16 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



people, no other argument will be necessary to stimulate our farmers to higher 

 excellence, or to induce our statesmen to give to agriculture all possible legis- 

 lative aid. 



Sir John Sinclair, the friend and correspondent of Washington, in urging 

 upon legislators the importance of agriculture, advocated the widest possible 

 diffusion of knowledge on the subject. To preserve the fertility of the soil ; 

 to free it from the superfluous moisture ; to cultivate it to the greatest advan- 

 tage ; to raise its products at the least expense ; to gather and apply the best 

 manures ; to procure the best instruments of husbandry ; to select the best 

 stock; to feed them in the most judicious manner; to secure the harvests, even 

 in the most unpropitious seasons ; to separate the grain from the straw with 

 economy and success ; in short, to perform all the operations of agriculture in 

 the most judicious manner — these are the points, with those before mentioned, 

 to which the Department of Agriculture devotes its attention, and for the 

 accomplishment of which it asks legislative aid. Everything which has a 

 tendency to benefit the tillers of the soil is an advantage to the whole com- 

 mmiity, for their interests are reciprocal and inseparable ; and as the general 

 good is unquestionably promoted by the fostering of the agricultural interest, 

 it becomes the duty of those who are intrusted with the management and 

 direction of public affairs to give special attention to this great interest which 

 lies at the foundation of our national greatness. 



If we examine the history of those foreign countries, ancient and modern, 

 which have attained the highest agricultural prosperity, it will be found that 

 every one of them was generously aided by the government ; and, on ;the con- 

 trary, where legislators have neglected the interests of agriculture, their coun- 

 tries are backward in wealth, intelligence, and prosperity. Indeed, the above 

 observation is true in regard to the various States of our republic, where legis- 

 lative aid has been extended or refused. 



But agriculture should be fostered by our government just now on other and 

 higher grounds. Agriculture feeds not only our own and other nations, but 

 the subsistence of our immense army and 'navy; and the revenues on which 

 the government relies for the payment of its immense current expenses, are 

 derived, directly or indirectly, from the productions of our soil. And the more 

 and the earlier we can increase these productions by the appliances of science 

 and art, and by introducing improved seeds and valuable articles of produce, 

 the easier and the sooner will the public debt of our country be extinguished. 

 By such agricultural progress, not only will the- yield and value of the soil 

 per acre be increased, but also the value of the products themselves will be 

 enhanced, and we shall be better enabled, year after year, to compete with 

 other nations in supplying food to the millions of Europe, thus gathering wealth 

 in return, and making our country, more than ever, the granary of the world, 

 and our farmers the stay and staff of our government in all the vicissitudes of 

 peace or war. Besides, agriculture is the great conservative element or interest 

 of the republic. It is the parent of the physical and moral health of the state 



