140 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



is naturally a supporter of free labor and free institutions ; he is a 

 conservator of freedom. 



The farmer, in the comprehensive use of the term — that is, the rep- 

 resentative of all the various branches of soil tilling and its concom- 

 itants, wool growing and cattle raising — is little subject to the 

 fluctuations and annoyances of speculation and the hazard of adven- 

 ture, hence leads uniformly a peaceful life, independent of all except 

 his personal care, willing and requited labor, the gentle rains and 

 genial warmth of the sun to quicken the sown seed, invigorate the 

 plant, and ripen the crop. His toil is rewarded with prosperity and 

 a happy home. His children, educated to habits of industry, econ- 

 omy, and temperance in all things, to enjoy the expanse of the coun- 

 try, and breathe the pure air of heaven, grow up in health and vigor 

 of body and mind, and come to adorn society, and honor the State by 

 their intelligence and executive ability. If the lessons of the farm 

 pertain less to the graces than do those of the city, they nevertheless 

 inculcate that wdiich is more substantial and of greater utility. 



Webster, whose youth was spent in tilling the soil, frankly admit- 

 ted that he had not the capacity to dance. He had a higher aim and 

 attained unto it, but great as he was he never outgrew his love for 

 the farm life. 



" In ancient times the Sacred Plovj employed 

 The kings and awful fathers of mankind! 

 And some, with whom compared your insect tribes 

 Are but the beings of a Summer's day, 

 Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm 

 Of Mighty War ! then with victorious hand, 

 Disdaining little delicacies, seized 

 The plow, and greatly independent, scorned 

 All the vile stores corruption can bestow. 

 Ye generous freemen, venerate the plow, 

 , And on your hills and long withdrawing vales, 

 Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun. 

 Luxuriant aud unbounded! As the sea 

 Far through his azure turbulent domain 

 Your country' owns, and from a thousand shores 

 Wafts all the pomp of life iuto your ports ; 

 So with sujDerior boon may your rich soil 

 Exuberant Nature's better blessings pour 

 O'er ever}'' land, the.naked nations clothe. 

 And be the exhaustless granary of a world." 



The history of the United States seems a romance more wonderful 

 than the Arabian Nights, rather than the sober record of events. But 

 a few centuries have elapsed since the Eastern Continent bestowed 

 her highest forms of civilization upon her twin sister of the West. 

 Where once blazed the council fire of the squalid savage, now stands 

 the state house of civilized man. Then the country of our fathers 

 was but a speck upon the surface of the earth; now our country 

 spreads out its ample domain from the Gulf to the Arctic and from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific — a nation of united sovereigns, fifty mill- 

 ion strong, and which at the end of this century will number a 

 hundred million. Agriculture must not only be commensurate with 

 the requirements of this vast population, but must minister, through 

 the aid of commerce, to other people and other nations. 



In the last decade the production in the United States has been: 

 Of cereals, from forty-two million tons to eightj^-one million tons; 

 of coal, in 1870, thirty-three niillion tons — in 1880, seventj^-one mill- 

 ion tons; of iron, in 1872, two million eight hundred thousand tons — 



