 18 0

The skim milk, at 3 pints Id., or given to the pigs, is

estimated at . 10 0 0

On one quarter of an acre he grew 18 bushels of oats,

which, at 4 s. per bushel, amounts to 3 12 0

On 88 poles {i. e., a little more than half an acre) he
grew 32 bushels of wheat, worth, at 8 s. per bushel,
(which is equal to the consumption of himself, his
wife, and three infant children,) . 12 IG 0

Besides pigs, potatoes, vegetables, and the butter to be
expected to the end of the year, which may fairly
be estimated on the whole of the land (including
the foregoing, as I understand the account, which is
rather imperfectly drawn up) at 60 0 0

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 89

Out of this he paid —

Rent, rates, tithes, and taxes of one acre, . £17

Rent of one acre and a half, 7 0

Rent of half an acre of grass, . . . £2 10

Lodge in it, 1 00

Rates, tithes, and taxes, ..... 15

£4 5

Hired labor, .£2 0

Seed corn, 2 0

£4 0

Leaving .... £43 8 0

The two pounds paid for labor were paid for threshing.
There are two other accounts of the same individual subjoined.

Produce of three and one quarter Acres, in 1841.

£. s. d.

Wheat, 2 IJ bushels, at 8 s 8 12 0

Oats, 44 bushels, at 2 s. 9 d 610

Potatoes, 80 bushels, at 1 s 4 0 0

Two calves sold for 5 10 0

Butter, 423i lbs., at Is 21 3 3

Milk sold, and given to the pigs, 10 0 0

£65 6 3

Produce of six and one quarter Acres, in 1842.

£. s. d.

Wheat, 40 bushels, at 6 s. 6 d 13 0 0

Oats, 93 bushels, at 2 s. 6 d 1112 6

Peas, 22 bushels, at 4 s. 6 d 4 19 0

Potatoes, 150 bushels, at 1 s 7 10 0

Two calves, one fat and one suckled, 3 7 0

Butter, 290 lbs., at Is 14 10 0

Milk sold, and given to pigs, 800

£62 18 6

In 1842, he lost two cows by death, and the additional land
was taken in bad condition.

At the same time, he presented a sample of his wheat, on which
were eiglity-four stalks from one grain. There is another secret
8*

90 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

of this man's success — he had signed the temperance pledge;
he is a tee-totaller, and drinks neither spirituous nor fermented
liquor.

An inquiry was made of Mr. Dumbrell, "how it was possible
to keep two cows, and maintain a family of five persons, on only
three acres of land ; " to which this is his answer — " The state-
ment you saw was very true ; half an acre of pasture, half an
acre and eight rods in wheat, and one quarter of an acre in oats ,
the other part was green food for the cows, such as rye, tares,
cabbages, clover, mangel-wurzel, turnips, and Italian rye-grass.
But if you are surprised at my keeping two cows on this quantity
of land, I must tell you that one crop a year will not do it : but my
plan is to take second crops; that is, rye is the first thing I cut
green in the spring ; then 1 dig the land, and manure it with the
liquid manure, as far as it will go ; then finish with rotten dung,
and plant mangel-wurzel and turnips ; and the part that I manure
with the liquid is always the best. The next thing I cut is
winter barley and turnips, and plant some cabbages for winter :
by this time I cut the grass and clover, which grows again in a
short time, with a little of the liquid manure as soon as it is cut.
Last summer I cut the Italian rye-grass and clover three times ;
and this year I have nearly cut it twice already, and there were
really two good crops of the Italian rye-grass, and I think there
will be two more this summer, with a little manuring. My early
cabbages I always let stand to grow again all the summer, and
they bring a great deal of food. I plant again in November, and
put the liquid manure to them as far as it will go ; but to the
rest I use dung or ashes, which are not so good as the liquid,
which any body may tell in the spring by looking at the bed of
cabbages ; so I hope it now appears how the cows are maintained
in winter £ls well as in summer. Daring last winter, I had no
hay, only turnips, mangel-wurzel, and straw, and they did very
well."

I have already apprized my readers that my Reports must be,
in a degree, desultory, from the necessity of giving them before
the whole ground has been gone over. Compelled at once to
begin the erection of my building, I must use such materials as
I have ; and which, I fear, under such circumstances, may appear
incongruous and ill-assorted to an eye accustomed to order and
exact arrangement ; whereas, if every thing were at hand, I might

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 91

better succeed in preserving the symmetry and adjusting the
architectural proportions of the edifice. I shall therefore make
no excuse for saying here something more of spade husbandry,
and the extraordinary products of small pieces of land ; and it
must be admitted that it is by no means disconnected with the
subject of cottage allotments.

The utmost productive capacity of an acre of land, in any
crop, has not yet been fully determined. The amounts attained
frequently surprise us ; but we have not yet got to the end of
the line.

One of the witnesses before the Parliamentary committee gives
an account of a man who supported himself, and wife, and son,
from two acres of land, for which he paid a rent for the two of £9
10 s. ; and in the course of seven years, he had saved enough from
the produce of his two acres to purchase two acres of land, for
which he paid about £30 to £40 per acre. He states, likewise,
his own personal knowledge of six acres of land, which, under
the spade cultivation, produced at the rate of fifty-two bushels of
wheat to the acre. Another witness testifies that on the estate
of Lord Howard, Barbot Hall, in Yorkshire, a rood of land was
dug and planted with wheat by his lordship's direction, and
twenty-eight bushels of wheat were obtained from this quarter of
an acre, which would be at the extraordinary and unheard-of
rate of one hundred and twelve bushels per acre.

The authenticity, or rather accuracy, of such a statement as
this may well be considered as questionable ; but I have the
pleasure of presenting one, exhibiting a most extraordinary yield,
on which full reliance may be placed.

In visiting Horsham, (the last summer,) in the county of
Sussex, my attention was strongly attracted by two small pieces
of wheat in a garden by the road-side, exhibiting an extraordinary
luxuriance ; and I have been able to obtain a detailed iiistory of
its culture and yield, through the politeness of C. S. Dickens, Esq.,
of Coolhurst, near Horsham.

The seed of this wheat was brought from Australia, being the
product of some wheat which had been sent there two or three
years before. The quantity of land sown, in one of the pieces,
was thirty-four square yards. The wheat was dropped in rows
nine inches apart, and in holes six inches apart, and only one
grain in a place. The number of corns planted was 682, out of

92 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

which 33 failed to germinate. The cuhivator obtained four
gallons of good wheat from the land, exclusive of several of the
finest plants, which he saved. The usual number of stems from
each seed was 18 to 20 ; a considerable number gave 30 to 35,
and one was counted which had 40 full-sized stems, and three
of a smaller size. The straw from the 34 yards weighed 72
pounds, which would be 284 trusses of 36 pounds to the acre.
The weight of the 682 corns planted was 17 drachms. This
being multiplied by 142, the land being the 1-1 42d part of an
acre, gave about 9i pounds as seed for the acre ; consequently
one bushel of wheat, at 63 pounds per bushel, would plant more
than six acres. The produce of 4 gallons, multiplied, as above,
by 142, gives the great quantity of 71 bushels, or 17 sacks 3
bushels, to the acre. The ground had borne potatoes the previous
year, and had received no top-dressing, nor been in any way
manured for the wheat. A sample of the wheat, which has
been kindly sent to me, in the straw, and which 1 have de-
posited in the museum of the Royal Agricultural Society, was
six feet in height.

These are remarkable facts. What has been done can be
done. They forbid our resting satisfied with what has been
accomplished ; and they encourage the hope that the productive
powers of the soil are vastly greater than have yet been deter-
mined. Onward ! is the watchword of the present day, in every
department of science and art. Why should agriculture form an
exception ? Away with the drones ! Do not let us mistake a
fog-bank for land, nor think that we have reached the end of
the voyage until our feet actually press the solid ground.

The allotments referred to above I have myself had the satis-
faction of inspecting, and add, with great pleasure, my humble
testimony to the skill, industry, and good conduct, with which
they are managed. Indeed, in many respects, I do not know
where they can be exceeded. The establishments presented
striking examples of the most exact economy. Three of the
parties had been driven by their necessities into the workhouses,
principally, however, owing to accidental injuries and sickness ;
but now, instead of being dependent upon public support, they
were paying punctually a full rent for their land, and were pro-
curing an honest and comfortable living from their own industry.
Another of the families, presenting one of the most beautiful and

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 93

affecting examples of indefatigable industry, of severe economy,
and of grateful and religious contentment, which I have ever
witnessed, said, with their eyes flooded with tears, that they
had been saved from the workhouse — a fate Avhich many of the
poor seem to dread almost as much as death itself — only by the
kindness of their beneficent proprietor in leasing them the land,
and in furnishing them with tools and with cows to commence
th^ir operations. Besides supporting themselves and their child,
they had also supported an aged father and mother ; and had
nearly paid a debt of twenty pounds to the physician, incurred
by a sickness of three years, of the man himself, before he had
the allotment ; and the whole of which they were determined
fully to discharge. They expressed theniselves but too happy
in being able to assist and succor their aged parents, who, in
time of his illness, took the kindest care of them. In no condi-
tion of life have I seen a brighter example, without any preten-
sions and without ostentation, of some of the highest virtues
which can adorn the human character. An inflexible rule with
them was, not to incur even the smallest debt for any thing.
The matter of medical relief must, of course, form an exception.
This same man, living in a poor village, where it would seem
that education was never more wanting, had proposed, after the
plan of the others, to keep a school, and assist himself by the
labor of the children ; but a principal farmer in the neighborhood,
disconcerted by the extraordinary success of this humble family
in sustaining themselves independent of his aid, had threatened
his laborers, if they sent their children to this school, they should
be dismissed from his eiliployment, and so prevented it. It is to
be hoped, for the honor of human nature, that examples of such
oold brutality are rare.

Three of these tenants have been kind enough to furnish me
with their accounts of the products of the last year, (1843,) which
will, I think, not be without interest to my readers.

Ml. Crittenden has five acres of land, of which the following
is the produce for the year 1843. He adds, in respect to it, " I
have not put in the corn, roots, and hay, which the cows and
pigs consume, as they answer to them in their milk and flesh."

94

EUROPEAN AGRICULTUUE.

" WiLLiNGDON, March 4, 1844.
" The produce of my land, five acres, the last year, ( 1843, )
being the quantity and the price : —

£. s. d.

8 qt. 6 bu. of wheat, at 52 s. per qt 22 15 0

3 '' 0 ^' of oats, at 21 s. per qt 3 3 0

1 '^ 6 '' of barley, at 30 s. per qt. 2 12 6

1 '^ 0 '^ of peas, at 34 s. per qt. ...... 1 14 0

120 bushels of potatoes, at 1 s. per bushel, ... 600

1 large hog sold for 4 15 0

1 small do 15 6

1 calf, sold young, 1 10 0

1 hog for self, 25 stone, 3 15 0

Butter and milk, . . . . . , 11 0 0

1 calf, reared for a cow, 2 10 0

1 young sow, 2 0 0

£63 0 0
Rent, 25 0 0

38 0 0
1 qt. of tail wheat, worth £2, which we eat, ... 200

Total, £40 0 0'»

I subjoin the letter with which he has favored me : —

« Sir,

" I send you the rotation of cropping for six years, which
I adopt myself ; likewise the kinds and quantity which I sow, for
two cows and a heifer, on my five acres. First, I sow about one
and a half acres of wheat, which I drill in, about nine inches apart
between drills. I sow two and a half bushels to the acre. Then
I sow one acre with clover in the spring, — about three gallons
of seed to the acre, — in order to cut for the cows green, and the
rest for hay for the winter ; this is the best food that I can get.
It may be cut three times. Second, one acre of either oats or
barley that I drill in, as every thing drilled is so much best for
the boys to work amongst, and likewise a saving of seed.
Third, I sow about twenty rods of rye, and sixty rods of winter
tares, in September, for the cows in the spring, and they will
come off soon enough for potatoes or turnips ; after them, then it

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM.

95

comes in fcr wheat. I sow the rye and tares broadcast, as it
should be tliick on the ground. Fourth, I sow the rest of the
ground with swedes, turnips, mangel-wurzel, carrots, and pota-
toes, for winter food ; the mangel-wurzel produces a great deal
of food for the cows, if the leaves are taken off properly.

'' 1 leave a piece of ground for spring tares, to come in after the
winter tares. I sow these in February.

" This will keep two cows and a heifer all the year roimd, if
they are stall-fed.

"Rotation of Crops.

1845.
—46.
—47.

—48.

—49.
—50.

1845.
—46.
—47.

—48.
—49.

—50.

1845.

—46.
—47.
—48.
—49.
—50.

Fh'st Division.

Wheat .

Clover

Wheat

Turnips and mangel-wm-zel.

Oats or barley. . . . <
Potatoes

l^hird Division.
Oats or barley. . . .
Rye and tares. . . .

Wheat

Clover

Wheat

Turnips, mangel-wurzel,
carrots,

Fifth Division.

Spring tares and turnips. <

W^heat.

Turnips, mangel, turnips. .

Oats or barley

Potatoes

Wheat I Wheat.'

Second Division.
Rye and tar.es.
Wheat.
Clover.
Wheat.
Turnips, mangel-wurzel,

carrots,
Oats or barley.

Fourth Division.
Wheat.

Turnips, mangel-wurzel.
Oats or bailey.
Potatoes.
Wheat.

Clover.

Sixth Division.
Mangel-wurzel, carrots,

swedes, turnips.
Oats or barley.
Rye and tares.
Wheat.
Clover.

The next account which I shall present is that of Mr. Dum-
brell, at the village of Jevington, Sussex county, who occupies

96 EUROPEAN AGRICULTLRE.

six acres and a quarter. The products of the years 1841 and
1842 are already given. The following is for 1843 : —

Six Acres and a quarter, 1843.

£. s. d.

Two calves, 4 10 0

Peas, 3 bushels 3 gallons, at 4 s. 6 d 0 15 2

Wheat, '47i bushels, 5 s. 6 d . .13 13

Barley, 10 bushels, at 4 s 2 00

Tares, 6 bushels, at 4 s. 6 d 1 7 0

Oats, 66 bushels, at 2 s. 3d 7 86

Butter, 364 J lbs., at lid 16 14 4i

Potatoes, 200 bushels, at 1 s 10 0 0

Milk, sold, 8 0 0

Total, . . . £63 16 3i

He adds, in his letter to me, " You may be surprised at my
not making more from six acres and a quarter, than I did, in
proportion, from three acres and a quarter ; but it is to be under-
stood that, since my farm was made up to six acres and a quarter,
the products, as the two last tables show, have not sold so well,
and the last three acres, which were added to my farm, were very
poor soil."

I give next the report of last year's crop, which has been sent
me by John Harris, as the products of the labors of himself and
his scholars. He adopts the same system of spade husbandry,
and the application of liquid manure to his crops. His allotment
comprehends five acres only.

One acre and twelve rods of wheat produced . . 53 bushels.

Half an acre of oats, 61 "

Thirty rods of barley, 13J "

Twenty rods of peas, ......... 4J "

One acre of potatoes, 404 "

Half an acre of turnips, 150 "

Sixteen rods of carrots, . , 3J tons.

Fifteen rods of mangel-wurzel, 3 "

The rest of his land was occupied with green food for his
cows ; such as cabbages, rye, clover, tares, &c. He kept two
cows. He had from eight to twelve pigs all winter, and they

ALI.OTMENT SYSTEM. 97

consumed all his potatoesj and his turnips, mangel-wurzel, and
carrots, were given to his cows. He fatted one hundred and
twenty stone, or nine hundred and sixty pounds of pork, which
he sold to the butcher. He sold six shotes, at three months old,
for stores, and one pig for roasting ; and he sold also one sow in
pig, for £2 12 s. He kept no account of the produce of his
cows.

Several things are remarkable in regard to these allotments
and modes of management. In the first place, they are all culti-
vated by the spade. Where labor is abundant, as in England,
and the great difficulty is to know how to employ it with advan-
tage, this might be attempted even upon a large scale. The
expense of horses upon a farm is always a great consideration ;
and especially upon small farms, the expense of horses, compared
with the amount of product, is very great, and absorbs a \axge
proportion of the income. It is estimated by many intelligent
farmers in England, that the horse-teams require for their main-
tenance full one fourth of the produce of the soil. I propose
presently to discuss this whole subject of brute labor upon a
farm, and shall therefore go no farther at present than to add my
conviction, that the expense of their horse-teams in England, the
cost of their horses, which, after a certain age, is always a de-
teriorating capital, the expense of their maintenance, shoeing,
harness, (fcc. &c., constitute a most serious drawback to the pros-
perity of English farmers, and that some little of this may be
charged to the vanity of display, and the ambition of extraordi-
nary size. Whatever it may be, on these allotments it is all
saved ; the labor, Avith the exception of the working of the cow
on one allotment, is all human.

The second observation, which occurred to me, was the extra-
ordinary pains taken in saving the manure. Nothing was wasted.
The animals were stall-fed, and kept constantly in the stable, and
a small brick or stone tank, well cemented with lime, was sunk
near the cow stable, and near the pigstye, which received all the
liquid manure ; and the contents of these tanks, on their becom-
ing full, were pumped into a small cart, with a sprinkling-box
attached to it, like that used for the watering of streets in cities,
and distributed over the crops, always with the greatest advan-
tage, and with effects immediately perceptible. The tanks in
this case were quite small, because the stock was small, and
9

98 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

made, with little expense, of common stone laid in lime, and
having a wooden cover for security on the top. They were well
cemented within, and might be emptied by a pump, or dipped
out with a bucket.

An eminent farmer in Yorkshire has lately stated that he has,
within the last ten years, made three tanks upon his farm, for the
purpose of receiving the liquid manure. The first he made con-
tained forty cubic yards of liquid, but he had enlarged it to one
hundred and fifty yards, which was filled three times a year, by
the produce of his farm. He is satisfied, from his experience, that
thirty cubic yards of this liquid manure would cause it to pro-
duce as heavy a crop as any other manure which could be
applied to it. With the manure which flowed into the tank, he
had manured twelve acres ; and this had produced heavy crops of
grass, which he had mowed three times, and then there was an
abundance, which he mowed late in the season and gave to his
horses. This he had found to be the case upon land which had
not been pastured for nine years, but always been mown.

I shall not offend any truly sensible person, if I add that the
most careful provision is made for the saving of all the human
excrements, by a movable tub placed under the seat of the water-
closet, and concealed by a door, which is carefully emptied and
cleansed daily, and thus saved from being offensive. This is
always mixed with soil, and, in the experience of one of the
farmers, cannot be safely applied to the land until it is a year old.
Of the value of this source of manure, now, in many cases, much
worse than thrown away, I shall subjoin some curious calcula-
tions in a note, which my reader, being forewarned, may peruse
or not, at his pleasure.*

* The committee for building a Lunatic Asylum, at Derby, proposed to Mr.
Haywood, an agricultural chemist of much talent and experience, Uie inquiry as
to the results which " the manure obtained from a given number of patients is
capable of producing, in the growth of crops, supposing the entire drainage of the
establishment to be applied to this use."

To this Mr. Haywood replied m a very elaborate and scientific report, with a
copy of which he favored me ; from which 1 shall quote a few paragraphs.

" The great object of my inquiry is, to ascertain what quantity of arable land,
in the present four-course system of cultivation, can be kept in a constant state
of fertility by the application of all the excretions, both liquid and solid, which are
produced by a certain number of individuals, together with the minor fertilizing
substances which the proper management of a large domestic establisliment is
capable of producing ; also to give, as accurately as possible, the extent of land

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 99

The third circumstance remarkable in the case was, that the
cows are fed in the stalls, and never turned out. The principal
food given them was clover, tares, or rye cut green ; the leaves
of mangel-wurzel, and, in the winter, turnips, mangel-wurzel,
carrots, (fcc, and straw. The cows were in good condition, and
though evidently not of a character to promise much milk, yet
the health of the animals was perfect. They were not selected,

which can be kept in the same state of fertility by the excrements of a certain
number of horses, cows, and sheep.

" The course I have adopted in this inquiry has been, in the first place, to
ascertain the average quantity of food, both animal and vegetable, consumed by a
certain number of individuals in a given time, and from a knowledge of the com-
position of such food to deduce the composition of the excrements, and afterwards
apply this to the composition of crops ; for it is now universally admitted that all
those elementary constituents which enter into the composition of plants or
animals, are primarily derived from the air or the soil, and that whatever be the
quantity of elementary constituents taken in tlie food of an adult man, in a given
time, the same quantity of these constituents will again be eliminated from his
system by the lungs, skin, kidneys, and intestines, in the same time. If, therefore,
we preserve the whole of the excretions made by an individual in a given time,
we preserve the whole of the elements of the food he has consumed in that time,
and, by applying these to land, should be able to produce again the same amount
of food in the form of corn and potatoes, together with an extra quantity of vege-
table matter, which, being consumed by a growing animal, would yield an equiva-
lent amount of flesh ; and these changes would be continued ad infinitum.

" It fortunately happens that those constituents of food which are eliminated by
the lungs are derived solely from the atmosphere, and, as there is an inexhaustible
supply of these in the atmosphere, no restoration of them to a soil is required.
On the other hand, those eliminated by the kidneys and intestines, are derived
exclusively from the soil, and, consequently, require restoring, in order to main-
tain its fertility."

* # » » # 44 »

" Thus we export from tlie fifty acres of wheat and barley, and the fifty acres
of green crops, by one hundred young lambs, forty yearlings, four young cows,
four calves, and two horses, the following quantity of those constituents of a soil
which enter into the composition of plants : —

Potash and soda, 780 lbs.

Lime and magnesia, 948 «

Phosphoric acid, 1549 "

Sulphates and chlorides, 21 "

Silica, 450 «

Metallic oxides, 8 "

Nitrogen, 2681 «

« It will be seen from the tables of the constituents of food, that the ingredients
contained in the liquid and solid excrements of one hundred individuals, and the

W6

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

bat chance animals ; in one case^ the yield had averaged seven
pounds of butter each, per week ; in another case, nine pounds
had been obtained, when another cow, which was grazed in the
pasture, yielded a very inferior quantity. The cows stood in
well-ventilated stalls, in one case upon a stone pavement, in
another upon hard-trodden earth ; were well littered, and kept
quite clean. The whole of the manure is saved in this way, and

bones preserved from tlieir food, exceed the above quantity in every substance
except nitrogen and silica ; but the deficiency in these substances will be much
more than compensated by the atmosphere in the former case, and by the soil in
the latter ; so that I should not have the least hesitation in saying that the excre-
ments of one hundred inmates of your Asylum, or any other, where the supply of
food is similar to the above, would keep one hundred acres of land on the common
four-course system of rotation in a constant state of fertility. It appears from the
calculations I have made, tha{ for every two hundred and fifty pounds of flesh
produced, the elements of one acre of ground are extracted annually on the four-
course system, and assimilated by the animals consuming it ; from which it follows,
that for every additional two hundred and fifty pounds of flesh produced, above
the quantity here given, the entire excretions of one man will be required. I
have purposely omitted the pigs in the above account, as they would live entirely
on the grains from the brewhouse and the refuse from the kitchen.

" Should you think it feasible to grow a succession of wheat crops, without any
intermission of green food, then the above quantity of ingredients would very well
supply sixty acres. The object of growing crops of turnips, clover, &c., is to
allow time for those constituents of white crops which exist in the soil, in an
insoluble state, to become soluble by the action of the atmosphere in sufficient
quantity to supply them. Were the whole of these added annually to a soil in
the form of manure, no rest would be required, and a succession of white crops
might thus be produced indefinitely. The cause of this not having been profita-
bly accomplished hitherto, is not so much from any difficulty which attends it, as
from unwillingness on the part of the farmer, or his ignorance of the mode of
proceeding. Had a portion of those liquid manures, which are suffered to run to
waste, from every town and farm-yard in the kingdom, been used for this purpose,
success would in all cases have attended the experiment ; for these contain the
very elements, which are rendered soluble in every soil by the year's rest, and
which, being assimilated by the plant, and afterwards removed in the grain, are
allowed to run to waste in the following year."

I cannot with entire confidence endorse JNIr. Haywood's views, especially on
the theory of vegetation, in respect to the cultivation of the same crops in succes-
sion, on the same soil. It cannot be said to be yet determined whether a change
of crop is rendered necessary by the abstraction of certain ingredients of the soil,
which are again supplied to it by the influence of the atmosphere upon it when in
a state of rest, or by the excretions of the crop, according to the notions of Decan-
dolle, which are poisonous to a crop of the same kind coming in immediate succes-
sion ; but the quotations which I have given from his paper show the workings of
a laborious and inquisitive mind, upon a homely, and at the same time an impor-
tant subject.

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. ^11^

the amount is much beyond what would be thought, where the
experiment had not been made.

There was another economical arrangement h^^i .which .
attracted my attention. Two or three of the allotments, with '
their buildings, were on elevated land, where wells '9ouldijQt';b§;
sunk but at great expense, and a supply of water would be iiii-'
certain. In this case, tanks were formed about eight feet in
diameter, by twelve in depth, into which the rain water from the
roof of the house and the stable attached to the house was led :
and thus, as experience had proved, an ample supply of pure
water was obtained for the use of the family and the stock, at a
small expense. These tanks were surmounted with a cast-iron
frame, which fiurnished a strong cover and a small windlass by
which the water was drawn. These tanks were formed of stone
found upon the place, laid in mortar, and carefully cemented by
gray lime mortar.

The cows were kept in a stable connected with the house,
over which were the school-room and the threshing-floor. The
grain, with the hay that was cut, of which there was very little,
was stacked out of doors ; and the cows were fed, almost exclu-
sively, in winter, upon turnips or mangel-wurzel and straw. I
have no doubt a more liberal feeding would have been found
profitable, but they were under the necessity of getting along
with the most limited and simple resources.

This management showed conclusively, in the fourth place,
that, where the resources are all carefully husbanded, and the
produce consumed upon the farm, the land is capable of keeping
itself in condition. The grain which was grown here was
mainly sold in order to pay the rent ; but the rest of the produce
was used for the animals within doors and without. The crops
were certainly good ; the wheat yielding about forty bushels per
acre, and the potatoes from three to four hundred bushels. The
clover was usually mowed three times in a season, and the first
mowing was made into hay for winter resource ; the lucern was
fed green, and was mowed five times. The success of the crop
depended much, without doubt, upon the immediate application
of the liquid manure. A rotation of crops is made absolute by
the conditions of the lease, so that two white crops may not
follow each other without the intervention of a green crop. The
clover crop of Mr. Cruttenden had sulFered a good deal from the
9*

102 EUROPEAN AGRJCULTLRE.

wire-worm, which he attributed to keeping the crop two years
on the ground. I do not know how far the supposition is well

' 'II f* founded, 3>ut:it. deserves attention. A great problem, then, is here
solved, if; to any. intelligent minds, it has been matter of question,

, 2 ^/^ \thkti where the. product is consumed upon a farm, it may be
made to furnish an ample supply of the means not only for
maintaining but improving its condition. I do not say that
manures may not often be purchased to a great advantage ; and un-
doubtedly a supply from other sources is indispensable where much
of the produce is sold from the farm. I have no doubt, likewise,
that even these small farmers would find their account in extend-
ing their live stock, and purchasing oil-cake, which makes a most
emiching manure, or other substances, for their consumption. A
farmer in Lincolnshire, of whose successful management I shall
presently give a full account, is of an opinion that his profits
have regularly increased in proportion to the quantity of oil-cake
which he has purchased for the consumption of his stock. There
are, undoubtedly, many cases in which the application of mineral
manures may be both useful and indispensable, and fully repay
any reasonable outlay which may be required for their purchase.
It is not certain that even these small farmers had availed them-
selves of all the resources within their reach. Nor had either of
them any advantage from the clearing out of ditches, from bog-
mud, or from deposits of marl. Nor had either of them, that I
could learn, made any experiments in turning in green crops with
a view to enriching the soil. The experiments, therefore, must
still be considered as imperfect, and yet conclusive as to the
recuperative poAver of the soil from the economical use and
application of the results of its own products. This teaches a
lesson to large farmers of the highest importance ; for, while trade
and commerce depend, to a considerable degree, upon large invest-
ments and successful adventures, the success of agricultural
operations depends most essentially upon the limitation of unpro-
ductive expenses, and the most careful application and use of the
products of the farm. In too many cases it happens, as Scott has
described the farming operations of Triptolemus Yellowley, " the
carles and the cart-avers make it all, and the carles and
cart-avers eat it all."

It was another beautiful circumstance in the case, that three of
these individuals, who, with their families, were now subsisting

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 103

independently upon the fruits of their own labor, had been ten-
ants of an alms-house, where their spirits were broken down,
their children separated from them, husband and wife divided,
and all power of mending their condition efiectually taken away.
New life was imparted to them as soon as they were uncaged,
and an opportunity afforded of obtaining from the prolific earth,
by their own willing labor, that support which Heaven formed it
to yield to well-directed industry. Separate from all moral con-
siderations, instead of being a burden and an expense, to the
community, they now became themselves aids to bear these
burdens and to share in these expenses. This was an immense
gain ; and, regarded by a reflecting mind in all its various bear-
ings upon the community and upon themselves, its value cannot
be overstated.

There was another circumstance in the case, to which I cannot
help referring with peculiar pleasure ; and that is, the provision
made by the labor of the boys for their own education. The
education, it is true, is of a very limited description. It embraces
only reading, writing, the first principles or rules of arithmetic,
and instruction in the elements and formularies of the established
religion. Even this was a great gain. To be taught even the
use of their own minds, in the acquisition of knowledge, is a great
gain ; to have even a few scattered rays of intellectual light
poured into the darkened soul, may call into powerful exercise the
desire of knowledge, which will impatiently search for the means
of further gratification, and invent resources for itself. Its effect
must be to elevate a human being, from a mere senseless imple-
ment or machine, into a consciousness of his own intellectual
nature, and bring with it a degree of self-respect, which, in its
humblest form, cannot but be favorable to good conduct and
virtue. But the children found at these schools, in addition to
mental instruction, that which many schools of a higher descrip-
tion do not furnish. They were trained to habits of regular and
useful industry, instructed in the arts of husbandry, and in the
most intelligent and economical application of labor. To what
better school could they be sent ? Under what better discipline
could they be trained ? I can fully understand how much in
this case, as in all others, must depend upon the character of the
teacher ; and I can easily suppose that it may be necessary often,
especially in a first attempt like this, to work with very imperfect

104 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

instruments. But while every proper precaution is taken to
secure a good moral character in the teacher, and all practicable
guaj-ds are placed over his conduct by his success being made
entirely dependent upon its correctness, a good deal, certainly, is
done ; and better minds, and persons of higher qualifications, from
the success of these experiments, may presently be induced to
seek these situations, in a country where the means of subsist-
ence and profitable employment are, from the redundance of the
population, becoming every day more difficult.

It is to be regretted that the farmers in general — perhaps it
would be more just to say, that many farmers — look with very ill-
humor upon the allotment system, and are opposed to granting
land for these objects, even when their landlords desire it. I have
found no instance of a landlord opposed to it, though I have
found with them a prevalent disposition to limit the allotment to
a very small size. I am not willing to impute motives where
they are not avowed. I have seen too many instances of the
highest and best minds acting under very partial and mistaken
views, in a manner unworthy of them, to allow me to commit
myself by any harsh judgment. The farmers, it is said, are
prejudiced against allotments, because the crops obtained under
this limited and minute cultivation throw their own inferior crops
into the shade, or, by demonstrating what the land is capable of
producing, may induce their landlords to raise their rents. It is
alleged, further, that the farmers are not willing in any way to
diminish the dependence of the laborers upon their favor, as it
might give them the power of demanding a higher rate of wages.
The farmers, in the next place, it is said, are not willing that
their laborers should appear in the public markets as sellers of
produce, which, if the competition was not to be regarded as
affecting prices, yet it might inspire them with a hurtful sense of
their own importance. I report here only the suggestions of
others, and presume to hazard no judgment. The motives
named are, alas ! but too consistent with the weakness and the
too often unrestrained selfishness of human nature. Every man,
certainly, has a fair right '' to live ; " and the duty of every just
man is " to let him live." Blessed will be the day, if come it ever
should, when every man will learn that his own true prosperity
is essentially concerned in the prosperity of his neighbor, and
that no gratification on earth, to a good mind, is more delicious

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 105

than that which is reflected from the happiness of another, to
which he has been himself instrumental. I hope my readers
will not consider these reflections misplaced. It is evident that
the farmers have no direct pecuniary interest in the success of
their laborers, as far as that success might save them from be-
coming a tax upon the public. This tax, though always assessed
by the farmers as guardians of the poor, is yet always paid by
the landlord. It is collected from the farmer ; but the amount of
rent which he pays for his land is always regulated by the
amount of taxes by which the land is burdened. If any of the
motives which have been assigned do prevail with the farmers, one
can scarcely exaggerate the meanness and unworthiness of such
motives, and can only desire that these persons may have juster
views of what they owe to themselves, and to those whom the
dispensations of Providence have made in a degree dependent
upon their favor.

I am sorry to add my strong conviction, that the education of
the laboring classes is not viewed with favor by some who move
in a higher condition of life ; at least that they consider it of
doubtful value, and are desirous of keeping it within the most
restricted limits. There are, indeed, many noble minds, who,
properly appreciating its immense value, are willing to impart as
liberally as they have themselves received, and heartily aid all
eff'orts to extend its advanteiges to every individual in the com-
munity ; but this feeling does not appear to me general. Every
allowance is to be made for a condition of society where different
ranks are established ; where the lines of demarkation are main-
tained with extreme pertinacity ; where there can be no high
rank but as there is a low one ; and where, according to the
depression of the one, the elevation of the other seems increased.
Every approach, therefore, in this direction, is likely to be resisted :
and this feeling of superiority pervades, with an almost equal
intensity, every class in society, above the lowest, from the master
of the household to the most menial beneath whom there is any
lower depth. Education is the great leveller of all artificial
distinctions, and may, therefore, well be looked upon with
jealousy.

There is wanting, likewise, that just appreciation of the value
and benefits of universal education, which can hardly be looked
for but among those who have lived in a community where its

106 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

facilities and advantages are enjoyed by every individual as freely
as the sunshine and the rain. While I am writing, a highly-
respectable clergyman, not wanting in a benevolent regard for his
fellow-men, has said to me that '' the most limited education is
all that is wanted for these persons, as more would make them
discontented with their condition ; and if they can read their
Bibles and prayer-books, it is quite sufficient ; " and this same re-
mark I have heard several times from others. I cannot say that
I have not heard the education of the lower classes spoken of, by
persons apparently respectable, in very harsh terms, and in terms
with which I should be unwilling to stain my pages. I will only
add that I deem such views entirely erroneous and unfounded. If,
indeed, there are good reasons for the laborers being discontented
with their condition, let the evils of it be remedied. But if it
be a discontent arising from circumstances of hardship — if so they
must be deemed — which no human power can remedy, education,
besides furnishing in itself resources to mitigate these evils, will
serve to give them more just views of human life, and to recon-
cile them to a condition which the divine Providence has made
inevitable. If education has a tendency to make persons discon-
tented with their condition, is it not equally objectionable in
respect to other classes in the community who find others above
them ? and in truth, as far as my own observation goes, the rich
and the elevated are quite as subject to discontent as the poor
and restricted, from whom the luring baits of ambition and
avarice are absolutely withheld.

That condition of society is of all others most favorable to
improvement, and to the development of the best elements
of human nature, where every means of improvement is fnr-
nished without restraint, and where men become the creators of
their own fortune. The favorite maxim of the great French
emperor was, ''Let the career be open to talents." In New
England, this great principle every where prevails ; and here,
where the advantages of education are freely offered to all, and
the highest conditions of influence and honor are equally acces-
sible to all, it may be safely asserted that no evils have grown
out of it, and that its moral and social influences have been the
best which the most philanthropic could have desired. In New
England, where, even among the most humble classes of society,
the literary attainments are often respectable, there will be found

ALLOTMENT SYSTEM. 107

among those classes the most devoted friends to public order, and
the most stanch supporters of her social institutions. I trust I
shall not be thought to speak with an undue enthusiasm in
saying, that the time has now come when there should be recog-
nized in every human form a moral and an immortal mind ; that
the ore in this quarry should be brought out and polished ; and
that the higher conditions of life will be themselves elevated, and
the whole community advantaged, by all improvement of the
lower classes. The subsoil plough is deemed the great discovery
of modern agriculture ; and by bringing the lower strata up, and
mingling them with the surface soil, and exposing them to the
same genial influences of sunshine and air, it will not be denied
that the whole, without injury to any, has been rendered the
more productive.

The experiments of the public-spirited proprietor of these allot-
ments have been perfectly successful in a pecuniary view. I
have seen the accounts. The rents have been paid with punc-
tuality. There has been no distress levied, and, among upwards
of four hundred tenants, scarcely an instance of failure to pay.
The rents demanded have been fully equal to those received for
lands in the vicinity, of the same quality, held in large farms ; in-
deed, they have exceeded them. At starting, she has found it
necessary to assist her poor tenants in the purchase of tools and
stock ; but these obligations are required to be liquidated.

The allotments are held in the following amounts : —

[n 4 rod

pieces, 3 ;

in 13 rod

pieces, 1 ;

in i acre, 13 ;

u 5 u

5;

" 16

1;

a a a 2 •

tc >Y a

5;

" 20

75',

" 1 "22;

11 8 «

75;

'' 24

2;

" 2 acres, 9 ;

u 9 "

8;

'' 30

5;

u 4 a 2;

"10 "

6;

" 40

108;

"5 " 5;

"12 "

71;

" 60

2;

" 9 " 1.

Total, 421 allotments. Amount of rent received, £428 8 s. 5jd.
This is without houses or barns, the rent of which is a separate
charge.

Of the occupants, the following are stated to be the number in
the families supported from the land, with the exception of the
small income from the instruction money.

108 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

4 acres, 4 persons in family ; 3 acres, 6 persons in family ;
g << "^ ic CI u 5 " 9 '^ " "

g « "^ II a u 5 '' 6 " " "

39 persons ; 28 acres.

I submit these facts to my American friends as exceedingly
curious. With us the land is not locked up by patents, entail, or
mortmain. With us land is every where attainable, and at prices
which bring it within the reach of every industrious and frugal
man. But it will, I think, be interesting to look at these humble
instances of domestic economy ; and they must stimulate the
most useful inquiry into the productive capacities of the land,
which seem as yet to be very imperfectly developed. We are,
likewise, not without our poor in the United States ; and the vast
influx of destitute emigrants is constantly augmenting the number.
For idleness and profligacy there is no just claim upon public
compassion ; but I am convinced that a considerable portion of
the poor would be glad to earn their own living if they could be
put in the way of doing it. Whatever contributes to this object
confers a public benefit.

It would be wrong for me to quit this topic without adding,
that, since my First Report, I have visited portions of the country
where, on the estates of some very large proprietors, (to one of
whom the United States and Great Britain are under the highest
obligations for adjusting their conflicting claims, and through
whose beautiful grounds I rode eight continuous miles,) the
cottages of the laborers were of the very best description ; and
their establishments, both within and without doors, indicated the
greatest neatness and comfort. Gardens for fruit, vegetables, and
flowers, were attached to all of them ; and they were charming
pictures of rural taste and embellishment. Many of these persons
had likewise small allotments of land. The wages paid to the
men were from 10 s. to 12 s. per week, and to the women 8 d.
per day while at work. This, of course, however, with the
current expenses of living, did not allow them to accumulate any
thing for sickness or old age. During the four weeks of harvest,
by working by the piece, the laborer would sometimes earn more
than 20 s. per week ; and the women and children, by gleaning the
scattered heads of wheat after the field is cleared of the crop, or, as

QUANTITY OF SEED. 109

it is here called, by leesing^ not infrequently collect four or five
bushels of grain. I have met with instances, where even more
has been collected. Such are the fruits of the most exact
frugality.

XIV. — QUANTITY OF SEED.

The quantity of seed proper to be sown has been a subject of
much debate. There may be an excess ; and an error may be
committed by sowing too small a quantity. An intelligent
farmer makes the following calculation of the advantage and
saving which would come to the country, if, instead of sowing
two and a half bushels of seed to the acre, it should be found, as
he maintains from his own practice and experience, it is sufficient
to sow one bushel to the acre.

"Allowing," he says, "that, upon a fair calculation, 7,085,370
acres are annually sown in the kingdom, in wheat, at the rate of
two and a half bushels per acre, which is the ordinary allowance,
there would be required 2,214,178 quarters (eight bushels per
quarter) for seed. But to sow one bushel per acre, only 885,671
quarters would be required ; so that the annual saving of seed
would be 10,628,056 bushels, or 5,901,192 bushels more than
the average importation of foreign corn the last fourteen years.
Though I merely take the instance of wheat, I am at the same
time proving what may be done with all other corn ; for the
saving of seed, which I practise, is in equal proportions with all
other kinds of grain, and with equal success."

The testimony of this farmer is so important that I shall be
excused for speaking more at large on this subject. This gentle-
man has been a practical farmer of more than seven hundred
acres of highly-rented, poor land ; and what he recommends, he
says, he has long and successfully practised — that he grows crops
much larger than the general average, and on soils of inferior
description, and with less than the ordinary expenditure of labor
and manure.

I will allow him to speak for himself; and the results with
him, and the account of the proportion of seed for an acre used at
Horsham, in the experiment which I have detailed above, aflford
10

110 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the strongest reason, if for nothing else, for making further and
more exact trials. The subject is clearly one of the first impor-
tance.

" The practice throughout England is to sow two and a half
and three bushels per acre, and the yield is seldom forty bushels,
and more commonly only twenty bushels ; and one tenth, at least,
of the crop grown, is consumed in seed. These facts, and the
knowledge that a single grain of wheat planted where it has
room to tiller out, will readily produce four hundred fold, and
often very much more, have induced me, in the course of the last
eleven years, to make a variety of experiments, the results of
which have shown me, that, independent of the waste, a positive
and serious injury is done to the crop from so much seed ; and
the result is perfectly analogous to attempting to feed four animals
upon a pasture sufficient only for one ; and, in consequence, I
have gradually reduced my proportion of seed-wheat from three
bushels per acre, which was my practice, down to about three
pecks, which reduction I have accomplished to the evident im-
provement of my crops.

" My practice is to drill every thing, (clover seed alone ex-
cepted;) to carefully horse-hoe, hand-hoe, and weed, so that
the land may be kept perfectly free from weeds, and the soil
between the rows may be stirred, and receive the benefit of fine
tilth and cultivation, of which gardeners are sensible ; but by
farmers this is lost sight of, or not sufficiently attended to. My
rye and tares for green feeding are sown in rows at nine-inch
intervals ; all my white corn at twelve inches ; my pulse at
twenty-seven inches ; and my root crops, on the ridge, at twenty-
seven inches.

" My proportions of seed per acre are as follows : —

Of rye, 1 J bushel ; Of oats, 8 pecks ,*

" tares, IJ do. ; " barley, 7 do. j

" mangel-wurzel, 6 lbs. ; '' wheat, 3 do. ;

" swedes, 1 quart ; " peas, 8 do. ;

" turnips, 1 do. ; '' beans, 8 do."
'• cabbages, 1 every three feet ;

After detailing his mode of cultivation, to which I shall here-
after refer, he goes on to say, '' I have frequently produced above

QUANTITY OF SEED. Ill

five quarters (forty bushels) to the acre, and have grown above
thirteen quarters of oats, (one hundred and four bushels,) and
above eight of barley, (forty bushels.) Having shown the suc-
cess, on an extensive scale, with thin sowing, I will explain why
it is that three pecks of seed- wheat must be much nearer the
correct quantity than ten or twelve pecks ; and that any surplus
of seed beyond a bushel must be very injurious to the latter
growth of the crop. The produce of one ear of thick-sown
wheat yields about forty grains, (I say thick-sown, for thin-sown
yields very much more,) and, therefore, the produce of an acre
(or twenty bushels, the ordinary average) must be, no matter
how much has been sown, the growth of the ears from one
fortieth, or two pecks of seed, (and that, too, is allowing only one
ear to grow from each grain, and forty grains from an ear.)
This being the fact, of what use are, I ask, or what becomes of,
the remaining eight or ten pecks of seed, which are commonly
sown? But, in allowing one ear only to grow from a grain of
seed, and each ear to contain only forty grains, I am far from
taking what in reality would be the produce ; for a single grain,
having room, will throw up ten or twelve ears, and these ears will
each contain from sixty to eighty grains ; and, supposing some of
my small allowance to be lost or destroyed, the deficiency of
plant is immediately met by the larger size of the ear, and by
the tillering which is made, and the additional ears so produced,
wherever room admits of the increase.

*' Among the many proofs I have had of the advant£iges
from thin sowing, the following is a striking fact : In the
autumn of 1840, I had to sow with wheat a field of eight acres,
and I gave out seven bushels for the seed ; but owing to an error
of the drill-man in setting the drill, when he had sown half the
field, he found that he had not put on half the seed ; but that 1
might not discover, by the overplus, his error, he altered the
drill, so as to sow the rest on the remainder of the field ; and in
this way one half of the field had little more than two pecks to
the acre, while the rest had nearly five pecks. I did not know
of the error, and was surprised, in the winter, by finding part of
the field so thin, and, had not the rest of the field looked much
better, should have ploughed it up ; but at harvest the thinnest-
sown half proved the best ; and I should never have known the
error of sowing but for this fact having induced the carter to
point it out to me."

112 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

'•' At first, no matter how much seed has been sown, nearly
every grain vegetates and finds space to grow ; and in the early
stages, when the air and soil are moist, and the plants small,
there is food fi)r all. But as the plants increase, a struggle for
room and nourishment commences, which increases with their
growth, and finally terminates by the destruction of the weaker
by the stronger plants ; but not until after a contest, lasting up to
harvest, which leaves the survivors stunted, and the soil ex-
hausted by having had to support three plants instead of one ;
and producing mischief, which is frequently the cause of blight,
mildew, and the falling of the crop.

'^ It is to this I would principally ascribe th^ mildew, and
blight, and falling, of the crop ; for so far my practice proves it,
that, since I have taken to sow only a bushel of wheat per acre, —
and I have done so now for some years, and on many hundreds
of acres of wheat, — I have rarely found any portion afiected by
any disease." *

This is certainly strong and decisive testimony, and shows
how deserving the subject is of the most exact and repeated
experiments. Since the foregoing account of the Horsham
experiment of the last season, I have received information of the
result of a second experiment made this season by the same
individual, Mr. Allman, nursery-man of Horsham, Sussex county.
He has dug an acre of land with spade or fork, and dibbled it
with the same kind of wheat which he sowed the previous year,
and the crop is fast advancing to maturity. The amount of seed
required for planting the acre, one grain in a hole, at the distance
of nine by six inches, was a little more than one and a half
gallon ; the seed was covered about two inches in depth ; the
cost of digging the ground ten inches deep was 2 J d. per rod ;
the cost of planting or dibbling the seed was 10 s. per acre, and
the expense of hoeing it was 7 s. per acre. No manure has
been applied to the land this year ; but of the character of the
soil I am not informed. I am assured that it promises to yield
as well as it did the last season. A specimen which has been
sent to me fully ripe, shows an equal growth both in the size of
the stalk, which is more than five feet, and in the number of
stems from a single seed. I shall presently have an exact

"* Hewitt Davis, on thin, sowing.

QUANTITY OF SEED. 113

account of the result, which my readers will receive with great
interest. The expense of dibbling by hand has been accurately
kept, and, as above, in point of cost, would show a great saving
in comparison with even the best machine. The increase from
a single seed has been in some cases most extraordinary, and
shows the prolificness — may I not properly say the unstinted
beneficence ? — of nature. I have myself counted, from a single
grain of wheat, ninety-five seed-bearing stems ; and I shall give
the account of another experiment, the product of which I saw.

A farmer, B. King, at Eastbourne, Sussex county, on the 22d
July, 1841, planted three grains of wheat ; and one of them pro-
duced a root with upwards of a hundred ears.

One grain, the shoots of which were divided and transplanted
tioice^ yielded, in 1842, tln-ee pounds twelve and three quarter
ounces of clear grain ; and the third grain, the shoots of which
were divided three times, yielded seven pounds fifteen ounces
and a half. The whole product of roots from this grain was
173; of ears, 3272; of grains, 97,028, and the weight as
above. Half an ounce of this wheat, carefully weighed, con-
tained 382 grains. This was the product of one grain in one
season, which, according to what was required for the Horsham
experiment, would be sufficient, in the second year, to plant two
thirds of an acre. Of course, it is not to be expected that such an
operation as taking up and dividing the plants could be economi-
cally practised to any great extent ; but it shows how very
easily and soon the seed of any valuable variety may be obtained
with a little pains-taking. Some of the most esteemed varieties
of wheat have been procured from the selection of a single head,
which showed in the field an extraordinary predominance over
its neighbors. This is understood to be the origin of the cele-
brated Chevalier barley, which was propagated from a single ear,
found by a gentleman of that name in his field, and carefully
cultivated. By the methods adopted above, a single head of
wheat might be made, in the second year, to furnish a supply for
acres ; and the means of speedily introducing a new grain into a
large district of country, might be transmitted thousands of miles
in a letter. Such are the facilities of improvement which a
beneficent Providence ofifers to those who are willing to use them.

An experiment of a similar kind was made, some years ago, by
a Mr. Miller, and reported in the Memoirs of the Bath AgricuK
10*

114 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

tural Society, in which the result of the cultivation of a single
season was even much more extraordinary than the above ; but
it is well known to the agricultural world, and need not be
restated.

XV. — STEEPING SEEDS.

I may as well here as any where recur to an experiment ex-
hibited at the Dundee Show, of the effect of prepared steeps for
seed. It excited great attention on that occasion. I visited the
grounds of the gentleman who made the experiment ,* and he has
been kind enough to write me, on the subject, a letter, which 1
subjoin.

"Seminaries, Dundee, 13th September^ 1843.

'' Sir,

" Since I had the pleasure of meeting you in Edinburgh,
I have thought a good deal about the way in which I ought to
proceed as to concealing for a time, or at once revealing, my
method of preparing seeds, so as to produce superior crops of
grain. I have at last determined that the better way is to make
the process known to the heads of agricultural societies.

" In accordance with this resolution, I have written to the
Duke of Richmond, as president of both the National Agricultural
Institutions of Great Britain, and to the president of the Royal
Agricultural Improvement Society of Ireland, disclosing the
processes which I have used ; and I now do the same to you, as
agricultural commissioner from the United States.

"I consider this plan better, in every respect, than sending
prepared specimens of seeds, as the applications for these might
soon become too numerous to be attended to.

'^The specimens of growing corn, which I exhibited at the
show here, were the produce of seeds steeped in sulphate, nitrate,
and tnariate of ammonia ; 7iitrates of soda and potass, and com-
binations of these. It was objected by some that the tallest
specimens of oats were too rank, and would break down before
coming to the ripened seed. I should by no means be afraid of
such a result, as the stems were strong in proportion to their

STEEPING SEEDS. 115

height ; but should there even be some reason in the objection,
the result might be modified by a modification of the process.
The tallest oats were prepared from sulphate of ammonia,
and I am convinced, from experiment, that the addition of a por-
tion, say one half, of sulphate of soda, or sulphate of potass,
would so modify the growth as to make the stalks moderately
high, and at the same time preserve the superior productiveness
of the seed.

" The barley, which, you may perhaps recollect, consisted of an
average of ten stems from one seed, and thirty-four grains on
each stem, was the produce of seeds steeped in nitrate of ammo-
nia. I may mention that the best illustration of the comparative
productiveness of prepared and unprepared seed was exhibited by
the contrast of wheat, sown 5th July, which, by the 10th of
August, the last day of the show, presented the following results :
the prepared seeds had tillered into nine, ten, and eleven stems ;
the unprepared into only two, three, and four ; and both were from
the same sample of seed, and sown in the same soil, side by
side.

" The various salts above specified were made by me from
their carbonates, and were exactly neutralized. I then added
from eight to twelve measures of water. The time of steeping
varied from fifty to ninety-four hours, at a temperature of about
60^ Fahrenheit.

^'Barley, I found, does not succeed with more than sixty
hours' steeping. Rye-grass, and other cultivated grasses, may
do very well with from sixteen to twenty hours ; but clovers will
not do with more than eight or ten hours, for, being bilobate,
the seeds are apt to burst in swelling.

" On the 16th ultimo, I caused four cart-loads of earth, dug
from about six feet under the surface, to be laid over tilly ground,
and spread there, and in this virgin soil, totally destitute of any
organic matter, I sowed seeds of oats and barley prepared in
seven different ways ; but, having to leave on the 31st, I could
not form a correct estimate of the comparative progress of the
seeds, as the season is far advanced, and vegetation slow ;
but, if in health, I shall revisit the place in October, and
shall then be able to judge better of the result. Along
with the prepared seeds, I sowed also some unprepared, both
in the virgin soil and in pure sand. They had all sprung

116

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

well when I left. I hope soon to have the pleasure of writhig
you again on the subject. Meantime,
"I remain, sir,

"Your most obedient servant,

"Jas. Campbell.
♦* Henry Colman, Esq. London.''^

There were exhibited, on this occasion, specimens of oats,
barley, wheat, and rye-grass, raised from seed chemically pre-
pared. Mr. Campbell adds in another letter as follows : —

'' It is now a considerable time since I began to imagine that,
if the ultimate principles, of which the proximate constituents of
most of the gramineous seeds are composed, could by any means
be made so to enter the substance ot the seed, and at the same
time not to injure its vitality, as thoroughly to imbue its texture
with an excess of these principles, the end (viz., of superseding
manures) would be accomplished ; and it is by doing this to a
certain extent that I am certain I have succeeded.

" The specimens of oats prepared from sulphate of ammonia
are magnificent, both as to height and strength, being six feet
high, and having stems like small canes, and consisted of an
average of ten stems from each seed, and 160 grains on each
stem. The oats from muriate of ammonia were vigorous and
equally prolific, but not so tall ; and those from the nitrate of
soda and potass were nearly equally prolific, but still '•less tall.
Big, or bear, from a preparation of nitrate of ammonia, like that
in which the barley was steeped, had an average of eleven
and a half stems from each seed, and seventy-two grains on
each stem."

Mr. Campbell states " that the ground in which his experiments
had been made had received no manure for eleven years, and in
it there was little organic matter of any kind." It was in a yard,
or old garden, next to his house ; but unless he had made an
analysis of the soil in respect to the amount of organic matter
contained in it, I should conclude that his judgment here was
at fault. This circumstance, however, is of little consequence,
since the experiments were comparative, and made in the same
soil, and under the same circumstances. The plants had been
principally removed from the ground when I saw it ; and I had
only to regret that the experiments, of which, from the apparent

\

STEEPING SEEDS. 1IT

results, he could hairdly, beforehand, have realized the impor-
tance, had not been made with more scrupulous exactness.
They are, however, sufficiently interesting and decisive to in-
duce other experiments, in which the results may be more
defined. Mr. Campbell's disinterested conduct in communicating
them to the public does him the highest honor.

Mr. Campbell has since sent the following communication to
the Agricultural Society, as to the results of the unfinished
experiments noticed in his former letter : —

'^ The salts were neutralized by adding the carbonates until
eifervescence completely ceased ; and this was done that there
might be no excess of acid." Mr. Campbell adds, with respect
to his succeeding experiments, which he proposed to examine on
the 12th of October, that they were completely successful, show-
ing a decided contrast in favor of the prepared seeds. In the
soil dug up from 6 or 8 feet under the surface, the prepared seed
showed plants with seven and eight stems, while the unprepared
had not more than three.

The preparation of seeds by steeping is not a new process.
The preparation of wheat, by soaking in brine or in a preparation
of arsenic, has been recommended, and, so far as my own expe-
rience and observation go, may be considered as a sure remedy
against smut. The steeping of Indian corn in a solution of
copperas and of saltpetre has likewise been supposed to stimu-
late and promote its growth, though this is not so well established
as might be desired. But a scientific attempt, like that of Mr.
Campbell, to combine, upon chemical principles, the ingredients
or salts deemed essential to the growth of the plant, and to fur-
nish them by soaking the seed in them, is a rare, though not
wholly an unknown attempt. Its partial success, in this case,
aff'ords strong encouragement to further experiments. The steep
may be supposed to operate in two ways — either as a stimulant,
to cause the seed to develop its powers of germination more
rapidly and fully than it otherwise would do, and thus gather
more of the nourishment which it needs from the soil or the
atmosphere ; or as supplying that proportion of saline or inor-
ganic matter which the plant requires. This is indeed very
small, '' though absolutely essential to the perfect condition of the
seed, and to the healthy growth of the plant which springs from it."
This is said to be, in wheat and barley, from 1 J to 2 per cent, of

118 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the whole weight ; and in oats it is said to be 3J per cent., though
much of this is in the husk of the oat. In being appHed at onc€»
to the seed in a form to enter and saturate the pores of the seed,
it may be expected to be taken up by the small roots of the
plant as soon as they are developed; and its effects, therefore^
must be immediate. But whatever may be the theory in the
case, should Mr. Campbell's results be confirmed by further
experiments, the fact will be obviously of great importance.

From some pamphlets translated from the German by Pro-
fessor Johnston, extracts from which have been published in
the Edinburgh Journal of Agriculture, it seems that great dis-
coveries have been made in Germany, in the steeping of seeds ;
and, in the enthusiastic expectations of one of the discoverers, the
application of manure may be dispensed with, and the rotation
of crops on the same soil, in order to recruit the soil, will no
longer be necessary. The confidence with which these experi-
ments are given, and their results proclaimed, would seem to
entitle them to attention.

I shall here take leave to quote from a paper of Professor
Johnston some of these statements. Franz Heinrich Bickes, of
Castel, Mayence, has published An Account of the Discovery of a
Method of cultivating the Soil without Manure. He says, " It
is twelve years since the discovery was made. The experiments
have been made at various seasons of the year, and the same
crop has been repeated on the same soil without regard to
the usual rotation. The cost is trifling, and the supply of the
materials to be substituted for manure is inexhaustible. The
testimonies in its favor are said to be from practical men ; and
they assert that, from examples in the Imperial Garden in Vienna,
in general the prepared seeds exhibited a very much stronger
growth, were of a deeper green, had thicker stems, finer and
fresher leaves, larger grain, and the grain was thinner skinned,
and therefore contained more meal.

'' The hemp was of a much larger size, and had many side-
shoots bearing seed.

'' The Indian corn had more ears.

'^ The buckwheat was upwards of three feet high, and full of
seed.

" Wheat, rye, barley, and oats, are thicker, and have more
numerous stems, larger ears, and more grains in each.

STEEPING SEEDS. 119

" The lucern was beyond all comparison stronger, had more
shoots, and its roots were as thick again.

" The disks of the sunflower were doubled in diameter ; the
cabbage had larger heads, the cucumber larger fruit, while the
unprepared seed yielded nothing."

Other testimonials are added from persons of respectable stand-
ing and condition. Other plants, besides those above mentioned,
are said to have been equally benefited. One fourth only of
the usual quantity of seed, of wheat and rye, was sown on a
poor, unproductive clay ; and yet the product was greater than on
the newest land of good quality, though aided by manure.

^' Ten or twelve potato plants gave, on an average, thirty large
potatoes each, and had stems seven feet in height.

" Fifteen stalks of Indian corn had, on an average, five ears
each, some having as many as eight or nine ears to a single
plant.

" The buckwheat was four and a half to five feet high ; the
flax had four to five stems from each seed. The white clover
was as large in the leaves and stems as the red clover usually is ;
the red clover and lucern three feet high."

The experiments of Mr. Campbell induced many farmers to
try the efiects of steeps upon their seeds. One of the most ex-
perienced and intelligent cultivators in Scotland informed me
that his success had been partial. He had made numerous ex-
periments, and in some instances with remarkable, in others with
no efiect. I am not yet in possession of the details, which I
presently hope to obtain from him, and on which I shall greatly
rely. As my Report is going through the press, I have been
favored with a reply to a letter written to Mr. Campbell on this
subject, which I annex.

" The accounts which I have received from various quarters
are conflicting, some exceedingly good, and others equally bad ;
but this I have learned, that the greatest success has attended
the experiments on a great variety of soils.

" I believe — and this is also the opinion of many others — that,
where failures have taken place, they are due either to misman-
agement or to the drought of the season. The results of my
own experiments are highly favorable ; and I have a variety of
specimens for the exhibition at GlasgoAv."

He adds, "My nephew writes me as under."

120 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

" I have just seen Sir John Ogilvie's overseer, and he states
that the steeped oats sold by roup, yesterday, at Id. per pole
more than those which were not steeped on the next rig."

" N. B. The prepared seeds were sown much thinner than the
unprepared, at least one quarter.

"Cranch &> Co., (Newcastle-upon-Tyne,) 30th July, write,
'We have received some good accounts of the steeps.'

"P. Bruce, (Hull,) 30th July, writes, 'I am glad to inform
you that one or two parties tell me that they will buy the steep
again, supposing that any falling off is attributable to the
drought.' He has himself seen some that looks very well.

'' I may add that any that I have hitherto seen looks exceed-
ingly well, better than the unprepared, although sown thinner."

I cannot say that I am sanguine as to those extraordinary
results to which, from the quotations which I have made, some
persons look forward, when there will be no longer a necessity
for a rotation of crops, and even the application of manure to
the soil may be dispensed with. But I cannot help thinking
that much remains to be achieved, and that much may be hoped
for. We are not to be surprised that failures occur ; but one well-
authenticated experiment, conducted in an exact manner, and in
which the extraordinary results may be directly traced to the
application, is sufficient to outweigh a hundred failures. The
exhibition at Dundee, supposing Mr. Campbell's statements to
be true, — and I know no reason to doubt, but, from his manly
conduct, the best reason to believe them, — satisfied me that some-
thing important had been efiected. I rely little upon mere
opinion and conjecture, even of parties above suspicion of dis-
honesty. The mortification of failure, the desire of success,
the ambition of notoriety, and especially any degree of personal
or private interest, — all may serve to color the vision, to bias the
judgment, and present grounds of hesitation, if not of distrust.
With a full share of confidence in the virtue of men, I have
been too often disappointed not to require the most ample evi-
dence in all cases of moment. I was not a little amused in visit-
ing, with several gentlemen, the farm of an excellent cultivator
the last summer, that, when he showed us in his field of swedes,
with an air of the most confident triumph, the surprisingly
beneficial effects of a certain application upon some marked
rows, every one of the party except himself was satisfied that

STEEPING SEEDS. 1^1

the rows in question had no other distinction than that of ab-
solute inferiority to all the rest. It would have been ' as useless
as it would have been uncivil to avow our convictions to him,
for men are seldom convinced against their will, and assaults
upon an unduly-excited organ of self-esteem, if they do not
arouse combativeness, inflict only needless pain. In agricul-
ture, being eminently a practical art, and as yet, I believe, clahn-
ing not a single theoretical principle as established, excepting
as first deduced from long-continued practice, experiments are
of the highest moment. Tl:^e careless and slovenly manner in
which they are commonly conducted, the haste with which men
jump to their conclusions, the variety of circmnstances which
belong to every case of importance, and the imperfect manner
in which these circumstances are observed and detailed, are the
just opprobrium of the agricultural profession. A most intelli-
gent and agreeable friend, in speaking of the best modes of
fattening poultry, and in expressing her distrust of some which
were recommended, said that her venerable grandmother always
fed and fattened her poultry in a very different way. But upon
being asked whether her grandmother's fowls were the best
layers, brought up the most chickens, and produced the best
poultry for the table of any to be found, she was compelled to
answer that on this point she had no information. A learned
naturalist, who, in many respects, was justly celebrated for his
acquirements, was once asked why black-wooled sheep con-
sumed more food than white, and proceeded gravely to give half
a dozen philosophical reasons for it, without having once inquired
whether the fact were so.

It is strongly hoped, that, under an enlightened system of agri-
cultural education, for which the auspices now are most encour-
aging, and by the establishment of experimental farms, many
important suggestions, in relation to agricultural practice, as yet
only conjectural, may be determined, and much actual progress
made in agricultural science, by the only infallible teacher —
exact and enlightened experiment.
11

122 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

XVI. — SPADE HUSBANDRY.

The spade husbandry, to which I have already referred, has
been undertaken by several gentlemen, in England, on a some-
what extended scale, for the purpose of giving employment to a
numerous population in the vicinity of some large towns, suffer-
ing for want of the means, or the opportunity, of earning a
subsistence. In one case, the extent cultivated by the spade has
been fifty acres ; in two other cases, over two hundred acres
each ; and the crops produced have been the same as in other
field cultivation with the plough ; such as turnips, cabbages, beets,
potatoes, barley, clover, and artificial grasses, oats, beans, peas,
tares, and wheat. The crops have been cultivated at not an
unreasonable expense, and the yield has been fully remunerating.
Oats have given at the rate of forty and fifty bushels per acre,
and, indeed, very much more ; and wheat thirty, thirty-two, and,
forty bushels. The instrument found by experience best for
use has been a three-pronged fork, fourteen inches in depth,
and seven and a]Eaif inches in width. By this instrument the
ground has been stirred to the full depth of the prongs of the
fork, but only about nine or ten inches of the soil have been
taken out and inverted.*

The principle upon which this practice is recommended is the
same with that of subsoil ploughing. The object desired is to
loosen the substratum or under soil, so that, in the first place, all
superfluous water may be drained off; in the second place, that
the soil may be brought into a finer tilth, and rendered more
permeable to the roots of the plants, in order that they may find
the easier access to the nourishment which they draw from the
soil ; and in the next place, that it may become enlivened, if the

* Mr. Cruttenden has contrived a fork with a sharp blade of about
an inch in width, which seemed an improvement on the common form,
and which he deemed very useful. The annexed en^aving- exhibits
the shape of the implement. The blade, like a spade, cuts off the roots
with which it comes in contact, and the earth, when lifted, becomes
broken by falling through the open spaces betM'een the prongs, com-
bining the advantages both of a spade and a fork.

SPADE HUSBANDRY. 123

expression be allowable, and enriched by the admission of the
air, by which all portions of it are thus visited, and gain from
the atmosphere the elements of vegetation which it fm-nishes.
Of the value of this circumstance no intelligent agriculturist can
entertain a doubt. There is another advantage attending the
spading of land. The tendency of drawing a plough through
the land is to render the ground more hard at the bottom of the
furrow, where the shoe or bottom of the plough presses upon it,
and to make it consequently more impervious to the roots of the
plant than it would otherwise be ; this is of course avoided in
the spading of land. The subsoiling of land is deemed of com-\
paratively little use, unless connected with a system of thorough j
drainage ; and this drainage would seem to be of equal import
tance upon land cultivated with a spade.

In Flanders, it is said that the cultivation by the spade pre-
vails to a great extent, and is eminently successful. In the
United States, where land is abundant and labor comparatively
scarce, it would be idle to recommend to any great extent
cultivation by the spade. Yet it would be curious to see what
might be done in this way on a small scale. One of the most \
productive farms for its extent in New England, within my I
knowledge, — if farm it may be called, — consists of seven acres, j
from which the farmer or cultivator sells annually to the amount i
of twenty-five hundred dollars, or five hundred pounds sterling. /
The industrious and frugal owner sustains his family in comfort
and independence from this source only, and is actually growing
rich. He resides within a few miles of a good market, and by \
his skill and industry he sometimes obtains five different crops in I
a season on the same land. The great question of the size of
farms will come into discussion as I proceed ; but I cannot now
enter upon it. Such examples of what may be called cottage
economy, are not without instruction to those who hold and
manage large possessions. In France, the farms are greatly sub-
divided, and the holdings are very small. It is estimated by a
statistical writer, whose authority is respected, that, among
1,243,200 of small proprietors in France, their possessions do
not average over five acres apiece. Political economists strongly
object to such small divisions of land, as unfavorable to the
production of wealth, and not likely to lead to those improved

12^ EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

modes of agriculture, which would be pursued under a system
of large proprietorship.

There is undoubtedly a good deal of weight in the latter
reason ; for implements and fixtiu-es connected with an improved
system of husbandry are themselves expensive, and few great
and substantial improvements can be made without a consider-
able outlay of capital. Such improvements likewise demand
systematic arrangements, and often extensive combinations, in
order to their being effected. I have known numerous instances
where lands required draining, and indeed were comparatively
worthless without it ; but this draining could not be effected,
from the obstinacy of a neighbor, through whose land only could
the water be made to descend. In other cases, where fields
were held in common, the same evil has been suffered from a
refusal on the part of the owners of the several pieces to enclose
the land, and to unite in accomplishing the common object. It
cannot be doubted, likewise, that the minds of men are
greatly affected by the nature of their employments ; and
although there are many cases in which active and strong minds
will rise above every barrier, and, in spite of the circumstances
by which they are surrounded, will develop their native great-
ness, yet the constant confinement of the mind to a narrow and
very limited sphere of action, will not be without its effe(
upon all its operations. The successful management of a large
farm, like the management of any other large concern, requires a
great deal of inquiry, calculation, reflection, and knowledge ;
and all this, from the necessity of the case, begets more inquiry,^
calculation, reflection, and knowledge. It is to minds only oi
this superior cast that we can look with confidence for enterprise^
and distinguished improvements.

The effect of such small subdivisions of land as those of which
I am writing, and those which are said to take place in France,
upon the production of national wealth, is another question, and
must be put in an exact form before it can be answered. If we
could suppose all these small farms to be cultivated in the most
improved and perfect manner, the gross produce would be greater
than under any other system. This, however, is not to be ex-
pected, and, for reasons already assigned, would hardly take
pleice. In a pecuniary result, therefore, the subdivision of land
into small farms is likely to fall much short of the product of the

SPADE HUSBANDRY. 125

land cultivated in large occupations. But in reference to a general
competence, and a more equal and just distribution of the prod-
ucts of the land, and in its moral effects upon the character of
the laboring population, the system of small farms should doubtless
be preferred.* If pecuniary gain alone must be the paramount
object of consideration, and the prosperity of a country is to be
measured only by dollars and cents, or pounds, shillings, and
pence, the cultivation of the land in large parcels would doubt-
less best effect the purpose ; but if the true prosperity of a
country is rather to be determined by the general comfort, im-
provement, and personal independence, of its population, we can^
hardly doubt that arrangements which most nearly connect an
individual's interest with his own exertions and character, and, if
the expression be allowed, make him th<3 creator of his own
fortune, are those which are most likely to effect these ends.^
The diffbrence in the condition of an individual laboring always
at the will of another, and having no other share in, or control
over, the products of his labor, than that which he obtains from
the willing consent, or wrings from the reluctant necessities, of
his_employer, and that of an independent freeholder in the soil, \
who has a personal stake in the products of his labor, who ap-
plies this labor as he chooses, and has the absolute control of its
results, can be best understood by those only who have seen
mankind in these two different situations.

There are two cases in which the spade husbandry might
have an important application in the United States. The Eng-
lish know nothing of, and can scarcely, as far as my own obser-
vation goes, be made fully to understand, a condition of things,

* " No one," says the Baron de Stael, " can compare the present state of France
with that which prevailed in 1789, without being struck with the great increase
of the national riches. Throughout all France, the greater number of laborers
and farmers are at the same time proprietors. Nothing is more common tlian to
see a day-laborer proprietor of a cottage, which serves as an asylum to his family ;
a garden, which feeds his children ; a little field, which he cultivates at his leisure
liours, and which enables him to sustain, with more chance of success, the terrible
struggle between laborious poverty and engrossing opulence." f

"' In 1838, the number of separate properties taxed for the impot fonder, in
France, amounted to the enormous number of 10,896,000. The population of
landed proprietors, with their families, is estimated at 20,000,000, or nearly two
thirds of the total population. The average size of each property is about four-
teen acres." I

t Quoted in Laing's Address. J: Porter's Progress of the Nation.

11*

126 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

in which every mail of common intelligence, industry, frugality.

and sobriety, the great and certain elements of success in almost

every department of life, may become a freeholder, that is, the

possessor in fee-simple of more or less land, according to his

desires or wants. Here, in England, land is so dear as to be

[ beyond almost the aspirations of men with small means ; still less

/ is it within the reach of those, whose whole wealth consists in

/ the labor of their own hands ; or it is held in large masses by

/ men whose active capital corresponds with the extent of their

r possessions, and Avho, in such cases, would almost as soon sell

I their teeth as their land ; or it is locked up by the laws of pri-

1 mogeniture and entail, so that even those who hold it have not

\ edways the power to alienate it.

V It has been said more than once to me, since the publication\
of my First Report, that it is no evil that a man, and any man, I
cannot own a house and- land, and that the condition of a free- /
^ holder is not preferable to that of a tenant. Certainly this must^
/ depend, to a great degree, upon the conditions under which the
I tenancy is held. But, without pronouncing it an evil, and
V leaving every one to enjoy his own opinion of the case as it is,
I deem it a great good where such a blessing as a home of
one's own, and a small farm of one's own, subject to no other
conditions than such as the common laws of the land extend
over it for protection, is within the reach and the early attain-
ment even of the humblest member of the community. Now,
we have in New England, and in other parts of the country, a
great many instances, in which men and their families, pursuing
some handicraft or in-door trade, and professional men, with
small incomes, are the owners of houses in the country, with a
few acres of land attached, on which they are occupied in their
hours of recreation, or at seasons when the calls of their trade
or profession do not press too strongly upon them. While these
small farms furnish a large proportion of the supplies which they
and their families require from the garden or the field, they arc
alike conducive to their physical, and, I add with equal confi-
dence, to their moral health. To such persons the spade cul-
tivation, and the minute and exact husbandry to which it leads,
would be of great importance. Among the Romans, seven acre^
were regarded as an ample allowance for a family ; and it would \
be extremely desirable to know what are, in fact, the productive \

SPADE HUSBANDRY. 127

powers of mHitie. As yet, I believe, they are very far from
l)eing ascertained ; but, in the course of ray agricultural obser-
vations, many cases have come under my notice, in which the
products from a very few acres, cultivated with all the care and
liberality which such cases admit of, have far surpassed those of
farms many times as large.

In one instance, which happens to be before me, the following
was the result: —

Three men were employed one week in digging an acre

with a spade, at 9 s. per week, 27 s.

The same amount of land, in ploughing three times, cost
7 s. per acre each ploughing, . . . . . . . . . 21

Against the spade, ... 6 s.

At harvest, however, the spaded land produced fifteen bushels
of wheat more than that under the plough. Here, then, was a
clear profit, at the ciurent price of wheat at the time, of £ 4 19 s.
per acre.

Another example is given of a farmer in Essex, on a farm of
one hundred and twenty acres.

'' I have annually dug," he says, " from three to five acres, for
the last five years. The soil I have operated upon is light, with
a substratum of gravel, sand, and tender loam. The expense
of the forking is 2 J d. per rod = 33 s. 4 d. per acre ; but I
always dig under the furrow left by the plough, which adds one
ploughing to the expense, viz., 8 s. By adopting this course, I
do not bring up the inert subsoil until the second time of dig-
ging. The influence of forking on the crops seems to be, that
all root crops are much increased in quantity ; the cereal crops,
which follow, are less injured by drought ; and the land becomes
much more free from annual weeds, as well as from those which
are of a more permanent nature. I had recently a person with
me who has made a series of very carefully-conducted experi-
ments, in which digging has been contrasted with ploughing.
He thinks the produce of the forked land was nearly double
that of the ploughed."

This farmer adds, '^ First, a man can dig a greater quantity
of land, in a given time, with a fork than he can with a spade.
My experience shows one sixth ; and it strikes me it must be so,
because the pointed ends of a three-pronged fork can be more

128 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

easily pushed into a hard subsoil than the continuous end of a
spade ; secondly, it does not bring up so much of the subsoil as
the spade, but mixes the earth more, a great portion slipping
through between the prongs; thirdly, the bottom is left more
uneven and broken by the fork, which I consider a great advan-
tage. One great objection to the plough is, the smooth, glazed
surface which it leaves below, and which presents a resistance
to the delicate fibres of the plant. If it is correct that, in most
instances, the present surface soil is nothing more than a portion
of the subsoil improved by cultivation, it must be right to
increase the quantity of corn-growing earth by subjecting more
subsoil to the same operation."

" An instance is given of the spade husbandry of a farmer in
Worcestershire, who has cultivated four acres of very stiff clay
land, two acres of it for seventeen years, and two acres for
twenty-seven years. He grows, annually, wheat and potatoes,
with jjbput one quar^er_of an acre of beans, the crop being
shifted alternately from one division to the other. His mode of
cultivation is as follows : As soon as the wheat is off, he ploughs
his stubble-ground, raking up the stubble to litter his pigs ; he
then digs it over with a fork, and plants on it potatoes in the
following spring ; this crop being kept clean, the land needs no
further preparation for wheat. He does most of the labor him-
self; but he estimates it to amount to about £4 6s. per acre:
his average produce has been rather more than forty bushels of
wheat and twelve tons of potatoes per acre. The system he
follows, as regards the cropping of the land, therefore, is evi-
dently of the most trying description ; and this is not all, for he
sells all his produce, even his straw, excepting a few potatoes
and beans, which he consumes in annually feeding about thirty
or forty score of bacon for his own consumption. He litters his
pigs with the potato haulm and stubble ; and the manure from
this source, and from his privy, with some clay out of his
ditches, which he gets occasionally and burns, is all that he has
to fertilize the land with.

"Leaving out of consideration the small quantity of beans
raised and bacon fed, valuing the wheat at 7 s. per bushel, and
the rest of his produce at the price he obtains for it, we shall
have something like the following account of his farming : —

SPADE HUSBANDRY. 129

£. s. d.
24 tons of potatoes, at 50 s. per ton, ...... 60 0 0

80 bushels of wheat, at 7s. per bushel, 28 0 0

2 tons of straw, at 50 s. per ton, 5 0 0

93 0 0

Deduct from this, manual wages, at £4 6 s.

IJd. per acre, 17 4 6

Seed potatoes for two acres, 25 bags of

180 lbs., at 4s., 5 0 0

4 bushels of seed wheat, at 7 s. 6 d., . . 1 10 0

23 14 6

Leaves him, subject to rent and parochial payments, £69 5 6

" This farmer than gives strong and mianswerable evidence in \
favor of the fork or spade husbandry. He adds that he has pur- \
sued this system of cultivation during the period of the last \
twenty-four years, with the exception of the first three years, \
when his neighbors 'ploughed his land for him for nothing ; that \
they are willing to do the same now, at any time, but he prefers I
going to the expense of digging it, to having it ploughed for j
nothing y * /

This is certainly an instructive example, and shows what may
be done by very limited and small means. We have, in the
United States, beyond a question, a large immber of farmers,
who, if they would cultivate, to the utmost of its capacity, a
small extent of land, in the most thorough manner, would find
themselves comparatively independent ; whereas, now, without\
capital, spending their deficient labor over a large surface, and l
doing nothing thoroughly, they lead a life of vexation, toil, and /
disappointment, without any compensating result.

To these examples I add the subjoined experience of a Scotch
farmer, who received a premium from the Agricultural Society for
his skill and success.

"In 1831, I determined to ascertain the difierence of the
expense and produce, between trenching land with the spade,
and summer-fallowing with the plough in the usual way. I

* These two instances are quoted by that able and industrious agricultural
writer, Cuthbert W. Johnson, F. R. S., in Journal of Agriculture for January,
1844.

130 EURQPEAN AGRICULTURE.

therefore trenched thirteen acres of my summer-fallow break, in
the months of June and July. I found the soil about fourteen
inches deep ; and I turned it completely over ; thereby putting
up a clean, fresh soil in the room of the foul and exhausted mould,
which I was careful to put at the bottom of the trench. This
operation, I found, cost about £4 10 s. per Scotch acre, paying
my laborers with Is. 6 d. per day. The rest of the field, con-
sisting of nine acres, I wrought with the plough in the usual way,
giving it six furrows, with the suitable harrowing : I manured
the field in August : the trench got eight cart-loads per acre, the
|)loughed land sixteen: the field was sown in the middle
of September : the whole turned out a bulky crop as to straw,
particularly the trenched portion, which was very much lodged.
On threshing them out, I found them to stand as under : —

£. s. d.
To two years' rent, at £2 10 s. per annum, ....500

'' expense of trenching, 4 10 0

'' seed, 3 bushels, at 6 s. 9d., 1 0 3

" 8 cart-loads of manure, at 4 s., 1 12 0

" expenses of cutting, threshing, and marketing, . . 1 10 0
Profit, 3 18 9

By trenched wheat per acre, 52 bushels, at 6 s. 9d. . £17 11 0

£. s. d.

To two years' rent, at £2 10 s. per acre, 5 0 0

" 6 furrows and harrowing, at 10 s., ......300

" seed, 3 bushels, at 6 s. 9 d., 103

" 16 cart-loads' manure, at 4 s., 3 4 0

" expenses of cutting, threshing, and marketing, . . 1 10 0
Profit, 093

By ploughed wheat per acre, 42 bushels, at 6 s. 9d. . £14 3 6

'^ I now saw that, though it might be profitable to trench over
my fallow-break during the summer months, it was by no means
making the most of the system, as the operation was not only
more expensive, owing to the land being hard and dry during
the summer, but that it was a useless waste of time to take a
whole year to perform an operation that could as well be done m
d few weeks, provided laborers could be had ; and as, in all agri-

SPADE HUSBANDRY. 131

cultural operations, losing time is losing money, — as the rent
must be paid whether the land is carrying a crop or not ; so that
in taking one year to fallow the land, and another to grow the
crop, two years' rent must be charged against the crop, or at least
there must be a rent charged against the rotation of crops for the
year the land was fallowed. As I felt satisfied that, by trenching
with the spade, the land would derive all the advantage of a
summer fallowing, and avoid all the disadvantages attending it,
I determined on trenching thirty-four acres of my fallow-break
immediately on the crop being removed from the ground, and
had it sown with wheat by the middle of November, 1832. I
may here remark that I did not apply any manure, as I thought
the former crop was injiu-ed by being too bulky. As it is now
threshed out and disposed of, the crop per acre stands as
follows : —

£. s. d.

To rent of land, per acre, . 2 10 0

" expense of trenching, 4=00

'' seed, 110

" cutting, threshing, and marketing, 1 10 0

Profit, ....670

By average of the 34 acres, 44 bushels per acre, at ) ^ ^ ^ q n
7 s. per bushel, >

'' The advantages of trenching over summer-fallow are, in my
opinion, very decided ; as it is not only cheaper, but, as far as I
can yet judge, much more effectual. I am so satisfied of this, not
only from the experiments above noticed, but from the apparent
condition of the land after it has carried the crop, that I have,
this autumn, cultivated about a hundred acres with the spade,
and the crops at present are very promising."

There are various cases in which the spade husbandry might
be most usefully introduced. In New England, especially in
Massachusetts, for the support of the poor, several towns have
purchased farms, to be connected with their alms-houses and
pauper establishments, where there is an opportunity of using to
advantage the labor of those persons among the paupers, who are
able to do any work, and who are thus made to contribute, in a
healthful and unexceptionable occupation, to their own support.
This is an excellent arrangement, and the results have in many

132 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

cases been highly successful. Here, in many cases, the land
might be wholly cultivated with a spade, and the expense of a
team be saved, which now oftentimes consumes a large portion
of the products of a farm, especially where the farm is small, a
fnll or complete team being as much required for the cultivation
of a small as of a large farm.

In reference to this subject, though it may not be deemed
exactly in place, I may be allowed to remark that, as far as my
observation extends, nothing of this sort is done in England ; no
farm being ever connected with a pauper establishment, and only
the smallest avails being had from the labor of the inmates
Indeed, it is obviously judged best — a conclusion which 1
regard with great distrust — to prevent rather than employ the
labor of the paupers. At one of the Unions — for the poor-houses
in England go by that name, being maintained and managed by
several towns or parishes uniting together for this object — I saw
a well-dressed and respectable-looking man employed in sweep-
ing the walks, and trimming the grass-plats, in the front yard :
and, upon my inquiring whether this man were a pauper, I was
answered in the negative, and informed that he was hired as a
laborer in the establishment, because it was deemed bad policy
to employ any of the paupers in any such work, lest the place
should be rendered too comfortable and attractive. I said to
myself, — and I hope not to give offence in publishing my
thoughts, — '• The English certainly have their own ways of doing
things." I am not, by any means, prepared to say, they are not
the best that could be adopted. Indeed, we perhaps ought to
think them the best, if we consider how much experience they
have had, and how many means they have possessed for making
the most full experiments. But they are certainly, in this respect,
very different from what prevail on the other side of the water.
f It is an extraordinary condition of things, when, in the midst of
I want and suffering, human labor must be thrown away, oj
\ rather the exertion of it forbidden.

K

CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 133

XVII. — CONDITION OF THE LABORERS.

I have no disposition to obtrude my opinion, in any form, so as
to give offence. Indeed, it has always seemed to me unreason-
able in any case, or on any subject, that the honest opinions of
any man should be the occasion of offence, as though wethad
the same control of our opinions as we have of our limbs ; as
though we should have any other object, in any matter, but the
attainment of truth ; and as if there were any way of attain-
ing truth but by the utmost freedom of discussion ; and, above
all, as though men should, under any circumstances, feel at liberty
to exercise the same tyranny over the mind which physical force
and political stratagem give them over the person.

One cannot help seeing that wealth and prosperity axe not
always coincident ; that wealth is not therefore the infallible in-
dex of prosperity. In many cases, — and perhaps it may only be
rendered more striking from contrast, — the extraordinary accu-
mulations of wealth on one side are followed by a corresponding
depression on the other ; while the rich are made richer, in the
same proportion the poor are made poorer. As wealth increases,
avarice is more powerfully stimulated, and labor more severely
taxed. In the richest communities, the price of labor is always
the most depressed ; and with the increase of luxury the desire of
indulgence is quickened with all classes : Avhat might properly
be termed luxuries and superfluities become absolute necessaries
of life, and the expenses of living are proportionally increased to
all. We may deplore such results, and deem it easy to suggest a
remedy ; but what remedy is of general or of practical applica-
tion? The more artificial the state of society becomes, the
more difficult it becomes to provide the means of living ; and
yet who would return to the state of nature, or abate one tittle
in the actual refinements of life ? Communities are growing up
among us upon the principles of perfect equality of rank, the
equal combination of labor, and an entire community of goods ;
and there are examples, where such communities, bound together
by a strong religious tie, and subject to a most despotic govern-
ment within themselves, have been maintained, and are still
flourishing. But without this religious tie, or some strong
12

134 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

personal and pecuniary interest, and without an absolute head,
does any sober man dream that such communities can be sus-
tained, excepting within the narrowest limits ? or that such prin-
ciples can be applied, to any great extent, to society at large,
without an entire change in the whole structure of society,
and, I may almost add, an entire renovation of human nature
itself? Far be it from me, however, to suggest that the evils of
soctety are without a remedy, or at least beyond alleviation.
Our own country, under a free constitution of government, and
with an almost unlimited extent of the most fertile territory,
accessible upon the easiest terms, presents, perhaps, the most
favorable condition, which has been known, for a security of the
rights of labor, and the just fruition of its products ; but it would
be a great injustice to infer that there are not to be found in
England many generous and just persons, devoted to the
maintenance of the rights, and the welfare and improvement, of
the humble and laborious classes. There cannot be a doubt,
that, in a noiseless and unobtrusive way, much is, and infinitely
more can be, done for these objects ; and the aim of every good
man, as far as he has any power, should be to diffuse, to the
greatest extent possible, the means of subsistence and comfort to
all, and to remove every impediment to the most equal distribu-
tion of the products of labor among those whose labor in their
production gives them certainly a fair claim upon these products.
Now, whether it be by large farms or by small allotments, by
plough or by spade husbandry, that mode of husbandry by
which the largest amount of product, and at the least expense,
can be drawn from the soil, and with the least injury to its pro-
ductive powers, is to be preferred. This great point is not yet
ascertained ; and its determination must necessarily be different
in different places and conditions. But it is with England a
question of tremendous importance, what is to become of the
vast accumulations of people, which are continually increasing
here at the rate of from seven hundred to a thousand per day.
It is impossible to become accurately, though it may be slightly,
acquainted with the condition of things in England, the actual
suffering for a want of the means of subsistence, which prevails
among large portions of the population, especially in some of the
agricultural districts, and not to feel that there are powerful
elements of disease at work in the social body, whose disastrous

CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 135

effects must presently be felt in all their violence. Men with
families dependent upon their labor, earning not more than 7 s.,
and in some instances even less, per week, and oftentimes with
only occasional employment at that rate, present objects of deep
interest to a philanthropic mind. Men living themselves upon
a single meal per day, and that potatoes only, for the sake of
keeping a wife and children from absolute starvation, — and there
is ample evidence that such cases exist, — present a sad spectacle.
What are the remedies for such a condition of things, if remedies
there are to be found, it is not within my province, in this case, to
discuss. It is a hard lot, where the most severe and unremitted
labor will not avail to procure a subsistence for one's self and
family, and where, with immense tracts of uncultivated land,
the opportunity even of exerting this labor, however cheerfully
it might be rendered, is, for any cause whatever, refused or
prevented.*

The subject, it appears to me, — and perhaps wholly from my
being unaccustomed to a condition of things in any degree re-
sembling it, — is daily assuming a fearful aspect ; I do not mean
of danger to the government, — for the government of the country
seems never to have been stronger, — but fearful in its bearings
upon the public peace, the public morals, the security of property,
and the state of crime. I make no apology for touching upon it,
because the experience of an old cannot be without its advan-
tages to a new country, and the condition of labor is a subject
which materially concerns every just government. Any hopes
of a government being founded or administered upon strictly
moral principles are contradicted by all past experience.! The

* One can scarcely read, withoat a shudder, the following declaration of a
celebrated economical writer : —

" A man born into the world already possessed, if he has no assistance from his
parents, upon whom he has a just demand, or from society for his labor, has no
claim for the smallest portion of food, and no busmess where he was. At Nature's
mighty board there was no cover for him ; she tells him to be gone."

This passage, which appeared in the first edition of his great work, was after-
wards suppressed, being, it is said, too strong for the temperature even of the
rankest of the economical school.

f " To provide for us in our necessities is not in the power of government. It
would be a vain presumption in statesmen to think that they can do it. The
people maintain them, and not they the people. It is in the power of government
to prevent much evil ; it can do very little positive good in this, or perhaps in any
thing else. It is not only so of the state and the statesman, but of all the classes

136

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

objects of almost all governments seem to be the security of life
and property, the prevention of crimes which endanger life and
property, and the aggrandizement of those in power. I do not
know that more can be expected of them in the way of promoting
good morals, excepting in the suppression of the direct instruments
of vice, the support of religious institutions, and the provision for
the education of the people. A citizen of the United States, from
habit, if not from principle, at once resists and abjures any inter-
ference whatever with his religion, whether considered as matter
of worship, or faith, or feeling, because, under the government of
his own country, with which he has every reason to be satisfied,
all such interference is absolutely prohibited. All attempts at
enforcing moral duties by legal enactments would be futile and
hazardous, since, as it is with human rights, many of them are
imperfect, so it is with human duties, many of them are so unde-
fined that it would be difficult to prescribe them with any prac-
ticable exactness ; and laws of this nature are necessarily of a
negative character. They may forbid that which shall not be
done ; but it is much more difficult to enjoin that which shall be
done. They may determine by law that provision shall be made
that no man actually perish of hunger in the streets ; but what
degree of provision short of absolute starvation, how much relief,
and how much comfort, he shall have, is a matter far more diffi-
cult to be thus arranged. The provision for the education of
the people is more clearly within the power and the duty of an
enlightened government, on the ground, not simply of moral ob-
ligation, but of improving the national industry, increasing,
consequently, the national wealth, and of elevating generally
the character of the people, and so advancing the general
improvement, and promoting public happiness and order.

and descriptions of the rich. They are the pensioners of the poor, and are main-
tained by their superfluity. They are under an absolute, hereditary, and inde-
feasible dependence on those who labor, and are miscalled the poor. Nothmg-
can be so base and wicked as the political canting language, ' the laboring poor,^
Let compassion be shown in action ; the more the better, according to every man's
ability, but let there be no lamentation of their condition. It is no relief to their
miserable circumstances ; it is only an insult to their miserable understandings.
It arises from a total want of charity, or a total want of thought Want of one
kind was never relieved by want of any other kind. Patience, labor, sobriety,
frugality, religion, should be recommended to them ; all the rest is downright
fraud. It is horrible to call them 'the once happy laborers.' " — Edmund Burke.

CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 137

But It is vain to look to any government for any thing like a
paternal superintendence of its people. On a large scale it is not
practicable. Those who govern can scarcely be expected to
have virtue, and disinterestedness, and wisdom, sufficient for such
a task ; and those who are governed would not willingly submit
to their injunctions or regulations. Any compulsory influence
would be unavailing. But, then, it is the duty of every just
government to afford to every one of its subjects, as far as
depends on itself, the means of subsistence ; and institutions or
regulations, by which the right and opportunity for a man to
exert his talents in a way not morally injurious to another, are
taken away, or abridged, or in any degree interfered with, seem
wholly wrong and unjust. It would be invidious in me, because
perhaps out of place, to point out in any way how the institu-
tions of this country so interfere, if interfere they do ; but, as I
have said before, the condition of a large portion of the popula-
tion, — I speak of those in the rural districts, — being prevented
the opportunity of applying the labor by which they might secure
not only a subsistence, but the comforts of life, forebodes nothing
but evil, and may, with strong reason, engage the anxious
inquiries of those who have any power in the case, either of alle-
viation or remedy.

