MONTHLY 



JOURNAL or AGRICULTURE 



NOVEMBER, 1845. 



VOL. I. 



MEMOIR OF JUDGE PETERS, 



FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE PENNSYLVANIA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



It was the purpose of the Editor of the Fann- 

 ers' Library, to insert a Biography of Honorable 

 Richard Peters, whose Portrait accompanies 

 this number. The work was commenced, when 

 "An Address delivered before the Blocklei/ arid 

 Merioii Agricultural Society, on the 20tk of 

 September, 1828, by Hon. Samuel Breck, Vice 

 President of the Society," was handed to him. 

 Mr. Breck was the constant associate and inti- 

 mate friend of Judge Peters, for many years; 

 and in thig address he has, with the eloquence 

 of friendship and the truth of historj', exhibited 

 the life, character, and political, judicial and 

 agricultural services of his friend. 



The' Editor is much gratified to insert the 

 Address of Mr. Breck, as he is well persuaded 

 it contains a faithful representation of the distin- 

 guished person who is the subject of it, and that it 

 will be acceptable to the patrons of this journal. 

 Judge Peters, it is well known, like many 

 other writers on Agricvdture, pretended to no 

 distinction as a practical farmer ; neither, we 

 believe, did Arthur Young, or Sir John Sinclair, 

 or Mr. Jefferson, vf\\o took the lead in illu.strat- 

 ing the philosophical principles involved in the 

 mould-board of a plow ; or his son-in-law, Gov. 

 Randolph, inventor of the hill-.side plow. Nei- 

 ther was Mr. Madison or Nicholas Biddle, au- 

 thors of the most beautiful and the soundest es- 

 says on Agriculture to be found in our language, 

 entitled to rank among what are called practi- 

 cal men ! The fact is that, if progress in agi'i- 

 cultural and philosophical improvements, which 

 are tnraed to account by your exclusively 

 " practical men," were to be stayed in its course, 

 depending on them for its impetus, the march of 

 improvement would be a halting one — if, indeed, 

 it did not come to a dead halt ! 

 The valuable labors of Judge Peters in stimu- 

 (465) 



lating inquirj-, fonning associations, and diffusing 

 a knowledge of facts, constituted exactly that 

 sort of ser\'ice which is apt to be availed of, 

 while its author is forgotten, or remembered 

 only in what was enthusiastic or visionary ; 

 whereas such men are entitled to praise, were 

 it only for their amiable and patriotic intentions. 

 But we gladly leave the Judge's merits to be 

 memorialized by his friend. 'We had looked 

 for this memoir to a quarter whence, though it 

 might have come with more minuteness and 

 equal truth, yet not with more impartial sincer- 

 ity, than from the friend who, evidently, spoke 

 in the fullness of the heart. 



By the bye, w^e have ever admired that cor- 

 dial manner of bearing witness to the merits of 

 tlie dead, which prevails, as far as we know, 

 most particularly in France, where the survi- 

 vors, in the spirit of truth, and the solemnity of 

 the grave-scene, laj' their hands on the lid of tlie 

 coffin, and attest, in the presence of God and his 

 angel.s, to the virtues of their deceased friend ! 

 How much more genuine and impressive than 

 obituaiy eulogies, prepared professional, and 

 sometimes paid for ! 



Ours is no freshly-awakened sensibility to the 

 influence of Judge Peters's writings on the land- 

 ed interest of the country, for we find in the 

 American Farmer of the 4th of June, 1819, an 

 editorial notice of him and of Col. John Taylor, 

 of Cai-oline, "Virginia, as two gentlemen " highly 

 distinguished in the various walks of learning 

 and public usefulness — whose services in the 

 cause of the plow have done more real benefit 

 to the counti-y than one-half of the politicians in 

 it." So we still think ; but we maj- add that 

 there was this difference between them — that, 

 while Col. Taylor's writings were often involved 

 — sometimes obscuring his meaning — he was an 



