Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

1

OF THE

UPPER WABASH,

INDIANA,

WITH HINTS ON ITS

AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES:

PLAN OF A

DWELLING, ESTIMATES OF CULTIVATION,

AND NOTICES OF

LABOR-SAVING MACHINES.

BY HENRY WILLIAM ELLSWORTH,

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY PRATT, ROBINSON, AND CO.

1838.
Вс

[blocks in formation]

ENTERED according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1838, by
HENRY WILLIAM ELLSWORTH,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Columbia.

PRINTED BY BLAIR AND RIVES,

WASHINGTON, D. C.

Checked

1 1013

INTRODUCTION.

THE writer of the following pages was led to their preparation from a desire to answer numerous inquiries addressed to him by friends, and inability to effect that object, without a great expense of time and labor, in the ordinary modes of correspondence. To the daily routine of his profession, have been added the constant claims of an extended agency, and in the midst of all these duties, letter after letter has accumulated on his hands. The interrogatories, too, which they contained, were often those requiring a minute investigation. Information has been sought in regard to the purchase and sale of lands; the cost and profit of their cultivation; the products best adapted to their soil; the income to be derived from different agricultural operations; the benefits resulting from the introduction and use of various labor-saving machines; together with the lines of communication. open, or to be established, as well for travel as the exportation of produce.

To impart such information is the object of this work. Over this extended field, the writer has endeavored to proceed and gather those particulars which will enable his readers to arrive at just conclusions in regard to the inquiries mentioned. He acknowledges, with pleasure, the benefit he has derived from personal communication with many of the most intelligent dan successful farmers of the western States, whose kind attentions and assistance will be

long remembered. He is also indebted to others interested in the objects he has been pursuing, and to none more than the Honorable Henry L. Ellsworth, of Washington, District of Columbia, whose extensive correspondence with agriculturists throughout the Union, he has been permitted to examine and to use. From sources such as these, joined to his own observations, has this volume been prepared.

It is fortunate for this young country that the study of scientific agriculture, in its various branches, is fast gaining the attention of those whose discriminating minds perceive at once its vast advantage, and whose means allow a full indulgence in its lucrative pursuits. Periodicals, which have for their sole object the advancement of this great source of national aggrandizement, are arising into notice, and disseminating the most valuable information through all portions of our nation. It is here, if any where, that this science can attain its greatest height. We are emphatically an agricultural people, destined to derive from the productive country with which Providence has blessed us, much that will contribute to our future wealth and honor. Fettered by no blind attachment to customs which have nothing to commend them but their long existence; in a new land, and surrounded by a fresher nature, we are,free to enter on a field of hitherto unknown experiment, where prudence and attention must insure success.

And to no portion of our Union can remarks like these apply with greater force than to the western States. The surpassing fertility of their soil, the general mildness of their climate, and their most felicitous

« ZurückWeiter »