The population is increasing throughout the kingdom with
amazing rapidity ; and, strange as it may seem, the fact is beyond
a doubt, that the increase is always greater among the wretched
poor, whom extreme misery has made entirely reckless of con-
sequences, than among that class whose circumstances are com-
paratively comfortable, and who have learnt that their comfort
can be secured only by a wholesome and wise providence. The
complaint is universal and continual, that the population is too
numerous ; but this does not prevent their increase. Few will
be bold enough to hazard the question, Who is here who has not
a right to be here ? nor, like a party of shipwrecked sailors in a
boat, to propose the decision by lot, as to which of the party shall
be thrown overboard. But the great question must be met — not,
How are the surplus population to be got rid of? but, How shall
they be sustained? The insular character of Great Britain
necessarily and absolutely limits its capacity of providing for its
population from its own soil, although that capacity is yet far from
being reached. Idleness begets idleness ; beggary produces and
12*

138 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

perpetuates beggary ; crime engenders crime. Sickness and neg-
lect — a sad relief, alas ! to the benevolent mind — may do some-
thing towards checking this rapid accumulation ; for it is stated
in the commissioners' returns, and has been asserted recently in
the House of Peers, by a distinguished nobleman, that, in England
and Scotland, fifty thousand individuals perish annually by
disease, arising from the wretchedness of their habitations, owing
to imperfect ventilation, and the want of sufficient drainage.*
This, however, is a small number to be set against the annual
increase. Emigration may somewhat alleviate the evil ; trans-
portation contributes its small share. It is a curious fact,
however, that disease seems scarcely to produce any sensible im-
pression on the population, and that the losses occasioned by
severe and wide-spread epidemics are rapidly filled up and
obliterated. The effect of the extraordinary improvements al-
ready made, and daily being made, in machinery, in the manu-
facturing districts, is to diminish the amount of human labor
employed, and throw more destitute hands into the labor market.
What, then, under these circumstances, is to be done, is a question,
to the great moment of which I have already alluded. It is not,
in such a case, for men to wrap themselves up in their own
selfishness and indifference, and say, '' Let things take care of
themselves."

I was conversing with a friend on this subject, a gentleman
of great intelligence, and not wanting in benevolence ; and his
remark was, that an increase of production would do little for

* This same nobleman, in discussing this important subject, stated that, in ten
years, a larger number perished, in England, from these causes, than the whole
number of slaves emancipated in their colonies ; and for which Great Britain paid,
by a noble exertion, twenty million pounds sterling, or nearly one hundred million
of dollars.

This is a curious fact, and every day's history of public beneficence presents
analogous facts — cases in which thousands and millions are lavished upon objects,
doubtlessdeservingof sympathy and kindness, thousands of miles distant from us,
where the results are sometimes doubtful, and can never be known, but through
the testimony of interested parties, while objects of mercy and kindness, whose
claims are not less strong and urgent, and whose condition can be perfectly
known, and where the results of our efforts may be watched and ascertained,
perish in all their want, ignorance, wretchedness, and profligacy, at the very
thresholds of our doors. Certainly, true charity, which extends its wide embrace
to afflicted humanity every where, will not end at home ; and it might often be as
well for it to begin there.

CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 139

the lower classes, for they would get no more ; with the price of
bread, their wages, if lower be possible, were likely to be re-
duced; the advantages of such increased products would, of
course, go into the hands of the land-holders and farmers, or the
large manufacturers and mill-owners ; and that, for his part, he
saw no ultimate remedy but starvation ; that is, such an actual
reduction of the means of living, that multitudes should gradu-
ally perish from want, and so thin off the surplus population.
He said this, too, with all the coolness and indifference with
which he would speak of brushing off the flies from the dinner- .
table. " Good God ! " I said within myself, " has it come to \
this, that familiarity with want and misery can render the heart I
of man capable of contemplating such a result with calmness, I
and that human life on earth should come to be deemed utterly /
worthless ? If there be any humanity, or any religion, left in the /
world, they must be roused to prevent such a catastrophe."

Whatever anxiety, however, the prospect may excite in a
benevolent mind, there is no room for despair. It is not consist-
ent with the nature of my present undertaking, to discuss this
subject, in its various bearings and aspects, in this place. If life
and health are spared me, I shall do it in another form. The
people do not so much demand charity, as work. They do not
so much require to be supported, as to be allowed to support
themselves. The remarkable experiment, already referred to,\
of Mrs. Gilbert, a sagacious and benevolent woman, at East- 1
bourne, in Sussex county, who has four hundred tenants, on I
small allotments, and of whom not more than three have failed \
to pay their rent punctually, and who, on these small allotments, I
do, in many cases, all that is necessary, and in all, much for the /
support of their families, should command attention. There'
remains, as I have before stated, an immense amount of land,
which might be cultivated and rendered productive. These
considerations present the strongest inducements to an improved
agriculture. More land should be brought into cultivation ; that \\
which is cultivated should be better cultivated. The laborers ' ]
should have every encouragement and opportunity to help them-
selves. The interest of the farmers cannot be separated from
that of the laborers ; the interests of one class from that of
another. Embarked in the same vessel, they must succeed or
suffer, they must sink or swim, together.

140 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

I have been, again and again, told that a material change has
taken place in the condition of the farm laborers, within the last
fifty years, or even a much less time. The practice of forming
large farms, by uniting small ones, has tended to remove the
laborer farther from the intercourse and superintendence of his
employer. Being engaged in large numbers, individual interest
and character have been lost sight of : and, cottages on the estates
having been suffered to fall into decay, and not being renewed,
the laborers have been driven into villages, with a great restric-
tion of their comforts, and exposed to the temptations incident to
such localities. The large establishments have lost that patri-
archal character which used to belong to them ; men are em-
ployed much more by the day, and the week, than by the year,
as formerly ; and are used, and thrown aside, as occasion may
require, like mere implements upon the farm. Those strong
personal ties, so favorable in their influence upon the lower classes,
and not without most valuable moral effects upon the higher,
have almost ceased to exist. It was a delightful circumstance,
when, formerly, without any infringement of personal liberty, a
laborer was considered as a fixture upon the place, and as having
a sort of hereditary connection with the family and the estate
of his employer, which only the most imperious reasons could
dissolve ; so men and women lived in the same service twenty,
thirty, fifty years, and often for the whole course of their natural
lives ; their children and children's children were often born
upon the homestead, and the interests of the master and the
servants became identical. As they were paid, likewise, in kind,
instead of money, they themselves, being, in a small way, sellers
of produce, became personally interested in the state of the
markets ; and ties of familiarity, long vicinity, and connection,
mutual dependence, and a mutual stake in the results of their
joint labor, served to connect them the more closely together.
No one, under these circumstances, can doubt the advantages of
such a relation on both sides. There are many cases, which have
come under my observation, where a similar connection exists,
though in a form very much qualified by modern manners, and
where individuals and families have been in the same service for
many long years, and the aged among them are provided for, by
those in whose service their lives have been passed, in the kindest
manner, after all power of useful or active labor has ceased

CONDITION OF THE LABORERS. 141

and they are staggering under the heavy burdens of age and
decay. I have aheady, in my First Report, referred to instances
of this nature. But the system most prevalent is perfectly heart-
less : labor is considered merely as labor ; human muscles and
sinews are regarded like the parts of any other implement ; and
when their power ceases, or their elasticity is destroyed, they are
thrown aside, like worn-out machinery, into those melancholy
receptacles of decay and poverty, which have, very properly,
ceased to be called alms-houses^ and which necessity, and Jiot
charity, provides. I cannot say that such sentiments are pecu-
liar to England. They are, it is feared, becoming too common
in the United States ; not merely in the departments of agricul-
tural, and manufacturing, and mechanical labor, but likewise
reaching the domestic and household relations, where least of all
they should have obtruded themselves. This comes, in some
measure, from that narrow and mean utilitarian philosophy,
which stimulates avarice into a diseased action, and measures
every good in life by a purely pecuniary standard. Whatever
tends to divide these different classes, either in interest or feeling,
ic5, to a degree, and ultimately, I fear, it must prove in an equal
degree, injurious to both parties. Feelings of indifference, or
contempt, or cruel disdain, on the one hand, are likely to be met
with a sense of injury, a feeling of hate and revenge, on the
other ; and one of the greatest curses with which Heaven could
have visited mankind, would have been to have made them in
any sense independent of each other. There are no circum-
stances connected with the condition of society more to be
regretted than such as separate different classes too strongly from
each other, and create hostile or conflicting interests. A perfect
equality of condition among men is a chimera ; and if, by any
conceivable or possible arrangement, it could take place, the
earth, in its rapid revolutions, would not pass the half of a degree,
but it must be interrupted. But an equality of natural rights is
a position which, if I may be allowed to speak for one born
and educated in a condition of society where it has been always
acknowledged, would not be readily relinquished. Now, if there
is any right which should be held sacred, next to that which
every man has to his own person, it is the right of honest labor
to an ample share of the products of that labor. The rights
of the rich man to his possessions, honestly and honorably

142 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

acquired, are as just as those of the poorest man to the crust
which feeds or the coarse garment which covers him ; but, in
every condition of society, the rights of the rich and the poor
are reciprocal, and their dependence mutual and absolute. If the
poor are compelled, under the arbitrary institutions of society, —
and I use the term arbitrary in no offensive sense, — more sensibly
to feel their dependence, the upper classes in society, with that
spirit of justice and kindness which constitutes the highest
grace of poAver, and wealth, and rank, should be prompt to show
their sense of how much they owe even of all this power, and
wealth, and rank, to the labors, and services, and fealty, of the
poor ; and, without losing sight, as far as is consistent with the
spirit of Christianity, of what is called their position in society,
to endeavor to soften the severity of those distinctions, which,
if they mark the elevation of their own condition, equally
indicate the depressed condition of others. In that beautiful
language, to which every serious mind will listen with pro-
found reverence, " The eye must not say unto the hand, I have
no need of thee, nor yet the head to the feet, I have no need
of you \ " seeing that even those parts of the body which are least
'' comely," are as essential to the perfect and healthy organiza-
tion of the machine, as those on which the Creator has im-
pressed the highest attributes of grace, expression, and beauty,
and must be equally nourished from the great central reservoir
of life and strength, or the whole must suffer from weakness or
decay.

I do not mean to imply that there is any greater disregard of
these principles than is to be expected in a condition of society
so highly artificial as that which exists here, and where the
accumulations of individual wealth, and of what, from its heredi-
tary and inalienable character, may be termed class-property, are
so enormous. I do not mean, as I have already said, to express
any apprehension or alarm for the safety of the present institu-
tions of England ; for, though the flood of population is rising with
a continually accelerated force, and in almost a geometrical ratio,
yet wealth here is so strong, and poverty so powerless, and the
safety of the whole is so essentially concerned in the mainte-
nance of the integrity of its present form of society, and, above
all, the experience of a neighboring nation, on the subject of
revolution, is so admonitory and terrific, that almost every thing

CONDITION OF TUT LABORERS. 143

Will be endured before any violence is hazarded or permitted.
Still it is obvious to every reflecting mind how important it is to
the public peace and the security of property, that the rights of
the laborious classes should be fully acknowledged, and main-
tained in the spirit of kindness and equity, as well as of strict
legal justice, and that every philanthropic effort should be
stimulated and encouraged to protect and comfort them, and,
more than that, by education, moral and intellectual, — for, with-
out moral, intellectual too often proves a curse, — to elevate them
in their social condition. Next to the satisfactions of an honest
conscience, the highest of all earthly pleasures to a good man, is
that of conferring happiness upon others. I have seen, in Eng-
land, with a gratification which it would be difficult to express,
among persons of the most brilliant rank and the most com-
manding influence, many instances of a conduct which deserved
and secured all this felicity. Every where men are to be found
feeling their high responsibleness, and, without any offensive
assumption of superiority, devoting all their energies to the pro-
tection of the houseless, and to the comfort and improvement
of those whom divine Providence has cast within the circle of
their beneficence, and enjoying all that calm security which such
conduct is sure to bring with it. I confess there has been no
occasion in my life when I have been so much disposed to envy
the possession of wealth and power. On the other hand, I dare
say I shall only be compassionated for my simplicity, when I
add that the high stone and brick walls, with which houses, and
parks, and properties, are here often intrenched and fortified, so
high that even the nimblest jail-bird would look at them with
despair, and the fences every where bristling with iron spikes and
broken glass, and the sullen gates opening "with discordant jar,"
and the ferocious watch-dogs, to say nothing of other mastiffs,
often stationed by them, from whose terrific growl even the
honest applicant shrinks back with dread ; and then the signs
which meet your eye constantly, ''All vagrants and beggars for-
bidden here," " All trespassers here will be prosecuted to the
utmost rigor of the law," and '' Steel man-traps set here," often
bring a cold chill over me, and compel me to feel that property
held under such cautions loses somewhat of its value. At the
same time, it makes me estimate the more highly a condition of
society where the road of acquisition is equally open to all, and

144 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

where property being more equally distributed, and in almost all
cases the fruit of personal industry, its rights are more readily
admitted, and its protection becomes matter of equal and uni-
versal concern.

I return now to speak of the present actual condition of agri-
culture in England. I have dwelt largely, but I hope not too
largely, upon miscellaneous and incidental considerations. I
propose now to consider the actual condition and character of
English agriculture ; the improvements which it has effected :
and those which remain to be devised.

XVIII. — PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE, COMPARED
WITH OTHER PURSUITS.

I have already said that the agriculture of England — and here
I include Scotland — is highly improved ; but I may say, I think,
with confidence, and certainly without censoriousness, that it has
not yet reached that degree of excellence to which it is capable
of being carried. In parts of the country, not nmch has been
done ; in the best cultivated districts, it would be presumptuous
to say that the goal of perfection has been reached. Among
the highest gifts with which Heaven has endued the human
mind is a generous and insatiable ambition after excellence ; an
avarice of improvement, if so it may be termed, which character-
izes a great mind ; which knows in no case entire satisfaction ;
which no sooner mounts one summit tlian it essays to climb a
higher ; and which, if in any thing it should reach barriers that
are absolutely impassable, would, like the celebrated hero of anti-
quity, "weep that it had no more worlds to conquer." I am
not willing to admit that this ambition, one of the noblest attri-
butes of the human soul, can ever be stimulated to too great a
degree. Cobbett, in his terse, energetic, but rather coarse manner,
says that ''he despises a man who is contented with his condi-
tion ; " and in the sense in which he obviously designed to be
understood, I quite agree with him, that no man should be satis-
fied with good while better is attainable ; and that it would

PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 145

indeed be a sad condition of things, when the capacity, and still
more the disposition, for improvement should cease.

It is, and, as long as I can remember, it has been, common to
decry the farmers, as a stupid, ignorant, plodding race, satisfied
always to jog on in the steps of their fathers, and averse to any
improvements, such as are going forward in other departments of
industry. I think I may confidently deny the allegation ; and I
regard the reproach with the disdain which it merits. My own
observations, in England and the United States, lead me to the
conclusion, that, after making every just allowance for the neces-
sary difference of circumstances in the different cases, there is as
much intelligence in regard to their art, and as strong a spirit of
improvement, with the agricultural as with any class in the com-
munity ; and, more than that, the improvements, which have been
actually accomplished in the agricultural art, are in no respect
inferior to those which have been effected in manufactures and
commerce, or in the higher professions, — if so we submit to call
them, which I confess I do with great reluctance, — medicine
or law ; I would add theology, if I dared ; but I am afraid I
should get into hot water.

In medicine, if under that head we include surgery, one can-
not go through the streets of London, and observe, at the shop-
windows, the models of wooden legs, and artificial ears, and glass
eyes, and mineral teeth, and the promise of a new nose, where
the victim of misfortune has been deprived of his proboscis,
without acknowledging that the triumphs of the surgical art are
as brilliant as they are useful and humane. If one likewise
should place any reliance upon the numberless patent medicines
and nostrums which decorate the pages of the newspapers, he
would be led to infer that the reign of disease was broken up,
and the elixir of immortality at length discovered. But whoever
looks into the medical reports, and observes the variety of systems
and modes of practice which prevail, and which different col-
leges of physicians seem to bring out as regularly, and in almost
equal numbers, as the good housewife's hens bring out their broods
in the spring, and especially reads the accounts of the various
experiments, to which, for the benefit of science, their patients
are unconsciously subjected, and by which, without the credit of
inclination or consent, they are made, at their own personal ex-
pense, suffering, and peril, to contribute to the most philanthropic
13

146 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

discoveries, — it cannot be claimed for medicine, that it is alto-
gether above the charge of empiricism, or that it has yet accom-
plished all that is to be desired in lessening the number or
alleviating the virulence of diseases, or in restoring human life,
with any confidence, to even a tithe of that longevity, which is
claimed for it in those patriarchal ages when apothecaries' shops,
and medical schools, and degrees, do not appear to have been
established. It is scarcely better with the law. One of the most
distinguished legal gentlemen in England has lately stated, in his
place in Parliament, that such is the condition of the criminal law,
that even the most learned in the profession cannot, in many cases,
determine whether he is, by particular actions, committing an
offence or not. The records of the courts daily show that the
most momentous decisions often turn upon points the most
abstruse, and as yet absolutely unsettled ; that even the most
learned judges on the bench disagree in matters both of law and
equity, involving property and life ; and it seems but too often
the test of legal eminence and skill to ascertain, not whether it
be practicable to get '' a camel," but whether the lawyer can get
himself or his client, '' through the eye of a needle," as being the
most brilliant triumph of his art.* In theology, it cannot be said

* In a recent trial, a brute in human shape, or ratlier a demoniac, — for brutes
are not capable of actions so malicious, — was indicted for wounding, maiming,
and injuring, a horse. He, it seems, in the fury of his passion, had drawn out the
tongue of the horse, and, by rubbing it against one of his teeth, had cut off four oi
five inches of it, which he threw at the horse's head. His counsel opposed the
indictment, on the ground that there could, as defined by law, be no wounding
but where some instrument was used ; butthetootli was not Q.n instrument ; — there
could be no maiming but where some limh was injured ; but the tongue was not a
limh ; — and that there was no injury, because, though the horse found some diffi-
culty in eating his oats, he was otherwise as useful for labor as before his tongue
was cut off. On these grounds the prosecution failed, and the savage escaped.
Under such an administration of justice, it would scarcely have been surprising, if
the horse, had he not lost his tongue, had himself spoken out ; and it would have
been only fair if he had been allowed to bite off" the ears of the lawyer, and of a
magistrate who sanctioned such law.

At a court of assizes which I attended, and where the criminal calendar was
heavy, a young married woman, of decent and respectable appearance, having a
husband and children, and against whose character, in other respects, nothing was
alleged, was sentenced to ten days' solitary imprisonment, for having taken for her
fire, on the estate of a countess, near which her cottage stood, a stick of wood,
valued at threepence, from a tree that had been felled and partly cut up. If
tlie tree had not been cut down, and she had taken a piece as large, the act

I

PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE. 147

that much progress has been made in determining many ques-
tions which have vexed men's minds for centuries. I confess,
when I was in the Bodleian library, at Oxford, that immense
repository of the labors of so many burning brains and aching
hearts, with its five hundred thousand volumes, and considered
that, beyond all question, more than three hundred thousand of its
thick octavos and ponderous quartos and folios were commenta-
ries upon the Scriptures, or discussions of disputed questions in
theology, and yet, in respect to most of them, that we are still at
sea, and no land in sight, I could not escape the conviction, that
here, too, man is still in leading-strings, and has yet scarcely
taken ^' the first steps of infancy."

In respect to manufactures and commerce, if we compare the
common operatives in either of these departments with those of
the same class in agriculture, — the laborers in the mills, or the
sailors on boardship, with the common laborers on the farm, — we
shall find no great advantage, in intellectual progress, which the
one has over the other ; but, again, if we compare the highest
class of farmers with the highest class of merchants and manu-
facturers, it will certainly be no disparagement to the latter
classes to say that they are not in advance of the best-informed
agriculturists ; and that agriculture is now as much a matter of
the mind, as much a matter of intellectual observation and in-

would have been a simple trespass, and she would have been mulcted in a fine
only : as it was, however, it was a. felony or crime, and she was punished accord-
ingly. I could easily imagine the amazement of the poor unfortunate creature
at so subtile and philosophical a distinction. I must add, though it may seem out
of place, that a criminal prosecution for an oJBTence of this nature can have no
other effect than to engender a bitter malignity on the part of the poor towards the
powerful, and that the generally severe administration of penal justice upon the
humble and defenceless, (not, I must confess, peculiar to England,) when the large
flies so often break tlirough the cobweb of the law, and escape by intrigue or in-
fluence, can have little effect in producing reformation ; and its main tendency
must be to nourish, on the part of tlie lower classes, a deep resentment of the
partiality, and an utter hatred of the power, to which they are subjected. A
paternal administration of justice is not, of course, to be expected ; but what an
infinite amount of guilt and wretchedness would be saved, if the circumstances of
the guilty could be more mercifully considered ; especially if humanity and pub-
lic justice could be more exerted in preventing rather than in punishing crime ;
above all, if society itself, by its omissions or its institutions, were not, in too
many cases, the tempter, the minister, and the pander to crime, as well as its
terrible avensrer!

148 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

quiry, as aiiy one of the practical arts of life ; and at the present
moment, it is occupying as much attention from the highest class
of minds as any other of the business pursuits of life.

I hope, viewed in this aspect, I shall not be thought to speak
Avith undue warmth on this subject. I have, 1 am aware, already
alluded to it ; but I am anxious to assert the dignity of a pursuit
which I regard among the most honorable, as it is among the
most innocent and useful, in life ; and I would, if possible, soften its
aspect, and multiply its attractions, to a large class of persons,
who have been accustomed to look upon it with indifference or
disdain, but who would be sure to find in it, if ardently and
intelligently pursued, health for the body, and peace and satisfac-
tion— nay more, the strongest and most delightful interest — for
the mind.

XIX. — ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS liN ENGLISH
AGRICULTURE.

But of what nature are the improvements which agriculture
has actually made in Great Britain, which determine the present
high condition of the art ? A stranger cannot, of course, from
personal experience, compare her present condition with what it
was ; yet the marks of progress are so obvious that the most
transient observer recognizes them ; and many are now in the pro-
cess of accomplishment, which fill him with delightful surprise.
Many of these improvements are among the noblest triumphs of
art, and mark, as strongly as in almost any other cases, the power
of mind over matter, the subjugation of physical elements to an
intellectual sovereign.

1. Draining, Irrigation, and Warping. — Much of what has
been done is entirely out of sight ; whole fields, thousands and
thousands of acres of land, have been underdrained by pipes and
channels, spreading themselves like beautiful net- work under the
surface, taking off all the surplus moisture, and converting cold,
unfruitful, and unsightly morasses into productive and beautifid
fields. It would be curious, if it were possible, to approximate

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 149

the amount of this work which has been done ; but there are no
means even of framing a reasonable conjecture. It undoubtedly
embraces hundreds of thousands of acres, and much more is in
progress, since, important and indispensable as moisture is to
vegetation, nothing can be more prejudicial than a superabun-
dance of water, and especially stagnant water. Of the different
modes of draining I shall speak hereafter at large. It is a sub-
ject of great importance and utility, and requires to be treated in
the fullest and most exact manner. The next great improve-
ment, that I have witnessed in England, is in the fen-country of
Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, where vast teiTitories, embracing
many thousands of acres, have been, it may almost be said,
created, that is, redeemed from the sea, fortified by strong and
extensive embankments, and now rendered as fertile and produc-
tive as any lands which can be found upon the island. These
lands, likewise, are kept drained by immense steam engines,
which move with an untiring power, and accomplish this mighty
work with ease. In other cases, in Lincolnshire, another
process is going on, here denominated warpmg, by which, on the
banks of the Humber, immense tracts are enclosed, the tide shut
in, and compelled to leave its rich deposit, thus forming, likewise,
the richest meadows. Still another process is in progress, by
which the crooked course of a river is straightened, its channel
deepened by its own new current, and rendered navigable, and,
by the erection of artificial banks, the soil within them continu-
ally raised, and hundreds of acres, where so recently the fish, at
high water, sported with impunity, are rescued from the sea, and
covered with thriving flocks of cattle and sheep. In Yorkshire,
not only are various processes of redeeming and improving land
going on, but the curious process of removing, by the aid of
steam machinery, the rich deposit from the bed of a river, whose
current has been diverted from its natural course ; and this de-
posit, after being taken out, is laid, at not an inordinate expense,
on a peat bog hitherto unproductive and worthless. By judi-
cious management, it is spread on the land to the depth of eight
inches, and the covering proceeds at the rate of five acres per
day. In Nottinghamshire, a most splendid improvement has been
effected in turning the course of a small river, so as at pleasure
to irrigate several hundred acres of land, which were formerly
poor and comparatively unproductive, but now yield the most
13*

150 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

abundant crops ; and in Staffordshire , the same results have been
reached, not by a river, but by collecting the springs, and form-
ing a grand reservoir, from which the water is carried over
extensive fields, which are thus irrigated at pleasure.

2. Live Stock and Vegetables. — The next great feature m
the improved husbandry of England is apparent in its live
stock. I do not speak of it as seen at the cattle-shows of the
different agricultural societies in the kingdom ; for here the ani-
mals are all selected, or at a very great expense, and after a long
time, fitted for the exhibition ; but I speak rather of them as
they are seen in Smithfield market, every Monday, and at the
other smaller markets and fairs in various parts of the country.
Here are the cattle and sheep of several distinct breeds, and all
of remarkable excellence of their kind ; I do not say perfect, — for
that, in almost all cases, is assuming too much, — but leaving very
little to be desired beyond what has been attained. Their con-
dition and form, their symmetry, their fatness, are all admirable ;
and each breed is seen retaining its distinct properties, and,
what is most remarkable, showing how much can be done by
human art and skill in improving the animal form and condition,
and bringing it to a desired model.

From Smithfield market, if he goes to Covent Garden market,
in the infinite profusion and variety of fruits, and vegetables, and
flowers, which are always to be found here, and in the perfection
to which they are carried, and many of the finest fruits, in defi-
ance of an uncongenial climate, he will find evidences of the same
admirable skill and art which are displayed in other departments
of rural industry.

3. Agricultural Implements. — The next evidences of the
improvement of the agricultural art are to be seen in the extra-
ordinary display of agricultural implements at the great shows.
The exhibition at the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society
at Derby, in July, 1843, was so remarkable, that I shall be
excused for giving a statement of the number, and many of the
kinds, of the machines and implements there exhibited.

Of Tillage Implements, then, there were, — of ploughs, 148 ;
harrows, 31 ; scarifiers, 25; clod-crushers, 7; rollers, 12; couch
rakes, 4.

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 151

Of Drilling, Soicing, Manuring^ and Hoeing Machines. —
Of drills and bessers, and seed-sowing barrows, some designed
for sowing manure with the seed, there were 61 ; of dibblers, for
putting in the seed, 4 ; of horse-hoes, adapted to the cultivation
of drilled crops, 20.

Of Harvesting Machines. — For hay-making, 4 ,♦ horse-
rakes, 7.

Of Barn Machinery. — Horse engines, locomotive or station-
ary, 7 ; steam engines for threshing or grinding, 6 ; threshing
machines, 15 ; winnowing and cleaning machines, 20 ; crashing
and splitting mills, 36 ; corn and meal mills, 20 ; chaff-cutters,
51 ; cake-crushers, for oil cake, 14 ; corn weighers and meas-
ures, 2.

Field J Fold, and Yard Machinery. — Of turnip-cutters, 12 ;
root-graters and cider mill, 3 ; potato- washers, 2 ; steaming
apparatus, 5 ; feeding apparatus and fodder preservers, various ;
weighing machines for carts, cattle, &c., 4; fire and garden
engines, 11 ; machines for stock yard, various ; sundries, ma-
chines for breaking stones, iron field gates, hurdles, trucks,
fences, <fcc. &c. &c.

Agricultural Carriages, Harness, and Gear. — Wagons and
carts for market, for harvest, for manures, (solid and liquid,) for
family use, &c. &c., 38 ; breaks for carriages of all kinds ; sets
of wheels, axles, &c. ; harnesses and horse-gear ; drain tiles, and
implements for forming tiles, 9.

Dairy Implements. — Churns, 8 ; cheese presses, 6 ; curd
mills, 4 ; miscellaneous and various implements, and tools and
vessels for domestic and rural purposes.

It cannot be expected that I should characterize these machines,
and point out their various properties ; though this is what I pro-
pose to do hereafter, in respect to such of them as seem to me
most desirable to be introduced into my own country ; but the
number and variety of them which have been produced, and the
neatness and care with which they are made, evince great
mechanical skill and knowledge, and show that here, as well as
in other departments of industry, the mind has been at work, and
has produced the natural fruits of intense and well-directed
application.

4. Application of Steam to Agriculture. — There is, indeed.

152 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

one giant power, of comparatively modern invention, which, it is
thought, has not been as successfully or extensively applied in
agriculture as in some other departments of the arts. Every one
knows, at once, that I refer to the power of steam, which seems,
wherever introduced, to defy all competition ; and every day's ex-
perience appears to demonstrate that its extent is yet hardly con-
ceived, and its application only begun. The experiments, which
have been made in the application of steam power to the movement
of ploughs, have not, as far as I can learn, been attended with
success. It will not be safe to assert that this cannot be done to
advantage ; but certainly that is not the only application of steam
to the purposes of agriculture, which is to be looked for.
Indeed, besides the impossibility of an art, so intimately associ-
ated as agriculture is with almost all the practical arts of life,
escaping its share of the general advantages which the com-
munity is enjoying from this mighty agent, it has already
received many direct contributions from it. In the Lothians of
Scotland, those beautifully cultivated grain districts, which, when
seen in the season of their glory, with their green and their
golden crops, so rich and delightful as to make the heart of an
enthusiastic agriculturist beat as though he himself had a steam
engine under his waistcoat, a steam engine is to be found on
every principal farm, for threshing out all the grain, and for other
economical purposes, to which, on a great farm, these engines are
capable of being applied. The average size of these engines for
threshing is from a six to an eight horse power, and the cost,
which was formerly more than £ 120, or $ 600, is now greatly
reduced.

The advantage of steam, as a motive power, must be obvious.
It is always available, at all seasons, and without reference to the
weather. Its movements are uniform, whereas horse power is,
to a degree, capricious and unsteady, and horses often suffer a
great deal, both from too constant and long-continued pulls, and
likewise from frequent stops and starts. The steam power never
tires, and its operation may be continued to any length of time
or quantity. These are all great advantages, especially when a
farmer, from any sudden advance, wishes to bring his grain at
once into the market. It is obvious, at the same time, what
advantages he has in having his horses saved from the severe
work of threshing, and fresh for other farm work. The saving of

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 153

a pair of horses, on a farm, is estimated at £100 per year, (very
much more, indeed, than it would be with us;) and intelligent
farmers assert " that, with steam power, they save one fourth of
the horse power on large farms."

The usual quemtity of grain threshed by a six horse steam
power is at the rate of from thirty to forty bushels per hour ;
though the quantity must vary with the condition of the grain
and the straw. The average work of a threshing mill, driven by
horse power, is 150 bushels per day, and by steam power may
be reckoned at 250 bushels per day, which is certainly a great
preponderance in favor of the steam power. The wear and de-
terioration of the horses, and the expenses of keeping them, are
most important considerations to a farmer. Indeed, so far as my
observation goes, there is no single source of expense, none
which abstracts so much from the profits of farming, and none
of which the farmers in general are so little aware, as that of
horse teams.

In the great experiment, or rather improvement, going on at
Hatfield Chase, in Yorkshire, of emptying the deserted bed of a
river, and spreading this rich alluvion over a peat bog, the earth
carts are moved on a temporary railway by a steam engine, and
carried to their place of deposit, so that, as I have before re-
marked, five acres can be covered in a day, eight inches deep ;
and that which it would be perfectly in vain for any inferior
power to have attempted, is accomplished with perfect ease by
this willing but mighty agent. The fens in Lincolnshire, where
the uncertain and capricious power of the wind was formerly
depended on, and, of course, with little confidence and uncertain
results, are now relieved, at pleasure, of their surplus water, by
two steam engines, one of sixty and one of eighty horse power ;
and the quantity of water removed, the time required, and the
expense incurred for doing it, are all matters of exact calculation.
The workmanship of these engines — fori have had the pleasure
of visiting the spot — is extremely beautiful ; and the advantages
of the whole arrangement can hardly be overstated. I can easily
Relieve that the same machinery, on a small scale, may be applied
m many other similar cases ; and a very intelligent and spirited
farmer consulted me on the subject of his determination to erect
a small steam engine, at his own expense, for the purpose of
draining a part of his own premises. At the show at Derby,

164 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

there was exhibited a movable steam engine, intended to be
carried to a farmer's premises as it might be wanted for furnish-
ing a threshing power, and other purposes. I have not yet learnt
how it succeeds ; but if success is not attained at a first attempt,
it is ultimately certain. These machines are made of two, four,
and six horse power. The cost of the two horse power is £80,
or $ 400, and a three horse power, £110. This does not include
the threshing machine. A fixed steam power must have many
advantages over a movable steam machine. It is never safe to
calculate upon doing a great many things with any single ma-
chine. A self-directing machine would be a great discovery ;
but, short of man himself, we can hardly look for that, though it
seems sometimes to be nearly approached. A great difficulty, in
many cases, is, that the machinery must be trusted to the hands of
the stupid, careless, and sometimes malignant.

Such a power as this, on a large farm, may be applied to a
great many uses ; and its advantages, in many cases, will be
incalculable. The turning of a grindstone for sharpening scythes
and axes, on a large farm, would save, in the United States, a
great expense of labor and fatigue ; and its application to cut-
ting roots, and chopping long fodder for stock, to breaking and
crushing corn and oats, and to grinding grain into flour for the
family, as well as for cattle, would be highly useful, especially in
those parts of the country where water power is difiicult to be
procured. This is the case in all flat countries, and particularly
on the prairies in the Western States. There, in many cases,
coal abounds ; and there, if ever it may be expected, where miles
almost may be run without occasion to turn the plough, steam
may be applied for the purposes of draft.

Agriculture owes, also, a considerable debt to steam, for the
advantages it affords in the construction of agricultural imple-
ments, in respect to cheapness and uniformity. In cutting, saw-
ing, and planing wood, in grinding and fashioning metals, steam
power is applied to great advantage. In one, if not more,
extensive establishment, for the manufacture of agricultural
implements in New England, steam power is used, so as greatly
to reduce the expensiveness of ploughs, and other articles, which
are here made. The same thing is done in England ; and this
application of this wonderful power is every day extending itself
to a most extraordinary degree. I may well call it wonderful ;

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 155

for who could have dreamtj on first seeing a tea-kettle boiling
over the fire, that there were the simple elements of a power
destined to exert a greater influence in the progress of the arts and
sciences, and consequently over the whole condition of society,
than any other known ; which was to rend rocks, and snap iron
asunder, like bands of straw ,• which was to ride securely and
triumphantly over the mountain waves of the sea ; which was to
drain floods and lakes, and lay open their fertile bottoms to the
ploughshare ; which should compel the deep places of the earth
to disgorge their mineral treasures ; and, disdaining time and
space, plant distant countries, for all the practical purposes of
commerce and friendship, of reciprocal supply and mutual im-
provement, in the immediate neighborhood of each other ?

This brings me to another great benefit which agriculture
has derived from steam power, which I should do injustice to
pass over. I was in Smithfield market a few weeks since, and,
in conversation with a very intelligent salesman, — whom, let me
say by the way, I shall never remember but with a grateful sense
of his kindness, and a high respect for his character,* — he said
to me, ^' We have the contributions of seven hundred miles
brought to market to-day, and without the slightest injury to
their condition. We have beasts and sheep here from Suther-
land, and from the southern counties of England ; " and I be-
lieve he might have added, from Ireland and from Belgium.
Steam vessels and railroad cars bring them at once to the great
places of sale. It was always calculated, by the drovers of cattle
from Connecticut River to Brighton market, near Boston, — an

* This gentleman, whose business, in the market, is of the most extensive and
responsible character, presents an example so full of wholesome instruction, that I
hope I shall be pardoned for enlivening my Report by a reference to it lie
spends several days in the week in the most confused, noisy, and busy place in
the world, faithful to the interests of his employers, and retires at night, a feiv
miles from the city, to enjoy his cup brimful of domestic pleasures, at his own
fireside, in a crowded circle, where mutual love reigns triumphant, where the table
is covered with the literary gems of the press, and the walls of his drawing-rooms
are adorned witli the splendid products of his own pencil, displaying taste and
skill. So true it is that men, if they will be but true to their own intellectual and
moral natures, need not be utter slaves to the drudgery of business ; and, if they
will only look for them, may find, at the most moderate expense, within their own
reach, in the hours of recreation, too often squandered or abused, sources of the
richest and most elevated pleasures.

156

EUROPE A.N AGRICULTURE.

average distance of about one hundred miles, and which occu-
pied a week in its performance, — that a beef animal so driven lost
one hundred pounds in weight ; and then he usually came into
market foot-sore, sunken, in a state of fever, and looking like the
victim of cruelty, and the picture of misery and exhaustion.
Where steam power is employed, a journey of excessive fatigue
and labor, which formerly occupied seven days, scarcely occupies
now as many hours, and the animals are transported without
fatigue or labor, or loss of substance.*

A farmer at Ware told me that the driving of a fat beast to
Smithfield, about twenty-six miles, occupied, formerly, two days.
The animal now goes by railroad in two hours, at a cost, I
think, of not more than 2 s., and comes into the market fresh
and sleek, like a new bonnet from the band-box. But there is
another animal benefited besides the quadruped ; and that is the
drover himself, who, instead of spending eight or ten days or
more upon the road, at a great expense of money, and not a little
increased hazard of morals every day he is away from his fam-
ily, finds his business now accomplished, and his money received,
and himself returned to his home in three days. These are
considerations of immense importance.!

* I cannot say tliat they have not even some pleasure in the transit. This,
perhaps, might be very well ascertained by an inquiry of the passengers in the
third class cars, who, through the extraordinary disinterestedness of the railroad
directors and corporations, are conveyed with the same advantages of the open
air, the refreshing showers, and the full enjoyment of the rural scenery, and, in
general, in the same affectionate aggregation, and in precisely the same circum-
stances of position and comfort, in which the cattle are transported.

f In a recent debate in Parliament, a member, otherwise of considerable clever-
ness, in referring to the practice of the railroads in rendering the transits of second
and third class trains less frequent, and much slower than first class trains, was
pleased to say that " it was well enough ; for the time of the poorer classes was
not of much consequence, and they might as well pass it in the cars as any where
else." It would be difficult to say what, to any one but himself, is the vaAie of the
time of a man who could make so heartless an assertion. The poor man's time
and labor are his only capital. Enable him to do as much again in half the time
employed, and you quadruple his power of serving the community, and supporting
himself and family. As for the rich man, who made this declaration, I wish him
nothing worse than to travel in a third class car attached to a slow night freight
train, so that, in one of the long tunnels between Liverpool and London, his pleas-
ant imaginations might be rectified by sober facts, and himself have time for
reflection and repentance.

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AdllCULTURE. 157

It will not doj then, to say that steam has done nothing for
agriculture : perhaps no department of industry has been more
essentially benefited. In its equalizing the value of landed estate
throughout the country, it has conferred immense benefits. A
farm, accessible to the great markets by steam conveyance, though
two hundred miles from London, is now of equal value as if it were
within twenty miles. The farmer near London may complain
of this ; but it is proper for the community to remember how
many more farms are at a distance from, than how many are near
to, London ; and how little the interest of a few individuals is to
be brought into consideration, compared with the interest of a
large community, who are to have the advantages of the ex-
tended competition. Singular as the result is, however, and
contradictory as it may seem to all theories on the subject, it
does not appear, in fact, that any parties are injured by the facili-
ties given to the most distant to reach the market. In respect to
ail the great interests of society, which are in their nature fluctu-
ating, or at all dependent on external circumstances, so many and
such various elements are intermingled and combined, and so
many new conditions present themselves, that the calcula-
tions of political economists are constantly at fault ; and the
results are deeply humbling to the pride of human sagacity.
Into what a snarl of misery and confusion would every thing in
this world be thrown, if man's providence were substituted for the
divine providence ! and so it constantly proves that, just in pro-
portion as men attempt to interfere with the divine arrange-
ments, to control the great natural laws of Heaven, and to create
a perfectly artificial mechanism for the government of society,
they find their plans defeated ; and the certain result is any thing
but unmixed or even general improvement. I remember, a few
years since, it was confidently said, that, when the great Erie
Canal of New York should be finished, by which the agricul-
tural treasures of the Great West should find an easy transmis-
sion to the Atlantic, farms in the neighborhood of New York
city would become comparatively worthless. Yet, strange to say,
they have much increased in value, and are now certain to hold their
own. The vast increase of population throughout the country ;
the great increase of population in the city of New York, occa-
sioned, to a considerable degree, by the amount of business
which this very canal has produced ; the multiplication of trades
14

158

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

of every variety, and the influx of wealth to which it has con-
tributed ; with wealth, the increase of luxury, and the demand for
fruits and vegetables, — articles in their nature perishable, and
demanding a rapid and certain conveyance, — with various other
circumstances, have conspired to keep up the value of farms,
and, indeed, to increase their value in the neighborhood of New
York, and in every point from which, by these improved facili-
ties of conveyance, this great mart has been rendered the more
accessible.

The poorest markets — those which are most poorly supplied —
are in general those where the prices are lowest. Competition
and abundance create, and, to a certain degree, quicken demand ;
for the reason that they bring more customers, and create more
wants. Peaches are now sent by steam conveyances from New
Jersey to Boston, a distance of nearly three hundred miles ; and
strawberries from Providence, nearly two hundred miles, to New
York. What has been the effect ? To lessen price in a very small
degree in any case, but in many cases not "at all ; to increase the
consumption greatly ; and to induce the farmers, directly in the
neighborhood of Boston, to go themselves into the cultivation
of peaches, to take immense pains to guard against the evils of
an uncongenial climate, and to cultivate, as far as possible, fruits
of the best quality. Some trades may be overdone ; they may
be concerned only with articles not of necessity, but of mere
fancy, and subject to the caprices of whim and fashion ; but in
all those for which the demand is necessarily permanent, and in
a state of general prosperity in a country, the increased demand,
growing out of an increased consumption, will be always likely
to afford a remunerating price. But in any event, whatever
tends to the improvement of the general condition of the com-
munity is to be encouraged. It may often be attended with
partial loss or temporary inconvenience ; yet, in all cases, unless
conscience or morals are involved, individual benefit or advan-
tage should yield to the public good. The farmer near a large
town thinks himself injured by a railroad or canal which brings
the farm of another man, a hundred miles distant, in competition
with his own. Every one sees that the great public is to be
benefited by the increased supply which is thus produced. Now,
is there any good reason why the distant farmer should not come
to the market by any facib'ty which he may create or obtain, as

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 159

well as his neighbor, provided he does not hinder that neighbor
from coming in the best way he can obtain, any more than
there is why the distant farmer should be compelled to come on
foot, and bring his load upon his back, instead of availing him-
self of his horse or his carriage ?

5. Increased Production. — But in speaking of the ad-
vanced and improved state of English agriculture, there are,
perhaps, stronger evidences of its progress than any to which
I have referred, in the increased productiveness of the fruits
of the earth, and in the increased population which are sus-
tained by them.

In the ten years from 1801 to 1810, the average annual import
of wheat into the kingdom was such as to allow, if divided
among 17,442,911 souls, — the population of the kingdom at that
time, — a small fraction over a peck for the annual consumption of
each person. The average amount imported between 1811 and
1820, when the mean number of the population had advanced
to 19,870,589, would have allowed each person not quite one
gallon and a half for the yearly consumption. The average
amount of importation for the five years from 1831 to 1835,
when the mean number of consumers was over 25,000,000,
if fairly divided, would have given to each person one gallon
of wheat. Taking the three years 1833, 1834, 1835, the im-
portation Avould have allowed only one pint and one fifth, or
about fifteen ounces, of fine flour to each consumer.''^

This is certainly a very small amount, and demonstrates the
immense agricultural resoiu'ces of the country. It shows as
strongly the improvements in cultivation, by which, under a fast-
increasing population, the dependence on a foreign supply for
bread is continually growing less. This can only arise from two
causes, the bringing more land into cultivation, and a more im-
proved cultivation. Both causes have probably operated to a
degree, and of the latter the evidences are every where numer-
ous and striking.

I was asking a farmer in Berkshire county, England, — vener-
able as an octogenarian, — whether he had seen any great im-

* See an admirable work, full of information — Porter's Progress of the
Nation, Vol. I. p. 147.

WQ EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

provements in agriculture ; to which, in spite of the prejudices
which too often obscure or pervert the vision at so advanced a
period of life, he replied, with perfect candor, "Immense im-
provements ; we knew nothing ; every thing is now better done ;
the crops are far more various and more abundant ; the product
of wheat has almost doubled ; the turnip cultivation has been
created ; the implements are far better ; the live stock is beyond
all comparison better ; every thing, every thing is better." The
good old man had lived, like Simeon, in, indeed, a far hum-
bler sense, to see the marked and strong tokens of the divine
goodness in the progressive improvement of every thing around
him ; and he proclaimed it with the glowing enthusiasm of
youth, and showed the fire still burning under the snow.
Happy old age, when, instead of a mind soured under the accu-
mulated burdens and infirmities of advanced years, and covered
with mossy prejudices, it benevolently acknowledges good wher-
ever good is found ; progress wherever progress is made ; and,
instead of growling at the degeneracy of the present times, and
sighing over the fading reminiscences of what it deems the
superiority of years which are passed, delights in the actual
improvements of the present, and sees in them the foreshadow-
ing of far greater improvements in the distant prospect, when
the advances now made, great as they may actually be, and still
greater as they seem in comparison with those of days gone by,
will be found to be only the first lessons of childhood ! There
is a good deal of this spirit or temper here, called by the gentle
name, in England, of co7iservatism ; but this man's mind was
happily free from it. I have all reasonable respect for antiquity ;
but, if the presumption may be pardoned, I beg leave to say,
with Lord Bacon, I reckon that to be antiquity which is farthest
from the beginning. The present times are, therefore, more
ancient than those which have preceded them, and are to be
reverenced as imbodying the accumulated wisdom and ex-
perience of past ages. This spirit of improvement, now so rife
and active, is the foundation of all intelligent hopes of further
progress ; and I am happy in saying that in nothing is it more
obvious than in agriculture.

6. Royal Agricultural Society. — In this progress the
Royal Agricultural Society of England contributes its full share-

ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 161

This was established about 1837, and embraces a large array of
the highest rank and talent in the kingdom, and a vast body of
farmers, landlords, and others interested in agricultm-e. Its funds
are large, arising from donations and an annual subscription of
a guinea from each of its members ; but it has received no
endowment from the government. Its objects comprehend every
branch of husbandry and rural economy. It has a central office,
or building, in Hanover Square, London, where the secretary of
the society resides, and where the council of the society and
other members hold weekly and monthly meetings, for the man-
agement of the business of the society, and the discussion of
agricultural subjects, and the reception of agricultural infor-
mation. This conduces very much to the interest felt in the
projects and operations of the society, and is the means of
diffusing a great amount of valuable information.

It has begun here the establishment of an agricultural library
and museum, which presently must assume a considerable im-
portance, and become curious and useful. The object of the
library is to collect the most useful and valuable publications on
subjects connected with agriculture, in all its various and kindred
branches, including likewise geology, botany, agricultural chem-
istry, engineering, and manufacturing, as far as they are con-
nected with the making of agricultural implements, and the
great agricultural operations of draining, embanking, irrigation, and
other important farming processes. The object of its museum is to
exhibit specimens of agricultural productions, which are capable
of preservation, seeds, plants, grasses, samples of wool, mineral
manures, models and drawings of agricultural implements, and
whatever, in any way, may conduce to the advancement of the
science or practice of agriculture. It is obvious how very im-
portant such an establishment must prove, by giving practical
men an opportunity of inspecting, at their leisure, the most
improved subjects of cultivation, the best grains, and the best
grasses and vegetables, and, at the same time, the best tools and
machines, with which to cultivate them. I have often urged the
establishment of agricultural museums upon my countrymen,
especially in the capitals of the states and of the United States ;
where the members of the different legislatures assemble. Com-
ing, as they do, from different and distant parts of the country,
they will be enabled to carry home information of the utmost
14*

162 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

importance to the farmers, besides having their own knowledge
advanced, and their own zeal quickened in this great cause. The
commissioner of patents in Washington, distinguished by his
indefatigable exertions for the advancement of agriculture, has
already laid the foundation of such a collection, at the metropo-
lis of the country, and in connection with his own department,
where models of all patented agricultural machinery are always
to be seen. It is to be hoped that the friends of an improved
agriculture in the country will encourage and assist him in ex-
tending his collection of valuable grains and seeds. There are
few ways so little expensive, in which they may render so much
service to the country. It would be desirable that the govern-
ment should enjoin it upon the commanders of all their ships of
war, visiting different parts of the globe, that they should collect
and bring home such seeds and plants, and such models of im-
plements, as would be likely to be of use. That universal vege-
table, the potato, furnishing so much food to man and beast, and
scarcely second to any in value, considering the multitudes whom
it supplies, and the quantity of food it affords, is said to be an
importation from South America. The cotton plant, a source of
enormous wealth to the country, is likewise esteemed a foreign
plant.

Besides this, the Royal Agricultural Society issues a semi-
yearly publication of valuable communications and papers, both
on the science and practice of agriculture, which fall in its way,
or are made to the society in reply to queries proposed for discus-
sion and for information, upon* which it offers premiums of a
pecuniary or an honorary nature.

The society, likewise, at some place in the country, easily
accessible, hold an annual show or exhibition of animals,
implements, and agricultural products, upon the best of which it
awards premiums. This occupies, generally, four days. Tues-
day is exclusively assigned to the several committees for the
inspection of subjects of premium, in the way of implements
and agricultural machinery, when no persons whatever, except-
ing the committees and persons necessarily attendant upon therri,
are admitted to the yard, so that they have a favorable opportu-
nity of quiet inspection, uninterrupted by any interested or curi-
ous parties ; Wednesday is devoted, in the same way, to the
examination of the animals, and afterwards the yards are open

ACTUAL IIVIPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 163

to the public upon payment of a reasonable entrance fee j and on
Fridays a public sale, at auction, is held of such animals, or imple-
ments, as their owners are willing to dispose of in this way. The
collection of people, on such occasions, from all parts of the coun-
try, and, I may properly add, from all parts of the world, is im-
mense. Two large public dinners are given on the occasion ;
the one called the council dinner, on Wednesday, and the other,
called the society^s dinner, on Thursday, when provision is made
for fifteen hundred guests, in a pavilion erected for the purpose.
These dinners are, in general, seasons of great hilarity, and pro-
motive of sympathy in the great cause of agricultural improve-
ment. If no other good comes of them to agriculture, they serve
at least the purpose of consumption, and so quicken price and
demand.

On these occasions, the prizes are announced to the successful
candidates ; and these premiums are given either in medals, plate,
or money, and are received with no small degree of public and
self-congratulation.

The arrangements, in general, are made with great care. The
animals are assorted in distinct classes, wath separate committees
for the examination of each class ; and the implements are placed
according to their different designs and uses. It would be im-
possible to convey an accurate or adequate impression of the
number and variety of the animals offered, in such cases, for exhi-
bition and premium. I have already given a list and the number
of agricultural implements exhibited the last year at the Derby
show ; but that conveys no idea of the ingenuity and skill
evinced in their construction. One is led to conclude, from the
inspection, that there is no operation or function, connected with
human life and labor, for which mechanical labor does not attempt,
and may not presently succeed in furnishing an instrument or
machine. In many cases, a machine is any thing but a facility ;
and not a few of the machines, both in their contrivance and the
expensive and showy manner in which they are got up, evince
pretty strongly the gauge which the contrivers and makers have
taken of the understandings and pockets of the probable pur-
chasers. They are seldom at a loss to put the pail under a full
cow.

In many respects, the arrangements are admirable, and well

164 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

worthy of imitation.* Every possible effort is made to secm^e an
impartial decision among the competitors ; for besides that they
are not suffered by their presence to influence the examiners, the
examiners themselves are selected from among persons who are
as far as possible disinterested, and not likely to be influenced.
They are chosen, likewise, with a special reference, in their charac-
ters and qualifications, to the nature of the subjects submitted ;

* The terms oit which the premiums for seed wheat are to be awarded are
well worth the observation of other agricultural societies, and I therefore subjoin
them.

"SEED WHEAT.

" I. Thirty Sovereigns, or a Piece of Plate of that value, will be given to tlie
Exhibiter at the Meeting at Derby of the best 14 bushels of White Wheat, of the
harvest of 1842, and grown by himself.

"II. Thirty Sovereigns, or a Piece of Plate of that value, will be given to tlie
Exhibiter at the Meeting at Derby of the best 14 bushels of Red Wheat, of the
harvest of 1842, and grown by himself.

" III. Twenty Sovereigns, or a Piece of Plate of that value, will be given to the
Exhibiter at the Meeting at Derby of the best 14 bushels of Spring Wheat, of the
harvest of 1842, and grown by himself.

" Competitors are requested to send with their Wheat, specimens, fairly taken,
of the same in the ear, with the whole of the Straw, in a bundle not less than
one foot in diameter, and with the roots attached.
" [12 bushels of the Wheat will be sealed up by the Stewards, and one of the
remaining bushels of each variety will be exhibited as a sample to the public ;
the other being kept for comparison with the produce of the next year. At
the General Meeting, in December, 1844, the Prizes will be awarded.]
" The two best samples of each of these three classes of Wheat, without at that tmie
distinguishing, in any of tiie cases, between the cojuparative merits of either
sample, will be selected by the Judges, appointed for the meeting at Derby ;
and will be sown, under the direction of the Society, (the Winter Wheats in
the autumn of 1843, and the Spring Wheat not earlier than the 1st of March,
1844,) by four farmers, who will make their report, upon which the prizes will
be awarded, provided there be sufficient merit in any of the samples. Ten
Sovereigns will be given at the Meeting at Derby to each Exhibiter whose
wheat has been selected for trial.

" *^* JYo variety of wheat which has been selected for trial at any previous sJioio
shall be qualified to compete."

The following are the instructions to the Judges on other subjects : —

" As the object of the Society in giving the prizes for neat cattle, sheep, and
pigs, is to promote improvement in breeding stoclc, the Judges, in making their
award, are instructed not to take into their consideration the present value to the
butcher of animals exhibited, but to decide according to their relative merits for
the purpose of breeding."

" In the Class for horses, the Judges, in awarding the prizes, are instructed, in
addition to symmetry, to take activity and strength into their consideration."

ACTUAL IMPROVEyEiN rs IN KNMLtSH AGRICULTURE. 165

and every pains is taken in this way to secure the greatest apt-
ness and talents. The name of the competitor is not given where
it can be avoided, but only the number of the article presented.
The rules of admission and competition are stringent and abso-
lute, and no exceptions are, on any account, allowed. When, last
year, a competitor attempted to introduce a machine out of sea-
son^ or in some way contrary to the published rules, and wrote to
one of the agents of the society, that, if a silver key should be
found necessary to its introduction, he begged him to use it, —
this attempt at bribery was rejected with proper indignation by
the society, and the individual concerned, though eminent as a
machinist and a manufacturer, and offering every apology for
his ^' indiscretion," was forever irrevocably excluded as a com-
petitor for any of the premiums of the society.

The society likewise offers premiums for essays, which are
deemed deserving of such reward, upon any given subjects, and
for reports on the agricultural condition and habits of different
counties and districts. This has been the means of bringing out
many valuable papers. Here, too, the decision is sought to be
rendered as fair as possible ; for the name of the writer is not
given with the essay, but under a separate and sealed envelope,
which is not opened until the successful essay is announced ,• and
then the seal is broken, and the writer's name declared, in the
presence of the society.

The society likewise has a consulting chemist, a consulting
engineer, a botanist, and a professor of the veterinary art, of
whose services, in any desirable case, it avails itself Some time
since, it numbered on its lists more than 6500 members ; and has
been, since that time, steadily on the increase. It is impossible
to overrate the advantages which such a society brings with it to
the agricultural community ; for, though it enrols among its mem-
bers many gentlemen, who are mere amateurs in the profession,
and take little interest, and have little knowledge of its practical
details, yet, on the other hand, it combines, among the highest men
in the kingdom, a very large amount of practical talent and skill
— men of the most accurate observation, who carefully enter into
the whole subject. There is another great and good influence,
which it powerfully exerts, and which must not be overlooked.
It gives a high respectability to the agricultural profession, and
presents it as a pursuit, not, as has been too often said, for mere

166 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

dolts and clod-hoppers, but for minds of the highest order, and
for men of all conditions, from the prince to the peasant ; for " the
king himself is served by the field." The prizes are contended
for with an ardor little short of that which displays itself in the
contests of political life, and received with a high sense of their
value. I have seen, at the tables of some of the highest noble-
men in the land, the premiums of agricultural success, exhibited
in some form of plate, with more triumph than they Avould dis-
play in the brilliant badges of their rank.

7. Agricultural Society of Scotland. — The Highland and
Agricultural Society of Scotland is an institution of a similar
description, and of a longer standing, than the Royal Society of
England. It is richly endowed, and as powerfully patronized,
and has long rendered itself illustrious by its Journal, published
quarterly, in Edinburgh. This Journal, for the ability with
which it is managed, and which has been displayed also in the
prize essays of the Highland Society, which are always published
in connection with the Journal, has certainly no superior. The
Scotch have been long distinguished for their acuteness and
excellent management ; and the evidences of the justness of their
pretensions in these respects, were too obvious and numerous, on
my transient visit to the southern portions of Scotland, to leave
any doubt of their just claims to the highest reputation.
The exhibition of the society at Dundee, the last autumn, was, in
the character and condition of its animals, in no respect, in my
judgment, inferior to that at Derby, though the Scotch cattle
present different varieties from those which are fashionable and
most esteemed in England. The short horns and the Leicesters of
England would be, as a stock, very poorly adapted to the bleak
hills and cold climate of Scotland ; while the hardiness and thrift
of the Scotch cattle and sheep show how well suited they are
to the homes where they are bred, and whence they are sent, in
immense droves, in certain seasons of the year, to the southern
portions of the country. The general management of the Scotch
Agricultural Society does not essentially differ from that of the
English Royal Agricultural Society. The general exhibition at
Dundee passed off much in the same style as at Derby, except-
ing that I thought the Scotch drank their toasts with a little
more heartiness than the English — a characteristic of the country-

RELATION OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 167

men of Burns. This is not the place for me to describe the differ-
ent breeds of stock shown at either place, or the various imple-
ments exhibited. This I propose to do in another part of my
Reports, with all the particularity which my friends can desire.
The stock shown at Dundee would bear a comparison with the best
stock shown any where ; and the fact is too well known to need
any confirmation of mine, that in point of intelligence and agri-
cultural skill, and in point of success, — the best test of intelli-
gence and skill, — the Scotch farmers yield the palm to none.

XX. —RELATION OF LANDLORD AND TENANT.

The holdings of many of the Scotch farmers are very large ;
and their farms are generally held under leases of nineteen and
twenty-one yesirs. One would be led to infer that the terms on
which the landlords live with their tenants, in Scotland, must be
honorable and just to both parties, since renewals are common :
the same estates have been, in many instances, in the same fam-
ilies for a century, and the expenses incurred, in some cases, by
tenants, in the erection of permanent buildings and other fixtures,
are very heavy ; showing the confidence of the tenant in his
landlord. One farm was pointed out to me where the tenant had
recently died, leaving only one child, an infant son. In this case,
that the lease might be retained in the family, three of the neigh-
boring farmers had agreed to take the whole management of the
estate until the young man came of age. In such cases, there is
very little diflference between a lease and a freehold in fee-simple.
I carmot say, however, that the tenant is raised above all depend-
ence on his landlord, or that removals do not sometimes take
place under circumstances of great hardship. In one case, which
came under my knowledge, a farm had been withdrawn, or,
rather, the renewal of the lease refused, though it had been in
the occupation of the same family for many years, on the ground
of political opposition and prejudice, the avowed opinions and
votes of the tenant not coinciding with those of the landlord.
It is easy to believe that this may often happen, though any

168 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

direct influence of t'his kind would be likely to meet the repro-
bation of the public. In one case, in England, to my inquiries
whether the tenant was not expected to vote with the landlord,
the farmer replied that his own politics were opposed to the poli-
tics of his landlord ; and that, when taking his lease, to his great
regret, he had pledged himself to remain neutral, and withhold
his vote — a course by which many overwise and prudent people
think that they escape the responsibility of the duty, whereas, in
truth, by so doing they virtually give a vote to their opponents.
In another case, the reply of two very intelligent and substantial
farmers was, that they were at liberty to vote as they pleased ;
but it was almost the only way in which they could show their
respect to, and evince their sense of the kindness of, their land-
lord, and they felt it therefore a duty of gratitude to vote with
him. We are not beyond this influence even in our democratic
communities. The voting by ballot may seem to give a perfect
security ; but this is invaded or destroyed when the candidates
of a party are publicly prescribed, and the votes given are in a
printed form ; so difiicult is it, under any circumstances, to main-
tain a perfect freedom and independence, and in practical life to
realize our ideal theories. But politics are not my province ; nor
should I have thus far ventured upon them, but as connected
with the important relation of tenant and landlord, in which I
know my countrymen feel the strong interest of curiosity. I
shall, perhaps, excite some surprise in stating my belief that the
manner in which farms are held here, on hire for a year, or on
lease for a term of years, rather than being owned by the occu-
pants, is itself a powerful instrument or incentive to agricultural
improvement. In the United States, where farms are owned by
the occupant, the farmer seldom keeps any account, and it matters
not much to him what is the result of the year's management.
The effect of this is to render a man negligent and indifferent to
success or loss. But when, at the end of every six months, the
rent must be paid, it is not a matter of indifference whether his
farming turns out well or ill ; for not only the labor employed is
to be paid for, but the rent of the farm must be punctually dis-
charged. This consequently compels him to make every exertion
by which he may be assisted to meet his obligations. He finds
no room for idleness or neglect ; and the continuance of his pos-
session depends upon his good management and the punctual

RELATION OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 169

payment of the rent. This prompts to watchfulness, skill, ex-
periment, and improvement ; and especially it gives to farming a
commercial or mercantile character, and obliges the farmer to
keep accounts, and so to learn the exact pecuniary result of his
operations — a matter in which the farmers of the United States,
as far as my observation goes, who are the owners of the farms
which they occupy, are almost universally deficient. The strict
responsibility to which the farmers are here held by their land-
lords, is undoubtedly a material element in their success. At the
same time, where the occupation is from year to year, and leases
are refused on the part of the landlords, as is generally the case in
England, — though in Scotland leases are almost universal, — the
effect must be to prevent or discourage substantial improvements,
as few persons will be inclined to make such improvements with
an uncertainty of continuance. It is a fact, however, which may
create some surprise, that many farmers are unwilling to take
leases when landlords would be willing to grant them. But this
happens only when there is a perfect confidence on both sides ;
the tenant has entire reliance upon the honor and liberality of the
landlord, and the landlord is equally confident of the good con-
duct and management of his tenant. An excellent landlord, in
Lincolnshire, says he considers himself bound to continue his old
tenants and their children in possession, in preference to any
other tenant, as long as they choose to remain, unless some
extraordinary contingency presents itself; and virtually admits
on their part a property in the soil. The great length of time
during which families, on his estates, have held their possessions
from father to son, shows that he acts upon the most liberal prin-
ciples ; and the condition of his tenants, and their great improve-
ments, evince that his honorable conduct secures their entire
confidence. It cannot be doubted, however, that the uncertainty
of continuance, the absolute power of discharge on the part of
the landlord, the risk of his caprice, and the possibility of a new
one coming in possession, '' who might not remember Joseph, but
forget him," must have some effect in preventing or discouraging
improvements.

A farm which is well managed cannot change tenants without

great inconvenience and evil on both sides. On several very large

estates, which I have visited, the occupancy had been in the same

families for a large portion of a century, and there seemed not the

15

170 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

slightest apprehension of any change on either side. A good
tenant is evidently almost as important to his landlord as his con-
tinuance on the estate can be to himself ; and where, under such
circumstances, substantial and permanent improvements are to be
made, the landlord himself bears a portion of the expense. In
draining, for example, the landlord furnishes the tiles, and the
farmer makes the drains and lays them. A skilful and intelligent
farmer, worth having as a tenant, would hardly be found willing
to take a farm for a year, without an expectation of a much
longer continuance, and certainly would not, under such an oc-
cupation, attempt any improvements but at the risk or expense
of the landlord. In Scotland, where leases are, in general, for
nineteen or twenty-one years, if the farmer has seven years of
unexpended lease, he is expected to pay a third of the expense
of any permanent fixtures or improvements ; if fourteen years, he
is expected to pay two thirds, and the landlord one ; if the whole
term, the whole expenses are deemed properly chargeable to him.
I confess, under the best circumstances, I should greatly prefer
being an owner or freeholder, to being a tenant. There is an
excessive caution which characterizes some shrewd calculators,
who consider the value of a property diminished, where the lease
is limited even to nine hundred and ninety-nine years ; but, with-
out any sympathy with such persons, there is, at least, a gratifica-
tion to a man's self-esteem, to feel that he is "the monarch of
what he surveys," and that whatever improvements he makes
upon his estate will enure to the lasting benefit of himself or his
heirs. In a pecuniary view, however, it is really matter of in-
difference whether the occupant pays a reasonable rent for the
land as tenant, or, as the owner of it, loses the interest of the cap-
ital invested in the purchase of the soil. There are few cases, as 1
have before observed, where the rents paid equal the legal interest
of the money which the lands would command, if offered for sale.
Certainly, as far as my observation goes, — and I have seen some -
what both of landlords and tenants, — there prevails a disposition,
and there are the strongest inducements, to cultivate a mutually-
good understanding between the parties. There is, in general,
no more reason to fear that landlords will be oppressive and
unjust, than that tenants will be wasteful, negligent, and fraudu-
lent. Power is always a hazardous possession, and always lia-
ble to abuse, and cannot, therefore, be too much guarded and

RELATION OF LANDLORD AND TENANT. 171

limited in every condition of life. The abuses of power are not,
however, pecuhar to persons occupying a high condition in
society, but are as often found among the lowest, who seem to
have nothing else but the ability to injure and exert it most
cruelly when they are most loudly claiming compassion for
themselves, as the victims of injustice. I believe there is a great
deal more abuse of power on the part of farmers towards their
laborers, than on the part of landlords towards their tenants.
The farmers can protect themselves ; the laborers, in general, are
without power. Indeed, the more cultivated and improved is
the education of a man, and the higher the condition which he
occupies in society, the stronger are the inducements to a just and
honorable conduct, not only in his enlarged mind, but in the
increased value of character to such a man. In Ireland, the
middle-man, who comes between the landlord and the poor ten-
ants, who there are themselves laborers, and especially those
middle-men who are themselves subletters of the soil, are always
feared for their severity and oppression. How far a man's politi-
cal independence is affected by his relation to his landlord, is
another consideration. A man living under such a constitution
of government as that of England, unless he is himself an office-
seeker, or dependent upon the emoluments of public office, will
not deem this of so much importance as many might consider it ;
and if he makes up his judgment from the representation which
the minority in a republican or elective government always give
of the character and measures of the majority, he may be led to
conclude that his chance of being protected in his rights, and
secured in his person and property, is as good under an hereditary
government, or one chosen for him by others, as under one in the
choice of which he himself, with others, is permitted to give his
suffrage. I would not be thought to undervalue political liberty ;
and, in my opinion, human wisdom has never devised a constitu-
tion of government so just and so favorable to the happiness of
its subjects as that of my own country. But I have been too
often in the minority not to have learned that a majority com-
posed of thousands may be as despotic as a single tyrant ; and I
am not unaware that the position occupied by the governments
of all civilized countries, is, at the present day, very different
from v/hat it was a century ago. As the reformation, under
Luther, gave a blow to the doctrine of the infallibility of the

1T2

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

church, from which it can never recover, so the successful asser-
tion of the right of revolution against oppression, in 1776, read a
lesson to all arbitrary governments, which is not likely soon to
be forgotten. Under any form of government, the great security
for the subject is, that they who govern shall be equally affected
by their own measures as they Avho are governed ; and in
countries so free and enlightened as Great Britain and the United
States, whoever may rule, no measures of extreme injustice or
wrong are likely to be long endured. There is a force in public
opinion which can scarcely be resisted, and which is more power-
ful than any mere legal enactments. What is mainly to be desired
is, that education should be so general in its extension, and so
elevated and just in its character, that public opinion may be
wisely formed, and be not only a commanding, but a safe and
worthy guide.

The form or conditions of lease, in England, somewhat differ
in different places ; but the main terms are every where the same.
Leases, generally, are drawn up in an exact form, and become
sealed and legal instruments. The farm is entered upon in the
spring, and the rent is made payable semi-annually. The mode
of cultivation is generally prescribed by the landlord, from which
the tenant is not at liberty to depart. Two white crops are seldom
permitted to succeed each other without intervention upon the
same land. The green produce is required to be fed upon the
place ; and if hay or straw is sold, an equivalent quantity of ma-
nure is required to be brought on. All substantial improvements
are the subject of special agreement ; and the tenant is never
allowed to cut down any tree or timber upon the place, or other-
wise to commit any waste. Where a farm is to be quit, or entered
upon by a new tenant, the going-out tenant is at liberty to come
in to gather the crops which he himself has sown.

There is a class of men, in England, of which we know nothing
in the United States ; these are called land surveyors or valuers.
These are generally persons of experience and judgment, who
exami^ie the condition of the place, and estimate what would be
a fair rent to be paid ; and by their opinion the parties are usually
governed. Such a person is often employed to estimate the value
of growing crops, where an allowance is to be made by the in-
coming to the out-going tenant. This professional man, if well
qualified for his office, may be highly useful ; and such a course

GABIE AND THE GAME LAWS. 173

is likely to render the transaction more just than where it partakes
more of an accidental or arbitrary character, where one party may
be led by his caprice to demand too much, or be betrayed by his
ignorance to obtain too little ; or the other party may be driven by
his necessities, or led by a mistaken judgment of the capacities of
the farm, to take it upon very hard terms. The taxes and tithes
are usually paid by the tenant ; but their amount is always con-
sidered in determining the rent, so that, properly speaking, they
are paid by the landlord, and not by the tenant. The leasing of
farms, in the United States, is quite rare, and but in few cases is
it arranged by any established rule. In New England, in such
cases, matters are conducted most loosely. Farms are frequently
" taken to the halves," which is understood to imply that the
farmer returns half of all the produce grown to the owner ; but
the landlord is almost entirely in the power of the farmer ; and,
after the farmer has, as is but too common, applied to his own
use about half the produce, he divides with the owner the half
which remains. If the owner furnishes implements, the farmer
returns them as good as he received them ; and, if he furnishes
stock, as on a breeding or a dairy farm, the tenant pays the legal
interest upon the cost, makes good the stock received when he
quits the farm, which is generally settled by valuers or appraisers,
and divides with his landlord one half the increase. Our prac-
tices, in this matter, are various and unsettled ; and, as long bs
the hiring of farms continues with us to be so infrequent, — and
it is likely to continue so while land remains as easy to be pur-
chased as it now is, — no exact method will be introduced.

XXL — GAME AND THE GAME LAWS.

The farmers in the United States are happily free from one evil
which presses heavily upon the English farmers ; and that is, the
nuisance of what is here called game, and the curse of the game
laws. Pheasants, partridges, grouse, hares, and rabbits, are here
called game, and are protected, by the most severe laws, for the
benefit of sportsmen who either own or lease the territory on
15*

174 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

which they find them, and pay a tax to the government for the
privilege of shooting or coursing. The hares and rabbits are ex-
tremely destructive to the farmers' crops, and the complaints of
them are universal. It is considered that five hares, or seven
rabbits, consume as much as one sheep, besides a considerable
amount of incidental damage; and it is stated that there were
sold, from one farm, in one year, for the benefit of the landlord,
no less than two thousand hares and rabbits, which was a tax
upon the farmer equal to the support of three hundred sheep.
They do great damage to much of the produce which they do
not consume, in biting the turnips and in trampling down the
grain. A farmer is liable to imprisonment or transportation if he
destroys them, even when committing havoc upon his crops. An
allowance is undoubtedly made, in some cases, though not in all,
for these depredations and injuries. It is obvious, however, that,
in most cases, an equivalent can hardly be made, not for the loss
merely, but the immeasurable vexation, which they occasion. I
entirely accord in the unanimous opinion of the farmers, whom
I have met with, that, with the exception of feathered game, the
game laws inflict a most serious injury upon the agricultural
interest.. Of their moral tendency this is not the place for me to
speak; but the innumerable convictions for poaching — that is,
entrapping or stealing game — with which the judicial calendars
are filled, — and some trials for which charges I have attended, —
and the several murders of gamekeepers which have occurred even
within the last year, present a subject of serious consideration for
those who know that one great preventive of crime is to remove
the facilities and inducements to it, and that whoever, voluntarily,
and without necessity, presents a temptation to crime, necessarily
shares in its responsibility. It is a subject which never can be
too strongly urged upon just and reflecting minds, how much the
manners and pleasures of the upper, the educated, and the influ-
ential classes, affect the morals of those beneath them. They
inflict, oftentimes, an infinitely 'deeper injury than any injury to
property can be. In the United States, though there are laws to
protect from extinction races of birds and of fish, there are none
which confer any exclusive privileges for the capture or destruc-
tion of that which Heaven has made as free as water and air,
though any man would be liable to a penalty if he injured his
neighbor in pursuing it.

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND. 175

XXII. — THE ROYAL AGRICULTUPvAL SOCIETY OF
IRELAND.

The Royal Irish Agricultural Society, for the general improve-
ment of agriculture in Ireland, is of more recent origin than the
English Royal Agricultural Society, and is established upon the
same general plan. It already embraces a large array of num-
bers, combining men of the highest rank and wealth with others
in more humble condition. It is intended to hold its annual
shows in different parts of the country ; and it bestows large
sums in premiums, — thirty sovereigns, or one hundred and fifty
dollars, being the prize, for example, in the class of bulls, and
other prizes of proportionate value for other objects. It has
adopted one very wise provision : in the high prizes for the best
live stock, it opens the competition to the whole kingdom, with-
out restriction, so that specimens are brought from England and
Scotland, of cattle, sheep, and swine ; and thus the Irish are
enabled to see, and compare with them, what has been done by
others, and in what respects they exceed or fall short of them.
This presents the most powerful stimulus to excel ; whereas, if
the competition were confined wholly to themselves, not know-
ing what has been done by others, they might be satisfied with
inferior attainments. At the agricultural show at Dublin, which
I had the pleasure to attend, a good many animals were exhibited
from Scotland and England, which were of a superior character,
and which gave the Irish farmers a favorable opportunity, not
only of seeing the favorite kinds in the sister kingdoms, but the
degree of perfection, to which, by careful breeding and keeping,
they had been carried.

When I have recommended, as I have repeatedly done, the
adoption of the same liberal practice among the county societies
of Massachusetts, and with other societies in New York, I have
always been met with the argument, that this would be sending
the money paid in premiums out of the county, or out of the state,
which is an objection unworthy of consideration ; for of what
consequence is the money, if Ave can get the improvement ?
The object of a society, in all its measures and premiums, should
be the improvement of agriculture and husbandry. The distri-

im

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

bution of money is only an instrument to effect this end. By
what means that object is most surely to be attained, is the only
matter worth inquiry. Nothing is so likely to serve this end as
seeing and ascertaining the degree of improvement to which the
art has any where, at any time, or by any persons, been ad-
vanced ; and how far, and how effectually, in our condition, we
may adopt the same means of progress. There is, in my opin-
ion, nothing less worthy of a liberal mind, nor less friendly to
advancement in any thing valuable and useful, than a miserable
self-conceit, which passes often under the name of patriotism,
but which is a spurious metal, and a mere counterfeit of that noble
virtue. To value a thing because it is American, or because it
is English, or because it is Irish, without regard to its substantial
qualities, is worthy only of a child ; and a mind bent upon im-
provement, and capable of any great progress, rises above such
mean prejudices ; values things according to their intrinsic merit :
acknowledges excellence wherever excellence exists, and seeks
that which is good, wherever good is to be found. We should
dismiss all pride in our own improvements when others have
gone beyond us. The advances which others have made, be
they who they may, should only be with us an incentive to
new exertions ; and so far from indulging the slightest regret that
they have surpassed us, if we discover that to be the fact, let us
rejoice in what has been accomplished, and regard all improve-
ments, of every description, as so much gained for science or for
art, for general comfort or advancement, and as the common
property of human nature and the world. This is the truest and
noblest patriotism, which heartily exults in every good conferred
upon its own community, or its own country, and, in the spirit of
an enlarged philanthropy, seeks for its universal extension. To
a good mind, the good is not diminished by being the more
widely diffused.

No benevolent and just man can look upon poor, suffering Ire-
land, a land full of brilliant minds and generous hearts, and
whose eventful history is resplendent with a galaxy of the most
noble sacrifices and services of patriotism and philanthropy,
without rejoicing in any good which comes to her, or offers
itself in prospect. Her Agricultural Society promises to prove of
the highest benefit to a country, the soil of which is capable of a
most productive cultivation, where labor presents itself in unlim-

THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF IRELAND. 177

ited abundance, and where crowds, almost without number, of
the wretched, the half-clothed, and the hungry, demand, m tones
which would touch any heart not made of stone, an opportmiity
of satisfying their own wants by their own labor, and of obtain-
ing from the willing earth that which a beneficent Providence
has formed it to yield for the subsistence and comfort of his
creatures.

The exhibition at Dublin was, in various respects, creditable
to the society. The collection of grasses and grains, dried speci-
mens of which were exhibited by several nursery-men, were
extremely beautiful, and highly instructive to the farmers. They
were presented in a form which enabled them to compare with
each other, and in som.e measure to determine, their relative
qualities. Numerous specimens of flax, and of linen, and
lawn which has been long a distinguished product of Ireland,
likewise attracted deserved admiration. Specimens of soils, and
mineral and artificial manures, and exemplifications of different
modes of draining, and models of cottages and farm buildings, were
also exhibited, and suggested improved and economical modes of
construction. I saw, likewise, an American straw-cutting ma-
chine, very slightly varied from the original, and which had been
patented in Ireland, of which I could not complain, after many
instances of similar plagiarism, which I had seen, in my own
country, exhibited as rare specimens of Yankee ingenuity. Of
the morality of such tricks, if so they are to be called, I leave
my readers to judge ; but in other respects, from various things
which have come under my notice, the account seems pretty
fairly balanced between us.

The exhibition of poultry attracted much attention, and,
though an humble object, was not unworthy of observation. It
was principally confined to geese, ducks, and dunghill fowls.
The Malay and Java fowls, specimens of which are to be found
in the United States, were very large, and appeared almost to
have some affinity with the ostrich family. It was stated that,
when dressed, they would weigh from eight to ten pounds, which
is the size of a conmion turkey. The valuable race of Dorkings
was shown in great numbers, as being highly approved ; and
likewise some crested Spanish birds, which were reputed most
abundant layers — a property which, in my opinion, depends
as much upon plenty of feed, and houses where a mild tempera-

tto EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ture is preserved, as upon any peculiarity of constitution. Of
game-cocks I saw none. The inhuman sport, which once
brought these animals 'into fashion, is, as far as I can learn, now
not permitted nor known. The cause of humanity has certainly
accomplished much in the abolition of the cruel games of cock-
fighting, dog-fighting, bull-baiting, and bloody boxing-matches.
The various military dresses, most brilliant and magnificent as
they were in themselves, and which were seen plentifully
sprinkled about the show-yard, and in the streets of Dublin, indi-
cated, however, that there were other game-cocks in training, for
purposes far more cruel and unchristian, whom, with their glitter-
ing swords and bristling bayonets, I seldom pass without a
shudder : and to the necessity, if there be any, of whose profes-
sion and employment, I can only desire as speedy and as effec-
tual an end may be put. The fights of the lower orders of
animals, for which they have been trained, and to which they
have been spurred on by the brutality of a higher order of ani-
mals, assuming to be rational and moral, are, alas ! but a melan-
choly counterpart of scenes which have covered human history
all over with blood, and stained its pages with crimes of a demo-
niacal malignity and revenge, vulgarly, and by a misnomer which,
in a Christian country, makes one's heart ache, called heroism
and glory. The native race of cows, principally from the county
of Kerry, which were exhibited on the occasion, was quite re-
markable. They are much smaller than any thing of the kind
which I have ever seen, and can have little value out of the
country where they are reared, and to whose scanty pastures and
bleak hills they are said to be peculiarly adapted. They are
generally black, kept at a very small expense, and are said, for
their size, to yield an extraordinary amount of milk. A bull of
a year old of this stock, to which a prize of five sovereigns was
awarded, was so diminutive, that 1 could, without difficulty, have
lifted my leg over his back. The sight of this animal solved a
problem in history which has always puzzled me. It is said of
Milo, that, beginning with a calf, and carrying him upon his
back every day, the increase of weight was so gradual, that the
limit of his personal strength could not be determined, and he
continued to lift him after he became an ox. If it were a Kerry
ox, the otherwise intrinsic improbability of the story entirely
ceases. This Kerry bull was little larger than a goat, and should

MODEL FARM AND AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 179

form a part of the retinue of Tom Thumb, that distinguished
American production, who has excited the most extraordinary
sensation in England.

XXIII. — MODEL FARM AND AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.

There is an establishment connected with the agriculture of
Ireland, which is in the immediate neighborhood of Dublin, and
which I have visited with the greatest pleasure, and that is a
Model Farm and an Agricultural School. The national govern-
ment have determined to appropriate seventy-five thousand
pounds annually to the cause of education in Ireland, to be dis-
tributed, in proportions corresponding to the subscriptions of
mdividuals for the same objects, in parts of the country where
education is most needed. It is considered, and with good reason,
that the great want, among the people, is a want of knowledge
in applying and using the means of subsistence within their
reach ; that there is no indisposition on their part to labor ; that
there is as yet an ample extent of uncultivated land capable of
being redeemed and rendered productive ; and that a -principal
source of the wretchedness, and want, and starvation, which pre-
vail in some parts of this country, often to a fearful extent, is
attributable to the gross ignorance of the laboring classes of the
best modes of agriculture and of rural economy. With this con-
viction upon their minds, the commissioners have determined to
connect with all their rural schools a course of teaching in scien-
tific and practical agriculture, communicating a knowledge of the
simple elements of agricultural chemistry ; of the best modes
and operations of husbandry which have been adopted in any
country ; of the nature, and character, and uses, of the vegetables
and plants necessary or useful to man or beast ; of the improved
kinds of live stock, and of the construction and use of the most
improved and most approved farming implements and ma-
chinery. With these views, it is their intention to train their
schoolmasters, and to send out such men as are apt and qualified
to teach these most useful branches. For this purpose the
government have established this model farm, which was begun in

180 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

1838, and which has already, in a greater or less measure, quali-
fied and sent out seven hundred teachers. To my mind it seems
destined to confer the most important benefits upon Ireland, and
I may add upon the world, for so it happens under the benig-
nant arrangements of the Divine Providence, the benefits of
every good measure or effort for the improvement of mankind
proceed, by a sort of reduplication, to an unlimited extent ; these
teachers shall instruct their pupils, and these pupils become in
their turn the teachers of others ; and the good seed, thus sown
and widely scattered, go on yielding its constantly-increasing
products, to an extent which no human imagination can
measure. Three thousand schoolmasters are at this moment
demanded for Ireland, and the government are determined to
supply them. Happy is it for a country, and honorable to
human nature, when, instead of schemes of avarice, and dreams
of ambition, and visions of conquest, at the dreadful expense of
the comfort, and liberty, and lives, of the powerless and unpro-
tected, the attention of those who hold the destinies of their
fellow-beings in their hands is turned to their improvement, their
elevation, their comfort, and their substantial welfare.

The Model Farm and Agricultural School is at a place called
Glasnevin, about three miles from Dublin, on a good soil. The
situation is elevated and salubrious, embracing a wide extent of
prospect of sea and land, of plain and mountain, of city and
country, combining the busy haunts of men, and the highest im-
provements of art and science, with what is most picturesque and
charming in rural scenery, presenting itself in its bold mountains
and deep glens, in its beautiful plantations, its cultivated fields,
and its wide and glittering expanse of ocean. The scenery in
the neighborhood of Dublin, with its fertile valleys, and the
mountains of Wicklow, of singularly grand and beautiful
formation, bounding the prospect for a considerable extent, is
among the richest which the eye can take in ; and at the going
down of the sun in a fine summer evening, when the long ridge
of the mountains seemed bordered with a fringe of golden fire, it
carried my imagination back, with an emotion which those only
who feel it can understand, to the most beautiful and pictu-
resque parts of Vermont, in the neighborhood of Lake Champlain.
F. have a strong conviction of the powerful and beneficial
influence of fine natural scenery, where there is a due measure

I

i

MODEL FARM AND AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. 181

of the endowment of ideality, upon the intellectual and moral
character ; and I would, if possible, surround a place of education
with those objects in nature best suited to elevate and enlarge
the mind, and stir the soul of man from its lowest depths. It is
at the shrine of nature, in the temple pillared by the lofty moun-
tains, and whose glowing arches are resplendent with inextin-
guishable fires, that the human heart is most profoundly impressed
with the unutterable grandeur of the great object of worship.
It is in fields radiant with their golden harvests, and every where
offering, in their rich fruits and products, an unstinted compensa-
tion to human toil, and the most liberal provision for human
subsistence and comfort, and in pastures and groves animated
with the expressive tokens of enjoyment, and vocal with the
grateful hymns of ecstasy, among the animal creation, that man
gathers up those evidences of the faithful, unceasing, and un-
bounded goodness of the divine Providence, which most deeply
touch, and often overwhelm, the heart. The Model Farm and
School, at Glasnevin, has connected with it fifty-two English
acres of land, the whole of which, with the exception of an
acre occupied by the farm buildings, is under cultivation, and a
perfect system of rotation of crops. The master of the school
pays for this land a rent of five pounds per acre, and taxes
and expenses carry the rent to eight pounds per acre. Twelve
poor boys, or lads, live constantly with him, for whose education
and board, besides their labor, he receives eight shillings sterling
per week. They work, as well as I could understand, about six
hours a day, and devote the rest of the time to study, or learning.
The course of studies is not extensive, but embraces the most
common and useful branches of education, such as arithmetic,
geography, natural philosophy, and agriculture, in all its
scientific £ind practical details. They have an agricultural
examination, or lecture, every day. I had the gratification of
listening to an examination of fourteen of these young men,
brought out of the field from their labor ; and cheerfully admit
that it was eminently successful, and in the highest degree cred-
itable both to master and pupil. Besides these young men,
who live on the farm, the young men in Dublin, at the normal
school, who are preparing themselves for teachers of the national
schools, are required to attend at the farm and assist in its labors
a portion of the time, that they may become thoroughly ac-
16

182 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

quainted with scientific and practical agriculture in all its
branches, and be able to teach it ; the government being deter-
mined that it shall form an indispensable part of the school
instruction throughout the island. The great objects, then, of
the establishment, are to qualify these young men for teachers by
a thorough and practical education in the science, so far as it has
reached that character, and in the most improved methods and
operations of agriculture. Besides this, it is intended to furnish
an opportunity to the sons of men of wealth, who may be placed
here as pupils, to acquire a practical knowledge of, and a familiar
insight into, all the details of farming. This must prove of the
highest inriportance to them in the management of their own
estates.

The superintendent was pleased to show me his accounts ni
detail, which evinced, as far as I could ascertain, a successful and
profitable management ; but as there were several material
elements to be taken into the calculation, I shall not speak with
any confidence on this subject, without further information,
which cannot now be had, but which I shall take pains to give
in the fullest manner hereafter.

As the crops were uncommonly fine, and the whole cultivation
and management, as far as it appeared, excellent, I shall detail
some few particulars in a cursory manner.

The first object was to illustrate the best system of rotation of
crops ; and three systems of alternate husbandry were going on ;
one of a course of three crops, one of five, and one of nine ; and
one especial object pursued in one department of the farm was to
show the most eligible course of management of a single acre of
land, so as to give an example of the best system of cottage
husbandry for the poor man, who might have only a small allot-
ment of land, and whose object would be to feed a cow and a
pig, and to get what supplies he could for his family. Such
lessons, it is obvious, must appear of the highest importance in
Ireland, when we consider the condition of its peasantry, and
cannot be without their advantages to every cultivator of land.

Another object aimed at is to show that a farm is capable of
being kept in condition from its own resources, and from the
consumption of the principal part of the produce upon the land.
No manure is ever purchased here ; and the manager professed
to have an ample supply. Six years' trial, with crops of the

MODEL FARM AND AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL. IS3

highest productiveness, and indicating nx) diminution, but rather
an increase of yield, seems to have satisfactorily established this
point. The provisions for saving all the manure, both liquid and
solid, for managing the compost heap, and for increasing its
quantity by the addition of every species of refuse that can be
found, are complete. The stock consists of seventeen cows, one
bull, six young stock, two horses, and one pony ; and they are all
carefully stall-fed, in clean, well-littered, and well-ventilated
stables, with ample space before and behind them, and turned
out for recreation, in a yard, about two hours in a day. The
manure heap is in the rear of the stables ; is always carefully made
up, and kept well covered with soil, or sods, or weeds, so as to
prevent evaporation, retain the effluvia, and increase the quan-
tity. The liquid manure is collected, by spouts, from the stables,
into a tank, from which it is, as often as convenient, pumped up.
and thrown, by an engine pipe attached to the pump, over the
heap ; and that portion of it which is not retained, but passes off,
is caught again in another tank, and again returned upon the
heap by the same process as before. The skilful manager of the
farm prefers this method to that of applying the liquid manure
directly from a sprinkling machine upon his fields. Either mode
may have its peculiar advantages, which I shall not now discuss.
The object of each is to save and to use the whole ; and I am
determined, so important do I deem it, never to lose a fair oppor-
tunity of reminding the farmers that the liquid manure of any
animal, if properly saved and applied, is of equal value as the solid
portions ; but in most places this is wholly lost. The manure
for his crops he prefers to plough in in the autumn ; and the ex-
traordinary crops of potatoes grown by him are powerful testimo-
nies in favor of his management.

His potatoes give an average yield of eighteen tons (gross
weight) to an English acre, which, allowing fifty-six pounds to
the bushel, would be seven hundred and twenty bushels. He has
grown twenty-two tons to an English acre. Either of these quan-
tities, in New England and in Old England, would be considered
a magnificent crop. He plants his potatoes either in ridges thirty
inches asunder, Avith the potatoes or sets eighteen inches apart
in the drills, or else in what here is called the lazy-hed fashion^
which is a common practice, but which, as it respects the labor
required, is altogether misnamed. In this case, the land is dug

184 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

or ploughed, and thrown into beds of about three feet wide, first
formed by ridging or back-furrowing with the plough, and after-
wards covered with earth, thrown from a ditch between the beds
about eighteen inches in width, and running between all the
beds. After this bed is smoothed off, the potatoes are planted
upon it, in rows, crosswise, at the distance of eighteen inches by
thirty inches apart, and they are then covered with about four
inches of earth taken out of the intermediate ditch with a spade.
After the potatoes are fairly above ground, they have a second
covering of four inches of earth, as before, and this comprehends
the whole of their cultivation in the lazy-bed fashion. When
they are planted in drills or ridges, the space between the ridges
is never suffered to be disturbed by a plough, but is simply dug
with a spade, as it is an important object to avoid injuring the
young fibrous roots of the plant, upon which the tubers are formed.
The potatoes are kept, in this way, with an occasional applica-
tion of the hand to the weeds, entirely clean ; and the luxuriance
of their growth throughout a large field, as far as my observation
goes, was never surpassed. By his management of his manure,
sprinkling the heap with the liquid portions, and so keeping up,
through the summer, a slight but constant fermentation, not only
all the weeds thrown upon it are rotted, but the seeds of these
weeds are effectually destroyed. He says the largest crop of
potatoes which he ever produced was had in a field where the
sets were placed over the whole field, at a distance of a yard each
way from each other. He prefers always planting whole pota-
toes, of a medium size, to cutting them. He showed me a
portion of the field, which had been planted with cuttings of
potatoes, sent him by a friend, of a new and valuable kind, and
which he cut with a view to planting more land ; but the differ-
ence in their appearance was most marked, and showed an
inferiority of as one to three to those which were planted whole.
Ten bushels of seed he considers sufficient for planting an acre.
His turnips promised extremely well. I remarked to him that
they were sown in the drills very thickly. He replied that he
had never lost his crop by the fly, and he attributed his success
to two circumstances — the first, to planting his seed two inches
deep, by which means the roots of the plant became extended and
strong before the plant showed itself above ground ; and the
second, by sowing a large quantity of seed ; if the flies took a

MODEL FARM AND AGllICULTURAJL SCHOOL. 185

portion of the plants, he would probably have an ample supply
left. He suffers them to get somewhat advanced before they are
thinned, and then is careful to select the healthiest and strongest
plants to remain. I must not be supposed ever to endorse the
opinions of another man, simply because I give them ; but
certainly success is the best test of judgment and skill. How-
ever interesting and ingenious a man's speculations may be, his
practice is always worth vastly more than his theory.

His crops of mangel-wurzel were magnificent ; and he gets a
great deal of green feed for his cows, by plucking the under
leaves ; though, if too severely stripped in the autumn, they are
liable to be injured by the frosts.

He sows tares and oats together for green feed for his stock.
The oats serve to support the tares, and the mixture seems to be
greatly relished by the animals. His great dependence for green
feeding of his stock is upon the Italian rye-grass, a most valuable
grass, which is very much commended wherever it is cultivated,
and which, I hope, will be introduced into the United States. I
saw a field of this on the farm, which had already been cut twice
in the season, and was nearly ready for another cropping. In
Manchester, the last autumn, I saw specimens of three cuttings
of Italian rye-grass, all cut from the same field in the same
season, the combined length of which was thirteen feet. This
was a surprising growth, and indicated the remarkable luxuriance
of the plant.

His oats give an average yield of eighty bushels to an English
acre ; and the oats chiefly preferred here are the Scotch potato
and the Hopetoun oat. The weight of the potato oat per
bushel is stated to be about forty-four pounds. I have known it
in the United States, the first year of its cultivation, to weigh as
much, but the second year not to weigh more than thirty-five
pounds per bushel. This must be owing to some error or defect
in the cultivation ; for I can conceive of no natural hinderance, in
many localities, to the most successful cultivation of this crop.
He sows rye-grass with his oat crop, and gets a good cutting,
after the oats are off, from the stubble. It might be thought that
this is riding the horse " too hard ; " but, as the rye-grass does
not ripen its seed in the case, the soil is not exhausted. The
next season it gives a full yield. I shall hereafter extend the
account of this admirable establishment, if any thing presents
16*

186 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

itself, upon further inquiry, desirable to be communicated. The
institution is one of great importance, and will serve as a model
for others ; and several, in different parts of the country, through
the public-spirited exertions of several gentlemen, who are large
landholders, are in the process of being formed. I shall conclude
the account with the production, the current year, (1844,) of six-
teen and a half acres of land upon this farm, which the manager,
in whose established character I have entire confidence, has been
pleased to give me. In my experience, the yield has not been
surpassed.

