Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1846-03-20


Every thing was done Just as our fathers had
done it before US ; the rules above mentioned as
fixed by custom and prejudice, constituted the
standard, by which all our motions were gov
erned; and all departure from these, was view.
ed with the eye of mistrust, and resented as an
innovation upon long revcred custom. This
system, established in this country by the first
settlers from various European districts, has
been spread b. their agency Throughout the
length and breadth of our land; and the thous
ands of acres, once fertile, but now worn out and
useless, found in the older parts of the country,
are but too substantial proof of the fidelity with
which they and their posterity have carried out
their favorite system.
ii we would examine into the method mos
frequently followed by the old school farmer,
we shall find it something like the following
Commencing with the land in tolerabe good or
der, he lays out one field for his wheat, another
for his potatoes, 3D. for corn, 4th for moving,
9Th for pasturage, and SO on. Restoring
nothing 10 the land, never dreaming Of a rotation
of crops, he continues this arrangement year af.
intermssion or faow, for the benefit of the land
His crops being for the first few seasons respec-
table, he wonders why it is, that in process Of
limo they continually degenerate. The corn
land, which at first gave 10 bushels to the acre,
at the tenth planting yields but ten or fifteen
His meadow, at first so fine and vigorous, yields
constantly less and less, until finally abound
out" or overspread with weeds His pasture
which at first fattened twenty head of cattle
will now scarcely feed half;hat number. Mean.
time his stock, ignorant of shelter or care, de.
generate in precisely the same proportion and
when his son nherits the once flourishinp DOS
sessions OF his father, he finds his labor thrown
away on lands worn out and Improbable and
hearing Of far off western praires, where nature
works for the indolent husbandmaA, he is fol
emgra,ing to more favored soil, there to carry
out with all flial duty, the naxims Of thrift, in
cuca,ed BY his ancestors.
Unfortunately this system, perhaps little
mod fled. is not SO exclusively a relic of BY gone
DAYS, but that many Of our farmers at the pres
ent day have been brought up to the knowledge
and practice OF no other Blu, however strongly
we may be attached to 1t, as that which is sane.
toned BY the customs of our fathers, the prac
,ice of the majority, and long established usage,
10 which as duti ful sons g. sturdy republicans ;
we are bound to render all possible respect. :
however well it has been found to answer where
land ia ,len,y,,nt inhabitants few, nevertheless
these DAYS of invention and Enterprise have given
rise to a new system, which dissatisfied with the
miserable returns Of the old method, aiming a,
improvement guided by science, and seeking Ia
elevate agriculture to position among the 9th.
er professions, equal to its Importance as the
foundation of them all, 10 now striving tn sue.
cess to subvert the old method, and promote as
| far as practicable, the highest interests Of the
farmer.
1t always has been and always will be the
case, that when nation has from time imme
mortal, been accustomed to q certain habit oil
thought, change in that habit cannot be brought
about without severe and proracted struggle
And hence the innovations of this new system
ubon the long established usage of the old. has
not been received in The open arms of friendship
but rather upon the hostile point of the bayone,
But though for the reasons above mentioned on,
fe.linps and preiudces he all nls,ed ON the side
of ancient usage when these scientific gentle
men hold out TO us a prospect of increased res
instability and wealth: when thew offer to make
agriculture one Of the learned professions: tS
enplov in its pursuit all the ensrgies of tbs
human mind, and eAalt US to a level with III.
first If our couDtrymen in every respect: wher
thew advance nothing without proof, and confirm
all their assertions by that most stubborn Of al
arguments-fac,; it surely i'll becomes farmers