Lower Sandusky freeman. (Lower Sandusky [i.e. Fremont, Ohio]) 1849-1849, 1849-03-10
.arirnItural
ADVANCES IN AGRICULTURAL KNOWL-
-. .sAe EDGE .-I

The question is often asked, %Do farmers really
make any important improvements? Do they
adopt any better modes than were practiced
40 years ago? Is grain raised at less cost than
m former days? Is hay more plenty? Is farm
stock better?
Such inquirers are not accurate observers Far
mers have made great improvements within forty
years-and more within the last ten than before.
TO prove this we ony need to invite the attention
of old farmers to facts.
We assert that numerous farms in Massachusetts,
now produce ten times as much merchantable hay
as they did with the same acres, or like number
of acres, 40 years ago Do you doubt? We ap-
peal to practical men who have obtained living by
farming. Many farms with fifty acres of cleared
land, produce no more fine English hay than would
feed two horses through the winter-and we know
of some that would not yield enough to feed one
horse-say three tons of pure hay. But the same
farms now produce thirty tons and fifty tons in
season. We submit this question entirely to jury
Of farmers
But how is this done? Less than thirty years
ago a farmer, near the centre of birmingham, own
ned so acres of cleared land. From 40 acres of
his moving grounds he raised less than 10 tons of
hay, and that not of the best quality, though grown
on dry land. The farm is now cut up and there
many owners Much of the land that was for
merly nown for one fourth of ton of hay per acre
now produces more than two tons One of the
than enough to pay the taxes, now yields heavy
burthens of English hay any of the best land in
the country.
Well why were not these improvements made
under the former owner. One reason was he had
too much land Another was he did not know how
to convert his bog meadow into good moving A
third was. want of knowledge of the advantage of
a rotation Of crops And fourth was, that there
already seed enough in the ground, and that it
would not pay cost to buy or grow good seed for
the purpose of sowing
Many farmers can recollect when one lot was
kept for mowing--one for corn and grain"-one
for pasturing. And even now. farms for sale are
described in old fashioned phraseology as "well d.
vided into moving pasturing and tilage" The only
rotation known was in the corn and rye field. Here
was as much rotation and variety as the Irishman
boasted of at his table-he had pork and potatoes
one day, and potatoes and pork the next Corn
grew the last year and rye this yearcorn takes its
turn again in the following year. -sS
There was no such thing practiced as general
system of rotation of crops. The lands as Ok
ed as the grades or casts in society in Ireland
In ancient English deeds and lease lands were al
ways described as moving, or tllage, or pasture
lands And this was carried so far in that country
that tenant under lease of twenty-ono years.
was held guilty of breach of fraud if he changed
moving lands into tillage, tlage lands into now
ing. The celebrated Chief Justice Coke used to
remark that such practice-such change not
only injured the farm by diminishing the crops
but that it changed the description of the leased
farm and might consequently prejudice the title,
as the farm would not correspond with the deed!
By better knowledge how to improve the most
worthless bogs-by rotation of crops-and by pro-
curing the best grass seeds, farmers in Massachu-
sets now harvest ten times as much good hay as
they did forty years ago Now, as hay is most i'm
portant Of all the harvests of New England an in
crease of ten fold in this product is small matter
1t is worth talking about and remembering. And
it is worth our while to enquire whether farmers
have done all this simultaneously and by reflection
in their own closets, or whether they have been
learning from one another-whether there has been
a miraculous change, or whether the agricultural
papers have not caused an epidemic that is spread
ing among all classes who cultivate the soil.
Horses are kept better and perform more labor
they are very commonly kept at hay through the
whole year-and thus they are enabled to do twice
as much work as when they were turned out to
pasture through the summer.
Whether farmers now lay up more money than
formerly is another question. Our habits of living
are much more expensive than they were, and mer
who hire farms are obliged to pay more rent But
the owners of real estate directly benefited by
this increased production. Farms are held higher
and they paw greater rents, and actual laborers
now paid higher wages than they ever before re
ceived-while the clothing costs them less than Al
any former time. t
Corn and the English grains have not been In
creased as English hay has 1t now costs quite al
much to produce a bushel of corn or grain as il
years long past The first settlers here made il
their business to supply themselves with breac
from their own cornfelds Corn and rye were
their favorte grains, and they took especial tc
Law up stores ofthese essentials to their very exist
ence Indian corn was almost worshiped by farm
ers who had often come to the last bushel before
the new harvest commenced. And it was held tc
be immoral to pluck any of the green ears fol
roasting or boiling, because they would give les
nourishment in this state than when ground intc
meal
But although it may cost as much as ever to grow
bushe of corn on account of the high price of la
Dor, there can be no question that produce more
corn per acre than we did in former times We
make our lands richer, we save more manure. We
grow heavy crops, and it costs as much to harves
them We grow less rye and buy more wheat -four
Probably we harvest less corn, in proportion to oul
cleared acres than we did forty years ago.
Mass, Ag, Paper.
ESGRAFrING WAx.-An experienced man at the
&c objects tn the IIse of rnSin n,