Jared Eliot - Essays Upon Field Husbandry

Essays Upon Field Husbandry

After transferring his medical practice to his son-in-law, Eliot wrote a series of essays on "field husbandry" (primarily agriculture). The first six concerned ways of improving agriculture; the seventh was about iron-making. The first six essays were collected under the title Essays Upon Field Husbandry. The first of the essays was published in 1748, with the following ones in 1749, 1751, 1753, 1754 and 1759. The last essay was delayed because of the French and Indian War. The essay on iron-making was published in 1763. The first three essays were published in New London, Connecticut; essays four and five were published in New York. The sixth agricultural essay was published in New Haven, Connecticut and the iron-making essay was again published in New York. The fact that the essays were published near his home enabled his neighbors and friends to share his accomplishments; “Jared is best seen as a thoughtful and convincing writer”. Jared wrote his essays in a flowing, easily understandable style, describing farming in the light of science. He added a religious overtone, asserting that his creatures were working for the “fulfillment of the kingdom”. Each essay had a different topic, ending with an appropriate Biblical verse.

The first essay concerned land improvement, a concern throughout the colony. In it, Eliot described how land may be reclaimed for farming. Swamps abound with nutrient-rich soil. Draining part of the land (and diverting the water elsewhere) would improve agriculture; the drained land could support red clover, Indian corn, flax, hemp and watermelons without additional fertilizer. Eliot posits that sowing different types of grains – such as oats and peas, or summer wheat and barley – improved the crop of each.

The second essay addressed food production in the colonies. Eliot maintained that contemporary crop use was unwise, and it was time to reevaluate agricultural principles. He contended that the underproduction of hay was leading to an over-dependence on corn as a feed for livestock, thereby driving up the price of corn. Eliot suggested fertilizing, to encourage hay production; “the scarcity and high price of hay and corn is so …that the necessary stock of the Country hath outgrown the meadows, so that there is not hay for such a stock as the present increased number of people really need”. He also suggested that the present population had outgrown the food supply.

The third essay concerned different species of crops, and its publication increased the variety of crops grown in the challenging New England climate. Eliot stressed that not only grains and grasses could be grown, but fruits and vegetables as well. Many types of grain should be grown, because each has a different purpose: flax, barley, wheat, maslin, colewort seed and rapeseed were mentioned. He explained the different uses of each, and how each contributes to the growth of the colonies. Grasses mentioned are hard grass, spire grass, "foreign artificial" grass and two English grasses: La Lauren and St. Foin. “As we ought to propagate various sorts of Grain and Grass, that so we may have the advantage of all sorts of Land and Seasons, so we should adapt out Tillage to the various sorts if Land which we Improve”.

The fourth essay consisted of discussions of husbandry with other farmers and scientists. Eliot aimed to demonstrate to the colonists that improvements were needed by indicating how alternative techniques were effectively used elsewhere. Other farmers comment to Eliot about how the ideas from his previous essays have affected them; for example, seaweed, wet leaves and sea salt might be used for fertilizer.

The fifth essay concerned problems with tillage (in this case, the land which is worked – by plowing, sowing and harvesting crops). Eliot adapted ideas which had been recently formulated by Jethro Tull, an English writer on tilling. Eliot took some of Tull’s inventions and improved them; for example, there had been little improvement in Tull’s plow (developed 23 years earlier in England). Eliot attempted to improve Tull’s machine, with the aid of President Clap (of Yale College) and Behoni Hillyard, a wheelwright in Killingworth. Eliot's plow was less expensive and easier to use than Tull’s plow; however, when he tested his drill plow in the fields he discovered that the wheels did not work well in the rough, rigid soil. After many changes, he finally finished his version of the drill plow; some of his readers remained skeptical, fearing that “The drill plows would never come into general use”.

The sixth essay took longer to write than the others, touching on the production of silk and mulberry bushes. Eliot asserted that his essays reached as far as Great Britain, where his philosophy and ideas were also applied. He wrote, “When I first applied myself to the writing Essays upon Field-Husbandry, I did not expect those small Tracts, calculated to our soil, Meridian, and Climate, would ever extend farther than to a small Circle of Neighbors”. Since the essays had found a wider audience, he thought it would be wise to “apply ourselves to the raising silk”. He asked an anonymous farmer who had been growing silk in New England for years how he did so successfully. Eliot also inquired how the farmer profited from it. He explained the efforts of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce to establish silk-making in Connecticut, and speculated on which land in Connecticut (north or south) is better suited to the growth of silk.

The seventh essay was not part of the Essays Upon Field Husbandry, but it concerned a new way to manufacture iron from a substance found in New England. This essay was entitled An Essay On The Invention or Art of Making Very Good, If Not The Best Iron, From Black Sea Sand. Eliot recounted how he experimented with "black sea sand" for use in iron-making. In 1744 Eliot’s uncles, Aaron Eliot and Ichabod Miller, succeeded in making more than a half-ton of steel at the furnace in Sansbury. Since the only place to get steel-making materials was New York, there was a need to find sources closer to home. Jared revealed that he was part of a group of investigators who secured an ore bed at Sansbury (by a patent grant from the Great Assembly) to find something to make into iron. This essay concerned the experiments and findings from using black sea sand to make iron.

Eliot’s essays were not widely accepted in New England until the 19th century. However, some contemporaries recognized his efforts to improve farming practices. Among those he inspired were Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Both men felt that Eliot’s essays were an important contribution to the development of the colonies. These essays supported colonial interests and imperial designs involving communication with the other colonies and Britain. Eliot also attempted trade with other countries, but was unsuccessful before his death on April 22, 1763. In 1765 the Stamp Act was invoked by the British, and communication between the colonies and Britain became impossible.