8 BOARD OF AGniCULTURE. 



bottom of all culture, moral, mental and physical." And it is a 

 trutli familiar to us all that where the treasures of the soil lie 

 neglected and unexplored, there we find the savage '-'whose 

 untutored mind" is as barren and neglected as the forest through 

 which he roams. On the other hand, we find that in those 

 countries where civilization and refinement have most pro- 

 gressed, agriculture is fostered and cherished as a most agreea- 

 ble pastime and pursuit, as well as the most direct and certain 

 means of national advancement and prosperity ; for on the suc- 

 cess of this art, the welfare of commercial, monetary, manufac- 

 turing, and all other material interests, mainly depend. 



Look at Great Britain, and see what progress she has made 

 in all that elevates, ennobles and blesses a nation, notwith- 

 standing the hindrances of her social and political organization. 

 It is her honorable boast, that however great her commerce, 

 gathering, as it does, treasures from all parts of the globe, and 

 however marvelous and irigantic her manufactures, of which 

 specimens m.ay be found in all countries, even to the interior 

 of Africa, her agriculture is the support and foundation of the 

 whole, and her progress has been accelerated in proportion to 

 its improvement. It matters little whether the advance be a 

 cause, or a consequence of agi-lcuUural progress, the fact being 

 established that they go hand in hand, which is ample proof of 

 intimate and necessary connection. And such has been the 

 uniform testimony of all ages. 



Greece and Rome, in the days when their senators and gen- 

 erals came from the plow to the halls of legislation and the 

 field of battle, were powerful and prosperous. Then it was 

 that they enjoyed the highest civilization and refinement, and 

 that those monuments of literature, the study and admiration 

 of all subsequent ages, were erected. But when agriculture 

 came to be neglected and despised by their citizens and handed 

 over vv-ith other industrial pursuits to the slaves, they steadily 

 dwindled away. But we need not look abroad for evidence in 

 this matter; the history of our own country bears ample testi- 

 mony. "What is it but agricultural enterprise, carried out with 

 the indomitable energy and perseverance characteristic of our 

 people, which has elevated the United States to their present 

 position among the nations of the earth with a rapidity and 



