THE AMEKICAN FAKMEK. 



PART I. 



GENERAL AGRICULTURE. 



FARMING AS AN OCCUPATION. 



AGRICULTURE is the foundation of civilization ; the basis of all other industrial 

 pursuits ; its advancement having a more powerful influence on the prosperity and 

 social elevation of a people than any other of the world s industries. Were it not for 

 this time-honored avocation, mechanics, manufactures, and commerce, would have nothing 

 to supply the material upon which to depend, and mankind be devoid of the resources of 

 physical life. In its aim and scope, the amount and variety of its productions, it stands 

 supreme among man s material interests, underlying and upholding all others. 



Webster never uttered a more forcible and important truism than when he said, &quot;All 

 national wealth depends upon an enlightened agriculture ; &quot; a truism illustrated in the history 

 of every nation on the globe ; prosperity and wealth ever being found proportionate to a 

 nation s advancement in agricultural knowledge and practice. This will always be true of 

 any country or limited section of a country; and while the fact is recognized with respect to 

 all nations in all ages of the world s history, it is equally true that the decrease in a nation s 

 wealth and prosperity has ever been found to be proportionate to the decrease in the pro 

 ductiveness of the soil, and the neglect of agricultural interests ; the depreciation of agricul 

 ture being an index of the demoralization and decay of a nation. Agriculture furnishes the 

 sources of all, physical and intellectual energy; in fact, the products of all other trades and 

 professions seem insignificant when compared either in quantity, variety, or value with those 

 of the farmer. No one can compute the deplorable results that would follow the suspension 

 of agricultural labor for even a single year ; in all probability, famine with its attendant 

 horrors would extend throughout the civilized world, which would soon become, by this 

 means, in a great measure depopulated. This could not result by the suspension of anyone of 

 the other branches of industry for one year or several years ; in fact, any one of them might 

 be suspended for a succession of years without exerting a very marked influence upon the 

 progress of civilization, all of which proves the supremacy of agriculture. It supplies the 

 indispensable wants of the human race, feeding and clothing mankind ; the materials for this 

 purpose being received by the farmer directly from the inexhaustible stores of earth and 

 air placed there by the bountiful Giver of all good. This brings us to another important 

 consideration in connection with the avocation of the farmer, and that is, its true honor and 

 dignity, and tendency towards the advancement of religion and morality, as well as the 

 opportunities afforded for physical and mental development. It was the original calling of 

 man, appointed by the Creator, who planted a garden in Eden and made it man s duty to 

 &quot; dress and keep it, 1 and when by disobedience he was driven from Eden, it was still his 

 mission to till the ground. As this was the first employment assigned man by God, we 

 have here not only a proof of its vast importance, but every reason to believe it also 

 especially adapted to man s requirements in every respect, all of which has been fully con- 



