A tour through North America

Company at Saratoga—Fast Eating—Notices of Buel Farm—Mr Buel—New York—State Agricultural Society—Advantages of a young country—Farmers of Britain and the States—British Agricultural Societies.

We reached Saratoga, the most celebrated watering-place in America, about two o’clock, and found accommodation at Congress Hall, the principal hotel in the village, and capable of accommodating 300 individuals. On retiring to prepare for dinner, my friend and I debated the nature of the attire in which we should appear—he conceiving it unnecessary to change our travelling garb, and I thinking it proper to assume full dress, in expectation of meeting the gay, wealthy, and polished of the land. We soon found ourselves seated at a second dinner table, consisting of a numerous company, which the railway coaches had just brought from Albany. The party displayed few symptoms of refinement. A gentleman on the opposite side of the table deliberately folded up the sleeves of his coat before commencing dinner, planted both elbows on the table, and swallowed his food voraciously, without once looking to the right or left. I felt, and perhaps looked, disappointed at the hurried manner in which the party dined; and on the company leaving table immediately afterwards, my friend enjoyed his triumph of opinion, and quizzed my shoes and stockings, as a marked singularity which both of us were anxious to avoid. Tea was served at seven o’clock, and, as usual, the repast was a regular feeding race. Business may have originated, but it cannot always excuse the practice of fast eating; and the inmates of Congress Hall were in perfect idleness.

In the industrious and lower ranks of life I observed slower mastication, and greater politeness and attention to each other at table than what is generally met with at fashionable hotels. The former frequent boarding-houses, not very plentifully supplied with waiters, or female helps, and they consequently assist each other in carving, and other duties of the table, while they have fixed hours of relaxation from business, affording ample time for eating, whereas commercial men, and other people who are not laboriously employed, eat at table with numerous attendants, and at short intervals snatched from business. Therefore, the traveller in America who draws an inference from what he witnesses at the public tables of hotels, unfavourable to the manners of the lower ranks of the inhabitants, does them injustice.

At Saratoga we tasted the different mineral waters, so deservedly celebrated, and next morning travelled to Albany by the railway. The soil over which we passed was unproductive sand, with exception of the banks of the Mohawk, in the vicinity of Schenectady. Betwixt Schenectady and Albany, the plains of the railway exhibited sand of fifty feet deep, having a thick covering of small pine-trees.

I was fortunate in finding Mr. Buel at home, so well known as a farmer throughout the Union. I walked over this gentleman’s grounds on my first visit to Albany, and enjoyed the same privilege a third time in October. The surface is highly undulating, the soil inferior sand, and extremely wet, though capable of being drained. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, some good crops were seen, more especially Indian corn and Swede turnip, the latter having been sown after a hay crop, with bone manure, manufactured by Mr Buel himself; and the state of the farm is, perhaps, one of the most striking instances in America of man overcoming the sterilities of nature.

Some attempts had been made at enclosing with hedges, consisting of American and British thorn, as well as locust. The hedges were not of sufficient age to enable me to judge of the fitness of the last-mentioned plant for farm purposes; but I certainly did not augur favourably of it, from the specimen before me. The American thorn was preferred by Mr Buel to the British; and, perhaps, indigenous plants will generally be found superior to foreign ones. In the present instance, however, the soil was not such as I have found congenial to the British thorn, and the management of the fences had not been unexceptionable. A few days afterwards I had a proof of the growing powers of British thorn at Geneva, where I cut a growth of the season on the 24th. of June, from the hedge of Mr W——’s garden, three feet in length. This, joined to the fine hedge of Mr F—— of the same place, establishes the fitness of the British thorn for the climate of America. The American thorn has very broad leaves, large fruit containing several seeds; and when growing in single trees, has horizontal branches, few prickles, and is apparently more dwarfish than the British species, which possesses pendulous branches, with numerous prickles. The British thorn has the property of growing throughout spring, summer, and autumn, which, with its numerous and strong prickles, eminently fits it for a fence plant.

Although Mr Buel’s farm is much celebrated, it presents few attractions to any one conversant with British agriculture. He is himself, however, an object of interest to the farmer of any country who has studied his profession. His conversation on a variety of subjects amply unfolded to me the treasures of an enlarged and well-stored mind, and I was delighted to find his views of improving agriculture harmonize with what I had long advocated in my humble sphere. At separation he presented me with the printed proceedings of the New York State Agricultural Society, of a considerable portion of which he is the author; and I imagine a day spent with Mr. Buel one of the richest agricultural treats that can be enjoyed in North America.

The New York State Agricultural Society was incorporated by act of the Legislature, on 26th April, 1832. A Report, recommending a Legislative grant, was approved, at a general meeting of the Society, in February, 1833, and in all probability the grant has been obtained before this time. I extract the Report, as conveying, in the general remarks, with a few exceptions, my own sentiments.

