294 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



accumulation, are all of them reasonable and commendable 

 objects, when they do not lead us to invade or infringe upon the 

 rights of others, and when our accumulations are used foi 

 useful ends. 



I am anxious to vindicate the profession of agriculture from 

 every aspersion which may be cast upon it, and to contribute 

 my mite to place it in that rank, in the scale of human pursuits, 

 which it may justly claim for itself. I may say, with Bacon, 

 ; that it has the divine sanction,&quot; for in the beginning God 

 placed man upon the earth to cultivate and make it fruitful. I 

 may claim for it, further, that it is an innocent pursuit ; that it 

 can do no injury to any one ; and that it invades no man s just 

 rights, and prejudices no man s safety, health, peace, or reason 

 able enjoyment. I will add to this, that it is a beneficent 

 employment. Whoever cultivates the earth, and covers it with 

 rich and golden crops, renders it more beautiful ; whoever causes 

 the earth to yield its fruits, increases the means of human com 

 fort and subsistence ; and in proportion as this cultivation is 

 improved and skilful, and by such improvement, and such skill, 

 the products of the earth are many times increased, so the means 

 of human subsistence and comfort, and of subsistence and com 

 fort to a very large portion of the brute creation, are correspond 

 ingly extended. 



I will make no invidious comparisons between agriculture and 

 other professions and pursuits of life ; but certainly none is more 

 innocent, more honest, more useful, or more rational. That 

 happens, in respect to agriculture, which does not equally appear 

 in many professions, that its improvements cannot be monopo 

 lized : they are of necessity exposed. Emulation or compe 

 tition, so often productive of the worst results in many pursuits 

 of life, in the improvement of agriculture can produce nothing 

 but sood. 



XLVII. AGRICULTURE AS A COMMERCIAL PURSUIT. 



Men, then, may lawfully pursue agriculture under the stimulus 

 of profit. In many cases, the gains of one man are made at the 

 expense or loss of another. The celebrated Madame Roland 



