TRAlsSACTIONS. 175 



grasses, plants, fruits, and an almost infinite variety of 

 other vegetables, which serve as gratifications to the taste, 

 luxuries for the table, or food for animals. She has levied 

 contributions upon the old world and upon the new, upon 

 every region and upon every clime. And there may now 

 be found in England the productions of every quarter of 

 the globe. At this moment England, to every practical 

 and beneficial purpose of agriculture, lies ten degrees 

 nearer the equator, than she did two centuries ago. 



This is the present condition of her agriculture. Yet 

 as late as the time of Henry the 8th, his queen, Catharine, 

 was obliged to procure her salads from Holland, and also 

 her "green peas." " These,"' said Fuller, a writer of that 

 age, ''are dainties for ladies, they come so far and cost so 

 dear." 



Her best informed men, who have written on the subject, 

 have attributed this highly improved state of cultivation 

 in no small degree, to that spirit of enterprise and improve- 

 ment which was first excited by the institution of agricul- 

 tural societies, cattle shows and fairs. One of her late 

 and very able writers remarks : " The agricultural society 

 has succeeded in improving our farms, the very meadows 

 of which are clothed anew; this meadow produces the grass 

 of the Italian fields, and that the pastures of the Nether- 

 lands ; the chalky hills wave with corn, our marshes are no 

 longer stagnated, and famine, which formerly succeeded an 

 unfavorable season seems now to be no longer dreaded." 



I mention England as an instance of what industry, per- 

 severance, skill and capital can do, under many unfavora- 

 ble circumstances. It is an example not for our imitation 

 merely, but to be left, I trust, far behind us in our career 

 of improvement. 



We possess as rich a soil. We enjoy a better climate. 

 We feel not the hand of oppressive taxation. Our insti- 

 tutions are free, and those here who cultivate the soil, have 

 soil to cultivate. Under these superior advantages, there 



