The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-11-08
Lord Napier ON Ameriean Farming.


Lord Napier the British Minister at
Washington, recently attended an agrieul-
tural meeting at Richmond, Va, at which
he made sensible and graceful speech
upon the subject of American agriculture.
It is hattering yet truthful. The speaker is
a man of close bservation-penetrates be-
meath the surface in everything he examines
thinks deeply, and expresses himself
clearly and eloquently. "The husbandry
Of America" said he, "presents, in its ex-
tension and rapid progress spectacle to
which no Englishman can remain indifTer-
cnt History offers no example of this
swift, resistless, uncessing encroachment of
skilled labor over the vacant and fertile do
main of the savage and the brute 1t is the
first triumph of man, equipped with all the
accumulated powers of experience and in
vention, over nature in her largest limits
and her most gracious and bountiful con-
ditions' He glanced at emigration, and
then added:
While recognizing all the Importance of
the lard and agriculture OF the United States
to the social welfare of the British empire, l
cannot deny myself the pleasure of ex-
pressing to you the interest, which, as
mere virtuoso in rural matters, have taken
in the external aspect of American husband
ry. IN some resnects the prospect is indeed
often unsatisfactory to the English eye. In
the new parts OF the country the primitive
graces of the Landscape are ruthlessy violat-
ed, while the artifca al trimnesS to which
we are accustomed has not begun. We
mourn over the blackened and girdled giants
of the forest, each of which would be the
sylvan honor of an English homestead-our
fastidioIs complaint that the furrow is not
straight, that the wheat is not clean, that
the swamp is not drained, that the sward
bristlcd with obnoxious stumps: then there
is a general absence of root or green crops,
and we discover great deficiency of sheep.
In the regions which have been longest un-
/ der the plough, the vital forces of the soil
seem to have been frequently overtaxed; the
| morcI valuable cereals are abandoned, and here
aud there the wilderness resumes its sway.
| 1t requires hut little reelection to show that
| these phenomena are the natural and transit
| tory concomitants of the first epoch of tillage,
which is hasty, pitiess, and impoyeriShing.
/ On the other hand, | remark that in many
portions of the Union there are extensive
( tracts which would be considered opulent
and well ordered in any European kingdom.
! In the absence of turnips, potatoes, and man
| gold wortzel, the English traveller is gratifed
/ by the spectacle OF the Indian corn, tobacco.
and the vine, and, further South, by the cot
ton plant, the rice field and the cane, all
magnificent and lucrative productions, nm
| known % 3 ;sh husbandry. There is also
a greater abundance Of fruit trees the breed
I of horses equals that of the mother country,
! except, think for the purpose of heavy draft;
! and the various races OF cattle, repleniShed
! by iGportations of the best blood of England,
! will be propagated without dcgeneracy and
will prove formidable rivals to the parent
! stock. In country where human labor is
! exorb.;anfly expensive, the greatest ingenuity
| is eXcrted in the Improvement of tools and
| the invention of mechanical aids and sub
| Stitutes, and in this respect the triumphs of
American contrivance are not only profita-
/ bic at home, bat are recognized and adopted
/ by foreign nations. Much, gentlemen, has
heen accomplished, and the future will fur
| nish still higher results. If we regard the
! dissemination Of intelligence, the diffusion
| Of taste for rural pursuits, the increased ap-
| plication of capital, the scientific inspection
of soils, the discriminating use Of Glanurcs
| the Development of the home market, and the
establishment of competitive exhibitions, we
may safely affirm that American agriculture
/ has entered upon a period which will not
only be reparative where the past was ex-
| haustive, but which will gradually carry the
land in every quarter to high pitch of pro-
] ductveness and beauty.