CONDITION OF AGRICULTURE. 321 



and his reason in ascribing the effects that are around him to 

 their proper causes. The intimate connection of his labors and 

 his hopes with powers and influences beyond his discovery and 

 control, eminently favors the development of his moral powers, 

 teaches patience and self-restraint, induces a firm reliance upon 

 Divine protection, and forms on the whole a character well cal- 

 culated to temper the order of minds moulded and educated in 

 professions, and amid scenes more exciting and uncontem- 

 plative. 



In passing from the reasons that call for an increase of agri- 

 cultural productions, to even a cursory notice of some of the 

 means by which that object is to be obtained, our positions 

 might well be reversed. Upon that branch of our duties I can 

 hardly hope to command your attention ; yet some allusion to 

 the means of increasing the average standard of our crops 

 would seem to be called for by the occasion. Conscious of 

 wanting that knowledge of the details of agriculture that would 

 qualify me to offer instruction and advice to practical farmers, I 

 shall confine myself to a few observations upon the course of 

 tillage, in the hope that their acknowledged propriety will rec- 

 ommend them to general acceptance. 



The breadth of land to be tilled is a subject of consideration 

 to the cultivator, and is among the first questions that arise in 

 husbandry. 



A good farmer will not waste his manure and labor by apply- 

 ing them to an unnecessary extent of soil. True economy will 

 suggest, as experience proves, that the largest crops per acre 

 are in general the most profitable ; and there is little fear of 

 overcharging the land with manure. The maxim that the 

 earth gives credit for all it receives, holds good in farming ; 

 and as it is a law of chemistry that nothing can be wasted, there 

 can hardly be an objection to bestowing upon the land, even 

 profusely, whatever elements of fertility may be at hand. A 

 great object in farming should be to restore and sustain the 

 land to its primitive fertility ; and this can only be attained by 

 reducing the quantity in tillage to the supply of manure. The 

 labor wasted in cultivating unmanured lands would be best ap- 

 propriated to composting manure for a next year's crop. 



No work upon land is so important as that of ploughing; and 



hence none has been so much the subject of attention and dis- 

 41 • 



