? ^
" MS?& ?mmb&W
?' rH,R^w SOUTH-CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3,1841. , NUMBER 5 1
VOLUME VI. "
By M. MAC LEA*. I
* I
h ?
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FROM THE ?t. Y. EVE NINO POST.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY IN AGRICULTURE.
lu tlie Phalange, a Fourier paper published
at Paris, September 8th, a novel
discovery is described, which, if true, will
work a great change in an important de- 1
purtment ot' iigrieult ira! labor. It is 1
comnrnn icated lo the Paris print by Chas.
P.?illard and M. Bernard, who date their j
A hitter at Brest, August, 1841. It appears
that while thev and some of their friends,
who farm their own estates, were engaged
in conversation on the subject of
agriculture, it was observed by one of
them that that branch of industry was
suffering more from tile want of capital
and enterprise than any other, and that
nothing was to be done without manure,
which was every dav becoming more
1 tu
1 <j rninfi r Lr Ind
nuaruc miu cApcim?c. * m.-? >w<
to an inquiry into the properties of manure,
and particularly as to what provision
nature hid made in those uncultivated
r igions where there seems to be a vigorois
and luxuriant growth, without artificial
assistance.
44 In observing nature uanassisted, or
unthwarted rathe:, bv the hand of man,
in vegetable reproduction, it is found that
when the seed is ripe it falls upon the
ground, and then 'he 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 sanw; j
routine of seeding and of reproduction.
'44 From this it follows that, in nature,
every plant produces its own soil or hif
flu. ?.?arlh nnlv SPrvPS trt
bear the plant and not to aid or nourish !
it in vegetation. The nourishment of j
plants is thus supposed to be derived from !
air and trafrrjiral and light, or electricity,
in different proportions, adapted to the
different varieties of vegetable nature."
With this general notion in their minds,
and considering wheat to be, in present j
circumstances, one of the most important .
vegetable substances, they agreed to try
^ experiin mts, and in October last under- j
took the following operations :
In a field which had been sown with j
rye, because the land was deemed too )
poor for wheat, a plot of twelve square [
yards, untilled and left without manure.
was carefully strewed over with the
# *
grains of wheat. and whcaten straw I
was laid upon it closely, and about one
inch in thickness. In a garden, also, 1
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
wnttered oa this hardened surface, and a
layer of straw one inch in depth wa? care j
fully laid over it. and left, as in the former
case, to take its chance without ulterior
attention. And. in order to make doubt ]
impossible concerning the mere second- !
ary functions of mineral earth in vegeta- j
ble reproduction, twenty grains of wheat j
were sown upon ihe surface of a pane of j
glass, and covered with some straw alone,
as in the other case.
The g'Mminaf-on of the seed was soon
appareut and most healthy in development.
"The winter has been rigorous,"
say these correspondents, for this part
of the country, and the earth has sometimes
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 lying on
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 flourishing 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 en
tirely 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
the ears were 50, 60, and even SO grains
of wheat of full development, theadmira- i
tion of all who saw them, and particular, j
lv those which grew upon the pane of
glass, aud which were quite as healthy
*
| and as large as those which grew upori
! the common earth. It must be observed
also that there was not the smallest particle
of earth upon the glass, and that
the plants were left entirely to themselves,
without being watered or attended to in
anV way whatever from the time of sowI
ing to the time of reaping."
The cause of this successs thev? thirik
I may he explained in the following manner:
" 4>
" Straw being a bad conductor of heat,
and a good conductor qf electr^ky,
mamtains the root of the plant in a mediura
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,
and pass in combination with oxygen
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, bulling, youth, and
seeding of the plant.
"We observe that our blades of wheal
have but a very few roots, and those are
short and hard, something like a bird's
claw ; and this agrees with the remarks
O ' '
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 4his 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
them wish for further information on this
subject we shall willingly afford .them
every facility. The importance of the t
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 expensive
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 >meof our farmers will put it to
the test, and communicate the result.?
We shall certainly try it on a small 7 by
O ti.Uic.K ij thp larcrpst
C7 IVl U l ^lUUIIU, niliv.ll IO >nv ,*
ts vouclisufed to a dweller in tlie city.
