132 



^\)t iarmcfsJHoBtl]li)^tsttor. 



and incalculable value, have thus been opened 

 for our ngrirulturnl surplus, the dmability anil 

 steadiness of which it is impossible yet to irieas- 

 ure with certainty. It is ill our power to say, 

 however, that a great body of provocations to 

 countervailing restrictive commercial regulations 

 is now removed, in some instances, permaneiilly, 

 and in others temporarily, in form : and it would 

 Beem to be the part of wisdom for the agricul- 

 ture of this country, by furnishing these markets, 

 to the extent of the demand, with the best arti- 

 cles, at the fairest prices, lo show to those coun- 

 tries, and their respective governments, thiit re- 

 ciprocal coi'iimerciHl regulations, if ihey offer no 

 other and higher atlniciions, present to their 

 people a sal'egnard against starvation. 



Such is the conneciion, now, between our ag- 

 ricullMie and the export trade and foreign mar- 

 ket and these relaliuns are to be extended and 

 strengthened rather than he circumscribed and 

 weakened, by our j'.gricuhural advances. The 

 coiismnption of the eoimtry is far short of its 

 production, and cannot become equal to it with- 

 in any calculable perioil. On the contrary, the 

 excess of prodiiclion is to increase with the in- 

 crease of populali<m and settlement, and the im- 

 provemenis in agricullure, and agriculliiral edu- 

 cation. These appear to me to be facts, arising 

 from the condition of our country, and the tastes 

 and incliiiaiioiis of our people, fixed beyond the 

 iiowerof change, audio which theoriesaiid prin- 

 ciples of political economy must be conformed, 

 to be made inuclically applicable to us. The 

 American farniir, then, vvliilo carefully studying, 

 ns he should nut fail to do, tiie necessities, the 

 wants and the tasies of all classes of consumers 

 of bis produclions, in bis own countrv, must not 

 idles for a market within tf 



all. The educution proposed will do all thai can 

 be'done to mai-k the true line between natural 

 and healihful encouragement to either interest, 

 and an undue attempt lo advance any one, at the 

 expense of the united system, merely producing 

 an unnatural an<l artificial relation and action, 

 which cannot fail to work disease iind injury. 



The labors of this society, and of kindred as- 

 sociations, have done much to inform the minils 

 of our farmers in tlirse collateral brauches of 

 knowledge useful to them, and much retnams to 

 be done. The scien(-e of production claims the 

 first place and is a wide field, as yet so imper- 

 fecllv cultivated as to afibrd liltle time (or collale- 

 ral labors. To secure a staple and healthful mar- 

 ket, and to learn bow to retain and improve it, 

 also opens an extensive field for the mental la- 

 bors and energies of ihe farmer. Between these 

 ubiects the relarioii is intimate and the depen- 

 dence niutual. The production makes the mar- 

 ket and the market sustains the production. Ihe 

 pio=pect of a market SI imiilates lo activity in the 

 field of produclion, and the fruits of that activity 

 ur"-e the mind to .-.-lake the prospect real. Suc- 

 cess in both conlributes to the health and vigor 

 and prosperity of agriculture, and of that pros- 

 perity, commerce and 



nulliclures cannot fail 



largely to partake. 



jmit his researches lor a market witlun those 



narrow bounds. He must extend his observa- I ical investiL'atiou ot cause 

 lions alon" the avenues (.f commerce, as far as 

 the commerce of his country extends, or can be 

 extended, and instruct himself as to the necessi- 

 ties and wauls, and tastes of the consumers of 

 a"ricultiiral pioiluctions in other countries. He 

 nuist observe alteiiii.vidy the course of trade, and 

 the causes calculated lo exert a fiivorable or ad- 

 verse influence upon it ; watch closely the com- 

 mercitd policy of other countries, and guard vig- 

 iilly that of his own ; accommodate his iiro- 



All are willing to promote 

 the cause of ■li.'ricuUnie in our Slate and country. Hon, an 

 Most are ready to lend an active cooperation, and 

 all are cheerful to see accomiilished any valuable 

 improvement in this great br 

 industrv. The difficulty hitherto has 

 adopfmg any general plan to efifect this desirable 

 object. Hence, most usually, when the public 

 mind has been awakened to the subject, arbitra- 

 ry, and in many cases visionary, experiments 

 have been inlrodiiced, based upon no philosoph- 



incli of productive 

 been in 



Hall. .J 



ductions, as fiu- as may be, io the probable de 

 mauds upon the market, and understand how to 

 prepare tliem for the particular market foi which 

 they are designed. Next to the produclion of 

 the best article, at the cheapest price, its presen- 

 taiioii in market in the best order and most in- 

 viling condition, is important to secure to ihe 

 farmer a ready and remuiieraliiig market. So 

 Inn" as our .-igriciillural products shall continue 

 to be all expo'itiug interest, these considernliotis, 

 as second only to the science of production it- 

 self, will demand the carufiil attention and study 

 of our farmers; and in any well digested sysleni 

 of agriculuiral education, iis coimeciiun with 

 manufaelii.ies and the meidianic arts, wilh com- 

 merce, with the commercial policy of our own 

 and other couiuries, and wilh the domestic and 

 fi)reign markels, sIhiuIiI hold a prominent place. 

