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VOLUME VI CHER AW. SOUTH-CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1841. NUMBER 5 1
By nr. MAC LEAN. J
?
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taa?w ? r ~?nr . -L- ~
rROM THE !?. Y. EVENING POST.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY IX AGRICULTURE. (
(u the Phalange, a Fourier paper pub- !
fished at Paris, September 8th, a novel
discovery is described, which, if true, will j
work a great change in an important de
O O i i
partment of ngricult ira! labor, ft is
commui icated (o the Paris print hv Cnas. 1
P"illard and M. Bernard, who date their
0 letter at Brest, August, 1841. It appears
that while they and some of their friends,
who farm their own estates, were engaged
in conversation on the subject of
~ *4 ??? * ^ J k?r r?nn r\f
agriculture, it was uusciyuu i?jt uuo
them that that branch of industry was
offering more from the want of capital
arid enterprise than any other, and that
nothing was to be done without manure,
which was every day becoming more
scarce and expensive. This remark led
to an inquiry into the properties of ma- :
nure, and particularly as to what provision
nature had made in those uncultivated
r >gions where there seems to he a vigoro
is and luxuriant growth, without artificial
assistance.
MIn observing nature uanassisted, or
unthwarted rather, by the hand of man,
in vegetable reproduction, it is found that
when the seed is ripe it falls upon the
ground, and then the plant which has produced
it sheds its leaves, or falls itself
upon it in decay, and covers and protects
it from the weather until generation has
commenced, and the young plant is able
to grow up in health and strength and full |
development, to recommence the same!
routine of needing and of reproduction.
' **Krom this it follows that, in nature,
every plant produces its own soil or hu
mis, and that the earth only serves to
bear the plant and not to aid or nourish
it in vegetation. The nourishment of
plants is thus supposed to be derived from 1
air and water, heal and light, or electrici- ,
-? .? nd-irtfoil In flip !
f in uuiurcui |nupui Iiuii^i ??? %?iw
different varieties of vegetable nature."
With this general notion in their minds,
and considering wheat to be, in present
circumstances, one of the most important
vegetable substances, they agreed to try
^ experiments, and in October last under- j
took the following operations :
In a field which had been sown with
rye, because the land was deemed too I
poor for wheat, a plot of twelve square I
yards, untitled and loft without manure,
was carefully strewed over with the
grains of wheat, and wheaten straw
was laid upon it closcdy. and about one
inch in thickness. In a garden, also,
which had been neglected several years, :
a few square rods of earth wete trodden
over, and the surface being made close
and hard, some grains of wheat were
M attered on this hardened surface, and a
layer of straw one inch in depth was care i
fully laid over it. and left, as in the former
case, to take its chance without ulterior
A?wl in nrHf?r tn make doubt !
ailVIIUUlM ilDU. ... ...
impossible concerning the mere second- |
ary functions of mineral earth in vegeta- J
ble reproduction, twenty grains of wheat
were sown upon the surface of a pane of i
glass, and covered with some straw alone,
as in the other case.
The g>iminat;on of the seed was soon
apparent and most healthy in development.
"The winter has been rigorous,"
say these correspondents, for this part
of the country, and the earth has some- ]
times been frozen in one solid mass to a
depth of six inches in the garden where
the wheat was sown, and this has happened
several times during the winter, '
to the great injury of many plants and
even the entire destruction of some;
'
while the spots protected by the straw
were never thoroughly congealed, nor
were the grains of wheat, though Ivingon
the surface under the straw, at all affected
by the cold. During the spring excessive
droughts, prolonged and several times repeated,
have prevented vegetation on the
common plan from nourishing in healthy
progress, while our little spots of wheat
have hardly felt the inconvenience of excessive
dryness, for the earth, protected
by the straw, has never been deprived entirely
of moisture, and our blades of corn
were flourishing when all around was
drooping and uncertain. To conclude,
then, we have thoroughly succeeded in
our practical experiment, and the wheat
produced is of the finest quality. The .
straw was more than six feet high, and in I
the ears were 50, 60, and even 80 grains
of wheat of full development, the admira- j
tion of all who saw thein, and particular- |
lv those which grew upon the pane of i
glass, and which were quite as healthy J
and as large a* those which grew uporf
the common earth. It must he observed
also that there was not the smallest particle
of earth upon the glass, and that
the plants wore left entirely to themselves,
without being watered or attended to in
anV way whatever from the time of sowing
to the time of reaping."
