Page images
PDF
EPUB

Agrippa died in a workhoufe; Cervantes is fuppofed to have died with hunger; Camoens was deprived of the neceffaries of life, and is believed to have perifhed in the streets. The great Taffo was reduced to fuch a dilemma, that he was obliged to borrow a crown from a friend to fubfilt through the week. He alludes to his diftrefs in a pretty fonnet which he addreffes to his cat, entreating her to affist him during the night with the luftre of her eyes

• Non avendo candele per iscrivere i fuoi verfi!'

having no candle by which he could fee to write his verfes.

The illuftrious Cardinal Bentivoglio, the ornament of Italy and of literature, languifhed, in his old age, in the most diftrefsful poverty; and having fold his palace to fatisfy his creditors, left nothing behind him but his reputation.

Le Sage refided in a little cottage on the borders of Paris, and fupplied the world with their moft agreeable Romances; while he never knew what it was to poffels any moderate degree of comfort in pecuniary mat

ters.

De Ryer, a celebrated French Poet, was conftrained to labour with rapidity, and to live in the cottage of an obfcure village. His bookfeller bought his Heroic Verfes for one hundred fols the hundred lines, and the fmaller ones for fifty fols.

Dryden for less than three hundred pounds fold Tonfon ten thoufand

verfes, as may be feen by the agreement which has been publifhed.

Purchas, who, in the reign of our firft James, had spent his life in travels and ftudy to form his Relation of the World, when he gave it to the public, for the reward of his labours was thrown into prifon at the fuit of his printer. Yet this was the book which, he informs us in his Dedication to Charles the First, his father read every night with greas profit and fatisfaction.

Savage, in the preffing hour of diftrefs, fold that eccentric poem, The Wanderer, which had occupied him feveral years, for ten pounds.

Even our great Milton, as every one knows, fold his immortal work for ten pounds to a bookfeller, being too poor to undertake the printing of it on his own account: and Otway, a dramatic poet in the first class, is known to have perifhed with hunger.

Samuel Boyce, whofe Poem on Deity ranks high in the scale of poetic excellence, was abfolutely famished to death; and was found dead, in a gartet, with a blanket thrown over his fhoulders, and faftened by a fkewer, with a pen in his hand!

Chatterton, while he fupplied a number of monthly magazines with their chief materials, found a penny tart a luxury!' and a luxury it was, to him who could not always get bread to his water.

In a book entitled, De Infortunio Literatorium, may be found many other examples of the miferies of li. terary men.

Extra from an ORATION delivered by Doctor SAMUEL L. MITCHELL, before the Agricultural Society of New-York, January 10, 1792. flour which we export. In as much

HEAT, which is one of our

W staple articles, ought to cur as we value the goodnefs of our com

gage a primary degree of attention.. Great complaints are made in foreign places of the foul condition of the grain, and the bad quality of the

modities and our credit as a commercial people, we ought immediately to ftop the growth, yea, hinder the continuance of this evil. The cham

ber

ber of commerce of New-York fome time ago published fome feafonable and judicious remarks on the purification of wheat offered for fale. Cockle, drips and forrel often mingle their feeds with the crop, and by the carelefinefs of the farmer, the mixture of them all is brought to market for wheat. This adulteration, tho' it lowers the price, is however pretty well corrected by the rolling-fcreen. But the worst vitiation that befals the wheat-harvest is the commixture of rye. No machine has yet been found capable of effectually feparating them, and from the nearness of fize in the two forts of grain, it is not likely that fuch an one can be contrived. The method of remedying this inconvenience radically, is to remove all trash from the fallow-field, to fow nothing but the pure feed you wish to grow, and if after thefe two precautions, any foulnefs fhould appear, to tear up or cut off the intruding plants. Thus, by a little additional care of the farmer, may purity be restored to our harvests, and reputation to our markets.

The fugar of the maple-tree has become an article of fome confiderable importance. It is probable, for feveral reasons, its value will increafe. Firstly, The new lands of the Weft Indian cane-iflands are wearing out, and as the flave cultivation, which is the molt expenfive of any, fill continues there, the product and profit of the plantations must certainly diminifh. Secondly, The demand for fugar is greater than ever, on account of the increafing population of feveral countries which confume it, as the United States and Canada, for example. Thirdly, Among people who have been for a long time confumers of fugar, fashion and habit have rendered them more extrava. gant in the use of it. Fourthly, The duty impofed upon foreign fugar by the act of Congrefs adds to its dear

nefs. As therefore there can be little expectation of the cheapening of foreign fugar, but rather when we. confider the infurrections and difor. ders in fome of the principal iflands, we should apprehend the price may ftill go on to rife, there is a wellgrounded conjecture that our domeftic fugar manufacture may be highly beneficial to the State; cfpecially fince it cannot only be granulated in the most beautiful brown form, but can be refined and whitened into loaves of the first quality. How far it might be poffible or proper to carry into effect the project of planting orchards of maple-trees, may be well worth the Society's attention.

