The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1875-10-22

| liCNlOuS W our revolutionary war, SAYS lie,
"as have been told by the farmers ofthat day,
no attempts worth mentioning were made to
collect manure for general purposes, all that
was deemed needful being saved for the gardens
ana tobacco lots by summer COW pens. These
were filled with cattle such as our modern breed.
ers would hardly recognize rs belonging to the
bovine species. In those days they were so ut.
terly neglected that it was quite common for
| the multitude starved to death every winter to
supply hides enough for shoeing the negroes on
every farm. This was a matter so generally and
| observation-disclosures that my own grandfather,
| Us have heard from unquestionable authority,
was once very near turning off a good overseer
because cattle enough had not died on the farm
| ofwhich he had the supervision to furnish leather
| for the above purpose"
1t must be remembered, however, that the
grasses were not introduced even into England
| until the 18th century. Our well known limo
| thy was first cultivated in this country and af.
| forwards introduced in England and the cul.
ture of the orchard grass was first introduced
| into England from Virginia in 1864. The Edln-
burgh Quarterly Journal of Agriculture says
| That the practice of sowing grass seed was never
| known in Scotland previous to the wear 1872 1t
is not surprising, therefore, that cattle Jared
| badly, for it is only since the cultivation of the
| grasses that the great Improvements which now
| exist in the stock of this country have taken
place. The extent of the development of this
| branch OF husbandry alone none can know bet.
| ter than the citizens of Hartford county; for
| believe it is a well ascertained fact that more
cattle are bred in this county than in any other in
| the State of Maryland. There is certainly no
more agreeable occupation than stock raising
and nothing can give it q greater impetus than
| the fairs and exhibitions which are now so com.
mon in this country. The first of these that was
| founded in the United States was the Agricul-
lural Society of the State of South Carolina
| founded in Isl That of Philadelphia was cs.
tablishcd in the following year. The New York
| City Society i'll 1871. When we compare the
| scale upon which these exhibitions were con-
| Quoted with those of the present day. they af
| ford striking proof Of the wonderful advance
made III the application of science to Agricul-
turc and of the consequent vast improvement
| both OF animals and of machinery. One of the
| most interesting of these exhibitions was one
witnessed at Louisville, Kentucky, several years
| ago; a country so bountifully blessed by Heaven
that 1t seems capable of producing the best
| specimens of animal life, from game cock up
| to man. The horses exhibited on that occu-
sion might well recall the famous lines of the
greatest poet who ever wrote in the English
tongue:
"Round hooGed short outed fetlocks large and long
Broad breast full eyes small head and nostrI wide
High crest, short straight legs and passing strong
Thin nanc, thick tail, broad bullock tender hide;
Look what a horse should lave he did not lack,
save proud rider on proud back
But the progress in the machinery applicable
| TO husbandry has been infinitely greater than
the improved development Of the animal crca-
ton. And naturally so, for the latter is Gods
work, which human intelligence can only aid in
developing. The former is the creation of his
own genius from The lifclcss material which
surrounds him. And well may the American
claim high need of praise for the advance
which he has made in this department. The
massive old wooden plow in use before the
Revolution required strong team, a stout man
to bear on, another to holu and third TO drive
Those used by the French settlers in Illinois and
i'll Abbevillc, South Carolina, down to the period
of the war of 1912, were made of wood, with a
small point of iron fastened upon the wood by
strips OF raw hide. The beams rested upon an
axle and small wooden wheels They were
drawn by oxen yoked by the horns, the yokcs
being straight, and fastened to the horns by raw
leather straps, pole extending back from the
yoke 10 the axle. The carts they used had not
particle of iron about them. The first cast
iron piow was invented by Charles Ncwbold, Of
Burlington, New Jersey, in 1897, combining the
mold board, share and land side all cast togetl-
er, and it was regarded by intelligent pillow
makers as so great an Improvement that Peacock
in his patent of 1907 paid the original inventor
the sum of $500 for the right to combine parts
of his patent with his own. Thomas Jefferson
in 1913 wrote treatise upon the requisite form
of the mold board, according to scientific prin-
cples, calculating the exact form and size, and
especially the curvature TO lessen the friction.
Mr. Flint states that he has in his possession the
original manuscript of this essay, containing
his drawings and calculations. What Jefferson
theorized about Washington did, for / find in
his diary, an entry of his being employed all day
with his negro blacksmith making pillow of his
own invention.
When we compare these humble efforts with
the immense advance made in modern times
with the invention OF the steam pillow now in al
most common use, the drilling machines, the
reapers and the thousand other inventions for
saving labor, almost all of which are of Ameri-
can origin we may well be proud -four achieve
ments in this branch of science; and the youth
Of the country may well come to regard it as q
pursuit of the highest dignity and requiring the
most thorough acquaintance with the principles
of science. 1t was my fortune TO be, present at
the great International Exposition at Paris in
1855, and in all the appliances of machinery to
agriculture, the American machines were in
tlnitcly the superior. So much was this the case
with the mvw!cg machines that those of other
nations were withdrawn from the contest, which
was finally reduced to one between three ma
| chimes, all American. They excited unqualified
admiration among the French and the citi-
zens of many other European nations present
upon the occasion, and several of .McCormick's
reaping machines were purchased by Polish no.
blcmen for use upon their large estates. In
deed ii is almost impossible to enumerate the
extent and variety of the information required
by a farmer of the present day, or the breadth
of the field which it opens for the exercise of his
abilities The introduction of fertilizers into
general use and the immense development of
this branch of commerce is alone sufficient to
require long and laborous study. So also is n
one in the proper mode of raising fruit trees.
The article Of Mr.. Thomas Taylor, in the last
Agricultural Report, is full of very interesting
facts upon this subject, the result of careful mi
scrOscopic Investigations
Indeed so varied and numerous are the
branches OF science upon which that Of Agrcul-
ture rests, that the mere enumeration of them
would suffice to fill page and no single man
can expect TO become thoroughly and practi-
cally efficient in ALL Here, as in other branch
es of industry, division of labor is required;
for any single branch may well call for the pa
tient labor of a life time. But assurcdly there
can be no noblcr occupation than that of i'm
proving the paternal acres. l remember seeing
ut the Certosa di Pavia, near Milan, tomb of
exquisite beauty, the carving upon which had
| occupied three generations, grandfather, father,
and son. Their only impulse was that of rcli-
gious fcryor, and the only reward they looked
for was the satisfaction Of linking their name
with that of the saint whose tomb they dccorat-
cd. Those who transmit their homes to their
descendants have an equally high and noble
duty to perform, for of all passions of mankind
that of the love of home Is the strongest. The
| memory of the early scenes of our child hood
follows us when engaged in totally different oc-
equations, and nothing can more strongly show
how univeral is this yearning of the human heart
than the lines OF the great poet | have already
quoted, when he portraSs the immortal Falstaff
in his last moments ''babDling of green fields"
Jne OF the most remarkable instances of fore
sight in reference TO The great development of
which the various arts 81 nusDandry are capa-
BILE is to be found in the viii of Mr.. John Nc
Donough, native Of Baltimore, and long q
resident of New Orleans. The institutions he
has founded in the States of Maryland and Loui.
siana respectively, are calculated TO be of i'm
mense advantage in preparing the youth of
those States to perform the duties of skilled
husbandmen. Theory is united with practice,
and during the summer months the boys are
employed in gangs underline supervision of their
teachers. 1t is remarkable that the provisions
ten so far back as 1888, when scientific agricul-
ture had made comparatively little progress,
and the system of labor which obtained alike in
Louisiana and in Maryland was such rs was