A treatise on agriculture, comprising a concise history of its origin and progress; the present condition of the art abroad and at home, and the theory and practice of husbandry. To which is added, a dissertation on the kitchen and fruit garden

Front matter

iS

Ci Thi

Glass c

Chapter I

Of the Rise and Progress of Agriculture . , . Page 9

CHAPTER H.

Of the actual State of Agriculture in Europe ... 13

CHAPTER nr.

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Analysis of Soils, and the agricultural relations between Soils and Plants 46

CHAPTER V.

Of practical Agriculture and its necessary Implements . 52

CHAPTER VI.

Of Manures ; their management and application . . 58

CHAPTER Vir.»

Of Tillage, and the Principles on which it is founded . 67

CHAPTER VIII.

Of a Rotation of Crops, and the Principles on which it is founded 72

CHAPTER IX.

Of the Plants recommendecl for a course of Crops in the preceding chapter, and their culture 77

CHAPTER X.

Of other Plants useful in a Rotation of Crops, and adapted to our Climate 105

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL Of Meadows Page 113

CHAPTER Xll.

Of Farm Cattle 122

CHAPTER XIII.

Of the Dairy 133

CHAPTER XIV.

Of Orchards 141

CHAPTER XV

Of the Kitchen Garden .150

CHAPTER XVI.

Of the Fruit Garden . »17

A TREATISE

ON

CHAPTER I.

OF 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 stale 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 very 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

* This invention has been attributed to Osiris. See Millot's Gen. Hist.

scientific and profitable branch of the art.* Like their own Nile, their populalion 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.J 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.

The plough, the great instrument of agricultural labour, was well known and generally used among the Romans, and was drawn exclusively by horned cattle. Of fossil manures we know that they used lime, and probably marl,^ and that those of animal and vegetable basis were carefully collected. Attention to this subject made part of the national re-

* The best practical illustration of this opinion is found in the Valley of the Po, where " every rood of earth maintains its man."

t The Egyptians might have sent some colonies into those countries ; but the commonly received opinion is, that the Pelasgi first settled Greece, and that Carthage was founded by a company of Phoenicians under Queen Dido.

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

^ 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.

ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. 11

ligion ; the dunghill had its god, and Stercutus his temple and worshippers. Their corn-crops were abundant ; besides barley and far* they had three species of wheats the robus or red, the siligo or white, and the triticum trirnestre^ three months or summer wheat; they had, besides, millet, panis, zea, and rye, all of which, producing a flour conver tible into bread, were known by the common name of frumentum, corn or grain. Leguminous crops were frequent ; the lupine, in particular, was raised in abundance, and, besides being employed as a manure,! entered extensively into the subsistence of men, cattle, and poultry. Thfi— cultivation of garden vegetables was well understood, and employed many hands ; and meadows, natural and artificial, were brought to great perfection. Lucerne and fenu-gree were the basis of the latter; and pease, rye, and a mixture of barley, beans and pease, called farrago, were occasionally used in the stables as green food. Their flocks were abundant, and formed their first representative 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 fishponds forgotten or neglected.

Such was the husbandry of Rome when Rome was mistress of the world ; and it was to this illustrious period that Pliny alluded, when, speaking of the ancient fertility of the soil, he remarked, " that the earth took pleasure in being cultivated by the hands of men crowned with laurels and decorated with triumphal honours."

* Of this last there were three kinds, neither of which is now cultivated.

i The lupinus albus of Linnaeus : " many other vegetables are used for this purpose, particularly the 6mn, but they do not answer as well as the lupine ; when this is heated in an oven, and then buried, it forn\s the most powerful of all manures." — T. C. L. Simonde. Tableau de V 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.* When Cicero said that "nothing in this world was better, more useful, more agreeable, more worthy of a free man than agriculture,"! he pronounced not only his own opinion, but the public judgment of his age and nation. Were troops to be raised for the defence of the republic, the iribus rusticus— the country or farming class— was the privileged nursery of the legion.J Did exigencies of state require a general or dictator, he was taken from the plough. Were his services to be rewarded, this was done, not with ribands or gold, but by a donation of land.^

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 ;I| no legislative interposition between the seller and buyer; neither forced sales nor limitation of prices, and a sacredness of boundaries never disturbed ;^ fairs and markets multiplied and protected against invasion oi interruption,** and highways leading to these everywhere established, and of a character to call forth the highest praise and admiration. ff

* Tanus and Numa were deified for services rendered to agriculture.

t Cicero do Officiis, 1. ii.