KKKP YOUR LAND DRY.
The importance of draining is not duly
appreciated, nor its practice well understood
among us. Although water is indispensable
to vegetation, too much of it
is as hurtfal as toolittle. It is necessary
to the germination of the seed, to the de~
i
composition 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
are defeated, where water remains in the
soil to excess?the seed rots, the vegetable
matter which should serve as the food
of the crop, remains unsoluhle, in consequence
of the absence of heat and air,
I which the water excludes; or, if the seed
grows, the plant is sickly, for want of its
proper food, and there is cons :qucntlv a
j virtual failure in the harvest. It is not
j from the surface only that we are to determine
whether land is sufficiently dry
: to support a healthy vegetation ; but we
I are to examine the surface stratum, into
which the roots of the plants penetrate,
and from which they draw their food. If
I 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 he adopted to render it
more dry. From my partial acquaintance
with this country, I feel assured that
C Ifinr) rf?nrt#>rprl unfit
. II1UL I I Ul VUUI UWk IUIIV* w,. v.
i for tillage, or the growth of the finer
( grasses, by reason or the excess of water,
j which passes of reposes upon the sub-soil
' unnoticed by the cultivator. These lands
i arc denominated cold and soui, they truly
I are so. Cold, sour lands are invariably
I wet lands below, if not upon the surface.
; But if the superfluous water were judirij
ously conducted by efficient under drains,
1 (for the construction of which you possess
' the best materials in abundance.) these
j '
I lands would be rendered warm and sweet,
and highly productive, and the outlay
I would be repaid by the increased value
loftwo or three of the first crops. Wet
lands are generally rich lands, abounding
in vegetable matters, which water has
preserved from decomposition hut which ;
readily become the food of plants, when!
I the water is drawn off. Let me imagine
a case, which 4 am sure will be found to
exiat in many parts of your country.
Thjffe is a slt^e of a little hill, half a mile
in extent, termination in a flat forty rods
wide, throughwhi6fi ^ f>rook meanders.
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^
water, as clay, rock, or hardpan.j^jmil,
I mean the upper stratum,
in wmcjr vegetable matters are blended
with earthy ,materials, and which constitutes
the true pasture of plants. Near
the top of this slope, all along on a horizontal
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 passage
through the loose soil, spread and run
down the slope, and upon the sub-soil,
and through the flat, till they find their
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
shall we remedy this evil, and repder this
land profitable to the oecupant ? Simply
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 unpioductive
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 pa?s them off, they remain
and stagnate, and putrefy, alike prejudicial
to vegetable and animal health. The
mode of draining such grounds and 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 tenr.city
of the soil, in the uirection of the
slope, and sink an underdrain in each of
the furrows between the ridges, termina
?
ting them in the lower cro>s drain. The
materials of the underdrain, which are
generally stones, should belaid so low as
to admit of the free passage of the plough
over them. The superfluous water, by
the laws of gravitation, settle into these
drains, and nass off. and the soil becomes
dry, manageable and productive. An acquaintance
called upon a Scotch farmer
whose farm had been underdrained in this
wav, and being informed that the improvetnent
costs sixteen dollars an acre, tile
having been used, remarked that it was a
costly improvement. 44 Yes," was the
farmer's reply: 44 but it cost a deal mair
not io d*it," which he illustrated by pointing
to an adjoining farm, like situated,
which had not been drained, and was over-1
grown with rushes and sedgegrass, and j
then to his own fields teeming with
luxuriance and rich in the indications of
an abundant harvest, i
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 ccrtain
prospect of reward.
Judge Buel.
FATTENING.
We copy the following excellent rules
for fattening animals from the Albany
r'nliivatnr. Wfi would on!v add to them
the requisition of comfortable quarters,
good straw beds, and cleanliness, with occasional
irri* ations of the skin. Close attention
to these directions will ensure
success.
" 1st. The Preparation of Food.?This
should bo so prepared that its nutritive
properties may be all made available to
hut 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
wasgiound, or the hav cut as it should
be?the sheep that spends hours in making
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 he required in
eating.
"2d. The food should be in abundance.
From the time the fattening process
commences, until the animal is slaughtered,
he should never be without food.
