Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-10-23


us. That inscription Iinkstwo centuries
| together. To him we leave the task.
Associated with this grander festival
you, have chosen to hold the annual
Fair of the Otter Creek Valley Associa-
ton, and more singularly called upon
me to vary the occasion with what will
perhaps misname, anHagricultural adj
dress.
undertakes with no pretentions
or claims of fitness. --.--.-.
Agriculture has many histories, but
| it has no systemOf universal ap-
plication. The soil is generous
and good natured, and never COM
plains IL you do not treat it twice
/ alike. 1t keeps on yielding under the
! most bunglin G manipulations until It's
/ strength is exhausted. Give it seed and
! it Observation-Disclosures and fruit above
all things it abhors barrenness. Differ
| ing climates, varying chemical elements
or properties that enter into the compost
| ton of the soil, with many other circum-
stances, render any. onesssystem impEacti-
cable. Nevertheless..a'g great many books,
| pamphlets. and essays have been written
| upon the best methods for the cultiya-
| tions of the sOil-fruit culture, and the
/. breeding of domestic animals. The re-
| suits of experiments, theories, hypothe-
| tical and fanciful, have been published
| and offered for practical investigation.
| They are SO numerous and confllctlng
| that any but a practical culturist would
! be confused by the mass OF attempted
| information ON these subjects. The young
! man must be of more than ordinary
| courage to begin his. farming enterprises
| according TO. the books. Stu agricul-
tural: :literature, ''sG!far as it gives the re-,
/. suits Of actual experiments, with the
! conditions Of the climate and sou, and
7 all the modifying circumstances OF these
\ experiments. is nodpubt exceedingly val
| uable. This literature is OF great anti
! Guilty. In the scraps of history exhumed
/ from the dust of the early Caldeap ages,
/ there are evidences that agriculture
received scientifc:attention. The early
I Egyptian heirogiYphics represent lmple--
| lnUnts of husbandry From China and
/ Palestine, when the world was new, twe
learn that. animal power was apPiled 70
! the cultivation Of the SOL,
:. In tie elegant manuscripts OF the
+ Greeks. a thousand years before Christ,
| are given. descriptions of the plough and
Of draining. The Greeks had their ag-
ricultural writer's, And in the pages OF
! their best modern historian, although
/ the work : is ..nainly occupiedlwith a
/ minute description of heroes and demi-
pgds-tke fame ofSta1es and OF statesmen,
vet he pauses to say that the produc-
tions of that land, were . wheat, barley,
] fax. wine and oil--that they had fine
4 breeds of cattle, horses, sheep and
swine. "-1The Romans had books and
/ laws on agriculture. In their primitive
constitutions, to every citizen, the state
allotted six acres OF land; later III heI.
history he might hold fifty acres, and
subsequently, five hundred. The govern
ment awarded lands TO its chieftalns
and soldiers. And it was written three
thousand years ago that the earth
| took delight IN being titled by the hands
4 ofamen. crowned with laurelsand deco
rated withtfiuIRphal hoaers. Cincinnati
us has run,his plough, through all history,
followed hard by Cato, the censor, Win
his little handbook on farming. he
Roman Senate E'ordered twenty eight
volumes from Carthage on agriculture.
l. translated into Latin the use of the
-. !. Roman people There is no branch OF
agricultural science with which the
( Greeks vsand eRonlans, if. not still more
ancient people, were not familiar.
Draining, pulyeFization Of the soil, ma
nures, compact beds the culture OF
fruit and the breeding Of stock, were
understood by them.
, The characteristics peculiar TO goou
I COW. I have read, are given by early
Roman writers. ], do uot1known how
these traits will compare with your
: Judgment go A!tall make. ....long, with q
large chest, broad head, eyes black and
/ open, horns graceful, smooth and black,
ears hairy, Jaws straight, dewlap anc
8 tail large. hoofs and legs moderate
s. There is another instance slngulafly
; curious. of the. method of their treat
ment of oxen. After they got throl
$ blowing, and came. home heated anc
f tired, they must have u little vine Il
drink" 1t is not stated whether the oA
;, relisherl it as well as other animals ol
i not. = After being fed little he was lee
Il to drink. and if he did not drink readily
r the boy must whistle TO make him. lh'
e Israelites were u nation of farmers
j, The great men of sacred history, ant
. the princes of those times, were cattt
: breeders and sheep raisers, besides tllier
u of the soil agricultTists on.the grandes
8 scale. The yolumn Of inspiration
j abounds with illusions to the different
kinds of the earth's products.
Solomon wrote a'book on the subject
u which has been lost. In all ancient
q times husbandry was an art, engaglns
8 the most cultivated people and ttht
' wealtirjest classes But there came
time when agriculture declined among
the leading nations and. tribes OF tht
+ earth. Greece preferred to build cItiei
i and partitions, and to cut marble me
every conceivable human and nythoio
/ gicai form with which to adorn them
r Rome preferred martial conflicts 10
: contest with nature, and long befor'
her decline, in the fifth century, iron
mere neglect of the soil, had to depend
upon her conquered provinces for sup
plies of corn and beef. The moral ant
p spiritual darkness of the middle age
! seemed to blight the soil. The primeya
, barbarism of Britain did not. take kindly
to husbandry. Her princes sent to Hoi
land for greens. Prior to the sixteenth
century, Indian corn, potatoes, carrots
o turnips, cabbages and squashes were un
J known in England. Englishmen were
q forbidden by law to possess or use
v plough, except they made it. From tht
I decline of popular industry in Rome
J. which commenced in the midst of lux
# ury, extravaganza and conquest, onward
Il for fifteen hundred years, husbandry wa
: dishonorable. The lowest and poores
n classes cultivated the soil, and they die
n it as mere conscripts by the necessities o1
n life and to meet the exorbitant taxation
! of tributary rulers. Singularly enough
: from the time of the Reformation dt
s not say that this was its direct cause
e agriculture, with all other industries, ha'
IS made rapid advances. Then began new
: or was renewed the old systems of sol
f cultivation, crowning him with honor
b able distinction who put his hand to the
+! plough. Then were made someinyention'
II and improvements in agricultural imple
e ments. The best minds began to make
g study of agriculture, and many books
d were produced on the subject. All ID
g dustries revived. Commerce spread wider
s her wings. In periods back of history
It the OK was harnessed to the .plow ane
e harrow and made to tread out the corn