Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-07-27
A GrIC IL 1t II Z u |
Ancient and Modern Produotiveness Of the L

Ancient and Modern Productiveness Of the Land.
Caesar tells US that in his day, the \ orthern
! British tribes never sowed their lands but like
our Indians, lived en- the chase They kept
cows (the short horn Durham then as now
probably being their favorte.) In the south
Of England, however, lands were better Guilt
vatcd even quite well manurcd. The use Of
mari was well known to them and used with
great discrimination. They used the plow and
/ the fail. and stored their wheat in circular sub
/ terranean chambers. The remains of some of
| these have been discovered in this century The
! Romans no doubt did something TO develop
the agriculture of Britain, although they first
| sought the British Isle for its commerce in tin,
and then sought to reduce it by their armies,
and soldiers are seldom good farmers.
Dnring the Anglo-Saxon period, great at
tention was paid to agriculture, and the fonn-
dation Of that taste laid which has since made
the English the best farmers in the world for
| improving their lands. In the time of Ethel
bert a working slave sold for from
/ eight to fourteen dollars, horse for tw0-thrds
J that amount and cow for about a dollar and
Il half a pig for half dollar, and sheep for
ii quarter.
After the Saxons had settled down, great
care was taken of woodland. Arabic land
was incoscd with fences and gates But three
parts out of four of the lands seem to have
been used for pasturage, and most of this in
common. An acre of land would sometimes
! he sold for the price of four sheep. But yet
! it has been calculated that a. -. 700, twelve
hundred acres wouId rent for its equivalent TO
! 5000 and the whole produce of such farm
would be about ten times that amount or
$4,000 equal TO S4 per acr2
| In this State, il is not uncommon to rent
| farm on shares. That is the owner furnishes
| the house. barn, cleared land. and wood and
| fences, and the tenant the whole Of the stock
and implements, and each take half the pro-
ducc. In those days when the farmer Jared
well. the serlS or laborers were about as poor
ly treated as slaves One-ffth even of the cat
tie are supposed to have died of starvation du-
ring the winter If severe Still all sorts of
good eating known now were always plent-
fully exhibited on the table at the manor
house. AS commerce advanced, the price of
sheep rose on account of the wool SO that, OIL
an average they would bring dollar but at
some seasons of the year twenty-five cents was
! considered an ample price. Manufacturing
was carried on, and plowing with four Oxen
The plow stirred mp the ground pretty deep
but no attempt seems TO have been made TO
turn the clean furrow, upon which all depends
with us. The spade and the pick-axc, the axe,
the scythc and the fail were in common use.
The sickle was used for reaping, and the pitch
fork more largely than with u.s. and they had
Wagons and carts
! After the tim. Of the Conquest, the land
was more highly manured, breeding horses and
cattle became a passion of the Normans. and
they drained vast cxtcnts of land. The monks
were however, the most active and most pro-
! rressive farmers Of this period. Thomas
a Beckett himself, the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and the most proud aud ambitious pre-
late of all England, would go out and take
turn in the field at hay-malsing time, or reap
ing. They now plow their land twice in sum
mer and once in winter, to prepare them for
wheat. Gardens, orchards aud vineyards
were carefully planted and market gardens at
Fuham, and other places, were cstabllShed.--
Thus only by slow degrees and long expert
ments has England been brought up to its
present state Of fertility. As to barns, even
to this day they are not in any other part of
the world TO be compared to those OF Penn I
sylvana, and vet the economy Of them is de
monstrabe. Pennsylvania clover seed is also !
in demand, the climate seeming to suit ii bet |
ter than that of most other states. Ii is thus |
that the productions of the earth are by de-
srrees increased. More has been done however. /
within the last fifty years than in FIVE hundred |
previously What the next fifty years viii |
bring who shall tell Cincinnati 1rttSdn. !