Part 3

My dear G.--You will perhaps be surprised at my dating this letter from this place, but I shall shortly explain to you the reason. We arrived in perfect safety at Baltimore on the 6th inst., after a very pleasant passage; not unusually short, but rendered exceedingly _comfortable_ (that dear English word, although they have here naturalised it, as they do almost everything that comes from us,) by the kind, social, and attentive manners of Capt. ----. To give you a detail of all the circumstances of our voyage would be unnecessary. I do not wish to nauseate you with the revolting particulars of a landsman's initiation to the ocean. We had not that humiliation to undergo which would have been our lot if the equinoctial had unfortunately crossed our path; but we had enough to inspire us with a perfect sense of our own inferiority to, and dependence on that Power that can rule the winds and the waves. However, our dear Mrs. and Miss ---- were so much affected by the motion of the ship, and other associations, that we enjoyed very little of their company. The first appearance of land, even that land, which since my recollection has been supposed to be inhabited by spirits, hostile in late, although similar in early habits to ourselves, was greeted with most sincere satisfaction. That land was inhabited by Christians, by men like ourselves, derived from the same origin, boasting of equal laws adopted from our code in general principles, and operating like our own upon freemen. We were landed in consequence of an unfavourable wind, at Norfolk; where, although we staid but a few minutes, I was sorrowfully convinced that all the inhabitants of the land I was visiting were not freemen.

A public sale of blacks was about to take place, and my first introduction to the country I had so joyfully pictured, was associated with feelings to which I had till then been a stranger. Poor wretches, thought I, as they passed badly clothed and manacled through the streets, you give an alien a strange idea of the consistency of your rulers, and a lamentable evidence of the truth of the political axiom, that those who feel power, forget right. As I shall probably visit Norfolk in common with the other maritime towns of Virginia, before I return, sufficient interest has been excited in my mind to enable me to assure you, that I shall give you further details of the situation of that unfortunate class of human beings.

From Norfolk our voyage to Baltimore surpassed all my former ideas of rapidity. We passed up to Baltimore in so short a space of time, and in _such_ a steam-boat, that I dread your incredulity were I to give you particulars. Let it suffice that _but a few hours_ brought us to Baltimore, reputed to be in commercial importance the fourth city in the Union. You know it was my first object to visit the respectable gentlemen in this place to to whom I have letters, and most of whom have at one time or another done business with our house. But on the instant of my arrival I was utterly confounded by the intelligence that the yellow fever, that scourge of America, and so justly dreaded by all Europeans, but more particularly by the inhabitants of northern climates, had made its appearance at a place called Fell's Point, either in the vicinity of the city, or forming one of the suburbs; I was in too much consternation to learn which. Indeed I was so much annoyed by the continual reports of the _yellow fever_ at _the Point_, and what they called the _bank fever_ in the city, that I could hardly tell where I was, or what I was to do.--Luckily, a very good looking gentleman, seeing my perplexity, and imagining--for I cannot tell how else he happened to fix upon me--that I was an Englishman, told me that I could not get out of the city of Baltimore too soon, because it had had the curse of Cain upon it ever since the celebrated mob business (that we heard our Maryland friend R. speak about) some years ago, that it had the plague at the Point, and the yellow or white fever, he did not care which, at the other end of the town. This would have been news almost enough to frighten our lamented friend General R. (if he ever could have known fear;) and instead of visiting the spot where he terminated his brief career in this world, which I intended to have done on the moment of my landing, as performing the last pious act of duty to his memory that affection demanded, I determined to fly from this new enemy with almost as much precipitation as the Yankees (by _our_ official accounts) fled from our departed hero in his various incursions in the states, adjoining the waters of the Chesapeake. I ordered a post chaise _instanter_. The servant replied, "it went before day, sir." Is it possible, said I, that at a house frequented as this is, (Mr. G's.) there is but one post chaise. Get me one at any rate, I returned in a pretty quick tone, and have my baggage put to it immediately. "Why, master," rejoined George, (I thought the better of him for his name, and perhaps, novice as I am, because he was black) "there is no other post chaise till to-morrow; but the steam-boat will go at five o'clock, master, if that will suit you." It wanted but a few minutes of that hour. I leaped into a hackney coach, (which by the way I was surprised to see in such a new country, unless it had been moved by steam) and ere the hour had struck, was safe on board a very commodious vessel, furnished with every thing to make a night passage pleasant.