From these sixteen and one half English acres, he has fed
entirely, from the 4th of April to the 18th of August, seventeen
milch cows, one bull, six young stock,.two horses, and one pony.
Of one acre in vetches, he has used one half the crop ; the rest
remains. Of one acre in cabbages, he has sold tAVo thirds, and
used one third ; the two thirds having brought him by the sale
£ 13 sterling ; and from the same sixteen and a half acres he
has cut and cured, and has in stack, twenty-eight tons of well-
made hay, from rye-grass. I took this statement down from his
own mouth, with the stack of hay before me, the quantity of
which was ascertained by cubic measurement, by a rule which
is considered established and accurate.

XXIV. — DUBLIN BOTANICAL GARDEN.

In the neighborhood of Dublin is a Botanical Garden, compre-
hending twenty-seven acres, enclosed by a high stone wall, with
a beautiful rivulet running through it, with ample and elegant
conservatories and greenhouses, and in the highest state of cul-
tivation and embellishment. It is supported partly by private
subscription, and partly by donations from the government. It
is a beautiful retreat, and open to all persons two days in a week,
with intelligent and courteous superintendents to show and ex-
plain every thing. To my inquiry of the superintendent
whether he suffered any injury from the visitors plucking the
flowers, or breaking the plants, he replied, very little, if any ; none

DUBLIN BOTANICAL GARDEN. 187

whatever from the highest classes in society, and none whatever
from the lowest classes, who visited it in great numbers ; and who,
coming out of their damp cellars, and their confined streets, and
their dark and offensive holes, and fastnesses, and common
sewers, no doubt found in it, with their children, almost a transi-
tion from earth to heaven ; and here breathed the perfumes of the
divine beneficence, and contemplated, with a felicity which even
princes might envy, the exuberant tokens of God's goodness in
the flowers and fruits of the earth, radiant with a celestial beauty.
There were other persons, whom he chose to denominate the
vulgar rich, who were not so abstemious, and who required to
be watched. It is to be hoped, as education advances, a higher
tone of moral sentiment will prevail, and that every thing of taste
or art, designed for general gratification, will be secure against
injury or defacement, so that the odious notices and cautions,
which are now so constantly seen in such places against depre-
dation, may themselves be deemed a public insult, and the very
idea of violating an honorable confidence, and abusing the public
beneficence, may so trouble a man's conscience, that he shall
desire to run away from himself.

This garden and grounds, and its conservatories, are designed
to furnish specimens of all the most valuable and curious native
and exotic plants and fruits ; and, in addition to their present
erections, the proprietors are now about to build a conservatory
four hundred feet long, and seventy feet wide, with a height pro-
portioned. The grounds are always open to the studious and
scientific, and a course of botanical lectures is given, with the
illustrations to be found here.

Botany may here be studied to great advantage, as portions of
the ground are allotted to the perfect arrangement of the plants,
according to the classification and orders of Linnaeus, and in
another part, according to the natural order ; and for the benefit
of agricultural students and farmers, specimens are cultivated
and neatly arranged of all the useful vegetables and grasses,
with their botanical and their vulgar names affixed to them, with
specimens likewise of the most pernicious weeds, that the farmer
may see what to choose and what to avoid. The collection is
already extensive, and is constantly becoming enlarged. It
is difficult to overrate the value of such establishments, both for
use and for pleasure, for their pecuniary, their intellectual, and

188 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

their moral benefit. While penning this account, I hear, with
extreme regret, that the Botanical Garden in Boston, a city so
eminent for its public spirit and beneficence, is to be strangled in
its infancy, and abandoned ; and that the ground is likely to be
appropriated to buildings, so that the rich prospect of the charm-
ing environs of the city is to be shut out, and the fresh and salu-
brious breezes from the verdant fields and hills of the surrounding
country are to be debarred an entrance for the refreshment of the
inhabitants of this busy and crowded mart ; and even the sight
of the glorious western sky, which, with its gilded, and glowing,
and gorgeous drapery, I have made, at evening, a pilgrimage, many
hundreds of times, to contemplate and adore, is to be excluded by
high walls of brick and stone. Should this be done ? and how
can such an injury, if once committed, be repaired ? Surely they
will forgive one of their own children, whom no distance of place
and no length of absence can estrange from his honored and
revered birthplace, in saying that even one half of the expense
thrown away upon public dinners and parade, would secure to
them permanent provisions for health, instruction, comfort, and
delight, whose value no pecuniary standard can measure, and
which can never be duly appreciated, but by those who have
enjoyed and have then been deprived of them.

^ '^

^^

■>a- .>s*^

EUROPEAN AGMCULTUEE.

THIRD REPORT

XXV. — AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

My Second Report gave an account of the Agricultural
School at Glasnevin, near Dublin, Ireland. I propose to add a
notice of some other industrial schools, which I have had an
opportunity of inspecting. The excellent establishment which
I described, and three others, of a similar character, which I
have visited, are in Ireland. Ireland, in this respect, has taken
the lead of England and Scotland, where we might sooner have
expected to find institutions of this natiure.

That in a country where the waves of political agitation have
for years been tossing all over it like the sea in a storm, and
where, certainly in large portions of it, there exist a degradation
and state of destitution utterly beyond any power which I possess
adequately to describe, — in many parts, a struggle for existence
which seems, to an inexperienced spectator, absolutely desperate,
— and, in some parts, a ferocity, growing not out of any innate
malignity, but out of unfortunate social relations, (for which the
remedy is not obvious,) scarcely to be paralleled even among
cannibals, — in a condition of society where all the elements of
social life appear in a state of violent conflict, — that in the
midst of all this there should be growing up institutions of this
character, even in advance of places blessed with peace, plenty,
quiet, and the highest measure of social improvement which
has yet been reached, is not a little remarkable.

190 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

But this beautiful and wretched country abounds with intelli-
gent mindsj glowing with the warmest philanthropy. They
appear, indeed, like stars in a partially-clouded night, pouring,
out of their own native fulness, rays of the purest splendor;
struggling, as it were, continually, to penetrate the darkness
which intercepts them ; and appearing to shed a brighter radiance
as the mists and black clouds sweep along, and, occasionally
breaking open, leave, though only for a time, a way for the
transmission of their light. They may, sometimes, seem to
serve no other purpose than to render the darkness visible ; but
they inspire courage, and strengthen the hope of a wider diffu-
sion, and the ultimate dawning of a full day.

These men rightly conceive that education is to be one of
the great means of elevating Ireland ; and that, an education of
a practical character. In an education of a different character,
Ireland is not wanting. Strange as it may seem, in some parts
of Ireland, even the common people are familiar with the an-
cient classics ; and the household deities of the heathen are en-
shrined in their cabins among their own numberless saints.
When in Killarney, in the vicinity of the lakes of that pic-
turesque and romantic region, I took leave to inquire of the hotel-
keeper into the state of education among the people. He im-
mediately called in a ragged, dirty, barefooted boy, — for, indeed,
very few of the common people in the rural districts of Ireland
are in any other condition, — and told him ''to bring his books
and show the gentleman what he knew." This boy was only
ten years old, and the son of a shoemaker. He brought in his
Greek Testament, and in the Gospel of John, in which I pretty
thoroughly examined him, he recited with perfect correctness.
I then examined him in the declensions and conjugations of
nouns, and adjectives, and verbs, in which he was equally expert
and correct. I found, likewise, upon inquiry, that this was the
general course of education at the school which he attended.
The next day, a lad passed me, evidently on his way to school,
with his books under his arm. I inquired his age, which he
said was fifteen years, and then desired him to allow me to see
a book which he had with him, which was Homer in Greek ;
and he was studying the second book. To my inquiry if there
were many in his class, he replied, yes; and to my question
whether he was destined for the priesthood, his answer was

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 191

in the negative. I learned that classical learning was by no
means uncommon in Ireland, and among some even of the
poorest of the people. Schools, likewise, of a more humble
character, abound in Ireland, and benevolent efforts are making
to extend and improve them.

It would be wrong, however, to infer, from what I have stated
above, that education in Ireland is every where of a high char-
acter, or that it is universal. I might do wrong to say even that
it is general, though it is certainly much more general than is
usually supposed. Many parts of Ireland are wrapped in thick
darkness, with its usual concomitant, the grossest superstition.
Indeed, without impugning the prevalent religion of Ireland, a
fair proportion of the ministers of which are indefatigable in
their pastoral labors, and disinterestedly devoted to the welfare
of their flocks, it will not be denied that it discourages the
general or extended education of the people. I speak of what
strikes ine as facts in the case, and neither attribute nor insin-
uate any unworthy motives. Nor would England, as far as my
nnpressions go, gain much by a comparison with Ireland in this
respect. In England the higher classes are not without strong,
and it may be conscientious prejudices against the education of
the lower and laboring classes. The course of education, at the
national schools in England which I have visited, — and they are
not a few, — is certainly of a meagre and limited description,
embracing no more than reading, spelling, writing, and the
study of the Bible, the catechism and the creeds, with the com-
mittal of hymns to memory. To my inquiry of a noble and
enlightened woman, the benevolent patroness and supporter of
a large school, and to whom, how much soever I might differ
from her in opinion, it would be impossible to ascribe any want
of kind regard for her dependants and beneficiaries, whether it
would not be useful to teach these children some geography,
and induce them to read some books of- general knowledge, her
reply was, that '' she wanted none of the ologies, neither geol-
ogy, mineralogy, nor chronology, taught in her school ; and that,
in her opinion, it was quite enough of general knowledge for the
children to know their prayers and the catechism ; and of geog-
raphy, for them to be able to find their way from their house to
their work, to the school, and to the church." If I had not met
with repeated instances of the same avowed sentiments, and of

192 EUROPEAN AGRICULTUHE.

a practice conformed to them, I should hesitate in mailing any
general inferences. As it is, however, having stated the case, I
prefer to leave it to my readers to form their own conclusions.

I could not help replying to this noble lady, that one of the
ologies seemed to be pretty assiduously taught in the school, and
that was theology ; for the catechism and creeds were inculcated
with peremptory authority, and the Bible was the only reading
book in the school. She admitted this, but an exception of this
nature needed no apology. I could not help thinking that the
course might have been enlarged, and other branches of instruction
have been introduced to advantage ; that some good for religion
itself might be gathered even from the simplest discoveries of
geology, and the wonders, and uses, and splendors of the min-
eral world ; that the great and settled truths of physiology, those
which are directly practical in their character, might be of
service both to the health of the body and the mind, and conse-
quently to the moral health ; that a general knowledge of
anatomy, both human and comparative, could scarcely be with-
out its use ; and that it might be as serviceable, as it would be
interesting, if children were taught to understand some of the
marvels of their own structure, and led to see how this curious
frame of their bodies is knit together and compacted by an all-
powerful Architect ; and the still more wonderful capacities and
faculties of their own minds, where ''the inspiration of the
Almighty has given them understanding," — and thus be led to
reverence the Divinity, who has made their own souls the
temples of his indwelling spirit. I could not think that it
would be straying far from the best objects of education, if
these children were early accustomed to see every object and
operation in nature instinct with lessons of heavenly wisdom.
I cannot think that any thing would be lost. Are we not bound
to believe that much would be gained by every advance in
knowledge of this kind; if children were taught daily to
consider the flowers of the field, how they grow ; what causes
the earth to yield its food for man and beast, and makes the dry
seed spring up into a beautiful and fruitful plant, arrayed in a
splendor surpassing that of Oriental luxury ; and who takes care
of the birds of the air, who, though they have neither store-
house nor barn, find their daily and hourly wants supplied by
an invisible hand and a paternal and an inexhaustible bounty ?

I

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 193

Indeed, I have yet to learn that the acquisition of knowledge
can ever be otherwise than favorable to virtue ; or that what-
ever tends to enlarge and improve the mind does not, in an
equal degree, tend to render character more valuable, moral
obligations more authoritative, and inspire and strengthen that
self-respect which is among the most powerful instruments and
securities of virtue.

If I should be asked, now. What has all this to do with agri-
culture? I answer, Much every way. It will be found, with
respect to agriculture, — what is true in reference to every other
art, — that its proper exercise, and all the improvements which it
has received, have been the effects of the application of mind to
the subject ; in other words, of inquiry, observation, knowledge,
and especially the results of intelligent experience. Who does
not know the difference between a stupid and an intelligent
laborer ; between a man scarcely raised above the brute animal
which he drives, and a man whose faculties are all awake, and
who is constantly upon the alert to discover and adopt the best
mode of executing the task which he has undertaken ; between
a beast altogether the creature of instinct, or a mere machine,
moving only as it is impelled, and unable to correct its own
errors, and a thinking, knowing, reasoning animal, always search-
ing for the right way, making all his actions subservient to his
judgment, and gathering continual accessions of power and
facility of action from his own and the experience of others ?
Every, one will admit that the more intelligence, the more skill,
the more knowledge, a man has, the better is he qualified, other
things being equal, for the management of a farm. It holds
equally true that the more intelligence, the more skill, the more
knowledge, a laborer has, the better is he qualified to assist in
that management, and to perform the part which belongs to him
in the working of the whole machinery.

I believe I may safely say, that a New England laborer ac-
complishes in the same time much more than an English
laborer ; and this circumstance, in respect to agriculture, and
especially in some of the manufacturing and mechanic arts,
which more demand the exercise of the mind than the ordi-
nary operations of husbandry, is one among other circumstances
which enable us to come in successful competition with the
labor of Europe, so very inferior in its cost. I cannot say they
17

194 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

always execute their work as well. Certainly, in ploughing and
draining, our operations are altogether inferior to what is done in
England, where, in the perfection with which these matters are
executed, nothing more seems to me either attainable or desira-
ble. But this arises from several causes ; — the more we have to
do compared with the number of hands we have to accomplish
it ; the extent to which a system of division of labor is carried
in England, so that particular individuals are accustomed to do
only particular things, and consequently acquire a precision and
facility of operation, which such exact attention and long-con-
tiruied practice are sure to give, attended with an almost utter
disqualification for any other branches of labor. In many de-
partments and operations of husbandry, this exactness is not
necessary, though in many I am ready to admit its utility ; but
in the amount of work which an American laborer will accom-
plish in a given time, and in the facility with which he turns
from one species of labor to another, he is far before an English
laborer. This, I believe, is, in a great degree, owing to the dif-
ference in their minds ; the one being educated, the other uned-
ucated ; the one being accustomed to depend upon himself, to
inquire, to reflect, to observe, to experiment ; the other scarcely
exercising his mind at all more than the cattle which he drives,
and accustomed to move in the line, and that only, which has
been marked out for him. I hold that education, in every con-
dition of life, is a great good. It sometimes gives facilities for
particular crimes, of which, otherwise, men would have been
incapable ; but the viciousness of these men would have shown
itself in some other form. It is in no sense attributable to their
education. I believe, as much as I live, that every advance in
the cultivation and improvement of the mind is an incentive
and an auxiliary to good conduct ; and although an education
purely intellectual falls far short of the beneficial influences
which it might yield, when the moral sentiments are cultivated
conjointly with the intellectual, yet am I perfectly assured, that
every quickening or cultivation of the mental faculties, every
thing which contributes, in any measure or degree, to raise man
above a mere machine, or a mere animal, is so far positive good —
positive good for his efliciency as a laborer, and for his happiness
and moral well-being as a man. I am afraid I shall be thought
to dwell too long on this subject ; but I have felt such a burning

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

190

indignation when I have heard the cause of popular education
spoken of disparagingly, by those who were reaping its richest
fruits ; I have felt such a deep compassion for the very degraded
condition, in this respect, of a large portion of the laboring pop-
ulation of England ; I have seen with so much pain, on the part
of some of those whose laps were overflowing with these rich-
est blessings of Heaven, so strong a reluctance to communicate
of their abundance to these benighted children of ignorance and
want, in many cases, undoubtedly, springing from an honest dis-
trust of their utility, — and, at the same time, I have felt my own
heart swelling almost to bursting, with gratitude, for the privi-
leges in this respect enjoyed by a large portion of my own
countrymen, and the blessed fruits of which are ^very where
seen among them in such rich abundance, — that I cannot refrain
from speaking out ; and too happy should I be if my feeble
voice could do any thing towards commanding that attention
to the subject which its importance demands.*

* That I do not express myself too strongly on this subject, may appear from
the following remarks of a distinguished professor of agriculture, who is much
employed in lecturing to the farmers about the country. They were made
recentiiy at a large agricultural meeting.

" I put no stress on the spread of knowledge, whether here, in Scotland, in Ire-
land, or elsewhere. I attach no importance to intellectual improvement amongst
the agriculturists. I do not value that instruction which you saw those boys had
received to-day, unless that knowledge furnishes you with the means of putting
more money into your pockets."

And, indeed, is this all the value which this learned gentleman can see in edu-
cation ? One carmot help feeling that it is greatly to be regretted that he him-
self should have been put to so much trouble to acquire his own education, for an
object in which it is not unlikely, with all his success, many a thimble-rigger, or
dog-meat-seller, would beat him.

At the great meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society of Ireland, in Dublin,
the last year, a peer of the realm, of high rank, and who (so much better often-
times are men than the principles which they profess) is esteemed withal a very
just and kind landlord, was pleased, after strongly proclaiming his interest in the
improvement of the condition of tiie peasantry and the laboring classes, " to beg
of his hearers not to misunderstand him, nor to subject him to the imputation of a
desire to raise these people out of their proper condition — the condition which
Providence had assigned them."

One would be glad to know, under such an interpretation of the designs of
Providence, how any man should ever attempt the improvement of any body, or
any thing ; and whether he himself could by any compulsory process be induced
to exchange his marquisate for a dukedom.

With great personal respect for both these gentlemen, whose publicly-expressed

196 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

1. GLASNEVIN AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.

I promised in my former Report to give some further accomit
of the school at Glasnevin ; and since that time the intelligent
and obliging superintendent has been kind enough to fiu-nish
me with a copy of his farm accounts for two years, which I
think must be interesting to my readers. It is obviously a great
question whether an institution of this character can be made to
support itself; and this question is affirmatively and emphat-
ically answered by the result in this case. It is obviously
highly desirable that education should be made as cheap as
possible. I very well understand what often comes of making
things cheap ; that when the price is reduced, the quality of the
article is made to correspond. A milkman in New York once
told me that he always accommodated his customers as to the
price ; six and a quarter cents was the standard price for sound
and pure milk ; but if his customers wished to have it at five or
four cents, he took care always to put enough water with it to
bring it to the standard price. This honest fellow, who was a
shrewd Irishman, by the way, (an evidence that all the wooden
nutmegs are not made in New England,) was pleased also to tell
me that, by straining water through some finely-ground Indian
meal or flour, so as to color it, and adding to it a mere dash of
skimmed milk, he was able then to afford it at three cents a
quart to those who could not give a higher price. Most
certainly I cannot recommend, in this sense of the word, a cheap
education ; but if the advantages of a good, solid, and enlarged
education can be made universally acceptable ; if they can be
purchased by that which most young persons have, and besides
which many young men have nothing else which they can give,

opinions are certainly just objects of animadversion, I can only express the wish,
that they both might be transported, at least for a while, to a land of free institu-
tions, where education is universal, — and learn there, that education, from its
high moral influences, may have other uses than that of putting money into men's
pockets ; and that, where the road of advancement and promotion is freely and
equally open to all, even the humblest in the community may ascend to a noble-
ness of merit, and character, and intellectual elevation, before which the tinsel
splendor of coronets, and mitres, and maces, becomes dim, and they are seen in
their proper character, as mere baubles for groM^n-up children.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 197

— their own personal labor, — a great point will be gained ; and
the price itself will be an efficient instrument of their improvement.
I believe this can be done ; that is, upon an adequate extent of
land favorably situated, by an amount of labor which shall not
interfere with their intellectual improvement, but, by conducing
to their health, and by demonstrating the practical application
of the principles and lessons which they are taught, will most
efficiently further this improvement, tl\e pupils themselves may
be comfortably sustained, and their instruction paid for. The
school at Glasnevin certainly has gone far towards establishing
this point. If this is too much to be expected, and the fees for
instruction are to be paid in money, yet it will be a great
object gained, if the labor of the pupils provides for their sub-
sistence, and pays' a fair rent for the land.

I subjoin the following extracts from the letters addressed to
me by the intelligent manager of the establishment, Mr. Thomas
Skilling. ] ' . ■•

"I send you copies of my profit and loss account on the
transactions of the farm during the last two years, ending the
31st March, 1844 The annual accounts and amount for the
previous three years, from 1839, are somewhat similar, with this
difference, that, notwithstanding the yearly reduction in the price
of farm produce during the said time, there have been increased
profits, from the increased products of the land, of course from
high cultivation and fertility. The profits of last year would
have been very considerable indeed, had I not suffered so much
by the fatal disease among my cattle. This year I expect to
realize a handsome sum, and you will recollect that these profits
are exclusive of the keep of my house and family in all kinds of
farm produce."

'' From what you will have seen and heard here, you will
perceive that my system aims to show what land is capable of
producing, when properly cultivated and managed; the great-
est quantity of produce from the same quantity and quality of
land ; and the greatest amount of profitable human labor, as
opposed to horse labor and expensive machinery. This 1 be-
lieve to be the system suitable for this, or perhaps any part of
the United Kingdom, where we have a numerous population
within small bounds, and even this small space of land not one
17*

198 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

third cultivated, nor one half of our people employed as they
ought to be. The great evil of this country is monopoly, and
the most pernicious and extensive is the land monopoly. The
masses here have no right, property, or interest, in the soil which
they inhabit. They are the most wretched of slaves. What
we want is a middle class of small landed proprietors — virtuous,
educated, and industrious. These would be Britain's strength ;
they are at present her weakness. I want the masses that are
idle and starving, or driven into those sinks of vice, the large
and crowded towns, spread over the face of the country, holding
and cultivating their small farms, leading a comfortable, virtuous,
and independent life. But our landlords say, * The people are
poor ; they have no capital ; they are ignorant ; they do not
know how to cultivate and manage our land. We will not give
it to them. We will keep it for grazing bullocks and sheep.
They must look elsewhere for employment and sustenance.'
It would be useless here to inquire, who makes these people
poor and ignorant. We find the people as represented. This
state of things we wish to remove, and take away all excuses on
that head. We desire to educate them, and render them com-
petent to manage the land."

'^Account of the Agricultural Establishment at
Glasnevin, Ireland.

Dr. . . . Profit and Loss.

1843. £. s. d.

March 31. To cows lost, 47 14 9

" seeds, 279

'' smith's work, 4 9 0

'' servants' meat and wages, .... 44 0 0

'' laborers' wages, 2 19 10 J

" coals for the year, 9 3 0

'' turnpike '' " 1 7 10

" general charges, 22 3 11

'' year's rent, 257 7 8

'' profits for the year, 120 16 8J

£512 10

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 199

Contra . . Cr.

1843. £. s. d.
March 31. By bulls raised, . 15 0 0

'' heifers " 4 0 0

'' pigs, 30 7 3

'' oats, 66 18 7

*' potatoes, 89 16 9S

" vegetables, 33 1 4

'' milk, 199 6 55

" butter, 54: 12 n

" implements sold not required, . . 19 7 5

£512 10 6"

" It will be perceived that there is a loss on cows in this year.
This always happens, more or less. A large quantity of milk is
required for the training establishment,* and when a cow goes
nearly dry, she must be sold, and another in milk bought in her
place, at a higher price than that at which the former is sold.
We have it in contemplation to take another farm, of larger di-
mensions, in addition to the present one, and of an inferior and
different quality of land, in order to show a specimen of the
improvement and management of that kind of soil ; and in this
case the loss on cattle will be obviated, as the second will be
more adapted to the raising of young stock and sheep."

"Dr. . . Profit and Loss.

1844. £. s. d.
March 31. To cows lost, 114 0 10

" horses " 6 2 0

" general charges, 23 8 7J

" turnpike, 2 7 4J

" implements, 6 13 3

" carpenter ^s work, 0 8 0

" smith's work, 3 4 0

Amount carried over, . . £156 4 1

* This is the establishment of the Model School, where young men are trained as
schoolmasters at the expense of the government This place is supplied with
milk and other things from the farm, by purchase.

200

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

•'Dr. . . Profit and LosSj . . (continued.)

1844. £. s. d,

March 31. Amount brought over, . . 156 4 1

To servants' meat and wages, ... 31 1 6

'' laborers' wages, 5 19 11 J

'* coals for farm use, 2 10 0

" rent for the year, 257 7 8

" profits " " 49 4 7

£502 7 9 J

Contra . . Or*

1844. £. s. d.

March 31. By bulls raised, 8 3 8

" heifers '' 6 8 8

" potatoes, 89 16 31

^' milk, 183 10 111

" butter, 32 5 2J

" pigs, . 40 11 10

" seeds, 16 4 6

'' vegetables, 90 8 lOJ

" grain, 34 17 9

£502 7 9 J

" The great loss on cattle, this season, principally arose in con-
sequence of a fatal epidemic, which has prevailed in this neigh-
borhood during the last two years, and carried off a number of
mine."

"Besides the real cash profits every year, there is a very
important advantage gained from the farm, and which has not
been taken into account : I mean, the keep of the family and
servants in farm produce, — nine individuals, besides occasional
visitors during the year, — in milk, butter, cheese, eggs, poultry,
pork, bacon, potatoes, vegetables, &c. &c. This, at a fair
computation, may be reckoned at from £80 to £90 more."

" An addition is now being made to the buildings, to accom-
modate a superior class of twelve pupils, who will pay a mod-
erate annual sum for their board, lodging, and education."

" You will understand that our farm was most injudiciously
taken at an enormous rack-rent, double the sum that is paid for

t

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 201

much better land in our immediate neighborhood ; and when I
agreed with the Board to manage it on my own account, and
pay all rents, taxes, and other expenses, they agreed to supply me
with a certain amount of labor ; viz., at the rate of five men in the
year ; i. e. one ploughman and twelve pupils — the estimated \Vork
of twelve boys being equal to four men, or one man to three
boys. This I find very near the mark. I would, however,
prefer four steady, constant men, to the boys. The boys are
difficult to manage ; very ignorant at first, and neglectful ; and,
besides, they work only a part of the day, from ten until two
o'clock, and from three until six in summer, and four in winter.
This labor, at the present rates, would be equal to about £96,
which, deducted from the profits of the year, leaves a remainder
of about £24 ; add to which the keep of my family and ser-
vants in farm produce, which, at a low estimate, amounts to
£50, with the former makes in all £74 per annum of clear
profit, after paying labor and all."

" The accounts of servants' wages and labor which you see,
have nothing to do with the pupils. That 1 pay extra, for ser-
vants, cowman, and laborers, occasionally employed in harvest."

''My salary from the Board is merely for scientific and prac-
tical instruction rendered to the National School masters and
pupils, who are brought up in classes twice a year, (we have one
hundred of them here at present. ) The profits of the farm are
considered an equivalent for its superintendence. This is as
much as any farmer gets."

" I am happy to say that, since you were here, the commis-
sioners have made a new arrangement with me, and a liberal
one. They have raised my salary to two hundred pounds per
year. They pay me for the loss I sustained in my cattle from
the epidemic, the last and the present year. They agree to
build and make accommodation for a superior class of pay pupils,
and give me the benefit of that. They will also encourage me
to increase the farm by degrees, according as manure, stock, and
capital increase, and some other advantages, which I did not
before possess."

" I am paid eight shillings per week, for the board and wash-
ing of the pupils, and this is very near what it costs me. If
there is a small profit, it arises from my having the farm produce
within my power, not having to purchase. They are in general

202 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

excellent feeders. They are at that time of life, from seventeen
to twenty years, when they require most food ; and at an
employment of all others most likely to create an appetite."

'' The dietary is as follows : Every morning, except Sunday,
each boy gets one pound of the best bread, and a pint of new
milk, cold or hot according to choice ; and on Sunday morning
they get coffee or tea, with bread and butter. For dinner, four
days in the week, viz., Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat-
urday, they get meat ; two days beef, and two days pork or
bacon, three fourths of a pound, each, of good meat, not bone,
with soup, and vegetables, and potatoes unlimited. Two days,
viz., Mondays and Wednesdays, for dinner, one quarter pound
of butter, with plenty of buttermilk and potatoes, and sometimes
other vegetables, such as cabbages, &c. One day, Friday, they
get fish, with melted butter and potatoes unlimited. For supper,
every day, oatmeal stirabout, well made, thick, and of the best
meal, with a pint of new milk each; sometimes they choose
potatoes for supper, instead of stirabout. By this you will
perceive that they are good feeders. I have always been
an advocate for good feeding and good working. The one
promotes the other. It will perhaps be in your recollection
that the boys, during your visit, were the very picture of a
sufficient dietary. I had almost forgotten to mention that, on
stated occasions, such as Easter, Christmas, Halloween, harvest-
home, &c. &c., we give them an extra blow-out ; roast beef,
plum pudding, &c. &c., with porter and punch for those who
are not tee-totallers. The school was formerly under a different
regimen; and the doctrine then maintained was, 'Feed them
too well here, and they will be discontented with inferior food
when they get home.' My answer was this : * Giva them a
taste for good feeding while here. Treat them as human beings,
and as respectable members of society, and they will not relapse
into their former wretched condition, but will work and exert
themselves to obtain the comforts of life."

I have laid these details before my readers under the persua-
sion that they will be deemed both interesting and useful. It
is not to be inferred, in any case, because I quote the opinions
of another man, that therefore I make them my own. I do not
know that it is necessary here, in giving this account, to add a
dissertation upon the value of total abstinence ; though what my

r

I

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 203

friend here terms a '' blow-out," at harvest-homej &c., must be a
very gentle explosion, a mere flash in the pan, if we may infer
any thing from what he calls, in the other case, a system of high
feeding. I wonder what a Vermonter or a Connecticut River
boy would think, to be cautioned against excess and indulgence
over buttermilk and potatoes for dinner, and oatmeal stirabout,
or hasty pudding, for supper ; and whether he would not be a
little surprised to hear a dinner of roast beef and plum pudding
spoken of only as a feast for state occasions, which he feels that
he can command every week at his pleasure. I give it, however,
as a picture of manners, which, while it conveys a useful lesson
in the wholesome example of sobriety which it exhibits, may at
the same time impart not an unseasonable admonition of an
extravagance with which many of us are justly chargeable, and
of which, accompanied as it too often is even by ungrateful
complaints, we have good reason to be ashamed. I am neither
an advocate for high nor for low feeding, but for that which is
plain and sufficient. It is certainly a fault with some of our
laboring people, that they expend, in the indulgences of the
table, too much of their hard earnings ; and it might silence some
of the repinings which are occasionally heard, even in the midst
of comparative plenty, if they could see, as I have seen, the
habitations of thousands and tens of thousands, where the sole
and whole diet, for men, women, and children, three hundred
and sixty-four days out of the three hundred and sixty-five, is
potatoes and water, and by no means always enough of that.

2. TEMPLEMOYLE AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.

The next agricultural school which I visited was that of
Templemoyle, in the north of Ireland, and not very far from
Londonderry. In point of situation, it is not easy to find a
place more picturesque and beautiful. The soil, however, is of
a hard and rather unfertile character, but not the less favorable
for agricultural experiments. The farm consists of one hundred
and seventy-two acres, and afl'ords opportunities for experiments
in draining, in the effects of various manures, and the common
operations of ploughing and cultivation, and especially in the
adaptation of the crops, and the mode of cultm-e, to the climate,
soil, and situation.

204 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

The farm is under two diflferent rotations of crops ; one part
being under the five-<;ourse rotation, the other under what is
deemed the four-shift. The five-course system of cropping is,

First year ; oats after pasture :

Second " turnips, potatoes, vetches, beans, or flax with

manure :
Third " wheat, barley, or oats, sown with clover and

grasses :
Fourth " clover for soiling, or hay :
Fifth '^ pasture.

The four-crop rotation is the same, with the exception of the
fifth year in pasture.

The department for in-door instruction consists of a head and
an assistant teacher ; and the course of instruction embraces
spelling, reading, grammar, writing, arithmetic, geography,
book-keeping, as applicable both to commercial and agricultural
accounts, geometry, algebra, trigonometry, with its application
to heights and distances, and land-surveying, together with the
use of the water-level, the theodolite, and chain.

The agricultural department is intrusted to an experienced
and skilful farmer, a native of Scotland, who has under him an
assistant, a gardener, and ploughman.

Of the pupils, the one half are at their studies in the house,
while the others are pursuing their agricultural instruction out
of doors. This is the arrangement for the morning. In the
afternoon, the arrangements are such that those in school in the
morning are at work in the field in their turn.

The garden and nursery are objects of study and practice, and
the lessons received in the house, in surveying and mapping, are
applied in the field. Oral instruction and lectures are given in
their proper place and time.

The buildings aff'ord the necessary accommodations of school-
rooms, dining-hall, and sleeping apartments, and they furnish
accommodations for seventy-six pupils. So far as I observed,
there was no provision whatever for luxury or indulgence, and
the fittings up were of the plainest description. One of the
regulations of the school requires the pupils to wash their hands
and faces before business in the morning, on returning from

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 205

labor, and after dinner. I had my doubts whether some of the
pupils, whom I saw. did it much oftener than this.

On Sundays, the pupils are required to attend their respective
places of worship, accompanied by their instructors or mon-
itors ,* and it is earnestly recommended to them to employ the
remainder of the day in reading the Word of God, and such
other devotional exercises as their respective ministers may
point out.

This is a very commendable liberality, and rather remarkable "
in a country, — I speak of England as well as Ireland, — where
the first principles of religious liberty are not universally under-
stood, and where men of all parties seem quite as tenacious of
their religious differences as of their moral duties. While no
reasonable effort should be spared, in places of education, to
instil and maintain in the youthful mind a profound and habitual
sense of religious duty, nothing can be more unwarrantable than
to take advantage of the influence which such places afford, to
enforce the principles or peculiar practices of a sect or party.

It may be interesting to learn the general regulations of the
school, which the intelligent principal was kind enough to give
me in a printed form.

1. As the great object is to make the boys practical farmers,
one half of them will be at all times on the farm, where they
will be employed in manual labor, and receive from the head
farmer such instructions, reasons, and explanations, as will
render the mode of proceeding, in all the various operations
performed on the farm, sufficiently intelligible to them. Every
pupil is to be made a ploughman, and taught, not only how to
use, but how to settle the plough-irons for every soil and work,
and to be instructed and made acquainted with the purpose and
practical management of every other implement generally used.
And all are to be kept closely to their work, either by the head
farmer or his assistant, or, in their unavoidable absence, by the
monitor placed in charge of them.

2. Their attention is to be drawn to stock of all kinds, and to
the particular points which denote them to be good, bad, indif-
ferent, hardy, delicate, good feeders, good milkers, &c.

3. At the proper season of the year, the attention of the boys
is to be directed to the making and repairing of fences, that they

18

206 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

may know both how to make a new one, and, what is of great
advantage, how to repair and make permanent those of many
years' standing.*

4. The head farmer will deliver evening lectures to the pupils
on the theory and practice of agriculture, explaining his reasons
for adopting any crop, or any particular rotation of crops, as well
as the most suitable soil and the most approved modes of cultiva-
ting for each ; the proper management and treatment of working,
feeding, and dairy stock ; the most approved breeds, and their
adaptation to different soils. He will point out the best method
of reclaiming, draining, and improving land ; and will direct
attention to the most recent inventions in agricultural imple-
ments, detailing the respective merits of each.

5. After the boys have been taught to look at stock on a farm
with a farmer's eye, the committee propose that they should in
rotation attend the head farmer to fairs and markets, in order to
learn how to buy and sell stock. At the same time, the com-
mittee expect the head farmer will make his visits to fairs as
few as possible, as his attention to the pupils of the establish-
ment is always required, and he should therefore be as seldom as
possible absent from Templemoyle.

An annual examination of the school is held before the com-
mittee and subscribers, and conducted by examiners totally
independent of the school. The examination is attended by the
leading gentlemen in the neighborhood, and many of these take
a part in the examination, by either asking or suggesting ques-
tions— a practice which is deserving of recommendation, as
adapted to give additional value and dignity to the exam-
ination.

Such are some of the principal regulations of the school,
which I have copied, that its management might be fully
understood.

Pupils, in order to be admitted, must be nominated by an
annual subscriber, paying two pounds for the first pupil, and one

* This, of course, applies principally to live fences, or hedges. It could at
present have little pertinency to the United States, where certainly there is very
little mystery in making the fences, and as little labor expended in keeping them
in repair.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 207

for each additional pupil. The school was established under
the auspices of a society in 1827, and the whole number
educated, since its foundation, is four hundred and ninety-
seven.

The terms for boarding, lodging, tuition, and washing, are
ten pounds, or fifty dollars, a year, payable quarterly, in advance.
It may be interesting to see the dietary of the school, which I
subjoin : —

Breakfast. Eleven ounces of oatmeal, made into stirabout ,
one pint of sweet milk.

Dinner. Sunday. Three quarters of a pound of beef stewed
with pepper and onions, or one half pound corned beef, with
cabbage, and three and one half pounds potatoes.

Monday. One half pound pickled beef, three and one half
pounds potatoes, and one pint of buttermilk.

Tuesday. Broth made of one half pound of beef, with
leeks, cabbage, and parsley, and three and a half pounds of
potatoes.

Wednesday. Two ounces of butter, eight ounces of oatmeal
made into bread, three and a half pounds of potatoes, and one
pint of sweet milk.

Thursday. Half a pound of pickled beef, with cabbage or
turnips, and three and a half pounds of potatoes.

Friday. Two ounces of butter, eight ounces of wheatmeal
made into bread, and one pint of sweet milk or fresh buttermilk ;
three and a half pounds of potatoes.

Saturday. Two ounces of butter, one pound of potatoes
mashed, eight ounces of wheatmeal made into bread, two and a
half pounds of potatoes, one pint of buttermilk.

Supper. In summer, flummery made of one pound of oatmeal,
and one pint of sweet milk. In winter, three and a half pounds
of potatoes, and one pint of buttermilk or sweet milk.

In lodging, the same system is strictly followed : the beds,
bed-clothing, and all other necessary articles, being simple,
though clean, and therefore within the reach of any industrious
peasant. A proper degree of exercise is provided for by the
distribution of hours into field and home occupation, so that
each pupil is, in fine weather, half the day in the open air, as
explained by the following table : —

208 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

''Work and /School Table, from the 20th March to the 23(^

September.

Boys divided into two equal divisions, A and B.

Hours. At Work. At ScUooL

5J. All rise.

6—8 A, ...... B.

8-— 9. Breakfast.

9—1 A, B.

1 — 2>. Dinner and play.

2—6 B, A.

6—7. Play.

7 — 9. Prepare lessons for next day.
9. To bed.

" On Tuesday, B commences with work in the morning, and
A with school, and so on, shifting upon alternate days."

The establishment was purchased for a term of years, and the
buildings erected by private subscription, of one hundred and
thirty-two shares, at £25 each, and by the liberal donations of
several useful societies and associations. The yearly expen-
diture is nearly met by the pay of the pupils, and the produce of
the farm, beyond what goes to the support of the pupils. The
annual rent paid for the farm is put down at £80, which would
be less than ten shillings per acre for the land, and, as in the
case of the school at Glasnevin, no charge is made for interest
on the stock invested.

The copy of the accounts of the establishment, for 1841 to
1842, was given me by the superintendent, — some items from
which will, I think, afford gratification to my readers.

House, &c.
Salaries and Servants^ Wa^es.

"^o

£. s. d.

Head master,. . . 50 0 0

Second master, . . 20 12 0

Head farmer, . . . 81 16 0

£. s. d.
Matron, .... 20 0 0

Gardener, .... 17 0 0
Servants, .... 17 5 0

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.

Provisions.

Groceries, . . .

Beef,

Candles and soap.
Potatoes, . . .

£. s. d.

0 17 10

122 4 11}

16 10 11}

46 4 6

Fish,

Salt,

Wine and beer for
examination, . .

£. s.
5 17
0 17

209

d.
11
6}

4 7 6

The reason for the salary of the farmer being so much larger
than that of the masters, is because, I presume, he provides for
himself, whereas they live with the pupils. The charge for
groceries is remarkable for its small amount. With us, the ex-
pense of tea, coffee, sugar, &c., is considerable, even in the hum-
blest families. I begrudge no man any of the comforts of life ;
but it is obvious that these must be classed among luxuries,
contributing nothing to our strength and subsistence. In this
case, it seems well worthy of reflection, how much is to be
gained by a rigid economy, and how wise is the example of self-
denial, when, by cutting ofl* the superfluities of mere personal
indulgence, we secure the enduring and inestimable treasures of
the mind.

The farm and garden seemed very well managed, and in good
order. Various experiments were being made, in the vicinity of
each other, upon diff'erent manures ; but the results are not yet so
fully obtained as to afford grounds for confident practice. The
nitrates of soda and of potash upon graiss, at the rate of about
one hundred weight to an English acre, gave a considerable in-
crease of grass over land which was not manured, but not suffi-
cient to pay the expense of the application. Whether the effects
of the application will last more than a year, remains to be de-
termined. The second crop showed no benefit.

Fifty-two diiferent varieties of wheat have been experimented
upon by the pupils, besides several varieties of barley and oats.
Specimens of the various products, prepared in a form to be par-
tially compared with each other, were exhibited at the annual
examination. These are certainly most useful lessons for the
pupils. The practice of thorough-draining and subsoiling has
been fully tested upon the farm ; and it is stated that, on the
land thus treated, the crops have been augmented full one third,
besides the increased facility given to the cultivation of the land
and the harvesting of the crops.
18*

2J0 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

The frugality and excellent economy manifest in all the ar-
rangements at Templemoyle, are much to be commended.
*' They discourage the admission to the school of lads from Eng-
land, especially because the diet has not been usually found as
well adapted to English as to Irish habits." In my opinion, it is
much to the credit of the Irish to be satisfied and contented with
a meagre diet. To a large portion of the Irish peasantry, it
must be a paradise to get even a sufficiency of food to keep
their waistbands from a most melancholy collapse.

This institution has already done much good. In 1843, about
sixteen years after its commencement, it was ascertained that
most of the young men who had received its benefits were settled
in respectable and useful conditions of life. But, according
to the present course of studies, the food for the mind is almost
as simple and restricted as that for the body. The studies
pursued should be greatly extended ; and as the principal
expenses are already incurred, and the fixtures, both for the
school and the farm, are to a great degree complete, the ad-
ditional cost for providing instruction, more especially in various
branches of natural science, would not be large.

3. BROOKFIELD AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL.

This establishment, about twelve miles from Belfast, which I
had also the pleasure of visiting, is an eleemosynary establish-
ment, supported by the voluntary subscriptions of the religious
society of Friends. It seems that many of this society, in
Ireland, from one cause or another, had fallen into poverty and
habits of neglect; and their children, many of whom had
become orphans, were growing up without the advantage of
religious habits^ and without that kind superintendence which
this remarkable society is accustomed to exercise over those who
are connected with it. They took pity upon these stray sheep,
which were wandering as it were at large and unprovided for ;
and, with a spirit of charity, guided by the soundest judgment
and wisdom, they determined to gather as many of them to-
gether as their means would enable them to support, and,
besides giving, them a substantial and useful undertaking, to
train them in habits of honest and useful labor, intending to
make the products of that labor, as far as practicable, conducive

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 211

to their support. They accordingly purchased the lease of a
farm of twenty-four acres j and having erected and fitted up the
necessary buildings, they prepared for fifty children; and the
number of forty was soon found. The age at which children
are admitted is between eleven and thirteen. On account of the
condition of the funds, some have been admitted at an earlier
age, for whom the friends who placed them there were willing
to pay the full cost. In sex they are about equally divided.
The establishment is under the direction of a man and his wife,
who act as master and matron, and one schoolmaster, with a
female assistant, who manage the literary department. The
branches taught are "reading, writing, arithmetic, English
grammar, geography, the catechism, and Scripture history."
The oldest boys are taught likewise geometry and surveying.
The children, with the exception of one ploughman, perform all
the work on the farm and in the house ; and the great object is
to qualify them for useful labor and domestic service by a
thorough knowledge of husbandry and house-work. An ad-
dition, since the first purchase, has been made to the land, so
that the whole is now nearly fifty acres. " The boys have
levelled about three hundred and forty-two perches of old
ditches, which intersected the land, and have thus thrown
nearly the whole of the farm into one field, portioned out into
suitable sections for a regular four-course rotation of crops.
They have also completed four hundred and eighty-eight
perches of underground drain filled with stones. The drains
are at the distance of from six to eight yards apart, according
to circumstances ; and in this way it is proposed to go gradually
over the farm, as time and opportunity permit."

The average cost of supporting a child at this institution is as
under : —

£. s. d.

Provisions, 5 19 IJ

Clothing, 0 18 62

Salaries, . 10 0

Other expenses, 14 2

£9 1 10

Deducting the profits on the farm, leaves

the average cost of a pupil at . . £6 6 9 ^

212 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

The expenditure for the year in the family I shall give below,
as it may be useful to compare it with some similar establish-
ments in the United States.

Expenditure of the Brookfield Agricultural School, for the
Year ending 'Mst of Third Month, 1844.

£. s. d.
Butcher's meat, (purchased,) • . • .15 8 0
Potatoes, meal, groceries, &c., (pur-
chased,) . 66 7 9

81 15 9

Milk, 10,227quarts, (supplied by farm,) 63 18 4J

Potatoes, 1,150 bushels, .do. . . 42 10 0

Vegetables, do. ..600

Fowls and eggs, ... do. . . 2 18 3

Oatmeal, do. . . 31 13 0

Wheatmeal, do. . . 9 13 8

Pigs, &c do. . . 23 10 9

Fuel, 13 17 2

Clothing, 40 17 7

Salaries, . 44 0 0

Medicine, 519

Furniture, for wear and tear, . . . 10 19 0

Stationery and printing, 16 1 10

Contingencies, ........ 7 3 8

180 4 OJ

138 1 0

£400 0 9J

I add likewise the Farm Account, for the year ending 31st
March, 1844, with which the superintendent was kind enough
to favor me. The result is encouraging, and the good done is
certain. The present superintendents and teachers are father
and mother, son and daughter, of the same family ; and their
subsistence is included in the charges against the school.

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 213

^^ Farm Account for ofie Year^ ending 31st of Third Month, 1844.

I^- £. s. d.

To stock, 31st of 3d Month, 1843, 131 2 3

'^ rent and taxes, 50 2 6

" cattle, 46 4 10

" seeds for sowing, 809

^' smith's work and repairs, 8 7 6

" utensils, 11 19 0

'^ farm contingencies, 24 2 6

'' profit on farm, 121 2 Aj

£401 1 8i
Cr. ===========

By produce sold, viz. —

'' wheat, 15 cwt. 0 qr. 24 lbs. ... 7 9 7

'' turnips, &c 18 0

'' fowls and eggs, 12 2

'' potatoes, 0118

"-"•«' }tB-l 24 9 5

By produce supplied to house : —

" wheat, 25 cwt. 0 qrs. 4 lbs. ... 12 10 2

'^ oats, 6 tons, 11 cwt 43 5 6

'•' potatoes, 1,250 bushels, .... 62 10 0

" pork, 20 11 3

" vegetables, 600

" fowls and eggs, 2 18 3

" milk, 10,227 quarts, at IK . . . 63 18 4^ _ _ ^
' ' ^ ' ^ 211 13 6J

By stock : —

" hay and straw, 8 0 0

" oats, £6:3:6; potatoes, £1:8. . 711 6

'' manure, 20 0 0

'^ cattle, 84 0 0

" utensils, 30 7 0

'^ seed in the ground, .963

'' turnips, 4 10 0

" fowls, 14 0

Value of boys' labor on the farm, £35."

164 18 9
£401 1 8J

214 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

The farming was plain and creditable, the crops good and
improving. The strictest economy, as it should be, was studied
in every department. The cattle were all soiled — that is, fed in
the stalls, as the limits of the farm did not admit of grazing.
As an exact account was kept of the milk obtained from the
cows, I was curious to ascertain the average amount yielded
by each cow. Many circumstances, in such cases, which it is
difficult to estimate, ought to be taken into the account ; such as
the precise number of cows in milk through the year, the length
of time any of them may have gone dry, and the number of
calves raised. Leaving these matters entirely out of the calcula-
tion, the yield was equal to five quarts of milk per day to a cow,
for the three hundred and sixty-five days of the year. This is
more than an average yield. What is called the Irish cow, the
native cow of the country, is a very valuable dairy animal, and
of a good character for grazing, but is, I am sorry to say, fast
disappearing under the introduction of what are deemed im-
proved breeds, but which may not be better adapted to the wants
and condition of the country.

There is no charge in these accounts for what the superin-
tendent at Glasnevin pleasantly calls a "blow-out" at harvest-
home and other festivals; and no £4 7s. 7d. for "wine and
beer " at the examination, as at Templemoyle, — an omission, in
a place of education, which will be looked upon with indulgence
by at least one man in Ireland, who bears an infinitely higher title
than "very reverend," — I mean the very excellent Father Mat-
thew. I am certain I should be doing a great injustice if my
allusions, in this case, implied any immoral excess either in the
teachers or pupils of these institutions. There is no ground,
within my knowledge, for any such inferences; but the influ-
ences of every kind, which bear upon the minds and habits of
the young in places of education, are of the highest moment in
regard to their welfare. The vinous " blow-outs " which occa-
sionally occur at the anniversaries of some of our own literary
institutions might, I think, be very safely^ dispensed with. But I
leave the subject with wiser heads, and with men whose deep
interest in the welfare of the young, and in the cause of good
morals in the community, cannot be doubted, whatever may
be their opinions of the doctrine of total abstinence. Few
can have failed to observe that, if a person, who attempts

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 215

blindfolded to make his way across a room to a particular point,
at first setting out turns his feet but very slightly from the direct
line, he finds himself, quite unconsciously, brought up at a very
different corner from that at which he aimed. In a distance not
great, I have seen persons, in this way, without their knowing
it, completely turned round, and pursuing an opposite direction
from that which they intended. I hope my readers will pardon
this homely illustration of a point of infinite moment to the
young ; I mean, that of setting out right — what the French call
" taking the first step." A misdirection, a slight aberration in
the beginning, an indulgence in itself wholly venial, may carry
them on blindfolded, and consequently without a consciousness
of their error, and so without the disposition to correct their
mistakes, until they find themselves at a result wholly unde-
signed, and as deeply as possible to be deplored.

I thought extremely well of this Brookfield School as a chari-
table institution. The course of literary education was indeed
very limited ; but how valuable was the training of these chil-
dren to habits of industry ! I think they might add to this in-
stitution, with great advantage, some of the useful mechanical
trades, — such as tailoring, shoemaking, carpentering, and black-
smithing ; and, for the girls, spinning and weaving ; knitting and
plain sewing they are of course taught. The mere giving of
money to the poor is the cheapest of all charities, and in its
expediency always the most doubtful. But to give these poor,
neglected outcasts a useful education ; to put into their hands,
beyond the power of its being wrested from them, the means of
getting an honest livelihood, and of being useful to the commu-
nity ; to give them, during the exposed period of childhood and
youth, a comfortable home, and make them know that they
have friends who feel the deepest interest in their character and
good conduct ; is a benefaction of the highest order, — as credit-
able to those who bestow as it is useful to those who receive it.
" To seek and to save those who were lost " and perishing, was
a mission of the divine mercy, which angels came from their
celestial spheres to celebrate. How highly is man honored
when he is permitted, in his humble measure, to imitate the
beneficence of Heaven ! When one looks here, daily and
hourly, upon the thousands and millions, in Ireland, England,
and Scotland, of unprotected, uncared-for, squalid, neglected,

216 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

half-clad, half-fed, reckless, miserable, suffering children and
young persons, growing up in this country of established
churches and institutions called Christian, of arts the most pol-
ished, of learning the most cultivated, and of a wealth and lux-
ury transcending even the wildest dreams of avarice ; and reads
in the ever-turning page their certain history, their sure progress
from the cradle to the street, from the street to crimes so enor-
mous, so extraordinary, as to make one's head grow dizzy at the
recital, and one's hair stand on end with fright ; and from these
crimes to the prison, and from the prison to the transport-ship or
to the gallows; the benevolent heart is ready to burst with
grateful joy to see any green spot in the desert, to perceive even
one brand plucked from the burning, even one unconscious or
struggling victim rescued from the descending and overwhelming
current.

4. LARNE SCHOOL.

My next excursion was to the Agricultural School at Larne,
where I had the pleasure of witnessing the examination of a
class of boys in agricultural chemistry and in practical agricul-
ture. This is not, properly speaking, an agricultural school, but
a national school, where the common branches of education are
taught ; and there is connected with it a department or class of
agricultural study, and a small piece of land, which the boys
cultivate, and on which, in the way of experiment, the prin-
ciples of agriculture, and its general practice, are, within a very
limited extent, illustrated and tested. The examination was
eminently successful, and creditable alike to the teacher and the
pupils. It was from this establishment that a detachment of
five pupils was sent for examination to the great meeting of
the Agricultural Society of Scotland the last autumn, where
their attainments created a great sensation, and produced an
impression, on the subject of the importance of agricultural
education, which is likely to lead to the adoption of some uni-
versal system on the subject.

I shall transcribe the account given of the occasion : " Five
boys from the school at Larne were introduced to the meeting,
headed by their teacher. They seemed to belong to the better
class of peasantry, being clad in homely garbs ; and they appeared

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 217

to be from twelve to fifteen years of age. They were examined,
in the first instance, by the inspector of schools, in grammar,
geography, and arithmetic ; and scarcely a single question did
they fail to answer correctly. They were then examined, by an
agricultural professor, in the scientific branches, and by two
practical farmers in the practical departments of agriculture.
Their acquaintance with these was alike delightful and astonish-
ing. They detailed the chemical constitution of the soil and the
effect of manures, the land best fitted for green crops, the
different kinds of grain, the dairy, and the system of rotation of
crops. Many of these answers required considerable exercise of
reflection ; and as previous concert between themselves and the
gentlemen who examined them was out of the question, their
acquirements seemed to take the meeting by surprise ; at the
same time they afforded it the utmost satisfaction, as evincing
how much could be done by a proper system of training."

I confess the establishment at Lame afforded me, in this
respect, very high gratification. The agricultural studies are
not made compulsory, but voluntary ; and one hour per day is
devoted to agricultural labor. The Board of Education in
Ireland have now under their control three thousand teachers ;
and it is proposed, wherever it may be deemed useful, to make
agriculture a standard branch of common-school education.
They already have seven agricultural training establishments ;
and it is in contemplation to have twenty-five, with which it is
proposed shall be connected small model farms, so that every
where, besides furnishing this most valuable instruction to the
pupils of the schools, the farmers in the vicinity may be excited
and instructed to improve their cultivation. Thus diffusive is
the nature of all beneficence. A good deed, like a stone thrown
into the water, is sure to agitate the whole mass. Its strongest
effects will be felt where the blow is given ; but the concentric
circles are seen extending themselves on every side, and reach
much farther than the eye can follow them. In the moral as
well as physical world, the condition of mutual attraction
and dependence is universal and indissoluble. We have reason
to hope that no good seed is ever sown in vain, but will sooner
or later germinate and yield its proper fruits.

These establishments do certainly the highest honor and
credit to the intelligence and philanthropy of Ireland, and their
19

218 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

beneficent effects must presently be seen in alleviating the
indescribable amount of wretchedness under which this beau-
tiful country and fine-spirited people have been so long crushed
to the earth — a wretchedness which, to be understood, must
be seen.

5. SCHOOL AT EALING.

An establishment of a somewhat similar character exists in
England, perhaps many more than one, which I regret that
accident merely has prevented my visiting. I refer to the school
at Ealing, near London, and I believe there are others, supported
by a noble woman, full of benevolence. Lady Noel Byron. At
this school, three hours a day are devoted to labor on the farrn ;
and in addition to instruction in cultivating the soil, the boys
are taught to perform all the other operations necessary upon it,
such as carpenter work, bricklaying, glazing, &c. Each of the
boys has a small plot of ground for his own cultivation, from
which he derives a certain profit ; and some of them had a pound
or two in the Savings Bank at the end of the year. Such is the
success of this institution, that there are now fifty applicants
wishing to be received on the farm as boarders.

The principal objection suggested against the devotion of a
portion of the day to agricultural labor at a place of education,
is, that it would interfere with the progress of their studies. It
is extraordinary to find intelligent minds overlooking the inti-
mate relation between physical and intellectual health. There
can be no doubt that a man will perform more intellectual labor,
who devotes a portion, and not a small portion, of every day to
healthful physical exertion, than the man who, neglecting such
exertion, abandons himself in his study exclusively to his books.
I am quite aware that many occupations, of a mechanical or a
commercial nature, may so exclusively occupy the mind as to
unfit it for scientific pursuits; but agricultural labors, quiet in
their nature, and carried on in the open air, when pursued with
moderation, so far from fatiguing, refresh and invigorate the
mind, and prepare it for the more successful application to
pursuits exclusively intellectual. The laboratory of nature, open
always to the laboring farmer, is itself a school of philosophy to
the intelligent, reflecting, and inquiring mind, and presents con-

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 219

tinually topics of the most healthful, useful, and elevating
character.

6. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AT CIRENCESTER.

In England, it is now proposed to establish a seminary exclu-
sively agricultural in its character. The preliminary steps have
been taken, and the foundation laid for an agricultural college.
A considerable sum of money has been subscribed, a farm of
about five hundred acres has been taken, and the accommoda-
tions for about two hundred pupils are in a course of preparation.
It has been felt as a serious want that, while every other pro-
fession — law, physic, and divinity — has its exclusive means and
institutions for education, and the army and the navy have their
schools, — agriculture, the most important and extensive of all the
arts, and without which it would be difficult to say where would
be the sinews of war or the means of commerce, or Avhat use
there would be either for law, physic, or theology, should have
no place for the teaching of those arts and sciences, and for the
making of those experiments, on which its success so mainly
depends. The plans are not fully matured, nor the course of
instruction prescribed ; but the scientific qualifications of some,
and the practical character of others of the gentlemen concerned
in its establishment, and standing as its sponsors, warrant the
best efforts for its success. The farm is taken at a moderate
rent, through the liberality of its noble proprietor; and it is
hoped that, aided by the resources of the farm, the expense of a
pupil for boarding and tuition may not exceed twenty-five or
thirty pounds a year — that is, one hundred and twenty-five, or
one hundred and fifty dollars. Twenty thousand pounds, or one
hundred thousand dollars, were deemed the necessary capital
with which to begin the establishment ; and, to the great honor
of England, there are few objects of determined public utility,
for which, from its abundant resources and public spirit, ample
funds may not be obtained. This is a sort of joint stock com-
pany, in shares of twenty-five, or thirty pounds each, in which
the subscribers will have, as is right, the preference in recom-
mending pupils to the foundation.

220 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

XXVI. -- GENERAL VIEWS OF AGRICULTURAL
EDUCATION.

These details must all be useful to my own countrymen,
among whom the subject of agricultural schools has been much
discussed, and where a distinct proposition is already before the
public for the establishment of an institution of this nature.
Under these circumstances, I shall be excused if I extend my
remarks on this subject. I shall do this with unfeigned diffi-
dence, and especially from my ignorance of the various estab-
lishments for agricultural education upon the Continent. These
are often referred to as examples of success, and some of them
I hope to have an opportunity of inspecting.

It is quite certain that the course of education pursued at
most colleges and universities is quite unsuited to qualify men
for the common business and pursuits of life. Indeed, it would
seem, in many cases, to operate as a positive disqualification ;
and men who may have distinguished themselves at our univer-
sities for their classical and scholastic attainments, are often
thrown upon society as helpless and as incompetent to provide
for themselves, or to serve the community, as children. We have
small encouragement at present, I confess, to look for any thing
better. The system of education at our colleges and universities
has undergone little substantial alteration for a century ; and
what is called classical learning, and the subtleties and puerilities
of scholastic divinity, occupy as much attention as formerly,
and hold a place in these ancient seats of learning so high in the
estimation of those to whom the management of these places
is intrusted, that there is little hope of dislodging them. I am
no enemy to classical acquirements, as a matter of elegant orna-
ment and taste, as a source of delightful recreation, and as an
essential element in a complete education. But to give them a
preference in any way to learning more useful, substantial, and
practical, is not to estimate things according to their real im-
portance. The time and expense devoted to them might be
given to studies infinitely more valuable. As to the time occu-
pied in studying what is called divinity, I am not far from the
opinion that the world would be no loser if every commentary

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 221

upon the Scriptures, and every treatise upon the controversial
subjects of religion, since the days of the apostles, were extin-
guished forever, and men were sent to the New Testament, and
to the simple teachings of the Divine Master, only, to learn their
duty, and the only elements of true happiness and moral improve-
ment. A college, therefore, of the practical arts, and of those
sciences which directly bear upon practice, must be greatly
desired by that portion of the community whose education
must be to them a means of subsistence, and who have little
time to cultivate the arts but with a view to apply them at once
to the purposes of practical life.

It must be admitted, likewise, that many of these arts and
sciences are, properly spea^jing, the creations of modern times,
and could not be expected to find their place in schemes of edu-
cation formed in a remote period. Chemistry, mineralogy, geol-
ogy, and electricity, are all of modern date. There are those
living, who may be said to have assisted at their birth, and have
rocked the cradle of their infancy. All these are intimately
connected with the practical arts, and especially with the ad-
vancement of the great art of agriculture ; and we may confi-
dently look for the most important benefits to agriculture from
the study and application of these sciences. Botany, likewise,
and the nature, habits, and uses of plants ; comparative anatomy
and physiology, the study of which may prove so useful in the
improvement of the breeds of domestic animals, and in the treat-
ment of the diseases and injuries to which they are liable ; the
art of measuring superficies and solids, an art so constantly in
demand in practical agriculture ; mechanics, and the construc-
tion of farming implements and buildings ; hydraulics, a science
so important in draining, irrigation, and the general management
of water, and the uses of steam, that wonderful agent, which
seems destined to exert a more powerful influence over the
affairs and common business of the world than any or than all
other agents besides ; the principles of engineering, in the con-
struction of roads and embankments ; — all these are matters to
be learned and Studied, as furnishing direct uses and aid in the
practice of agriculture, and bearing immediately upon its ad-
vancement. These considerations Remonstrate the importance
of an institution, where such branches may be taught under the
19*

222 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

advantages of competent teachers, and means and apparatus
adapted to their ilUistration.

A competent knowledge of these branches should be consid-
ered as almost indispensable in those persons who would under-
take the cultivation of a farm, or the management of large
landed estates, either for themselves or others. It may be said
that the style of farming in the United States is so wholly
different from that in Great Britain, that, from the necessities
of the one, we can make no inferences as to the wants of the
other. I know that we have no class of land stewards, or
persons employed for the management of the estates of other
men ; that our farms are comparatively small ; and that a class
of tenant-farmers is scarcely knowi> among us. It appears to
me, however, that it is quite as important that a man should be
able himself to manage his own farm well, as that another man
should be qualified to manage it for him ; and that farms of a
moderate size, where the farmers depend upon their returns for
their support, have need of the greater appliances to render them
productive, and furnish, upon the whole, a better opportunity for
a successful agriculture, and for an agriculture of a highly
experimental and improved character, than farms of a very large
size, where the attention must be greatly divided, and the
management — the mere daily routine of operations — requires
the most incessant and absorbing care.

But there are considerations, of a more general character,
which deserve attention. No one will pretend that agriculture,
even in the more improved form in which it is any where to be
found, has as yet approximated the perfection of the art. The
perfection of the art of agriculture is that in which the largest
amount of product is obtained at the least expense of labor and
manure, and with the least exhaustion to the land. Indeed,
there is reason to hope that we may presently reach a system of
cultivation in which, though the crops may be large, the land
itself shall not only not be exhausted, but be in a course of con-
tinual amelioration. I know well there must be a limit ; but that
limit no one can yet define. We know already that crops with
large leaves, and therefore large powers of absorption, are com-
monly improving crops ; and we know equally well that the
growth of a forest upon land, so far from exhausting, is, in fact,

INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE UPON AGRICULTURE. 223

an improver of the soil. There is every reason to hope, there-
fore, that such a system of husbandry may presently be found,
when, without any extraneous aid. and from the resources of the
farm itself, the largest crops may be obtained, and the powers
of production extended. The system of nature every where, if
man performs his duty, is a system of amelioration, and not of
deterioration ; it is every where a system of recuperative com-
pensations, if man does not controvert or pervert its laws.

That our crops, for example, are not what they might be, is
universally admitted. Within the last few years, crops of many
kinds have increased immensely. A few years since, fifty
bushels of Indian corn, to an acre, was deemed a large crop.
One hundred have been frequently produced. Thirty bushels
of wheat has heretofore been deemed more than an ordinary
yield. Fifty is now not uncommon. I have known sixty, and
nearly seventy, to have been grown, and, over a large farm, the
crop to have averaged fifty-six bushels. Thirty tons of carrots
per acre is the ordinary crop of a farmer within my knowledge j
and I have on my table before me the authenticated statement
of eighty-eight tons of mangel-wurzel to the acre. I am
willing to admit that these are rare instances. Some of them
may be considered as single instances ; but it is obvious that one
well-established case is as good as a thousand in demonstrating
the practicability of that which is claimed to have been done.

XXVII. — INFLUENCE OF KNOWLEDGE UPON
AGRICULTURE. '

Here, then, there is an opportunity for the highest degree of
intelligence, as applicable to the ' improvement of agriculture;
for who can doubt that these extraordinary results are the consii-
quence of that intelligence and enlightened skill, which are
equally the instruments of success in every other art. But it
seems idle to argue this point. All the improvements which
have been made in agriculture are as much the result of the
application of mind and of knowledge to the subject, as any of

224 EUROPEAN AGRICULTUKE.

the improvements made in manufactures or the mechanic arts.
Accident has produced nothing. The dull, plodding laborer
originates nothing, any more than the beast which he drives.
The present advanced state of agriculture as a practical art, all
the improvements which have been ejffected in it, are due to the
highly-intelligent minds, the men of science, of learning, of
observation, of skill, who have applied their attention, and have
devoted their time, talents, and fortunes, to it.

The pioneer in the improved agriculture of the United States
was Jared Eliot, of Connecticut — an educated clergyman, whose
essays have a permanent value, and may be read with advantage
even at the present day. The author of the New England
Farmer's Dictionary, a most valuable book, published half a
century since, and which has rendered an immense service to
agriculture, was the Rev. Samuel Deane, of Maine. John
Lowell, who contributed far more than any other individual to
the improvement of agriculture in the United States, was an
acc9mplished lawyer, a man of science and of taste, and as much
distinguished for his intellectual rank and attainments as he was
eminent for the highest virtues which could adorn his character
as a man. Aaron Dexter, the beloved physician, an eminent
chemist in the very imperfect state of the science, a man whose
name was a synonyme for kindness, and to whose memory I shall
be pardoned for here recording the humble tribute of my most
grateful affection and respect, was an eminent friend and pro-
moter of agricultural improvement. Fessenden, Buel, and Gay-
lord, were all men of highly-cultivated minds, stored with
scientific lore, distinguished for their zeal in the cause of an
enlightened agriculture, and honored with the power, which
they used with so much zeal and efficiency, of conferring
immense benefits upon the agricultural community. While
even this Report is in progress, the grave has closed over the
remains of a devoted friend to agricultural improvement in Mas-
sachusetts— a man of the highest order of intellect, of a mind
rich in various knowledge, and of profound legal attainments ;
and for his personal worth, his public spirit, and private virtues,
surpassed by none in his claiins upon the affection and respect
of his friends and fellow-citizens.* On the English side of the

* William Prescott, Esq., LL. D.

I

SCIENCES TO BE TAUGHT. 2SJ5

Atlantic, Tull, the author of the improved husbandry ; Young,
the eminent agriculturist, who kindled so great a zeal, and dif-
fused so great a mass of information, among his countrymen ;
and Sinclair, as great a benefactor to improved agriculture as
England has known, — were all men of liberal education and
distinguished scientific attainments. Von Thaer, on the Conti-
nent, himself a host in agricultural skill and science, was bred to
a learned profession. If I were at liberty to violate a rule which
I have made absolute, I might refer to many living examples, on
both sides of the water, of men of the finest genius, the most
accomplished education, and rare scientific attainments, who
have rendered, and are daily rendering, the highest benefits to
practical agriculture, and which without their aid and enterprise
would never be realized. It is, then, with agriculture as with
every other valuable art ; — its success and improvement must
depend mainly upon the education of those who pursue it, and
all hope of its progress must rest upon the science, in the most
extended sense of that term, which is brought to bear upon it.

XXVIIL — SCIENCES TO BE TAUGHT.

The Agricultural College at Cirencester proposes a specific
education in agriculture, and the cultivation of those sciences
which bear directly upon it. Botany, not as a mere catalogue
of names and classes of vegetable productions, but as embracing
the whole subject of vegetable physiology and the artificial
improvement of plants, must of course be highly useful to a
farmer. The cultivation of fruit and forest trees is necessarily
included in it. The science of mechanics, so useful in the con-
struction and improvement of agricultural implements, must be
of constant and valuable application in the management of
a farm.

226 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

XXIX. — CHEMICAL SCIENCE.

But what seems mainly to be relied on, in this case, is chem-
ical knowledge ; and the high value of this knowledge it is at
least safe to presmne. Confident, however, as some persons
seem to be in the discoveries already made, still it must be
acknowledged that the application of these discoveries to prac-
tical agriculture has been hitherto so limited, imperfect, and
doubtful, that we are compelled to consider ourselves as yet
only in the infancy of the science. I do not mean in the
smallest measure to undervalue the science ; nor to disparage
what has already been done ; nor to discourage the sanguine
hopes which some entertain for the future ; but in the present
state of agricultural chemistry, the extreme confidence of some
persons may be at least pronounced premature. The application
of sulphuric acid to bones seems as yet to be the only well-
established case of the application of chemical science to the
improvement of practical agriculture upon scientific principles ;
and this certainly affords strong grounds to hope for much more.
The operations of gypsum are still an insoluble mystery, and the
explanations which have been given of its efiects do not appear
to be confirmed by facts. The application of lime to the soil,
and its particular advantages and uses, are still among the vexed
questions of agriculture. Its beneficial mechanical efiects are often
obvious, but its chemical operation is not so well defined. A
farmer as eminent as Scotland produces, who has for a long
series of years used lime most bountifully upon his farm, told
me he remained entirely at a loss to determine whether it was
of any service or not. The same uncertainty of explanation is
applicable to various manures, in regard to their mode of opera-
tion and their precise chemical effects. I do not hold this as a
reason for rejecting the aid of chemistry, but only as a ground
for moderating a too sanguine confidence in its power. As it
offers certainly the most probable means of solving many of the
secrets of nature's operations, and as in many of the mechanical
arts its triumphs are complete, there are the strongest reasons
for pressing our inquiries by means of it, and for the best hopes

CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 227

of as much success as, in the present condition of the human
mind, we have any right to expect.

The great value of chemical science is deemed to consist in
its facility and power of analysis ; but in this respect it seems to
have advanced but little farther, excepting in changing the
terms, than the ancient doctrine that all matter was resolvable
into four elements — earth, air, fire, and water. The composi-
tion of albumen, fibrin, caseine, and gluten, and of each of them,
is represented, by chemical analysis, as precisely the same in the
nature and quantity of their original elements ; as, for example,
they consist of carbon, 48 ; hydrogen, 36 ; nitrogen, 6 ; oxygen,
15 ; — but to our senses, and in their uses, they are obviously
altogether different. Now, chemistry explains the difficulty, — if
explanation it can be called, — by stating that the diflference in
these substances arises from a different mechanical arrangement
of the atoms or particles of which they are composed ; but until .
chemistry can explain how this arrangement differs in the respec-
tive cases — until it can take the original elements, and compound
or arrange them at its pleasure, so as to produce their different
forms or substances — the explanation is certainly very far from
complete. It is, indeed, not certain that even these four great
principles — the existence of which is so well established and
defined — are themselves ultimate elements; but admitting the
fact, their precise nature is wholly unexplained, in the present
state of human knowledge. Newton, in revealing the operation
of a principle of gravitation, and in explaining its wonderful
laws, has yet thrown no light upon the nature of the force
itself ; and, in dissecting the beautiful composition of light into
its seven primary elements, has yet not advanced one hair's
breadth in defining what light itself is. I know it is now the
habit to believe that every thing in nature may be resolved into
chemical or electrical agency, the laws of which are determined
and explicable, and to discard all notions of what is termed the
vital agency. I cannot myself doubt that every thing in nature
is governed by determinate and general laws ; laws, in respect to
whose existence and operation science has already made very
great advances, and, for aught that can be foreseen, may pres-
ently completely understand them ; but as yet the goal is far
from being reached ; and human reason, with all its illumination,

228 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

and in the hour of its loftiest pride, must abase itself in the dust,
in the presence of that Omniscience before which all human
wisdom seems little more than ignorance and folly.

Until Science will explain to me by what force I move my
muscles at my pleasure, what mind is, what matter is, what
knowledge itself is, and what are the records of memory, — or even
afford me some means of conjecture, — I may be permitted to
demur to her loud notes of triumph, and to feel that there are
still many depths which the line of our philosophy has not yet
reached, and innumerable simple processes in nature, of daily
occurrence, which are utterly beyond our explanation. That
there is at work, in all animal and vegetable life, a vital agency,
Avho can entertain a doubt ? I do not know that it is not resolv-
able into the principles of chemical solution and affinity, or into
electrical or galvanic agency ; but the assumption, in the present
state of science, would be, I think, premature, without stronger
grounds on which to rest it.

XXX. — ANALYSIS OF SOILS.

In the chemical analysis of soils, likewise, upon which so
much stress is laid, there are difficulties, in the practical applica-
tion of our knowledge, sufficiently discouraging. The complaint
has been constantly and very emphatically made, that the
analyses of former chemists, such as Davy, Chaptal, and others,
were all too general, and therefore of little or no practical value.
It may be said of modern analyses, that they startle one by their
precision and minuteness.

I shall be excused, I hope, if I endeavor to lessen somewhat
the dryness and dulness of these discussions, to my readers, by a
matter of fact, certainly not without its interest to me, and which
may bear some analogy to the case before us. Some years
since, when suffering under a severe illness for several months,
I was sometimes amused, as far as it was possible for me, under
such circumstances, to be amused, by the great, and I had almost

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 229

said, endless variety of articles which entered into the prescrip-
tions of my medical advisers in the customary form of grains,
scruples, drams, and mixtures. So much of this article was for
this specific purpose, and so much of that for another. This
was to qualify that ; that was to qualify this. This was to
prevent such an article doing too much, and that was to prevent
its doing too little. One was to operate upon the bile, another
upon the blood ; one upon the respiration, and another upon the
digestion. And all this was to be going on, and to be accom-
plished, at the same time. I confess I was often in the situation,
in respect to my physician, of the wondering pupils of Gold-
smith's village schoolmaster, and marvelled ^'that one small
head could carry all he knew." I had, at least, the consolation
in the case of feeling that, as the surgeons often pleasantly term
it, when amputating a limb, or operating for the extraction of the
stone, I was furnishing at least a beautiful experiment in the
way of medical science j and it must be said to the credit of my
physician, whose kindness amidst all this I never can forget,
that, although his philosophy and his scientific ardor carried him
to the most extreme tests, and he might be said to have sus-
pended me over a precipice by a twine string, confident that, if
I dropped, it would at least prove that common twine was not
strong enough in such cases, — a most important fact to be
ascertained, — I was not quite used up, but was, after a while,
enabled to show myself erect again, a perfect monument of the
triumph of his skill.

Let us now open at random upon some of the analyses given
us in the work of the most distinguished chemist of the day, and
inquire who has skill to prescribe for cases so complicated in
their nature, or in any event what prescription would suit the
case, but one as multiform and mixed as those of my own
physician.

SOILS OF HEATHS.

'' 1. Soil of a heath converted into arable land in the vicinity

of Brunswick. It is naturally sterile, but produces good crops

when manured with lime, marl, cow-dung, or the ashes of the

heaths which grow upon it." [It would be difficult, I think, to

20

230 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

find many soils, where the cHmate did not forbid it, which would
7iot produce good crops under such treatment.]

" Silica, and coarse silicious sand, 71.504

Alumina, 0.780

Protoxide, and peroxide of iron, principally com-
bined with humus, 0.420

Peroxide of manganese, idem, 0.220

Lime, idem, 0.134

Magnesia, idem^ 0.032

Potash and soda, principally as silicates, .... 0.058

Phosphoric acid, principally as phosphate of iron, . 0.115

Sulphuric acid, (in gypsum,) 0.018

Chlorine, (in common salt,) . . ; 0.014

Humus soluble in alkalies, 9.820

Humus with vegetable remains, , 14.975

Resinous matters, 1.910

100.000

" Ashes of the soil of the heath before being converted into
arable land : —

" Silica, with silicious sand, 92.641

Alumina, 1.352

Oxides of iron and manganese, 2.324

Lime in combination with sulphuric and phosphoric

acids, 0.929

Magnesia combined with sulphuric acid, .... 0.283
Potash and soda, (principally as sulphates and

phosphates,) 0.564

Phosphoric acid, combined with lime, .... 0.250

Sulphuric acid, with potash, soda, and lime, . . . 1.620

Chlorine in common salt, 0.037

"lOO.OOO

i

" 2. Surface soil of a fine-grained loam, from the vicinity of
Brunswick. It is remarkable from the circumstance that not a
single year passes in which corn [wheat] plants are cultivated
upon it, without the stem of the plants being attacked by rust.

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 231

Even the grain is covered with a yellow rust, and is much
shrunk. One hundred parts of the soil contain —

" Silica and fine silicious sand, 87.859

Alumina, 2.652

Peroxide of iron, with a large proportion of prot-
oxide 5.132

Protoxide and peroxide of manganese, .... 0.840

Lime, principally combined with silica, .... 1.459

Magnesia, iderrij 0.280

Potash and soda, idem^ 0.090

Phosphoric acid in combination with iron, . . . 0.505

Sulphuric acid in combination with lime, . . . 0.068

Chlorine in common salt, 0.006

Humus, 1.109

100.000."

This analysis must surely be sufficiently close and severe to
satisfy even the most fastidious ; for here even six hundred
thousandth parts of a particular ingredient in the soil, that is, of
chlorine in common salt, were ascertained.

'' This soil," it is remarked, '' does not suffer from want of drain-
age ; it is well exposed to the sun ; it is in an elevated situation,
and in a good state of cultivation. In order to ascertain whether
the rust was due to the constituents of the soil, (phosphate of
iron?) or to certain fortuitous circumstances unconnected with
their operation, a portion of the land was removed to another
locality, and made into an artificial soil of fifteen inches in
depth. Then this barley and wheat were sown ; but it was
found, as in the former case, that the plants were attacked by
rust, whilst barley growing on the land surrounding this soil
W£LS not at all affected by the disease. From this experiment it
follows that certain constituents in the soil favor the develop-
ment of rust."

But this inference does not appear to me to follow of course.
We cannot deny that the rust may have been, in this case, the
result of some noxious ingredients in the soil ; this appears
highly probable. But rust is often the result of influences
mainly atmospheric. The fact that the barley grown on soil in
the neighborhood of the removed soil was unaffected by rust,

232 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

while that on the removed soil Avas affected, is not conclusive.
It is believed that plEints are subject to rust only in particular
stages of their growth. Now, on the supposition that the rust
in this case was the effect of atmospheric influences, it is im-
portant to know whether the barley (for the wheat is not com-
pared with any other wheat) growing on the removed soil, and
that growing in its vicinity, were precisely contemporaneous in
their growth, or in the degree of ripeness, or approach to ripe-
ness, which they had attained. Further, it appears that the
learned analyst was not himself able to say to what particular
ingredient in the soil the rust was owing, nor what manure, if
any, was used ; and manure always seriously affects the plant to
which it is applied.

" 3. Soil of a heath which had been brought into cultivation
in the vicinity of Brunswick. The analysis was made before
any crops had been grown upon it. Corn plants [wheat] were
first reared upon the new soil, but were found to be attacked by
rust, even on those parts which had been manured respectively
with lime, marl, potash, wood-ashes, bone-dust, ashes of the heath
plant, common salt, and ammonia. One hundred parts contain —

'' Silica with coarse silicious sand, . . . . . . 51.337

Alumina, 0.528

Protoxide and peroxide of iron, in combination with

phosphoric and humic acids, 0.398

Protoxide and peroxide of manganese, 0.005

Lime in combination with humus, 0.230

Magnesia, idem, 0.040

Potash and soda, 0.010

Phosphoric acid, 0.066

Sulphuric acid, 0.022

Chlorine, 0.014

Humus soluble in alkalies, . 13.210

Resinous matters, 2.040

Coal of humus and water, 32.100

100.000."

Here it will be seen we come again to fractions as minute as
hundred thousandths.

"The next analysis represents this soil after being burnt.

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 233

One hundred parts by weight of the soil left, after ignition, only
fifty parts. One hundred parts of these ashes consisted of —

Silica and silicious sand, . 95.204

Alumina, 1.640

Peroxide of iron, 1.344

Peroxide of manganese, 0.080

Lime in combination with sulphuric acid, . . . 0.544

Magnesia combined with silica, 0.465

Potash and soda, 0.052

Phosphoric acid, (principally as phosphate of iron,) 0.330

Sulphuric acid, 0.322

Chlorine, 0.019

100.000

'' By comparing this analysis with the one which has preceded
it, an increase in certain of the constituents is observed, partic-
ularly with respect to the sulphuric acid, potash, soda, magnesia,
oxide of iron, manganese, and alumina. From this it follows,
that the humus, or, in other words, the vegetable remains, must
have contained a quantity of these substances confiued within it
in such a manner that they were not exhibited by analysis."

Here it seems, then, admitted, that the most minute chemical
analysis, even to hundred thousandths, failed to detect all the
latent elements of which the soil was composed.

" Oats and barley were sown on this land the second year
after being reclaimed, and both suffered much from rust, although
different parts of the soil were manured with marl, lime, and
peat-ashes, whilst other portions Avere left without manure. In
the first year, all the different parts of the field produced pota-
toes ; but they succeeded best in those parts which had been
manured with peat-ashes, lime, and marl. In the second year,
oats, mixed with a little barley, were sown upon the soil ; and
the straw was found to be strongest on the parts treated with
peat-ashes, lime, and marl." [I have never known this to fail to
be the case on any soil.] "Red clover was sown in the third
year ; and it appeared in best condition on those portions of the
soil manured with marl and lime. Upon the divisions of the
field which had been left without manure, as well as on those
20*

234 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

manured with bone-dust, potash, ammonia, and common salt, the
clover scarcely appeared above ground." [Here, though so
much stress is laid upon the infinitesimally minute divisions of
the soil, we are left entirely at a loss as to the quantities or forms
in which these applications were made.] " The divisions of
the field, which had been manured in the first year with peat-
ashes, ammonia, and ashes of wood, were sown with buck-wheat
after the removal of the first crop of clover. The buck-wheat
succeeded very well on all the divisions, yet a marked difference
was perceptible in favor of the portion treated with ammonia.
These experiments show us, that a dressing of lime did not com-
pletely remove from the soil its tendency to impart rust to the
plants grown upon it." [But if the lime partially corrected the
evil, is there not reason to infer that the error was in not putting
lime enough upon it, and that more would have completely re-
moved it ?] '* Nevertheless," the writer adds, " it is highly prob-
able that, as soon as the protoxide of iron became converted into
the peroxide by exposure to the atmosphere, lime would possess
more power in decomposing the phosphate of iron."

I shall cite only one more example in this case.

" 4. Subsoil of a loamy soil in the vicinity of Brunswick. It
is remarkable that sainfoin cannot be cultivated upon it more
than two or three years in succession. The portion analyzed
was taken from a depth of five feet. One hundred pavts con-
tained —

'' Silica, with very fine silicious sand, . . .• . 90.035

Alumina, 1.976

Peroxide of iron, 4.700

Protoxide of iron, 1.115

Protoxide and peroxide of manganese, 0.240

Lime, 0.022

Magnesia, .0.115

Potash and soda, 0.300

Phosphoric acid combined with iron, ..... 0.098
Sulphuric acid, (the greatest part in combination

with protoxide of iron,) 1.399

Chlorine, a trace.

lOOOOO

ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 235

'•' Now, the results of the analysis give a sufficient account of
the failure of the sainfoin." [But it seems it can be cultivated
upon it two or three years in succession.] " The soil contains
one per cent, of sulphate of the protoxide of iron, (green vitriol
of commerce,) a salt which exerts a poisonous action upon plants.
Lime is not present in quantity sufficient to decompose this salt.
Hence it is that sainfoin will not thrive in this soil, nor indeed
lucern, or any other of the plants with deep roots. The evil
cannot be obviated by any method sufficiently economical for
the farmer, because the soil cannot be mixed with lime at a
depth of five or six feet." [It requires some courage for a man
even to think of such a thing.] " For many years, experiments
have been made in vain, in order to adopt this soil for sainfoin
and lucern, and much expense incurred, which would all have
been saved, had the soil been previously analyzed. This ex-
ample affords a most convincing proof of the importance of
chemical knowledge to an agriculturist." *

Now, I think the strong impression which will be upon every
practical man's mind, in looking at these analyses, will be, the
utter impossibility of meeting the cases, and of adapting the cul-
tivation and manuring with any very exact reference to the
chemical condition of the soil ; that is, of prescribing for the
patient. I admit that the application of chemical analyses or
tests to the soil may be of very great importance in detecting
the existence of any substance, as in the latter case for example,
which is poisonous to vegetation ; though even here, the exist-
ence of the evil itself, and the remedy, are left somewhat in
uncertainty. I believe it may be of great utility in determining
the general and predominant characteristics of a soil ; but with
great respect for science, and for the labors of those men who,
by their distinguished attainments, have conferred the highest
benefits upon the community, I can come to no other conclusion
than that any expectation of adapting our cultivation, upon any
extended scale, to these minute diversities of soil, is illusory;
and that the most illustrious chemist living may be challenged
in vain to prescribe any practicable culture adapted to meet, with

* These examples of analyses of soils are by Sprengel, and taken from Liebig's
Agricultural Chemistry, from the chapter on the Chemical Constituents of Soils,
p. 208, 3d American edition.

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

any degree of exactness, the cases given, or to recognize in his
applications or prescriptions, with any pecuUar success, the
minute diversities of composition which are here presented.

But suppose the application made, and even in the simplest
form ; what sagacity is acute enough to follow it in all its opera-
tions upon the elements, either simple or compounded, with
which it comes in contact ? or what skill can command the
external circumstances of heat or cold, of drought or moisture,
which must at the time affect its operation ? No human skill
has as yet been able to compound a soil, and say. This shall be
more fruitful than any other. The habits and nature of different
plants require different conditions both of soil and of culture.

The Royal Agricultural Society of England has recently
made a liberal grant to aid in the chemical analysis of the dif-
ferent vegetable productions, under the direction of one of the
most able chemists of the age ; and a good deal of valuable
information will undoubtedly be derived from this source. The
chemical analysis of different manures has been carried on with
eminent zeal and intelligence, and is constantly going on, to the
great benefit, without question, of agricultural science ; but the
extraordinary confidence which some persons indulge in the
results of chemical science, in respect to agriculture, seems to me
a little too sanguine, and the practical application of this knowl-
edge by no means so easy as has been supposed.

I am quite aware that this may appear like a digression ; but,
in considering the subject of agricultural education, it was natural
to advert to that which seems now to be more prominent in the
minds of agriculturists than almost any thing else — the advan-
tages which agriculture is to derive from chemical science, and
the consequent importance of making it the prominent subject
of instruction. Our expectations in this matter should be in
some degree moderated by a remark of Liebig's : in speaking of
the analysis of soils, and after having given several examples,
" It is unnecessary," he says, '' to describe the modus operandi
used in the analysis of these soils ; for this kind of research will
never be made by farmers, who must apply to the professional
chemists, if they wish for information in regard to the composi-
tion of their soils." The science of chemistry has indeed now
become of that enlarged character, and is occupied in such pro-
found and difficult investigations and discoveries, that excellence

NATURAL SCIENCE. 237

in it can scarcely be looked for but with those persona who, to
eminent talents of research, and an extraordinary enthu&iasm in
the pursuit, devote their time almost exclusively to this object.

A general knowledge of its principles and discoveries, and a
facility in making some experiments in it, are all, perhaps, that
can be expected to be given in the education at an agricultural
college ; but it is desirable and most requisite, even for this
object, that the institution, in a competent instructor, and all
the necessary apparatus, should furnish the means of accom-
plishing it in the best manner, and to the greatest advantage
This undoubtedly will be done.

XXXI. — NATURAL SCIENCE.

Every possible facility should be provided for the study of ev-
ery branch of natural history, for every branch of natural history
may be made subservient to agricultural improvement. There
is, in my opinion, nothing which so invigorates and strengthens
the mind as earnest and deep inquiries into nature, the study of
natural facts, the observation of natural phenomena. There is no
knowledge, especially to persons residing in the country, which
affords so many practicable uses and such varied and important
application. The man who studies books exclusively is always
liable to be the slave of other men's opinions ; and his mind,
losing by such restraints its native elasticity, never travels out of
its prescribed limits. The man who goes himself to the original
sources of knowledge, and draws water out of the very wells of
life, acquires a force of inquiry, maintains a healthful freshness
of mind, which grow strong continually by what they feed
upon, multiply for themselves the sources of knowledge, turn
every object and occurrence which they meet with into an in-
strument of instruction, and find the world and nature no longer
a dull, desolate, inanimate chamber, but its walls all over radiant
with lessons of wisdom, and every object with which it is
crowded vocal with the teachings of a divine spirit.

238

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

I do not overrate the value of natural science to the agricul-
turist, the resident in the country. For him it is the proper
study for use, for ability, for recreation, and for ornament.
There is yet much to be done in agriculture. I believe that
the quantity of the products of the earth from the same extent
of surface may in most cases be quadrupled, and that the number
of its productions for the sustenance of man and beast may be
multiplied far beyond any present calculation. If we may argue
from what has been done to what may be done, the perfection
of agriculture is yet very distant, and vast improvements remain
to be made. But this can only be effected by bringing vigorous
and enlightened minds to bear upon the subject ; and the natural
sciences are those which of all others best prepare and strengthen
the mind for such investigations. The best education which
can be given to any man is not that which merely communi-
cates knowledge, but that which enables and induces a man to
acquire knowledge for himself. This is what the study of the
natural sciences particularly prompt and compel a man to do.
These studies, pursued especially in the country, where Nature
in such a variety of aspects is continually offering herself for ex-
amination, give a vigor and activity of mind which particularly
qualify men for practical objects and pursuits.

We are to look, then, to educated men, to men of active and
cultivated minds, to men accustomed to study, inquiry, reflection,
observation, and experiment, for any great improvement yet to
be made in agriculture. These are the men who have always
been the pioneers in human progress, and these men are still to
lead the onward march. A school, therefore, which trains such
minds, not for literary leisure, but for the active and business
pursuits of life, must be regarded as one of the most valuable in-
stitutions in the community. No branch of art or business will
be found to afford greater scope for the application of such an
education than agriculture.

MODEL FARM. 239

XXXIL — MODEL FARM.

To the departments which may be called literary and scientific,
the Agricultural College at Cirencester proposes to add those
which are strictly practical, by connecting with the institution a
farm of five hundred acres. Practical experience is of the high-
est importance in every practical art. If it be true, that no man
can be a thorough sailor who has not served before the mast, and
who is not familiar with every rope in the ship, it may be as
truly said, that no one should consider himself fully competent
to the management of a farm, who is not thoroughly acquainted
with every operation to be performed on a farm ; and, though
he may not always be able to execute it himself, he should know
how it is to be done, and be able to determine when it is properly
executed.

A model farm is intended to illustrate, as far as the nature of
the soil and climate admit, the best practices in husbandry ; to
show the management of a farm in the details and in the whole ;
to teach the arts of ploughing, sowing, harrowing, cultivating,
reaping, harvesting, stacking, threshing, and preparing the
products for market ; to explain the management and treatment
of all live stock on the place, whether designed for food or labor,
for fattening or working, for beef, mutton, pork, wool, or dairy
produce ; to teach the whole duty of a shepherd or grazier, and
the whole management of the stall and the dairy. These are
the objects proposed ; and it is intended that the labor of the farm
shall be performed by the pupils, and its products go towards
the support of the institution, so as to reduce the expenses of
education. All this is well, and may be made eminently useful
to the pupils.

240 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

XXXIII. — EXPERIMENTAL FARM.

It is further intended, besides presenting a model farm, that it
shall likewise, in a measure, serve the purpose of an experi-
mental farm. Besides presenting an example of the best man-
agement, and the performance of all the customary operations of
a farm in the best and most approved manner, it is designed to
afford an opportunity of experimenting in various forms upon
manures, seeds, plants, cultivation, and the feeding and fattening
of animals, and upon every feasible subject, where practical
information and exact results are important to be ascertained.

XXXIV. — ECONOMICAL ARRANGEMENTS AT THE
AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE.

Such, as I understand, are the outlines of the plan for agri-
cultural education designed to be pursued at the College at
Cirencester. Its objects are not to teach its pupils how to labor,
but to qualify a class of persons for the management of their
own, or the estates of others. The farmers here are not, as with
us, workers on their own estates; they are the managers or
superintendents of the work ; but it is obviously of the highest
importance that they should understand how every branch of
husbandry should be conducted. For the common laborer here,
in the present arrangements of society, I see no hope of his ever
rising above that condition in which he is born. There are
some extraordinary exceptions ; but they are very rare. Besides
the impediments which lie in the way from his entire poverty,
and the extreme difficulty of his ever acquiring more than six
feet of the soil, and that six feet below the surface, and after all
power of active improvement of it has ceased, any attempt to
alter his condition in this respect, it is to be feared, as I think I
have already shown, would be discouraged, certainly not aided.

ECONOMICAL ARRANGEMENTS AT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 241

by those above him. I do not know that it is necessary for me
to discuss the question whether such a condition of society is
preferable to one in which the laborer is first to be served from
the produce of his own toil ; in which every man, by honest
industry, may become the sovereiga owner of the acres which
he tills, and while he labors he may proudly feel that he is
laboring for himself, and not for another. I shall leave all this
to the dispassionate judgment of my reader, content even that it
should be ascribed to the misfortune of birth, or the perverse
prejudices of education, that I immeasurably prefer a condition
of society, where the rights of all men are, as far as possible,
held equal ; where no monopoly of wealth, or education, or rank,
or power, limits or impedes the progress even of the humblest
members of the community ; and where, in a free and equal
competition, without injury to his neighbor, every man, for him-
self and those dependent upon him, becomes the creator of his
own fortunes.