Health and appetite are best promoted bv
change of food rather than bv 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.
"3d. The food should be given regularlil.?This
is one of the most essential
points in feeding'animals. If given ir
regularly, the t.nimal indeed consumes
| his food, but he soon acquires a restles:
' disposition, is disturbed at every appear.
; ance of his feeder, and is never in thai
I quiet state so necessary to the taking on
offat. It is surprising how readily any
animal acquires habits of regularity in
feeding, and how soon the influence o(
this is felt in the improvement of his con'
dition. When at the regular hour, the
j pig has had his pudding, or the sheep its,
; turnips they compose themselves to rest,
I with the consciousness that their digestion
1 is not to he unseasonably disturbed, or
their quiet broken by unwonted invitatations
to eat.
"8th. The animal should not be need1
Vestly in'raded between the hours of feedtun?All
creatures fatten much faster in
he dark than in the lisrht, a fact onlv 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
found to take on fat: rapidly when confined
in rooms, and only fed at stated
hours by hand. There is no surer proof
that a pig is doing well, than to see him
eat his meal quickly and then retire to
his bed, to sleeper cogitate until the hour
of feeding return.';. Animals while fattening
should never be alarmed, never rapidly.driven
never be fed at unseasonable
hours, and above all things, never be allowed
to want for food."
agricultural resources.
In surveying the vast extent of our na?
tional domain, v/e can hardly fail to be
amazed at the amount of its agricultural
resources. Stretching through various
degrees of latitude, and exhibiting a soil
which is warmed by a temperate as well
as a tropical climate, it yields nearly all
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
much broken bv hills and ledges of rocks,
the common grains, such as rye, corn,
buckwheat, potatoes, and most of the
garden vegetables, are produced hpon its
hill-sides and in its valleys to a considerable
extent, which may be much increased
by 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 th.at scientific and improved form
which prevails iri England, and by which
the crops of that portion of Great Britain
are quadrupled. The common and ordinary
means which were formerly used
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 lhe other New England
- i - i? 1
states in the poini 10 v/ntcn 11 nas carnuu
the agricultural interest, a hotter form of
husbandry exists. Not only has grea :er
attention been paid to this interest as a
science, but the influence of that improveraent
is experienced in the greater abundance
and the superiority of its crops.?
Passing to the fttai:e of New York, we
find the advantages furnished by the interest
of agricu ture 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
principally, derived from the cultivation
of the soil. In that condition, indeed,
we perceive the benefits which might be
diffused through nit i.he whole country
were this species of enterprise more wide
ly extended. T le production of wheat
alone in this stale, yields a vast revenue
to its producers; and the flour which is
poured out from its mills, and the quantity
of beef, and pork, and other products
of stock-husbandry, as veil as grains arid
vegetables, which fill the channel of the
Hudson, supply tie wants of the villages
upon its hanks, and the great metropolis at
its mouth. Passing towards the south,
we reach the territory of Western Pennsylvania,
cultivated with pains-taking
thrift hv Duich-farmeis, a source of no
inconsiderable wealth to the state. Arriving
in Maryland, we ent'-r upon a
soil which, while it produces most of the
grasses and grains of the north in as great
n O O
abundance as even the state of New
York, yields also the tobacco; and from
< a 1 imriniQ K ^arA
mill diaiC) unuu:4ii i i^uiiuf iiwiiii * '? ?/
lina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida,
we have a territory which stretches
away in plain and valley, inviting the labors
of the plougi, and giving in return,
not only the vegetable products of the
north, but also those great staples, rice,
tobacco, and cot on.
Nor are the agricultural advantages of
this portion of our territory, however
great, equal to those furnished hy the soil
of the west. The valley of tiie .Mississippi,
or that domain which extends from
. i the head of Lake Superior to New Or?
: leans, watered bv about three thousand
I I
3 miles of that great river, spreads out a
. more fertile territory, as has been justly
t remarked by a recent French traveller,
i than that of any other portion of thej
. globe. The oak-lands, extending through
i Michigan to the borders of the lakes,
the prairies of Illinois, the deep mould
which stretches from the southern bor(
ders of the lakes beyond both banks of j
, the Ohio, the forests of Kentucky, nnd j
the numerous slates organized along the |
Mississippi, the Illinois, and the Missouri,
from the rugged cliffs of Lake Superior!
to the cotton and sugar plantations of;
Lousiana and Alabama, develope a field j
for agriculture which almost bewilders us ?
by its magnitude.