“Report of the Select Committee on the Memorial of the New York State Agricultural Society.

“Mr Sudam, from the select committee to which was referred the memorial of the New York State Agricultural Society, praying for the establishment of an Agricultural School,

“Reported:—That they have had under their consideration the subject submitted to them, accompanied by a report made, during the present session, to the New York Agricultural Society, and on which their memorial to the Legislature is predicated.

“It will be conceded that there is no portion of the community more entitled to the fostering care of the Legislature, than the tillers of the soil. The farmers of the State of New York are a class numerous, wealthy, industrious, patriotic, and above all other classes, from principle, devoted to our republican institutions, and cherishing with a holy spirit the union of our States. Their political exertions are not called forth by a desire of any great portion of their own body for legislative honours, or for those of the minor judicial situations in the State; but to maintain and preserve inviolate that sacred trust which has descended to them by the revolutionary efforts of their fathers, the full protection of life, liberty, and property.

“When a storm arises in the horizon, and danger awaits us from abroad, or when crazed ambition at home drives the frenzied passions of men to madness and all its excesses, it is in the farming interest of the country that you find the steady hand which holds the balance of political power, and by its strong arm repels the foe, or by its electoral voice annihilates the unjust hopes of the aspiring ambition of profligate politicians.

“It may be said by your committee, (without the imputation of a State vanity,) that New York holds a high rank by her munificent endowments of colleges, academies, and common schools. We, knowing their extent, need not elaborate on them in this report. Still it is but just to say, that she is already cited in Europe as a signal instance of what may be done for the education of every class of society, under the soft and benign influence of a free government, and that her motto is, ‘Knowledge is wealth.’

“In her enterprise, by facilitating intercourse between the different sections of her State and the waters of the Atlantic, she is as unrivalled in conception as she has been successful in execution. Not content with this, it is an admitted fact, and worthy of all honour, that she has carried into effect the most perfect prison discipline in the world; and we have already witnessed the wise and the humane of Europe resorting to her shores to ascertain the art of subduing the rebellious passions of the worst of our race, without the aid of those sanguinary punishments which have so long disgraced the Old World.

“Thus she has expended millions of her money, and already has she erected a monument to the wisdom of her statesmen, more durable than any ever dedicated to the victor of a thousand fields.

“Who are they who have contributed so freely, so generously to expenditures calculated to immortalize the State, and to establish its glory on so pure a foundation? Mainly the farmers of your country, the yeomen of the land, the tillers of the soil. Freely have they given, and joyfully have they paid, and most rich results have been the consequence of their enlightened liberality.

“Is it then unfair to ask, what has been done by the legislature for a class of its citizens so numerous, virtuous, and meritorious? The stranger, when he sojourns in our land, and views all that has been done for the cause of science, for education in the higher branches of literature, for your common schools, for the reformation and punishment of crimes on a scale superior to any State in Europe, naturally enquires: Show me your agricultural school. You are essentially an agricultural people; a class of society who have aided so liberally to the institutions of your State, must have received the constant and peculiar care of legislative protection and patronage, by forming their minds, their habits and their tempers to become the patrons of the noble monuments already erected, and which, while they shed lustre on our State, have placed her first among her sisters in the Union.

“Shall we any longer be compelled to answer? We have no such institution; we have provided an ample revenue for all but a complete course of practical instruction in agriculture. In almost every State in Europe, the attention of despotic governments has been called—nay, seriously and sedulously directed to the formation and endowment of schools of this description. There it is admitted the motive to a certain extent may be mercenary—to provide food for taxation. Here it is a debt due from the State to a class which, before they asked for themselves, have contributed to all others.

“It is conceded by your committee, that to a certain extent farmers are not fond of innovations. If experiments are tried, they are too often limited to one or two. If they fail, it is condemned. That prejudices of this description are fast wearing away, we admit; but that they still exist, to a considerable extent, there can be no doubt. And a gentleman farmer is generally at hand, as an instance of a poor farmer. But it is not the intention of the committee to endow an institution to rear up and educate persons in the mere theory of husbandry. It is to combine practice with science; and if it should be said that this would be a school only for the children of the more opulent, the unanswerable argument is, that it is the same in regard to your colleges, and must be so of necessity. Still the results of such an education, practised upon in all parts of the State, must and will lead to the most beneficial results. A good example is worth a world of mere speculation.

