AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 299 



clear that should this interest be neglected or misunderstood, wliile 

 the population may for a time steadily increase, the means of sup- 

 porting that population must, of necessity, lessen proportionately 

 every year. I am aware that to many these opinions will have the 

 cracked ring of the pessimist; that they may sound unreasonable, if 

 not unwarranted in the light of our rapid growth and material 

 abundance. But while I acknowledge the more comfortable position 

 of the Prophets who make it a point to prophesy smooth things, I 

 would put tlie question, whether that rapid growth and material 

 abundance do not partially arise — no, I would say, do not equally 

 arise — as much from the migratory, Arab-like habits of our people, and 

 the constant taking up of rich, virgin lands, yielding their fecund 

 harvests of breadstuffs, as from the institutions peculiar to our other- 

 wise favored country. The fault is not contined to the Occident, for 

 East and West we too closely play the part of an improvident family, 

 running over and devouring the patrimonial estate to which it has 

 fallen heir, with little or no care to preserve or maintain it, rather 

 than that of a wise and provident one seeking to maintain and pre- 

 serve the estate in its best and most productive condition. 



Europeans are in the habit of considering the agriculture of the 

 United States as that of a country. It is rather the agriculture of a 

 continent. There are as radical diversities in the practice of the 

 sciences as there are in our climatic conditions. The methods of farm- 

 ing pursued in California, for instance, are as different from those 

 pursued in Maine as those fjracticed in Nebraska are from those 

 adhered to in Rhode Island. But diverse as these methods and fash- 

 ions, they have all one fault in common. The American has few small 

 ideas; he likes everything big; his house, his fortune, his cigars, his 

 public buildings, his City Hall, and his institutions generally, are all 

 founded on the like extensive scale. His highest standard, his most 

 sweeping verdict of approval of any object or enterprise, may be 

 found crystallized in his expression, " That is a big thing, sir." 

 Farming is not exempt from this spell of Gargantuaism. We are 

 not contented with a small estate, but like to reckon out acres by the 

 hundred and our flocks and herds by the thousand head. As a con- 

 sequence, we lose in detail that which we gain in extent. In the 

 East this fault has been corrected to a certain degree, but it exists 

 still, although it cannot be said to flourish. We have no need to go 

 from home to studj^ the growth in all its luxuriance. The East has 

 partially seen her folly, and has been trying to — has nearly succeeded 

 in remedying the fault. A small quantity of land is taken, and then 

 taken care of. Here, unfortunately, we get as much as we can, get as 

 much out of it as we can this. year, and trust to the glorious climate 

 of California for the future. Wiser though the farmers of the East 

 now are, they have acquired their wisdom only by the severe lessons 

 of experience. The rural population was for years at a falling off'; it 

 is now perhaps at a standstill, or, at best, it increases very slowly 

 compared to the population of those cities and towns largely engaged 

 in commercial pursuits. The last census showed that in some of the 

 States, such as Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, and Maryland, 

 the only increase of population of note was in the towns, whilst in 

 the rural districts there was no growth of population at all. Even in 

 the great agricultural State of New York, the gain of the towns over 

 the country was nearly quadrupled. Pennsylvania also shows a 