It is upwards of one hundred miles from Baltimore to Philadelphia, by land, even by their lately improved roads; yet, with no interruption except being transported some sixteen or twenty miles over good roads, in very bad stage coaches, we enjoyed ourselves in our births till I was awakened before nine the next morning, by the steward, who informed me we were at the wharf, in the place of our destination.

I forthwith repaired, as my previous instructions directed, to the large and commodious hotel of Mr. R.; where I met with several of my old friends, and some quondam fellow-voyagers, who, influenced by business, or perhaps the same instinctive dread of yellow fever with myself, had found their way to this city.--Here, my dear W., I still remain. In the twenty-four hours that have scarcely elapsed since my arrival, I have seen nothing distinctly; for after the monotony of a sea voyage, and the dizziness consequent on an exchange from the ocean to _terra firma_, some few days must be allotted to repose.

_Treatise on Agriculture_.

SECT. I.

On the Rise and Progress of Agriculture.

The origin of this art is lost among the fables of antiquity, and we have to regret, that in the present state of knowledge, we are even ignorant of the _time_, when the plough was invented, and of the _name_ and _condition_ of the inventor. When therefore we speak of the beginning of the art, we but allude to certain appearances which indicate its existence, and the employment given by it to the minds, as well as to the hands, of mankind. Such were the artificial canals and lakes of Egypt. Menaced at one time by a redundancy of water, and at another by its scarcity or want, the genius of that extraordinary people could not but employ itself, promptly and strenuously, in remedying these evils, and eventually, in converting them into benefits; and hence it was, that when other parts of the world exhibited little more of agricultural knowledge than appertains to the state of nature, imagined by philosophers, the Egyptians thoroughly understood and skilfully practised _irrigation_, that most scientific and profitable branch of the art.[1] Like their own Nile, their population had its overflow, which colonized Carthage and Greece, and carried with it the talent and intelligence of the mother country. The former of these states, though essentially commercial, had its _plantations_, and so highly prized were the agricultural works of Mago, that when Carthage was captured, they alone, of the many books found in it, were retained and translated by the Romans. A similar inference may be drawn from the history of Greece; for assuredly that art could not have been either unknown or neglected, which so long employed the pen and the tongue of the great Xenophon.[2] It must however be admitted, that of the ancient nations, it is only among the Romans, that we find real and multiplied evidences of the progress of the art; _facts_, substituted for _conjectures_ and _inferences_. Cato, Varro, Columella, Virgil and Pliny, wrote on the subject, and it is from their works we derive the following brief exposition of Roman husbandry.

[1] The best practical illustration of this opinion is found in the valley of the Po--where "every rood of earth maintains its man."

[2] Xenophon wrote several treatises on husbandry, and gave public lectures on it at Scillonte, whither a weak and wicked government had banished him.

The plough, the great instrument of agricultural labour, was well known and generally used among them; it was drawn exclusively by horned cattle. Of fossile _manures_, we know that they used _lime_, and probably _marle_,[3] and that those of animal and vegetable basis, were carefully collected. Attention to this subject, even made part of the national religion; the dunghill had its god, and Stercutus, his temple and worshippers. Their corn crops were abundant; besides _barley_ and _far_,[4] they had three species of _wheat_; the _robus_ or red--the _siligo_ or white--and the _triticum trimestre_, or summer wheat; they had besides millet, panis, zea (Indian corn) and rye, all of which producing a flour convertible into bread, were known by the common name of _frumentum_. Leguminous crops were frequent; the lupin in particular was raised in abundance, and besides being employed as a manure,[5] entered extensively into the subsistence of men, cattle and poultry. The cultivation of garden vegetables was well understood and employed many hands; and meadows, natural and artificial, were brought to great perfection. Lucern and fenugrec were the basis of the latter, and peas, rye and a mixture of barley, beans and peas, called _farrago_, were occasionally used in the stables as green food. Their flocks were abundant, and formed their first representatives of wealth, as is sufficiently indicated by their word _pecunia_. Vines and olives, and their products (wine and oil) had a full share of attention and use. The rearing of poultry made an important part of domestic economy, nor were apiaries and fish ponds forgotten or neglected.

[3] For the first part of this assertion we have the authority of Pliny; for the latter, the practice of their colonies both in Gaul and Britain.

[4] Of this last, there were three kinds, neither of which is now cultivated.