“In a school of this kind, under competent managers, there may be concentrated the best models of practice, in rural labour, known at home or abroad. The various breeds of domestic animals, the varieties of garden and orchard fruit, and the implements of husbandry, may be here satisfactorily compared, and their relative merits and advantages determined. Diversified experiments may be made in the various departments of husbandry, calculated to instruct and improve us in practice. Mechanical science, particularly what is denominated The Mechanics of Agriculture, may be illustrated and taught in the best manner, in the shops, and on the farm. The application of science to the mechanic and manufacturing arts, has, in a wonderful degree, simplified their manipulations, abridged their labour, and rendered their results more certain. From what has already been done, we are not permitted to hesitate or doubt but science will prove equally beneficial to agriculture. There is no business which embraces a wider range in natural science than this.

“The laws which govern organic and inorganic matter, which influence the economy of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, it cannot be denied, have a controlling influence in the operations of the soil, and in the business of raising animals and plants. Education (practical education) is nowhere calculated to diffuse a more benign influence in society, than when bestowed on the farmer. He neither claims nor can exercise a monopoly. His improvements and his knowledge diffuse light around him, and are beneficial to all within the sphere of their influence.

“Your committee feel assured, that if put into operation, this school will become, not only popular, but highly useful. To the pupil it will afford the most important advantages, besides instruction in the principles and practice of rural labour, which, of itself, confers the power of creating wealth. It will afford him the advantages of a literary school, qualify him for the higher duties of civil life, and give him withal, what is seldom acquired but in youth, habits of labour and application to business; calculated alike to promote his individual happiness, and the good of the State.

“With such an education, combining personal labour for a practical knowledge of all the instruments of husbandry, and the mode and manner in which it is to be prosecuted, those scientific pursuits will be prosecuted with a certainty that the foot of labour is guided by the unerring results of experience, founded in and regulated by the laws of nature.

“This school is intended to be purely agricultural. But in saying this, it will be necessary to open a course of instruction, combined with labour, which your committee venture to say, will be as interesting, and to the State, as valuable, as that which may be acquired in any other seminary. The different qualities of soil, as fitted for the various products of the earth; the use of compost and manures, as applicable to soils: the seasons for planting the rotation of crops, and the vast mass of practical information which enables man to transform a wilderness into a paradise, is worthy the pursuit of the richest as well as the humblest of the land.

“Again, the importance of procuring, at all times and at fair prices, prime stock, of the best breeds of cattle, ought not to be omitted, either as an inducement to the Legislature, or as of the first importance to the people.

“The question is, shall we endow a school, to which many would desire to send their children for the purpose of preparing them to depend in future life on one of the most certain, and therefore the most happy of human pursuits; combining in itself all the elements of constant, regular, and sagacious employment; and freed from the cares and corroding recollections, present or past, of the pursuits of a political life?

“It is evident that law, divinity, and physic, are overstocked. The pursuits of commerce are laborious, and do not very often yield a return to persons of a moderate fortune and liberal education: as now educated, they are not fitted for farmers; so tenaciously do those early habits adhere to them, that the attempt at agriculture is generally a failure. Your committee propose to give them a school, to which resort may be had for the cultivation of the mind, and the improvement of the person: Laying the foundation for future toils and pleasures, (for toils in agriculture are pleasures, when conducted to a successful result,) for future health and happiness, and preparing them to rear up a race, fit to transmit to posterity the liberties we so highly cherish.

“Your committee do not, in this report, enter into a detail of the expenditure necessary for this school. That is so fully treated of in the annexed report to the Agricultural Society, that they could only repeat what is there stated. But they cannot close without remarking what must be obvious to all, how much skill and science may effect in agricultural pursuits.

“Is there one of our body who has not seen, and remarked, the difference in adjoining farms, where nature had made no difference in the soil? It is this practical skill, this science, combined with labour, that they desire, (most anxiously desire,) to bestow on a rising generation; and they deem it their duty, most earnestly, to press it on the consideration of the Legislature, as called for by every consideration due to the public welfare, to the true and lasting interests of the State; and as the last, but most substantial pillar in the varied edifice of her public institutions.

“Impressed with this belief, and that the school recommended will, in many ways, prove highly beneficial to the community, and persuaded that the State will ultimately be fully indemnified for her advances, your committee have prepared a bill in conformity with the prayer of the petitioners, which they have directed their chairman to ask leave to present.”

“Report of the State Agricultural Society, Albany, February 14th, 1833.

“The committee appointed at the first meeting of the Society, to report a plan for an Agricultural School, with an estimate of the expense necessary to establish and put the same into operation; together with their views of such an establishment, beg leave to submit the following report:—

“The main objects of the proposed school are, to impart to agriculture the efficient aid of the sciences, and to furnish it with the best models of practice; to teach, simultaneously, in the period of youth devoted to academic studies, the practical operations of husbandry, and such branches of useful knowledge as may tend to elevate its character and increase its products. The plan, therefore, should embrace,

“1. A Farm, of sufficient extent to afford room for the diversified operations of tillage, cattle and sheep husbandry, and of orcharding and gardening—on a scale that will admit a fair comparison being made of crops, of breeds of cattle and sheep, and of the varieties of hardy fruits; and sufficiently diversified in soil and surface as to admit of satisfactory experiments:

“2. A Farm House and Farm Buildings, which may serve as models of convenience, taste and economy, and accommodate the head farmer and his assistants:

“3. A School Building, for the accommodation of teachers and scholars:

“4. A Library and Philosophical Apparatus:

“5. Stock and Implements for the farm: and,

“6. Shops for the construction of farm implements and machinery, for the use of the farm, for the illustration of mechanical science, and to afford practical instructions to the pupils in mechanics.

