FARMERS' REGISTER 



241 



habits of severer industry than any other occupa- 

 tion or calling? 



Afier disposing of his printing establishment 

 and business, lie purchased a liirm of eiglhy-five 

 acres of land near llie cily of Albany, which then 

 helped to compose that tract of land lying west ol 

 the cily, and appropriately denominated the "San- 

 dy Barrens." That which, ibr some years past, 

 has been so extensively and fiivorably known as 

 the "Albany Nursery," then lay an open common, 

 unimproved, covered wilh bushes, and apparently 

 <]oomed to everlasting sterility. These unpromis- 

 ing appearances, whicli, lo a common mind, would 

 have presented insuperable obstacles, served to in- 

 crease the eHorts, rather than damp the ardor, of 

 Judge J3uel. Dilliculties, hindrances, obstruc- 

 tions, were with him everyday lamiliars. His mind 

 had been in some measure lormed under their in- 

 fluence. He recoj^nized and acted on the doctrine, 

 that where Gcd has done little, it is incumbent on 

 man to do much ; and that nothing in this world is 

 ever lost by couriingsituations that require the ex- 

 penditure of unremitted eHort. Man was made 

 to labor, both corporeally and mentally, and his 

 happiness in life depends much more than he is 

 generally aware of, on the strict obedience which 

 he yields to his primal law of his being. 



On this farm he continued to reside until the 

 time of his death. Under his untiring and well di- 

 rected industry, the most unpromising indications, 

 soon disap[)eared, and as a practical commentary 

 upon the truth of his agricultural doctrine, and in 

 proof that he in reality practised what he preached, 

 it may be mentioned that the same acre of land, 

 which in 1821 he purchased ibr §30 is now worth, 

 at a moderate estimate, §200. 



While residing on liis farm, since 1821, he has 

 several times represented the city and county of 

 Albany in the popular branch of the Legislature of 

 this state ; has been ibr several years, and was at 

 the time of his death, a regent of the University; 

 and in the lall of 1836 received the whig support 

 as iheir candidate ibr the office of Governor ol'the 

 state of New York. 



He retired to his farm at the age of lorty-three ; 

 a period of life when the mind has attained the full 

 maturity of its varied powers. He carried with 

 him a sound body, the result of a good original 

 constitution, of strictly temperate habits, and much 

 active exercise in the prosecution of his business; 

 and a mind well stored with valuable information, 

 of a character the most available lor the common 

 uses and purposes of life. So iar as his pecuniary 

 circumstances were concerned, he might, at this 

 period of time, have been justified in dispensing 

 with further labor, either of body or mind. He was 

 no longer compelled to act under the spur of ne- 

 cessity. But his ready perceptions, and accurate 

 leelings, convinced him of a truth, which others 

 are often doomed to acquire from a sad experience 

 — that a liie of labor is, of all other kinds of lile, 

 the last that should be terminated by an aoe of in- 

 activity. Men violate the laws impressed by God 

 upon the condition of things, when they assign to 

 their declining years an inglorious ease in the ex- 

 penditure of that Ibriune. which the successful in- 

 dustry of their manhood had accumulated. There 

 is also in all highly gifted minds, that are endow- 

 ed with clear, strong intellect, combined with con- 

 ecienciousness, a deep leeling of responsibility Ibr 

 the due exercise of their powers, in a manner the 

 Vot,. VHI— 31 



most advantageous to their fellow-men. God has 

 placed a double safeguard over the advancement of 

 man, by leaving ihe means that conduce to it in 

 charge both of the impulses that originate from 

 sell; and of the promptings derived Hum liis high 

 moral nature. 



The mind of Judge Buel fortunately had the sa- 

 gacity to perceive both where his industry was the 

 most required, and could be rendered the most 

 available. Of the tliree great interests that divide 

 between them the labors of men, viz -.—the agri- 

 cultural, the mechanical and manufiacturing, and 

 Ihe commercial, it is not difficult to perceive that 

 the first has long been the most important, and the 

 most neglected. The last, or commerce, is much 

 dependent on the other two, and may always be 

 expected to flourish where either agriculture or 

 mechanical and manufacturing arts yield their mul- 

 titude of producls. Between the other two there 

 is a mutual dependence ; agriculture furnishes the 

 support of life, the mechanic arts, in their turn, 

 supplying the inslrumenis of agriculture. Of these 

 two, Ihe mechanicarts had received reiativelymuch 

 ihe most attention. To advance them, man's in- 

 genuity and inventive powers had been severely 

 tasked ; and science was required to furnish its 

 contributions; and the devising and employment 

 of labor-saving machinery attested, and in a varie- 

 ty of instances, the triumphs of mind over the in- 

 ert materials every vviiere abounding in nature. — 

 But while the mechanic and manuliicluring arts 

 was thus prospering, agriculture was allowed to 

 labor on unaided, and unenlightened in the know- 

 ledge of itself. The new and virgin earth on this 

 continent, that had been for ages rearing and re- 

 ceiving back into its bosom the tall tree of the for- 

 est, and the waving grass of the prairie, required, 

 at first, in many places, but a small quantity of la- 

 bor 10 ensure ample returns. When the soil began 

 to give evidence of exhaustion, instead of attempt- 

 ing its restoration, new fields were brought under 

 the dominion of the plojgh. The great mass of 

 agricultural population, so far as their business was 

 concerned, were litlle more than creatures of ha- 

 bit. Men lived, and labored, and trod the same 

 paths, and pefbrmed the same circles of action, 

 with scarcely a single well settled principle for their 

 guide, except that the same field ought not to be 

 taxed to grow two successive crops of flax. The 

 principal, and almost the sole opject in view, was 

 to realize as great immediate returns as possible 

 from the smallest amount of labor, without any re- 

 gard whatever to the exhausted condition in which 

 they might leave the soil ; much like the traveller, 

 who seeks the rapid accomplishment of a long jour- 

 ney, by 'driving so far the first day as to destroy 

 his horse. 



The new system of agriculture, wilh which the 

 name and reputation of Judge Buel is essentially 

 indentified, consists in sustaining and strengthening 

 ihe soil, while ils productive qualities are put in- 

 to requisition ; in rendering the iarm every year 

 more valuable, by annually increasing both its pro- 

 ducts and its power of producing; like the travel- 

 ler, who instead of destroying his horse the first 

 day, should so regulate his motion, and administer 

 his supplies of Ibod, as to enable him to make addi- 

 tional pr'ogress every successive day, until the com- 

 pletion of his journey. This new system— new I 

 mean in this country — has been principally carried 

 into eftect by manuring, by draining, by good till- 



