An address delivered before the Md. state agricultural society, at its annual exhibition at Baltimore

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AN

ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

Ay. State Agricultural Society,

AT ITS

ANNUAL EXHIBITION

“ AT

49 BALTIMORE, OCTOBER 28rn, 1853:

By CHAUNCEY P. HOLCOMB,

OF DELAWARE.

BALTIMORE
FROM THE PRESS OF SANDS & MILLS,
Office of the ‘* American Farmer.’’

1853.

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CORRESPONDENCE.

To C. P. Hotcoms, Ese.
Sir:—

_ The undersigned, a Committee of the Maryland State Agricultural
Society, appointed for the especial purpose of soliciting from you a copy
of the Address delivered upon this day before it, would most respectfully
observe, that in gratifying the request of the Society in consenting to its
publication, the interests of the common cause in which we are embarked
would be most essentially subserved by your compliance, as from the sen-
timents embodied in your eloquent lecture so replete with interest and
information, its diffusion through the press can but exercise a most bene-
ficial influence upon the agricultural community which our Society has
the honor to represent.

With sentiments of the highest respect and esteem,

Yours, &c.

SAMUEL P. SMITH,
THOS. R. JOYNES, Jr.
JNO. CARROLL WALSH.

Ballimore, Md., Oct. 28, 1853.

OS ee

Barnum’s Horen, Baritimore, Oct. 28, 1833.

To Samuet P. Smitn, Tos. R. Joynes, Jr., Joun Carrotiz Watsu,
Esqrs., Committee.

GENTLEMEN:

In answer to your note requesting me to furnish a copy of my address
for publication, I reply I will do so with pleasure.

Ifear you greatly over-estimate its merits, but such as it is—the MS.
containing the substance of my remarks will be placed at your disposal.

Respectfully yours,
CHAUNCEY P. HOLCOMB.

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ADDRESS.

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GENTLEMEN OF THE SociETY—
My Broruer AGRICULTURISTS :-—

I suppose I may regard the summons by which I appear
before you, as one calling upon me to testify as a witness in
the cause of Agriculture, rather than as an advocate to argue
its claims, or as an orator, eloquently to declaim about it.

This is an anniversary occasion intended for the promo-
tion of Agriculture, and intended to be in honor of Agriculture
~-and we may at such a time very appropriately refer to the
past. I have sometimes thought that in our congratulations
of ourselves upon our success, we might seem indirectly to
reflect upon our predecessors—upon the dead—the men and
the generations of the past. We should be careful to do their
memory no injustice. ‘There is certainly a very general and
wide spread public opinion to the effect, that rural sports and
pastimes, the turf and the chase, the exercise of an unbound-
ed hospitality, and the time spent in social intercourse, not
only interfered with their agricultural pursuits, but that to
these causes are mainly to be attributed the worn-out estates
to which the present generation succeeded. This is a short-
sighted and very erroneous view of the subject.

It is true that the landed proprietors of Delaware, Maryland
and Virginia, in particular, continued to engage in and enjoy
the sports that were regarded as appropriate to country life—
and which are so regarded now, and so practiced now by the
people from whom we are descended—a practice in which I
hope, succeeding generations of our country population will
long continue to emulate them. Men cannot work always ;

6

the bow should not always remain strung. We have re-
sources for amusement and relaxation in our field and other
sports, not only more manly and healthful, but more harm-
less and innocent than those that are nightly sought by the
denizens of our cities. I trust the day is distant, when either
the economic spirit of a utilitarian age, or the austerity of a
religious one, will banish these from our manual of pastimes
and exercises.

The short and truthful history of the past is this. The
early settlers of this district of country found themselves in
the possession of good lands, a fine climate, rich staples, the
country intersected by fine Bays and Rivers, giving them
easy access to market, and a general time of prosperity en-
sued. They not only fed the country to a great extent from
their wheat fields, but grew for export an amount that almost
entirely supplied the foreign exchanges, as wheat and flour
were the leading articles of export up to 1805, when the ex-
port of cotton rose to $9,000,000, taking the first place which
it has since retained.

But the era of Agricultural Improvement had not yet dawn-
ed, not even in Europe. The course of tillage was one of
exhaustion, sending away with the wheat and tobacco crop,
year after year, the valuable constituents of the soil, without
any attempt at restoration. Contemporary with the prostra-
tion of their lands, the markets began to give way. The
long European wars had terminated ; peace had succeeded
our war with Great Britain, and the price of wheat went down
in 1820 in England, subject to a heavy duty, to 44 shillings
a quarter, while in our own markets it was worth but about 65
cents a bushel, and corn 25 cents. There was more Flour
and Wheat shipped out of the country during the last ten
years of the last century than there was thirty years later.
From 1790 to 4800 there was shipped of wheat 5,386,710
bushels, and of flour, 7,684,456 barrels. From 1820 to 1830
215,272 bushels of wheat, and 8,295,920 barrels of flour—
the excess of the first decennial period being equal to about two
and a half millions of bushels of wheat.