The locuft-tree (Robinia Pfeudacacia) is one of the most valuable trees now cultivated. They grow beft in warm fandy land, and become fit for timber in about twentyfive or thirty years. They do not grow bulky enough for fawing into boards, or hewing into beams for large buildings; but their greatest ufe is for fhip-runnels, fence-posts, mill-cogs and fire-wood. A wellgrown tree is worth to the proprietor as it stands, four dollars; this when cut, fawed and fplit, can be made into one thoufand trunnels, which may be fold for feven dollars and a half in a fhip-carpenter's yard. Or if mill-cogs be formed of it, they endure long friction before they wear out. Or if worked into polls to be fet into the ground for garden-fences and other handfome enclosures, they are fuperior in point of durability to almoft any known wood; for fome which have been examined after twenty years expofure to the weather, without paint, appeared to be as little impaired as if they had been recently planted, and it is faid they will laft in a found and good condition filty or fixty years, and even longer and for thele feveral purpofes they cqual or excel multer

ry.

ry. If used for fuel, it makes a fire as hot, brifk and comfortable as hickory. The locuft is ornamental as a flowering tree, as well as ufeful for timber. The bloffoms which are of the papalionaceous kind, unfold in the end of May or the beginning of June, and hang down in beautiful white clusters to the number of twenty or thirty fingie ones upon a foot ftalk, perfuming the air to a confiderable diftance with their sweet and fragrant odour. It is fo eafily cultivated, that on Long-hand one often fees large pieces of land entirely overgrown with artificial woods of thefe trees. As our commerce and manufactures improve, the demand for this valuable timber will increafe, and more especially on account of the approaching fcarcity of wood in the neighbourhood of the capital of the ftate. Therefore it should be recommended to all farmers on whofe lands locuft-trees will grow, to begin immediately the cultivation of them, as well for the profit as the ornament to be thence derived; and they may be affured that in a fuitable foil and climate, fuccefs will attend their endeavours, fince no extraordinary skill nor expence is required in the management of them.

Some attempts have been made to propagate the vine among us, by gentlemen who feemed anxious for its general introduction and culture. They have procured from fome of the fouthern countries of Europe cuttings of the moft choice vines, hoping that after growing in our climate, they would retain the flavour peculiar to grapes in their former foil. I do not know that much fuccefs has followed these attempts, except in final experiments in gardens and on fruit-walls. I am doubtful what to fay concerning the eftablishment of vineyards among us. I fear the weather is too variable, and the winters

too cold to allow the fouthern vines to thrive. Yet, in tracing the vine from Afia, where it firft grew, we find it planted in fucceffion on the islands of the Archipelago and the fhores of the Mediterranean Sea, until the time of the Emperor Probus, who permitted the planting of it in Cifalpine Gaul, where it had been forbidden before by Domitian and his predeceffors, whence it was carried north of the Alps to regions formerly believed to be too unhofpitable for its growth. It has fince by degrees become naturalized to the countries where it now lives. It is true that feveral learned men have entertained an idea that the climates of France and Germany have become more mild than anciently they were, and there are many well authenticated facts in hiftory to corroborate the opinion. Still, fomething perhaps may be done by domefticating our indigenous vines, of which there are feveral forts, and meliorating them by kind cultivation; or if European fhoots must be fent for, they fhould be brought from the northern provinces of France, or the western dominions of Germany, whose climates more nearly resemble our own,

The white-mulberry tree is already growing in our state, and is faid to be cultivated to confiderable extent in Connecticut. The Legiflature of New-York, during the laft feffions, were liberal enough to offer a reward to the fuccessful propagator of them. There is therefore little need of expatiating on a fubject already recommended by its own utility, and by legislative fanction. I fhall only reniark, the trees are afforded to purchasers at fo low a price, and the filk-worms can be fed and attended at fo little expence, that there feems fufficient inducement to undertake the business, even without the incentive of the bounty.

The mangel wurtzel, or root of fcarcity,

[ocr errors]

fcarcity, feems not to have fucceeded among us in a degree equal to the character given of it by the French and English writers. It is therefore doubtful whether we fhall ever be much benefited by the introduction of this plant. It is to be wifhed, however, that a plant of which fo much has been favourably faid, may not be abandoned without full and convincing experiments of its inutility in American husbandry.

Much greater profit may be expected from the potatoe, which feems better adapted to our climate, and has been greatly improved within thirty years. It ought to be particularly attended to in planting them, that the cuttings be made from thofe of the largest fize, or rather that whole ones, without any divifion whatever, be planted to raise a crop from. I mention this the more particularly, becaufe it is too common a custom to allot the largest roots to the kitchen, and referve the fmaller ones for the field. It is furprifing what difference there is between the fize, vigour and produce of little potatoes and big ones, planted in the fame foil and tended with equal care. I am convinced that by the injudicious planting of the fmaller ones laft feafon, my potatoes did not yield me half fo many bufhels as they would have done, had very great ones been committed to the earth in their stead. Some experiments made not long ago in England and Nova-Scotia, fet the difference in favour of large ones in a ftrong light.