X This continued till the time of Marius.

ij As much as he could plough in a day.

II To cut or destroy in the night the crop of his neighbour, subiected the Roman to death.

^ Terminus was among their gods.

** Assemblies of the people on days designated for fairs, and on subjects other than tho.se of trade, were not lawful.

•ft 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.

CHAPTER H.

OF THE ACTUAL STATE OF AGRICULTURE IN EUROPE.

This is very different in different states, and even in different parts of the same state : its greater or less degree of perfection depending on causes physical or political, or both. Where a state, or part of a state, from soil^ climate^ manners, or geographical position, draws its principal subsistence from the fishery or the chase, as in the more northern parts of Europe,* agriculture will not succeed ; when a ' state is from any cause both essentially maritime or manufacturing, as in England,! or principally

* Is not the author somewhat at fault here ? Norway is the onljr country in the north of Europe where the business of fishing is extensively followed, and it is only in the portions of that continent, so far north as to be unfitted by climate for agriculture, that wild animals abound.

t The agricultural condition of Great Britain, and particularly of Scotland and of Prussia, has been greatly changed and improved within the last 20 years ; and even Prussia has apparently commenced in earnest in enlightening her agriculture, by establishing schools of scientific and practical instruction. The great Prussian school of Moegelier, under the direction of Von Thaer, manufacturing, as in Prussia ;* where public opinion has degraded manual labor, as in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal territory ; or where laws villanize it, as in Russia, Prussia, Poland, Hungary, &c., &c., it is in vain to expect pre-eminent agriculture. These principles will receive illustration as we go along.

I. In the Campania of Rome, where, in the time of Pliny, were counted twenty-three cities, the traveller is now astonished and depressed at the silence and desolation that surround him. Even from Rome to Tres^ti [four leagues of road the most frequented], we lind only an arid plain, without trees, without meadows natural or artificial, and without villages or other habitation of man ! Yet is this wretchedness not the fault of soil or climate, which, with little alteration,! continue to be what they ^vere in the days of Augustus. " Man is the only growth that dwindles here,''"' and to his deficient or ill-directed industry are owing all the calamities of the scene. f

one of the most enlightened agriculturists of the age, aided by the instruction in agriculture which is now given in the normal and primary schools of that kingdom, has already produced a wonderful improvement in Prussian agriculture. The march of improvement in Scotch husbandry, m the present century, has probably not been surpassed in any country ; while in England, at no time has there been greater or more wisely directed efforts for improvement than within the last few years. Instead of manufactures depressing, it would seem that they now operate as the strongest stimulant to agricultural improvement, by of fering a ready home-market for the surplus products of the soil, both of raw materials and provisions. This also appears to be true with regard to our country. — J. B.

* Although great attention has been given to manufactures in Prussia within the last half century, still it is too much to say that she is "principally manufacturing." Agriculture is un doubtedly, by far, the most important interest.

I The climate of Italy is now warmer than it was in the Augustan age, which Buffon ascribesto the draining of great tracts of swampy land in Germany.

X " Un Romain meme le plus indigent rougiroitde cultiver la terra." — Bosc. The poorest Roman would blush to cultivate the earth

Instead of devoting themselves to the hardy and masculine labours of the field, the successors of Cato and of Pliny are employed in fabricating sacred vases, hair-powder and pomatums, artificial pearls, fiddlestrings, embroidei'ed gloves, and religious relics ! They are also great collectors of pictures, statues, and medals — " dirty gods and coins" — and find an ample reward in the ignorance and credulity of those who buy them. •

II. How different from this picture is that of Tuscany ! where the soil, though less fertile,* is covered with grain, with vines, and with cattle ; and where a surface of 1200 square leagues subsists a population of 950,000 inhabitants, of which 80,000 are agriculturists. f It may amuse, if it does not instruct, the reader, to offer a few details of a husbandry among the most distinguished of the present age. The plough of northern Europe, like that of this country, has the power of a wedge, and acts horizontally ; that of Tuscany has the same direction, but a very different form. With the outline of a shovel, it consists of two inclined planes sloping from the centre, and forming a gutter and two ridges. This instrument is particularly adapted to the loose and friable texture of the soil. A second plough of the same shape, but of smaller size, follows that already described, and, with the aid of the hoe and the spade,| throws the earth, already bro-

* " Two thirds of Tuscany consists of mountains." Vol. viii., p. 232, Geographique Mathematique et physique. See also Forsyth's remarks, p. 80, where are detailed the principal causes of her prosperity. " Leopold," says he, "m selling the crown lands, studiously divided large tracts of rich but neglected land into iinall properties. His favourite plan of encouragmg agriculture consisted, not in boards, societies, and premiums, but in giving the labourer a security and interest in the soil, in multiplying small freeholds, in extending the livelli or life leases," &c., &c.

t Tuscany, including the islands belonging to it, is stated to have a superficial area of about 8000 square miles, and, by the last census, somewhat more than 1,. 300,000 inhabitants.

