472 ' [Assembly 



These, and many other, though perhaps minor improvements 

 in our tools, have added greatly to the value of our farms ; and 

 to the profits of farming ; and to the value of labor ; and by giv^- 

 ing us an impulse, all the world has been moved ; for as a 

 part of the body politic, we stand to the remainder in the position 

 that the driving wheel maintains in every machine. Let it not 

 be forgotten that the only sources of wealth are labor and land, 

 and the farmer represents both these elements, either of which 

 is useless without the other. Land, until man toils upon it, is 

 valueless. Labor, without the soil to till and sustain it, would 

 die; and such is theorderof Providence, that to feed, and furnish 

 the material to clothe man, it is necessary that by far the greatest 

 part of men should apply their labor directly to the cultivation 

 of the soil. So true and resistless is this necessity that there 

 never was in the world, and perhaps never will be, a surplus of 

 agricultural productions, if the whole world be taken into the 

 account ; but there constantly occurs times of scarcity, when large 

 districts suffer for want. 



With every improvement in agriculture, human woe is allevi- 

 ated, and the poor are made more comfortable; for by improve- 

 ment in raising food, labor is rendered more valuable, and he who 

 has only labor to sell is thereby made rich. 



Ours is the art that lays at the bottom of all arts ; and with 

 our progress, civilization progresses. If we were to retrograde 

 or to become idle, want and famine would visit the doors of the 

 rich. lu us are the sources of every luxury, and of every ele- 

 gance that adorns the dweilings of the refined and afiluent. Is 

 not such an occupation honorable 1 



But it is not a profession that leads men into public life, as 

 politics are now managed ; generally it has the contrary effect. 

 The peaceful and quiet life upon the farm does not fit men for the 

 intrigues of politics ; and generally when a farmer finds himself 

 transformed by his neighbors into an office-holder, he soon retires 

 disgusted from a field where victory can only be obtained by 

 somebody's sore defeat, and very often at tlie price of his own 

 self-respect. 