“These items of expense, which may be considered preliminary and permanent, together with the cost of the furniture required for the school building, are estimated at $7,500.

“1. The plan of education might embrace: practical instructions in the various operations and labours of the farm, the garden, the orchards, and the shops: and,

“2. The study of the natural sciences generally, mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, and drawing, so far as these may conduce or become subservient to agricultural improvement; together with such other branches of knowledge as will qualify the students for the higher duties of civil life—such as will fit them to become independent electors, discreet jurors, faithful magistrates, and wise legislators.

“As prerequisites to admission to the school, the pupils might be required to possess a good common school education, to be at least fourteen years of age, and of good moral character. Four years might constitute a course of studies; and the internal regulations and police of the school might be conformed, in a measure, to those of our military academy.

“A department of the farm should be set apart for experiments in husbandry, and the details and results of these experiments accurately registered. The garden and the orchard should contain all the good hardy fruits, and specimens of all hardy plants, that may be useful on the farm, in the arts, in commerce, or that are ornamental—in order that the relative value of different species and varieties may be determined, and their mode of culture and process of curing taught to the pupils, and the approved kinds furnished for public distribution.

“To put the school into operation, there will be required—a principal, professors, and teachers—a steward and servants, for the school:

“A manager, labourers, and assistants, for the farm:

“Machinists and assistants for the shops: and,

“A practical and scientific manager for the garden and orchard.

“The number of officers and assistants which will be required, must depend upon contingencies: and of course the committee do not pretend to state with precision, in their estimate, the amount of their salaries and pay.

“The proceeds of the school and the farm may be expected to increase for some years, and will materially depend on the terms of tuition. The committee have assumed, as reasonable data, that the number of pupils would average 200, and the average produce of the farm amount to $4,000 per annum, for the first four years. Upon the assumed data, then, the estimate would exhibit the following result:—

“Thus the total expense of establishing the school, and of maintaining it the first year, is estimated at $80,950, and the income, after the first year, it is believed, will be amply sufficient to defray all expenses. Yet to meet contingencies that may occur, and to make up for any deficiency in the estimate, the committee think that an appropriation of $100,000, the surplus to be invested for the benefit of the institution, will ensure usefulness and permanency to the school, and prove amply sufficient to meet all its wants. This sum, if equalized among the population of the State, would operate as a tax of about five cents to each inhabitant.

“Your committee have thus complied with the requisitions of the society, in submitting the plan of an Agricultural School, and an estimate of the expense necessary to establish and put the same into successful and permanent operation. It only remains for them to state their opinion of its utility.

“The agriculture of a country affords the best criterion of its prosperity. Whether we compare kingdoms, states, counties, districts, or farms; the condition of this branch of labour, which they severally exhibit, is a sure index, not only of the pecuniary, but of its moral condition. It is no less an axiom founded in truth, that agriculture prospers or languishes, in proportion to the science and skill of the men who manage its labours. It is not the natural fertility of the soil, so much as the intelligence and industry of those who till it, which gives to husbandry its interests and its rewards. The man who devotes the energies of a highly cultivated mind, to the improvement of this primitive and all-important branch of labour, is a public benefactor. Cincinnatus did more to immortalize his name, and to command our applause, by his love of rural labours, than by his military exploits. Washington, amid all the honours that irradiated his brow, sought his highest pleasures in the business and retirement of the farm. And it was the first remark of our present chief magistrate, to the writer, after introduction, that he would not forego the pleasures of the farm for all the honours and emoluments that this nation could confer upon him. Education enables man to appreciate the wonderful provisions which God has made for his happiness in rural life, and imparts to him the ability of diffusing instruction and happiness to multitudes around him.

“It should be the policy of government, therefore, which watches over the interest of all, to infuse into the labours of husbandry, all the lights of science and knowledge—to take care to expand and elevate the minds of those who are to give it efficiency and character, and to call forth skill and industry by proffered rewards. With us these considerations possess peculiar force. Our population and business are emphatically agricultural, and every aid which is extended to this class benefits, indirectly, every portion of the community. Agriculture constitutes the fountains of the thousand rills, which, swelling and traversing every part of the State, propel the spindle and the hammer of the artisan and the manufacturer, and finally, by their union, make up the mighty stream of commerce which unceasingly flows into the Atlantic.

