No. 112.] 565 



Nor is it irrelevant to remark in passing, that that chief, the 

 father of his country, was early trained to agricultural pursuits, 

 and that he devoted some of his earlier and his latter years, (when 

 relieved from public cares, and the turmoils of political strife) to 

 the calm, contemplative, and ennobling employment of the hus- 

 bandman. Such a man would dignify any occupation. Eut we 

 need living examples. We need present efforts to throw around 

 it such an iniiuenfe, that our young men will not be ashamed to 

 own, thcit they are farmers. By adding dignity to tlie labors of 

 the husbandman, by elevating it to the rank for which heaven 

 designed it, by awakening interest in its progress, by increasing 

 the productiveness of the soil, we are erecting for our country its 

 surest, safest, cheapest defence. 



It was said by De Witt Clinton, that the State of New- York 

 alone is capable of sustaining twelve millions of people ; a remark 

 indicating in a remarkable degree, the far-reaching foresight of that 

 distinguished statesman. For it was a prophecy of the progress 

 of agriculture, when very little had been done to develop the re- 

 sources of the State, and to show the immense increase in pro- 

 ductiveness of which the soil is capable. To the men of his day, 

 this sentiment doubtless appeared visionary ; but to us who have 

 witnessed the progressive improvements in farming, and who are 

 thus prepared to judge of its future advancement, it may appear 

 even short of tlie realitv. And wlien we consider the tide of em- 

 igration constantly flowing from the old world to our shores, it is 

 interesting and pleasing to reflect, that they are coming to a coun- 

 try whose |X)pulatioD, in the oldest and mostly thickly inhabited 

 states, is vastly less than tliey can support. Tliey are not yet 

 filled up with a superabundant population, tliat crowd upon eacli 

 other to snatch the mere crumbs of subsistence. 



