IG MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTUKE. 



THE EELATIOI^ OF AGKICULTUKE TO 



MA]N^HOOD. 



From an Address before the Worcester North Agricultural Society. 



BY C. W. EMERSON. 



I have selected as tbe subject of my address, The Relation 

 of Agriculture to Manhood. Whatever is second in life, man- 

 hood is first. And I believe there is no other pursuit so well 

 calculated to develop true manhood as that of agriculture. 

 From agriculture has come almost everything that tends to 

 the development of our civilization. Perhaps I could dwell 

 upon no theme that would be more interesting than that of 

 tracing the origin and the subsequent development of the 

 arts and sciences from the necessities of aorri culture. I think 

 it would be shown that nearly all the arts and sciences had 

 their rise in the needs growing out of agriculture. 



Egypt is acknowledged to be the mother of science and art. 

 Why can the principal arts and sciences be traced to Egypt? 

 Because ancient Egypt was exclusively agricultural. Early 

 history will bear us out in the supposition that Ham and some 

 of his descendants emigrated to Egypt and settled on the 

 banks of the Nile and colonized the whole of lower Egypt. 

 The soil was very fertile, but there was difficulty in securing 

 a crop on account of the inundations of the Nile. For a long 

 time they found themselves unable to determine at precisely 

 what time the inundation, which lasted between two and three 

 months, would commence. At last, however, they discovered 

 one of the most brilliant, though not the largest, of all the 

 stars of heaven, just close to the horizon, where it shone a few 

 moments before the rising of the sun. This star always made 

 its appearance just before the inundation of the Nile com- 

 menced. 



