48 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



THE FARMER'S LIFE. 



From aa Address before the Hampden East Society. 



BY JOSEPH VAILL. 



The foundation of all secular pursuits, — the moving spring 

 of all worldly enterprise is found in the cultivation of the earth. 

 Husbandry, and specially that department of it which we 

 denominate agricunure, is the great central wheel in the mighty 

 machinery of business, which sets all the other wheels in motion. 

 But for this, the ocean would never be whitened with canvas, 

 and the timber now converted into mighty ships, would remain 

 unmolested in its native forests. But for this, not a spindle 

 would have been set in motion, nor the walls of a manufactory 

 ever have been reared. 



But for this, no banking-houses would exist, and no invest- 

 ments of great moneyed capital have been made to carry forward 

 useful arts. The cultivation of mother earth forms the basis of 

 all secular business. From this source is to be derived, as long 

 as the world stands, every thing that goes to enrich its inhabi- 

 tants. It is the great central sun around whicli all business 

 pursuits revolve, as so many satellites, borrowing all their light 

 and heat from this one fountain. 



It needs no argument to prove this. It requires but a mo- 

 ment's reflection to see that if agriculture and its legitimate 

 fruits should cease, the wheels of business in every department 

 would come to a stand-still. 



But not to pursue this course of remark, let us look for a 

 moment at agriculture in itself, and see whether we Jiave not, 

 for other reasons, occasion to thank our Maker for it. And in 

 the first place, let us look at the honorable uature of this em- 

 ployment. It is honorable because God has ordained it, and 

 to engage in it is to carry out that Divine plan which He formed 

 for man, even in a state of innocence. Our first progenitor 

 had not fallen when God put him into the garden to " dress it 



