1856.] Home Department. 359 



a department that its secretary may be heard in the cabinet, and not, as 

 with a bureau, with a commissioner at its head, whose recommendation 

 in favor of agriculture may be stricken out by the secretary of the 

 department to which he is attached, before it reaches the legislative 

 halls. Why put off for a single day that which is known to be required? 

 We hope, in the discussion before Congress, on the proposed bill for an 

 agricultural organization, we shall not hear the hackneyed phrases, that 

 '' Agriculture is a noble art," that '^ Farmers are the bone and sinew of the 

 country." These are truths trite to every schoolboy ; and farmers will not 

 be contented with a repetition of such compliments, and no further action. 



Let us demand, not ask, a Department of Agriculture, and not be 

 contented with being told that we are noble fellows, and we had better 

 go home and vote again for our representatives at the next election. 

 The present condition of the agricultural interest, and its neglect by 

 government, remind us of a lieutenant in the British army, stationed 

 in Canada. He lacked promotion, and he knew he was entitled to it, 

 both by age and services. He wrote to the commander-in-chief, and 

 stated that he was the oldest lieutenant in his regiment; next, that he 

 was the oldest in the brigade; next, oldest in Canada; next, oldest in 

 the British army; to all of which he received no reply. He then 

 wrote that he was the oldest lieutenant in the world, and he believed 

 his excellency meant to keep him so, as a curiosity. 



Indeed, farmers' claims are like the position of the beggar to the 

 London alderman on his way to the turtle feast. "I have not eaten in 

 four days," said the beggar. '^I wish 1 had your appetite," says the 

 alderman. 



The farmer, however, will not, and need not, be as silent as the beggar. 

 They furnish the supplies, and are entitled to a portion of the disburse- 

 ments. In England, where the government has no excess of public 

 funds, millions of pounds sterling are loaned to farmers, under the 

 surveillance of the commissioners of drainage, for under-draining the 

 land ; and these mortgages are only active after a fixed value has been 

 placed upon the farm before its under-drainage, and still not one dollar 

 has ever been lost by that government from such loans. The increased 

 productions has always enabled the farmer to meet the required pay- 

 ments, and thus, after a short time, the country at large is benefited 

 equal to the amount of increase in production. It has been said, and 

 with truth, that were it not for the introduction of under-drains and 

 sub-soil plows, England could not at this time sustain her population. 

 This is no experiment, but a settled truth ; and why should not the 

 surplus funds in our government be so invested? It could be done 



