Skip to main content

Full text of "The Quarterly journal of agriculture"

See other formats 


THE 


QUARTERLY 


JOURNAL  OF  AGRICULTURE, 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE 


VOL.  X.-NO.  1. 


.^^♦4»^♦- 


EDITED  BY  BEN:  PERLEY  POORE, 
Secretary  of  tlie  Society. 


WASHINGTON,  D.  C: 

HENEY  POLKINHORN,  PRINTER. 

1862. 


THE  QUAETERLY  JOURNAL  OF  AGRICULTRUE 

IS   MAILED    FREE   OF   CHARGE   TO 

"  Life  and  Annual  Members  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society, 


Fee  for  Life  Membership,  $10;  for  Annual  Membership,  $2. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  FEBRUARY  NUMBER  : 

Page. 
The  Title  and  Index,  making  the  first  eight  pages,  will  be  published  at  the  close 

of  the  year 

Tenth  Agricultural  Congress.     No  quorum  present  on  the  first  day.     Second  day : 

President  Hubbard's  Address ;     Committee  of  Reference ;     Secretary  Poore's 

Report;  Resolutions  regarding  Medals ;  Election  of  Officers  for  1862 ;  Provision 

for  Filling  Vacancies ;  Election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  an  Honorary  Member. 

Third  day :  Treasurer's  Accounts  ;  Department  of  Agriculture ;  Compilation  of 

By-Laws  ;  World's  Exhibition  ;  Land-Donation  Bill ;  Native  Wines ;  Premium 

Listforl862;  Votes  of  Thanks 9 

Agriculture  of  the  Ancients 26 

Agricultural  Books  Published  in  1861 56 

Secretary's  Table.     To  Readers.     National  Agricultural  Societies.     Agriculture  of 

the  Ancients.     The  late  Prince  Consort  of  England.     Legislation  by  Congress 

on  Agriculture.     Commissioners.     Medals 58 

Abstract  of  Correspondence,  arranged  by  States 61 

Selections  of  Agricultural  Information 69 

Premium  List  for  1862 , 7tJ 


JOURNAL  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

VOL.  X.  FEBRUARY,  1862.  No.  1. 

TENTH  AGKICULTURAL  CONGRESS. 


The  United  States  Agricultural  Society  lield  its  Tenth  Annual 
Meeting,  at  tlie  Smithsonian  Institution,  in  Washington  City,  on  the 
8th  and  9th  days  of  January,  1862. 

Hon.  W.  B.  Hubbard,  of  Oliio,  President  of  the  Society,  called  the 
meeting  to  order  at  11  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  8th,  and  requested 
the  Treasurer  to  ascertain  if  a  quorum  of  members  (as  required  by  the 
5th  section  of  the  charter)  was  in  attendance. 

Hon.  B.  B.  French,  Treasurer  of  the  Society,  reported  that  there 
was  not  a  quorum  of  members  present. 

Hon.  Le  Grand  Byington,  of  Iowa,  inquired  if  the  meeting  had 
been  advertised  in  the  newspapers. 

Ben  :  Perley  Poore,  Secretary  of  the  Society,  stated  that  the 
meeting  had  been  advertised  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  the  National 
Rejmhlican,  and  the  Evening  Star,  of  "Washington  City.  Quite  a  num- 
ber of  members  who  had  reported  themselves  at  the  business  office  of 
the  Society  had  probably  gone  to  the  Capitol,  where  it  had  been  an- 
nounced that  an  interesting  debate  was  to  take  place.  Others  had 
written,  expressing  their  regret  at  being  unable  to  attend,  with  their 
endorsement  of  a  suggestion  from  a  founder  of  the  Society,  that  it  would 
be  best  to  make  the  session  merely  a  business  meeting. 

On  motion  of  J.  H.  Sullivan,  Esq.,  of  Ohio,  seconded  by  Hon. 
Isaac  Newton,  of  Pennsylvania,  the  Society  adjourned,  to  meet  the 
next  day  at  11  o'clock. 

SECOND  day's  session. 

There  was  a  creditable  attendance  of  members,  with  a  number  of 
delegates  from  State  Agricultural  Societies,  Senators,  and  Representa- 
tives in  Congress. 

After  the  delegates  had  presented  their  credentials,  and  the  members 
had  enrolled  their  names.  President  Hubbard  called  the  meeting  to 
order  and  delivered  his  annual  address. 


10  President  IIubhard''s  Address  at 

PRESIDENT  Hubbard's  address. 

Gentlemen  of  the  U.  S.  Agricultural  Society  :  For  the  first 
time,  I  meet  you  in  a  general  assembly  of  this  Society.  Although  it 
gives  me  great  pleasure  to  be  here,  you  will  all  bear  me  witness  that 
the  honor,  the  high  honor,  of  standing  at  the  head  of  your  Society, 
was  unsought,  and  entirely  unexpected  by  me.  No  one  could  have 
been  more  surprised  than  I  was  on  receiving,  as  I  did,  over  five  hun- 
dred miles  from  your  place  of  meeting,  an  official  notice  of  my  election. 
As  it  has  been  the  habit  of  my  life,  upon  accepting  any  office,  to  en- 
deavor to  perform  the  duties  it  devolved  upon  me  faithfully,  I  have, 
during  the  past  year  endeavored,  by  correspondence  and  personal  com- 
munications, to  do  all  that  was  in  my  power  to  promote  the  great  in- 
terests of  agriculture  ;  and  I  am  now  here  to  greet  you  all  personally, 
and  to  take  and  give  such  counsel  as  may  be  deemed  expedient  to 
cause  our  Society  to  move  onward,  and  to  accomplish,  as  1  hope,  the 
glorious  destiny  of  so  awakening  public  attention  to  the  great  and 
fundamental  interests  of  our  common  country,  that  the  masses  of  the 
people  will  be  led  to  the  discovery,  that  their  best  and  most  permanent 
interests  are  intimately  connected  with,  and  dependent  upon,  the  culti- 
vation of  the  soil.  For  I  believe  that  the  true  and  virtuous  civiliza- 
tion of  any  people  depends  upon  the  continued  direction  of  the  ener- 
gies of  that  people  to  agriculture. 

When  agriculture  flourishes,  the  people  are  invariably  most  con- 
tented and  happy.  When  it  is  neglected,  and  the  attention  of  the 
people  is  engrossed  by  a  greed  for  sudden  gain — by  a  lust  for  office 
and  political  power,  or  by  a  passion  for  war,  be  assured  the  sun  of 
that  people  is  on  the  decline,  and  that  it  will  soon  set,  never  again  to 
rise. 

Our  beloved  country  is  at  this  moment  overshadowed  by  the 
dark  cloud  of  civil  war.  How  has  this  been  brought  upon  us  ? 
By  the  turning  of  the  people  of  a  portion  of  this  Union  from  the 
peaceful  avocations  that  accompany  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  with  all  their 
kindly  associations,  to  the  false  glitter  of  speedy  commercial  gain,  and 
the  occupancy  of  high  position  and  power ;  ignoring  the  solemn  truth 
spoken  by  Deity,  that  "in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread 
all  the  days  of  thy  life ,"  and  also  forgetting  the  promise,  that  "  he  that 
gathereth  by  labor  shall  increase." 

Notwithstaudino;  the  untoward  circumstances  under  which  we  are 
assembled,  it  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  say,  that  agriculture  was 
never  exercising  its  true  benefits  more  effectively  and  conspicuously 


TJie  Ttnth  Agricultural  Congress.  11 

than  at  tliis  moment ;  for  while  the  hardy  yeomanry  of  the  North, 
West,  and  East,  have  arisen  in  their  might  to  put  down  as  unhol}^  a 
rebellion  as  the  earth  ever  saw,  (and  which  liad  its  parallel  only  when 
Satan  himself  was  Imrled  from  the  hapj^y  heaven  of  prosperit}^  which 
he  and  his  myrmidons,  inflamed  by  the  wicked  lust  for  power,  at- 
tempted to  overthrow,)  those  who  are  left  behind  have  sprung  with 
alacrity  to  their  plows,  their  hoes,  their  reapers,  their  mowers ;  and 
the  generous  soil,  never  stringent  of  its  blessings  when  properly  called 
upon,  has  given  forth  an  abundance  which  is  blessing  not  only  our  own 
country,  but  starving  and  overbnrthened  millions  in  Europe. 

It  is,  therefore,  consoling  to  reflect,  that  although  this  war  of  rebel- 
lion has  given  a  serious  check  to  commerce  and  manufactures,  3^et  ag- 
riculture has  received,  in  the  general,  no  check ;  and  that  thousands 
who  have  been  thrown  out  of  business  in  our  cities,  are  retiring  to  the 
never-failing  bosom  of  mother  earth  for  support ;  and  that  while  the 
quantities  of  some  of  the  great  staple  crops,  not  necessary  to  the  actual 
sustenance  of  man,  may  have  been  reduced,  the  North  and  the  South 
have  been  forced  to  give  more  general  attention  to  agricultural  pro- 
ductions of  the  life-sustaining  kind,  that  each  might  be  the  better  ena- 
bled to  supply  its  own  wants.  Hence  it  is  believed  that  there  has 
never  been  as  much  land  planted  in  wheat,  corn,  potatos,  rye,  barley, 
beans,  and  oats  within  the  United  States,  as  during  the  past  year,  and 
the  husbandman  has  everywhere  met  with  a  fruitful  reward  for  his 
labor. 

I  would  have  called  together  the  Executive  Committee  of  this  So- 
ciety for  consultation,  early  in  the  last  spring,  but  for  several  reasons. 

1.  The  unhappy  and  excited  condition  of  the  country. 

2.  The  exhausted  condition  of  the  finances  of  the  Society,  would  not 
justify  the  incurring  of  any  further  expenditure  than  such  as  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  carry  on,  economically,  its  current  business;  and 

3.  Your  efficient  and  accomplished  Secretary,  himself  a  member 
of  the  Committee,  on  whom  the  carrying  out  of  any  order  of  the  Com- 
mittee would  have  depended,  laid  aside  his  pen,  and  with  a  patriotism 
and  zeal  which  has  always  marked  his  course  in  life,  seized  his  sword 
and  stood  for  months  among  that  glorious  band  of  volunteers  who  so 
promptly  stepped  forward  in  the  defense  of  our  Union. 

These  reasons  seemed  to  me  sufficient  to  justify  the  course  I  deemed 
proper  to  pursue. 

Having  now  met  you,  face  to  face,  it  will,  I  presume,  be  expected 
that  I  should  express  my  views  as  to  the  proper  course  which  should 
be  pursued  by  this  Society  in  the  future. 


12  President  Suhhard'' s  Address  at 

It  is  well  known  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  there  has  existed,  in  many 
of  the  States,  a  jealousy  towards  this  Society,  which  has  been  induced, 
mainly,  by  the  course  it  has  pursued  in  holding  annual  exhibitions  in 
the  States,  which  have  necessarily,  more  or  less,  interfered  with  the 
prosperity  of  the  State  Societies 

In  my  correspondence  with  the  officers  of  the  State  Societies  and 
other  leading  agriculturists,  during  the  past  year,  I  have  studiously 
sought  to  do  away  with  this  cause  of  difficulty.  I  have  invariably 
expressed  the  purpose  of  advising,  and  now  do  advise,  that  no  annual 
exhibition  of  this  Society  should  ever  be  held  in  any  State  where  there 
is  a  State  Society,  without  the  express  invitation  and  cordial  co-opera- 
tion of  that  Society.  This  being  the  settled  policy  of  the  U.  S.  Agricul- 
tural Society,  it  will  tend  to  preserve  and  perpetuate,  in  amity,  the 
true  relations  that  should  exist  between  this  and  all  other  Societies; 
the  leading  feature  in  the  establishment  of  this  Society  being  that  it 
should  be  the  representative  body  wherein  every  Agricultural  Society 
in  this  nation  should  have  a  voice,  and  where  the  great  national  inter- 
ests of  agriculture  should  be  cherished  and  concentrated,  to  be  there- 
from promulgated  throughout  the  whole  country,  by  those  who  would 
come  here  as  representatives  and  members,  and  by  the  publications  of 
scientific  and  useful  documents  and  collections,  which  may  be  sent 
forth. 

This  Society  should  seek  to  furnish  and  publish  periodically,  for 
distribution,  articles  upon  various  agricultural  subjects  of  the  highest 
order.  It  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with  mere  common-place  or  medium, 
productions.  To  insure  such  articles  as  are  worthy  of  it,  either  the 
Society  itself,  at  its  annual  meetings,  or  its  Executive  Committee 
should  designate  certain  subjects,  and  invite  essays  or  treatises  upon 
them,  for  which  prizes — either  in  money,  medals,  or  honorariums  — 
should  be  awarded. 

This  would  insure  a  vast  fund  of  practical  information,  which  would 
be  of  great  benefit  to  this  country  and,  perhaps,  to  the  world  at  large. 

There  is  nothing  pertaining  to  agriculture  of  greater  moment  than 
the  production  of  cereals,  and  the  U.  S.  Agricultural  Society  should 
do  every  thing  in  its  power  to  encourage  the  utmost  attention  to  the 
successful  growing  of  crops  of  this  kind. 

The  plan  that  suggests  itself  to  my  mind  is  for  the  Society,  at  its 
annual  meeting  in  each  year,  to  fix  upon  some  one  staple,  and  offer  for 
the  best  crop  of  it,  in  each  State,  a  premium  of  some  sort,  leaving  to 
the  State  Society  to  award  the  premium;  and,  on  its  report  to  this 
Society,  the  premium  should  be  paid.     The  same  rule  and  policy  may, 


The  Tenth  Agricultural  Congress.  13 


with  great  propriety,  be  extended  to  all  other  productions  of  the  soil, 
I  know  of  no  way  in  which  more  could  be  accomplished  by  this  So- 
ciety, in  exciting  emulation  all  over  the  Union,  and  thus  producing, 
in  its  eft'ects,  an  aggregate  of  immense  practical  results  and  advantages. 
I  think  that  the  holding  of  annual  exhibitions  in  different  States  by 
our  Society,  of  very  doubtful  propriety.  Jealousies  must  and  will  be 
excited,  manage  as  carefully  and  judiciously  as  you  may;  and  I  ven- 
ture to  say,  that  there  never  has  been,  and  probably  never  will  be,  an 
exhibition  held  where  all  sorts  of  expedients  have  not  been,  and  will 
not  be,  resorted  to,  to  hold  or  absorb  all  the  surplus  money  received 
over  the  legitimate  expenditures,  for  the  benefit  of  the  locality  where 
the  exhibition  is  held.  We  have  a  notable  example  in  the  result  of 
the  exhibition  of  1860,  at  Cincinnati,  when,  after  a  series  of  difficulties, 
the  Society  came  off'  with  a  loss  of  many  hundred  dollars,  and  the 
entailment  of  sundry  law-suits  on  some  of  the  most  energetic  of  the 
Cincinnati  managers,  which,  it  is  believed,  are  still  pending. 

My  plan  would  be  to  procure  ample  grounds  in  the  District  of  Co- 
lumbia, where  the  Society  has  its  home,  on  which  there  should  be 
erected  commodious  buildings,  adequate  to  the  wants  of  a  national  So- 
ciety, where  agricultural  experiments  could  be  made,  and  where  exhi- 
bitions could,  with  much  propriety,  be  periodically  held. 

For  the  procurement  of  such  grounds,  and  the  erection  of  the  neces- 
sary buildings  thereon,  the  Society  has  a  right  to  expect  that  the  good 
citizens  of  the  District,  whose  liberality  is  well  known,  will  contribute 
generously ;  that  reasonable  aid  will  be  given  by  the  national  Govern- 
ment ;  and  that  the  citizens  of  our  whole  Union  will  lend  a  helping 
hand  to  so  worthy  and  desirable  an  object.  For  it  is  for  the  interest  of 
every  one  throughout  this  broad-spread  Eepublic  that  all  shall  be  done 
that  lawfully  can  be,  for  the  perpetuity  and  future  glory  of  this  Capital, 
which  bears  the  illustrious  name  of  the  Farmer  of  Mount  Yernon. 
Most  especially  should  the  farmers  of  the  country  see  to  this. 

A   DEPARTMENT   OF   AGRICULTURE 

has  now  become  an  absolute  necessity.  The  great  agricultural  inte- 
rests of  the  country  demand  it,  for  agriculture  is  the  basis  and  support 
of  all  productions ;  as  well  of  the  mechanic  arts  as  of  commerce. 

Agriculture  furnishes  the  means  for  the  support  of  Government,  and 
from  the  household  and  fields  of  the  farmer,  mainly,  come  forth  the 
men  on  whom  the  Government  must  rely,  in  time  of  need,  for  its  de- 
fense and  protection,  and  for  preserving  unsullied  the  glorious  flag  of 
the  Union.      Should  not,  then,  this  great  and  leading  interest  of  the 


14  President  JIubharcVs  Address  at 

nation  have  its  voice  strong  and  distinct  in  a  full  executive  department 
of  the  Government?  Is  there  a  single  farmer  in  all  th(i  land  who 
would  not  answer  "aye  "  to  this  question  ?  Then,  farmers  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  up  and  at  your  Representatives  in  Congress,  and  give  them 
no  rest  until  a  Secretary  of  Agriculture,  representing  your  combined 
interests,  has  a  potential  voice  in  the  Cabinet  of  your  President  of  the 
United  States. 

I  trust  the  present  session  of  Congress  will  not  pass  away  without  a 
powerful  effort  to  accomplish  this  great  and  invaluable  object ;  and  if  it 
is  properly  pressed,  it  can  hardly  be  doubtful  of  success. 

We  know  full  well  how  commercial,  financial,  and  political  combi- 
nations can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  the  Government  to  influence  its 
action  in  their  favor,  whilst  the  agricultural  interests  are  lost  sight  of 
for  the  want  of  a  representation  of  the  real  "  power  behind  the  throne  " 
to  watch  over  and  protect  them. 

Give  us  the  representation  of  that  power,  and  we  shall  feel  that  our 
interests  are  safe. 

The  Treasurer  and  Secretary  of  the  Society  have,  in  so  far  as  has 
come  to  my  knowledge,  performed  their  respective  duties  faithfully. 
They  are  both  accomplished  and  trusty  officers,  and  worthy  of  the 
confidence  that  has  so  long  been  placed  in  them  by  the  Society.  They 
will  each  submit  their  respective  reports,  from  which  the  Society  will 
learn  in  detail  what  has  been  done. 

The  funds  of  the  Society  appear  to  be  very  nearly  exhausted ;  and 
some  measures  must  be  taken  to  increase  them,  if  we  desire  the  Society 
to  go  on  and  prosper. 

There  has  been  considerable  delay  in  the  delivery  of  the  medals 
awarded  at  the  late  exhibition  of  1860.  By  order  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  the  Treasurer  paid  over  to  John  McGowan,  Esq.,  as  ap- 
pears by  his  report  of  last  January,  $2,368  45,  for  the  purchase  of 
medals.  This  sum  was  supposed  to  be  more  than  sufficient  to  procure 
all  the  medals  awarded,  and  to  pay  for  engraving  them.  The  medals 
were  procured  by  Mr.  McGowan,  and  sent  to  the  Secretary,  and  by 
him  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  engraver.  Up  to  this  time,  the  Secre- 
tary has  not  received  the  money,  so  placed  in  Mr.  McGowan's  hands, 
wherewith  to  pay  for  the  engraving  ;  and  the  medals  are  still  in  the 
engraver's  hands,  thus  and  necessarily  detained  and  kept  back  from  those 
to  whom  they  were  awarded.  Unpleasant  as  this  explanation  is,  it  is  due 
to  justice  and  the  parties  interested  that  it  should  be  made  ;  and  while 
making  it,  permit  me  to  express  the  hope  that,  hereafter,  the  money  of 
the  Society  shall  be  suffered  to  remain  in  the  possession  of  the  legitimate 


The  Tenth  A gj'l cultural  Congress.  15 

officer — the  Treasurer — until  drawn  out  on  proper  vouchers,  and  to 
meet  the  just  liabilities  of  the  Society. 

Before  concluding  my  remarks,  it  is  proper  that  I  should  call  your 
attention  to  the  faci,  that  some  of  those  who  have  labored  with  us  in 
this  our  great  field  of  enterprize,  are  no  more;  for  that  inexorable 
reaper  death — has  gathered  them  into  his  fold  since  our  last  meeting. 

The  Hon.  Henry  Wager,  who  was  an  officer  of  the  Society  from  its 
foundation,  and  who  served  one  year  as  our  President,  and  declined  a 
re-election,  has  left  us  to  lament  his  loss,  and  to  pay  appropriate  hon- 
ors to  his  memory. 

The  Hon.  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  was  also  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Society,  and  for  a  time  one  of  its  officers,  and  who  always  mani- 
fested a  deep  interest  in  its  welfare,  demands  at  our  hands  an  expres- 
sion of  our  sense  of  the  loss  we  have  sustained  in  his  death.  Neither 
should  we  omit  to  render  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  A. 
Clement,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  for  several  years  our  Vice- 
President  for  Pennsylvania,  and  who  ever  evinced  a  warm  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  our  association. 

REFERENCE  OF  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  PoORE  moved  that  the  address  of  the  President  be  referred  to 
Messrs.  Calvert,  of  Maryland,  Newton,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Smyth, 
of  New  Hampshire,  who  should  also  constitute  the  Auditing  Commit- 
tee. 

Mr.  Byington,  of  Iowa,  objected  to  this  mode  of  reference,  although 
he  desired  not  to  be  understood  as  disapproving  of  the  address.  There 
were  suggestions  embodied  in  it,  however,  which  he  should  prefer  to 
have  discussed  by  the  Society,  rather  than  to  have  any  discussion  on 
the  report  of  a  committee  endorsing  them, 

Mr.  Poore  explained  that  the  appointment  of  the  committee  was  in 
accordance  with  the  usages  of  the  Society,  and  the  vote  being  taken 
the  committee  was  appointed. 

Mr.  French  then  presented  his  report  as  Treasurer  of  the  Society 
for  the  past  year,  which  was  read  and  referred  to  the  Auditing  Com- 
mittee. 

Mr.  Poore  presented  his  report  as  Secretary  of  the  Society  for  the 
past  year,  as  follows  : 

THE   secretary's   REPORT. 

Secretary's  Office,  U.  S.  Ag.  Society, 

Washington,  January  7,  1862. 
The  Secretary  would  respectfully  report,  that  during  the  past  year 


16  Secretary  Poore's  Report  at 

he  lias  been  in  daily  attendance  at  the  rooms  of  the  Society,  except 
while  he  was  in  the  three  months'  volunteer  service,  near  Baltimore, 
when  he  attended  but  once  a  week.  He  has  performed  all  the  duties 
imposed  on  him  by  the  Constitution  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  and 
he  regrets  that  circumstances,  which  will  be  narrated,  have  prevented 
him  from  carrying  into  effect  the  expressed  wishes  of  the  Society. 

The  library  and  reading-room  has  been  kept  open  during  business 
hours  during  the  year.  The  expense  has  been  :  rent,  $250  ;  office-boy 
at  $2  per  week,  $100 ;  fuel,  $12  ;  a  water  bucket,  $1 ;  and  postage  on 
newspapers,  $3  50 — the  gas-bills  he  has  paid  from  his  own  pocket, 
having  generally  used  the  lights  for  conducting  private  correspondence, 
and  he  has  paid  upwards  of  half  the  boy's  wages,  as  he  derived  some 
slight  personal  advantage  from  his  service.  This  will  leave  the  cost 
of  the  room  to  the  Society  at  less  than  three  hundred  dollars,  and  there 
is  a  probability  that  the  liberality  of  the  proprietor,  Mr.  Todd,  ma}' 
reduce  that  amount. 

While  it  is  advantageous  to  the  Society  to  have  a  place  of  deposit 
for  its  accumulating  library,  for  the  back  numbers  of  its  Journal,  for 
its  medals,  and  for  the  records  of  its  Exhibitions,  the  Secretary  has  not 
found  that  the  present  expensive  location  was  remunerative  to  the  In- 
stitution. But  few  members  visit  the  reading-room,  nor  is  it  believed 
that  it  has  been  the  means  of  adding  new  members  to  the  Society. 
Your  Secretary  would  respectfully  suggest  that  a  far  less  expensive 
place  of  deposit  for  the  Society's  propei'ty  be  found  at  an  early  day. 

The  February  number  of  The  Journal  af  Agriculture  was  issued,  and 
is  herewith  presented.  It  elicited  letters  from  officers  and  members  of 
the  Society  in  different  sections  of  the  United  States,  expressing  ap- 
probation of  its  contents  and  appearance,  and  pledging  material  aid  in 
the  shape  of  remittances  for  life-membership.  But  the  hopes  thus  ex- 
cited were  arrested  by  the  breaking  out  of  civil  war  in  April,  when 
this  city  was  for  some  time  cut  off  from  all  mail  communication,  which 
has  never  been  resumed  with  the  Southern  States,  Before  the  period 
arrived  for  issuing  the  second  number.  Government  had  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  office  at  which  the  Journal  had  been  printed,  and  at  that 
time  it  was  not  possible  to  have  continued  the  publication. 

When,  in  the  fall,  matters  were  more  tranquil,  the  Secretary  pre- 
pared the  remaining  numbers  of  the  volume  for  the  press,  but  on  con- 
sulting printers  a  difficulty  presented  itself.  Owing  to  the  disturbed 
state  of  the  country,  no  money  had  been  received  by  the  Treasurer, 
either  for  memberships,  or  from  officers  of  the  Society  who  had  its 
funds  in  their  possession,  while  there  was  reason  to  fear  that  every  dol- 
lar on  hand  might  be  required  to  pay  debts  of  the  Cincinnati  Exhibi- 
tion which  the  Society  is  bound  in  honor  not  to  repudiate.  For  other 
obligations  which  remain  as  a  legacy  of  that  Exhibition,  the  local 
committee  is  responsible,  as  they  authorized  the  contraction  of  the  in- 
debtedness. 

The  treasury  was  thus  virtually  empty,  and  there  was  on  record  a 
vote  of  the  Society  "that  the  Executive  Committee  be  directed  to  in- 
cur no  expense,  unless  such  expense  can  be  paid  out  of  the  funds  in  the 
hands  of  the  Treasurer."     It  has  always  been  the  pride  of  your  Secre- 


The  Tenth  Agricultural  Congress.  17 

tary  never  to  have  been  directly  or  indirectly  concerned  in  any  deple- 
tion of  tlie  Society's  treasury  in  any  unconstitutional  or  unfair  manner, 
(whatever  may  have  been  his  other  official  faults,)  and  he  neither  felt 
justilied  in  taking  money  from  the  treasury,  a  part  or  all  of  which 
should  be  devoted  to  the  payment  of  debts  previously  incurred,  or  of 
running  the  Society  in  debt,  in  opposition  to  its  direct  vote. 

The  material  for  the  remaining  three  numbers  of  the  volume  is  pre- 
pared, and  your  Secretary  suggests  that  it  be  published,  together  with 
the  Journal  for  the  coming  year,  which  will  complete  the  first  ten 
yearly  volumes  of  the  Society's  transactions,  or  the  first  series,  and  he 
has  assurances  that  the  expenses  of  this  publication  can-be  paid  from 
the  receipts  of  life-memberships,  obtained  with  the  assurance  that  they 
are  to  be  devoted  to  a  printing  fund.  A  desire  has  been  expressed  by 
old  and  true  friends  of  the  Society  to  have  its  first  ten  years'  publica- 
tions thus  fairly  completed. 

In  exchange  for  its  Journal,  the  Society  has  received  nearly  all  the 
agricultural  periodicals  of  the  country,  which,  when  they  can  be  bound, 
will  form  a  valuable  addition  to  the  gradually  increasing  library. 
Thanks  are  due  to  editors  and  proprietors  for  their  liberality. 

By  the  Act  of  Incorporation  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Secretary  ''to  issue 
medals,"  and  he  considers  it  his  duty  to  explain  why  he  has  not  issued 
those  awarded  at  the  Cincinnati  Exhibition  of  1860 — indeed,  he  has 
been  positively  directed  by  President  Ilubbard  to  lay  the  information 
before  the  Society.  In  the  premium-lists  and  announcements  of  that 
Exhibition,  it  was  announced  that  the  medals  would  be  ready  for  de- 
livery at  the  ensuing  annual  meeting — that  of  last  January,  when,  and 
since  when,  they  have  been  clamorously  demanded. 

It  has  been  customary  for  Mr.  John  McGowan,  a  member  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee,  residing  near  Philadelphia,  to  submit  an  estimate 
at  the  exhibitions  of  the  number  of  medals  required,  and  to  receive 
funds  for  obtaining  the  same  from  the  United  States  Mint  at  Philadel- 
phia. 

There  was  thus  paid  to  Mr.  McGowan,  at  Cincinnati,  the  sum  of 
$2,368  45,  which  was  his  estimate  (herewith  presented  in  his  own 
hand-writing)  of  the  cost  of  the  medals,  their  cases,  and  the  engraving 
of  them — which  engraving  was  estimated  at  $306. 

It  is  here  necessary  to  state  that  at  the  three  previous  exhibitions, 
the  medals  had  been  ordered  from  the  premium-list.  But  while  nearly 
all  the  silver  medals  offered  were  awarded,  with  enough  as  Discretion- 
ary premiums  to  use  what  remained,  there  was  always  a  small  surplus 
of  the  bronze  medals,  which  are  regarded  as  second-class  rewards,  and 
seldom  recommended  as  Discretionary  premiums.  On  returning  from 
Cincinnati,  your  Secretary  found  that  he  had  enough  bronze  medals, 
and  so  advised  Mr.  McGowan,  but  learned  that  the  order  had  been 
given  and  could  not  be  countermanded. 

The  bronze  medals  on  hand  were  placed  in  the  engraver's  hands,  and 
on  the  8th  of  December  your  Secretary  wrote  to  Mr.  McGowan,  urging 
the  transmission  of  the  gold  and  the  silver  medals,  that  they  might  be 
ready  for  delivery  at  the  annual  meeting.  He  wrote  in  reply,  on  the 
15th  of  December,  "  1  expect  to  send  the  silver  medals  next  week." 
3 


18  Secretary  Poore's  Report  at 

They  were  received  on  the  7th  of  January,  and  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing the  Treasurer  was  requested  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  delay. 
J.  R.  Snowden,  Director  of  the  Mint,  answered  the  letter  of  Major 
French,  saying  :  "  In  response  to  your  letter  of  the  10th  inst.,  [January, 
1861]  I  have  to  state  that  all  the  medals  ordered  by  your  Society  last 
autumn  were  finished  in  November  last.  The  gold  and  silver  medals 
were  paid  for  by  Mr.  McGowan,  a  few  days  since,  and  by  his  direction 
forwarded  to  the  Secretary  of  your  Society  at  Washington  City,  per 
Express.  The  bronze  medals  have  not  yet  been  called  for.  I  should 
be  pleased  to  have  the  transaction  closed  up  as  soon  as  convenient,  as 
the  medal  account  for  the  last  quarter  cannot  be  forwarded  to  the  De- 
partment until  the  copper  medals  are  paid  for."  Major  French  replied, 
requesting  the  Director  of  the  Mint  to  call  on  Mr.  McGowan  for  pay- 
ment of  the  bill,  and  to  forward  the  medals  to  the  Secretary.  They  have 
not  been  received. 

Having,  however,  (as  was  before  stated,)  enough  bronze  medals  for 
the  Cincinnati  awards,  and  having  received  the  gold  and  silver  medals, 
the  Secretary  set  the  engraver  at  work,  and  on  the  11th  of  February 
sent  the  bill  for  engraving,  $141  40  to  Mr.  McGowan,  with  a  request 
for  immediate  remittance,  that  the  medals  might  be  distributed. 

A  correspondence  ensued,  but  no  satisfactory  reply  was  received. 
On  the  20th  of  March,  Mr.  McGowan  said:  "The  gold  and  silver  medals 
you  have  received,  the  bronze  are  paid  for  and  left  at  the  mint,  subject 
to  my  order ;  Avhich  I  thought  best,  as  you  said  you  did  not  need  them ; 
if  wanted,  they  can  be  had  at  any  time  ;  the  cases  are  also  finished, 
and  remain  at  the  factory.  Out  of  the  balance,  $300  60,  in  my  hands, 
there  is  the  advertising  bills  here,  amounting  to  nearly  $100,  most  of 
which  are  paid,  and  a  balance  of  about  $70  due  me,  from  Mr.  Wager, 
on  the  old  account.  I  have  a  regular  account  of  both  transactions.  I 
think  it  would  be  best  to  keep  them  separate.  I  have  no  doubt  but 
that  I  can  collect  enough  from  life-memberships  to  pay  the  advertising 
bills,  when  I  can  meet  with  them :  I  have  some  twenty  on  my  list." 

Your  Secretary  replied,  urging  that,  as  by  Mr.  McGowan's  own 
showing,  he  had  a  balance  of  $300  60  on  the  Cincinnati  medal  account, 
having  paid  for  all  the  medals  and  their  cases,  he  should  pay  the 
$141  40  for  engraving.  This  would  have  left  him  nearly  the  amount 
which  he  claimed,  without  any  of  the  life-memberships  alluded  to,  and 
admitting  that  the  advertising  bills  were  $100  and  that  there  was  a 
balance  due  of  $70.  It  had  been  provided,  by  vote  of  the  Executive 
Committee,  taken  when  Mr.  McGowan  was  present,  that  he  should  pay 
the  advertising  bills  at  Philadelphia  out  of  certain  moneys  which  he 
stated  he  had  collected  for  life-memberships.  The  following  was  the 
reply,  dated  April  1st:  "Dear  Major: — Yours  of  the  30th  received.  I 
agree  with  you  about  the  engraver's  bill  and  will  send  you  the  amount 
in  a  few  days.     I  am  a  little  short  just  now." 

Weeks  passed,  no  money  came:  but,  on  one  hand,  the  engravers 
presented  their  accounts ;  while,  on  the  other,  those  to  whom  medals 
liad  been  awarded,  or  their  agents,  persistently,  and  sometime  not  very 
courteously,  demanded  them.  In  the  fall  I  again  urged  Mr.  McGowan 
to  pay  the  demand,  foi"  which  the  gold  and  silver  medals  are  virtually 


The  Tenth  Agricultural  Congress.  19 

held  in  pawn;  and  afterwards  meeting  with  a  prominent  officer  of  the 
Society,  I  suggested  to  him  to  write  to  Mr.  McGowan,  inquiring  why 
the  medals  were  not  delivered.  He  did  so,  and  in  a  few  days  I  received 
a  letter  from  Mr.  McGowan,  in  which  he  adopted  a  previous  sugges- 
tion of  mine,  and  enclosed  a  draft  on  himself,  payable  thirty  days  after 
date.  This  draft  I  deposited  for  collection,  and  in  due  time  it  came 
back,  protested. 

Your  Secretary  was  then  forced  to  write  to  Mr.  McGowan,  that,  un- 
less the  draft  was  taken  up  before  the  next  Monday,  the  responsibility 
must  be  placed  where  it  belonged.  Monday  arrived,  but  no  letter,  and 
President  Hubbard  reaching  here  on  Tuesday,  the  facts  heretofore 
stated,  with  the  original  correspondence,  were  laid  before  him. 

In  justice  to  Mr.  McGowan,  it  must  be  stated  that  the  next  day  fol- 
lowing a  letter  was  received  from  his  brother,  announcing  his  sickness; 
and  on  Friday  came  a  letter  from  him,  stating  that  on  the  Sunday  be- 
fore Christmas  he  had  been  so  ill  that  he  was  not  expected  to  live,  and 
that  a  new  draft  drawn  on  him,  payable  at  the  Commercial  Bank,  pay- 
able on  the  8th  of  February,  would  be  honored.  This  will  not  be 
published  until  that  day  has  passed ;  and,  if  the  money  is  forthcoming, 
I  claim  the  privilege  of  suppressing  it. 

The  Secretary  entered  upon  the  year  with  the  knowledge  that  every 
dollar  then  in  the  treasury  belonged  rightfully  to  other  persons,  to 
whom  it  w'as  due,  and  he  has  made  no  claim  for  any  salary — indeed, 
he  has  expended  nearly  $60  toward  keeping  the  room  open  from  his 
own  means.  What  services  he  has  been  able  to  render,  have  been 
freely  given,  but  only  given  because  there  appeared  to  be  no  one  wil- 
ling to  perform  them,  and  with  a  firm  determination  not  to  retain  the 
position  of  Secretary  when  the  Society  was  able  to  pay  one.  As  he 
last  year  remarked,  if  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society  desires 
success,  it  should  first  remunerate  those  who  are  expected,  month  after 
month,  week  after  week,  day  after  day,  to  perform  its  work. 

Again  does  the  Secretary  desire  to  express  his  conviction  that 
there  is  a  mission  for  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society  to  fulfill, 
by  acting  as  a  central  organization,  into  which  information  can  flow 
from  every  quarter  of  the  Eepublic,  to  be  at  once  disseminated  again 
in  every  direction.  But  to  do  this,  the  earnest  co-operation  of  State 
and  local  organizations  is  indispensable,  and  if  they  are  kept  aloof  by 
the  holding  of  exhibitions,  or  other  causes,  the  usefulness  of  the  So- 
ciety is  necessarily  contracted.  The  Society  should  never  again  hold 
an  exhibition,  unless  with  the  approval  and  the  cordial  co-operation  of 
the  central  agricultural  organization  of  the  State  in  which  it  is  located. 