“That our agriculture is susceptible of improvement—that the products of its labours may be doubled, nay, quadrupled, must be apparent to those who have compared our husbandry with that of some European countries, or who have contrasted at home the well-cultivated district or farm with those which are badly managed. How is the desired amelioration to be effected? How can a better husbandry be so well promoted, as by teaching it to our youth? By sowing our seed in the springtime of life? Prejudice nowhere retains a stronger hold than among farmers who have approached or passed the meridian of life. While some retain old practices, for want of confidence in their knowledge to guide them in better ones, others lack the first requisites to improvement—a consciousness that their system is not the most useful; while not a few are influenced, in their hostility to public means of improvement, by the desire to keep things to their own level. If we would efficiently improve this great branch of business, and elevate its character, as well as the character of those who are engaged in its operations, we must do what universal experience has shown to be the only sure method. We must lay our foundation in the rising generation—we must teach the young idea how to shoot—we must instruct the head to help the hands. Our physical and mental powers are twin sisters; they lighten each other’s labour, and mutually impart a zest to each other’s enjoyments. And as it is becoming common to introduce manual labour into literary schools, it is courteous that literature and science should requite the civility, by associating with the inmates of schools of labour.

“Agricultural schools, although of modern date, have nevertheless been established in most of the states of Europe, and their utility has been fully demonstrated. Who has not heard of the school of Fellenburgh, at Hoffwyl, or of Von Thayer, at Moegelin—to which young men are sent from every part of Europe, and even from America? In France and Prussia, agricultural schools have been founded and maintained by the governments. If they are found to be beneficial, and worthy of governmental support, in countries where power is vested in the few, how much more salutary must they prove here—where our institutions receive the impress of their character from the many, and where the perpetuity of these institutions depends emphatically upon the intelligence and virtue of the agricultural population. Despotism will never flourish in American soil, but through the ignorance, and, we may say, consequent depravity of its cultivators.

“Your committee recall to recollection, with feelings of pride, the munificent benefactions of the Legislature, to advance the literary character of our State; and the fact, that comparatively nothing has been done, legislatively, to improve our agriculture, which employs five-sixths of our population, can be ascribed to the fact, that nothing has been asked for—nothing thought of. Our public colleges and academies, for literary instruction, are numerous and respectable. They meet our eye in almost every village. But where are our public schools of labour? Where is the head taught to help the hands, in the business which creates wealth, and which is the grand source of individual and national prosperity and happiness? Our literary and professional schools have been reared up and sustained by the expenditure of more than two millions of dollars from the public treasury, and they continue to share liberally of the public bounty. It will not, however, be denied, that the benefits which they dispense are altogether partial,—that the rank and file of society, destined by heaven to become the conservators of civil liberty, are virtually denied a participation in the science and knowledge,—in the means of improvement and of happiness which they are calculated to dispense. Is it not a mandate of duty, then, as well as of expediency, that the benefits of public instruction should be more generally dispensed?

“We hazard not the fear of contradiction in assuming, that if a moiety of public moneys, which have been appropriated to literary schools, had been judiciously applied, in rendering science subservient to the arts, and in diffusing the higher branches among the labouring classes, the public benefits from the appropriation would have been far greater than they are at the present day. How many hundreds may now be pointed out, of liberal education, who are mere ciphers in society, for want of the early habits of application and labour, which it is the object of the proposed school to form and infix! And how many, for want of these habits, have been prematurely lost to their friends, and to a purpose of usefulness for which man seems wisely to have been created—that of doing good to his fellows.

“From a full conviction that the interests of the State not only warrant, but require, an appropriation of public moneys to this object, your committee beg leave to recommend to the consideration of the Society the following resolution:

“Resolved, That a respectful memorial be presented to the Legislature, in behalf of this Society, and of the great interest which it represents, praying that suitable provision may be made by law, for establishing a school of agriculture, on the plan recommended in the preceding report; and that the co-operation, in this application, of societies and individuals friendly to the object of the petition, be respectfully solicited.”

The report is attributed to Mr Jesse Buel, and is a document creditable to its author and the society which adopted it. It advocates mental cultivation of farmers, as the best means of improving agriculture, and youth as the seedtime of an abundant harvest of human knowledge. Whatever diversity of opinion may exist in rural matters, every individual who has reflected on the subject, will admit the mind of the farmer is the chief implement of husbandry on which the agricultural system depends, and by which its advancement can be best effected. Man is the principal animal connected with the farm, and the amelioration of his mind more important than the improvement of brute formation. Mr Buel knows well the strength of prejudice existing amongst farmers, the results of their isolated situation, and that youth is generally the only season when new impressions can be made and acted on. In advanced agriculture, the mind will guide the hands as well as all farm machinery, and science and art become blended together in the relation and loveliness of conjugal unity. Mental illumination of farmers is not merely calculated to advance agriculture, but to enable them to see, in their professional pursuits, the means of serving their fellow-creatures, and the exhaustless bounty of God.

