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THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



Prom the Ftitmer's CoiDpntiion. 



By the late Judge Buet.. 



The importance of Agriculture to a Nation, 



There is no business of life wliich so higltly con- 

 duces to the prosperity of a nation, and to thf luip- 

 piness of its entire population, as that of cultivat- 

 ing the soil. Agriculture may he regarded, says the 

 great Sully, as the breasts from which the state de- 

 rives support and nourishment. Agriculture is 

 truly our nursing mother, which gives food, and 

 growth, and wealth, and moral health and charac- 

 ter, to our country. It may be considered the great 

 wheel which moves all the maciiinery of society ; 

 and that whatever gives to tiiis a new impulse, 

 communicates a corresponding impetus to the thou- 

 sand uiinor wheels of interest which it propels and 

 regulates. While the other classes of the commu- 

 nity are directly dependent upon agriculture, for a 

 regular and suflicient supply of the means of sub- 

 sistence, the agriculturist is able to supply all the 

 absolute wants of life from his own labors ; though 

 he derives the most of liis pleasures and profits from 

 an interchange of the products of labor with the 

 other classes of society. Agriculture is called the 

 parent of arts, not only because it was the first art 

 practised by man, but because the other arts are its 

 legitimate oftspring, and cannot continue long to 

 exist without it. It is the great business oj civil- 

 ized life, and gives employment to a vast majority 

 of almost every people. 



The substantial prosperity of a country is always 

 in the ratio of its agricultural industry and wealth. 

 Commerce and manufactures may give temporary 

 cons.'quence to a State, but these are always a 

 precarious dependence. They are effeminating and 

 corrupting ; and, unless backed by a prosperous 

 agricultural population, they engender the elemenis 

 of a speedy decay and ruin. Venice, Genoa, Por- 

 tucral, Spain, &c., each in turn rose to wealth and 

 power by commercial enterprise. But they all now 

 exhibit melancholy evidence of fallen greatness. 

 They have fallen, in succession, from their high 

 standiuc, victims to the more robust energies of ri- 

 val powers, or to the enervating and corrupting in- 

 fluence of commercial cupidity. They exliibit 

 nothing now in their political or social institutions, 

 and but little in their agriculture or in the useful 

 arts, that can be admired or coveted, by the citi- 

 zens of our free country. Great Britain has now 

 become ascendant in commerce and manufactures, 

 yet her greatness in these sources of power and op- 

 ulence, is primarily and principally owing to the 

 excellent condition of her agriculture; with- 

 out which she would not be able to sustain her 

 manufactures or her commerce, in their present 

 flourishing state, or long retain her immense for- 

 eiarn possessions, or any thing like her present pop- 

 ulation. Only one third of her inhabitants are suid 

 to be emplo^'cd in agriculture ; yet the labors of 

 this one third, such is tiie high condition of her hus- 

 bandrv, suffice to furnish subsistence for the whole. 

 Five millions, of all ages, produce annually, from 

 her limited soil, seven hundred millions wortli of 

 atrricultural j>roduce, averaging about one hundred 

 and forty dollars for each man, woman, and child 

 of her agricultural population. The recently pub- 

 lished letters of the Rev. Dr. Humphreys are so 

 conclusive and so instructive upon this subject, not 

 only in regard to the importance of agriculture to 

 a nation, but as showing the susceptibility of this 

 art of high im])rovenient and great productiveness, 

 that we here quote an extract in illustration of what 

 we have stated 



*'It is the opinion of competent judges," says 

 Dr. Humphreys, 'Hhat the advances made in the 

 agriculture of Great Britain, during tlie last sev- 

 enty or eighty years, are scarcely exceeded by the 

 improvement and extension of its manufactures, 

 within the same period ; and that to these advances 

 no other old settled country furnishes any parallel. 

 That they have been very rapid indeed, the follow- 

 ing figures and.comparisons abundantly show : In 

 17(if), the total growth of all kinds of grain in Eng- 

 land and Wales, was about 120,000,000 bushels.— 

 To this should be added, perhaps, 50,000,000 for 

 Scotland— ninking a total of 170,000,000. In 1635, 

 the quantity in both kingdoms could not have been 

 less than 340,000,000 bushels. In 1755, the popu- 

 lation of the whole island did not much, if any, ex- 

 ceed 7,600,000. In lc^31, it had risen to 16,52o,160, 

 being an increase of 9,000,000, or 120 per cent. ! 

 Now, the improvements in agriculture have more 

 than kept pace with this prodigious increase of de- 

 mand for its various productions; for it is agreed 

 on all hands, that the lG,50tl,000, or rather tlic 17,- 

 500,000, (for more than a million has been added 

 since 1831,) arc mucli fuller fed, and on provisions 

 of better quality, than the 7,500,000 were in 1735. 