The  permanent  location  of  the  National  Exhibition  here,  has  been 
repeatedly  recommended  by  the  Secretary,  and  his  experience  but 
confirms  him  in  the  opinion  that  the  metropolis  is  the  proper  place  for 
the  exhibitions  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society.  Washing- 
ton neither  shares,  nor  is  the  object  of  those  jealousies  which  com- 
mercial rivalry  produces,  and  men  of  all  pursuits,  of  all  parties,  and 
from  every  portion  of  our  vast  continent,  take  pleasure  in  coming 
here.  As  the  spot  where  all  legislation  upon  the  great  industrial  in- 
terests of  the  country  is  carried  on,  it  stands  most  in  need  of  practical 


Mlection  of  Officers  at 


illustrations  of  the  conditions  of  those  interests.  Could  our  legislators 
see  the  fruits  of  agricultural  labor — the  herds  collected  from  "  a  thous- 
and hills" — the  raw  materials  which  nature  has  so  bountifully  bestowed 
upon  us,  and  the  implements  and  machinery  used  in  cultivating  the 
great  staples,  and  in  preparing  them  for  the  use  of  man — they  might 
more  properly  appreciate  the  value  of  agriculture  to  our  country. 
Nowhere  could  an  exhibition  be  more  likely  to  contribute  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  agricultural  and  industrial  labor  than  here  at  the  me- 
tropolis. 

All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

BEN:  PEKLEY  POORE,  Sec.  U.  S.  Ag.  So. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  "Williams,  of  Maine,  seconded  by  Mr.  Seegeant, 
of  District  of  Columbia,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  if  Mr.  McGowan  does  not,  prior  to  February  15th, 
make  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  his  account  with  the  Society,  show- 
ing his  expenditure  of  the  $2,368  45,  received  by  him  at  Cincinnati, 
(as  per  his  memorandum,)  for  medals,  cases,  and  engraving,  the  Secre- 
tary place  the  papers,  on  which  his  report  is  based,  in  the  hands  of 
the  Treasurer,  who  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  take  legal 
measures  for  the  payment  of  what  may  be  due  the  Society. 

Resolved,  That  the  Director  of  the  United  States  Mint  at  Philadel- 
phia, be  requested  to  forward  to  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States 
Agricultural  Society,  all  medals  in  his  possession  struck  from  the  dies 
of  the  Society. 

ELECTION"   OF   OFFICERS. 

It  having  been  moved  to  proceed  to  an  election  of  officers  for  the 
ensuing  year,  Mr.  Byington  requested  permission  to  offer  first  the 
following  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  until  otherwise  provided,  it  is  hereby  declared,  that 
the  actual  pursuit  of  agriculture  shall  be  a  qualification  for  the  holding 
of  any  office  in  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society,  except  those  of 
Secretary  and  Treasurer. 

After  a  brief  discussion,  a  vote  was  taken,  and  the  resolution  was 
lost. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Hanson,  of  New  Jersey,  seconded  by  Mr.  Arny, 
of  New  Mexico,  the  Society  went  into  Committee  of  the  Whole,  for 
the  nomination  of  officers,  Y ice-President  Smyth  in  the  chair.  The 
President  was  unanimously  nominated,  and  the  States  were  then  called, 
one  by  one,  that  the  claims  of  each  Vice-President  for  the  past  year, 
and  of  other  gentlemen  named,  might  be  discussed.  When  the  ticket 
was  completed  the  Committee  rose,  and  reported  to  Vice-President 
Newton,  who  took  the  chair. 

Messrs.  Calvert  and  Byington"  were  appointed  tellers,  to  receive, 
sort,  and  count  the  votes.     They  performed  that  duty,  and  reported 


The  Terdh  Agricultural  Congress. 


21 


that  the  following  ticket,  as  adopted  in  commiitee,  had  been  unani- 
mously elected: 

OFFICERS    FOR     1862-63. 

PRESIDENT, 

WILLIAM  B.  HUBBARD,    Columbus,  Ohio. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS, 


N.   B,  CLOUD Alabama, 

A.  H.  MYERS California, 

H.  P.   BENNETT  Colorado, 

HENRY  A.  DYER  Connecticut, 

JOHN  PATTEE Dacotab, 

JOHN  JONES Delmmre, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN Dist.  Columbia, 

W.  HAYWARD Florida, 

JAMES  HOSKINSON Georgia, 

JOHN  A.  KENNICOTT Illinois, 

W.  T.   DENNIS Indiana, 

L.  DEWEY Iowa, 

JOHN  T.    JONES Kansas, 

B.  W.  CLAY Kentucky, 

C.  W.  POPE Louisiana, 

JOHN  LANG Maine, 

ANTHONY  KIMMEL Maryland, 

WILLIAM  SUTTON  Massachusetts, 

T.  B.  CRIPPEN Michigan, 

CYRUS  ALDRICH Minnesota, 


WILLIAM    MARTIN Mississippi, 

J.  R.  BARRETT Missouri, 

W.  T.  BROWN Nebraska, 

JOHN  CRADLEBAUOH... iVeyac/a, 

FREDERICK  SMYTH N.   Nampshire, 

J.  R.  DOBBIN New  Jersey, 

W.  F.  M.  ARNY New  Mexico, 

H.   K,  BURGWYN North  Carolina, 

J,  H.   KLIPPART  Ohio, 

AMORY  HOLBROOK Oregon, 

FREDERIC  WATTS Pennsylvania, 

ELISHA  DYER  Rhode  Island, 

B.  F.  STANLEY South  Carolina, 

M.    B,   COCKERILL  Tennessee, 

J.   T.  WARE  Texas, 

EDWARD  HUNTER Utah, 

FREDERIC  HOLBROOK..  Vermont, 

F.  H.  PIERPONT Virginia, 

I.  S.    STEVENS Washington, 

F.  W.    HOYT Wisconsin. 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE, 


CHARLES  B.  CALVERT... il/ar^/^an^, 

J.  H.  SULLIVAN Ohio, 

A.H.MYERS California, 


MARSHALL  P.  V7\LT>^Vi,... Massachusetts, 

ISAAC  NEWTON Pennsylvania, 

FREDERICK  SMYTH, N.  Hampshire, 

LE  GRAND  BYINGTON Iowa, 

TREASURER, 

BENJAMIN  B.  FRENCH,    Washington,  D.  C. 

SECRETARY, 

BEN:  PERLEY  POORE,    Washington,  D.  C. 

Mr,  Hubbard,  on  resuming  the  chair,  expressed  his  thanks  for  the 
honor  conferred,  and  his  earnest  hope,  that  when  the  Society  should 
meet  again,  twelve  months  hence,  it  would  be  under  more  auspicious 
circumstances. 

Mr.  Byington  presented  the  following  resolution,  which  was  sec- 
onded by  Mr.  French,  and  passed  : 

Resolved,  That  if  any  vacancy  shall  occur  in  the  officers  of  this  So- 
ciety, other  than  that  of  the  office  of  President,  during  the  recess  be- 
tween the  annual  meetings  thereof,  the  President  shall  be  authorized 
and  required  to  fill  such  vacancy  by  appointment ;  and  that  the  Sec- 
retary be  requested  to  report  any  such  vacancy,  which  may  come  to 
his  knowledge,  to  the  President,  as  soon  as  practicable  after  he  shall 
have  been  advised  thereof. 

Mr.  Calvert,  of  Maryland,  said  that  he  was  about  to  present  a  res- 


22  Election  of  an  Honorary  Member  at 

olution,  placing  the  name  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  on  the 
roll  of  honorary  members.  Mr.  Lincoln  was,  he  believed,  the  owner 
of  a  farm,  and  a  volume  of  the  transactions  of  the  United  States  Ag- 
ricultural Society  contains  an  address  from  him  on  agriculture,  which 
shows  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  practical  cultivation  of  the 
soil.  With  these  antecedents,  it  was  gratifying  to  find  that  in  dis- 
charging his  presidential  duties,  Mr.  Lincoln  had  continued  to  appre- 
ciate the  importance  of  agriculture,  and  that  he  had  recommended  its 
recognition  in  our  Government,  by  having  officers  charged  with  its 
interests.  For  one,  (Mr.  Calveet  went  on  to  say,)  it  was  well  known 
that  he  had,  year  after  vear,  urged  the  establishment  of  a  Department 
of  Agriculture,  with  a  Cabinet  officer  at  its  head,  and  he  should  to- 
morrow again  urge  ori  the  Society  the  propriety  of  not  merely  asking, 
but  of  demanding  of  Congress,  the  creation  of  such  a  department,  with 
proper  officers.     He  would  move  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  Abraham  Lincoln,  President  of  the  United  States,  be, 
and  he  is  hereby  elected,  an  honorary  member  of  the  United  States 
Agricultural  Society. 

The  resolution  was  unanimously  passed ;  and,  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Love  JOY,  of  Illinois,  the  Society  adjourned,  to  meet  the  next  morning 
at  ten  o'clock, 

THIRD   day's   session. 

Mr.  Calvert,  from  the  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  annual 
address  of  the  President,  now  reported  the  following  resolution,  which 
was  seconded  by  Mr.  Eawson,  of  New  York,  and  passed : 

Resolved,  That  five  thousand  copies  of  the  President's  Message  be 
printed  for  general  circulation. 

Mr.  Calvert  also  reported  that  the  same  committee,  to  whom  had 
been  referred  the  accounts  of  the  Treasurer  for  the  year  past,  had  ex- 
amined them,  and  found  them  to  be  correct.    The  report  was  accepted. 

The  special  order  of  the  day,  the  establishment  of  a  Department  of 
Agriculture,  was  then  taken  up,  and  discussed  by  Messrs.  Calvert, 
Arny,  Titus  of  Pennsylvania,  Byingtoist,  Myers,  Sullivan,  and 
other  gentlemen.  Several  propositions  and  amendments  were  pre- 
sented, and  the  result  of  the  discussion  was  the  adoption  of  the  follow- 
ing preamble  and  resolutions : 

Whereas  the  agricultural  interests  of  this  country  underlie  all  other 
interests,  and  are  of  so  much  importance  to  the  prosperity  of  our  coun- 
try as  to  demand  the  fostering  care  and  encouragement  of  our  Govern- 
ment ; 


The  Tenth  Agricultural  Congress.  23 

Resolved,  That  tliis  Society  reaffirms  its  opinion  heretofore  expressed, 
that  it  is  indispensable  to  the  better  development  of  the  paramount 
interests  of  agriculture  that  a  department  of  agriculture  be  established 
at  Washington. 

Resolved,  therefore,  That  a  committee — to  consist  of  three  members, 
co-operating  with  the  President  of  the  Society — be  appointed,  and 
charged  with  the  duty  of  conferring  with  the  Agricultural  Committee 
of  Congress,  with  a  view  to  the  passage  of  a  bill  by  Congress  to  create 
such  a  department. 

President  Hubbard  subsequently  announced,  as  his  colleagues  on 
this  committee,  Messrs.  Arny,  Titus,  and  Byington. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Rawson  it  was — 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Society  compile,  from  the  trans- 
actions, the  different  by-laws  and  regulations  passed  at  different  meet- 
ings, with  such  others  as  his  experience  may  suggest,  and  submit  the 
same  at  the  next  annual  meeting,  as  the  basis  of  a  code  of  by-laws, 
which  shall  then  be  adopted. 

At  three  o'clock  P.  M,,  the  Society  adjourned,  to  meet  at  its  rooms  in 
the  evening. 

EVENING     SESSION. 

Mr.  Byington  presented  a  series  of  resolutions,  appointing  Com- 
missioners to  represent  the  Society  at  the  coming  Exhibition  of  the 
Industry  of  all  Nations,  which  were  discussed  at  length,  amended,  and 
passed,  as  follows  : 

Resolved,  That  the  President  of  this  Society  be  authorized  and  re- 
quested to  appoint  and  commission  three  individuals,  from  among  the 
members  thereof,  to  represent  this  society  at  the  World's  Exhibition, 
which  has  been  appointed  to  be  held  in  England  during  the  present  year. 

Resolved,  That  said  Commissioners  make  report  of  their  proceedings 
and  observations  in  the  premises,  at  the  next  annual  meeting  of  the 
Society,  to  be  held  in  January,  1868. 

Resolved,  further,  That  the  President  of  this  Society,  after  he  shall 
have  made  said  appointments,  communicate  the  same  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  respectfully  request  his  indorsement  of  the 
same. 

President  Hubbard  appointed  Messrs.  Smyth,  of  New  Hampshire, 
Klippart,  of  Ohio,  and  Myers,  of  California.  Commissions  for  these 
gentlemen  were  made  out,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  President  Lin- 
coln, who  said  that  he  would  transmit  them  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
for  authentication. 

Mr.  Byington  remarked  that  he  had  introduced,  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Society  in  1859,  a  series  of  resolutions  recognizing  the  im- 
portance of  agricultural  education,  and  urging  provision  for  its  liberal 
support  by  congressional  legislation.     He  desired  to  have  the  opinions 


24  Agricultural  Colleges — Native   Wines. 

thien  expressed  by  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society,  now  en- 
dorsed, and  would  offer  tlie  following  preamble  and  resolutions  : 

Whereas,  at  a  previous  meeting  of  this  Society,  the  following  reso- 
lutions were  unanimously  adopted,  to  wit : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  subject  of  agricultural  education  is  recognized  by 
this  Society  as  one  of  paramount  importance  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
whole  country,  and  commends  itself  to  the  unremitting  exertions  of 
this  and  all  other  a2:ricultural  societies  of  the  Union. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  most  available  means  for  its  promotion  and 
general  diffusion,  are  the  establishment  and  liberal  support  of  public 
schools  and  colleges,  by  and  within  the  States  of  the  Union,  which  are 
wholly  or  essentially  dedicated  to  practical  instruction  in  the  princi- 
ples and  processes  of  agriculture,  and  the  mechanic  arts. 

"Resolved,  That,  in  addition  to  aid  of  such  institutions  by  Congress, 
which  we  have  heretofore  recommended,  this  Society  pledges  its  best 
energies  in  the  promotion  of  the  great  objects  of  their  establishment, 
and  invites  from  their  managing  boards  correspondence  and  inter- 
change of  publications,  acts,  and  opinions." 

And  whereas,  We  still  adhere  to  these  opinions,  therefore — 

Resolved,  That  a  committee,  to  consist  of  the  President  of  this  So- 
ciety and  three  members  thereof,  be  delegated  to  urge  upon  Congress, 
at  its  present  session,  the  passage  into  a  law  of  the  "  Land  Donation 
Bill,"  originally  introduced  into  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  by  the 
Hon.  Justin  T.  Morrill,  of  Vermont. 

The  preamble  and  resolutions  were  seconded  by  Rev.  Mr.  Brown, 
of  New  York,  who  urged  the  propriety  of  passing  the  bill  referred  to, 
which  provides  for  the  donation  of  a  portion  of  the  public  domain  for 
the  endowment  and  maintenance  of  one  college,  at  least,  in  each  of  the 
States  of  the  Union,  whose  leading  object  it  shall  be  to  impart  instruc- 
tion on  the  subject  of  agriculture. 

Other  gentlemen  advocated  the  preamble  and  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  passed.  President  Hubbard  announced  as  his  asso- 
ciates in  the  committee,  Messrs.  Newton,  Sergeant,  and  Dewey. 

Mr.  Dennis,  of  Indiana,  desired  to  bring  before  the  notice  of  the  So- 
ciety the  wine-crop  of  the  county,  as  rapidly  increasing  in  importance, 
and  already  a  source  of  large  profit  to  agriculturists.  Europe,  which  so 
long  enjoyed  almost  the  monopoly  of  producing  wines,  must  soon  give 
way  to  the  products  of  the  vineyards  of  the  United  States,  and  it  is 
very  desirable  that  our  wine-growers  should  be  enabled  to  meet  at  a 
National  Exhibition,  to  compare  and  to  determine  exactly  the  grade 
which  each  should  occupy.     He  offered  the  following  resolution : 

Resolved,  That  a  list  of  premiums  be  offered,  payable  at  the  next 
annual  meeting  of  the  Society,  for  specimens  of  native  wines,  and  that 
a  committee  of  three  be  appointed,  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements, 
Provided,  that  the  Society  shall  not  be  submitted  to  any  expense  there- 
by, save  the  cost  of  the  medals  and  the  diplomas  awarded  as  premiums. 


The  Tenth  Agricultural  Congress.  25 

The  resolution  was  adopted,  and  President  Hubbaed  appointed  as 
the  committee  of  arrangements  Messrs.  Dennis,  Sullivan  and  Myees. 

The  suggestion  in  the  annual  address  of  the  President,  that  the  So- 
ciety offer  premiums  for  the  best  crop  of  some  one  staple,  in  each  State, 
was  discussed  at  length,  and  it  was — on  motion  of  Mr.  PooEE,  seconded 
by  Mr.  Myers — 

Resolved,  That  the  Executive  Committee  prepare  a  premium  list,  of- 
fering the  medals  and  diplomas  of  the  Society  for  the  best  crops  of 
Cotton,  Flax,  and  Hemp  which  may  be  raised  in  each  State,  during  the 
present  year,  requiring  statements  embracing  the  following  facts : 
1. — Location  of  the  land,  which  must  be  at  least  half  an  acre;  kind  and 
condition  of  the  soil ;  crops  raised  the  two  preceding  years ;  quantity 
and  kind  of  manure  then  used,  if  any.  2. — Manner  of  preparing  the 
land;  quantity  and  quality  of  manure  applied,  if  any,  and  how  applied. 
3. — Quantity  and  kind  of  seed  ;  whence  obtained  ;  when  and  how  sown 
or  planted.  4. — The  time  and  manner  of  cultivating.  5. — Mode  of 
gathering  the  crop  and  preparing  it  for  market,  with  the  actual  yield. 
6. — When  the  crop  was  sold,  if  disposed  of,  and  its  market  value. 
7. — A  detailed  account  of  the  expense  of  cultivation,  with  any  sugges- 
tions of  a  practical  nature. 

Resolved,  That  State  Boards  of  Agriculture  and  State  Agricultural 
Societies  be  requested  to  offer  and  to  award  the  premiums  of  the  United 
States  Agricultural  Society  for  the  States  in  which  they  are  located, 
and  that  their  decisions  be  adopted  by  the  Society  as  final.  In  each 
State  where  no  such  central  organization  exists,  the  Vice-President 
from  that  State  shall  designate  a  local  Agricultural  Society  which  shall 
be  requested  to  offer  and  to  award  the  premiums. 

Resolved,  That  premiums  be  also  offered  for  Essays  on — the  history  of, 
the  statistics  of,  the  crop  in  other  lands  of,  the  insects  injurious  to  the 
growth  of,  the  implements  used  in  the  culture  of,  and  the  mode  of  pre- 
paring for  market — Cotton,  Flax,  and  Hemp.  No  essay  shall  be  entitled 
to  a  premium  unless  it  sliall  be  considered  by  the  committee  to  be  of 
sufficient  advantage  to  agriculture  to  entitle  it  to  a  place  in  the  trans- 
actions of  the  Society.  It  is  expected  that  the  essays  will  be  founded 
mainly  (and  on  scientific  subjects,  at  least  partly)  on  the  writer's  prac- 
tical experience  and  personal  observation  or  investigation,  or  on  au- 
thenticated facts ;  and  when  other  authorities  are  quoted,  distinct  ref- 
erence must  be  made.  The  award  of  superiority  to  any  one  essay  over 
others  on  the  same  subject,  will  be  made  in  reference  to  its  probable 
greater  utility  to  agricultural  improvement,  as  well  as  to  the  ability 
with  which  the  subject  is  treated.  In  matters  designed  to  instruct  or 
to  guide  practical  labors,  clearness,  and  fullness  of  details  will  be  deemed 
a  high  claim  to  merit,  and  next  conciseness. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Sargent,  seconded  by  Mr.  Smyth,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society 
are  presented  to  the  Eegents  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  for  their 
hospitable  provision  of  accommodation  for  this  meeting,  and  for  the 
courteous  attention  shown  by  their  officers. 
4 


26  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Watson",  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  are  tendered  to  Hon.  B.  B. 
French,  for  the  faithful  manner  in  which  he  has  acted  as  Treasurer 
during  the  past  year,  and  that  it  is  imperatively  necessary  that  hence- 
forth he  should  have  the  entire  control  of  its  finances,  under  the  direction 
of  the  Executive  Committee. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Myers,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  are  hereby  tendered  to 
Major  B.  P.  Poore,  for  the  efficient  and  generous  manner  in  which  he 
has  discharged  the  unremunerated  duties  of  the  office  of  Secretary 
through  the  past  year. 

Yice-President  Newton  having  taken  the  chair,  it  was,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Smyth, 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Society  be  presented  to  President 
Hubbard,  for  the  interest  which  he  has  manifested  in  preserving  our 
organization  during  the  present  crisis,  and  for  the  able  and  impartial 
manner  in  which  he  has  presided  over  the  present  session. 

And  on  motion  of  Mr,  Arny,  the  Society  adjourned  sine  die. 


AGEICULTUEB  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

Agricultural  literature  occupied  a  far  higher  position  among  the 
ancients  than  it  has  hitherto  attained  in  our  day.  A  mere  enumera- 
tion of  the  names  of  those  authors  whose  works  remain,  and  the  testi- 
mony which  many  of  them  bear  to  the  merits  of  Mago  the  Carthaginian, 
whom  they  declare  to  have  been  the  father  of  agricultural  literature, 
will  leave  no  doubt  on  the  question  of  precedence.  To  Hesiod,  Theo- 
phrastus,  Xenophon,  Cato,  Varro,  Yirgil,  Columella,  Pliny,  a,nd  Palla- 
clius,  whom  have  we  to  oppose?  A  few  notices  of  agriculture  may  be 
found  in  Lord  Bacon's  works,  and  Sir  H.  Davy  wrote  an  agricultural 
book,  which  was  by  no  means  one  of  his  most  successful  efforts;  and 
here,  as  far  as  we  know,  our  first  class  must  end  abruptly.  We  are 
not  insensible  to  the  merits  of  Arthur  Young  and  Jethro  Tull,  but  we 
can  hardly  put  them  on  a  par  with  Cato  and  Pliny;  and  we  doubt 
whether  we  could  not  even  now  farm  more  successfully  by  following 
the  directions  of  the  two  ancients  than  of  the  two  moderns.  We  have 
a  few  pastoral  and  bucolic  poets  to  whom  we  must  oppose  Theocritus 
and  Homer,  who  are  not  included  in  our  former  list,  and  who  are  infi- 
nitely superior  to  any  of  them,  with  the  single  exception  of  Hogg,  as 
practical  shepherds,  neat-herds,  and  swine-herds.  Nor  is  a  study  of 
these  old  writers  a  mere  matter  of  fancy.  We  could  take  up  almost 
any  one  of  them  and  begin  with  him  the  agricultural  year — jDrepare 
the  field — sow  the  crop — weed  it — reap  it — harvest  it — thresh  and 
winnow  it — ascertain  the  weight  per  bushel,  and  the  yield  in  flour  or 
meal — market  it — buy,  feed,  clothe,  and  lodge  the  agricultural  slaves 
— purchase,  rear,  and  sell  the  cattle  and  fowls — collect  and  prepare  the 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  27 

manure — and  make  out,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  a  more  accurate 
bahiuce-slieet  than  could  be  furnished  by  half  the  farmers  in  Great 
Britain,  or  by  one-fourth  of  those  in  the  United  States. 

Our  knowledge  of  Egyptian  agriculture  has  not  only  been  confirmed, 
but  also  very  much  enlarged,  of  late  years.  The  notices  of  it  which 
occur  in  Di  odor  us,  Strabo,  Pliny,  Plutarch,  and  other  writers,  have 
been  brought  together  by  Sir  Gardner  Wilkinson  in  the  first  volume  of 
the  second  series  of  his  "Manners  and  Customs  of  the  Ancient  Egyp- 
tians." They  receive  a  most  interesting  illustration  from  the  drawings 
which  this  distinguished  traveler  and  his  fellow  laborers  have  brought 
to  light  from  the  tombs.  Not  only  is  the  manner  in  which  these  men 
of  old  performed  the  operations  of  husbandry  placed  strikingly  before 
our  eyes,  but  we  are  admitted  at  once  into  the  penetralia  of  the  eco- 
nomical, and,  we  might  almost  say,  the  moral  management  of  a  farm, 
owner,  attended  by  his  faithful  dog,  watches  the  work ;  the  scribe  or 
The  clerk,  with  his  desk  and  double  stand,  containing  black  and  red  ink, 
receives  and  records  the  tale  of  corn,  cattle,  poultry,  and  even  eggs; 
the  laboring  men  and  beasts  plough,  sow,  reap,  thresh,  winnow,  are 
rewarded  and  punished;  and,  finally,  the  despised  neat-herd  leads 
before  us  an  ox,  one  of  Pharaoh's  fattest  kine,  whose  fair  proportions 
are,  no  doubt,  intended  to  be  a  satire  on  the  deformity  of  his  attendant. 
Our  enumeration  contains  less  than  one-half  of  what  is  vividly  por- 
trayed. Sir  Gardner,  intimately  acquainted  with  present  Egypt,  traces 
in  many  instances  the  analogy  which  exists  between  ancient  and 
modei-n  practice.  Most  of  our  readers  are  probably  acquainted  with 
his  work ;  those  who  are  not  have  a  rich  treat  in  store. 

We  now  despatch,  in  a  few  sentences,  the  little  information  which 
we  have  been  able  to  gather  on  Grecian  and  Carthaginian  agriculture. 
Though  Attica  was  arid,  Laconia  swampy,  Megara  rocky,  and  Corinth 
dependent  on  importation  for  a  supplj?-  of  food,  the  art  of  the  husband- 
man was  not  without  its  literature,  Pliny  laments  over  forty  Greek 
treatises  on  agriculture  which  were  lost  in  his  day ;  and  Columella 
reckons  them  at  fifty.  The  pursuit  may  not  have  been  held  in  high 
esteem,  but  its  operations  were  certainly  familiar  to  the  educated  class. 
Hesiod  was  strictly  an  agricultural  writer ;  and  the  allusions  to  farm- 
ing operations  in  Homer  and  Theocritus  are  definite,  and  entirely 
practical,  Eubceus,  avjiio^trj^  opzafio?  'avb^Mv,  is  no  fanciful  swine-herd; 
and,  however  ideal  the  ditties  of  Lycidas  and  Thyrsis  may  be,  their 
shepherding  is  quite  real.  In  the  passage  relating  to  the  capture  of 
Dolon,  Hector's  spy.  Pope,  following  Madame  Dacier,  has  made  a  sad 
hash  of  a  simile  which  is  perfectly  plain  to  those  who  understand  the 
proprieties  of  ploughing.  In  the  agricultural  compartment  of  Achilles' 
shield,  we  see  before  us  no  poetical  field,  but  a  deep  loamy  fallow,  the 
texture  and  color  of  which  indicate  that  it  is  receiving  its  third  furrow; 
and  in  the  crop  of  grain  which  is  falling  before  the  sickle,  we  have  an 
accurate  division  of  labor  which  a  Norfolk  farmer  might  do  well  to 
imitate : — 

Gxrjritpov    ix^fy    idtr^xn,    trt    oyjxQv  yrjOoovfOi  xyjp. 

This  must  have  been  in  the  palmy  days  of  protection.     Probably  few 


28  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

of  our  living  poets  would  be  capable  of  giving,  and  as  few  of  their 
readers  of  appreciating,  so  detailed  an  account  of  the  simplest  farming 
operations.  These  notices  of  agriculture  in  Herodotus  and  Thucydides 
are  only  incidental ;  but  a  work  by  Theophrastus,  which  has  descended 
to  us,  is  by  no  means,  as  Mr.  Hoskyns  intimates,  a  mere  "botanical 
catalogue  of  plants."  It  contains  many  useful  practical  directions,  and 
frequently  discriminates,  with  much  accuracy,  between  the  modes  of 
husbandry  suited  to  different  countries  and  climates. 

Xenphon  is  said  to  have  bought  and  occupied  a  farm  near  Smyna, 
where  he  wrote  the  agricultural  treatise  commonly  called  his  CEcono- 
micks,  and  which  is  frequently  appended  to  the  Memorabilia.  It  treats 
of  farming,  gardening,  and  household  management,  under  which  last 
head  it  gives  valuable  instructions  for  the  government  of  wives.  Cic- 
ero praises  this  treatise  highly.  It  contains  the  passage  in  which  Cy- 
rus the  younger  exhibits  himself  to  Lysander  as  "  The  Persian  Farmer ;" 
''  ut  intelligatis,"  says  Cicero,  "nihil  ei  tarn  regale  videri  quam studium 
agricolendi." 

The  few  notices  which  we  possess  of  Carthaginian  agriculture  are 
singular,  and  scarcely  reconcilable  with  each  other.  Heeren  reckons  the 
fertile  provinces  of  Carthage  in  Africa  to  have  been  about  equal  in  area 
to  Ireland ;  and  divides  the  remainder  of  their  African  territory  be- 
tween Nomad  tribes  and  Lotophagi.  It  appears  from  Diodorus,  Poly- 
bius,  and  Strabo,  that  the  Carthaginians  received  large  supplies  of  grain 
from  Sardinia  and  Sicily.  Heeren,  of  whose  research  and  judgment  it 
would  be  impossible  to  speak  too  highly,  says : 

"  The  foreign  colonies  of  Carthage  were  always  chosen  for  the  pur- 
poses of  commerce  ;  but  those  within  her  own  territory  were,  at  least 
for  the  most  part,  inland,  and  fixed  upon  for  the  promotion  of  agricul- 
ture. ''*  *  *  It  was  a  general  principle  of  Car th agin i an  policy  to 
improve,  as  much  as  possible,  the  cultivation  of  their  lands,  and  to  ac- 
custom the  native  tribes  under  their  subjection  to  do  the  same.  *  *  * 
They,  in  fact,  appear  to  have  attached  more  importance  to  agriculture 
than  to  commerce.  '"  *  *  *  It  is  plain  that  families  of  the  first 
rank  were  in  possession  of  large  estates,  from  whose  produce  they  drew 
their  income ;  while  on  the  contrary,  there  is  not  a  single  trace,  in  the 
whole  history  of  the  republic,  of  their  being  concerned  in  trade." 

It  is  difiicult  to  reconcile  these  opinions  of  Heeren's  with  Cicero's 
statement  that  a  preference  for  trade  and  navigation,  and  a  neglect  of 
agriculture  and  arms,  were  the  main  causes  of  the  weakness  of  Carthage. 
The  modern,  however,  derives  much  support  from  mdisputable  facts 
relating  to  Carthaginian  literature.  Kings,  or  perhaps  presidents,  but 
at  all  events  great  generals,  were  among  their  agricultural  writers. 
"  Mago,  the  Carthaginian,  and  Hamilcar  (says  Columella)  held  it  not 
beneath  their  dignity,  when  they  were  unoccupied  by  war,  to  contri- 
bute by  treatises  on  farming  their  quota  towards  human  life."  We  learn 
from  several  sources  that  the  books  of  Mago  on  agriculture  amounted 
to  twenty-eight ;  that  they  were  translated  into  Greek  by  Cassius  Di- 
onysius  of  Utica;  that  on  the  final  destruction  of  Carthage,  when  the 
whole  literature  of  the  conquered  nation  was  given  over  by  the  Romans 
to  their  African  allies,  these  twenty -eight  treatises  were  considered  so 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  29 

valuable,  that  they  were  specially  excepted,  brought  to  Rome,  and  by 
the  senate  ordered  to  be  translated  at  the  public  expense.  Pliny  says 
that  D.  Silanus,  belonging  to  one  of  the  first  families,  surpassed  the 
other  translators.  They  are  treated  as  of  great  authority  by  Varro,  Col- 
umella, Palladius,  and  Pliny;  and  in  the  appendix  to  Heeren  will  be 
found  thirty-one  distinct  passages  in  which  the  maxims  of  the  Cartha- 
ginian author  are  handed  down  to  us.  It  is  singular  enough  that  no 
one  of  these  passages  has  any  reference  to  the  cultivation  of  any  species 
of  grain.  One  passage  gives  directions  for  the  grinding  or  pounding 
of  maize,  barley,  lentils,  vetches,  and  sesame.  Another  strongly  re- 
commends landed  proprietors  to  be  resident — "  He  to  whom  an  abode 
in  the  city  lies  close  at  heart,  has  no  need  of  a  country  estate."  The 
directions  for  culture  apply  solely  to  vines,  olives,  the  nut  tribe,  pop- 
lars, and  reeds.  We  unfortunately  do  not  learn  the  structure  of  his 
humanity  hives,  but  it  appears  that  he  disapproved  of  destroying  the 
bees  when  the  honey  was  taken.  Columella  vouches,  on  personal  ex- 
perience, for  the  excellence  of  the  Punic  receipt  for  making  the  yqvj 
best  wine,  "  passum  optimum."  Farriery,  (including  the  symptoms  of 
broken-wind  in  horses,  and  a  prescription,)  a  critical  operation  to  which 
male  animals  are  subjected,  and  the  gestation  of  mares  and  female 
mules,  are  all  brought  under  review ;  and  we  have  the  astounding 
statement,  that  in  Africa  the  latter  females  were  nearly  as  prolific  as 
the  former.  This  is  more  surprising,  because  Cato— who  died  before 
his  "  Delenda  est  Carthago"  was  fulfilled,  and  accordingly  shows  no 
acr[uaintance  with  Mago's  writings — makes  the  same  assertion.  "Upon 
the  health  of  black  cattle,"  says  Yarro,  "  I  have  borrowed  a  good  deal 
from  the  books  of  Mago,  which  I  made  my  herdsmen  carefully  read." 
And  not  only  does  the  Carthaginian  treat  of  the  health  of  cattle,  but  he 
gives  directions  for  buying  oxen  for  the  plough,  so  precise  that  they 
will  perhaps  interest  our  readers  : — 

"  The  young  oxen  which  we  buy  should  be  square  in  their  form, 
large  limbed,  with  strong,  lofty,  and  dark-coloured  horns,  broad  and 
curly  fronts,  rough  ears,  black  eyes  and  lips,  prominent  and  expanded 
nostrils,  long  and  brawny  neck,  ample  dewlaps  pendant  nearly  to  the 
knees,  a  wide  chest  and  large  shoulders,  roomy-bellied,  with  well-bowed 
ribs,  broad  on  the  loin,  with  a  straight,  level,  or  even  slightly-depressed 
back,  round  buttock,  straight  and  firm  legs  by  no  means  weak  in  the 
knee,  large  hoofs,  very  long  and  bushy  tails,  the  body  covered  with 
thick  short  hair  of  a  red  or  tawny  colour,  and  they  should  be  very  soft 
handlers  (toc^w  corpovis  moUissimo)^ 

Palladius  gives  directions  in  nearly  the  same  words,  without,  how- 
ever, intimating  that  he  derived  them  from  Mago — a  very  tidy  ox, 
whether  he  be  purchased  in  Libya  in  the  year  B.  c.  600,  or  in  North- 
amptonshire A.D.  1850.  More  than  one  Mago  figures  in  Carthaginian  his- 
tory, but  the  agricultural  writer  is  supposed  to  have  lived  in  the  time 
of  Darius,  and  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  great  Punic  family  from 
which  Hannibal  sprang. 

Of  the  Roman  agricultural  writers  Cato  claims  precedence  as  first  in 
time,  and  first  in  honour.  The  Censor  died,  aged  88,  in  the  year  150 
B.  c.     He  is  treated  with  great  deference,   and  is  much  copied  by  most 


80  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

succeeding  authors  on  the  same  subjects.  He  was  a  practical  husband- 
man, having  inherited  from  his  father  a  Sabine  farm.  In  his  writings 
he  recommends  careful  and  precise,  but  by  no  means  high  farming. 
Most  of  his  maxims  tend  rather  to  a  limitation  of  outlay  than  to  active 
improvement ;  and  he  falls  under  the  lash  of  Plutarch,  for  having  heart- 
lessly recommended  the  sale  of  worn-out  oxen  and  slaves. 

Two  Sasernas  (father  and  son)  lived  between  the  time  of  Cato  and 
Varro,  and  wrote  on  agriculture.  Their  works  have  not  descended 
to  us  ;  but  they  are  quoted  as  of  acknowledged  authority  by  all  the 
succeeding  writers. 

Yarro,  "  Komanorum  doctissimus,"  lived  through  nearly  the  whole 
century  which  immediately  preceded  the  Christian  era.  He  was  one 
of  Pompey's  generals  and  admirals,  and  was  subsequently  librarian  both 
to  Julius  and  to  Augustus  Csesar.  His  own  very  valuable  library  was 
wantonly  destroyed  by  Anthony.  He  was  a  very  roluminous  writer, 
but  a  philological  treatise,  and  his  "  De  Re  Rustica  "  are  all  that  re- 
main to  us.  The  latter  work  was  written  when  he  was  eighty  years 
of  age,  and  is  in  the  form  of  a  dialogue.  It  is  in  three  parts,  and  is 
dedicated  to  his  wife.  He  was  a  practical  agriculturist,  and  frequently 
refers  to  the  operations  on  his  own  farm,  but  he  relies  principally  on 
the  authority  of  Mago,  and  some  Grreek  writers.  The  work  is  by  no 
means  servilely  rustic,  but  diverges  from  time  to  time  into  mythology 
and  ethics. 

Some  fascinating  sentences  in  the  "De  Senectute"  hardly  warrant 
our  placing  Cicero  among  the  agricultural  writers.  Though  they  dis- 
play some  practical  knowledge,  they  relate  rather  to  the  amenities  than 
to  the  labors  of  husbandry.  In  his  opinion  "  vita  rustica  parsimonige, 
diligentiae,  justiti^,  magistra  est"  [Pro  Hose)]  "aratores"  are  "id 
genus  hominum  quod  optimum  atque  honestissimum  est."  {In  Verr.  2.) 
Agriculture,  with  him,  is  rather  an  honor  to  princes,  and  the  ornament 
and  solace  of  declining  age,  than  a  painful  struggle  with  thorns  and 
thistles  brought  forth  by  the  ground,  which  yields  bread  to  man  "  in 
sorrow  "  and  in  the  "  sweat  of  his  face." 

