A DDRESS. 



I appear before you to-night with the view of presenting some con 

 siderations on Improvement in Agriculture, as connected with Indus 

 trial Education. If in so doing I confine myself to the subject of 

 Agriculture proper, it is not because I underrate the necessity and 

 importance of providing for the professional education of those pursu 

 ing the several branches of the Mechanic Arts ; but simply because with 

 us, at the present time, agriculture is the overshadowing interest, claiming 

 the first consideration; and because the vastness of the whole subject 

 would, were I to do it justice, impose ;oo severe a tax upon your 

 patience. 



It might seem superflous to demonstrate the necessity of a serious 

 change in our agricultural habits and practices. Yet there are too 

 many who, though in general admitting this, fail to appreciate the 



pressing necessity, and the extent of the change required. 



I 



In an agricultural commonwealth, the fundamental requirement of 

 continued prosperity is, beyond any possible cavil, that the fertility of 

 tfie soil must be maintained. Whenever this condition fails, wholly or in_J 

 part, of fulfilment, agriculture must, to a corresponding extent, cease 

 to be the occupation of its inhabitants, especially if other countries 

 compete with them in the same pursuit, under more favorable circum 

 stances. The population must, in that case, turn to other pursuits, if 

 the natural resources of their country permit them to do so while pur 

 chasing their supplies abroad as happens, e. g., in mining regions. 

 But when there is no such choice of pursuits, the result of the exhaus 

 tion of the soil is simply depopulation-, the inhabitants seeking in emi 

 gration, or in conquest, the means of subsistence and comfort denied 

 them by a sterile soil at home. 



THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. 



History, both ancient and contemporary, furnishes abundant ex 

 amples of the working of these causes. The decline of empires and 

 the decay of nations have so often gone hand in hand with the decline 



