Overworked Soils [pp. 327-331]

OVERWORKED SOILS.
which abounded in all the mansions
of the great. A better taste was, however, fast arising, and the tall Josses
and tiny cups, which had been so highly
valued, were now only seen in the drawing-rooms of dowagers and maiden
ladies. Worcester adopted the Sevres
style with the Dresden painting. Messrs.
Kerr and Burns now direct the manufactory.
Great Britain annually exports about
$30,ooo,ooo worth of porcelain and pottery of various kinds; nearly one half
of this is sent to the United States.
There is a duty levied on France of
$32.40 on every two hundred pounds of
plain china brought into the kingdom,
and for fine china, $65.75. In Portugal
the tariff is regulated by the number of
colors.
A china manufactory was started in
Philadelphia in I829, but though some
fine specimens were produced, the enterprise did not meet with the requisite
patronage, and the stockholders were
compelled to suspend operations after
they had incurred some heavy losses.
Our limits will scarcely permit us to
more than mention the Parian ware,
which has rendered latterly such great
services to art. This valuable and beautiful material in the hands of the Messrs.
Minton, has introduced into the palaces
of the rich and the humbler dwellings
of the middling and poorer classes,
copies of some of the most exquisite
gems of modern and ancient art. We
might mention a head of Christ, after
Michael Angelo; the Saviour crowned
with thorns and bound, after Guido;
models of all the antique vases found
in Herculaneum and Pompeii, and
some superb flower vases, in which the
fairest blossoms seem almost endowed
with life. Messrs. Minton & Co., and
Messrs. Copeland & Co., of Stoke-uponTrent, have long enjoyed a monopoly of
this ware. This last firm sent to the
United States some years ago, busts of
Clay and Calhoun, which were remarkable for the accuracy of the likeness, and
the beauty of the workmanship. The
ceramic department of the Crystal Palace
was filled with articles from these two
firms, and attracted crowds of visitors.
Mr. Minton received $5,ooo for a service
of Turquoise and Parian, and Lord Hatford and Mr. Mills gave the same for
a pair of vases. The flower vase at
Buckingham Palace has been valued at
$6,ooo.
A very interesting article might be
written on Parian, which in some instances has superseded porcelain.
OVERWORKED SOILS.
AGRICULTURE in the United
States must soon come to a turning point. Hitherto, land has been cultivated with but one object in view-that
of making the most possible out of it,
without any regard to the speedily destructive effects which follow such a
course. The American farmer has
worked under the belief that he could
afford to take all and give nothing
back to a soil; because, when he had
exhausted a farm in one place, he
had nothing to do but remove a little
further west and take up another. But
we have reached the ultimate in our
progress westward, and the time has
now come for a change in system of
agriculture. We must be land-killers,
if we may use such a literally truthful
term, no longer. We must give while
taking; we must learn to cultivate without destroying. We, who are supposed to
be teaching Europe how to govern, must
learn from it how to live. Yes, that is
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