Of  the  Georgics  we  need  only  say,  that  they  afford  not  the  least 
striking  instance  of  the  exquisite  skill  with  which  the  Roman  poet 
could  borrow  more  than  a  foundation,  and  rear  on  it  a  structure  pos- 
sessing all  the  charms  of  originality.  Perhaps,  none  but  an  agricultu- 
ral reader  will  fully  perceive  the  perfect  harmony  which  is  maintained 
in  the  Georgics  between  the  imagination  of  the  poet,  and  the  homely 
science  of  the  farmer.  The  two  characters  never  clash.  Whenever 
the  farmer  comes  on  the  scene — however  smooth  the  verse  and  elegant 
the  diction — the  directions  which  he  gives  are  precise,  ample,  practical, 
and  sound.  The  poem  becomes  a  hand-book  of  husbandry.  Yirgil 
(born  B.  c.  70)  succeeds  Varro  in  the  catalogue  of  agricultural  authors. 

Columella  usually  personates  the  classics  of  agriculture  and  horti- 
culture, to  our  imagination  :  partly,  perhaps,  because  his  works  have 
come  to  us  nearly  entire  and  in  large  volumes ;  but  principally,  we 
think,  because  we  know  him  merely  as  an  agricultural  writer,  whereas 
most  of  his  rivals  or  coadjutors  are  familiar  to  us  as  king?,  generals, 
statesmen,  orators,  philosophers,  or  poets.     He  was  a  Spaniard,  and 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  81 

apparently  born  about  the  time  of  the  Christian  era.  He  occupied  a 
Pyreneau  farm,  and  speaks  more  largely  of  his  success  in  cultivatmg 
the  vine  than  in  any  other  department  of  husbandry.  He  introduces 
to  us  an  uncle  of  his  own  name  as  an  eminent  flock-master,  who  much 
improved  his  sheep  by  introducing  rams  from  Africa.  We  suspect 
that  on  this  statement  is  founded  the  popular  opinion,  that  Columella 
established  the  Merino  sheep  in  Spain.  Columella  makes  free  use  of 
the  agricultural  writers  who  preceded  him,  particularly  of  Mago,  to 
whose  authority  he  submits  with  willing  deference.  Among  the  latin 
authors  whom  he  cites  with  respect,  is  Julius  Graecinus,  the  father  of 
Agricola.  Columella's  work  is  divided  into  twelve  books — two  on 
farming  and  farm-premises — but  which  contain  also  some  directions, 
partly  moral  and  partly  physical,  on  the  selection  and  management  of 
agricultural  slaves :  three  on  the  vine,  olive,  and  orchard  fruits — two 
on  agricultural  and  domestic  animals,  from  which,  on  prudential 
grounds,  he  excludes  the  sporting-dog — one  on  poultry — one  on  bees. 
In  the  9th  book  he  attempts,  with  small  success,  the  supplement  to  the 
Georgics,  which  Virgil  indicated  : 

"  Venim  lijec  ipse  eqiiidem  spatiis  inclusiis  iniqnis 
Prjetereo,  atque  aliis  post  me  memoranda  relinqiio," 

and  breaks  into  verse  on  the  subject  of  gardening.  Three  more  books 
treat  of  the  bailiff,  his  wife,  wine,  vinegar,  jampots,  and  the  kitchen 
garden. 

Pliny  died  A.  D.  79.  His  contributions  to  the  agricultural  library 
are  a  small  portion  of  the  great  work  which  he  has  left  as  a  monument 
of  his  industry  and  research.  We  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  he 
had  any  personal  knowledge  of  agriculture.  He  was,  in  that  instance, 
as  in  many  others,  a  diligent,  but  not  always  a  discriminating,  com- 
piler. Of  the  elder  authors,  to  whose  own  works  we  can  still  refer,  he 
uses,  most  freely,  Mago,  Cato,  Varro,  and  Yirgil.  He  speaks  of  Colu- 
naella,  but,  for  the  most  part,  slightly. 

Palladius  published  A.  D.  355.  He  was  a  landed  proprietor  in  Sar- 
dinia, and  also  near  Naples.  He  wrote  fourteen  books  of  a  farmer's 
calendar,  and  a  poem  on  the  art  of  grafting.  He  seems  to  have  been 
rather  a  servile  copyist  from  the  older  writers,  but  his  work  was  much 
esteemed  in  the  middle  ages,  and  was  translated  into  English,  in  1803, 
by  Thomas  Owen. 

Thus,  we  have  before  us  a  series  of  literature,  devoted  to  one  object, 
extending  over  eight,  and,  in  the  Eoman  department  alone,  over  five 
centuries.  No  one  can  wade  through  the  whole  mass  without  observ- 
ing the  striking  fact,  that  neither  at  the  end,  nor  during  any  part,  of 
the  series,  does  agriculture  present  itself  as  a  progressive  art.  We  are 
introduced  to  no  improvements,  to  no  newly-invented  implements ;  we 
are  told  of  no  practices  abandoned  as  obsolete  or  superseded.  We 
find,  with  the  single  exception  of  lucerne,  (and  perhaps  cytisus,)  no 
new  object  of  culture.  From  Cato  to  Palladius  the  same  routine  is 
prescribed,  and  generally  in  the  same  terms.  Their  most  refined  prac- 
tices— those  in  which  they  made  the  nearest  approach  to  a  successful 
application  of  mechanical  power — may  be  traced  in  the  historical  books 
of  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the  prophets.     We  encounter  a  few  pru- 


82  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

dential  and  very  cautious  maxims  about  trying  experiments ;  but  we 
are  told  of  no  fruit,  (if  there  be  an  exception,  it  is  in  tbe  case  of  vine- 
yards ;)  and  as  we  work  down  tlie  series  we  meet  witli  increasing  corn- 
plaints  of  diminished  produce  and  declining  profits.  The  characteris- 
tics of  Eoman  agriculture^  as  described  in  the  books,  were — system, 
accuracy,  and  great  vigilance  against  waste.  It  was  careful,  painstak- 
ing, gardendike  farming,  with  very  few  artificial  or  adventitious  aids. 
We  exclude,  altogether,  from  our  consideration  the  degraded  period 
when  Roman  farms  were  screwed  down  to  4  acres  (7  jugera)  apiece. 
This  state  of  things — if,  indeed,  it  ever  existed — was  social,  not  agri- 
cultural. The  story  of  Attilius  Regulus,  who,  having  heard — while 
he  was  pursuing  a  career  of  conquest  in  Africa — that  the  bailiff  of  his 
4-acre  estate  was  dead,  and  that  his  farming  slave  had  run  away,  imme- 
diately sent  to  the  senate  a  catalogue  of  his  spades,  hoes,  rakes,  and  spuds, 
and  informed  them  that  unless  they  took  these  implements  into  their 
special  care,  and  procured  for  him  another  bailiff  and  another  slave,  he 
should  leave  the  command  of  the  army  and  come  home  to  look  after  his 
property,  is  very  amusing,  but  is  of  no  agricultural  import.  B  ut,  when  the 
Homans  got  wiser,  in  our  estimation,  though  worse,  perhaps,  in  that  of 
M.  Louis  Blanc,  farms  took  the  size  which  was  adapted  to  the  conve- 
nience of  culture.  Farming,  which  was  carried  _,on  without  expensive 
implements,  and  without  powerful  machinery,  did  not  offer  the  induce- 
ments which  now  exist  to  large  holdings.  Probably  62 J  acres  (1 
plough,)  or  125  acres  (2  ploughs)  of  arable  land,  could  be  cultivated  as 
economically  as  a  larger  breadth. 

Before  we  describe  the  Roman  course  of  culture,  we  must  say  a  few 
words  on  their  system  of  occupation.  In  this  we  find  a  progressive 
change,  and  a  constant  approximation  to  modern  practice.  The  first 
definite  accounts  represent  proprietors  residing  on  their  own  lands, 
and  joining  personally  in  all  the  labors  of  agriculture.  Called  off  from 
time  to  time  to  war,  or  counsel,  when  the  demand  for  their  public  ser-- 
vices  ceased,  they  returned  to  their  homely  occupation.  Before  the 
time  of  Cato,  however,  the  habitual  residence  of  the  proprietor  had 
become  more  rare.  The  claims  or  the  attractions  of  Rome  and  other 
cities  prevailed,  and  the  farmhouse  (villa)  was  delivered  over  to  the 
custody  of  the  bailiff"  (villicus) ;  pleasant  and  even  luxurious  apart- 
ments being  reserved  for  the  occasional  occupation  of  the  owner. 
Cato  gives  directions  suited  to  this  state  of  things,  of  which  Varro  and 
Columella  make  whining  complaints,  intimating  that,  in  their  day, 
Roman  landholders  were  more  inclined  to  hold  up  their  hands  in  the 
circus,  and  theatre,  then  to  apply  them  to  the  plough  and  pruning 
hook.  Though  one  passage  from  Cato  is  rather  long,  we  hope  that 
those  of  our  readers  who  are  acquainted  with  it  will  not  be  sorry  to 
have  it  brought  back  to  their  recollection ;  and  that  those  who  are 
not  will  be  interested  by  it  as  we  have  been  ourselves : 

"  When  the  proprietor  arrives  at  the  villa,  and  has  paid  his  res 
pects  to  the  household  gods,  he  should,  if  he  possibly  can,  go  round 
his  farm  on  that  day ;    if  he  cannot  do  that,  certainly  on  the  next. 
When  he  has  completed  his  own  inspection,  on  the  morrow  he  should 
have  up  his  bailiff,  and  inquire  of  him  what  work  has  been  done,  and 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  33 

what  remains  to  be  done — whetlier  the  work  is  sufficiently  forward, 
and  whether  what  remains  can  be  got  through  in  due  season — what 
has  been  done  about  the  wine,  corn,  and  all  other  matters.  When  he 
has  made  himself  acquainted  with  these  things,  he  should  then  compare 
the  work  done  with  the  number  of  days.  If  work  enough  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  done,  the  bailiff"  will  say  that  he  has  been  very  dil- 
igent— that  the  slaves  could  not  do  any  more — that  the  weather  has 
been  bad — that  slaves  skulked — that  they  have  been  taken  off  to  pub- 
lic work.  When  the  bailiff  has  given  these,  and  many  other,  reasons, 
bring  him  back  to  the  actual  details  of  work  done.  If  he  reports 
rainy  weather,  ascertain  for  how  many  days  it  lasted,  and  inquire  what 
they  were  ail  about  during  the  rain.  Casks  might  be  washed  and 
pitched,  the  farmhouse  cleaned,  corn  turned,  the  cattle-sheds  cleaned 
out  and  a  dung-heap  made,  seed  dressed,  old  ropes  mended,  and  new 
ones  made ;  the  family  might  mend  their  cloaks  and  hoods.  On  pub- 
lic holidays  old  ditches  might  have  been  scoured,  the  highway  re- 
23aired,  briers  cut,  the  garden  dug,  twigs  kidded,  the  meadow  cleared, 
thistles  pulled,  grain  (far)  pounded,  and  everything  made  tidy.  When 
the  slaves  have  been  sick  they  ought  not  to  have  had  so  much  food. 
When  these  matters  are  pretty  well  cleared  up,  let  him  take  effectual 
care  that  the  work  which  remains  to  be  done,  shall  he  done.  Then  he 
should  go  into  the  money  account,  and  the  corn  account ;  examine 
what  has  been  bought  in  the  way  of  food.  Next,  he  should  see  what 
wine  and  oil  have  come  into  store,  and  what  have  been  consumed, 
what  is  left,  and  how  much  can  be  sold.  If  a  good  account  is  given  of 
these  thino-s,  let  it  be  taken  as  settled.  All  other  articles  should  be 
looked  into,  that  if  anything  is  wanted  for  the  year's  consumption  it 
may  be  bought ;  if  there  is  any  surplus  it  may  be  sold  ;  and  that  any 
matters  which  want  arrangement  may  be  arranged.  He  should  give 
orders  about  any  work  to  be  done,  and  leave  them  in  writing.  He 
should  look  over  his  cattle  with  a  view  to  a  sale.  He  should  sell  any 
spare  wine,  oil,  and  corn,  if  the  price  suits.  He  should  sell  old  work- 
oxen,  and  culls,  both  cattle  and  sheep ;  wool  and  hides,  old  carts  and 
old  iron  implements;  any  old  and  diseased  slave;  and  anything  else 
which  he  can  spare.  A  proprietor  should  be  seeking  to  sell  rather 
than  to  buy." 

Cato  would  have  been  invaluable  as  master  of  a  workhouse. 

The  next  phase  of  occupation  was  called  "Polilio."  The  politar  or 
partuarius  was  a  resident  working  partner,  bringing  no  capital  into 
the  concern,  but  receiving,  as  his  remuneration,  a  stipulated  share  of 
the  produce.  His  proportion  of  grain  varied  from  one-ninth  in  the 
best  land,  to  one-fifth  in  the  most  sterile.  An  elaborate  calculation 
leads  to  the  conclusion  that,  on  an  arable  farm  of  125  acres,  a  politar 
would  receive  from  30  to  35  qrs.  of  various  kinds  of  grain  as  his 
share  ;  but  the  information  does  not  seem  to  be  of  much  value,  as  we 
are  ignorant  what  privileges  of  maintenance,  for  himself  or  his  family, 
he  received  from  the  produce  of  the  farm.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain 
the  exact  terms  of  partnership  ;  but  it  appears  that  the  course  of  hus- 
bandry to  be  pursued  was  prescribed  by  them. 

"  Liberi  Coloni  " — i.  e.  farmers  paying  rent  and  cultivating  wholly 
6 


34  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

on  their  own  account — first  appear  in  the  pages  of  Columella ;  and  in  a 
passage  too  long  to  extract,  he  discusses  the  pros  and  cons  of  this  mode 
of  occupation.  He  comes  to  this  general  conclusion,  that  a  farm  never 
produces  so  much  as  when  it  is  occupied  by  the  proprietor  :  that  even 
imder  a  bailiff,  unless  he  is  very  rapacious,  (and  taking  that  word  as 
his  text,  he  enumerates  the  various  modes  in  which  a  bailiff  can  cheat,) 
it  will  produce  more  than  under  the  hands  of  a  tenant ;  but  if  it  be  of 
that  sort  on  which  a  tenant  cannot  commit  very  great  waste,  is 
distant,  and  not  easily  accessible  to  the  owner,  in  that  case  it  had  bet- 
ter be  let.  His  rules  for  the  management  of  tenants  are  so  applicable 
to  all  times,  that  we  cannot  curtail  them : 

"  A  landlord  ought  to  treat  his  tenant  with  gentleness,  should  show 
himself  not  difficult  to  please,  and  be  more  rigorous  in  exacting  culture 
than  rent ;  because  this  is  less  severe,  and  upon  the  whole  more  ad- 
vantageous ;  for  when  land  is  carefully  cultivated,  it  for  the  most  part 
brings  profit,  never  loss,  except  when  assaulted  by  a  storm  or  pilla- 
gers; and  therefore  the  farmer  cannot  have  the  assurance  to  ask  any 
ease  of  his  rent.  Neither  should  the  landlord  be  very  tenacious  in  his 
right  in  everything  to  which  the  tenant  is  bound,  particularly  as  to 
days  of  payment  *  *  *  On  the  other  hand,  the  landlord  ought  not 
to  be  entirely  negligent  in  this  matter,  for  it  is  certainly  true,  as  Al- 
pheus  the  usurer  used  to  say,  that  good  debts  become  bad  ones  by 
being  not  called  for.  I  remember  to  have  heard  it  asserted  by  Lucius 
Volusius,  an  old  rich  man,  who  had  been  consul,  that  that  estate  was 
most  advantageous  to  the  landlord,  which  was  cultivated  by  farmers 
born  upon  the  land ;  for  those  are  attached  to  it  by  a  strong  habit 
from  their  cradles.  So  indeed  it  is  my  opinion,  that  the  frequent  let- 
ting of  a  farm  is  a  bad  thing ;  however,  it  is  still  worse  to  let  one  to  a 
farmer  who  lives  in  town,  and  chooses  rather  to  cultivate  it  by  ser- 
vants than  by  himself.  Saserna  used  to  say,  that  from  such  a  farm  a 
lawsuit  was  got  in  place  of  rent." 

The  younger  Pliny,  in  a  letter  to  Calvisius  Rufus,  discusses  the  desi- 
rableness of  23urchasing  an  estate  which  had  been  offered  to  him.  He 
states  that  it  was  very  much  worn  out,  and  was  consequently  offered 
to  him  at  a  much  lower  price  than  that  for  which  it  had  previously 
been  sold ;  that  it  would  be  necessary  to  displace  the  tenants,  who 
were  without  capital,  and  had  been  repeatedly  distrained  and  sold  up ; 
and  that  the  investment  would  pay  him  4  per  cent.,  the  usual  interest 
on  loans  being  at  that  period  6  per  cent.  The  standard  agricultural 
sentence  about  bad  times,  ''  communi  temporis  iniquitate,"  occurs  in 
Pliny's  letter. 

We  grumble  by  prescriptive  right.  Pliny,  the  ever  self-complacent 
orator,  advocate,  senator,  and  poet,  is  a  most  discontented  landowner. 
His  farms  are  a  constant  trouble  to  him : 

"  To  Naso. — A  storm  of  hail,  I  am  informed,  has  destroyed  all  the 
produce  of  my  estate  in  Tuscany ;  while  that  which  I  have  on  the 
other  side  the  Po,  though  it  has  proved  extremely  faithful  this  season, 
yet,  from  the  excessive  cheapness  of  everything,  turns  to  small  account." 

"  To  Genitor. — Nor  is  this  all ;  for  not  otlXj  the  farmers  claim  a  sort 
of  prescription  to  try  my  patience  as  they  please  by  their  continual 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  36 

complaints;  but  also  tlie  necessity  of  letting  out  my  farm  gives  me 
much  trouble,  as  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  proper  tenants." 

The  desirable  size  for  a  farm  is  discussed  by  several  of  the  writers 
and  generally  in  the  prudential  spirit  of  Virgil's  maxim  : 

' '  laudato  ingentia  rura, 
Exiguum  colito." 

Columella  prefaces  the  maxim — "  That  the  farm  ought  to  be  weaker 
than  the  farmer  " — by  saying  that  it  was  ''  derived  from  the  Cartha- 
ginians, who  were  a  very  acute  people."  Palladius  says  epigrammati- 
cally,  "foecundior  est  culta  exiguitas,  quam  magnitude  neglecta." 
But  on  this  point  Pliny  is  most  diffuse — though  we  believe  that  Dick- 
son erroneously  interprets  expressions  which  Pliny  applied  to  owner- 
ship, and  not  to  occupation.  When  he  says — ''sex  domi  semissen  Af- 
ricas  possidebant,  cum  interficit  eos  Neo  preceps  " — we  cannot  sup- 
pose that  half  of  the  province  was  absorbed  by  what  we  should  call 
six  farms,  and  that  the  bailiffs  of  these  six  unfortunate  gentlemen  were 
the  sole  occupiers.  He  declares,  however,  by  less  equivocal  expres- 
sions, that  the  ancients  were  of  opinion  that  it  was  very  desirable  to 
limit  the  size  of  farms.*  The  stories  which  he  tells  have  also  the  same 
tendency  as  the  maxims  which  we  have  cited.  For  one  we  must  find 
room  and  a  translation  : 

"  I  cannot  forbear  stating  one  instance  from  old  times,  from  which 
we  may  perceive  both  that  questions  of  culture  were  brought  judicially 
before  the  people,  and  also  how  men  of  that  time  were  in  the  habit  of 
defending  themselves.  C.  Furius  Cresinus,  a  freedman,  became  the 
object  of  much  ill-feeling  on  the  part  of  his  neighbors,  in  consequence 
of  his  gathering  from  a  very  small  field  much  more  produce  than  they 
could  obtain  from  very  large  ones.  He  was  accused  of  attracting  the 
crops  from  other  fields  by  charms.  Sp.  Albinus  appointed  a  court 
day  to  hear  this  charge  ;  and  Cresinus,  fearing  that  he  might  be  found 
guilty,  when  the  tribe  were  about  to  pronounce  their  verdict,  brought 
his  live  and  dead  farming  stock  into  the  forum ;  and  he  brought  with 
him  a  stout  wench,  and  Piso  says  that  she  was  in  good  case  and  well 
clad.  His  iron  implements  were  exceedingly  well  manufactured,  the 
spades  were  strong,  the  shares  powerful,  and  the  oxen  in  high  condi- 
tion. Then  he  said,  '  These,  Eomans,  are  my  charms  ;  but  I  cannot 
show  you,  or  bring  into  the  forum,  my  mental  labors,  my  vigils,  nor 
the  sweat  of  my  brow.'  " 

On  the  subject  of  farm-buildings  it  is  difficult  to  gather  mucli  from 
these  writers,  principally  because,  as  we  have  said,  they  were  compli- 
cated with  the  villa,  which  was,  as  its  name  implies,  the  country 
abode  of  the  landlord.  On  this  point  Cato  forgets  his  usual  frugality, 
and  recommends  comfort  approaching  to  luxury,  with  a  view  of  at- 
tracting and  retaining  the  residence  of  the  proprietor.  Columella  is 
very  elaborate  on  this  subject.  In  the  first  place,  he  is  fastidious  as 
to  situation,  both  on  the  score  of  health  and  jucundity,  and  his  only 

*  Nevertheless  large  arable  farms  were  known  to  remote  antiquity".  It  may  not  be  safe  to  found  on  the 
numbers  in  the  highly  poetical  and  figurative  book  of  Job;  but  we  learn  from  a  inirely-historical  state- 
ment in  the  book  of  Kings,  that  Elisha  was  ploughing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen,  himself  with  the  twelfth. 
This,  on  the  Koman  computation  of  60  odd  acres  to  a  plough,  would  make  the  prophet  the  occupier  of 
arable  land  to  the  extent  SOO  acres. 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 


prudential  maxim  is,  tliat  a  villa  should  be  situated  some  distance 
from  a  high  road,  as  otherwise  all  your  idle  acquaintance  will  be  drop- 
ping in  upon  you,  and  will  very  much  interrupt  the  business  of  the 
farm.  In  giving  the  plan  of  the  villa,  he  is  very  diffuse  on  the  apart- 
ments of  the  proprietor,  the  winter  apartments,  the  spring  apartments, 
the  summer  apartments,  and  the  bath-rooms  ;  and  on  their  respective 
aspects  :  the  pleasure  grounds  come  in  also  for  a  specific  notice  ;  but 
his  directions  for  the  "  Rustica  " — which  include  the  kitchen,  the  ser- 
vants' lodgings,  and  the  stables — and  the  "  Fructuaria,"  which  com- 
prise the  oil-cellar  and  press-room,  wine-cellar,  hay-loft,  granary,  &c., 
are  less  precise  and  intelligible.  Both  Cato  and  Varro  prescribe,  in 
general  terms,  that  the  farm  should  not  be  too  large  for  the  villa,  nor 
the  villa  for  the  farm,  and  point  out  the  inconvenience  of  each  excess ; 
and  both  give  instances  of  known  parties  by  whom  respectively  each 
of  these  maxims  has  been  transgressed.  It  is  not,  however,  till  we 
come  to  Palladius,  in  whose  time  tenant  farming  had  become  more 
usual,  that  we  find  any  directions  which  are  conformable  to  our  notions 
of  a  farm-house  and  buildings.  He  says  that  the  building  ought  to  be 
proportioned  to  the  value  of  the  farm ;  and  that,  in  case  they  were 
burnt  down,  the  extreme  sum  allotted  to  rebuild  them  ought  not  to 
exceed  two  years'  rent :  a  sum  which  in  our  climate  would  be  very  in- 
adequate to  fulfil  our  notions  of  improved  agriculture. 

From  the  earliest  antiquity  oxen  seem  to  have  furnished  the  moving 
power  to  the  plough,  though  in  a  single  passage,  to  which  we  have  al- 
ready alluded,  Homer  says  that  in  heavy  fallow  mules  are  far  prefera- 
ble. As  the  Romans  assigned  60  odd  acres  to  each  plough,  they  as- 
signed to  it  also  3  laborers,  a  proportion  which  did  not  include  vine- 
dressers, or  those  who  were  employed  in  olive  and  fruit  orchards.  A 
passage  in  Columella  indicates  that  a  portion  of  the  laborers  em- 
ployed on  a  farm  were  "  soluti,  quibus  major  est  fides  ;"  but  the  bulk 
were  slaves,  and  they  were  sometimes  worked  in  fetters,  "alligati." 
The  younger  Pliny  says  that  he  must  let  his  land  because  he  does  not 
possess  ''  vinctos."  Cato  and  Columella  prescribe  that  the  ploughman 
should  be  tall,  because  he  will  preside  with  more  power  at  the  stilts  ; 
whereas  short  and  strong-backed  men  can  do  stooping  work  with  more 
ease.  A  bubulcus  should  be  humane,  but  have  a  terrible  voice,  in 
order  that  by  it  the  oxen  may  be  urged  to  work  without  being  much 
harassed  by  the  whip  or  goad.  Columella  gives  the  singular  direc- 
tion, that  if  you  have  any  particularly  vicious  men  among  your 
slaves,  you  should  make  them  vinedressers,  because  that  work  re- 
quires clever  fellows,  "  ac  plerumque  velocior  est  animus  improborum 
hiominum."  Tallness  and  strength  are  of  importance  in  the  bubulcus  ; 
but  of  none  in  the  overlooker,  who  ought  to  be  "  sedulus  ac  frugalis- 
simus."     Cato  gives  a  complete  dietary  for  the  establishment : 

"  For  the  bailiff'  100  lbs.  of  wheat  per  month  in  winter ;  one-eighth 
more  in  summer. 

"  For  the  female  housekeeper  and  shepherd,  75  lbs.  each  per  month. 

"  For  the  slaves  4  lbs.  of  bread  each  per  day  in  the  winter. 

''From  the  time  they  begin  to  dress  the  vineyard,  6  lbs.  per  day  till 
they  have  figs,  when  they  revert  to  4  lbs." 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  37 


In  addition  to  this  bread  the  slaves  had  a  restricted  allowance  of  an 
article  called  pulmentarium,  which  appears  to  have  been  a  dry  com- 
pound of  olives,  apples,  pears,  and  figs.  Pliny  says  that  the  name  is 
derived  from  puis,  which  was  the  food  of  the  ancient  liomans — "  pulte 
autem,  non  pane,  vixisse  longo  tempore  Eomanos  manifestum." 
When  the  pulmentarium  was  exhausted,  they  had  in  lieu  an  allowance 
of  salt  fish  and  vinegar,  with  a  small  portion  of  oil ;  and  each  person 
was  allowed  rather  more  than  a  peck  of  salt  in  the  year.  For  three 
months  after  the  vintage  the  beverage  of  the  slaves  was  a  weak  wine 
called  lora,  in  the  consumption  of  which  they  were  unrestricted.  Co- 
lumella and  Pliny  give  the  particulars  of  its  manufacture,  and  Dickson 
supposes  it  to  have  been  equal  to  small  beer.  For  the  rest  of  the  year 
they  had  real  wine,  and,  by  a  very  elaborate  calculation,  Dickson 
makes  out  the  daily  ration  to  have  amounted  to  rather  more  than  a 
pint  and  a  half  English.  "We  take  all  our  quantities  on  trust  from 
Dickson.  Any  person  who  is  curious  on  the  subject  will  find  the  data 
given  at  length  in  his  work. 

Cato,  having  fed  his  household,  proceeds  to  clothe  them.  The  pas- 
sage is  not  very  clear,  but  we  take  it  to  mean  that  each  individual  re- 
ceived a  tunic  (a  jacket  without  sleeves)  annually,  and  a  saga,  three  and 
a  half  feet  long  (probably  a  smock  frock)  biennially  ;  also  a  pair  of 
good  wooden  clogs  every  second  year.  Cato  prescribes,  that  before 
you  serve  out  a  new  tunic  or  saga,  you  should  receive  the  old  one,  to  be 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  centones — that  is,  rough  cloaks  of  patch- 
work, serviceable  also  as  bed-quilts.  Ausonius  in  the  preface  to  his 
Cento  from  Virgil,  has  many  quaint  allusions  to  the  origin  of  the  lit- 
erary term. 

We  have  said  that  the  general  tendency  of  these  old  writers  is  against 
high  farming,  by  which  we  mean  a  large  outlay  with  a  view  to  in- 
creased produce.  At  the  same  time  they  are  unanimous  in  their  con- 
demnation of  slovenly  and  indolent  farming.  They  prescribe  a  degree 
of  accuracy  and  care  which  is  certainly  unknown  in  our  general  hus- 
bandry. This  we  shall  see  more  fully  when  we  come  to  speak  of  their 
course  of  culture.  They  insist  on  a  most  careful  application  of  all  the 
internal  resources  of  the  farm,  and  guard  most  anxiously  against  any 
neglect  or  waste  of  an  article  which  may  be  used  in  reproduction  ;  but 
there  are  very  few  indications  of  their  having  looked  beyond  the  boun- 
dary fence  for  any  means  of  augmenting  the  fertility  of  their  lands.  Ca- 
to's  maxims  all  tend  to  repress  outlay ;  and  Pliny  discusses  the  whole 
question  in  a  passage  which  is  too  long  to  quote,  but  which  is  remark- 
able both  for  its  sentiments  and  expressions.  He  brings  forward,  ap- 
parently with  some  hesitation,  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  ancients, 
that  (in  plain  English)  nothing  pays  worse  than  high  farming — "nihil 
minus  expedire  quam  agrum  optime  colere."  He  gives  an  instance  of 
a  very  rich  man  who  ruined  himself  by  farming  for  ostentation.  He 
says  there  is  a  mean  course,  and  he  appears  to  intimate  (though  the 
passage  is  obscure)  that  a  tenant,  working  himself  and  having  a  family 
which  must  be  maintained,  may  do  some  things  with  profit  which  would 
be  ruinous  to  a  proprietor  who  lived  at  a  distance,  and  hired  the  labor 
which  was  employed  in  doing  them.     He  defends  the  ancients  against 


38  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

the  charge  of  having  recommended  bad  farming.  He  says  that  by  their 
oracular  expression,  "bonis  malis,"  they  merely  meant  that  you  should 
do  things  well  and  cheap  ;  a  point  at  which  we  have  been  aiming  all 
our  lives,  and  have  never  hit  it. 

Having  cleared  away  these  preliminary  matters,  we  will  now  accom- 
pany the  Roman  farmer  into  his  arable  lands,  and  into  his  meadows  and 
pastures,  and  will  describe  the  management  which  he  applied  to  each. 
We  will  take  the  latter  and  shorter  subject  first.  As  to  pasturing,  the 
details  are  few ;  but  it  is  a  pursuit  much  commended  by  the  writers, 
on  the  characteristic  ground  that  it  calls  for  little  outlay.  Columella 
reports  Cato  have  answered  the  inquiry,  how  a  man  could  get  rich 
quickest  by  farming  ?  "By  being  a  good  grazier."  How  next?  "By 
being  a  middling  grazier."  "  I  regret,"  says  Columella,  "  to  add,  that 
to  the  inquiry,  repeated  a  third  time,  so  wise  a  man  should  have  re- 
plied, '  By  being  a  bad  grazier  ;' "  though,  as  to  his  second  answer, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  middling  grazing  is  more  profitable  than  the 
best  management  in  any  other  line  of  agriculture.  Pliny  admits  the 
two  first  responses  to  be  genuine,  but  snubs  Columella  by  discrediting 
the  third.  He  says  that  Cato's  purpose  was  to  inculcate  that  we  should 
depend  most  on  those  returns  which  were  got  at  the  least  expense. 
Meadows  are  included  in  the  same  category  of  commendation.  All  the 
writers  agree  that  they  were  called  by  the  ancients,  "prata  quasi  parata," 
as  being  always  ready  to  produce  without  culture.  If  you  have  water, 
says  Cato,  make  water  meadows,  rather  than  anything.  If  you  have 
no  water,  make  dry  meadows  to  the  utmost  extent  you  can.  Minute 
directions  are  given  for  passing  the  water  slowing  and  evenly  over  the 
land,  without  allowing  it  to  stagnate.  Too  much  water  is  said  to  be  as 
objectionable  as  too  little.  "No  doubt,"  says  Columella,  "  the  natural 
grass  which  a  rich  upland  produces  will  make  finer  hay  than  any  which 
you  get  by  watering ;  but  from  thin  land,  whether  it  is  stiff  or  light, 
watering  is  the  only  way  in  which  you  can  get  a  crop.  Pliny  particu-' 
larly  recommends  to  turn  over  your  meadows  any  water  which  runs 
from  a  highway.  Columella  and  Palladius  gave  precise  instructions  for 
renewing  hassocky  and  mossy  meadows  by  the  plough.  You  will  get 
fine  corn  crops  from  them  after  their  long  rest — "  post  longam  desi- 
diam."  They  are  to  be  ploughed  and  well  summer- worked,  and  sown 
in  autumn  with  turnips  or  beans,  and  the  next  year  with  corn.  In  the 
third  year  they  are  to  be  very  carefully  worked  till  every  weed  and 
root  is  extirpated,  and  then  sown  with  vetches  and  hay- seeds,  (the  hay- 
seeds, says  Pliny,  may  be  collected  in  the  haylofts  and  mangers,)  and 
the  vetches  are  not  to  be  cut  till  they  have  shed  a  part  of  the  seed.  The 
land  must  be  worked  quite  fine  and  even  with  hoes  and  clod-crushers, 
so  as  to  break  down  everything  which  might  be  an  impediment  to  the 
scythe.  The  water  is  then  to  be  laid  on,  but  very  gently  if  the  surface 
is  loose,  because  a  force  of  water  would  wash  the  soil  from  the  roots  of 
the  grass,  and  hinder  them  from  making  a  strong  turf.  For  the  same 
reason  you  must  not  permit  the  new-sown  grass  to  be  trod  by  cattle 
In  the  second  year,  if  the  ground  is  dry  enough,  small  cattle  may  be 
admitted  after  the  hay  is  cut ;  and  if  it  has  become  very  firm,  the  lar- 
ger cattle  in  the  third.    If  you  wish  for  a  full  crop  of  hay,  you  must  clear 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients,  89 

your  early  and  weak  meadows  of  cattle  in  January.  Lands  less  sub- 
ject to  burn  may  be  pastured  till  February  or  March.  The  manure, 
which  should  be  the  greenest  you  have,  "  recentissimum,"  and  which 
may  with  advantage  have  hay  seeds  mixed  with  it,  should  be  laid  in 
February  on  such  parts  of  the  meadow  as  cannot  be  watered.  It  seems 
probable  that  the  majority  of  Roman  meadows  were  ill-drained,  so 
much  stress  is  laid  on  the  evil  of  treading  them  with  cattle.  Pigs  also 
were  interdicted,  on  account  of  their  rooting  propensities.  M.  Tor- 
cius  is  brought  forward  to  testify  to  the  value  of  meadows.  They  are 
less  subject  to  injury  by  storms  than  any  other  part  of  the  farm  ;  they 
require  the  least  expenditure ;  they  give  a  crop  every  year,  and,  in- 
deed, more  than  one,  for  the  pasturage  of  the  aftermath  is  of  as  much 
value  as  the  hay.  The  Campus  Rosea  is  said  to  have  been  the  most 
valuable  plot  of  land  in  Italy.  We  had  hoped,  and  indeed  believed, 
that  the  story  of  the  stick  was  genuine  Leicestershire ;  but  Caesar  Vopis- 
cus,  the  asdile,  is  produced  both  b}^  Yarro  and  Pliny,  to  vouch  that  in 
that  celebrated  field  he  laid  down  his  stick  overnight,  and  could  not 
find  it  in  the  morning,  because  it  was  smothered  in  grass.  The  time 
which  we  claim,  however,  on  behalf  of  Cestus  Over  is  not  a  whole  night, 
but  only  while  the  farmer  ate  his  dinner  and  smoked  one  pipe. 