No human institution is perfect. Every eflfort will doubtless
be made to adapt the institution at Cirencester to its proper and
valuable ends. It is obvious that some practical difficulties will
present themselves, which it will require great skill to overcome.
The distinctions of rank, which prevail in England, and form a
part of its constitution, are as rigorously observed at places of
education as in any other departments of society, and are marked
there by differences of dress and of privilege. Will these dis-
tinctions prevail here ? If thay prevail here, will they not prove
inconvenient in respect to the labors of the farm ? or is the
institution in no respect intended for the education of persons of
rank ? I am curious to know how this is to be arranged.
Many noblemen in England, of the highest rank, are among the
most intelligent practical agriculturists in the kingdom. Will
they not desire all the advantages of the institution for their sons ?
and will they consent to forego all the distinctions and priv-
ileges of their rank for the sake of the education ? After all,
the difficulty may be purely imaginary ; for I confess, in my
simplicity, educated as I had been in the plain democratic or
republican habits of New England, nothing surprised me more
than the perfect readiness, with which, in every case, the claims
of rank are acknowledged, and in most cases even the pride and'
pleasure with which this deference is paid, and tlieir rights
21

242 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

admitted, on the part of the inferior classes. So fax from
looking upon this as most of my countrymen are disposed to
regard it, and as I should regard it in my own country, as a
mark of extreme servility, in a country where such distinctions
are established by law, and make a part of the government, it
seems to me as much to the credit of their good sense, as it is
conducive to their good manners, to conform to them. In any
institution of this kind, in my own country, no such difficulties
can arise ; and it might seem idle for me to allude to them, were
it not that an occasional, and I hope not unseasonable, illustra-
tion of the manners of England will interest the curiosity of a
large portion of my readers.

In the next place, it seems to be designed, and certainly it is
very desirable, that the farm shall be managed by the labor of
the pupils ; and it is proposed that the proceeds of the farrn
should go towards the payment of the rent, and the reduction
of other expenses of the establishment. This is, in my opinion,
as it should be ; and, with the exception of one or two more
experienced laborers, who, in their particular departments of
ploughing, &c., should be competent to act as instructors of the
pupils, and with a few servants, (and they should be very few,
for servants, in almost all places of education, are commonly a
great evil, and the best of all training for the young is that
which compels them, in a great degree, for all personal services
at least, to depend upon themselves,) the whole labor of the
farm should be performed by the pupils. This would be, of all
others, the most eifectual way of making them acquainted with
the subject, and the only way, indeed, in which they can
become thoroughly acquainted with many of the operations on a
farm. I am curious to know how this labor is to be had ;
whether it is to be voluntary or by compulsion ; and how,
among two hundred pupils, it is to be apportioned and equalized.
If made voluntary, it certainly will not be equally rendered :
some will not work at all ; and preferences for some kinds of
work, and distaste for others, which of course must be expected
to exist, will be found inconvenient. If the labor is made com-
pulsory, the enforcing of it will not be easy ; and it would be
difficult to find the young men, likely to resort to such a place
of education, disposed to submit to any arbitrary exactions of
this nature. How far it is practicable to make it mercenary, and

ECONOMICAL ARRANGEMENTS AT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 243

to reward it by wages, or by a share of the products of such
labor, is a subject which will require much consideration ; but
this mode seems to present the only alternative.

The large number of students — two hundred — to be pro-
vided for, seems to me to present another serious difficulty in the
case. If any thing like a military discipline could be introduced
among them, two thousand might be managed as easily as two
hundred. As far as concerns their literary or scholastic improve-
ment, the number presents no impediment in the ^viay of their
instruction by lectures or recitations ; but when with this is to
be combined the management of the farm by the personal labor
of the pupils, a number so large, or indeed half that number,
must be found exceedingly difficult of management.. At the
Glasnevin school, the boys are regular apprentices to the farmer,
and their work for certain hours of the day is compulsory. The
schoolmasters, who come to the farm for instruction, come
merely as spectators, and put their hands to the work, or not,
as they please. The whole establishment, if indeed it were four
times as large as it is, would not, under these circumstances, be
beyond the personal superintendence of a single efficient man-
ager. At Templemoyle, the number is limited to seventy, the
farm is much more extensive than at Glasnevin, and the labor
for half the day is compulsory. As the pupils are almost
entirely drawn from the poorest classes, and are persons who
must depend for their success in life wholly upon their own
efforts, they require no other stimulus to exertion. At Ciren-
cester, the pupils may be divided into two classes — those who
work, and are allowed in some form a compensation for their
labor : and those who are not required or expected to labor, and
pay an extra price for the exemption. Such an arrangement
would have many disadvantages, and would be ill adapted to the
condition of society in the United States. The number of two
hundred seems to me quite too large, and unmanageable with
any view to the advantageous application of their labor, if that
labor is to be voluntary.

In Scotland, the practical part of farming is learned by young
men going to reside one or two years, or for a suitable length of
time, with an intelligent and experienced farmer. In such case,
the fee paid is about one hundred pounds, or five hundred dollars,
a year ; and for this the apprentice is received into the family.

244 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

and provided for at the farmer's table, and every operation on
the farm is witnessed by him. and explained to him by the
farmer. In such cases, labor with the pupil is wholly optional.
Where the farmer is well-skilled and communicative, and the
pupil capable and interested in the pursuit, few arrangements
are to be preferred — this upon the supposition, however, that
in other respects, and previously to his commencing his appren-
ticeship, he is well grounded in practical science.

The three things of which I have spoken ought to be viewed
separately ; but I fear, from the manner in which I have treated
them, they may appear somewliat confused to my reader's
mind.

XXXV. — PLAN OF AN AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTION.

First, then, in every system of agricultural education, there
should be an institution for the thorough indoctrination of the
pupil in natural science, and in mechanical philosophy, so far
as it can be made to bear upon agriculture. I have already
treated fully of what, on this topic, should be taught in an insti-
tution of this nature.

Secondly, there sliould be a model farm, which should be
accessible to the pupils, and where they might see an example
of the best management, and the best practices in husbandry.
It is obvious, however, that a single farm can present, excepting
on a small scale, only a single kind of farming ; and that it
would be hardly possible to find a single locality presenting any
considerable, or very instructive specimen of the different kinds
of farming, such as arable, grazing, stock-breeding, stall-feeding,
sheep-raising, and dairying. But the particular and careful
observation even of one kind of well-conducted farming would
qualify a pupil for understanding and receiving information on
every other, whenever it came in his way, or wherever it might
be attainable. Stall-feeding is intimately connected and often
associated with arable farming, and dairying with grazing. The
management of liv^e stock, whether for work, for fatting, or for
dairying, might, in a small degree, be exemplified on every well-

PLAN OF AN AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTION. 245

managed farm. Such an appendage as this to a school of prac-
tical instruction, where the pupils might see and have explained
to them the very best modes of husbandry, must be of the
highest benefit. To these should be added an experimental
farm. This need not be extensive, and it might be connected
with the model farm ; indeed, the model farm might itself be, to
a degree, an experimental farm. It may be said that the pre-
miums offered by agricultural societies, for various experiments
in husbandry, are sufficient to meet the public wants in this
case. I admit that they have in this way rendered immense
benefits to the public ; but there are still wanted various trials
and tests of soils, manures, grasses, plants, implements, modes of
cultivation, modes of feeding, breeding, dairying, — and on the
effects of temperature, moisture, heat, frost, light, and electricity,

— which common farmers can scarcely be expected to undertake,
or, if undertaken, to follow out with that exactness which is
most desirable, in order to render the results of such experiments
worthy of confidence, and lessons for general application.

Connected with the whole should be most extensive gardens,

— first, for purposes of botanical instruction, giving the pupils
an opportunity of becoming acquainted with all the principal
plants, grasses, forest-trees, fruit-trees, and weeds, which enter
into their cultivation, to the advantage or injury of the farmer ;
and next, for making them thoroughly acquainted (a knowl-
edge highly important to them) with the cultivation of all the
varieties of vegetables and fruits which may be required for
use, profit, or luxury.

Such is the basis on which I should be glad to see an institu-
tion for agricultural education rising up in every one of the
United States, where the condition of society renders it Expe-
dient, and the population is dense enough to sustain it. The
expensive plan on which it is proposed here to establish and
conduct such institutions, would be quite unsuited to the state
of manners and the condition of things in the United States.
In their economical arrangements, Ireland has set us an excellent
example. With us, they might be made in a great measure
self-supporting. The plan proposed for such an institution,
some few years since, by the late lamented Judge Buel, who
had the subject much at heart, involved an expenditure of one
21*

'24b EUROPEAN AGRICULTLRE.

hundred thousand dollars, and might be said to have been
crushed by its own weight.

Let us suppose that it were proposed to establish such an
institution in the western part of New York. Certainly no
location could, in respect to the external circumstances of soil,
climate, access, society, and markets, be more favorable. A
farm of five hundred acres might be taken, on favorable terms, on
a long lease. I would under no circumstances suifer the
number of pupils to exceed one hundred, and perhaps it might
be expedient to restrict the number much more. Some good-
sized hall or building would be requisite for public meetings,
lectures, or recitation-rooms, and for a museum, library, and
chemical laboratory ; but I would erect no college building for
the residence of the pupils. They should either lodge in the
neighborhood, with such farmers as would be willing to receive
them, or other persons who might be disposed to provide for
them ; or otherwise, I would erect several farm-houses on the
place, sufficient to supply the needful accommodations ; but in
no case should more than fifteen or twenty be lodged in one
place ; and, whether on the farm or not, the lodging-houses for
the pupils should be under the constant inspection or regulation
of the governors or instructors of the institution. One or two
instructors should be employed constantly for teaching the main
branches of education, and a competent farmer should be em-
ployed to manage the agricultural department, and to give the
necessary practical instruction. Beyond this, no resident instruct-
ors would be required, — but regular and full courses of lectures
and experiments in geology, mineralogy, botany, comparative
anatomy, the veterinary art, and chemistry, by competent pro-
fessors of these sciences, who might be employed for these
objects annually, without the necessity and expense of constant
residence, — as is now frequently done at our medical schools.
In this way, the best talents in the community might be com-
manded, and at a reasonable expense.

I would require, in the next place, that the pupils should be
placed in a condition of perfect equality, and that a certain
amount of labor should be made compulsory on all, at such a
rate of wages as should be deemed just, according to the ability
of the pupil, and the nature of the work done. An account

PLAN OF AN AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTION. 247

should be kept for every pupil, and another by every pupil, of
the labor performed by him, which should be passed to his
credit. The farm account should be kept with faithful exact-
ness, and be always open to the inspection of the pupils ; and
after the deduction of the rent, and the necessary burdens and
expenses, and some small amount kept as a reserve or accumulat-
ing fund for the benefit of the institution, the remainder should
be divided among the pupils according to the labor performed.

Their board and lodging should be settled for by themselves,
without any interference on the part of the directors of the insti-
tution, beyond keeping the charges within a stipulated price ;
and the keepers of the boarding-houses should be required to
purchase, at reasonable rates, from the farm, whatever supplies
they might require, which the farm would yield. A tax should
be levied upon the students for the payment of all the instructors
and lecturers, and the use of the library, and chemical and phil-
osophical apparatus ; and likewise to meet any extraordinary
experiments made upon the farm, with a view to the instruction
of the school. Whether it would be advisable for every pupil
to have an allotment for himself, either for the purpose of
experiment, or for the profit, and in aid of his subsistence, would
be worth considering ; remembering always how important it is
to give to every man an immediate interest in the result of his
labors.

Such, in my opinion, is a plan for agricultural education
which demands no great advance, and involves no risk. But
the project is even much more feasible than I have already
stated. Why, for example, should not such an institution be
connected with the college at Williamstown, or Amherst, in
Massachusetts, or with Dartmouth College in New Hampshire,
or Burlington College in Vermont, or the college at Hartford in
Connecticut, or Geneva in New York, where all the facilities for
scientific instruction are at hand, residences for the students
attainable, and suitable farms to be had, either on purchase, or
lease, at very reasonable rates ? I throw out these hints to my
countrymen, not with a view of dictating to their superior judg-
ment, but to show that an institution for a practical and scientific
education in agriculture may, Avithout any hazardous expend-
iture, or any large investment, be made almost immediately
attainable, and under every practicable advantage.

248 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

A professorship in agriculture is attached to the university in
Edinburgh, and the chair filled by an eminent professor, Mr.
Low, who has rendered the most useful public services, in the
publication of his treatise on agriculture, which is said to
contain the substance of his lectures at this institution. He has
likewise established an extensive agricultural museum, contain-
ing specimens of agricultural productions, and models of the
various implements used in improved husbandry. The term
required to complete such a course of education, might be matter
of after consideration ; but I would advise, in every case, that
the residence should be absolute, the rules exact and stringent,
and the annual or occasional examinations as severe as at the
military school at West Point, so that an equal proficiency might
be secured.

XXXVI. — ELEVATION OF AGRICULTURE AS A
PURSUIT AND A PROFESSION.

ViT'here it is practicable, I would make the education of a high
and extended character ; and, besides the art of measuring, and
surveying, and mapping land, I would have the arts of sketching,
and drawing, and landscape gardening, taught in the institution.
The pursuit of agriculture is almost universally considered as
merely a profession of commerce or trade, the farmer looking
wholly to its pecuniary results. In a trading community,
pecuniary considerations are always liable to control the judg-
ment, and predominate over every other consideration. Where
the means are limited, and the farm must be cultivated as the
only source of subsistence, pecuniary returns must, of course, be
the main object. Where, as in England, the cultivator is not
the owner of the soil, but an annual rent must be paid, and he
is liable, as in most cases, to be compelled to quit his occupancy
at the pleasure or the caprice of his landlord, farming must be
conducted merely as matter of business, and there is no induce-
ment to pursue the profession as matter of taste or sentiment.
In many cases in my own country, it must, of necessity, be

I

ELEVATION OF AGRICULTURE AS A PURSUIT. 249

followed wholly as a means of support and of profit, and in some
cases as a struggle for life.

But there are innumerable other cases, in which men have the
power, under the most favorable circumstances, and I am most
anxious they should have likewise the disposition, to devote
themselves to it as an elegant and liberal profession, worthy of
a mind gifted even with the finest taste, and enriched by the
highest cultivation. The United States present not many
examples of very great wealth, at least when estimated by the
standard of wealth which prevails in England, where, indeed, are
to be found individual accumulations which distance all the
dreams of Oriental magnificence. But, on the other hand, no
country upon the globe, and no condition of things since the
establishment of society, ever presented more favorable oppor-
tunities than the United States for any one, by active and
wholesome industry, and a proper frugality, to acquire a com-
petence, and that respectable independence, in which, with a full
supply for the necessities of life, and an abundant provision for
its comforts, there will be found within reach as many of the
elegances, and ornaments, and luxuries of life, as a well-disci-
plined and healthful state of mind can require. I have seen too
frequently such beautiful examples in our country villages, and
scattered over several parts of a land in many respects favored
by Heaven above every other, not to be deeply impressed with
a condition of life which, where its blessings are properly and
gratefully appreciated, seems to leave little more on earth for a
rational and reflecting, a benevolent and truly religious mind to
ask. Happy is it where its waters are not poisoned by an
insatiate avarice, nor disturbed and thrown into confusion by
ambition of political office or distinction, or a feverish thirst for
notoriety and excitement ; but in a quiet, yet not stagnant repose,
they reflect every where the tokens of that divine goodness,
which seems in such examples to have poured out its richest
earthly treasures. Now, I am anxious that agriculture should
occupy that place among the liberal professions, to which it can
be raised, and to which, from its importance, it is entitled. But
this can only be done by improving the education of farmers as
a class, — by multiplying, through the means of a most liberal and
extended education, the charms of the country, and the subjects
of interest which would be constantly more and more developed

%5Q EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

to a cultivated and inquisitive mind ; and by showing that its
successful pursuit, either as matter of business or recreation,
where a moderate fortune is possessed or a moderate profes-
sional income is secured, is not incompatible with the highest
improvement of taste, and even a vigorous and successful pursuit
of learning ; and that, where so pursued, under favorable circum-
stances, it affords as fair a chance of rational enjoyment and
quiet usefulness as any situation which the most lucrative trade,
or the most successful political ambition, or even the highest pro-
fessional eminence, can command.

But I fear, how much soever I may satisfy the sober and
reflecting minds on this point, my opinions and persuasions will
scarcely be heard, and far less heeded, in that rush for wealth,
for office, and for notoriety, which, like a torrent sweeping over
the country, carries every movable object in its course. It
seems, however, not less my duty to record my strong convic-
tions, which the experience of a life not short has served only
to confirm. I see in my own country every where proffered to
an honest industry, a wise frugality, and a wholesome self-
government, the most ample rewards : I see a wide extent of
rich and beautiful territory waiting the improving hand of skill
and labor, to be had in many cases almost for asking, with every
man free to choose where he will pitch his tent, not only with-
out injury, but to the advantage of his neighbor : I see the
means of education, of competence, and of substantial inde-
pendence, held out to all who will avail themselves of them.
In the midst of all this, I see thousands and thousands of young
men, blest with education and fortunes adequate to supply all
reasonable wants in the country, rushing into cities, exhausting
their small means in the extravagances and dissipations of fash-
ionable life ; crowding all the professions to repletion ; pressing
on, with vexation and disappointment heaped upon vexation and
disappointment, into all the avenues of political office and dis-
tinction, and into all the bitter strifes of political controversy ;
forcing their way into the pursuits of trade without talents for
their prosecution, and almost sure to involve themselves in bank-
ruptcy and ruin ; and, in one form and another, dragging on
through life without satisfaction to themselves and without
usefulness to others, and too often a ruinous burden upon those
whom it is now their turn to succor and relieve. I cannot,

RURAL MANNERS IN ENGLAND. 251

therefore, help wishing that the pursuits of agriculture might be
made attractive to such persons ; and that, with education, and
that moderate fortune which would give them the command of
the best advantages of rural life, they might find in it, as far as
rational happiness and humble usefulness are concerned, that
philosopher's stone which in other places they are almost sure to
search for in vain.

XXXVII. — RURAL MANNERS IN ENGLAND.

England presents many such examples. The true English
gentleman, living, remote from the din of cities, and abstracted
from the turmoil of political life, upon his own acres ; managing
his own estate ; seeking the best means for its improvement, and
superintending, under his own personal inspection, their applica-
tion ; doing what good he can to all around him ; making those
dependent upon him comfortable and contented ; giving labor,
counsel, encouragement, and all needful aid, to his poor neigh-
bors, and causing them, and their wives, and their children, to
look up to him as a friend and a parent, to whose kindness their
good conduct is always a certain claim ; whom when the eye
sees, it sparkles with grateful joy, and when the ear hears his
footsteps, the sounds go like melody to the heart ; who is in his
neighborhood the avowed and unostentatious supporter of good
morals, temperance, education, peace, and religion ; and in whose
house you find an open-hearted hospitality, and abundant re-
sources for innocent gratification, and for the improvement of
the mind, with a perfect gentleness of manners, and unaffected
piety presiding over the whole ; — I say, such a man — and it
has been my happiness to find many examples — need envy no
one save the possessor of more power, and a wider sphere, of
doing good ; and need not covet the brightest triumphs of
political ambition, nor the splendors and luxuries of royal
courts.

Whatever contributes, then, in any way, to elevate the agri-
cultural profession, to raise it, from a mere servile or mercenary
labor, to the dignity of a liberal profession, and to commend it

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

not merely for its profit and usefulness, bwt as a delightful
resource and recreation for a cultivated mind, will certainly find
favor with those who form rational views of life, who wish well
to the cause of good morals, and would multiply and strengthen
the safeguards of human virtue.

The class of individuals whom I have described — and I
assure my readers I have drawn from real life, and deal in no
fictions — find often their own efforts seconded and aided by
those whose encouragement and sympathy always give new life
and vigor to their exertions, and new pleasure to their pleasures,
— I mean their own wives and children; and the farming
operations, in all their history and details, and all their expe-
diency and fitness, are as much matter of familiar and interested
discussion at the fireside, as, in many other circles, the most
recent novel, the change in fashion, or the latest triumph of
party. Indeed, I have seen, in many cases, the wives and the
daughters — and these, too, often persons of the highest rank
and refinement — as well acquainted with every field and crop,
their management and their yield, and with every implement
and animal on the place, as the farmer himself ; and I always put
it down to the credit of their good sense.

XXXVIII. — A PENCIL SKETCH.

I must claim the indulgence of my readers, if I give them an
account of a visit in the country so instructive, so bright, so
cheerful, that nothing but the absolute breaking-up of the mind
can ever obliterate its record, or dispel the bright vision from my
imagination. I know my fair readers — for with some such I
am assured my humble Reports are kindly honored — will feel
an interest in it ; and if I have any unfair readers, I beg them at
once to turn over the page. But mind, I shall utter no name,
and point to no place ; and if I did not know that the example
was not altogether singular, and therefore would not be detected,
I should not relate it. I know very well, as soon as I return to
my native land, if Heaven has that happiness yet in store for

A PENCIL SKETCH. 263

me, a dozen of my charming friends, — God bless them ! — with
their bright eyes, and their gentle entreaties, will be pressing me
for a disclosure ; but I tell them beforehand, I am panoplied in a
stern philosophy, and shall remain immovable.

I had no sooner, then, entered the house, where my visit had
been expected, than I was met with an unaffected cordiality
which at once made me at home. In the midst of gilded halls
and hosts of liveried servants, of dazzling lamps, and glittering
mirrors, redoubling the highest triumphs of art and taste : in the
midst of books, and statues, and pictures, and all the elegances
and refinements of luxury ; in the midst of titles, and dignities,
and ranks, allied to regal grandeur, — there was one object which
transcended and eclipsed them all, and showed how much the
nobility of character surpassed the nobility of rank, the beauty
of refined and simple manners all the adornments of art, and
the scintillations of the soul, beaming from the eyes, the purest
gems that ever glittered in a princely diadem. In person, in
education and improvement, in quickness of perception, in facility
and elegance of expression, in accomplishments and taste, in a
frankness and gentleness of manners tempered by a modesty
which courted confidence and inspired respect, and in a high
moral tone and sentiment, which, like a bright halo, seemed to
encircle the whole person, — I confess the fictions of poetry
became substantial, and the beau ideal of my youthful imagina-
tion was realized.

But who was the person I have described ? A mere statue, to
adorn a gallery of sculpture ? a bird of paradise, to be kept in a
glass case ? a mere doll, with painted cheeks, to be dressed and
undressed with childish fondness ? a mere human toy, to lan-
guish over a romance, or to figure in a quadrille ? Far other-
wise : she was a woman in all the noble attributes which should
dignify that name ; a wife, a mother, a housekeeper, a farmer, a
gardener, a dairy-woman, a kind neighbor, a benefactor to the
poor, a Christian woman, '' full of good works, and alms-deeds
which she did."

In the morning, I first met her at prayers ; for, to the honor
of England, there is scarcely a family, among the hundreds
whose hospitality I have shared, where the duties of the day are
not preceded by the services of family worship ; and the master
and the servant, the parent and the child, the teacher and the
22

254 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

taught, the friend and the stranger, come together to recognize
and strengthen the sense of their common equality in the
presence of their common Father, and to acknowledge their
equal dependence upon his care and mercy. She was then kind
enough to tell me, after her morning arrangements, she claimed
me for the day. She first showed me her children, whom, like
the Roman mother, she deemed her brightest jewels, and
arranged their studies and occupations for the day. She then
took me two or three miles on foot to visit a sick neighbor, and,
while performing this act of kindness, left me to visit some of
the cottages upon the estate, whose inmates I found loud in the
praises of her kindness and benefactions. Our next excursion
was to see some of the finest, and largest, and most aged trees in
the park, the size of which was truly magnificent ; and I sym-
pathized in the veneration which she expressed for them, which
was like that with which one recalls the illustrious memory of a
remote progenitor. Our next visit was to the greenhouses and
the gardens ; and she explained to me the mode adopted there of
managing the most delicate plants, and of cultivating, in the
most economical and successful manner, the fruits of a warmer
region. From the garden we proceeded to the cultivated fields ;
and she informed me of the system of husbandry pursued on the
estate, the rotation of crops, the management and application of
manures, the amount of seed sown, the ordinary yield, and the
appropriation of the produce, with a perspicuous detail of the
expenses and results. She then undertook to show me the
yards and offices, the byres, the feeding-stalls, the plans for
saving, and increasing, and managing, the manure, the cattle for
feeding, for breeding, for raising, the milking stock, the piggery,
the poultry-yard, the stables, the harness-rooms, the implement-
rooms, the dairy. She explained to me the process of making
the different kinds of cheese, and the general management of the
milk, and the mode of feeding the stock ; and then, conducting
me into the bailiffs house, she exhibited to me the Farm Jour-
nal, and the whole systematic mode of keeping the accounts and
making the returns, with which she seemed as familiar as if they
were the accounts of her own wardrobe. This did not finish
our grand tour ; for, on my return, she admitted me into her
boudoir, and showed me the secrets of her own admirable house-
wifery, in the exact accounts which she kept of every thing

A PENCIL SKETCH. 255

connected with the dairy and the market, the table, the drawing-
room, and the servants' hall. All this was done with a sim-
plicity and a frankness which showed an absence of all con-
sciousness of any extraordinary merit in her own department,
and which evidently sprang solely from a kind desire to gratify
a cm'iosity on my part, which, I hope, under such circumstances,
was not unreasonable. A short hour after this brought us into
another relation ; for the dinner-bell summoned us, and this same
lady was found presiding over a brilliant circle of the highest
rank and fashion, with an ease, elegance, wit, intelligence, and
good-humor, with a kind attention to every one's wants, and an
unaffected concern for every one's comfort, which would lead
one to suppose that this was her only and her peculiar sphere.
Now, I will not say how many mud-puddles we had waded
through, and how many dung-heaps we had crossed, and what
places we explored, and how every farming topic was discussed ;
but I will say, that she pursued her object without any of that
fastidiousness and affected delicacy which pass with some
persons for refinement, but which in many cases indicate a
weak if not a corrupt mind. The mind which is occupied with
concerns and subjects that are worthy to occupy it, thinks very
little of accessories which are of no importance. I will say, to
the credit of Englishwomen, — I speak, of course, of the upper
classes, — that it seems impossible that there should exist a more
delicate sense of propriety than is found universally among
them ; and yet you will perceive at once that their good sense
teaches them that true delicacy is much more an element of the
mind, in the person who speaks or observes, than an attribute of
the subject which is spoken about or observed. A friend told
me that Canova assured him that, in modelling the wonderful
statue of the Three Graces, from real life, he was never at any
time conscious of an improper emotion or thought ; and if any
man can look at this splendid production, this affecting imbodi-
ment of a genius almost creative and divine, with any other
emotion than that of the most profound and respectful admira-
tion, he may well tremble for the utter corruption, within him,
of that moral nature which God designed should elevate him
above the brute creation.

Now, I do not say that the lady to whom I have referred was
herself the manager of the farm; that rested entirely with her

256 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

husband ; but I have intended simply to show how grateful and
gratifying to him must have been the Hvely interest and sym-
pathy which she took in concerns which necessarily so much
engaged his time and attention ; and how the country could be
divested of that dulness and ennuij so often complained of as
inseparable from it, when a cordial and practical interest is taken
in the concerns which necessarily belong to rural life. I meant
also to show — as this and many other examples which have
come under my observation emphatically do show — that an
interest in, and a familiarity with, even the most humble occu-
pations of agricultural life, are not inconsistent with the highest
refinements of taste, the most improved cultivation of the mind,
the practice of the polite accomplishments, and a grace, and
elegance, and dignity of manners, unsurpassed in the highest
circles of society.

XXXIX. — LIFE IN THE COUNTRY.

To live in the country, and enjoy all its pleasures, we should
love the country. To love the country is to take an interest in
all that belongs to the countty — its occupations, its sports, its
culture, and its improvements, its fields and its forests, its trees
and rocks, its valleys and hills, its lakes and rivers ; to gather
the flocks around us, and feed them from our own hands ; to
make the birds our friends, and call them all by their names ; to
wear a chaplet of roses as if it were a princely diadem ; to rove
over the verdant fields with a higher pleasure than we should
tread the carpeted halls of regal courts ; to inhale the fresh air
of the morning as if it were the sweet breath of infancy ; to
brush the dew from the glittering fields as if our path were
strewed with diamonds ; to hold converse with the trees of the
forest, in their youth and in their decay, as if they could tell us
the history of their own times, and as if the gnarled bark of the
aged among them were all Avritten over with the record of by-
gone days, of those who planted them, and those who early
gathered their fruits ; to find hope and joy bursting like a flood
upon our hearts, as the darting rays of light gently break upon

VETERINARY COLLEGE. 257

the eastern horizon ; to see the descending sun robing himself in
burnished clouds, as if these were the gathering glories of the
divine throne ; to find in the clear evening of winter our
chamber studded with countless gems of living light ; to feel
that " we are never less alone than when alone ; " to make even
the stillness and solitude of the country eloquent ; and above all,
in the beauty of every object which presents itself to our senses,
and in the unbought provision which sustains, and comforts, and
fills with joy, the countless multitudes of living existences which
people the land, the water, the air, every where to repletion, to
see the radiant tokens of an infinite and inexhaustible benefi-
cence, as they roll by us and around us in one ceaseless flood ;
and in a clear £ind bright day of summer, to stand out in the
midst of this resplendent creation, circled by an horizon which
continually retreats from our advances, holding its distance
undiminished, and with the broad and deep blue arches of
heaven over us, whose depths no human imagination can fathom ;
to perceive this glorious temple all instinct with the presence of
the Divinity, and to feel, amidst all this, the brain growing dizzy
with wonder, and the heart swelling with an adoration and a
holy joy, absolutely incapable of utterance ; — this it is to love
the country, and to make it, not the home of the person only, but
of the soul.

XL. — VETERINARY COLLEGE.

I must not quit the subject of agricultural education without
adverting to some other institutions of great importance. The
first of these is the Veterinary College, near London. I believe
there is one of a similar character near Edinburgh ; but that I
have not visited.

The object of this institution was to qualify persons, by the
study of comparative anatomy and physiology, and by oppor-
tunities for witnessing hospital practice and investigating the
symptoms and phenomena of disease in the lower animals, to
practise veterinary surgery and medicine ; and to do what can
be done, by skill and science, for the relief of the sufferings and
22*

258 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the cure of the maladies of quadrupeds of all kinds — horses, cattle,
sheep, dogs, &c. For this purpose, a number of gentlemen
associated, and, by a subscription for life of twenty guineas each,
or an annual payment of two guineas, laid the foundation of this
excellent and humane establishment. An extensive plot of
ground, about three miles from the centre of London, was
obtained, and the necessary buildings — consisting of stables and
loose boxes; long piazzas for the purpose of giving the patients
exercise in bad weather under cover ; a room for lectures and
dissections, and for a museum of anatomical preparations : and
specimens of diseased organization, and a forge for shoeing,
together with apartments for the resident professor, and for the
accommodation of the servants of the establishment — have been
erected ; and already nearly or quite a thousand pupils have
received diplomas or certificates of their qualifications for
practice, and have gone to the business of their profession in
different parts of the kingdom, in the army, and in foreign
countries.

Subscribers to the establishment have the privilege of sending
their horses, or diseased animals, to the institution, without any
other expense than the actual cost of their food ; but no animal
can be admitted which is not the property of either an annual or a
permanent subscriber. The horses of subscribers are sometimes
prescribed for at their own stables, when it is inconvenient to
send them, provided the medicines are compounded at the
college. In case the disease of an animal is pronounced des-
perate, the owner, upon paying the expenses already incurred,
may surrender him to the college ; and if, by any treatment
which they may see fit to adopt, the animal is recovered, the
owner may have him again by paying the additional expenses
since his surrender, or he will be considered the property of the
college. Horses likewise may be shod at the forge of the
college at the customary charges. Subscribers likewise, at a
distance, have the privilege of procuring any medicines or drugs,
which may be required, compounded at the college, and fur-
nished at the actual cost.

A principal and an adjunct professor of veterinary science and
practice, men eminent for their knowledge and skill, preside over
the institution, and give regular courses of lectures and examina-
tions ; and the number of patients in the infirmary is generally

VETERINARY COLLEGE. 259

such as to afford the students an opportunity of seemg a consid-
erable variety of practice, especially among horses, to which
hitherto the practice has been mainly confined. Besides this,
through the liberality of the professors of the Medical College,
the students at the Veterinary Institution have an opportunity
of attending the medical and anatomical lectures gratuitously
at these institutions ; and, to guard, as far as possible, against
ignorance and incompetency, no student can receive the diploma
or recommendation of the institution to practise, until he has
passed a regular and thorough examination, and has been found
qualified for the duty.

This is a most excellent institution. In an economical view,
it is highly important ; for the amount of property in live stock
is every where very great ; and here, where, as in several estab-
lishments kept by a single individual, there are twenty and
thirty, and sometimes forty horses for hunting, and in other
cases as many more for racing, — and where, as in several cases
within my knowledge, packs of dogs, of very great original cost,
are kept at an expense of from fifteen hundred to two thousand
pounds, or from seven thousand to ten thousand dollars, a year,
and in many cases more than that, — it is easy to see what a
large amount of property is at stake, and to what care it is
entitled. I have been at one or two establishments where the
horses in the stables, exclusive of horses for farm work, amount-
ed to sixty or eighty. The large number of cavalry horses
belonging to the army render the services of a veterinary sur-
geon, in such establishments, of indispensable importance.

Surgery, as an art, has been carried to great perfection ; and in
some circumstances hardly any thing more seems wanting than
actually to breathe into some of the artificial anatomical prepara-
tions the Promethean fire, and set the circulations in motion.
Medicine, indeed, presents but few infallible remedies, but some-
thing has been done ; and if comparatively little has been accom-
plished by physic, yet much has been done by a curative treat-
ment and regimen. I am aware that it is quite customary to
say of many novel, and certainly very gentle modes of treatment,
of recent date, that the patients are cured by the imagination ;
and this is as agreeable a mode of cure as bloodletting, or
powerful doses of calomel and jalap, or the exciting operation of
Spanish flies. It is obvious, however, that, until we make

260 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

much further progress in })hrenological science, we can do little
by applications to the imaginations of horses or dogs. But,
whatever imperfection attaches itself to medical science, some-
thing at least may be gained from it ,* and it certainly presents
the only practicable and probable means of learning the nature
of disease, and combating its power. At any rate, medical
science, and a thorough medical education, seem to afford the
only substantial security against the evils of empiricism or
quackery ; and, to say nothing of experiments upon the human
organism, I have myself seen, under the pretence of remedy or
cure, such horrible cruelties practised upon dumb animals, as
have filled me with indignation, and have made me indulge the
inhuman wish of changing places with the operator — of putting
him in the position of his unhappy patient, and of being allowed
to try some of his prescriptions upon himself. If they answered,
well : but, in many cases, I think he would soon be past answer-
ing at all. The public have reason to congratulate themselves
that medical practice is now every where assuming the character
of prevention rather than of cure ; and that the truly respectable
part of the profession, dropping that profound air of mystery
with which they formerly were accustomed to wrap themselves
up, and which made one tremble in their presence almost as
much as in the presence of the original professor of the black art,
now prefer the more simple to the more artificial practice.
They seem to be fast learning that Nature, like others of the
sex, may be persuaded, but not forced ; may be kindly led, but
woe be to the man who attempts to drive her ; and that, in
truth, the great object of medicine is, not to give health, but to
remove disease ; to clean and adjust the machinery, and then it
will go right of itself, barring accidents, as long as it is intended
to go at all.

1 have already spoken of the importance of the veterinary art
in an economical view. A frightful disease has for some time
prevailed among the cattle in England, Ireland, and the Con-
tinent. I met with one farmer who assured me that he had lost
by it, in one season, ninety-seven cattle, and he feared his whole
herd might perish with it, for he could find no remedy. Now,
there is no hope of any remedy but from the investigations of
medical skill and science. We want men, therefore, who by
education are qualified for, and willing to. devote themselves to, the

VETERINARY COLLEGE. 261

inquiry into the causes and means of prevention of such direful
calamities. The epidemic still prevails in England and on the
Continent ; and application has been made to the government to
check the importation of foreign cattle, lest they should assist
in the spread of the disease. Indeed, numbers of cattle are
almost every week, as I have reason to believe, brought to
Smithfield in such a state of disease as to be fit for no other
purpose — and for this they are actually bought — but to make
sausages for the poor Londoners. I hardly dare say that this is
not to be complained of; but when one sees the extreme and
indescribable misery and destitution of many of these poor
wretches, apparently irremediable and hopeless, one almost
hesitates, in sad desperation, to lament a mode of disposing
of them after the Napoleon example of the treatment of his
sick prisoners at Jaffa. I almost tremble while I write upon
such a subject as this. It is indispensable to see, in order to
believe. I have had the painful, I hope not improper, curiosity
to penetrate many of these subterranean hiding-places and dens
of misery; and it is my sober conviction that the human imagi-
nation cannot exaggerate the physical suffering, and, too com-
monly consequent upon that, the moral degradation in which
many thousands, in this glorious and prosperous country, drag
out their wretched existence. But I advocate the establishment
of veterinary institutions, and the cultivation of veterinary med-
icine, on the broad ground of humanity ; and I hope many such
institutions will grow up in America, and that speedily. It is
remarkable that, in the disease of one of our domestic animals,
medical science has discovered the only effectual preventive for
one of the most dreadful scourges which, in the form of disease,
ever afflicted mankind. I refer, of course, to vaccination.

But these animals have bones to ache, and nerves to feel, as
well as ourselves. They furnish our support ; they perform our
labors ; they promote our pleasures ; they are patient, enduring,
and indefatigable, in our service. Has not God cast them upon
our care, and put them under our protection ? What a respon-
sibility ! Shall it be said that those who have no voice to speak
for themselves, shall find no one to speak for them ? What if
they have no moral nature ? Then they have not the vices of
animals of a superior class, who, dishonoring, perverting, and
outraging, that moral nati.re, degrade themselves far below the

262 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

class of beings guided only by instinctive impulses. It is said
of the great emperor, that his heart was never more touched, if
heart indeed he had, than on a certain occasion, when, three
days after a sanguinary battle, when human victims were immo-
lated to his dreadful ambition by thousands, riding over a field
thickly strewed with the dying and the dead, he found a faithful
dog lying by the side and licking the bleeding wounds of his
dying master. The noble dog of St. Bernard, dragging the
perishing traveller from the snow-drift to the hospitable convent,
for warmth and comfort, and the poor spaniel dying with slow
starvation upon the grave of his master, and refusing to be led
away or to be comforted, are pictures of heroism and fidelity
worthy of a place at the side of that of Regulus, deaf to the
entreaties of his family, taking leave of the senate on his return
to fulfil his pledge, or that of the Grecian daughter nourishing
her father in prison.

Humanity calls upon us to alleviate suffering, wherever suf-
fering exists. I wish that veterinary instruction was connected
with all our medical schools, and made an indispensable branch
of study. We try all kinds of experiments upon these helpless
animals for the benefit of science, and science should do some-
thing to repay the debt, by attempting, in every practicable form,
to alleviate the sufferings of the race. In the country, a medical
practitioner, who would add veterinary skill and practice to his
other services, would confer immense benefits. It is lamentable
that, by a false standard of moral duty, such an office should be
thought degrading. In many cases, it might subject him to
painful and thankless services; but the life of every benevolent
physician is full of such services, and he has only to thank God
that he has the power of doing so much good, often at so little
cost. So far from such a practice being degrading, the physician
who would be willing to render such services would be worthy
of double honor ; for the more humble, the meaner, the more
friendless the sufferer, proportionately is the glory of the kindness
enhanced. There is no reason, however, why such services
should be gratuitous, and in many situations it would form a
profitable branch of practice.

MUSEUM OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY. 263

XLI. — MUSEUM OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.

This is a most valuable establishment, in the centre of Lon-
don. Its whole object is utility, and principally in rendering
geological discoveries subservient to the promotion of the useful
and ornamental arts. It is a most singular, but a well-estab-
lished fact, that the mineral treasures dug from the mines, in the
islands of Great Britain, amount to the enormous sum of twenty
million pounds sterling per year, or one hundred million of
dollars, — of which eight million pounds, or forty million of dol-
lars, are of iron, and nine million pounds, or forty-five million of
dollars, of coal. It is easy to see what a vast interest is at stake
in these matters. In another form, I hope to be able to give
some account of a visit which I made to one of these immense
excavations, where I descended, by a ladder, seven hundred feet,
and then groped my way through various crevices, and chambers,
and shafts, a distance of perhaps two miles under ground. I am
disposed to think it would be misplaced in an agricultural report,
where I am afraid my friends will already find too many things
out of place. I can only, in this matter, throw myself upon the
indulgence of my readers, and remind them of the variety of
tastes and appetites which I am compelled to consult. If, in
spite of all this, a bill of indictment should be brought against
me for making my Reports too miscellaneous, I shall at once
allow a plea of guilty to be recorded, and throw myself upon the
mercy of the court. I am indeed, in this way, an old offender,
and I cannot express the gratitude which I feel for the mercy I
have so often experienced.

The Museum of Economic Geology, though not founded
principally for the benefit of agricultural science, is yet made
subsidiary to this object. The geological structure of any por-
tion of the earth's surface seems intimately related to the nature
of the soil which rests upon it ; so that, from knowing the
structure of the rocky substratum of a country, you can infer
strongly its fertility or its infertility, or the adaptation of its soil
to various crops. The general opinion is, that all soils are
formed from the crumbling or detrition of rocks, mixed with
some vegetable or organic matter. This is the received theory,

264 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

but it is not without its difficulties. I have no disposition to
controvert it, for a man who battles with the stones is quite sure
to have the worst of it. The original form of the earth is
wrapped in impenetrable obscurity. Science is doing every-
thing she can to unfold the leaves of this wonderful book ; but
where they have been most successfully separated and ex-
pounded, they are found so scratched, and torn, and blurred all
over, that the letters are with extreme difficulty made legible.
We soon learn that it was a much earlier specimen of printing
than has been generally supposed, and some of it in a language
that is lost. It does not appear to me more certain that the
rocks were first formed, and then portions of them reduced to
such a fine state of comminution as to form soils, than that the
earth was originally in a state of fine atoms, and then, by the
operation of fire, and water, and pressure from within and with-
out, amidst violent terrene convulsions, rocks were formed, and
the various strata arranged. It would seem not improbable
that, from the earliest period of the reduction of its temperature
to a degree that vegetable life could exist upon it, vegetable life
appeared j and by successive convulsions this vegetable life
itself became overwhelmed, and was transformed into those
immense beds of fossil deposits which occupy so large a portion
of the surface, or upper portion, of the globe. How afterwards
such vast deposits of earth took place over these beds of vege-
table remains, can be explained only "^ by some immense and
utterly inexplicable convulsion and disruption of portions of the
earth. It is admitted that the character of the soil often bears a
direct relation to the rocks which it overlays, and evidently a
considerable portion of it is formed from the detritus of these
subjacent rocks ; but the vast amount of drift or diluvium scat-
tered over the earth's surface, and often at immense distances
from places where, upon the common theory, it is supposed to
have been formed, shows that the geological indications above
referred to are not infallible.

The Museum of Economic Geology is intended to exhibit
specimens of various soils from the different localities in the
country, with illustrations, as far as they can be obtained, of
their peculiar adaptation to agricultural purposes ; and connected
with the museum is a chemical laboratory for the analysis of
soils which may have already been obtained, or which may be

CHEMICAL AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION IN SCOTLAND. 265

brought by farmers or land-owners for that purpose. The
museum is open to the gratuitous inspection of the pubUc, and
is clearly the germ of an institution of great magnitude and
importance. The establishment is at present under the manage-
ment of Mr. Richard Phillips, F. R. S., a man deservedly emi-
nent for his skill in chemistry and natural science, to whose
indefatigable kindness I should do great injustice to my own
grateful feelings if I did not here record my deep sense of obli-
gation.

XLII. — CHEMICAL AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATION IN
SCOTLAND.

The farmers in Scotland, certainly inferior to none in agri-
cultural enterprise, intelligence, and skill, and demonstrating this
by a husbandry most exact and productive, have associated
themselves together for the encouragement of the application of
chemistry to the improvement of agriculture. Proprietors of
land pay a yearly subscription of one pound or upwards to the
association, and tenants ten shillings. This sum entitles each
of them to two analyses a year at a certain fixed low rate. All
above that number are charged half more. The analyst is
required to give only such analysis as will answer the desired
purpose. Agricultural societies, by a yearly payment of five
pounds to the association, are entitled to one lecture from the
agricultural professor ; for ten pounds, to two lectures, and so
on ; and the travelling expenses of the lecturer are likewise to
be paid by those who employ him.

The society, more than a year since, proceeded to appoint, at
a liberal salary, Mr. F. "W. S. Johnston, an agricultural lecturer
and chemist, to the office of chemist and lecturer to the associa-
tion ; and a chemical laboratory and depository are established
and in full operation at Edinburgh. Mr. Johnston is well known
to the agricultural community by his valuable works on agricul-
tural chemistry, some of which have been reprinted in the United
States, and in both countries have had a very extended circula-
tion. The success of the association, it is reported, has been
23

266

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

such as to satisfy the original subscribers of its utility. It has
led, through the lectures of the professor, to the establishment
of several agricultural periodicals, and has throughout Scotland
infused new spirit into the veins of the agricultural body, and
quickened its pulse. One of the most substantial benefits as yet
resulting from it has been the analytical examination of ninety
difierent specimens of guano imported into Scotland ; and that
to secure the farmers from impositions, which, in cases before
this, have not been infrequeiit.

After the remarks which I have made in a former part of my
Report, it certainly is only just that I should subjoin the analysis
made at this place of two soils from Renfrewshire, with the
results of the application prescribed for them.

I.

II.

Per cent.

Per cent.

'' Organic matter,

12.05 .

10.43

Salts soluble in water ; sulphates.

1.23 .

. 0.75

Oxide of iron,

5.73 .

10.78

Manganese,

0.19 .

0.24

Alumina,

4.69 .

2.87

Magnesia,

trace. .

. trace.

Phosphoric acids,

trace. .

trace.

Silicious matter and clay, ....

74.67 .

. 73.21

98.56

98.28

" But a mere trace of magnesia and phosphoric acid was found
in either of these soils. It was therefore recommended to add
to both of them the magnesia in the state of sulphate, and the
phosphoric acid as bone -earth. The effect has been most won-
derful and striking." — The letter with which I have been
favored adds, ''None of the analyses I have given are very
elaborate, but they are sufficiently so for practical purposes, and
they do not confuse or mystify the farmer with hard names."

I had the pleasure of visiting this institution, and there was
certainly no want of the indications of industry. I have only to
regret that my friend's account of his two patients above is so
short and imperfect. I should be ghd to have been able to
inform my readers what was the exact condition of the patients
before taking the prescription, and their particular state of health
after it.

CHEMICAL AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 267

XLIII. — CHEMICAL AGRICULTURAL LECTURES.

During the last winter, a course of ten lectures, illustrated by
numerous experiments, was given by Professor Brande, F. R. S.,
well known in the scientific world, on the chemistry of agri-
culture, at the rooms of the Royal Institution, — which, through
his politeness, I had the pleasure of attending. They might be
considered as almost wholly scientific, and were exceedingly
interesting and instructive. Mr. Brande spoke of himself as
having been a pupil or associate of the distinguished Sir
Humphry Davy, who lectured on the same subjects in this same
institution, and who may be said to have taken the first step in
the great movement, which is now so widely felt, of the applica-
tion of science, properly so called, to agriculture.

Professor Brando's lectures were numerously attended, by
ladies as well as gentlemen. Several of the ladies were always
busy in taking notes of the lectures. I felt the highest respect
for them on this account ; and if I had been, as is said among
the clergy, " a candidate for settlement," with my strong pred-
ilections for agricultural pursuits, I might have been tempted to
inquire about some of them, whose high and capacious foreheads
gave a noble indication of what was within, whether they also
were in the transition state. Certainly here, as well as any
where, I may claim for an American woman the honor of pre-
senting from her own pen an excellent translation, from the
French, of Chaptal's Agricultural Chemistry, to the American
public. Her name is modestly withheld from the title-page,
and therefore I have no right to give it.

I shall give below a syllabus of Professor Brando's lectures on
these occasions, because I so strongly wish the example should
be followed in my own country.

1st. Lecture. The Soil. — Its components; whence derived.
— Inorganic Constituents of the Soil. Silica ; alumina ; lime :
magnesia ; oxide of iron ; alkalies ; phosphorus ; sulphur ; salts ;
water ; decay of rocks ; sand ; clay ; marl ; chalk ; other simple
soils. — Organic Constituents. Humus or humic acid ; their
influences and uses. Absorptive power in regard to air, water,

I

•^8

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

and gases. Radiating and receptive powers in respect to solar
rays. Various physical conditions of the soil.

II. The Atmosphere. — Its composition ; invariable and va-
riable constituents. Influence of the moisture, carbonic acid,
and ammonia, of the atmosphere.

III. The Vegetable. — Its Ultimate Constituents^ and their
sources ; carbon ; oxygen ; hydrogen ; nitrogen. The sources
and importance of the so-called inorganic constituents of the
vegetable ; acids ; alkalies ; oxides ; salts. — Proximate Con-
stituents of the vegetable ; sap ; wood ; starch ; sugar ; gum.
Their metamorphoses ; gluten ; albumen ; fibrine ; caseine ;
legumine ; ^ro/ee?ie ; resins ; oils; acids; alkalies; fermentation;
eremacausis ; putrefaction.

IV. Functions and Growth of Vegetables. — Germination ;
general organization of vegetables ; roots ; trunk ; branches ;
leaves ; flowers ; buds ; functions of the roots and of the leaves.

V. Principles of the Improvement of Soils. — Mechanical,
as influencing texture ; chemical, as influencing composition
TnanureSj of inorganic, organic, and mixed origin. Draining ;
ploughing ; burning ; irrigation ; green crops ; interchange of
crops ; fallows.

I make no apology for giving to my readers this instructive
syllabus in full. It is said of Glueen Elizabeth that, being
asked by one of her maids of honor for a book to read, she gave
her an English dictionary. The lady presently returned it to
her majesty with many thanks, and stated '' that she had been
much interested in the perusal." There was more wisdom in
this reply than at first appears. To say nothing of its conve-
nience, yet I have often found a copious index, or a well-digested
table of contents, an interesting and instructive portion of a book.

XLiV. — EMPLOYMENT OF AGRICULTURISTS.

In the technical sense of the term, agriculturist means a
teacher of agriculture. Under the excellent management of

I

EMPLOYMENT OF AGRICULTURISTS. 269

William Blacker, Esq., on the estate of Lord Gosford, in the
county of Armagh, Ireland, an experienced and intelligent man,
well skilled in communicating his ideas, is employed to visit the
tenants on the property, to advise them in regard to the manage-
ment and cultivation of their small farms, and to encourage them
by some small premiums, and by reporting their condition and
success to the principal manager. The occupations in these
cases are very small, often not exceeding three, four, and six
acres. As I understood Mr. Blacker, he has the care of twenty-
five hundred tenants on the property of this nobleman. This
number, I confess, seems very extraordinary ; but the subdi-
visions on the place are quite small and numerous. I shall, on
another occasion, give a particular account of Mr. Blacker's
excellent management of small farms, because it is full of useful
instruction, and does the highest honor to his judgment, perse-
verance, and benevolence. At present, I speak only of the^
employment of an agriculturist, which has been attended with
the best effects. This person- lives on the estate, and has a
small amount of land in the neighborhood of his own house,
which he is expected to keep in the best possible order, accord-
ing to the system which he lays down for others, — so that he
is called upon to teach by example as well as precept.

The same arrangement has been made, at the suggestion of
Mr. Blacker, on the farm of Lady Bassett, near Camborne, in
Cornwall, which I had the pleasure to visit. Here, too, it works
well. The farmers in Cornwall hold larger farms than in
Armagh, and therefore have a higher idea of their own impor-
tance. They were at first very jealous of the direct approaches
of the agriculturist to advise and instruct them. But by a little
address, and by especially avoiding any thing like dogmatism or
self-conceit, and by a frank manner convincing the farmers that
he was disinterestedly seeking their good, his success is becom-
ing remarkable, and he is every day gaining upon their esteem
and confidence. A horse, loose in a pasture, can rarely be
caught if you approach him swinging the bridle, the emblem of
his subjugation, before his eyes ; but if you go to him shaking
only the measure of oats before him, and concealing the bridle
under your coat, you can generally take him without difficulty.
I am no advocate for treachery under any form ; but where the
object aimed at is unexceptionable and excellent, I see no occa-
23*

270

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

sion for unnecessarily alarming the prejudices of those whom we
wish to serve, or for awakening resistance by command, when
we can easily enforce acquiescence by persuasion.

That the plan is sure to work well where the class of tenants,
as in Armagh, are very small tenants, and ignorant withal, is
quite plain ; but farmers on a large scale would be likely to
reject any direct interference. Yet these men often need
instruction. The knowledge of improvements, in some cases,
extends itself by slow degrees : oral instruction, coupled with
familiar illustrations, is always more interesting than books ; and
the employment of an agricultural missionary, of unobtrusive
and kind manners, and perfectly competent to impart instruction,
to visit a district of country, that he might point out errors and
defects of cultivation, and explain the best modes of husbandry
adapted to the climate and locality, would prove a most power-
ful means of awakening attention to the subject, of reforming
errors, and introducing desirable and substantial improvements.

XLV. — GUANO.

Having now completed what I designed to say upon the pro-
vision for agricultural education in Great Britain, I shall beg the
indulgence of my readers in reverting to a topic of a different
character, and which, in a more methodical arrangement, would
have had a place in a different part of my work. A strong and
impatient desire has been expressed that I should give what
information I possess on the subject of the recently-introduced
and most extraordinary manure called guano ; and I therefore
speak of it in this place.

I do not deem it necessary to go into the history of a sub-
stance which has been made so familiar by the public discus-
sions which have taken place in relation to it. That it is an
animal deposit, is well established. It is the excrement of sea-
birds accustomed to frequent certain islands in the Pacific Ocean
and other places in the tropical latitudes. Its use as a manure
is not new in those countries where it has been found. In Peru,

GUANO. 271

the birds who caused the deposit were protected by severe laws,
and the value of the manure was fully understood. The amount
of the accumulations, considering the nature of the deposit, is
immense, being represented, by travellers, as from three to seven
hundred feet in depth. The number of birds is stated to be
almost beyond calculation ,• and any person who will take the
trouble to read, in that delightful book, Wilson's Ornithology,
the accounts of the roosting-places of the passenger-pigeon in
some of the Western States of America, will readily confide in
well-authenticated accounts of the number of these birds, which
would otherwise be deemed egregious exaggerations. To the
gentlemen in England who are fond of what is termed a battue,
a voyage to the Pacific to shoot the guano birds would afford
excellent sport ; and if in such case they would bring back loads
of this valuable manure, it might not prove an unprofitable enter-
prise, and they would perform a double work of conciliation to
the farmers. Their accounts of one or two days' shooting, or
knocking down the birds with the butt-ends of their guns,
would be read here with the greatest avidity, and eclipse all
their former exploits of killing hundreds of game in a single day
where the beaters were employed to drive them directly under
the muzzles of their guns, and where occasionally they are
obliged to knock down a poacher instead of a penguin.

These deposits are made in a climate where, for a considerable
part of the year, little rain falls, and where the intense heat of
the sun forms such a crust over the deposit, that it becomes
almost insoluble. Supposing a deposit to be made of two inches
a year, for three thousand years, this would give a depth of five
hundred feet; and therefore the report of the depth of these
deposits, though surprising, is by no means intrinsically incred-
ible. The extraordinary effect of this manure is another remark-
able circumstance. The dung of the domestic pigeon or fowl is
among the strongest used, but it is not so powerful as guano.
In the excrements of birds, the solid and liquid portions are
combined. This is one secret of their strength. In the case of
the guano birds, their food is wholly fish, and not, as with our
domestic birds, mainly farinaceous ; and therefore it abounds in
nitrogen, and in bony substances, or phosphates.

The secret of the extraordinary success of this manure is not
yet solved, ho wever , nearly a solution may have been approx-

272 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

imated. This is evident from the fact that, after the most exact
and minute analysis of this manure, conducted with all the skill
and science which can be brought to bear upon it, no one has
been able to form an artificial guano with any degree of its
efficacy. Chemistry determines with wonderful accuracy its
inorganic properties ; but fifty per cent, of it is organic matter,
and this being dissipated or lost in the process of analysis, noth-
ing is known of it but its absolute quantity. Every common
farmer knows that horse manure, cow manure, hog manure,
sheep manure, are all specifically different, and their eifects and
uses are different ; and I believe this depends not more upon a
difference in their inorganic elements, than upon some specific
effects of their organic elements ; and though horses, and cows,
and sheep, should be fed upon precisely the same food, their
excrementitious matter would be specifically different, and the
effects upon vegetation different. I pretend not to say in what
this difference consists; this, chemistry has not yet reached,
though I can but hope the goal will presently be attained. I
am not therefore entirely satisfied with any account which
chemistry has given of guano, so far as its operation is concerned.
It has done much, and is clearly able to determine the different
specific values of different samples. This is of great importance
to the farmer, and not less so to the honest dealer. But the
specific qualities of this extraordinary manure, as proved by its
effects, arQ, I presume to believe, with all possible respect for
science, yet to be discovered. I know the consequences of ques-
tioning the infallibility of the pope, but I am no Catholic.

One, indeed, may well speak of its effects as extraordinary,
from what I myself have seen. In Scotland, last autumn, two
shrubs were shown to me, sweet-briers, growing in front of a
two-story house, and trained upon its sides ; one at one, the
other at the other end. The soil in which they grew, the
aspect, and other circumstances, were the same. One, in the
season, had grown six or seven feet ; the other, nearly thirty
feet ! It had actually climbed to the roof of the house, and
turned and hung down, reaching half the distance down from
the roof to the ground. I judged this could not have been Jess
than thirty feet. This had been repeatedly watered with liquid
guano, by the hands of its fair cultivator ; for this was another
experiment by a lady, (which I hope my American friends will

GUANO. 273

bear in mind.) The other had received no special care or
manuring. This charming woman, surrounded by her lovely
children, was equally engaged in teaching the young idea as the
sweet-brier how to shoot, and they too showed the beautiful
results of devoted and assiduous culture.

I have seen the extraordinary effects of the application of
guano all over the country, and I have met with very few
instances of disappointment. I have been favored with a great
many reports of its application ; but my readers will, I think, be
better satisfied with general results than with a long list of par-
ticular examples.

When I speak of its extraordinary effects, I yet do not con-
sider them as so surprising as the effects of gypsum in many
parts of the United States, whose operation, I venture to say,
remains wholly unexplained. I do not, of course, mean to
imply that one can be substituted for the other. The effects of
half a bushel of finely-powdered gypsum, scattered over an acre
of land, in some places, in increasing the crop of grass, and in
respect to some other crops, is amazing ; yet in all England, I
have not been able to find a single well-attested example of its
being applied with any benefit whatever. The application of
guano has been made, in England and Scotland, to all kinds of
plants, and in some instances with great success; indeed with
rarely a failure.

It has been used for turnips, barley, wheat, oats, grass, garden
vegetables, onions, asparagus, potatoes, flowers, and trees. I
have seen its application in all these cases, excepting asparagus
and trees ; but the testimony which certifies its success in these
cases is unquestionable. Comparisons made between guano and
other manures, are not quite satisfactory in respect to quantities,
because it is obviously very difficult to institute any instructive
comparison between so many pounds of guano, and so many
loads of manure ; manure is so various in its nature, quality,
bulk, &c. ; but it will be quite easy to compare the two in
respect to the ease or difficulty of their transportation, and of
their application to the plant or soil. Comparisons, likewise, in
respect to the cost of different applications, as made here, would
be of little use in the United States, as prices of manure and of
labor are totally different ; and the one can afford no rule for the

274 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Other. In this matter, the farmers of the United States musk
judge for themselves.

The quantity which it is deemed best to apply varies from
two hundred weight to four hundred weight, or five hundred
weight. Frequent cases have occurred of the application of five
hundred weight and eight hundred weight, to a statute acre, with
great advantage. Cases are on record of twenty-nine and thirty
hundred weight being applied to grass-land with a great, but not,
most certainly, a remunerating increase of crop. I met one farm-
er in Lincolnshire, who thought more than one hundred weight
applied to turnips was unnecessary ; but the almost universal
testimony is in favor of three hundred weight. A bushel of
sifted guano weighs from fifty-two to fifty-four pounds.

In regard to the mode of application, it is well settled that it
should seldom be applied alone. To garden vegetables, or
greenhouse plants, it may be applied in a state of solution in
water. In field cultivation, it may be applied by being mixed
with four or six times its quantity of dry earth or mould. In
this way, it may be sown broadcast over the field, and then
lightly harrowed or turned in ; or it may be sown first in the
same drill where the seed is to be dropped ; great care must be
taken, however, that it does not come in contact with the seed,
or it will destroy its vegetative powers. It is desirable that it
should be covered as soon as may be after being sown. The
best farmers give a caution against mixing it with lime, or
bones, or wood-ashes, as these substances, coming in contact
with it, will drive off its ammonia.

Where a portion of barn manure has been applied in conjunc-
tion with guano, the mixture has been found much more effica-
cious than the manure when applied alone. In an application
which I saw, guano gave seven tons of turnips increase to an
acre over an artificial manure which had been much praised, and
was applied at th€ same time.

A good mode of preparing it for application is to mix it with
fine earth, on the headlands of the field where it is to be used,
forming it, with the earth, into alternate layers, in the proportion
of earth to the guano of three to one ; and after it has remained
two or three days, thoroughly incorporating them together by
turning over the heap.

. With potatoes, it should be placed in the drill or hole, but not
in contact with the set or seed ; and for Indian corn — a case in
which I have had no experience — it would seem advisable to
adopt a similar method.

The experiments of Mr. John Dudgeon have been given to
the public at large. As I had the pleasure of visiting his farm,
one of the best-managed in the kingdom, and saw some of the
experiments going on, I feel at liberty to give them, and it may-
be interesting to my readers to have them in his own words.

*' The following results, communicated by John Dudgeon,
Esq., of Spylaw, to the Highland and Agricultural Society, in
April, 1843, show, first, the relative produce of turnips from
guano applied at the rate of three hundred weight, four hundred
weight, and five hundred weight, per acre, in competition with
the produce from the farm-yard manure, applied at the rate of
eighteen yards per acre ; secondly, the trial of bone-dust with
coal-ashes against guano alone, and guano mixed with a portion
of sulphate of soda; thirdly, the trial of guano alone against
bone-dust alone.

'' ' The first experiment was in a field lying upon a slope,
with a southern exposure, the soil consisting of a good loam
upon a retentive sub-soil ; the upper part of the field, for about a
fourth of its length, gradually becoming shallower in soil, and
resting upon a hard muirland pan, so that the value of the lower
portion of the field, as compared with the upper, may be esti-
mated as three to one. This field has been but imperfectly
drained. It was dunged in the usual way, immediately before
sowing, with well-prepared farm-yard manure, at the rate of
about eighteen cubic yards to the acre, with the exception of
that portion to which guano was applied. Two ordinary drills
for the latter were selected at random, and the guano distributed
in them by the hand, without any mixture, at the rate of three
hundred weight per acre. Leaving an interval of three drills,
which were manured like the rest of the field, two other drills
were treated with guano, at the rate of four hundred weight per
acre ; and finally, with a similar space intervening, two drills
with guano at the rate of fully more than five hundred weight
per acre. No diff*erence appeared in the turnips (which were the
variety named Dale's hybrid) previous to singling or thinning
the plants with the hoe ; after that, however, the superiority of

276 EUROPEAN AdRieULTURE.

the drills with the guano became manifest, and continued to
increase with the growth of the turnips, particularly in those
drills which received the greatest quantity, till the whole were
carted off in October, when the produce (topped and rooted) of
the whole six drills were weighed, each two as differing in the
quantity of guano applied, compared with two drills immediately
adjoining, on which the farm-yard manure had been used. The
following was the result : —

Kinds

of Manure.

Quantities api

olied.

Produce per Acre.

Two drills

; with

GUANO, .

. 5 cwt.

per

acre,

. . 25 cwt. 5 St.

u a

a

dung, .

. 18 yds.

(':

11

. . 18

11 J 11

11 u

a

GUANO, .

. 4 cwt.

a

11

. . 22

11 6 u

u a

li

dung, .

. 18 yds.

''

(I

. . 19

U r^ U

11 a

u

GUANO, .

. 3 cwt.

u

li

. . 20

u 6 u

a a

a

dung, .

. 18 yds.

li

11

. . 19

11 ^11

'' * In the second experiment, a comparative trial was made
between guano and hone-dust mixed loith coal-ashes. The
ashes were sifted, and intimately mixed with the bones, some
days before being applied, in the proportion of sixteen bushels of
bones and eight of ashes, per acre. The quantity of guano
applied was at the rate of three hundred weight per acre upon
four drills, two and two together, at an interval of eight drills
manured with bones and ashes. Then, at a similar interval,
followed two drills, operated upon with guano together with
sulphate of soda, (Glauber salts,) at the rate of four hundred
weight per acre — being the only instance, in the course of these
experiments, in which any foreign substance was used with the
guano. The turnips were drawn about the end of November ;
and on a comparison of the weight of the crop on two of the
four drills done with guano alone, with the produce of the
average of four drills, nearly immediately adjoining, manured
with hone-dust and ashes, the result stood thus (the plants being
topped and rooted) : —

Manures. Produce per Acre.

GuANO, alone, 23 cwt. 2 st.

Guano and sulphate of soda, 23 '^ 0 ''

Bone-dust, 19 " 2 ''

GUANO.

27r

" • In the third experiment, guano was used against hone-dust
alone, applied, as is usual in that district, at the rate of sixteen
bushels per acre. The guano was used at the rate of two hun-
dred weight only per acre. The drills manured with the latter
showed a very early superiority, and were ready for the hoe
fully eight days earlier than the rest of the field. This more
vigorous growth they maintained throughout; and when the
turnips (the white stone globe variety) were weighed, on the
22d March, after standing throughout the winter, the result was
as follows (the roots and tops being in this instance retained): —

'' 'Two drills guano, 31 cwt. 4 st.

Two " bone-dust, 24 cwt. 7 st.' "

*' The following table, extracted from the Scotsman, is the
result of an experiment on a field which had, till the present
crop, been in grass from time immemorial. The soil was a dry,
friable loam. The turnips were sown on the 20th of May, and
lifted and weighed on the 27th of November, 1843.

Kinds and Quantities of
Jdanvjrea used per Jicre.

Price of

Manure

per

Acre.

Weight of
Turnips without
Roots or Tops.

Weight of

Weight of

Roots and

rotten

Tops.

Turnips.

T. C. lb.

T. C. lb.

6 m 11

1 13 17

6 15 6

2 12 13

5 1| 14

0 14 22

5 9 0

2 8i 6

Weight of

total Product

per Acre.

Gn^NO, 5 cwts. . . .
Farm dung, 12 carts,
Bones, 26| bushels.
Rape-dust, 12 cwts.

£ s.

2 15

3 12
3 3
3 0

T. C. lb.
29 17 13
25 7 8
25 12.i 12
22 19i 22

T. C. lb.
38 2| 13
34 14 27
31 8i 20
30 17^ 0.'

Guano has been applied to winter wheat, both in drills and
broadcast, and with signal success. It has been applied, like-
wise, with great success, to grass and pasture land, as the follow-
ing statement will show : —

" On an eight-acre field, sown with three hundred weight of
guano, and three bushels of Italian rye-grass per acre, on the
29th of April, cut on the 3d of August, the produce weighed,
when cut, eighteen tons, and when dry and ready for stack, four
tons, per acre. Much of this crop was upwards of five feet long.
So rapid was the growth, that, fifty hours after cutting, it had
again sprung up to the height of three and one eighth inches.
With such grass, and such manure, so easily convertible into
liquid, I see no reason to doubt that the cottager, with his five
roods of land, could supply his house with vegetables, and cow
with winter and summer food, thereby providing for his family
an almost entire subsistence."
24

278 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

' It has been questioned whether its effects will be permanent.
I can only answer, that I have seen its obviously beneficial
effects three years after its application upon grass. How much
longer its efficacy may be expected to continue, experience only
can determine.

Several kinds of guano have been brought into Great Britain ;
but the great distinction is between that from the Island of
Ichaboe, on the coast of Africa, and that from the islands in the
Pacific. The former seems entirely deficient in uric acid, and
consequently lacks what is deemed a valuable element in vege-
tation. The comparative value of the two in public estimation,
and in the opinion of a distinguished chemist, is supposed to be
as four to five. The supply from Ichaboe is said to be ex-
hausted, the enormous quantity of five to six hundred thousand
tons having been taken, as is stated, from that single island.

I should do wrong to say that guano is always successful.
There were many complaints this year of its failure, attributed
to the excessive droughts which prevailed at the beginning of
the season. A farmer likewise, in Cambridgeshire, communi-
cates to the Royal Agricultural Society, in their last journal, his
failure in two successive applications of it to crops of barley. In
neither instance does any advantage appear to have been gained.
He attributes this to something in the nature or character of the
soil ; but this, without further trials, must be set down as wholly
conjectural.

It is quite proper, likewise, that I should urge upon the farm-
ers of the United States, that, however auspicious and brilliant
may be the promises which guano holds out to them, they must
not overlook the resources for enriching their own lands within
their own reach. The following statement will strengthen this
advice.

Philip Pusey, Esq., M. P., than whom, I believe, wherever his
character for intelligent, accurate, and philosophical observation
is known, it will be universally admitted, there is no higher
agricultural authority in England, informed me that, the last
season, he carted to the headlands of one of his fields a quantity
of loam, mixed with coal-ashes and rubbish, and, having formed
it into a bed, heaped upon it a quantity of barn manure, from
the drippings of which the loam, &c., became completely satu-
rated. Upon the application of this to the land for a crop of

GUANO. 279

turnips, by the side of the same crop manured with three hun-
dred weight of guano, the advantage was very greatly in favor
of the former.

Mr. James Smith, of Deanston, states that a friend of his ma-
nured three acres ; the first with fifteen tons of stable-dung, cost
£4 ; the second acre with three hundred weight of guano, cost
£1, 6s. ; the third acre with eight tons of liquid manure, cost
2 s. 6d. ; and the crop on the last was far the best. Dr. Playfair
was kind enough to communicate to me this statement.

In an admirable lecture, delivered by the last-named active
and intelligent friend of an improved agriculture, at the meeting
of the Royal Agricultural Society, that gentleman saw fit to
state that one pound of urine contained materials for producing
one pound of Avheat ; and that the effete matter which runs into
the Thames, annually, from the city of London, amounts to

1,095,000,000 pounds in one year,
and contains nitrogen sufficient to produce

1,600,000,000 pounds of wheat,
1,800,000,000 pounds of barley ;
and, calculating this waste at a moderate value, for agricultu-
ral purposes, London suffers a loss of £1,000,000 sterling, or
5,000,000 dollars per year.

These curious statistics will, I know, give no offence to any
sensible person ,• and they may suggest considerations of the
very highest moment to the rising cities of the United States,
where the sanatary and economical arrangements are not com-
pleted, and in many cases not begun. They especially enforce
upon every individual farmer the duty of examining and hus-
banding, with a miserly frugality, all the resources of his own
farm, even the most inconsiderable and humble. They have, I
may be allowed to say, a far higher use by leading the reflecting
and serious mind to admire and adore the never-ending circles
of the divine beneficence ; the mixed and wonderful compensa-
tions and mutual subserviences which pervade the whole system
of nature ; and, above all, that constant miracle of miracles, going
on continually in the vegetable world, by which the most worth-
less and the most offensive substances are returned again to bless
the animal creation, in those substantial products by which life
is sustained, and comfort every where diffused, in fruits most
delicious to the senses, and in plants, and flowers, which, in

280

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

their variety, and beauty, and wonderful glory and splendor,
infinitely surpass the highest triumphs of human art and luxury.
I think proper here to subjoin several analyses of guano with
which I have been favored by a most accurate chemist, Mr.
E. F. Teschemacher, to Avhose unremitted kindness, in various
forms, I am most deeply obliged. Indeed, when I think of the
debts which I have incurred, in this way, and which have been
forced upon me, on this side of the water, I fear nothing is left
for me but to take advantage of the act of general bankruptcy,
with the mortification of feeling, from the number of my cred-
itors, how very small a dividend can be made.

" Dear Sir :

'^ I have taken the first moment

I had to spare, to fulfil

my promise of giving you some details relative to guanoes — espe-
cially the analyses of the various kinds imported within the last
eighteen months into this country, which have come under my
cognizance. The analyses were performed by me during the
course of my business, and are so arranged that a comparison may
be easily made between them. Upon comparing these analyses
with those of other analysts, I find them generally to agree in all
their essential characters.

" No, 1. Peruvian.

"100 parts consist of 9 parts
of ammonia, combined with
phosphoric, carbonic, uric,
and organic acids, form-
ing, of
Ammoniacal salts, . . .40
Animal organic matter, . 6J
Sulphate and muriate of

potash and soda, . . . llj
Phosphate of lime and

magnesia, 29 J

Sand, 1

Water, lU

100
^' The Peruvian contains
llj parts of uric acid.

" No. 2. Bolivian.

" 100 parts contain lOJ parts

ammonia, combined as in No.

1, forming, of
Ammoniacal salts, ... 36
Animal organic matter, . 5
Sulphate and muriate of

potash and soda, . . . 155
Phosphate of lime and

magnesia, 27|

Sand, , . 14

Water, 14

100

" The Bolivian contains 3
per cent, of uric acid.

GUANO.

mi

" The uric acid is considered to furnish the crops with additional
ammonia, which, after application, is given out by degrees.

''No. 3. Chilian.

"100 parts containing 3 parts
ammonia, combined with
phosphoric, oxahc, carbonic,
humic, and organic acids,
forming, of

Ammoniacal salts, . . .

Animal organic matter, .

Sulphate and muriate of
potash and soda, . . .

Phosphate of lime and mag-
nesia, and oxalate lime, .

Sand,

Water, . . . . ^. . .

m
n

53

2
_22J

100

"This guano contains no
uric acid.

''No. 4. Ichaboe Guano.

"100 parts containing 7 J parts

ammonia, combined with

phosphoric, oxalic, carbonic,

and humic acids, forming, of

Ammoniacal salts, . . . 26J

Animal organic matter, . 7i

Sulphate and muriate of

potash, and phosphate

potash, 10

Phosphate lime, and mag-
nesia, and oxalate lime, 30

Sand,

1

Water, 25

100

" Contains no uric acid.

24*

"No. 5. Angra de Pequena,

"100 parts contain 5 parts am-
monia, combined as in No. 4,
forming, of
Ammoniacal salts, ... 20
Animal organic matter, . . 5
Sulphate and muriate of
potash, and phosphate

potash,

11

Phosphate of lime and mag-
nesia, and oxalate lime, . 32

Sand, . 2

Water, 30

1^

"No uric acid.

"No. 6. Possession Island.

" Very like that from Angra
de Pequena, but very lumpy.
" No uric acid.

"No. 7. Pedestal Point.

" 100 parts contain 4J parts am-
monia, combined as in No.
4, forming, of
Ammoniacal salts, . . .14
Animal organic matter, . 6
Sulphate and muriate of
potash, and phosphate

potash, 6J

Phosphate of lime and mag-
nesia, and oxalate lime, 37

Sand, 7

Water, ._29J

100
" No uric acid.

282 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

*' No. 8. Bird Islands ; Algoa Bay,

" 100 parts contain 2^ parts ammonia, combined as in No. 4,
forming, of

Ammoniacal salts, . 10 J

Animal organic matter, . 8J

Sulphate and muriate of potash, 2J

Phosphate of lime and magnesia, (no oxalate lime,) ... 62

Sand, . . IJ

Water, ._15

100

"No. 8 contains no uric acid.

''No. 1 to 3 are South American guanoes.
"No. 4 to 8 are African guanoes.

" I have examined guano from other localities, but as I do not
know those localities, I have omitted them in the list.

^^ Guano Testing.

" 1. A small portion, about 100 grains, mixed and rubbed with
10 parts of chalk to 1 part of quick-lime, should give out a
strong smell of ammonia ; and on holding over the mixture a
glass rod moistened with muriatic acid, a dense white vapor
should be given off. If this effect does not take place, the
guano will contain very little ammoniacal salts.

" 2. 100 grains guano, heated to redness in a Hessian crucible,
should leave a white ash. This white ash should be nearly
soluble in dilute muriatic acid. The residue should not exceed
10 grains ; in good guano, the residue would be only 1 or 2
grains.

" The quantity of white ash will vary from 30 to 60 per cent.,
according to the nature of the guano.

"Yours truly,

"E. F. Teschemacher.

"No. 2 Park Terrace^ Highbury,
24 January, 1845."

I

GUANO. UMJIif?

283

I add to these some analyses forwarded to me from the Edin-
burgh Agricultural Chemical Association, by my esteemed friend,
Mr. John P. Norton.

" Two Guanoes from Ichaboe,

No. I.

Water, 20.46

Organic matter and ammoniacal salts, . 44.96
Sulphate of soda and potash, with ^

common salt, 5

Phosphates of lime and magnesia, . . 27.31

Carbonate of lime, 0.07 >

Silicious matter, 2.15 3

3 per cent, free ammonia in No. I. . . 99.44

*^ These are fair samples of the Ichaboe guanoes,
defect is too much water.

No. II.
. 18 00
. 52.60

. 4.89

. 19.22

. 4.83

. 99.54

Their only

'^Ttoo South American Guanoes.

Water and free ammonia, ....
Organic matter and ammoniacal salts.
Sulphate and muriate of soda, . . .
Phosphate of lime, and a little phos-
phate of magnesia,

Carbonates of lime and magnesia,
Insoluble silicious matter, ....

Peruvian.

Bolivian

. 3.14 .

. 5.34

. 63.52 .

. 58.00

. 5.02 .

. 6.37

' 22.20 .

. 25.27

. 4.96 .

. 3.95

. 1.16 .

. 1.07

100.00

100.00.

" These are both most excellent guanoes. The small proportion
of water is remarkable, and the large quantity of organic matter
and ammoniacal salts. This first, and then the phosphates, are
the criteria of value. Carbonate of lime, sulphate and muriate
of soda, &c., are valuable manures, but may be bought lower
than £6 or £8 per ton.

284 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

^^ Artificial Guano j (Potter^ s.)

Water, 14.55

Organic matter, 17.32

Salts soluble in water, consisting of common salt and
gypsum, with a small quantity of potash and am-

moniacal salts, 40.43

Phosphate and carbonate of lime, 11.61

Coarse sand, with bits of gypsum, 16.06

99.97

'^ This, therefore, contains 30 per cent, of water and sand. One
by the same maker, previously examined, had about 30 per cent,
of sand alone."

The following is from a chemist of the highest scientific
character. Dr. Ure : —

" Reserving, for the present, the more particular analyses, the
following may be offered as the average result of those I have
made of genuine guano, in reference to its agricultural value : —

" Azotized organic matter, including urate of ammonia,
and capable of affording from 8 to 17 per cent, of
ammonia by slow decomposition in the soil, . . .60.0

Water, . -. 11.0

Phosphate of lime, 'nX-*^ . 25.0

Ammonia, phosphate of magnesia, phosphate of ammo-
nia, and oxalate of ammonia, containing from 4 to

9 per cent, of ammonia, 13.0

Silicious matter from the crops of the birds, .... 1.0

100.0."

*%*■

^
^

-^

1^ ^

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

FOURTH REPORT

XLVL— GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS.

The great incentive to all agricultural improvement is profit.
The man who is satisfied with a bare subsistence will do little
towards making his condition better. It is one of the prominent
blessings of civilization, that it multiplies human wants and
desires to such a degree as to call out all the powers of the body
and mind to supply them. In proportion as civilization is
advanced, human wants increase. From necessities we proceed
to indulgences, from indulgences to luxuries ; until what were
at first indulgences and luxuries become themselves transformed
into necessities. Out of these spring other indulgences and
other luxuries, which go on by a sort of reduplication or spon-
taneous generation, to which as yet no limits have been reached,
and we have reason to think that none are very near. When
one class or species fails, or passes away, others come into its
place, like sprouts springing from the living stump of a tree
which has been cut down ; or like the countless plants which
come up where a single plant has been suflfered to ripen and to
shed its seed.

Besides this effect of use or indulgence in increasing, and in
giving an insatiableness to, human wants, there is an original and
native element of the human mind, which the phrenologists
designate as acquisitiveness, or a desire to obtain. This, when
joined with secretiveness, becomes a desire to keep or to accumu-

286 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

late as well as to obtain, which, though liable to abuse, yet, like
all other original tendencies of our nature, is designed for good.
This operates as a continual stimulus to exertion, and rouses
energies, and awakens an ambition, and strengthens and pro-
duces a perseverance and tenacity of purpose, which, in the
creation and accumulation of wealth, lie at the foundation of
most of the great improvements of society, and again in its turn
creates a power or instrument of influence, which itself com-
mands thousands of minds, and thousands of hands, to unite with
an energy similar to its own in the accomplishment of its own
objects.

All this does good ; prevents the waters of society from be-
coming stagnant and unwholesome, and keeps them in a state
of continued and healthful agitation. If human wants, having
a sort of polypus vitality, are constantly increased by being sup-
plied, it is no less true that the powers of the human mind and
body are always increased and strengthened by being properly
exerted. As the mind becomes enlightened and expanded, it is
tempted to extend its dominion over matter and over other
minds. In the spirit of an ambition never knowing enough, it
goes out "conquering and to conquer." It invades other
dominions of nature, and makes every where the elements of
the material world subservient to its purposes.

It is said that an Indian, when, on a certain occasion, he was
brought from the solitude and destitution of his forest-home into
a busy manufacturing town, and saw windmills with their sails
inflated by the air, and water-wheels driven by the running
stream, and steam-engines impelled by an agent of which before
he had scarcely conceived, and the furnaces where, by the appli-
cations of fire, the iron-stones were made to flow in liquid
streams, and to take the forms which the workman's pleasure
dictated, exclaimed, in his amazement, that the white man made
every thing work for him — the fire, the air, the water. Nothing
could have been more natural thaa his surprise. Thus it is that
human genius devotes itself to science ; and every step in science
imparts a disposition and capacity to advance farther. It invents
language and signs, that it may transfix, and hold fast, thoughts,
and facts, and discoveries, for further use. It employs the powers
of nature to increase, and multiply, and strengthen, other powers,
and thus is constantly extending its sovereignty over mind and

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 28T

matter, and assuming more and more to itself, in its humble
capacities, the character of a creator. Thus it is that the fruitful
powers of nature are called forth ; the means of animal life and
subsistence extended ; the productions of the earth increased, di-
versified, and improved. Under an improved cultivation, ten men
find ample and luxurious support, where, before, one would have
starved. New vegetables and new fruits are brought into
existence and use, or others rendered more abundant ; and with
the increase of vegetable, the increase of animal life is immeas-
urably extended. Thus it is that new forms of comfort, luxury,
and ornament appear with corresponding wants on the part of
those who are to enjoy them ; new means of subsistence are
supplied ; new forms of habitation are demanded ; new articles
of clothing are provided. All the wonders of art spring up ; the
multiplied embellishments of refined life present themselves ;
and the progress of society is in all respects advanced and con-
tinually advancing.

All this grows out of that original element of the human mind
to which I early alluded, — acquisitiveness, the desire of gain, or
advance, or betterment, or profit, — which thus stimulates men to
the continual improvement of their condition. But all this, we
are told by some men, springs from selfishness, and they de-
nounce it as criminal. Their denunciations are without reason,
and they make no just discrimination between the different con-
ditions of a principle which in its original nature is wholesome
and useful, and becomes wrong and pernicious only by its ex-
travagance and abuse.

What would man be without any regard to his own interest ?
It is an instinctive impulse which prompts us to take care of
our lives. Self-preservation is the first law of our nature. But
the same law implies the most diligent care of our health, and
all that varied and extended provision for health and comfort,
necessary to the continuance of life, and to its continuance under
circumstances most favorable to its activity, usefulness, and
reasonable enjoyment. But who is to take care of us, if we do
not take care of ourselves ? If every man, instead of providing
for his own wants, gave himself up to the care of his neighbor
it is not easy to see that any advantage would be gained by it.
Every one would find that, besides multiplied inconveniences,
the provision for himself would be far less complete and satis-

288 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

factory than when under his own immediate superintendence
and control. The evils of selfishness do not lie in a man's
appropriating to himself that to which he has a just claim, and
which he may enjoy without injury to his neighbor, but in the
appropriation of that to which he has no fair title, and which he
cannot so appropriate without injury to his neighbor, and with-
out an invasion of the just rights of other men. That meanness
of selfishness, which some men exhibit, and which seeks the
exclusive enjoyment of whatever it can accumulate, irrespective
of the comfort, and at the expense of the toil, of others, — that dog-
in-the-manger selfishness, which accumulates without imparting,
and seems to experience its highest zest in contrasting its own
fulness with the destitution and misery of others, — is as odious as
it is criminal. On the other hand, that rational regard to one's
own interest which prompts a man continually to take the best
possible care of his body and mind ; to secure his health, that his
physical activity and vigor may be increased, and to cultivate
and improve his mind, that it may resemble, in its fruitfulness, a
well-tilled and enriched field ; to increase likewise his estate, and
embellish and adorn it ; and to accumulate wealth that he may
multiply the sources of good to others, stimulate others to exer-
tion, and lead to those generous improvements which wealth is
capable of producing, and to which it may be beneficially
applied, — this is a sentiment, Avhich, so far from being to be con-
demned, is to be commended and cherished as the great instru-
ment and spring, as much of social and public, as of personal
and individual good.

Improvement of every kind lies in action. The happiness
which never satiates or wearies is to be found in the conscious-
ness of progress. Who that has experienced a dead calm at sea,

— not a breath of wind to ruffle the Avaves, the vessel tossing from
one side to the other like a cork upon the water, the rigging
shaking, the sails flapping, the crew idle and listless, no progress
reported, and the whole company wearied, impatient, despond-
ing, ill-humored, — and compares this with a brisk gale blowing,

— every rope straightened, every sail spread and filled, the planks
of the ship creaking as it were with intense exertion, the masts
bending almost to breaking under their burden, the crew awake,
the passengers all animated with hope and delighted with the
certainty of progress, and the noble ship, with her priceless cargo

1

GEINERAI. CONSIDERATIONS. 289

of human life and fortune, moving like a thing of life over the
billows, and, as she ploughs her proud path through, as it were, a
flood of liquid silver, throwing the glittering and brilliant tresses
of jewels from her neck, — who has had this experience, and will
not feel how little to be desired, either for the body or the mind,
for health or enjoyment, for the animal or the moral man, is a
state of inanity and sluggish repose ?

The poets — those ethereal beings, who deal in fiction, and
whose imagination becomes a sort of ignis fatuus, a " Will-of-the-
wisp," leading them they know not where — love to descant upon
the Golden Ages or the Paradisiacal state, when men, without
care for food or clothing, had nothing to do, but, under a calm
sky and a soft air, to lie down on banks of fragrant flowers, by
the side of gurgling streams, under the shade of spreading aro-
matic trees, and let the richest fruits fall into their laps, and
listen to the -^olian strains of the winds whispering among the
branches, and the melodious songs of birds of the gayest plu-
mage fluttering around them, and abandon themselves to the
charms of a purely animal and sensual existence. But what
reflecting man would desire such a life as this for himself, and
would not feel an intolerable restlessness, and especially a morti-
fying consciousness that it falls, one may almost say, infinitely
below the capacities of his nature and the purposes of his being ?

I cannot look out of my window, where I am now writing, in
Trafalgar Square at Charing Cross, without seeing a world of in-
describable life, and bustle, and activity. The night in London
is seldom longer than from half past two o'clock until four o'clock
in the morning, when the flood-gates begin gently to open, and
gradually the rushing torrent of life pours through in a turbid
and boisterous flood. After the waters begin to move with force,
there is perhaps not a minute in the day when more than a thou-
sand, or rather thousands, of people cannot be counted from my
window. Here are carriages without number, from the splendid
chariot with its noble horses, its gorgeous equipage, its liveried
servants, and its precious cargo of figured porcelain, down to the
humble gig, the dray-horse, the wheelbarrow, and the donkey-cart
with its precious load of garbage or of dog's-meat. Here are
shops without number, replete with all the most exquisite produc-
tions of science, genius, art, and mechanical contrivance, and full
of buyers and sellers. Here are crowds of men, women, and chil-
25

290 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

dren, passing and repassing, sauntering, walking, running, and
jostling each other, waiting upon and being waited upon, enter-
taining and being entertained, carrying and being carried, labor-
ing and enjoying. Here are caravansaries for the travellers,
banks for merchants, monuments to heroes and princes, schools
of science, galleries of art, and temples to God, adorned with
the finest embellishments of architectural skill, and lifting their
beautiful spires to the skies, as if, from the glittering vane
upon the top, they would emulate the brilliancy of a fixed star,
and as if, like the star which stood over the sacred spot of a
divine nativity, they would present Heaven's brilliant emblem of
mercy to encourage man's faith and piety. Here, too, are foun-
tains of water throwing up their liquid treasures over their heads,
and coming down in constant showers of brilliants. Here are
men, and the busy and exciting concerns of men, under all the
varying aspects of human life and activity. Here are the mag-
nificent triumphs of human art and skill ; here are the fruits of
centuries of toil and labor ; and here is one continued intensity
of action, as if it were the very heart of the great world beating
with violent emotion. But none of this, properly speaking, is
mechanical ; it is all intellectual ; it is all under the dominion of
mind to excite, to urge, to direct, to control it. There is a far
mightier power at work within than appears without. If you
could take off the roof of some of these moving tabernacles ; if
you could see what is there lying beneath, the burning thoughts,
the anxious desires, the resolute purposes, the beating affections,
and the fiery passions, which are there at work, and as it were
mingling in one common flame, you would indeed see objects
more curious and wonderful, an exhibition far more extraordinary,
than any thing ever before presented to your senses, or even to
your imagination. But what is the secret spring, the great
power-wheel which sets all these things in motion, which excites
and quickens all this activity ? It is acquisition, the desire to
acquire subsistence, pleasure, profit, wealth, or power.

Would it be better that all this should cease, and society
become a mere stagnant pool ? Would it be better that all the
necessity of labor should be taken away, and men should have
no other destiny than to repose in quiet, with all their wants
supplied, and all their senses gratified ; and that down couches
should be spread round these gushing fountains, and instead of

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 291

water they should send forth the delicious juices of the grape, —
though perhaps, to suit the English taste, it should be ale or
beer, or what is vulgarly called " half and half," for that is the
Englishman's nectar, — and that men should have only to drink^t
in at pleasure, or, in common parlance, to enjoy themselves ? I
think not. I believe Heaven could send no greater curse than
to exempt mankind from all necessity of labor.

If we look at the condition of the inhabitants of tropical coun-
tries, where the richest fruits of the earth grow spontaneously,
where clothing and shelter are scarcely required, and where men
are exempted from the necessity of labor, we shall find them
sunk in sensuality, abandoned to animal indulgences, and in
intellectual and moral condition at the lowest scale. If we com-
pare them with the inhabitants of temperate regions, the dis-
parity will be seen to be great, but vastly in favor of the latter.
The intellect is sharpened, as well as the muscular vigor in-
creased, in proportion to the difficulties with which it has to
struggle, and the labor by which it is taxed, provided that la-
bor is not excessive and unnatural. Though there may be a
severity of toil wholly discouraging, and difficulties which are
perfectly hopeless and insurmountable, — which cases we must of
course except, — yet, in point of actual enjoyment, there cannot be
a doubt on which side the advantage lies ; and that the neces-
sity of exertion, and every wholesome stimulus to useful and
honest labor, is a blessing from Heaven.

The condition of the Irish peasantry likewise strongly illus-
trates and confirms these truths. Nothing can exceed the
destitution and wretchedness in which millions of these people
live. I have been into many of their cabins, and have seen
the habitations of thousands and thousands of these miserable
people ; and, in regard to external accommodations, I can scarcely
think that there is upon earth a lower condition of human
existence. Certainly the wigwam of an American savage may
often be regarded with envy for its comforts, compared with
many an Irish cabin. I have been into those which were mere
holes dug into the side of a peat bog, and have put my hand
upon the wet and velvety walls, that I might be certain my
senses did not deceive me. In these caves, covered with sticks,
and straw, and sods ; without chimney, window, or floor ; with a
fire of turf slowly burning upon the ground and filling the place

292 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

with smoke ; without bed, table, chair, or plate, or knife, or fork ;
with, indeed, no article of furniture save a kettle in which to boil
their potatoes, and a basket in which to take them up ; with no
other seat but a bit of dried turf or peat, and no bed to lie down
upon but a flock of straw, which was frequently shared in
common by the children and the pig, — I have found a crowded
family, with rags for clothing that scarcely hid their nakedness,
living from one year's end to the other upon potatoes and water,
and never more than once a year tasting either bread or meat.

This is not the place for me to enter into the political con-
siderations connected with this condition of things in a country
which, in respect to its climate and soil, and resources for useful
industry, and means not only of comfortable subsistence to a
population quadruple of that which exists there, but in means of
abundance and wealth, is eminently favored of Heaven. But I
refer to the example of Ireland to show that where persons can
remain satisfied under privation and extreme penury ; where
they are content to live upon the meanest fare, and to occupy
habitations scai'cely fit for the shelter of the lowest of the brute
creation ; where, with only a mud-cabin and a potato patch,
without even money enough to pay the wedding-fee, (for this is
made out by the contributions of friends on the occasion,) they
are willing to take upon themselves the responsibilities of
marriage, and become the founders of families to be born only to
inherit a similar destitution and wretchedness, it is difficult
to find motives to rouse them to exertion and industry. Until
a revolution can be eff'ected in their feelings, and a set of wants
created within them, any strong hopes of the improvement of
their condition seem idle.

