MONTHLY 



JOURNAL or AGRICULTURE. 



JTJLY, 1845. 



VOL. I. 



MEMOIR OF THE LATE STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER, 



AS TIIE FRIEND AND PATRON OF AGRICULTURE. 



In offering to the public v/bat it is hoped may 

 constitute a large portion of a diversified and 

 suitable Library for American Farmers — 

 in which it is proposed not only to illustrate 

 the science and to encourage the literature of 

 their pursuit, but to journalize such practical 

 results of associated and individual exertions 

 as may at once denote and further the progress 

 of Agricultural improvement — would it not be 

 strange if 'we did not attempt to pay particular 

 respect, as we go along, to the memory and ser- 

 vices of those who have been called beyond 

 that bomnie whence no traveler returns ? — men 

 who, though now beyond the reach of flatter}- 

 or favor, devoted, when among us, their time 

 and fortunes to the promotion of that great con- 

 cern, of which Washington himself hath said — 

 " I know of no pursuit in which more real and 

 ' important service can be rendered to any coun- 

 ' try than by improving its agriculture — its 

 ' breed of useful animals, and other branches of 

 ' a husbandman's care." 



In consideration that our design, though in- 

 tended for all who take an interest in i-ural af- 

 fairs, has its fulcrum, or resting-point, here in 

 New-York, there would seem to be a natural 

 propriety in turning to do justice to him, among 

 the first, who, though born in this city, em- 

 W'aced with his munificence the welfare of the 

 whole agi'icultural community. 



What General Van Rensselaer did for the 

 farming interest, was not confined to particular 

 acts— such as the importation of improved ani- 

 mals, and donations for public exhibitions of ru- 

 ral industry, judicious and liberal as these wore. 

 His contributions were made in a spirit of 

 broader philanthropy. He caused, as we shall 

 see, Institutions to be founded, and Sciences to 

 (49)....sio. 1 



be taught, that men might be, intellectually, bet- 

 ter fitted to get along in tins world as we find it, 

 enjoying the^greatest of all earthly blessings — 

 self-respect, and the sense of personal independ- 

 ence. In thus going at once to the root of all 

 social improvement, to lay its foundation where 

 alone it can be laid, to last, in the moral cul- 

 ture OF THE RISING GENERATIONS, the PatroOU 



took the lead of his own age, and helped to form 

 ours — ours, in which it is getting to be univer- 

 sally admitted that our political institutions, the 

 condition of society, in fact all the circumstances 

 of our country, demand a radical change in our 

 educational systems. These must be generally 

 more industrial than they are in their plan and 

 character. The great, almost the entire mass of 

 every generation is doomed to labor daily at 

 some industrial occupation for a livelihood. — 

 There is no security that the children, even in 

 the first generation, of those who are in com- 

 parative affluence, shall not be brought, by un- 

 fortunate speculations, by the unavoidable ac- 

 cidents of trade, by prodigality-, nay by our or- 

 ganic law.s for the descent and distribution of 

 property, to earn their bread by the sweat of 

 tlieir own brows. God himself hath kindly or- 

 dained that so it should be. Far from labor be- 

 ing a curse, if we take laboring-men as a class, 

 they enjoy as such the greatest share of happi- 

 ness, ^vith the least alloy, if the labor be not im- 

 moderate, and its avails made certain. 



From all his plans and actions, it is obvious 

 that the Patroon had profoundly reflected on 

 the defects in our systems of instruction, and 

 thoughtfully scanned the spirit of our institu- 

 tions ; and having thus discerned the true wants 

 of society, he was not the man to w-ithhold his 

 personal attention, or his bounty, where a great 