The  Romans  frequently  mowed  their  meadows  twice,  first  in  May, 
and  secondly  in  August  or  September,  and  watered  them  between  the 
mowings.  They  mixed  the  second  crop  with  oak  and  elm  leaves,  and 
used  it  as  fodder  for  sheep.  Dickson  calculates,  on  somewhat  uncer- 
tain grounds,  that  the  first  mowing  of  a  Roman  meadow  produced  more 
than  two  and  a  half  tons  of  hay  to  the  statute  acre.  That  the  crops 
were  large  appears  probable.  To  mow  a  jugerum,  three-fifths  of  a  stat- 
ute acre  in  a  day,  is  said  to  require  a  good  workman,  whereas  an  ordi- 
nary laborer  now-a-days  reckons  an  acre  to  be  a  day's  work.  All  the 
writers  prescribe  that  the  grass  should  be  cut  before  the  seed  is  ripe, 
and  before  the  stalk  has  become  dry.  Pliny  boasts  of  a  discovery  of  whet- 
stones, which  would  sharpen  a  scythe  with  water;  whereas  the  Cretan  whet- 
stones, which  alone  were  known  to  their  ancestors,  would  only  sharpen 
with  oil,  in  consequence  of  which  every  mower  had  a  horn  of  that  lini- 
ment tied  to  his  leg.  The  Italians  used  short,  the  Gauls  long  scythes. 
Every  maxim  of  English,  and  even  of  Scotch  haymaking  is  diligently 
set  forth :  precautions  against  rain,  against  undersweating,  and  over- 
heating. Pliny  supposes  that  when  hay  is  got  too  green  the  sun  sets  the 
ricks  on  fire.     We  have  by  no  means  exhausted  the  subject ;  but 

"Claiidite  jam  rivos  ;  forsan  sat  prata  biberunt." 
The  Roman  agricultural  course,  with  the  partial  exceptions  to  which 
we  shall  have  occasion  to  advert,  was  of  the  simplest  possible  descrip- 
tion— a  crop  of  grain  and  a  fallow.  Every  year  one-half  of  the  arable 
land  was  in  grain,  one-half  in  fallow.  One-third  of  the  fallow  was 
sown  with  some  sort  of  green  crop  to  be  mowed  for  the  cattle,  and  this 
portion  of  the  fallow,  and  this  alone,  was  manured;  the  result  being 
that  the  arable  land  was  manured  once  in  six  years,  and  in  that  period 
bore  three  grain  crops  and  one  green  crop.  This  we  should  bear  in 
mind  when  we  come  to  consider  what  effect  long  perseverance  in  this 
course  had  on  production.     The  naked  fallow  received  three  or  four 


40  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

plougliings  during  the  summer,  besides  tlie  seed  furrow.  To  sow  tlie 
grain  in  the  autumn  was  considered  to  be  far  the  best  practice;  but 
any  portion  of  the  land  which,  from  bad  weather  or  other  impediments, 
could  not  be  completed  in  the  autumn,  was  sown  in  the  spring.  The 
grain  was  wheat  or  barley.  The  wheat  was  of  many  varieties ;  white, 
red,  black,  bearded,  and  smooth  are  expressly  mentioned;  and  these 
do  not  exhaust  the  cataloarue  of  names.  Some  are  said  to  be  suited  to 
free  and  dry,  others  to  strong  and  moist  land.  Siligo,  triticum,  and 
far  adoreum  appear  to  have  been  favorite  sorts ;  and  the  two  first  va- 
rieties cannot  have  been  very  far  removed,  if  Pliny's  statement,  that 
siligo  sown  on  certain  lands  for  three  years  turns  into  triticum,  be  cor- 
rect. He,  however,  starting  with  the  maxim  that  no  book  is  so  bad 
that  something  may  not  be  learned  from  it,  picks  up  a  good  many  loose 
stories,  and  he  is,  if  we  remember  right,  the  author  who  vouches  that 
if  oats  be  sown  on  a  certain  day  of  the  moon,  they  will  come  up  bar- 
ley. Of  barley  there  were  several  varieties,  both  in  color  and  form  of 
the  grain — "longius  leviusque,  aut  brevius,  aut  rotuudius,  candidius, 
nigrius,  vel  cui  purpura  est" — of  which  Pliny  says  that  the  white  was 
least  able  to  stand  bad  weather.  All  the  authors  agree  that  barley 
prospers  only  in  a  free  and  dry  soil.  It  was  sown  in  September  and 
October,  and  again  from  January  to  March.  Spring  sowing  appears  to 
be  less  condemned  in  the  case  of  barley  than  of  wheat. 

The  mode  of  sowing  grain  affords,  perhaps,  the  most  marked  distinc- 
tion between  Roman  and  modern  practice.  The  system  was  twofold. 
The  land  was  well  reduced  by  the  irpex,  which  was  our  harrow,  and 
was  used  both  for  pulverization  and  for  drawing  weeds  to  the  surface, 
and  by  the  crates,  which  was  an  implement  for  crushing  clods.  Both 
these  were  worked  by  oxen.  If  the  land  were  naturally  dry,  it  was 
next  drawn  into  ridges  (similar,  probably,  to  our  turnip  ridges)  by  a 
double  mould-board  plough.  The  seed  was  then  sown  by  hand  broad- 
cast on  these  ridges,  and  the  major  part,  of  course,  settled  into  the 
furrows.  It  was  then  covered  by  hand  with  rastra — ^.  e.,  rakes — and 
lightly,  for  the  ridges  certainly  were  not  obliterated.  They  are  always 
spoken  of  as  a  beneficial  defense  against  drought  to  the  corn  growing 
on  dry  land.  If  the  land  to  be  sown  were  moist,  so  that  injury  to  the 
crop  from  wet  might  be  apprehended,  the  seed  was  scattered  on  the 
reduced  and  level  surface,  and,  the  double  mould-board  plough  being 
introduced,  by  its  operation  most  of  the  seed  was  covered  up  in  the 
ridge.  Several  of  the  writers  say  that  he  was  a  clumsy  ploughman 
who  required  an  occator  to  follow  him  for  the  purpose  of  covering  any 
portion  of  the  seed.  The  result  of  both  modes  of  sowing  was  that  the 
corn  came  up  in  rows,  separated  by  a  considerable  interval;  so  consid- 
erable, indeed,  that  it  was  not  unusual  to  plough  between  them  after 
the  corn  had  grown  to  some  height.  Dickson  and  TuU  differ  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  word  occatio,  and  as  to  the  operation  wliich  it  indicates. 
Probably  they  were  acquainted  with  passages  in  which  Varro  and 
Verrius  derive  the  word  from  occoedere,  but  neither  of  them  seems  to 
have  been  aware  that  a  passage  in  the  "De  Senectute"  completely  set- 
tles the  point:  "quse.  (sc.  terra)  semen  occoecatum,"  covered  up — put 
out  of  sight,  "cohibet,  ex  quo  occatio  (qute  hoc  eificit)  nominata  est." 


Agriculture  of  the-  Ancients.  41 

After  this  covering  of  tlie  seed  the  land  remained  quiet  till  wheat  had 
put  out  its  fourth,  and  barley  its  fifth,  blade.  It  then  received  its  first 
hoeing,(sarritio,)  which  in  dryland  included  what  Ave  should  call  earthing 
up ;  in  moist  land,  where  the  corn  was  already  on  a  ridge,  the  operation, 
was  simple  hoeing.  A  second  hoeing  was  given  in  the  spring.  These 
two  hoeings  were  the  universal  practice,  and  a  third  and  fourth  are 
spoken  of.  Even  the  careful  Cato  is  inclined  to  think  that  more  than 
two  hoeings  may  be  given  with  advantage.  Then  followed  hand-weed- 
ing, (runcatio,)  which  in  the  prickly  plants  was  performed  with  a  glove 
— "velata  manu  debet  runcari."  Pliny  tells  a  curious  story  about  the 
origin  of  the  still  further  operation  of  ploughing  between  the  rows  of 
corn.  In  the  course  of  a  razzia,  which  seems  to  have  taken  place  in 
spring  or  early  summer,  the  Salassi  easily  destroj'ed  the  winter-sown 
crops  of  their  enemies.  But  the  panic  and  millet,  which  were  only 
just  coming  up,  were  not  susceptible  of  the  same  sort  of  injury.  They 
were,  therefore,  yjloughed  in.  As,  however,  the  crops  recovered,  and 
proved  unusually  abundant,  husbandmen  adopted  the  practice  of 
ploughing  among  their  corn,  either  when  the  spike  was  just  showing 
itself,  or  when  it  had  put  forth  two  or  three  leaves;  probably  about 
the  stage  which  we  call  spindling. 

The  whole  operation  of  growing  a  crop  of  wheat  or  barley  was,  as 
respects  two-thirds  of  the  crop,  as  follows :  A  bare  fallow  extending 
from  June  (the  time  of  harvest)  to  the  September  in  the  following 
year ;  four  or  more  ploughings,  and  efficient  breaking  down  by  har- 
rows and  other  implements ;  two  or  more  hoeings  and  a  hand-weeding. 
This  is  represented  to  have  been  ordinary  practice,  and  the  maxims 
are  in  conformity.  "He,"  says  Columella,  "appears  to  me  to  be  the 
very  worst  of  farmers  who  allows  weeds  to  grow  among  his  crops. 
The  produce  must  be  exceedingly  diminished  if  weeding  is  neglected." 
On  this  point  we  must  let  Dickson  speak  for  himself  "  When  we  con- 
sider how  frequently,  in  the  ancient  husbandry,  the  land  was  fallowed, 
how  frequently  and  at  what  seasons  the  fallow  was  ploughed,  we  are 
apt  to  imagine  that  there  would  be  very  little  necessity  for  weeding; 
and  yet  the  care  of  the  Roman  farmers  in  this  article  seems  to  exceed 
their  care  in  every  other  thing."  Weeds,  however,  were  not  the  only 
objects  of  the  hoeings.  The  ancients  considered  that  the  growth  of 
corn  was  much  promoted  by  stirring  the  ground.  One,  or  frequently 
two,  of  the  four  ploughings  having  been  given  to  the  bare  portion  of 
the  fallow-break  before  winter,  a  larger  proportion  of  the  force  of  the 
farm  could  be  devoted  to  the  land  which  was  sown  with  crops  to  be 
mown  green  for  the  cattle.  Day  by  day  it  was  ploughed  down  as 
mown,  a  point  on  which  the  writers  insist  very  strongly,  and  it  appears 
to  have  received  the  same  culture  which  we  have  described  above. 
The  fallow-break  was  called  vervactum.  In  addition  to  these  ordinary 
corn  lands  they  had  a  small  proportion  which  they  called  restihilis,  as 
being  capable  of  great  endurance ;  land  which  had  qualities  analogous 
to  those  possessed  by  a  horse  which  can  go  at  a  great  pace  and  stay  at 
it;  or  by  a  vocalist  who  can  hold  a  note  for  an  indefinite  period.  This 
land  bore  a  crop  every  year.  Pliny  speaks  of  land  which  was  so 
kindly  that  the  crop  smothered  everything,  and  required  no  weeding; 
6 


42  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

and  Cato  says,  that  as  soon  as  tlie  corn  was  cleared  off,  this  land  might 
be  sown  with  vetches  on  a  single  furrow  without  manure,  that  it  might 
be  pastured  down  in  December,  and  would  yield  an  undiminished  crop 
in  spring.  Lands  which  had  rested  long,  or  were  fresh  brought  into 
cultivation,  were  called  novdlia,  and  were  subjected  to  a  severer  course 
of  cropping  than  the  old  tilled  land.  Barley  was  considered  to  be  a 
severer  crop  than  any  other.  This  epitome  of  grain-growing,  as  prac- 
ticed by  the  Eomans,  was  applicable  not  only  to  Italy,  but  certainly  to 
Sicily,  to  Spain,  to  the  province  which  they  called  Africa,  and  proba- 
bly to  other  southern  provinces.  Particular  notices  occur  of  parts  of 
Syria  and  of  Egypt,  and  Mesopotamia,  where  inundations  made  all  the 
land  restibilis.  Practices,  to  which  we  shall  briefly  refer,  are  spoken 
of,  by  Pliny,  as  prevalent  in  Gaul  and  Britain,  which  are  represented 
to  have  been  grain-exporting  provinces. 

We  must  lump  together  in  one  sentence  the  various  herbs  which 
were  cultivated  by  the  Eomans  as  green  food  for  cattle  ;  and  we  regret 
that  we  can  give  so  little  information  respecting  them.  Cicer — pulse 
of  some  kind — uncle  Cicero — Ervum,  often  coupled  with  Cicer — Far- 
rago, probably  mixed  corn  to  be  mown  green — Ocimum,  of  which  all 
we  know  is.  that  Pliny  says  it  was  supposed  to  flourish  most  when 
sown  with  cursing  and  railing — Vicia,  vetch — Cytisum — (remember- 
ing the  word  in  Virgil's  first  Eclogue,  we  turned  to  the  commentary 
and  found  this  explanation)  :  "  Grenus  fruticis  sive  herbse  cujus  species 
multiplex,  et  descriptio  apud  diversos  diversissima  :" — Lentils,  lupines, 
fenu-greek,  pisum,  peas,  faha.  The  Romans  cultivated  more  than  one 
sort  of  bean,  and  probably  this /a6a,  which  was  mown  green  for  fod- 
der, was  the  kidney  bean.  Cato  leads  the  way  with  most  minute  di- 
rections for  sowing  these  green  meats,  and  is  followed  by  the  other  au- 
thors. The  first  crop  to  be  put  in  as  soon  as  the  corn  is  off  the  land  : 
this  will  be  ready  for  autumnal  mowing ;  and  two  or  three  succession 
crops  to  last  for  the  remainder  of  the  year. 

To  the  Medica — probably  lucerne — Dickson  devotes  a  chapter,  and 
we  must  devote  a  sentence.  Though  Pliny  says  that  it  was  brought 
into  Greece  "  a  Medis  per  bella  Persarum,  qua3  Darius  intulit,"  it  ap- 
pears to  have  been  unknown  to  Cato  and  to  Varro  as  an  object  of  Ro- 
man culture.  Virgil  mentions  it  once  as  being  sown  at  the  vernal 
equinox,  and  as  requiring  very  rich  land.  Columella,  Pliny,  and  Pal- 
ladius  are  full  of  its  merits.  The  sum  of  their  praises  is — that  one 
sowing  la!<ts  ten  (Pliny  says  thirty)  years ;  that  it  may  be  mown  from 
four  to  six  times  annually ;  that  it  fattens  lean,  and  cures  sick  cattle ; 
that  it  enriches  land ;  and  that  the  produce  of  three-fifths  of  a  statute 
acre  will  abundantly  maintain  three  horses  for  a  whole  year.  These 
statements  appear  to  some  modern  agricultural  writers  marvelous  or 
miraculous.  We  believe,  however,  that,  bating  the  thirty  years  and 
the  enriching  land,  they  are  constantly  equaled  now  a-days  in  the  fer- 
tile island  of  Jersey.  Beans  were  considered  a  very  valuable  crop, 
and  \7ere  subjected  to  very  careful  cultivation. 

Hemp,  flax,  poppy,  panic,  and  millet,  were  Roman  crops  ;  but  we 
fancy  only   incidentally   and  in  by-corners,  and  not  in  any  regular 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  43  * 

course  of  culture.*  Legum  or  legumen  did  not  imply  a  class  of  plants  ; 
but  all  crops  which  were  pulled  up  by  the  root  instead  of  being  cut 
by  sickle  or  scythe.  Hence,  beans,  peas,  flax,  hemp,  &c.,  are  spoken 
of  as  legum  as  well  as  turnip,  rape,  and  radish.  On  turnips  the  later 
authors  are  diffuse,  but  we  must  be  concise.  Pliny  declares  that  no 
crop  is  so  valuable  except  grapes  and  corn  ;  that  they  are  most  whole- 
some food  for  man,  and  excellent,  dressed  in  a  variety  of  ways  ;  that 
they  keep  through  the  year,  either  pitted,  or  when  mixed  with  mus- 
tard ;  that  they  are  most  valuable  in  ornamental  cookery,  as  capable 
of  receiving  six  colours  besides  their  own,  one  of  the  colours  being 
purple — a  quality  possessed  by  no  other  kind  of  food  ;  that  when 
boiled  they  will  feed  fowls,  and  that  the  leaves  are  good  for  cattle ; 
and  finally,  that  he  has  seen  one  40  lbs.  weight.  Columella  says  that 
in  Gaul  the  bulbs  are  used  as  winter  food  for  cattle  and  sheep.  As  to 
culture,  the  Romans  sowed  the  best  sort  of  turnip  after  five  plough- 
ings  on  dry  and  free  land,  in  rows  well  manured  ;  thinned  then  to 
eight  inches  asunder ;  and,  like  us,  were  very  much  plagued  by  the 
fly,  (culex)  which  they  combated  with  soot,  steeped  seed,  and  other 
remedies  similar  to  our  own,  and  probably  about  as  effectual. 

Many  passages  occur  in  the  writers,  which,  taken  singly,  appear  to 
indicate  a  strong  opinion  on  their  part,  that  whereas  some  crops  ex- 
hausted, others  improved  the  land.  Probably,  however,  the  majority 
of  these  passages  have  reference  to  a  practice  which  was  very  preva- 
lent in  their  agriculture,  namely,  sowing  vetches,  beans,  and  more  es- 
pecially lupines,  for  the  purpose  of  ploughing  them  in  when  they  be- 
gan to  form  seeds.  By  the  writers  generally  more  benefit  is  attributed 
to  this  practice  than  modern  experience  would  appear  to  justify.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  Roman  course  of  a  crop  and  a  fallow  no  time  was  lost 
by  it.  The  opinion  also  that  some  crops,  even  when  gathered,  im- 
proved the  land,  did  prevail — for  Columella,  who  strongly  advocates 
the  ploughing-in  system,  thinks  it  necessary  to  combat  it : — 

"  Some  tell  us  that  a  crop  of  beans  stand  in  the  place  of  a  manuring 
to  the  land — v.rhich  opinion  I  would  interpret  thus ;  not  that  one  can 
make  the  land  richer  by  sowing  them,  but  that  this  crop  will  exhaust 
it  less  than  some  others.  For  of  this  I  am  certain,  that  land  which  has 
had  nothing  on  it  will  produce  more  corn  than  that  which  has  borne 
these  pulse  in  the  preceding  j^ear." 

An  opinion  in  which  we  cordially  coincide. 

Roman  harvesting  presents  several  variations  from  modern  practices. 
In  some  cases  the  ears  of  the  standing  corn  were  gathered  by  a  sort  of 
comb,  cut  off,  and  carried  to  the  thrashing  floor — the  straw  being  cut 
by  a  subsequent  operation.  The  mode  in  which  this  was  done  is  ac- 
curately described  by  the  writers,  and  is  vividly  portrayed  in  the 
drawings  from  the  Egyptian  tombs.  This  plan  is  said  to  have  an- 
swered well  in  thin  crops,  but  to  have  been  troublesome  when  they 
were  heavy ;  it  would  no  doubt  be  still  more  so  when  they  were  laid 
and  twisted.     In  other  cases  the  corn  was  cut  low,  and  having  been 

*  Flax  is  universally  condemned  by  the  writers  as  an  exhausting  crop.  Pliny,  liowevor,  enters  largely 
not  only  into  its  cultivation,  hut  into  the  mode  of  steeping  and  dressing  it,  and  into  its  manufacture  into 
fine  linen,  sail-cloth,  candle-wicks,  fish-nets,  and  snares  for  wild  hoars.  He  says  that  each  thread  in  a 
then  extant  breast-plate  of  Amasis,  king  of  Egypt,  consisted  of  365  ply. 


*  44  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 


gathered  together,  was  passed  through  combs  or  hackles,  which  de- 
tained the  ears.  These  being  cut  off,  were  carried  a  way  separately  in 
wicker-baskets.  Pliny  remarks,  that  both  these  modes  are  favourable 
to  straw  which  is  to  be  used  for  thatching.  About  Rome  the  corn  was 
cut  in  the  middle  by  a  sickle.  Varro  is  of  opinion  that  from  this  cut- 
ting in  the  middle,  the  word  messis  was  derived.  The  upper  part  of 
the  straw  was  called  palea,  and  was  used  for  fodder  ;  the  butt  ends, 
sir  amentum,  were  used  as  litter.  In  some  countries  they  pulled  up  all 
their  corn  by  the  roots,  and  fancied,  says  Pliny,  that  the  disturbing 
the  surface  thereby  was  beneficial  to  the  land.  The  reaping  on 
Achilles  shield  is  similar  to  ours,  except  that  it  implies  a  greater  divi- 
sion of  labour  than  we  usually  carry  out.  In  a  previous  passage, 
Homer  declares  the  practice  of  rich  men  to  have  been,  to  start  a  gang 
of  reapers  at  each  end  of  a  field  of  corn,  and  to  their  approach  he 
likens  that  of  the  Grecian  and  Trojan  hosts.  Pliny,  in  a  very  ob- 
scure passage,  and  Palladius,  in  one  which  is  more  minute,  describe  a 
reaping-machine  which  was  used  in  the  large  farms  in  Gaul.  This 
much  is  evident,  that  the  body  of  the  machine  was  fixed  on  an  axle 
which  connected  two  wheels.  To  the  axle  were  fixed  a  pair  of  shafts, 
into  which  a  very  steady  working  ox  was  harnessed,  not  in  the  usual 
manner,  but,  as  a  stable-boy  would  say,  with  his  head  where  his  tail 
should  be.  Consequently,  when  he  walked  on,  instead  of  pulling  by 
the  shafts,  he  pushed  by  them,  and  drove  the  implement  into  the 
standing  corn.  By  some  machinery  Avhich  we  cannot  undertake  to 
describe,  it  collected  ears  of  corn,  cut  them  off,  and  dropped  them  into 
a  receptacle — "in  carpentum:"  Pliny  says  "vallum."  Palladius 
says,  that  this  implement  answered  well  in  open  and  even  land,  and 
that  some  farmers  in  Gaul  cut  their  whole  harvest  with  it  without  em- 
ploying any  men  as  reapers.  Was  Mr.  McCormick  acquainted  with 
these  reapers  and  mowers  ? 

Threshing  presents  as  many  varieties  as  reaping,  and  most  of  them 
must  have  been  very  old.  Almost  every  one  can  be  identified  with 
some  expression  in  the  27th  and  following  verses  of  the  28th  chapter 
of  Isaiah.  Threshing  was  generally  performed  immediately  after  har- 
vest, and  frequently  in  the  fields ;  but  Columella  says,  that  where  the 
ears  only  were  cut  off,  they  could  be  carried  into  the  granary,  and 
threshed  during  the  winter.  The  threshing  was  by  flail,  by  treading 
out,  (for  which  horses  are  said  to  have  been  better  than  oxen,)  and  lat- 
terly by  a  machine  drawn  by  cattle,  described  sometimes  as  having 
teeth,  sometimes  rollers,  called  tribula,  traha,  and  phstellum,  and 
which,  whatever  it  might  be,  was  adopted  from  Carthage.  All  the 
writers  put  forth  their  strength  in  describing  the  construction  of  the 
area  or  threshing-floor.  Cato  forms  a  concrete-like  surface  of  heavily 
rolled  and  rammed  earth  (cylindro  aut  pavicula  cooequato),  and  satu- 
rated with  the  lees  of  oil  (amurca).  Varro  follows  his  lead :  Columella 
adds  that  the  floor  is  improved  if  straw  be  introduced  into  the  mix- 
ture, Pliny  and  Palladius  macadamise  flint,  pound  it,  and  roll  it  with 
the  fragment  of  a  column  ;  but  the  latter  mentions  a  floor  "  saxo 
montis  excisa,"  we  suppose  flagged,  Virgil,  in  a  charming  passage, 
which  is  as  poetical  as  it  is  correct,  constructs  a  threshing-floor.     Two 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  45 


lines  suffice  to  describe  the  handworking  of  the  earth,  the  leveling  it 
with  a  very  heavy  roll,  "  ingenti  cylindro,"  and  the  covering  with  a 
solid  surface  of  chalk  :  a  third  points  out  that  weeds  and  dust,  which 
would  spoil  the  grain,  should  be  guarded  against ;  while  six  more  suf- 
fice to  specify  those  peculiar  habits  of  mice,  moles,  toads,  weevils, 
and  ants  respectively,  from  which  injury  may  be  expected.  Four 
words  thrown  in  by  way  of  &c.  conjure  up  ideas  of  centipedes,  earwigs, 
woodlice,  and  other  disgusting  inhabitants  of  cracks  and  chinks. 

The  Romans  would  not  have  incurred  Mause  Headrigg's  repro- 
bation "by  impiously  tliAvarting  the  will  of  Divine  Providence  in 
raising  v/ind  for  their  ain  particular  use  by  human  art."  They  were 
content  for  the  most  part  to  "  dight  the  corn  frae  the  chaff"  by  cast- 
ing it  with  shovels  in  the  teeth  of  a  moderate  wind.  In  cases,  how- 
ever, of  protracted  calm  or  other  emergency,  Columella  recommends 
the  use  of  a  vayinus.  It  is  mentioned  by  Virgil,  among  the  "  duris 
agrestibus  arma,"  as  "  mystica  vannus  lacchi ;  and  was  no  doubt  a  fan 
of  some  sort.  The  words  are  the  same.  They  also  used  sieves  to  free 
the  grain  from  dust.  These  are  mentioned  both  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testament. 

The  modes  of  using  straw  were  various,  and  the  variations  were  lo- 
cal. Ordinarily,  the  upper  half  was  used  as  cattle  food,  the  lower  as 
litter ;  but  when  the  former  failed,  the  latter  was  bruised  on  stones — a 
rude  anticipation  of  our  chaff-cutting — and  sprinkled  with  salt  to  in- 
duce the  cattle  to  eat  it.  Columella  sets  very  little  value  even  on  the 
palea.  He  says  that  in  many  places  cattle  are  fed  on  it  from  necessity, 
but  "  minus  commode."  Varro  directs  that  where  the  ears  only  of  the 
corn  have  been  reaped,  the  straw  should  be  cut  and  gathered  imme- 
diately after  harvest ;  but  that  if  the  crop  were  thin  and  labor  is 
scarce,  it  will  not  pay  for  this,  and  it  should  then  be  pastured  with 
cattle  as  it  stands.  Thatching  houses  with  straw  is  spoken  of  as  a 
practice  confined  to  particular  localities.  Cato  is  precise,  that  every 
spike  of  straw  or  stubble  should  be  gathered  for  litter,  and  even  that 
it  should  be  eked  out  with  leaves  of  ilex.  Virgil  says,  that  to  burn 
the  stubble  on  barren  land  is  good  practice,  Pliny,  noting  that  this  is 
done  "  magno  Virgilii  proeconio,"  adds,  that  the  principal  benefit  arises 
from  the  destruction  of  the  seed  of  weeds.  Both  Isaiah  and  Obadiah 
allude  to  the  practice  of  burning  stubble.  In  classing  straw  as  fodder, 
the  writers  all  agree  in  the  order  of  merit — millet,  barley,  wheat.  The 
straw  of  pulse  only  was  given  to  sheep. 

As  to  manure,  the  directions  of  the  prose  men  are  rather  precise 
than  cleanly,  and  we  shall  not  enter  into  the  subject  very  largely.  It 
is  only  Virgil,  as  Dryden  says,  who  can  "toss  his  dung  about  him 
with  the  air  of  a  gentleman."  The  value  of  every  living  creature  on 
the  farm,  as  a  manure-making  machine,  is  most  minutely  weighed  up ; 
and  the  separate  sorts  of  manure  are  classed  according  to  their  respec- 
ive  values.  The  schedule  presents  some  variations  from  modern  opin- 
ion. The  manure  from  water-fowl  is  said  to  be  of  no  value,  whieb 
contrasts  strangely  with  our  appreciation  of  guano.  Columella  puts 
manure  from  pigs  at  the  bottom  of  the  list,  for  which  Pliny  sneers  at 
him.     We  stumbled  somewhere  on  a  passage  interesting  to  modern 


46  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

farmers,  whicli  we  cannot  now  refer  to.  The  purport  was,  that  part  of 
the  value  of  corn  given  to  cattle  is  replaced  in  increased  strength  of 
the  manure.  A  diligent  collection  of  everything  which  can  benefici- 
ally swell  the  bulk  of  the  heap,  is  prescribed — leaves,  weeds,  scrap- 
ings of  highways,  &c.  He  is  a  very  idle  farmer,  says  Columella,  who 
does  not  get  together  some  manure,  even  if  he  does  not  keep  cattle. 
The  onl}'  allusion  to  extraneous  manure,  purchased  for  the  farm,  is 
confined  to  that  made  in  aviaries,  which  seems  to  have  been  sown  by 
hand  both  on  meadows  and  on  corn.  Cassius  is  quoted  as  a  great  au- 
thority on  the  respective  values  of  manures.  Cicero  and  Pliny  enter 
into  tlie  early  history  of  manuring.  The  former  says  that  it  is  singu- 
lar that  the  learned  Hesiod,  writino-  about  aarriculture,  should  not  have 
said  a  single  word  about  manuring,  whereas  Homer,  who  lived  so 
many  ages  before  him,  {ut  mihi  videtur,)  represents  Laertes  to  have 
soothed  the  regret  which  he  felt  on  account  of  his  son,  by  cultivating 
and  manuring  his  land.  In  the  description  of  Laertes'  gardening,  as 
it  has  come  to  us,  there  is  not  a  syllable  about  manuring;  whereas  in 
the  seventeenth  book  of  the  Odyssey,  there  is  a  distinct  notice  of  a 
manure  heap,  and  of  the  agricultural  purpose  to  which  it  was  to  be  ap- 
plied. Pliny  asserts  the  antiquity  of  the  practice,  follows  Cicero  in 
the  story  about  Laertes,  and  adds  that  King  Augeas  first  discovered 
the  advantage  of  manuring  in  Greece,  and  that  Hercules  published  it 
in  Italy  ;  a  statement  which  appears  to  negative  the  claim  of  King 
Stercutio  to  the  invention  for  which  he  was  immortalized  and  wor- 
shipped. Far  be  it  from  us  ''  tantas  componere  lites."  The  marvel 
would  appear  to  be,  not  that  a  cultivator  should  make  the  discovery, 
but  that  any  one  should  miss  it. 

Close  on  the  heels  of  the  directions  for  collecting  and  multiplying 
manure,  follow  those  for  its  manipulation  and  management.  Dickson 
revels  in  the  middens.  Skillful  husbandmen,  say  Columella  and  Pliny, 
cover  up  their  heaps,  and  suffer  them  neither  to  dry  by  the  wind,  nor' 
to  be  parched  by  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Hollow  water-tight  receptacles 
which  retain  the  moisture  are  recommended.  Either  oak  leaves  should 
be  intermixed,  or  an  oaken  stake  driven  into  the  heap  to  prevent  ser- 
pents from  breeding  there.  Columella  delicately  observes  that  the 
treasure  should  not  be  piled  up  in  front  of  the  parlor  (praetorii)  win- 
dows. Cato  and  Varro  say  that  manure,  heaped,  turned,  and  rotted 
down,  is  stronger  than  when  green.  From  this  opinion  Columella  and 
Palladius  dissent,  holding  that  the  benefit  of  the  turning  and  fermen- 
tation consists  in  their  destroying  the  seeds  of  weeds,  but  that  they 
weaken  the  manure  ;  and  they  therefore  prescribe  that  it  should  be  ap- 
plied quite  fresh  to  grass  land,  where  the  weeds  cannot  so  easily  get 
root.  Palladius  thinks  it  necessary  to  wash  sea-weed  in  fresh  water 
before  it  is  used  as  manure.  Manure  was  principally  applied  in  spring 
and  autumn.  A  little  and  often  was  considered  to  be  the  best  prac- 
tice. Wet  land  required  more  than  dry.  Dickson  ascertains  that  800 
Winchester  bushels  of  well-prepared  manure  to  a  statute  acre  was  an 
average  Eoman  dose.  Pliny  says  that  some  persons  think  that  land  is 
best  manured  (optime  stercorari)  by  having  sheep,  perhaps  cattle  (pe- 
cora)  folded  on  it. 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  47 

Theophrastus  says,  that  mixing  earths,  "  ponderoso  leve,  levi  pon- 
derosum,  macro  pingue  et  contra,"  will  often  stand  in  the  place  of  ma- 
nure. Columella  also  records  that  his  uncle,  who  was  a  most  scientific 
and  industrious  farmer,  improved  his  land  by  applying  chalk  to  his 
sandy,  and  sand  to  his  chalky  and  clay  soils.  Pliny,  giving  vent  to 
the  contempt  for  Columella  which  he  is  so  little  careful  to  conceal, 
says  "  that  is  the  practice  of  a  madman.  What  can  a  man  hope  for 
who  cultivates  in  this  manner?" 

Though  lime  was  used  agriculturally  by  the  Eomans  only  in  their 
vineyards  and  orchards,  we  cannot  wholly  pass  by  the  curious  infor- 
mution  which  Dickson's  chapter  on  the  sr.bject  contains.  Cato  recom- 
mends its  application  to  olives,  and  Pliny  to  vines,  but  more  particu- 
larly to  cherries.  He  says  that  cherries  were  unknown  in  Italy  till 
Lucullus  introduced  them  after  his  victory  over  Mithridates,  A.u.c.  680, 
and  that,  within  120  years  of  their  introduction,  they  were  dispersed 
by  the  Romans  as  far  as  Britain.  The  English  are  inclined,  how- 
ever, to  claim  an  indigenous  origin  for  their  bird-cherry,  and  for  the 
Scotch  gean.  We  learn  from  Palladius  that  builders  and  plasterers 
were  as  fastidious  about  lime  in  his  day  as  in  ours,  each  requirino-  the 
limestone  and  the  sort  and  quantity  of  sand  appropriate  to  their  opera- 
tions respectively.  Cato  describes  most  minutely  the  mode  of  build- 
ing the  kiln  and  of  burning  the  lime.  We  may  certainly  consider  it 
as  a  singular  proof  of  his  sagacity,  that,  for  several  years  last  past,  the 
practice  of  lime-burning  in  England  has  tended  to  return  to  the  prin- 
ciple which  Cato  prescribes,  from  one  which  had  long  been  considered 
as  a  great  improvement.  Lime-burners  will  understand  us  when  we 
say,  that  Cato's  principle  was,  close  fires  and  a  very  obstructed  supply 
of  air,  each  kiln  full  of  lime  being  an  independent  burning.  The  mod- 
ern practice  among  large  lime-burners  has  been,  till  recently,  deep 
open-topped  kilns,  supplied  with  fuel  and  limestone  on  the  surface,  the 
fire  being  urged  by  a  brisk  draft  of  air  from  the  bottom,  which  served 
also  to  cool  the  lime  in  its  descent  to  the  holes  in  the  kiln  bottom, 
whence  it  is  drawn  in  a  continuous  stream.  We  have  some  experi- 
ence in  the  matter,  and  believe  that,  in  point  of  economy,  Cato  is  vin- 
dicated. He  also  describes  a  system  of  burning  lime  in  partnership. 
The  owner  finds  the  stone,  the  kiln,  and  the  fuel.  The  working  part- 
ner quarries  the  stone,  and  finds  all  the  remaining  labor.  They  divide 
the  spoil.  The  practice  is  not  unknown  now,  nor  do  the  proportions 
vary  very  materially ;  but  our  division  is  less  favorable  to  the  work- 
ing partner,  and  ought  to  be,  because  our  fuel  is  less  cumbrous.  Al- 
though Pliny  limits  the  agricultural  use  of  lime  by  the  Romans  to 
olives,  vines,  and  cherries,  he  says  that  the  Hedui  and  Pictones  (the 
people  of  Autun  and  Poictiers)  made  their  general  land  very  produc- 
tive by  its  application. 

Yarro  reports,  that  when  he  led  an  army  through  Transalpine  Gaul 
as  far  as  the  Rhine,  he  passed  through  a  country  having  neither  olives, 
vines,  nor  apples — where  they  measured  the  land  "  Candida  fossicia; 
creta."  Plina  says  that  on  wet,  cold  land  in  Megara  the  Greeks,  who 
tried  everything,  applied  "  leucargillon."  In  Gaul  and  Britain,  how- 
ever, what  we  call  marling  appears  to  have  been  a  staple  practice  in 


48  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

husbandry,  and  to  it  Pliny  devotes  several  pages.  He  enumerates  six 
different  kinds  of  marl,  called  inarga,  terra  fullonio,  glischromargon, 
eglecopala,  capnomargos,  and  other  fine  names.  Some  very  clayey 
for  light  lands;  some  sandy  for  heavy  lands;  some  rocky,  and  retain- 
ing that  form,  to  the  great  hindrance  of  stubble-mowing,  till  several 
years  of  sun,  rain,  and  frost  reduced  them.  Some  lasted  ten  years, 
some  thirty,  some  fifty.  Some  were  got  at  the  day ;  and  one  sort, 
which  lasted  eighty  years,  and  which  no  man  had  ever  been  known  to 
apply  twice  to  the  same  land,  was  got  in  Britain  by  means  of  narrow 
pits,  thirty  yards  deep.  The  mode  of  working  described  by  Pliny  is 
similar  to  a  sort  of  rude  coal-getting,  which  is  now  sometimes  prac- 
ticed in  Enghind,  where  the  seam  lies  at  no  greater  depth.  There  are 
superficial  marl-pits  in  the  midland  counties,  in  which  grow  the  ruins 
of  ancient  oaks,  acorns  perhaps  in  the  time  of  Pliny. 

The  general  grain  lands  of  the  Romans  were  not  enclosed  or  fenced, 
except  occasionally  against  public  highways.  They  were  acquainted, 
however,  with  every  species  of  fence  which  is  now  in  use,  and  applied 
them  to  vineyards,  gardens,  orchards,  cattle-folds,  and  parks  in  front 
of  the  villa  in  which  wild  animals  were  confined,  "  ut  possidentis  ob- 
lectarent  oculos."  Palladius,  the  last  of  the  writers,  recommends  that 
meadows  sliould  be  enclosed.  Quick  fences — "  vivas  sepes" — says  Co- 
lumella, are  preferable  to  dead,  because  a  mischievous  fellow  going  by 
with  a  torch  cannot  set  fire  to  them.  They  were  raised  from  seed, 
with  much  preparation  and  culture,  in  which  pea-meal  and  old  ship- 
ropes  bear  a  conspicuous  part.  Directions  may  be  found  in  one  or 
other  of  these  authors  for  raising  every  sort  of  fence  which  now  pre- 
vails in  Grreat  Britain  oi-  Ireland.  Pliny  particularly  describes  the 
frame  by  means  of  which  such  mud-walls  as  are  now  seen,  were  reared. 
He  limits  them  to  Africa  and  Spain. 

