things are evident: either we have not yet discovered the best modes for cultivation, or our lands are not well adapted, or we want a greater portion of the stimulating classes to animate us to our duty. If 6,000 fishermen assist us to export three millions, the whole number of our active agriculturalists and planters should enable us to export their produce in the same ratio, in order to be equally productive. We suffer greatly, especially where there are slaves, by allowing them to keep a kind of blood or mongrel hound: with these they sometimes join, in hunting a pig or a sheep, for a private barbecue, which they frequently have by themselves. On other occasions, these dogs are kept on guard at a vacancy in a fence, that might be easily mended; but then the pleasure of seeing the cows hunted and bit, or heated till they go dry, would be lost; and the duties of the dairy might become too troublesome if all the cows were suffered to give milk for half the year. The total of our dogs once amounted to one for each family, and cost about 5 dollars, an average, for consumption and mischief among the sheep, the poultry, and other animals, or five millions a year: but then, although a thief always knows how to coax and manage them, they are excellent at biting a distressed friend, calling for advice or assistance in the night, whenever sickness or accident may require. The loss of good substantial food, in each year, by the death of old horses, that would be barrelled for market, had they been oxen, may be rated at six millions, annually. The only reasons why the American people are yet less employed in manufactures than the Europeans, are, they find fishing and agriculture by far the most productive. It is computed, that on the purchase money for a farm, at the present low prices, with all the necessary stock, and the labour paid for at more than a bushel of corn the day, above double the money can be made, with less labour, than by the averaged profit on the same capital, in the best mechanical employment suited to our country and present habits. The European nations who want our bread and raw materials, should be careful how they provoke us to rival them prematurely in their own arts time will effect this without such provocation. In Louisiana, near New Orleans, the landed gentlemen say, their lands produce about 20 bushels of corn, worth about 16 dollars; but the same labour will give 250 lbs. clean cotton, worth 50 dollars; and an acre of sugar cane will give about ten hundred lbs. worth 80 dollars, with about 7 dollars in mollasses: hence, they will exchange these articles with their northern brethren, for grain, meat, &c. and thereby promote commerce. It is the variety of our pursuits that will tend most powerfully to promote the harmony of the United States, till our monied institutions are extended further to clench the nails or rivet the golden chains of our truly enviable union. There have been a few attempts to alarm the government and the people of the United States, with a report of a wished for separation between the western and atlantic states; but these have been traced to the great land speculators, who want to have the public lands re'duced to a price favourable to monopoly. They succeeded about three years since, partially, for the want of firmness in the government; but as such people, with such views, are never to be contented, they became more avaricious in consequence. But our government now see their error, and the resident has raised the reserved lands to eight dollars, which are worth, and sell for, this price; and when government get to work on the roads to the western country, all will be well, especially if new loans should occasion a greater circulation of certificates and money to facilitate the pay for the public lands; for which there would then be an increased demand in a far greater ratio than the increase of money in circulation, in all which our agriculture is chiefly concerned. The principal errors in our agriculture, are, inattention to the minutie on which the whole of this invaluable science depends. We have only room to state, that sometimes the best mode of ploughing and dressing the grounds are neglected; the best and most prolific seed; the best seasons for sowing; the best rotine for a succession of varied crops; irrigation, what is styled green cropping and the rearing the best grasses, as well as the best seasons for harvest, are not sufficiently attended to in many parts of the union. Our cattle and sheep are often without shelter, and we have few good roads in the new countries. So important are canals and irrigation, that the British board of agriculture have declared, "that canals and irrigation might be the means for highly cultivating EVERY INCH of British ground." If this be true, we shall prove it in due time, and the sooner we begin the better. Our general government should set the roads and canals a going every where, as fast as they are wanted, by subscribing to every eligible canal and road company, that might run as radii from the HEART, which ought to have arteries suited to the noble magnitude of the body. All these the general government should ESTABLISH, or posterity will not overlook their neglect. It is a point yet to be determined, how many individuals can be supported on an acre, or by the agricultural labour of one. Sir John Sinclair, says, that each acre of potatoes will feed (in Ireland) nine persons, on an average, for the general crop; the Carolina pine is deemed of more use than the cultivation of the vine. See British agricultural reports. This is an important truth. Agricultural premiums for the greatest quantity of food on the smallest space of ground, with the least labour and least injury to the soil, is a primary object. There are, however, many other objects in connection for our comfort, and for the subsistence of domestic animals, necessary to us by habit, of more immediate importance. Rivalship in agriculture, is a desirable incentive to further improvement, and will become daily of more importance. We have heard of rich merchants near Boston and New York, who amuse themselves with experimental agriculture, at their country seats (this is indeed the most rational of all amusements) who have laid bets of a dinner for the judges, on the event of the largest crop, to be decided on the spot, by their friends, who partake of the winnings. As in this cheerful and rational way much good may be done, by due recourse to chymistry, for the best mode of dressing the grounds, the poorer farmers will look at these experiments and embrace those only that are most successful. Would to heaven! this mode of betting was substituted generally in America; especially where our horses are dwindled down to mere grey-hounds and hares in shape, to make them run. Although we admit that a few public exercises may help to improve the breed, it is by no means certain that speed will be always connected with either strength or courage. The best race horses that went from England in the cavalry of the duke of York, did not persevere in a charge so generally, as the hunter breed from the old British stock. It is certainly a vice, a sin, against the main objects of agriculture, to be too fond of horses; for which reason, the Chinese have banished this animal. The immense quantity of grain destroyed by a creature that seldom does double the work of the ox that lives almost without corn, and is valuable indeed at his