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ADDRESS OF JOHN DUMOWT, ESQ., 



Delivered at the organization of the Stoitzerland and Ohio County Agricultural 



Society, Oct. 18, 1851. 



Fellow Citizens of Ohio and Switzerland Counties : 



The sustenance and apparel of all mankind are derived from the earth, and 

 the -waters of the earth. 



The small portion that is obtained from the waters by fishing, makes it a 

 self-evident truth that agriculture is the paramount interest of all the inhabi- 

 tants of the globe. 



Whatever be the calling, profession, trade or business of those who do not 

 cultivate the earth, they are principally clothed and fed by its productions. 



Commerce, so beneficial to man, would cease to exist were the cultivation 

 of the earth neglected; or if it continued it would be limited to the transpor- ., 

 tation of fish and the production of the mines, and the fisheries and the pro- 

 duction of valuable metals, and their manufacture would dwindle too low 

 to be the subjects of commerce without the aid of bread and clothing that 

 are supplied by husbandry. 



The fields of the husbandman supply the cotton and wool, flax and hemp, 

 and the cocoons for silk, which give employment to the manufacturers of 

 clothing and cordage. The grain and meat and butter supplied by the farmer 

 are their principal sustenance. Without the supplies furnished by the loom 

 and other mechanical productions, and the fields, commerce would be almost 

 annihilated. Manufactures and commerce depend upon the productions of 

 the earth for their continuance. The earth is our mother, on whose lap we 

 repose, by whom we are nourished, with whose beauties delightful sensations 

 are produced. Its culture leads to a contemplation of the Divinity who crea- 

 ted it. The tillage of the earth fills the heart with adoration of the great 

 giver of all the blessings derived from its cultivation. What pursuit so noble? 

 What calling so elevated ? What avocation so sublime ? None. The Empe- 

 ror of the Celestial Empire, in all the days of the year, is never so illustri- 

 ously employed as on that day which he devotes to holding the plow, in the 

 presence of his mandarins and his people; an example to them that the culti- 

 vation of the earth is worthy of the hands of him who is first of the Celes- 

 tials, and who esteems all other people as barbarians. A calling so highly 

 honorable, so transcendantly useful, is worthy of being brought to the highest 

 state of perfection — to be understood thoroughly by all who are engaged in it. 

 This is so far from being the fact, that a large majority of farmers in this 

 country are grossly ignorant of the best means whereby to derive pleasure 

 and profit from their avocation, and some, alas! far too many, have not even 

 a desire for information. 



A science almost boundless in extent, and endless in improvement, as that 