X It is among the most important covenants of a Tuscan .ease, ken and pulverized, into four- feet ridges or beds, on which the crop is sown. The furrows answer a threefold purpose ; they drain the beds of excessive moisture, ventilate the growing crops, and supply paths for the weeders.

The rotation of crops employs two periods of different lengtli ; the one of three, the other of five years. In the rotation of three years the ground is sown five times, and in that of four years seven times, as follows :

1st year, wheat, and, after wheat, lupines : 2d do. wheat, and, after wheat, turnips : 3d do. Indian corn or millet. 1st year, wheat, and, after wheat, beans : 2d do. wheat, and, after wheat, lupines : 3d do. wheat, and, after wheat, lupinella : [annual clover]. 4th do. Indian corn or millet.

In the Syanese Maremna, where the lands want neither repose nor manure, the constant alternation is hemp and wheat, and the produce of the latter is often twenty-four bushels threshed for one sown.

It will be seen from this course of crops, that the principal object of Tuscan agriculture is wheat; of which they have two species, the one bald, the other bearded ; both larger than the corresponding species in other countries of Europe ; convertible into excellent bread and pastes, and probably but varieties of that Sicilian family which Pliny describes as yielding '^ most flour and least bran, and suffering no degradation from time.'" It is harvested about the middle of June, and, when the grain crop is secured, the ploughing for the second or forage crop begins ; which, besides lupines, lupinella, and beans, often consists of a mixture of lupines, turnips, and flax. The lupines ripen first, and are gathered in autumn ; that one third of the ground shall be actually worked with a the turnips are drawn in the winter, and the flax in the spring.

Besides the apphcation of ordinary manures.^ the lupine is ploughed down when in flower ; a practice that began with the Romans : Columella says, "of all leguminous vegetables, the lupine is that which most merits attention, because it costs least, employs least time, and furnishes an excellent manured The culture of this vegetable is diflferent, according to the purposes for which it is raised; if for grain, the ground has two ploughings and twenty-five pounds weight of seed to a square of a hundred toises [about 640 feet] : if for manure, one ploughing is sufficient. Like our buckwheat, its vegetation is quick and its growth rapid ; whence the farther advantage of suppressing, and even of destroying, the weeds that would have infested any other crop. In the neighbourhood of Florence, they are in the practice of burning the soil; which they do by digging holes, filhng them with fagots, and raising the earth into mounds over them. The fagots are then inflamed and burned, and with them the incumbent earth, which is afterward scattered, so as to give to the whole field the same preparation.

III. " The countries," says Arthur Young, " the most rich and flourishing of Europe, in proportion to their extent, are probably Piedmont and the Milanese. We there meet all the signs of prosperity, an active and well-conditioned population, great exertions, considerable interior consumption, superb roads, many opulent towns, a ready and abundant circulation, the interest of money low, the price of labour high ; in one word, it is impossible to cite a single fact that shows that Manchester, Birmingham, Rouen, and feyons, are in a condition equally prosperous as the whole of tliese duchies." Their population is stated at '* 1,114,000, and the territory at little more than two millions of arpons (acres). Wheat, rye, Indian corn, flax, and hemp, the vine and the olive, the caper and the cotton-tree, with all kinds of garden fruits and vegetables, are cultivated here : the soil knows no repose, and much of it yields annually and uniformty two crops of grain or three of grass."* These are the miracles of irrigation ; not a drop of water is lost. Besides the permanent supplies furnished from lakes, ponds, rivers, creeks, and springs, even the winter torrent and summer shower are everywhere intercepted by drains and led to reservoirs, whence they are distributed at will to the neighbouring grounds.

In 1770 an agricultural school was established at Milan, consisting of 220 boys, who were instructed in theoretical and practical husbandry. This institution has escaped the notice of travellers ; and we are unable to say whether it has or has not fulfilled the intentions of its projectors.!