7

Dr. Samuel Black of Delaware, in a very curious and able
Essay, published in the old American Farmer, in 1820,
states the average of the crops of that period in New Castle
County, to be, 5 bushels of wheat to the acre, 10 of corn,
and 15 of oats. These were the causes—national causes—
commercial causes—the state of agricultural knowledge—that
prostrated this interest so low before the close of the first quar-
ter of the present century, and not a few horse races and fox
chases, or the discharge of the duties of an open and liberal
hospitality. Another charge indeed, is in effect, that they
did too much—that they cleared up the whole country and
wore it all out—having every where felled the forests, and in-
continently ploughed it forever. I apprehend they did about
the best they could, and

‘sHe who does the best the circumstance allows,
Does well, acts nobly, the best and most generous can no more.”

They did not reclaim their poor fields, nor, gentlemen, with
their means, could we have done it.

These were dark days for Agriculture—days of gloom and
despondency—a night, a double night—an ‘‘opaque of na-
ture and of soul’’ seemed to shroud it. The population were
flying from the Old States, and there appeared to be danger
of a general exodus.

About this time a few bold public spirited men began to
urge most strenuously the necessity, and the practicability of
a reform in Agriculture. Conspicuous among these, though
there were many others in different parts of the country, was
Col. John Taylor, of Caroline. The first Agricultural press,
the old American Farmer, made its appearance about this
time, and no one can refer to its early columns without feel-
ing that there is a deep debt of gratitude due to John S. Skin-
ner. “

A better rotation of crops and the use of Plaster and Clover,
and finally of Lime, were beginning to show their effects in
improving and ameliorating the condition of our lands, when
the great Agricultural discovery of the age—so far as reclaim-

Mf

8

ing worn-out lands is concerned—the discovery of the virtues
of Peruvian Guano, has enabled us at once, in a single sea-
son, by a single slight dressing, hardly more in weight than
the seed with which we sow the land, to restore the most
worn-out and exhausted fields to the production of their most
palmy days. .

Your merit, my brother farmers, the merit of our contem-
poraries, is in the zeal and spirit with which all have engaged
in this cause of Agricultural improvement. No sooner did a
single ray of hope appear—no sooner were men able to grope
their way by the dim lights of science, or the doubtful results
of half tried experiments, than they were willing to venture—
willing all uncalculating to cast their bread upon the waters.
It was not in a mercenary spirit, or one that looked alone to
gain. It was with very many—perhaps a majority, a gener-
ous, unselfish, patriotic purpose to improve their Estates if this
could be done without hopelessly embarrassing themselves.
Of course they looked to returns first or last, or rather hoped
for them, but the direct profits of the enterprise was less con-
sidered than its success, and many a swail and bog, many’a
worn-out and gullied old field has been encountered, subdued
or reclaimed in this spirit. I repeat, this is creditable. It was
the impulse of a sentiment, unprompted by the passion of av-
arice, or the base spirit of lucre. ‘The mind too, with you, has
been more than ever an ‘informing principle to the plough.”’
Men have thought, and read, aud pondered over this great
subject in all its bearings. Judging from the success that has
attended us, there is every cause for hope in the future. The
three States in part represented by this Society, are even now
unsurpassed in the production of wheat, the great staple of
the world, by any other like amount of population in the
Union. The aggregate population of Delaware, Maryland,
and Virginia, by the last census is QB7BNA ; their produc-
tion of wheat 17,209,807 bushels or a fraction over 8} bushels
to each person. ‘lhe aggregate population of Ohio and
Michigan, is 2,378,061 ; their production of wheat, 19,413,-
289 bushels, or a fraction less than 8} bushels to each person.

g

Wisconsion is the only other State that gets up to 8 bushels,
and this State with a virgin soil exceeds it. The crop of
Ohio, it should be observed, is said to have been short the
year the census was taken, or in 1848.

And thus the facts show, that in a few short years we have
completely falsified the vaticinations which are thus promul-
gated to the world in McGregor’s work on this country :

‘Inall the old wheat districts of Delaware, Maryland and Vir-
ginia, the land is all so completely exhausted by continued
cropping, that it must be abandoned for years, until restored
to vigour by the recuperative powers of nature, or transferred
to another population better qualified to recover it by art and
industry.”’

