Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1854-04-05
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Farming Hundred Yean Ago.
Thoogh farming Is one Of the oides, empioyments 4
which engaged the Improvements 10 thave BEEF
very slosy introduced The approaches to perfectio,
which have been attained in Its operations have been mad
by short steps aud these taken long intervals II Is
indeed great art Were all that known OF Its varie,
processes blot.ed out Of memory today It "a doubtful II
with all our modern appliances the study Of centur,
would suffice to give Il i present position only b,
looking back upon the past that able to motto II
improvements for grown sences and well developed
like old oaks.-they to stand from year to yea
without change adding nothing the diameter Of the
trunks and their branches maintaining only their old size
Of years make their mark though; and when the
tree Is cut down each year shows Its own ring.
Farmers In this country hundred ago could hard
" be expected pride themselves the good condition
Of their farms the excellence Of their stock, or the yield
Of their crops The stumps OF the first forests stood In
their fields aud roed In their Oldest pas
ture prounds The Indians harassng them on tho
frontier and political questions Of the gravest import
would have have disturbed their problems OF field
culture, had any such problems been presented
Aud yet Yankee farmers, Of the Of the Eigh-
teenh Century, pretty nearly the counterpars
the farmers Of England In neither country had much
their ranks and do things they had been done
vas esteemed the perfection Of farming.
The good farmer lived just where his father lived In the
same old, implanted house. He planted just many
just four feet apart put into each bill crab two. drop
ped in kernels OF corn, aud made each hill foot
more above the surface. lie planted beans In the
hed bu, pumpkins for, hard is to believe, time
was when pumpkins not known In Dor neccuL
he sowed just many of his father did, and
in the lot He ploughed with just many yoke OF
oxen and With the same heavy unweldly plough "Cas
stee just then QT5o made for the frs bu. il
Sheffield secret. And the best spade, hoe, shovel,
share, he could lind, either Of iron,
exceedingly brittle OF such soft iron that few days
IA DIN has Haffsr
hoe His were small, ungsiuly, feeoe thngs,
pared with the fat fellows who of with the hea
loads, il they erjoyed ton or twoto ballast them
Secretary FLINT of Massachusetts, in his interesting
Horticultural Report, just published says that "durinl
early part the last century the gross weight
of the cattle brought for sale to the S.nth6ed
ket London not $40 pounds and that Of sheep
rs pounds While the average weight Of the former
500 pounds, and Of the latter,
so pounds" Very poor mutton it must have
oeen that Oliver Goldsmith invited Samuel johnson
dine aud the roast beef that Hogarth aways
painting suspect very thin, lean article, alter
all Farmers then did not spend their earnings study
ing how to make the most manure though hos to be rid
of its accumulation in their yards troubled them not
little. When the old barn fell to pieces you may be
it rebuilt upon new site. Ii was deemed a good
opportunity to be rid of nuisance. Nobody sea.
wedding them aud there hauling along the
shore full OF rich shoals OF giItterng fish Compost
thing unknown, aud lecture the subject would hav,
amusing as prophecy that their grandchildren
would round Cape Horu and bring home the Peruvian
Islands something to make their aud beans yield
abuudsny The ashes that gathered in their great
are places swell the ash-heap by the back door
and the pyramid of clam shell. alongside rvaed it in s,t
and deormy. The cattle were left TO ramble in the
woods through the Fall and Spring, aud uncovered
through the Winter TO tougher them The pigs rooted
liberty the village green unless they broke the
parsons garden when rings put into their
check their mischieyous propensties When they
gathered into pens the by the roadside where
every boy that went to school had pull their ears
Se fragrance Of 'heir ceanly quarters RECALLED all passer
- ~
posed. Where he planted last year when the wal
leaves just the size squirrels ear he planted
again this year. Where he sosed rye then " in the old
Of the MOON, he sowed again his year. and the
kept for the potatop years together
When wheat would no longer grow in the exhausted field
he left it for grass to come in. AND when the old pasture
grounds utterly failed they left for briars, bushes
and such forest tees could, TO struggle Sowing
pine seeds planting forest, would have seemed sim
ply ridiculous There few orchards cultivated but
hey produced neither choice luscious fruit Their
principal object the cider barrel for which n
species of fruit answered very WELL When the old
fields declined to surrender profits enough to for their
cultivation the more enterprsng pulled up stakes, and
pushed out into settlements. Il great under
taking but of them penetrated into the Far West
far the banks OF the Hudson. But the ambi
tous Of family eagerly embraced any opportunity
that offered, TO adopt tie life OF Mechanic sailor,
particularly that OF neutrality-suspicious. that
honorable because they we're more profitable and
nv following them, they sooner attained TO independ
ence.
IL was slow work Tor Agriculture, creeping out from so
debased condition. There learned Engshmen la
boring, however, for its improvement and their abors
early appreciated here. The writings Of Sir John
Sinclair and Young, and the experiments of Bakewel
gendered interest in the subject and societies Tor
the promotion Of agricultural science began formed
both sides of the clergyman, Rev. Jared
Eliot published the results of his experiments farming
Connecticut, early lTiT, with marked advantage
{ the people There was Philadelphia Society for III,
promotion Of Agriculture established in lTs5 and In
Massachusetts, ia 1899. Premiums and exhibitions SCOT
into vogue. The Embargo Of 1907, which blighed
severely the OF the Eastern towns gave farm
ing impulse. And though since then thousands Of
obstacles have intcrposed aud fields which then first be-
gan develop their fertility and strength have since beer
built with manufacturing establishments, and the
Old farms contracted into door yards aud gar
dens, ricuture has grown apace until it needs year
book of goodly size to record its improvements and
bulky Census 10 expose its weIith.-N J. Tunes.