New York is justly considered the leading state of the Union, being celebrated for prison discipline, extensive canaling, common schools, and if Mr Buel’s vigour is spared for a few years, it is also likely to be distinguished for its agricultural institution.

The United States possess great advantages, from being new or young countries, in which no class have exclusive privileges, and where the selfishness and prejudices of classes are seldom manifested. The inhabitants are a mixture of all nations, or the descendants of such, in which the fetters of old customs have been loosened perhaps by collision, and, in measures of general utility, they can at once adopt the wisdom of antiquity without its folly. Many of their public institutions are illustrative of this as well as Mr Buel’s report.

How different is Britain and Ireland from the state of New York, where the “tillers of the soil” are regarded as the most patriotic class, holding the balance of political power, and alike ready in repelling foes and restraining profligate politicians. In former ages the cultivators of British soil were considered mere vassals, and termed villains. At present they are lightly esteemed by those who chiefly reap the benefit of their exertions; and although this is the age when the schoolmaster is said to be abroad, judicious steps have not been taken to improve their condition.

Agricultural societies are to be found in almost every county in Britain, but their proceedings seldom directly embrace the improvement of the moral condition of humanity. Indeed their proceedings have sometimes an opposite tendency, by seeking to maintain monopolies and duties on foreign produce, which cripple trade, curtail the field of industry, and enhance the necessaries of life, from all of which wretchedness and vice flow. But the population actively engaged in agriculture are also little cared for, and their condition seems declining comparatively with other classes. Such institutions too much overlook youth and moral agency in improving agriculture, and spend much of their funds and time on minor objects.

In making these observations on the agricultural societies of Britain, I am aware of some exceptions. The Liverpool society is a good institution, and a manufacturing district is the situation where an efficient society might be expected in Britain, as furnishing members liberal in mind, and comparatively free from agricultural prejudice.

The Highland Society of Scotland is also a good institution; its ample funds accomplishing much for the benefit of the country by giving premiums; but more advantage would result from their application in the improvement of youth, and in cultivating an experimental farm something analogous to what Mr Buel recommends. Edinburgh would form an excellent situation for such, where there is already a University Professor of Agriculture. An experimental farm of sufficient size would furnish better results from systematic procedure and continued registration, than the efforts of isolated individuals. With such an institution, sons of landed proprietors might be instructed in the science and art of farming, and the management of property. Stock and seeds might be experimented with and improved; and by the sale of them the institution would support itself.

Journey to Geneva—Schenectady—Question Asking—Stage Driver—Valley of Mohawk—Agricultural Duties— Utica—Attention to Females—Marcellus—Skeneatiles—Cayuga Bridge—Dinner Party—Dumfries-shire Farmer—Sheep Husbandry—Condition of Animals—Farms—Geneva.

We left Albany in the morning, and breakfasted at Schenectady, which contains about 5000 inhabitants, and from its situation on the Mohawk, the union of the Erie Canal, and railway from Albany and Saratoga, it is likely to rise in importance. From Schenectady we proceeded, by stage, along the valley of the Mohawk, on the north side of the river, to Utica, where we arrived about two in the morning, the state of the roads being bad.

The temperature was unpleasantly warm throughout the day, and the stage crowded with passengers, who were generally agreeable companions. One of them, a gentleman in dress and manners, while conversing with my friend, enquired what country he came from, and immediately apologized for so doing. It is but justice to the people of America to say, this was the first question put to either my friend or me evincing curiosity, and considering conversation had been previously continued for hours, it was not altogether inexcusable. Travellers from a foreign land generally ply with questions the natives they come in contact with, and thereby lay themselves open to questions in return.

The driver who carried us to Utica behaved improperly towards my friend, regarding his luggage. He was a saucy fellow, and spouted what he perhaps considered wit, and others insolence, with every person who spoke to him. In fact, he was the only insolent driver I met with in the United States, this class of men being generally civil and accommodating to their passengers. He treated all travellers alike, and when told by an American he had taken four hours to drive fifteen miles, answered it was just an hour less than he intended to have taken. The drivers receive no gratuity from passengers, and can only be acted on by civility.

The state of the weather and stage-coach conveyance prevented our enjoying the scenery of the valley of the Mohawk as I expected; and after passing Little Falls, I exchanged places with a friend on the box seat. The object appearing, when the sun was approaching the horizon, was the German flats in the neighbourhood of the Herkeimer. But the shortness of twilight soon shut the landscape from my sight, and the brilliancy of the fire-fly alone remained to attract attention.

