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rally does. As agriculture is the great source of national wealth, it 

 is the great prop of society. Our lands are divided into moderately- 

 sized freeholds, none sufficient to make their possessors over opulent ; 

 this division of property, and the nature of it, is a great safeguard to 

 society, and a preventive to sudden and violent political convulsions — it 

 is the great conservative shield for general protection. A republic of 

 farmers cannot be overturned. The genuine farmer is always frank 

 and courteous — his heart is full of benevolence. The genial breezes 

 which breathe the fragrance of heaven upon his fields, and wave the 

 golden ears of bending grain, inspire the best feeling of which our 

 nature is susceptible. By a high command, we take from the great lap of 

 nature, what has been for our use so plenteously poured into it. Earth is 

 our mother, and we feel at home on her bosom ; our vocation is an 

 honored one — a hifjh one — a relio-ious one. 



It must and will take its ancient position in advance of all others which 

 have since sprung up from the vices and follies of mankind — it will be 

 partially obscured so long as the chief good of human life is placed in 

 the accumulation of wealth. When this Pagan error is eradicated, and 

 this vile scramble for dollars is broken down by your Agricultural Socie- 

 ties, the golden age may then return, and as a preparatory step to this 

 glorious epoch, and in order to equalize the exchanges betAveen your own 

 produce and foreign goods, you must from this time begin to sell dear 

 and buy cheap. Control your own market — let your produce supply 

 your wants — contract the fewest possible debts, and these by no means 

 in advance of your produce. Book debts are ruinous to farmers. This 

 in all cases may not be practicable, but aim to make it so ; be not oblio-ed 

 to sell if you can possibly avoid it, but remember that History records 

 no great achievement without great effort, great labor, great privations, 

 and great endurance. Our profession requires a most constant and 

 wakeful attention, and if we are true to ourselves, and work by method 

 and knowledge, as business men do in other trades and professions, and 

 ai-e not able to live on a respectable equality with our fellow citizens, 

 the social system must be revolutionized and remodeled — a screw is out 

 somewhere. We either pay exorbitantly high, and sell egregiously low, 

 or we misapply our labor. It is the object of our Association to promote 

 inquiry and remedy such defects as may be found to exist. Union is 

 strength. We have a good soil, a healthy climate ; and what prevents 

 the farmer from attaining some degree of affluence ? 