The enterprise of our countrymen, dis-1
cerning the resources of the soil, ha- kept j
pace with their development, by marking I
cut important channels of trade through j
which the agricultural products of the j
interior can be most conveniently trans-;
*
I ported to their respective markets. The
| long lines of canals and railroads that have
been projected and partially carried out,
both at the north, the south, and the west,
are designed not less to provide the convenienees
of personal travel, than to furnish
the means of transportation for their
ngriculrural products. Connecting the
i principal commercial maits of our country,
and making up by art what nature 1
has left undone, these* improvements, j
while they accommodate the public in its I
hours of mere amusement, have a direct 1
tendency to stimulate the labors constitu-!
ting an electric chain through which will
vibrate the opinions as well as the trade
of the country. Added to this, we are
supplied by nature with some of the noblest
arteriesof internal navigation that are to j
be found in the world, and which furnish !
. the safest means for the transportation |
from the interior through the artificial
public works to which we have alluded,
that are designed to run to the navigable
waters of the rivers which partially penetrate
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
1 interior city, to the great metropolis at its
mouth ; while the agricultural produrtions
of Pennsylvania and .Maryland find
' a ready market at home, and those of the
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. i
sylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and
Wisconsin, have harbors upon the great
lakes which are stretched thousands of
i miles through the forest of our northwes.
tern territory?a territory that is more
prolific of agricultural resources than any
other portion of our wide-spread empire;
and when we consider the advance of population
in that territory, and the measure
' of production with which it has already
attained, we cannot fail to be convinced
. rhat it will soon become, in point of strength
and influence, the most important part
of our republic. From the shores of Illi!
nois we have also a continuous line of
' navigation through the states bordering
on the Mississippi, which annually pour
out a vast amount of products to the
great commercial mart at its mouth?the
city of New Orleans. Such are the agricultural
advantages of the country, and
such the navigable arteries and public ]
works which furnish channels for the j
transportation of its productions.
In this country, extraordinary motives, ,
are held out for the exercise of agrtcul- j
turn. Besides the constitution of the |
country, and the laws of the several states, !
; wnien guaraniy 10 an ns citizens n jmr- ,
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
j the low price of one dollar and twcntv-five j
cents per acre, with the best title ; a soil, ,
: too, which furnishes in great abundance ,
most of the comforts, and many of the j
! luxuries of life. When to this is added
| the fact that by the advance of population,
and the necessary growth of the
country, this soil, thus purchased at a low
j rate, will gradually augment in value as
I the settlement of the surrounding terri|
torv is increased, little additional motive
j could be urged for its cultivation, especi|
ally to that body of men who might linger i
i -i /? i ? l
in tne large ernes 01 our oiaer ;
states, dependent upon the chance I
opportunities of labor which might j
> present themselves, and who would he j
cut off entirely from those opportunities!
when a midden mercantile revulsion |
should, as has frequently occured, sweep i
away the bulk of the business population ,
in one common wreck.
We perceive in the habitudes of ngri- j
i culture many advantages pos-e-seJ by no '
i other form of occupation. The cultiva-!
tion of the soil by its own proprietor,
while attended with hardships, is, in a
great measure, relieved from those vcxa- j
, tious cares which disturb the population j
! of I trge cities. Jo the first, place, he is i
nor confined to the counter of a narrow
shop, the attendant upon every purchaser
who mp.v enter in on business. He is not'
( obliged to spend wearisome days and j
J
I nights in toiling over a desk, and has no
| visions of bankrupt debtors, or protested
! notes, to disturb his midnight slumbers*
| Nor has any uninsured ships upon the
ocean, at the mercy of the wind and
waves. On each occuring season ho
sows his fields, with a calm reiianceupon
the bounty of an all wise Providence, tha
in due time sunshine and shower will ripen
them to the harvest. He is troubled
little with the derangement of the currency.
for he knows that should all the banks
fail, his own children will not want for
bread. He possesses a fteehol I?a tract
of land which, under ordinary circumstances.
will yield him the means of subsistence;
and, with this conviction, if he
sows his crops with labor, he reaps them
with joy. He locks out upon h'.s domain,
and feels that he has an interest at stake
in his country, for his own freehold in a
part of its territory. Should the market
for his products he contracted, he experiences
no alarm, for the profits of his sale*
would only be required to furnish a feW?
additional articles of taste, He feels, irt
tact, as a freeman always should feel, the
lord of his own domain.