Not only has such been the general result, but we may re-_
fer to particular instances where the crops grown by some of
our farmers about equal in quantity, and surpass in quality
the produce of the best English husbandry. A specimen of
the beautiful Gale wheat is on exhibition here to-day, grown
on the Estate of James 'T. Earle, Esq., of the Eastern Shore,
averaging by weight 39 bushels to the acre, and a more clean,
fair, plump and beautiful article can hardly be seen. ‘The
farm on which it grew produces now one thousand bushels for
every one hundred it formerly produced, or the difference be-
tween a handsome income of several thousand dollars by the
annual sale of several thousand bushels of grain, and the pro-
ceeds of a few hundred bushels sparsely gathered from its
wide-spread fields by its former possessor, the ancestor of Mr.
Earle, the late Judge Earle. ‘This is but one instance, there
are hundreds.

But we have only fairly commenced. There are many
matters indeed we have hardly laid our hands to at all, in which
success is desirable and must be attained. We must not on-
ly excel in a general husbandry, but breeding and grazing
must to some extent especially claim our attention; indeed the
whole routine of the affairs of rural life as suited to oursoil and
climate, including Horticulture, and Fruit culture, and what-
ever is calculated to embellish our homes or enrich our estates
must receive the best thoughts of our minds and the best la-
bors of our hand.

2

10

To this end I will make some suggestions in reference to
what came under my observation in a recent short visit to
Kurope.

Let me give you a description of Wark farm, situated in
the county of Northumberland, on the south bank of the
T'weed, which separates England from Scotland.

It belongs to the estate of the Earl of 'T'ankerville, and is
in the tenure of Mr. William Dove, a very intelligent and en-
terprising farmer. It contains 1200 acres of very superior
land ; the annual rent of the farm is £3000, or $15,000. It
is worked in four shifts. ‘Two hundred acres are in perma-
nent pasture; two hundred and fifty in Turnips, five hundred
in other crops—mostly Wheat, Oats and Barley, two hundred
and fifty in grass. He works it with twenty-four horses, em-
ploys twelve ploughmen, two spadesmen, two stewards or
overseers ; he hires thirty women workers in summer, and
twenty in winter. In harvest he employs from eighty to one
hundred and sixty hands in all ; he keeps a joiner and a black-
smith, he thrashes by water power. He keeps and feeds from
six to seven hundred sheep, and feeds and turns off about two
hundred and fifty head of cattle in the course of the year.
‘The women laborers are paid twenty-five cents a day, the men
about thirty-seven and a half, all boarding themselves. The
cattle and sheep he mostly breeds on other Highland or Scotch
farms he rents. He paysaltogether $25,000 annual rent.

Now I take this farm as a type or model to convey an idea of
English farming operations—to show what crops they culti-
vate, to what extent they graze and feed, and for this, and the
kind of labor they use and the price they pay, Wark farm may
be considered a fair representative of a very large class of
English and Scotch farms. It is larger than the average, but
smaller than some. ‘T'wo, three, five, six and seven hundred
acre farms are more common.

Seven hundred out of the twelve hundred acres of Wark
farm it will be seen are devoted to grazing and feeding, for the
two hundred and fifty acres of Turnips are of course fed on
the farm to cattle and sheep. This crop is made to answer to

11

our Corn crop, and though far from being of equal value they
calculate that less than an acre of good 'Turnips will fatten a
bullock. A large bullock they say, will eat six bushels a day.
I have a much higher opinion of their value since I have seen
how they will fatten cattle and sheep. I think we may cul-
tivate them to advantage to some extent by way of a variety.
But a little over one hundred acres on this farm of twelve hun-
dred goes in wheat. Ina good season they count on forty
bushels of 70 pounds to the bushel, about equal to forty-six
or seven bushels to the acre of sixty pounds to the bushel, our
standard,

Besides all the manure that is made from feeding so many
cattle and sheep, 25 tons of Guano and 800 bushels of bones
are annually purchased, and once in about eight years the
land receives a dressing of nine tons of lime, to the acre, about
three hundred bushels.

Now to keep this farm in the condition its intelligent and
successful proprietor desires, if he were to make grain its prin-
cipal product and sell that off from the farm, the annual out-
lay for manure would have to be very great, and the $15,000
annual rent probably could not be made. ‘Their idea seems
to be that the profits ofbreeding and grazing, whatever they
may be, are clear profits, while in selling grain they are selling
labor and manure, or a portion of the valuable constituents of
their soil, all of which have to be bought back in the
market again. I think we may take a hint from them here.
I doubt if any country that is constantly heavily cropped in
grain or in any tillage crop, and which is sold from the farm,
is likely to reach a very high state of improvement and be
kept there. We should not become so set in our ways or fix:
ed in our habits as not to change our practice when the state
and condition of the markets will compensate us for doing so.

