412 



I think we may with more truth assert, that the proper business of 

 mankind is Agriculture. In the list of useful arts, it stands pre-emi- 

 nent. It is the nursing mother of all animate creation — sustaining, 

 nourishing and supporting everything which has life. Agriculture is a 

 pursuit, which, above all others, distinguishes a state of civilization; 

 and the progress of its improvement furnishes a test as well of the 

 prosperity, as of the intelligence of society. Upon it, as a basis, are 

 erected all the frame-work and superstructure of the useful arts. Its 

 influence, too, is expansive in the highest degree, and with every new 

 impulse it reaches the utmost bounds of individual enterprise. It gives 

 wings to commerce, and impetus to manufacturing industry, and sets in 

 motion the various mechanic ai-ts. It fixes the value of money ; and the 

 crops form the standard which regulates the exchanges between the differ- 

 ent portions of the globe; The growth of the cities and villages, de- 

 pends upon the wealth which the country pours in upon them ; and the 

 increase of population, upon those resources which the earth supplies. 

 To the never failing returns which the harvest brings, in its annual 

 round, kingdoms and republics ahke look for national aggrandizement 

 and permanent prosperity. It will thus be seen, that culSvating the 

 soil is not only an honest and useful employment, but an honorable one. 

 It may soil the clothes, harden the hands, and give a sun-burnt face, 

 but these are only decorations which nature lavishes freely upon the 

 husbandman, and rather adds to his beauty, than otherwise. 



It has pleased the benevolent Author of our existence, to set in 

 boundless profusion before us, the elements of a high state of cultiva- 

 tion and enjoyment. Blessings cluster about us like the fruits of the 

 land of promise, and science unfolds its treasures, inviting us to partake 

 of them, without money and without price. We are reminded, from 

 the propensities of our nature, as well as the philosophy of our being, 

 that we were formed for care and labor — for the enjoyment of property 

 — for society and government — to work with the elements around us, 

 and fi'om these rough materials to forge our own standing in the com- 

 munity where we live. Our daily wants impel us to exercise cur fac- 

 ulties, and the love of acquiring, that sentiment so deeply implanted in 

 the human breast, and so universally diffused among mankind, has 

 caused the wilderness to bud and blossom hke the rose — has transformed 