It cannot have efcaped your obfervation, gentlemen, how backward we are in raifing of barley. The extenfive and numerous breweries of New-York and other parts of the ftate, are but partially furnished with the material of malting from our own produce. It is undoubtedly a fubject of serious regret, that while our farmers exhauft the ftrength of their

fields by impoverishing crops of oats, they neglect the more profitable culture of barley, and thereby neceffitate the brewers to import their grain from the neighbouring states or from foreign parts, or drive our citizens to the lefs whole fome and more expenfive ufe of diftilled fpirits. The practice of raifing barley is to be confidered more lucrative to the farmer, as being a better employment of his labour and capital, and likewife more advantageous to the ftate by preferv ing the morals and induftry of its people from the injurious effects of rum and other ardent liquors.

Nearly connected with this is the railing of hops. The emolument derived from hop-yards to the owners of Kentish eltates, may ferve as encouragement to the American hufbandman. This plant grows fpontaneoufly in our ftate, and undoubtedly could be highly improved by care and management. That proper attention fhould be paid to it is to be wifhed, not merely for the fake of its flowers as an ingredient in brewing, but that proper experiments should be made on its rind, to know whether it might not be prepared in a form fuitable for cordage or fome fuch manufacture. Much remains yet to be done in finding out and preparing the fibrous parts of plants.

This leads to the confideration of hemp, of which large quantities are imported. It is certainly a pity, in a country like ours, the cultivation of this ufeful plant is fo much neglected.

Some obfervations remain to be made on feveral animals, both useful and noxious to farmers. Tho' all remarks on the breed of dogs and horfes may be conveniently fpared fince pains enough is already taken among us to rear them in all their varieties, except that as to the farmer, fince confiderable flaughter of fheep is made by them from time to time,

fome

fome better mode of training them for business ought to be practifed.

The Bos Bubalis, or tamed Buffaloe of Europe, ought to be introduced as a useful beast for the draught. He has been long domefticated in Hungary and Transylvania, and has been lately carried into the South of France. His paffage to the United States might be readily effected, in one of the fhips trading to the Mediterranean. His ftrength is faid to be great, his temper docile, his ftature large; the hide thick, meat good, and milk favoury.

Perhaps a confiderable faving might be made in the annual expence of a farm, by the fubftitution of mules inftead of horfes. Thefe creatures live upon lefs and coarfer food than horfes, bear more drudgery and hardfhip, and live to a greater age. What but an ignorance of the laborious fervice they are capable of undergoing, hinders the breeding of them?

The rejection of the labour of oxen, and the employment of that voracious and expenfive animal the horfe, is in too many places a matter of ferious regret. To carry on the work of a great plantation by horfelabour, without the affittance of oxen, is perhaps one of the worst pieces of American husbandry. Yet how frequently may we fee large farms managed in no other way!

Bees ought to be more commonly raifed than we find them. At a fmall expence they may be increafed to any number. And what is particularly worthy of notice in their history is this, that all the product of their industry is clear gain, fince the wax and honey are extracted from flowers, without any damage or lofs to the land or its proprietor, and if not thus faved, would irrecoverably perish. It is also true, that cultivated lands, abourding with clover and buck. wheat, afford food for very great numbers of them. Therefore, that

ftate of agriculture which is beft a dapted to our convenience and comfort, is at the fame time moft fuitable to the multiplication of these infects. On account of the dearness of fugar, it must be very advantageous to raife bees, because honey, in many parts of domeftic œconomy, is an excellent fubftitute for the product of the cane. It feems to me, as bees can be increafed in number as far as food will admit, and as honey can be ufed in fo many cafes inftead of fugar, that by due attention to this object, fo much of this wholefome fweetening may be provided, as to leffèn in a large proportion the importation of foreign fugar.

Too much pains cannot be taken to improve the breed of our sheep, particularly as far as refpects their wool. This great article of cloathing, fo fedulously watched by the English and Spaniards, has been too much neglected by our citizens. I know of no phyfical reason why the American fheep fhould not yield fleeces as large and fine as thofe of Europe. Our manufactures of broad cloth and other woollen goods will require an increafing fupply of this material, and will foon, I truft, furnifh fuch excellent kinds, that our beaux fhall take a pride to array themfelves in homefpun. In point of falubrity, I am bold to fay that wool far exceeds linen or cotton, and in our variable climate is fo peculiarly calculated to guard the body against the viciffitudes of the weather, that every valetudinarian fhould wear flannel to regain his health; each well perfon to preferve it. A flannel shirt may be called the palladium of health. The fuperior neatness of linen in our drefs, is but poorly compenfated by the unwholefomeness of it.

Concerning the wheat-infect, I am happy to obferve that it feems to be rather on the decline. Yet fome fields of wheat were much injured

by

« PreviousContinue »