Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1840-07-24

draining contributes materially to the health
Of district.
Mr.. Webster gave some examples of the
manner in which irrigation is practiccd in
some districts, and the beneficial results. For
irrigation, q stream below the town is pre-
fcrred to one above . for the reason that it
contains more fcrtllizing matters. From
such stream the water is taken in canal
and carried in such manner that it can be
allowed to escape in small quantities as re-
u,ircd, and after irrigating one set OF mea-
dows, is again received in another canal
and performs the same effect in other and
lower places. The land is not flooded IN
this case the water does not stand upon it,
but is applied for a few days, several times
IN year, say in March, May, July, and Oc-
tobcr. On lands thus irrigated, three crops of
hay are cut in season, of not less than two
tons per acre at each cutting.
With respect to implements of husbandry
Mr.. Webster was of opinion that the English
on the whole had no advantage over us.
Their wagons and carts were no better, their
upows he thought were no better any where,
and in some counties far inferior because un-
necessarily heavy. AS a whole he thought
English implements cumbersome and heavy,
requiring more strength of team, or power in
movement, than American ones, and their
performance no better.
Of the plants cultivated in England, and
but little known in this, the common English
field bean is the most important. 1t produ-
ces from twenty to forty bushels per acre !;
is one of the best kinds of food for animals,
particularly the horse, and requires well
MANFRED strong clay soil.
The raising of sheep in England is an i'm
mcnsc interest. She probably clips fifty
millions of flccccs this year. "The average
yield may be six or seven lbs. per fleece"
The principal classes are the long and SHIRT
wooded, and the Leicester and South Down
may be considered the types of these res
pcctive varieties. The common clip of the
former was from seven 10 eight, and the latter
from threeto three and half or four pounds
Oxen are rarely trained in England for
the yoke though in Devonshirc and Corn
wall OK teams are sometimes employed. III
travelling thousands of miles in England
Mr.. Webster saw only one OK team, and
and here they were harncssed like horses
and worked one before the other. Cattle
are reared for the dairy and the butcher al
most exclusively.
The cattle Of England had greatly i'm
proved, and were still improving. III
thought the Short Horns imported into thi
country we're often good specimens. lii
thought the improved Short Horns the fines
cattle in the world, where plenty of gooc
feed and some midness of climate invite,
them. But since we must raise animals 70
work, hcthought the Dcvonshirc furnishes
excellent animals for our use; and their har
dy nature made them better suited to tn
coarse and sometimes scanty hcrbagc c
New England, than the Short Horns. TIL
latter he thought the best, altogether, for tn
western states, where there is an overflow
ing abundance, both of winter and sunmo
feed, and where, as in England, bullock
arc raised for beef only. The Lciccstc
sheep were like the Short Horns. The
must be kept well, and should always be ia
The South Downs are highly esteemed, bot
for wool and mutton, and are well aadpte
to their light soils, hilly lands, and scantie
herbagc.
f In conclusion, Mr.. Webster said
agriculture feeds MS: to great extent it cloth
MS; without it we could not have manufactures, al,
we should not have commerce. These all stand t
gcther, but they stand together like pillars in clust,
the largest IN the center, and that largest is agrcu
ture Let us remember too, that we live in cuuntr
NJ small farms and freehold tenements in countr
in which men cultivate with their own hands, the
own few nipple a,res, drawing not only their subst
tence bat also their sp rit of indcpend nee and man
freedom from the ground they pillow. They are
once it's owners, its cuvators and its defenders. An
whatever else may be undcrvaIued or overlooked |
us never forget that the cultivation OF the earth Il
D most important labor of man. Man may be civllizt
IN some degree without great progress in manufa
lures, and with little commerce with his distant nog
bors. But without the cultivation of the earth, he
in all countries, savage. Until he stops from Il
chase and fixes himself in some place, and seeks
living from the earth he is roaming barbarian. WhC
tillage begins, other arts follow The farmers Their
, fore, are the founders Of human civilization"