38 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



pound of wool and meat, and every bushel of corn which they 

 raise, is sure of a compensation, we need have no fear for our 

 agriculture. And while our agriculture is encouraged by home 

 consumption and export, and the protection which government 

 is bound to throw about it, our financial ability and our credit 

 will have an unfailing support. 



To intelligent agricultural labor and industry there is yet 

 another appeal. The fortunes of war have thrown into the 

 hands of our government thousands of those helpless and 

 unhappy people whose life thus far has unfitted many of them for 

 self-support. In their behalf, each day, the ciiarities of govern- 

 ment are necessarily immense. One of the most difficult and 

 perplexing questions growing out of the events of the times is, 

 What disposition shall be made of them? That they will be 

 sunk in still deeper degradation by a life of idleness and beg- 

 gary, must be evident to every reflecting mind. That they 

 should be removed from all social control and subjected to 

 military discipline alone, seems to be a disposition of them which 

 presents but little hope. In our vast national domain there are 

 fertile lands lying unoccupied, some yet untrod by civilized 

 industry, waiting for the touch of man's hand to be transformed 

 into beautiful and luxuriant farms. Is there no way by which 

 the intelligent agricultural labor of our country can be induced 

 to occupy these lands, and a system of compensated apprentice- 

 ship established, which shall result in securing the comfort's of* 

 life, and in encouraging the- industry and in developing the 

 faculties of these unhappy dependants on our national bounty ? 

 It is to labor on the land that they are principally adapted ; and 

 it must be by their occupation of the soil in one way or another 

 that they can be made useful and happy. No one can fail to 

 appreciate their appeal to our care. No one -can doubt that our 

 government must be anxious and solfcitous for their welfare ; 

 and if, by well-directed labors on the land, they can be provided 

 for, agricultural industry will have done still another good work 

 in the complicated difficulties which surround us. 



For the systematic accomplishment of this object, the establish- 

 ment of a special bureau is of the utmost importance. Under 

 the existing state of affairs it will undoubtedly be extremely 

 difficult to adopt any one system which will be applicable in all 

 cases and in all sections of the country. As a general rule, the 



