THE FARMER AND THE COMMONWEALTH. 67 



circles of society, obtain their primary support through the 

 hiborer, who with his hand tills the soil, sows tlie seed, reaps 

 and gathers in the bountiful fruits of the earth. Without the 

 producer, without the working farmer, who can be a consumer ? 



Many inventions have been sought out and discovered to 

 facilitate and make liglit the toil of the husbandman in sowing 

 tlie seed, and in the gathering of the harvests, and so great is 

 the dependence of a free government, and to such an extent 

 does the interest of free people depend upon its agricultural 

 pursuits, that it has been the policy as well as the duty of the 

 general government, from its foundation to the present time, 

 to encourage such useful inventions as would expedite the 

 lal)or of the farmer, the result of which has been to join the 

 labor of the cunning right hand to that of the well-informed 

 mind, and thereby dignify and lighten the work of tlie farm. 

 For the promotion of tliis object, the publication of books and 

 statistics, containing much valuable infoi'mation and knowledge 

 of the actual, useful experience and observation of the most 

 scientific practical agriculturists, not only of this country, 

 but of all countries, has been prosecuted to sucli an extent and 

 at such costs, that the agricultural literature of our country is 

 read by as many, and is, at. least, as useful to the community 

 as belles lettres. 



Our fathers, too, in forming the fundamental laws of our 

 Commonwealth, manifested their wisdom and good statesman- 

 ship by providing that " it shall be the duty of the legislature 

 and magistrates in all future periods of this Commonwealth, to 

 cherish the interests of literature and the sciences and semina- 

 ries of them, public schools and grammar schools in the towns, 

 to encourage private societies and public institutions, rewards 

 and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, to encourage 

 and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevo- 

 lence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, 

 honesty and punctuality in their dealing," thus expressing 

 their estimation of the importance of agriculture by placing it 

 side by side with wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, 

 without a general diffusion of which among the body of tlie 

 people, no republic founded on a written constitution can exist 

 in its strength and integrity a single year, as the history of the 

 world sadly but too clearly pi-oves. 