Notwithstanding  the  ameliorations  of  climate  which  we  are  told  to 
hope  for  from  draining,  we  do  not  expect  to  see  vines  an  object  of  the 
modern  farmer's  culture,  nor  wine-making  one  of  his  household  labors; 
we  shall,  therefore,  merely  intimate  that  any  one  who  is  anxious  to 
learn  "  the  ancient"  practice  in  these  matters,  will  find  ample  informa- 
tion in  the  agricultural  wjiters.  Beer  comes  home  to  our  sympathies. 
Pliny  says  bluntly  enough — "  The  western  nations  have  their  own  way 
of  getting  drunk,  by  steeping  barley.  In  Graul  and  Britain  the  ladios 
use  the  yeast  (spuman)  as  a  cosmetic."  This  art,  we  fear,  is  lost ;  but 
the  second  use  of  yeast  survives.  These  nations,  says  Pliny,  used  it 
for  fermenting  their  bread :  "  Qua  de  causa  levior  illis  quam  caeteris 
panis  est."  But  the  use  of  beer  was  not  confined  to  the  western  na- 
tions. The  Egyptian  zythus  was  beer — Suidas  says  'a-no  xpiOyji  ywo^svoi 
made  of  barley — and  Pelusium  was  the  Burton-on-Trent  of  Egypt : 

"  Ut  Pelusiaci  proritet  pocula  zythi." 

Moreover,  the  Egyptians,  being  destitute  of  hops,  flavored  their  ale 
with  the  bitter  lupine,  and  with  an  acrid  wild  carrot,  of  which  Pliny 
says — "  nemo  tres  siseres  edendo  continuaret."  Wilkinson,  most  prop- 
erly, devotes  two  or  three  pages  to  the  Egyptian  zythus.  In  Spain 
they  made  beer  which  would  keep  for  several  years.     Tacitus  speaks 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  49 

of  German  beer  more  scornfully  than  is  consistent  with  its  modern 
reputation.  "  Potui  humor  ex  horcleo  aut  fermento  in  quandam  simil- 
itudinem  vini  corruptus." 

Beer  runs  through  all  the  classics.  Atheneeus  says  that  beery  men 
dance,  and  sing,  as  merrily  as  those  who  are  overtaken  in  more  gener- 
ous liquor.  Aristotle  states,  with  more  discrimination,  that  the  former, 
when  helplessly  overcome,  lie  on  their  backs,  and  the  latter  on  their 
faces.  yEschylus,  Sophocles,  Herodotus,  Archilochus,  Hecata3us,  and 
Areta^us,  all  mention  beer.  Xenophon,  during  the  retreat  of  the  Ten 
Thousand,  passed  a  convivial  night  with  an  Armenian  sheik  near  to 
the  sources  of  the  river  Phasis,  The  sheik's  daughter,  who  had  been 
married  nine  days,  graced  the  feast  with  her  presence.  Her  husband 
was  not  of  the  ]:)arty,  being  off  in  the  mountains  coursing.  On  the 
floor  of  the  subterranean  dwelling  stood  a  vessel  filled  with  barley- 
bree,  and  furnished  with  hollow  reeds  of  various  sizes.  Want  of  a 
common  language  did  not  prevent  the  observance  of  customary  con- 
vivial compliments.  The  host,  as  his  benevolence  prompted,  led  some 
favored  guest  to  the  beer  barrel,  where  the  politer  sort  sucked  the  li- 
quor through  the  reeds ;  but  others,  who  had  not  learned  manners, 
thrust  in  their  noses  like  oxen.  Xenophen  says  it  was  strong  drink, 
but  very  pleasant  Avhen  you  were  used  to  it.  When  the  sun  had  risen 
on  their  revels,  Xenophon,  who  commanded  the  rear  guard,  took  the 
sheik  with  him  to  the  van  of  the  army.  There  they  found  that  General 
Cheirisophus,  aud  his  officers,  had  also  met  with  good  quarters,  and 
were  still  protracting  their  festivities.  They  were  crowned  with 
rushes,  and  Armenian  boys  were  ministering  to  them.  To  these  boys 
they  indicated  by  signs  the  form  in  which  their  services  were  required. 
Seven  days  were  spent  in  these  pastimes.  On  the  eighth  they  took 
the  sheik  for  their  guide,  and  his  son  as  hostage  for  his  fidelity.  The 
sheik  led  the  army  three  days'  march  into  the  snow,  Cheirisophus  sus- 
pected treachery,  and  struck  the  sheik,  but  neglected  to  fetter  him. 
The  sheik,  resenting  the  indignity,  levanted  in  the  course  of  the  night, 
leaving  his  son  behind  him.  Then  arose  the  only  serious  difference  of 
the  whole  retreat  between  Xenophon  and  Cheirisophus,  probably  as  to 
the  fate  of  the  boy.  That,  however,  was  settled  by  another  general, 
Episthenes,  who,  having  taken  a  fancy  to  the  boy,  carried  him  to 
Greece,  and  he  proved,  says  Xenophon,  very  faithful. 

In  treating  of  fallows,  we  have  spoken  of  the  number  of  ploughings 
which  the  Romans  gave  to  their  land  ;  but  our  description  would  be 
incomplete  if  we  did  not  allude  to  the  manner  in  which  they  were  ex- 
ecuted. We  know  that  they  were  generally  executed  by  two  oxen,, 
and  that  a  jugerum,  three-fifth  of  a  statute  acre,  was  a  regular  day's 
work,  and  was  in  free  land  considerably  exceeded,  a  general  depth  of 
nine  inches  will  not,  to  a  practical  farmer,  appear  very  probable.. 
They  were  not,  however,  very  superficial,  for  Pliny  will  not  allow  a. 
depth  of  four  fingers — three  inches — to  be  a  ploughing ;  but  calls  it  a 
scarification.  As,  moreover,  one  ploughing  in  the  fallow  course  re- 
ceived a  distinctive  name,  "  proscindere,"  Avith  respect  to  which  Pliny 
says,  "  vi  omni  arato,"  and  as  he  states  that  it  was,  not  unusual  to  at- 
tach six,  or  even  eight,  oxen  to  one  plough,  it  seems  probable  that 
7 


50  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

once,  at  least,  in  the  fallow  course,  the  land  was  stirred  to  a  considera- 
ble depth.  There  are  several  maxims  about  going  below  the  roots  of 
all  weeds.  We  should  bear  in  mind  that  the  Eoman  plough  was 
an  implement  which  did  not  of  necessity  turn  a  furrow,  though  it  was 
capable  of  doing  so  by  a  direction  given  to  it  by  a  man  who  presided 
at  the  stilts.  Our  word  furrow  implies  a  slice  of  land  turned  over, 
whereas  their  Avord  "  sulcus"  implies  only  a  certain  breadth  disturbed 
and  lightened  up.  The  object  of  their  fallow  ploughings,  and  indeed 
of  all  their  ploughings,  except  breaking  up  turf  and  the  ridging  which 
we  have  already  described,  was  to  stir  all  the  land  to  an  even  depth. 
To  effect  this,  they  prescribed  very  narrow  and  equal  breadths,  and 
very  straight  lines.  They  had  not  the  trouble  which  we  experience, 
from  the  circumstance  that  the  plough,  in  going  and  returning,  turn  the 
slice  opposite  ways.  The  Eoman  ploughman  returned  on  his  own 
traces,  and  one  criterion  of  the  perfection  of  his  work  was,  that  the 
surface  should  be  left  so  even  as  to  make  it  difficult  to  discern  where 
the  plough  had  gone.  The  overlooker  is  recommended  to  walk  over 
the  newly- ploughed  field,  and  to  thrust  in  repeatedly  a  pointed  stick, 
by  which  he  will  discover  whether  any  land  has  been  left  unmoved. 
In  order  to  insure  perfect  culture,  their  second  ploughing  was  always 
across  the  first.  And  even  when  the  declivity  was  so  great  that  they 
could  not  in  either  case  go  directly  up  and  clown,  they  took  two  ob- 
lique directions  across  the  hill,  which  would  intersect  each  other. 
The  characteristic  of  Roman  ploughing  was  precision.  To  move  un- 
even breadths  was  called  to  plough  "  sulco  vario,"  and  was  much  con- 
demned. Lumps  of  eartli  undisturbed  were  called  "  scamna,"  and 
were  said  to  diminish  the  crop,  and  to  bring  a  bad  name  on  the  land. 
He  who  ploughed  crooked  was  said  lo  prevaricate,  "  prasvaricare ;" 
whence,  says  Pliny,  the  phrase  was  imported  into  the  law  courts,  and 
having  been  applied  to  those  who  went  crooked  in  their  ploughing, 
came  to  be  applied  to  those  who  went  crooked  in  their  statements. 

So  great  was  the  importance  whicb  the  ancients  attached  to  plougli- 
ing.  "  What,"  says  Cato,  "  is  the  first  point  in  good  cultivation  ?" 
"  Bene  arare. — Quid  secundum  ?  Arare. — Quid  tertium  ?  Stercorare." 
Pliu}^  declares  the  passage  to  be  oracular,  but  muddles  it  in  quoting. 
Theophrastus,  who  long  preceded  them  both,  says  that  no  crop  ought 
to  be  grown  on  the  fallow-break  unless  it  can  be  cleared  ofi'  so  soon  as 
not  to  prevent  the  land  from  receiving  all  its  summer  ploughings. 
Cato  forbids  his  bailiff"  to  plough  when  it  is  wet,  or  to  cart  over  it,  or 
even  to  allow  cattle  to  go  upon  it.  He  says  that  it  will  not  recover  it- 
self for  three  years.  Columella,  Pliny,  and  Palladius  say  that  if  you 
meddle  with  land  while  it  is  wet,  you  will  lose  the  whole  season. 

The  Egyptian  ploughs,  as  represented  in  the  drawings,  are  mere  mud- 
scratchers,  drawn  sometimes  by  oxen,  sometimes  by  cows  with  their 
calves  skipping  by  their  sides ;  and  Pliny  says  that,  on  flooded  lands, 
he  has  seen  a  plough  drawn  by  a  donkey  on  one  side,  and  an  old  wo- 
man on  the  other — "  vili  asello,  et  a  parte  altera  jugi  anu  vomerem 
trahente."'  Among  the  drawings  from  the  Egyptian  tombs,  engraved 
for  Sir  George  Wilkinson,  are  several  which  represent  ploughing,  sow- 
ing, and  other  operaiions,  and  in  one  of  these  a  roller  drawn  by  two 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  51 


horses  driven  with  reins  is  introduced.  The  roller  is  hollow,  supported 
by  a  frams-work  insids,  in  diameter  about  two-thirds  of  the  height  of 
the  horses,  and  the  drawing  would  be  no  inaccurate  representation  of  a 
modern  agricultural  iron  roller.  We  ar.^  not  aware  that  the  u^e  of  such 
an  implement  in  husbandry  is  mentioned  by  any  of  the  ancient  writers. 
If  Columella  had  been  acquainted  with  its  use,  he  would  not  have  recom- 
mended that  land,  laid  down  for  meadow,  should  be  smoothed  by  an 
instrument  which,  according  to  his  own  account,  worked  so  clumsily 
as  the  crates.  We  have  already  seen,  that,  in  compressing  a  threshing- 
floor,  a  piece  of  a  broken  column  was  pressed  into  service  as  a  make- 
shift roller.  The  Romans  might  have  valued  this  implement  as  breaker 
of  clods,  and  as  an  assistant  to  fine  tiltli ;  but  not  a  single  passage  in- 
timates that  they  sympathised  with  our  idea  of  the  advantage  of  a  firm 
bed  for  the  roots  of  corn.  Quite  to  the  contrary.  Perhaps,  in  the  cli- 
mate of  Italy,  their  crops  were  not  so  liable  to  be  top-heavy  as  ours 
are.  Perhaps  the  young  plant  was  not  so  liable  to  be  thrown  out  by 
frost. 

When  we  come  to  sowing,  the  directions  given  by  them  are  very  an- 
alogous to  those  which  any  gentleman  would  receive,  if  he  were  to  en- 
ter a  grain  county  on  one  side,  and  ask  the  opinion  of  every  farmer 
he  met  till  he  went  out  of  the  other.  One  would  tell  him  to  sow  thin, 
because  his  land  was  poor,  another  because  it  was  rich.  A  third  would 
say,  "  Be  liberal  with  your  seed,  because  you  are  early  in  the  season;" 
and  a  fourth  would  advise  the  same  "  because  you  are  late."  A  fifth  and 
sixth  would  differ  as  to  whether  wet  land,  or  dry,  required  the  most 
seed.  This  is  the  substance  of  what  the  ancients  say  in  various  pas- 
sages— which  we  are  not  careful  to  harmonize,  partly  because  their  dif- 
ferences will  dwindle  when  we  mention  the  narrow  limits  between  the 
thick  and  thin  sowing.  With  few  exceptions  they  recommend  early 
sowing,  and,  as  was  their  wont,  enforce  the  practice  by  an  epigramma- 
tic maxim — "  Early  sowing  sometimes  deceives  the  husbandman  ;  late 
sowing  never — because  the  crop  after  it  is  always  bad."  Pliny  will  not 
have  the  joke,  probably  because  he  finds  it  in  Columella,  and  gives  the 
maxim — "  Early  sowing  sometime  disappoints  the  husbandman,  late 
sowing  always."  Their  mode  of  sowing  was  by  hand,  broadcast ;  or 
rather,  according  to  the  Egyptian  drawings,  overcast.  A  two-handed 
seedsman  nowhere  appears.  We  find  in  Theophrastus  and  Pliny  an 
opinion  which  lingers  still  among  seedsmen,  where  it  has  not  been  su- 
perseded by  the  drill.  The  same  land  was  said  to  require  varying 
quantities  of  seed  in  different  years,  and  its  taking  much  was  "infausto 
augurio"  for  the  crop.  The  land  was  supposed  to  be  hungry,  and  to 
devour  the  seed.  Theophrastus  laughs  at  this  as  "  fool's  talk  ;"  but 
Pliny  says  it  is  ''religiosum  augurim."  Dickson  explains  the  matter 
very  naturally.  In  sowing,  the  step  and  hand  go  together.  When  the 
land  is  clammy  the  seedsman  takes  short  steps,  gives  the  field  more 
handfuls,  A  clammy  seedness  is  generally  followed  by  an  unproduc- 
tive harvest. 

The  next  and  last  point  of  practice  is  the  quantity  of  seed  sown  :  and 
in  our  observations  upon  it  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  wheat.  We 
approach  the  matter  with  some  anxiety,  because  on  our  accuracy  re- 


52'  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

specting  it  hangs  tlie  only  chance  we  have  of  ascertaining  what  was  the 
productive  return  for  all  the  laborious  culture  which  we  have  described. 
We  may  state  as  a  preliminary,  that  the  Eomans  were  extremely  par- 
ticular in  the  choice  of  seed.  They  insisted  on  its  being  sound,  plump, 
and  well  formed.  They  selected  by  hand  from  the  ripened  crop  the 
boldest  ears,  rejecting  all  those  which  had  any  deaf  husks.  They  were 
aware  of  the  advantage  of  introducing  seed  from  land  which  varied  in 
soil  or  climate,  and  they  represent  that  the  produce  of  seed,  taken  in- 
discriminately, always  degenerated  in  a  few  years.  On  the  subject  of 
quantity  the  writers  are  nearly  unanimous,  and  very  precise.  There 
is,  perhaps,  a  slight  tendency  in  those  who  wrote  last  to  increase  the 
quantity  of  seed.  The  smallest  quantity  of  seed-wheat  named  is  rather 
less  than  two  bushels  to  the  statute  acre — the  largest  exceeds  two  and 
a  half  by  a  small  fraction.  Cato  is  silent  on  the  subject  of  quantity; 
but  all  the  other  Eoman  authors  are  unanimous  in  fixing  on  five  modii 
to  the  jugerum,  or  less  than  two  bushels  and  a  quarter  to  the  statute 
acre,  as  the  standard  quantity  of  seed- wheat.  Both  in  the  Scriptures, 
and  in  the  old  heathen  authors,  statements  occur  of  the  returns  of  one 
hundred,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty,  to  one.  These  are,  und  oubtedly, 
meant  to  express  very  large  crops  ;  but  how  large,  while  the  seed  is  an 
unknown  quantity,  it  is  impossible  to  ascertain.  If  we  take  two  bush- 
els of  wheat  as  the  seed  to  an  acre,  no  practical  farmer  will  be  very  apt 
to  believe  that  any  one  ever  reaped  300  bushels,  or  37|-  quarters,  of 
wheat  from  a  single  acre.  By  reducing  seed,  and  by  giving  space  and 
extra  culture  to  each  individual  plant,  an  almost  unlimited  return,  to 
one,  may  be  obtained.  That  some  such  explanation  must  be  given  of 
these  large  statements  is  confirmed  by  the  circumstances  that,  in  the 
same  passages  in  which  Pliny  makes  them,  he  states  also  that  an  agent 
of  Augustus  sent  him  from  Byzacium  in  Africa  nearly  400  stalks  (ger- 
mina)  from  a  single  corn  of  wheat ;  and  that  Nero  received  from  the 
same  place  360  "stipulas  ex  uno  grano."  In  our  homely  way,  we  saw 
last  summer,  a  single  bean  producing  7  stems,  129  pods,  and  519  beans, 
which  any  one  so  disposed  might  call  a  return  of  519  for  one.  There- 
turn  of  the  field  from  which  this  root  was  taken  was  33  for  one.  When 
the  Romans  measure  and  state  their  seed,  their  pretensions  are  much 
more  moderate.  Varro,  using  a  little  above  two  bushels  of  seed  to  the 
statute  acre,  claims  a  general  return  of  10  for  one  ;  and  of  15  in  land  of 
extraordinary  fertility.  That  is,  about  21  and  32  bushels  per  acre  re- 
spectively. He  speaks  of  this  rate  of  produce  as  a  great  falling  off  from 
what  had  been  obtained  in  the  time  of  his  ancestors.  Half  a  century 
later,  Cicero  (m  Ver7^em)  gives  an  account  of  the  produce  in  the  rich 
lands  of  Sicily.  He  claims  2  J  bushels  of  seed  to  the  statute  acre,  and 
says,  that  well-cultivated  land  gives  eight  for  one,  or,  "  ut  omnes  Dii 
adjuvent  *  *  *  quod  parraro  evenit,"  ten — equal  to  20  and  25  bushels 
respectively.  In  another  half  century,  Columella  says  that,  over  the 
larger  part  of  Italy,  the  instances  are  few  in  which  the  return  is  more 
than  four  to  one.  The  increasing  lamentations  over  diminished  pro- 
duce, as  we  descend  in  the  series  of  authors,  are  quite  consonant  with 
these  returns. 


J 


Agriculture  of  the  Ancients.  63 


ANCIENT   BRITISH    AND   FRENCH   AGRICULTURE. 

We  cannot  close  without  a  word  or  two  on  some  conclusions  re- 
specting our  Gallic  and  British  ancestors,  at  which  we  have  arrived 
from  a  perusal  of  the  agricultural  writers  of  Rome.  When  her  pro- 
fessed historians  passed  the  boundaries  of  Italy,  they  occupied  them- 
selves little  with  any  matters  which  had  not  immediate  bearing  on  the 
career  of  Roman  conquest.  The  nations  to  their  north  and  west  were 
unknown  to  history,  were  classed  under  the  general  appellation  of  bar- 
barians, and  nothing  respecting  them  appeared  worthy  to  be  recorded, 
except  the  degree  of  resistance  which  they  were  able  to  oftbr  to  the 
Roman  arms.  Of  what  Mr.  Hoskyns  appropriately  calls  their  "inner 
life"  we  learn  nothing.  Even  when  Tacitus  writes  a  treatise  "On  the 
Manners  of  the  Germans,"  he  gives  an  account  which  nothing  but  our 
respect  for  a  great  name  prevents  our  calling  childish  and  absurd. 
The  people  he  professed  to  describe  were  a  great  nation,  who  repeat- 
edly foiled  the  Roman  generals,  and  destroyed  their  armies,  and  who, 
though  harassed  on  their  frontiers,  were  in  fact  never  conquered.  In 
epigrammatic  and  antithetical  sentences  he  sets  before  us  a  state  of  or- 
derly but  very  democratic  freedom.  Men  inspired  by  romantic  virtue, 
and  restrained  by  puritanical  morality ;  women  chaste,  constant,  and 
devoted,  as  became  the  wives  and  daughters  of  such  heroes.  If  the 
nation  had  a  fault,  it  was  a  somewhat  too  great  proneness  to  convivial 
hospitality.  That  their  dwellings  were  covered  neither  with  tile  nor 
thatch,  that  the  men  wore  a  robe  pinned  on  with  a  thorn,  and  that  the 
semi-nudity  of  the  females  was  only  redeemed  from  indecency  by  their 
perfect  innocence,  is  all  that  we  learn  about  their  lodging  and  clothing. 
A  statement  that  they  made  an  intoxicating  liquor  from  grain ;  and 
three  sentences,  which  are  rather  negative  than  descriptive,  dispatch 
the  whole  subject  of  their  agriculture.  The  conclusion  of  the  treatise 
declines,  with  a  prudent  reserve,  to  pass  any  opinion  on  the  apparently 
prevalent  report  that  the  remoter  tribes  combined  the  visages  of  men 
with  the  bodies  of  beasts.  From  such  history,  and  from  the  statements 
and  silence  of  Ca3sar  and  Livy,  we  appeal  to  numerous  but  incidental 
and  entirely  unsuspicious  circumstances,  which  meet  us  in  the  agricul- 
tural writers.  They  appear  to  us  to  warrant  the  inference,  that  a  set- 
tled condition  of  society  and  considerable  progress  in  the  useful  arts 
existed  in  Gaul  and  Britain  before  those  countries  were  known  to  the 
Romans.  Indeed,  we  doubt  whether  civilization  was  not  rather  re- 
pressed than  advanced  by  their  classic  invaders.  Nor  is  this  opinion 
inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  they  were  conquered.  That  they  fell 
before  armies  to  whose  equipment  and  training  the  accumulated  science 
of  centuries  had  been  applied,  is  analogous  to  the  case  of  the  village 
hero  who,  though  he  has  by  activity  and  pluck  thrashed  all  his  rural 
competitors,  finds  himself  powerless  in  the  hands  of  a  professed  prize- 
fighter. 

The  Romans  found  Gaul  a  country  of  large  farms,  (latifundia.)  in 
which  various  agricultural  appliances  quite  unknown  to  themselves 
were  habitually  practiced.  The  Romans  were  ignorant  of  the  general 
use  of  lime  in  agriculture :  they  learned  it  in  Gaul.     They  found  chalk 


54  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

beneficially  applied  to  corn-growing,  both  in  Gaul  and  in  Britain.  In 
both  countries  various  marls  were  applied  to  various-  descriptions  of 
soil  with  scientific  discrimination.  In  Britain,  a  particular  description 
of  marl,  which  was  used  as  a  top-dressing  to  land,  was  got  by  pits  10 
yards  deep.  This  circumstance  is  very  significant.  Every  one  con- 
versant with  underground  work  will  be  aware  that  it  implies  some 
power  of  freeing  the  works  from  water,  and  some  scientific  mode  of 
ventilating  them.  The  heavy  expense  of  such  an  improvement  is  jus- 
tified by  the  statement  that  the  benefit  endured  for  eighty  years,  and 
was  only  repeated  after  the  expiration  of  that  period.  That  circum- 
stance, again,  implies  a  settled  state  of  society  and  great  security  of 
property.  A  Roman  writer  is  not  likely  to  have  invented  these  mat- 
ters; and  we  attach  much  more  weight  to  inferences  justly  deducible 
from  them,  than  we  do  to  Cesar's  vague  statement  that  no  family  ties 
existed  in  Britain,  and  that  the  connubial  arrangements  were  analogous 
to  those  of  the  poultry-yard  and  sheep-fold.  The  case  of  agricultural 
implements  is  still  stronger. 

ANCIENT   AMERICAN    AGRICULTURE, 

The  North  American  aborigines  were  not  an  agricultural  people — 
the  cultivation  of  the  soil  was  considered  among  them  as  a  degrading 
occupation  for  the  men  of  the  tribes,  who  left  it  to  the  old  women  and 
children.  Indian  corn  was  their  principal  crop,  and  they  possessed 
several  varieties,  of  different  colors,  which  were  kept  carefully  apart. 
When  the  oaks  began  to  leaf  in  the  spring,  the  squaws  would  burn, 
the  fields,  bringing  dry  branches  that  they  might  obtain  their  fertiliz- 
ing ashes,  and  they  would  then  cultivate,  or  rather  root  up  the  sur- 
face, with  the  flat  shoulder-blades  of  the  moose.  They  would  then 
merk  the  future  hills  by  making  small  holes,  (about  four  feet  apart,) 
with  rude  wooden  hoes  or  clam-shells  ; — put  into  each  one  an  alewife 
from  some  adjoining  stream,  or  a  horse-shoe  crab  from  the  sea-shore  \ 
aud  on  tliis  stimulant  drop  and  cover  a  half  dozen  grains  of  corn. 
The  land  thus  planted  was  guarded  against  the  depredatians  of  the 
birds,  and  as  the  corn  grew  the  earth  was  laboriously  scraped  up 
around  the  stalks  with  clam-shells,  until  the  hills  were  two  feet  high. 
Early  in  September  the  ears  were  plucked,  leaving  the  stalks  and 
leaves  to  enrich  the  ground,  and  were  carried  in  back-baskets  to  the 
wigwams.  The  next  year's  seed  was  selected,  and  the  remainder  was 
dried  in  the  husk  on  stagings,  over  smouldering  fires  ; — then  husked^ 
shelled,  packed  in  large  birch-bark  boxes,  and  buried  in  the  ground 
below  the  action  of  the  frost.  "  0-mo-nee"was  this  dried  corn,  cracked 
in  a  stone  mortar,  and  then  boiled ; — when  pounded  into  meal  and 
sifted  through  a  basket  to  be  make  into  ash-cakes,  it  was  called  "  Sup- 
pauny  The  warriors,  when  on  a  war-path,  subsisted  on  parched  corn, 
which  they  called  "No-kake^  Roger  Williams,  the  founder  of  Rhode 
Island,  speaks  of  having  ''traveled  with  two  hundred  Indians  at  once, 
nearly  two  hundred  miles  through  the  woods,  every  man  carrying  a 
little  basket  of  this  at  his  back,  sufficient  for  one  man  three  or  four 
days." 

Several  varieties  of  beans  were  raised  with  the  corn,  that  the  "  bar- 


AgricuUure  of  the  Ancients.  55 


vest  moon^'  dish  of  "  ^nu-siclc-ipta-luslb^  miglit  be  enjoyed.  This  was 
not,  however,  simply  composed  of  corn  and  beans,  for  wo  are  told  by 
Goodkin  tbat  they  boiled  in  it  "  fish  and  flesh  of  all  sorts,  either  new 
taken  or  dried — venison,  bear's  flesh,  beaver,  moose,  otter,  or  racoon, 
cut  into  small  pieces ;  Jerusalem  artichokes,  ground-nuts,  acorns, 
pumpkins,  and  squashes."  The  Indian  pumpkins  were  especially 
large,  and  fine  flavored.  At  the  North-west  wild  rice  was  gathered, 
and  kept  for  winter  use. 

"  Mish'i-min,'"  in  the  Algonquin  tongue,  signifies  apple ;  although  it 
is  the  opinion  of  some  learned  writers  that  this  fruit  was  unknown 
among  them  before  the  arrival  of  the  Europeans.  Several  old  printed 
compilations  of  early  voyages,  however,  reckons  apples  among  the 
early  native  fruits  ;  and,  unless  crab  stocks  were  found,  it  does  not  ap- 
pear how  the  large  orchards,  mentioned  by  the  early  writers,  could 
have  been  made  productive  so  soon.  Mr.  Wolcott,  a  distinguished 
Connecticut  magistrate,  wrote  in  1635,  (certainly  not  more  than  five 
years  after  his  colony  was  first  planted,)  "  I  made  five  hundred  hogs- 
heads of  cider  out  of  my  own  orchard  in  one  year."  This  would  have 
been  almost  impossible,  had  he  been  obliged  to  raise  his  orchard  from 
the  seed,  or  had  he  planted  trees  of  such  a  size  as  could  have  been 
transported  through  the  trackless  wilderness.  The  apple  may  not  be 
indigenous  to  the  Algonquin  country,  and  yet  the  Indians  may  have 
possessed  it,  as  they  did  corn,  which  is  not  a  native  of  their  soil. 

Certain  it  is  that  they  had  orchards  of  peaches,  ani  of  cherries,  and 
of  plums ;  stores  of  which  were  dried  for  winter  use.  Tobacco  Avas 
every  where  cultivated,  huge  grape-vines  entwined  many  a  forest  tree, 
and  there  was  an  abundance  of  berries  in  the  woods.  Gourds  were 
raised  in  great  numbers,  and  of  all  sizes,  from  the  large  "cal-a-bash-es^^ 
that  would  hold  two  or  three  gallons  each,  to  the  tiny  receptacles  of 
pigments  used  in  painting  for  Avar.  From  the  sap  of  the  maple  they 
made  a  coarse  grained  sugar,  which,  when  mixed  with  freshly  pounded 
"  siip'paun,''''  and  seasoned  with  dried  whortleberries,  was  baked  into  a 
dainty  dish  for  high  festivals.  The  dried  meats  of  oil-nuts,  pounded 
and  boiled  in  a  decoction  of  sassafras,  was  their  only  beverage  at  such 
feasts,  and  from  the  green  wax  of  the  bay-berry  thej^  made  candles  with 
rush  wicks,  which  gave  clear  lights,  and  yielded  a  pleasant  fragrance 
while  burning. 

Their  wigwams  were  constructed  of  saplings,  set  into  the  ground  in 
a  circle,  and  then  drawn  together  at  the  top  until  they  formed  a  conical 
frame  some  nine  or  ten  feet  high  at  the  apex.  This  was  covered  with 
thick  mats  of  woven  grass,  or  with  large  sheets  of  birch-bark,  sewed 
together  with  the  dried  sinews  of  the  deer,  and  then  caulked  with  some 
resinous  gum.  A  mat  served  as  a  door  —  in  the  center  was  a  stone 
hearth,  with  an  opening  above  it  for  the  escape  of  smoke  —  the  only 
article  of  furniture  was  a  large  couch,  elevated  about  a  foot  from  the 
ground,  and  spread  with  dressed  skins  and  mats.  Birch-bark  boxes 
were  used  to  hold  finery  and  provisions,  while  the  frame-work  of  the 
wigwam  was  hung  with  war-clubs,  bows,  bundles  of  arrows,  fish-spears, 
hoes,  axes,  and  the  other  rude  implements  which  the  Algonquins  pos- 
sessed.    Unacquainted  with  the  use  of  iron,  their  cutting  instruments 


56  Agriculture  of  the  Ancients. 

and  sharp  weapons  were  pointed  witli  flint-stone,  shells,  or  bones,  and 
their  earthen  vessels  were  of  the  coarsest  description.  They  had  no 
domestic  animals  except  a  few  small  dogs,  and  no  poultry. 

Such  was  the  primitive  agricultural  life  of  the  Algonquins,  who  have 
been  gradually  blotted  out  from  their  pleasant  homes,  to  make  way  for 
the  "  pale-faces."  On  many  sunny  slopes  now  smiling  with  cultivation, 
were  their  cheerless  wigwams,  their  crabbed  orchards,  and  their  ill- 
tilled  corn-patches.  Beneath  the  shades  of  forests  long  since  felled,  and 
where  flourishing  communities  now  dwell,  they  tracked  the  wild  beast 
to  his  lair,  or  reposed,  weary  of  the  chase,  to  partake  of  their  slaugh- 
tered game.  Where  spires  now  point  heavenward,  and  the  doors  of 
school-houses  "swing  on  their  golden  hinges,"  the  war-hatchet  was 
unburied,  or  the  "  cal-u-met''''  of  peace  was  whiffed,  or  the  " poiv-wows^^ 
went  through  their  mystic  incantations.  And  as  we  meet  at  cattle 
shows  and  agricultural  anniversaries,  so  the  Algonquins  in  their  day 
celebrated  the  "  green  corn  dance,"  or  the  "  feast  of  the  chestnut  moon." 

"  Alas  for  them — their  day  is  o'er, 
Their  fires  are  out  from  hill  and  shore  ; 
No  more  for  them  the  red  deer  hounds  ; 
The  plough  is  in  their  hunting  grounds, 
The  pale  man's  axe  rings  through  their  woods, 
The  pale  man's  sail  skims  o'er  their  floods, 
Their  pleasant  springs  are  dry." 


AGRICULTUEAL  BOOKS  PUBLISHED  IN  1861. 

A  writer  in  the  Country  Gentleman  gives  the  following  list  of  books 
that  were  issued  during  the  past  je^v  in  this  country,  upon  agricultu- 
ral subjects.  Notwithstanding  the  war  excitement  of  the  times,  in  no 
year  since  1850,  if  we  except  1859,  have  so  many  works  of  this  class 
been  published.  We  fear,  however,  that  the  sales  have  not  been  such 
as  to  make  the  publishing  investment  profitable : 
Allen,  L.  F. — American  Herd-Book  of  Short  Horn  Cattle.     Yol.  V. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.:  K.  Wheeler  &  Co.     500  pp.     $5. 
Allen,  Stephen  L. — Fibrilla :     A  Practical  Treatise  on  Flax  Culture. 

Illustrated.     Boston  :     A.  Williams  &  Co.     75  cents. 
Bright,  Wm. — The  Single  Stem,  Dwarf,  and  renewal  system  of  Grape 

Culture.     Second  edition.     Philadelphia.     156  pp.    50  cents. 
Clarke,  W.  S. — Keport  on  Horses,  submitted  to  the  Massachusetts 

Board  of  Agriculture.     Boston  :     William  White.    94  pp. 
Emerson,  Geo.  B.,  and  Flint,  Chas.  L. — A  Manual  of  Agriculture, 

for  the  School,  the  Farm,  and  the  Fireside.      Boston :      Swan, 

Brewer  &  Tileson.     306  pp.     75  cents. 
Gray,  Asa,  M.  D. — How  Plants  Grow :     A  Simple  Introduction  to 

Structural  Botany.     With  a  Popular  Flora,  or  an  Arrangement 

and  Description  of  Common  Plants,  both  Wild  and  Cultivated. 

Illustrated.     Fifth  edition.     New  York:     Ivison,  Phinney  k  Co. 

75  cents. 
GooDALE,  S,  L. — The  Principles  of  Breeding;    or  Glimpses  at  the 

Physiological  Laws  involved  in  the  Reproduction  and  Improve- 
ment of  Domestic  Animals.     Boston :     Crosby,  Nichols,  Lee  & 

Co.     164  pp.     75  cents. 


Miscellaneous  Items.  67 


Harris,  Joseph. — The  Eural  Annual  and  Horticultural  Directory  for 
1862.    Illustrated.     Rochester,  N.  Y.     125  pp.     25  cents. 

Harrison,  J.  S. — The  Bee  Keeper's  Directory  ;  or  the  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Bee  Culture.  San  Francisco,  Cal. :  H.  H.  Bancroft  & 
Co.     440  pp. 

Johnson,  S.  W. — Lectures  on  Agricultural  Chemistry  ;  Delivered  be- 
fore the  Smithsonian  Institute  at  Washington. 

Klippart,  J.  H. — The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Land  Drainage.  Il- 
lustrated,   Cincinnati,  Ohio  :  Robert  Clark  k  Co.    454  pp.    $1  25. 

Lawes,  J.  B. — On  the  Sources  of  the  Nitrogen  of  Vegetation,  Phila- 
delphia. 

Mayhew,  Edward. — The  Illustrated  Horse  Doctor,  with  an  accurate 
account  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Horse,  and  the  best  Mode  of  Treat- 
ment.    New  York :  D.  Appleton  &  Co.     8vo.,  536  pp.     $2  50. 

RowLAXDSON,  Thomas. — The  Sheep  Breeder's  Cuide ;  with  Rules  for 
the  Management  and  Breeding  of  Sheep,  and  a  description  of  the 
varieties  best  adapted  to  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  Ter- 
ritor}^     San  Francisco,  Cal. :  J.  Q.  A.  Warren.     150  pp.     $1  25. 

Randolph,  Miss  C.  J. — The  Parlor  Grardener;  A  Treatise  on  the 
House  Culture  of  Ornamental  Plants.  Boston :  J.  E.  Tilton  &  Co. 
75  cents. 

Thomas,  J.  J. — The  Illustrated  Annual  Register  of  Rural  Afi'airs  for 
1862 ;  containing  Practical  Suggestions  for  the  Farmer  and  Hor- 
ticulturist.    Albany,  N.  Y.:  L.  Tucker  &  Son.     144  pp.    25  cents. 

TUTTLE,  J.  H. — Barries'  Arabian  Method  of  Horsemanship.  100  pp. 
50  cents. 

Tenbrook,  J.  W.— The  Sweet  Potato  Culturist.  New  York:  C.  M. 
Saxton.     95  pp.     25  cents. 

Wood,  A. — Class  Book  of  Botany :  being  outlines  of  the  Structure, 
Physiology,  and  Classification  of  Plants.  New  York :  A.  S.  Barnes 
&  Burr.    $2. 


AN  AGRICULTURAL  MISSIONARY. 

The  Journal  cV Agriculture  Pratique  says  the  Agricultural  Society 
of  Flemish,  Prussia,  has  created  a  professorship  to  carry  healthy  ideas 
concerning  agriculture  into  the  villages.  The  German  professor  is  to 
commence  his  operations  by  making  himself  acquainted  not  only  with 
public  functionaries,  but  also  with  practical  farmers.  He  is  to  gather 
information  on  every  subject  in  connection  with  the  details  of  farming, 
and  with  regard  to  the  different  races  of  animals  in  the  various  depart- 
ments. 

AGRICULTURAL  LABOR. 

