No. 105.] 489 



peal is made by him to our aspiring and capable young men to avoid 

 the crowded avenues of those professions, and find usefulness, honor, 

 and happiness in the shady walks of agriculture, diversified as it now 

 is by a thousand applications of scientific truths and principles. "We 

 have," says that writer, " thousands of young men who would have 

 been useful and respected if Agricultural Schools had existed in their 

 boyhood, but who are now thriftless, useless and miserable. The pro- 

 fessions cannot afford employment for half our educated and ambitious 

 youth : the soil is the only true resource." The establishment 

 of Agricultural Schools in different sections of the country may be re- 

 garded as one of the most favorable signs of the times. In his letter 

 to the editor of the Southern Planter, Bishop Ives regards their foun- 

 dation as of infinite value, " both with respect to the physical and moral 

 advancement of the people." 



Commercial speculations may enrich the merchant ; imperishable 

 renown may be conferred on the achievements of genius, and nations 

 gain the pinnacle of glory by military valor ; all this, however, is but 

 " the bubble reputation," which sinks into the shade when contrasted 

 with the operations of the plough, guided by the diligent farmer, and 

 the skill of the gardener, in producing the sustenance indispensably 

 requisite to human existence. In one portion of the earth the labors 

 of the husbandman may be destroyed by mildew, storm and tempest, 

 and the horrors of famine threaten swarming millions. With what an 

 intensity of feeling in such a calamitous visitation, would more favored 

 regions then be regarded. Unhappily, at this moment Europe presents 

 such a catastrophe ! Figuratively speaking, to America she casts her 

 imploring eyes, and craves of our abundance. Thanks to an overrul- 

 ing Providence, her supplications will not be in vain ! Our hardy and 

 industrious farmers have ploughed deep, and reaped prosperity in every 

 furrow ; our horticulturists have seen their gardens and their orchards 

 smiling in all the luxuriance of plenty ; the plough, the harrow, the 

 spade and the rake have been managed by wise heads and willing 

 hands, diffusing happiness at home, and on the wings of commerce, 

 wafting it abroad. 



How vitally important then, that every Association, having for its 

 object the culture of the soil, should receive the cheerful support of the 

 People ; that its progress should be onward, unchecked by the malig- 

 nity of purblind meddlers, ever ready to dip their pens in gall. Millions 

 of our fellow men, in distant lands, will be rescued from the pangs of 

 starvation by the successful results of scientific Agriculture in the Uni- 

 ted States. 



To silence the tongues of gainsayers, it may here be observed that 

 $7,246.92 cents were expended by the American Institute at their 

 Seventeenth Annual Fair. The amount actually received at the door 

 of Niblo's garden was $9,678, which would pay for the entrance of 

 38,712 persons. To this number must be added those who either by 

 right or by courtesy were admitted free, to wit: the members of the 

 Institute and their families, the contributors, who were provided also 

 with ladies' tickets, United States, State, and corporation officers, the 