The cause of this successs thev think
may be explained in the following manner:
"Straw being a bad conductor of heat,
.A ^
and a good conductor qf eiectrpky,
mamtains the root of the plant in a medium
temperature, and prevents the earth
from being deprived entirely of moisture.
The moisture of the earth, or the substratum,
being continual, facilitates the
gradual and constant absorption of carbonic
acid gas from the surrounding atmosphere,
and hydrogen and carbon, the
chief elements of nourishment to vegetables,
are thus economized in regular supplies
where they are constantly required.
in nation With OXV?en
ami pii.TO iu _
from the roots up to the stems and branches
of the plants in which' they are assimilated,
and the oxygen throws off* in exhalation
from the leaves. The straw decays
but slowly, and thus furnishes its substance
by degrees to the young plant in
due progression and proportion, (such as
the siliquous ingredients, for instance,
of the pod or capsule.) so that the decomposition
of the straw corresponds to the
four phases of fermentation in progressing
from the saccharine to the alcaholic,
the acid and the putrid states, analogous
to those of infancy, hulling, youth, and
seeding of the plant.
" We observe that our blades of wheat
have but a very few roots, and those are
short and hard, something like a bird's
claw ; and this agrees with (he remarks
of Mons. Raspail, who states that the
most healthy plants in -ordinary vegetation
have the least exuberance of roots
and fibres.
"Another important observation also,
is, that weeds and parasitical vegetation
are prevented by this method, for the
straw chokes every other plant but that
of its own seed. Many other interesting
observations might be made on these experiments,
but we refrain at present from
obtruding on your readers; but if any of
thein wish for further information on this
subject wc shall willingly afford them
every facility. The importance of the
general result will easily become apparent
without further comment, and a revolution
in the present modes of agricultural
labor is a necessary consequence of
this discovery. No tillage will now be
required, nor any artificial stimulants
in manure and other more or less expen
sive combinations with regard to soil and
culture. In fact, it would be tedious to
enumerate the various advantages that
may result in practice from this casual
experiment, and therefore we proclaim it
simply to the world that all may profit by
it."
As this experiment can be easily tried,
we hope s imeof our farmers will put it to
the test, and communicate the result.?
We shall certainly try it on a small 7 by
9 lot of ground, which is the largest that
rs vouciisafed ton dweller in the city.
KKKP YOUR I.A.YD DRY.
The importance of draining is not duly
appreciated, nor its practice well undo:stood
among tis. Although water is indispensable
to veg.rtation, too much of it
is as hurtfal as toolittlc. It is necessary
to the germination of the seed, to the decomposition
of the vegetable matter in
the soil?to the transmission, of the
food from the soil to the plant?to its circulation
there?and to the maturity of
the product. All these useful purposes
" * ' * ? in ikn
are ueteaiea, wnerc waicr icmann n.v,
soil to excess?the seed rots, the vegetable
matter which should serve as the food
of the crop, remains unsoluble, in consequence
of the absence of heat and air,
which the water excludes; or, if the seed
grows, the plant is sickly, for want of its
proper food, and there is cons rqucntly a
virtual failure in the harvest. It is not
from the surface only that we are to determine
whether land is sufficiently dry
to support a healthy vegetation; but we
are to examine the surface stratum, into
which the roots of the plants penetrate,!