IV. Switzerland has 1444 square leagues of surface,J and presents an assemblage of mountains, one rising above another, until the summits are lost in masses of snow and ice, which never melt. This short description sufficiently indicates the character of both the soil and the climate ; yet, unpropitious as these are, we find a population of 1242 inhabitants to each square league ! " This is, perhaps, the country of the world which presents the most happy effects of an industry always active and persevering. The traveller who climbs her mountains is struck with admiration when he beholds vineyards and rich pastures in those places which before appeared naked and barren rocks. The traces

* Geographique Mathematique, «fec., article Italie.

t Since this treatise was written, we have notice of the establisnment of agricultural schools in Prussia, France, Ireland, Russia, and in most of the German Stales; and a school, upon a very broad and liberal basis, is in contemplation in England. —J. B.

t The superficial area of Switzerland, as its boundaries were established by the Congress of Vienna, has been differently estimated from 14,000 to 18,000 square miles.

of the plough are perceived on the border of precipices where the most savage animals do not pass without danger ; in one word, the inhabitants appear to have conquered all obstacles, whether arising from soil, position, or climate, and to have drawn abundance from a territory condemned by nature to perpetual sterility."*

V. The classical reader will remember that Spain was the garden of the Hesperides of the Roman writers ; by which was meant the combinations of a fine climate, a rich soil, and an active, intelligent* agriculture. To this state of things even the empire of the Goths was not fatal ;f and that of the Moors rendered it still more distinguished. In their hands the plains of Valentia were cultivated throughout, with the utmost care and skill ; and where their wheels, reservoirs, and drains of irrigation yet remain, the soil continues to yield the richest and most abundant products. In Catalonia, Navarre, Galitia, and the Asturias, many species of the ancient agriculture are yet in vigour, because " the leases are long, and the landlord cannot capriciously violate themy The same causes are followed by the same effects in the three districts of Biscaya, Guiposcoa, and Alava. " In running over these, everything one finds is animated by the presence of liberty and industry; nothing can be more charming than the coasts, nothing more attractive than the culture of the valleys. Throughout the 30 leagues that separate Bedassos from Vittoria, every quarter of an hour, we discover some well-built village .or comfortable cottage. "J '''

* Geographique Mathematique, article Helvetia.

t It appears from Varro, De re rustica, and the letters of Cassiodoms, that the Goths introduced into Spain the subterranean granaries called sillos, and the art of irrigation. The former are now exclusively used in Tuscany ; and Cato's precept, " Prata irrigua," &c., shows whence their knowledge of the latter was derive(i.

t Burgoing's Modem Spain, vol. i.

How different is the aspect of the other provinces! In these not more than two thirds of the earth are cultivated; and " it is not uncommon to travel eight and ten leagues together without finding a trace of human industry. In the district of Badejoz alone is a desert twenty-six leagues in length and twelve in breadth.* Ten of the fourteen leagues that traverse the duchy of Medina Sidonia consist altogether of pasturage. There is nowhere a vestige of man ; not an orchard, not a garden, not a ditch, not a cottage to be seen ! The great proprietor appears to reign, like the lion in the desert, repulsing by his roaring all who would approach him. But, instead of human colonies, we encounter troops of horned cattle and of mares, wandering, self-directed, over plains to which the eye can discover no boundary or barrier, and which brings to one's recollection the days when the beasts shared with man the empire of the earth. "f

" Even when the plough is used, it is little more than a great knife fastened to a stick, that just scratches the surface. The grain is threshed by horses or mules driven over it, or by means of a plank studded with nails or flint stones, and drawn across it. J With even this miserable culture, the land in Andalusia yields considerable crops ; yet are the inhabitants too lazy or too few to gather them together.^ This is done by Galiegos, who are the

* Borde's Itineraire de I'Espagne, vol. iv., p. 30.

I Burgoing. Spain has been long renowned for its horses. Tlfc Romans, in settling their pedigree and illustrating their swiftness, called them " the children of the winds.^'

t Swinburne's Travels, vol. i. A Spanish peasant, who has earned or begged enough for the wants of the day, will refuse to earn more, even by running an errand. Striking as this fact is, ir. does not so well illustrate Spanish indolence as the following anecdote from the same pen : In the great sedition in Madrid, which ended in the defeat of the king and the disgrace of his minister (the Marquis des Suillas), and in its most fervid moments, both parties retired about dinner-time to take their nap labourers of Spain." We need scarcely remark, that in a state of agriculture like this, the peasantry cannot be either well fed or well clothed. " The mountaineers live principally upon roasted acorns and goat's milk, and those of the plain (from Barcelona to Malaga) on bread steeped in oil, and occasionally seasoned with vinegar."*

