70 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



in all rural districts, should be physically, mentally, and mor- 

 ally trained and schooled into a round and ripe development! 



But grant that the flag of our Union shall continue to wave 

 over the length and breadth of our country, and that our 

 institutions shall continue to afford protection to all beneatk 

 the shelter of that flag, until the valley of the Mississippi, the 

 steeps of the mountains, and the far-off shores of the Pacific, 

 shall teem alike with a dense population. The vast preponder- 

 ance of commercial wealth and power will still unquestionably 

 be centered in the cities, along the seaboard east and west and 

 south. Manufacturing enterprise is wont to seek out particu- 

 lar localities, and its wealth and power might remain concen- 

 trated in one extremity of the Union. 



Where, tlien, shall be found an all-pervading interest, per- 

 meating the grand masses of society, and imparting freshness 

 and vigor to the arterial tides of life, pulsating from the great 

 heart of the Republic to its extremities ? Agriculture, with 

 its varied productions and diftusive interests, must solve the 

 problem. 



Ay! practically, scientific agriculture will ever be found 

 adequate to supply the wants of all, still binding the extremi- 

 ties to the center, and that center to freedom, as anatomical 

 ligatures unite the bones in healthful articulation. 



Like, as among the aborigines, the belt of wampum passing 

 from tribe to tribe, was the precursor and herald of the pipe 

 of peace, so shall the sheaf of wheat remain, from ocean to 

 ocean, and from the Lakes to the Gulf, the symbol of amity 

 and the token of brotherbood. 