 A thorough and continued ediicalioii in •ihese 

 collateral,' hut highly iiecessary, branches of 

 knowledge, to the farmer, will prove extensively 

 useful to the Amciican cili/en, beyond their ;ip- 

 plicalion lo the produclion and sale of the fiidlB 

 of his labor. They u ill ipialify him the more 

 safely and intclligeully to discharge the duties o( 

 a freeman, and, if calh'd by his fellow citizens to 

 do so, the more beneficially to serve his slate and 

 oonntry in legislative and oth(;,r public trusts. 



I hopel mayoneranothcu- opinion, in this con- 

 nection, wiihout giving (dhmce, or trespassing 

 upon the proprii'lies of the place and oi'casion. 

 it is llitit this educution in ihe just and true coii- 

 neclimi bi^lwccn the agricultural, the coinmc'r- 

 cial.and ihe mauiifai luring inlerc'sis ofourcomi- 

 liy,'e(pially and impariially disseminated among 

 tlu;' classes of cili/ens allarhed to eaidi <d' these 

 ureal hraiichcs of lahiu-, would (^(leclnally put an 

 end to the jealousies too freipienlly (^\citcd ; de- 

 monslrating to every mind, so (abicated, that, so 

 far from eiihcr being, in any degree the natural 

 antagonist of the other, ihey are all parts of one 

 great and ualurallv harmonious system ol liuiuaii 

 industry, of which a fair encouragement to any 

 part is a benefit to all ; and that all invidious and 

 parlial eiicouragement to .-my part, at Ihe expense 

 of any other part, will prove to be an injury to 



fleet, hut upon 

 some accidental trial by a single indlviiliial, of 

 some novel mode of culliiie, ubich, under the 

 circumstances attendint: the experiment, has met 

 with success. This single experiment, without 

 an inquiry into, or a knowledge of the cause, 

 whicli, in the given case, has secured the success- 

 fid results, is at once recoinmended as an infal- 

 lible rule of husbandry. The publication and 

 dissemination of detached experimenis of this 

 character, fbr a lout' period, ciuistiiiited the niost 

 iterial additions to the ■-lock of liieraiy mlor- 



ed to 



ni. . , -,. 



mation, connected with agriculture, siippli 

 our farmers; while many of the experimenis 

 were too intricate and complicaled to be reduced 

 to practice with any certainty of accuracy, and 

 others were so expensive lliat the most perlect 

 success would not warrant the outlay. Unsuc- 

 cessfid altempts to follow the directions given for 

 making these experiments brought what came to 

 be denominated " Book-farming" inio great dis- 

 repute with the industrious, frugal and success- 

 ful tiirmers of the country, and excited a jeal- 

 ousy of, and a |)rejiidice against this descripiion 

 of information upon asriciillural suljecis, wliiidi 

 it has cost years of patient and unceasing efiort 

 ill any measure to allay, and which are not yet 

 removed. 



Ill ihe meaiilime, geological research, hereto- 

 fore principally confined lo invesligations into the 

 mineral kimrdiun proper, has been extended to 

 its IcKiiimale odicc, and has brmight wiibin its 

 exauiiiiati<uis the fininalion of the various soils, 

 and their miniile consliluent pans. Chemistry 

 has ccMiimenced where geidogy closed, and by a 

 careful analysis of llie.«e conslitiients of the vari- 

 mis soils, ol'ilie principal agriculliiral prodin-t.s, 

 anil of the usual manures, is laboring lo eslablish 

 upon philosc.pliical principles, the true relations 

 between the soil and ihe manure to he applied, 

 and h(a«eeli both and llii'cropto he plaliled and 

 produced. It is sinking out «illi rapid succc:ss 

 ihe appropriate food of the various vegetables cul- 

 tivated by the farmer, the soils and manures in 

 whicdi the food for each is found, and the way in 

 which il may be most successfully adininistered. 

