172 N. H. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



hand of man. The earth must be subdued and tilled by 

 the sweat of his brow. The wonderful improvements 

 which have so much abridged and facilitated labor in the 

 meclianic arts, cannot be applied to the purposes of agri- 

 culture. But agriculture, nevertheless, is greatly benefited 

 and advanced by those improvements. Mechanical art can for 

 us only improve and perfect the implements of our trade. 

 We may never expect, as it has been said, to hoe or plough 

 by steam. 



The cultivation of the earth always has, and always 

 must, constitute in every great community the business of 

 a large proportion of its members. And it is among the 

 strongest indications of the goodness of God, that what 

 he has made necessary to so great a portion of his crea- 

 tures, he has made also most conducive to their health, 

 most propitious to their virtues, and most favorable to the 

 cultivation and improvement of their moral and intellec- 

 tual natures. 



"We need not be ashamed, gentlemen, of the profession 

 to which we belong. It is, indeed, a life of hardy and in- 

 cessant labor. But that very labor gives health and vigor 

 to the body and mind. The necessity of agricultural labor 

 is imposed by God upon the condition of our being, and 

 this necessity of labor to bring forth the fruits of the 

 earth, is not by any means an evil. If tlie native sterility 

 of the earth be a curse, it is like the other judgments of 

 our Father in Heaven, tempered in great mercy. A spon- 

 taneous production of the fruits of the eartli would be 

 the greatest evil that could he visited on the human race. 

 An approximation, even, to such an order of things, leaves 

 strong and visible marks of its injurious tendency and 

 effect. 



Look into the present condition of the human family, 

 and you will find that it is not in countries of the richest 

 soil and finest climate, in countries that have received most 

 largely of Heaven's blessings, according to our poor esti- 