death, either for domestic or foreign consumption; while the horse beef lost at death, has exceeded five millions per annum, ought to decide in favour of more general dependence on a selected breed of oxen, for the purposes of agriculture. If gentlemen will only attend to the ox, they will find him an interesting, generous animal, improving as much by kind attention as the horse; but he is often so ill treated, and so uncomfortably geared, that it is really astonishing that he can do so much labour as he does in the eastern and northern parts of the union. Citizens of America! let us intreat you to attend to the promotion of agriculture, for which we invoke the genius of Thompson, "Ye sons of freemen, venerate the plough; And be the exhaustless granary of the world." Spring. In our warmer climates, injury is often done by careless cutting of the groves that shelter the springs in many parts of the country, and the most attracting trees on the brow or summit of the highest grounds, that would often seize an overburthened summer cloud, by its lowest skirt, when down would fall the pending shower; as when a sieve full of flour is shook, that without a jar, would still retain its contents. For want of trees, and owing to a scarcity of a green attracting covering on the soil, the reflected solar rays often assist the atmospheric rarefaction, that upholds the bouyant summer clouds as they pass on till they strike on the mountain tops, leaving many of the parched plains without a drop. Every thing that may palliate or ameliorate the effects of the summer drought, is most worthy the attention of the chymist and philosopher, and no doubt there is room for important discoveries in this line. To promote the science of agriculture, in the year 1791, GEORGE WASHINGTON, then president of the United States, wrote circular letters, from which the following is an extract, viz. "My confidence in your disposition and knowledge, leads me to offer to your inquiry, and to request from your intelligence as early information as may be convenient, on the following heads." "1st. The fee simple price of farming lands in such parts of the state of as are neither so near to large towns as to enhance their value, nor so distant from market towns as greatly to reduce it. Be pleased to note the situation, the soil, and if practicable, the proportions of arable, pasture, and wood lands. 2d. The rents of the lands when leased, and generally the terms of lease. 3d. The average product of the same lands (when leased, and generally) in wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, beans, pease, potatoes, turnips, grasses, hemp, flax, &c. in the common mode of husbandry now practised. 4th. The averaged prices of these articles when sold at the farm or carried to the nearest market. 5th. The averaged prices of good working horses, working oxen, milch cows, sheep, hogs, poultry, &c. 6th. The average price of beef, veal, mutton, pork, butter and cheese, in the neighbourhood, or at the nearest market towns. 7th. The price of wrought iron, whence the price of farming utensils may be inferred." Extract of a letter from George Washington, President of the United States, to Arthur Young, esquire. SIR, PHILADELPHIA, December 5, 1791. "IN a letter which I addressed to you on the 15th of August, acknowledging the receipt of your favor, dated the 25th of January preceding, I promised to answer the queries contained in it, in detail. Accordingly 1 took measures for that purpose, by writing to some of the most intelligent farmers in the state of New York, New Jer sey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia; as you will perceive by the circular letter herewith enclosed: and have obtained the answers from the three last mentioned states, that are thereunto annexed.... I did not extend my inquiries to the northward of New York, nor to the southward of Virginia; because in neither extremity of the union, in my opinion, is the climate, soil, or other circumstances, well adapted to the pursuits of a mere farmer, or congenial to the growth of the smaller grains. "Although I have no hesitation in giving it at the same time as my opinion, that if I had a new establishment to make in it, it would be under the knowledge I entertain of it at present, (and I have visited all parts, from New Hampshire to Georgia, inclusiveiy,) in one of the three states of which you are furnished with particular accounts. New York and New Jersey, do not differ much in soil or climate, from the northern parts of Pennsylvania. Both are pleasant, and both are well improved, particularly the first. But the country beyond these, to the eastward, (and the farther you advance that way is still more so,) is unfriendly to wheat, which is subject to a blight or mildew, and of late years, to a fly, which has almost discouraged the growth of it. The lands, however, in the New England suites, are strong and productive of other crops; are well improved; popubusly seated; and as pleasant as it can be in a country fas' locked in snow several months in the year. "To the southward of Virginia, the climate is not wel'adapted to wheat; and less and less so as you penetrate the warmer latitudes; nor is the country so thickly settled, or well cultivates. In a word, as I have already intimated, was I to commence my career of life. anew, I should not seek a residence north of Pennsy vania, nor south of Virginia: nor (but this I desire may be received with great caution, for I may, without knowing I am so, be biased in favour of the river on which I live,) should I go more than 25 miles from the margin of the Potowmac. In less than half that distance, in some places, I might seat myself either in Pennsylvania, Maryland, or Virginia, as local circumstances might prompt me. "Having said thus much, some of the reasons which lead to this opinion, may be expected in support of it. "Potowmac river, then, is the centre of the union. It is between the extremes of heat and cold. It is not so far to the south, as to be unfriendly to grass; nor so far north as to have the produce of the summer consumed in the length, and severity of the winter. It waters the soil, and runs in that climate, vnich is most congenial to English grains, and most agreeable to the cultivation of them. It is the river, more than any other, in my cpinion, which must, in the natural progress of things, connect by itsinland navigation (now nearly completed 190 measured miles up te fort Cumberland, at the expense of 50,0001. sterling, raised by private subscription,) the Atlantic states, with the vast region which is populating (beyond all conception) to the westward of it. It is designated by law for the seat of the empire; and must, from its extensive course through a rich and populous country, become in time the grand emporium of North America. To these reasons may be added, that the lands within, and surrounding the district of Columbia, are as high, as dry, and as healthy as any in the United States; and that those above them, in the counties of Berkely, in Virginia; Washington, in Maryland; and Franklin, in Pennsylvania, (adjoining each other) at the distance of from 60 to 100 miles from Columbia, are inferior in their natural state, to none in America. The general map of North America, which is here with inclosed, will shew the situation of this district of the United States; and on EVANS's map of the middle colonies, which is on a larger scale, I have marked the district of Columbia |