The wants of men, then, are the great incentives to exertion ;
and the stimidus of profit, the desire of gain and of accumulation,
is that which induces enterprise and eff"ort, which excites inquiry
and leads to knowledge, which prompts to labor, and thus urges
men on to new acquisitions and continual progress. We may
appeal to higher motives than self-interest, where there are
minds capable of appreciating a higher class of motives ; but it
is absurd to consider inferior motives as wrong, where better
cannot be had ; and self-interest .and the desire of gain are not
only innocent, but commendable, where we do not seek gain or
pursue our own interests to the injury and loss of others.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 293

I fear I may be thought to have gone out of my way by such
a preface as this ; yet I hope I may have the indulgence of my
readers for an honest endeavor to enliven a subject of dry details
Avith matter which, though it may seem distant from, is certainly
not irrelevant to my purpose. I have not always found it a
hinderance, though it may appear like an interruption, in making
a tour of business, sometimes to dismount, and, throwing the
reins over the neck of my horse, that he too might regale himself
by the roadside, lie down on a green bank, under a quiet shade,
by some sparkling stream, and abandon myself for a while to the
charming thoughts which then come fluttering round the mind,
like fireflies upon a meadow in a quiet evening of summer ; or
at other times to leap the fence, and rush into the fields or the
neighboring forest, and return with a handful of golden grain, or
a bouquet of wild flowers gathered fresh from the bosom of
nature, and showing the exuberant bounty of Heaven, or the
triumphs of artificial culture. I could then mount my horse,
refreshed by the indulgence, and pursue my journey with new
speed, with senses more alive to the beauties of the country
through which I was passing, and with a more grateful sense of
the goodness of the great Author of nature, who, by this varied
mixture, by alternations of light and shade, of labor and rest, of
toil and indulgence, and by an endless succession and diversity
of objects, makes life, which would be otherwise deplorably
monotonous and tedious, not merely agreeable, but delightful.

1 should be happy, in my humble way, in any degree to ac-
complish so desirable a purpose in respect to my kind readei-s,
and render the journey which we have undertaken to travel
together sis pleasant as I could wish to make it useful and
instructive.

Some men, very much addicted to great refinements in
casuistry, and especially in respect to the motives of human
actions, would condemn every motive, but such as are purely
disinterested, as criminal. I agree with them that the highest
of human actions must have its origin in the highest and
purest of all motives ; but I cannot deny the innocence, and,
more than that, the positive virtue and worth of many actions
and pursuits, that are prompted by motives which some persons
would designate as inferior, but which, nevertheless, have their
origin in our own nature and constitution. Self-interest, profit,
25*

294 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

accumulation, are all of them reasonable and commendable
objects, when they do not lead us to invade or infringe upon the
rights of others, and when our accumulations ai*e used foi
useful ends.

I am anxious to vindicate the profession of agriculture from
every aspersion which may be cast upon it, and to contribute
my mite to place it in that r£mk, in the scale of human pursuits,
which it may justly claim for itself. I may say, with Bacon,
''that it has the divine sanction," for in the beginning God
placed man upon the earth to cultivate and make it fruitful. I
may claim for it, further, that it is an innocent pursuit ; that it
can do no injury to any one ; and that it invades no man's just
rights, and prejudices no man's safety, health, peace, or reason-
able enjoyment. I will add to this, that it is a beneficent
employment. Whoever cultivates the earth, and covers it with
rich and golden crops, renders it more beautiful ; whoever causes
the earth to yield its fruits, increases the means of human com-
fort and subsistence ; and in proportion as this cultivation is
improved and skilful, and by such improvement, and such skill,
the products of the earth are many times increased, so the means
of human subsistence and comfort, and of subsistence and com-
fort to a very large portion of the brute creation, are correspond-
ingly extended.

I will make no invidious comparisons between agriculture and
other professions and pursuits of life ; but certainly none is more
innocent, more honest, more useful, or more rational. That
happens, in respect to agriculture, which does not equally appear
in many professions, that its improvements cannot be monopo-
lized ; they are of necessity exposed. Emulation or compe-
tition, so often productive of the worst results in many pursuits
of life, in the improvement of agriculture can produce nothing
but good.

XLVII. — AGRICULTURE AS A COMMERCIAL PURSUIT.

Men, then, may lawfully pursue agriculture under the stimulus
of profit. In many cases, the gains of one man are made at the
expense or loss of another. The celebrated Madame Roland

AGRICULTURE AS A COMMERCIAL PURSUIT. 295

used to say '•' she was always sorry to hear that a man had made
a good bargain, because she knew, in that case, that some person
must have made a poor one." It is not so in agricuhure. The
more a man increases his wealth by increasing the products of
the earth by a skilful cultivation, so much the more is the whole
community benefited, excepting only where human laws inter-
pose to intercept the widest possible dijOfusion of the bounties of
Heaven.

Agriculture, in order to excellence, requires as much the
stimulus of profit as any other pursuit in life. In England and
Scotland, it has had that stimulus. It has had governmental
protection and indulgence, the propriety and justice of which are
questionable with many men of distinguished wisdom, observa-
tion, and patriotism, and the expediency of which is capricious,
being dependent upon circumstances ever liable to fluctuation
and change. The protection which it has received has been in
laws prohibiting, under heavy duties, the importation of agricul-
tural produce from foreign countries, and aflfording relief from
various forms of specific taxation, to which other professions or
conditions are subjected. The horses, dogs, servants, and
carriages, of all other classes of the community here are taxed ;
but those of the farmer are exempted from taxation. In the tax
upon income, the farmer's income is fairly assumed from the rent
which he pays ; but in levying the assessment, only half his rent
is reckoned, so that a farmer paying in fact £400 rent, would
be considered, for the purpose of taxation, as paying only £2^00.
In some respects, it must be confessed that what is called '' pro-
tection '* is of a suicidal character. A duty is laid, for example,
upon imported clover-seed, whereas the amount produced in the
country, or likely to be produced under all the encouragement
which its cultivation receives, bears a very small proportion to
the amount used by the farmers, and used in fact by no other
persons ; so that the duty paid upon this article is a heavy tax
upon the many farmers, for the exclusive benefit of the few.
Great complaint is likewise made, by the farmers, of the intro-
duction of fat cattle from abroad, which come into injurious com-
petition with their own stock, and of the admission of foreign
salted provisions. At the same time, the very provision upon
which these cattle might, if imported lean, be fatted at home, is
prohibited. The Indian corn from the United States can be

296 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

admitted only by the payment of a duty which is almost pro-
hibitory. It cannot be grown in England, though, under some
extraordinary circumstances in accidental localities, it has occa-
sionally ripened. If, instead of importing fat cattle from the
Continent, to supply their markets, they would import lean cattle,
and at the same time import Indian corn under a low or nominal
duty, to fatten them with, (and it would be difficult to find a
substance which, in proportion to its cost, is more nutritious.) it is
obvious that, besides the profit upon the labor of fattening these
cattle, they would have the great advantages of their manure —
certainly a most serious consideration.*

Agriculture in England appears altogether as a commercial
pursuit. Where heavy amounts of rent are to be periodically
and punctually paid, men are compelled to look carefully at
their expenditures, purchases, and contracts, and their pecuniary
results. It is by no means so with us in the United States,
where most farmers are their own landlords and the owners of
the estates on which they live, and where, if their sales from
their farms are sufficient to meet the expenses of labor, the light
taxes of the government, and those supplies for their families
which the farm itself does not yield, they feel themselves at
least secure, if they are not satisfied. I design presently to give
some example of the manner in which farm accounts are kept
here by the most careful farmers, and which show all the exact-
ness of mercantile transactions. Indeed, it must be so, or they
would become involved in inextricable confusion, which would
surely terminate in bankruptcy and ruin. I know farmers here
who pay their two hundred, four hundred, six hundred, and one
thousand pounds' rent ; I have been credibly informed of a
farmer in Scotland, or on the borders of Scotland and England,

* The alteration of the tariff, allowing the admission of fat cattle, and foreign
cheese, &c., under a reduced duty, does not appear, at present, to have produced
so great results as was expected, whatever may be the case hereafter.

The report made to Parliament this present session, (1845,) returns, as imported
into the country from abroad the last year, of cattle, 2,241, (which, if we suppose
them to average 800 pounds per head, would give only about three fourths of a
pound of meat to each individual ;) of sheep, 1,063, (which, at 80 pounds per
head, — a large average, — would give half an ounce of mutton to each individual ;)
of cheese, 11,000 tons, (which would give about one pound per individual.)
At the same time, the minister in Parliament states that, during tJie last year, the
population of the kingdom has increased by 380,000 ! !

MARKETS. CATTLE MARKETS. 2*^7

whose annual rent, at one time, Avas seven thousand pounds, or
thirty-five thousand dollars ; and it is quite obvious how disas-
trous must be the consequences, if such properties are managed
otherwise than with the most scrupulous commercial exactness.

It cannot be denied that our habits in this respect are alto-
gether diflferent from what they should be ; that perhaps a
majority of our farmers keep no accounts whatever, and many
who keep accounts exhibit only imperfect and slovenly examples.
It is said, — and it is certainly much to his honor, — that a distin-
guished individual here, possessing immense estates, but who
had become somewhat perplexed, not to say embarrassed, in his
pecuniary afiairs, and whose education had not been, in this
matter, of a character to enable him to manage his affairs to
advantage, employed an accurate accountant in his house for
some time, for the sole purpose of learning from him the science
of book-keeping by double entry. With a natural love of order,
and a firm resolution, having acquired this knowledge, he was
soon enabled to bring order out of confusion, and rescue himself
from embarrassment, and its attendant and inevitable mortifica-
tions. Such an example as this is certainly worth recording.

Many farmers, more systematic than others, keep not only an
account of cost and expenditure, and the amount of sales and
profits, in the form of a cash account, but likewise a regular
account with every field and every crop, and I had almost said
with every animal, taking, as every careful trader or merchant
will do, a yearly account of stock at a fair valuation. Every
thing is accounted for ; not so much as a quart of milk is used
in the family, but it is charged at the current price. I should be
doing great injustice not to say that I know many examples of
such carefulness in my own country. Besides the great satisfac-
tion springing from this exactness, the sense of security and in-
tegrity, which it brings with it, is invaluable.

XLVIII.^ MARKETS. CATTLE MARKETS.

The English farmers have great advantages in their markets
and exchanges ; and in_this matter, to a certain extent, we ought

298 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

to follow them. I do not say these markets are an unmixed
good J- but the benefits arising from them, I am convinced,
greatly preponderate over the evils ; and, taking advantage of the
long experience of others, some of these evils we may either
remedy or avoid. It would prove highly beneficial to our
farmers if they could have certain established markets for the
sale of their produce when it is ready for sale ; if prices could be
fairly adjusted and equalized; and especially if the markets
could be for cash ; and that credit, in all cases excepting for
very short periods, could be abolished. It would be equally
useful to them to know where they could buy as well as where
they could sell ; for they often want lean or store stock for fatten-
ing, a change of seed for sowing, horses for farm service, young
stock for grazing, and cows for dairy use.

With the exception of three or four of our large towns, — as
Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, — we have no established
cattle market in the country ; and markets such as Brighton near
Boston, and the Bull's Head near New York, are almost exclu-
sively for the sale of fat cattle, sheep, and swine. Our farmers
sell, as they can, to agents or purchasers travelling through the
country, and buy as they can, and where, by chance, after taking,
in many cases, long and expensive journeys, they may find the
stock which they need. In frequent cases, stock, both cattle
and swine, are driven through the country and sold to those who
wish to purchase, as accident may direct. A wool fair or
market, is not, within my knowledge, held in the country ; nor
a corn or grain market.* In the purchase of wool, agents scour
the country, and in general the farmers are quite at their mercy.
In respect to grain, the farmer carries his wheat, or other grain,
to the miller or the trader, and must make the best bargain that
he can. In such case, in the first place, there is no competition ;
and no possibility of calculating the quantities on hand for sale ;
and no mode of fixing any general or equal price ; and, indeed, no

* Howard Street, in Baltimore, affords the only place in the United States
resembling an exclusive market for the sale of grain or flour; and this is only
attended by individual purchasers, and is not a meeting of farmers, grain-dealers,
and millers, coming together on particular days in the week, and at a particular
hour in the day, to exhibit samples, to collect and impart information respecting
the grain prospects of the year, to discuss prices, and to afford to all parties the
advantages of comparison and competition.

FALKIRK TRYST. 299

certainty to the farmer of finding any market at all. These
evils might be remedied, and a change effected, to the great
advantage of buyers and sellers, by the adoption of the system
of weekly or periodical markets, which prevails throughout
England and Scotland. Here are wool fairs, for the sale of
wool, of which samples are exhibited; and corn and grain
markets, where wheat, barley, oats, rye, beans, and peas, sam-
ples of which are exhibited, are sold ; and markets for the sale
of fat cattle, and markets for the sale of lean cattle, and markets
for the sale of horses, and markets for the sale of sheep and
lambs, and markets for the sale of cheese and butter; these
markets sometimes uniting several objects, or otherwise limited
to some single object.

I have attended several of these markets, and some general
account of them may have an interest with my readers.

XLIX. — FALKIRK TRYST.

The largest cattle market in the kingdom, uniting sheep and
cattle, takes place three times a year, — on the second Tuesday in
August, September, and October, — at Falkirk in Scotland, about
equidistant from Edinburgh and Glasgow. This is called the
Falkirk Tryst, and is held on an extensive plain about three or
four miles from the town. Here are congregated a vast number
of horses, cattle, and sheep, and of buyers and sellers. It was
estimated, when I was there, that the number of cattle then on
the ground exceeded fifty thousand head, and of sheep seventy
thousand ; and the banker informed me that the money em-
ployed in the negotiation would exceed £300,000, or one
million and a half of dollars. The cattle and sheep exhibited
at this tryst are almost altogether of the Scotch breeds, and
many come from the remote Highlands. They are purchased
to be distributed, in the neighborhood and the southern provinces,
for wintering, or for fatting for the winter and spring markets.
Besides cattle and sheep, a large number of horses are brought
for sale at the same time ; as many as three thousand horses are

300 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

sometimes offered for sale, and the field presents the appearance
of a grand military display ; indeed, I have seldom seen a sight
more imposing. For a week or more before the tryst, the
roads leading to Falkirk will be found crowded with successive
droves of cattle and sheep, proceeding to this central point ; and
it is extremely curious, on the field, to see with what skill and
care the different parties and herds are kept together by them-
selves. In this matter, the shepherds are greatly assisted by
their dogs, who appear endowed with a sagacity almost human,
and almost to know every individual belonging to their charge.
They are sure, with an inflexible pertinacity, to follow and bring
back a deserter lo the flock. Purchasers come in great numbers
from various parts of the kingdom. Some cattle ar^ bought to
be re-sold at other and smaller markets. The larger number
are bought in order to be fed or fatted on the arable farms at the
south. Cattle which have thus been driven from the extreme
north are afterwards to be found even in Cornwall, at the
Land's End.

The sales in these cases are, of course, for cash. Bankers are
always present, or near at hand, to facilitate the transactions.
Here, at a distance little less than four hundred miles from Lon-
don, bankers go down from London, carrying their funds with
them, and occupying, during the time of the market, (which con-
tinues at least four days, ) a temporary stand or office in the field.

L.— THE BALLINASLOE FAIR.

At Ballinasloe, in Ireland, a similar fair is held ; though here
the fair is usually confined to the sale of sheep, and they some-
times number as many as eighty thousand sheep. A very large
fair is held in the southern portions of Scotland, for the sale of
lambs, where the collection is immense.

THE GALWAY FAIR. 301

LI. — THE GALWAY FAIR.

A very large fair is held at Galway, Ireland, in the county of
Gal way, called the Fair of Rose Mount, at which I was present.
This was chiefly for the sale of ponies, or horses of a small breed,
with some few cattle. On this occasion, the collection of people
was surprisingly great ; and I could then well understand what
was intended by the public meetings in Ireland, called ''monster
meetings," in respect to which, until I saw this collection of
people, I had always supposed the account of the numbers
assembled had been much exaggerated. There were here, on
this occasion, some cattle and sheep ; but there were, also, four
thousand ponies, the catching of which, for examination or sale,
as they had, in general, neither bridle nor halter, was sufficiently
amusing, and I was about to add, sufficiently Irish. The fair
was held on the sea-shore, where the receding tide left a large
bed of mud. The ponies, when required to be caught, were
surrounded and driven into this mud ; and here, in a very ignoble
way, they were secured, though it was not always without some
difficulty they were extracted after being caught.

1. Temperance in Ireland. — There were two circum-
stances connected with this fair at Rose Mount, a reference to
which, though not having an immediate connection with the
principal object of my Reports, yet having a direct bearing upon
rural manners and customs, may not be considered wholly out of
place. Here, as well as at the fair at Donnybrook, where im-
mense numbers of people were congregated, I could observe most
distinctly the beneficent effects of that powerful reformatory
movement, which, under the ministry of a good man, worthy of
the name of an apostle, has effected a glorious moral triumph
throughout Ireland, such as the pages of history scarcely record.
I cannot gay that at either place there was no drinking and no
quarrelling ; but there was comparatively little ; and knowing,
from report and from the natural excitableness of the Irish tem-
per, what had been usual on such occasions, I could not but feel
how much had been accomplished, when a foreigner might truly
say, of such vast and mixed assemblages, they were quiet, orderly,
and kind ; and a well-behaved man, disposed to keep his elbows
26

H02 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

to his own sides, might feel an almost equal security as he would
feel in church.

2. The Gal way Women. — There was another circumstance,
perfectly unique in its character, to which I shall be pardoned
for alluding. There was another species of live stock exhibited
at the fair, which I cannot say is never seen at such places, but
which does not always present itself under the same frank cir-
cumstances. The kind nobleman who accompanied me, and
who, like many others, noble and simple, whom it has been my
good fortune to meet with on this side of the water, left no effort
unessayed for my gratification, after looking at the various
objects of the fair, asked me, at last, "if I would like to see
the girls." I confess my natural diffidence at once took the
alarm ; and my imagination cast a few furtive glances over the
sea at some precious objects I had left behind. However, upon a
voyage of curiosity, why should I not see what was to be seen ?
and, confident that my good friend could have no sinister design,
I gave him an affirmative reply. Upon inquiring of one of the
trustees, or masters of the fair, '• if the girls had come," we
were informed they would be there at twelve o'clock. At twelve
o'clock we went, as directed, to a part of the ground higher than
the rest of the field, where we found from sixty to a hundred
young women, well dressed, with good looks and good manners,
and presenting a spectacle quite Avorth any civil man's looking
at, and in which, I can assure my readers, there was nothing to
offend any civil or modest man's feelings. These were the
marriageable girls of the country, who had come to show them-
selves, on the occasion, to the young men and others who
wanted wives; and this was the plain and simple custom of
the fair. I am free to say that I saw in the custom no very
great impropriety. It certainly did not imply that, though they
were ready to be had, any body could have them. It was not a
Circassian slave-market, where the richest purchaser could make
his selection. They were in no sense of the term on sale ; nor
did they abandon their own right of choice ; but that which is
done constantly in more refined society, under various covers
and pretences, — at theatres, balls, and public exhibitions ; I will
say nothing about churches, — was done by these humble and
unpretending people in this straightforward manner. Between

THE GALWAY FAIR. 303

the noble duchess, who presents a long train of daughters, rus-
tling in silk, and glittering with diamonds, at the queen's draw-
ing-room, or the ladies of rank and fashion, who appear at public
places with all the beauty and splendor of dress and ornament
which wealth, and taste, and art, and skill, can supply, meaning
nothing else but " Admire me ! " and these honest Galway nymphs
with their fair complexions and their bright eyes, with their
white frilled caps, and their red cloaks and petticoats, — for this is
the picturesque costume of that part of the country, — all willing
to endow some good man with the richest of all the gifts of
Heaven, a good and faithful wife, I can see no essential dif-
ference.

" Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure."

I hope I shall be excused, if I say something more of these
Galway women. I never saw a more handsome race of people.
I have always been a great admirer of beauty — natural beauty,
personal beauty, mental beauty, moral beauty. For what did
the Creator make things so beautiful as they are made, but to
be admired ? For what has he endowed man with an exquisite
sense of beauty, but that he may cultivate it, and find in it a
source of pleasure and delight? As I have grown older, this
sense of beauty — and I deem it a great blessing from Heaven —
has become more acute ; and every day of my life, the world and
nature, nature and art, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral
creation, the heavens and the earth, the fields and flowers, men,
women, and children, wit, genius, learning, moral purity and
moral loveliness, deeds of humanity, fortitude, patience, heroism,
disinterestedness, have seemed to me continually more and more
beautiful, as, at the setting of the sun, man looks out upon a
world made richer and more glorious by his lingering radiance,
and skies lit up with an unwonted gorgeousness and splendor.
But the human countenance seems in many cases to concentrate
all of physical, of intellectual, and of moral beauty, which can
be combined in one bright point. Why should it not, therefore,
be admired ? In the commingled beams of kindness and good-
humor brightening up the whole face, like heat-lightning in
summer on the western sky ; or in the flashes of genius sparkling
in the eyes with a splendor which the fires of no diamond can
rival ; or in the whole soul of intelligence, and noble thoughts,

304 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

and heroic resolution, and strong and lofty passion glowing in
the countenance, — there is a manifestation of creative power, of
divine skill, unrivalled in any spot or portion of the works
of God.

The extraordinary personal beauty of these Galway women
was not mere imagination on my part, nor the result of any
undue susceptibility. I said to the coachman, as we passed
through this part of the country, that I never saw a handsomer
people. '' That," said he, " travellers always remark ; " and
when I left the country, in casting my eye over a recent book
of Travels in Ireland, I found the author's impressions corre-
sponded with my own. Tradition says that a colony of
Milesians formerly settled in this part of the country, and that
the remains of this race, or the offspring of the intermixture of
them with the native tribes, present these results. This is a
remarkable fact, and not without its bearing upon one great
branch of agricultural improvement.

LII.— SMITHFIELD, LONDON.

The great market for cattle, in England, perhaps the greatest
in the world, is at Smithfield, in London. This market is prin-
cipally for fat cattle and sheep, and for cows. It is held weekly,
in the centre, and in one of the most crowded parts, of this great
metropolis. Monday is the day of general sale for fat cattle and
sheep ; Tuesday for hay and straw ; Thursday is again a day of
sale for hay and straw ; and Friday for cattle, sheep, swine, and
particularly for the sale of milch cows, and at 2 o'clock for scrub
horses and asses. This day is not so large a market as Monday,
and embraces the cattle that were left over on the Monday's
market.

The market opens at daylight, at all seasons of the year, and
closes at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, at which time every thing,
sold or unsold, must be removed. The sheep and swine are
enclosed in pens, railed in with wood, and containing seldom
more than fifteen sheep in a pen. The cattle, as far as the

SMITHFIELD. LONDON. 305

accommodations will admit, are tied, by the horns or neck, to
long railings, which extend on the outside of the market-place,
and likewise down the centre of the area. Between the rows
of animals tied to these rails and facing each other, there is a
passage-way ; and there are, likewise, open spaces behind them
^nd between them, so as to enable the purchasers to see the
stock. In respect to the supernumerary animals, or those for
which, for want of room, no tying-place is to be had, they are
often driven into small circles, and, by a great deal of severity
and cruelty, they are made, after being dreadfully beaten over
the head and eyes, to stand with their heads turned in towards
the centre of the circle. The poor animals, finding themselves
in so novel a situation, stunned with a din and noise which no
language can describe, and exhausted by fatigue and terror, are
often glad to be let alone, and to remain quiet in situations, into
which they may be forced, which would otherwise be scarcely
endurable. Man is almost sure to be a tyrant, when possessed
with absolute power ; and there is good reason to believe that he
will have a heavy account to settle hereafter with the brute
animals which he has most cruelly abused.*

It is obvious that it would be difficult to make any exact
assortment, or classification, of the animals in the case, according
to their different breeds. The sheep are placed in one part of
the market. The cattle occupy another. The cows, and calves,
and swine, occupy other separate positions. But no classification
of the beasts into the different breeds of Short-Horns, Herefords,
Devons, or West Highlanders, or Scots, is attempted, although,
from the fact that individual farmers generally limit themselves
to one species of stock, the contributiojis of different individuals,
standing by themselves, present a sort of classification ; and so
give a better opportunity to an intelligent observer to compare
the different breeds with each other.

* It is said tliat much of the cruelty, which was formerly practised in these cases
is now prevented by the influence of the Animal's Friend Society, an association
quite numerous, whose exclusive object is to prevent cruelty to dumb beasts, and
thus to protect those who are unable to protect themselves. They have numerous
agents, and prosecute, without fear or favor, every case of inhumanity, — for it is a
great misnomer to call such cases brutality, — which comes under their notice, de-
serving censure or punishment. It is, undoubtedly, greatly owing to their exer-
tions, that the odious practices of cock-fighting and dog-fighting are now not prac-
tised ; or, if practised, conducted in the most secret manner.
26*

306 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

1. Forms of Business in Smithfield. — It is not here, as it is
with us, that a drover goes through the country collecting, on his
route, cattle from the different farmers, as he may chance to find
them ; but usually the farmer himself sends them to Smithfield,
where they are put for sale into the hands of an accredited agent,
whose commission for sale is established and understood. This
commission is not a percentage upon the amount of sale, but so
much per head. These, of course, are persons well known, and
whose shrewdness and skill are undoubted. In the most extensive
transactions of buying and selling, no paper is passed ; but the
price of the stock on sale being inquired, if the bargain is struck,
the buyer and seller merely touch each other's hand, and there is
no retraction. It is highly creditable to the commercial charac-
ter of the country, and to the general integrity which prevails
among the persons concerned in this great market, that, as I am
informed by an individual familiar for years with the most ex-
tensive transactions in this place, a failure to fulfil these engage-
ments, though no paper is passed between the parties, is of very
rare occurrence.

In the sale of sheep and cattle, the business is always trans-
acted through an accredited and established salesman, who has
his regular commissions upon every animal sold. The sales are
always for cash, unless the salesman himself chooses to assume
the responsibility of giving credit, and there are always banking
houses in the vicinity to render the usual facilities for business.

The customary commission for the sale of an ox of any value
is four shillings, or about ninety-six cents ; of a sheep eight
pence or sixteen cents. The city receives a toll, upon every
beast exposed to sale in Smithfield, of one penny per head, and
upon sheep at the rate of one shilling or twenty-four cents per
score.

The value of the services of an intelligent, experienced, and
honest salesman, is very great to the farmer, and much beyond
the compensation ordinarily demanded. He is familiar with the
state of the market, with the supply to be expected, with the
prices generally taken, and with the characters of the persons
with whom he has to deal, who know him as well. The
farmer, going into the market to sell his cattle for himself, is
liable to various impositions, of the extraordinary ingenuity and
coolness of which, many experiments will not be necessary to

SMITHFIELD, LONDON. 307

convince him. It might happen, that, instead of returning home
with bank notes and sovereigns in his pocket, he might, like
Moses in the Vicar of Wakefield, bring back only a quantity of
green spectacles.

The state of the market, the current demand, the supply to
be expected, together with the state of the dead-meat market,
and what supplies of meat already killed are to be expected, are
all matters to be taken into calculation. These are all inquired
into, and well known to a thoroughly intelligent and expe-
rienced salesman, but are very imperfectly understood by any
other persons than those who make it their constant business to
become acquainted with them. The division of labor is carried
to a great extent in all the business pursuits of this great country,
and, while it seems unfriendly to that general tact with which
persons among us apply themselves to a great variety and
diversity of pursuits, must obviously contribute to a high degree
of skill or improvement in the particular art or profession where
it is applied.

2. Weights and Measures. — Animals in Smithfield are almost
always sold on the hoof; yet an estimate is formed of their
weight, and the price given is calculated upon the number of
pounds the animal is computed to yield after being slaughtered.
The gross hundred weight of one hundred and twelve pounds is
still used in England ; but the calculations are generally made in
stones of eight pounds. By an act of Parliament, the stone of
fourteen pounds is required to be adopted in the reckoning in the
market ; but custom in this, as in many other cases, defies the
authority of the government, and eight pounds continue to be
reckoned as the Smithfield stone.

The different measures and weights used in diflferent parts of
the kingdom are extremely inconvenient, and sadly perplexing
to a stranger. The English, the Scotch, and the Irish acre are
each different from each other. Grain is, in different places, sold
by the bushel, by the quarter, by the comb, by the boll, and by
the load; and a load is in some places four, in others three
bushels. A Scotch pint is two English quarts. In Covent
Garden market, two pottles of strawberries, containing little
more than a pint each, are called a gallon. Potatoes are some-
times sold by weight, and sometimes by the barrel ; in some

308 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

places by the stone of fourteen pounds, in some by the stone of
sixteen pounds. A dozen of eggs is in some places fifteen. I
may perhaps be asked, if this is not in Ireland ; but I shall not
say, excepting to add, as far as my experience goes, fifteen to a
dozen would be a very proper index of Irish hospitality and
kindness. In one market, in Yorkshire, a pound of butter is
twenty ounces avoirdupois ; in Staffordshire, eighteen ounces.
In Norwich, butter is sold by the pint ; in Cambridge, it is
literally sold by the yard, being made into rolls of a certain size,
and measured off in feet and inches. In one of our hot days in
July, with the glass at 95°, our market-men, at this rate, would
have little difficulty in giving full measure. I have already
alluded to the force of custom. It has many advantages, but
why should it stand in the way of improvement ? The preva-
lence of an unmeaning or a useless custom has nothing to
recommend it. Yet I believe I shall be doing no injustice to the
English, — the last thing certainly which I should wish to do to a
people whom I so highly respect and love, — if I were to say,
many of them greatly prefer antiquity to utility, and will hold on
to an ancient custom with the pertinacity of a drowning man,
though its meaning has entirely ceased, and its observance is on
every account inconvenient and burdensome. With such persons,
all argument on the subject of improvement is idle ; the concep-
tion has never yet dawned upon them.

Such a varying standard of weight, or measure, or value,
renders many statements quite unintelligible to a stranger or
one ignorant of local customs, and comparisons and calculations
all but impossible.

3. Weight of Animals, Mode of ascertaining. — The
weight of an animal in Smithfield is reckoned by the weight
of the four quarters. The hide, rough tallow, and offal, are not
taken into the account. There are rules given by which to
determine the weight of animals, when slaughtered, by external
measurement of them when alive. The salesmen in Smithfield
do not rely upon these rules, but estimate the weight of cattle
by the eye ; and mere judgment, founded upon long practice,
evinces most extraordinary approaches to exactness, seldom vary-
ing but few pounds. The rules, however, to which I refer, have
a value to persons who are not accustomed to estimate by the

SMITHFIELD, LONDON. 309

eye ; and a series of tables have been constructed upon these
rules, which, if they could be relied upon, would be of consid-
erable use in private practice.* The girth of the ox (for it does
not apply to cows as well as to oxen, as their shape is much less
regular) is to be taken directly behind the shoulder, and the
length is to be measured from the front of the shoulder-bone to
the end of the bone on the rump, where a line dropping down at
right angles with the line on the back would just clear the
thigh, or buttock. Then, according to a rule given me by Lord
Spencer, " Reduce the feet into inches ; multiply the girth by
the length, and that product by the fraction .001944, which
will give the weight in pounds ; " or, in another form, as the rule
is quoted by Mr. Hillyard, ''Estimating the weight of a cubic
inch of meat at 171 grains, then girth 7 feet 6 inches, and
length 5 feet 4 inches, gives 41,235tV(j cubic inches, which,
multiplied by 171, gives 7,051,328 grains, equal to 125 stones,
7 pounds, of 8 pounds to the stone." Another mode of estimat-
ing the weight of cattle is to ascertain their live weight upon a
platform balance, common enough in the United States. Then,
according to some authorities, every 112 pounds live weight
will produce 72 pounds of beef; but a coarse, large-boned ox
will not produce so much. Another way is to deduct one third
of the live weight, which is commonly deemed a fair allowance ;
and also, if the beast is not quite fat, from 2} to 5 per cent, in
addition. Another able authority states, '' that the proportion
which the dead weight bears to the live weight of animals was
reckoned at one half the live weight ; but subsequent experi-
ments in the more improved breed of animals show that this is
much too small a proportion, it being more correctly represented
by the fractional quantity .605, the weight of the animal being
assumed as 1. This would be about three fifths for the dead
weight. The gross weight of the animal being then multiplied
by .605, will give the result in the same denomination in which
the gross weight is given." It is obvious, however, that such
rules can be little more than an approximation to exactness,
since the circumstances under which the animal is weighed,

* These tables are to be found at large in Mr. Hillyard's useful and sensible
book, entitled « Practical Farming and Grazing," a fourth edition of which ap-
peared in London in 1844.

310

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

whether upon a full or an empty stomach, must essentially afiect
the result. It will be interesting, I am persuaded, to many of my
readers, if I give an account of the weights of some of the most
remarkable animals which, within a few years past, have been
exhibited at the show of the Smithfield Club, which takes place
annually in December; and the account, besides giving the
weight of the animals, will show, at the same time, how nearly
the weight calculated by rule, and the weight estimated by the
judgment of experienced men, corresponded with the actual
weight, ascertained upon the animals' being slaughtered.

YEAR.

GIRTH.

LENGTH

STONE OF EIGHT POUNDS

Computed

Estimated

Butcher's

Ft.

in.

r t.

J.I1.

might.

Weight.

Weight.

Lord Spencer's Durham ox, . . .

1828

9.

2

6.

0

211

210

210

The Scotch heifer,

1830

7.

8

5.

7

138

140

138

Mr. Townsend's Durham heifer.

1833

8.

3

5.

9

164

175

176^

Mr. Baker's Durham ox,

1833

8.

9h

6.

0

195

205

206^

Mr. Buckley's Hereford ox, . . .

1833

7.

n

5.

5

143

150

144

Lord Spencer's Durham ox, . . .

1834

9.

7

6.

1

236

240

236

Lord Oxford's Hereford ox, . . .

1834

9.

4

5.

10

214

222

Mr.Hillyard's do. heifer, .

1834

8.

7

5.

7

175

184

192

Lord Brownlow's do. do. . .

ia34

8.

0

5.

9

155

164

Marquis of Exeter's do. do. . .

ia35

7.

11

5.

0

134

138

142i

Lord Spencer's do. do. . .

1&35

7.

8

5.

3

130

138

Lord Spencer's Durham ox, . . .

1835

9.

2

6.

0

211

218

210

Lord Spencer's do. do. . . .

1836

9.

2

6.

1

215

222

218

Marquis of Tavistock's do. do.

1836

8.

10

5.

8

187

196

Lord Leicester's Devon ox, . . .

1837

8.

1

5.

2

142

145

152

Mr. Giblet's one year old Devon,

1837

8.

4

5.

5

158

162

166.4

Mr. Baker's heifer,

1837

7.

11

5.

6

148

152

152.3

Mr. Hillyard's Devon ox, ....

1838

8.

1

5.

2

142

142

139.6

Marquis of Exeter's Durham ox,

1841

8.

9

5.

9

185

185

185

Duke of Bedford's Hereford ox.

1841

8.

9

5.

9

185

185

180

The practice at Brighton, Massachusetts, is to sell the animal
at a certain rate per pound, or per hundred pounds. The animal
is then slaughtered, and the return of his weight made to the
owner or drover. The owner or drover does not see his animal
killed or weighed. The market takes place on Monday, but he
is commonly detained until Thursday, before the weight of the
animal is ascertained, and he receives his pay. This, besides its
expense, is on every account a serious evil. It cannot be denied,
likewise, that the temptations to a fraudulent return of the

311

weight are very strong, and that much dissatisfaction, very
often without question groundless, frequently arises. It is
surprising how near to exactness the judgment of an intelligent
and experienced man approaches ; but as this method is liable to
the objection of a man's being judge in his own case, it would
seem very desirable that some less exceptionable method should
be adopted. I can think of no one more eligible than that of
ascertaining the live weight on a platform balance, and then
adopting some general rule as to the allowance to be made for
the difference betAveen the live and the dead weight. A rate of
discount or allowance, founded upon repeated and exact experi-
ments, would be equally fair for both parties. The adoption of
such a rule would be of the greatest service in enabling the
drover or owner to close his business in one day, and would, in
general, be much more satisfactory to the farmer, who sends his
cattle to market, and is not always without his suspicions of an
imperfect retiu-n. I offer these suggestions with great diffidence,
especially when I read, in a letter addressed to me by a practical
man, "that there is no mathematical rule upon which he places
any reliance ,* that he has often been invited to test the correct-
ness of measuring beasts, and also to determine their dead, from
ascertaining their live weight, but has found that no confidence
can be placed upon such rules." He adds, " that after handling
beasts to ascertain their fatness, the mind, by practice, is in-
tuitively impressed with about the Aveight of the four quarters,
exclusive of any offal ; and that experienced men can tell the
weight of beasts, on an average, within three stone of eight
pounds, and of sheep within two pounds." I believe all this ;
and it presents a beautiful example of what the mind is capable
of, and of w^hat it may be brought to under careful training and
long practice. We certainly know that the mind is a very good
clock, and measures the time with wonderful exactness, both
sleeping and waking. I have been often struck Avith the extra-
ordinary precision with Avhich the poor blind horses, Avhich move
the ferry-boat between Troy and the Albany side of the river,
measure the distance Avhich they have come, and after making a
pause just before they touch the 'Opposite shore, seem to know
exactly hoAv many more strokes or turns to give to the paddles,
in order to reach it. I hope I shall not offend the pride of any
of my readers, by this comparison of the brute Avith the human

312 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

mind. Man is very apt to think himself the only knowing
animal upon the earth ; and I have no doubt that some of the
lower animals have the same self-conceit. It is interesting to
see reason and moral sentiment, the noblest gift of Heaven, any
where diffused, and even in the most humble forms. Such indi-
cations strengthen the claims which all sentient beings have
upon our kindness and respect ; and several of the lower animals
— if any being is to be considered inferior who accomplishes the
true pm-poses of his creation — read many striking moral lessons
to mankind.

The character of a salesman in Smithfield Market, for judg-
ment and integrity, is of immense importance to him. He is
forbidden by law to purchase on his own account ; and it is
clearly most important that his private interest should not con-
flict with that of his employer. But it is easy to see the futility
of all laws to make men honest, where evasions in a variety of
forms are so practicable. Personal character, and a healthful
state of public opinion, form, in such cases, the great security.

4. Amount of Business. — The amount of business transacted
in Smithfield is enormous. It is estimated at not less than
£100,000, or half a million of dollars, every week. The Smith-
field Market is certainly one of the great sights of London.
The returns of the market on the Christmas week of 1844,
when I was present, gave 5000 beasts and 47,000 sheep. This
was considered the largest market ever remembered ; and the
extraordinary quantity of stock was doubtless, in some measure,
to be attributed to the severe drought of the preceding summer,
and the consequent scarcity of fodder, which compelled the
farmers to lessen their stock. The largest return of stock
ascertained for any year, between the years 1821 and 1842, was
in the year 1838, and was.

Of cattle, 183,362

Of sheep, 1,403,400

In the year 1830, there were sold in Smithfield,

Beasts, • 159,907

Sheep, 1,287,071

Pigs, 254,672

Calves, 22,500

SMITHFIELD, LONDON. 313

In the year 1842,

Of cattle, 175,347

Of sheep, . 1,468,960

The supphes since that have not diminished. But this by no
means comprehends the whole supply of provision to London,
as immense amounts of slaughtered meat are brought constantly
to the dead market, from distant parts of the kingdom, by the
innumerable steam conveyances, which have so much increased
the facilities of access to the metropoUs. We need scarcely be
surprised at any distance from which it may be brought, since I
have seen Leicester or Southdown mutton, killed and dressed in
England, for sale in the market at Boston. In spite of the
doctrines of restricted or free trade, the benevolent mind cannot
help rejoicing in a facility of intercourse, which renders the
mutual interchange of the respective advantages and blessings
of ditferent countries and climates so convenient, and thus does
away forever with all that fear of want or famine which, in
former times, so often followed any extraordinary contingency
of the seasons. The quantity of meat, and that principally
mutton, brought from six different ports in Scotland to London,
was ascertained, in one case, to be about 2364 tons in six months ;
besides a very large amount of live stock. It has probably
greatly increased with the opening of every new means of
conveyance.

The friend to whom I am indebted for much of the above
information, in regard to Smithfield, states the average weekly
sale of beasts in Smithfield at about 3000, and of sheep, about
30,000 ; of calves, about 300 ; of pigs, about 500. At the dead
market, about 3000 sheep are sold weekly. Of the live stock, the
beasts average from £15 to £18 per head, and sheep 30 shillings.
A pound in this case may be most conveniently reckoned at five
dollars, and a shilling, therefore, at a quarter of a dollar. The
average age of beasts sold in Smithfield is from two to three
years, and of sheep from fifteen months to two years. It is
not to be supposed that these returns by any means embrace all
the beasts slaughtered, or the meat consumed in the metropolis
and its vicinity ; for great numbers are sold before they reach
the market, and are therefore not reported. Vast amounts, like-
wise, are imported from Ireland ; and the cotters of this fertile
27

314 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

but wretched country, where a large portion of the inhabitants
are, for a considerable part of the year, upon the borders of
steirvation, are obhged to see their only pig — the companion and
pet of their children — and their only calf or steer, sent off to
other markets to fill other mouths. Smithfield, though much
the largest, is only one of the markets of the country ; but the
immense supplies which are here furnished must give some
idea of the improvement and degree of perfection of the agricul-
ture of a country from which they are drawn.

The poultry markets, and the markets for game, are also most
extensive. The fish markets in London seem to me unsur-
passed for their excellence, and certainly embrace a great
variety of the very best kinds. These, of course, furnish their
full proportion of the supplies of London.

5. Character and (Quality of Stock. — The quality of the
cattle exhibited in Smithfield market, of sheep in particular, is
extraordinary for its fatness. The show of the Smithfield Club,
which is held in December, under the patronage of some of the
first noblemen in the kingdom, may very properly be denom-
inated a show of monstrosities in the way of fatness. They are
moving elephantine masses of flesh, and if, as according to
modern chemical philosophy, all fat is the result of disease, they
are far from being attractive to any but the grossest epicure.
No advantage can come from rearing animals to such an inor-
dinate degree of fatness, save in the matter of showing what the
art of man can accomplish in respect to the animal economy,
and also that of testing the nutritious and fattening qualities of
different kinds of food.

In respect to the weight of the animals in Smithfield, an indi-
vidual familiar with the subject, and in whom I have great con-
fidence, states that the beasts from two to three years old will
average from 85 to 100 stone of 8 pounds, or from 680 to 800
pounds, when dressed — that is, the four quarters. Others place
it riot higher than 82 stone, or 656 pounds ; of calves, 150
pounds ; of pigs, 100 pounds ; of sheep, 90 pounds. Calves are
seldom sent to market under six or eight weeks old ; and large
hogs are never seen in the market. If we may rely upon ancient
authorities, within a century past the weight of animals in
Smithfield Market has nearly doubled ; perhaps more than

SMITHFIELD, LONDON. 315

doubled. It is said that, in 1710, the average weight of beasts
was 370 pounds ; of calves, 50 pounds ; of sheep and lambs, 28
pounds. This increase of size is probably attributable in the
main to two great causes, which deserve serious consideration.
The first is, the improvement of the breeds of cattle. A person
has only to go into Smithfield Market to remark the perfection
to which the art of breeding has been carried, and the distinct-
ness of the lines by Avhich the different breeds are separated
from each other. Three great points seem to have been gained.
The first is, great size and weight have been attained ; the
second is, the tendency to fatten, and to keep in fat condition,
has been greatly cultivated ; the third is, that the animal arrives
early at maturity. All these are most important points ; the last
certainly not least ; for if an animal can be brought to the same
size and weight, without doubling the expense, at eighteen
months old, that he could formerly be made to reach not sooner
than at three years of age, the quick returns, so essential in all
commercial transactions, are secured, and as the expenses are
lessened, the profits are greatly increased. Nothing strikes one
with more surprise than to see what, in the improvement of the
appearance and constitution of the stock, intelligence, skill, and
perseverance can effect. I may here with propriety quote what
my friend, before referred to, says in relation to the quality of
the stock in Smithfield. '' I fear many of our breeds of beasts
and sheep are becoming worse than they were, from an exces-
sive attention to neatness and symmetry of form, so that bulk
and quantity of good fiesh have been too much overlooked.
Our Hereford beasts are much inferior to what they were ; also
other breeds of beasts; and particularly some breeds of sheep.
Some persons are so very particular about purity of blood, that
they often run into great error ; their stock losing flesh, constitu-
tion, and size. This is particularly observable in Leicester
sheep. So wedded are some persons to this breed, and to what
they call purity of blood, that their sheep keep dwindling into
very insignificant stock. I am satisfied that we cannot go on
breeding in and in, without losing size, quality, and worth." I
give these opinions of a very practical man, as familiar with the
Smithfield Market as any man in England, without endorsing
them, and leave them to speak for themselves.

The second great cause of the improvement of the stock in

316 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Smithfield Market is, the improvement of the husbandry of the
country, particularly by the introduction of what is called the
alternate husbandry, and the cultivation of green crops. The
cultivation of turnips and swedes is comparatively modern ; and
perhaps no single circumstance has effected so great an improve-
ment in the agricultural condition of the country. Formerly,
cattle were fatted, if fatted at all, upon grass and hay, and these
of inferior kinds ,* the store stock were wintered upon straw, and
came to the spring in such a condition that the greater part of
the summer was required, in order to recover what they had
lost in the winter. Now, the introduction of the artificial
grasses, clover, and rye-grass, the growing of vetches, rape,
turnips, swedes, carrots, and mangel-wurzel, and the use of
oil-cake, have multiplied in an extraordinary manner the re-
sources of the farmer ; and the practice of folding his sheep, and
stall-feeding his fatting beasts, give him a command of feed, and,
if I may so say, such a control over the season, that the results
are most remarkable in the supply of the market, at all times of
the year, with animals of the finest description.

I may be inquired of, what I think of the English meats.
The fatness of the beef and mutton is most remarkable. I have
seen single beasts in the United States as fat as any I have seen
here ; but these are comparatively rare exceptions ; and here the
general character of the beasts and sheep is, in this respect, most
striking. It would, however, I fear, be hopeless to attempt to
persuade an Englishman of that which is my honest conviction —
that our meats are sweeter to the taste than those which I have
eaten here. Oar poultry is incomparably better. An English-
man will be likely to set this down as mere prejudice, which
possibly it may be, for who can escape such prejudices, or be
fully conscious of them when they exist ? — but I believe it is not
prejudice, but Indian corn, (the grain upon which our animals are
fatted,) which gives to their meat a peculiar sweetness, which is
not produced by other feed. Our beef animals are not killed
until from five to seven years old, and our sheep seldom until
three years old. Here sheep are killed at about fifteen months,
and beasts at two years and upwards. The flesh of these young
animals is wanting in that consistency which more age would
give, though an extreme on the other side, and the hard-working
of our oxen until eight and ten years old, is liable to give a

I

317

toughness to the meat, which would not be found if fatted at £in
earlier, though not a very early, period. If price is to be taken
as a correct index of quality, then it will be found that the beef
of the small West Highland cattle, and the mutton of the Welsh
sheep, are decidedly superior to any other, the prices which they
command being always higher than others. The smaller size,
and the better intermixture of lean and fat meat which they
present, render them more convenient for family dishes, and
more attractive than those immense rumps of beef, and saddles
and legs of mutton, covered with an inordinate thickness of fat,
which, by their grossness, repel any but the most inveterate
epicure — the animal who seems to live only to eat.

My conviction is, that there is no agricultural improvement in
England so great and striking as that which has been effected
in their live stock : I refer particularly to its size, aptitude to
fatten, early maturity, symmetry, and beauty. Of the milking
and dairy properties of their stock, I shall speak hereafter. I
must include, likewise, in my commendation, their horses — work-
ing, carriage, pleasure, and race horses. It could scarcely be
expected to be otherwise. The highest degree of skill has been
concentrated upon these objects ; and this skill has been stim-
ulated by premiums of the most honorable and liberal character,
and by expenditures absolutely enormous. The splendid and
magnificent premiums of gold and silver plate for successful
competition, which one sees on the tables and sideboards of the
fortunate winners all over the country, and which are exhibited
with an honest pride, while they display the highest triumphs
of artistical skill and taste, serve only to fan the flame which
they enkindle, and to quicken an ambition, which never can be
quiet while a more distant point remains to be attained. How
happy would it be for the world, if human ambition were always
directed to objects so innocent and commendable ; to pm-poses
which benefit, instead of those which curse, the world ; to the
triumphs of genius, industry, and science, over the elements of
nature, instead of the bloody conquests of power, avarice, and
despotism, over human comfort, liberty, and life !

6. Smithfield by Night. — Smithfield by night, and in a
dark night, presents a most extraordinary scene, which, though I
have witnessed it, it would be very difficult for me adequately

27*

318 EUROPEAN AGRICULTLRE.

to describe. A large proportion of the stock arrive in the
neighborhood of London either on Saturday or early on Sunday,
where they are fed in the fields, or the extensive lairs prepared
for their reception. These lairs, especially Laycock's at Isling-
ton, are well worth a visit, being composed of open yards and
most extensive sheds, covering fourteen acres of ground, fur-
nished with watering troughs and mangers, and divided into
different compartments. Here the farmer or drover is supplied
with hay or straw for his stock, not by the day or night, but by
the truss, the hay which is sold in London being always put up
and tied in bundles of 56 pounds each — certainly an excellent
arrangement, which, while it prevents all temptations to waste,
requires a purchaser to pay only for that which he has. The
cattle here get a little rest and refreshment in these stalls after
their long journeys ; and here they are visited by the salesmen
preparatory to their appearance in the market on Monday. It
would not be surprising, likewise, and not altogether unlike
some occurrences on the other side of the water, if some pur-
chasers, with an acquisitiveness not disturbed by religious
scruples, should occasionally make their way there and an-
ticipate the bargains of the ensuing day.* About midnight the
different detachments, almost treading upon the heels of each
other, begin to make their way to the place of rendezvous
through the winding streets of this wilderness of houses, and
enter the great market-place by different and opposite avenues,
and, like hostile parties, often meet each other in the very centre.
Then comes the conflict : the driving of so many thousand of
sheep into their several pens ; the assorting and tying up, or arran-
ging, so many thousand of cattle, driven into a state of terror and
frenzy by the men and dogs ; the struggles of the different owners
or drovers to keep their own and prevent their intermingling
with others ; the occasional leaping the barriers, and the escape
of some straggler, who is to be brought back by violence ; the
sounds of the heavy blows over the heads, and horns, and sides,
of the poor crazed animals ; the shrieks of the men ; the yelling
and barking of hundreds of dogs, who look after the sheep and

* I will say, however, by the way, and as an act of simple justice, that London,
as well as every other part of England which I have visited, is remarkable for its
sober and decorous observance of the Lord's Dav.

319

cattle with a ferocity perfectly terrific, and a sagacity almost
human; the bellowing of the cattle, and the bleating of the
calves ; forming, if the expression is allowable, a concert of dis-
cordant sounds utterly indescribable and hideous ; and in the
midst of all this confusion, the darting about of hundreds of
torches, carried in the hand by men looking for their cattle and
sheep, and seeking to identify their marks, — all together present
an exhibition for which it certainly would be difficult to find a
parallel, and sufficiently gratifying to the lovers of the pic-
turesque in human affairs. The calves and pigs enter the
market in a more aristocratic style, in carriages and vans, with
the regular attendance of out-riders and footmen ; but in spite of
this luxury, after the example of some of their betters, these
indulgences do not appear to lessen or quiet all their complaints,
and they add their portion to the general harmony. Their
owners are quite wise to carry, instead of attempting to drive,
them ; for I think no human power would be sufficient to drive
and assort a herd of pigs, coming into a scene of this description.
When the day dawns, however, every thing is found in order ,*
all the different parties at their respective posts ; and the
immense business is transacted with a despatch, an efficiency,
and precision, which are quite remarkable.

7. Attempted Removal of the Market from the City. —
It certainly is not a little surprising that a market of this descrip-
tion should be held in the midst of such a city as this. Its name
implies that, in former times, it was held in the outskirts of the
town ; but that time must have long since passed away, and the
'' field," so called, is now surrounded with miles of houses in every
direction, and in the very centre of a most densely-packed popu-
lation. It would seem, at first sight, that the obvious and innu-
merable discomforts of such an arrangement, and the danger to
human person and life from driving so many beasts through the
crowded streets, were sufficient reasons for transferring the whole
business to a more retired and convenient situation in the neigh-
borhood of London. A wealthy individual by the name of
Perkins, under the influence of the best of motives, made an
attempt to do this, and erected an establishment for a market at
Islington, about two miles from the centre of London, which is
well worth looking at for the completeness and excellence of its

320 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

arrangements. The cost of the estabhshment is said to have
been £100,000, or half a million of dollars. It forms a hollow-
square, and embraces a space of more than twenty acres, com
pletely enclosed by high brick walls, which form the backs of
deep sheds, slated, and open in front, furnished with mangers and
with water troughs supplied from two very large tanks in the
centre of the yard, which are kept constantly filled by machinery
from wells sunk in the neighborhood. The sheds are capable of
accommodating 4000 beasts ; and here they might remain from
day to day until sold, without inconvenience. In the centre of
this immense quadrangle are four extensive squares, all neatly
paved with flat stones, and divided into several compartments,
railed in with neat iron railings, and capable of accommodating
40,000 sheep. Other pens are constructed for calves, pigs, and
other animals usually brought to market ,* and all are arranged in
the most simple and convenient method, with ample passages
furnishing easy access to every part of the enclosure. Besides
these, there are convenient and ample offices for all the various
clerks, salesmen, bankers, &c., connected with the business ; and
it was designed to erect commodious hotels for the acommoda-
tion of persons attending the market, and extensive slaughter-
houses for the killing of the cattle, directly in the neighborhood.
The whole space is entered under a handsome archway ; and for
its particular purposes, it would be difficult to conceive of any
thing more commodious or better arranged.

In spite of all these obvious advantages, the market could not
be removed from Smithfield. The persons in the neighborhood
of the old market whose business and profits were intimately
connected with it, opposed its removal. There was fear of a
rival market being got up on the other side of the city. The
city would lose the tolls, which are now received at Smithfield,
and which, in the course of the year, make up no inconsiderable
revenue. The meat, if the animals were slaughtered out of the
town, would, of necessity, have to be conveyed to the city in
carts, whereas, now, much of it is killed directly in the neigh-
borhood of the market. These and many other reasons were
urged, but, perhaps, would not have availed, excepting for the
fact that Smithfield was discovered to be a chartered market, for
the sale of cattle ; and the twelve judges of the high courts
decided, upon consultation, that this charter could not be

SWITHFIELD, LONDON. 321

abrogated ; and even ni spite of an act of Parliament, which
was obtained in the case, this great public nuisance must be
continued.

8. Chartered Rights. — When the vast amounts of property,
which are here locked up, by the disposal of generations long
since departed, for the most frivolous, useless, and obsolete pur-
poses, and under the most absurd tenures, are considered, and
that even public and acknowledged nuisances cannot be abated,
while maintained under the plea of chartered rights, it is quite
well worth considering whether this doctrine does not admit of
some qualifications, which would render its operation less bur-
densome and offensive. Many cases, which are constantly
occurring, would do much towards reconciling one to an occa-
sional and general revolution, under which, freed from the rusty
fetters of ancient prejudices, superstitions, follies, and crimes,
society might take a new start, and avail itself of the improved
experience and enlightenment of modern times. The right of a
man to dispose of property, after his death, other than that which
is the direct fruit of his own skill and industry, is, in my mind,
quite questionable on moral and economical, however well estab-
lished it may be upon legal grounds ; and I hope I shall not give
offence by an opinion, however erroneous, yet very honestly held,
that no man, under any circumstances, has a right to appropriate
property to any object which the state may not annul when that
object becomes either pernicious or useless ; above all, that no
man, under any circumstances, has any right in the soil, which
is not entirely at the disposal of the state, always premising that
the state make adequate compensation for individual cases of
hardship or injury, and for any substantial improvement, which
may have been eifected in the property by the labor or skill, or
at the personal expense, of the occupier. Let us suppose, for
example, that Smithfield had been, by some ancient charter,
appropriated exclusively for public executions, — as it was indeed
the melancholy site of the martyrdom of Rogers, and other
heroic victims to bigotry, — and that the government determined
that executions should cease to be public, or should take place in
the prison-yard ; or, what is infinitely to be desired, that, under
the mild influences of Christianity, the punishment of death
should be abolished ; must this field therefore forever remain

322 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

useless and unoccupied? The English, as I have before had
occasion to remark, — and I do it certainly as far as possible
removed from any spirit of censoriousness or ill-humor, — are
excessively conservative. Their judges still swelter under their
full-bottomed wigs ; and their courtiers and civilians, in the midst
of crowds of gentle ladies, wear swords on state occasions, when
there is reason to think that some of them, if called upon to
draw and defend themselves, would scarcely know which end to
seize upon. I am not for indiscriminate changes ; but I go for
universal improvement, wherever the improvement to be made is
obvious, decided, practicable, and remunerative. If otherwise,
what is the value of experience and of education ? and how idle
it is to talk of the progress of society ! Even in this matter of
chartered rights, the government, with an inconsistency not un-
common, does not hesitate to take private property for public
uses, and to invade the property even of charitable trusts for the
passage of railroads, which, whatever may be said of their public
uses, can scarcely be considered in any other light than as
private corporations. I should be glad to know what business
has a dead man with the affairs of the living ; and what has a
man to do with the earth after he has left it? He has had his
day, and is of no further use in it, excepting in the good example
which he may have left behind him. Indeed, as Goldsmith
remarks, he takes care to rob it of what little he might return
for its benefit, by ordering himself to be buried six feet below
the surface. The earth belongs exclusively to those who
occupy it. It seems to me to behoove us much more to take
care for the good of those who are to come after us, and may be
essentially affected by what we do, than for the wills of those
who have gone before us — whom what we do, or are, cannot
affect at all ; and who themselves, if they were now living,
would see, in a change of circumstances, the absurdity, or use-
lessness, or inconvenience, or hardship, of the arrangements
which they propose, and be among the foremost to condemn
and alter them. If public faith requires that the wills of those
who have departed should be observed, it should take care that
the objects for which those wills provide should be in them-
selves just, i-easonable, and useful, as long as that provision may
continue ; but the locking up of land in perpetuum, for private
or public uses, seems of very questionable right and expediency.

GRAIN MARKETS. 323

It is quite obvious that I am no lawyer ; and I give my opinions
with the more freedom, knowing that they will not be quoted as
authority.*

Besides Smithfield, markets for the sale of live stock, botn
lean and fatted, are held in various parts of the country. These
being held in determined places, and at established and well-
known times, the farmers and others have always an opportunity
of disposing of cattle, for which they wish to find purchasers,
and of obtaining such as they require for keep or fattening.

LIIL — GRAIN MARKETS.

Next to the cattle markets, in England, the grain markets
deserve attention. They perhaps should have a higher place, as
the value of the grain crop of the country must very much
exceed that of its live stock. The amount of grain produced in

* I might get upon forbidden ground if I ventured to speak of chartered opin-
ions, and of the variety of artificial and stringent contrivances to regulate what
men shall think in all times to come. I have my own notions on these subjects,
with which I shall not trouble my readers, further than to say that I hold mental
slavery as the most ignominious of all kinds of bondage, and thank God, every
day of my life, that attempts to inthral the mind are, in the end, as idle as to
attempt to chain the wind, convinced as I am that all hopes of human improve-
ment, and the moral advancement of society, must depend upon the utterly free,
unrestricted, and independent inquiries of the human mind after what is good,
and useful, and true.

I trust I shall be pardoned these reflectioas, which otherwise might seem inop-
portune, when it is considered that, in some respects, Smithfield is classical and
consecrated ground. I think it was one of the Oxford martyrs, who said to his
heroic companion at the stake, that " they should kindle such a fire that day in
England, as he trusted in God would never be extinguished." Such were the
fires kindled in Smithfield, which, as they were reflected from the surrounding
objects, showed the grim, and hideous, and bloody features of bigotry and intol-
erance, in all their deformity and hatefulness, and still send up their light to
Heaven, as the signal of that liberty of judgment, opinion, and conscience, which
constitutes the glory of the human mind, and which every true man should claim,
at any and every peril, as his independent and inalienable birthright.

324 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

England is immense, as is quite evident from the great popula-
tion which is fed.

Kinds of Bread. Maize, or Indian Corn. — In Scotland,
a considerable portion of the bread is made of oatmeal. In
Ireland, a large portion of the poorer classes live upon potatoes ;
and many scarcely taste bread from one year's end to another.
In some parts of the country, meal from pease, and barley meal,
are mixed with a portion of wheat meal, and used for bread.
But the vast majority of the people use wheat bread exclusively.
There is very little or no rye consumed for bread. Indeed, I
have not known it used in a single instance. The poor are ex-
tremely tenacious of the kind of bread which they eat ; and I have
seen, in more instances than a few, where the farmer was under an
obligation to supply his laborers with wheat at a certain rate, and
Avas using wheat of an inferior quality for his own table, and
sending the best to market, the laborer insisted upon that of the
best quality, though he might have had an inferior quality at less
than the stipulated price. I certainly do not deny their right to
do this ; and I begrudge the poor none of their small round of
comforts and luxuries. I wish they whose toil, under the
blessing of Heaven, produces the bread, may never want an
ample supply, and that of the finest kind. As a general rule,
likewise, I believe it sound economy to use the best of every
thing. But I refer to this fact, as showing to a degree, in my
opinion, the hopelessness of introducing our Indian corn as bread
for the English poor — a scheme which many persons have advo-
cated on both sides of the water, as reciprocally advantageous to
both countries. They will not eat it. If the rich should adopt
it as a luxury, (and, if they understood its proper use, they would
with reason deem it so, ) their example or estimation of it might
have its usual effect : but to commend it to the exclusive use of
the poorer classes as a cheap kind of bread, acknowledged
inferior, though it were as sweet as the ancient manna, would be
met with that pride of resentment, which any thing short of
absolute starvation would scarcely be able to overcome. With
Arthur Young, I deem Indian corn, or maize, as among the best
and most useful crops ever yielded by the earth. Nothing
within my knowledge is grown at so little comparative expense.

I

GRAIN MARKETS OUT OF LONDON. 325

Nothing furnishes by the acre more nutritious food for man or
beast. Nothing, as grain or grass, is capable of more varied and
useful application. No plant cultivated returns more to the land,
in manure, by way of compensation for what it takes from it.
The dampness of the English climate, the deficiency of sunshine,
and in general the coldness and heaviness of the English soil,
forbid its production here.* If it were introduced here without
duty, with a view to fatting swine and cattle, there would be, in
my belief, a clear gain, on the part of the farmers, of the manure.
I am not conscious of any interested views to bias my judgment
in this matter ; for, besides an absence of all commercial interests,
from which my pursuits in life are entirely foreign, I think there
is reason to believe that, if its admission into England were free,
the supplies of this article from the shores of the Mediterranean
would nearly preclude the competition of the United States.

LIV. — GRAIN MARKETS OUT OF LONDON.

Grain markets are established in all the principal towns of the
country, and are generally held weekly. In almost every town
where a regular market is held, there is held a corn market,

* In some few cases, where the locality and the season have been peculiarly
favorable, the earliest kinds have ripened ; but it cannot be depended on, and
any attempt to cultivate it on an extensive scale would doubtless prove a failure.
I am not certain that it may not succeed as a green crop for fodder. If so, it
would be found that no crop would yield more, or more nutritious feed for stock ;
or make more milk, beef, or mutton ; or furnish a better feed for horses. It is
confidently stated, upon authority which I cannot doubt, that it has yielded, in
New England, at the rate of tliirty-nine tons of green feed to an acre ; and some
persons have assumed that double this quantity can be grown. A distinguished
agricultural friend here is now making the experiment of growing it for green
feed. We must wait for the result. I imported the seed for him ; but the various
expenses attending it almost forbid a repetition. The unfortunate man, who has
to run tlie gantlet through salesmen, and freighting agents, and commission
agents, and wharf agents, and carriers, and above all custom-houses, finds himself,
at the end, much in the situation of tlie man who went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho ; but without even a kind Samaritan to pity his destitution, or assuage
his wounds.

28

326 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

although the grain market is always distinct from the general
market, sometimes in the same place but at a diiFerent hour, but,
in most cases, on the same day but in a different place. All
grain here goes under the general denomination of corn. In a
great many towns, large and elegant halls are erected for what is
called the Corn Exchange, where the farmers, millers, corn-
factors, and grain-merchants, assemble for this particular object
exclusively. In some cases, these buildings have considerable
pretensions to architectural elegance ; and many of them larger
pretensions to utility and convenience, as there are connected
with them extensive rooms and chambers for the storage of
grain.

1. Forms of Business. — The general standard of measure is
a quarter, which consists of eight imperial bushels, though still,
in some markets, the reckoning is by loads of three bushels.
The markets are of two kinds, one by sample — the grain to be
delivered on a future day ; the others are in some parts of the
country called pitch markets ^ where the grain is brought into
the market, and sold and delivered at the same time. In these
market-houses, the factors, or sellers of grain, have their respec-
tive stands, with the necessary appurtenances of counting desk
and writing implements, and with the various samples of grain
exhibited in boxes or bags before them. In some markets, I
have found many of the factors and farmers bringing their sam-
ples of grain, in small bags, in their hands and pockets. In most
cases, the markets are opened and closed at fixed hours, and this
is notified by the ringing of a bell, to which there is universal
submission. Such habits of punctuality, in the transaction of
business, are of the highest importance ; and should there be
occasion, I beg leave strongly to commend them to my own
countrymen. The rules of commercial transactions cannot, in
my opinion, be too stringent and absolute ; yet certainly nothing
is more loose and slovenly than the ordinary modes of transacting
business in my own country ; and the necessary consequence is,
a great want of punctuality, and that dreadful curse of the com^
munity, angry and interminable litigation. A fixed time to
begin and to close the market quickens both buyer and seller ;
but how often have I seen, especially in the country, men wast-
ing the whole day, and chaffering, hour after hour, with all the

GRAIN MARKETS OUT OF LONDON. 327

necessary amount of trickery and prevarication, about that which
might be much better determined in fifteen minutes !

2. Advantages and Convenience of such Markets in the
United States. — The convenience of these markets, scattered
all over the country, is very great. They would be very useful
with us, and I think cannot be too soon established, especially
in our grain-growing districts, such, for example, as Western New
York. The farmers in this part of the country would certainly
derive great advantages from regular and quick sales, and from
the extended competition to which such established markets
would certainly lead. Once a week, however, in the same
district, would be too often, as they would be likely to take the
farmers too much from home ; and at the breaking up of the
winter, when the state of the roads renders travelling difficult,
or during the busiest season of summer, it might be advisable to
suspend them. In any event, the hour of opening and of closing
them should be fixed and absolute. Mutual agreement might
determine this ; and the custom, once established, would be as
imperative as any laws on the subject. If it should be asked
how these markets might be established, I think the agricultural
societies in the different counties could easily arrange the matter ;
and that it would be a very useful object of their attention. I
would advise, further, that a grain market, and a cattle market,
should be always a cash market ; and that all giving or taking
credit in such cases should be considered disgraceful both to
buyer and seller, and entirely out of the question. If bread
should not be paid for in cash, what should be ? I am afraid
my advice may be deemed a work of supererogation, but it is
well intended; and whoever contributes in any way to limit (I
am sensible the abolition is hopeless) that system of private
credit and long accounts, which prevails to so great an extent all
over the country, does a public benefaction. With honest men
who mean to pay their debts, nothing, in the end, is ever gained
by it ; and the frequency with w^hich a man's own integrity is
undermined by it is not the least of its evils. I am strongly of
the opinion that it would be better for the community if there
were no laws for the recovery of debts, excepting cases involving
fraud either in the act or the representation ; and all such in-
stances should be punished as other crimes. The value of

328

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

integrity would then be better appreciated ] economy in the
modes of living would prevail much more ; and industry and
frugality would be greatly stimulated.

3. Modes of Selling. — The sale by sample seems, on many
accounts, more eligible than by bringing the whole quantity at
once to the market. The sample, in such cases, is divided
between buyer and seller, for there should be a guarantee of
fair dealing on both sides, as, in case of a fall in price, the
purchaser might substitute a better sample than that which he
had received, and in this way evade his engagement. In all
cases, the selling by sample is liable, however, to objections of
this kind, and more especially as the seller himself is likely to
separate from a small sample what might injure its appearance ;
and a small sample is always likely to be cleaner, and appear
better, than a large quantity. One cannot say of wheat what
the shopkeepers say of their silks and calicoes, ^' They appear
better in the piece than the pattern." While it is very desirable,
in all commercial transactions, to avoid, as much as possible,
occasions of misunderstanding, much must, after all, be left to
personal integrity, and that sense of honor and right which
commerciaj men would find it for their interest to guard with as
much tenacity as they would their lives. But alas ! if com-
mercial transactions were so exact and explicit as to be incapable
of misconstruction or evasion, and men were always under the
influence of a strict principle of integrity and justice, what would
become of the lawyers, the paid moral police and the strict
guardians of justice always on one side ? Many of them would
make very good farmers, — a transmutation from which, in some
cases, the community might suifer no inconvenience.

Where grain is sold in quantity, or by the load, and delivered
at the time of sale, these occasions of misunderstanding are
avoided, and the whole business is concluded at once. The
farmer leaves his corn and takes home his money; and any
anxiety respecting the rise or fall of the market, and the fulfil-
ment of the engagement, coupled as it may be with the usual
contingencies of the future, is prevented. But the farmer or
seller is placed somewhat at the mercy of the buyer, when, as
the close of the market approaches, he finds himself with a load
of grain, which he must either sell, or carry back, or store, if it

GRAIN MARKETS OUT OF LONDON. 329

be practicable, at considerable trouble and expense. In large
markets, however, where the sellers are numerous, and compe-
tition's in proportion, the prices become soon settled by common
consent ; and the seller may calculate, if he does not, through
timidity or greediness, overstay his time, upon getting the current
price, if the quality of his grain justifies it. " The tide, if taken
at the flood," to borrow the simile of a great authority, '^ leads
on to fortune ; " but with those who neglect the opportunity,
the ebbing tide often leaves the vessel stranded, high and dry
upon the shore.

4. Multiplication of Markets in England. — There are
circumstances of difference, in the condition of things here, and
in the United States, which it may not be uninteresting to
remark upon, as a special reason why the grain markets prevail
all over the country. Here there is an immense population to
be fed, scattered every where ; and there are many more, in pro-
portion to the whole number, who are buyers of bread than with
us. The manufacturing villages are crowded with a population
who are to be fed by other hands than their own. The villages
and small towns are full of tradespeople, mechanics, and profes-
sional men, who are to be supplied with bread. The laboring
agricultural population, too, are buyers of bread. With us, every
farmer raises liis own bread, and feeds his laborers in his own
house. With us, there are comparati*vely few married laborers
employed at all, and of those, there are scarcely any who have
not small farms of their own, on which they raise their own
bread, and commonly much more. Here the laboring popula-
tion, excepting in the case of some small allotments, grow no
bread for themselves ; and the expense of fuel is so great, like-
wise, that they depend upon public bakers, rather than bake
their own bread. In consequence of this, markets are held at all
the principal towns, where the millers and bakers supply them-
selves. Purchases are made, likewise, in these markets, for the
supply of London, where the facility of carriage allows its
being sent.

28*

330 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

LV.— THE CORN EXCHANGE IN MARK LANE, LONDON.

The supply of London itself is an immense affair. The or-
dinary population of this mammoth city is estimated at about
1,800,000; and during the session of Parliament, in what is
technically called '' the season," when the legislature may be said
to be in full blast, all the places of public amusement opened,
and the court in the plenitude of its luxuries, it is supposed that
the population of London does not fall much short of 2,500,000.
Nothing impresses a reflecting mind with more force, than the
consideration how such vast numbers of people, all of whom are
consumers, are to be fed. Yet they are fed, and the cases of
want and starvation do not arise from any deficiency in the
supply of bread, of which there seems always enough and to
spare.

*' The total importation of corn and grain of all kinds into
London averages, at the present time, about 28,000,000 bushels
annually, besides about 50,000 tons of flour and meal — the
weight being at least 530,000 tons." The Corn Exchange, in
Mark Lane, is the great place of trade in corn and flour, and in
all kinds of grain and pulse. There are two spacious buildings
adjoining each other for the transaction of business and the
exhibition of samples, and the market is holden three times a
week, — on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, — Monday being
the principal market-day. The business done here is immense in
home-grown and in foreign grain.

LVL — CORN DUTIES.

Grain is not admitted into England from foreign ports, Canada
excepted, free of duty, excepting when the price reaches its
maximum. The highest duty, of 20 shillings per quarter, is
paid when the price is 50 shillings per quarter, and the scale of
duties is a descending scale, in certain determinate proportions.

CORN DUTIES. 331

until the price reaches 80 shillings per quarter, when it is ad-
mitted free of duty. In consequence of these regulations, large
amounts of foreign grain are stored in warehouses, waiting for
admission, when, by the variations of the market, the duties are
at the lowest. The amount of duty payable on the introduction
of foreign wheat being regulated by the current price of wheat,
it becomes obviously of the highest consequence to determine
what is the current price of wheat, since this price has no
reference to the cost of the wheat, and, as is plain, the price may
vary in different parts of the kingdom. With a view to deter-
mine this, returns are received weekly, at one of the government
offices in London, from the different counties in England and
Wales, comprising reports of the sales in two hundred and
ninety-two market-towns, designated by law, upon which the
price is averaged, and by this the duty is regulated for six weeks
at a time ; the current price, with the duty payable, being an-
nounced in the public papers, by authority of the government.
This variation of the duties is called the " sliding scale," and
has been the cause of much warm political controversy.

The whole subject of restrictive duties is now constantly
before the public mind; and while it will not be denied that
there are interested partisans on both sides, who have only some
private and personal ends in view, it can as little be doubted that
there is a fair proportion, on both sides, of men of intelligence,
honor, and integrity, who, in the measures which they advocate,
are governed wholly by their convictions of what is due to great
and valuable interests, concerned in the question, and of what
they deem best for the country. I know how difficult it is to
acknowledge this ; how easy it is to impute corrupt moti\res to
even the purest minds ; and how our own views may be affected
by circumstances, of whose influence we are not aware, but
which are certain seriously to bias our judgment. Men who
think that the corn laws should be abrogated, and those who
think that they should be maintained, may be equally honest and
equally patriotic ; but nothing can be more disgraceful and un-
worthy of an intelligent and honorable mind than that bigotry and
intolerance, which would stifle inquiry on any subject of public
interest ; which would prevent the free utterance of an honest
judgment, and impute sinister intentions or interests for any
difference of opinion. It is to be regretted that examples of this

332 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

intolerance, both in respect to politics and religion, are not wanting
on both sides of the water. One is almost discouraged to per-
ceive, in many cases, that the only adv^ance made upon the intol-
erant and ferocious spirit of the dark ages, is the immunity from
personal violence and suffering. Men are not now, for their
religious or political convictions, burned at the stake ,* but to a
sensitive mind, a penalty scarcely less bitter is often adminis-
tered, in the opprobrium which follows the profession of unpop-
ular opinions. The tiger, though muzzled, still growls, and
beats the bars of his cage with his tail, showing what he would
do if he could. It is a singular and instructive fact, that formerly
it was the great aim of the municipal and the national govern-
"iient to keep down the price of bread, but that the present
policy of the government is to keep it up. Two centuries and
I half ago, the city itself provided large stores of grain, imported
from the Continent, and even established and maintained several
public ovens, in order to prevent a scarcity of wheat, and to save
the poor from suffering by a high price, consequent upon a defi-
cient supply. The several livery companies of London were
required by law to have several thousand quarters of grain always
on hand, for the same object. It contrasts strongly with such
provisions, that, a few years ago, two thousand quarters of wheat,
that is, sixteen thousand bushels, were thrown into the river,
because the owners would not pay the duties or keep it longer,
subject to expenses of storage and port charges. Whether the
policy of the present day is an improvement upon the wisdom
and good government of former times, I shall leave to the calm
judgment of my readers ; but such a fact as that detailed above,
occurring where so many thousands are constantly suffering, and
many dying by slow degrees, from a deficiency of food, can
hardly fail to bring a cold chill over a man of common sensibility,
though he be cased in the triple brass of the most orthodox
school of political economy, and seems such a resentment and
defiance of the goodness of Heaven, that one can scarcely trust
himself to speak of it.

1. Arguments for Protection. — The protectionists, who
are opposed to the introduction of foreign grain, maintain that a
free competition in their own market by supplies from abroad
would so reduce the price of grain as to render its cultivation not

CORN DUTIES. 333

merely profitless, but ruinous ; and that the result would be to
throw much land out of cultivation, and consequently deprive
the laborer of his present resources ; and though the price of
bread were reduced, yet such would be the scarcity of employ-
ment, and the reduction of his wages, that he would be without
the means of paying even a reduced price.

2. Arguments against Protection. — The opponents of
restrictions in the introduction of foreign grain maintain, on the
other hand, that, from the necessities of the case, the land Avill
continue to be cultivated ; that the introduction of foreign grain
will induce the farmer to cultivate more land, to introduce im-
provements in cultivation, to bring into a productive condition
much land which is now waste and profitless, and thus increas-
ing the amount of his crops by a more skilful cultivation, this
excess will be very much more than an equivalent for any
diminution of price. The saving of the expenses of transporta-
tion, incident to the importation of grain from abroad, must be
considered, in its very nature, as virtually a considerable protec-
tion to the English farmer.

I do not deem it necessary further to discuss this great ques-
tion. It does not appear probable to me that, even if the ports
were thrown open, much larger amounts would come in than
what are now brought ; and one effect is certain — that of increas-
ing the price of wheat in the exporting countries. If more
wheat is cultivated in foreign countries for exportation, then it
must be obtained from territories more distant than those from
which it is now brought, and the expense of transportation
would be proportionately increased. The production of wheat
would be in no case, as many persons seem to imagine, without
limit. The United States have vast markets growing up among
themselves for the consumption of their surplus products ; and in
a free trade, the wheat from the United States must come into
severe competition with the continental wheats. Every one
must see that the financial bearings of the question are quite
complicated ; and imder such a change in the policy of the
country as the abrogation of all duties or restrictions, many new
circumstances would spring up to affect the results, little thought
of by even the shrewdest calculators. How limited is human
prescience ! and what countless and complex influences are con-

334 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

tinually intermingling themselves in the affairs of nations, as
well as of individuals, which defy equally man's sagacity to
understand, and his power to control !

3. Moral Views of the Question. — Having stated, with
what impartiality I am able, the principal commercial and
financial arguments in the case, on both sides, I feel that there
are views of this subject, of a moral character, to which I may
without impropriety refer. The question is considered by many
as a great question of humanity, which I shall endeavor to look
at in the light of a calm philosophy, if I may make any preten-
sions — and I am certain they must be of the most humble char-
acter — to such a lofty gift. I hope my readers, even among the
parties most deeply interested, will approach it in the same spirit.
I believe, from my personal knowledge of many of them, that
there is as ample a share of real benevolence for the poor, among
the advocates of the corn laws, as among their opponents ; and
men of this high character will listen with patience and with
eagerness to any discussions of the subject which may serve to
correct wrong impressions, if wrong impressions exist, or to make
the path of duty more plain, if at present it is in any degree mis-
understood or overshadowed.

4. Patriotism and Philanthropy. — It may be supposed
that, as the citizen of a comparatively young and growing
country, anxious to extend its profitable commercial relations
in all directions, and spurred on with an eager and breathless
avarice, — stimulated, by an enterprise every where left free to be
exerted, and by natural and social advantages of an extraordinary
character, to enrich itself by the wide disposal of the products of
its industry and its virgin soil, — I should be most anxious for the
admission of these products into England under the most favor-
able circumstances, and should be the strenuous advocate of
free trade, certainly on the English side of the water, which is
about as far as any man's impartiality may be expected to go.
I plead guilty to a strong attachment to my own country, and a
most ardent desire for her prosperity ; neither of which senti-
ments has suffered the slightest abatement by my protracted
absence, and my familiarity with other countries and other
institutions. But I am not conscious of any interested views

CORN DUTIES. 335

which should unduly bias my judgment in this case j and I will
assert, in all the strength of the most heartfelt conviction, that I
regard patriotism as a very mean virtue compared with philan-
thropy, and that the mere interests of trade are to be trampled
under foot with scorn and disdain whenever they conflict with
the interests of humanity. I know very well that they are
oftentimes coincident. Some time ago, in the United States, at
a public celebration, where I am aware that sentiments occa-
sionally get a little colored by the wine in which they are
drank, a distinguished public character gave, as a toast, " Our
country ! " which would have been very well had he stopped
there, and I should have had no objection to emptying my glass,
if that had been necessary to sanction it ; but when he added,
'' Our country, right or wrong ! " I regarded the sentiment with
inexpressible detestation, to which the wine, if I had drank it,
would only have added intensity. Some apology may be made
for him as a military man ; for what has a military man to do
with right or wrong ? His duty is only to obey orders ; and, as
a facetious divine said in another case, he has neither the trouble
nor expense of keeping a conscience.

5. Proper Ends of National Policy. — When, under the
blessing of Heaven, will mankind cease to estimate the pros-
perity of individuals or nations by a mere pecuniary standard ?
When will they learn that the true glory of a nation is the glory
of justice and humanity, and that the only legitimate and
worthy objects of a good government are, — not the mere accu-
mulation of wealth, the triumphs of military ambition, the exten-
sion of territory, the multiplication of pageants and of luxuries,
the intrenching of power already too arbitrary and despotic in
its exactions, the higher elevation of ranks already too high for
sympathy with the wants, and suflerings, and privations, of the
depressed and low, —but the far nobler purposes of giving to all
the opportunity and the means of exerting an honest industry,
and an ample share, and a perfect security in the enjoyment, of the
fruits of that industry ; allowing no individual to be above the
reach of that law which inflicts its penalties upon the most
humble and down-trodden, and suffering no person to pine in
obscurity, uncared for and unpitied ; but, in the exercise of an
exact and impartial justice, seeking to protect the defenceless, to

336 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

succor the oppressed, to raise the fallen ; by a wise education,
and a paternal care, to inspire even the lowliest with the enno-
bling consciousness of his own moral and immortal nature ; and,
ill the spirit of true Christismity, to regard all men as one family,
and to seek to impart to every man, without stint or abatement,
his full share of all the advantages and all the goods which God,
when he made men for each other, and endowed them with
human sympathies, designed that they should find in the social
state ? — When, indeed, are these celestial visions of philan-
thropy to be realized ? when is the bleeding victim to be plucked
from the jaws of an unrelenting avarice ? when is the imprisoned
bird to be let free to breathe the clear air of heaven, and pom-
out his songs of ecstasy upon the floating breeze ? when is hu-
manity — in too many cases oppressed, degraded, plundered — to
be allowed to stand erect in the conscious dignity of freedom and
of manhood ?

6. Bread regarded in a peculiar Light. — In civilized
states, bread has always been considered in a different light from
almost any thing else, and has been the subject of special regu-
lations. For many years, speculators in grain were looked upon
with peculiar suspicion and odium, and were the subjects of par-
ticular legal restrictions. They were considered as the creators
of scarcity, by their hoarding up large stores of corn ; whereas, in
fact, it was through their providence that these times of suffering
were anticipated and mitigated, or avoided. They are not disin-
terested, but are as useful and important as any class of persons,
employed as agents in any branch of trade. They are most use-
ful in enabling the grower of grain to dispose of it to the best ad-
vantage ; and it would be difficult to say how a large community
could be supplied without them; as if, for example, London
itself were left to the precarious supply of individual farmers.
They perform, indeed, a most essential and important service, and
are entitled to a fair remuneration. The indispensable impor-
tance of a character for fair dealing, and the competition to which
they are exposed, are securities against that compensation being
excessive. As speculators in grain were regarded with peculiar
vigilance, so were bakers, and so are they still, held to a strict
responsibility, and the weight of their loaves subjected to an
assize. In Turkey, a baker giving light weight is nailed by the

CORN DUTIES. 337

eax to his shop door — a most awkward position, certainly, to be
placed in, and sufficiently admonitory.

The corn laws are regarded by some persons with a sentiment
of similar distrust or dislike. They are considered as a tax
upon the bread of the poor, or a reduction of the size of their
loaf, to which they ought not to be subjected. The effect of
the duty upon corn is obviously to increase the price of bread,
as the abrogation of the duty would be to lessen its price, or
otherwise it would be of no importance whatever. In two
respects, bread differs from other articles which man wants or
desires. In the first place, its supply is indispensable to human
subsistence ; in the second place, though to a degree the product
of human industry, its production is not controllable at human
pleasure. Of other articles, in regard to which man's only
province is to work up the raw materials, he may manufacture a
large or small quantity, at his will. In respect to bread, man
can only sow the seed, and then wait with humble hope for
that blessing, "which shall give the increase." These circum-
stances have undoubtedly had their influence on the exertions
which have been made every where to prevent a monopoly of
bread, and to keep it, as far as possible, within the reach of the
most destitute.

7. Peculiar Condition of the English laboring Popula-
tion. — But there are circumstances, connected with the condi-
tion of English society, which give peculiar severity to these
laws. A large portion of the laboring population depend wholly
upon their labor from day to day, for a supply. If wages were
paid in kind, the price of bread would not so much affect the
laborer. If wages rose or fell with the price of bread, the case
would be different from what it is. But this is not the case ;
labor is superabundant ; the competition for employment is
severe ; and constant employment difficult to be procured.
Land, for the purpose of growing bread for themselves, is a
matter wholly beyond the reach of the greater part of the labor-
ing population. They might as well think of getting posses-
sions in the moon. The soil is locked up in comparatively few
hands. It is stated confidently that, from the 3^ear 1775 to the
year 1815, the number of landed proprietors in England was
reduced from 240,000 to 30,000, and that the process of absorp-
29

338 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

tion has been continually going on from that to the present time.
Labor here, then, is wholly dependent upon capital. Emigra-
tion, from the insular character of the country, is extremely dif-
ficult, and not as in the United States, where a man has only to
take his axe upon his shoulder, and find for himself a home.
Though the price of bread, therefore, should increase, the rate of
wages would not be aifected ; the laborer would get no more ;
and, from the advance in the price of that which is indispen-
sable to his subsistence, his wages would virtually become of
ld"ss value, though the nominal amount remained the same. Add
to this, that the increase of the population of Great Britain is
going on at a rapid rate, the increase for the last year, as
stated upon the highest authority, being no less than 380,000.
These considerations, as connected with this subject, cannot fail
to have their weight upon reflecting and benevolent minds.
Whether any restraint, therefore, should be put upon the supply
of food to the people, is a matter which I submit to the opinion
of those whom it concerns.

If " property has its rights, it has also its duties," and those
of a most responsible character. The condition of the laborer
is sufficiently striking. His labor creates the product, but this
product passes immediately into other hands ; sometimes into
the hands of those whose skill, and care, and enterprise, com-
bined with his labor, did their full share in the creation of this
product, but often into the hands of persons Avho produce
nothing, and live only to consume and to enjoy. He must be
satisfied if a very small portion of it is returned to him by way
of compensation for his toil ; but it would seem at first blush a
hard case, if even a portion of this must be abstracted in its
progress to him, or otherwise he will not be allowed the oppor-
tunity of laboring at all. Our horses and oxen are well fed
and cared for, in proportion to the labor which they are com-
pelled to perform. What should we say of the man who refused
them this ? But alas for the poor men ! I have seen hundreds
and hundreds of the laborers, who, after a most scanty breakfast,
in the midst of their labors, sometimes severe and always unre-
mitting, had nothing for their dinner but a bit of dry bread and
a draught of water, and who would return at night, when the
toil of the day was over, to a supper as scanty. Even the in-
ferior butter is not suffered to reach them, but is mixed with tar

CORN DUTIES. 33^'

at the custom-housej that it may be destroyed as human food.
What an extraordinary fact this is ! In one of the great brew-
eries in London, where, I think, forty of the magnificent London
horses are kept, they are worked but six years, and are then sent
into the country to enjoy rest and comfort the remainder of
their lives. What an enviable condition is this compared with
that of many of the human laborers, in a country enriched by
their toil, and flooded with a wealth unknown before in the
history of the world. I should do the greatest wrong if I did
not say, however, that there are many bright examples of a
justice and humanity towards those by whose toil they live, of
the noblest character — a conduct which is sure to be followed
by its appropriate reward ; and that the evils are deplored by
many more, who have not the sagacity to discern, nor the power
to apply, a remedy. But the condition which I have described
is but too common, and must afford a most instructive lesson to
the laboring portion of the people of the United States.

8. Excess of Population. — The constant complaint here
is, that there are too many people. This is an extraordinary
complaint, while there are several millions of acres of productive
lands lying waste and uncultivated. But what is *' the preven-
tive check " ? Poverty and hunger are not found effectual. It is
an extraordinary remedy adopted at Manchester, where, accord-
ing to the returns, seventy-six out of every hundred of the
children born die before the usual age of weaning, a large pro-
portion of whom are dosed out of existence by the excessive use
of opiates. Such a mode of disposing of a surplus population is
certainly as little to be commended as Defoe's Short Method loith
the Dissenters, advising to hang them all ! A valued friend
of mine, a celibate, and so likely to continue, whose great
passion is statistical science, very gravely asserts, that if men
and women would not marry until they were twenty-seven
years old, there would be no surplus population. The only
reply to be made to such practical theories, is in the words of
the old proverb, " When the sky falls, we shall catch larks ; " and
it would not be surprising to find such a man as gravely recom-
mending the old method of catching birds, by putting salt upon
their tails. I was one day, in London, importuned for charity, by
a healthy-looking woman with a young infant upon her arms ;

340 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

and it is not at all uncommon to find them with two, often, no
doubt, hired for the occasion. " Why," said I, ''do you beg ?
Why do you not work ? " '' Because," said she, " I can get
no employment." " But," said I, '' if you have no means of sup-
porting them, why do you have children ? " " Six," said she,
with a simplicity which was irresistible, "Providence sends
them." It would have been much more true had she said,
improvidence ; but it was evident she was no adept in the
Malthusian school. Children, then, will be born into the world.
The improvement of the lower classes by education, the general
elevation of the standard of living, the increase of what may be
termed the artificial wants of life, and the influence of the higher
class of religious and moral considerations, giving a deeper con-
viction of responsibility, and rendering the domestic affections
more elevated, and the social interests and the parental relations
more sacred, as far as they can be brought to bear upon the
mind, are among the only certain remedies for this improvi-
dence. These considerations, however, can only be expected to
have their proper influence where the mind is in some measure
prepared for them by a rational and virtuous education. But it
is in no case a sufficient reason for subjecting the poorer classes
to any new hardship or privation, to say that there are too many
people ; because there are other questions, which inevitably arise
in the case, to which a reply might not be very easy ; — namely,
Who is here who has no right to be here ? and, Whose duty is it
to retire ? or. Who should be put out ? I do not say that society
is bound to support gratuitously any man, other than such as by
the providence of God are made incapable of providing for them-
selves. Here the obligation is imperative. I hold the obliga-
tion on society to be equally imperative to afford to every man,
as far as possible, the opportunity, by his own honest labor, of
providing for himself and those whom the divine Providence
has cast upon his care. Now, wherever the appropriation of the
soil, or the institutions of society, are such as to deprive a man
of this power, or to prevent him the opportunity of its exertion
where otherwise he would use it, it would seem, without the
most cogent reasons, a measure of great severity to live upon his
labor, and to take even from the small pittance which enables
him to render that labor ; to see him reduced to the borders of
starvation, and then to demand a piece of his last crust. I do

MODE OF ADJUSTING LABOR AND WAGES. 341

not speak of motives in this case at all, but only of what seems
to some minds to be the tendency or character of certain meas-
ures. I do not believe there is any prevalent want of compassion
among the strongest advocates of restriction, or any disposition
to drive the laborers to the wall. Indeed, I shall utter "Only my
honest conviction, founded upon the closest personal observation,
that the laborers of England have no warmer friend than in the
public-spirited nobleman * who has taken the lead in the pro-
tection societies ; and this likewise applies, as I well know, to
many associated with him. No man in England is surrounded
with more contented and attached laborers. But we cannot all
see the same subject in the same light ; and while nothing is
easier or more congenial to a mean temper, nothing is more
foreign from a generous and honorable mind, than the imputa-
tion of mean or unworthy motives to those whose opinions or
measures differ from our own.

I have spoken thus at large, and given, as well as I am able,
the opinions prevalent with different persons on the great subject
of the corn laws — first, because it is intimately connected with
the agricultural condition of England ; and next, because I
know the strong interest which is taken in the subject in the
United States. It certainly is not for us to complain of the
restrictive laws of England. I give no opinion as to the policy
or impolicy of such restrictions on either side ; but, while we
barricade our own doors, we cannot, with a very good grace,
require of others to leave theirs open.

LVII. — MODE OF ADJUSTING LABOR AND WAGES.

Every circumstance, which tends to widen the distinction or
separation between the rich and the poor, the employer and the
employed, and to create opposing interests between them, is
alike unfriendly to both parties. The rich and the poor, the
employer and the employed, are equally essential to each other.

* The Duke of Richmond, president of the Agricultural Protection Society.
29*

342 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Formerly, the laborer lived in the family of the employer, and
sat at the same table. This custom is now almost entirely done
away with ; and laborers, instead of being members of the same
family, live wholly by themselves. It used to be much more
the custom than now to pay the laborers in kind ; and then the
laborer had a special interest in the crop, and high prices were
quite as much for his advantage as for that of his master. This
practice still prevails to a degree in Scotland, but nowhere, that I
have found, in England. Under present arrangements, however,
where wages are paid in money, the two interests, as in all
other cases of commercial trading, become distinct, and, I may
add, opposed to each other. What one receives, lessens, of
course, the gains of the other. The employer gives as little as
possible ; and where labor is abundant, and competition severe,
it is obvious he has the laborer very much at his mercy. The
laborer, on the other hand, will not be likely to return any more
than the strictest interpretation of his obligation requires. This
may be the occasion of a matter to which I have before alluded
— that, in my opinion, an English laborer does not accomplish
nearly so much in the same time as an American laborer. I
speak of cases in which the American is working for himself,
the Englishman for another. In cases where work is taken by
the piece or job, as in harvest for example, there seems to be no
want of application or success, on the part of the English
laborer.

