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of agriculture is, and must remain, from which nearly all mortal enjoyments 

 are derived, is of so vast an interest to man, that it is almost wonderful it 

 should so long have been neglected by the inhabitants of the great west, and 

 that it should be almost the last to be noticed as worthy of acquisition. But 

 there are reasons which have naturally tended to its neglect. The soil was 

 new and unsurpassed in fertility, game abounded, and the half-hunter life of 

 the pioneers procured abundance of food with a small amount of tillage. The 

 earth yielded vast products almost spontaneously, and the thought that what 

 now is will be likely to remain, induced indolence and carelessness. They 

 neglected and mismanaged the soil until it became greatly deteriorated, with- 

 out acquiring the knowledge for its preservation or improvement, leaving to 

 after generations to acquire the skill and perform the labor of its resuscitation. 



Necessity gives rise to industry and invention, and the more sterile parti 

 of the world, when densely populated, are the best cultivated. The necessity 

 that has driven man, in all such countries, has excited all his faculties to pro- 

 cure food and raiment, and these he has procured by causing the barren soil 

 to bring forth its products in abundance. To effect which, the acquisition of 

 knowledge was necessary. Without skill he would not have improved his 

 condition, but would have toiled on as the ox, and each succeeding year would 

 have yielded him a more scanty recompense. 



The Egyptians invented irrigation, and supplied the want of rain so preva- 

 lent in that country, by the waters which they preserved in canals and reser- 

 voirs, from the overflowings of the Nile. And that King of Egypt who 

 made an artificial lake, called Moeris, in which to preserve a vast amount of 

 water to supply the wants for irrigation, did more for his country and man- 

 kind, than all the ancient Pharaohs who built the pyramids, whose names are 

 forgotten, and whose bodies are subjects of traflQc — ^mummies, useless in death 

 as their lives were inglorious. 



By skill and industry, the water that runs us-elessly from the elevated lands, 

 may be made subservient to the production of grasses and grains, and to 

 supply the frequent deficiencies of rain. In level places, where the advan- 

 tages of conducting the water through races cannot be obtained, dams with 

 trifling expense may be made on every little run, to save the water for the 

 irrigation of the adjacent grounds ; and by cisterns, a sufficient supply of 

 water may be saved to insure a luxuriant garden to every householder. Were 

 these advantages generally known, as well as the most eligible modes of 

 their application, they would soon be in general use, if not deemed indispen- 

 sable to the practical farmer and gardener. 



In the neighborhood of Edinburgli in Scotland, irrigation has been brought 

 to such perfection that irrigated meadow lands have rented for seven fold 

 the price obtained as rent for the same meadows before this mode of enriching 

 them was applied. 



In China, where the country is peopled more densely than any other part. 

 of the globe, they have learned and practice the arts necessary to feed and 

 clothe 80 groat a population. There, all that can enrich the earth, all that is 



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