r 



SOUTH-DOWN SHEEP. 



37 



and Wool aiid Woolen Manufactures ; and 

 these portraits it is desirable to accompany with 

 remarks on the peculiar qualities which adapt 

 them, under certain circumstances, to the use of i 

 American Fanners. 



Wiih gi-eat respect and esteem, i 



I remain, Sir, 'your obedient servant, | 



J. S. SKINNER, 

 To Hon. Andrew Stevenson, 



Vice President Viiginia Agricultural Society. 



The Retreat, near Riclunond, June 16. 184.5. 



Mif dfar Sir: On returning home, after an 

 absence of some ^veeks, I found your kind let- 

 ter, with the accompanying- Prospectus, for the 

 new Journal of Agriculture which you are 

 about to edit. This Avas tlie first intimation I 

 had received upon the subject, and I beg you 

 to believe, that I was as much gratified at re- 

 ceiving your letter, as I shall be instructed and 

 edified by your Journal, to \vhich I most gladly 

 become a subscriber, and now enclose in ad- 

 vance the first year's subscription. 



Whilst, you do no more than justice in re- 

 garding me as the warm and devoted friend of 

 Agricultvire, you greatly overrate my ability to 

 render to it that aid ^vhich I should be happy 

 to afford, and \vhich many of my friends are 

 pleased to anticipate. The trutli is, I have 

 neither the information, or time, to enable me 

 to add much to be common stock of agricultural 

 knowledge, and you must, therefore, set me 

 do^\^l for Httle else than one of j"our constant 

 readers ; an occasional correspondent and con- 

 tributor to your Journal ; and one of its fast and 

 devoted patrons. This is all that I have it in 

 my power to promise, and so far I am \viUing 

 to stand eommitted. I rejoice, my dear sir, to 

 see you once more in the field " giving note of 

 preparation," not, however, for battle or slaugh- 

 ter, but as ihe friend and champion of the arts 

 of Peace. The lam-el which entwines the He- 

 ro's brow is bathed in blood and wet with the 

 tears of the widow and orphan, but die cine 

 ^^-l■eath of the Husbandman is green with his 

 o^\^l woods unstained with gore, and unmixed 

 with c>-press. Go on. then, and devote your 

 talents and labors to objects so worth}- of them, 

 and by which you \vill confer benefit as \vell as 

 honor upon our common countrj-. In tliis good 

 work God speed you success. 



Of the importance of Agriculture, in a physi- 

 cal moral, or political point of view, I need saj- 

 littlc to you. If, with the wisest, the richest, 

 and the most po\verful nation, AgiTcultural pur- 

 suits have ever been esteemed the most honor- 

 able, as well as the most useful employments of 

 man. how much more should this be the case in 

 a countrj' like ours, where the Institutions, Gov- 

 ernment and People depend so essentially upon 

 their successful operation. Indeed, Providence 

 seems to have decided for us tlie great question 

 of preference, so Ions ac-itated bv pohtical 



economists. We are, and must continue, if we 

 expect to remain free and prosperous, emphat5- 

 cally an Agricultural People. And does not 

 self-interest, as well as patriotism, combine to 

 stimulate us to the improvement of our systems 

 of husbandry ? What nation has ever existed 

 celebrated for its advancement in civilization 

 and the arts, in which the marked encourage- 

 ment of Agriculture has not been admitted ? 

 And yet, what country on earth so deeply in- 

 terested in its success, has shewn less attention 

 to it than our own ? The spirit of improve- 

 ment has not only been suSered to languish, but 

 its essential and vital interests, have been shame- 

 fully neglected. Who can witness, my dear 

 sir, without deep mortification, the sU-eam of 

 emigration fi'om the whole of our Atlantic bor- 

 der to the Western portions of our Union? 

 How many persons do we daily see eeULng 

 their farms at low prices and relinquishing their 

 buth-places and friends to settle in the rich val- 

 hes of tlie West, from a supposed inability to 

 support themselves on theii* poor and exhausted 

 lands. Is not this the result of gi-oss misman- 

 agement and a continued perseverance in the 

 old and WTetched system of cultivation '.' How 

 long rfe Ave to be doomed to this state of things ? 

 And are we never to profit fixjm the experi- 

 ence of otlier nations ? W hilst in Great Britain 

 7iine-tentks of the lands are leased to tenants 

 who pay from 30 to 60 shillings sterling per 

 acre, and find every thing for husbandn,-, they 

 can even on these terms gro-w rich ; yet we, (at 

 least at tlie Soutli.) %vithout tithes or heaAy taxa- 

 tion, and with numerous laborers, can barely 

 make out to support ourselves from the pro- 

 ducts of our estates. I have seeii it stated very 

 recently, on the autliority of some eminent Brit- 

 ish stati.«t, that to supplj' the United Kingdom 

 of Great Britain Avith the article of wheat alone, 

 Avould take tlie employment of the -whole Brit- 

 ish Na-*^- ; and to bring all their Agricultural 

 Products, as now^ enjoyed, %vould take the na-vy 

 of the whole -^^-orld. To ascertain this, it -would 

 only be necessai-y to take the average con- 

 sumption of each inhabitant, and multiply the 

 annual amount bj" the Avhole number of the 

 population. England, as you know, has been 

 called a garden spot, and such it justly may be 

 regarded, -when with a teiritorj- not larger than 

 that of New- York or Virginia, it can support a 

 population nearly equal to Uiat of tlie whole 

 United States. It is alone by skill and industry 

 that they resist the danger of excessive popula- 

 tion pressing upon the means of subsistence, 

 and thus enable them to supply an increasing 

 population, not only\vith the same but a much 

 better description of food from tlie same dis- 

 tricts of country. Now, to -what is all this to be 

 attributed, but to superior productiveness oc- 

 casioned by superior cultiva-tion, and the addi- 