The subject of the markets is not sufficiently considered by
us ; the English are wiser. We send for instance, our grain
to market at a certain season as a part of a mere routine; we
sow, harvest, thrash, and then send forward to market—with-
out once considering whether there is a fair legitimate demand

12

at remunerating prices, or whether we are likely to be met on-
ly by the speculators in the market, buying in a glutted mar-
ket at a minimum price to reap in good time the profits that
should be the producers.

Last year much of the wheat crop was sold for 15 and 80
cents a bushel ; it subsequently went up, after it had parted
from first hands to $1.20. The farmer lost the profits ; he got
pay, at most, only for his labor and his manure. _ It is often so,
it is constantly so. If possible we should endeavor to learn
the condition, or at least the prospect of the English crop, and
the state of the western crop, particularly in the states of Ohio
and Michigan. Knowing the importance of this information
to my brother farmers, I did what I could the past season to
keep them informed through the American Farmer, in re-
ference to the English crop—and [I have since had the satisfac-
tion of learning that some acted on this information and held
on till the price went up. If it is not safe to let our wheat stand
in stacks, or we cannot house it, we should get it out and put
it in granaries, or send it forward to be kept in store. Any
thing but being sacrificed as we are by rushing into the market
blindfold, and being forced to take whatever is offered us. ‘The
English farmer watches the market as a mariner will his Bar-
ometer, and like him too, he surveys, as far as he can, the
whole horizon. If there is a speck of war no bigger than his
hand he logs it—the price of freights, the state of the money
market, the condition of crops in the different grain countries,
all these are matters he well weighs and considers.

In reference to English husbandry, I may say generally, it
is very neat. Their ambition seems to be to do work well,
ours to do a good deal. ‘They very justly attach great impor-
tance to good ploughing, and nothing can exceed the neatness
and skill with which this important part of husbandry is per-
formed. They do not plough as much in a day as we do, an
acre is considered a good day’s work. Many of their teams
are harnessed tandem, three large horses to a big iron plough.
In executing a job with despatch there is no people that can
excelorequalus. We seek for the short ways and are at work

—————————

13

with head and hand at the same time. We exert ourselves
more than they do, and man for man accomplish more.

But the English and Scotch are good neat farmers and de-
serve all praise. They take it coolly too—I was down in De-
vonshire in haying time ; it had rained two weeks before I ar-
rived and itrained more or less every day for the two weeks I
was there—making thirty consecutive days of rainy or wet
weather in the height of their hay harvest. I expressed my
sympathy to one of the farmers who had thirty acres of heavy
grass down, and which was literally rotting in the cock. ‘‘O,
Sir,’’ said he, ‘‘the hay is quite spoiled as you say, quite sir,
but then what a beautiful stand of Turnips I have? and
what fine grass in my pastures, both of which have been help-
ed by the rain, and you know if the bullocks get fat this fall
andI turn them off, I can do without the hay, that is, sir, I
shall do without it, you know, and then providence sent the
rain and what have we tosay.’’ The English certainly have
a good deal of practical philosophy. They seem to me to
be a very honest people. ‘They regard a thing as right or
wrong judged by a moral standard, and no sophistry or cir-
cumlocution can change its character.

The domestic animals of England, of the present day, are
unequalled by those of any other country in the world. The
improvement of their breeds has been a great source of na-
tional wealth, and exclusive of their stud, have probably
doubled in value within the last half century. It is a great
grass country ; their sheep are a source of great income to
them. I saw at Lammas Fair, near Melrose, in Scotland,
80,000 lambs assembled on one common, and all were sold
between 7 o’clock in the morning and 12 o’clock noon,
Three Banks were represented on the ground, occupying
tents, to do the business ; a quarter of a million of dollars
changed hands in five hours, the banks furnishing facilities
of exchange, &c. The lambs sold from 3 to $5 a piece.

The demand for Stock in our own country of every descrip-
tion is good; prices are highly remunerative, and yet cattle
seem to be scarce. Cows have been bought in Ohio this Au-

14

tumn at $35 a head, to drive into the Atlantic market.
Calves were selling the past summer, in the neighbourhood of
Lexington, at $5 and $8 a piece, a few weeks old—and
my neighbours have been buying in their store cattle, 3
year old Steers, at from $36 to $46 a head.

The rapid multiplication and increase of our cities, and
the foreign demand occasioned by an advance of wages, by
which the laboring classes are enabled to eat more meat, makes
the increased consumption of meat, both of Beef and Pork,
immense. In 1851 the arrivals of Bacon, at tide-water, was
10,398,900 pounds, and in 1853 the arrivals have been
19,330,500—an increase of nearly 100 per cent. 'The arri-
vals of Pork this year, exceed those of 1851 by more than
100 per cent. There are slaughtered in the city of New
York, about an average of 4,000 beeves a week. 'The ac-
curate report of the numbers brought to the city within the
last ten weeks, is 41,852—and the number of all slaughtered
animals during the same period, including sheep, lambs,
veals, swine, and inclusive also of beef cattle, is stated at
233,729, making an average of about 23,000 animals slaugh-
tered weekly in New York, which is only one out of many
cities we now have to supply.