It is wide of our subject to examine the causes of the degradation which marks the agriculture of Spain. Well-informed writers have ascribed it to the expulsion of the Moors and Jews, to the weight of taxes and imposts, to the mesta or common right of pasturage, to the discovery of America and its consequences, to the effect of climate, and the ill-judged charity of bishops and convents, but principally to the great manorial grants and unequal division of the soil which followed the conquest. " W^e often find six, eight, ten, and even fifteen leagues of extent belonging to one master. The nobility and clergy possess nearly the whole country. One third of Spain belongs to the families of Medina Celi, D'Alba, De I'lnfantado, D'Aceda, and to the archbishops, bishops, and chapters of Toledo, Compostella,Valentia, Seville, and Murcia. A great proportion of these lands remain untilled and untenanted, and those which are let in cortijo or farms are double or treble the quantity that can be occupied in tillage."!

VI. The agriculture of Portugal has been subjected to the same evils as that of Spain, to which may be superadded her connexion with Great Britain, under whose policy she has become a raiser oi fruit instead oi grain.

VII. France is probably the country of Europe

or miridiana, after which they returned to the combat with new vigour and enraged fury. U habits can thus control the passions, to what important uses might not a wise legislation t'lrn them?

* See preceding note.

t Le Borde's Itineraire de I'Espagne, vol, i.

AGRICULTURE.

which most unites the great desiderata of an extended and profitable agriculture, fertility of soil, mildness of climate, a dense population, an enlightened government, and facility of exportation.* Within her ancient hmits, she boasts a surface of more than one hundred and fifteen millions of arpens, and a population of twenty-two millions of inhabitants.! The following tables will show, in a compressed form, the nature of her soil and the uses to which it is put :%

GEOLOGICAL TABLE.

Arpens or Acres.

Alluvial and Other rich soil . . . 26,159,340

Gravelly do 3,261,826

Stratum of clay, with a light covering of

sand, called landes .... 21,879,120

Granitic and other mountains . . . 25,261,946

AGRICULTURAL TABLE.

Arable land

Vineyards

Woods

Natural meadows

Artificial meadows .

Lakes, marshes, wastes

63,600,000 4,764,960

19,400,049

From the average of a number of statistical tables

* The natural advantages of France as to soil, climate, &c. are doubtless great ; and her agriculture, and the condition of her rural population, have been much improved since the revolution ; still, as a whole, her soil is by no means as well cultivated as that of Belgium, Tuscany, England, Scotland, and, probably, some parts of Germany.

t The population of France, by the last enumeration, was about 32,000,000.

X See Geographique, &c., vol. vi., art. France, p. 13, and Young's Tour through France.

made by the Abbe D'Expillyt and others, it appears that in 1777 the agriculture of France was not only sufficient for the subsistence of its inhabitants, but produced a surplus for exportation;* ahd though it be universally admitted that her condition in this respect is not less prosperous noiy than it was then,-\ still it cannot be dissembled that her husbandry has many defects ;

1. A supposed resemblance between the earth and animals gave rise to fallows : because men and horses required repose after labour, it was supposed that, after cropping, the earth also required it. Faithful to this absurd analogy, the French landlord binds down his tenant by lease not to crop the soil more than three years out oi four ; which, in effect, is to consign to barrenness or weeds one fourth of fehe whole arable land of France yearly !

2. There is not a sufficiently fixed or steady proportion between arable and pasture land. The production of grain is the great object of culture, often with too little regard to the nature of the soil, and generally without any to its improvements. "Where pasturage is scanty, where natural meadows are bad, where artificial are rare, and root husbandry little extended, cattle cannot be either numerous or well-conditioned ; and as without these

* The products of agricultural labour were, in these tables, stated at 1 14,552,000 L. T. Those of manufacturing labour at 128,015,000.

"t The effects of the revolution of 1789 on agriculture are no longer doubtful. The suppression of tithes, of the exclusivi "privilege, of the chase, of every species o( corvee (labour performed by tenants for landlords), of taxes or rents, and of rights of commonage, was among these effects ; and if to these we add the division of the great landed estates of the nobility and clergy, there can no longer be any skepticism on this point. No truth is better established than the advantage of small farms over great, so far as the public is concerned. The Roman latifundia (military grants) destroyed Roman agriculture.

there can be no manure, so without manure there can be no abundance."*