and from which they draw their food. If
this is habitually wet?if it grows marshy
plants?if water will collect in a hole
sunk fifteen inches below the surface the
land is too wet for cultivated crops, and
means should be adopted to render it
more dry. From my partial acquaintance
I with this country, I feel assured that
much of your best land is rendered unfit
| for tillage, or the growth of the finer
I grasses, by reason or the excess of water,
I which passes of reposes upon the sub-soil
| unnoticed by the cultivator. These lands
i are denominated cold and sour, they truly
j are so. Cold, sour lands are invariably
; wet lands below, if not upon the surface,
j But if the superfluous water were judiciously
conducted bv efficient under drains,
(for the construction of which you possess
j the best materials in abundance.) these
' 1 ~ I J k/v .nnrla.arj u.-jrin anil oil'Out
IdliUS WWUIU L?C H'.lUICIVyU Ul III l> IVI 11 IV \JX. k. j
and highly productive, and the outlay
would be repaid by the increased value
of two or three of the first crops. Wet
lands are generally rich lands, abounding !
in vogetable matters, which water has
preserved from decomposition hut which
readily become the food of plants, when
[ the water is drawn off. Let me imagine
a case, which i am sure will be found to
exist in many parts of your country.
Thefe is a slq^e of a little hill, half a mile
in extent, terminating in a flat forty rods i
wide, througft whpftTi hrook meanders. I
The soil on this slope an^ in this flat is
of a light, porous quality, six to twelve
inches deep, reposing on a sub-soil impervious
to water, as clay, rock, or hard.
pan.-^jMoil, I mean the upper stratum, 1
in wnicfr vegetable matters are blended J
with earthy .materials, and which consti- j
tutes the true pasture of plants. Near I
the top of this slope, all along on a horiz-1
ontal level, or perhaps lower down, spouts
or springs burst through the subsoil, a
thing very common in hilly districts, the
waters from which finding an easy pns.
sage through the loose soil, spread and run
down the slope, and tiffon the sub-soil,
' 1 ' ? II .1 C_J ,I ; _
and through tne nat, uuiney unu men
level in the brook. A thermometer
plunged down to the subsoil, will indicate,
at midsummer, a temperature probably
not greater than sixty degrees,
whereas to grow and mature many of our
best farm crops, we require a heat in the
soil of seventy or eighty degrees. How j
shall we remedy this evil, and repder this j
land profitable to the oscupant ? Simply j
by making an underdrain or drains, in a
gently inclining direction; a little below
those spouts or springs, and, if practicable
somewhat into the subsoil. Those will,
catch and conduct off the spouting waters,
and by laying the lowor plane dry and
permeable to heat and air, develope all its
natural powers of fertility.
I will suppose another case?that of a
flat surface, underlaid by an impervious
sub-soil. This is rendered unproductive
or difficult to manage, by stagnant waters.
The rain and snow waters, penetrating
the soil, are arrested in their downward
passage, by the sub-soil, which not having
slope to pass them off, they remain
and stagnate, and putrefy, alike prejudicial
to vegetable and animal health. The
mode of draining such groundsand rendering
them productive and easy of management,
is, first to surround the field with a
good underdraiu, and to construct a sufficient
open drain from the outlay to carry
off the waters. Then with the plough,
throw the land into ridges of twenty to
thirty feet in breadth, according to the tenacity
of the soil, in the direction of the
slope, and sink an underdrain in each of
the furrows between the ridges, terminating
them in the lower cross drain. The
materials of the underdrain, which are
generally stones, should be laid so low as
~ " ' ?-.1 I U I
to admit ot tne tree passage 01 me piuugu
over them. The superfluous water, by
the laws of gravitation, settle into these
drains, and pass off, and the soil becomes
dry, manageable and productive. An acquaintance
called upon a Scotch farmer
whose farm had been underdrained in this
wuy, and being informed that the improvemoot
costs sixteen dollars an acre, tile
having been used, remarked thafc it was a
costly improvement. " Yes," was the
farmer's reply: M but it cost a deul mair
not lo d*il" which he illustrated by pointing
to an adjoining farm, like situated,
which had not been drained, and was overgrown
with rushes and sedgegrass, and j
then to his own fields teeming with
luxuriance and rich in the indications of
an abundant harvest, t
I have dwelt upon the subject of draining
with more detail, because I have personally
realized its benefits, and am sure
it may be extensively gone into with certain
prospect of reward.
Judge Buel.