We have got now to growing the cultivated grasses. Clo-
ver in England, will only take once in about eight years.—
With us, a single year intervening, or after two crops taken
from the land, it will come again, and a good dressing of Gu-
ano will generally bring it on any of our old fields. It is bet-
ter for the succeeding crop of wheat to graze the clover than
to turn it down; its root constitutes its main value, and the
benefit resulting from the land being tramped in depasturing
it, is more than equivalent to the value of the top. Clover
fields then, with seme permanent pasture, and the breeding
and feeding of stock, in connection with the growth of wheat
and other grain, makes a nice husbandry, and we should
then follow Mr. Wm. Dove’s rule, “‘that the farmer should
never go to market except to sell—he should have both a
feeder’s and a breeder’s profit to himself.’’ Cattle may be
best suited to some locations—sheep or horses to other lo-
cations.

15

The time has artived when we should go to work to breed
a good stud of horses—the best that can be bred in any
country. We can do it; our climate, which has great influ-
ence, favors it. A fine stud, besides constituting a large item
in the Wealth of a country, otherwise favorably represents it—
for the horse, when in perfection, is with all people an object
of pride and admiration.

The English Stud, particularly their blood stock, has
greatly deteriorated of late years. The cause is to be found
in their mode of breeding, by which a forced maturity is ef-
fected. ‘They are very commonly entered to run at two years
old, and have to be made up—not naturally grown—by that
time. ‘They make some muscle by craming with oats from
the time the colt is three weeks old. The breeding is now
for the benefit of the sportsman—for the interest of the “bet-
ting ring,’’ and not for the perfection of the breed. All they
want is heels. Their horses can no longer run four miles,
and repeat, but they run a single dash of two miles, two and
a half, and at the Darby and Goodwod about three miles.—
They are surprised to hear that we yet have horses that can
run four miles, and repeat. I am satisfied there are no hor-
ses to be found in all Europe, that can make the time the
Boston stock did at Richmond the other day, running 4 mile
heats, namely:—7m. 46s.; 7m. 464s.; 7m. 49s.

We imported some of their best horses after they had in-
troduced the best Eastern blood—the Arabian, the Barb,
and the 'Turk—mostly before the war of the Revolution, and
about the close of the last century, and this blood we now
have in its purity. We have another valuable family in the
Morgan and Biack Hawk breed—animals of fine style and
action, and showing in their lofty crests a distinguished mark
of the Arabian. ‘There are no horses that can trot with ours
—that is given up. Now we should go to work and breed
fine horses. ‘They are regarded in our cities by one class, as
an article of luxury, and are frequently purchased as articles
of virtu, or specimens of the Fine Arts, and at extravagant
prices.

16

The breeder must not keep them too long—it adds to the
expense; the English understand this. They ought to be
quite ready to go off by the time they are three years old. I
would adopt the English system of maturing, so far as to
feed the colt with oats the first year; that I think would not
hurt him. I have seen the effect on calves of feeding them
grain the first winter; they will make larger animals, and
size is particularly to be regarded in breeding for our cities.—
The cross of the thorough bred race horse, one of pretty
good size, upon a large, roomy, common mare, will give us
something like the English Hunter. To cross the thorough
bred Racer on large Morgan mares, if they can be had, or
the reverse—the Morgan horse on large thorough bred Race
mares, should give us a noble breed. I especially commend
this whole subject to our young agricultural friends. We
have all a great interest in it, not only asa matter of profit,
but as adding to our pleasures; supplying our daughters with
the means of becoming accomplished equestrians, and ena-
bling our sons to ‘witch’? themselves, if not ‘the world,
with horsemanship.”’

This subject is beginning to attract attention. ‘The great
National Exhibition of Horses recently held at Springfield,
will exert a favorable influence. Similar exhibitions should
follow, and a generous emulation will be excited throughout
the country, to bring this noble animal to the highest possi-
ble state of perfection.

Among the means that have been prominently influential
in advancing the cause of Agriculture, are Agricultural Soci-
eties. Weare to look to them to effect much more. It is
through these Associations that an Agricultural public opin-
ion is being formed—an organization of agriculturists effect-
ed, and a brotherhood of association cemented. We are no
longer separate and isolated, but a community. ‘That inter-
est that should seek to overslaugh Agriculture, or oppress it
with selfish and unjust legislation, will not be encountered as
formerly by some ‘Village Hampden,”’ attempting to with-
stand the “Tyrant of his fields,’? but by a public opinion,

17

brought to bear through our fraternity of interest and associa-
tion, in a maner to make itself felt and respected.

