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THE FARxMERS' REGISTER. 



referring to that well known establishment as a 

 general model, ailmitiing readily of modifications, 

 where a diti'erence of circumstances may be sup- 

 posed to re(]uire them. It was my good fortune, 

 during my residence in Europe, lo visit this 

 classic spot ; and 1 can salely say, that 1 saw 

 nothing in the palaces of kings, in the museums 

 of the fine arts, in (he gorgeous displays of wealth 

 and power, on every hand, which impressed me 

 with half the admiration I felt in contemplating 

 the modest, but noble establishment of the Swiss 

 republican patriot, and sage. Agriculture he 

 chose as the basis of his enterprise — and by the 

 happy combination, in the training of his rmpils, 

 of intellectual an 1 bodily labor, mutually relieving 

 and giving zest to each other, he has achieved 

 those prodigies of moral and physical improve- 

 ment, which have drawn upon his institution the 

 earnest attention and applau-e of the civilized 

 world. It has furnished to continental Europe 

 the best models of its agriculture, while if lias 

 sent forth in^o its various stales and kingdoms 

 some of their most useful, virtuous, and enlight- 

 ened citizens. At the same time, the model fiirm 

 of Hofwyl stands a proud refutation of all the 

 stereotyped satires, so li-equently indulged, on 

 scientific farmins, as the accounts of the establish- 

 ment, kept with minute mercantile exactness, 

 disclose, through a series of years, a net profit 

 of eight and a half per cent, up ^n the wliole 

 capital emp'oyed — a rate of profit with which, I 

 venture to say, any of us practical farmers would 

 be more than content. 



I have thought it not unsuitable to the present 

 occasion, gentlemen, to present to you these ob- 

 servations on the means of extending the useltjl- 

 ness of our society, of elevating the standard of 

 our profession, and of promoting the progress of 

 agricultural science, in which the highest pros- 

 perity of the state, as well as our own personal 

 interests and feelings, is so deeply concerned. If 

 I shall have thrown out any thing which shall ap- 

 pear to you worthy of being further pursued, I 

 shall esteem myself happy in awakening the 

 interest of those, whose intelligent exertions, con- 

 curring with those of our agricultural brethren 

 elsewhere, must ensure by their united moral in- 

 fluence, success lo whatever object of public good 

 they may espouse. 



Pass we now from these topics to those of a 

 more familiar character connected with operative 

 agriculture. The bountiful Author of our being, 

 gentlemen, has given to man dominion over the 

 earth ; and over all its productions, but coupled 

 with the grant the express condition and injunc- 

 tion, that he should subdue it by his industry and 

 toil. It is no part of the scheme of Divine Pro- 

 vidence, that spontaneous nature should supply 

 the wants of man. On the contrary, there ie 

 hardly any thing which nature presents to us in 

 a stale which supersedes the necessity of human 

 labor to make some change in it, to prepare it for 

 the use of man. Political economists, indeed, 

 tell us that labor is the only source of the neces- 

 earies and conveniences of life, or what they call 

 wealth. Whatever exception may be taken to 

 this proposition, in its unqualified strictness, it is, 

 nevertheless, undeniable that human labor is, by 

 far, the most important constituent in almost all 

 articles consumed by man — even the ordinary 

 products of the earth. The great philosopherj 



Locke, remarks, that "if we will rightly consider 

 things as they come to our use, and cast up the 

 several expenses about them, what is purely 

 owing lo nature, and what to labor, we shall find 

 thai, in most of them, ninety-nine hundredths 

 are wholly to be put to the account of labor.'" 

 And he adds, that " it would be a strange cata- 

 logue of things that the industry of man provided 

 and made use of, about every loaf of bread, before 

 It came to our use, il we could trace them."* Let 

 us not repine at this law of our being, but recog- 

 nize in it a new proof of the goodness and wisdom 

 of Divine Providence, which thus supplies us 

 with constant motives to that active exertion of 

 our faculties, mental and bodily, in which only 

 the true dignity and ha|)piness of man are to be 

 found. 



The earth, then, is given to us in a state unfit 

 and incompetent for the support of" civilized man, 

 but with varied and indefinite capacities ol pro- 

 duction, to be drawn forth l»y human industry and 

 art. There is no part of its primitive surface 

 which does not stand in need of improvement, in 

 some form or other, by artificial means. This is 

 the fundamental principle of agricniiure as an art, 

 and [loints to a constantly progressive improve- 

 ment as the end of every generous system of 

 farming. No man should be content simply to 

 preserve his lands in ihe condition in which they 

 are. The poor should be made rich, and the rich 

 richer ; and such is the efficacy of artificial means 

 of improvement, that what was originally the 

 poorest land in Europe, (I refer lo the light sandy 

 soils ol Flaudere,) is noiv propably the richest — 

 so that Flemish husbandry has become synony- 

 mous with the perfection of lerliliiy and i)roduc- 

 tiveness. In etl't-ciing ihis extraordinary triumpfi 

 over the disadvantnges of Nature, much douli)t- 

 less has been done by good tillage, deep plough- 

 ing, thorough draining, and a judicious rotation of 

 crops ; but the most eftitMent agent has been the 

 minute care in colieciing and preserving, and 

 unwearied diligence in the application, of?Mn?iures. 

 These, indeed, in connexion with proper culture, 

 are the " charms and mighty magic" by which 

 the wonder-working power of agricultural im- 

 provement has every where wrought its miracles. 

 It is alike curious and encouraging to observe how 

 the catalogue of these precious resources is daily 

 exiendiriii by the discoveries of modern science, 

 and the inquisitive spirit of the human mind. In 

 addition to the numerous class of vegetable and 

 animal manures, so long known, and whose vir- 

 tues have been tested by centuries of experience, 

 it is now discovered that the respective compounds 

 of lime and magnesia in bones, and the peculiar 

 chemical affinities of charcoal powder and soot, 

 have [ilaced them high on ihelisi of valuable 

 fertilizers. 



But it is chiefly in the wide field of mineral ma- 

 nures, and in the bowels of the earth, that the re- 

 searches of the chemist and the geologist are from 

 lime to lime unfolding new resources for stimulat- 

 ing and increasing the productiveness of its surface. 

 — I need not bring to your view any of these mo- 

 dern discoveries, of which you will obtain a far 

 more satislactory knowledge from the publications 

 which treat of them. Bull cannot pass without 



* See Treatise of Civil Government, b. ii., chap, 

 v., s. 40 and 43. 



