196 



employed. It appears to me that the attention of the Agricultural So- 

 ciety ought, without delay, to be turned to this object, as one of priice 

 importance. In connection with this, the preservation of our forest 

 trees, urges itself upon our consideration. Much wood will always b© 

 required for necessary fiiel ; and we shall find, sooner or later, that we 

 have none to spare for unnecessary fences. The indiscriminate destruc- 

 tion of trees by the early settlers, who very naturally look upon all trees 

 as their enemies — excluding the sunshine, and occupying the land which 

 they wish to cultivate — leads to a waste, both of beauty and wealth, 

 which centuries cannot repair. Spare portions of the ancient forest — 

 let them stand to gi-ace the landscape — and early reserve tracts of land, 

 where the forest may shoot forth again, and be reproduced again, from 

 generation to generation. 



This is not the time or the place, to make many particular suggestions 

 in regard to agricultural products, but since I have ventured on a few, 

 I will add one more. I obsei-ved in Germany, that the rape is exten- 

 sively cultivated, for the purpose of expressing from it lamp oil. I be- 

 lieve that it is the principal resource of this kind. The quality of the 

 light which it affords is good, and the material less expensive than any 

 other which they can command. I know not whether it has been in- 

 troduced at all in American husbandly. • 



In turning now to suiTey our own condition, and in making an ap- 

 plication of the principles I have discussed, I would, first of all, my 

 countrymen, congratulate you upon tlie proud distinction of being 

 American Farmers. You are freemen. The land which you cxiltivate 

 is your own — you are no serfs. In your owti dwellings, on your own 

 acre's, you are sovereigns — subject to no laws and no restraints, but those 

 arising from your own free consent, given through your legislative rep- 

 resentatives. You fear neither priests nor despots. You are exposed 

 to no legalised oppression and robbery. You breathe freely ; you feel 

 nobly ; you look to the past with honest pride, and with gratitude to 

 Heaven; you look to the future with confidence. The land which yov 

 possess, your own industry and skill have won from the wildemesc. 

 You feel conscious' of what enterprising, laboring, and honest men can 

 do, when left free to work out their own fortunes. On account of all 

 this, I congratulate you. I congratulate you again, that you are what 

 you are — cultivators of the soil — the most pure and noble of all the 