[5] The lupinus albus of Linneus: "many other vegetables are used for this purpose, particularly the _bean_, but do not answer as well as the _lupin_; when this is heated in an oven and then buried, it forms the most powerful of all manures." T. C. L. Simonde. _Tableau de L'agriculture Toscane_.

If we pause for a moment, to glance at the civil institutions of this wonderful people, we discover how soon and how deeply it entered into their policy, not merely to promote, but to dignify agriculture and its professors.[6] When Cicero said, that "nothing in this world was better, more useful, more agreeable, more worthy of a free man, than agriculture;"[7] he pronounced, not merely his own opinion, but the public judgment of his age and nation. Were troops to be raised for the defence of the republic? The _tribus rusticus_ was the privileged nursery of the legions![8] Did exigencies of state require a general or dictator? he was taken from the _plough_! Were his services rewarded? this was done not with ribbands or gold, but by a donation of _land_.[9]

[6] Tanus and Numa were deified for services rendered to agriculture.

[7] Cicero de officiis. L. 2.

[8] This continued till the time of Marius.

[9] As much as he could plough in a day.

With such support from public opinion, it was not to be supposed that the laws would be either adverse or indifferent to this branch of industry. We accordingly find the utmost security given to the labours of the husbandman;[10] no legislative interposition between the seller and buyer, neither forced sales--nor limitation of prices--and a sacredness of boundaries never disturbed;[11] fairs and markets multiplied and protected against invasion or interruption,[12] and highways leading to these every where established, and of a character to call forth benedictions and admiration.[13]

[10] To cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neighbour, subjected the Roman to death.

[11] Terminus was among their gods.

[12] Assemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, and on subjects other than those of trade, were not lawful.

[13] The Appian way, yet remains the wonder and reproach of modern times.

Nor were these regulations confined to the proper territory of Rome. What of her own policy was good, she communicated to her neighbours; what of theirs was better, she adopted and practised herself. Her arts and arms were therefore constant companions. Wherever her legions marched, her knowledge, practices, and implements followed; and it is to these we are to look for the foundation of modern agriculture in Italy, France, Spain, &c. _[Albany Argus_.

(To be continued.)

_The Moral Plough Boy_.

"In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand."

The words of our motto were probably addressed by an Eastern monarch to those of his subjects, who followed husbandry, and to whom the importance of early rising was the greater, as the climate was excessively warm, and the stoutest labourer found the noon-tide heat too powerful for the energies of his frame to encounter.--This is the case in most of the oriental climes, where the morning and the evening are improved by the cultivator of the soil, as well as the man of business of every class, cast or profession.--The middle or hottest part of the day is, in those countries, given to ease and relaxation; and the charms of conversation, and the sweets of refreshment, are then the substitutes for toil and care.

But the time thus spent is not lost, because they attend strictly to the advice of the sacred moralist, and make it up by the fidelity of their morning and evening labours in the field, the workship or the counting-room. Besides the earth is there more prolific than in colder climes, like ours, and to less labour yields a greater supply, a more abundant harvest.

But abundantly as the earth yields her products, beneath an oriental sky, still it was there that man was first taught by his Maker, that she would not yield them without the sweat of the human brow. Implicit obedience was the first law given to our progenitors in Eden, as the condition of enjoying life without labour, of being surrounded by the perpetual verdure of spring, and regaled by the never-dying fragrance of its odours: But this fair condition violated, and they were doomed to know, that fruitful as the earth had come from the hands of its Creator, they should cultivate it with toil, and care, and anxiety, before it should yield them the means of enjoyment and subsistence. But for one fatal mistake, they would never have been called upon to sow their seed in the morning, and at evening to watch over it with a careful hand.

We have seen then, that the first Plough Boys were obliged to work early and late; and their successors in the same climes, are still subjected to the same diurnal labour.

But the American Plough Boy enjoys a milder clime, and may perhaps think himself less obliged to rise with the dawn of day, or pursue his labours with the declining sun. He may perhaps flatter himself that the morning may be spent at a neighbouring bar-room, and the evening at a shooting-match or a horse-race, and the day still afford time enough for all the labour that he may have to perform. But this is, indeed, an error the most fatal to his present, as well as future happiness. The mid-day beams of the sun are not so fierce on the hills or vales of America, as on the plains of Asia, where our first parents were doomed to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. But they are still fierce enough to make the PLOUGH BOY feel their enervating effects, and to impress upon his physical as well as mental frame the necessity and importance of _sowing his seed in the morning_, and of extending to it the _vigilance of his hand in the evening_.