Philanthropic minds are now every where anxiously at work
devising means or schemes for the benefit of the laborers, and
to mitigate the evils of their condition, which otherwise are
likely to be increased rather than diminished, as the population
increases. In Austrian Poland, where the peasants are them-
selves occupiers of land, the landlord or proprietor of the soil
claims from them a certain number of days' work, each week,
exclusively for himself ; but no such arrangement would be pos-
sible in England ; nor would it obviate the difiiculty to which I
have referred.

1. Experiment in Germany. — A German baron, with whom
I have the pleasure of a friendly acquaintance, has given me an
outline of his arrangement with his laborers, which, as far as it
is practicable, deserves much consideration, as, according to his

1 MODE OF ADJUSTING LABOR AND WAGES. 343

own account, it secures their industry, fidelity, and contentment.
No human arrangements are perfect, and no human laws can be
framed which the ingenuity of men will not contrive to evade ;
but as there appears in this plan every motive to good faith, good
faith on both sides would seem to be all that is necessary to its
successful operation.

First, from the products of the place, the- customary rent is
paid, and the wages of the labor employed. The surplus
remaining is then divided into five equal parts. Two of these
parts are claimed by the proprietor for his skill, intelligence, and
care, in the superintendence and management of the property ;
one part is retained as an insurance upon that part of the property
which is liable to loss or destruction ; one part is devoted to
actual improvements upon the place ; and one is divided among
the laborers themselves, according to the rate of wages which
they receive for their work. Whether these proportions are
properly adjusted or not, I shall leave to the judgment of my
readers. It is obvious that any others might be adopted which
should be deemed more just. It is certainly an approach to an
equitable arrangement ; and my friend assures me that it works
well. He says, he leaves his estate at any time with a perfect
confidence that his interests will be cared for and protected, and
that there will be no waste of time, and no squandering of
property, and no neglect of duty. Success is, in proportion, as
much the interest of the laborers as of the proprietor.

2. Claims of Labor, and Duties of Wealth. — This has al-
ways impressed my mind as only an equitable adjustment, and
must be equally as soothing to a good man's conscience as to a
poor man's stomach. Contradicted, as I have often, and severely
reproached, as I have sometimes, been for the assertion, I never-
theless maintain as my sober conviction, that in all business
where success depends on labor, — whether it be in the case of
manufacturing industry, in agricultural labor, or in the toils and
hardships of a seafaring life, — the person who does the work,
who endures the hardships, who encounters the exposures, has
the first claim upon the proceeds, and should come in for an
equitable share of the profits. I admit that there is much labor
and anxiety in mental application, and in the active enterprise
and care on the part of the manager of such concerns, which are

344 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. f

often as severe as any bodily toil, and which deserve to be fully
compensated. In general, this enterprise is perfectly competent,
however, to take care of its own interests, and seldom fails to
provide for itself. But it is said, these people take no risks ;
they are sure, in any event, of their stipulated wages ; they have
no right to any more. I know they have no legal right. But I
do not understand that they take no risks. There is always a
risk of losing their wages, which is something ; but in all em-
ployments there is a risk of health, and in many a constant
exposure to disease, to accidents of various kinds, to loss of
sight, or loss of limbs, or loss of life. There are many trades
and professions where health is almost certain to be impaired,
and life to be prematurely cut off. There are peculiar dangers
in mines, among complicated machinery, in unhealthy climates,
on the open seas, and on the ice-bound and rock-bound shores,
bristled with pointed cliffs and ruffled with foaming waves.

I know very well the great rules of trade, as they are called —
*' Buy as cheaply as you can ; sell as dearly as you can ; get your
labor performed for the least possible wages ; and accumulate,
accumulate, accumulate, as your great end and aim." This men
call Christianity ; I think, to give it such a name is a libel upon
a religion which teaches us to do justly and to love mercy,
and which enjoins it upon us, as the highest law of social duty,
to do to others as we would that others should do to us. I
admit that, if men could enter into a perfectly free and equal
competition, unmixed self-interest, though an inferior, might yet
not be so objectionable a rule as in other circumstances ; but
how seldom is the competition equal between capital and labor,
wealth and poverty, skill and ignorance ; and especially in a
country like England, where wealth is enormous ; labor supera-
bundant ; the professions, and trades, and occupations crowded
to repletion ; the lower classes extremely ignorant and dependent ;
and the population increasing with a rapidity perfectly astound-
ing. I complain of no man's wealth, if that wealth be the fruit
of honest industry and enterprise. I envy no man's power, if
that power be justly acquired. But I do envy — with no desire,
however, to pluck a single jewel from his crown — that man's
honor and felicity, and equally his wisdom and goodness, who,
m the possession of ample power, whether of wealth, or learning,
or talents, finds his highest honor in being just, and his purest

.MODE OF ADJUSTING LABOR AND WAGES.

happiness in using this power in doing good ; in succoring those
who need succor ; in helping those who are trying to help
themselves ; in encouraging and stimulating self-respect, and a
virtuous ambition to make their condition better, even in the
most humble ; in proving himself the friend of the friendless ;
in protecting and rewarding industry, sobriety, and frugality, not
in a niggardly, but a generous manner ; in sharing some liberal
measure of his abundance with those by whose labor, under the
blessing of Heaven, this abundance has been created; and in
sending light, and comfort, and plenty, into the cottages and
hearts of those who have sowed his fields, and brought on their
toil-worn shoulders the fruits of their cultivation to his stores.
The golden harvests of such a man in every wave reflect
Heaven's purest sunshine ; his dew-bespangled fields glitter
with a radiance brighter than ever shone in a ' regal diadem ;
and the happiness and joy, which he sends into the homes and
hearts of others, return in gushing streams to flood lys own home
and his own heart.

I know my poor words will find a warm response in many a
kind bosom, and, by Heaven's blessing, may throw a spark into
that smoking flax, which too much of what is called prosperity
may not yet have quenched. There are many such hearts ; but
in general we see " who gets the lion's share." To reason
with avarice, is well nigh desperate. If it were an iceberg, we
might hope that, under the rays of a clear sun, it might be made
to trickle ; but it is a mass of granite, which, like the monu-
mental column in Trafalgar Square, stands wholly unmoved by
the forlorn and pitiable objects of destitution and wretchedness,
whom I have often seen, in a winter's day, sunning themselves
at its base ; and remains alike impervious to heat or cold, to calm
or storm, to summer's fires or winter's frosts.

3. Results of the German Experiment. — The friend, to
whom I have referred, has three hundred laborers in his employ-
ment. He says, the system works well ; and that every year's
experience gives him stronger confidence in its justice and
advantages. First, his work is done ; secondly, it is done in
the best manner in which his laborers are able to execute it,
because it as the interest of all that it should be done, and well
done. The laborers have a system of rules and fines among

346 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

themselves, always subject to his approbation, and, after once
approved, always rigidly enforced. They inquire, of their own
accord, into the best methods of doing what is to be done ,* they
point out mistakes which have been committed, and improve-
ments which may be made, subject always to his judgment. If
men are found unskilful or incompetent in the particular branch
of duty assigned them, he is adyised of it, and persons more
suitable are selected by their judgment who best understand the
capacities of their fellow-laborers for the work. They are held
jointly responsible for any injury to the property, unless the
offending person is found. An individual guilty of any neglect
of duty, or any improper conduct, or any violation of the estab-
lished rules, is mulcted in a pecuniary fine. The names of the
offenders are always announced at the close of the year; and
these fines go towards a general entertainment and festivity.
The proprietor himself hears all complaints, and a laborer, whose
bad habits are judged incorrigible, is discharged.

I have been somewhat amused by his telling me that the
great evil which he has to contend with is the use of tobacco.
Smoking upon his premises he absolutely forbids, for three good
reasons — first, the danger of fire ; secondly, for the time which
it occupies, and the lazy habits which it induces ; and thirdly,
because he deems its effects upon the stomach extremely per-
nicious to health, and incapacitating men in a degree for labor.
In other words, he views it as a poison. So do I. I wish it
was as quick and fatal in its operation as arsenic, or prussic acid,
always premising, however, that those who now use it in any
form should be fully and reasonably forewarned.

4. Scotch Customs — a Digression. — My readers will, I
hope, be indulgent to my infirmity, which has been, even in
this country, sometimes put to a severe test. In Scotland, for
example, they take snuff with a spoon. A small silver spoon, or
one made of bone, is filled from the horn, and then thrust up the
nose. To complete the refinement, there is also a small brush to
clean the upper lip, and edges of the nostrils. The reader may
judge of my sensations when the spoon and the horn were both
actually offered to me in church. There may, however, in this
case be some claims to indulgence, for in one of the Scotch
meetings which I attended, the extempore prayer was actually

THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS. 347

one hour, and the sermon which followed, two hours in length j
both, I admit, excellent in their way. But then, although the
argument and the doctrine were sufficiently stimulating to a
stranger, yet veterans accustomed to such engagements might
get to sleep, from pure exhaustion, under the discharges even of
musketry and cannon, and might require extraordinary appli-
cations to keep their sensibility alive. I will say, however, in
justice to the Scotch, that I never witnessed more decorum, and
more wakeful attention, in time of service, than in the Scotch
meetings ; and they bore these inflictions or penances, as less
serious minds would consider them, with a philosophic submis-
sion, worthy of the pillar saints in the dark ages.

While speaking of the manners of the rural population, I
may allude to another practice prevailing in some of the rural
districts in Scotland, which some persons in the rural districts
in the United States may feel an interest in knowing. I
attended worship, in Scotland, in a most quiet and delightful
district of country, and among green fields cultivated with the
highest skill, and loaded with the richest crops, where, when
the first regular service was through, and all done, after an
interval of about ten minutes, during which the minister never
left his pulpit, nor the congregation their seats, the minister
began and went through another whole service, and gave a
second sermon on a diff"erent subject, as long as the former.
This finished for the day, and, as I was informed, was so
arranged that the farmers, and farmers' wives and daughters,
who lived at some distance, might get home in season to milk
their cows, and tend their cattle. I had likewise a slight
impression come over my mind, that they meant to have their
money's worth of instruction, and did not choose to let their
spiritual laborer off with half a day's work for full wages. It
required, however, a healthy intellectual digestion to dispose of
two full meals at once.

LVIIL — THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS.

Besides the cattle and grain markets, there are other markets,
to which I have already alluded, connected with agriculture,

348 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

which are sometimes called by the startling designation, the
dead markets^ by which is only intended markets for the sale of
slaughtered animals, beef, mutton, pork, lamb, veal, &c. &c.,
and which in London are quite worth a visit. The largest of
these, in this great metropolis, are Newgate and Leadenhall
Markets ; and it is a curious fact, that the former occupies a
building (the magnificent entrance of which still remains, with
its high and ornamented archway, and its aisles, with the old
columns, form the meat-stalls) which was formerly a literary
institution, or college. Instead of food for the mind, it now
furnishes food for the body ; and instead of the purvey ors of intel-
lectual provisions, — poetry, philosophy, eloquence, and science, —
here stand the purveyors of mutton, pork, and beef — a very ig-
noble office, and a very humiliating descent, as some refined
and sensitive persons would deem it : but alas ! what would
become of science, philosophy, eloquence, or even poetry itself,
without mutton, pork, and beef? The philosophical Edward
Search, in his most admirable work, " The Light of Nature,"
says, '' that he has found a draught of Daff'y's Elixir, on getting up
in the morning, a powerful means of grace, dispelling doubts
and despondencies, and strengthening and brightening his faith ; "
and though, through a foolish pride, we may be disposed to deny
or not to recognize our relations in humble life, as citizens some-
times "cut" their country cousins when they meet them in
town, yet the stomach and understanding are near neighbors,
and the one absolutely dependent on the other. What nature
hath joined no man can put asunder;

The markets in London display their meats to considerable
advantage ; and besides the great markets, meat shops prevail
all over the town, and are found in some of the best streets
intermingled with other kinds of shops of the most splendid
description. Even Bond Street, the very emporium of fashion,
elegance, and taste, has its meat shops, where whole carcasses of
mutton are suspended before the doors in long rows, as, under
the bloody code of former years, prisoners at the close of the
sessions used to be suspended at the Old Bailey, — except in this
case in an inverse order, the heads of the sheep being down-
wards, as mutton-heads are apt to get inverted. A fine lady, in
passing from one milliner's or jeweller's shop to another, must
take very good care, lest, instead of encountering a fine beau, to

THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS. 349

which she might not object, she encounters a fine quarter ot
beef, or a fine sheep, which certainly, if taste only were con-
sulted, she would prefer to meet in another form and place.
The mcongruity is at first offensive to a stranger, and seems in
very bad taste ; but an amateur finds some compensation in the
beauty of the objects thus exhibited. I do not mean the ladies,
of whom possibly I may speak in another place, but the meats.
Mutton is always the prevailing meat, for this seems to be the
favorite dish on English tables. It is a remarkable fact, that
mutton is the prevalent dish at the public schools and colleges.
At the Blue Coat School in London, for example, it is the sole
meat for the eight hundred boys, four or five days out of seven.
The same is the case, I am told, at Eton ; and this not, as I sup-
posed, from its comparative cheapness, but from experience, and
the opinion of medical men, that it is the most wholesome diet, and
least likely to interfere with intellectual application and health.

The Southdown and the Leicester sheep are generally pre-
ferred, though the small Welsh mutton, for its exquisite flavor, is
most esteemed ; and the fatness of the beef, and mutton, and lamb,
is every where most striking. Indeed, in the English markets,
lean meat is hardly to be seen. If it is sold, it is certainly
seldom displayed. The meat-shops are eminently clean; this,
indeed, is the universal characteristic of the English people above
the lowest classes, who in London are eminently dirty. The
salesmen, however, with their blue woollen frocks and aprons, in
tidyness of appearance would hardly bear a comparison with the
salesmen and women in the Philadelphia markets, with their white
linen frocks and aprons. Indeed, in this respect, Philadelphia,
as far as my observation goes, stands preeminent. Cleanliness,
it is often said, and with a good deal of reason, is next to godli-
ness. I confess to this creed. I think it should be inculcated
as a religious duty, and for its useful moral influences. The
sect of Friends regard it as such ; and it is doubtless much owing
to their influence and example, that Philadelphia is so prover-
bially neat. Many of the English butchers and salesmen are
distinguished for their intelligence, and the great extent of their
concerns.

1. Slaughter-Houses in London. — I have already said that
a great deal of the meat which is exposed for sale in London is
30

350 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

killed in the country, and at some seasons of the year brought
even from remote parts of Scotland. But I shall perhaps surprise
some of my readers by informing them that London is full of
slaughtering-houses. The police of London is so exemplary,
and many of these places are kept with such perfect neatness,
that even the nearest neighbors are not apprized of their exist-
ence.* This fact may be recommended to the attention of the
butchers in the vicinity of Boston, and some other of our large
towns. Their neighbors certainly will join in this recommenda-
tion, for most of these slaughtering establishments are an intol-
erable nuisance. In some of the best streets in London, where
the meat-shops are found, will be found behind these shops the
slaughter-houses, where this meat is killed. You will some-
times see cattle and sheep brought in by the front door of very
respectable looking houses, (for the yards of the houses are oth-
erwise inaccessible,) like acquaintances of the family. Back
of these shops, I have been introduced into elegantly furnished
drawing-rooms, and did not discover that the slaughtering estab-
lishment was immediately adjoining, until I looked out of the
window. There is not the slightest odor perceptible, to offend the
senses. The animals come out in a very different form from, what
they go in. The blood goes at once into the common sewers,
and the offal is carefully removed. In the neighborhood of the

* One great means of the extraordinary cleanliness of London is, that no swine
are ever allowed to be kept in it. The lower class of Irish, who migrate to Lon-
don in vast numbers, (for where, indeed, do not these laborious creatures migrate ?)
are thus obliged to abandon the tender familiarities of their early years, v/hich
have "grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength." As the
ruling passion, however, is always strong, and the Irish heart, even in the hum-
blest condition, is distinguished by warm affections, they contrive, as some of the
gentlemen of the health commission have informed me, many times in a very
adroit manner to evade the law, and the pig and the donkey are often regularly
installed lodgers in their rooms, and free sharers at their humble board. It is
said that when the terror of the Asiatic cholera prevailed, and a health com-
mittee visited the premises of the poorer classes in Edinburgh, with a view to
remove the incitements of disease, they found in one of the upper chambers of one
of the very high-storied houses of that city, inhabited by an Irish family, a large
hog among the children. Upon inquiry how he could have been got up there,
the owner replied with genuine Hibernian simplicity, " Plaze yer honor, he was
never got up here at all at all ; but he was barn here." I do not know why an
Irishman should not be attached to his pig, as well as a nobleman to his dog. In
substantial usefulness, the pig would not suffer by the comparison. I cannot say
as much of his moral developments.

THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS. 351

great markets, however, the slaughter-houses are in cellars under
ground, and are not managed with equal neatness. It requires
some courage to enter these places. In the extensive market at
White Chapel, the slaughtering establishments are above ground
in the rear of the stalls, and the gutters of the streets literally
flow with blood.

2. Customs of the Jews. — The market at White Chapel is
in the immediate neighborhood of the quarter of the city where
most of the Jews reside. The Jews will never eat or buy any
meat, which is not killed by some one of their community
deputed or appointed for that express purpose. He comes at
the time fixed and kills the animal ; and after the meat is dressed,
if he finds upon it the slightest blemish or indication of disease,
the meat is condemned, and no Jew will buy it, though the
Christians betray no scruples of this sort.* If the meat is found
perfectly sound and healthy, a clasp or token is put upon the
leg, and the Jews are at liberty to purchase it.

Any person who has the curiosity to go into the Jews' quarter,
and see how they live, behold the filth of their streets, the
wretchedness of their habitations, remark a squalidness which
no description can exaggerate, and inhale the odors of which
the place is redolent, which seem to be the very compound of

* The subjoined note is of a nature scarcely to be read .by any person of a
very sensitive and delicate mind. I advise such persons, therefore, by all means
to pass it over. I give it in self-defence, and to show that I do not intend to
make statements without authority.

In my Third Report, page 261, 1 said that " numbers of cattle are almost every
week, as I have reason to believe, brought to Smithfield in such a state of disease
as to be fit for no other pui-pose — and for this they are actually bought — but to
make sausages for the poor Londoners." This statement a kind and intelligent
friend complained of as unAvaiTantable, and not well founded. The form of ex-
pression might, I admit, have been better chosen ; but the reason I had to believe
the fact, Avas the direct assertion of some respectable salesmen in Smithfield
Market, who spoke of the practice as undoubted. This was particularly appli-
cable to the time when an epidemic prevailed among the cattle. 1 do not believe
any city officer would permit or connive at it, if known ; but cases of a strongly
suspicious character are yet established with so much difficulty by what would be
deemed legal evidence, that parties notoriously criminal often escape with im-
punity.

But the following statement, given under oath to Dr. Playfair and Sir Henry
de la Beche, of the Health of Towns Commission, during their inquiry into the

352

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

corruption and pestilence, and of all that is odious and disgust-
ing, will feel no little surprise at their particularity and fastidious-
ness in regard to their meats. But these are among the incon-
sistencies and anomalies of human nature, which are to be found
among persons in almost every condition. The same inconsist-
ency is seen, for example, among the lower class of Irishwomen
in their own country, however humble in condition, with whom
it seems to be the ruling, and an indomitable passion, to have a
clean and handsome cap, though in most other respects one
would be half inclined to think they were laboring under a
species of hydrophobia. You will see them, the head surmounted
with an elegant frilled cap, emulating the whiteness of the
drifted snow, while the lower parts of the person, in a state of
nudity, (for the drapery of the statue of an Irishwoman seldom
extends below the knee,) though, as pieces of sculpture, exhibiting
originally the highest artistical skill, are yet so rough, and torn,
and begrimed and stuccoed with mud and dirt, that you can
hardly believe that both ends belong to the same person, and
that the head has not by some awkward mistake got upon the
wrong shoulders.

3. Mode of slaughtering Animals. — I have felt it a duty
of humanity to inquire into the mode of slaughtering animals.

state of Bristol, may serve to clear up some of my friend's doubts on the subject
Report on Lancashire, p. 30.

" Have you resided some time in this house ? " " Yes, for several years."

" What occupation does your neighbor pursue ? " " He kills pigs, which he
gets over from Ireland. Often the pigs, in coming over in the packet, die, and I
have seen as many as thirty dead pigs at a time brought into the yard. They are
thrown into the shed there until there is time to cut them up ; and by that time I
have seen the maggots fairly dropping out of them. Then they are cut up, and,
I believe, are made into salt bacon, or sold for sausages." # * * *

" Have you not complained of this nuisance ? " " Yes, we have ; but we were
told it was of no use complaining, for doctors agreed that these smells were very
healthy. Besides, the owner of the yard is a very good neighbor, and tries to
keep things as clean as he can ; but his occupation beats him in that."

What can go beyond this ? But why, it may be asked, refer to such cases ?
Because, in order to correct an abuse, and to guard against it, that abuse should
be exposed. Nor is it without a melancholy instruction, to see to what extremes
avarice will hurry its votaries ; nor without a moral use, to hold up the perpetra-
tor of such wickedness towards the poor and ignorant to the execration which
they deserve.

i

THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS. 353

with a view to discover if there be any way of lessening the
suffering necessarily inflicted. When it is considered that from
thirty to forty thousand animals, poultry and game not included,
are put to death weekly, for the supply of the city of London
alone, it becomes a grave question of humanity whether any,
and if any, what amount, of the physical suffering necessarily
incident to such operations, can be saved.

« The poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies."

The moral influences of the employment, in this case, are cer-
tainly deserving of consideration. The notions of former times
were such, that a butcher was not allowed to sit as juror in a
trial of life and death. I cannot sympathize in these prejudices ;
but any practice, which tends in any degree to render us indif-
ferent to the infliction of pain, even in the case of a dumb
animal, — any practice bordering upon cruelty, — cannot be with-
out its pernicious effects upon the temper and character of persons
accustomed to it. It may seem to some persons a ridiculous
squeamishness, but I confess that I never see cooked animals
brought upon table as near as possible in the form of life,
whether it be game or any thing else, without a painful disgust,
which I find it impossible to overcome. It is a mysterious law
of nature that animals should feed upon each other ; and cer-
tainly, as we cannot doubt, like all the laws of nature, a benefi-
cent law ; but it is the ferocity of a tiger, and not becoming a
man, which delights to regale itself with the warm blood of his
victim ; and though I am no Bramin, I wish always that the
food which I eat should be as far as possible separated from al".
associations of life.

Sheep are slaughtered by thrusting a straight knife through
the neck, between its bone and the windpipe, " severing the
carotid artery and jugular vein on both sides," by which they
bleed freely, and life soon becomes extinct. They are kept
fasting twenty-four hours before death, as it is said that, if killed
upon a full stomach, the meat is not so agreeable to the taste,
and sooner passes into a putrid state. Sheep are placed here
upon a cradle or stool, to be killed, as with us. I am not very
well able to describe the mode of cutting up and dressing, fur-
ther than to say, that it exhibits a remarkable neatness ; that the
30*

354 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

meat, as far as I can observe, is never blown ; and that the car-
cass is not, as with us, slit down by the back-bone, and so
divided into four quarters ; but a piece nearly square is cut from
the loins, termed here a saddle of mutton, which is esteemed a
more choice part for roasting than the leg, and is always a
favorite dish upon an elegant table. The butchers, or cooks,
have likewise a habit, not certainly general with us, but much
to be commended — that of separating the joints before the meat is
cooked, which greatly alleviates the difficulty of carving.

The mode of slaughtering cattle differs from that of slaughter-
ing sheep. Some gentlemen, a few years ago, interested them-
selves much on this subject, on the sole ground of humanity, and
experiments were made of killing the animal, by driving a sharp
instrument directly into the spinal cord, back of the horns ; but,
although the animal fell instantly, yet the convulsions continued
much longer than when he was killed by being stunned, by the
former method, and it was reasonably inferred that the suffer-
ing, therefore, was much greater. This is said to be the mode
adopted in the great slaughtering establishments in the neighbor-
hood of Paris, '' where a sharp-pointed chisel is driven, with a
smart stroke, between the second and third vertebras of the spine ;
insensibility immediately ensues, and the blood is let out by
opening the blood-vessels of the neck." Besides the objection
made above to this mode of slaughtering, it is said the animal
does not bleed so freely and entirely as when stunned on the
forehead, as by the former method. The present mode of killing
is by bringing, by means of a ring on the floor and a rope passed
round the foot of the horns, the ox's head to the ground ; and
he is then struck on the forehead, not, as with us, by an axe with
a flat head, but with a similar instrument, with a pointed end,
two or three inches long, of the size of the small finger, this
point being hollow, and with sharp edges, — and this is driven
directly into the upper forehead. The animal falls at once : this
point is immediately extracted, and a wooden pin, of about the same
diameter, is driven into the wound, and forced into the brain or
spinal marrow, and the animal dies at once. I am not certain,
that this is an improvement upon the mode of killing which pre-
vails with us ; though the killing of an ox, with us, requires great
adroitness and great strength ; otherwise, the blows require to be
repeated, and much suffering is inflicted, which, it would seem,

(

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 355

might be avoided. The English method might be tried ; and if
it has any advantages to the sufferer or the executioner, I cannot
doubt it would be adopted.

Calves, as I have observed, are not killed under six or eight
weeks old, and they are bled daily for a week before they are
slaughtered. I do not know that this is a very painful operation,
but very little seems to be gained by it. They are killed, as with
us, by cutting the throats across. The manner, however, in
which they are often conveyed through the streets, piled into a
cart, lengthwise, by dozens, with their heads hanging down as
they are jolted over the pavements, is perfectly shocking to
humanity, and deserves the interference of the benevolent
society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. It is sufficiently
humiliating to feel, that in nothing does man more need watch-
ing and restraint, than in his treatment of the helpless and
defenceless.

It is a subject certainly worthy of concern. It is no affecta-
tion of sensibility, though by some it may be deemed a morbid
sensibility, to say, that the subject is a painful one. The pas-
sion which one sometimes sees excited in the killing of animals,
and the utter callousness and indifference with which some
persons go about it, to whom the work is familiar, are very far
from being agreeable features, either in temper or conduct. Tho
sight and smell of blood excite an instinctive horror even among
the inferior animals ; and any man, who contributes, in anyway,
to alleviate pain and suffering, even among the lowest of sensi-
tive existences, and to prevent cruelty, more especially to the
dumb and defenceless, need not feel that he has lived wholly in
vain.

LIX. — VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS.

England may with reason boast of the fineness of her fruits,
especially as, in this matter, she has to contend with the adverse
influences of temperature and climate. The country abounds in
greenhouses, hothouses, conservatories, and forcing-beds. All
the appliances of art, and the highest measure of horticultural
skill, are exerted to counteract the unfavorable circumstances

356 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

under which their cultivation is carried onj to protect plants
whose frail nature requires protection ; and by every possible
means to stimulate and bring to perfection those plants and
fruits which seem to demand the same assiduous and parental
care as the young of the animal creation.*

Few of the country houses belonging to persons whose means
allow of such indulgences, are without forcing-beds, green-
houses, and conservatories. Many persons, whose means are
restricted, with a high refinement of taste, sacrificing the com-
mon pleasures of a frivolous and inferior character, prefer this
far higher class of enjoyments and luxuries. In these green-
houses and conservatories, the gayest flowers, the most precious
exotic plants, and the richest fruits, are cultivated. Many of
thege conservatories, filled with the choicest varieties of flowering

* I wish we knew more of vegetable life. Indeed, what branch of science is
there, of which we have not reason to wish we knew more? The microscope,
under tliose modern improvements which have increased its power, and conse-
quently extended the field of its triumphs in a most astonishing degree, is con-
stantly bringing new wonders to light ; disclosing the curious and complex
structure of the vegetable world ; and enabling us to watch in some plants, in
their wonderful frame-work, the rapid circulation of the streams of life. Such
discoveries almost make us feel that the man who would wantonly pluck a lily
from its stem, and scatter its leaves to the winds, or would trample a damask rose.
upon the ground, offers an offence to conscious life, and casts an indignity upon
some of tlie most beautiful expressions of the divine skill and beneficence.

I have recently had the pleasure of looking through as powerful an instrument,
of this kind, as human art has perhaps as yet been able to produce. Leaves,
woods of different kinds, and different insects, were presented upon tiie field of
vision, and exhibited a structure so various, complicated, and exquisitely finished?
that one seemed endued with a new sense, and almost born into a new world. •

I often hear it said that divine revelation is complete and full, and that we
must look for nothing more. It may be so with a written word ; though I know
of no right which any human mind has to limit the dispensations of Infinite
Wisdom ; and with tlie most reverential gratitude for what has been given, I
confess there are many more things, than have been revealed, which my impa-
tient curiosity is thirstmg to know. But the revelations of the natural world
seem only just now begun. The telescope and the microscope are unfolding
many a book hitherto closed and sealed, and pouring a flood of light upon fields
of wonders which have not before been brought within the reach of human
vision, and disclosing objects, forms, structures, contrivances, modes of being, of
activity, of life, and of enjoyment, which force upon the mind a sense of the
Creator's skill, goodness, and power, absolutely oppressive, and awaken a feeling
of reverence and adoration wholly incapable of utterance. We may presently
come to understand the organization, for respiration and digestion, of the vegetable
as we do of the animal world ; and one is scarcely less mysterious than the other.

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 357

shrubs and plants, are at the side of, and immediately accessible
to, the drawing-rooms of the houses, furnishing, besides the most
'beautiful objects of sight, an attractive recreation and delight to
the female members of the household, and a refreshing retreat
from the dissipations of society, or the harassing cares of do-
mestic life.*

The hothouse or greenhouse productions of England (such
as pine-apples and grapes, the natives of climates of a higher
temperature) are not surpassed by any which I have ever tasted.
The pines, or pine-a;pples, appear to me in size quite equal, and in

* In one of the most beautiful parts of England, endeared to me by the hospi-
talities of friends whose kindness I cannot too highly appreciate, I found even a
right reverend bishop, a man eminent for his intellectual powers and his lit-
erary attainments, entering, with all the enthusiasm of Bacon, into the cultivation
of his garden, as " one of the purest of human delights." He was then considered
as among the warmest patrons of a religious party, whose eminent piety no one
questions, who have, at least for a while, converted the Established Church into
the church militant, broken up the dead calm in which it had for years reposed,
and lashed its waves into a tempestuous foam. When I visited him, he was
anxious to show the friend who accompanied me, and myself, his rosary^ as he
termed it, where, in a separate and extensive enclosure, he was cultivating a
great variety of roses, with something of the enthusiasm which is said to have
characterized the cultivation of tulips some years gone by. . I could not resist the
inclination to tell him, witliout any intentional discourtesy, that he had been for
some time suspected of certain heresies, but I hardly supposed matters had gone
so far with him that he would openly show his friends his rosary. He was then
in the midst of a religious war, if it be not an abuse of language to call any sort
of war, or any angry contest whatever, " religious," and in tlie very heat of the fight.
I could not avoid thinking, at the same time, what a refreshment to tlie soul,
as well as to the body, must it be thus to retire from the field of theological
controversy, bristling with points of angry dispute, like the bayonets of an
opposing column on a field of battle, to the charming quiet and delightful occupa-
tions of rural life. Soothing it must have been, to cease for a while a well-nigh
hopeless struggle for a perfect unity of opinion, form, and faith, to contemplate
the infinite and harmonious variety which pervades creation, and reflect, at the
same time, what an abatement of utility and enjoyment it would have been, had
God comprehended all this infinite diversity in one, and made all animals of one
form, all vegetables of the same kind, and all flowers of the same color and fra-
grance. Though I was far from being willing to censure this venerable man for
anxiously and devoutly turning to the east, when he recited the articles of his
creed, if he deemed it important so to do, I could not help thinking that he must
sometimes turn his face to the west, to offer his evening sacrifice, when, standing
upon the threshold of his door, he saw before him the wide-spread ocean glitter-
ing with matchless splendor, and the setting sun bathing in a flood of glory, and
throwing his slanting beams over, a landscape as diversified and as beautiful as,
within my observation, the pencil of nature has delineated.

358 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

flavor superior, to any which I have seen brought directly from their
own native region, — for the reason, perhaps, that the latter, as is
understood, are gathered in a green state, and are left to ripen on
the passage, usually crowded in bulk in the hold of a vessel.
The grapes are magnificent in size, and delicious in taste. I
cannot say that there are no native grapes, and none growing in
the open air ; but I do not recollect meeting with any. It seems
to me to be the humidity of the climate of England, rather than
its low temperature, which prevents the ripening of many fruits
and plants, which can be grown in an equally high latitude on
the western continent. It remains to be seen what will be the
result of that remarkable system of drainage, which is here pros-
ecuted in different parts of the country with great spirit and
resolution, and which bids fair, as soon as any such great opera-
tion can be expected to be effected, to become general, if not
universal. Its sanatary effects upon the human, as well as the
brute animal, are said to be already in some places determined.

The smaller fruits — such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseber-
ries, and currants — are cultivated with great success. Of a kind
of strawberries, called the Alpine Pine, and more properly the
Elton Pine, the size is most remarkable, ten of them, as I saw in
the market of Dundee, where they are cultivated in perfection,
actually weighing a pound avoirdupois. I saw others as large at
the horticultural exhibitions, called by a different name ; but
those were forced in pots in greenhouses.

The gooseberries which I have seen on private tables, and in
the markets, are of a very extraordinary size, the purple varieties
being preferred. I cannot learn that they are as much subject,
as in New England, to a species of mildew, or bluish mould,
which soon becomes black, and ruins the fruit. Here they are
always cultivated upon a single stem, in the form of a small tree,
kept trimmed high, and entirely clear of all rubbish or weeds at
the bottom. The disease, or blight, to which I refer, is not un-
known here, but it is not common ; and the fruit is grown in the
highest perfection. This disease may come from an unhealthy
condition of the soil, or the application of improper manure ; but
the general and most probable conclusion is, that it is atmos-
pherical. It has appeared to me, that the climate of England,
where they have far less sunshine, and much more dampness, than
in the Northern United States, does not produce mould in the

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 359

houses upon plate, furniture, and books, so soon as it does with
us, and provisions, both raw and cooked, appear " to keep sweet "
longer. I do not undertake to give any scientific reason for this ;
but it seems probable, that it arises from a more even tempera-
ture, and the absence of that intense heat which, with us, often
follows rain and dampness. The black currant is almost as much
cultivated as the red and white, and quite commonly eaten.
Raspberries are cultivated ; but I have seen none to be compared
with the fine kinds common in the United States. Blackberries
I have not seen cultivated. I have met with them in the south-
ern parts of England, but ripening so late in the season that they
have no richness of flavor.*

Of plums there are several kinds : damsons are common ; the
Orleans plum, the large egg-plum, resembling what I think is
called, with us, Bolmar's Washington, are the most esteemed ;
but they are not abundant, and I cannot say that those which I
have seen are equal to those seen in the best markets of the
United States, and especially, of all other places, at Albany, in
New York, where this fruit is found in a degree of perfection
and abundance which I have seen nowhere else. Cherries are

* I am quite aware of the old proverb, " that there should be no dispute about
matters of taste," and that it is perhaps quite too late in the season with myself,
for me to discuss these matters. I remember very well when a half-grown, green,
hard, sour apple, was as much relished by me as now a delicious Muscat grape ;
but, alas ! " the times change, and we change with them." I will not complain.
To complain would be ungrateful. There are tastes for all ages, as there are
fruits and flowers for all seasons. I thank God every day of my life for the beau-
tiful world in which he has placed me ; but I would not wish to be always young,
any more than I would desire to be always old. I cannot say that I ever sighed
for a perpetual summer ; for nature every where abounds in compensations. I ex-
changed the bright, sunshiny days of my own country for the foggy and humid
climate, and the cloudy and weeping skies, of England, where sometimes I have
scarcely seen the moon and stars for a month, and where, when the sun shows
himself, one seems to recognize an acquaintance of former times. But what of
that ? Habit and use reconcile us to various and ever-changing circumstances.
I have become amphibious, like a true Englishman, and take a good wetting
quite naturally. The moderate temperature of the climate has become agree-
able ; and even the cloudy skies seem better for my eyes than the bright and
dazzling snows of New England, in the clear days of winter. Age itself, if it
has not the vivacity of youth, and is sometimes oppressed with the consciousness
of having not even half accomplished our duties and desires, brings with it many
delicious treasures of memory, which, like good wine, lose nothing of tlieir sweet-
ness by time ; and hopes, which we would not exchange for all the pleasures of
the whole of life's brightest summer, are daily approximating their fruition.

360 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

plenty in the market, and in great perfection ; the Tartarian, the
bigarreau, and the large black-heart and mazard, predominate.

Peaches, nectarines, and apricots, are seen occasionally at pri-
vate tables ; and in great perfection, though in very small quan-
tities, at the great market, and at some of the splendid fruit shops
in London. Peaches are grown in favorable situations on open
walls, but in general under glass, and early in the season are
forced by an artificial climate. They are brought to great per-
fection in appearance, and command, when first they appear in
the market, two guineas, or about ten dollars and a half per
dozen, as pine-apples cultivated here, at some times of the year,
bring a guinea or thirty shillings sterling apiece, — that is, from
five and a quarter to seven and a half dollars each !

One, in such cases, ceases to have any solicitude to know
where the peaches or the pines come from, but is curious to
learn where the guineas come from. To most of us, however,
unindoctrinated in the financial contrivances and complex labor-
saving machinery of society, this inquiry seems hopeless, and
generally ends in the conviction that wealth is very unequally
distributed in this world, without any possibility of devising any
practicable scheme for a more even and impartial adjustment.
Suppose we could at once level all the waves of the sea, and
produce a dead calm, and a perfectly even surface ; still it would
seem that, while the drops on the top are glittering and radiating
in the sunshine, a vast proportion of the drops must be underneath,
or near the bottom, sustaining those at the top. The only hope in
such case is that, in the continual fluctuations of the whole mass,
amid the conflicts of under-currents and upper-currents, the spon-
taneous eflervescence, and the turbulence of winds and storms, the
lowest may often be brought to the surface, and the uppermost de-
scend, and this continual change of place and position may give
to all, in the long run, an equal chance.* This analogy, perhaps,

* It is by no means the case, I am aware, that the low position is always to be
commiserated. The place of humble obscurity is, in general at least, the place
of safety, and is quiet and peaceful, while the surface is swept and disturbed by
the violence of every storm. There is a measure of selfishness and narrowness
in the conception of a charming poet, which is not to be approved, when, in the
tones of pity and complaint, he says, —

^' Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air ; "

as if the beauties of nature were made only for man's eyes, and as if the hum-

VEGETABLE AND 'FRUIT MARKETS. 361

can scarcely be said to apply to a country, where the masses of
wealth are the accumulations of centuries, and are fortified and
hedged in by the strong iron fences and the bristling chevaux-de-
frise of laws of entail and rights of primogeniture. It may
serve better to illustrate a condition of society like that in the
United States, where the paths of competition in the various
departments of life are equally open to all — the condition of the
laws and the habits of the country favor the more equal distribu-
tion of wealth, and seem to forbid any extraordinary perma-
nency to any large accumulations. Which condition is to be
preferred, my reader must determine for himself

The luxury in which the higher and wealthier classes in Eng-
land live is, probably, unequalled in any country, and is, per-
haps, not surpassed in the history of Roman grandeur or Oriental
magnificence. They expend, whether willing or unwilling,
with a profusion which it is difficult for those of us brought up
in the school of restricted and humble means to understand ; and
in respect to true liberality, there is probably the same diversity
of disposition and character to be found as among those, who,
instead of dispensing guineas, are obliged to keep their reckoning
in pence and farthings. I do not forget that excessive wealth, as
well as extreme penury, have each their peculiar moral dangers.
But the liberal expenditures of the rich, even upon many articles
of pure luxury, are a great public benefit. Certainly, no immoral
indulgence is ever to be justified or excused. I do not say that
it is the best appropriation of the money ; that point I shall not
now discuss ; but certainly the person, who gives his two guineas
for his dozen of peaches, encourages industry, rewards horticul-
tural skill, stimulates improvement, excites a wholesome compe-
tition, and would, surely, be doing much worse with them if he
kept them parsimoniously and uselessly hoarded in his coffers.

The apples, in England, are in general inferior, excepting for
cooking purposes. The superiority of our Newton pippin is
every where admitted and proclaimed. Of other of our fine ap-
ples,— such as the golden russet, the Baldwin, the blue pearmain,
and many others, — I have seen none, though it is not to be confi-

blest flower did Hot perform its proper part in purifying the air, the great element
of life to all animated existence, and regale many a sentient being by its fra-
grance, and feed myriads upon its leaves, and yield to many a busy insect the
precious honey from its expanded bosom.
31

362 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

dently inferred, from that circumstance, that none are imported.
Large quantities of apples are sent from the United States to
England, and sold to advantage.*

The English have not yet learned the value of apples as food
for stock. Many of the farmers in the United States, after
repeated trials, both for fatting swine, for neat stock, and even
for milch cows, rate them in value in the proportion of three
bushels of apples as equal to two of potatoes. There are many
parts of England, where apples might be cultivated to advantage
for this very purpose, where the finest kinds might not ripen,
but where the inferior sorts would be likely to yield abundantly.
There are many hedgerows where they would grow to advan-
tage • and they certainly might be substituted, without loss to
beauty, and with a clear gain to utility, for many thorn-trees,
ash-trees, and others, which now stand in the parks and open
grounds of the country.

Of pears I have seen several good kinds, but none comparable
to the Seckle or the Bartlett. This, however, may be mere
matter of personal taste. Melons are grown only under glass,
and by artificial heat. The English walnut grows abundantly,
and is used both dried and for pickling ; and chestnuts are plen-
tiful. The common shagbark, or hickory nut, I have not met
with, though it is sometimes imported. Filberts are cultivated
in the county of Kent for the market, on a gravelly soil, where
they are raised on small bushes, or trees with one stem, and suf-
fered to grow not more than five or six feet high. They grow
together on the same ground with hops, and pear or apple-trees ;
and the proportionate number of each to an acre, is stated at
800 hills of hops, 200 filberts, and 40 apple or pear-trees. '' The

* Small adventures sent in this way, as presents from friends to friends, are
oflen so badly packed at home, and so adroitly unpacked on the passage, and
withal, are taxed with such a variety of charges in the transit, that one is com-
pelled, from bitter experience, to give up a much greater pleasure than that of
eating the fine fruit — the pleasure of enabling one's friends to eat it. The Chris-
tians, as we are called, have, at least many of them, very little honesty, and, one
would be half inclined to think, live upon a system of piracy, or privateering, or
reprisals, among themselves. The Turks have more ; for all travellers assert that
what is intrusted to their keeping, under a pledge of fidelity, is sure to be held
sacred. The violator of such a trust, upon conviction, would be likely to find
himself a head shorter. But then the Christians have a great deal more, and a
truer, faith ; and afler all, common honesty is a very homely virtue, which any
body can practise if he would.

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 363

hops are said to last twelve years, the filberts thirty, and after
that, the apples and pears require the whole ground."

The vegetables grown for table use are many of them in
appearance of the finest kinds. The potatoes grown in England
are in general of a superior quality, though I think them inferior
to the potatoes grown in Nova Scotia. In Nova Scotia, they
have not only the advantage of a climate as cool as that of
England, but likewise of a virgin soil, which circumstances
seem particularly favorable both to the growtli and the quality
of the potato j and nothing of the kind, which I have ever eaten,
is equal to a fine Nova Scotia potato. In our old soils, sur-
charged with manure, the potatoes are always inferior in quality.
In Ireland, deemed of all other countries the adopted home of
the potato, I was seldom able to find one that was even eatable.
This arose, however, not from the quality of the root, but from
the mode of cooking — the Irish always desiring, to use their own
expression, "to have a stone in the middle ; " so that the aim of
the cook was only to boil, or rather scald, the outside of the
potato, and leave the inside as hard as when it went into the
pot. The advantage of this, as gravely stated to me, was that
they were longer in digestion, and therefore gave more support.
This may be sound philosophy in Ireland, where the stomachs
of the poor find an equal difficulty in getting, as they do in
keeping what they get. It would be inhuman to treat the
extreme destitution of these poor wretches Avith any levity ; but
I found this mode of cooking prevailing also at the tables of the
rich and noble ; and after seeing such an abuse of one of the
most useful and nutritious plants which come out of the earth,
I was half inclined to advise them to try a few granite pebbles
of a size to pass through a McAdam ring, and see whether they
would not serve the digestive organs still longer. It was a
curiosity to me in London, likewise, to see them selling in the
market, by the quart, the small, not half-grown, not quarter-
grown potatoes, not even so large as cherries, and many not
larger than peas ; and these were bought up as luxuries. I
should quite as soon think of sitting down to a dish of boiled
bullets, or duck-shot ; and I should suppose with almost equal
chance of nourishment. If it were such potatoes only, at which
Cobbett launched his anathemas, one would not be surprised at
his indignation.

364

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

It is a very great point to bring the earliest potatoes into the
market, and I have seen them offered in Covent Garden Market
as early as March. Indeed, by a method which I will presently
explain, there would be little difficulty in having them at the
coming in of the new year. In Penzance, in Cornwall, at the
very south of England, where there are some parcels of most
excellent soil, and great skill in its cultivation, where the winter
is open and the climate very mild, and where, for this purpose,
land is let at twenty pounds, or one hundred dollars per acre,
large supplies of early vegetables, potatoes especially, are raised
for the London markets. In this case, they are sprouted under
and upon warm horse-dung, or under glass ; and are planted as
early as February, and carefully attended, pains being taken to
select the earliest kinds. The mode of sprouting them in this
case is similar to that adopted by the excellent and spirited cul-
tivators at West Cambridge, near Boston, where the sets are
started, under a bed of fresh horse-dung, on the sunny and pro-
tected side of a hill.

I will here quote the directions of the celebrated Mr. Knight,
president of the Horticultural Society, for raising early potatoes ;
which, it is obvious, can be applicable only to our mild and south-
ern latitudes, where the winters are open.

'' Drills may be formed in a warm and sheltered situation, and
in the direction of north and south, during any of the winter
months, two feet apart, and seven or eight inches deep. Stable-
dung, half decomposed, should be laid in the drills, and com-
bined with the earth four inches downwards, and covered with
some of the mould which had been thrown out in forming the
drills, by the rake, to within four inches of the surface. The
sets uncut are then to be placed, with the crgwn-eye uppermost,
in the centre of the furrow, four inches from each other, and to
be covered with only an inch of mould at first, and afterwards
with an occasional quantity of sifted ashes, until the plants are
so vigorous and advanced as to require the usual earthing, of
which, however, very little is necessary." Mr. Knight also used
leaves as a lining at the side of the drills, in the early periods, to
preserve as much warmth as possible, and better to guard against
the effects of frost. The soil in this case should be light and
dry, and not tenacious of water. It is recommended by some
gardeners, early in the season, to lay the sets upon a floor in a

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 365

warm room, and occasionally sprinkle them with water, which
will cause them to germinate. As soon as they have sprouted,
cover them with some finely-sifted mould ; and the sets will be
ready for transplanting at the earliest period.

Another mode of obtaining early potatoes, not 7ieio potatoes,
which is, I am told, sometimes practised, is to plant potatoes
only so early in the season, as that they shall be about half-
grown at the usual time of taking them up. These may be
taken up in the autumn, and replaced in earth; and early in
the succeeding spring they may be sold as new potatoes. I
should be sorry, by any account of the deceptions and tricks
practised in this old country, to be in any degree instrumental
in corrupting the simplicity and true-heartedness of any of my
own countrymen, who, good souls, may possibly never have
heard of any such thing as trick or deception ! but excepting
the lie in this case, the potatoes would be quite as good as the
half-grown, waxy, new potatoes usually brought to market.*

Potatoes are sold in the market by weight, fourteen pounds
constituting a stone weight ; in Ireland, a stone of potatoes
weighs sixteen pounds. In Ireland, the crop is measured by
barrels, and an acre of ground is stated to have yielded so many
barrels. Then the Irish acre differs very much from the English
statute acre, being, I think, the former compared with the latter,
as 196 to 121, or nearly 5 to 3. A barrel of potatoes in Ireland
may contain five, or only three bushels, and the weight of the
bushel of potatoes is not determined, though customarily esti-
mated at 56 pounds. Few beans are cultivated for the table,
excepting the Windsor bean, which is a coarse vegetable ; and a
small bean, used like our string beans, and called the French
bean. Our Lima bean, and other rich pole-beans, I have not
met with. Peas are abundant in market, are brought in early,
and continued late, and are of several diff*erent kinds, the Charl-
ton pea (so called from the town where the earliest peas are

* Nor. if they should be tempted to practise any such fraud, will I go so far as
to recommend them, by way of encouragement or consolation, to read the chapter
on Lying, in Paley's Moral Philosophy ; nor, above all, that celebrated treatise of
the same exquisite master in casuistry, that perfect anodyne for weak consciences,
the Letter on Subscription, in which he shows, with admirable skill, in how many
different ways an honest man may subscribe the thirty-nine articles of the church
without believing one of them.
31*

366 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

grown) being preferred as an early pea. In order to bring peas
to early maturity, or rather to a state for sale, a ridge of land or
high furrow is thrown up in a direction from east to west, and
the peas are planted on the south side of this ridge at the bot-
tom of the furrow. In this way the young plants are protected
from the cold winds on one side, and enjoy the warm rays of the
sun reflected on the other. This is a simple and excellent
arrangement, especially in a climate where we may say, with
some truth, that a handful of sunshine is worth much more than
its weight in gold.

Carrots and turnips are of the finest quality, and always sold
in bunches. The orange carrot seems preferred for the table ;
the Belgian white for stock. Onions are generally eaten small.
They are planted early in the autumn, and gathered in July and
August. Spinach, endive, cresses, lettuces, are always in the
martlet, either forced or grown in the open ground. Blood-
beets I have scarcely seen, either in the markets or on table,
unless pickled in vinegar. The fine egg-plant, so common in the
New York and Philadelphia markets, does not appear to be
known here. That most luscious vegetable, the sweet potato,
of course cannot be grown. I have once seen some for sale at a
shop window, and, thinking I would indulge in a reminiscence
of home, I found, on weighing, at the price asked, a single potato
would be I5. 6c?. or 37J cents. Of course it ended in inquiry ;
and I was obliged to be satisfied with other forms of remem-
brance. Of squashes, they can scarcely be said to have any.
They have a very inferior kind, which they dignify with the
name of vegetable marrow ; but of our fine crook-neck and
Canada squashes, or our autumnal vegetable marrow, nothing
is seen, and their excellence cannot be appreciated without being
tasted. Of our delicious green Indian corn, of course they have
none. Cucumbers are always in the market. In the early part
of the season, they are forced ; in the latter part of the season,
they grow out of doors. Every possible pains is taken to
protect their plants, as may be seen by the hundreds of hand-
glass frames and bass mattings which are to be found in every
extensive vegetable garden.

There are four species of plants, or edible vegetables, in which,
it must be admitted, the English markets cannot be surpassed,
at least in the size of their products. They are asparagus.

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 367

rhubarb, cauliflowers, and cabbages. The asparagus and
rhubarb are gigantic, the rhubarb more especially, which is
often brought to market three and four feet in length, and of the
size of a woman's arm — some women of course excepted. The
early asparagus is forced under glass ; the later is forced in the
open ground by all the appliances of manure. The quantity of
rhubarb consumed is enormous, for it comes not in baskets, but
piled up in four-horse wagons in bulk. The asparagus shows
the want of sun, and appears as if grown in a cellar, the mere
head of the early kinds being the only part eatable. I think
Cobbett somewhere says, that '' the English do not know how
to eat asparagus, for they always begin at the white end." I
have not myself observed among them any remarkable deficiency
of gastronomical science ; but certainly, in this case, they have
not far to go to find a white end. Sea-kale or Scotch kale is
very much eaten early in the season. It is blanched under cover,
and is a delicious vegetable, that is, for those whose taste agrees
with mine. The Jerusalem artichoke seems a favorite vege-
table with most persons.*

One of the principal vegetables found in the market, and this
at all seasons, is cauliflower ; and it is certainly grown here in
perfection. They are sown, for the next year's use, some time in
August, in hotbeds, and are transplanted into the open ground in
February. They, of course, before being transplanted, are cul-
tivated under glass, and for some time after they require protec-
tion. They are a frequent, and almost an invariable dish at
well-furnished tables. Cabbages likewise are brought into the
market with a profusion absolutely astounding, which itself

* In this case I am in the minority. I have not studied under Mrs. Briggs, or
Dr. Kitchener, or I would inform my readers how they are cooked. Under mod-
ern refinements, meats, and vegetables, and fruits, come to table as much dis-
^ised, as were men and women at the late bal-costume of the queen, when nothing
nearer than engages or attaches knew each other, — and that, either by magnetic
clairvoyance or previous arrangement ; and it is said, (I do not vouch for its truth,)
some nobleman addressed his valet as " my lord ; " and some gentlemen, like the
Smithfield drovers in penning their cattle at night, as I have described, had to
look carefully for some private mark, to be sure that they had got their own wives
to carry home with them. I would not insinuate that the English wives, exem-
plary as they are for their fidelity, were not as anxious to be found, as their hus-
bands were to find tliem. Sometimes I agree in a remark, often quoted by per-
sons who are not very abstemious in the use of strong language, that " Heaven
sends us meats, but" 1 had rather not say who " sends us cooks."

368 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

shows how much they are eaten. One would be disposed to
consider them as the favorite vegetable of the English. The
early ones of course are forced in hotbeds and transplanted ;
and a constant succession is kept up. I have sometimes seen in
the market, at one time, very early in the morning, many large
four-horse wagon-loads of cabbages, lettuces, and rhubarb, all
distinct, and piled up in the most beautiful manner, with a pre-
cision which is admirable ; and when I have had the curiosity
to inquire how many heads of cabbage were on a single load,
the answer has been, two hundred and twenty-five dozen.

The celery brought into market is, like the rhubarb, gigantic.
The solid-stalked is greatly preferred. It is finely blanched. It
is not so agreeable for eating as a smaller-sized plant, but it
shows the perfection of cultivation. The celery, like the
rhubarb and the lettuce, is brought into market in the neatest
manner. Nothing is tumbled into the carts, or thrown out upon
the ground topsy-turvy, or indiscriminately. Even the heads of
lettuce are every one of them tied with a string of bass matting ;
and when presented in the stalls, the various articles are arranged
with great care — I may add, with taste, and a view to effect.

In looking down from the high bridge, in Edinburgh, upon the
vegetable and fruit market below, and observing the arrangement
of the different articles in the stalls, the intermingling of the
white cauliflowers with the purple cabbages, the orange carrots,
the yellow turnips, and the red beets, and other articles of
various hues, like the colors in a Turkey carpet, the effect is
really picturesque and beautiful. I have gazed at them repeat-
edly with much pleasure. The same remarks apply to the
arrangements in the London markets. I know some will say,
What is the use of all this ? I have just given the answer. It
gave me, and it gives others, pleasure. That is reason enough,
if there were no other. I think in this respect we have a good
deal to learn. There is a natural concord or harmony among all
the senses, and the stomach seems better satisfied when that
which enters it gives pleasure to the eye. Suppose that our
fine rare-ripe peaches were a dingy black, instead of presenting,
as they now do, a sample of that most lovely and perfect inter-
mingling of colors to be found in nature — such as the soft blend-
ing of red and white in the leaf of the damask rose, or, in a still
more radiant form, on the cheek of virgin beauty and innocence ;

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 369

I think in such case we should eat them with a far inferici
relish.

Grapes of the very finest description are produced in England,
but wholly, as I have already remarked, by artificial culture.
This, of course, places them beyond the reach of the great mass
of the people ; but they are always found on the tables of the
wealthy and noble. In the stalls of Covent Garden Market, they
present themselves in such a rich and luscious display, as to
tempt a visitor to break at least one of the commandments ; and,
if it were not for the plate glass, which protects them, it might
be, another also. This interposition is certainly humane, as a
violation of the latter commandment referred to, under the lynx-
eyed system of espionage necessarily practised here, might place
one in an awkward position. The violation of the command-
ment of not coveting what we cannot possess, must be settled in
another court. I can only hope that human weakness will be
considered ; for, in passing from one part of London to the other,
and among the shops crowded with the splendid productions o\'
nature, refined and embellished by the highest art and skill, with
all the means of sensual gratification, with every thing to min-
ister to luxurious indulgence, to feed the animal appetite, and
the often more hungry intellect, and to delight and gratify the
fastidious and cultivated taste, it requires a most rigid self-control,
so far as our desires are concerned, to keep the peace, from day
to day, with one's own conscience.

One of the best gardeners in England has given me some
instructions on the management of grapes, which some of my
readers may be glad to receive : —

"With regard to the best way to manage the vine, when
fruiting, I invariably stop the shoot one eye above the bunch ;
and it is the practice of the best gardeners in England. I gen-
erally leave one shoot not stopped without fruit, and to fruit next
season, and cut the shoots out that have borne fruit this year.
On the short-spur system, every shoot is stopped an eye above
the bunch, except the top one, and then it must be managed like
the rest ; all the lateral shoots must be stopped one eye above
another, until they cease growing, as, the more leaves you get, the
fruit will swell larger."

I should add more on the cultivation of this delicious fruit,
but I know it is very well understood in the United States,,

370 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

where the best grapes grown are not, within my knowledge,
surpassed for size, abundance, and flavor. So, at least, I thought
them before I left home ; but in my long exile, in order to keep
down a dreadful homesickness that sometimes makes sleep
almost as much a stranger to my pillow as though it was stufi'ed
with McAdam's angular stones, I try to think, like the fox in the
fable, that the American grapes are sour. But I cannot do it.
Afi'ections, which no time nor distance can quench or abate,
defy every such idle efl'ort ; and memory returns, with all its
sensibilities quickened, and all its delicious colorings heightened
and embellished, to triumph over the impotence of the reso-
lution.

There is another article abounding in the markets here, which,
though by no means unknown in the markets of the United
States, is not common ; and therefore, from the same intelligent
gardener, I shall give the best account I could obtain of the mode
of cultivating them. I mean, mushrooms. There are few exten-
sive gardens without a mushroom-house, which is a dark room
fitted up with shelves, and with the means of producing the
desired temperature.

•^ The cultivation of mushrooms in the winter months, in
order to have a daily supply, requires a house for the purpose.
The house at Welbeck is divided into four tiers of shelves,
three shelves in each tier. The shelves are ten inches deep,
[that is, a sort of boxes, like the berths on board ship. — H. C]

" The first three shelves are generally filled about the begin-
ning of September, as the field mushrooms begin to go out then.
The material used to fill the shelves is pure horse-dung drop-
pings, without any straw. It is suffered to ferment a little before
being put in, and beaten quite hard with a wooden mallet. As
soon as the heat decreases to 65° by the thermometer, or ascer-
tained by a piece of wood thrust in, to see that the burning heat
is gone off", the bed may be spawned, by opening holes two
inches deep in the dung, and putting in bits of spawn about the
size of a walnut, nine inches each way, all over the bed. It is
then covered with two or three inches of good fresh loam from
a pasture field. If a little road-scrapings is added to the loam, it
helps to bind it, which is important, as a great deal of the success
of the crop depends on the soil and dung being incorporated into
one solid mass, not liable to crack, or get too dry. The soil

VEGETABLE AND FRUIT MARKETS. 3T1

must be beaten with the mallet, like the dung, quite smooth and
hard all over. In eight days after spawning, the bed will be
covered with a whitish substance, which shows that the spawn
is running all through it, and that the heat is right.

^' Mushrooms generally appear in six weeks after making the
bed, if the temperature of the house is kept from 55^ to 60°.
They are very impatient of too much water; and water is
required to be put on them only with a fine watering-pot rose ;
and that when the bed gets dry ; and it should be always of the
same temperature as the house, or it chills all the young ones,
and the crop never lasts so long. If hot-water pipes are used to
heat the house, there is no occasion for watering. We generally
make fresh beds every month, to keep up a succession all
through the year, excepting the months they come naturally in
the open fields.

"■ Mushrooms may be grown in winter in a dark cellar, where
there is no artificial heat, by covering the top of the ridges, or
box, with good dry hay, at least ten inches thick. They will
not come in so quickly as in a house kept at a steady temper-
ature, but will keep in bearing a great deal longer, so that one
good bed will last all through. As a good deal of the success of
growing mushrooms depends on the goodness of the spawn, it is
necessary to get it from some respectable nurserymen, who gen-
erally sell it in the shape of bricks. Its quality may easily be
ascertained, if good, by breaking it, and seeing it full of white
threads, and the smell is exactly like a mushroom. If it smells
musty, it has lost its vegetative powers. It will keep good for a
year or two, if kept dry, and out of the power of frost. The
best is made in London about Battersea, where many cows and
horses are pastured in the fields. The old droppings are taken
from the surface where the natural mushrooms grow, and mixed
with fresh horse-dung, and cut into the shape of bricks. There
is always good spawn in the old beds, which may be preserved
to put into new ones."

I have gone thus fully into this, as it may appear to some,
unimportant subject, because, as a vegetable, this plant is es-
teemed a great delicacy ,* and next, because of the great quan-
tities of ketchup which are used, and which may be manufac-
tured in the country, and of which mushrooms are the principal
material.

372

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Pines, or pine-apples, are, as I have remarked, cultivated to a
large extent, and with the greatest success, in the hot-houses of
the affluent, where fire heat is employed ; but in Cambridge-
shire I found them cultivated, with great success, in common
hotbeds. The beds were formed in the usual way ; and in
order to keep up the heat, or renew it when it declined, addi-
tional supplies of fresh stable manure were applied, from time to
time, to the sides of the bed. The plants were healthy, and
fruited well ; and so far as the quality of the fruit goes to ap-
prove the mode of growing, I will say, on my own knowledge,
better need not be desired.

I have one remark to make in regard to English vegetables
and fruits, that will not, I hope, be deemed ill-humored, — which
is, that, though cultivated with extraordinary skill, with the
exceptions I have above named, they are tasteless, and without
that fine relish which one would like to find. I think it is
Voltaire who says '' that the only ripe fruit to be found in Eng-
land is a baked apple." I cannot accede to a censure so sweep-
ing ; but it is plain that their fruits and vegetables want ripeness
and flavor. This may arise partly from a deficiency of heat
from the sun, and partly from the excessive forcing of their
vegetables, in the vicinity of large markets, by unlimited quan-
tities of manure. I know how difficult it must be to make an
Englishman believe this statement : for under the national
peculiarity of a large endowment of self-esteem, which their
Anglo-Saxon descendants over the water seem to have inherited,
(and sometimes, I think, with a considerable enlargement of the
organ, from long cultivation,) a genuine Englishman thinks that
nothing out of his own country can possibly be so good as what
is to be found in it. Now, in intellectual fruits, and the products
of art and science, I will not dispute their preeminence — only
hoping that, while they are reposing upon their laurels, a young
and ambitious rival, in a fair and generous competition, may be
up with them as soon as possible, and distance them, if he can.
But climates and sunshine are not under human control ; and
the fact which I have stated is in my mind established, and not
the result of mere prejudice, of which, on any subject, if I were
conscious of it, I should be ashamed.

MARKET GARDENS. 373

LX. — MARKET GARDENS.

My remarks above have chiefly referred to the supply of
vegetables in London. There are large markets in all the prin-
cipal towns ; but it is difficult to conceive the amount required
for the supply of this mammoth city, with its two million hungry
mouths, not one of whom, scarcely, in any direct form, produces
a single mouthful for himself.

The extent of the vegetable gardens in the neighborhood of
this great city is enormous, and the multiplied facilities of con-
veyance make even remote places, now, in many articles the
suppliers of London. Fifty years ago, it was calculated that
there, were two thousand acres cultivated by the spade, and
eight thousand by the spade and plough conjointly. The extent
of cultivation must, of course, be at present much greater. It is
said of one individual that he had eighty acres in asparagus, and
of another that he had sixty, and that the forming of the beds
was estimated at £100 per acre. This undoubtedly was under
the old system of growing asparagus, when the soil was to be
taken out to a depth of some feet, and a bed of stones placed at
the bottom, and other expensive arrangements. Now, asparagus
is grown almost as easily as carrots or celery, it only requiring
to be first grown in a nursery or seed bed, and then transplanted
in the bottom of deep furrows or trenches, made two feet dis-
tance from each other, well bedded with manure, and the bed
itself kept constantly clean, and annually covered with a loading
of manure in the autumn, which must be dug in with a fork in
the spring. This, in three years from the seed, gives as good
and abundant a plant as under the old method of trenching and
bottoming with stones, and laying a foot of manure on the stones.

The amount of vegetables sent by some individual salesmen
is enormous. The principal market-days are three times in a
week, but Saturday is the principal day ; and it is confidently
stated — though in relating it I fear that some persons may think
the credulity of their too-confiding countryman has been prac-
tised upon — that a single grower has been known to send, in one
day, more than nineteen hundred bushels of peas in the pod, and
seven or eight loads of cabbages, averaging eighteen hundred
cabbages each ; and at another season, from the same farm, four-
32

374 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

teen or fifteen hundred baskets of sprouts will be sent in one
day, and in the course of the year from five to six thousand tons
of potatoes. In his account of the agriculture of Middlesex,
Middleton says, that in 1795, in the height of the fruit season,
each acre of the gardens cultivated in small fruits gave employ-
ment to thirty-five persons, among whom were many women,
who were employed in carrying the fruit to market on their
heads ; and that the gathering of a crop of peas required forty
persons for every ten acres. The account given of the sum of
money received from the produce of a single acre is quite
worthy of remark, it being the statement of a market-gardener.
Radishes, £10; cauliflower, £60; cabbages, £30; celery, first
crop, £50 ; second crop, £40 ; endive, £30, — making a total of
£220, or 1100 dollars, for the gross produce of an acre in twelve
months.*

Besides the market which London presents for the disposal of
the products of these immense gardens, it is to be remembered
that labor may be procured at an hour's notice, at any season and
for any term, and at a low rate of. wages. The farmer or gar-
dener is therefore saved the burden of keeping up an expensive
establishment for any longer time than their services are needed ;
with this addition, that he makes no provision whatever, at any
time, for housing or feeding them. Any person, who has had
the management of a large farm in the United States, knows
quite well, that the sum of all its difficulties is in the feeding

* What some persons may deem the intrinsic improbability of such accounts,
will disappear, when one considers that, in London, every thing, and any thing, may
be sold, and may find purchasers, excepting only, I believe, children. These are
to be given away ; for it is a sober truth, that in the streets of London I have been
repeatedly offered the present of children, and that from tlie breast too, though
none tlie better for that, if I would take them. Whether it is, by a sort of natural
phrenological skill, they discover my philoprogenitiveness to be large, or from a
destitution, the bitterness of which extinguishes the maternal affections, or from
a profligacy even more bitter, and more deeply to be deplored, (in too many cases
tlie pitiable consequence of this destitution,) this is not the place for me to con-
sider. But it is for my own countrymen to consider, with the deepest religious
gratitude, the difference between a condition of things in which children are felt
to be a burden, and almost a curse, and that in which a healthy and perfect child
may be looked upon always as a choice blessing from Heaven ; and the more
hungry mouths, and sparkling eyes, gather round the well-filled board of the
humblest cottager, morning, noon, and night, so much the more, m fact, are the
means of supply increased, and the parental heart filled to overflowing with joy
and love

MARKET GARDENS. 375

and management of the human machinery. In the next place,
here there is no want of capital with persons who undertake
such occupations ; and it is applied with liberality wherever
there is a chance of using it to profit. This is a great consid-
eration, wherever capital may be safely and advantageously
applied to land. We often hear the counsel given to cultivate
a little land well, rather than a large extent of land imperfectly.
In the main, this is sound advice on the score of profit. But in
agriculture, viewed as a commercial transaction, the profits will
correspond with the amount of capital invested or employed.
Large returns are to be expected only from cultivating a large
extent of land ; or, in other words, pursuing agriculture as a man,
who would command success, pursues any other branch of trade,
by devoting his time, talents, and zeal to it, and applying all the
means within his reach to its advancement. While
*' Little boats should keep near shore,
Vessels large may venture more."

The man who, as above, can cultivate one acre of ground
with such eminent success, may cultivate one hundred with
similar profit, provided he can give to it the same requisite
attention, provided a sufficiency of labor and manure are equally
attainable, and provided, likewise, the market is equally sure and
favorable for the disposal of his products. Whether capital can
in any particular case be profitably applied to agriculture, must
depend upon a great variety of local and temporary circum-
stances. It is so with commerce, and with most other branches
of business. No human power or skill can control the vicissi-
tudes of the climate and the weather ; but the contingencies on
which the success of agriculture depends are perhaps not so
great as those on which the success of mercantile transactions
depends. It is idle to expect reward without labor, fruit with-
out seed, profit without risk, success without effort, — unless in
those games of mere chance, of which sober men will beware,
and in which there are always vastly more losers than winners,
and many more blanks than prizes. The great want with most
of our farmers is clearly want of capital, to apply to the land in
labor, or manure, or in the way of permanent improvements of
drainage and irrigation, which change at once the whole face of
a country. The main elements of success in agriculture are the
same as in any other profession, — skill, judgment, application,

376" EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

industry, and capital, either in the form of education, money, oi
credit ; the risks are not greater : the road to a reasonable com
petence, which is all to which a good mind should anxiously
aspire, is as certain as is common in human affairs ; extraordi
nary success — which I do not say it is criminal to desire, but
even lawful to aim at — is not unfrequently attainable : but, what
is better than all, the gains of agriculture, where the labor by
which those gains are secured is honorably and justly providec
for, and its products disposed of without any betrayal of con-
science, are so unalloyed, so untainted by corruption, so clearly
in themselves not the occasions of privation, but the very in-
struments of good to others, that one reposes on them with
entire and grateful complacency, and their value to the winner is
more than quadrupled. My friends, 1 know, will pardon my en-
thusiasm, which, like a half-smothered fire, is continually bursting
out in this way. If it sometimes sheds a flickering light by its
blaze, it never burns to destroy ; and if, in respect to that noble
pursuit which Heaven first ordained for man, it awakens in any
pure and honest minds, not crazed with speculation nor hardened
and corrupted by the too common tricks of trade, any gentle
vibrations of sympathy, I shall feel that my two mites have
found their way into the great treasury of public good.

The eminent success of the market-gardeners near London
depends on several circumstances in their management, which I
will point out. In the first place, the land is thoroughly drained,
so as not only to cut oflT the springs which might render the
wetness of the land permanent, but likewise to carry off speedily
the rain which falls. In the next place, the land is completely
trenched, to the depth of from two to three feet, with the spade.
This serves two purposes ; first, to assist in the drainage by giving
a free passage into the principal conduits of the rain as it comes
down ; and next, to enable the roots of the plants freely to extend
themselves in search of food. In trenching, it is necessary to
keep the top soil at the top, and not to bring the lower stratum to
the surface, or to suffer a large portion of the cold earth to be
mingled with the rich mould. This requires some little calcula^
tion. The soil of the first trench made across the field must be
completely thrown out ; and so likewise the top soil of the
second trench. The bottom soil of the second trenching is then
to be thrown into the vacant space of the first, and the top soil

MARKET GARDENS. 377

of the third line upon that. Things will then come rightly into
their places, the bottom soil being always thrown upon the bot-
tom, the top soil upon the top, while at the end of the piece
trenched, that which was first thrown out must be brought and
replaced. The third point particularly attended to, is ample
manuring. For this object they have always plentiful stores on
hand, to be applied as may be desired ; the old hotbeds, when
broken up, furnishing large quantities in that decomposed state,
in which only is its application safe in respect to many kinds of
plants. Manure is sometimes applied in a solid and sometimes in
a liquid form. Sometimes, when the ground is dug, the manure is
dug in with it ; sometimes it is laid on the surface ; sometimes it is
used with every successive crop, at other times with the first crop
only : but all these are matters directly dependent upon experi-
ence and practice, and which it would be impossible, in such a
report as this, particularly to define. Manure, in its coarsest state,
is seldom applied to garden vegetables ; and it is found expedient,
in respect to liquid manures, to apply them in a diluted and mixed
form. The next point aimed at, is to avoid the immediate repe-
tition of the same crop on the same ground ; for, though manure
may be had in abundance, yet the second and third crops gradu-
ally become deteriorated. Chemistry has not yet determined with
precision how this evil, if so it is to be regarded, is to be counter-
acted. It is strongly hoped that this may be one of its first
achievements. Most of what it has yet given us in the case is
theory. What we want is practical and efficient rules by which
the health and strength of the declining patient may be at once
and with certainty recovered. The next object is, to have a suc-
cession of crops, one crop often growing between the rows of
another, and prepared to take its place as soon as it is removed,
so that there is no respite of the cultivation, while the season
allows of it ; and near London, with the help of straw covering,
and mats, and glasses, some plants are on the ground all the year.
For this object, and to counteract the eff'ect of the seasons, the
most extensive preparation is made ; articles are prepared of
brush, of matting and straw, and hand-glasses, or boxes with
glass tops, and, to guard against insects, boxes with coarse
gauze tops are prepared in the greatest abundance, and changes
of the temperature and weather are watched with the most
sedulous care. Hot and forcing beds, likewise, and conserva-
32*

378 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

tories, and hothouses, are made ready in the most extensive
forms, for the purpose of forwarding plants to be set out at proper
seasons, and for the growing of those plants which require
artificial heat. Lastly, irrigation is as much as practicable
attended to, and engines, and watering-pots, and other contri-
vances, are in constant requisition for these purposes, and as far
as they can be applied. The science of gardening is here a
substantial science ; and young men are as carefully educated in
its various departments as in any of the learned professions, and
receive a patronage according to their skill and merit. Under
such circumstances, the market gardens near London are man-
aged with a skill and enterprise worthy of all praise, and sure of
rewards much more substantial.

LXL — COVENT GARDEN MARKET.

The great market in England for vegetables, fruits, and flowers,
is the market of Covent Garden, without question a corruption
for Convent, as this place is understood to have been formerly the
garden of the convent, and connected with the establishment of
Westminster Abbey. The whole square included in the market-
place is said to embrace five acres ; but this, I think, must take in
the buildings, dwelling-houses, hotels, shops, &c., forming the
exterior boundary of the square. In the centre of this square is
the market-house, of Avhich no verbal description can convey a
very exact idea to the reader. It combines open stalls and close
shops, sellers within and on the outsides, with a long hall or
arcade, running through the centre, sixteen feet in width, and
fitted up with shops on each side, and with shelves projecting
into the passage, which are spread out with all the fruits and
flowers of the season.

1. Fruits and Vegetables. — The outer stalls are for the
coarser vegetables, potatoes, cabbages, &c., and for the common
foreign fruits. This is by no means the only vegetable and fruit
market in London, but it is the principal one ; and some of the
other markets, and many of the fruit-shops, scattered over Lon-

COVENT GARDEN MARKET. 379

don, receive their supplies from Covent Garden. . There is hardly
any season of the year when every variety of fruit and vege-
tables, which can be forced, is not to be found in this market ;
and in the proper seasons a great variety is to be found, the
product of natural and artificial culture, in the highest perfection.
The sale of dried foreign fruits is here likewise immense. Eng-
land can scarcely be considered as a fruit country, and the high
prices charged for the finest fruits place them beyond the reach
of all but the most wealthy classes. Two shillings, or half a
dollar, for a single peach, — and at no season are they much less
than half that sum, and many other fruits in proportion, — render
them forbidden fruit to the great multitude. In quantity, Covent
Garden is limited compared with the city of London, which it is
intended to supply ; but it is high tide here on a market-day, at
daylight in the morning, when the wholesale market-men supply
the retailers, and the streams from this fountain flow into and
permeate every part of the city and its neighborhood. The
market in Farringdon Street occupies as much ground as Cov-
ent Garden, but this embraces butchers' stalls as well as fruits
and vegetables.

Covent Garden presents an interesting spectacle on a great
market-day, at 4 o'clock in the morning, when the wholesale
business commences, and the retailers, seeking supplies for their
different stalls, and the occupants of stalls in other markets, and
the keepers of vegetable shops in the town, and the various
itinerant dealers, who penetrate all the by-places and streets in
different parts of the town and the vicinity, come to make their
purchases. This occupies two or three hours ; and a busier scene
is hardly to be witnessed. All the smaller articles — gooseberries,
currants, peas, beans, new potatoes, apples, &c. — are brought in
baskets ; cabbages, lettuces, rhubarb, celery, &c., in bulk, as 1
have described. Peas, in Covent Garden Market, are shelled be-
fore they are sold, and after they come out of the hands of the
wholesale dealer. These come frequently in sacks. It is an inter-
esting sight to see the poor and squalid women and young girls,
who come to earn a few pence by shelling the peas, sitting about in
different squads, (and I have counted at one time as many as
eighty in one party,) all busily engaged in this occupation at
about one penny, or two cents, per quart. Raspberries and straw-
berries are brought in small cone-shaped baskets, containing little

380 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

more than a pint ; and these are usually brought long distances
on the heads of women. It is said that these women, who carry-
such heavy loads upon their heads, are principally from Wales,
and that many of them, for example, come into market twice a
day from Brentford, where great quantities of strawberries are
raised, and return ; and this is a distance of more than seven
miles, making at least thirty miles in a day. To such endurance
may even a woman's frame be trained. Many of the milk-
women in London, who carry their milk in large tin cans slung
from their shoulders, and containing from six to eight gallons
each, travel long distances in the course of the day. But the
most remarkable instance of strength and endurance is perhaps
to be found in the fish-women of Edinburgh, who attend the
market from New Haven and Musselboro'. Their load, which is
in two baskets, one over the other, containing different kinds of
fish, slung upon their backs, often weighs 150 lbs., and has been
known to weigh 200 lbs. The distance from New Haven to
Edinburgh is more than two miles, and in this distance they stop
to rest but once only ; and after their arrival they are to be found
crying their fish in all parts of the town. How many of the
Chestnut Street, or Washington Street, or Broadway belles would
it require to lift even one of these loads from the ground ? Yet
these market and milk-women, and the fish-women of Edinburgh,
are perfect models of health and strength. The latter — with their
elephantine arms and legs, their bright, clean caps, and fair com-
plexions, their firm tread, and their stentorian lungs, with their
gay costume of various colors, and their five petticoats, so
arranged in different lengths that a portion of each may be dis-
played— are among the most picturesque, and not unpleasing,
objects of that beautiful city.

The advantage of bringing the finer fruits to the market in
this way is, that they come in the best possible condition.
The wholesale business being completed, the growers of the
produce return home, and the marketing goes at once into the
hands of the shopmen and retail dealers, who are, in general,
residents in the city.

2. Flowers. — Having said so much of the vegetables and
fruits, I must not omit another article in Covent Garden Market,
of which the sale is immense, — that is, flowers. In the winter

COVENT GARDEN MARKET. 381

they are sent here from the greenhouses ; at more genial seasons,
from various gardens and conservatories in the neighborhood.
They are displayed in the greatest profusion and perfection, and are,
undoubtedly, a large source of income to the cultivators. The
English appear to me to have a strong passion for flowers, and
I commend their taste. A country house, without its plantation
of flowers and flowering shrubs, would be quite an anomaly ;
and many of the humble and moss-grown cottages have their
small gardens of flowers, their doors trellised with wood-
bines and honeysuckles, and their outer walls covered with a
thick mantling of ivy, and made gay with the sweetbrier and
the monthly rose. The door-yards of the English, in the coun-
try, their windows, their halls, their palaces, are all decorated
with flowers ; they are among the most beautiful ornaments at
their festivals ; and even the highest charms of female loveliness
are studiously augmented by these innocent and splendid adorn-
ments.

Looking out of my window a short time since, I saw that the
laborer wheeling his barrow before the door had his button-hole
decorated with a beautiful geranium. I went into the street, and the
driver of the omnibus, whom I first met, wore a handsome nosegay.
I met a bridal party, and, besides the white favors worn by all the
servants in attendance, each one had a bunch of flowers at his
breast. I met the crowd of magnificent equipages hastening to
a drawing-room to pay their courtly homage to a sovereign queen,
whose virtues and most exemplary demeanor render her worthy
of the homage of true aff"ection and respect ; and every lady bears
in her hand a magnificent bouquet ; and the coachmen and the
footmen seem to emulate each other in the gayety and beauty of
the flowers which they all wear. At St. Paul's, at the opening
of the term of courts, the long procession of grave and learned
judges, who then go in state to church, appears, each one, with an
elegant nosegay in his hand. At the opera, upon the breathless
and successful competitors for public favor, in the midst of a tem-
pest of applause, descends a perfect shower of floral wreaths and
fich bouquets.

I sympathize heartily in this taste of the English for flowers,
which thus pervades all ranks, and, flowers being accessible to all,
jind among the most innocent and the cheapest of all pleasures,
diffuses a vast amount of enjoyment. They are, indeed, among

382 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the richest adornments of God's beautiful creation, and every
where, in the tangled forest, in the most secluded thicket, on
the ocean prairies, and even upon the desolate heaths, are scat-
tered about in such an endless variety and profusion as cannot fail
to impress a reflecting and devout mind with the most grateful
veneration and delight.

As for those persons who can see no good and no utility in
any thing beyond that which fills the belly, or covers the back,
or puts money into the pocket, they are of the earth, earthy.
Such grovelling selfishness and animalism I trample under foot
with ineffable scorn. But the cultivation of flowers does much
for the benefit of the mind. A taste for objects so pure expels a
taste for others, which are unworthy. A passion for what is
beautiful and refined in nature often secures the mind from the
intrusion of passions low and hurtful. Every advance, which
is made in any direction for the improvement of the taste or the
refinement of manners, is so much done for the general comfort
of social life and for good morals.

LXIL — GENERAL MARKETS.

Besides the markets to which I have referred, there is a market
in London exclusively for the sale of raw hides and leather ; and
in various parts of the country markets are held, at fixed times
and places, for the sale of wool, and of butter and cheese. These
generally go under the name of fairs ; and I do not think they
can be too soon established in the most populous districts of our
country. There may be evils, but there are great and overbal-
ancing advantages, attending them. The large dealers attend in
numbers to make their purchases, and both sides have equal ben-
efits from an extended competition. Prices assume an equal and
a fair rate. The farmer may feel, ordinarily, quite sure of a
market for his produce at a fixed time, and to receive his money,
instead, as now, of depending almost upon accident for a pur-
chaser. Last, but not among the least of the benefits of the
markets in question, is the wholesome emulation which is
created by bringing different articles of produce into comparison

GENERAL MARKETS. 383

with each other. The producer of an inferior article is stimulated
by the success of his neighbor to produce a better ; agricultural
information becomes generally diffused: and thus agricultural
improvement is essentially advanced. Should such markets be
established, the most stringent rules should be adopted for their
management ; but, above all things, all trickery and fraud should
be eschewed and denounced. A man guilty of it should be so
branded with infamy, that he should never presume to show
himself there a second time. Men, under such circumstances,
would be sure to discover that "honesty is the best policy."

In London, there are markets for the exclusive sale of poultry
and game, and in Dublin, I found one wholly devoted to the sale
of eggs. The amounts here collected and disposed of almost
surpass belief. The statement of a respectable witness and cus-
tom-house agent, recently, before a parliamentary committee, is
quite remarkable. He said that there were five vessels annually
engaged in that trade between Normandy, on the coast of France,
and London, which brought about 3700 tons of eggs in the year.
Ten cases went to a ton, and from 1000 to 1200 were in each
case. This trade was between Cherbourg, Harfleur, Caen, and
Portsmouth. Forty millions of eggs were annually imported
through this channel alone. Some one asks very emphatically,
'' Why should they not be produced at home ? "*

* "The value in money of one seemingly unimportant article, eggs, taken, in
the course of the year, from Ireland to the ports of Liverpool and Bristol, amounts
to at least £100,000. The progress of tliis trade affords a curious illustration of
the advantages of commercial facilities in stimulating production and equalizing
prices. Before the establishment of steam-vessels, the market at Cork was most
irregularly supplied with eggs from the surrounding district ; at certain seasons
they were exceedingly abundant and cheap, but these seasons were sure to be
followed by seasons of scarcity and high prices ; and at times, it is said to liave
been difficult to purchase eggs in the market at any price. At the first opening
of the improved channel for conveyance to England, the residents at Cork had to
complain of the constant high price of this and other articles of farm produce ;
but as a more extensive market was now permanently open to them, the farmers
gave their attention to the rearing and keeping of poultry ; and at the present
time, eggs are procurable at all seasons in the market at Cork ; not, it is true,
at the extremely low rate at which they could, formerly, be sometimes bought,
but still at much less than the average price of the year. A like result has fol-
lowed the introduction of this great improvement in regard to the supply and cost
of various other articles of produce. In the apparently unimportant article feathers,
it may be stated, on the respectable authoril/ above quoted, that the yearly impor-
tation into England, from Ireland, reaches the amount of £500,000 sterling." —
Porter's Progress of the JVation, vol. iii. 83.

384 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Markets of a general character are held once or twice a week
in all the principal towns ; and in those cases where the farms
are small, the farmers' wives and daughters will be seen going
six or eight miles on foot, or in vans, (i. e. lumber and freight
coaches or wagons, ) to sell the week's product of their dairy or their
poultry-yard. In this case, they are always found, with their neat
baskets upon their arms, in a particular part of the market as-
signed to them. Their neatness of dress and person commend
them to attention. It requires some courage to elbow your way
among them, if you do not design to be a purchaser ; and their
chaffering and courteous solicitations to buy, with the emphatical
recommendations of the articles for sale, together with the usual
chatter and gossip to be expected among such a collection of
gude wives and bonnie lasses, are sufficiently amusing.

^-^

',', 'J '-. '■ .7", r.-J . r e"' '- ^'^ '

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

FIFTH REPORT

LXIL — GENERAL MARKETS. {Continued,)

1. Market at Derby. — Nothing can be more miscellaneous
than an English country market ; and my readers may be grati-
fied with the partial account which I took of one of them as I
went through it. This may be considered as a fair sample of
others. Many of the goods are spread upon the ground, or under
temporary stalls or booths erected for the purpose. Every seller
pays a certain tax to the town for permission to sell, or for the
load of goods brought into market. This toll is generally col-
lected at the entrance of the town, as it is to this day in Lon-
don, from every loaded vehicle which enters the city.

This market was held in the open square at Derby, and the
stalls were chiefly attended by women. 1. Nails and tacks.
2. Old iron, chains, &c. 3. Cutlery of various sorts. 4. Shoes
and boots. 5. Hats and caps. 6. Hosiery. 7. Millinery.
8. Iron ware. 9. Tin and copper ware. 10. Various kinds
of female dress, caps, laces, &c. 11. Household furniture,, old
and new. 12. Brushes, mops, &c. 13. Bread. 14. Bacon
and salted pork. 15. Muslins and caps in upturned umbrellas
on the ground. 16. Children's toys. 17. Combs and paste.
18. Flour. 19. Butter and cheese. 20. Fish of various kinds.
21. Baskets. 22. Old books. 23. Sofas, bureaus, and tables.
24. Crockery ware and glass ware of various kinds on the
ground — a great many sellers. 25. Glass ware in abundance.
33

386 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

26. Rabbits and game. 27. Poultry. 28. Meats of various
kinds. 29. Vegetables and fruits. 30. Straw bonnets. 31. Re-
freshments, gingerbread and ginger beer. 32. Wool in large
packs. 33. Oranges, &c. 34. Sieves, wire-baskets, and bird-
cages. 35. Bandboxes and trunks. 36. Dolls. 37. New books
and stationery. 38. Live birds. 39. Confectionary of various
kinds. 40. Shoes, combs, &c. &c. 41. Saddles, bridles, col-
lars, &c. 42. Rakes and agricultural tools. 43. Ginger pop, as
usual. 44. Garden seeds. 45. Patent medicines, and especially
worm lozenges, with about fifty bottles of worms preserved in
spirit to eWnce the efficacy of the medicine — a terrific exhibi-
tion. 46. Meats of various kinds. This comprehends but a
small portion, and by no means all the varieties of stalls. The
whole are dispersed by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The popula-
tion of Derby is about 37,000, and is chiefly a manufacturing
population.

LXril. — GENERAL REMARKS AND DIVISIONS OF THE
SUBJECT OF ENGLISH FARMING.

The agriculture of England presents itself under three great
divisions — that of arable farming ; breeding and grazing, or feed-
ing ; and dairying. I propose, in a great degree, to arrange my
observations conformably to these three parts.

There may be, with some of my readers, a misconception as to
my plan, and, in consequence, expectations which will fail to
be met. I do not undertake to give a complete system of farm-
ing, and specific and exact directions in detail for the cultivation
of every crop, and for every department of farm management.
This would oblige me to execute a work vastly more extensive
than that which I have undertaken. With respect to many of
my readers, it could prove only a work of supererogation, for
much of these details must be as familiar to them as the roads
over their farms. I have always found, likewise, in respect to
such directions, with which many books are crowded, extending,
as they frequently do, to circumstances the most minute and in-
significant, that they are often inapplicable, from the infinite diver-

GENERAL REMARKS AND DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. 387

sity of circumstances which different cases present. Most men
have their pecuhar methods of accomplishing an object, which
are in truth the best for them, because the most natural ; they
would be hampered and embarrassed by other modes, less familiar,
which might be prescribed. Unless, therefore, there is some
striking originality, or some obvious and peculiar convenience, in
the method suggested, it is only necessary to say in general what
is to be done, and leave it to every man's own ingenuity to find
out the best method of effecting it.

My principal object is to point out, in European agriculture,
such circumstances of difference between it and our own as
may serve for the improvement of the agriculture of the United
States, and to give such an account of the modes of manage-
ment which prevail abroad, and which have been sanctioned by
long practice and experience, as may facilitate their adoption, as
far as the circumstances existing among us would render their
adoption eligible. Every country, differing from other countries
in its climate and temperature, in its soil, in its facility for pro-
curing manures, in the character and supply of its labor, in its
commercial and political relations, must be expected to have an
agriculture in some respects peculiar to itself; and the practices
of another country can only be partially adapted to its own. At
the same time, the general principles of agricultural practice are
every where the same ; and these, with the various modifications,
which they may be expected to assume under different degrees
of civilization, or different degrees of improvement in science and
the arts, and their general and special application, cannot be too
fully discussed and illustrated. We may learn much from others,
who do things which we are never called to do ; who cultivate
crops which we never cultivate, and never can cultivate ; and we
may learn much from persons who do the same things which we
do, but in a different way from ourselves — who cultivate the same
crops, but by their own peculiar methods. We may learn much
from those who cultivate better, and from those who do not culti-
vate so well as ourselves. There is little hope in any thing, so
far as any great improvement is concerned, for the man who im-
plicitly follows any guide whatever. He must exercise his own
reason, experience, observation, and judgment, in the application
of rules which may be laid down for his direction.

The celebrated Bakewell, whose name occupies a distinguished

388 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

place in the annals of agricultural improvement, advised farmers,
who would improve their cultivation and management, '-to go
abroad and see what other people were about." Every observing
man, who acts upon this advice, will find its advantages. I have
often heard it said, and, if I thought it of any value in the case, I
should say that my own experience confirmed it, that one of the
best modes of understanding a book written in a foreign language
is to read different versions or translations of it. The different
forms of expressing the same thought adopted by different per-
sons, or the different conceptions which different minds gather
from the same expressions, whether in themselves right or wrong,
may give us a clew to the true meaning, and correct many a mis-
construction, or reveal and make light many a hidden or obscure
passage. This analogy suggests the true mode in which an in-
quisitive mind may gather instruction and knowledge from the
practices of other men.

Three things seem to me absolutely essential to human prog-
ress in any and every art, in any and every science. The first
is a profound conviction of the imperfection of all human knowl-
edge ; the second, an entire distrust of all human infallibility ; the
third, a perfect docility of mind, and a readiness to receive light
and instruction from any and every quarter where it may be
gathered, or by which it may approach us. Self-esteem, which,
when combined with a good measure of benevolence and con-
scientiousness, and so leading men to admit and respect the just
claims of others, is a useful and harmless sentiment, and prompts
to many valuable enterprises, — when found excessive, and in a
great degree unqualified, becomes an almost hopeless impedi-
ment to improvement.

I was told, before I left the country, by some American friends,
that there was nothing in the way of agriculture to be learned in
England, and that American agriculture was as improved as
English agriculture. I had been but a short time in England
before I heard, from various quarters, that in no country on the
globe had agriculture reached that degree of improvement which
it had attained in England ; and really in some cases, at public
dinners, when, in the language of modern agricultural chemistry,
the gases of the wine began to stimulate the brain, one would be
almost led to infer that agriculture itself was a recent invention
of British genius ; and England presented herself to the en-

iL REMARKS AND DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. 389

ciiamea imagination leaning upon the handles of a plough, with
piles of scientific books spread open at her feet, weeping, like the
Macedonian hero, that she had no more worlds to conquer. A
Flemish gentleman informs me that the agriculture of the Low
Countries is altogether superior to that of any other part of the
world. The Chinaman puts forth his claims to superiority, and
shows pretty conclusively how much justice he has upon his
side, when^he points to the extraordinary and unquestionable
fact, in his own country, of the largest amount of population sup-
ported upon the smallest extent of land. In the midst of all this
comes a German, of wide possessions, of long practical experience,
and of much intelligence, and says to me, " The English are the
most arrogant and conceited people under the sun ; and, in respect
to agricultural improvement, they are far inferior to the Germans,"
Now, I do not feel it necessary to buckle on my armor and
defend my good friends the English against language which, it
must be admitted, is sufficiently peremptory and harsh. Nor do
I deem it necessary to enter the lists with either of these parties,
and endeavor to force him from his position. A diseased or in-
ordinate self-esteem brooks no argument, and, in contending with
national prejudices, the result can only be as it is, to use the
rather coarse metaphor of Dr. Franklin, with a man who spits
against the wind — that he spits in his own face. The first con-
clusion to be drawn from these confident assumptions is, to dis-
trust them all ; and the second is, by looking calmly and impar-
tially at the improvements in which each claims a superiority, to
gather instruction from the results of each one's experience, and
new facilities and motives to enterprise, inquiry, and exertion.