The great feature of the age—the last phase and tableau
of rural life—you may say of social life—is these Agricultu-
ral Exhibitions. They represent in the numbers they
congregate, almost the population of the nation. What occa-
sion within the past year has assembled the people like the
State Fairs at Saratoga, Pittsburgh, Dayton, Springfield,
Illinois, Lexington, Baltimore, Richmond, Augusta and the
National Fair at Springfield, Mass.? Then the County So-
cieties throughout almost the width and breadth of the land,
have had their Fairs, assembling every where the people. ©

The friend of Agriculture must not only be gratified with
these results, but the friend of his country must rejoice at
them; for he will see in the devotion of a manly, virtuous
yeomanry to the great agricultural interest of the country,
which they so adopt, and press forward, scorning all political
intrigue, and all meaner things—the best evidence that liber-
ty and the institutions of our country are safe with them,
while corruption and venality will not go unwhipped of jus-
tice at their hands. ‘The hands that planted the tree of
liberty can protect it while it shades them.”’

I fearlessly pronounce, that no man who fails to visit these
Exhibitions, can conduct his farming operations with the
lights of the age, or intelligently. Here is seen in a few
hours all the different breeds of Cattle, Sheep, Horses, Hogs,
Poultry; all the different kinds of Grain, Grasses, Fruits; the
different description of Implements, with the latest improve-
ments; here he meets others, and the talk is of these things—
of their merits and demerits—of the crops and the markets,
and he goes home well posted up as to the state and condi-
tion of Agriculture in 1853, or for that year.

All honor to the public spirited men who have been fore-
most in the organization of these Societies. I regard them
as benefactors—public benefactors. Contrast these grounds
to day with the first Exhibition we held. Who can doubt
the increased wealth of Maryland, through the improvement

3

18

of her live stock? The personal energy of one man has had
much to do with our success. This man is on these grounds
in the morning before most of us are out of our beds, and
never leaves them until the gates are closed for the night. I
once saw him doing even more yeoman service. It was the
year of our first Exhibition on the new grounds west of the
city. ‘There was no hay for the stock—a negro approaching
with a load got stalled, and some of us hunting for the Presi-
dent, found him with his shoulder braced to the negro’s
wagon wheel, endeavoring by the exertion of all his person-
al strength to help the baulky horses out with their load.—
The relations of Charles B. Calvert, as the able executive
head of this Society, we trust will not soon be terminated;
but, happen when it may, he will probably never be allowed
to leave it without taking with him some token or memorial
of the high estimation in which his services are held by its
members. If it be in the form of a Picture, by all means
let it represent the worthy President at the Negro’s Wagon
wheel, helping forward the hay for the stock, his scarf and
badges of office well besmeared with mud, or it would not
be <‘life-like.”’

There are other early and staunch friends of the Society
that we cannot cease to remember, among them the late Judge
Glenn. His professional brethren could hardly more regret
his loss than the members of this Society, to whom he was
endeared by the interest which he took in their cause, and
the services he rendered it.

There is a great national object in connection with Agri-
culture that claims our attention. Our interest has not such
a footing in the Government as it deserves, and is entitled to;
agriculture is, in effect, disfranchised; there is hardly a record
kept of it. Commerce has its agents and representatives both
at home and abroad. We want a Department, or a Bureau;
we want the foreign information we could obtain through it;
we want statistics; we require special negotiation in reference
to Guano, and other subjects connected with our pursuit.—

i

Such a Department should have charge of the Public Lands.
As to the expense to the government, the advantage and gain
to a single good agricultural county would defray it ; it is not
to be thought of.

Such a Department would guard against the encroachments
of other interests; it would add to the dignity of this great
national interest, and it is a boon it deserves by the success it
has ensured, and by the wealth and numbers that now rep-
resent it.

There is another matter of paramount importance taken in
connection with this. We wanta National Agricultural Col-
lege. Both these subjects were agitated at the organization
of the United States Agricultural Society in June, 1852. We
had then every reason to believe that success could be secured
to both, and have now.

The favorite plan for an Agricultural College and model
farm seems to be to connect it with the Smithsonian Institute.
The desire of the benevolent testator was to “‘diffuse know-
ledge among men,’’ and to no class is it more necessary than
to our youth adopting the pursuit of Agriculture—and to none
could it be extended who could return fruits more likely to
scatter blessings over the land.

There are in Europe according to Professor Hitchcock’s re-
port who visited and travelled over Europe to obtain informa-
tion in connection with this subject, no less than 338 Agricul-
tural Schools and Colleges, besides 14 Colleges and Univer-
sities, in which there are Agricultural Professorships, and to
nearly all of which are attached experimental farms.

