249 



labor more attractive, learn the progress we are making in every department 

 and pursuit in life, but "will hasten the day "when Indiana will not be distin- 

 guished for the goodness or security of her stocks, for she will have none in 

 market, and will stand where she is justly entitled to, out of debt, and plenty 

 to spare — the very first State in the Union in all that makes a people happy: 

 Light taxes, no debts, an economical government, a prosperous, agricultural, manu- 

 facturing and mechanical State. 



It is said that the press of the country is a good index to the people. If 

 this be true, agriculture is in poor keeping, and at a low ebb. You will rarely 

 pick up a paper in which will be found an article on agriculture or mechanics. 

 If there is one occasionally from the Plow, Loom, and the Anvil, or other 

 agricultural work, it is placed on the fourth page, in some obscure corner 

 never designed to be read; while the leading editorial articles are filled with 

 the prospects of this or that man for office, some circus puff, or the peculiar 

 good qualities of some coffee house, or ice cream establishment. 



Is it not strange, that the conductors of the press .should for a moment sup- 

 pose that it is more important for their readers to be advised of the prospects 

 of this or that man for Governor or Congress, than to inform them of the im- 

 provements of the day in labor-saving machinery — the propriety of changing 

 crops — the success of the flax movement, <fec. <fec. The fault is not vd\.)\ the 

 editors alone. The people, the mass of our people are not sufficiently alive 

 to their true interest; the proper spirit is not abroad in the land. Hold yoiir 

 county and State fairs — adopt a regular system of bringing together the labor 

 and skill of the country — let the proper spirit of emulation be aroused among 

 our people. Editors, like politicians, will soon partake of it; and you will 

 goon see the leading editorials of every press in the land, giving their readers 

 the full particulars of the premium farm in such a county or State, the im- 

 provements in some branch of industry or husbandry; and in some out of the 

 way place a paragraph stating the probability that James Figgins, or lawyer 

 Turney is talked about ss a candidate for Representative. The eflfect of 

 which will be, that the day of the election will pass by quietly, without ex- 

 citement. The public mind will be alive to the day of the county or State 

 fair, and every boy in the country will remember with interest the aanual 

 returns of these noble, stimulating festivals. 



WET LANDS. 



We have a vast body of wet, marshy lands in Indiana; the quantity is esti- 

 mated by some to amount to at least three millions of acres. The subject of 

 draining and ditching these lands is of great interest. 



Those of us who have resided in the State for a third of a century, know 

 how the early emigrants to the State avoided the wet, swampy and low lands, 

 and settled upon the higher and drier portions of the country. Time, how- 

 ever, has demonstrated that this was a great error. The rich, valuable and 

 durable lands are those that for years remained unsold, and were supposed to 

 be wholly unfit for cultivation, on account of their wetness. I know a farm 



