From the Address of Nicholas Biddle, Esq., before the Philadelphia Agricultural Society. Oct. 1840.
Besides lime and other enriching substances, the cost of the mere animal manures applied to the soil of England, amounts to three hundred millions of dollars; being more than the value of the whole of its foreign commerce. Yet the grateful soil yields back with interest all that is thus lavished upon it. And so it would do here, if we would only trust the earth with any portion of our capital. But this we rarely do. A farmer who has made any money spends it not in his business, but in some other occupation. He buys more land when he ought to buy more manure; or he puts out his money in some joint stock company, to convert sunshine into moonshine–or he buys shares in some gold mine or lead mine. Rely upon it, our richest mine is the barn-yard, and that whatever temptations stocks or shares may offer, the best investment for a farmer is live stock and plough-shares. ****** No soil can withstand a succession of grain crops; and instead of letting it lie fallow in order to recruit from its exhaustion, as was the old plan, the better practice now is to plant in the same field a crop of roots. These draw their nourishment from a lower region than the grain crops do; they derive a great part of their food from the atmosphere, by their large leaves, which at the same time shelter the soil from the extreme heats; they provide a fresh and juicy food for cattle during the winter, thus enabling us to keep a large stock, which, in addition to the profit on them, furnish abundant manure with which to return to the grain crops. Now this should be our effort–more roots–more cattle–more manure–then more grain. ****** All these improvements which may adorn or benefit our farms, are recommended to us not only by our own individual interests, but by the higher sentiment of our duty to the country. This is essentially a nation of farmers. No where else is so large a portion of the community engaged in farming; no where else are the cultivators of the earth more independent or so powerful. One would think that in Europe the great business of life was to put each other to death; for so large a proportion of men are drawn from the walks of productive industry and trained to no other occupation except to shoot foreigners always, and their own countrymen occasionally; while here, the whole energy of all the nation is directed with intense force upon peaceful labour. A strange spectacle this, of one, and one only, unarmed nation on the face of the earth! There is abroad a wild struggle between existing authorities and popular pretensions, and our own example is the common theme of applause or denunciation. It is the more important then for the farmers of this country to be true to their own principles. The soil is theirs–the government is theirs–and on them depends mainly the continuance of their system. That system is, that enlightened opinion, and the domestic ties are more stable guarantees of social tranquillity than mere force, and that the government of the plough is safer, and, when there is need, stronger than the government of the sword.
IMPORTANT FACTS.
“A spot of land which, when pastured upon, will yield sufficient food for only one head, will abundantly maintain four head of cattle in the stable, if the crop be mown at a proper time and given to the cattle in proper order. The soiling yields at least three times the quantity of manure from the same number of cattle; and the best and most efficacious summer manure is made in the stable, and carried to the fields at the most proper period of its fermentation. The cattle, when used to soiling, will yield a much greater quantity of milk, and increase faster in weight while fattening than when they roam the fields, and they are less liable to accidents–do not suffer by the heat, flies or insects, and are not affected by the weather, escaping also many disorders to which cattle always abroad are liable. Each head of cattle fed in the statble, if plentifully littered, yields annually sixteen large double cart-loads of dung.”
A visiter to the farm of Josiah Quincy, quoted in the Farmers’ Cabinet, says:–
His farm is extensive, and surrounded by a flourishing hawthorn hedge, but there is not an interior fence on the premises; the whole presents a single field, devoted to all the various purposes of agriculture; no part of it is allotted to pasture, properly speaking, as his cattle are fed in their stalls, and are never suffered to roam over the fields; and the advantages of this system are thus given–formerly, there were seven miles of interior fences to be kept in repair, but by keeping the cattle up, the whole of this expense is saved: formerly, sixty acres of this farm were devoted to pasturage, but now, a greater number of cattle by one-third, are kept on the products of twenty acres, and I never saw cattle in better condition. The saving by these means is enormous, and the immense advantages arising from it too apparent to be dwelt upon. During the summer, the cattle are fed upon grass, green oats or barley, cut the day before, and suffered to wilt in the sun, and the manure which is thus saved will more than pay for the extra expense and trouble. The farm is most highly cultivated, and every kind of grain and vegetables have a place.
Near London, it is the custom to sow large quantities of oats, to be cut green for stall-feeding the milk-cows; these are always sown on land most highly manured for the purpose, with four, and sometimes five bushels of seed per acre; the yield is prodigious, and is found to be one of the most valuable crops that can be grown, coming off the land in time for a full crop of turnips for the winter, or of late potatoes.
Fences. Around each post hill the earth, to carry off the water, and charr the end a few inches above the surface. Cedar fences last about 15 years, which should lead owners to inquire where the fences are to come from hereafter.
Manure.–Every farmer can double the quantity of his domestic or yard manure, with scarcely any additional expense. At least fifty per cent. of the nutritive properties of yard manure are lost by drenching of rains, excessive fermentations, and injurious application to soil.