I again passed through this part of the valley of the Mohawk, in the end of October following, when the weather was fine, in a canal packet, which afforded a better opportunity of seeing the scenery than travelling by stages, as on the former occasion. There is no part of America which I visited so interesting as this valley, which happily combines the beauties of nature with the comforts of man. The Mohawk is a moderate sized stream, according to the conceptions of a Briton, and wends its way gently through a valley, bounded by verdant hills, adorned with an infinite variety of vegetable productions. The road and canal in many places approach the verge of the river, where the scenery assumes the boldest character, and the different objects around Little Falls have few equals in any part of the world. The bottom of the valley affords evidence of successful cultivation, and its beautiful sloping sides are thickly covered with cattle and sheep browsing on the herbage. The country around the Herkeimer, near which the West Canada creek joins the Mohawk, as seen from the canal, is truly fertile, and the inhabitants of the valley apparently wealthy and happy.

In New England States, I observed a few plants of a class known to British farmers as wild mustard, chadlock, &c. &c., and which appears to me raphanus raphanustrum, but not in such numbers as to injure the crops.

On entering the State of New York, the raphanus was common, and methought I could distinguish the wild turnip from the stage-windows. Between Schenectady and Little Falls, these weeds, in one or two instances, were choking the crops. The wheat crops throughout the valley of the Mohawk were good; the Indian corn had suffered severely from frost and the overflowing of the river, which had, a few weeks before, attained a most unusual height, and imparted a disagreeable appearance to much of the land, which was little elevated above the river.

Utica is situated on the Erie canal, and is a handsome, thriving place, containing about 10,000 inhabitants, and became a city in 1832. We again, after a few hours’ rest, proceeded on our journey, and reached Auburn, where we stopped for the night.

At Manlius we dined with a large party of travellers, who arrived by different stages, and afforded several marked instances of cooing, which the newly-married people of this country seem to indulge in. During this day’s travelling, and on other occasions, the behaviour of such people appeared, to our British notions, verging on indelicacy, and completely at variance with the general opinion of English writers, who suppose that the females of the United States are treated with neglect. Judging from what, of this nature, came under my notice in different parts of the country, I was led to think the American husbands attentive in the highest degree, and some of the ladies absolutely spoiled by too much attention. In almost every hotel chairs at the head of public tables are reserved for ladies, and they invariably occupy the principal seats in stage-coaches.

This day (21st June) the weather was warm, the thermometer in the stage, which is open on each side to the free admission of air, indicating 82 degrees at five P.M. Fortunately, myself and two friends were the only passengers after dinner, and we enjoyed a rapid drive through a fine country; there being no regularity with regard to time, the speed of the stages is often in the inverse ratio of the number of passengers. The prospect from the village of Onondaga-hill, which has two churches, is beautiful and extensive, embracing Onondaga lake and the villages of Syracuse and Salina. Beyond Onondaga-hill is Marcellus, which reminded me of the villages of New England, and is the prettiest place seen to the west of Albany. A farther drive of six miles brought us to Skeneatiles, situated at the foot of the lake bearing the same name, which, unruffled by the wind, and gilded by the rays of the setting sun, was sleeping in bright tranquillity. Skeneatiles is more beautiful than Marcellus—contains about 1200 inhabitants, and every thing in the village and neighbourhood indicates wealth and prosperity. At seven in the evening we reached Auburn, the seat of a state-prison, where the system of prison discipline, so justly celebrated, was first introduced.

Early next morning, the 22d June, we pursued our journey, passing over Cayuga lake by a remarkable wooden bridge, upwards of a mile in length. The lake is here very shallow. The bridge rests on posts, and was in a dangerous state for want of repairs. A new bridge was being formed, adjoining the old one, and seemingly of improved construction. Seneca falls and Waterloo are thriving villages, through which we passed, and reached Geneva in time for dinner. We stopped at the Franklin hotel, kept by Mr Mann, a most obliging individual, and where we found a large party, consisting chiefly of travellers. The table was well stored with brandy, which, with exception of water, was the only liquid; and my friend, who is well known for sobriety of character, drank more of it than all the rest of the company put together.

Having letters to several people in Geneva, induced me to remain some time. Next day we attended divine worship at a Dutch reform church, and every thing which came under notice at Geneva, showed the Sabbath to be observed with propriety. Monday, the 24th June, proved wet, and so cold, that fires in the public rooms of the hotel were courted for their warmth. The rain ceasing about noon, we walked after dinner round the north end of the lake, to visit a farmer from Dumfries-shire, Scotland.

