The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1857-06-27
AgrieulturoI.
For the Cecil JTbip,


gard to rcaIin: stock, and somewhat ON the
Eanagcm ent of farms: and particularly on
the subject OF market for oil farm productS'
In that programme | stated that Delaware
end MARYLAND were then and had been for a
long time previous, scourgtd with four curses
zach of them, worse if possible, than the To-
Gusts of Egypt (Which we ought to read
about) -nalnclv: Negroes, Rum, HOrned
CGftle and M0dcrn Democracy During the
eight or ten years that have passed Since
then. nothing has tranSpircd, in the way of
Agriculture or politics, to cause me TO change
my opinion.
| will now remark in passing. that read
an article in that valuable Agricultural Jour
nal. the Grm0ltowa Icicgruph, some few
months since which the Editor called "A
R"graphicul Agricultural History of the life
of that Enincnt Farmer, jon RoBERTs, of
Montgomery Co., Pa. delivered before some
society, either Agricultural or Historical. by
Hon. JOB r. Tyson.
Mr., Roberts time Of farming was in the
days of Ben. Frankin-somc so or 100 years
ago. lie was one of the first men who used
clover, lime and plaster with much success
the pldStcr particularly at the request Of
Franklin. in the Course Of his success the
people said he (Job,) should have all the credit
of introducing it: hut he said: No; let Ben
.jamin have the crcdit--the profit he made
was sufficient for ham.
The lands Of Montgomery county, al
though now i'll Il high, very high state of
cullivatlon-madc so at great labor and cx
pcnsc- did compare in natural quality
with those of Cecil. The land upon which
Job entered was then poor, and called ''worn
OUT but he went with determination to
| l,n 4 bait l,, I,,tt,
horned cutie roam over it, without manuring
! II heavily and seeding it down with grass.
His plan was to farm no more land than he
manfred high, and ploughcd and farmcd well
ard deep, using the sub-soil plough for that
purpose. His principal fertilizers were lime,
clover and plaster, together with the farm
manures, which. by his mode Of farming he
soon got in abundance.
lie did not then, as farmers do now. cut
mp, or go to the expense Of destroying all his
young timber in fencing his farm into small
lots, for grazing down close, but kept his cat
tie III his barn yards, which were comnodious
and comfortable, and "soll,d" thcm-cut
green clover and other grasses for them III
Summer, and used as bedding his straw and
| fodder of all kinds which he had not fed in
| the yald in the wiHtCr-hc did not burn it as
is the mode with some who call themselves far
nsrS. | think the papcl stated that eight
tilncSihe number of cattle could then be raised
and kept in better condition. than is now
kept on the same quantity Of land in its waste
| state. by pasturage; and that course afforded
sufficient manure for all farm purposes-muc~
more rei,aJic and cheaper. and better atlGp'ed 10
The gro'cth Of cs'ials and other products of the
land, than the crock fertilizers in use at the
present day.
lie never paSturcd his stock, but soiled
| them and saved the heavy expense Of fencing:
besides which he savcd the cultivation of the
land now lost by the fence aud the byiars and
filth which, too often. grow with or near the
fences: and by his system Mr.. Roberts brought
up his land to yield $irty bushels of wheat to
the acre and his other produces, proportion
| ably large Weld.
Suppose We try Mr.. Roberts plan. and like
nm lead our men, or 90 foremost, and mind
our own business, aud not be so often found
at the numerous grng- shops that are multi
plying much faster than horned cattle through
oat our land. Instead of discussing so ardently
the Importance of Slavery and Territorial EX-
tension let us, like job, attend to our farms,
and prOduce-not light times as many cattle
Bushels Of wheaton, each Cfonr acres now
cultvated-but 10 or - lines that amount.
You have long ago attained the production
of fifty bushels of wheat to the acre in EIkton
and its vicinity, without the aid of science or
help from the government in the way of gov
crinental aid to experimental farming and the
sciences applied to Ayr culture. Its, however,
gratifying to know that notwithstanding the
neglect by our irOn.hcartcd, or short. sighted
rulers, Maryland did increase her crop of
wheat i'll ten years, from 3,345, 7S3 bushels
n 1Sll tn 4 1uI ,
increase exceeded by only four states in the
Union, in proportion to the increase of popu-
lation. Her crop Of corn, too. was increased
from 8 ,233 COS bushels in lS40,t IL ,lU4 ,G3l
bushels in 1850, being an increase of nearly
onc-third in wheat and one-fourlh in corn
in that decade; and the wealth of The state
increased fully in the same ratio.
During the same period the white and for
egn population increased from 470,0l9 to
5S3 ,G34, or over so per cent-the most of
this in cities and towns. The slaves in TWEEN
ty years prior to 1850 decreased per cent
Cecil County had in 1850, 4, l94 mich COWS.
1922 oxen and 1880 other cattle, and pro-
duccd les, ll2 bushels of wheat, IiO.0GO bu-
shells of corn and 20S,3S bushels of oats on
| Is. S65 acres that is called cultivated land.
With population of 10, 472 whites and S44
slaves, by adopting the system of Job Rob
ertS, how much would she produce, if we Gull
tivatc, say, onc.fifth of 49, G5 acres? We
would then have %, l73 acres which at 60
bushels to the acre would yield 1910 $50
bushels of wheat, instead of l6S,ll2: or,
nearly ten times as much as is now raised:
eight times the number of mch cows, which
is now 4,lS4. would be 33,472 eight times
the number of oxen Il ,522) would be Il, l76,
and eight times as many other cattle a 939)
would be 39,7l2. All this, doubtless, can BE
done on the 1866 acres, and have the
G3, 900 now called uncultivated to improve on.
But to attain this result you will have to
cultivate true dmcricanS. 1t is that Modern
Democracy which has prevented the CONSUME
nation of this great and desirable improve
ment, long slnce that Democracy which Prem
ticc of New York, once a Fedcralist but lately
Democrat, characterized thus:
DEMOCRACY a monste,-wild as that
" which roans the Lyhian wastes and Joys to
" drcnch his tusks in blood pest,ience that
spreads contagion throughout the land;
j." foul blast that withers every thing it touches.
1t would not take many lines Or many
figures to prove that Prentice was right in
his Interpretation. and with Prentice will
leave that foul aud maddcned policy, which
not only keeps down the energies Of our peo-