26 [Assembly 



H^ that the time that has passed since the settlement of our country 

 has been employed to subdue it to the use of civilized man; that 

 the duty of the future will be to refine, perfect and bring it up to 

 its full measure of productiveness and improvement, to adapt our 

 system of agriculture not only to the enlarged markets and in- 

 creased facilities of our country, but to its relationship with the 

 commerce of the world. For the purpose of distinguishing these 

 two periods more clearly, I shall designate the past " the era of 

 the axe." I select this implement as the type of the past because 

 it has been chiefly instrumental in hewing down our forests and 

 preparing our lands for cultivation. I shall term the period up- 

 on which we have entered as the "era of commercial farming." 

 because at this time, the advanced condition of our country, its 

 increased population, its enlarged markets, its facilities for trans- 

 portation by canal and railroad, and its growing connexion with 

 the commerce of our own country and the world at large, are now 

 impressing, and will continue still more strongly to force upon 

 our farmers, the necessity of adopting the leading principles of 

 commercial economy and management in the conduct of their 

 pursuits. 



In early periods of the settlement of our State, the emigrant 

 who left the Eastern States and plunged into these " Western 

 Wilds," carried with him little besides the indispensable imple- 

 ments of labor. The qualities required, were courage^ perseve- 

 rance, physical strength, and the power to endure hardships and 

 privations. 



In the first instance a rude cabin was to be constructed, and a 

 little ground cleared to produce the food essential to the preser- 

 vation of life. When the forests were subdued by stern and 

 severe labor, the condition of the country for a long time afforded 

 no markets; and those who can not sell can not buy. 



The great effort then was for every farmer to produce every- 

 thing he required, within the circle of his own family ; and he 

 was esteemed the best farmer, to use a phrase of the day, " who 

 did everything within himself." And it was then deemed as 

 creditable for ladies to spin and weave as it was in the days of 

 King Solomon, who, describing an honorable woman says : " She 