If our American Plough Boys would, one and all, adopt with energy and perseverance this injunction of oriental wisdom, how different would be the face of our country, in many places, from what it now is! How many orchards would be planted; how many fruit trees, of every kind, would be seen growing in beauty and luxuriance, where now the eye of the traveller, or sojourner, is obliged to rest upon nought but wilds and weeds? How many fields would be ploughed and sown, and cultivated with success, which now lie waste, and barren as the deserts of Arabia. How many cattle, and domestic animals of every description, fit for the use of man, would be seen thriving and healthy, awaiting a profitable market, where now there are none, or those whose sickly and squalid appearance, bespeaks the indolence and neglect of their owners! How many substantial rail fences would be erected, where there is now scarcely a brush bulwark against the encroachments of man or beast? How many neat stone walls would take the place of rail fences, and remain as lasting monuments of the virtue of their owners--for _industry_ and _virtue_ are synonimous in agricultural life! How many ditches would be seen running through our swamps, and yielding or restoring to wholesome vegetation, those nurseries of wild, unprofitable, and poisonous plants; whose dark, damp shades are not only lost to agriculture; but send forth daily their pestilential vapours, spreading disease and death among the Plough Boys!

It is not the industrious Plough Boy who will feel the application of these remarks. He will take care that his fields and his fences, his flourishing fruit-trees, his overflowing cribs and barns, and his fat cattle, plump and smooth as a turtle-fed alderman, shall prove to the world that he never fails to attend to the admonition of our motto.

But it is to the slothful that this short essay is addressed. Pluck up the weeds, and the useful plants will take care of themselves. Reform the indolent, and the industrious will find a new spur to exertion. Ye careless and slothful Plough Boys, then, be advised by a friend. Cast off the sin of idleness, which so easily besets you, and imitate your industrious neighbours. Resolve for the future, _in the morning to sow your seed, and in the evening to withhold not your hand_; and you will soon find, that the blessings of Heaven await those who deserve them; and that health, prosperity, and a quiet conscience, are the never-failing rewards of virtuous industry. H. H. Jr. _[Plough Boy_.

Mr. Nicholson's Prize Essay.

_On a Rotation of Crops, and the most profitable mode of collecting, preserving, and applying Manures_.

(Communicated to the Albany County Agricultural Society.)

Some soils are peculiarly adapted for the growth of particular plants, and in such case many successive yearly growths of them may be raised, without manure, and without material diminution of product. We have known an instance of 14 good crops of wheat raised successively on the same ground; another of 18 crops of oats; others of at least 10 of barley, and nearly of 20 rye: But these were peculiar soils; and although this sameness of culture was found successful, no inference is therefore to be drawn that it was the most profitable, or that such soils would not eventually tire of their favourite crops, and then be found exhausted and unfit for others. Generally speaking, we conceive that one of the most important points in husbandry is a judicious rotation of such crops as are most profitable for culture, and at the same time best adapted for the particular soils which are to be cultivated. Lands seem naturally to require a change of growths. Where the oak has disappeared, after it had lifted its head to the springs of ages, another oak will not naturally rise, but some other tree. Instances have been known of lands covered solely with trees of deciduous growth, where the knots of the pitch pine were still to be found; a proof that pine was once a tenant of the soil. In the southern states, where lands have been exhausted with injudicious cropping, and then thrown out to common, they soon become covered with growths of trees different from those they originally bore. Some plants are so unfit for long continuance in any particular place that they are endowed with migratory powers, either by their winged seeds, which are wafted abroad by the winds; by their roots, by which they change their places of growth beneath the surface; or by their vines, by which they travel above ground, and thus locate themselves in different situations. Of the first description are the varieties of the thistle, the milk-weed, and the fire-weed; of the second, the potato and some other bulbous rooted plants; of the third, the straw-berry, the black-berry, the different species of the gourd tribe. The stalks of erect plants fall when they ripen, and thus the seed reaches the ground at a distance from the roots which produced them. There seems, indeed, to be generally a disposition in the earth to require changes in the plants it nourishes, in order that it may impart the food that is best adapted for each; and Providence, in his infinite wisdom, has endowed these while growing in a state of nature, with such properties as are best calculated to effect the changes. Let the cultivator, therefore, study nature, and follow her dictates, if he wishes either success or applause in his employment.