FATTENING.
We copy the following excellent rules
for fattening animals from the Albany
Cultivator. We would only add to them
tt?*? romiisitinn of comfortable quarters, i
goorl straw beds, and cleanliness, with occasional
irri ations of the skin. Close at.
tention to these directions will ensure
success.
441st. The Preparation of Food.?This
should bo so prepared that its nutritive
properties may be all made available to
but appropriated with the least possible
expenditure of muscular energy. The ox
that is obliged to wander over an acre to
get the food he should find on two or three
square rods?the horse that is two or three
hours eating the coarse food he would
swallow in fifteen minutes Jif the grain
was giound, or the hay cut as it should
be?the sheep that spends hours in innking
its way into a turnip, when if it was
sliced it would eat it in as many minutes
?the pig that eats raw potatoes, or whole
corn, when either cooked, could be eaten
inone quarter of the time now used, may indeed
fatten, but much less rapidly than if
their food was given them in a proper
manner. All food should be given to a
fattening animal in such a state, that as
little time and labor as possible, on the
part of the animal, shall be required in
eating.
442d. The find should he in abundance.
From the time the fattening process
? *-1 ' animol Io olo norli trti* I
commences, until lUC auiuKins oiau"inbip
ed, he should never be without food.
Health and appetite are best promoted by
change of food rather tlian by limiting the
quantity. The animal that is stuffed and
starved by turns, may have streaked (
meat, but it will be made too slowly for
the pleasure or profit of the good fanner. J
"3d. The food should he given regular- j
It/.?This is one of the most essential,
*
; joints in feeding 'animals. If given ir-1
, regularly, the animal indeed consumes I
j his food, but he soon acquires a restless
1 disposition, is disturbed at every appear;
ance of his feeder, and is never in that
j quiet state so necessary to the taking on
of fat. It is surprising how readily any. ,
animal acquires habits of regularity in
feeding, and how soon the influence of I
this is felt in the improvement of his condition.
When at the regular hour, the <
pig has had his pudding, or the sheep its, j 1
turnips they compose themselves to rest, | l
with the consciousness that their digestion
is not to be unseasonably disturbed, or I
their quiet broken by unwonted invitata- i
tions to eat.
"8th. The animal should not he need- I
Vesdy in'ruded between the. hours of feed- I
tWor.?All creatures fatten much faster in
be dark than in the light, a fact only to <
be accounted for by their greater quiet. |
Some of those creatures that are the most <
irritable and impatient of restraint while '
feeding, such as turkeys and geese, are i
found to take on fat rapidly when con. |
fined in rooms, and only fed at stated , I
hours by hand. There is no surer proof 1 I
that a pig is doing well, than to see him I
eat his meal quickly and then retire to i
his bed, to sleep or cogitate until the hour '
of feeding returns. Animals while fat- ]
teningshould never be alarmed, never ra- i
pidly.driven never be fed at unseasonable 11
hours, and above all things, never be al- 11
lowed to want for food." I
AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES. |
In surveying the vast extent of our na? ,
tionai domain, we can hardiv fail to be ,
00 I
amazed at the amount of its agricultural
resources. Stretching through various
. I
degrees of latitude, and exhibiting a soil
which is warmed by a temperate as well j
as a tropical climate, it yields nearly all j
the grains, grasses, and vegetebles that
are required for the substantial comfort of ,
man, as well as those more luxurious fruits ,
that administer to his tastes and tend to
pamper his appetites. Taking the six
states of New England, which are limited
in their territory, we find that although
the soil is of primitive formation, and j
much broken bv hills and ledges of rocks, j
the common grains, such as rye, corn, j
I nntntnoa. nnd most of the I
UUblVWll(iatt
garden vegetables, are produced tipon its
hill-sides and in its valleys to a considerable
extent, which may be much increased
hy improved methods of culture,
although a large portion of its surplus
population is annually drained off to the
more productive lands of the new states
of the west. Agriculture, in this portion
of our country, is not, however, prosecuted
in that scientific and improved form
which prevails in England, and by which j
the crops of that portion of Great Britain l
are quadrupled. The common and ordi- j
nary means which were formerly used j
for the cultivation of the soil, are now
too generally retained ; and the necessary
consequence is, that the amount of agricultural
produce raised is not sufficient
for the support of its population. In the
State of Massachusetts, however, which
has exceeded all the other New England
states in the point to which it has carried
the agricultural interest, a better form of
husbandry exists. Not only has greater
attention been paid to this interest as a I
science, but the influence of that improve- j
raent is experienced in the greater ahun- i
dance and the superiority of its crops.?
