ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ENGLISH AGRICULTURE. 155 



for who could have dreamt, on first seeing a tea-kettle boiling 

 over the fire, that there were the simple elements of a power 

 destined to exert a greater influence in the progress of the arts and 

 sciences, and consequently over the whole condition of society, 

 than any other known ; which was to rend rocks, and snap iron 

 asunder, like bands of straw ; which was to ride securely and 

 triumphantly over the mountain waves of the sea ; which was to 

 drain floods and lakes, and lay open their fertile bottoms to the 

 ploughshare j which should compel the deep places of the earth 

 to disgorge their mineral treasures ; and, disdaining time and 

 space, plant distant countries, for all the practical purposes of 

 commerce and friendship, of reciprocal supply and mutual im 

 provement, in the immediate neighborhood of each other ? 



This brings me to another great benefit which agriculture 

 has derived from steam power, which I should do injustice to 

 pass over. I was in Smithfield market a few weeks since, and, 

 in conversation with a very intelligent salesman, whom, let me 

 say by the way, I shall never remember but with a grateful sense 

 of his kindness, and a high respect for his character,* he said 

 to me, &quot; We have the contributions of seven hundred miles 

 brought to market to-day, and without the slightest injury to 

 their condition. We have beasts and sheep here from Suther 

 land, and from the southern counties of England ; &quot; and I be 

 lieve he might have added, from Ireland and from Belgium. 

 Steam vessels and railroad cars bring them at once to the great 

 places of sale. It was always calculated, by the drovers of cattle 

 from Connecticut River to Brighton market, near Boston, an 



* This gentleman, whose business, in the market, is of the most extensive and 

 responsible character, presents an example so full of wholesome instruction, that I 

 hope I shall be pardoned for enlivening my Report by a reference to it. lie 

 spends several days in the week in the most confused, noisy, and busy place in 

 the world, faithful to the interests of his employers, and retires at night, a few 

 miles from the city, to enjoy his cup brimful of domestic pleasures, at his own 

 fireside, in a crowded circle, where mutual love reigns triumphant, where the table 

 is covered with the literary gems of the press, and the walls of his drawing-rooms 

 are adorned with the splendid products of his own pencil, displaying taste and 

 skill. So true it is that men, if they will be but true to their own intellectual and 

 moral natures, need not be utter slaves to the drudgery of business ; and, if they 

 will only look for them, may find, at the most moderate expense, within their own 

 reach, in the hours of recreation, too often squandered or abused, sources of the 

 richest and most elevated pleasures. 