Few morC h autiful pictures have bc?n
painted for us than those of agricultural
and pastoral life, that may be found in the
Eclogues and the CrCorgicsof the a.icient
|HK?t Virgil. In those parts of his worlwt
we have not only the most delightful
scenes of such experience, but a treatise*
learned fpr that day. upon the moat approved
forms of agriculture. And* indeed,
how can we fail to believe that
such forms of rural taste, such quiet
scenes of agricultural simplicity and contentment
were men disposed to exercise
the meant? And tlicse me*nrt tlftf
obvious. Instead of 1 employing the
science of agriculture (we term it
; a science, because the application
i of chemistry to the subject has made
it one,) as a mode of making money aloijc,
could we not exercise it with grea.
ter advantage as a matter of taste as well
as profit'? In order to be convinced of
the influence that might thus he produced
upon th? >tate ofugriculture, by b ending'
! t iste with utility, we requ re only to visit
! s >me of those gardens in the vicinity of
some of our large cities, where taste has
been sought as well utility, Even in
these private establishments, laid, out, for
the most part, to gratify private taste,
we perceive in their beautiful decorations
?in their groloes of shells washed tiy
cool waters?in their hermit's cells cov
ered witn mouldering mow?in their artificial
lakes of silver and golden fis'.?
and in their marble statues, disposed in
becoming decency along their shaded
walks, as well as in the various species of
vegetation that furnish re freshing shades,
and the variety of flowers which bloom
upon different portions of their areas,-??
scenes, which, if not envied bv a Shenstone,
might almost vie with his classic
and rural retreat.
Independently of those quiet beauties.
\yliich l>e!oug to the more tasteful science
of horticulture, how intimately might it
he blended with the more sulmtantial la
bora of agriculture J How easily might
flocks of grazing sheep and cattle upon
the hill-side overlook the broad wheat or
corn field, and the artificial pond,?and
the droves of cows, which, refreshed, returr
to their stall to replenish the dairy,
breathe the fragrance of roses from the
flower garden,?and earth thus be made
hke a second paradise !
Tnat a new era is dawning upon the
prospects oi agricuimre m our own r?public,
we think there can be but little
doubt. The deep interest which the subject
lias recently excited in various pirta
of the country, and the motives which almost
everywhere exist to extend its operations,
point to a marked improvement inthis
department ol labor. Almost every
one engaged in the bustling scenes of
trade, has pictured to his mind a day
when lie shall retire from the dusty track
of business, and spend his remaining
days in a quiet agricultural retreat. Hence
it is that most merchants engage, with
all the ardor of manhood, in the acquisition
of wealth ; and gftar the prime and
vigor of youth are spent in such toils, the
desire of accumulation increas e with
the acquisition itself until, purchancr, ,
death finds them, like Hie dray-horse,
cead in the traces. Such* we doubt not,
is the history of thousands in our own
country, who, in the absence of this ardent
thirst for gain, might have enjoyed
much happier, purer, and longer lives,
had they more early devoted themselves
to the invigorating and noble pursuit of *
agriculture. How few there are who adopt
this pursuit as one of taste and inclination
! With the example of the father
of his country before, them?for Waaliinrrlnn
woo knfr a farmor? fhf?v t<vl
? ? U^ll ww U4 UUk ? M%l IIIWI ' * ?
on in marts of trade with untiring assiduity,
until a fortune shall have been acquired,
which, in most cases, eludes their
grasp, without due attention to the cultivation
of other qualities which might
enjoy it if acquired ; or some commercial v
explosion wrecks them, stranding them
like a shuttered hulk upon the shore,
blasted in their hopes, and cast down in.