Passing to the State of New York, we
find the advantages furnished by the interest
of agriculture most signally displayed.
In that wide alluvial soil,
stretching awav from the banks of the
Hudson to the Shores of Lake Erii, the
surface of the territory, throughout nearly
its entire extent, is checkered with
prosperous farms, tilled by an agricultural
population which is probably exceeded
by that of no other portion of the country
in the independence and solid comfort '
which they enjoy?a condition that is j
principally, derived from the cultivation
of the soil. In that condition, indeed,
we perceive the benefits which might he
diffused throughout the whole country
were this species of enterprise more widely
extended. The production of wheat
alone in this state, yields a vast revenue i
to its producers; and the flour which is |
poured out from its mills, and the quanti- ;
ty of beef, and pork, and other products j
- 11 - : I I
ot stocK-nusnancirv, as wen as grains <tnu
vegetables, which fill the channel of the
Hudson, supply the wants of the villages
upon its banks, and the great metropolis at
its mouth. Passing towards the south,
we reach the territory of Western Pennsylvania,
cultivated with pnins-taking
thrift by Durch-farmeis, a source of no
inconsiderable wealth to the state. Ar- I
. . ' '
riving in Maryland, we ent'-r upon a
soil which, while it produces most of the \
grasses and grains of the north in as great
abundance as even the state of New
York, yields also the tobacco; and from
? / <
that state, through Virginia, nurm * an,.
lina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida,
we have a territory which stretches
nwny in plain and valley, inviting the la.
bors of the plough, and giving in return,
not onlv the vegetable products of the
north, but also those great staples, rice,
tobacco, and cotton.
Nor are the agricultural advantages of!
tnis portion of oor territory, however
great, equal to those furnished by the soil
jot* the west. The valley of tiie Mississippi,
or that domain which extends from
i t
the head of Lake Superior to New Or. rn
leans, watered bv about three thousand v
miles of that great river, spreads out a n
more fertile territory, as has been justly ^
remarked by a recent French traveller, o
than that of any other portion of the w
globe. The oak-lands, extending through ?
Michigan to the borders of the lakes, ti
the prairies of Illinois, the deep mould ii
which stretches from the southern bor. p
ilers of the lakes beyond both banks of j ii
the Ohio, the forests of Kentucky, nnd j c
the numerous states organized along the j fi
Mississippi, the Illinois, and the Missouri, b
from the rugged cliffs of Lake Superior! o
to the cotton and sugar plantations of; si
Lousiana and Alabama, develope a field j si
for agriculture which almost bewilders us j s<
i>y its magnitude. J h
The enterprise of our countrymen, dis. I a
serning the resources of the soil, has kept j ii
pace with their development, by marking I p
:ut important channels of trade through j f<
which the agricultural products of the it
interior can be most conveniently trans- w
Dorted to their respective markets. The a
long lines of canals and railroads that have fi
aeen projected and partially carried out, 1 I<
ioth at the north, the south, and the west,
are designed not less to provide the con- p
leniences of personal travel, than to fur- a
nish the means of transportation for their I
agricultural products. Connecting the j,
principal commercial maits of our conn- v
trv, and making up by art what nature 8
has left undone, these- improvements, j(
while they accommodate the public in its
hours of mere amusement, have a direct
tendency to stimulate the labors constitu-!