 Nor if. Great Britain indebted at all, at present, to 

 foreign markets for her supplies. Since 1H33, she 



has imported no grain worth mentioning ; and till 

 within the last six months, prices have been so ex- 

 ceedingly depressed, as to cull forth loud complaints 

 from the wliole agricultural interest of the country. 

 England is, at this moment, so far from wanting 

 any of our bread-stuffs, if we had them to export, 

 that she has been supplying us all winter liberally 

 frnm her own granaries; und, according to the latest 

 advices, she has still bread enough, and to spare. 

 Again, it is estimated by British writers, of high 

 authority, that the subsltence of 9,000,000 people 

 costs, in raw produce, no less than £72,000,000, or 

 £^ for each individual, per annum. According to 

 this estimate, the annual product of this great 

 branch of national industry is $;350,l)UO,0(tO more 

 at present than it was in 1755 ; which is more than 

 twice the value of the whole cotton manufacture of 

 the country, in 1831. Now if it costs $350,000,00i), 

 to feed the increased population of 0,000,000, then 

 to feed the present population of 17,500,000 mut^t 

 ccst near 700,000,000 ! Wliat an amazing agricul- 

 tural product for so small a territory 1 And yet it is 

 the opinion of practical men of the highest respec- 

 tability in England, that the raw produce of the isl- 

 and might well nigh be doubled, without any 

 greater proportional expense being incurred in its 

 production ; thy.t is to say, 25,000,000 people might 

 draw their subsistence from that one little speck in 

 the ocean ! Now tec have a territory more than fif- 

 teen times as large as the island of Great Britain ; 

 and what should hinder it, when it conies to be 

 brought under no higlier cultivation than some parts 

 of England and Scotland, from sustaining a popu- 

 lation of five or six hundred millions of people ? 

 This would give to Virginia something like thirty 

 minions; to Illinois and Missouri, about the same 

 number each ; to New York near twenty-five mil- 

 lions, and so on in proportion to the other States. 

 I am quite aware that this estimate will be regard- 

 ed as extremely visionary and incredible, by many 

 of your readers; but not more so than it would have 

 been thought In the middle of the last century, that 

 England, Scotland, and Wales could ever be made 

 to sustain thirty-five, or even thirty' millions." 



A Cfty may flourish by foreign commerce — by be- 

 coinmg the carrier of other nations, as Venice and 

 Genoa have once done; — till foreign aggression, 

 or foreign rivalshlp — contingencies of no unfre- 

 quent occurrence in the history of nations — shall 

 blast its prospects, and reduce it like the cities we 

 have named, to ostentatious beggary, or consign it, 

 like Tyre, Peruepolis, Petra, and other cities of the 

 East, to ruin and oblivion. 



A toicn or district may flourish by its niaimfac- 

 luring industry, as many have done in ancient and 

 modern times, as long as it can exchange Its mor- 

 chundise for the means of subsistence and of 

 wealth ; but if its dependence for these contingen- 

 cies is upon foreign lands, its prosperity is unsta- 

 ble. The interchano-e may be interrupted or de- 

 stroyed by war, by the want of a demand for its 

 commodities, or a failure in a supply of the neces- 

 saries of life. 



A country can only continue long prosperous, 

 and be truly independent, when it is sustained by 

 agricultural intelligence, agricultural industry, and 

 agricultural wealth. Though its commerce^nay be 

 swept from the ocean — and its maufnctures perish 

 — yet, if its soil is tilled, and w^ll tilled, by an in- 

 dej>endent yeomanry, it can still be made to yield 

 all the absfdute necessaries of life ;-^lt can sustain 

 its population and its independence ; — and wiien its 

 misfortunes abate, it can, like the trunkless roots 

 of a recently cut down tree, firmly braced, in, and 

 deriving nourishment from, the soil, send forth a 

 new trunk, new branches, new foliage, and new 

 fruits ; — it can rear again the edifice of its manu- 

 facturer, and spread again the sails of its commerce. 



But agriculture is beneficial to a state, In pro- 

 portion as its labors are encouraged, enlightened, 

 and honored — for in that proportion does it add to 

 national and individual wealth and happin(,'3S-'.: • ; 



Ji^ricultvrc feeds all. Were agriculture to' bo 

 neglected, population would diminish, because ne- 

 cessaries of life would be wanting. Did it not sup- 

 ply more tlian is necessary for iis own wants, eve- 

 ry other art would not only be at a stand, hut eve- 

 ry science, and every kind of mental improvement, 

 would be neG;lected. Manufacture?: and commerce 

 originally owed their existence to agriculture. — 

 Agriculture furnishes, in a great measure, rawma- 

 terlals and subsistence for the one, and commodi- 

 ties for barter and excliange for the other. In pro- 

 proportion as these raw materials and commodities 

 are multiplied, by the intelligence and industry of 

 the farmer, and the consequent improvement oftlie 

 soil, in the same proportion are manufactures and 

 commerce benefited — not only in being furnished 

 with more abundant supplies, but in the increased 

 demand for their fabrics a*!^.d merchandise. The 



more aofriculture protluces, the more site sells— the 

 more she buys ; and the business and comfort of 

 society are mainly influenced and controlled by the 

 results of her labors. 



