17 



the country." And he adds with groat truth, "A little 

 perambulating of this sort has a most salutary effec-t in 

 enlarging the fanner's circle of observation, enabling 

 him to gain new ideas, to break loose from traditional 

 prejudices, and to improve his practice by adapting it to 

 the new lights which science and enlarged experience 

 throw across his path." 



"What is here said of the perambulations of the far- 

 mers of England may be repeated, with more emphasis, 

 of our own countrymen ; for of all the dwellers upon our 

 planet there are none so addicted to locomotion as the 

 people of the United States. In a country with 13,000 

 miles of coast along which thousands of vessels ply from 

 port to port ; in a country traversed in every direction by 

 navigable streams on which the steamboat is seldom 

 long out of sight; in a' country with 70,000 miles of 

 railway in operation and uncounted miles of turnpike 

 roads ; in a community of thirty seven States and ten 

 Territories, between which unrestricted free trade exists ; 

 with a population whose related members are scattered 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific a father, for instance, 

 in Maryland, a son in Missouri, a grandson in Cali- 

 fornia or Oregon, all drawn by natural affection to desire 

 from time to time, each other's society it is not strange 

 that Americans are by far the greatest travellers in the 

 world. And as to the inducements offered to the far- 

 mer, by agricultural and mechanical societies and exhi- 

 bitions, to leave his home for a brief period each year, 

 and improve his knowledge by discussion, observation 

 and comparison, in no country are they so great as in 

 the United States ; for in no other country do such asso- 

 ciations and exhibitions abound to the same extent. 



But if the friendly personal intercourse of mankind 

 has increased in so wonderful a degree in modern times, 

 the growth of their intellectual intercourse is yet more 

 remarkable and striking. Compare, or rather contrast, 

 the slow and toilsome practice of manuscript writing, by 



