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from it by man's industry and intelligence ; and those productions ar^ 

 not sure to be of the kinds which are most needful. Savage nations 

 usually rest content with the natural produce, and they ai-e accordingly 

 found to be few, in proportion to the surface they occupy, and generally 

 in the lowest state of misery and degradation. But wherever man has 

 possessed any intelligence, he has applied himself to cultivate the earth, 

 so as to make it capable of supporting, in comparative comfort, a larger 

 amount of population. » 



I may truly say, wherever you find a people without any Well defined 

 notions of a Creator, there you find them steeped in barbarism, shroud- 

 ed in heathenish darkness. There, the ai-ts, sciences, and manufactures are 

 unknown ; there, agriculture finds none to put forth her claims, or labor 

 in her fields ; there, Nature throws up from her bosom, the grains and 

 fruit which such a people require for a bare subsistence, and with this 

 they seem content. Yet this contentment is fatal — mentally and physi- 

 cally fatal. They soon fall into decay — they wither, die, and disapj^ear 

 from among the nations of the earth, and scracely leave a trace behind 

 to tell that they once lived and moved on mother earth. Examples all 

 over the habitable globe, bear me out in the assertion. 



On the other hand, wherever you find a people who admit the prov- 

 idence of God their Creator — who rely upon Him and His providence 

 for the blessings they enjoy — there you find a people learned in the ai'ts 

 and sciences. You find them industrious, contented, happy ; amply en- 

 dowed with those qualities, mental, moral, and physical, which contri- 

 bute to man's happiness and comfort. They worship the true and liv- 

 ing God, "under their own vine and fig tree," and there is none to molest 

 or make afraid. It is among such a people that the science of agricul- 

 ture is studied — among them it has reached its present state of perfec- 

 tion. The husbandman, availing himself of the many privileges which 

 an enlightened governmental policy affords, educates himself, his sons, 

 and daughters, to govern the soil, the flocks, the herds, and the dairy, 

 so as to produce the largest possible amount from each, to support an 

 increased and growing population. 



The occupation of the farmer is an honorable, an exalted one in so- 

 ciety. As he learns to analyze soils, to ascertain their properties, their 

 adaptation to different grains, grasses, and plants, it fits him to govern 

 families, communities and States. His calling involves the study of Na- 