yi^rifuftiirc, directly or indirectly, pays the bur- 

 dens of our tn/cs and our folls^ — which support the 

 government, and sustain our internal improve- 

 ments ; and the more abundant her means, the 

 greater will be her contributions. The farmer who 

 manages his business ignorantly and slothfully, and 

 who produces from it only just enough for the sub- 

 sistence of his family, pays no tolls on the transit 

 of his produce, and but a small tax upon the nom- 

 inal value of his lands. Instruct his mind,*and a- 

 waken him to Industry, by the hope of distinction 

 and reward, so that he triples the products of his 

 labor, the value of his lands is increased in a cor- 

 responding ratio, his comforts are multiplied, his 

 mind disintliralled, and two thirds of his products 

 go to augment the business and tolls of our canals 

 and roads. If such a change in the situation of one 

 farm would add one hundred dollars to the wealth, 

 and one dollar to the tolls of the state, what an as- 

 tonishing aggregate would be produced, both incap- 

 ital and in revenue, by a similar improvement up- 

 on 250,000 farms, the assumed number in the State 

 of New York. The capital would be augmented 

 two millions, and the revenue two hundred and fif- 

 ty thousand dollars per annum. 



,lgriculturc is the principal source of our iceaWi. 

 It furnishes more productive labor, the legitimate 

 source of wealth, than all the other employments in 

 society combined. The more it is enlightened by 

 science, the more abundant will be its products ; 

 the more elevated its character, the stronger the 

 incitements to pursue it. Whatever, therefore, 

 tends to enlighten the agriculturist, tends to in- 

 crease the wealth of the state, and the means for 

 the successful prosecution of the other arts, and 

 the sciences, now indispensable to their profitable 

 management. 



JiirricuUurists arc the guardians of our freedom. 

 Tliey are the fimntalns of political power. If the 

 fountain become impure, the stream will be defil- 

 ed. If the agriculturist is slothful, and ignorant, 

 and poor, he will be s])irltless and servile. If he is 

 enlightened, industrious, and in prosperous circum- 

 stances, he will be inde])endent in mind, jealous of 

 his rights, and watchful for tlie public good. His 

 welfare is identified with the welfare of the state. 

 Ho is virtually fixed to the soil ; and has, there 

 fore, a paramount interest, as well as a giant pow- 

 er, to defend It, from the encroachment of lorelgn 

 or domestic foes. If his country sufters, he must 

 suffer ; if she prospers, he too may expect to pros- 

 per. Hence, whatever tends to Improve the intel- 

 lectual condition of tlie farmer, and to elevate him 

 above venal temptation, essentially contributes to 

 the good order of society at large, and to the per- 

 petuity of our country's freedom. 



.Agriculture is the parent of physical and moral 

 health to the state — it is the salt which preserves 

 from moral corruption. Not only are her labors 

 useful in administering to our wants, and in dis- 

 pensing the blessing of abundance to others, but 

 she is constantly exercising a salutary influence up- 

 on the moral and physical health of the state, and 

 in perpetuating the republican habits and good or- 

 der of society. While rural labor is the great 

 source of physical health and constitutional vigor 

 to our population, it interposes the most formidable 

 barrier to the demoralizing Influence of luxury and 

 vice. We seldom liear of civil commotions, of 

 crimes, or of hereditary disease, among those who 

 are steadily engaged in the business of agriculture. 

 Men who are satisfied with the abundant and cer- 

 tain resources of their own Uhor, and their own 

 farms, are not willing to jeopard these enjoyments, 

 by promoting ])opular tumult, or tolerating crime. 

 The more we promote the interest of the agricul- 

 turist, by developing tlic powers of ini.id, and ele- 

 vatiurT his moral views, the more we sliall promote 

 the virtue and happiness of society. 



The facts which are here submitted must aflord 

 ample proof, that agriculture is all-important to us 

 as ii nation ; and that our prosperity in manufac- 

 tures, in commerce, and in otlier pursuits of life, 

 will depend, in a great measure, upon the returns 

 which the soil makes to agricultural labor. Itthere- 

 fore becomes the interest of every class, to cherish, 

 to encourage, to enlighten, to honor, and to re- 

 ward those who engage in agricultural pursuits. — 

 Our independence was won by our yeomanry, and 

 it can only be preserved by them. 



After all, the price of pork in the market la not 

 so bad as many had anticipated. The last report 

 of the country farmers who had been to the Bos- 

 ton market was that good smoll hogs went quick at 

 7 cents : and hogs wcigliJng over 300 at 7 1-2 cts. 