LXIV. — THE SOIL.

Agriculture rests, first of all things, upon the nature of
the soil which is to be cultivated. The soil is the basis on
which the plant is to be supported, and the medium through
which it is to receive the food by which its life is to be sus-
tained, its growth promoted, and its progress advanced to matu-
33*

390 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

rity. Some scientific persons assert that the principal, if not the
only, use of the soil is for the support of the plant, and that the
food of the plant is derived wholly from the atmosphere. In the
heat of their imaginations, they have even asserted that a man's
fields may be enriched, or rather his growing crops may be fed, by
the exhalations from his neighbor's manure-heap in an adjoining
field. This would be very much like a man's being fed by
standing over the grating of a hotel, or a cook's shop kitchen, in
London, and inhaling the odors from the savory viands which
are there in the process of preparation. How much flesh might
be gained, and how long life might be sustained, in this way, we
shall know when the experiment is once successfully tested.
That plants receive a large proportion of their nourishment from
the air, does not admit of a doubt. But the calculations of the phil-
osophical chemists as to the amount of carbon which the atmos-
phere, taking it at its estimated height of forty-five miles, is ca-
pable of supplying, (equal, according to some calculators, to the
sum of seven tons to an acre ;) and the discussion of the great
question how the atmosphere was first supplied with this great
element in vegetable life ; and the apprehension which some
persons express, on account of the supposed actual diminution
of carbon, — though there appears to be enough, according to the
most rigid calculations, to last several thousand years longer, —
are, to say the least of them, sufficiently amusing ; but of what prac-
tical use they can be to the common farmer, is not so easy to de-
termine. If the animal creation is to be starved out some thou-
sands of years hence, it need not give the present generation,
whose average of life does not much exceed thirty-five years,
any great personal concern. It will not be a harder fate than
that which certain of what are called the higher order of animals
seem disposed to anticipate for some of their fellow-beings now
living. But, whatever may be the part which the atmosphere
performs in the food or nourishment of vegetables, it is beyond
.human power to afi'ect or control it, unless we can grow our crops
under bell-glasses or in greenhouses. The duke of Devonshire,
in his magnificent conservatory at Chatsworth, three hundred
feet long, seventy-five feet wide, and sixty-four feet in height,
heated by seven miles of pipes, and covering, with its appurte-
nances, a full acre of ground, might manage to charge the atmos-
phere in which his plants respire with gases exactly suited to

THE SOIL, ^j^^ 391

their wants, and of the most nutritious character ; but, beyond thii]
gigantic experiment, to which few can aspire, nothing certainly is
to be hoped for. The farmer's whole business, as far as cultiva-
tion is concerned, hes with the soil ; and upon the soil, and the
skill and intelligence with which he manages it, must depend
entirely his success. The notion, that plants receive a large por-
tion of their nourishment through their leaves, — although some
experiments, in my opinion not sufficiently decisive to determine
the question, seem to favor it, — appears to me about as probable as
that animals receive a large portion of their nourishment through
their lungs. If they absorb carbon and discharge oxygen by day,
they reverse the process, and absorb the oxygen of the atmos-
phere, and discharge the carbon, by night ; and what portion of
the latter in this way is assimilated, and made to form a part of
the plant, (as far as I can understand the experiments which have
been made,) does not as yet seem to be determined. I know the
confidence with which this is affirmed, and, as a philosophical
fact, I admit that it is of great interest and extremely worthy of
inquiry. A friend, a few days since, said to me that he was con-
scious, when immersed in water, of absorbing considerable water
by means of the pores of the skin, and wished me to believe it.
With great respect both for his intelligence and honesty, I still
remain skeptical. What may be the case after death, when de-
composition has commenced, is an entirely different matter. At
present, I believe that the only way in which the food, by which
the body is nourished, is received, is by the mouth ; always except-
ing the case of the soldier at Washington, so fully reported in the
medical journals, who had a hole in his stomach, by which, in
order to watch the process of digestion, food was supplied, as a
servant puts away cold meat in a cupboard. The fact is un-
doubted that plants by day absorb carbonic acid and exhale oxy-
gen, and that by night the process is reversed, and they inhale
oxygen and expel carbonic acid ; but it does not seem so well
established that in this way they obtain the carbon which is
assimilated in their organism. At least, the supposition is so
little favored by analogy, that I hope it may be lawful still to
doubt.

That the atmosphere contributes essentially to vegetation — that
plants derive much of their nourishment and substance from the
air, as I have already remarked, does not admit of a question :

392 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

but. so far as any practical use whatever is to be made of this
fact, we must consider this nourishment as received through the
roots, and consequently through the medium of the soil in which
these roots spread themselves, and the manures by which it is
enriched. The soil therefore, as the basis of all vegetation, is the
great object of the farmer's consideration.

LXV. — THEORIES OF THE OPERATION OF THE SOIL.

Soils may be considered in two points of view ; first, in ref-
erence to their intrinsic or absolute character, and next, in ref-
erence to the plants to the growth of which they are adapted.
In a preceding number, in speaking of the chemical analysis of
different soils, I think it appeared how little practical advantage
had as yet been derived from any experiments in this way
which had been made. The common properties of soil may be
distinguished by the eye or the feel with persons of experience
and practical observation ; but chemical examination may often
be of the highest importance in detecting the presence of some
mineral ingredient by which the cultivation of particular crops
may be hindered or wholly prevented. A friend, eminent for his
agricultural knowledge, pointed out to me a particular field, in
which all attempts to grow wheat had been unsuccessful, while
no such incapacity existed in the adjoining fields. In such a
case as this, one would look to the chemical analysis of the soil
to determine what ingredient was deficient, or what unfriendly
element existed or predominated in the soil to prevent the growth
of the plant ; and, this being ascertained, perhaps a remedy might
be found. But the extraordinary and minute exactness to which
the chemical analysis of the soil is sometimes carried, and upon
which many scientific persons insist, it would seem, can serve
little other purpose than that of producing despair of adapting
our cultivation to such diversified and minute variations.

What portion of the soil is abstracted for vegetable food is not
yet determined ; and it is a singular fact, that, though analyt-
ical chemistry has demonstrated that certain mineral substances

THEORIES OF THE OPERATION OF THE SOIL. 393

are taken up in the organism of plants and are essential in
composing its structure, and has proceeded to calculate the actual
amount in pounds' weight abstracted by the growth of crops
of a particular quantity, it has never yet, by an analysis of the
soil before the planting, and as exact an examination after
the crop has been removed, determined the loss in such case.
Why this has not been done, or whether it be beyond the present
power of chemical analysis to accomplish, — extraordinary as is the
degree of perfection to which the science has been advanced, —
must be left to others to answer. I am perfectly aware, of course,
that the same identical soil cannot be subjected to the process
of analysis, and then employed for the purposes of vegetation,
with a view of ascertaining what has been lost or abstracted ;
but em equal weight taken from the same place with that em-
ployed for growing the plants might be examined, and after-
wards that in which the plants were grown, so that, by this kind
of comparison, the truth might be to a degree approximated. I
am quite aware that it may be said, in this case, that the amount
of mineral ingredients found in the produce would show the
exact amount abstracted ; but it would be extremely interesting
to know, by an examination of the soil, that these results exactly
or nearly corresponded. But it is found that land left to itself
for a lengtTi of time recovers its fertility, and, after a lapse of two,
three, or more years, the same crop, which failed when grown in
immediate succession to another of the same kind, can be advan-
tageously cultivated again. It would be highly curious, then, by
retaining a portion of the land in which the plant had been
grown, and leaving it exposed to the ordinary influences of light
and heat, and rain and frost, to ascertain in what length of time
the soil would recover its exhausted elements of fertility. This
has not, within my knowledge, been attempted.

The ingenious theory of Decandolle, that the exudations or
excrementitious matter from one kind of crop unfitted the ground
for an immediate repetition of the same species of plant, seems
now to be generally abandoned. It is a well-established prin-
ciple, which practical men understand quite as well as the scien-
tific, that a rotation of crops is indispensable to a successful
agriculture ; and the theory is altogether probable that a par-
ticular crop exhausts the soil of certain elements essential to its
production, which must be somehow supplied before a second

394 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

crop of the same kind can be grown on the same land ; but it
would be extremely interesting if the fact of such exhaustion, and
its extent, could be more particularly determined by a chemical
examination of the soil which has been cultivated. The beau-
tiful theory of the great agricultural oracle of the day, that
certain mineral ingredients which are always found in the ashes
of plants, and which are carried off when these products are
removed, and, being essential to vegetation, require to be either
artificially replaced or supplied by a natural process, — and that,
the land being suffered to rest, or applied to a different production,
the ordinary influences of air and moisture in decomposing the
rocks of the soil will renew the supply of these mineral elements
which have been removed, — seems to offer the desired explana-
tion ; and the experiments to which this theory has led, and
which, under its influence, are now going on in various parts of
the country, must presently determine it, and, what is better,
show its proper application, and greatly simplify the processes of
agriculture, reducing its expenses and giving comparative cer-
tainty to its results.

The operation of air and moisture upon the soil, the effects of
light, and electricity, and frost, upon vegetation, all admit to be
powerful ; but they are as yet only partially understood, and
present subjects of the most interesting inquiry. In the progress
of science, technically so called, we have much to hope for; but
in what it has already accomplished, enough has been gained to
quicken, but very far from enough to satisfy, the appetite. One
of the most eminent agricultural chemists of the present day,
Boussingault, second perhaps to no other, has said,* '' A great
deal has been written since Bergman's time upon the chemical
composition of soils. Chemists of great talent have made many
complete analyses of soils noted for their fertility ; still, practical
agriculture has hitherto derived very slender benefits from labors
of this kind. The reason of this is very simple ; the qualities
which we esteem in a workable soil depend almost exclusively
upon the mechanical mixture of its elements ; we are much less
interested in its chemical composition than in this ; so that
simple washing, which shows the relations between the sand and
the clay, tells, of itself, much more that is important to us than

* Rural Economy, Law's edition, p. 266.

THEORIES OF THE OPERATION OF THE SOIL. 395

an elaborate chemical analysis." This is certainly a great con-
fession for an eminent chemist to make.

To exemplify the different results to which the most scientific
men arrive in these cases, I will refer both to Boussingault and
Von Thaer in respect to a simple point, the presence of the car-
bonate of lime in the soil as essential to the growth of a crop of
wheat, on which subject the public mind has been so long, so
generally, and so confidently made up.

Von Thaer says,* " The richest argillaceous soil that I ever
analyzed, the fertility of which was regarded as of the very richest
quality, was taken from the right bank of the Elbe, some few
miles from its mouth ; it contained eleven and a half parts in a
hundred of humus, four and a half of lime, a great quantity of
clay, a little coarse silica, and a considerable portion of very fine
silica, which could only be separated from it by ebullition. It
certainly possessed a great degree of cohesion, but, when moder-
ately moistened, it was not very tenacious. It was made to bear
the richest crops, as cabbages, wheat, autumnal corn, beans, &c. ;
but every sixth year it was necessary to manure it thoroughly,
and to give it a fallow."

On the preceding page, he says, " The richest land I ever ana-
lyzed, and which was taken from the marshes of the Oder,
contained 19 J parts in 100 of humus, 70 of clay, a little fine
sand, and an almost imperceptible quantity of lime ; but the situ-
ation of this land was too low, and it was too damp, to admit of a
correct estimate being formed of its fertility."

Boussingault says,t " I may remark generally, that, from the
whole of the analyses of good wheat lands which have hitherto
been made, it appears that carbonate of lime enters in consid-
erable quantity into their composition ; and theory, in harmony
with practice, tends to show that it is advantageous to have this
earthy salt as a constituent in the manures which are put upon
soils that contain little or no lime."

On the next page, J he says, '• M. Berthier's analysis is still
far from proving that the presence of lime in a soil is indispen-
sable, inasmuch as beautiful wheat crops are grown in the neigh-
borhood of Lisle without lime. In proof of this fact, I shall
here cite the analysis of one of the most fertile soils in the world,

* Vol. i. pp. 355, 354. f Rural Economy, p. 294. X p. 295.

^6 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the black soil of Tchornoizem, which Mr. Murchison informs
us constitutes the superficies of the arable lands comprised
between the 54th and 57th degrees of north latitude, along the
left bank of the Volga as far as Tcheboksar, from Nijni to
Kasan, and stretching over a still more extensive district upon the
Asiatic side of the Ural Mountains. Mr. Murchison is of opinion
that this land is a submarine deposit formed by the accumulation
of sands rich in organic matters. The Tchornoizem is composed
of black particles, mixed with grains of sand ; it is the best soil
in Russia for wheat and pasturage ; a year or two of fallow will
suffice to restore it to its former fertility after it has been
exhausted by cropping ; it is never manured.
'' M. Payen found in this black and fertile soil,

'^ Organic matter, . 6.95 (containing 2.45 per cent, of azote.)
Silica, .... 71.56

11.40
5.62
0.80
1.22

Alumina,

Oxide of iron,

Lime, . . .

Magnesia, .

Alkaline chlorides, 1.21

Phosphoric acid, . a trace.

Loss, 1.24

100.00 "
It is a little remarkable, judging from the analysis here given,
that not only is the quantity of lime extremely minute, but even
the phosphates, deemed so essential and indispensable to success,
are also absent.

Such are the diversified results to which even the most scien-
tific are led ; and they are well adapted to admonish us of the
imperfection of human knowledge, and the limitation of human
powers. In Lincolnshire, where some of the best farming in
England, as is universally admitted, is to be found, on a soil
where the whole substratum was chalk, or the carbonate of lime,
and where the mould or loam was not more than three or four
inches deep, I found the farmers manuring the land, from pits
dug in the field, with the very chalk by which the whole soil
was underlaid. Upon my proposing the question to an eminent
geological professor, then with me, much interested in agricul-
ure, why this was done, he replied that the lime in the surface

THEORIES OF THE OPERATION OF THE SOIL. 397

soil had probably become exhausted by sinking down, through
its greater specific gravity; but I could not see that there could
be any difficulty in the plants reaching it, where the whole body
of lime lay within so short a distance of the surface. My own
belief is, that, in this case, its operation is chiefly mechanical,
and that its use was merely to consolidate the upper surface, and
make it more adhesive for the roots of the plant, and that any
other substance or marl, equally firm and consistent, would have
served the same end.

One of the most eminent chemists of the present day, distin-
guished for the splendor of his attainments, seems to entertain,
with no small confidence, the opinion that chemistry, including
probably electricity and galvanism, is destined to solve all the
secrets of vegetable and animal life ; that the various processes
going on in nature are mere chemical processes ; and that any
thing like a vital power above or beyond them all, and incapable
of being solved by scientific investigation, is an hypothesis
unworthy of an enlightened mind. It is certainly not for the
human mind, as yet, to say what cannot be done ; and it would
be quite premature for Science to assume that she has reached
the ultimate boundaries of investigation, as it would be impious
for her to claim the prerogatives of omniscience. But if I may
in the case adventure the remark, — admiring as much as any one
can the actual and wonderful achievements of science, — there
still remains beyond even the farthest advances an impassable
barrier, a terra incognita^ which the most adventurous have not
yet penetrated. It is easy to ascertain that certain substances
have an affinity for each other, and science, with wonderful
ingenuity, has determined the forms of combination under which
they become united. The action or force by which they are
brought together and there held may hereafter be explained, and
may be ranked under some unknown chemical force j but as yet
any attempts to define, or even conjecture, its nature, have been
wholly abortive. The simple and familiar fact, that the muscles
are obedient to the will in moving the limbs, every one admits ;
but in what this will consists, and how it is exerted, and how it
effects its purpose, seems as yet as far from being reached, as on
the day that the first child was born into the world.

We are very apt to exclaim, in the ecstasy of the Grecian phi-
losopher in the successful investigation of an interesting prob-
34

398 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

lem, '' I have found out ! I have found out ! " when, with all the
apparent and flattering loosening of the strings, the Gordian knot
remains as firm as ever. The processes of nature must be all
simple enough to the great Mind which established them, but
that is not the human mind. To compare a rushlight to the
sun would fall infinitely short of expressing the difference be-
tween them. But it is obvious that so many circumstances must
combine to accomplish even the simplest and most familiar
results in nature, that, to a finite understanding, the simplest pro-
cesses must be complicated. Any person of common observa-
tion, who will go into a meadow or pasture, and observe t-he
different varieties of plants which cover the ground, and remark
how every one preserves its own peculiar distinctive character
and form, and, though all growing upon the same soil and under
the same external influences, each one extracts for itself, and for
itself alone, that which its own peculiar character and constitu-
tion require, — and that in size, and form, and color, and odor,
and stem, and leaf, and fruit, and seed, there are essential, and
inviolable, and invariable distinctions, — and that each one appro-*
priates to itself that which is required to form the stem, and to
expand the leaves, and to throw in the coloring, and to mature
the fruit, preserving always the perfect identity of the species,
and furnishing in some cases a nutritious, and'in others a poison-
ous compound for animal life, — will, I think, be very far from
considering the phenomena of vegetable life as simple, or resol-
vable into those few chemical laws which have been established
in what must at least be still considered as only the infancy of
the science.

LXVI. A MODERN DISCOVERY.

It is lately stated, as one of the great discoveries of the age,
that an eminent agricultural chemist has invented (or rather de-
termined how they should be compounded) a variety of manures
specially adapted to the particular crop to be cultivated, furnish-
ing in exact measure and kind the food which is required. The
professed object is to supply those mineral and alkaline sub-

A MODERN DISCOVERY. 399

Stances to the soil of which it has been exhausted in the process
of cropping, and to furnish them in such form, and so combined,
as that they may be best taken up by the plant, and presented to the
plant only so gradually as the habits of the plant may require.
This eminent chemist claims, to use his own words, '-to have
found means to give to every soluble ingredient of manure, by its
combination with others, any degree of solubility without alter-
ing its effect on vegetation. I give, for instance, the alkalies in
such a state as not to be more soluble than gypsum, which, as is
well known, acts through many years, even as long as a particle
of it remains in the soil. The mixture of manures has been
adapted to the mean quantity of rain in this country, (England;)
the manure which is used in summer has a greater degree of solu-
bility than that used in winter. Experience must lead to further
results, and in future the farmer will be able to calculate the
amount of produce of his fields, if temperature, want of rain, &c.,
do not oppose the manure coming fairly into action. I must,
however, observe that the artificial manures in no way alter the
mechanical condition of the fields ; that they do not render a
heavy soil more accessible to air and moisture ; for such fields the
porous stable manure will always have its great value ; it can be
given together with the artificial manure." *

With the highest respect for this eminent man, whose scien-
tific labors have given a spur to agricultural inquiry and experi-
ment unknown in any former time, one cannot but remark the
convenient reservation afforded by the qualification " if tempera-
ture, want of rain, &c., do not oppose the manures coming fairly
into action ; " and the recommendation to apply the stable ma-
nure together with the artificial manure, and the statement, in
another place, that certain manures *^act far more favorably on the
production of grain crops, especially if they are added to the
animal excrements, and are given to the fields at the same time,"
present sagacious and certainly very safe advice. They slightly
remind one of a custom formerly prevalent in some Catholic
countries on the Continent, when, at the opening of the spring,
the priest was accustomed to go over the fields of his parishion-
ers to give them his blessing ; but when he came to fields which
were exhausted and sterile, he was very careful to add, " This
needs manure." The doctrine of the occasional and temporary

* Liebig- on Artificial Manures.

400 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

exhaustion of the soil, by the continued repetition of the same
crop, of ingredients or elements important to its growth and
maturity, certainly seems reasonable and well established ; but
the dread which seems to possess some minds of an exhaustion
which would doom the soil to perpetual barrenness, without some
extraordinary supply of the materials of which it has been de-
prived, may have more ground to rest upon, when the birds in
any country or locality are unable to find lime to form the shells
of their eggs, and animals become mere lumps of gum-elastic for
want of material to form their bones.*

There is a recuperative power in nature by which it would seem
that any soil, originally adapted to the growth of any particular
plant, by rest, or by the growth of other and different plants, be-
comes again fitted for the original cultivation. That this may
be hastened by artificial manures, there can be no doubt. That
science may at last achieve the great discovery of a way by
which the same plant may be cultivated uninterruptedly year
after year on the same soil, is certainly to be hoped for.
Whether this object is already accomplished by this distin-
guished philosopher, is now to be submitted to actual experiment
by those who can afford to purchase this artificial manure.

* The fears which seem to haunt some minds, lest, by cultivation, the exhaus-
tion of the soil should proceed so far as ultimately to put even the existence of
the human race in peril, from famine, may be useful enough in exciting men to
frugality in the saving of manures, and enterprise and industry in their applica-
tion ; but seem as little warranted as the sanguine expectations of the Millerites,
who looked for the end of the world in April, 1843, and some of whom, having
got their white robes fitted, and their wings spread, seemed to be rather out of
temper that their predictions failed, and that Heaven in its mercy granted the
" poor dogs," the unbelievers, a short reprieve. Voltaire, when admonished that
coffee was a slow poison, remarked that it must be very slow indeed, for he had
drunk it constantly for seventy years. Mr. Lyell, in his late Tour in the United
States, (which, let me remark by the way, is written in the calm spirit of a philo-
sophical observer, and does honor to his candor and sense of justice, as well as to
his scientific attainments,) is of opinion that the time occupied in the recession of
Niagara Falls from the shores of Lake Ontario, where they once were, to their
present position, could not have been less than 35,000 years ; and tliat the fossil
remains, both vegetable and animal, now found there, show that even this period,
startling as it may seem, belongs to a modern and not a primeval era. How idle
in respect to these matters, seem, then, the calculations of beings, who

are such stuff

As dreams are made of, and whose little life
Is rounded with a sleep .' "

SOILS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 401

, These compounds are advertised for sale at £10 sterling,
or $50, per ton, and a ton, it is said, will be sufficient for
manuring four acres. Some agricultural friends, who have ap-
plied them, have promised me the results of their experiments.
My readers shall have them when they are received. Such a
discovery would certainly constitute a great advance in agricul-
tural improvement. I shall not venture to predict, but patiently
wait the issue, not deeming it necessary to caution those, whose
funds are limited, against large investments. It seems, from
some examples already given, that, with time, the soil itself, by
its own inherent energies, for which we cannot be sufficiently
grateful, will recover its exhausted fertility. In the mean time,
its use is never to be abandoned ; for the improved agriculture of
modern times has certainly made one great advance in utterly
^ondemning a naked fallow, and the soil may be occupied with
^qual advantage, both to itself and its cultivators, by a succession
of tenants.

LXVII. — SOILS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The soils of Great Britain, in two or three respects, differ essen-
tially from the soils of the United States. In Great Britain, or
rather in England, — for I believe the formation does not extend
into Scotland or Ireland, — there is a vast amount of chalk, com-
ing, in some cases, directly to the surface, and turned up by the
plough ; in other cases, formed a few inches below a surface of
mould or loam, interspersed, in some cases, with an infinite
number of small or broken flint-stones. We have much cal-
careous soil in the United States, much of the primitive and
secondary limestone formation, but I know of no deposits of
chalk. I have not seen in Great Britain sChy soils of pure sand,
such as we find on Gape Cod, in Massachusetts, on the eastern
shores of New Jersey, and in the South Atlantic States. Nor do
I know in the United States of any such mountain peat, or bog,
as is to be found in parts of England, and in vast tracts of Ireland.
In the latter country there are many hills, of very considerable
elevation, and in Scotland and England likewise, covered with
34*

402 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

pure bog-peat to the depth, I have seen in some instances, of
ten or twelve feet, and holding water like a sponge. Of course,
these must have formed, in some distant period, valleys, or level
surfaces, where vast forests once stood, and, falling down, passed
into decay, succeeded by those plants which constitute the prin-
cipal substance of which these beds are composed ; and then
afterwards have been elevated above the surrounding country by
some great convulsion of nature. These hills are entirely desti-
tute of trees, and covered only with furze, or heather, or moss.
I know of no examples in the United States of deep deposits of
peat being found upon elevated summits ; but there are likewise
in Ireland, as in the United States, very extensive tracts of level
peat-bog shut in, by high grounds, saturated by water, and of
unascertained depth. There are likewise in England some
extensive peat-bog meadows, of the improvement of which I
shall presently treat ; but such tracts, within my observation, are
not common.

There are likewise in England immense extents of alluvial
soil. The valley of the Thames, for a great part of its extent, is
clearly alluvial;- so are the flat lands upon the Humber and its
various branches ; so are the immense tracts, denominated feii
lands, in Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire, and Cambridgeshire ; so is
the beautiful valley of the Trent, and the valley in which York
is situated ; so likewise is the rich White Horse Valley, as it is
termed, in the county of Berkshire. Some of these are a stiff*,
adhesive clay, of the most tenacious character ,• others a deep,
rich loam ; and some of them have been redeemed from the sea
by a process called ivarping, which I shall presently describe.
These are composed of what is here called silt, which consists
of a very fine sand, and muddy or aluminous matters, held in
suspension by the water of the tides, and brought down likewise
by the waters of rivers coming from the interior and swollen
with rains, which have swept down the cultivated hills, and
robbed them of some portion of their riches. These lands are
justly deemed some of the most fertile in the kingdom.

There are likewise extensive tracts of soil resting upon the
red sandstone, like some of the soils in New Jersey, producing
large crops of the richest herbage in pasture, and fine crops
under tillage ; but of the common granitic soils of New England
I have met with few examples. There are, however, I believe,

CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 403

extensive tracts of them, especially in the north. A geological
survey of the Island of Great Britain has been executed with
great skill, and the various geological formations distinctly indi-
cated on a map ; but such have been the extraordinary convul-
sions on the earth's surface, that the geological lines are not an
infallible guide to the character of the soil. It may be safe, in
general, to infer the character of the soil from the nature of the
rocks prevalent in any particular locality ; but the diluvial and
alluvial deposits often differ entirely from the character of the
rocks which lie beneath them. No knowledge of the geological
formation of a country, therefore, — so far as its cultivation, and
the general character of the crops to be raised, are concerned, —
will supply the place of personal observation and experience.

If the nature of the soil were the only circumstance to be
taken into consideration in determining the character of the
agriculture to which it is adapted, the mode of cultivation, and
the crops to be grown upon it, the whole subject would evidently
be greatly simplified ; but the climate, including heat and mois-
ture, and the aspect and elevation of the land, are quite as much
concerned in every question connected with this subject.

LXVIII. — CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS.

For all practical purposes, soils may be ranked under five
different heads — sandy, clayey, calcareous, peaty, and loamy.
I purposely avoid all scientific distinctions, and use such terms
as even the commonest farmer will understand. A sandy soil
is that in which sand abounds ; clayey, in which clay ; calca-
reous, in which lime in some form prevails; peaty, in which
peat ; loamy, in which a rich loam abounds. These soils are
sometimes found so combined, that it might be difficult to desig-
nate their character by any one of these general terms. In some
places, they are found in almost a pure state. In general, where
there is found in a soil 80 per cent, of sand, it must be pro-
nounced a sandy soil ; and so the clay, the peat, or the lime ; but
it is not always easy to class a soil which is of a mixed char-

404 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

acter, and say what kind of element predominates. By sight
and feeling, however, practical men are able to form an opinion
of a soil upon which it may be safe to act. Besides the principal
elements, to which I have referred, there is often found some
mineral ingredient, which may seriously affect the character of
the soil, and the degree of the presence of which can only be
determined by scientific examination. Iron, copper, or mineral
coal, is in general sufficiently indicated to the eye, or shows
itself in the water which percolates the soil. The different
forms, too, in which lime presents itself in the soil, whether
as chalk, or gypsum, or magnesian limestone, are all to be con-
sidered in determining the character of a soil.

LXIX. — PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL.

In addition to the characteristics of a soil of which I have
spoken, there are other circumstances, usually denominated the
physical properties of a soil, by which its fertiUty, or the kind
of cultivation to which it may be proper to subject it, are to be
in a great degree determined. These are its wetness or dryness,
its power to absorb or retain moisture, its consistency or friability,
and its temperature. Ail these matters are essentially connected
with the fertility of a soil, and the kind of crops to which it is
to be applied.

1. Wetness of a Soil. — Wet soils, or soils a considerable
part of the time under water, produce a coarse herbage of little
value to stock — in many cases scarcely sufficient to support life,
and rendering scarcely any nourishment. The manure of
animals fed upon the produce of such soils is comparatively
worthless. It has been found, likewise, by repeated experiments,
that water allowed to remain upon land for any length of time
is injurious to vegetation, when the rapid transition of water
over the land might be highly beneficial. An exception, of
course, is to be made where the passage of a turbid stream or
flood is arrested long enough to afford opportunity for the depo-

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL. 405

sition of the enriching matter with which its waters are charged.
The effect of too much water is to reduce the temperature of
the soil, to obstruct the access of the external air to the roots
of the plants, and, in fact, to macerate and destroy the texture of
the finest kinds of herbage. Perhaps it would be a more simple
statement, and equally just, to say that the aquatic plants are,
with some exceptions, not adapted to the nourishment of animal
life, and that those which are most suited for the food of man
or beast, are not suited to be grown under water. Water is of
great importance to their sustenance and growth. They cannot
live without it ; but they cannot live in it. As to the human
being, it may be of the highest benefit, both as an internal and
external application ; but there is soon an end to the matter when
man is plunged into water, and kept under it.

All hope of cultivation or improvement must be abandoned,
where land is under water any considerable portion of the time,
or where it is fully saturated with water, like a sponge.

2. Power to absorb Moisture in a Soil. — I may remark,
in the next place, that the fertility of a soil very greatly depends
upon the power of the soil to absorb and to retain moisture.
Some very distinguished men have maintained that the fertility
of a soil may be measured by this power, an opinion which, it
may be said, (without meaning a pun.) has much ground to rest
upon, but which cannot be admitted without considerable quali-
fications. Moisture and wetness are in this case to be carefully
distinguished. A soil consisting almost wholly of sand possesses
no retentive powers; and though of all other soils the most
absorbent, yet the water passes through it as through a sieve.
Clay, on the other hand, is extremely retentive of water, often to
the prejudice of the vegetation which grows upon it. Liebig,
in a recent treatise upon artificial manures, to which I have
already referred, seems to be of opinion that the system of drain-
age now prosecuted with so much enterprise in England may be
carried to an injurious extent, so as to induce the too rapid pas-
sage of the soluble manures which are applied, and before they
can be taken up by, or have performed their proper office to, the
growing plants. As every thing which this distinguished gen-
tleman asserts is now deemed oracular in the agricultural world,
1 will quote his observations at large.

406 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

" The reason why, in certain years, the influence of the best
and most plentiful manuring is scarcely perceptible, is that,
during the moist and rainy springs and summers, the phosphates
and other salts with the alkaline bases, as also the soluble ammo-
tiiacal salts, are entirely or partially removed. A great amount of
rain and moisture removes, in the greatest quantity, the very
substances which are most indispensable to the plants at the time
they begin to mature and form seeds. The system of draining
which of late has been so extensively followed in England
brings the land into the state of a great filter, through which the
soluble alkalies are draion off in consequence of the percolation
of rain, and it must, therefore, become more deficient in its
soluble efiicacious elements. Attentive farmers must have ob-
served that, after a certain time, the quality of the grain on land
laid dry according to this principle deteriorates ; that the produce
of grain bears no due proportion to the produce of straw."

" What is more evident, after these remarks, than that intelligent
farmers must strive to give to the soil the manuring substances
in such a state as to render possible their acting favorably on
the plants the whole time of their growth. Art must find out
the means of reducing the solubility of the manuring substances
to a certain limit, — in a word, of bringing them into the same
state in which they exist in a most fertile virgin soil, and in
which they can be best assimilated by the virgin plants."

" The attention which I have paid to this subject has been
crowned with success. I have succeeded in combining the
efficacious elements of manure in such a manner as that they
will not be washed away ; and thus their efficacy will be doubled.
Owing to this, the injurious consequences of the present system
of draining are removed ; agriculture is placed upon as certain
principles as well arranged manufactories ; and, instead of the
uncertainty of mere empiricism, the operations of agriculture
may be carried on with security ; and, in place of waiting the
results of our labors with anxiety and doubt, our minds will be
filled with patience and confidence."

Such are the brilliant visions which are held up before the
mind of the farmer ; and such is the distrust which this great
man would throw over the enterprising practice of draining. It
is not quite easy to understand how the plants are to take up
their food but in a condition of the most minute solution ; nor

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL. 40?

how, if they are dissolved, they are to be kept from being
washed away. It is not for any finite mind, m cases which
admit of any doubt, to say what is possible or what is impos-
sible ; and it would be premature to condemn that which comes
recommended upon such high authority, and is yet to be made
the subject of experiment. After the extraordinary and most
beneficial results which have been effected by the thorough
draining of all superfluous wet from the soil, the agriculturists
may, however, pursue the system with a good degree of con-
fidence, especially if a mode has been discovered of combining
the alkalies and the phosphates, that they shall not be so dis-
solved by rain and wet as to be washed away, and yet that they
shall be so dissolved that they may be taken up by the plant as
its wants may require. Within the last month of writing this,
I have seen, on a thin, dry, and light soil, in which sand
abounded, the beneficial efl'ects of thorough drainage, where, on
a field of turnips, the crop of the drained portion, with no other
difl^erence than the drainage, was evidently better, by one half,
than that on the undrained part. If it be the fact that soils of a
friable or porous nature are, in this way, liable to lose these
beneficial elements by rains and wet, it would seem extraordi-
nary that the fact had not been sooner discovered, and their
deficiency and destitution made evident. I would not express
these doubts in any captious spirit, knowing how much agricul-
ture must, in the end, owe to science, and being ready to hail
with the highest satisfaction any triumph it may achieve.

3. Consistency and Friability of Soils. — The next point
to be considered, in the character of a soil, is its consistency or
friability. A soil, if too closely packed, — which soils of almost
pure clay are liable to be, — not only forbids the passage of water,
which it holds stagnant upon its surface, but is impervious to
the roots of plants, especially of those plants which send their
roots downwards in search of nourishment. It is likewise ex-
tremely difficult to be worked in wet weather, being not easy to
move upon, adhering to the feet of the workmen and the horses,
and to the implements, and in dry weather being sunburnt and
hard, and, when turned up, remaining in large and unmanageable
clods. In the northern parts of the United States, where the
frosts are severe, plants are always liable to be thrown out, and

408 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. H'l

their roots torn asunder, by the violent disruption of the clods.
On the other hand, soils may be too fine, powdery, and friable,
being subject to be blown by the winds, being too little retentive
of moisture, and therefore liable to be severely affected by
drought, and failing to furnish a sufficiently strong hold for the
roots of those plants which spread themselves upon the surface.
A, soil neither excessively consistent and close, nor excessively
friable, is undoubtedly to be preferred. All pent-up or stagnant
water, either on the surface or within the ground, is unquestion-
ably prejudicial to a healthy vegetation ; and a freedom or porosity
of soil, s-o as to admit the free access of the air, is an important and
valuable feature. It seems to be a well-established fact, that a
newly turned up surface attracts moisture from the atmosphere :
and the more friable a soil is, the more surface it exposes to the
external air. In condensing the aqueous particles floating near the
surface, it thus procures for the plants growing upon it some of the
most important elements of vegetation. This is undoubtedly the
secret of the success in forwarding vegetation by frequent stirring
of the earth around plants even in time of drought, especially
plants with broad leaves, such as cabbages and lettuces, which,
by means of their expansive foliage, protect the earth underneath
them from the direct rays of the sun.

4. Temperature of Soils. — It is not my intention to give a
treatise on this subject, nor to extend my remarks beyond such
notices as will best explain the great improvements in cultiva-
tion, or the management of soils, which have been undertaken
and accomplished here, and which may properly be said to con-
stitute the glory of English husbandry. I proceed, then, to ob-
serve, that another important property of soils may be said to be
their temperature. This is a matter of great importance in respect
to vegetation. Heat, as well as moisture, are both equally essential
to vegetable life and growth. The temperature of a soil would
seem to be very little under human control ; yet undoubtedly
much may be done in some ways for this object. At certain
seasons of the year, on the approach of frost, vegetation is arrested,
and at all seasons, in certain altitudes, cultivation is hopeless. In
Great Britain, this limit is reckoned at fifteen hundred feet above
the level of the sea; but the cultivation of wheat cannot be rec-
ommended above six hundred feet. The main source of heat to

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SOIL. 409

the soil is the rays of the sun. Whatever may be thought of
that immense internal fire of liquid matter supposed to exist within
the centre of the globe, and occupying a large portion of it, while
we are resting only upon a thin outward crust, yet little of this
heat is felt at the surface ; and animal and vegetable life is de-
pendent upon that magnificent orb which the Creator seems to
have placed in the firmament as the emblem of his own inex-
haustible, impartial, and Avidely expansive goodness, which bids
the sleeping earth, in the spring time, arise as it were from the
dead, and put on the habiliments of vegetable splendor and
beauty, which fills the luscious vine of summer with its rich
clusters, and gilds the autumnal harvest with a beneficent and
matchless glory.

The temperature of the soil is then dependent upon external
influences, — upon the sun primarily, and the atmosphere as
affected by the heat of the sun. This temperature is, of course,
aff*ected by the condition of the soil as to wetness or dryness,
and somewhat by its inclination and aspect.

The more direct are the rays of the sun, the stronger the heat
produced by thorn ; and the lighter or brighter the surface on
which they fall, the less strongly are they absorbed, and the
more strongly reflected. In judging of the fertility of a soil,
with some persons its color is always matter of consideration ;
black soils absorbing heat much more strongly than white or
light-colored soils. A rich garden black mould is a great ab-
sorber of heat. A sandy soil, or soil composed mainly of silex,
becomes soon he^ited, first, from its dryness, the water passing
directly through it, and, second, from the smooth surface and
crystalline form of the particles of which it is composed ; the
heat is increased by being reflected from one side to the other,
as in a tin oven. The temperature of a soil is materially afl"ected
by its condition .is to moisture or dryness. This is obvious to
every one. Bir; there is another curious fact in this case, not so
generally observsd — that water is a non-conductor of heat down-
wards. It woald be difficult to make a kettle of water boil by
making a fiv.^, over it. So the sun's heat upon a wet surface is
repelled, p.ni\ not transmitted ; and while evaporation may be
going OF. \t the surface, the lower strata remain cold. The tem-
peratuix' jf a soil is materially affected by its aspect. Hence
soils ^7/ g to the south, receiving as they do the more direct
35

410 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

rays of the sun, are much warmer than those to the north, and,
in both cases, the temperature is affected by the angle of incli-
nation at which the land presents itself towards, or recedes from,
the rays of the sun; the steeper it is towards the south the
warmer — the steeper it is towards the north, for obvious reasons,
the colder the temperature. It is well known, in respect to the
tenderer fruits — such as peaches, for example — in high northern
latitudes, that the crop is generally more certain on the northern
than on the southern side of a hill, for the reason that, the frost
continuing longer and more constantly, they come into flower
at a later period, and therefore are less liable to the dangers of
being repeatedly frozen and thawed, and to be cut off by the
late frosts in the spring.^

LXX. — PEATY SOIL.

There are two other varieties of soil to which I have referred,
upon which I shall take leave to make some passing remarks.
The first is the peaty soil, which is composed wholly of vege-
table matter, and is sometimes found of a great depth. It is
evidently formed of the deposit and decay of vegetables, and in
different stages of decomposition, — some being reduced to a fine
and compact pulp, which cuts like butter, other being only par-
tially decayed, and retaining the original forms of its leaves and
stems. If vegetable matter were, as is often reckoned, the best
food of plants, it would seem as though no soil could l}e so
fertile as that of peat. This is not found to be the case, how-
ever, but for reasons not so well established as the fact. The
plants of which peat land is composed have perished under
water. It may be said, therefore, that they are rather in a state
of preservation than decay, and this is quite obvious from the
fact, that the water is required only to be drained out, or dried
up in them, and they furnish a fuel equal to wood. " From the

* "In the country in which 1 reside, it has been remarked, that those portions
of land which receive the first rays of the morning sun are more apt to suffer
from the effects of white frosts than others, because the sudden transition from
cold to heat sensibly affects delicate plants." — French Trans, of Von Thaer.

PEATY SOIL. 411

nature of its formation under the surface of water, it acquires a
portion of tannin, which has the property of preserving animal
and vegetable matter from decomposition." It may be, likewise,
that the species of plants of which, in general, these preserved
plants are composed, being of an aquatic nature, they do not
form the most suitable nourishment to plants of a different
description. I speak in this case according to the vulgar appre-
hension of the manner in which plants are fed, well knowing
that the received doctrine is, that the organic portions of plants
are obtained wholly from the atmosphere, and that the soil
supplies only their mineral ingredients. Yet it must be ad-
mitted that, in ordinary cases, the fertility of a soil essentially
corresponds to the amount of vegetable matter found in it,
whether it supplies, in any degree, the actual substance of the
plant, or, by its gradual decay, be merely the vehicle of transmit-
ting for its nourishment the gases out of which its substance is
to be composed. It is certain, however, whatever may be the
philosophical reason in the case, that pure unmanufactured peat
does not form a nourishing soil or substance for plants, other
than those to which a wet soil is particularly congenial, and that
it cannot be made so, but under a particular management, which
I shall presently describe. The vegetable matter of which peat
consists, being once thoroughly reduced, and mixed with other
substances of an alkaline character, is rendered a most enriching
manure for most kinds of land, though a much less substantial
one than is generally supposed. One of its great uses is that
of an absorbent, taking up the liquid matters which would other-
wise be lost.

Immense bogs have been redeemed, and brought into a state
of productive cultivation, in England ; and, of late, these improve-
ments have been going on with greater success than usual. In
Ireland, such improvements have proceeded to a great extent,
and the Waste-Land Improvement Company have at this time,
in one place, five thousand acres of bog in the process of im-
provement. This place I had the pleasure to visit, and shall
presently speak of what has been, and what is proposed to be,
accomplished. The peat-bog, under favorable circumstances, as
I have seen in the United States, as well as in England, may be
rendered in the highest degree productive and profitable. The
bog of salt marshes is of a different character from the fresh

412 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

water peat-bog. This, however, is composed of vegetable matter
in the main, being altogether marine plants, which have served
as a kind of net-work to collect the earthy matter brought among
them by the tide. The quantity of salt intermixed with these
deposits gives them a peculiar character. They are favorable
to the production of plants congenial to them ; but other plants
cannot be made to grow upon them until they become thoroughly
decomposed ; and, in that case, no soils yield a more luxuriant
or richer vegetation. In truth, they require to be reduced to the
state of fine mould, and the greater portion of the saltness ex-
hausted, which time itself will eifect where they are kept from
the access of the tide, in order to be in a condition favorable to
the growth of other than marine or saline plants.

LXXL — LOAMY SOILS.

Next to peaty soils, I have to speak of what are called loamy
soils. These are not very well defined. There has been much
debate as to what constitutes loam or mould ; but if it be difficult
to define it with exactness, there is no great difficulty with prac-
tical men in understanding what is intended by it. I suppose
the proper definition of mould to be decayed vegetable matter,
and of loam to be that portion of the soil in which this mould, or
decayed vegetable matter, (or humus, as it is technically called,)
is mixed up with other common mineral elements, such as sand,
clay, and lime, and in a state of fineness and equal or diffusive
commixture. I do not know that any great error would be com-
mitted by considering mould and loam as synonymous, and by
saying that mould or loam is a rich, unctuous, dark-colored mat-
ter, abounding in vegetable as well as mineral substances, found
usually on the surface of fields, especially of those which have
been cultivated, or those which are entirely in a state of nature ;
and of various depths, from inches to feet. In the rich valley of
the Mississippi, I have seen it extending to a depth of twelve and
eighteen feet, and of extraordinary richness. In cases of pure
sand 01 clay, little or nothing of this is to be found. In chalk

HUMUS, OR VEGETABLE MOULD. 413

soils, its depth is usually very small. It constitutes the rich and
fertile upper stratum of a soil which is usually cultivated by the
plough ; and it becomes gradually deepened as the land is culti-
vated and manured. The depth of this loam or mould may be
considered, in general, as the best test of the goodness of the soil,
or its productive character. I know that this is sometimes
denied. The dark-colored condition of the upper stratum is not
always an indication of mould, for occasionally there is met with
an upper stratum of deep sand, colored with some mineral sub-
stance, which is almost utterly barren, and very difficult of im-
provement ; but ordinarily, other circumstances being equal, the
surest test of the fertility of a soil is the depth of the vegetable
mould or loam on the surface.

Loamy soils receive their particular designation from the
mineral substance with which they abound ; thus we speak of
sandy loams, or clayey loams, from the predominance of either
of these substances in the soil ; and undoubtedly the richest of
all soils is that in which there is an intermixture of various
elements — some one says, where lime, clay, and sand, are mixed
in equal proportions with mould, or decayed vegetable matter ;
but it is not certain that the exact proportions are ascertained.

LXXII. — HUMUS, OR VEGETABLE MOULD.

The substance designated as vegetable mould, or humus, in
its pure or unmixed state, is not an infallible indication of the
fertility of a soil, as I have already stated in respect to peat
formations. Liebig refers to the soils in the neighborhood of
Mount Vesuvius, composed wholly of matter thrown from the
crater, as highly fertile. " The land in the vicinity of Vesuvius
may be considered as the type of a fertile soil, and its fertility is
greater or less, in different parts, according to the proportion of
clay or sand which it contains. The soil which is formed by
the disintegration of lava cannot possibly, on account of its
origin, contain the smallest trace of vegetaC^le matter ; and yet
35*

414 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

it is well known that, when the volcanic ashes have been exposed
for some time to the influence of air and moisture, a soil is grad-
ually formed in which all kinds of plants grow with the greatest
luxuriance. This fertility is owing to the alkalies which are
contained in the lava, and which, by exposure to the weather,
are rendered capable of being absorbed by plants. Thousands
of years have been necessary to convert stones and rocks into
the soil of arable land ; and thousands of years more will be
requisite for their perfect reduction — that is, for the complete
exhaustion of their alkalies."

This is a very extraordinary statement, and, without implying
any distrust of the authority on which it is made, is certainly
not consonant to general experience. General experience would
seem to show that soils without any vegetable mould are not
productive, and most practical farmers would prefer, of all others,
a soil where the vegetable matter, well compounded, existed in
abundance, forming, as it is termed, a deep and rich loam. But
it would seem that, in the case to which Liebig refers, thousands
of years are necessary to render a mass of lava fertile, and in
such a case it might be fairly presumed that some vegetable
matter might accumulate and produce the desired mixture. I
do not presume to call in question an authority so distinguished,
and for which no man has more respect than myself; but I
could wish that we had more facts in the case, or that they were
more definitely stated.

Until recently, almost all agriculturists, both the scientific and
practical, have considered the quantity of vegetable matter
contained in a soil as the test of its fertility. A prejudice so
universal, and so long established, would seem, on those grounds,
strongly entitled to respect. It has been as well understood
that vegetable matter alone, as in the case of peat, and this but
partially decomposed, was not fertile. But the opinion of the
connection of vegetable mould with fertility applied to vege-
table matter in a state of comminution and intermixture Avith
other elements of a soil, and here the fertility of the land has
been understood to bear a very close relation to its predominance
or deficiency. Peat itself, when thoroughly decomposed, has
been found a most efficient manure. The efi"ects constantly
accruing from the application of decayed vegetable matter to the

HUMUS, OR VEGETABLE MOULD. 415

soil, from the application of the dung of cattle, which is in the
main decomposed vegetable matter, and the extraordinarily
luxuriant vegetation always appearing upon dung-heaps left on
the field, or upon places where dung-heaps have been formed,
seemed to speak the same language. The supposition has been,
that this vegetable matter constituted, in fact, a part of the food
of plants, and went to assist in forming their substance.

The doctrine of Liebig denies directly the supposition that
this humus, or vegetable matter, is taken up as the food of plants,
because, where a forest grows, the vegetable matter in and upon
the soil actually increases, instead of diminishing ; but then,
although, in the case above referred to, of the volcanic soils near
Mount Vesuvius, one might be led to infer that he considered it
of no moment, yet this I think would be doing him an injustice.
He does consider the humus of the soil as furnishing, in its
decay, a necessary supply of carbonic acid to the plant in the
process of germination, though of no use after the plant gets
above ground; and he supposes that the manures of animals
fed upon the product of the land return to the land those
mineral elements which they took from it, and which are indis-
pensable to their perfect formation. This may be so ; and in
this view he does not deny the value of vegetable mould, or
humus. But certainly there was nothing improbable in the
supposition that plants might have found some portion of their
food in those decayed substances which once constituted a part
of the substance of their predecessors. Indeed, I see as yet no
sufficient grounds to conclude that their office in supplying
carbon to the growing plant ceases as soon as the plant is above
ground, and able, as he supposes, to gain its own supplies for
itself from the atmosphere. It is quite certain that the growth
of a forest would be checked, and the amount of humus in the
soil be diminished, if all the decayed leaves and limbs, which
fall from the trees, were constantly removed ; and it is as certain
that the continual cultivation of land, without supplies of manure,
exhausts its vegetable mould ; and that the application of vege-
table manures to crops in a growing state is often as efficacious
as when applied, or ploughed in, with the seed.

416 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

LXXIII. — PECULIARITIES OF SOIL.

There are some characteristics of diifereut soils which seem
to be generally admitted by practical men, but not very well
defined. Thus some soils are deemed much better than others
for the production of beef, others for that of butter, others for
that of cheese ,• and I found farmers, in some of the dairy districts,
going so far as to assert that cheese could not be made on some
soils, or rather, as I inferred from their remarks, could not be
made to so much advantage as on others. But this, it seemed to
me, could only be an indirect inference. That these products,
both in quality and quantity, depend much upon the nature of
the plants upon which the animals are fed, is an obvious fact ;
and that some soils may be more favorable than others to the
production of such kinds of plants as are particularly suited to
particular uses or objects, I could easily understand ; but any
other connection of the products with the nature of the soil
seemed to me far from being established. To speak, therefore,
of a cheesy soil, as I heard in some dairy districts, seemed to
me of questionable propriety, as, under an intelligent agriculture,
I could hardly doubt that a different species of herbage might be
cultivated upon the same soil which now produced that which
was unfavorable.

I have given these brief notices of the general character of
soils in England, of which the counterparts may be found in the
United States. I have given them in terms which will, I think,
be understood by the commonest farmer. I could without any
difficulty have borrowed learning enough for the occasion, and
have talked philosophically in the case ; but in all I have read on
the subject, I have as yet discovered no practical advantage to the
general mass of readers, from so viewing it, beyond what is
secured by more simple statements. The importance of the
nature of the soil to the husbandman, who spends his labor upon
it, is very great. Some of the mineral ingredients, which are
found in the soil, are indispensable to vegetation. Those which
are found in the plants can only be received from the soil ; but
it is a singular fact that, in case of a deficiency, one may some-
times be substituted for another. '' Potash is not the only sub-

APPLICATION OF CHEMISTRY TO AGRICULTURE. 417

Stance necessary for the existence of most plants ; indeed, it has
been already shown that the potash may be replaced, in many
cases, by soda, magnesia, or lime."*

LXXIV. — APPLICATION OF CHEMISTRY TO AGRI-
CULTURE.

It must not be inferred, from any remark which has fallen from
me, that I overlook the value of chemical science and inquiry in
respect to agriculture. An inference of that nature would do me
a great injustice. Our obligations in this matter are already very
great, and more and wider triumphs are to be looked for. But two
or three things, in this case, appear to me deserving of considera-
tion, and likely to moderate an excessive confidence. The first
is, that vegetation, and consequently cultivation, in the most scien-
tific sense of the term, is not so simple a matter as some persons
would have us imagine. How, for example, particular plants from
the same soil are capable of extracting entirely difierent sub-
stances, according to their own peculiar and individual charac-
ters, each one preserving its own identity in form, taste, odor,
color, fruit, and use, is not yet explained. The' explanation is not
even approached. In the second place, it seems assuming quite
too much to suppose that all the processes of vegetation are to be
resolved into mere chemical processes — understanding by chem-
ical processes those laws or operations of which chemistry has
attained a knowledge. The remarks which I have just made
seem to demonstrate this. In the next place, the knowledge
which chemistry has already furnished, either of the nature of
soils or manures, or of the phenomena of vegetation, has not as
yet been of so practical a character as is to be hoped for ; and it
would seem extremely difficult, not to say impossible, to meet on
any extended scale the diversities of soil which it has illustrated..
The newly-invented manure, to which I have above referred^
should it be found to equal what it seems to promise, may
fully meet this objection, and thus effect an important stride-
in agricultural improvement.

* Liebiof.

4tS EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

LXXV. — THEORY OF AGRICULTURE.

The present theory of agriculture assumes that plants consist
of two species of matter — vegetable and mineral ; that the former
is derived wholly from water and the air, and the latter from the
soil. The plant is not perfected without the conjoint aid of
both. The former consists of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and
nitrogen ; and the latter of at least eight different kinds of mineral
substances. The latter are found in the ashes of plants, and are
indestructible. They consist usually of four acids and four
alkalies ; — silicic acid, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, and mu-
riatic acid ; and, of the alkalies, potash, soda, lime, and magnesia.
Other mineral substances are found ; but these which I have
enumerated are the principal. Boussingault thus designates
them : " The residue left by the combustion is commonly com-
posed of salts ; alkaline chlorides, with bases of potash and soda ;
earthy and metallic phosphates ; caustic or carbonated lime and
magnesia ; silica ; and oxides of iron and of manganese. Several
other substances are also met with there, but in quantities so
small that they may be neglected." *

The mineral substances found in the ashes of plants may be
supplied by art ; yet whether to be applied to the land in a direct
and simple, or in a combined or mixed form, and, if so, how com-
bined and mixed, are points not as yet determined. It is certain
that there is only one form in which they can be taken up by
the plants, and that is, in as extreme a degree of solubility as
they are capable of being reduced to. Whether they shall be so
reduced before they are applied, — whether, for example, they shall
be presented to the plants in a solid or a liquid form, or whether
they shall be by any art prepared, or it shall be left to the vital
operations of the plant to prepare them, — are points yet to be
determined. These questions will naturally present themselves
again when the subject of manures is considered.

In respect to the organic parts of vegetables, — those which form
their largest portion, and consisting of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon,
and nitrogen, — the two former are understood to be supplied by
water, the carbon by the atmosphere, and the nitrogen, consti-

* Boussingault, p. 54.

THEORY OF AGRICULTURE. 419

tilting the nutritious part of the vegetable, from ammonia, which
is itself a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen, and supplied
partially by rain, by the decay or putrefaction of animal matter,
and in the excrements of animals. In the escape of ammonia
from our dung heaps, it is supposed a great portion of their most
valuable material passes off j and attempts have been made to fix
this volatile substance, so as to secure it for the service of the
plants, to be taken up by them as required. For this purpose,
gypsum has been strongly recommended to be sprinkled in
stables, and to be spread upon manure heaps. It is quite doubtful
whether its effect has met the sanguine expectations which were
formed of it. In the report given by Professor Henslow, which
he has been kind enough to send me, of fifteen attempts to fix
ammonia by the application of gypsum to dung, the result seems
to leave the question wholly undetermined. His conclusions
from these experiments are given in this result: *'It will be
seen that, with turnips, the effect has been uniformly in favor of
gypsumed dung. With the straw of wheat, the result is twice
in favor of the gypsumed dung, once against it, and in one case
there is no difference. In respect to the wheat itself, it is six
times in favor of the gypsumed dung, and six times against it.
The practical inference to be deduced from this part of the
inquiry favors the idea of using gypsumed dung for a turnip
crop, but shows that it produces no better effect than ungyp-
sumed dung upon a wheat crop." Such results certainly lead
to no very strong conclusions. But the beneficial effects of
covering manure heaps with mould, in order, in the first place, to
prevent the escape of the volatile parts of the manure, and, in
the next place, to absorb the gases, — so that the soil used for a
covering becomes itself a valuable manure, — are points long ago
determined by the practice of many enlightened farmers.

Whatever may be the success or the ill success of dealing
with the mineral qualities of the soil, or with those subtile gases
of which vegetables are composed, there are processes of a prac-
tical nature to be applied, the propriety and utility of which are
established. The practice of agriculture is still very much in
advance of the theory of agriculture. I do not undervalue
scientific agriculture. Science may do as much for agriculture
as for any other department of business, or art, or health, or
comfort, or enjoyment. In no department is success more

420 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

desirable, or would it prove more extensively beneficial. The
human mind finds the greatest of all delights in the acquisition
of knowledge, and is impelled by an instinctive impulse "to
search into the causes of things." A man, if familiar with the
place and route, may find his way, if the lamps were not lighted,
even of a dark night, in the labyrinthine streets of London ; but
he must proceed slowly and doubtingly, and may tumble into
an open sewer, or run against a post, or encounter other obstruc-
tions more yielding than the post, yet twice as dangerous. But
since science has kindled the beautiful and far-reaching silver
flame of gas, and converted night into day, he walks in security
and confidence ; he escapes, if he has wisdom so to choose,
all perilous obstructions ; and he reaches his destination by the
most direct, the most expeditious, and a certain route.

LXXVI. — ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS

The soil must be the great object of the farmer's attention ;
.and here he may accomplish much. I mean much relatively,
and with a due consideration of the limitations by whicth human
power is always hemmed in. Light and heat, sunshine and
rain, wind and frost, and many other influences most important
to vegetation, of which as yet the human imagination has not, in
all probability, taken cognizance or conceived, are wholly beyond
his control or dictate. Arrogant and presumptuous as he is, the
earth could not contain him, if he were not chained down by
the fact of his absolute dependence. There is a beautiful moral
in the mythological fable of Jove's having given the reins to
Phaeton, and the disastrous consequences which followed. But
the ameliorations which an improved agriculture may eff'ect are
great, and sufficiently encouraging to the loftiest self-esteem.
A wet soil may be drained ; a dry soil may be irrigated. A
barren soil may be enriched ; a rich soil may be made more
fertile and productive. A thin soil may be deepened ; a heavy
soil may be made lighter ; a loose soil may be made more com-
pact. A bleak soil may be sheltered ; and an unfavorable aspect

PLOUGHING. 421

may be alleviated. Waste lands may be converted into fertile
fields, and a growth of nauseous or unnutritious weeds sup-
planted by bending sheaves of golden grain. Rivers may be
diverted from their tortuous courses, now rendering vast tracts
of land inaccessible, and made to flow in straight lines, leaving
their recovered banks open to the plough ; and immense extents
of the richest alluvial lands may be rescued from the sea — the
feeble arm of human art and industry drive back the spoiler, and
stay even his proudest waves. All these noble triumphs English
agriculture has achieved ; and I shall talie pains to lay them
before my readers. What I propose to do then further, in this
number, is, to detail their various improvements, and then to
speak of the adaptation of particular soils to those purposes for
which experience has shown them best fitted.

LXXVII. — PLOUGHING.

The first and most general operation, to which the soil is sub-
jected, is ploughing. Man must have been early taught that, in
order to render the earth productive, it must be tilled ; and it
would be extremely curious, if the materials of such history
were attainable, to trace the progress of improvement from the
first instrument employed to stir the earth to the present beautiful
and mgenious implement, by which acres, and miles of acres, are
at pleasure inverted. It would be interesting to know how the
North xA.merican Indians cultivated their corn (maize) when the
country was discovered ; tradition has not preserved the traces
of the method which they adopted. Their implements must
have been few, and of the most simple description. The smooth
stones, some of which I have myself found in places known as
their favorite haunts, of a wedge shape, may have been used for
digging the ground for the deposit of the seed, and perhaps for
keeping the soil loose round the plants : near the sea-shore a
clam-shell may have answered the same purpose. Of weeds,
probably they had few to contend with, as the land was new and
not surcharged with manure, of which perhaps they did not know
36

422

EUROPEAN AGRlCLLTLTiE.

the use, since, within the memory of persons now living, farmers
in the vicinity of Albany were accustomed to cart the manure
from their barns on to the Hudson when frozen, and in the
neighborhood of Montreal on to the St. Lawrence, that, at the
breaking of the ice in the spring, it might be carried away by the
stream. Even much more recently, in some parts of the country,
farmers, when they have found the piles of manure round their
barns accumulated to an inconvenient size, have preferred to
desert them, and build other barns, rather than be at the trouble
and expense of removing these heaps. One is often amused at
hearing people boast of '' the wisdom of our ancestors ; " and, to
be consistent, we should expect to see such persons adjusting the
equilibrium of a bag of grain upon the horse's back by putting
the corn in one end and a stone in the other.

When I come to treat of the implements of husbandry, I shall
describe an English plough ; at present I have to deal only with
the operation itself.

I think I may say that, in England and Scotland, the art of
ploughing has reached perfection, and that it is unrivalled and
unsurpassable. This at least is my opinion, which must be taken
at what it is worth. I cannot conceive how it can be improved ;
and this not in rare instances, and at ploughing matches, but I
may say universally. In some cases, the work has been done
better than in others ; but I have not seen an example of bad
ploughing in the country ; I have not seen one which, in the
United States, would not be pronounced superior.

LXXVIII. -- THE ENGLISH CHARACTER — A DIGRESSION.

It may be thought a little out of the way, but I will take this
occasion to say, that the English know what right lines are. It
is but just to say of them that of which I am convinced, after a
familiar and close observation, — that they are an upright people ;
that they have, with as few exceptions as are ordinarily to be
expected in a commercial community, none of that slyness
which some men chuckle over as a commendable quality, but

THE PERFECTION OF PLOUGHING. 423

which, though it may mount a fine beaver and wear the best
Saxony broadcloth, is only a soft name for villany ; that their
habits, like their ploughing, are direct and straight-forward, and
are opposed to all balks and all tortuous windings. I thank
God that the blood of such a people flows in my veins ; for I
look upon honesty as the true nobility of man, and the only aris-
tocracy to which my heart burns to pay always its spontaneous
and unclaimed homage. "An honest man is the noblest work of
God ; " a passage, of which a facetious divine, a man as true as
he was witty, once said, "If it were not in the Scriptures, it
ought to be.'*

LXXIX. — THE PERFECTION OF PLOUGHING.

The perfection of any art consists in its accomplishment of its
particular object in the best manner, and by the simplest means.
The perfection of ploughing consists in its performing its work
exactly as you wish or require to have it done. You wish
the surface soil of your field completely inverted. You wish
this to be done at a particular depth, and the furrow-slice to be
cut in perfectly direct lines. You desire it to be of a certain
width and certain thickness, and the same in every part of the
field. You require that it should be raised without breaking, and
either laid completely flat upon its back, or made to recline upon
its neighbor at a particular angle of inclination ; and you wish it
so done that, if it be greensward, every portion of the herbage
shall be completely shut in, and not a spire shall dare show its
head between the furrows, any more than a straggling French-
man on the field after the battle of Waterloo. And you want
this performed at the rate of about an acre a day of eight hours'
work, with your team moving at the rate of two miles or two
miles and a quarter per hour, so that they may work comfortably
every day in the week. You desire your ploughman to follow
his team, and execute his part with entire attention to what he is
about, without perturbation, without sweating, without fretting,
and especially without swearing, which some men whom I have
known, both at ploughing matches and in their own fields, have

424 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

deemed indispensable to the proper performance of their worK ;
in which matter I beg leave to say I always entirely differed from
them in opinion, having never yet discovered any reason
why men, who assume to belong to the order of rational animals,
should, by their passion and the indecency and profaneness of
their language, degrade themselves below the brute animals
which they undertake to govern. Now, in all the particulars
which I have pointed out, the ploughing here will be done exactly
according to a prescribed form. I ssfid, in my first report, that
the ploughed land resembled a ruffle just come from under the
crimping iron. The representation is perfect.

LXXX. — PLOUGHING MATCH AT SAFFRON WALDEN.

I attended, among several others, a ploughing match at Saffron
Walden, where there were at least ten competitors, with lots of
an eighth of an acre ; and, as well as I can remember, the
furrow-slices were to be seven inches in width and five inches
in depth. It was not a match against time, although the work
was required to be completed within a certain time. I do not
misstate when I say that I do not believe there was the variation
of an inch, in the whole field, in the width or depth of the
furrow, or a single crooked line, or even one solitary balk.
The fields or lands were struck out before beginning. Two
horses composed a team, and the ploughman was his own driver.
Some boys under eighteen were allowed to enter as competitors
for boys' premiums. I went over the field in an ecstasy of
admiration at its uniformity, neatness, exactness, and beauty.

There were some peculiar regulations adopted on this occasion,
to which I may properly refer. Ploughmen who had obtained a
first-prize premium on any former occasion, for ploughing, were
disqualified, by the rules of the society, from entering into the
general competition. But, with a view " of giving such merito-
rious ploughmen another opportunity of showing that their skill
and energies remain unimpaired," a special competition was
offered to them, and seven prizes . were proposed — the first

PLOUGHING MATCH AT SAFFRON WALDEN. 425

amounting, in money and clothing, to £8 10s., or about $43, the
lowest to £2 10s., or more than $12, and the unsuccessful com-
petitors, to the number of seven, were to receive £1 each.
This was putting them through a fine sieve, so as to come at
the best quality. A premium of five guineas was likewise
ofiered to the farmer who had employed the greatest number
of ploughboys on his occupation, in proportion to acreage, for
the preceding year, provided one of the boys in his employ
should have obtained a prize for ploughing at the Annual Meet-
ing. Such a premium as this seemed well suited to induce the
farmers to give particular attention to the improvement of the
lads in their service. Two circumstances contribute strongly to
the perfecting of this most essential art. The first is, that boys
are trained to it as early as they can possibly be employed with
safety. The second is, the division of labor which generally
prevails, so that individuals devote themselves, to a degree
exclusively, to one particular object ; a ploughman is constantly
employed at the plough, and a herdsman in the pastures, or stalls.

There are two points, which have seemed to me always par-
ticularly to test the skill of a ploughman. The one is the mode
in which he lays out his land, and strikes the first furrow ; and
the second, that in which he finishes the last furrow. In the
case to which I have referred, the last land remained, at the close,
a single unbroken strip of equal width, from one end of the field
to the other, lying like a stretched-out ribbon, which, as the
ploughman came down the course, he turned without breaking,
and with perfect precision, from one end to the other. In this
instance, the horses seemed almost as well trained as the driver,
and inspired with an equal emulation. The finishing of the
ends of the lands is always a work of great care ; they are cross-
ploughed, and the whole aff*air is completed with an equal neat-
ness throughout.

I have seen very good ploughing in the United States, and
perhaps in no department of agriculture has greater improvement
taken place than in ploughing, and in the construction of
ploughs. Formerly, nothing could be more slovenly executed.
A straight line was not to be seen. The land was not half
turned over. The furrows were of such depth or thickness as
they might chance to be ; and the plough itself, when in action,
resembled very much a live animal, with a sort of grasshopper
36*

426 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

motion, which one man at the stilts, and often two men riding
upon the beam, were struggling to keep down, and, like police
officers, to prevent its escape. A man was always required, like-
wise, with a hoe, to assist in turning the furrow-slice at the end
of the share, or in the discouraging duty of raising again, and
turning over by main force, those furrow-slices which, notwith-
standing they had been raised by the plough, like a reluctant
boy pulled out of bed in the morning, with his eyes half open,
insist upon getting back again as soon as the master's back is
turned. 1 remember many a thump on the breast from the
handles of the plough, and many a sudden jerk, which has
thrown me upon the furrow, when I have been riding on the
beam, and many a splitting of a beam, and many a breaking of
a share ; and have looked back with dismay upon a long furrow-
slice obstinately turning back into the furrow, after I had sup-
posed it securely laid over. Somewhat of this experience may
have been necessary, to enable me to estimate properly the excel-
lence of English ploughing, when the implement seemed to
move through the ground with as much quietness, directness, ease,
— I may almost add grace, — as a boat through the water, with
its sails spread to a favoring breeze, and an accomplished steers-
man at the helm. Some allowance is to be made for the con-
dition of our fields, compared with the English fields. Here
there are no stumps of trees, and no stones, to impede or derange
the plough. With us, alas ! in many cases, the stumps and stones
remain in resolute opposition, to dispute our entrance, and, like
bad tenants, can be dispossessed only by main force.

I know that some may ask, What is the use of doing things
with so much care ? I answer, in particular, that, the field being
more thoroughly worked, the advantages to the crops, both in the
suppression of weeds and in furnishing a more favorable bed for
the extension of the roots of the plants, and its after cultivation
and management, are quite sufficient to recommend it. But I
answer, in general, that the labor in the end is less, and more easy,
in doing things well and regularly than in half doing them, and
that in a slovenly manner ; and that habits of order, neatness,
and regularity, in one branch of labor, lead to the same habits in
other branches, and are of eminent advantage ; and, according
to an excellent proverb, a thing which is well done is twice
done.

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 427

LXXXI. — GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING.

The depth of ploughing, the width of the furrow-slice, the
number of ploughings which should be given to land, and the
season at which it should be executed, depend on such a variety
of circumstances, that it would be difficult to prescribe any uni-
versal rules.

The objects of ploughing are, to loosen the soil, and to render
it permeable to the roots of plants, that they may extend them-
selves for nourishment and support ; to make it accessible to the
air and rain, from which, according to modern theories, it gathers
both oxygen and ammonia, for the food of plants ; and, lastly, to
give an opportunity of incorporating manures with the soil, for
their support and growth. It has another object, of course,
where greensward is turned over, which is, to bury the herbage
then on the ground, and substitute other plants.

The depth of ploughing varies in different soils, and for dif-
ferent purposes. The average depth may be considered as five
inches, but no direction on this subject will be found universally
applicable. Three of the most eminent practical farmers with
whom I am acquainted here plough not more than three inches ;
but the surface mould, in these cases, is very thin, and the under-
stratum is a cold, clammy chalk. One farmer, whose cultivation
ic successful, and who cultivates '• a light, poor, thin, moory
soil, with a subsoil of either blue or white clay, peat, or white
gravel," carefully avoids breaking up the cold subsoil, and cuts
up the sward with a breast-plough, which is a kind of paring
spade ; and, after burning the turf, and spreading the ashes with
a due application of artificial manure, consisting of equal quan-
tities of lime, wood and turf ashes, at the rate of sixty bushels
lo the acre, and sowing turnip-seed, cultivates between the rows
with a single horse-plough, which cannot, of course, take a deep
furrow. The second year of the course, when he sows wheat,
he ploughs it very lightly with a horse, after having first breast-
ploughed it, so as thoroughly to cover in the manure which the
sheep who have been folded upon the land have left upon it.
The third year it is breast-ploughed, sown in turnips, and culti-
vated between the rows with a horse, as before described. The

428 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

fourth year it is simply breast-ploughed for barley. The fifth
and sixth years it is in grass. Thus, in the whole course of a
six years' rotation, this land is only ploughed four times by men,
and three times with a single horse-plough. Another farmer in
the same neighborhood says that, upon this description of land,
any other than the breast-plough would not leave the ground suf-
ficiently firm for wheat. Mr. Pusey, M. P., whose excellently
managed farm I have had the pleasure of repeatedly going over,
in remarking on the above accounts, says, " Occupying similar
land, I may add that I never plough it deeply, but I repent of
so doing ; and am falling more and more each year, by the
advice of neighboring farmers, into the use of the breast-plough,
instead of the horse-plough. This manual labor is quite as
cheap, for a good workman can pare such hollow tender land at
4 s., or even at 3 s. per acre. It is possible that the drought of
our climate in Gloucestershire and Berkshire may be one cause
of the success of this practice in those counties, and that the
same soil, if transferred to Westmoreland, would require deeper
working. Therefore, without recommending shallow cultiva-
tion in districts where deep ploughing has been hitherto prac-
tised, I would merely warn beginners against plunging recklessly
into the subsoil." These examples are certainly well worth
considering. I do not understand that these practices at all mil-
itate against the doctrine of the advantages to be obtained from
subsoiling. In cases where subsoiling and thorough draining
are not applied, this shallow ploughing may be preferred, as the
mingling of the cold and inert subsoil with so thin a surface of
vegetable mould would doubtless be prejudicial, at least for a
length of time ; but the improvement of such land by a system
of thorough draining and subsoiling is another matter, to which
I shall refer in its proper place. There are considerable tracts
of this moorish land — that is, a thin, black, coarse peat, not half
decomposed, resting upon a cold and hard pan of gravel or
clay, or what some persons have mistaken for marl, in Massachu-
setts, and other parts of the country, the improvement of which,
so far as my experience has gone, has been almost hopeless.

While upon this subject, I may as well give the results of the
management of the first farmer referred to, and therefore subjoin
them. " By this mode of management, an economical system
is followed up through the whole course, by being nearly all

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 429

performed by manual labor, by which means a remuneratmg
crop will be produced, and the land always kept firm, which is
the only difficulty to be overcome on this description of soil.
The farm, when first taken by me, was wet ; as much out of con-
dition, and as light and weak, as it well could be — parts of it
being merely held together by the roots of grass and weeds,
natural to moory land, but which must be very prejudicial to the
production of those crops that are to benefit the farmer. I com-
menced by draining, and then pursued the foregoing system of
cultivation, by which my most sanguine expectations have been
realized, though I was told that the land would be too light and
too poor to plant wheat after turnips. I have never found any
ill effects from paring and burning, experience having taught me
that it produces a manure particularly beneficial to the growth
of turnips ; thereby enabling me to firm the land by sheep." *
This farmer speaks of performing a great portion of his work
with manual labor. I think some part of it might rather be
called pedestrian than manual ; for, if he ploughs his land by
men, he treads it out by women. He says, " Before the horse-
roll can be used, I send women to tread it, and, if occasion re-
quire, tread it again ; after which, I have it twice hoed. I have
found more benefit from this mode of pressing than any other,
being done at a time when wheat, on this description of soil, re-
quires assistance." f

I have found other farmers, who, with their wheat crops on
light, chalky soils, ploughed in a very shallow manner, and then
were accustomed to tread their land with sheep, in order to give
the wheat plant a firmer footing ; as, otherwise, in a very light
soil, it might be thrown out by the wind. These cases, how-

* Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. vi. p. 1.

f This is a use to which women have not as yet been put in our " half-civil-
ized " country. 1 dare say, however, many persons think that it is very well to
make such clever animals serviceable ; their " keep," agriculturally speaking, is
somewhat expensive ; and, as they have their share in the pleasure of consuming,
they may as well take their part in the labor of producing. Whatever any persons
may think, however, I will say no such uncivil thing ; but, since the celebrated
danseuse, Fanny Ellsler, returned from the United States, after a two years' tour,
with a gain of twenty thousand pounds, or one hundred thousand dollars, it cannot
be denied that the Americans are quite willing to pay for the use of women's
feet — in a way, we admit, more elegant, tasteful, and classical, but certainly not
more respectable, and not half as useful, as that of treading the wheat-ground.

43d EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ever, must all be deemed exceptions ; and the general rule in
England, where the soil admits of it, and manure is abundant, is
that of rather deep ploughing. Five or six inches is the average
depth ; in many cases, much more than this. The loam, or
vegetable mould, is, without question, the great source or me-
dium of nourishment to the plants. Be it more or less deep, it
is always safe to go to the bottom of this, and, by gradually
loosening a portion of the subsoil, or lower stratum, and incor
porating it with the mould, and rendering it accessible to the
air and light, it acquires the nature of mould, and the whole
arable surface is enriched. The deeper the soil, the more
deeply the roots are permitted to descend, and the more widely
they are enabled to spread themselves, — unless they penetrate a
substratum unhealthy from wet or the too great prevalence of
some unfavorable mineral substance, — so much the more luxu-
riant and productive is the vegetation likely to prove. The
depth to which the roots of plants will go down in search of
food or moisture, where the soil is in a condition to be pene-
trated by them, is much greater than a superficial observation
would induce us to suppose. It is confidently asserted that the
roots of some plants — such, for example, as lucern and sainfoin —
go to a depth of fifteen, twenty, and even thirty feet. This
seems scarcely credible. Red clover is known to extend its
roots to the depth of three feet, and wheat to the depth of two
or three feet, where the condition of the soil is favorable to their
extension. Von Thaer, the distinguished agriculturist, says,
" he has pulled carrots two and a half feet long, the tap-root of
which was probably another foot in length." The tap-root of a
Swedish turnip has been known to extend thirty-nine inches ;
the roots of Indian corn full six feet. These statements may
appear extraordinary ; but, by the free and loose texture of the
soil, it is obvious a good husbandman will give every opportunity
for the roots and their extremely fine fibres to extend themselves
as far as their instincts may prompt them.

Next to the depth of ploughing, the width of the furrow-slice
is to be considered. This, of course, depends mainly upon the
construction of the plough. A plough with a wide sole or base,
in the hands of a skilful ploughman, may be made to cut a nar-
row furrow-slice ; but a narrow-soled plough cannot be made to
cut a wide furrow-slice, though it may sometimes appear to do

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 431

SO by leaving a part of the ground unturned, which the furrow-
slice is made to cover. Where, as in old ploughed land, the
object is solely to leave the ground loose and light, it is advisa-
ble to take a very narrow furrow. Where, otherwise, the object
is to move greensward or stubble ground, and to cover in the
vegetable matter, such a width of furrow must be taken as will
cause the slice, as it is raised by the share, to turn over easily.
This width may generally be reckoned at nearly twice the
depth, though less will answer ; but a furrow-slice of equal sides
would not turn, but stand on end. The manner in which the
furrow-slice will be turned depends somewhat upon the form of
the mould-board, but more, in general, upon the skill of the
ploughman. Two modes are adopted ; the one to lay the fur-
row-slice entirely flat, shutting its edge exactly in by the edge of
its neighbor ; the other, to lay it at an inclination of 45 degrees,
lapping the one upon the other. The former mode, where land
is to be sown with grass-seed, and, as the phrase is with us, laid
down, is, undoubtedly, to be preferred. Perhaps, in any case
where a grain crop is to be cultivated, it should be preferred,
as its beneficial effects have been well tested in the United
States. In the United States, however, from a higher temper-
ature, the vegetable matter thus pressed down may be expected;
sooner to be decomposed, and thus sooner furnish a pabulum for
the growing plants, than in a climate where, in a much lower
and more even temperature, the decomposition cannot be ex-
pected to take place so rapidly. In other cases, and for vege-
table crops, — I mean in contradistinction to grain crops, — a
different mode of ploughing, that is, laying the furrow-slices one
upon the other at an angle of 45 degrees, or half turned over,
would leave the ground more loose, as well as expose a larger
surface of the inverted soil to be enriched by the air. In this
way, by harrowing and rolling, the vegetable matter will be
completely buried. This mode of ploughing is evidently pre-
ferred throughout the country, as I have seldom seen the sward
completely inverted and laid flat, though I know the practice
prevails in some counties. To avoid having any of the grass
protrude itself between the furrow-slices, they have here, what
I have never seen in the United States, a skim-colter, that is,
a miniature ploughshare, or blade, placed under the beam, and

43S 'EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

SO adjusted as to cut an edge from the furrow-slice as it is turned
over ; this piece, so cut off, at once dropping down, and being
buried under the furrow-slice as it goes over. The consequence
is, that there is no grass on the edge of the furrow-slice to show
itself, and great neatness is therefore given to the whole work.
There is another mode of ploughing, which I have sometimes
seen practised, by which the furrow-slice is not merely lifted,
but may be said to be rolled over, or twisted in a sort of bag-
fashion. This seemed to me to be principally owing to the
concave form of the mould-board, for no workman could have
done it with a straight or convex form of mould-board. It
Avould seem to render the soil more friable and loose ; but every
departure from a straight line, or wedge form of the mould-board,
evidently much increases the draught. The skim-colter, to
which I have referred above, somewhat increases the draught,
but in a very small degree.

The great object of the English farmers, in ploughing, seems to
be the thorough pulverization of the soil ; and they are therefore
very seldom satisfied with one ploughing, but their land is re-
peatedly ploughed, scarified, and harrowed. They cross-plough
their land, and think it desirable to reduce the sward land to a
fine tilth, tearing it to pieces, and bringing all the grass, and roots,
and rubbish, to the surface, that they may be raked up and burned,
or carried to the manure heaps. The propriety of this practice
is, in my mind, quite questionable. It would seem to me much
better to turn the sward completely over, and then cultivate on
the top of it, without disturbing the grass surface, leaving that,
when thus turned over, to a gradual decomposition, that it might
in this way supply food to the growing crop, whereas the ab-
straction of so much vegetable matter must greatly diminish the
resources of the soil. Where, however, the field is infested with
twitch grass, (triticum repens,) — in v/hich, indeed, many of the
fields in England abound to a most extraordinary extent, — there
may be no getting rid of it but by actually loosening and tearing
it out ; but where it is a mere clover ley, or an old grass pasture
or meadow, the taking out and removing the vegetable matter
seems to be a serious waste. Even the twitch might be managed
where the crop is to be hoed, though, in grain crops, its presence
is extremely prejudicial.

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 4^^

Having thus described the general style of ploughing, as it pre-
vails in England, I come to speak of particular processes which
are occasionally practised.

1. Lapping in Ploughing. — A field of greensward, or stub-
ble, is often, in the autumn, only half ploughed ; that is, a furrow-
slice is turned over directly upon an unploughed surface ; and
then another furrow is turned upon another unploughed surface,
until the whole field, being thus ploughed, presents a succession
of open furrows and of lapped lands, and only half of it is in
fact stirred. In the spring, these intermediate places are broken
up by the process being directly reversed. Some advantage
may come, in this case, from the decomposition or rotting of the
vegetable matter placed between the two surfaces thus brought
together, although this can hardly be expected to proceed at a
rapid rate, if at all, during the winter season, and the furrows
may serve as drains to carry oflf the water from the land ; but, ex-
cepting the saving in time by half doing instead of wholly doing
the work, 1 see no advantage in this process over the regular
mode of ploughing the whole field at once. It is advised, how-
ever, in performing this operation, that the part of the sward
which is laid over should be wider than that upon which it is
laid, that, by its weight, it may be broken, and the whole ren-
dered more friable.*

2. Ribbing, or Raftering. — There is another mode of
ploughing called ribbing, or raftering, differing scarcely from
the method just described, excepting that two furrow-slices are
laid upon one, instead of one upon one. In this case, an open
furrow and an alternate ridge present themselves over the whole
field ; the furrows serve to keep the land from stagnant water,
and the turned-up land is exposed to the ameliorating processes of

* « When land has become very full of twitch, it is a good plan to half-plough
it — that is, turning over one furrow and then another opposite, to meet it. If this
is done in November, it will check the growth of the twitch during the winter.
The land, when ploughed in a contraiy direction early in the spring, will lie in
heaps, and thus become quite dry, when the twitch may easily be got out, and a
good turnip fallow be made. Scufflers are now made, which will answer the pur-
pose of stirring land that has been ploughed, and thus save the labor and ex-
pense of a ploughing : Finlayson's harrow is a most useful implement" — HilU
yard's Practical Farmer, 4th edition, p. 36.
37

434 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the air and the frost. The field, when done in the best possible
manner, as it often is, presents a beautiful example of artistical
skill. In the springing, preparatory to after cultivation, the whole
is broken up and levelled, by reversing the operation. 1 am not
able to see any decided advantage which this mode has over the
regular ploughing of the whole field at once, except in the saving
of time, and this saving is at the expense of only two thirds of
the land being ploughed.

3. Laying in Beds, or Stitches. — There is another mode of
ploughing, or rather of laying the land, which prevails in Eng-
land and Scotland to a great extent, and is nearly universal upon
low and wet ^oils ; that is, the practice of laying the land in
beds, or what are here commonly called stetches. In this case,
a ridge is formed in the centre, by laying two furrows back to
back, and then ploughing up to them on each side, until a suf-
ficient land is gone over to form a bed. These beds vary much
in width, from five to eighteen and thirty-six feet. In some
cases, under a system of ploughing which is called two in and
two out, four beds are formed into one bed, of perhaps sixty feet
in breadth. In Essex county, on the lowlands, they are only
five feet in width. An open furrow is of course left for the
water to flow off", which runs down the sides of the beds. The
object is to lay the land dry ; but it is obvious there is a loss of
land in the furrows, and, while there is a constant accumulation
of rich soil on the centre of the bed, the mould must gradually
become thinner as you approach the furrow, and the furrow is
always indicated by an absence of product, or the growth of
coarse and worthless grasses.

These ridges, in English cultivation, are seldom altered, but
(though often, far from being bounded by a straight, are bounded
by a winding or crooked furrow) remain the same as they have
been doubtless for a century. Indeed, they are in many places
regarded with a kind of superstition, as though the land would
lose its fertility if they were broken in upon ; and some writers
on English husbandry assert that water flows better in these
winding gutters than it would in straight furrows, which is cer-
tainly a new philosophy. Though, where they are not properly
ploughed, there is liable to be a continual accumulation towards
the centre, yet I cannot say that I have ever seen so great an

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 435

increase of them as is described in Von Thaer's Agriculture,
which has been recently translated into English, and published
in two volumes in London. *' In places," says this author,
'^ where, as is frequently the case, there have been no ditches
between the lands of different proprietors, or where these ditches
have been filled up for the sake of gaining additional surface, all
the ploughmen have avoided throwing the earth to the outside,
from fear that, if they did so, their neighbor might carry off that
which was thus placed within his reach. I71 this manner, ridges
of considerable breadths have become elevated in the middle to such
a degree, that two men, tcalking in the parallel furrows which
bound them, will not be able to see each other. ^^ * This seems
to be a regular piece of Munchausen ; and if all book agricul-
ture were of this description, one could hardly be surprised at
some little incredulity and distaste on the part of common prac-
tical farmers.

The advantages of laying land in this form, in cases where
land is wet and heavy, or where the rain does not pass off readily,
are obvious. Where the ridges or beds, likewise, are made
equal, and with care, the ridges and furrows furnish a conve-
nient measurement of land in sowing, reaping, or harvesting.
There is a considerable loss of land in the furrows, where the
beds are, as in some cases, made very narrow, as for example when
formed of ten furrow-slices, and two furrow-slices are taken for
the drain, the amount of land taken for the drains will be equal
to one sixth of the whole, or one acre in six — a very considerable
loss, it must be admitted ; but then, in every system of ploughing,
there must be open furrows left at the sides, if not in the centre,
of the fields ; and where the beds are large, as described above,
throwing, for example, four common beds of fifteen feet each, so
as to form one of sixty feet, the loss by open furrows would be
greatly reduced. In countries subject to much snow, and severe
frosts, it is objected that, the snow being naturally blown from
the elevated into the lower parts of the field, the ridge, or highest
part of the bed, is more exposed to the alternations of freezing
and thawing, and so the grain plants on the ridge are liable to be

* Principles of Agriculture, by Von Thaer, vol. ii. p. 84, as translated from
the French by those two most intelligent and industrious agiicultural writers,
William Shaw and Cuthbert W. Johnson, Esquires.

436 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

thrown out and destroyed. I do not know that this objection is
entitled to much consideration. Where the furrows are made
from east to west, instead of from north to south, — and the latter
ought always to be the direction, — there will be a considerable
difference in the temperature of the two sides of the ridge, as the
difference in the effect produced by the sun's rays, when falling
directly upon a surface inclined towards the sun, or upon one
directly the reverse of this, must be considerable. It is urged,
likewise, as an objection to these ridges, that the rain, as it falls,
passes too rapidly into the furrows, and is carried off without
gradually soaking into the land, as on a flat surface, and giving
the whole its full advantage. These are some of the objections
urged against this system of laying the land in ridges ; and, since
the introduction of the system of subsoiling and thorough-drain-
ing, Mr. Smith, the introducer of this immense and extraordinary
improvement, and in general those persons who follow out his
notions in other respects, disapprove altogether the plan of laying
out the ground in ridges or beds, and leave an even and un-
broken surface. In cross-ploughing fields laid in beds, there is
likewise an inconvenience arising from the furrows ; and the
same difficulty likewise applies to the harrowing of such fields,
especially if it is attempted to be done across the furrows. Har-
rows formed with a concave under-side, to adapt them to the
shape of the bed, are sometimes used lengthwise with the ridge ;
but they are ill adapted to cross-harrowing these ridges, or to be
used upon land with a flat and even surface.

The beauty which is given to the cultivation, where such
ridges prevail and are well formed over extensive fields, is cer-
tainly some recommendation of them ; but this supposes them to
be made evenly and with care. Upon as fair a view of the
subject as I can take, I should recommend them, not for their
beauty, but for their utility and convenience. But in this case,
excepting where the land is very wet and low, I should insist
upon a width certainly not less than forty feet ; and 1 should
avoid by all means too much accumulation of earth in the centre
of the ridge, which an expert ploughman is very capable of
doing.

4. Lazy-bed Cultivation. — There prevails in Ireland a mode
of ridging land, different from what I have described, and called

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 437

— with what propriety I am unable to see — the lazy-hed system.
It is done, in general, only in wet and low lands, though I have
seen it upon other lands. In this case, the whole land may be either
ploughed or dug over by the spade, before the formation of the
beds, or it may be left in grass, and the process proceed in this
way : Beds of four feet wide are marked out, and divided by a
furrow-drain about one foot wide. The potato sets or seed are
laid upon the ground or bed, at such distances as are deemed
best, generally in lines across the bed, and the earth in the
furrow is cut down to the hard pan, even a foot and a half in
depth, by a spade, and taken out and thrown upon the seed
which has been deposited on the bed, and the whole is carefully
smoothed off with the shovel. The fresh earth thus taken from
the furrow-drain brings no seeds of weeds with it, and the after
cultivation is easy. The potatoes in the autumn being dug
with a spade, the whole ground is pretty thoroughly forked, or
dug over, and, when it is used the next year for a crop, — it may
be of potatoes again, or of oats, — the furrow-drain is filled up,
and one made in another place, or in the centre of that which
was the bed, so that, in tiuth, the whole field becomes pretty
thoroughly cultivated.

A very intelligent farmer, whom I had the pleasure of meeting
in Ireland, was kind enough to give me an account of his man-
agement of some of his land on this plan, a system which he
considers as extremely well adapted to a cold, wet soil, not yet
carefully drained, or to a dry soil which may have become ex-
hausted by constant cropping and shallow ploughing.

^' I lined out the ground to be tilled, in ridges four feet wide,
and furrows two feet wide. I then dug out of the parts lined off
for the furrows, and put on the ridges, all the active soil which
could be taken up by the spade. The sets were then planted, and
covered by the earth which had remained in the furrows, and
which was for this purpose cleanly shovelled. By this mode I
obtained a dry seed-bed in moist ground — a fresh^ active soil in
exhausted ground, and a depth of surface in light land.

" In one instance, on a cold, retentive soil not draineA., where
there had been a very poor crop of potatoes the previous year,
and the soil not stirred from the time the potatoes had been dug
out until the oats were sown, a good crop of oats was obtained.
In the other case, a second crop of oats was taken off the same
37*

438

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

field, the stubbles having been ploughed in October. This crop
was much superior to the former. It produced fine grain, and
was so luxuriant that the greater part of it was lodged previous
to reaping on the 9th of August. Should the surface or active
soil be very shallow, the breadth of the ridge may be narrowed,
or the breadth of the furrow increased. The wide furrows allow
of loosening the subsoil, either with crow-bars, picks, or spades,
and I carefully reserve all stones which appear, for drains, where
draining is necessary ; and where it is, I now drain wherever I
find the stones at hand — sometimes before tilling. I make the
drains at forty or sixty feet apart at first, and put in my inter-
mediate drains in each succeeding year, as I obtain stones in
loosening the subsoil.

"I lay out my ridges for potatoes, the breadth as for oats,
putting the sets in rows across the ridges, five sets in each row,
and the rows varying from eighteen to twenty-two inches apart ;
— thus saving seed, being enabled to keep the plants free from
weeds, to dig out the potatoes at less cost without injury, and
increasing the produce, over the old lazy-bed system, in the pro-
portion of one sixth."

The object of this farmer is to till his low land, in a way to
avoid the evil of excessive wet, by this simple method, before
he can go to the expense of completely furrow-draining. The
method of managing land by complete drainage, which I shall
presently describe, would undoubtedly be to be preferred, where
there is a sufficiency of time and capital ; but in the mean time
the other system may be adopted as a temporary substitute.

This gentleman gave me, at the same time, an account of an
experiment made as to the distance at which potatoes should be
planted, which seems worth recording, and which I will insert
here, though not exactly in place.

The potatoes were cultivated in the lazy-bed fashion described.
Six ridges were laid out four feet wide, with two feet furrows }
an equal quantity of manure laid down for each. Two ridges
were planted, the cuttings being laid thick, without any regu-
larity ; two ridges had the cuts placed in rows across the bed,
fourteen inches apart, five sets in a row ; and two ridges, seven-
teen inches asunder, five sets in each row. The manure was
spread over the entire of the ridges tilled in the old lazy-bed
way, and immediately over the sets planted. The quantity of

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 439

seed required by the first mode of planting was six and a half
stone, or 91 pounds ; by the second method, 77 pounds ; and
by the third method, 70 pounds. The quantity of ground, in
each case, was seven square perches. The produce was as sub-
joined : —

In the first method, 1218 pounds.

In rows at 14 inches, 1358 ^'

In rows at 17 inches, 1442 "

He adds that the advantage of the latter method is not only
a considerable increase of produce by the acre, amounting to
5152 pounds over the first method, but there is a decided advan-
tage in every operation which takes place, from the planting to
the digging. The ridges take less seed ; require less labor; can
be freed from weeds with greater ease and less danger to the
tender stalk, and dug with greater facility, and without injury
from the spade. Another advantage is, in those places where
there is but a light surface, they may be '' moulded up," or the
dirt brought to the plants, with much benefit.

I give this as an example of spade husbandry. As such, it will
have its value with many of my readers. It is not adapted to
cultivation upon any extended scale ; but there are small pieces
of low, wet land throughout the country, which the owners
cannot afford at once to drain thoroughly, but from which, in
this way, good crops may be obtained, and the land brought
into a condition of productive improvement. The experiment,
in regard to quantity of seed, is certainly worth considering.
Potatoes are never cultivated in England or Ireland, as with us,
in hills. I have known as large a production from a field culti-
vated in hills three and a half feet apart each way, as in almost
any other mode ; but the expense of gathering them is more than
upon one planted in drills, so as to be easily turned out by the
plough. A distinguished farmer in England has invented what
he calls a hog's-head plough, for the purpose of turning out
potatoes which are planted in drills, without injuring thetn. It
resembles a hog's snout attached to the front part of a plough,
without a colter, by which the potatoes are raised and turned
out of their bed. This may be said to be copying nature, for it
is clearly the way that profound race of investigators, the swine,
would turn out the crop, if they were sent into an undug potato

440 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

field ; but it has no great advantages, in this matter, over a double
mould-board plough.

5. Correct Ploughing. — The proper and best mode of
ploughing is so exactly and well described by a recent and
eminent Scotch agricultural writer, that I think I cannot do
better than to give it in full to my readers.