Owing  to  the  large  number  of  farm-hands  enlisted  in  the  army,  and 
the  decreased  arrival  of  immigrants,  agricultural  labor  will  doubtless 
command  high  prices  during  the  coming  season.  The  number  of  alien 
passengers  landed  at  the  port  of  New  York  during  the  year  1861  was 
65,529,  which  was  a  decrease  from  1860  of  39,633,  and  118,244  less 
than  in  1857.  Of  these  immigrants  27,139  were  from  Germany,  25,- 
784  from  Ireland,  5,532  from  England,  and  6,974  from  other  countries. 


58  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 


Ch  ^ecrttarg's  Cable. 


Rooms  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society, 
Patent  Office,  Washington,  D.  C,  February,  1862. 


This  is  the  initial  number  of  the  tenth  volume  of  the  Transactions  of  the  United 
States  Agricultural  Society,  which  will  complete  the  first  series  of  its  publications.  That 
this  may  be  done,  and  with  the  earnest  hope  that  before  the  annual  meeting  of  1862, 
Agriculturists  from  all  the  States  may  be  able  to  cordially  co-operate  in  the  more  per- 
manent establishment  of  our  National  Society,  the  Secretary  has  consented  to  continue 
his  unremunerated  labors.  Conscious  of  his  own  inability  to  produce  a  publication 
which  should  be  worthy  of  the  agricultural  interests  of  the  great  nation  whose  name  the 
Society  bears,  and  entirely  unprovided  with  means  for  the  enlistment  of  abler  writers,  he 
can  only  earnestly  appeal  to  those  engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  and  ask  them 
to  aid  him  in  the  diflfusiou  of  agricultural  knowledge,  and  in  the  advancement  of  the 
interests  of  the  cultivators  of  the  United  States.  Communications  and  essays  are  re- 
spectfully solicited  by  BEN :  PERLEY  POORE, 

Secretary  U.  S.  Agricultural  Society. 


NATIONAL  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETIES. 
A  popular  English  periodical  recently  contained  an  article  on  the  "  Royal  Agricultural 
Society  of  England,"  and  its  traveling  exhibitions,  which  embraces  many  wholesome 
truths,  some  of  them  applicable,  perhaps,  to  the  "  United  States  Agricultural  Society," 
and  to  its  "Agricultural  Encampments,"  at  which,  by  the  way,  more  money  has  been 
bestowed  in  premiums  than  has  been  awarded  in  England,  although  the  Royal  Society 
has  an  income  from  Government  of  nearly  $50,000  per  annum : 

Anomalies — What  the  Society  Has  Not  Done. 

According  to  the  theory  of  the  charter  which  makes  it  royal,  the  first  object  of  the 
society  is  "to  promote  the  science  and  practice  of  agriculture,"  yet  the  most  prominent 
members  of  its  council,  and  the  majorit^jj  of  its  presidents,  know  as  little  of  either  as  a 
man  can  who  owns  great  estates  and  rides  fox-hunting  at  some  time  of  his  life.  For 
membership,  the  only  qualification  is  an  undertaking  to  pay  the  annual  subscription. 
With  an  income  of  some  j£10,000  a  year,  there  is  no  museum,  no  library  worthy  of  the 
name,  and  no  expenditure  on  scientific  investigations,  beyond  a  few  liundred  pounds 
grudgingly  devoted  to  the  labor  of  a  professor  of  chemistry,  whose  zeal  fortunately  is 
not  measured  by  his  official  income.  Out  of  six  thousand  members,  five  hundred  have 
never  been  gathered  together  at  one  time,  in  one  place.  The  prizes  given  during  two- 
and-twenty  annual  shows  on  agricultiiral  implements  have  very  often  been  either  mis- 
takes when  awarded  to  novelties,  or  tardy  endorsements  of  established  agricultural  ex- 
perience— like  Lord  Chesterfield's  patronage  of  Johnson's  dictionary — when  allotted  to 
practical  utilities.  The  prizes  for  live  stock  have  readily  encouraged  the  exhibition  of 
animals  too  fat  to  breed,  and  too  costly  to  eat — the  admiration  of  the  ignorant,  and  the 
despair  of  the  purchasers.         *        *        * 

What  it  has  Done. 

The  Royal  Agricultural  is  one  of  the  most  useful  Societies  in  the  country — a  living, 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  69 

breathing,  and  eminently  su(!cessful  institution.  For  it  has  supplied  a  want — taken 
advanta<:;e  of  a  tide — founded  a  great  annual  agricultural  festival  and  fair,  where  profit 
and  pli\'Lsure  are  combined,  and  the  greatest  amount  of  advertising  and  sale  of  live 
Ktock  and  implements — the  greatest  amount  of  eye-teaching  that  could  be  conceived — 
is  packed  into  the  space  of  about  a  week  and  five-and-twenty  acres.  For  the  week  of 
the  great  show,  the  many  acres  filled  with  whole  streets  of  animals  and  agricultural  ma- 
chines and  tools,  include  the  advantages  of  a  grc^at  fair  and  pleasures  of  a  gigantic  con- 
versazione.  At  these  shows  farmers  exchange  with  friendly  greetings  their  opinions 
and  th(;ir  experience,  M'hile  making  bargains,  and  deliver  unrehearsed,  unprinted  essays 
on  every  point  of  agricultural  interest  suggested  and  illustrated  by  the  objects  of  the 
show.  *  *  *  It  has  every  year  built  up  a  great  bazaar,  and  breeders  and  manu- 
facturers, and  customers  of  l:)oth,  have  crowded  there  to  sell  and  buy,  and  learn  by  the 
education  of  the  eye  the  value  of  the  best  live  stock,  and  the  best  agricultural  machinery. 
Not  taught  by  the  Council,  but  teaching  each  other,  the  farmers  of  England  have  real- 
ized all  that  was  practicable  in  the  aims  of  the  founders  of  the  Royal  Society.  In  a 
word,  they  have  been  enabled  to  do  a  good  deal  for  themslves  ;  and  that,  in  England, 
is  the  spirit  of  our  social  as  well  as  of  our  political  institutions.  *  *  *  The  cata- 
logue of  the  live  stock  exhibited  at  the  Liverpool  show  in  1841,  fills  twenty-four  widely 
printed  pages.  In  1801,  that  of  Leeds,  eighty-five  of  very  close  print.  But  number 
can  give  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  improvement  in  average  quality,  in  weight,  in  symme- 
try, in  everything  that  makes  live  stock  profitable,  which  has  been  distriliuted  through 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  In  the  department  of  implements  and  machinery, 
the  change,  improvement,  and  increase,  has  been  still  more  remarkable. 

Let  us  hope  that  next  January,  delegates  from  the  leading  Societies  of  our  country 
will  assemble  at  Washington,  and,  profiting  by  the  ten  years'  history  of  the  United 
States  Agricultural  Society,  so  re-organize  it  and  direct  its  future  career,  as  to  show 
"What  the  National  Society  Can  Do." 


AGRICULTURE  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. 

So  much  of  the  article  on  preceding  pages  of  this  number  of  the  Journal  of  Agricul- 
ture, as  relates  to  the  agriculture  of  the  Old  World,  is  compiled  from  an  article  in  the 
British  Quarterly  Review,  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Thomas  Gisborne.  This  practical 
farmer  was  born  in  1787,  and  died  in  1852,  in  the  county  of  Staffordshire,  where  he  suc- 
cessfully cultivated  a  considerable  average  of  arable  and  pasture  land,  paying  especial 
attention  to  drainage,  to  the  dairy,  and  cattle  and  sheep  feeding.  A  member  of  the 
British  House  of  Commons  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  was  well  known  as  a  "public 
man,"  and  his  speeches  on  various  subjects  were  numerous,  but  his  favorite  topic  was 
the  advancement  of  the  Art  of  Husbandry. 

While  Mr.  Gisborne  and  the  writers  quoted  by  him  have  traced  the  analogy  between 
the  ancient  and  modern  agriculture  of  the  Old  World,  and  have  supplied  the  connecting 
links,  the  modes  of  cultivation  practiced  on  this  continent  by  our  aboriginal  predeces- 
sors remain  almost  unknown.  As  a  commencement  to  the  supply  of  this  want,  forming 
the  initial  chapter  of  the  History  of  American  Agriculture,  some  facts  on  the  agriculture 
of  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Algonquins,  compiled  from  authentic  sources,  are  also  pre- 
sented. It  is  desirable  that  every  one  who  has  any  reliable  information  on  the  agricul- 
ture, such  as  it  was,  of  the  Indians  who  once  inhabited  the  territory  now  the  United. 
States,  should  at  once  place  it  before  the  public,  and  the  pages  of  this  journal  are  of- 
fered to  any  one  who  may  desire  to  publish  the  result  of  their  researches. 


THE  LATE  FARMER-PRINCE  CONSORT  OF  ENGLAND. 
The  late  Prince  Albert,  so  sincerely  mourned  by  Britons  as  the  consort  of  their  Queen, 
demands  a  tribute  of  respect  from  agriculturists  the  world  over,  as  a  successful  farmer 
and  stock-bi-eeder.     He  cultivated  four  landed  estates,  and  the  Herefords  at  the  "Flem- 


60  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

isli,"  the  Devons  at  the  "Norfolk,"  and  the  Shorthorns,  Clydesdales,  and  swine  at  the 
•'Home"  and  "Shawe"  farms,  have  often  been  alluded  to  by  American  travelers.  As 
an  exhibitcy,  Prince  Albert  received,  since  1841,  eleven  cash  premiums  for  Shorthorns, 
forty-one  for  Devons,  fourteen  for  Herefords,  and  twenty-seven  for  swine,  amounting 
("exclusive  of  three  gold  medals  and  twenty-three  silver  ones,^  to  upwards  of  five  thou- 
sand dollars.  The  buildings,  especially  those  at  the  farms  regarded  as  the  "homesteads" 
of  the  royal  occupants  of  Windsor  Castle,  bore  testimony  to  the  lamented  Prince's  taste 
and  power  of  detail.  While  the  stock  was  prominent  at  exhibitions,  the  farms  were 
naturally  becoming  more  and  more  national  trial  grounds,  on  which  the  newest  imple- 
ments and  seeds  were  to  be  tested  ;  and  "a  day  at  the  Prince's"  was  one  of  the  high- 
est pleasures  that  a  party  of  home  and  foreign  agriculturists  could  ask  for — the  lovers 
of  chemistry,  of  physiology,  and  of  farm  architecture  could  all  exchange  minds  with 
advantage  there,  and  all  learn  something.  Prince  Albert  had  just  taken  his  seat  as 
President  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England,  for  1862,  when  the  sad  sum- 
mons came,  and  had  only  once  presided  at  its  council-board  in  Hanover  Square.  The 
Society  will  be  deprived  of  his  services  during  its  "jubilee  year,"  but  it  is  earnestly  to 
be  hojjed  that  the  Windsor  farms  will  remain  just  as  they  were  when  they  formed  one 
of  his  greatest  pleasures,  and  that  the  Prince  of  Wales  will  prove  to  the  agriculturists 
of  Great  Britain  all  that  his  father  has,  and  would  have  been. 


LEGISLATION  BY  CONGRESS  ON  AGRICULTURE. 

A  bill  has  been  passed  falmost  unanimously^  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  by 
which,  if  it  becomes  a  law,  there  will  "  be  established  at  the  seat  of  Government  of  the 
United  States  a  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  general  designs  and  duties  of  which  shall 
be  to  acquire  and  to  diffuse  among  the  people  of  the  United  States  useful  information  on 
subjects  connected  with  agriculture  in  the  most  general  and  comprehensive  sense  of  that 
word,  and  to  procure,  propagate,  and  distribute  among  the  people  new  and  valuable 
seeds  and  plants." 

The  proposed  Department  is  to  be  presided  over  by  a  "Commissioner  of  Agriculture," 
who  will  have  the  power  to  appoint  the  necessary  clerks,  and  also,  as  occasion  may  re- 
quire, to  employ  other  persons,  for  such  time  as  their  services  may  be  needed,  includ- 
ing chemists,  botanists,  entomologists,  and  other  persons  skilled  in  the  natural  sciences 
l^ertaining  to  agriculture." 

Among  the  appropriations  by  Congress  for  the  coming  fiscal  year  is  the  following  : 

•'  For  collection  of  agricultural  statistics,  investigations  for  promoting  agriculture  and 
rural  economy,  and  the  procurement,  propagation,  and  distribution  of  cuttings  and 
seeds,  of  new  and  useful  varieties,  and  for  the  introduction  and  protection  of  insectivor- 
ous birds,  and  for  investigations  to  test  the  practibility  of  preparing  tiax  and  hemp  as  a 
substitute  for  cotton,  sixty  thousand  dollars  ;  Provided  hoiaeoer,  That  in  the  expendi- 
ture of  this  appropriation,  and  especially  in  the  selection  of  cuttings  and  seeds  fordistri- 
bution,  due  regard  shall  be  had  to  the  purpose  of  general  cultivation  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  agricultural  and  rural  interests  of  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 


COMMISSIONERS  OF  THE  U.  S.  AG.  SOCIETY. 
Messrs.  Feedekic   Smyth,   of  New   Hampshire  ;    J.   H.  KLiprAET,  of  Oliio  ;   and  A.  H. 
Myers,  of  California,  were  appointed  at  the  recent  annual  meeting.    Commissioners  to 
represent  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society,  at  all  Exhibitions  to  be  held  in  Great 
Britain  and  Europe,  during  the  present  year. 


THE  CINCINNATI  MEDALS. 

Tlie  medals  awarded  at  the  Exhibition  of  the  United  States  Agricultural  Society,   held 
at  Cincinnati,  in  Iblil,  are  ready  for  delivery. 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  61 


ABSTEACT  OF  AGRICULTUEAL  INFORMATION. 

[Received  by  the  Secretary  during  the  quarter  ending  February  Ifjth,  18IJ2.] 

CALIFORNIA. 

Heavy  rains  in  the  months  of  December  and  January  have  inundated  tlie  t'ertilt;  plains 
of  the  Golden  State,  and  left  the  agriculturist  in  a  pitiable  condition.  The  fences  have 
been  carried  away  ;  the  barns  and  stacks  of  grain  destroyed ;  cattle  have  been  drowned, 
or  chilled,  or  starved  ;  farming  implements  are  floated  away,  or  ruined  ;  houses  are 
soaked  if  not  destroyed  ;  orchards  are  buried  under  debris,  or  killed  by  the  cold  tides 
and  sleet ;  sand  is  washed  iipon  the  fruitful  soil  waiting  to  burst  into  the  green  of  wlieat 
or  the  beauty  of  vineyards  ;  confidence  in  the  valley  as  a  fit  homti  for  human  beings  is 
broken  down  in  many  of  the  energetic  colonists  ;  and  hundreds  of  them,  after  they  have 
seen  their  cattle  killtni  and  their  homesteads  ravaged,  have  been  saved  from  the  upi^er 
rooms  of  their  houses  and  sometimes  from  the  toj)s  of  trees,  by  boats  and  little  steamers 
that  have  cruised  on  Samaritan  errands  of  rescue,  and  brought  away  jjaupers  that  two 

months  ago  were  independent Several  successful  experiuunits  in  cotton-raising 

are  mentioned  in  the  California  papers — among  them  "Silk-Cotton,"  raised  in  Tulare 
county,  from  Texas  seed.  It  was  grown  on  sandy  soil,  containing  no  alkali,  of  which  there 
are  tens  of  tliousaiids  of  acres  lying  unimproved  in  the  country.  The  cotton  was  j)lanted 
in  May,  and  the  bolls  sent  were  picked  in  September,  but  the  plant  is  still  in  bloom. 
The  stalks  are  about  five  feet  high,  and  they  cannot  sustain  the  weight  of  the  cotton. 
Want  of  facilities  prevents  its  being  irrigated  sulficiently  early,  and  even  under  un- 
toward circumstances  the  stalks  produced  an  average  of  126  bolls  each.  It  requires  to 
be  irrigated  about  four  times  during  the  season,  including  once  in  September  ;  and  will 
continue  to  bloom  until  stopi)ed  by  the  frosts,  which  in  that  section  hold  ofl'  until  No- 
vember  Sorghum  has  been  successfully  cultivated  in  California  for  its  sirup  ; 

and  the  yield  appears  to  have  averaged  about  180  gallons  to  the  acre Among 

the  blooded  stock  recently  imported  into  California,  are  the  stallions  "Nana  Sahib, "  from 
Ireland  ;  ' '  Hamilton  Chief, ' '  from  Upper  Canada  ;    ' '  David  Hill, ' '  from  Vermont ;  and  the 

short  horn  bull  "Dake  of  Northumberland  4th." It  is  estimated  that  there 

are  1,57-4,66(3  sheep  in  California,  and  that  the  wool-clip  of  1861  was  4,544,000  lbs.,  of 
which  3,069,000  lbs.  have  been  shipped  to  New  York,  Boston,  and  England.  The  bal- 
ance being  in  the  hands  of  factors  in  California,  in  store,  on  sale,  and  in  producers* 
hands.  The  average  cost  of  maintaining  flocks  in  California  is  estimated  at  75c  per 
head.  The  average  increase  95  per  cent.,  the  average  profit  30  per  cent.,  the  average 
clip  3  lbs.  Where  the  French  and  Spanish  have  been  introduced,  some  grade  flocks 
yield  from  5  to  7  lbs.  of  wool. 

CONNECTICUT. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  [wliich  is  held  on  the  same 
day  as  that  of  the  United  States  Society,  and  thus  deprives  us  of  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
our  Connecticut  friends  at  Washington, ]  the  following  officers  for  1862  were  elected: 
President— E.  H.  Hyde,  of  Stafford.  Vice-Presidents— Robbins  Battell,  of  Norfolk  ;  D. 
F.  Gulliver,  of  Norwich.  Cor.  Secretary — Henry  A.  Dyer,  of  Brooklyn.  Rec.  Secretary 
— T.  S.  Gold,  of  Cornwall.  Treasurer — F.  A.  Brown,  of  Hartford.  Directors — Charles 
M.  Pond,  Hartford  county ;  Randolph  Lindsley,  New  Haven  ;  James  A.  Bill,  New  Lon- 
don;  E.  Hough,  Fairfield;  Levi  Cowles,  Middlesex;  Lemuel  Hurlbut,  Litchfield;  Benj. 
Sumner,  Windham  ;  R.  B.  Chamberlin,  Tolland.  Directors  fappointed  by  County  So- 
cietiesj — J.  A.  Hemingway,  Hartford  county  ;  N.  A.  Bacon,  New  Haven  ;  Henry  Bill, 
New  London  ;  G.  W.  Seymour,  Litchfield  ;  Ezra  Dean,  Windham  ;  Stephen  Hoyt,  Fair- 
field ;    J.  S.  Yeomans,    Tolland.     Chemist — Prof.   Johnson,   of  Yale  College 

We  regret  to  learn  that  ' ^ The  Homestead,^'  a,n  excellent  agricultural  periodical  which 
has  been  jjublished  at  Hartford  during  the  past  six  years,  has  been  discontinued — its 
publisher  finding  that,  through  a  "seductive,  bat  most  unwise  system  of  credits,"  he 
could  not  get  back  the  outlay  which  it  cost.  Its  subscription  list  has  bet-n  merged  with 
that  of  the  "American  Agriculturist,"  which  paper  is  sent  to  the  late  readers  of  the 
"Homestead." 

DELAWARE. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Kent  county  Agricultural  Society,  the  following  officers 
were  elected  :  President,  R.  W.  Reynolds  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Robert  H.  Cummins  and 
Samuel  Draper  ;  Recording  Secretary,  Dr.  J.  C.  Rird  ;  Corresponding  Secretary,  Man- 
love  Hayes  ;  Treasurer,  Dr.  H.  Ridgeley A  report  on  agricultural  experiments 

was  ordered  to  be  published,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  devise  a  suitable  build- 


62  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

ing,  to  be  erected  on  the  Fair  Grounds.  A  memorial  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  was  also  adoj^ted,  asking  that  agriculture  may  not  be  overtaxed  for  prosecuting 
the  war,  and  saying,  in  conclusion  :  "  Although  now  sorely  pressed,  and  with  the  pro- 
ducts of  our  industry  selling  at  prices  which  hardly  remunerate  us,  we  shrink  not,  like 
too  many  others,  from  any  fair  and  honest  load  that  may  be  imposed  upon  us.  It  is 
true,  that  we  bear  the  burdens  of  our  State  government,  but  we  are  willing  that  our 
common  mother,  who  has  nursed  us  from  infancy  to  manhood,  should  receive  aid  and 
assistance  whenever  she  requires  it.  Let  all  the  great  and  varied  interests  of  our  broad 
land  come  forward  in  the  spirit  which  once  animated  our  forefathers,  and  we  will  not  be 
found  faltering  in  the  noble  struggle.  Your  memorialists,  therefore,  respectfully  re- 
quest your  honorable  bodies  so  to  equalize  the  system  of  taxation  about  to  be  imposed 
upon  the  country  as  to  bear  upon  all  alike,  and  in  duty  bound  we  will  ever  pray,  &o." 

ILLINOIS. 

Cotton  is  this  year  to  be  a  prominent  crop  in  Illinois,  and  it  is  said  that  in  Douglas 
county  alone,  fifteen  hundred  acres  of  it  will  be  planted.  An  old  farmer,  residing  six 
miles  above,  says  that  he  used  to  grow  boUes  as  large  as  his  fist,  and  others  recollect 
having  seen  a  large  field  on  the  old  Nicholas  Bailhache  farm,  white  with  thrifty  and  well- 
developed  cotton.  Col.  John  Dougherty,  of  Jonesboro',  passing  through  Alton  recently, 
stated  his  intention  to  plant   one  hundred  acres  in  cotton  this  spring,  saying  that  in 

early  times  it  was  a  common  crop  in  his  region  of  the  State "T/te  Journal  of 

the  Illinois  State  Agricultural  Society.  Since  the  announcement  that  the  Society 
had  determined  upon  a  publication,  there  have  been  ominous  shakes  of  the  head 
in  certain  quarters,  concerning  the  policy,  propriety,  and  legitimate  character  of  such 
an  enterprise.  There  have  been  some  pretty  frank  expressions  of  disapproval.  It  has 
been  urged  that  it  would  injure  the  interests  of  the  agricultural  press  of  the  State  ;  and, 
with  this  belief,  much  righteous  indignation  has  been  expressed.  But,  1. — The  State  So- 
ciety has  a  riglit  to  publish  such  a  journal  if  it  chooses — ^,just  as  much  as  to  offer  pre- 
miums for  big  bombs  and  great  guns — for  fast  nags  and  coffee  and  cotton.  The  'object' 
of  the  Society  being  '  the  promotion  of  agriculture,  horticiilture,  manufactures,  me- 
chanic, and  household  arts,'  why  is  not  the  publication  of  such  a  journal  'legiti- 
mate ?'2. — If,  enjoying  better  facilities  for  procuring  information  of  great  value  to 
the  agricultural  public,  it  makes  a  better  paper  than  can  be  done  by  private  en- 
terprise, it  ought  to  be  sustained,  as  should  all  enterprises  giving  the  greatest  good  to 

the  greatest  number." It   is    stated  that  the  largest  farm  in  Illinois  is  that 

of  Isaac  Funk,  who  resides  near  Bloomington,  M'Lean  county.  The  total  number  of 
acres  occupied  and  owned  by  him  is  39,000 — one  farm  of  27,000  acres,  said  to  be  worth 
$30  per  acre,  and  three  pasture-fields  containing,  respectively,  8,000,  3,000,  and  1,000 
acres.  His  great  crop  is  corn,  all  of  which  he  consumes  at  home,  and  is  thus  able  to- 
market  about  870,000  worth  of  cattle  per  year  at  New  York.  His  stock  on  hand  of 
horses,  mules,  hogs,  and  fat  cattle,  is  said  to  be  worth  $1,000,000 New  evi- 
dences are  daily  coming  to  light,  proving  the  capability  of  Illinois  soil  to  the  successful 
culture  of  the  Chinese  sugar  cane.  The  newspapers  are  so  rife  with  them  that  there  is 
little  room  or  necessity  for  amplification. 

INDIANA. 

The  State  Agricultural  Society  has  elected  the  following  officers  for  1862  :  President, 
James  D.  Williams,  of  Knox  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Wm.  H.  Bennet,  of  Union,  and  S.  Fisher, 
of  Wabash  ;  Secretary,  Wm.  H.  Loomis,  of  Indianapolis  ;  Treasurer,  H.  A.  Fletcher,  of 
Indianapolis  ;  Executive  Committee,  J.  D.  Williams,  of  Knox  ;  S.  Fisher,  of  Wabash  ; 
C.  Fletcher,  Jr.,  of  Indianapolis;  A.  D.  Hancock,  of  Putnam;  W.  H.  Bennet,  of 
Union.  The  Tenth  Annual  Fair  will  be  held  at  Indianapolis,  commencing  September 
30th,  and  continue  during  the  week. 

IOWA. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  for  1862,  the  following  officers 
were  elected :  President,  Hon.  George  C.  Wright,  of  Van  Buren  county ;  Vice-Presi- 
dent, Dr.  Sprague,  of  Butler  county ;  Secretary,  J.  H.  Wallace,  of  Muscatine  ;  Treasu- 
rer, Mark  Miller,  of  Des  Moines  ;  Directors,  for  two  years,  Dr.  S.  K.  Brook,  Polk 
county ;  Edwin  Smith,  Scott  county ;  Mr.  Eddy,  Jackson  county ;  W.  Robinson,  Des 
Moines  county;  Oliver  Mills,  Cass  county.  For  one  year.  Dr.  J.  Wright,  Marion 
county  ;  Robert  Severs,  Mahaska  county  ;  Mr.  Caldwell,  Marion  county  ;  Peter  Melendy, 
Chickasaw  county.  It  was  determined  to  hold  the  State  Exliibition  on  September  30th, 
at  Dubuque.     Several  samples  of  Sorglmm  syrup  and  sugar  were  on  exhibition,  and  it 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  63 

was  estimated  that  the  state  crop  for  1861  was  not  far  from  three  millions  of  gallons. 

The  Agricultural  College  farm  is  rented.      A   good    farm-house    has   been 

erected,  with  the  necessary  out-buililings,  and  there  is  a  young  orchard  of  about  four 
hundred  trees,  in  good  condition,  but  there  is  no  stock  there.  No  experiments  are 
being  carried  on,  and  the  institution  is  very  litthi  expense  to  the  State  in  any  way.  Its 
concerns  are  snugly  secured  against  loss,  and  thus  they  will  probably  reiiain  until  the 
National  storm  is  over Wool-growing  is  becoming  an  important  branch  of  agricul- 
ture in  Iowa.  Mr.  Ten  tlyck,  states  that  in  th(!  fall  of  llSGd,  he  took  from  Madisou 
county,  Ni^w  York,  to  Hamilton  county,  Iowa,  113  Merino  ewes.  In  addition  to  the 
travel  by  railroad,  they  were  subjected  to  the  exjjosure  and  fatigue  of  150  miles  drive 
across  the  prairie.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  tlit;  Hock  was  wintered  through  without 
the  loss  of  a  single  sheep.  At  shearing  time  they  gave  him  an  average  of  six  jiounds  of 
wool  per  head.  From  them  he  also  raised  seventy-six  lambs.  The  result  may  thus  be 
footed-up  :  One  hundred  and  thirteen  sheep  yielding  six  pounds  of  wool  each,  gives  an 
aggregate  of  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight  pounds.  This  wool,  now  worth  forty  cents 
per  pound,  would  bring  $271  20.  The  lambs,  wortli  at  least  $4  50  per  head,  gives 
$242  00.  Making  the  total  return  from  the  flock,  $G13  20.  More  than  this,  he  consid- 
ers the  sheep  nearly  one-quarter  heavier  than  when  they  left  New  York. 

KENTUCKY. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  the  following  ofHcers  for 
1862  were  elected :  President,  Hon.  L.  J.  Bradford,  of  Brachen  county  ;  Vice-Presi- 
dents, first  district,  P.  Swigert,  Franklin  county  ;  second  district,  J.  B.  O'Bannon,  Jef- 
ferson county  ;  third  district,  John  G.  Holloway  ;  Directors,  first  district,  0.  H.  Bur- 
bridge,  Bourbon  ;  Zeb.  Ward,  Woodford  ;  Dr.  L.  P.  Tarleton,  Fayette  ;  Caleb  Walton, 
Harrison  ;  and  J.  H.  G.  Bush,  Clarke  ;  second  district,  G.  Mallory,  JeflFerson ;  S.  T. 
Drane,  Shelby  ;  Geo.  Denny,  Garrard  ;  Alf.  Allen,  Breckinridge  ;  and  Felix  G.  Murphy, 
Nelson  ;  third  district,  John  P.  Campbell,  Sr.,  Christian ;  R.  B.  Ratlifl",  Caldwell ;  Ed- 
ward Rumsey,  Muhlenburg ;  R.  C.  Harrold,  Union ;  and  J.  J.  Towles,  Henderson ; 
Secretary,  J.  W.  Tate,  Franklin  county.  Aiuong  other  resolutions,  was  one  of 
thanks  to  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Agriculture  and  tlie  New  York  State  Agricultural  So- 
ciety, for  copies  of  their  respective  transactions,  which  were  acknowledged,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  resolution  "in  the  confident  hope  that  the  relations  of  our  respective  So- 
cieties and  States  may  always  be  marked  by  the  same  friendly  interchange  of  informa- 
tion valuable  to  the  diiferent  constituencies  represented  by  us." R.  A.  Alex- 
ander, Esq.,  of  Woodburn  Farm,  Kentucky,  sent  last  year  some  of  his  finest  shorthorns 
to  his  estate  in  Scotland;  among  them  the  bulls,  "2d  Duke  of  Airdie,"  and  "Albion." 

MAINE. 

We  have  not  received  a  list  of  the  oflicers  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture.  At  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  held  at  Augusta,  the  following  officers 
were  chosen :  President,  John  F.  Anderson,  Windham  ;  Secretary,  Dr.  E.  Holmes, 
Winthrop  ;  Treasurer,  John  W.  Chase,  Augusta  ;  Trustees,  Horace  McKenney,  Waldo 
county  ;  Seward  Dill,  Franklin  county  ;  Member  of  Board  of  Agriculture,  Calrin  Cham- 
berlain, Foxcroft.  The  Society,  considering  the  extraordinary  demands  upon  the  treas- 
ury, Toted  to  relinquish  all  claims  upon  the  treasury,  under  existing  laws,  until  the 
return  of  peace  ;  drawing  from  appropriations  already  made  simply  enough  to  discharge 

the  outstanding  liabilities  of  the  Society The  Eastport  ("MaineJ  Sentinel  makes 

joyful  mention  of  the  fact  that  the  old  spectacle  of  cart  loads  of  sound  potatoes  in  the 
market  has  again  appeared  in  that  town,  and  the  potato  disease  has  disappeared. 

MARYLAND. 

The  Agricultural  College,  near  Washington  city,  is  in  successful  operation,  and  the 
Trustees  and  Faculty  thus  declare  their  intentions,  which  are  being  carried  out : — The 
College  "is  not  so  much  designed  to  teach  the  pupils  to  be  farmers,  as  to  make  our 
farmers  liberally  educated  gentlemen,  with  special  reference  to  the  sciences  that  bear 
immediately  upon  their  profession  ;  to  indoctrinate  the  youth  of  Maryland  in  those  arts 
and  sciences,  which,  with  good  manners  and  morals,  shall  make  them  not  only  skillful 
in  their  profession,  but  ornaments  to  society,  useful  citizens,  and  an  honor  to  the  State. 
Thus,  while  the  student  learns  the  various  useful  details  of  Agriculture  and  Horticulture, 
instruction  in  these  is  not  at  the  expense  of,  but  merely  superadded  to  moral  and  intel- 
lectual culture.  The  course  of  study,  which  is  as  extensive  as  that  of  any  College,  in- 
cludes the  Ancient  and  Modern  Languages  ;  the  Mathematics  and  their  applications  ;  the 
Natural  Sciences,  with  special  reference  to  Agriculture,  Moral  and  Intellectual  Philoso- 
phy and  Political  Economy."     Tuition,  board,  &c.,  $250  per  annum. 


Q4:  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 


MASSACHUSETTS. 

We  have  not  received  a  list  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  for  the  present  year,  or  a  copy 
of  its  transactions  for  1861.  The  State  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture  has 
published  the  results  of  various  experiments  with  manures  made  under  its  direction, 
from  which  it  appears  that,  "so  far  as  these  experiments  have  gone,  they  go  to  show 
that,  for  an  immediate  crop,  at  least,  plowing  the  manure  under  very  deep  does  not  pro- 
duce corresponding  return,  the  best  result  being  very  nearly  equally  divided  between 
that  which  was  plowed  in  shallow  and  that  which  was  only  harrowed  in.  Where  the 
manure  was  left  exposed  on  the  surface,  a  better  result  was  obtained  than  where  it  was 
deeply  covered.  We  have  yet  to  learn  the  eft'ect  of  manuring  deeply  or  lightly  with  a 
view  to  succeeding  crops,  a  fact  of  infinite  importance  to  the  farmer.  The  late  Mr.  B. 
V.  French  once  tried  the  experiment  by  plowing  in  the  manure  of  half  a  field  '  as  deep 
as  he  could  get  it,"  and  then  treating  the  entire  field  alike,  manuring  the  whole  of  it 
equally,  and  plowing  it  in  very  slightly.  He  kept  an  account  of  the  product  for  several 
years,  and  the  yield  on  each  part  was  alike  ;  to  use  his  own  language,  '  I  never  saw 
anything  of  the  manure  which  was  buried  deeply ;  it  was,  in  my  opinion,   thoroughly 

buried.'"' An  ox,  fattened  by  Hon.  J.  Sanderson,  of  Bernardston,  has  been 

taken  to  New  York,  and  when  slaughtereo  there,  "the  dressed  animal  weighed  2,473  lbs., 
or  154  lbs.  more  than  the  celebrated  ox  '  Union,'  and  exceeded  any  ox  ever  slaughtered 

in  this  or  any  other  country." A  committee  of  the  "Hampshire,  Franklin,  and 

Hampden"  Agricultural  Society,  of  which  G.  M.  Atwater,  Esq.,  was  chairman,  for  ex- 
ample, give  some  interesting  data  in  a  report  published  in  its  Transactions  for  1861, 
which  go  to  prove  a  striking  advance  in  the  weight  attained  by  the  cattle  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Valley  during  the  last  forty  years.  It  appears  that  in  1820,  .ledediah  Taylor,  of 
Westfield,  furnished  14  head  "  of  the  best  known  heard  of  fatted  cattle,"  for  the  New 
York  market,  the  average  dressed  weight  of  which  was  1,000  pounds.  In  1847  the  herd 
of  his  son,  George  Taylor,  also  favorably  known,  dressed  1,300  pounds  each.  In  1860 
the  dressed  weight  of  Hezekiah  Taylor's  herd  was  1,500  pounds — an  increase  of  50  per 
cent,  upon  that  of  Jedediah  Taylor's  stock  40  years  before.  Now,  from  another  part  of 
the  same  report,  we  learn  that  it  was  in  1820  that  Durham  stock  was  first  introduced 
into  Westfield  by  I.  Yeamans  ;  that  further  purchases  of  Durhams  in  the  same  region 
were  made  by  S'.  Lathrop,  of  West  Springfield,  in  1824,  the  Huntingtons,  of  Hadley,  in 
1834,  and  P.  Lathrop  in  1837  ;  since  which  the  character  of  the  stock  for  fattening  pur- 
poses has  evidently  been  on  the  constant  advance. 

MICHIGAN. 

The  State  Board  of  Agriculture  is  said  to  have  succeeded  in  making  the  State  Agricul- 
tural College  a  place  where  the  experiments  of  the  farm  are  united  with  the  teachings 
of  the  books  and  lectures  of  the  teachers  in  such  a  way  as  to  fix  principles  in  the  minds 
of  the  students,  and  to  prove  or  disprove  theories  by  the  light  of  scientific  investigation. 
At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Board  and  Faculty,  among  other  resolutions,  the  following 
were  passed:  Resolved,  That  in  order  to  carry  out  the  ends  and  objects  of  this  Institu- 
tion, a  system  of  measures  should  at  once  be  devised  in  accordance  with  which  the  best 
method  for  the  preservations  of  manures,  and  their  application  to  diff'erent  soils  in  the 
culture  and  growth  of  plants  might  be  determined,  and  by  which  the  principles  of 
science  here  taught,  relative  to  the  propagation  and  growth  of  animals  and  plants  might 
he  freely  tested  and  determined  with  a  view  to  their  ultimate  adoption  in  farming  oper- 
ations here  and  elsewhere.  Resolved,  That  the  Professors  of  Agricultural  Chemistry  and 
Animal  Philosophy  be  requested  to  report  to  this  Board  at  the  next  meeting,  plans  and 
arrangements  in  reference  to  the  views  and  sentiments  contained  in  the  foregoing  resolu- 
tion, graduating  the  same  upon  a  scale  commensurate  with  means  at  the  disposal  of  the 
Institution  and  the  present  undeveloped  condition  of  the  farm,  and  such  as  will  fall 
witliin  the  compass  of  their  own  personal  supervision  and  control,  for  the  instruction  of 
the  several  classes  in  such  studies  ;  and  the  results  of  which  they  may  be  al)Ie  to  em- 
body in  their  annual  report  from  this  institution.  Tuition  at  the  Michigan  Agricultural 
College  is  free  to  all  students  from  the  State,  and  the  board  furnished  at  cost ;  room 
rent  four  dollars  a  year,  and  a  matriculation  fee  of  five  dollars.  "  Students  work  on  the 
Farm  or  in  the  Garden  three  hours  a  day,  for  which  they  receive  adequate  remunera- 
^n  ;  the  amount  paid  depending  on  their  ability  and  fidelity.  The  wages  for  labor  are 
jjpplied  on  their  board  in  the  quarterly  settlement  of  accounts." 