The farm would be an important feature with us. There
is nothing indeed more necessary for us than an L'zperimen-
tal Farm. We are yearly suffering great losses for want of it.
Take the following as an instance:—John S. Skinner as long
back as December, 1824—29 years ago, procured two barrels
of genuine Guano from the coast of Peru ; he placed it in the
hands of some friends who probably paid little attention to it;
and that was the end of it. Had we have had an experimen-
tal farm doubtless its inestimable value would have been as-
certained, and I am not certain we should over estimate the

20
gain to the country by saying the discovery would have been
equal to the whole expenses of the government from that day
to this.

Something like what is now proposed was recommended by
Gen. Washington in his last message to Congress, and so san-
guine did he seem to be of its success, that he subsequently,
in a letter to his friend Sir John Sinclair, apologized for the
measure not having been carried, on the ground that it was
during a short session of Congress and there was not time.

This plan avoids all Constitutional objections, though any
extension of its operations may well be considered as covered
by the clause that authorizes Congress to legislate ‘for the
public welfare.’’ Shall every other Government on earth but
our own foster its agriculture, which is the great interest of ev-
ery great nation, and ours hardly acknowledge its existence
except to draw the revenue in large proportion from that class
of citizens devoted to its pursuit? There are many new
and great staples yet to be discovered and introduced ; there
is much to be done that can only be done by the aid of Goy-
ernment, and the time has arrived when public men catching
the spirit that comes up from every part of our wide-spread
country will agree to fix its heart and centre at the Capitol of
the nation, thus for the first time so far as Government is con-
cerned, giving it alocal habitation and a name.

The Farmer and Nestor of Silver Spring, Francis P. Blair,
Bsq., in an able Agricultural Address recently delivered in
Montgomery County, Md., has treated this subject with his
usual ability, clearness and force, and has pronounced an ar-
gument in its favor that cannot fail to convince any man who
will read it of the utility of the measure.

Mr. Blair truly remarks, ‘We want the science, the system
and skill, taught in schools, to give direction to that energy of
mind and body among our countrymen which accomplishes so
much without their aid, and with it would make the superior
cultivation of the soil their greatest triumph. We have self-
taught men in every pursuit, and among them some eminent
men ; but education, which brings to the assistance of an iso-

al

lated individual the experience of past ages and the strength
of a multitude of men exerting all their faculties in concert to
promote his efforts to master the most complicated and vast
pursuit in which he can engage, is certainly the first thing to
be sought.”’

I have failed to acknowledge the presence of the fair daugh-
ters of Maryland, as well as the presence of others from the
adjoining States. Yet we have all seen them here defying
the elements, with threatening clouds over head and damp
wet ground beneath their feet passing round our grounds,
cheering us by their smiles or encouraging us by the sounds
of their approving voice ; and this is right. When their Hus-
bands, Fathers and Brothers have come forth with all their
best appointments to do honor to agriculture—why should they
not lend the charm of their presence to give to the occasion
greater interestand honor? Was it not Portia—Brutus’ Portia,
that sent seven times to the Forum to hear how her husband
was succeeding with his speech? Was it net the high bred
Grecian dame Aurelia, that trained herself her son to con-
tend for the prize at the Olympic Games, and was present in
disguise that she might be near him, as she said, ‘‘to console
him in case of defeat or to rejoice with him in the victory.”’
The most attractive scene of rural life any where to be seen is
these show grounds—this beautiful amphitheatre of a fair and
bright day when the grouping en the landscape includes as it
always does, hundreds and thousands of these fine fair women
the descendants of a landed gentry who justly appreciated the
dignity of their calling and taught their sons and daughters to
appreciate it too. There is an account given by Madam Ried-
esel, who was the wife of a German General, that was taken
prisoner at the capture of Burgoyne—in her memoirs, of a
visit she paid to a Maryland Lady, which, as showing what
was early done, and the pride and interest the ladies took in
embellishing and exhibiting their country homes, I cannot
but extract.

‘At the Frederick Springs,’’ she says, ““we became ac-
quainted with General Washington’s family, and with Mr.
* * * and Mrs. * * *, Mis. ——— was a very

22

amiable woman, and notwithstanding her attachment to her
country, we became great friends. I visited her; the garden
was splendid, and the day after our arrival she took us in her
carriage to her vineyard, which was still more beautiful and
tasteful, and much exceeded my expectations. We walkad
to the Orchard, at the end of which we ascended the slope
by a winding path to the top, and all along the vines were
gracefully intertwined with rose bushes and amaranths. From
the top of the slope the prospect was charming, and such as
T have not seen in any other part of America through which
IT have travelled. Not far from this place is Baltimore, which
I am told isa very beautiful town, and the residence of many
interesting families.”’

