316 Memorial to the Legislature 



Your Memorialists believe that the time has now arrived, 

 when every thing which can promote the interests of Agricul- 

 ture may be expected from the Legislature. 



The convulsions of the old world, which agitated the new, 

 having sunk to rest, and the conflicts of party having lost much 

 of their violence^ we naturally turn to the repair of those evils 

 which have sprung from the neglect of our domestic aftairs. 



Hence, a spirit of internal improvement, which had been too 

 long neglected, has sprung up; and faithful to this spirit, the 

 Governor has, in a manner worthy of the Chief Magistrate of 

 the State, recommended it to the attention of your honourable 

 houses. 



Encouraged by these propitious circumstances, we beg leave 

 to propose for your consideration, a plan which we hope will 

 increase the spirit of improvement already excited, and by a 

 simultaneous eftort in all parts of the State, give an impulse to 

 Agriculture that will continue to be felt until the resources of 

 this fertile State shall be fairly developed. 



Your Memorialists think it would be a waste of time to at- 

 tempt, even if their knowledge of the various parts of the State 

 would justify it, to carry into them the agricultural improvement 

 of which they are susceptible. 



They therefore propose, that the Legislature should authorise 

 ^^the formation of an Agricultural Society, in each county of this 

 ^Sie, and should appropriate a certain sum of money to be dis- 

 tributed in premiums, in some permanent form, by such Agri- 

 cultural Society as may be formed in each county according to 

 law. 



This state is destined to be rich and powerful ; but the basis 

 of her power and wealth is the skill and industry of her inhabi- 

 tants, in Agriculture. 



The forests must yield to the plough, and the cultivated land 

 must be feitilised. — How best to clear the former and enrich 

 the latter, must be determined from local circumstances. 



The clearing of the land can be best done by those who are 

 accustomed to it, and the proper cultivation of it is to be deter- 

 mined by the nature of the soil, climate, proximity to market, and 

 the resources for manure which may be accessible. 



These must always depend on local circumstances and expe- 

 riments, which can be best known and conducted by local so- 

 cieties. 



