No. 112.1 575 



Agriculture is the most ancient and honorable employment of 

 man. It is the employment which his Creator designed for liim, 

 * when he placed him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it. And 

 when man fell from tjjat s'ate, his destiny in regard toagiicullu- 

 ral employment was not changed. The ground, it is true, was 

 cursed — it brought forih tht rns and thistles, and man was doom- 

 ed to eat his bread in the sweat of his bruw, but still it was the 

 will of God, after he w^as driven out of Paradise, that lie should 

 be a cultivator of the soil. This occupation he has pursued in 

 all ages of the world, in all conditions and circumstances in which 

 the providence of God has placed him. It is the employment 

 which is natural to man; and it set-ms that tliere isnootlitT pur- 

 suit for which he is so well fitted by his constitution and habits. 



Agriculture is the basis upon whicli all the other arts and oc- 

 cupations must depend for support. Without it, mechanics and 

 manufactures, and labor and a]l the useful and ornamental arts 

 in which men are engaged cannot prosper. The earth must 3ieid 

 her supply for all these. The materials must ! e furnished by the 

 cultivators of the ground. If this great motive power, which 

 carries forward all the other enterprises of civilized life ceases, 

 the whole machinery must stop, and universal stagnali<m and ruin 

 ensue. But let agriculture prosper, and all other business will 

 flourish ; commerce and manufactures, and all the useful arts 

 will be encouraged, and the whole community share in the bene- 

 lits arising from tlie successful cultivation of that art wMch im- 

 parts life and vigor to all business. * # * ♦ ♦ 

 There is no occupation which liolds out higher inducements for 

 moral and intelhctual (Iistiiicti(m ihan the cultivation of the soil. 



There are three indispensable r^'qusitcs which must be under- 

 stood and ]»r;ictired by every farmer, if lie would succeed in his 

 business — ijidustry, economy, and system. Witl-out these, no busi- 

 ness can prosjer. Men m ly form schemes, calculate upon a thriv- 

 ing business, antl llultiTthenjselves gralilied, witliout considering 

 their resijurces, and thus many farmers, who might 1 e in comforta- 

 ble and pros])erous circumstances, are impoverished nrrd ruined by 

 a system of txtn vagHnce, inconsistent wiih their business and the 

 duties vvhiJi ihey ov.t tin ni^-clvt- and their A niilies. Tlie want 