Mr J—— possesses strong natural parts, and is an instance of what energetic and persevering industry is capable of accomplishing in this country. On his first arrival he was very poor, and often employed himself in carrying wheat for hire. One year he raised by his own labour 900 bushels of wheat, with only the assistance of a small boy in harrowing, while he himself was engaged in sowing. His farm is now his own property; and this season he has sixty acres in wheat, equal to any crop of similar extent I ever examined. His system is to sow clover amongst wheat, which affords good pasturage in autumn, and is fed off in the following spring; the land is ploughed in the end of June, and after an imperfect fallowing, sown with wheat in autumn. The Dutch farmers in the neighbourhood also sow clover with the wheat crop, which in spring is ploughed down for manure, without being fed off. This shows how much nature does for the farmer,—one year providing manure, and in the next a wheat crop. Skill might improve the system followed, but the period of introducing advanced agriculture into the United States has not yet arrived. Mr J—— applies fifty heaped Winchester bushels of lime to an acre, which costs nine cents, or 4½d sterling, per bushel. Gypsum costs fifteen cents per bushel, and is only used for clover and Indian corn. This being the season of applying it to the latter, people were carrying it in baskets, and putting a pinch on each hill or cluster of plants. Half a bushel is sufficient for an acre, and imparts an improved appearance to the crop in four days, except on black soft land, where it has little effect.

Mr J—— feeds labourers on the best of fare, and finds no want of them at any time. His wheat crop is cut with the cradle scythe at $1 a-day and found, that is boarded—and two binders follow the cradler at 62½ cents. Wheat is cradled at $1½ per acre, and grass at $⅝, labourers finding themselves—and the work well done in both cases. Americans, Dutch, English, Irish, and Scotch, he finds work equally well. All his crop, including hay, is housed, and he considers a dollar per bushel a good price for wheat.

A good many sheep were shown us, a mixture of Saxon and Merino blood, which are not anointed with any kind of liquor or salve, and never stricken with fly. They are kept in courts during winter, fed on hay, and lamb betwixt 20th April and 20th May. Mr J——’s flock was in better condition than any yet seen, though poor, and the lambs were starvelings, compared with those reared in the cultivated parts of my native district. He says his sheep seldom die, having only lost two out of five hundred in the course of two years, and the mortality amongst lambs was not much greater. The price of his ewes, when the lambs are weaned, is $3, and that of two-year old wedders, $2 and $2½. Fleeces weigh 3½lb., and his wool at present is worth 60 cents per lb.

We examined a large collection of wool belonging to Mr R——, which was of fine quality. He told us one of his yearling wedders, weighing 29lb. yielded 2lb. 9oz. of wool; and the small size of this sheep induced him to think an acre of ground would yield as much fine wool as coarse. But the data furnished by this animal are not satisfactory, as its wool and carcass, in all probability, bore a different proportion in the preceding autumn; since which, the latter may have decreased, and the former increased. The carcass of a live wedder, weighing 29lb., must have consisted only of bone and sinew; and the weight of wool, compared with that of the sheep, may be held as evidence of wretched condition, and not of superiority of wool-growing.

Mr J——’s cows were beautiful animals, and very fat. For some days past a great improvement in the condition of cattle had been observed, arising, perhaps, from better pastures, and the advance of the season. There was also an obvious change in the inhabitants, having seen more corpulent men since leaving Schenectady than in all our previous wanderings in America.

Mr Stuart, in his “Three Years’ Residence in America,” remarks, there are few lean animals; but observation leads me to a different conclusion—cows, sheep, and pigs, taken collectively, being apparently the leanest and most neglected creatures I ever saw in any country. The condition of the horse is greatly superior to that of other animals, yet many are met with on the Erie canal equal in wretchedness to the most overwrought animal in Britain. Combining the price of the animal and of food, the daily expense of a horse is much higher in Britain than in the United States, while the wages of his driver are proportionally lower; hence a poor, weak, lame horse may be an object of profit in the one country long after he ceases to be so in the other, and the fatness of the American horses is not owing to abundance of food in the country, or humanity in the people.

We examined a farm within three quarters of a mile of Geneva, belonging to Mr W——, consisting of 280 acres, 200 of which were cleared, fenced, and subdivided, with good dwelling-house, two servants’ houses, suitable offices, and a large productive orchard, for which he asked $35, or L.7, 5s. 10d. sterling per acre. The public burdens affecting the property were eighteen days’ labour of a man yearly for road-making, and $2 for school-tax. There is a flour-mill on an outlet of the lake, propelled by an endless screw lying horizontally in the stream, which, for want of fall, is unsuitable for any common machinery. A steam flour-mill had been set a-going in the village a few days before our arrival.

Geneva is situated on the west side of lake Seneca, near its northern extremity, commanding a view of the lake, which is the most beautiful sheet of water in America. There is a college, four churches, a bank, and other public buildings. The chief part of the village consists of a square, and a street of neat villas running parallel to the lake, on which a steam-boat plies daily to the extremity, distant thirty-five miles.