MINNESOTA. 

At  the  anniial  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  held  at  St.  Paul,  the  follow- 
ing officers  for  1862,  were  elected :  President,  W.  L.  Ames,  of  St.  Paul.    Vice  Presidents, 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  65 


Cone  for  each  Senatorial  District  j— 1st  Dist.,  H.  Acker;  2d,  H.  L.  Thomas  ;  3d,  R.  M. 
Richardson  ;  4th,  John  E.  Putnam  ;  5th,  Asa  Keith  ;  6th,  S.  B(;nnet ;  7th,  H.  Sprague; 
8tli,  R.  A.  Mott ;  9th,  0.  Uensmore  ;  lUth,  F.  .Stowell ;  11th,  E.  B.  Jewett ;  12th,  J.  V. 
Daniels  ;  13th,  A.  Adam?. ;  14th,  A.  H.  Jkitlcr  ;  15th,  S.  Bostwick  ;  l(jth,  (i.  S.  Ruble  ; 
17tli.  N.  Dane;  ISth,  M.  D.  McMullen  ;  19th,  Samuel  Shantlebury ;  2Utli  J.  Flanders; 
21st,  A.  Chmidlin,  Secretary;  J.  A.  Wheiiloek.  Treasurer;  J.  W.  Selby.  Executive 
Conmiittee— J.  H.  Stevens,  McLeod  ;  Jared  Benson,  Anoka;  A.  Chambers,  Steele  ;  J. 
H.  Baker,  Blue  Earth ;  R.  H.  Bennett,  Washington ;  W.  L.  Wilson,  Ramsey  ;  W.  G. 
Le  Due,  Dakota  ;  William  R.  Smith,  Hennepin.  W.  L.  Ames,  and  J.  A.  Wheelock,  ex- 
offirio.  J.  A.  Wheelock,  Esq.,  the  head  of  the  well  organized  statistical  bureau  of  Min- 
nesota, has  just  issued  his  second  annual  report.  It  has  ten  subdivisions,  treating,  first, 
of  the  position  of  Minnesota  in  the  plan  of  continental  developement ;  second,  its  physi- 
cal characteristics  and  comparative  geography  :  third,  the  productiveness  of  soil  and  cli- 
mate ;  fourth,  the  agriculture,  and  Hfth,  the  manufactures  of  the  state  ;  sixth,  its  com- 
merce and  navigation ;  seventh,  internal  improvements  ;  eighth,  population  ;  ninth, 
property  and  taxation  ;  and  tenth,  a  tabular  appendix.  The  contents  justify  this  index, 
and  form  suth  a  document  as  might  have  been  expected  from  an  intelligent  statistician 
in  a  region  which  Governor  Seward,  in  his  speech  at  St.  Paul,  declared  to  be  "the  place 
— the  central  place — where  the  agriculture  of  the  richest  region  of  North  America 
must  pour  out  its  tribute  to  the  whole  world." 

MISSOURI. 

There  was  quite  a  gathering  of  agriculturists  at  a  meeting  of  the  Fruit  Grower's  As. 
sociation,  held  at  the  Supreme  Court  room  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  14th  of  January,  and 
several  of  the  county  societies  have  been  reorganized  since  peace  has  been  restored. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 

The  State  Agricultural  Society  is  pursuing  its  career  of  usefulness,  adding  each  year  a 
valuable  volume  to  its  series  of  reports. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  held  at  Trenton,  the  follow- 
ing officers  were  elected  for  18(32 :  President,  N.  N.  Halsted,  Hudson  county.  Vice- 
President,  1st  Dist.,  John  B.  Jessup,  Woodbury  ;  2d,  N.  S.  Rue,  Fillmore  ;  3d,  P.  A. 
Voorhees,  Six  Mile  Run  ;  4th,  George  F.  Cobb,  Morristown  ;  5tli,  George  Hartshorn, 
Railway.  Secretary,  Wm.  M.  Force,  Trenton.  Treasurer,  B.  Haines,  Elizabeth.  Ex- 
ecutive Committee,  E.  A.  Doughty.  Atlantic  ;  Hon.  William  Parry,  Burlington  ;  Daniel 
llolsman,  Bergen  ;  John  R.  Graham,  Camden  ;  Doct.  Leaming,  Cape  May  ;  B.  F.  Lee, 
Cumberland  ;  C.  M.  Saxton,  Essex  ;  Samuel  Hopkins,  Gloucester  ;  C.  Van  Vorst,  Hud- 
son ;  George  A.  Exton,  Hunterdon  ;  J.  G.  J.  Campbell,  Mercer  ;  J.  S.  Buckalew,  Mid- 
tllesex  ;  Doct.  A.  V.  Conover,  Monmouth  :  William  Hilliard,  Morris  :  J.  S.  Forman, 
Ocean  ;  M.  J.  Ryerson,  Passaic  ;  Benjamin  Acton,  Salem  ;  J.  V.  D.  Hoagland,  Somer- 
set ;    Thomas  Lawrence,    Sussex ;    C.  S.  Haines,    Union ;    Philip  F.  Brakely,   Warren. 

R.  Jennings,  V.  S.,  says  that  the  pleuro-pneumonia,  which  has  not  been 

extinct  in  some  portions  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  since  its  appearance  there  two 
years  ago,  has  recently  broken  out  in  a  very  malignant  form,  the  symptons  being  more 
insidious  in  their  approach,  and  more  fatal  in  their  character,  than  any  heretofore  met 
with. 

NEW  YORK. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society,  held  at  Albany,  the  follow- 
ing officers  for  1862  were  elected  :  President,  Hon.  Ezra  Cornell,  Tompkins.  Vice- 
Presidents,  Thomas  H.  Faile,  New  York  ;  Samuel  Thorne,  Dutchess  ;  Herman  Wendell, 
Albany  ;  Oscar  Granger,  Saratoga  ;  John  D.  Hungerford,  Jeiierson  ;  Thos.  J.  Chatfield, 
Tioga  ;  Patrick  Barry,  Monroe  ;  Samuel  W.  Johnson,  Cattaraugus.  Recording  Secre- 
tary, Erastus  Corning,  Jr.,  Albany.  Corresi^onding  Secretary,  Benjamiu  P.  Johnson, 
Albany.  Treasurer,  Luther  H.  Tucker,  Albany.  Executive  Committee,  T.  C.  Peters, 
Genesee  ;  E.  Sherrill,  Ontario ;  A.  Hubbell,  Oneida ;  Clark  J.  Hayes,  Otsego ;  W. 
Newcomb,  Rensselaer.  Col.  Johnson  read  the  report  of  the  Executive  Commitfiee 
for  the  past  year,  which  Tlie  Coitnirij  Gentleman  thus  reports  :  "after  a  few  brief  and 
appropriate  remarks  ujion  the  condition  of  the  country  as  exerting  an  influence  upon 
the  agriculture  of  the  State,  this  report  refers,  in  detail,  to  the  events,  in  its  progress, 
which  have  occurred  during  the  past  twelve  months  ;  the  deaths  of  several  of  the  former 
officers  of  the  Society;  the  labors  of  Dr.  Fitch,  "its  Entomologist;  the  character  and 
success  of  its  last  Fair,  &c.,  &c.     The  increased  importance  of  wool-growing,  and  the 

9 


66  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

recent  efforts  to  perfect  the  processes  of  flax  manufacturing,  under  the  scarcity  of  cot- 
ton, are  mentioned ;  the  apj^earance  of  the  pleuro-pneumonia  in  this  vicinity,  and  its 
ajjparent  extinction  in  the  course  of  the  season,  are  allvided  to  ;  considerable  space  is 
devoted  to  the  important  subject  of  agricultural  statistics,  and  the  hope  expressed  that 
the  Legislature  will  take  favorable  action  upon  the  bill  which  has  been  introduced  for 
their  collection  throughout  the  State."  At  the  evening  session  Mr.  Geddes,  the  retiring 
President,  delivered  his  valedictory  address,  which  is  said  to  have  been  an  able  review 
of  the  progress  of  agriculture  since  the  Society  was  organized.  "During  this  period  of 
twenty-one  years,  great  improvements  have  occurred,  especially  in  the  manufacture  of 
the  implements  of  the  farm,  together  with  the  great  and  unmistakable  fact  that  the  in- 
fluence and  associations  connected  with  the  proceedings  of  the  Society,  have  tended  to 
draw  out  the  capital  of  wealthy  citizens  to  an  amount  that  cannot  easily  be  estimated, 
or  the  renovation  and  better  cultivation  of  the  land,  particularly  in  the  older  settled 
parts  of  the  State.  Annually  bringing  together  the  practical  farmers  of  widely  distant 
localities,  for  their  occular  education  in  what  good  animals,  good  implements,  and  good 
plowing  really  consist,  our  yearly  exhibitions  have  also  lead  to  the  co-operation  of  many 
men  of  large  capital  and  generous  enterprise,  in  the  common  object  of  the  advancement 
of  agriculture  ;  and  not  one  of  the  least  of  the  achievements  we  have  accomplished  and 
are  accomplishing,  is  in  leading  to  mutual  intercourse  and  acquaintance,  by  means  of 
which  the  experience  and  progress  of  each  are  shared  and  diffused  for  the  benefit  of  all. 
A  Society  thus,  and  in  other  ways,  quietly  pursuing  through  individual  efforts  and  con- 
tributions, the  public  good  of  the  State,  should  not,  argued  Mr.  G.,  be  made  to  support 
what  is  really  a  public  bureau  out  of  the  private  funds  collected  at  its  exhibitions  ;  the 
money  there  obtained  should  be  devoted  to  adding  to  the  interest  and  increasing  useful- 
ness of  future  exhibitions,  instead  of  being  required  even  in  part  for  the  current  ofiice 
expenses  of  the  Society.  Mr.  Geddes  then  introduced  his  successor,  Mr.  Cornell,  who 
followed  in  a  brief  and  appropriate  acknowledgment  for  the  honor  conferred,  and  ex- 
pressive of  his  determination  to  put  forth  every  effort  to  render  the  term  of  his  office, 
with  the  assistance  of  his  coadjutors,  more  successful  than  the  previous  career  of  the 
Society  under  the  guidance  of  the  eminent  men  who  had  preceded  him  in  the 
same  responsible  position."  The  next  annual  exhibition  will  probably  be  held  at 
Rochester,  which  is  regarded  as  an  excellent  location.  "Upon  the  line  of  the  Central 
Railroad,  and  receiving  also  the  rich  tribute  of  the  whole  Genesee  Valley,  Rochester, 
from  east,  south,  and  west,  can  draw  such  an  attendance  the  coming  year  as  will  be  sure 
to  remunerate  her  liberally  for  the  expense  she  will  incur  ;  while,  if  the  season  prove, 
as  we  trust  it  may,  a  season  of  peace  regained,  and  agricultural  prosperity  fully  restored, 
we  might  almost  hope  to  witness  an  exhibition  there  unparalled,  either  in  its  character 
■or  in  the  number  of  its  visitors,  by  any  in  the  whole  history  of  the  Society." 

OREGON. 

Th-e  receipts  for  admissions  at  the  State  exhibition  held  by  the  State  Agricultural 
Bociety  at  Oregon  City,  in  October,  1861,  were  $1,321  17  ;  for  licenses  $125 — total  re- 
ceipts, .'$1,446  17.  The  amount  paid  for  premiums  was  $758  ;  for  expenses  $442  67  ; 
leaving  a  .cash  balance  on  hand  of  8245  50.  An  excellent  practical  address  was  deliv- 
,efed  by  Bon.  J.  Quinn  Thornton,  and  published  in  the  Oregon  Farmer. 

OHIO. 

At  the  Agricultural  convention,  held  at  Columbus,  January  8th,  the  following  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  for  1862  was  elected:  N.  J.  Turney,  Pickaway  county  ;  Jacob 
Egbert,  Warren  icounty ;  N.  S.  Townshend,  Lorain  county  ;  H.  B.  Perkins,  Trumbull 
county  ;  T.  C.  Jones,  Delaware  coiuity.  Mr.  Trimble  and  Mr.  Reber  declined  a  re-elec- 
tion, and  Mr.  Turney  and  Mr.  Egbert  were  elected  in  their  place.  The  Treasurer,  G. 
W.  Potwin,  not  being  present  to  report  the  financial  condition  of  the  Board,  D.  E.  Gard- 
ner stated  that  the  Society  was  never  in  a  better  condition,  there  being  over  $3,000  in 
the  treasury.  After  the  adjournment  of  the  State  Agricultural  Convention,  the  State 
Board  of  Agricultiu'e  met  at  their  rooms  in  the  State  House  and  organized  for  1862,  as 
follows  :  T.  C.  Jones,  Delaware  county.  President ;  Henry  B.  Perkins,  Trumbull  county, 
Recording  Secretary,;  David  Taylor,  Columbus,  Treasurer;  John  Klippart,  Columbus, 
Corresponding  Secretary.  A  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  the  next  morning,  January 
9th,  at  which  a  resolution  was  adopted  to  hold  the  next  Fair  at  Cleveland,  conditional 
upon  its  compliance  with  the  usual  requisites.  The  Transactions  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  for  I860,  show  that  in  that  year,  sixty-four  county  societies  held 
exhibitions,  and  the  following  table  gives  the  aggregate  number  of  entries  and  amount 
Qi  premiums  paid : 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  67 

No.  of  eutrie-.     Premiums. 

Sheep 3,010  $3,227  50 

Cattle •''.OSS  7,2r.8  25 

Horses                  10,94.s  12,73:3  50 

Swine.!"!! l,4i>0  1,489  00 

Poultry 3«4  203  00 

Total  for  Animals 20,895  $29,958  25 

Implements  and  engines 2,170  $1,834  50 

Mechanical  products 1,043  1,534  25 

Manufacturer's  products 1,358  1,153  75 

Ladies'  Manufactures 4,454  2,135  25 


Total* Mechanical 9,625  $(3,(557  75 

Fruits 3,407  1,076  50 

Farm  products 6,551  3,580  25 

Vegetables 5,206  1,039  00 

Fine  Arts 8S6  309  00 

Miscellaneous 4,327  2,238  00 


Total  entries 50,898      $38,858  75 

In  addition  to  the  above,  there  are  independent  societies  in  Brown,  Greene,  Lorain, 
and  Summit  counties,  having  2,233  members,  which  had  4,095  entries  in  1860,  aird  gave 

$1,946  00  in  premiums The  Sorghum  growers  of  Ohio  met  in  convention  at 

Columbus  on  the  7th  of  January,  Dr.  J.  A.  Warder  in  the  chair.  Forty-two  samples  of 
syrup,  and  fifteen  of  sugar  were  entered  for  competition,  and  those  present  who  had 
grown  Sorghum,  or  made  sugar  from  it,  related  their  experience.  Mr.  Myers,  of  Clark 
county,  said  he  was,  at  first,  much  prejudiced  against  raising  it,  but  resolved  to  test  it. 
In  growing  the  cane  the  most  important  point  was  to  give  the  seed  a  good  start.  He 
had  sprouted  and  transplanted  it,  at  from  one-fourth  to  three-fourtlis  of  an  inch  in 
length,  but  found  it  would  not  answer.  Early  planting  is  not  always  desirable.  His 
best  crop  was  planted  the  last  of  May — the  seed  being  prepared  by  soaking  a  minute 
and  a  half  in  boiling  water.  Had  the  ground  in  good  order,  and  drilled  the  seed  one  inch 
deep  and  three  and  a  half  feet  apart.  Planted  half  a  bushel  of  seed  to  the  acre,  in  or- 
der that  he  might  get  one  seed  in  ten  to  grow.  It  was  also  stated  that  "about  3,000,000 
gallons  of  syrup  were  made  in  this  State   COhioJ  last  fall,  which  has  been  sold  at  an 

average  of  sixty  cents  per  gallon,  or  about  $1,800,000!  " Prof.  F.  A.  Mot,  of 

Columbus,  has  succeeded  in  the  manufacture  of  sugar  from  the  beet.  From  a  compu- 
tation based  upon  his  experiment,  six  and  a  half  tons  of  sugar  can  be  produced  per 
acre,  or  6000  lbs.  of  sugar  and  600  gallons  of  syrup.  Rating  the  sugar  at  six  cents  per 
pound,  and  the  syrup  at  forty  cents  per  gallon,  the  product  per  acre  is  $600.  Prof.  Mot 
has  ordered  from  France  sugar-beet  root  seed  to  plant  ten  acres  next  spring,  and  is 
preparing  machinery  to  manufacture  it. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

The  State  Agricultural  Society  elected  the  following  officers  for  1862  :  President,  Thos. 
P.  Knox.  Vice-Presidents — 1st  district,  .lohn  Rice  ;  2d,  Frederick  Showers  ;  3d,  Charles 
K.  Engle ;  4th,  Robert  M.  Carlisle  ;  5th,  Wm.  Stavely ;  6th,  Isaac  W.  Van  Leer ;  7th, 
Tobias  Barto  ;  8th,  Joseph  Graybill ;  9th,  Martin  Early  ;  10th,  Charles  A.  Luckenbach  ; 
11th,  Daniel  G.  Driesbacn ;  12th,  Amos  E.  Kapp  ;  13th,  B.  G.  Peters  ;  14th,  C.  Eberly  ; 
15th,  D.  0.  Gehr ;  16th,  Thaddeus  Banks  ;  17th,  John  B.  Beck ;  18th,  James  Miles  ; 
19th,  Michael  C.  Trout ;  20th,  James  Slocum  ;  21st,  John  Murdock,  Jr.  ;  22d,  Moses 
Chess  ;  23d,  Joshua  Wright.  Additional  members  of  the  Executive  Committee,  Wm. 
Colder,  Jr.,  J.  R.  Eby,  Jacob  Mish,  James  Young,  John  H.  Ziegler.  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary, A.    Boyd  Hamilton.    Chemist  and  Geologist,  S.  S.  Haldeman.    Librarian,  John 

Curwen The  Farmers'  High  School  has  been  in  operation  for  three  years,  and 

from  the  commencement  has  been  well  patronized.  Heretofore  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  exclude  students  from  other  States,  in  order  to  make  room  for  those  from  Penn- 
sylvania, owing  to  the  unfinished  state  of  the  college  buildings.  But  an  apijropriation 
of  last  winter  by  the  State  Legislature  of  $50,000,  has  enabled  the  trustees  to  advance 
in  the  work  of  completing  the  buildings,  so  that  they  will  be  entirely  finished  early  next 
summer.  The  main  college  building,  we  are  told,  is  the  largest  edifice  devoted  to  agri- 
cultural instruction  in  the  world.  It  is,  with  the  basement,  six  stories  high,  and  cov- 
ers an  area  of  19,200  square  feet.     It  contains  165  dormitories,  10  by  Ig  feet  square,  and 


68  From  the  Secretary's  lahle. 

9  to  11  feet  high,  affording  ample  room  for  330  students.  The  building  is  also  well  sup- 
plied with  commodious  rooms  for  musevims,  scientific,  collections,  lecture-rooms,  and 
laboratories  for  chemical  and  philosophical  study  and  experimentation.  The  cost  of 
construction  is  estimated  at  §121, OOU.  Other  property  belonging  to  the  institution,  in- 
cluding a  farm  of  40U  acres,  makes  the  entire  property  of  the  school  worth  aV)0ut 
$178,000.  Dr.  Pugh,  the  President  of  this  successfiil  institution,  says  in  a  recent  pub- 
lication, that  the  student  there  "  has  an  opportunity  of  seeing  all  the  practical  opera- 
tions of  the  farm,  garden,  and  nursery,  in  tlie  most  approved  manner,  with  the  use  of 
the  best  nnaniires,  seeds,  tools,  and  implements  ;  and,  what  is  of  more  importance  than 
this,  he  studies  in  the  class-room  and  laboratory  the  scientific  principles  involved  in  all 
he  does,  and  by  becoming  a  scientific  man  and  analytical  chemist,  he  is  enabled  to  pro- 
tect himself  and  others  against  the  frauds  and  cheats  that  are  continually  being  prac- 
ticed upon  the  uneducated,  by  dealers  who  are  themselves  either  ignorant  of  science,  or 
use  it  to  impose  upon  the  community.  He  learns  how  to  study  the  geology,  mineralo- 
gy, and  chemistry  of  the  soil  he  cultivates,  the  botany  of  the  plant  he  grows,  and  the 
laws  of  health  and  diseases  of  the  animals  he  uses.  In  a  word,  he  is  made  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  laws  and  phenomena  of  the  material  world  with  which  he  is  in  im- 
mediate contact,  a  knowledge  of  which  is  essential  to  their  material  success,  or  intel- 
lectual pleasure,  in  the  pursuit  of  the  duties  of  rural  life." 

RHODE  ISLAND. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Rhode  Island  Society  for  the  incouragement  of  Domestic 
Industry,  the  following  ofiicers  for  1862  were  elected ;  President,  James  D" Wolf  Perry, 
of  Bristol.  1st  Vice  President,  Edward  D.  Harris,  of  Providence;  2d,  Vice  President, 
Edward  Harris,  of  Cumberland  ;  3d  Vice  President,  William  Sprague,  of  Providence. 
Secretary  and  Treasurer,  William  R.  Staples,  of  Providence.  This  Society,  last  fall,  of- 
fered premiums  for  "samples  ofliax  cotton  fit  for  use  on  cotton  machinery."  But  al- 
though none  of  the  samples  sent  in  were  considered  deserving  of  premiums,  yet  they 
afforded  great  encouragement  for  ultimate  success,  as  being  more  valuable  than  cotton 
for  mixing  with  wool,  and  in  some  kinds  of  goods  a  partial  substitute  for  wool  itself.  A 
recent  number  of  the  Providence  .Journal  says:  "We  have  latterly  seen  a  sijecimen  of 
prints  made  from  a  mixture  of  25  per  cent,  cotton  and  75  per  cent.  flax.  It  shows  to  de- 
cided advantage  in  texture,  color,  and  general  appearance  by  the  side  of  the  cloth  made 
wholly  of  cotton.     The  raw  material  can  be  afforded  at  seven  cents  a  pound. 

UTAH. 

The  annual  exhibition  of  the  "  Deseret  Agricultural  Society"  was  well  attended,  and 
the  exhibition  of  stock  and  of  products  is  said  to  have  been  creditable.  Fifteen  hundred 
dollars  in  premiums  was  distributed.  The  .Jordan  Irrigation  Company,  which  has  been 
at  work  for  the  past  five  or  six  years,  building  a  dam  close  by  Salt  Lake  city,  and  mak- 
ing a  canal  for  the  conveyance  of  water  from  the  Jordan  across  the  valley  west  of  that 
river,  have  got  their  project  so  far  accomplished  that  the  water  has  been  taken  out  of 
the  stream,  and  several  thousand  acres  of  heretofore  vacant  land  f prairiej  has  been  sur- 
veyed into  lots  of  about  twenty  acres  each,  the  favorite  amount  there,  and  apportioned  to 
stockholders  in  the  dam.  The  river  is  about  five  rods  wide,  and  four  or  five  feet  deep. 
So  much  land  being  brought  into  cultivation  close  to  the  Mormon  Capital  must  greatly  in- 
crease the  wealth  thereof.     The  company  was  incorporated  during  the  past  year. 

VERMONT. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Agricultural  Society  was  held  at  Bellows  Falls,  when 
the  following  officers  for  1862  were  elected  :  For  President,  H.  Henry  Baxter,  of  Rut- 
land. [  Me  declined,  and  Hon,  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Middlebury,  was  subsequently  cho- 
sen by  the  directors.]  Vice  Presidents,  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Middlebury ;  J.  W.  Col- 
burn,  of  Springfield  ;  Henry  Keyes,  of  Newbury ;  John  Jackson,  of  Brandon.  Secretary, 
Daniel  Needham,  Hartford.  Treasurer,  J.  W.  Colburn,  Springfield.  Directors,  Fred- 
erick Holbrook,  Brattleboro  ;  E.  B.  Chase,  Lyndon ;  H.  S.  Morse,  Shelburne  ;  D.  R.  Pot- 
ter, St.  Albans  ;  Henry  G.  Root,  Bennington  ;  David  Hill,  Bridport ;  John  Gregory, 
Northfield  ;  Elijah  Cleaveland,  Coventry  ;  Nathan  Cushing,  Woodstock  ;  George  Camp- 
bell, Westminster.  Among  the  Resolutions  adopted,  was  one  denying  the  statements 
thai  the  horses  belonging  to  the  Vermont  Cavalry  regiment  are  to  be  considered  fair 
representatives  of  her  "  breed  of  Morgan  horses  ;"  also  one  expressive  of  interest  in  the 
success  of  the  bill  introduced  in  Congress  by  Hon.  J,  S.  Morrill  donating  public  lands  to 
Agricultural  Colleges,  and  thanking  Mr.  M.  "for  his  determined  industry  and  zeal  in  be- 
half of  this  great  educational  measure, "     It  was  also  decided  to  hold  the  next  annual 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  69' 

exhibition  at  Rutland,  on  the  9th,  10th,  11th,  and  12th  days  of  September  next.  The 
Directors  of  the  State  Society  have  called  a  "Wool  (Jrowers'  Convention,"  to  be  hold  at 
Rutland  on  the  aftt'rnoon  of  tS('pt.  'Jth,  ("the  Ih-st  dayof  th(!  exhibition,  J  to  promote  con- 
certs of  action,  and  to  settle  <|uestions  interesting  alike  to  tlic  producers  and  th(;  manu- 
facturers as  to  the  j)roper  manner  of  i)reparing  wool  for  market.  It  is  stat(^d  that  the 
great  losses  met  with  by  tlie  wool  growers  th(^  last  year  in  tlu;  salt;  of  their  wool  at  less 
than  the  cost  of  production,  has  stimulated  this  movement.  According  to  the  statistics 
of  Col.  Needhani,  Secretary  of  the  State  Society,  the  annual  production  of  wool  by  the 
State  of  V<'rmont  for  the  last  five  years  has  been  about  four  millions  of  pounds.  The 
sales  the  last  year  were  at  an  average  of  about  thirty-three  cents  a  pound,  while  the 
cost  of  production   is    not    h^ss  than  forty — realizing  to  the  State  a  loss  of  nearly  three 

hundred  thousand  dollars,  which  has  passed  into  the  hands  of  wool  operators 

Inquiries  have  been  instituted  for  some  years  past,  by  direction  of  the  State  government, 
on  the  artificial  propagation  offish.  The  result  has  convinced  all  concerned  and  inter- 
ested in  tliese  investigations  that  the  waters  of  Vermont  are  better  calculated  for  the 
successful  carrying  out  of  these  experiments  than  those  of  any  other  American  States, 
and  especially  the  rivers  west  of  the  Green  Mountains.  Profs.  Hitchcock,  the  State 
Geologist.  Prof.  Agassiz,  and  other  gentlemen  interested,  have  made  arragements  with, 
the  "  Ball  Mountain  Company  "  for  the  itse  of  that  portion  of  Cold  River  which  flows 
through  their  contemplated  inclosure,  for  the  purpose  of  thoroughly  t(^sting  the  matter, 
and  that  they  will  commence  their  operations  at  this  point  as  early  in  the  sjjring  as  may 
be. 

UPPER  CANADA. 

The  Board  of  Agriculture,  at  a  meeting  on  the  29th  of  January,  nominated  the  follow- 
ing gentlemen  to  form  the  nucleus  of  the  Local  Committee  for  the  Provincial  Exhibition 
of  this  year  at  Toronto  ;  viz  :  F.  \V.  Jarvis,  J.  P.  Wheeler,  J.  G.  Bowes,  Mayor  of  the 
city  of  Toronto,  James  Beachall,  President  of  the  Toronto  Electoral  Division  Agricultural 
Society ;  G.  W.  Allan,  President  of  the  Toronto  Horticultural  Society.  The  Canadian 
Parliament  liberally  appropriates  $4,000  per  annum  to  the  Provincial  Society,  with  ten 
per  cent,  on  the  appropriations  to  county  societies,  which  is  between  §4,000  and  $5,000 
more,  and  there  is  also  a  large  Government  grant.  The  entire  sum  voted  in  1859  to  the 
Provincial  and  county  societies,  is  stated  to  have  been  $66,004  21. 


AMERICAN  POMOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 

This  truly  national  association,  which  has  held  its  biennial  meetings  at  New  York, 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  Cincinnati,  and  Rochester,  will  meet  on  the  17th  of  September, 
at  Boston,  Mass.,  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder  in  the  chair.  We  cordially  agree  with  the 
editor  of  a  leading  agricultural  paper,  that  "the  friendly  meeting  of  fruit  lovers,  for  a 
calm  discussion  of  the  real  merits  and  demerits  of  the  different  varieties  of  fruits,  is 
productive  of  good  to  themselves  and  to  the  country  at  large.  We  can  but  hope  that 
before  next  September,  our  national  troubles  will  be  so  far  settled  that,  as  in  the  past, 
the  Pomological  Meeting  will  be  a  national  one.  The  Massachusetts  Horticultural  So- 
ciety has  ordered  its  annual  exhibition  for  the  same  week." 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  SOCIETY. 


We  regret  to  learn  from  Rev.  0.  C.  Wheeler,  Secretary  of  the  California  State  Agri- 
cultural Society,  that  by  the  recent  flood  in  Sacramento,  the  entire  cabinet  and  the  most 
valuable  jjortion  of  the  library  of  that  Society  were  submerged,  the  former  materially 
injured  and  the  latter  utterly  ruined.  The  loss  to  the  library  includes  all  the  sets  of 
the  transactions  of  kindred  Societies,  both  European  and  American,  jjublic  documents 
of  the  General  Government,  all  the  files  of  papers  and  periodicals,  and  most  of  the  books 
of  reference.  They  ask  contributions  of  reports,  transactions,  periodicals,  or  specimens 
in  natural  history,  and  any  contribution  made  or  influence  exerted  in  furtherance  of 
this  object  will  be  highly  appreciated  by  the  Society.  Immediate  steps  will  be  taken  to 
prevent  the  possible  recurrence  of  such  a  calamity.  All  parcels  should  be  addressed  to 
the  Society,  in  care  of  Mr.  Wheeler,  and  it  is  especially  desirable  that  each  one  should 
be  accompanied  by  the  address  of  the  contributor,  and  such  facts  as  will  be  useful  to 
the  Society,  and  enable  it  to  make  due  acknowledgment. 

— The  season  in  Denmark  has  been  a  favorable  one — rye  a  good  yield,  wheat  in 
greater  quantity  than  usual,  barley  and  oats,  fine  and  abundant.  The  Danish  farmers 
are  consequently  able  to  offer  a  considerable  surplus  for  exportation. 


70  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

BRITISH  AGRICULTURAL  EXHIBITION. 

The  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England,  over  which.  Earl  Powis  now  presides,  will 
hold  its  annual  exhibition  for  1862  at  Battersea,  near  London,  in  connection  with  the 
Highland  Society,  commencing  on  Monday,  June  23d.  The  members  of  either  Society 
may  compete  on  payment  of  five  shillings  sterling  ("about  one  dollar,^  on  each  certifi- 
cate of  entry,  and  non-members  on  the  payment  of  fifteen,  Cabout  three  dollars.^  The 
premium  list  is  stated  by  the  English  papers  to  be  "of  the  most  gigantic  proportions," 
yet  it  is  not  equal  in  value  to  those  of  the  recent  exhibitions  of  the  United  Stales  Ag- 
ricultural Society.  Medals  of  gold,  silver,  and  bronze  are  to  be  awarded,  with  £3,670 
in  money,  ("about  $18,000,J  which  is  to  be  somewhat  thus  divided:  £1480  is  allotted 
to  cattle,  £380  to  horses  not  agricultural  or  dray,  and  £390  to  those  which  are  ;  £90  to 
ponies,  £1105  to  sheep,  and  £225  to  pigs. 

' '  The  shorthorn,  Hereford,  and  Devon  classes  are,  as  of  yore,  on  an  equality,  with 
£300  and  two  gold  medals  for  the  best  male  and  female.  The  prizes  in  each  of  them 
number  twenty-four,  and  this  is  made  up  bj  giving  second  and  third  prizes  in  both  the 
calf  classes.  The  sum  of  £80,  distributed  into  ten  prizes,  is  allotted  to  the  Sussex, 
longhorned,  Norfolk,  and  Suffolk  polled,  Nortli  "Wales,  South  "Wales,  and  Irish  ("Kerryj 
breeds.  The  Channel  Island  cattle  are  divided  into  Jersey  or  Alderney,  and  Guernsey, 
and  each  class  has  £50  and  seven  prizes.  'The  sound  and  stout'  thoroughbred  horse 
gets  his  claims  recognized  with  £100  and  £25  prizes.  Then  we  have  £135  for  hunters, 
in  which  the  sire,  brood  mare,  and  gelding  of  four  of  five,  and  mare  or  four  or  five, 
share  the  eight  prizes.  The  dray  horses  ("a  distinction  without  a  diflference,  to  judge 
from  the  doings  at  the  past  shows  j  have  eight  prizes  ;  and  the  SuS'olks,  which  are  now 
in  a  separate  class,  eight.  Ponies  above  12^  hands  and  under  14  have  five  prizes,  and 
those  below  that  standard  the  same  ;  and  two  prizes  for  sires,  two  for  mares,  and  one 
for  geldings  of  four  or  five  years  old  is  the  apportionment  in  each  of  these  two  classes. 
The  Leicesters  and  Soutlidowns  are  still  the  favored  breeds  among  the  sheep,  with  £105 
for  their  nine  prizes,  and  a  gold  medal  for  the  best  ram  in  the  classes  as  well.  The  Lin- 
colns,  Cotswolds,  Kentish,  Longwools,  ("not  qualified  to  compete  with  the  Leicesters  or 
the  above  three  breeds,  J  Irish  pure  native  longwools,  Shropshires,  Hampshires,  and  West 
Country  Downs,  Oxfordshire  Downs,  and  Dorset  and  Mountain,  have  all  nine  prize  classes, 
with  £90  each.  On  behalf  of  the  Lincolns,  Cotswolds,  and  Kentish,  Mr.  John  Hudson, 
of  Castle  Acre,  loudly  demurs  to  this  distinction  in  favor  of  the  Leicesters  and  South- 
downs,  and  endeavors  to  rally  their  friends  to  the  general  council  meeting  in  May.  The 
pigs  have  thirty  prizes,  of  which  ten  are  for  boars  and  ten  for  breeding  sows.  Large 
breed  of  any  color,  small  white  breed,  small  black  breed,  Berkshire  breed,  and  breed 
not  eligible  to  compete  with  tlie  above,  is  the  classification. 

"Glancing  over  the  Highland  Society's  list,  we  find  that  it  consists  of  four  cattle 
classes — polled  Aberdeen  and  Angus,  polled  Galloway,  Highland,  and  Ayrshire,  each 
with  twelve  first  and  second  prizes,  amounting  to  £117,  and  six  silver  medals  for  third 
prizes.  The  Clydesdales  have  the  same  number  of  prizes  and  medals,  but  their  prize- 
money  is  £138  ;  and  in  each  of  the  sheep  classes  ("black-faced  and  cheviot_)  we  find  eight 
prizes  f£54j  and  four  medals. 

"The  foreign-prize-list  consists  of  144  medals — one-third  gold,  one-third  silver,  and 
one-third  bronze,  besides  six  grand  gold  medals  of  honor  for  the  cattle,  two  for  the 
horses,  and  two  for  the  sheep.  The  cattle  are  divided  into  thirteen  classes — Charolaise, 
Garonnaise,  Norman,  De  Salers,  Pyrensean,  Breton,  other  French  breeds ;  Flemish, 
Dutch,  Swiss,  Spanish,  other  foreign  breeds,  and  Indian  and  other  native  colonial 
breeds  ;  and  each  of  these  has  three  medals  for  males  and  three  for  females.  The  horse 
classes  are  arranged,  as  regards  medals,  on  precisely  the  same  principle,  and  consist  of 
two — one  for  '  horses  for  heavy  draught  of  any  pure  foreign  breed, '  and  the  other  for 
' agricultural  horses  used  for  general  agricultural  purposes  only.'  The  sheep  are  also 
divided  on  the  same  principle  as  to  medals,  into  eight  classes — French  merino,  Spanish 
merino,  Saxon  merino,  other  pure  merino,  long-woolled  foreign  breeds,  short-wooUed 
foreign  breeds  ("not  qualified  for  the  above  classes^,  cross-breed  merino,  and  other  mixed 
breeds ;  and  the  pigs  come  into  one  six-medal  class,  under  the  comprehensive  head  of 
'Pure  Foreign  Breeds.'  The  result  will,  no  doubt,  prove  that  a  most  arduous  and  diffi- 
cult task  of  classification  has  been  performed  most  ably  by  the  prize  committee,  and  we 
heartily  wish  Mr.  Gibbs  and  the  stewards  a  good  deliverance  from  their  Battersea  toil." 

— Recent  letters  from  Brazil  state  that  the  bicha,  or  worm  which  attacks  the  leaves  of 
the  cofi'ee-tree,  are  more  than  ever  prevalent  this  year,  and  will  greatly  diminish  the 
yield  of  the  aromatic  berry.  On  some  Fazenzas,  or  coflfee  plantations  there  will  not  be 
one-twentieth  part  of  what,  in  former  years,  has  been  called  a  fair  yield. 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  71 


COLZA    OIL. 

