533 



heavy expense of transportation — while stimulating to redoubled effort 

 and new enterprise, have demonstrated beyond a peradventure, that 

 whatever may be the capacities or attractions of other sections, Genesee 

 county is second to none in the advantages which she offers to the prac- 

 tical agriculturist, seeking a combined investment of capital and labor. 



A glance at our " prices current" might suffice to satisfy the most in- 

 credulous, without any assurance of the fact but too well known to those 

 unfortunates who are compelled to buy, that it is often diflncult, and 

 would sometimes be impossible to obtain, at any price, such staple arti- 

 cles of agricultural produce as butter, cheese, &c., but for importations 

 from abroad. 



That such an anomaly should exist in the midst of a well cultivated 

 district of surpassing fertility, is the fault neither of our soil nor of our 

 farmers, but is to be attributed to the home market, created by the suc- 

 cessful enterprise of those engaged in developing the exhaustless riches 

 of our pine forests; this section possessing in an eminent degree that 

 happy combination of resources which, while it fixes the destiny of 

 Michigan high in the rank of material prosperity among her sister 

 States, gives a stimulus to every enterprise, and by the reciprocal action 

 of one interest upon another, debars in a great measure the danger of 

 over production in any. 



Such being, then, their present and prospective prosperity, it well be- 

 hooves the farmers of Genesee to consult wisely for the permanency of 

 an interest which can only suffer from their own mismanagement or neg=- 

 lect, that tliey may transmit through their children's children to re- 

 motest posterity, the rich heritage which they now enjoy. For a prac- 

 tical illustration of the reasonableness of such a caution, they need but 

 glance at the exhausted but once fertile fields of the Old Dominion, with 

 the assurance, since like causes produce like results, constant draft with 

 no returns, upon a bank of limited resources, whether discounting specie 

 or the phosphates and other chemical elements of grain, must ultimate- 

 ly and inevitably end in bankruptcy. 



A hint may suffice for those who reflect ; an elaborate dissertation 

 would not profit those who do not. The farmer will find in the study 

 of the science and practice of agriculture, enough of exercise, physical, 

 intellectual and moral, to develop the perfect man, and through that de- 

 velopment become an humble instrument, under Providence, to aid in 



