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over, and such a demand for it on the part of farmers as should make 

 the preservation profitable. Under this system our soil and our coun- ■ 

 try will both become richer and richer forever. 



At present our largo cities and villages are constant drains upon the 

 fertility of our soil, and the farmers by their carelessness institute many 

 othei-s on their own premises. Through the sewers of New York, and 

 hy the throwing of the dirt from the streets into the waters of the 

 ocean, enough organic matter is annually lost to produce an almost in- 

 calculable amount of vegetation that now never sees the light. It could in 

 fact be chanofed into food, ton for ton. It is idle to sneer at this. This 

 is the grand chemistry of the Almighty. But now, the loss of this na- 

 tion by this unpardonable waste, is far greater than though all the 

 notes of some one of the heaviest banks should annually be burned up. 

 This latter would but exchange the place of wealth, the former actually 

 obliterates it. I believe the farmer like the manufacturer, should buy 

 Ms raw material and make his money by improving and changing that 

 material. For all that he sends off his farm he should supply an equivo- 

 lent in weight, but not in value, for what he receives in a disorganized 

 state in the form of manure would be cheap, but what he sells will be 

 the same substance now transformed into the basis of manufactures or 

 the beautiful fruit, and the golden grain, by the power of Nature under 

 the superintendence of man. This may be deemed inapplicable or un- 

 practicable to western farmere on strong new soils, but a general princi- 

 ple and unalterable truth ought never to ^be forgotten ; and unless con- 

 stantly replenished and fed, these A-irgin soils of the West will yet be- 

 come as barren as the once fertile hill-sides of Judea, and plains of 

 Babylon. 



But, gentlemen, it is not possible for me to enter into the minutiae of 

 your art; you do not expect it; the general principles only can be 

 glanced at. If what I have attempted to show is true — that the cul- 

 ture of the earth underlies and sustains all other industry, conduces 

 more than any other art to the harmonious development of human 

 health, intellect and morals ; if it be true that the soil and air have re- 

 sources for man's support as yet but very partially revealed, and that 

 the increasing population of the nations clamorously demand more food 

 and must be driven ere long to great pestilences and wars as their great- 

 ■est benefactors unless these hidden resources are discovered, I ask every 



