AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 419 



the men whose character dignifies our social life, and the women 

 whose pure hearts and cultivated intellects constitute its most 

 attractive grace. All this outlay comes from labor expended on 

 the land, and leaves, it must be confessed, only a small portion 

 as profits or surplus. But may we not do better ? Is not this 

 labor employed in many, perhaps in most instances, without 

 that amount of intelligence and skill which would render it 

 remunerating on a much larger scale ? While the comforts of 

 the farmers surpass those of most other laborers, may they not 

 be increased by a wiser use of the means at their disposal ? 

 As now conducted, farming demands too continuous labor and 

 leaves too little time for literary pursuits and social intercourse, 

 for the development of intellect and the formation of character. 

 It is well that there is a great deal left for us to know and to 

 do ; and there is reason to believe that we have not yet arrived 

 at the most economical methods of operation ; that we have 

 scarcely begun to apply the resources of science and the princi- 

 ples of mechanics to the cultivation of the earth. There is no 

 wisdom in remaining satisfied with any state of things that we 

 can improve, nor ought our energies to be paralyzed by the 

 magnitude of difficulties to be overcome. 



2d. That we always speak of the profits of farming compara- 

 tively — not of what is necessary to the comfortable and respecta- 

 ble support of a family — but we compare the pecuniary success 

 of the farmer with that of the merchant and maniifacturer. 

 When we see the fortunes they sometimes accumulate, our 

 sympathies are excited for the farmer, who, after a life of toil, 

 leaves only a farm worth three or four thousand dollars. We 

 omit many qualifying circumstances that might be regarded as 

 compensations, — the farmer's diminished anxieties, his fewer 

 risks, his peaceful life, the habits of economy he is obliged to 

 form, and the greater security he enjoys from extreme vicissi- 

 tudes ; and more than all, the fact that farmers seldom wholly 

 fail and come to nothing. While they are generally sure of a 

 living, and many add to their stores, only a very few engaged 

 in commerce acquire fortunes, and in one of the largest and 

 most important branches of manufactures in New England, 

 scarcely a man has failed to fail. I have no expectation that 

 the majority of young men will be influenced by this considera- 