Tlie  Light-house  Board  took  measures,  early  after  their  organization,  for  the  intro- 
duction of  Colza,  or  rape-seed  oil.  There  are  several  plants,  the  seeds  of  which  yield 
this  oil,  and  which  are  adapted  to  culture  in  our  Northern  and  Western  States.  Among 
these  is  the  wild  cabhage,  Cb^'i^^^'ca  oleracea,J  a  quantity  of  the  seed  of  which  was  im- 
ported by  the  Board,  and  distributed  directly  or  through  the  Patent-Officte. 

In  18(il,  5,000  gallons  of  this  oil  were  offered  at  a  cost  of  $1  10  per  gallon,  and  used  in 
the  light-houses  of  the  lakes.  It  bore  the  tests  apjjlied  to  spermaceti  oil  perfectly,  and 
no  complaint  whatever  has  been  heard  of  it.  This  year,  2,000  gallons  of  Colza  oil  have 
been  offered  and  accepted  at  $1  per  gallon,  and  10,000  gallons  at  $1  10,  thus  furnishing 
the  whole  supply  needed  for  the  lights  of  the  lakes,  saviug  the  transportation  of  the  oil 
from  the  seacoast — the  l)ids  being  from  Wisconoin,  the  State  where  the  plant  is  grown 
and  the  oil  manufactured — and  also  saving  upon  the  cost  of  each  gallon  nearly  65  cents  ; 
the  cost  of  sperm  oil  ranges  from  $1  58  to  $1  68^  per  gallon.  This  encouragement  to  a 
new  branch  of  agriculture  and  manufactures  is,  therefore,  a  source  of  economy.  The 
Board  have  shown  in  several  reports  the  advantages  of  the  Colza  oil  for  purposes  of 
illumination.  The  objection  made  to  it  in  1851,  that  it  rapidly  deteriorated  by  time  and 
exposure,  is  entirely  unfounded.  The  Board  can  now  state  this  from  its  own  experience, 
as  it  then  stated  it  from  that  of  France. 


EXPORTATION  OF  GRAIN. 


The  foreign  demand  for  our  surplus  of  breadstuffs  continues,  and  is  likely  to  be  una- 
bated, until  the  new  crop  there  is  ready  for  market.  In  consequence  of  the  extraordi- 
nary late  harvest  of  1860  and  the  bad  weather  which  followed,  only  three-fourths  of  the 
customary  quantity  of  seed  was  committed  to  the  ground  in  the  autumn  of  that  year 
and  the  spring  of  1861,  and  it  is  estimated  that  over  an  eighth  of  that  which  was  sown 
did  not  germinate  ;  that  about  one  million  quarters  were  "  shed  "  and  lost  in  the  fields 
by  becoming  over-ripe  ;  that  an  unusually  large  quantity  was  last  fall  taken  for  seed, 
and  that  there  have  been  large  exportations  to  France. 

The  Mark  Lane  Express  of  .January  20th  contains  estimates  by  correspondents,  not 
controverted  by  the  editors,  which  indicate  so  enormous  a  deficiency  in  the  wheat  crop, 
that  it  would  seem  that  the  United  States,  with  her  best  endeavors,  could  hardly  supply 
the  demand,  and  it  is  quite  certain,  that  had  her  trade  been  cut  off  by  a  war,  the  cry 
for  food  in  the  large  towns  of  Great  Britain  would  have  been  so  loud  as  to  have  drowned 
all  complaints  for  want  of  cotton.  The  estimate  is  as  follows.  We  hope  our  readers 
will  take  the  trouble  to  understand  it. 

Bushels. 

The  regular  crop  of  wheat  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  is 164,000,000 

Short  planted  for  last  crop  \ 40,000,000 

Short  yield  of  that  sown 20,000,000 

Quantity  shed  by  being  over-ripe 8,000,000 

Extra  quantity  taken  for  seed  for  crop  of  1862 6,000,000 

Exported  to  France  from  August  to  December,  1861 8,000,000—82,000,000 

82,000,000 
To  which  add  the  usual  importation 40,000,000 

Making  the  requirements 122,000,000 

It  is  admitted  that  France  will  want  in  all,  for  the  year,  80,000,000  bushels,  and 
probably  more,  because  the  chestnut  crop,  which  usually  feeds  two  millions  of  people 
in  France,  failed  last  season,  while  Italy,  Spain,  Portugual,  and^Belgium  had  all  of  them 
bad  harvests. 

It  is  estimated  that  since  September  1,  1861,  there  have  been  imported  into  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  19,200,000  bushels  of  wheat  and  flour,  turning  the  flour  into  grain, 
against  32,800,000  for  the  corresponding  period  in  1860,  and  that  France,  up  to  Janu- 
ary 20,  had  imported  but  little  more  than  one-third  of  her  necessary  supply.  The 
granaries  of  great  Britain  were  probably  never  so  empty  at  this  season  of  the  year,  as 
now.  Yet  the  price  of  wheat  in  London  is  not  very  high,  being  about  $1  90  per  bushel, 
just  about  the  same  as  it  was  in  January,  1847,  the  year  of  the  Irish  famine  !  and  yet 
before  the  1st  of  June  that  year  the  price  had  advanced  to  $3  20  per  bushel !  and 
through  the  famine  that  ensued,  and  its  consequences,  nearly  two  millions  of  the  Irish 
population  were  swept  from  her  naturally  fertile  soil  I 


72  -■       From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  wants  of  England  and  France  are  to  be  supplied.  We 
exported,  in  1847,  nearly  $69,000,000  worth  of  breadstufis,  and  in  1854,  nearly 
§(3(3,000,000.  There  is  a  vast  surplus  now  on  our  hands,  but  it  is  not  at  the  sea-coast, 
nor  can  it  be  until  navigation  opens,  and  it  is  a  question  for  the  old  countries,  who  need 
it,  to  solve,  how  their  supply  is  to  be  obtained. 

The  annexed  table  shows  the  shipments  from  the  United  States  to  Great  Britain,  Ire- 
land, and  the  Continent,  from  Sept.  1,  18(3l,  to  date ; 

Exports  of  Breadstuffs  to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

Flour.  Meal.  Wheat.  Corn, 

bbls.  bbls.  bush.  bush. 

New  York 891,515  450         9,717,004  6,678,660 

New  Orleans 

Philadelphia 19.3,632  406         1,297,694  178,411 

Baltimore 19,830  279,093  82,387 

Boston .....145,135  4,390  39,818 

Other  ports 27,739  1,147,073 

•       Total,  1862 1,277,851  856  12,445,254  6,979,306 

Total,  1851 1,391,771  2,663  13,691,839  3,402,596 

Total,  1860 199,520  523,645  23,073 

Total,  1859 85,734  38  412,425  319,352 

To  the  Continent. 

Flour.  Wheat.  Corn.  Kye. 

bbls.  bush.  bush.  bush. 

New  York 318,886      6,768,009     239,029  787,425 

Other  ports 16,151  87,129       18,421  15,452 


PLOWING  BY  STEAM-POWER. 


Mr.  Fowler,  of  England,  has  sent  to  this  country  one  of  his  portable  steam-engineS 
used  for  plowing  land,  anA  so  arranged  as  to  be  moved  along  the  head-lands  of  the  field 
by  its  own  power.  Beneath  the  engine  is  fitted  a  sheave,  five  feet  in  diameter,  around 
which  the  rope  for  drawing  the  plows  is  passed,  it  being  held  firmly  in  the  groove  by  an 
ingenious  contrivance  pressing  on  the  rope  while  it  passes  over  it.  The  balance  plow 
used  by  Mr.  Fowler  is,  like  most  other  English  farm  machinery,  made  principally  of 
iron,  easily  regulated  as  to  depth  and  Avidth  of  furrow,  and  guided  by  a  simple  appara- 
tus for  steering.  The  plow  frame  is  made  to  balance  on  the  axle  ;  when  one  end  is  in 
the  ground  the  other  is  elevated  as  shown,  and  furnishes  a  seat  for  the  man  who  steers 
the  i)lows.  This  double  arrangement  does  away  with  the  necessity  of  turning  the  gang 
of  plows  at  the  headland,  and  is  made  to  pass  back  and  forth  across  the  field.  To  this 
frame  different  moulds  can  be  attached  for  different  work.  On  the  o^jposite  side  of  the 
field  from  the  engine  is  an  anchor,  with  a  sheave  attached,  corresponding  in  size  with 
the  one  on  the  engine.  Mr.  Fowler's  machine  was  tested  near  Philadelphia,  last  fall,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  many  sijectators  ;  and  his  agent,  Mr.  R.  W.  Eddiston,  has  visited  the 
prairie  regions  of  the  West,  to  obtain  a  set  of  plows  used  there,  and  to  obtain  contracts 
for  breaking  up  new  or  for  plowing  old  land,  at  fair  prices,  to  be  paid  when  the  work 
has  been  well  done.  Mr.  Eddiston's  address  is  No.  608  South  Delaware  Avenue,  Phila- 
delphia. 

In  England  plowing  by  steam-power  is  being  gradually  introduced,  and  we  learn  that 
the  appearance  of  a  machine  on  Mr.  William  Lawson's  farm  in  West  Cumberland,  has 
created  a  sensation.  The  arrival  of  a  whole  family  of  gorillas  in  the  neighborhood  could 
not  have  created  more  excitement  than  did  this  peaceful  monster.  The  farmers  were  in- 
credulous, the  laborers  indignant,  and  the  blacksmiths  contemptuous.  "  Many  singu- 
lar notions,"  says  the  Carlisle  Journal,  "were  ventilated  as  to  the  future  of  the  won- 
derful machine.  '  It'll  nivver  git  up  Tliompson's  broo  '  was  the  first  prophecy  ;  but  it 
did,  and  proclaimed  its  triumph  by  a  loiul  whistle  as  it  entered  the  village.  One  worthy 
white-haired  farmer  exclaimed,  with  great  vehemence  of  speech  and  gestui'e,  'It's  a  ter- 
rible machine,  but  it'll  nivver  plew  !  It'll  nivver  plew ! !  It'll  nivver  plew!!!'  On- 
ward, however,  went  the  engine,  regardless  of  his  triple  comments,  until  it  arrived  at 
the  railway  end  of  the  village.  Just  as  it  was  crossing  above  a  train  entered  the  tunnel 
beneath,  on  emerging  from  which  it  was  saluted  with  a  triumphant  whistle  from  the 
superior  machine.     This  episode  afforded  a  singular  illustration  of  the  triumphs  of  hu- 


United  States  Agricultural  Society.  73 

man  ingr^nuity,  and  made  such  a  strong  impression  upon  tlie  minds  of  many  of  tlio 
t5j»H;tators  that  the  mental  odds  against  tlie  monster  were  very  mueli  lessened.  It 
sec-ms  to  have  done  its  work  well;  and  tin-  cry,  '  It'll  nivver  pay !  It'll  iiivver  pay  I'  is 
the  only  one  now  hjft  to  console  the  change-hating  rustics.  M.  Lawson,  who  is  abont  to 
conduct  liis  farming  operations  on  the  Mechi  principle,  trusts  to  astonish  them  much 
more  in  duo  season." 


THE  TRADE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

Until  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  can  have  their  Statistical  Bureau,  they  must  be 
content  with  what  figures  they  can  obtain  froju  the  mercliants,  and  the  rt^tui'ns  of  the 
trade  of  New  York  are  well  worthy  of  attention.  The  "footings  up"  of  the  New  York 
merchants  for  18()i  were  very  satisfactory.  While  foreign  countries  liav(;  taken  from 
them  immense  amounts  of  cereals,  provisions,  and  miscellaneous  articles,  their  impor- 
tations of  foreign  goods  have  so  largely  decreased,  that  foreign  nations  have  ])aid  them 
thirty-seven  millions  of  gold,  in  payment  for  their  j^roducts.  Instead  of  shipping  forty- 
two  millions  of  specie,  as  they  did  in  18(i0,  they  have  imported,  in  18G1,  thirty-seven 
millions.  The  decrease  in  dutiable  importations  is  over  one  hundred  millions,  mostly 
dry  goods.  The  free  goods  show  an  increase  of  about  two  and  a  quarter  millions,  and 
the  warehoused  goods  a  decrease  of  over  five  and  a  half  millions.  The  duties  on  impor- 
tations show  a  decrease  of  over  thirteen  millions.  The  exports  of  produce  on  manufac- 
tures, &c.,  show  an  increase  of  nearly  thirty-six  millions,  while  the  exports  of  specie 
and  bullion  show  a  deci-ease  of  thirty-seven  millions.  The  result  of  the  last  year's  New 
York  commerce,  exclusive  of  specie,  is  as  follows  : 

Imports §125,680,407 

Exports 138,594,901 


Excess  of  exports $12,916,494 

As  compared  with  1860,  the  imports  of  merchandise  show  a  decline  of $103,727,723 

The  exports  an  increase  of 35,102,721 


In  favor  of  this  country $138,830,444 

The  receipts  of  produce  at  New  York  during  the  month  of  January  were  small,  as 
compared  with  previous  months,  although  generally  far  in  excess  of  the  corresponding 
period  of  previous  years.  In  j^rovisions,  with  the  single  exception  of  butter,  the  gain 
from  last  year  is  enormously  large,  and  the  following  summary  of  receipts  for  the  month, 
as  compared  with  the  two  former  years,  is  of  interest : 

January,  1860. 

Ashes,  bbls 1,615 

Breadstuffs — 

Wheat  Hour,  bbls 77,936 

Corn  meal,  bbls 8,258 

Wheat,  bush 52,557 

Rye,  bush  8,074 

Oats,  bush 101,006 

Barley,  bush 64,707 

Corn,  bush 277,658 

Cotton,  bales , 44,218 

Naval  Stores — 

Crude  turp.,  bbls 4,619 

Spirits  turp.,  bbls 11,888 

Rosin,  bbls 55,220 

Tar,  bbls 4,738 

Pitch,  bbls 526 

Provisions — 

Pork,  pkgs 6,223 

Beef,  bbls 2.782 

Cut  meats,  pkgs 11,835 

Butter,  pkgs 32,236 

Cheese,  pkgs 3,586 

Lard,  tcs.  and  bbl 6,532 

Do.    kegs 1,084 

Whisky,  bbls 19,797 

10 


1861. 

1862. 

1,015 

1,333 

121,310 

235,251 

4,213 

14,633 

166,658 

68,389 

1,394 

39,645 

64,791 

169,669 

45,376 

137,351 

93,445 

76,948 

52,090 

1,226 

4,088 

8,887 

60 

35,508 

8,949 

502 

8.533 

16,  .381 

1,915 

28,455 

8,146 

30,616 

37,879 

32,038 

10,660 

18,420 

9,998 

45,798 

1,992 

10,165 

16,698 

21,672 

74:  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

Returns  of  the  exports  of  produce  during  the  month  of  January,  1862,  show  a  falling^ 
oflF  in  the  shipments  of  wheat,  but  a  gain  in  almost  every  other  description  of  produce. 
We  cannot  hope  for  a  comparative  gain  throughout  tlie  year.  The  shipments  through- 
out 18(il  were  far  beyond  all  former  precedent,  and  it  is  not  reasonable  to  expect  the 
same  gain  to  continue.  Indeed,  we  expect  that  the  last  will  stand  as  the  banner  year 
for  some  time  to  come.  The  exports  for  the  month,  as  compared  with  the  two  former 
yeats,  were — 

1860.  1861.  1862. 

Domestic  produce $36,793,091  $66,990,359  $71,812,033 

Foreign  merchandise  ffreej 1,939,566  939.175  496,811 

Do.                 ("dutiable; 3,660,863  3,138,743  1,914,989 

Specie  and  bullion 37,371,456  20,670,313  3,645,086 

Total   exports $79,764,976     $91,738,590     $87,868,919 

Do.  excl.  of  specie 42,393,520       71,068,277       84,223,83a 


AMERICAN  CATTLE  BREEDERS'  ASSOCIATION. 

The  fourth  annual  meeting  of  the  ("New  England  J  Cattle  Breeders'  Association  was 
held  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  the  election  resulted  in  the  choice  of  the  following  officers  : 
President,  S.  W.  Buffum,  of  Winchester,  N.  H.  Vice-Presidents,  R.  Linsley,  of  Meri- 
den  ;  D.  Buck,  of  Windsor,  Conn. ;  Milo  T.  Smith,  of  Northampton,  Mass. ;  C.  M.  Pond, 
of  Hartford,  Conn.  ;  H.  H.  Peters,  of  Southboro,  Mass.  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  Henry 
A.  Dyer,  of  Brooklyn,  Conn.  Henry  A.  Dyer,  Mason  C.  Weld,  and  Samuel  I.  Bartlett 
were  re-elected  Committee  on  Publication  of  a  Herd-Book. 

"The  Association  will  publish  a  Herd-Book  of  Devons,  Short-Horns,  Ayrshires,  and 
Alderneys  as  soon  as  a  sufficient  number  of  animals  are  entered.  The  committees  now 
report  upwards  of  two  hundred  entries  of  Devons,  two  hundred  of  Sliort-Horns,  and 
two  hundred  and  fifty  of  Ayrshires.  The  difl'erent  breeds  will  be  published  in  separate 
books,  uniform  in  size  and  character,  so  that  they  can  be  bound  together  if  desired. 
The  opinion  has  obtained  that  this  Association  was  local,  a  New-England  Society.  The 
design  of  the  Association  is  to  make  a  complete  registry  of  the  blood  stock  of  the 
country ;  and  the  breeders  throughout  the  United  States  and  Canadas  are  invited  to  co- 
operate in  making  the  Herd-Book  to  be  published  complete.  The  preparation  of  the 
pedigrees  is  in  the  hands  of  committees,  each  perfectly  competent  in  its  particular 
breed ;  and  great  care  will  be  observed  in  the  preparation  for  the  press  and  in  the  pub- 
lication to  avoid  errors.  This  is  a  mutual  benefit  arrangement ;  no  one  makes  any 
money  or  fame  out  of  it ;  but  the  need  of  a  book  such  as  we  aim  to  make  it,  is  felt  by 
all  who  are  interested  in  pure  breed  stock.  The  commencement  of  the  registration  of 
Ayrshires  and  Aklerneys  is  a  work  that  will  commend  itself  to  all  as  of  immense  import- 
ance. The  first  volume  will  be  issued  so  soon  as  the  names  in  any  class  shall  reach  six 
hundred. ' ' 


THE  LAST  "NOVELTY." 


The  "Illinois  Coffee"  proves  to  be  the  cicer  arietinum,  the  chick  pea,  a  native  of  Syia, 
Egypt,  Italy,  the  Levant,  found  among  the  corn  or  grain.  The  seed  has  a  projecting 
cheek,  hence  its  resemblance  to  a  ram's  head,  which  gives  the  name.  The  seeds  are  eat- 
able, raw  or  boiled,  and  constitute  a  considerable  part  of  the  food  of  those  countries. 
It  flowers  in  June  and  ripens  in  August ;  is  grown  in  drills  or  sown  broadcast.  This  va- 
riety of  the  vetch,  though  it  has,  according  to  Dr.  Darlington,  been  familiarly  known 
throughout  the  civilized  world  for  centuries,  has  several  times  of  late  years  been  intro- 
duced as  something  new  and  valuable.  Lynch's  Expedition  to  the  Dead  Sea  brought  it 
home  under  the  name  of  "  Hamoos  Pea;"  and  in  1856  or  7,  it  was  sent  out  from  the 
Patent  Office  under  its  Spanish  name,  "Garbanzo."  The  Coiintrij  Gentleman  ("which 
has  exposed  this  attempt  at  fraudj  says  that  several  persons  who  tried  it  at  that  time 
reported  it  as  worthless. 

— The  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture  say  that  the  "cattle  disease,"  or  pleuro- 
pneumonia, has  re-appeared  in  several  places  in  the  eastern  part  of  that  State,  and  trace 
it  directly  back  to  the  old  source.  The  Legislature  has  been  induced  to  appoint  a  new 
commission  on  the  subject ;  and  the  Board  of  Agriculture,  through  a  committee — con- 
sisting of  Henry  H.  Peters,  of  Southboro  ;  Phineas  Stedman,  of  Chicopee ;  and  Free- 
man Walker,  of  North  Brookfield — have  issued  a  circular  warning  farmers  to  take  the 
necessary  precautions  against  contagion. 


United  Slates  Agricultural  Society.  75 

PUBLICATIONS   AND  DIPLOMAS. 

Life-members  are  entitled  to  all  the  publications  of  the  Society,  from  the  date  of  their 
membership,  but  were  the  volumes  to  be  sent  ijost-jiaid,  a  heavy  expense  would  therel>y 
be  incurred.  Every  exertion  has  been  used  to  have  the  volumes  containing  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Society  in  1857,  1858,  and  1859,  sent  to  life-members  uiuh^r  ('ongressional 
franks  or  by  private  hands.  If  any  mc^mbc^rs  have  not  received  them,  duplicati*  copies 
will  be  sent  on  receipt  of  the  postage  stamps  which  have  to  be  placed  on  them,  viz : 
seventeen  cents  each  for  the  transactions  of  1857  and  1859,  and  thirteen  cents  for  the 
transactions  of  1858. 

Only  the  first  three  of  the  four  numbers  of  The  Journal  of  Agriculture,  which  will 
form  the  volume  of  Transactions  for  1860,  have  as  yet  been  published,  and  only  the  first 
number  of  the  four  which  will  form  the  volume  of  Transactions  for  1861.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  those  already  members  will  endeavor  to  enlist  others,  and  thus  replenish 
the  treasury  sutficiently  to  permit  the  publication  of  these  four  unprinted  numbers,  as 
well  as  the  three  which  will  be  necessary  to  complete  the  present  volume,  and  with  it 
the  first  series  often  volumes  of  the  Society's  transactions. 

^^f"  Every  dollar  obtained  from  memberships  is  to  be  devoted  to  the  printing  fund, 
and  the  Society  is  not  incurring  any  other  expense,  of  any  kind.  The  Commissioner  of 
Patents  kindly  permits  us  to  occupy  rooms  in  the  Patent  Otfice,  and  its  officers  receive 
no  salaries  or  allowances  of  any  kind  for  their  services. 

Diplomas  of  membership  are  delivered  at  the  office  of  the  Society.  They  will  be  sent 
by  mail,  on  wooden  rollers,  on  receipt  of  seventy-five  cents  in  postage  stamps. 

The  fee  for  life-membership  is  so  small  that  it  will  not  generally  defray  the  cost  of  the 
publications  and  diploma  furnish^,  and  if  the  postages  were  paid  from  the  Society's 
treasury,  the  membership  fund  would  soon  be  exhausted.  The  amount  of  postage  is  a 
small  matter  for  each  individual,  but  would  amount  to  a  large  sum  if  paid  by  the  Society. 


STATISTICAL  BUREAU. 


One  of  the  wisest  practical  recommendations  made  by  President  Lincoln,  in  his  recent 
message  to  Congress,  was  that  for  the  organization  of  an  agricultural  and  statistical  bu- 
resu,  from  which  might  annually  issue  reports  exhibiting,  in  mass  and  in  detail,  the 
condition  of  our  agriculture,  commerce,  and  manufactures.  "  Agriculture,"  said  he, 
confessedly  the  largest  interest  in  the  nation,  has  not  a  department  nor  a  bureau,  but  a 
clerkship  only  assigned  to  it  in  the  Clovernment."  The  statistics  of  this  great  interest, 
gathered  and  tabulated  with  accuracy,  and  published  promptly  from  time  to  time, 
would  be  of  the  greatest  service,  not  only  to  those  immediately  engaged  in  tilling  the 
soil,  but  also  to  all  who  are  concerned  in  buying  and  selling  of  its  products,  and  to  the 
country  at  large.  The  same  may  be  said  of  all  the  great  interests — commerce,  manufac- 
tures, and  other — which  go  to  make  up  the  wealth  and  industry  of  the  nation. 

— The  Prussian  Minister  of  Agriculture  has  offered  a  prize  of  about  $430,  and  a  second 
prize  of  $215,  for  the  best  two  essays  on  "Worms  and  Insects  Injurious  to  Agriculture," 
to  be  written  in  German,  and  handed  in  at  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  at  Berlin,  before 
the  first  of  July,  1864. 

— The  Polynesian  of  November  16th,  says  that  the  coflfee  crop  of  the  Sandwich  Islands 
promises  to  pay  well  this  year.  Over  30,000  pounds  have  already  been  shipped  to  Hon- 
olulu, and  the  picking  season  has  just  begun.  The  coffee  comes  mostly  from  young 
trees,  whose  first  yield  it  is,  and  which  have  not  yet  been  aflfected  by  the  blight. 

— Camels  are  now  in  use  over  in  Washoe,  packing  salt  from  Walker's  Lake  to  Virginia 
City.  They  carry  six  hundred  pounds  each,  and  it  is  worth  seven  dollars  per  hundred. 
The  salt  is  used  in  the  chemical  process  of  separating  metals,  and  as  it  costs  nothing  at 
Walker's  Lake,  the  owners  of  the  camel  train  are  making  a  very  nice  speculation  in  the 
packing  business. 

— M.  Leboux,  a  Frenchman,  has  invented  a  feed-bag  for  horses,  which  is  ventilated  in 
front  so  as  to  allow  the  dust  of  the  grain  to  escape,  and  the  horse  to  breathe  freely.  The 
bag  is  hung  by  an  elastic  band,  so  that  it  rises  as  the  weight  of  the  grain  diminishes, 
and  constantly  presents  the  feed  to  the  lips  of  the  horse. 

— Large  invoices  of  seeds  have  lately  been  obtained  from  Europe,  at  the  Patent  Office, 
and  have  been  made  up  in  packages  for  members  of  Congress,  each  of  whom  will  be  fur- 
nished with  417  papers,  comprising  42  varieties  of  the  seeds  referred  to,  making  an  ag- 
gregate of  94,659  papers. 


76  From  the  Secretary's  Table. 

PREMIUM  LIST  FOR  1862. 

The  United  States  Agricultural  Society  respectfully  requests  State  Boards  and  State 
Agricultural  Societies  to  offer  and  to  award  the  following  Premiums,  of  Silver  and  Bronze 
Medals  and  Diplomas,  in  accordance  with  the  conditions  annexed,  and  to  forward  their 
reports  to  the  National  Society,  ("with  any  comments  suggested,  J  before  the  close  of  the 
present  year.  Any  premiums  so  awarded,  will  be  promptly  forwarded  to  the  society 
making  the  award,  for  delivery.  In  each  State  and  Territory,  where  no  such  central  or- 
ganization exists,  the  Vice-President  from  that  State  will  designate  a  local  Agricultural 
Society  which  will  be  requested  to  offer  and  award  the  premiums. 

COTTON. 

For  the  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory, Grand  Silver  Medal, 

"     "     second  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory  , Grand  Bronze  Medal, 

"     "    third  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory, Diploma  of  Honor. 

FLAX. 

"     "    best  crop  in  each  State   and  Territory, Grand  Silver  Medal. 

"     "     second  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory, Grand  Bronze  Medal. 

"     "     third  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory,  Diploma  of  Honor. 

HEMP. 

"     "     best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory,  Grand  Silver  Medal. 

"     ' '     second  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory, Grand  Bronze  Medal. 

"     "     third  best  crop  in  each  State  and  Territory,  Dij^loma  of  Honor. 

The  above  premiums  are  to  be  awarded  on  crops  raised  the  present  year,  and  described 
in  statements,  ("made  on  honor,  J  embracing  the  following  facts  :  1. — Location  of  the 
land,  which  must  be  at  least  half  an  acre  ;  kind  and  condition  of  the  soil ;  crops  raised 
the  two  preceeding  years  ;  quantity  and  kind  of  manure  then  used,  if  any.  2. — Manner 
of  preparing  the  land  ;  quantity  and  quality  of  the  manure  applied,  if  any,  and  how  ap- 
plied. 3. — Quantity  and  kind  of  seed;  whence  obtained;  when  and  how  sown  or  planted, 
4. — The  time  and  manner  of  cultivating.  5. — Mode  of  gathering  the  crop  and  preparing 
it  for  market,  with  the  actual  yield.  6. — When  the  crop  was  sold,  if  disposed  of,  and  its 
market  value.  7. — A  detailed  account  of  the  expense  of  cultivation,  with  any  sugges- 
tions of  a  practical  nature. 

ESSAYS  ON  COTTON,   FLAX,  AND  HEMP. 

A  Grand  Bronze  Medal  and  a  Diploma  of  Honor  will  be  awarded,  in  each  State  and 
Territory,  for  the  best  and  the  second  best  essays  on  each  of  the  following  subjects, 
written  by  a  citizen  of  that  State  or  Territory  :  The  history  of — the  statistics  of — the 
crop  in  other  lands  of — the  insects  injurious  to  the  growth  of — the  implements  used  in 
the  culture  of — and  the  mode  of  preparing  for  market — Cottou,  Flax,  and  Hemp.  No 
essay  shall  be  entitled  to  a  premium  unless  it  shall  be  considered  by  the  committee  to 
be  of  sufficient  advantage  to  agriculture  to  entitle  it  to  a  place  in  the  transactions  of  the 
Society.  It  is  expected  that  the  essays  will  be  founded  mainly  ("and  on  scientific  sub- 
jects, at  least  partlyj  on  the  writer's  practical  experience  and  personal  observation  or 
investigation,  or  on  authenticated  facts  ;  and  when  otlier  authorities  are  cjuoted,  dis- 
tinct reference  must  be  made.  The  award  of  superiority  to  any  one  essay  over  others, 
on  the  same  subject,  will  be  made  in  reference  to  its  probable  greater  utility  to  agricul- 
tural improvement,  as  well  as  to  the  ability  with  which  the  subject  is  treated.  In  mat- 
ters designed  to  instruct  or  to  guide  practical  labors,  clearness  and  fullness  of  details 
will  be  deemed  a  high  claim  to  merit,  and  next  conciseness. 

A  Grand  Silver  Medal  will  be  awarded  by  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  United 
States  Agricultural  Society,  fin  addition  to  the  State  award  of  GrandBronze  Medals,  J  for 
the  best  of  all  the  essays  received  in  each  of  the  above-named  classes. 

It  is  earnestly  hoped  that  the  officers  of  State  Boards  of  Agriculture,  and  of  State  Ag- 
ricultural Societies,  will  co-operate  in  awarding  the  above  premiums,  and  that  they  will 
at  an  early  day  appoint  their  State  committees  of  award.  Such  committees  will  be  an- 
nounced in  the  next  number  of  the  Journal  of  Ayricidture. 

WILLIAM  B.  HUBBARD, 

President  U.  S.  AgricuJturaJ  Society. 
Ben  :   Perley  Poore,  Secrttanj. 


OFFICERS 

OF   THE 

UiVITED  STATES  AGRICULTURAL  SOCIETY, 

FOR  THE  YEAR  1862-'63. 


PRESIDENT, 

WILLIAM  B.  HUBBARD,    Columbus,  Ohio. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS, 


N.   B.   CLOUD Alabama, 

A.  H.  MYERS California, 

H.  P.   BENNETT Colorado, 

HENRY  A.  DYER  Connecticut, 

JOHN  PATTEE Dacotah, 

JOHN  JONES Delaimre, 

W.  W.  CORCORAN Dist.  Columbia, 

W.  HAYWARD Florida, 

JAMES  HOSKINSON Georgia, 

JOHN  A.  KENNICOTT Illinois, 

W.  T.  DENNIS Indiana, 

L.  DEWEY lozva, 

JOHN  T.    JONES Kajisas, 

B.  W.  CLAY Kentucky, 

C.  W.  POPE Louisiana, 

JOHN  LANG Maine, 

ANTHONY  KIMMEL Maryland, 

WILLIAM  SUTTON  Massachusetts, 

T.  B.  CRIPPEN Michigan, 

CYRUS  ALDRICH Minnesota. 


WILLIAM   MARTIN Mississippi, 

J.  R.  BARRETT Missouri, 

W.  T.  BROWN Nebraska, 

JOHN  CRADLEBAUGH...A^evaf/a, 

FREDERICK  SMYTH N.  Nampshire, 

J.  R.  DOBBIN New  Jersey, 

W.  F.  M.  ARNY New  Mexico, 

H.  K,  BURGWYN North  Carolina, 

J.  H.   KLIPPART  Ohio, 

AMORY  HOLBROOK Oregon, 

FREDERIC  WATTS Pennsylvania, 

ELISHA  DYER Rhode  Island, 

B.  F.  STANLEY South  Carolina, 

M.    B.   COCKERILL Tennessee, 

J.  T.  WARE  Texas, 

EDWARD  HUNTER Utah, 

FREDERIC  HOLBROOK..  Vermont, 

F.   H.  PIERPONT Virginia, 

I.   S.    STEVENS Washington, 

F.  W.   HOYT Wisconsin. 


EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE, 

W.B.  RVBBARD,  (ex-officio,)..  Ohio,  i  CHARLES  B.  CALYERT... 3Iaryland, 

MARSHALL  P.  WlLBm,... Massachusetts,  J.  H.  SULLIVAN Ohio, 

ISAAC  NEWTON Pennsylvania,  A.H.MYERS California, 

FREDERICK  SMYTH, N.  Hampshire,  BEN  :  PERLEY  POORE,  (ex-officio,)  D.C. 

LE  GRAND  BYINGTON Iowa,  \ 


TREASURER, 

BENJAMIN  B.  FRENCH,    Washington,  I).  C. 

SECRETARY, 

BEN:  PERLEY  POORE,    Washington,  D.  C. 


OPERATIONS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  AaRlCULTURAL  SOCIETY. 


The  United  States  Agricultural  Society  was  founded  in  June,  1852,  by  a  national  Ag' 
ricultural  Convention,  (called  by  the  direction  of  twelve  State  Agricultural  Associa- 
tions, J  at  which  there  were  present  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  delegates,  representing 
twenty-three  States  and  Territories,  incorporated  by  act  of  Congress  approved  April  9, 
1860.  It  has  since  been  in  active  operation,  receiving  the  confidence,  patronage,  and  fa- 
vor of  American  agriculturists,  and  co-operating  with  State  and  Local  Associations.  If 
it  has  not  accomplished  all  which  its  founders  anticipated,  or  which  its  present  officers 
desire,  it  has  furnished  pleasing  evidence  of  its  growing  prosperity  and  usefulness.  All 
who  wish  to  aid  in  awakening  an  extended  and  general  interest  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil  are  respectfully  invited  to  enroll  their  names  with  those  who  have  founded  the  Na- 
tional Agricultural  Organization,  and  who  desire  to  make  it  worthy  of  the  great  interest 
upon  which  the  prosperity  and  happiness  of  our  country  is  dependent. 

Life  Members  receive  an  elegant  Diploma,  all  the  publications  of  the  Society,  and  their 
share  of  such  seeds  and  cuttings  as  may  be  procured  for  distribution,  without  any  addi- 
tional assessment  or  payment  beyon^  the  admission  fee  of  ten  dollars.  Annual  Members 
receive  the  publications  of  the  Society,  paying  a  fee  of  two  dollars.  County  or  town  so- 
cieties having  the  privilege  of  making  their  President,  Secretary,  or  Treasurer  ex-officio 
a  Life  Member,  in  which  case  the  Society  Will  receive  the  publications,  &c.  Remit- 
tances for  membership  can  be  made  by  mail  to  Hon.  B.  B.  French,  Treasurer  United 
States  Agricultural  Society,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  Quarterly  Journal  of  Agrictilture  is  published  every  three  months,  and  mailed, 
free  of  charge,  to  Honorary,  Life,  and  Annual  Members  of  the  Society.  It  is  earnestly 
hoped  that  there  will  be  a  sufficient  number  of  new  members  this  year  to  furnish  means 
for  the  completion  of  the  tenth  volume  of  this  publication,  which  will  close  the  first  se- 
ries of  the  Society's  Transactions,  Three  of  these  volumes  are  out  of  print,  but  seven 
of  them  can  be  furnished  to  new  members.     Missing  numbers  can  be  supplied. 

The  Secretary's  Office  is  now  in  rooms  generously  furnished  for  the  use  of  the  Society 
by  the  Commissioner  of  Patents,  in  the  Dejiartment  of  the  Interior,  where  many  objects 
of  interest  to  those  interested  in  agricultural  improvements  have  been  collected.  Nu- 
merous State  and  Coiinty  Societies  have  contributed  their  published  transactions,  pre- 
mium-lists, the  names  of  their  officers,  and  other  information,  which  has  been  registered, 
and  they  have  received  the  publications  of  the  Society  in  return.  A  majority  of  the  ag- 
ricultural and  numerous  other  publishers  have  contributed  their  periodicals  and  news- 
papers, and  thus  aided  in  forming  a  Free  Agricultural  Library  at  the  National  Metropo- 
lis. Donations  of  models,  specimens  of  fertilizers,  and  engravings  of  cattle  or  agricul- 
tural implements,  are  also  solicited. 

Anmial  Meetings. — Ten  of  these  have  been  held  at  Washington  city,  and  they  consti- 
tute in  reality  the  central  "Board  of  Agriculture"  recommended  by  the  Farmer  of 
Mount  Vernon.  Gentlemen  from  almost  every  State  in  the  Union,  ("many  of  them  dele- 
gates from  Agricultural  Associations, )  have  annually  assembled  to  discuss  such  topics  as 
have  been  presented  calculated  to  advance  the  cause  of  agricultural  improvement ;  in- 
teresting and  valuable  lectures  have  been  delivered  by  practi«.^al  and  scientific  farmers  ; 
reports  have  been  submitted  by  committees  specially  appointed  to  examine  new  inven- 
tions and  theories,  and  by  delegates  who  have  been  accredited  to  the  agriculturists  of 
other  lands  ;  and  there  has  been  a  general  interchange  of  opinion.