ting an electric chain through which will 8
vibrate the opinions as well as the trade 8
of the country. Added to this, we are *
supplied by nature with some of the noblest 1
arteries of internal navigation that are to j *
he found in the world, and which fuinish i s
the safest means for the transportation ; a
from the interior through the artificial i <;
public works to which we have alluded, j
that are designed to run to the navigable |,
waters of the rivers which partially pene- ^
trate the interior, or they may he conveyed
coast-wise from state to state even ^
to the mouth of the Mississippi. In
New York we find the Hudson coursing,
perhaps, the most densely populated portion
of this State from Albany, its largest j 8
interior city, to the great metropolis at its 8
mouth; while the agricultural produr. I
tions of Pennsylvania and .Maryland find I
a ready market at home, and those of the t
south, which are required to be exported, ^
are provided with an ocean pathway to any
port. The navigable advantages of <
the west are. perhaps, more extraordinary (
than those that are found in the eastern (
portion of the country. New York, Penn. t
sylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and ^
Wisconsin, have harbors upon the great ^
lakes which are stretched thousands of
miles through the forest of our northwestern
territory?a territory that is more 1
prolific of agricultural resources than any 1
other portion of our wide-spread empire;
and when we consider the advance of pop- -s
ulation in that territory, and the measure a
of production with which it has already
attained, we cannot fail to be convinced \
that it will noon become, in point of .strength c
and influence, the most important part j
of our republic. From the shores of Illi. |
nois we have nlso a continuous line of p
navigation through the states bordering t
on the Mississippi, which annually pour c
out a vast amount of products to the
great commercial mart at its mouth?the
city of New Orleans. Such aretheagri- t
cultural advantages of the country, and
such the navigable arteries and public i '
works which furnish channels for the I1
transportation of its productions.
In this country, extraordinary motives, p
are held out for the exorcise of agrioul- p
turn. Besides the constitution of the (]
country, and the laws of the several states, |j(
which guaranty to all its citizens a par- >
ticipation in the national legislation, a '
further inducement is held out by the lo v j
price of lands. In the new states of the J {
west, it is well known that an abundance
of the most fertile soil can be procured at c
the low price of one dollar and twcnty-five *
cents per acre, with the best title ; a soil, v
too, which furnishes in great abundance I()
most of the comforts, and many of the |
1 * l.f. \,I/ Una in a /Irlnrl I I
IllXliriGS OF IliU. ?? iicii m inis aviuv.u
the fact that by the advance of pooula- a
(ion, and the necessary growth of the t
country, 1his soil, thus purchased at a low v
rate, will gradually augment in value as c
the settlement of the surrounding terri- j
torv is increased, little additional motive f
could be urged for its cultivation, especi- L
ally to that body of men who might linger
in the large cities of our older
states, dependent upon the chance,c
opportunities of labor which might |
present themselves, and who would he ! 1
cut offentirelv from these opportunities ! ^
when a sudden mercantile revulsion ! *
should, as has frequently occured, sweep i a
awav the bulk of the business population 1 d
1. i n
in one common wic-r. ( ~
We perceive in the habitudes of agri- | t
culture many advantages posse-sod hv no J \
other form of occupation. The cultiva-1 r
tion of the soil hv its own proprietor, j
while attended with hardships, is, in a f
great measure, relieved from those vexa- j
tious cares which disturb the population ^
of I trge cities. In the first, place, he i3 i v
nor confined to the counter of a narrow f
shop, the attendant upon every purchaser e
who may enter in on business. He is not! '
obliged to spend wearisome days and |'
V
lights in toiling over a desk, and has no
isions of bankrupt debtors, or protested
otes, to disturb his midnight slumbers,
for has any uninsured ships upon the
cean, at the mercy of the wind and
'aves. On each occuring season ho
ows his fields, with a calm reliance upon
fie bounty of an allwise Providence, tha
i due time sunshine and shower will rw
en them to the harvest. He is troubled
ttle with the derangement of the curreny,
for he knows that should all the banks
ill, his own children will not want fof
read. He possesses a fteehol I?a tract
f land which, under ordinary circuit*
tances. will yield him the means of sub*
istence; and, with this conviction, if ho
ow.shis croris with labor, he reaps them
nth joy. He looks out upon h'.s domain,.
nd feels that he has an interest at stake
i his country, for his own freehold in a
art of its territory. Should the market
)r his products he contracted, he exper.
jnoes no alarm, for the profits of his sales#
'ould only be required to furnish a fetf#
dd.tional articles of taste, He feels, in
act, as a freeman always should feel, the
3rd of his own domain.