 So with the'food ol'thc domestic animals and the 

 most econominal mannered" fi'cding it. 'I'hese 

 invesligalions iu(; ihi- reverse of the fiu'iner sys- 

 tem of arbitrary experimenis. There a result 

 was inach! tojuslil'v the arbilrary Means adopted 

 to produce il. Here, causes are asccrlameil, and, 

 lieiu" so asccrlaineil, are relied upon lo produce 

 Iheir'natural elh'Ct, which effect is the result 

 sought. Th<- iinporlance of this great subject, is 

 (drectiially arousing the alteiition of the lllcrary 

 and scieu'lific mon of the country, and the success 



already expeiieiiced is drawing to liiese resear- 

 ches nunds qualified lor the labor, and energies 

 equal to its rapid advancement. The progress 

 made, is bringing together the unsellled mind of 

 the country, and producing the very general im- 

 pression that the lime has arrived «heu the Ibun- 

 dation of a systematic, practical agricultural edu- 

 cation should be laid, and the super.-lructure com- 

 menced. It is universally conceded that agri- 

 culture has shared but lightly in the fostering care 

 and government [latronage which have been lib- 

 erally extended to commerce and iiianufiictures, 

 nor is it believed that addiiional public expendi- 

 ture is necessary, lo enable the stale to do all 

 that can reasonably be required of it, lo accom- 

 plish ibis great object. Our educational binds 

 aie rich, and the. colleges, academics and com- 

 mon schools of the slate, share liberally in the 

 disiribiitioiis from them, while a Normal School, 

 for the ediicalion of teachers, instiluted a' the 

 seat of governineiit, is also mainly tupporied 

 li-om these funds. These inslitulimis present the 

 oriianizaiion, ihioiigh which, perhaps heller than 

 tbroiiL'h any iiidcpeiideut idiannel, ibis inslriic- 

 lion can be' universally disseminated among the 

 agricultural po|,ulalioii of the Slate. The annual 

 additions to the Sidiool District Libraries, may 

 be made wilh reference to this branch of educa- 

 d thus place within the reach of all the 

 discoveries as they progress, and the rules of hus- 

 bandrv deduced from them, as they shall be set- 

 tled aiid given lo the public from the pen nl the 

 coinpetanl professors cnsa:;ed in pursuing the re- , 

 searches. This Society, and like r.ssocialioii^ 

 may, through appropriate commitlees, their cor; 

 responding secrelarip.s, public spirited coinmer^ 

 cial meujuid otherwise, collect and embody ig 

 llifir ir.iiisaciions, facts and information respec 

 ing the markels, foreign and domcslic : ihe pres| 

 cut and probable supply of agricultural productsji 

 the mode and manner of presenting the princi- 

 pal produftions in the various markets in the 

 most acceiitable form; the slate and prospeiTs ot 

 trade at home and abroad, and the changes pres- 

 ent and prospective, in the CMUimercial policy oi 

 our own and other countries, wilh the probable 

 intiiieiices upon the agriculliiral maiket. The 

 commc-icial and agricidlmal |)ress will doublless 

 come I'owcrl'nhv to the aid of the- associations, in 

 all cffoilsof tlnsidiaraclerand having these great 

 objects in view, in this way the li)undalioii may 

 be irradually laid, and the materials collected, fur 

 the cominencement of those agricultural studies, 

 which time and application, with tli<; cou.-tai.l ev- 

 idence of their utilily in practice, uoidd ripen i(i- 

 to a system to be engrailed upon the course pi 

 regular studies" pursued in the colleges, academies 

 and common schoids, and inr,de a branch ol the 

 sludies of the male classes in the Norman School, 

 placed under llie supeiinlenihnce of an iiistitic- 

 lor selected for the |.ur|ios', and qiialilied to pre- 

 pare his classes for teachiug the studies in the 

 common schools of the Stale. Thus a g<-nera- 

 lion of farmers would scion come forward, svell 

 educated in the great and essential principles ol 

 agricultural production ; in the true relatimis ex- 

 isViu" between agriculture, commerce and uiaii- 

 uhict'iires; and in the adaplaliou and prepar.iima 

 of their products for the agricuhmal markels 

 Smh farmeis, with the cmilimicd aid ol tl'C 

 schools in which they were taught, would lie- 

 come the best manual labor instructors for ilieir 

 sui'cessors. 



The passage of time reminds me that I am c.\- 

 tc'iiding these rcmaiks beymid the proprieties . 

 the 0(M-asioii and the palience of my audieiic' 

 A single rencctioii shall close them, lloweyi, 

 conficrenllv the opinion may be enlertaincd that 

 other circumstances and relations iiugbt present 

 a prospect for the agricullure of our Male and 

 .•ounliy more stable, iiidc^pendenl and l^dtcriiig,; 

 ....rlain it is, that the future here opene.l is ful ,, 



..fdiccringpromis... We .m'c in u sirongesti 



possible' scMMuiiy for our bcdc.ved countiy, tbicugli 

 In, inchdinile period, against ihc sc-mirge of (amine. 



Our varied .-.oil and climale and agncullure don- 

 |,le this .sccuriiv, as the disease ami laihirc el 

 any one crop will not, as a iieces.-^ary coiise- 

 qurncc, reduce any class ol „ur pcipulalioi. n^^i ■ 

 c'xnosni-c to death from hunger. W e .see also i ■ 

 .dililiou to (hedipg oui-mIvcs that our surplus i- 

 almost, if not alli.gelhcr, suni.uent 



if (iiiilidiH' 



imd prudently applied, .tyen "'"^l" '^""' j^^T. 

 ti-om the length and Oreadtli of Europe, and > - 

 it is in our power, by lailldul mental and |diyw 