As shewing the interest English Ladies take in Agricul-
ture, E cannot but relate a casual interview F chanced to
have with an English lady, in going up in the Express train
from London to York. Her husband had bought a book at
the stand as we were about starting, and remarked to her
that “it was one of her favorite American Authors—Haw-
thorn.’? I casually observed, “I was pleased to see young
American authors found admirers with English ladies,’’
when the conversation turned on books and authors. But F
said to myself pretty soon, ‘this is a literary lady—probably
her husband is an Editor or Reviewer, and she uses the
‘‘scissors’’? for him; at all events, f must retreat from this
discussion about authors, modern poets, and poetry. What
should a farmer know critically of such things? If I was
only in those fields—if the conversation could be made to
turn upon crops, or cattle, then I should feel quite at home.”’
I finally pointed out a field of wheat, and remarked it was
very fine. The lady carefully observing it, said: ‘Sir, I
think it is too thin—a common fault this season, as the seed-
ing was late;’’ ‘those drills,’ she added, turning to her
husband for his confirmation, “cannot be more than ten
inches apart, and you see, sir, the ground is not completely
covered—twelve, and even fifteen inches is now preferred for
the width of drills, and two bushels of seed to the acre will
then entirely cover the ground, on good land, so you can
hardly distinguish the drills.”’

23

if the Goddess Ceres had appeared with her sheaf, or
her cornucopia, I could not have been taken more by sur-
prise. A lady descanting on the width of wheat drills, and
the quantity of seed!

‘I will try her again,’ said I, ‘this may be a chance shot,’
and remarked in reference to a field of ploughed ground
we were passing, that it broke up in great lumps and could
hardly be put in good tilth,—‘‘We have much clay land
like this,’’ she replied, ‘and formerly it was difficult to culti-
vate it in a tillage crop, but since the introduction of Cross-
kill’s Patent Clod Crusher they will make the most beauti-
ful tilth on these lands, and which are now regarded as
among our best wheat lands.”’

The conversation turned on cattle ; she spoke of the best
breeds of Cows for the pail, (the Ayrshires and Devons,) told
me where the best Cheese was made—Cheshire—the best
butter—Ireland—where the best milk-maids were to be
found—Wales—‘‘Oh !”’ said I, ‘I was mistaken ; this charm-
ing intelligent woman, acting so natural and unaffected; dress-
ed so neat and so very plain, must be a farmer’s wife, and
what a help-mate he has in her? She is not an extravagant
wife either, not an ornament about her—yes a single bracelet
clasps a fair rounded arm—that’s all.’ The train stopped at
York ; no sooner had my travelling companions stepped upon
the platform than I noticed they were surrounded by half a
dozen servants—men and maids—the men in full livery.
It turned out to be Sir John and Lady H. This gentleman I
learned was one of the largest landed proprietors in Berkshire,
and his lady the daughter of a Nobleman, a Peeress in her
own right ; but her title added nothing to her, she was a no-
ble woman without it.

It is a part of our task to excel in Horticulture, in which fe-
male taste and skill must aid us. We must embellish our
homes ; we must make them sweet and pleasant homes. The
brave old oaks must be there ; the spacious lawn with its
green sward—and the fruit orchard, and the shrubbery, and
the roses, the vines festooned and trained about the walls and

24
balconies—even the birds will think ¢hat a sweet home and
will come and sing and make melody, as though they would
é _* art to imilative man.’

Such a home will be entazled to our children, and to their
children—not by statute laws of entail, but by a higher law,
the law of nature—through the force of sympathy—the asso-
ciations of childhood,

‘‘The Orchard, the Meadow, the deep tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which our infancy knew,

These will hold them to it—these early memories—which we
should take care to deepen with a binding and indissoluble tie.
Talk not, then, O you fathers and mothers! to your sons

of forensic fame—of senatorial halls—of the distinction of
professional life, or of the gains and emoluments of com-
merce. It isnot for our class, surely, to furnish more re-
cruits to this hazardous service in which so many of the
youth of the country have already been lost—lost to any use-
ful purpose of living—themselves miserable from that hope
deferred that makes the heart sick—or disappointed of the
objects of life have become overwhelmed by bankruptcy and
ruin. Give to your Sons the pursuit of Washington, who
gloried in being a Farmer; the field and the council cham-
ber he sought from duty, but his Farm at Mt. Vernon, where
he wisely directed the plough from choice and pleasure.

«‘sWide—wide may the world feel the power of the plough

And yield to the Sickle, a fulness delighting,

May this be our conquest, the Earth to subdue,

Till all join the song of the harvest inviting,

The sword and the spear
Are only known here
As we plough, or we prune—or we toil void of fear,

And the fruit and the flower all smile in their birth
All greeting the Farmer the Prince of the Earth.”

34-77-2155

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