Few more h autiful pictures have been
ainted for us than those of Agricultural
nd pastoral life, that may be found in the
Selogties and the Georgia* of the Ancient
?oet Virgil. In those parts of his Work#
re have not only the mo9t delightful
cenes of such ex|?erience, hut a treatise,
earned fpr that day. upon the most ap>reved
forms of agriculture. And, irtleed,
how can we fail to believe that
uch forms of rural taste, such quiet
cenes of agricultural simplicity and COD*
entment were men disposed to e*erci46
he means?- And these mean* HM
bviotis. Instead of ' employing the
cience of agriculture (we ternt it
i science, because the application
?f chemistry to the subject has made
t one,) as a mode of making money aone,
could we not exercise it with grea.
er advantage as a matter of taste as well
is profit ? In order to !?e convinced of
he influence that might thus he produced
ipon the state of agriculture, hy bending
iste with utility, we reqti re only to visit
i >m j of those gardens in the vicinity of
lomeof our large cities, where taste has
wen sought as well utility. Even in
hese private establishments, laid, out, for
he must part, to gratify private taste,
ve perceive in their beautiful decorations
?in their groioes of shells washed tiy
;ool waters?in their hermit's cells covjred
witn mouldering mow?in their arirtcial
lakes of silver and golden fis-.?
ind in their marble statues, disposed in
jecoming decency along their shaded
valks, as well as in the various species of
. . I . r L 1 _l I _ _
regemuon mai lurntsu rerresnmg snaaes,
ind the variety of flowers which bloom
lpon different portions of their, areas,?
cenes, which, if not envied liy a Shenitone,
might almost vie with his classic
ind rural retreat.
In Jepondently of those quiet beauties,
yhich Iwdong to the more tasteful science
>f horticulture, how intimately might it
>e blended with the more substantial la
>ors of agriculture f How easily might
looks of grazing sheep and cattle upon
he hill.side overlook the broad wheat or-'
orn field, and the artificial pond,?and
he droves of cows, which, refreshed, reurn
to their stall to replenish the dairy,,
irealhe the fragrance of roses from the '
lower garden,?and earth thus be made
ike a second paradise !
That a new era is dawning upon tlie? *
irospects of agriculture in our own mmblic,
we think there can be but little**
[oiibt. The deep interest which the subect
has recently excited in various p irts
?f the country, and the motives which alriost
everywhere exist to extend its opeK
tions, point to a marked improvement in.?
his department ot labor. Almost*every
?neengaged in the bustling scenes of"
ratio, lias pic (urea to his mind a day
/hen he shall retire from the dusty track
if business, and spend his remaining
lays in a quiet agricultural retreat. Hence
t is that most merchants engage, with
II the ardor of manhtoo.l, in the acquistionof
wealth; and pfter the prime and
igor of youth are spent in such toils, the
lesire of accumulation increases with
he acquisition itself until, perchance, ,
leath finds them, like the flray.hor.se,
,ead in the traces. Such, we doubt not,
s the history of thousands in our own
ountrv, who, in the absence of this arlent
thirst for gain, might have enjoyed
nuch happier, purer, and longer lives,
lad they more early devoted themselves
o the invigorating and nohle pursuit of *
griculture. How few there are who a.
opt this pursuit as one of taste and in.
lination ! With the example of the faher
of his country before them?for Vashington
was but a farmer?they toil
n in marts of trade with untiring assiduty.
until a fortune shall have been acqui.
ed, which, in most cases, eludes their
prasp, without due attention to the cultiation
of other qualities which might
mjoy it if acqsiireJ ; or some commercial
ixp'.osion wrecks them, stranding them
ike a shattered hulk upon the shore,
lasted in their hopes, and cast down in.
' .