PREFACE.

THE flattering appearances of a more general diffusion of a spirit encouraging to the friends of AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT, which pervade our country, are highly gratifying to our Society, whose labours have contributed to rouse our fellow-citizens to a proper sense of its importance. We arrogate to ourselves no peculiar merit; though we look back, with great satisfaction, on our perseverance in disinterested and patriotic endeavours. The success attending such endeavours is the only reward we covet; nor do we claim exclusive praise. In other districts of our Union, similar exertions have been made, by intelligent and highly meritorious associations, to rescue from its torpid situation a subject which is of the first consequence, as it regards not only the individual happiness, subsistence and comforts of all our citizens, of whatever profession or calling they may respectively be; but as it relates to the strength, resources, and safety of our common country, which already exhibits a rare phenomenon in the history of nations. The PLOUGH, and not the SWORD, is the true emblem of its character. Whilst, in other divisions of our globe, conquest, and the splendour of military achievements, obtained by the sacrifice of thousands of victims to bloody and heartless ambition, afford a false glare of national greatness; our strength, wealth and happiness, are results produced by the enterprise, exertion, and individual.industry of a most wonderfully augmented population. The Sword we have used, most effectively, for defence; and it can be wielded as effectively for offence, when discomfiting our foes may require it. But the Plough-share will more certainly and more innocently extend our power and advancement. Our territory is more than sufficient for ages of increasing population. We have only to cultivate, with intelligence and assiduity, the regions we possess; to render us incalculably prosperous and powerful. We should not neglect the art of war, however greatly it is to be deprecated, in order that we may be able to repel invaders : but our leading propensities and pursuits should be those which enable us to cherish and perfect the arts of peace. Among these, AGRICULTURE is indubitably the most useful, it being the foundation and source of nutriment to all the rest. By this the solid strength of our nation, which mainly consists in 'a hardy, thriving, and independent yeomanry, is insured and extended. Territory without an industrious population is as unprofitable as a barren waste; and, whatever may be its fertility, all its powers are torpid, until agricultural exertion, and intelligence in applying it, give to them activity and value. Nor will the most fertile regions be either productive or safe, if intelligent husbandry be not practised, to enable those who inhabit them to support themselves in condensed society; and gain, in plenty and security, both subsistence and reasonable wealth, on limited and proportionably small allotments, in almost boundless wilds. As well might our new countries be still the haunts of roaming savages, as be possessed by semi-barbarous and roving hunters, or even scattered husbandmen, ignorant in their art, and exposed to every attack of ferocious beasts, and equally savage men. In our old and first settled districts, the advantages accruing from this invaluable art, are still more necessary and indispensable. The natural fertility of those countries has been hard pressed; and, in many portions of them, it has passed away: their population rapidly diminishes, and the value of property therein is lamentably, yet not irrecoverably, decreased. Double diligence and exertion are therefore necessary to counteract the temptations, which new countries, often deceptively, hold out to fickle or enterprising occupants of worn lands. It, then, most impressively behooves the citizens of our seaboard countries to patronize every plan calculated to prevent unnecessary emigration. The sure mode is that which teaches our husbandmen to be easy and happy at home; and, of course, supersedes the necessity of their wandering abroad. Those who dwell in cities would be, beyond all others, the most helpless and forlorn, should the fields on which they depend for supplies be ill cultivated, or finally deserted by the tillers of the soil. Of what avail, in that deplorable predicament, would be their pecuniary wealth, gained by commerce, manufactures, and the arts which contribute to luxury, refinement, comfort, and tranquil enjoyment? As well might their coin be reduced to its original ore, and returned to the mines from which it had been drawn: or, if it could be farther used for accumulation, it must be transported to other, and perhaps precarious, scenes of speculation. Their property, now styled real, would sink into unsubstantial nothingness. Let them, then, of all others, be the most forward in promoting AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENT, by contributing liberally to the facilities of roads, internal navigation, and other means by which it is encouraged and supported.

Our Society, however inadequate their efforts may have been, have at least set an example worthy of imitation. It is composed of members engaged in almost every occupation. Although all are not practical farmers, they well know that every citizen is, either immediately or indirectly, interested in the prosperity of AGRICULTURE; and that science, as well as mechanical operation, is essential to its welfare. They have, therefore, through a long course of years, endeavoured to bring forward conviction in the public mind, that this important art should not be left, unaided, merely to those who pursue the labours of husbandry. The minds of the tillers of the soil must be enlightened, by information flowing from every appropriate source; as their corporeal powers are invigorated by the employment to which they are devoted. We flatter ourselves, that the information we have collected and disseminated, has greatly contributed to the pleasing prospect, although it be even now only in its early dawn, which presents itself in various quarters of our country. Many societies for the promotion of Agriculture are formed, and

forming. Several of our legislatures have evidenced encouraging signs of a participation in the laudable patriotism, which, more than has heretofore been witnessed, animates our citizens. Long may this cheering prospect continue to brighten; and never again may it be clouded by apathy and inattention to the most momentous of all worldly objects which should engage the anxieties of a well informed community. However great in amount be the pecuniary and other moveable and fugacious possessions of civilized men, there seems to be an inherent desire, in every individual, also to own some portion of the earth, to which, finally, he must return. Let every one, therefore, bear a part in rendering its surface a source of happiness and comfort, not only to himself, but to every member of the community with whom he enjoys its blessings. A prominent difference between savage and civilized man is, that the latter, by his skill and acquired intelligence, produces plentiful supplies from a small surface of soil, for the support of a multitudinous population : but the former requires regions of wilderness, for the scanty subsistence of a few. It is the distinguishing characteristic of savages to revolt against separate appropriations, or agricultural improvement, of land. They roam the forest, in common with the beasts devoted as their prey; and when they do not prowl for each others destruction, their fellow-tenants of the wilderness are the objects of their toilsome and exterminating amusements in the chase. Their fondness for beads, trinkets, and other baubles, is quite as rational as is the cupidity of those in civilized life, who amass money for the mere gratification of increasing their hoards; or circulate what they have, for the sole purpose of swelling the amount of their stock; without using it for promoting the most worthy of all pursuits, that of employing, instructing, and thereby eminently benefiting their fellow men. Among these pursuits, the most generally advantageous are those which encourage and promote the culture, improvement, and embellishment of a country. Gold and silver, amassed with no public object, or laudable private benefit, are as worthless, whilst thus hoarded or avariciously turned; as the beads, trinkets, and baubles, with which savages gratify their rude and childish propensities. Such stores of useless wealth their sordid possessors must leave behind them; without a vestige of public-spirited employment of it, to embalm and perpetuate their memory.

Actuated by the motives which, at first, induced us to form our association, we now present to our agricultural, and all our fellow-citizens, our FOURTH VOLUME OF MEMOIRS. It is not to be expected that any thing more than unconnected, and often crude, materials for forming regular systems, or treatises, can appear in such collections. We flatter ourselves, however, that it will be found at least equal to our former publications; and receive the candid indulgence with which our preceding volumes have been treated.