" Whatever mode of ploughing the land is subjected to, you
should take special care that it be ploughed for a winter furrow
in the best manner. The furrow-slice should be of the requisite
depth, whether of five inches on the oldest lea, or seven inches
on the most friable ground ; and it should also be of the requisite
breadth of nine inches in the former case, and of ten in the
latter; but as ploughmen incline to hold a shallower furrow
than it should be, to make the labor easier to themselves, there
is less likelihood of their making a narrower furrow than it
should be, a shallow and a broad furrow conferring both ease
on themselves, and getting over the ground quickly. A proper
furrow-slice in land not in grass, or, as it is termed, in red land,
should never be less than nine inches in breadth and six inches
in depth on the strongest soil, and ten inches in breadth and
seven inches in depth on lighter soils. On grass land of strong
soil, or on land of any texture that has lain long in grass, nine
inches of breadth, and five inches of depth, is as large a furrow-
slice as may possibly be obtained ; but on lighter soil, with com-
paratively young grass, a furrow-slice of ten inches by six, and
even seven, is easily, turned over. At all seasons, but especially
for a winter furrow, you should endeavor to establish for your-
self a character for deep and correct ploughing."

" Correct ploughing possesses these characteristics : The fur-
row-slices should be quite straight, for a ploughman that cannot
hold a straight furrow is unworthy of his charge. The furrow-
slices should be quite parallel in length ; and this property shows
that they have been turned over of a uniform thickness, for thick
and thin slices, lying together, present irregularly horizontal lines.
The furrow-slices should be of the same height, which shows
that they have been cut of the same breadth ; for slices of dif-
ferent breadths, laid together at whatever angle, present unequal
vertical lines. The furrow-slices should present to the eye a
similar form of crest and equal surface ; because, where one

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 441

furrow-slice exhibits a narrower surface than it should have, it
has been covered with a broader slice than it should be ; and
where it displays a broader surface than it should, it is so exposed
by a narrower slice than it should be, lying upon it. The fur-
row-slices should have their back and face parallel ; and to dis-
cover this property requires rather minute examination after the
land has been ploughed ; but it is easily ascertained at the time
of ploughing. The ground, on being ploughed, should feel
equally firm under the foot at all places; for slices in a more
upright position than they should be not only feel hard and
unsteady, but will allow the seed corn to fall down between
them and become buried. Furrow-slices in too flat a state
always yield considerably to the pressure of the foot ; and they
are then too much drawn, and afford insufficient mould for the
seed. Furrow-slices should lie over at the same angle ; and it
is demonstrable that the largest extent of surface exposed to the
action of the air is when they are laid over at an angle of 45°,
thus presenting crests in the best possible position for the action
of the harrows. Crowns of ridges, formed by the meeting of
opposite furrow-slices, should neither be elevated nor depressed,
in regard to the rest of the rid^e, although ploughmen often
commit the error of raising the crowns too high into a crest — the
fault being easily committed by not giving the feered " (that is,
the first, or marking-out slices) '^ furrow-slices sufiicient room to
meet, and thereby pressing them upon one another. The furrow-
brows should have slices uniform with the rest of the ridge ; but
ploughmen are very apt to miscalculate the width of the slices
near the sides of the ridges ; for if the specific number of furrow-
slices into which the whole ridge should be ploughed are too
narrow, the last slice of the furrow-brow will be too broad, and
will therefore lie over too flat ; and should this too broad space
be divided into two furrows, each slice will be too narrow, and
stand too upright. When the furrow-brows are ill made, the
mould-furrows cannot be proportionately ploughed out ; because,
if the space between the furrow-brows is too wide, the mould-
furrows must be made too deep, to fill up all the space, and vice
versa. If the furrow-brow slices are laid too flat, the mould-
furrows will be apt to throw too much earth upon their edges
next the open furrow, and there make them too high. When
the fiuTow-brows of adjoining ridges are not ploughed alike, one

442 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

side of the open furrow will require a deeper mould-furrow thai;
the other." *

There is no more accuracy and exactness prescribed in these
directions, in the execution of this first great operation of hus-
bandry, than what is actually attained and practised both in
England and Scotland. The Lothians, in the vicinity of Edin-
burgh, — and which may indeed be considered as the garden of
Scotland, — the coimties of Northumberland, Lincoln, and Nor-
folk, in England, exhibit this perfection of cultivation. It may be
seen in many other places, but in these on a more extended scale
than in others. But such excellence, however, is not attained
without very great pains, and, with expert ploughmen, a long
course of practice. I shall be asked, perhaps, what advantage
comes from this exact mode of performing the work. It might
be enough to answer, that, in every species of labor, and in every
practical art, what is done should be well done, and perfection,
how far soever he may fall short of it, should be every man's great
aim. It might be enough to say, that the moral influences upon
a man's own character, and life, of habits of exactness, order,
care, and neatness, are always great, and of very serious value ;
but I may confidently add, that the perfection with which land
is tilled is of great importance to the crops, and directly con-
ducive to their perfection and abundance. The man, too, who
studies to plough and cultivate his lands in the best manner, will
be anxious to have his implements of the best kind, and to keep
his team in the best order and condition. Indeed, multiply as
we will the excuses for slovenliness, irregularity, and careless-
ness, there cannot be a doubt that habits of order, exactness, and
carefulness, in all respects, are directly conducive to, nay, are the
true foundations of, all profitable arrangement. I may add, like-
wise, that where every thing is kept in order, and all work pro-
ceeds by rule and system, though these rules may sometimes
appear extreme or severe, affairs are managed at less expense of
labor and time than in a more negligent and reckless mode.

The great object of ploughing is to pulverize the soil, to open
it to the admission of those great enrichers of the land, and those
great instruments of vegetation, heat, light, air, and moisture ; to
furnish a penetrable bed in which the roots of the plants may

* Stephen's Book of the Farm, vol. i. p. 633.

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 443

establish themselves, and stretch themselves out m search of
food ; and, by bringing the stony portions of the soil under the
influence of external agents, to produce a chemical decomposi-
tion, and supply of those mineral ingredients, a portion of which
is indispensable to the healthy growth and productiveness of the
plants which are cultivated. It is important, therefore, to reduce
the soil to as fine a tilth as possible. It is important to do this,
likewise, that the manures which are applied may be thoroughly
intermixed with the soil. In gardens, and in small plats, this is
done by the spade, w^hich in fields is attempted by the plough ;
the object in both cases being to render the soil loose, fine, and
friable. The more care is exercised in the ploughing, the more
certainly will these ends be accomplished.

6. Trench-Ploughing. — I come next to speak of what is
called trench-ploughing. This term is applied to a deeper
ploughing than usual, or to a double ploughing, where one
plough follows directly in the furrow left by a preceding plough.
In trenching land with the spade, which I have before described,
the object is completely to invert the soil, laying the surface soil
imderneath, and covering it with that stratum of soil upon which
it had previously rested. The object obviously is, to deepen the
cultivatable soil, — if I may coin a word which will be very well
understood, — and, by bringing the lower stratum to the surface,
expose it to influences by which it may gradually become
enriched. Soil taken from almost any depth, after lying upon
the surface for a length of time, will ordinarily of itself acquire
a productive power, and may be cultivated with success. I have
known this to be the case with earth taken from the bottom of
a deep well, which, after a length of time, became productive.
There is always, in such cases, an accumulation or accession of
extraneous matters, which come one hardly knows whence,
how, or when. The surface of the coral reefs, of which the
islands in the Pacific are examples, after being raised above the
water, are gradually decomposed and enriched; seeds of plants,
floating in the air, or brought by birds, or cast ashore by the
waves, gradually establish themselves. The lichens, or mosses,
and an humble class of vegetation, present themselves, until pres-
ently, from their decay, and the deposits of animal life in various
forms, a rich mould is formed, and this barren rock becomes, in

444

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

time, the fertile abode of animal and vegetable life. The re-
cuperative power of nature is every where seen most active.
Lands exhausted by cultivation are restored by the skill and
labor of the faithful and enlightened cultivator. Even left to
themselves, to the spontaneous efforts of nature, they recover
their exhausted fertiUty ; and soils, which have never yet seen
the sim, by being brought to the light and warmth of day, and
to the refreshing and renovating influences of sun, and air, and
rain, become productive, and stand ready to perform their part
in supplying the wants of the vegetable, and through them of
the animal creation. Trench-ploughing, which aims wholly to
assist this operation of nature, and take advantage of its ready
benevolence, is done by a single plough, which goes to a depth
of at least fourteen inches, completely inverting this quantity of
soil ; or the land is first ploughed in the ordinary mode, and a
second plough follows in the same furrow, at a depth determined
at the pleasure of the ploughman. In the former case, it is
obvious that the surface soil is completely inverted and buried ;
in the latter, the substratum is rather mixed with the upper soil.
In the former case, it is clearly a very bold operation. On the
Island of Jersey, famous for its cultivation of esculent roots,
parsnips, and the white carrot, and other crops, they have what
is called a trench-plough^ which, going to the depth of fourteen
inches, and throwing out a wide furrow, requires a heavy team.
In this case, the neighbors club together, uniting their teams so
as to assist each other.* The subsoil, unless there is a super-

* I will give here the account of this operation, from Colonel Le Couteur,
whose high reputation is well established in the agricultural community.

" In most cases, in the month of October or November, a skim-ploughing is
given to an old, or two years' lea, which is left exposed to the winter frosts. It
is well harrowed and cross-harrowed previous to carting out the manure, which
is spread on the ground at a rate ranging between 12 and 20 tons per acre. In
some cases, the above previous skim-ploughing is deferred until January or Feb-
ruary, in order to allow the cattle to feed off any herbage that may be left on the
land, so that the two ploughings now to be described take place in the same
month.

" A short time (the shorter the better) previous to putting in the crop, the
land receives its second, and generally last ploughing. The trench-plough then
comes into play, preceded by its pioneer, the two-horse-plough. A trench is
opened through the middle, or length of the field, in this manner. The two-horse-
plough is made to cast off a furrow up and down, so as to assist m forming the
trench ; the trench is then neatly sunk 18 inches deep, more or less, according to

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 445

abundance of manure to be applied and mixed with it, cannot
be brought at once into a state of active productiveness. Where
there is a sufficiency of manure, however, there is, no doubt, some
advantage gained, to what extent it is not easy to say, from the
freshness of the virgin soil which is brought up. Otherwise,
time and cultivation will be required to bring this fresh and
comparatively inert soil into a condition of productiveness. In
this case, however, the farmer must exercise his own judgment,
and consider his own means. He may be sure that the deeper
and the richer is the soil, or mould, which he has to cultivate, s:
much the more abundant will be his crops. To create a soil,
however, is not a sudden operation ; and, in cases where the

the depth of the soil, and squared off two feet with spades, the earth being thrown
off to a distance on each side.

" A man with a spade should then be placed at each end of the furrow, to dig
and square it out half the length of the trench-plough, as wide as the furrow in-
tended to be taken, in order to enable it to plunge into its depth at once, on turn-
ing in to work ; this is made at tlie left-hand side of either furrow, after the small
two-horse-plough has made its start.

" This two-horse-plough (one that will take a width of furrow one inch wider
than the trench-plough) then precedes and turns in the manure and turf, togetlier
with three inches of soil, into the bottom of tlie furrow, or prepared trench. The
trench-plough, drawn by four, six, or eight horses, according to the depth desired,
then turns over from ten to eighteen inches of clean soil on the turf, which is so
completely buried as to destroy all vegetation, even in tlie freshly-broken sod.
When the sod is quite fresh, as little soil as possible should be taken up by the
small plough, so that the couch or weeds may be more completely covered by a
great mass of clean soil. When the ploughed land becomes so wide as to render
it inconvenient for one man, at each end, to open the furrow for the plough on one
side, and square up the other side neatly, one man is placed at each corner to
perform this work, so that two additional men at each end of the land, or four in
all, are now digging, levelling, and squaring up the corners. Two acres or more
may thus be turned up in a day, as the trench-plough takes a wide furrow frorr,
eleven to thirteen inches, and, by its excellent construction, moves and tunxs the
whole soil.

" This operation is performed by joint-stock labor by all the farmers in J ersey,
who bring their teams to assist each other. It is appropriately denominated, not
a great ploughing, but a great digging ; indeed, no spade husbandry is so effi-
cient, as most men, in digging, merely turn the secondspit upon the under, or
trench-slice, whereas the whole soil is shaken and broken by the trench-plough."

Certainly the soil, in this case, must be very rich to bear being inverted at this
depth. I give the whole account, rather as matter of agricultural curiosity, than
v/ith any notion of its being adapted to our husbandry. These very great opera-
tions, in which so many men and so many horses are employed at one time, I have
always found of doubtful expediency, and should deem it prudent to seek more
simple means of accomplishing the end, if more simple could be found.
38

446 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

surface is completely invertedj the rich soil is buried, arxd the
undersoil brought to the top, he may labor in a sure hope of an
ultimate compensation ; yet he must in such case wait with a
manly patience ; and it may be advisable in some instances to
have some regard to the length of his purse, and the time of his
life ; perhaps, in England, it would be as well to add the terms
of his lease, which may not always be such as to encourage sub-
stantial improvements. Such improvements, being intended to
be permanent, can hardly be otherwise than expensive.

I do not know where I can better introduce to my readers
an experiment upon soils, which I witnessed in progress in that
admirable establishment, the Agricultural Museum and Nur-
sery-Grounds of the Messrs. Drummond, in Stirling, Scotland,
which I strongly recommend to the notice of every intelligent
traveller in that picturesque and most interesting locality,
whether his objects of pursuit be of an agricultural nature, or
otherwise. If the experiment leads to no practical results, it is
deserving of attention, as matter of philosophical curiosity. I
give it from their own written communication to me.

" Notice of a Comparative Trial of the Qualities of various pure
Earths for supporting Vegetation^ made in the Nursery^
Grounds of W. Drummond and So7is, Stirling.

'^ Garden pots eight inches in diameter were filled each with
a pure earth, reduced, by pounding, to the consistency of gravelly
sand, where it had previously existed in the indurated or rocky
state. Oats were then sown about the middle of April, three
plants being allowed to remain in each pot. The pots were
plunged to the rim in an open border, cinders of coal being put
under them, and care otherwise taken that the roots of the oats
should obtain no extraneous nourishment. The plants were
watered with common spring water, a few times, in very dry
weather.

^' The stalks attained, in general, to the height of two and a
half to three feet. The grain fully ripened about the beginning
of September.

*' PRODUCE.

Earths. Ears. Grains.

''Granite, (Aberdeen,) 13 . 220

Clay slate, (primitive,) 11 . 241

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 447

Earths. Ears. Grains.

.Greenstone, (secondary trap,) 10 . 245

Limestone, 9 . 251

Chalk, 13 . 355

Gypsum, (very sickly plants,) 6 . 40

Sandstone, (silicious,) 12 . 230

Pit-sand, (brown,) 12 . 210

Blue clay, (taken ten feet under the surface,) . 10 . 242

Mixture of all the above kinds, 9 . 190

Common light loamy soil, 18 . 453

'' Experiments of this nature seem worthy of further prosecu-
tion, particularly relative to the respective influence of the atmos-
phere and soil in the nourishment of plants. When the oats
were sown, scientific as well as practical men predicted, that in
most of these earths they would not grow ; and when they saw
them growing, predicted that they would not ripen seed. The
results have proved otherwise."

A single experiment, in such case, can hardly be considered
as decisive, excepting as to the possibility of plants living and
maturing in an unmixed soil. The fact of their not succeeding,
vvith one exception, so well in a soil composed of the several
varieties as in a simple soil, is likewise noticeable. The superior
success of the plants in loam is also to be observed, to show that
their growth was not wholly dependent upon the atmosphere, as
some would have us believe, and that the soil furnishes some-
thing more than a mere support for the plants. The growth, in
each case, must be considered as inferior ; and, without deducing
any general conclusions, which might be premature, or endeav-
oring to fit the facts to any received theory, I submit it to the
further inquiries of those who have the curiosity and talent to
pursue these interesting investigations. If it prompts to other
well-conducted experiments, my object will be answered.

The bringing of any considerable quantity of inert soil to the
surface is obviously attended with uncertain results, so much
depends upon the nature and condition of the soil so brought up.
At the Duke of Portland's, at Welbeck, places were pointed out
to me where the surface mould had been removed, a portion of
the subsoil taken away, and the mould, or top soil, returned to

448 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

its place ; but in no instance was its previous fertility restored.
Deep cultivation will undoubtedly in the end recover such places,
but time and patience are indispensable.

7. Subsoil-Ploughing. — The next great operation, performed
with the plough, is here called suhsoiling. The object of this
is similar to that of trench-ploughing — that of loosening the sub-
stratum, and deepening the soil to be cultivated. But it differs
in this respect: trenching, either by the spade or the plough,
buries the surface soil, and covers it with that which is turned
up ; but subsoil-ploughing aims to loosen the substratum to the
depth required, without bringing it to the surface or covering
the mould, and, by the gradual intermixture of the lower stratum
with the upper soil, to enrich it, and ultimately convert the whole
into an equally arable and fertile condition. Suhsoiling is per-
formed by a plough of a peculiar construction, following in the
furrow of a common plough. If we suppose the first plough to
have turned up the land to the depth of seven inches, the next
plough loosens it to the depth of nine inches more, so that the
whole land ploughed is in this case equal to sixteen inches.
The great objection to trenching land, either by the plough or
spade, is, that it brings the inert soil to the surface in a condition
unsuited to the purposes of vegetation, and that thus much time
is necessarily lost before it can, without great expense, be
restored to its former fertility. The advantage of suhsoiling is,
that it so gradually raises the substratum to mingle with the top
soil, that the cultivation of the latter is not interrupted, but the
soil is benefited by the slight intermixture. Another and very
great advantage derived from suhsoiling, is in the admission of
air and heat to the loosened soil, by which it is improved, and
better subserves the purposes of vegetation, and at the same time
opportunity is given for the free expansion of the roots of the
plant. On many descriptions of soil, the surface, or vegetable
mould, rests upon a hard pan at greater or less depth, and which
is impervious to the roots of the plant, and does not suffer even
the water to pass off freely. However long this may have
existed, as the plough has usually gone only to a certain depth,
this substratum has become the more indurated by the treading
of the horses in the ploughed furrow, and the constant sliding
of the sole of the plough over it. It is the object of the subsoil-

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 449

plough always to break up this pan, which, after being broken
up and exposed to the air, gradually crumbles and becomes min-
gled with the upper soil.

This is subsoiling, as it is here termed, of which every modern
treatise of English husbandry is full. It can scarcely be said to
be an absolutely new practice,* for passing a second plough in
an open furrow may be considered as a species of subsoiling ;
yet the credit of introducing the practice, and establishing it
upon just principles, as connected with draining the land, must
be fully accorded to Mr. James Smith, of Deanston, in Scotland,
a man of whose sound understanding and practical skill I might
speak in the highest terms, if my humble voice would add any
thing to the distinguished and substantial reputation which he
enjoys throughout the kingdom. I have been over the estate in
Scotland which was under his care ; and, though the land may
be considered as inferior, yet its fine appearance, the regular
arrangement of his fields, the condition of his fences, and the
perfect cleanness and productiveness of his grounds, present an
eminent and beautiful example of the most improved husbandry.
A great portion of his labors are indeed under ground, and out of
sight ; but the results of them are obvious.

Mr. Smith was the active manager of an extensive cloth or
cotton factory, in the neighborhood of which was the farm on
which he effected such improvements. The condition of the
factory in all its departments, the buildings for the persons who
are employed in the factory, the whole arrangement of the facto-
ry village, the condition and reputable conduct of the operatives,
and the measures taken for their educational improvement, are
very much in advance of what is to be found in many places both
in England and the United States, and, while they do Mr. Smith
himself the highest honor, present a beautiful example for imita-
tion. Mr. Smith is entitled to the high merit, not of applying

* Worledge, in his Mystery of Husbandry, describes (A. D. 1677) very
clearly the first rude attempt to construct a subsoil-plough. He tells us of " an in-
genious young man of Kent, who had two ploughs fastened together very firmly,
by which he ploughed two furrows at once, one under another, and so stirred the
land twelve or fourteen inches deep. It only looseneth or lightenetli the land to
that depth, but doth not bury the upper crust of the ground so deep as is usually
done by digging." Quoted in Ransome's excellent work on the Implements of
Agriculture, p. 12.

38*

450 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the subsoil-plough to the land merely, (by which the most valu-
able improvements have been effected,) but to the interestmg
community of several hundreds, over which, as the agent of the
Deanston works or factory, he presided. By education, and by
paternal care and interest in their welfare, he has done what he
could for the improvement of their condition. He may be said
to have broken up and elevated the lower strata, that, by bring-
ing them from a degraded condition to the light and air, and by
degrees preparing them to intermingle with the higher strata, he
might alike benefit both parties, and substantially improve the
character of the whole.

Mr. Smith invented a plough for the express purpose of sub-
soiling, of which I design presently to give a plate. It is with-
out a mould-board, but it has a feather on the share. Several
other ploughs have been invented for the same purpose — one
made under the direction of Mr. Pusey, called the Charlbury
plough, which proposed to perform both the operation of plough-
ing the land and subsoiling at the same time. It was therefore
a common plough, and, several inches below the sole of the
plough, and behind it, there was attached a turned-up or crooked
tine or foot, calculated to descend into the soil in the furrow to
the prescribed depth. The draught of this plough must be of
course, by such an arrangement, considerably increased, and the
instrument would appear rather clumsy in its operation. If it
did its work well, this is all that could be required. One of its
great merits is stated to be a considerable superiority over the
Deanston plough, in lightness of draught. I have never seen
it employed. Another subsoil-plough, which has been recom-
mended, is a single iron tine or foot, attached to a proper frame
with handles, and which, being drawn through the furrow after
the other plough, loosens the soil in a single line. It would
seem to be an instrument of small expense, as well as simple
construction ; but it executes the work very imperfectly, not
stirring the whole ground, but dividing it only in single lines.
Mr. Smith's plough, having a small feather on the share, not only
moves the whole bottom of the furrow, but it raises a small
portion of the subsoil, and lays it against the side of the furrow
already turned over, thus mingling the subsoil and the upper
soil in some small portions together. This may be considered
as a decided advantage. But, to describe the practice of subsoil-

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 451 -

ing land without that of thorough-draining, which forms a part
of the same system, would be unjust to Mr. Smith. This, how-
ever, I shall do most fully under the subject of draining, which
will come as matter of course.

To subsoil without draining is not to be indiscriminately
recommended. In heavy and clay soils, it would be of little use,
as they would soon settle down into their former compactness.
In some soils it would only serve to increase their wetness, as
the water, sinking deeper into the ground, without any provision
for its escape, would pass off less quickly by evaporation than
if nearer the surface. In lighter soils, where its only effect
would be to loosen the soil, it would undoubtedly be beneficial.

8. Experiment in Subsoiling Heath Land. — An example
of success in the application of the subsoil to heath land, which .
is within my knowledge, is so remarkable, that I will give it to
my readers at large. The gentleman to whom I shall refer. Sir
Edward Stracey, is himself the inventor of a subsoil-plough,
known as the Rackheath plough, after the name of the property
which he occupies, and which is much lighter of draught than
the Deanston plough.

" On my coming to reside on my estate at Rackheath, about
six years since, I found 500 acres of heath land, composing two
farms, without tenants, — the gorse, heather, and fern shooting up
in all parts. In short, the land was in such a condition that the
crops did not return the seed sown. The soil was a loose,
loamy soil, and had been broken up by the plough to a depth not
exceeding four inches, beneath which was a substratum (pro-
vincially called an iron-pan) so hard, that with difficulty could
a pickaxe be made to enter in many places ; and my bailiff, who
had looked after the lands for 35 years, told me that the lands
were not worth cultivating ; that all the neighboring farmers
said the same thing ; and that there was but one thing to be
done, viz., to plant with fir and forest-trees. To this I paid
little attention, as I had the year preceding allotted some parcels
of ground, taken out of the adjoining lands, to some cottagers, to
each cottage about one third of an acre. The crops on all these
allotments looked fine, healthy, and good, producing excellent
wheat, carrots, peas, cabbages, potatoes, and other vegetables, in
abundance. The question then was, How was this to be done ?

4^2 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

On the outside of the cottage allotments, all was barren. It
could not be by the manure that had been laid on, for the cot-
tagers had none but that which they had scraped from the roads.
The magic of all this I could ascribe to nothing else but the
spade ; they had broken up the land eighteen inches deep. As to
digging up 500 acres with the spade, to the depth of eighteen
inches, at an expense of six pounds an acre, 1 would not attempt
it. I considered that a plough might be constructed so as to
loosen the soil to the depth of eighteen inches, keeping the best
soil to the depth of four inches, and near the surface, thus ad-
mitting air and moisture to the roots of the plants, and enabling
them to extend their spongioles in search of food, — for air, mois-
ture, and extent of pasture, are as necessary to the thriving and in-
crease of vegetables as of animals. In this attempt I succeeded,
as the result will show. I have now broken up all these 500 acres
eighteen inches deep. The process was by sending a common
l^lough drawn by two horses to precede, which turned over the
ground to the depth of four inches. My subsoil-plough imme-
diately followed in the furrow made, drawn by four horses, stir-
ring and breaking the soil twelve or fourteen inches deeper, but
not turning it over. Sometimes the iron-pan was so hard that
the horses were set fast, and it became necessary to use the pick-
axe, to release them, before they could proceed. After the first
year, the land produced double the former crops, many of the
carrots being 16 inches in length, and of proportionate thickness.
This amendment could have arisen only from the deep plough-
ing. Manure I had scarcely any, th^ land not producing then
stover sufficient to keep any stock worth mentioning, and it was
not possible to procure sufficient quantity from the town. The
plough tore up by the roots all the old gorse, heather, and fern,
so that the land lost all the distinctive character of heath land,
the first year after the deep ploughing, which it had retained,
notwithstanding the ploughing with the common ploughs for
thiity-five years. Immediately after this subsoil-ploughing, the
crop of wheat was strong and long in the straw, and the grain
cla^c- 1 osomed and heavy, weighing 64 pounds to the bushel ;
the qu^-itity, as might be expected, not large, (about 26 bushels
to the atre,) but great in comparison to what it produced before.
The milV^.rs were desirous of purchasing it, and could scarcely
^'•^^Jieve it .vas grown upon the heath land, as in former years it

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 453

was difficult to get a miller to look at a sample. Let this be
borne in mind, that this land then had had no manure for years,
was run out, and could only have been meliorated by the admis-
sion of air and moisture, from deep ploughing. This year the
wheat on this land has looked most promising ; the ears large
and heavy, the straw long, and I expect the produce will be
from 34 to 36 bushels per acre. My Swedish turnips on this
land this year are very good ; my pudding and sugar-loaf turnips
failing in many parts, sharing the fate of those of my neighbors,
having been greatly injured by the torrents of rain which fell
after they had shown themselves above the ground. Turnips
must have a deep and well-pulverized soil, in order to enable
them to swell, and the tap-roots to penetrate in search of food.
The tap-root of a Swedish turnip has been known to penetrate
39 inches into the ground. I will add only two or three gen-
eral observations.

" 1st. The work done by the plough far exceeds trenching
with the spade, as the plough only breaks and loosens the land all
around, without turning the subsoil to the top, which in some
cases (where the subsoil is bad) would be injurious to the early
and tender plants ; and if the subsoil is good, it would be ren-
dered more fit for vegetation after the air and moisture had been
permitted to enter. The ploughing is also far preferable to
trenching by the spade, even for planting, (i. e. trees.) as it may
be done at one fourth the expense.

"2dly. It were v^ery preferable, if possible, to work the horses
abreast, pair and pair ; but, in using this plough, the horses must
work in a line, for, if abreast, the horse on the land ploughed
would soon be fatigued, by sinking up to his hocks ; and, to
render the draught more easy, the second horse from the plough
should not be fastened to the chains of the horse next the
plough ; but the chains of the second horse should be made
long enough to be hooked about two ieet behind the back-band
of the chains of the horse next the plough, so that the second
horse will draw at an angle of about 33 degrees ; otherwise,
were the chains of the second horse hooked in front of the back-
chain, he would pull the whole weight of his draught, together
with that of the horses preceding him, on the back of the horse
next the plough ; and the strength of the horse would be lost in

454 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the draught, as his whole powers would be exerted in his en-
deavors to prevent being brought down upon his knees. By so
arranging the chains, the power of three horses would be equal
to that of four."

Such were the favorable results of this bold experiment. In
many other cases, however, the result has not been so successful ;
and when the state or character of the land is such as to retain
the water, as (to use the expression of one highly intelligent
farmer, who subsoiled his land without first draining it) "it some-
times does like a sponge," the subsoiling is as likely, and per-
haps more likely, to be injurious than beneficial. The Deanston
system, as it is here called, of subsoil-ploughing and furrow-
draining will presently be fully stated to my readers.

9. Subturf-Plough. — The same gentleman last referred to,
Sir Edward Stracey, is the inventor of what is called a subturf-
ploughj which is fitted for use in lands where it is desirable to
stir the soil beneath without breaking the turf. It does not
differ much from the subsoil-plough ; and, being once inserted into
the ground, breaks it up to the depth of about ten inches, leaving
no other marks of its operation than the lines cut in the turf,
which very soon, by the natural growth of the grass, become ob-
literated. The lines are at the distance of about fourteen inches
from one another. It loosens the soil underneath, admits the
air and rain, and permits the roots to spread themselves. He
says, '-after a trial of it, that the quantity of the aftermath, and
the thickness of the bottom, have been the subject of general
admiration. Another advantage from this subturf-ploughing is
that, before that took place, water was lying stagnant on many
parts, (after heavy rains,) especially in the lower grounds, to a
great depth ; now, no water is to be seen lying on any part, the
whole being absorbed by the earth." This supposes that the
lower strata, below where the plough has reached, are porous, and
easily transmit the water, or, otherwise, it might be liable to the
objections to which I have referred above.

10. Perfection of English Ploughing. — I have spoken of
the various modes of ploughing, and of the extraordinary exact-
ness with which it is executed. It would be curious to trace

(455)

smith's subsoil-plough.

(See p. 450.)

RACKHEATH SUBSOIL-PLOUGH.

" This performs the operation of subsoil ploughing, to tlie depth of from ten to
sixteen inches below the surface, and, when preceded by the common plough,
which is the plan recommended, the depth reached below the surface ground is
just so much the more than the first plough effects."

RACKHEATH SUETURF-PLOUGH.

" This plough answers admirably for under-ploughing grass lands, and is made
into a subturf-plough by changing the wheel gear in front to that of a carriage
and two wheels."

456 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

the progress of this art, from its rudest stages, to the beautiful
and facile manner which distinguishes its performance in the
best cultivated districts of England and Scotland. I do not like
to say that no further improvements can be made. Np reflecting
man, who has witnessed the extraordinary changes, and inven-
tions, and improvements, of half a century, and seen the contin-
ually-shifting scenes, and the new actors presenting themselves
on the stage, and bringing the treasures of their wisdom and
skill to the vast accumulations which genius and science have
already heaped up, will assert this of any human art ; but it is
safe for me to say, that I do not know how, in the best cases, the
execution of the work can be improved. Under the direction of
an experienced and well-skilled ploughman, and an efficient and
well-trained team, the implement itself moves like a thing of
life, and performs its office with the precision of the highest in-
telligence.

This is not the effect of accident ; it is the work of severe and
careful training. Boys are early accustomed to stand behind the
plough, and stimulated by the strongest motives which can be
addressed to their cupidity, their love of approbation, or their
ambition of excellence. Under the prevalent subdivision of
labor, to which I have before alluded, the advantages arising
from practice, and a fixed attention to one particular object, are
obviously secured. The man who ploughs, and does little else
except ploughing, is far more likely to execute his work thor-
oughly and well than the man whose attention is divided among
a multitude and diversity of pursuits.

11. Ploughing-Matches. — The ploughing-matches, likewise,
in which most intelligent and severe judges are appointed, the
rules of competition are stringent and absolute, and the golden
rewards most liberal, have contributed essentially to the improve-
ment of this art.

We have witnessed the same results in the United States. I
recollect the first ploughing-match at Brighton, under the
auspices of the Massachusetts Society for promoting Agriculture.
The gradual proficiency, from these early and comparatively rude
trials, to the triumphant and beautiful results which, more than
a quarter of a century afterwards, with honest pride, I have wit-
nessed at Worcester, shows that there is no deficiency of talent

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. -4^

and skill, and no lack of an honorable ambition of improvement,
and that in the various departments of the arts, and in spheres of
improvement and progress higher than those of the mechanical
arts, all that is wanted among ns, to the development of power
and skill, is ^'a fair field and no favor."

The regulations of the English plough ing-matches difier in
some respects from those in the United States. The judges in
the English ploughing-matches never come on to the field until
the work is done and every team withdrawn. With us, they
are present from the commencement to the close of the work.
Our practice is, in my opinion, to be preferred. In the former
case, no party is known, and impartiality, therefore, may be said
to be perfectly secured. So far it is well. The work is accu-
rately surveyed and measured ; the depth of the ploughing, the
width of the furrow-slice, the mode of laying it over, the straight-
ness of the lines, the manner in which the first furrow-slices are
brought together if it is ploughed back to back, or the finishing
of the last and middle furrow if the piece is ploughed from the
outside to the centre, the freedom from balks and breaks, are all
carefully considered in the verdict rendered. In the United
States, every efi*ort is made to secure impartiality, consistently
with other arrangements, inasmuch as that no names, but only
numbers, are given to the judges, and the difierent plats of ground
to be ploughed are drawn for by lot. Then the judges on the
field observe the whole progress of the operation ; measure the
different portions, as the work goes on; and watch the temper
and conduct of the ploughman and the training of his team, the
manner in which he treats his team, and the condition in which
they come ofi* from the work. These circumstances all deserve
consideration, and should come in as elements on which a judg-
ment is to be made up. In both cases, it is understood, as it
should be, that no party having any personal or pecuniary
interest in the result shall have a place on the bench. The
English are exact and positive in prescribing the depth of the
ploughing, and the width of the furrow-slice even to a half-inch,
arid insist upon a uniform width throughout the whole. I have
urged this same thing often upon committees, in my own coun-
try, on which I have had the honor of being placed, and have
been met with the objection, that this was requiring too much,
and would operate as a discouragement. In my opinion, you
39

458 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

cannot require too much, provided you make your premiums in
proportion liberal. Excellence is never attained by presenting
an inferior standard. Let your rewards be as liberal as possible ;
require the work to be done as well as possible ; and make your
rules reasonable, but as stringent as possible ; and hold con-
formity absolute and inevitable. In every such competition,
there are minds in which the superior value and splerjdor of a
triumph under such circumstances will rouse a powerful and
noble ambition ; fire will be brought out of stone, and, as in
some beautiful chemical experiments, you will see the blaze
burning under the ice. But if you must have a scrub race, have
it in another part of the field, and after the noble-spirited horses
are withdrawn, and the donkeys and the Rosinantes are brought
forward. I have never known a case, in which this loose system
of accommodation and indulgence prevailed, and where the rules
were narrowed or expanded to fit the occasion, that the decision
of the judges gave general satisfaction, or ought to give sat-
isfaction.

It is very mortifying to fail in an object for which one has had
a hard struggle. Many a noble fellow, after having reached the
upper limbs of the tree, as he was upon the point of putting his
hand on the fruit, has found himself, with every effort and strain,
not quite high enough to reach it, and perhaps has come tum-
bling down, with his clothes torn, and his face scratched, to the
ground. Upon such a mind, the only effect was to rouse his
ambition to a stronger pitch, to give new vigor to his muscles
and new energy to his determination. This was as it should be.

I have been told of an Irishman, — an Irishman he was, of
course, for none but this clever people ever do such pleasant things,
— that he called to demand the payment of the highest prize in
the lottery, which he said he had drawn. Upon presenting his
ticket, he was told that it was the number next above his to
which the prize had fallen. He said ''he knew that very well ;
but he did not suppose that such great folks would stand out for
a single number." In all cases of competition, the prize should
only be paid to the number which has actually drawn it. It
may, in many cases, be expedient to give prizes for effort, and
for partial excellence ; but if the premium is announced for ac-
complishment, to accomplishment only should it be paid.

GENERAL RULES FOR PLOUGHING. 459

12. Horses used for Ploughing. — Ploughing here is almost
universally done with horses. 1 saw some oxen ploughing at
Holkham, with leather harnesses and breastplates, instead of
yokes and bows, as employed in New England, and I have
found oxen used in some few other cases, but, within my obser-
vation, these cases are very rare. The question of the com-
parative expediency of employing horses or oxen in farm work
will come up for discussion presently.

The horses are extremely well trained, and usually groomed
with the greatest care. I have found one remarkable excep-
tion to this practice, and that of a very large farmer of high
repute. He never suffered his horses to be curried or sheared,
or confined in stables. When brought home from their work,
they were turned into open yards, with capacious sheds, and the
stable doors, without any division of stalls, were always left open.
The mangers were plentifully supplied with food, and the
troughs with water, and they ate and drank, stood or reclined,
or walked about, as they pleased. The yards and stalls were
always most abundantly littered. I should have scarcely thought
proper to mention a case of management, which some might pro-
nounce careless and slovenly, and of which, in riding through
some parts of New England, one would hardly be at a loss to
find examples, were it not that this was the practice of a very
large farmer, extremely skilful and intelligent, and the favorite
tenant and model of one of the largest proprietors, and one of
the greatest agricultural improvers in the country, (the late Lord
Leicester,) and that he pursued this practice from choice, and
because he deemed it most conducive to the health and comfort
of the animals. He maintained that the animals, not being kept
in warm stables, but familiar with the changes of the weather,
bore them with less inconvenience and suffering than they other-
wise would have done ; that a great deal of time and trouble
was saved in the care of them ; that, being at liberty to lie down
when they pleased, their rest was more refreshing than if con-
fined and tied in a stall ; that, the Tiair being given them for a
covering, it was wrong to strip them of their flannels at a season
when they most needed them ; and that the dirt itself, matted
among their hair, assisted in retaining the warmth. These were
all philosophical reasons, which did not quite convince me of the
wisdom and expediency of this mode of managing. The last

460 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

argument, in respect to the dirt keeping the animals warmer,
seems well understood, and practically exemplified, by many of
the lower classes in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and, if well
founded, might do something towards lessening the compassion
which one must otherwise feel for their suffering from the want
of fuel. The horses in possession of the farmer spoken of
appeared in good condition, and were strong for labor ; and the
practice pursued was of several years' standing.

The usual practice is for the ploughman to be at the stables at
four o'clock in the morning ; to clean, water, and feed his horses,
and to be in the field at work at six o'clock. With a short time
to rest occasionally, he continues his ploughing until two o'clock,
when he returns to the homestead, the horses are thoroughly
cleaned, and rubbed, and watered, and fed, and at last littered
for the night — eight hours being considered as a day's work ; and,
in ordinary cases, an English statute acre, of the same size as an
American acre, is his allotted stint. There are cases of heavy
land, in which only three quarters of an acre are considered a
day's work ; and others, of lighter land, in which upwards of an
acre and a quarter are accomplished. In Scotland, a pair of
horses are ordinarily considered sufficient for any kind of land,
and they are worked side by side. If three are employed, two
walk upon the land, and one in the furrow. The practice of
employing only two horses to a plough is beginning to prevail
in England,- but, in many instances, three and four horses are
used, drawing at length. This practice is not so entirely with-
out reason as some travellers represent it, for in some land it is
desirable and necessary to avoid trampling it, and consolidating
it the more, by the horses' tread ; but when, as it has occasion-
ally happened, I have seen five horses harnessed lengthwise to a
single plough, with two men at the plough, and three men or
boys with the horses, my own admiration has sometimes bor-
dered upon the ridiculous. The affair of turning at the end, in
such a case, is somewhat like wheeling a battalion of undisci-
plined militia at a country muster, and, unless the field be very
long, a large portion of the day must be occupied by these evo-
lutions. The Scotch ploughman, with only two horses, and the
reins over his neck, turns a corner like an officer's charger, and
requires no aid.

In some cases, ploughs with double mould-boards are used,

A DIGRESSION.

461

which regularly turn two furrows at the same time. In light
land, and where the ploughing is shallow, they save time and
expense. In stronger lands, where three horses are sufficient, it
is obvious that the expense of one horse is saved. In heavy
lands, where four horses would be required on account of the
double mould-board, it is obvious nothing would be gained. In
parts of Lincolnshire, on the chalk formation, where the plough-
ing for wheat was not more than three inches, these ploughs
were much approved. I give below a cut of a double furrow-

plough. The invention of this plough is by Lord Somerville ;
and it is certainly creditable for the ingenuity of its construction.

LXXXII. — A DIGRESSION.

Progress of Improvement. — I have gone thus at large into
the operation of ploughing, because it is the great operation of
husbandry ; and having finished the field, let us stand aside, and,
looking at the work, indulge a moment the reflections which
suggest themselves.

A ruffle from under a crimping iron does not present a more
beautiful object than a well-ploughed field from under the hands
of an English or a Scotch artist. The lines are all straight ; the
furrows well turned ; the headlands cross-ploughed ; the corners
finished. A well-disciplined mind enjoys the highest pleasure
from seeing an operation of any kind, even the most humble,
well performed, and perfected according to its proper measure.

There is something, likewise, extremely gratifying in witness-
39*

462 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ing the progress and advancement of human skill and art. From
digging the ground with a stick, that a hole might be made for
the deposit of the seed, to the perfect inversion of it by the
plough, what an immense stride ! That is now done in a day,
which, in the rude ages referred to, could scarcely have been
accomplished in a year ; and that is now performed with ease,
and without any unkind tax upon the health of man or beast,
which could not otherwise have been effected without the most
severe exactions of human toil, and often at the expense of the
premature shortening of human life.

LXXXIII. — IMPROVED MACHINERY.

There are persons continually complaining of the introduction
and use of machinery in the place of human labor, and as there-
fore prejudicial to the interests of the poor. At an agricultural
dinner, I listened with a good deal of interest to a distinguished
nobleman, who was defending machinery against this charge,
by endeavoring to show that, so far from machinery lessening
the demand for labor, it was the ordinary result of it to cause
the employment of more persons than were occupied before its
introduction. This may be the fact ; but if this were the only
result, or if this result stood alone, it would not be a very strong
recommendation, and should be classed with the kind of argu-
ment used not long since in Parliament, in commendation of the
corn laws, that they encouraged labor by rendering agricultu-
ral produce dear, when it is obvious that, just in proportion as
the price of agricultural produce increases, the value of the wages
of the laborer decrease, his supplies are diminished, and, though
labor is more in demand, it is worse paid.

1. Machinery lightens Labor. — The value of improved
machinery rests upon different grounds. Its first effect is to
lessen the severity of human toil. Through the ingenious ap-
plication of the mechanical powers, that is effected by the hand
of a child, which the united force of hundreds of men, strained

IMPROVED MACHINERY. 463

to an intensity most painful and injurious, could scarcely accom-
plish. The wheel, and the lever, and the pulley, and the in-
definite multiplication and curious comhination of powers which
art invents, execute works of a magnitude, before which the
armies of an ancient or a modern Alexander might sit down in
despair. Instead, according to the fashion of ancient monarchs,
of throwing golden fetters into the torrent, to stem its force,
modern science puts an iron bit into its mouth, and rides tri-
umphantly upon its crested waves. The victories which human
art has achieved over the elements of nature, once deemed un-
tamable, adorn with matchless splendor the annals of our times;
and yet, like the crepuscular light, like the first darting up of the
morning rays upon the eastern horizon, they only presage the
full light of day. Fire, water, air, in various forms, stand ready
to do man's bidding ; and, as the miracle of modern art, the
winged lightning presents itself to his service, and becomes the
instantaneous bearer of intelligence between places the most dis-
tant— between places whose distance, be it what it may, will
make no perceptible difference in time or certainty, where once
the means of an uninterrupted continuity of communication shall
have been discovered. These are great achievements, and their
effects are felt in every department of labor. In agricultural
operations, if the mechanic arts have not yet done as much as
in many other branches of industry, yet they have rendered no
small contributions ; and it is not to be forgotten, that the agri-
cultural interest, if not specifically served, shares as largely as
any other class in the general benefits which the improvements
of the mechanic arts confer upon society. The plough is an
immense advance upon the spade ; the cultivator, upon the hoe ;
the horse-rake and hay-tedder, upon the hand-rake and the
common fork. The steam-engine performs the Avork of many
men and many horses in the threshing of grain, and the pump-
ing of water, and various other operations to which it is applied.
In the fens of Lincolnshire, two immense steam-engines, one of
eighty, and one of sixty horse power, under the care of one or
two individuals, completely drain an extent of surface of many
thousands of acres. They bring these hitherto waste tracts of
country under the dominion of productive cultivation, and, by
its magical influence, bid these unsightly and barren sands adorn
themselves with the glittering tresses of a golden harvest. These

464 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

are among the miracles of machinery, under the guidance of an
intelligence which is an emanation from the Divine Spirit.
One hundred and fifty thousand acres, in the neighboring fens,
are now in the process of being redeemed from the sea, and com-
pletely drained, by a similar machinery. The courtiers of the
king may now safely challenge him to place his chair upon the
beach, and bid the waves retire. What could human labor
effect in such cases without the aid of machinery ? For all the
men, and women, and children, in England, to have attempted to
accomplish such a work, without such help, would have been as
wise as to undertake to dip out Lake Superior with a table-
spoon.*

2. Machinery increases Production. — The second effect of
machinery is, to multiply production to an unlimited extent. A
cotton manufactory at Manchester turns out in a day as much
cotton cloth as, under the old system of household spinning and
weaving, could have been made in all Lancashire in a fortnight,
perhaps a month. With improved machinery, twenty acres —
may I not say fifty? — can be ploughed, harrowed, manured,
drilled, cultivated, and the produce harvested, and threshed, and

* " If reference is made to the evidence given before the House of Commons,
to which the numerous petitions complaining of agricultural distress were re-
ferred in 1821, it will be seen that, at that time, almost the only grain produced
in the fens of Cambridgeshire consisted of oats. Since then, by draining and
manuring, the capability of the soil has been so changed, that these fens now
produce some of the finest wheat that is grown in England ; and this more costly
grain now constitutes the main dependence of tlie farmers in a district where,
fourteen years ago, its production was scarcely attempted."

" It has been found that an engine of the power of ten horses is sufficient for
draining 1000 acres of land, and that, on the average of years, this work may be
performed by setting the engine in motion for periods amounting in the aggre-
gate to 20 days of 12 hours each, or 240 hours in all. Several engines have
been erected for this purpose within the last three or four years, some of them
having the power of 60 or 70 horses : each of these large engines is employed in
draining from 6000 to 7000 acres of land. The cost of the first establishment of
these engines is stated to be £1 per acre, and the expense of keeping them at
work 2 s. 6 d. per acre. This plan is found to bring with it the further advantage
that, in the event of long-continued drought, the farmer can, without appreliension,
admit the water required for his cattle, and for the purpose of irrigation, secure
in the means he possesses of regulating the degree of moisture, if the drought,
as is frequently the case, should be followed by an excess of rain." — Porter's
Progress of the JVdtion.

IMPROVED MACHINERY. 465

prepared for food, where, under the rude system of the aborigines
of the country, the cultivation of only one could be carried on,
and its produce secured. Indeed, all such comparisons seem
idle, because, without machinery of some kind, no cultivation
whatever could take place. The human hand is itself a machine,
and one of the most perfect description. If there is any advan-
tage in having two hands rather than one, then there must be a
correspondent advantage in any contrivance by which one hand
can be made to do the work of two, or two hands of four, and
still more when one can be empowered to do the work of
thousands.

From the manner in which some men speak of machinery,
one would suppose that the world would be better and happier
if men and women were to go back to simple fig-leaves for
aprons, and undressed sheep-skins for coverings, and find shelter
and repose at night under some overhanging rock, or on a bed
of hemlock boughs, in a wigwam of birch-bark. I have no
sympathy with such *' simple and primitive " notions. I will
say nothing of the charms and blessedness of a state of perfect
innocence, because I would not offend any honest man's preju-
dices, nor thrust my face and hands against the porcupine armor
of controversial theology ; but 1 confess I have always had some
misgivings as to the happiness of what poets describe as the
golden age, and theologians depict as the paradisiacal state,i
when the human race had nothing to do but to enjoy themselves,
and to enjoy themselves in doing nothing — an experiment which,
whenever I have tried it, I have always found extremely monot-
onous and wearisome. Strength is to be found only in the
exertion of the muscles ; food yields its nourishment only when
the machinery of digestion is in full operation ; and health,
and power, and happiness, are compatible only with the highest
activity of the physical and the intellectual faculties.

When the ignorant and vulgar, whose views do not extend
beyond the first immediate effects, burn factories, and break
threshing-mills to pieces, an enlightened and generous mind
would feel compassion for their ignorance and infirmity ; but
when minds of a different order, professing to be enlightened,
become, as we sometimes see them, the cavillers against im-
proved machinery, and prate about the "simplicity of the good
old times," when men used clam-shells for spoonsy and thorns.

466 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

for pins, and goat-skins for glass bottles, and wooden bowls
instead of china, — and, in some instances, do far worse by foster-
ing the vindictive prejudices of the vulgar against those inven-
tions of art and genius which relieve the severity, facilitate the
exertion, and immensely increase the productive power of labor, —
I hold them as without excuse, and could wish them no worse
lot than to be exiled for a season to some parts of Ireland, where
these prejudices ag'iinst improved machinery are as fierce as
theirs can be, and where they may find millions living in a state
of destitution as complete and absolute as seems compatible with
the continuance of life.

3. General Effects on Labor. — I confess, however, there
is one view of this subject which I must not pass over, and
which I cannot take with equal complacency. The eff'ects of
improved machinery should be to alleviate and to shorten
human toil, and, in multiplying production, to extend more
widely the supply of food, and the common comforts of life.
The laboring man should, on every principle, be the first to
share in these benefits ; but far too often he is the last. Food
is greatly multiplied both in quantity and variety ; but, in a
country where labor is superabundant, the wages of labor
become proportionately reduced, and the power to purchase
restricted. There can be no doubt that, in respect to clothing
and furniture, the condition of the laboring population is greatly
improved above what it formerly was. An American clock, for
example, made in Connecticut, — that home of industry and the
useful arts, — an article both useful and ornamental, and in which
the -^ gude " housewife is sure to take an honest pride, may be
purchased in London for a pound. A century ago, this would
have been an article of furniture which a nobleman might covet.

But it is too true that improved machinery scarcely dimin-
ishes— in many cases it increases — the demand for human and
brute labor. Two men only are required to thresh grain with a
flail ; from five to eight, besides the horses, or the attendants
upon the steam-engine, are employed at the threshing-machine.
Much more is threshed, and, in consequence of these increased
facilities, much more is growit, and therefore requires to be
threshed. " But for the invention of the steam-engine, a large
proportion of the coal mines now profitably worked could not

IMPROVED MACHINERY. 467

have been opened, or must have been abandoned. It is well
known that, by the consumption of one bushel of coals in the
furnace of a steam-boiler, a power is produced which, in a few
minutes, will raise 20,000 gallons of water from a depth of 350
feet — an effect which could not be produced in a shorter time
than a whole day through the continuous labor of twenty men,
working with the common pump. By thus expending a few
pence, an amount of human labor is set free, to employ which
would have cost fifty shillings; and yet this circumstance, so
far from having diminished the demand for human labor, even in
the actual trade where the economy is produced, has certainly
caused a much greater number of persons to be employed in
coal-mining than could otherwise have been set to work." *

It certainly is matter of congratulation, rather than of com-
plaint, that more food is produced to be eaten, more clothing to
wear, and more fuel with which to warm our habitations and to
apply to other purposes of utility, necessity, or enjoyment; but,
in looking at the severity and long continuance of toil to which
a large part of the laboring portion of the community are sub-
jected, and how, in many of the arts and operations of manufac-
tures and trade, human health and comfort are wholly disre-
garded, and human life is used up with as much indifference as
fuel is thrown into the furnace of the steam-engine, one cannot
help deeply lamenting that the burden cannot be lightened on
the back of the hard-driven animal, and that they whose toil
produces every thing are put off with the smallest and meanest
portion of the fruits of their own industry. How far govern-
ment should interfere, in such a case, between the employer and
•the employed, is a question not without great practical diffi-
culties. Human society is such a complicated web, that the
extreme tension of any single thread disorders the whole piece.
Every provision should be made for the protection of the young
and helpless; opportunity should be afforded for the full devel-
opment of their physical powers, and for the education of their
minds. No pains should be spared to protect good morals and
decency, and to secure human life against any extraordinary perils.
The hours of labor should not be too long extended, nor the
hours of seasonable rest encroached upon ; and, in any case

* Progress of the Nation, vol. i. p. 335.

468 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

where they are wholly dependent upon others for the provision
which they require, that provision should be at least as kind and
liberal for the human bipeds as for the domestic quadrupeds.
It might be extremely difficult to eiFect this ; but, until this is
done, our condition is not half Christian. Avarice, by force, or
cunning, or art, — openly sometimes, but more often covertly, —
is constantly triumphing over humanity and justice ; and it may
be regarded as the Juggernaut of civilization, crushing with in-
difference all who come in its way.

— -^.^ — I-

LXXXIV. — MORAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Before we turn from the ploughed field which we have been
contemplating, I have but one or two more remarks to make,
which will not, I hope, be deemed out of place. The ordinary
operations of nature are so familiar, that we cease to look at
them with surprise. We choose to wrap ourselves up in our
own conceit, and, certain facts regularly occurring under certain
conditions and circumstances, we satisfy ourselves with saying
that it is according to the laws of nature, and think therefore
that we understand it. I do not perceive that we understand it
any the better because it is according to the laws of nature ;
since these laws themselves, in their ultimate causes and opera-
tions, are utterly insoluble to the human understanding, and the
frequency and uniformity of their results, so far from lessening,
actually increase the miracle. I say miracle, for in no other
light than as miraculous can we regard the changing scene
which is now to pass before our eyes. The field, as we now
look at it, presents but a naked surface of inert dust ; but there
are powers and influences at work, within and around it, of the
most subtle and amazing character. The earth has opened its
bosom, and the children of men are to receive nourishment and
life from the bounty of their common mother. Man casts the
dry seeds upon these naked furrows, and they are at once quick-
ened into life. The earth, the air, the sun, the rain, all lend
their combined aid, in exactly such measure, and at such time.

HARROWING. 469

as is needed for the perfection of the work. The plants rise
out of the ground with a spirit and beauty which no human art
can rival. The hand of an invisible artist is at work to expand
the roots, to train the stem, to mould the leaves, to protect all
with a net-work of the finest web, to throw in colors of exquisite
beauty, and to fill the pendent seed-vessels with bread, for the
sustenance and nourishment of animal life. In a few weeks, or
months, the field so lately naked and desolate is laden with
treasures far richer than gold, and for which all the glittering
diamonds of Peru, and all the shining pearls of Orient climes,
would be no substitute. Man gathers what, with strange pre-
sumption, he calls the products of his skill and labor, and fills
his garner with the golden treasures of the fields. Now, because
this happens so regularly and so frequently, shall it cease to
excite his surprise, and touch his heart ? In my humble opinion.
its frequency, and its comparative certainty, vastly expand the
miracle ; and if the rich fruits of a beneficence, so entirely
beyond his command and control, yet withal so constant, so
faithful, so liberal, call out no aspirations of piety, if " harvest
home " awakens no anthem of thanksgiving and reverence in
his soul, he must not claim an equality even with the animals
which he drives, for '' the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass
his master's crib."

LXXXV. — HARROWING.

There are various operations to be gone through with, after
the ploughing. The first object in English cultivation is to
reduce the soil to as fine a tilth as possible. Tull, who is some-
times called the father of .English arable cultivation, deemed the
loosening, and stirring, and reducing the soil, as all that was
necessary to its productiveness, and that manure might be dis-
pensed with. The first position was the foundation of great
improvements; but the latter was soon discovered to be an
error. His practice, which was tried by many persons, laid the
foundation of what is called the New Husbandry, and may be
40

470 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

considered as constituting an era in English agriculture. It is
curious to observe, that oftentimes, in human history, great mis-
takes lead to great improvements and discoveries; and in the
complicated course of human affairs, a divine Providence, in
comparison with which human sagacity can scarcely be con-
sidered other than as arrant folly, converts the errors of man
into instruments of truth and knowledge. Experiment is the
highway to science, and it is as desirable, in many cases, to
know wliat will not, as to know what will succeed. Men are
always ready, through self-esteem and the love of approbation,
to detail and magnify any fortunate results ; but he is a brave
man, and more entitled to respect, who, by way of caution, will
expose his failures, and guard the sanguine and adventurous
against the errors in which he himself became involved. This
is a noble disinterestedness ; but many men, like the fox who
lost his brush in a steel trap, wish nothing so much as to see
their neighbors subjected to the same mortification.

The Romans, in their husbandry, prescribed four distinct
processes of arable culture. The first was to break the land ;
the second to turn it over ; the third was to break it again ; the
fourth was to turn it again. *" They understood perfectly the
use and advantages of thorough and deep tillage. The English
farmers are fully aware of this, and follow repeated ploughings,
with various other processes.

The first is that of harrowing. This is done lengthwise with
the furrow always in the first instance, and then crosswise,
until the surface is completely mellowed and pulverized. With
us, in general, harrows are made single, and the teeth set in
wooden frames, and, though they are usually made square, yet
the chain is generally attached to one of the corners, which
gives them a diamond shape, and is supposed to lessen the
draught. We seldom take a breadth, in such case, of more than
four and a half or five feet. Here the best harrows are made,
both frames and teeth, of iron. The teeth, or tines, work to a
depth of five to eight inches, and follow each other in lines
about four inches apart. Seed harrows, or harrows for covering
the seed, have tines about four inches in length, and are made
proportionately light.

* 1. Fringere. 2. Vertere. 3. Refringere. 4. Revertere.

HARROWING. 471

I do not know that I can do better for my readers, than to
subjoin the remarks and illustrations of one of the most eminent
implement makers in Great Britain, Mr. J. Allen Ransome, in
his valuable treatise on the *' Implements of Husbandry."

" It is admitted, by all acquainted with the subject, that har-
rowing, especially on heavy soils, is the most laborious operation
on the farm, — not so much, perhaps, on account of the quantum
of power requisite for the draught, (though this is sometime^
considerable,) as for the speed with which the operation is, or
ought to be, accompanied ; and yet it is frequently left to the
charge of mere boys, and sometimes performed by the worst
horses on the farm.

" If we examine a field, one half of which has been harrowed
with weak, inefficient horses, and whose pace was consequently
sluggish, the other half with an adequate strength and swiftness
of animal power, we shall find the former will be rough and
unfinished, the latter comparatively firm and level, and com-
pleted in what would be called a husbandry-like manner.
Scarcely any thing in farming is more unsightly than the wavy,
serpentine traces of inefficient harrowing. The generality of
harrows appear too heavy and clumsy to admit of that despatch
without which the work cannot be well done ; and though it is
evident that different soils demand implements of proportionate
weight and power, yet, for the most part, harrows have been
rather over than under weighted, particularly when employed
after a drill, or to bury seeds of any kind.

'' Harrowing has been so long regarded as an operation which
must be attended with considerable horse-labor, that attention
does not appear to have been sufficiently turned to the inquiry
whether this labor might not be greatly reduced, by lightening
the instruments with which it is performed. Many would be
surprised at the amount of reduction of which seed-harrows, at
least, are capable, and, where land is clean, to see how effectively
a gang of very light small-toothed harrows may be used.

" Having noticed, in some parts of Norfolk, the perfect manner
in which seed corn is covered by a common rake with wooden
teeth, a friend of mine constructed a gang of harrows on the
following plan, and he states that it proved the most popular and
useful implement of the kind to the farm.

472

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Gang of Light Seed-Harrows.

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" The frames are of ash, and as light as
possible, with iron teeth, being but three
inches long, exclusive of the part which
enters the wood-work. They screw
into the balks in the manner shown in
the annexed figure.

*'It should be observed that the above four harrows are amply
sufficient to cover a twelve-furrow stetch or ridge, of 108 inches,
but three will be wide enough for a three-furrow stetch of 90
inches, exclusive of a small portion of the furrows. If for some
purposes the teeth be found too thick, every alternate tooth may
be taken out ; but for general purposes this will hardly be neces-
sary. The two horses require, on this plan, to be kept quite
level ; for, if one be suffered to go in advance of the other, a
diagonal line is produced, by which the teeth will be made to
follow each other, instead of cutting fresh ground. I am aware
that, by the usual construction of harrows, a diagonal line of
draught is required, in order to throw the teeth into a proper
working position ; but I am strongly inclined to the opinion,
that the correct working of the implement ought to depend on
its construction, and not on any particular mode of working it.
Besides, the system of keeping one horse in advance of his
partner is bad in principle ; it is an unequal division of labor,
the fore-horse being compelled to do more than his share of the
work, which, under any circumstances, is always heavy enough.

H AIIROWING. ^0siij^

473

The balks of the above set of harrows were made of wood, in
order to insure extraordinary lightness; but, for general purposes,
I prefer those made of iron, the weight of which can be increased
to any reasonable degree, without adding much to their sub-
stance. This is important in working tenacious clays, which,
by adhering to the common clumsy wooden balks, considerably
increase the labor, and at the same time impede the proper
execution."

Sometimes harrows are made in two parts, that is, two small
and complete harrows, placed side and side, and united by flex-
ible hinges. In such case, the harrow can be reduced to half
its width, by one part being doubled over on the back of the
other ; or, when the land is in ridges, and the harrow travels on
the summit of the ridge, the two parts, by the flexible junction
in the centre, are able to accommodate themselves to the curva-
ture of the ground upon which they travel. Sometimes three or
four harrows are attached first to each other, by these hinges,
side and side, and then to a single beam, to the ends of which
the traces of the horses are appended, and in this case they
sweep a breadth of nine feet. This carries on the work with
great rapidity. A pair of good horses might carry such a breadth
without difficulty, upon light land j but upon a heavy and tena-
cious soil, the labor would be too great for them.

" Gang of Heavy Iron Harrows.

" The above engraving of iron harrows is introduced to show
the form in which they are usually made j they are used in
40*

474 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

gangs of three, four, or five, as may be required to suit the lauds
on which they are used, and may be made to any weight re-
quired."* No inteUigent farmer, however, will ever think of
harrowing his land, unless it be of the lightest description, in a
wet state. It has been by some persons deemed an improve-
ment to make the front tines of a harrow shorter than the back
ones ; but no advantage comes from this. By many the practice —
and in my opinion with reason — is condemned, as the instrument,
in such case, unless brought too near the horses, will be found to
dip in front, by which means the draught is considerably in-
creased. Teeth of a uniform length throughout are to be pre-
ferred. The flexibility given to a harrow, by a hinge in the
centre, is a great improvement. In many cases, one harrow is
attached to another so as to follow it, but so far removed to one
side or the other, that the teeth follow in different lines. In
such case, it is obvious that the draught must be very much
increased, both from the distance of the last harrow from the
moving power, and from its lying flat and dead upon the ground,
and having no advantage of the lift which is given to the for-
ward harrow by the chain which attaches it to the horses, and
which it would have, if it were set in the same frame.

There are several varieties of harrows, but, excepting the frame
being made of iron instead of wood, and their being connected
by hinges, so as that the frame becomes, so to speak, flexible, I
see no prominent excellence to be pointed out. '^ In an experi-
ment made between a pair of wooden harrows and a pair of iron
ones constructed on the same plan, and having the same number,
and precisely the same disposition, of the teeth and frames,
although those of iron were found to be 20 pounds lighter than
those of wood, yet the former worked decidedly better and
steadier than the latter ; in fact, the iron harrows cut into the
land, while those made of wood rode, or rather danced, upon the
surface."

A harrow, called a web or chain brush harrow, invented b}^
Mr. Smith, of Deanston, I have seen, but not in operation ; and
its efiect must be to reduce the surface to a very fine tilth, but it
is not its object to penetrate the soil. If we take a number of
small iron circular plates, perhaps three inches in diameter, with

* Ransome.

HARROWING.

475

thin or sharpened edges, and string them upon iron rods, upon
which they will revolve freely, and arrange them in squares like
the panes of a window or sash, and with enough of them to
form the desired size of a harrow, we shall have formed the
instrument to which I refer. As they revolve vertically, and
are drawn over the surface, their tendency is to cut all the lumps
into fine pieces, and to leave the surface well reduced and pul-
verized.

At Lord Hatherton's well-managed farm, at Teddesley Park,
Staffordshire, I saw a revolving harrow, somewhat resembling a
hay-spreading machine, the long and curved teeth of which pen-
etrated the ground deeply, thoroughly stirred it, and brought the
weeds and rubbish to the surface. It was moved upon low
wheels, and performed its work most effectually.

I shall borrow, for the benefit of my readers, an account of
BiddelPs extirpating harrow from Mr. Ransome's valuable book,
before quoted. I have not seen the instrument at work, but
its efficiency will be understood from the account.

•' Biddell's Extirpating Harrow. — This is a new implement,
invented by Arthur Biddell, of Playford, and similar to the scar-

ifier which bears his name. It is intended for breaking up land
when it is too hard for the heaviest harrows, and for bringing
winter fallows into a state of fine tillage. In working summer-

476 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

lands, it is calculated, by the shape of its teeth, to bring to the
surftice all grass and rubbish. The teeth are placed in three
rows, in order to allow sufficient distance from each other to
prevent choking, and the implement is so constructed as that, by
means of levers, the teeth may be elevated or depressed at
pleasure. According to the form of the lands it may be required
to operate upon, it may either be used perfectly parallel, or the
fore teeth may be made to penetrate deeper than the hinder ones,
whilst those at either side may, when one wheel is required to
run in the furrow, be instantly adjusted to the level of the land,
so that every tine shall penetrate to a uniform depth of six
inches, if required ; and they will work equally well at any less
depth.

" I have frequently seen this implement at work on very foul
land and on stubbles, when it has been too hard to allow the
use of the plough. As the interval between the lines formed by
its teeth does not exceed four inches, the soil has been com-
pletely stirred. The tines may be either used with points or
with steel hoes ; and with the latter the skimming, or, as it is
frequently called, the ' broadshare ' process, may be quickly
accomplished. The weight is not found to be a disadvantage,
but, from the stability it gives, the contrary ; and, being borne
on high wheels, it does not require so much horse-labor as might
be supposed, two horses, on most soils, being generally suffi-
cient."

LXXXVI. — SCARIFYING, OR GRUBBING.

What is called, in England, the scarifying or grubbing of land,
is little else than harrowing it with a deeper and stronger instru-
ment than a common harrow, with a view to reduce it to fine
tilth, and to bring up the roots and weeds which may infest the
land. The English and Scotch aim, in their husbandry, at an
extreme cleanness of cultivation. There are — as it would be
strange if there were not — examples among them of slovenly
cultivation ; but cleanness is the prominent and almost universal
characteristic of their husbandry. The late Lord Leicester, (Mr.

OR GRUBBING. 477

Coke, of Holkham) used to make it his boast, that not a weed
could be found in extensive fields of his cuhivation, and offered
a high reward for the discovery of one. The couch grass,
(tfiticum repens,) and the common charlock, (wild mustard,) and
the poppy, abound, in some districts, to a most extraordinary
degree ; and in cleaning the fields, in the autumn, of couch grass,
the piles of it which are sometimes seen would lead one to
suppose that it was the only crop grown on such places. In
some cases, where the land is very dirty, and the cleansing very
thorough, the heaps of weeds have been as numerous as cocks
of hay in a mown field.

The general practice is, to burn these heaps upon the field, to
the expediency of which I strongly demur. The amount of
ashes obtained in such case is altogether inconsiderable. The
couch grass being extremely vivacious, and propagated from
every joint, it is not easy to bury it so deep as to extirpate it.
Some of the Scotch farmers pile it up at the outside of their
fields, and mingle with it quicklime, which of course soon
consumes it. I cannot help thinking it would be much better to
use it as litter in the cattle-sheds or stalls, and fold-yards, where,
by the trampling of the stock, it would soon become decomposed,
and, without danger of starting again into life, it would go to
essentially increase the compost heap.

The operation of scarifiers, or grubbers, will be seen at once
by a reference to the plate. Many of them are certainly very
efficient instruments, and, when the team is sufficiently powerful,
stir the land most thoroughly to a great depth. There is a con-
siderable variety of them ; and the peculiar excellences of each
of them are always fully set forth by the inventor or maker, —
in doing which, there seems to be no want of talent or address
among the English, and some of them may fairly challenge com-
petition with Peter Pindar's razor-seller, or with any of the
vivacious and voluble tribe of Connecticut pedlers.

The infinite variety of machines and mechanical contrivances
exhibited at the great agricultural shows in this country, cover-
ing literally acres and acres of ground, strikes a visitor with
astonishment. As, in reading the accounts of patent medicines
in the public newspapers, one is led to think that the reign of
disease is abolished, and the victory of health, life, and perpetual
youth, on earth, secured, so, in looking at the number and variety

478 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

of agricultural implements presented on such occasions, and the
diversity of purposes which they are most certainly and effectu-
ally to accomplish, one is almost persuaded that human labor
and superintendence may be dispensed with ; and that the
farmer, as he would wind up his clock on Monday morning so
that it may run all the week, so he has only to set his agricul-
tural machinery in motion, and may then leave the field with a
quiet confidence that every thing will proceed as he desires it
should. After having visited, likewise, the establishments of
many large proprietors, and seen the broken and condemned
implements, and the piled-up, useless lumber of this description,
in their implement-rooms and sheds, I cannot help thinking that
there is, among a great many men well informed in other mat-
ters, a fair share of susceptibility to imposition; that ''razors
made to sell " meet with no want of purchasers in England ;
and that the manufacturers perfectly understand themselves,
when they have got their pail under a full cow. The human
tongue is certainly an extraordinary piece of machinery, and its
flexibility cannot be sufficiently admired. I see, in the papers of
the week when I am writing, an advertisement of a potato-
powder, recommended to families to be put into the pot with the
potatoes to be boiled, so as to correct the evils of the diseased
potato, and not only to neutralize its pernicious influences, but
actually to convert the diseased portions into useful nourishment.
The price and place of sale are both given. There will be many
to buy, beyond all question. When will the reign of empiricism
cease on earth ? When the last man has left it ; and not sooner.

The operation of scarifying will be better understood from a
picture of some of the principal instruments in use than from
any verbal description.

The first to which I shall refer is called, after the name of its
inventor,

Biddell's Scarifier — and I shall allow the manufacturer to
speak for himself.

*' This implement is for the purpose of cultivating land under a
variety of circumstances, and bringing it into a proper state of
tilth much more efi*ectually, and at less expense, than can be
done by the means generally employed for, that purpose.

OR GRUBBING. 479

'*lt may be successfully used to clean wheat, bean, and pea
stubbles, directly after harvest ;

" To break up such parts of clover layers as may have failed
in the plant, and to break up land after green crops, in May or
June, in preparation for turnips, cole worts, (fee. ; thus accom-
plishing fine and deep tillage, without bringing fresh earth to
the surface-land, in preparation for barley and oats.

"/^s Advantages are — Savings in Tillage^ of half the labor,
both manual and horse, over the ordinary method of cleaning
land.

'* Saving of Time. Lands may be broken and stirred, with
this implement, in much less time than with the plough.

*' Improved Cultivation. The operation of this scarifier is much
more effective for spring crops on strong lands than ploughing,
as it occasions less treading by horses, produces more mould, and
allows the moisture to be more advantageously retained ; and the
seed will be deposited in the soil which has been exposed to the
winter frosts.

'' Less harroiDing is required, as the land is broken up, and
left much finer than after the plough.

^^The couch grass {if any) is brought to the surface without
breaking it.

480 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

" The land is left by this implement in a state to be immedi-
ately harrowed, which may be done in time to break the clods
before they become too hard.

*' In all cases, where it is desirable to give tillage to the land
without turning down the surface, this implement may be used
with great advantage.

^^ Directions for using the Scarifier. — In using the scarifier,
attention should be paid to set it level, and the depth of scarify-
ing may be varied from one to ten inches, which is done by
means of the two levers.

" When the land is very hard, and required
to be cut clean, first use the chisel points, and
then follow with the wide hoes.

*• The chisel points only should be used on
clover leys ; the roots of the clover being too tough for the hoes,
and are not required to be cut up.

" The horses should be kept in a direct line, and the imple-
ment not suffered to turn without taking the fore part out of the
ground hy means of the long lever. Particular attention should
be paid to this ; for, although the slanting direction in which the
tines are set will bear the draught required while the horses go
straight forward, they cannot stand against the twist, if the
scarifier be turned round before the front tines are taken out of
their work. It is also needful to observe, that the draught iron
from the fore wheels, upon which the whippletrees hang, should
be suspended by the draught chain higher than where the three
draught irons (when in work) go upon the upright part of the
fore axletree ; otherwise, this may bend or give way,

" The wheels, on either side, may be made to go higher or
lower by shifting the coupling irons, where holes are made for
that purpose, where one wheel has to work in the furrow ; which
may be the case when a stetch is scarified by going on one side
of it, and coming back on the other.

" It is essential to have whippletrees adapted to the imple-
ment ; if otherwise, it will fail to scarify up the foot-marks of
the horses."

The next implement for the purposes described, and which
has been a long time in use, is called

SCARIFYING, OR GRUBBING.

481

Finlayson's Self-Cleaning Harrow. — '' This is an efficient
implement for cleaning lands under tillage from couch grass and
other weeds ; the curvature of its teeth being so formed as to
bring to the surface all weeds and vegetable rubbish."

This was among the first improvements of the kind, and has
been followed by a great many other inventions, of which I
shall offer only two other examples. The first is,

Kirkwood's Grubber. — '' The leverage that is obtained by
pressing on the handles or stilts of this machine, whether in action

or at rest, is so simple, and yet so powerful in its effect, as to reg-
ulate the depth of the tines to the greatest nicety ; or, in cases
of obstruction, to throw them out altogether. It is an admirable
implement, and well deserving the high commendation generally
bestowed on it." Objections have been made, however, to the
form of its teeth.

The next instrument which I shall notice is called the Uley
cultivator^ and made at the iron and agricultural implement
41

482

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

works of the Earl of Ducie, at Uley, in Gloucestershirej and under
the direction and management of a highly intelligent and prac-
tical machinist, Mr. Richard Clyburn, a visit to whose establish-
ment afforded me the highest gratification.

The Uley Cultivator. — " No. 1 size, with 5 tines, covering
a space of 40 inches.

"No. 2 size, with 7 tines, covering a space of 56 inches.

" The improvements consist, first,
in a new method of fastening the
tine into the frame, so as to insure
a sufficiency of strength to the upper
end of the tine, where the greatest
strength is required ; secondly, in
making the scarifiers and grubbers
concave on the under side, which causes them to wear to a
sharp edge, and enter the ground better, where it is very
hard ; thirdly, in constructing them in such a way, they can be
made of wrought iron.

" The frame is of cast-iron, made to receive five or seven tines,
each tine covering a space of eight inches, and so arranged that,
although drawing lines only eight inches apart, they are two
feet from each other ; this, with their curved shape, and length,
prevents its clogging in the foulest land. There are three sorts
of points ; one, two inches wide, for grubbing up or breaking land ,•
another, nine inches wide, for working stubble ; the third set has
steel blades, and are used for paring, instead of the breast-plough :
these points all fit the tines without pins to hold them. The
tines are fastened into the frame with a split key and cotter ; and,
in case of breaking, they can be taken out and others put in, as
easy as the colter of a plough. The height of the frame from
the ground is about two feet; the wheels are of cast-iron, the
front ones 1 foot 6 inches diameter, and the back ones 3 feet 4
inches diameter. The machine is raised and lowered by turning
a handle, the axle of which has a Avorm fixed on it, working into
a wheel fixed in the crank-axle of the back wheels. This wheel
has a projecting arm, in which a stud is fixed : to this stud is
attached a connecting-rod, the upper end of which is connected
to the long lever which has its fulcrum in the centre, and is
connected with the frame by a joint ; the other end of the lever

GENERAL REMARKS ON THE USE OF AGRICULTURAL MACHINERY. 483

is connected to the top of the T axle, on which the front wheels
work. It will be seen by this arrangement that, if the handle is
turned to the right, the machine is lifted up ; and if to the left,
let down : this is indicated by the dial-plate on the right-hand
side of the machine, marked in inches, in and out of the ground ;
one rotation of the handle raises or lowers the machine one
inch."

This instrument, wherever it has bieen used, has been highly
approved.

It will be obvious to my readers, that the object of these sev-
eral inventions is to put the ground into a fine and deep cultiva-
tion ; and, in many cases, the scarifier will be substituted with
great advantage for the plough. In the spring of the year, es-
pecially, where land has been ploughed in the autumn, it would
be most injudicious, in many cases, to reverse the sward with a
plough, and at the same time, as the wetness of the land may
require that it should be cultivated lightly, a harrow or scarifier
presents the most proper implement.

As a. matter of curiosity, a Table of ingenious, exact, and
somewhat useful calculations, in regard to the business of
ploughing or scarifying land, will be inserted on the last page
of this Report.

LXXXVII. — GENERAL REMARKS ON THE USE OF AGRI-
CULTURAL MACHINERY.

In presenting these diflferent examples to my readers, they will
not expect me to recommend them, nor to mark a preference of
one over the other. That I must leave wholly to their judg-
ment. 1 have only to say that the best results are to be ex-
pected only from. the most careful and thorough cultivation; but
with the best feelings towards those ingenious mechanics and
artisans who have done so much to alleviate and facilitate labor,
my own experience, and that of many friends, would lead me
to advise to caution in the purchase of any machines whose

484 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

Utility has not been thoroughly tested, and especially those of a
complicated or expensive character. A machine which promises
much may greatly disappoint us in the results. Some of the
most complex machines perform only that which the most
simple would accomplish with half the trouble, and it is often
quite as dijfficult to manage the machine as to perform the labor.
A machine constructed upon the most sound and philosophical
principles requires, many times, a philosopher to guide it. Agri-
cultural machines of a complicated nature are constantly liable
to get out of repair, and at times when the inconvenience and
loss, occasioned by the stoppage of the work from such acci-
dents, are excessive. Then the conduct and management of the
machine must go into the hands of persons who are ignorant
and stupid ; who have a prejudice against the success of ma-
chinery, because they erroneously suppose that it interferes with
their labor ; who generally resist all innovations, and who but
too often find a malicious gratification in the failure of all
attempts at improvement. The remedies for this very common
evil, it is not easy to determine. The first is, if possible, to give
the laborer a direct personal interest in the success of the machine
in use. The second is less direct, and can only be looked for in
the future ; that is, the better education of the laboring classes,
which shall enable them to take more just views of their own
private interests, and understand their inseparable identity with
all measures of general improvement, with the progress of the
mechanic arts, by which, if labor is not abridged, production is
greatly increased, and with the interests and welfare of every
other class in the community. Happy will it be for the world,
when the true principles of political economy — so well illustrated,
in the well-known Latin fable of the revolt of the limbs against
the stomach, and as clearly in the sacred writings, when the
apostle reminds us that " we are members one of another, and if
one member suffer, all the members suflfer with it, and if one
member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it" — shall be every
where understood, and, if we may dare hope for such a result,
conscientiously applied and practised upon.

PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF IMPROVEMENT. 485

LXXXVIIL — PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF IMPROVEMENT.

I have spoken of the preparation of the land, by culture, for
the deposit of the seed, under the heads of ploughing, subsoiling,
paring, deep-stirring, scarifying, and harrowing ; but there were
two processes going on, in Cornwall, of so peculiar a character
that I deem it proper to detail them.

1. Tehidy. — The first was at Tehidy, the residence of Lady
Bassett, under the direction of an intelligent and accomplished
agriculturist, a gentleman well established in the principles, and
familiar with the practices, of agriculture, in the best cultivated
districts of Scotland, and who was employed not merely to put
the home-estate under a proper course of management, but, by
example, counsel, advice, encouragement, and rewards, to assist
and induce the tenants on the property to abandon the objection-
able and profitless modes of husbandry which they had long
followed, and introduce a better system, which the experience
of the most improving and best farmers in the country had
sanctioned.

An extensive tract of land on the sea-coast was underlaid,
about three inches below the surface, with a compact bed of flint
stones, of four and six inches in depth, and might indeed be very
properly called macadamized. Vegetation on such land was
almost hopeless, for the mould, or vegetable matter, on the
surface, had little depth, and no plough or cultivator could pene-
trate this obstinate mass of stones. But this farmer undertook
to remove with pickaxes this entire mass of stones, and had
accomplished a considerable tract when I had the pleasure to
visit it. The piles of stones lay as thick, as and very much larger,
than cocks of hay, upon the field, preparatory to their being
carted away, for the making or repairing of roads. Under this
la^'-er of stones was found a soil which could be brought into,
and, under proper manuring, would liberally reward, good culti-
vation. The Cornish men, who, in the capacity of miners, are
accustomed to face difficulties of no ordinary magnitude, and
w4ll march up against the brazen walls of a copper mine, where
they may pick and hammer away for weeks and months with-
41 #

486 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

out reward, with as much indifference as they would cut away
upon a loaf of stale bread, performed this service with a labor
and perseverance worthy of all praise. Under this layer of
stones was a soil capable of productive cultivation, and the reward
was found in the crops which were growing on a portion of the
recovered land. After the stones were removed, the land was
subsoiled, and a crop of turnips, manured with guano, was taken.
The effects of guano, when the land manured by it was com-
pared with a part of the field manured only with the ashes of
the furze, were here most remarkable. The experiment was a
brave, and, though labor was at a low rate, it was an expensive
one; but as the land was comparatively without value in its
former state, the only question in the case was, whether the
land, after being redeemed in this way, would be worth the
expense of the recovery. Heavy as this expense was, the land
became worth a great deal more than it cost. In fact, it was so
much land literally created by the process ; and its situation,
where it was easily accessible, greatly enhanced the value.

2. Scobell's Farm. — The other experiment to which I
referred was going on between Penzance and Land's End, on the
farm of Colonel Scobell — a farm, in respect to parts of which
the culture would seem like going upon a forlorn hope, the land
presenting a most forbidding aspect ; and yet in its results
exhibiting a conclusive test of the best husbandry, by its per-
manent improvements, and its ample returns for the labor and
expense bestowed upon it.

Some parts of Cornwall — where the hospitality of the inhab-
itants is in an inverse ratio to the quality of the soil — reminded
me of a tract of country very well known to many persons in the
United States, through which the turnpike-road passes between
Lynn and Salem, in Massachusetts, which some one facetiously
called the '' abomination of desolation," and of which the British
prisoners, in passing over it on their way to Boston, in the last
war, demanded, with considerable emphasis, '' whether that was

the " (here using a theological phrase, which it would

be quite improper to repeat out of the pulpit) '' country for
which the Americans were fighting." There is this remarkable
difference, however, in favor of Cornwall, that, like sorne old
miser, who seeks to conceal his riches under an appearance of

PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF IMPROVEMENT. 487

extreme squalidness and destitution, it is underlaid with inex-
haustible mineral treasures, as I myself, in a dress befitting the
infernal regions, with a lighted torch in my hand, descending
by the slippery rounds of a ladder seven hundred feet, and trav-
ersing two miles under ground, had the gratification — for so I
may call it, since I am once more on the surface — to witness. In
this part of the country there is little wood, and no coal, and, for
fuel, the inhabitants pare the surface of the land, which seems
covered with a thick matted moss and heather, and which, when
taken off, leaves under it a mixture of white gravel, and black,
peaty mould. This being taken off in spots, the country resem-
bles the face of a man reduced to a skeleton, with his skin pitted
and blotched all over with the small-pox. It will be understood
that I am speaking only of a part of Cornwall, and, in particular,
the mining districts ; for in some parts there are spots of eminent
fertility, of which the culture is singularly skilful, and the pro-
ductiv^eness nowhere exceeded.

Some of the land owned by Colonel Scobell is of the description
of which I have spoken. He sells the moss and heather, taken
oflf by, what a native American may properly call, this scalping
process, at twenty-four pounds per acre : and then, by deep and
brave cultivation, and by most ample manuring, at an expense
of ten pounds an acre, he brings this very land into productive
cultivation. This is what, in New England, we should call
adroitly, and, certainly, most honestly and creditably, '' turning a
penny ; " here it is evident it might be designated by a denom-
ination two hundred and forty times larger. After this land is
in this way brought to, it would readily let at thirty or forty
shillings per acre. After the land has been pared, his process is
to drain, subsoil, and manure it, and then he gets excellent crops
of turnips, barley, and wheat.

' All circumstances considered, the whole management of this
farm seemed to me excellent, and it will not be deemed out of
place if I now speak of it, since the subject is before me.

The farm embraces an extent of some hundreds of acres, of a
gravelly soil, and much of it composed of rotten and decomposed
granite rock. It required no small resolution and courage to
take such a tract of country in hand, with a determination to
make its cultivation profitable ; for, though I have referred to
some cases in which the returns from the sale of the furze and

488 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

heather upon it were very large, it could scarcely be expected
that such a process of profit was applicable to a large extent.

The farm is not in what would be called '•' pink style," and
nothing is done for show. The fixtures, though very conve-
nient, are of a plain and inexpensive character. He keeps 150
head of neat stock ; he raises all his calves ; he fats a large
number of swine, of which he has an excellent breed, being a
mixture and cross of the Essex, the Neapolitan, and a boar pro-
cured from the United States, which appeared to be a chance
animal with excellent points. His cattle are of the improved
Durham, which seemed not the kind best adapted to the short
pastures of the country, and were not in good condition, having,
as he said, suffered from the extreme drought which had pre-
vailed during the summer, and of which it was quite evident
the stock in all that country had felt the severity.

His stock are kept in the house the greater part of the year,
and fed upon steamed food. His swine are generally killed at one
year old, and weigh from fifteen to seventeen scores of pounds ;
and when kept until two years old, he calculates them to weigh
about thirty-five scores of pounds. He has killed those which
weighed thirty-six score. They run in the pasture upon grass only,
'' with no meat," — that is, no grain or meal, — from April until
October. They are then put up and fed with steamed potatoes,
mixed with barley meal, and given to them while warm ; and
twelve gallons of barley meal are deemed sufficient for the fattening
of a hog. His swine,' when put up for fattening, are fed several
times a day. Indeed, the hind watches them constantly, and
supplies them with food as often as their troughs are emptied.

The cattle are tied in stalls with chains. Provision is made,
by a movable trough, to let in water to them, so that they are
not turned out except for occasional airing. The stable and
barns are upon the side of a hill, and the cattle are kept upon a
lower story.

The upper part of the barn is devoted to the washing and
steaming of the food ; for all of it, the chaff as well as the vege-
tables, are steamed for the stock. The turnips and potatoes are
placed in a large trough or tub, directly imder a full current of
water, coming from a drained field, which falls some short dis-
tance directly upon them, and immediately passes off, carrying
the dirt with it. The potatoes are steamed in barrels. The

PARTICULAR EXAMPLES OF IMPROVEMENT. 489

barrels are suspended in an iron half hoop, and are swung back
and forward by a crane. They turn upon a pivot, and have but
one head in. They are easily swung round to the trough,
where the potatoes are washed, and then filled. A movable
bottom, full of holes, is then placed in the open head, to prevent
the potatoes from falling out, and they are again swung round
and dropped upon a platform, and a steam-pipe, opened by a
cock, introduced under the bottom, which effectually steams
them in fifteen minutes. They are then again attached to the
lever, swung round, inverted, the movable head taken out,
again inverted, and the cooked contents poured into a trough,
and the barrel again filled and cooked as before ; so that, from
the beginning to the end of the process, they can scarcely be
said to be touched with the hand.

The turnips, with their tops on, are dropped from the cart into
the washing trough, and, when washed, are shoved along, and
thrown into steaming boxes level with the floor, on which they
are washed. These boxes have a false bottom, or grating of
iron, under which the steam is introduced by a pipe, and, after
being sufficiently cooked, the end of the box is dropped, and
they are easily shovelled into a cooling box, set still lower than
the other, for their reception. The chaff is steamed in a large
closet. All the hay for the cattle is cut by a machine, on an
upper floor, and easily shovelled into this closet, where it is
steamed by a pipe introduced from the common steam machine.
Every thing is contrived to simplify and relieve labor. The
food is then put into barrows, and wheeled, through the passages,
to the different stock to be fed. The water, which comes from
the turnips when steamed, is always saved, and, being mixed
with a small quantity of barley meal, is given to the store hogs.
It will ferment if left to stand, and is deemed quite nutritious.
Oatmeal is used for the stock, when barley meal cannot be ob-
tained, and is deemed much better.

The potatoes and turnips are all washed, and shovelled, and
steamed, by a single young woman, stout, healthy, active, and
energetic, not in appearance much to my taste, as " a fine gentle-
man," but entitled to respect for her cheerfulness and good-
humor, and for the spirit and fidelity with which she performed
her humble duty. Her master spoke of her in the kindest man-

490 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

ner, and, in looking at her in her laborious service, I could not
help thinking of that noble line, —

"Act well your part; there all the honor lies."

The manure of the stock is thrown into the yards. Different
kinds are mixed, and some hogs are kept among it, who, by
stirring it constantly, prevent its fermentation. The liquid
manure is all saved in tanks, and, in some cases, is, with great
success, led over the fields.

With the water obtained from the drainage of the land, Mr. Sco-
bell has created a mill-power, which turns a wheel twenty-eight
feet in diameter. With this is connected a threshing machine, a
winnowing machine, and a flour and grain mill, for the purposes
of the establishment ; and the same power is applied to a mill for
crushing and sifting bones, to a chaff-cutter, and to a grindstone.

From the situation of the ground, likewise, on the side-hill,
Mr. Scobell is enabled to irrigate portions of his land, which he
does with great advantage. From the rocky character of the
country, the fences on the farm are stone walls, a very desirable
mode of disposing of the surplus stone in the fields ; and his
gates upon the farm are of iron, at the moderate cost of 7s. 6d.
per gate. They appeared, however, quite too light and frail for
endurance.

The fixtures on the farm are of the rudest description, and no
pretensions are made to neatness or exactness ; but every thing
seemed well cared for ; and for economical arrangements, for
effecting the purposes intended, for a management combining
the lowest scale of expenditure with the highest scale of profit,
few more successful examples have ever come under my obser-
vation. The courageous enterprise, which could boldly face
the obstacles to be encountered in this most inauspicious tract
of country, would qualify a man for a much higher military
commission than that which its proprietor had borne, and the
sound judgment and skill which suggested and planned the
improvements, and carried them out with such a creditable
economy of labor, are well worthy of commendation.

491

LXXXIX. — CORNWALL AND THE LAND'S END.

Many of the practices prevailing in Cornwall, with the modes
of speaking, and forms of expression among the people, are so
nearly allied to those of New England, as to satisfy me that we
must have imported them from this part of the world, and that
scions from Cornwall are thickly ingrafted in our pilgrim land.
I wish we might inherit, in the fullest measure, the spirit of fuU-
souled hospitality which I found among them. I have only to
regret that the rules which I have prescribed to myself forbid
my saying what I would. But the feelings of grateful and affec-
tionate respect are not the less strong for being suppressed ; and
my Cornwall friends, from their own generous natures, may be
Eissured that my sense of their constant and disinterested kind-
ness is all which they themselves would desire it should be.

On this excursion into Cornwall, I went to the Land's End,
and planted my foot on the very last rocky point, extending into
the sea, which I was able to reach. I had but a few moments
before passed a traveller's home, with the significant sign, '' The
First and the Last House in England." Nothing can be more
picturesque than this rude and rock-bound shore, with its white-
fringed ruffle of surf, as far as the eye can reach, and a few
scattered rocks at a distance, over which the swelling waves
were profusely pouring their showers of diamonds, so treacherous
to the home-bound mariner, so picturesque and beautiful to the
landsman, as he suns himself upon the grassy shore, watching
the distant sails scattered upon the wide expanse, full-freighted
with human life and hopes, glittering in the sunlight, and float-
ing like water-fowl in their native element.

As I stood upon the far-jutting point of the promontory, and
felt that no intervening country separated me from the land of
my birth, and the home of what is most dear to me, I found my
head growing dizzy, my heart beating as though it were strug-
gling to get out, and my cheeks quite wet, perhaps with the
spray ; and I could only find relief in sending a thousand un-
spoken messages of affection, and in more earnest prayers for the
prosperity of the land, and the loved ones whom I had left
behind. May the winds waft the former to their objects, and
the last find a response in heaven !

492

EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE.

TABLE,

By Jo%N Morton,

Shoiving the Distance travelled by a Horse, in ploughing or scarifying an Acre
of Land; also the Quantity of Land worked in a Day, at the Rate of sixteen
and eighteen Miles per Day of nine Hours. — {Johnson and Shatv's Farmer's
Almanac, vol. i. p. 191.)

Breadth of
Furrow-slice
or Scarifier.

Space trav-
elled in
ploughing an
Acre.

Extent ploughed per
Day, at the Rate of

Breadth of
Furrow-slice
or Scarifier.

Space trav-
elled in
ploughing an
Acre.

Extent ploughed per
Day, at the Rate of

Inches.

Mih>.

18 MUes. 1 16 JUOes.
Acrts.

Inches.

Miles.

18 Miles. 1 16 MUes.
■Acres.

7

m

li

14

34

2A

64

54

8

m

1*

H

35

n

64

5-1

9

11

n

14

36

2*

64

5t

10

9A

1*

l«

37

2f

6|

6

11

9

2

If

38

2*

6A

64

12

H

2i

lA

39

24

74

64

13

n

24

2A

40

24

74

64

14

7

2i

2i

41

2f

74

6f

15

6J

n

2*

42

24

7f

6f

16

6*

2A

2f

43

2A

7*

7

17

5f

3iV

2J

44

2i

8

7A

18

5J

H

2f^

45

24

84

74

19

Si

3i

3t^

46

24

84

7f

20

4A

3*

3i

47

2A

8S

7f

21

4A

3*

34

48

2A

8f

7f

22

H

4

34

49

2

8t's

7A

23

H

4i

3A

50

2

9A

8A

24

H

44

3A

51

It'17

9f

84

25

4

4*

4

52

lA

94

8|

26

31

4i

44

53

lA

9f

84

27

3|

4A

44

54

H

9*

8/.

28

3*

54

44

55

It

10

9

29

H

H

4#

56

If

104

9

30

H

5f

4*

57

li

lOf

94

31

H

H

5

58

lA

lOf

94

32

3tV

5*

5i

59

lf<r

lOJ

94

33

3

6

54

60

If

lOA

9^

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

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