Ill 



'earth to man to cultiA'ate, gave him his divine image, and made him lord 

 of this goodly heritage. He endowed him with strength to subdue the 

 thorns and thistles ; with a capacity to plan, to comprehend, and to exe- 

 cute His great command, " In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat 

 bread." To live without labor is impossible ; industry promotes longev- 

 ity and happiness, and will most certainly repay a bountiful return, 

 so long as the rainbow decks the heavens, and seed time and harvest do 

 not fail. 



But at no time of our national existence has there been such a wide- 

 spread effort as at present, to improve the standard of agriculture. 

 Eecently a National Agricultural Society has been formed at Washington. 

 The rural seats of Mount Vernon, Hermitage, Ashland and Marshlield, 

 rich in the display of agricultural taste and beauty, are evidences that 

 war and politics cannot satisfy the mind ; but that it must turn from am- 

 bition and strife to gratify its love of nature. Earth was made for man 

 to cultivate, and man was made to till the earth. It is the material with 

 which we have to do, a great laboratory undergoing ceaseless changes, 

 which the farmer ouorht to understand. Science has done much for agri- 

 culture ; she has multiplied labor a thousand fold, and brings distant 

 markets to our very doors. Patronize science — let the hard-fisted farmer 

 enter and worship in its temples. Do not consider colleges as made for 

 a favored few, or as fitting the young to live without labor — let us march 

 boldly through its portals, and take their key of knowledge to unlock 

 the treasures of earth. Chemical science will analyze our soils, and tell 

 lis what they need to improve their fertility. To counteract the defi- 

 ciency of the unequal value of labor, we must, by a more careful and 

 improved husbandry, treble the quantity produced, make two blades of 

 grass grow instead of one, and stretch forward the internal improvements. 

 Spain has fewer railroads than any other civilized nation ; look at Spain ! 

 The United States has more than any other nation ; and what national 

 prosperity can be compared to hers ? The union is awake to this sub- 

 ject, and Wisconsin must not be in the rear. 



I adverted to the inequality in the price of labor, as bearing heavily 

 on the farmer. To raise wheat at forty cents a bushel, with a saving pro- 

 fit, the quantity must be increased by superior cultivation. To grow 

 wheat a man must know how to do it, for it requires the same thought 

 and study as an argumentative brief, or an agricultural address, or a 

 pattern for iron castings. Farming is reason in action ; it cannot be 



