NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



117 



THE OLD FARMER'S ELEGY. 



BY JOSIAH D. CANNING. 



On a green, grassy knoll, by the banks of the brook, 



That so long and so often lias watered his flock, 



The old farmer rests in his long and last sleep, 



While the waters a low, lapsing lullaby keep. 



He has plowed his last furrow, has reaped his last grain; 



No morn shall awake him to labor again. 



Yon tree, that with fragrance is filling the air, 

 So rich with its blossoms, su thrifty and fair, 

 By his own hand was planted; and well did he say, 

 It would live when its planter had mouldered away. 



There's the well that he dug, with its waters so cold, 

 With its wet dripping bucket, so mossy and old, 

 No more from its depths by the patriarch drawn, 

 For "the pitcher is broken," the old man is gone. 



'Twas a gloom-giving day, when the old farmer died; 

 The stout-hearted moanetl, the affectionate cried; 

 And the prayers of the just for his rest did ascend, 

 For they all lost a brother, a man and a friend. 



For upright and honest the old farmer was; 



His God he revered, he respected the laws; 



Though fameless he lived, he has gone where his worth 



Will outshine, like pure gold, all the dross of this earth; 



lie has plowed his last furrow, has reaped his last grain; 



No morn shall awake him to labor again. 





AGRICULTURE— STATISTICS. 



KV HON. EDMUXD BURKE. 



In pursuing this branch of my subject it is only 

 necessary to add, that after man had resorted to i 

 agriculture as the best and surest means of sup-[ 

 plying his "wants and necessities, the great art 

 from that time continued to improve and progress ! 

 until it has arrived at its present state of perfec- 

 tion and importance. In all ages and in all na- 

 tions it has been regarded as the greatest and most 

 important of all the avocations in which man can i 

 engage. It has ever been the most essential in- 

 terest of every community that has emerged from j 

 the hunting and pastoral state. It has employed j 

 more of the people, and more of the capitol, of- 

 every nation sufficiently civilized to practice the 

 art of agriculture, than any other avocation or 

 pursuit. It is the foster mother of manufactures 

 and commerce. It supplies the raw material to 

 one, and a large proportion of the subjects, or ar- 

 ticles of exchange, to the other. We hear much 

 of the importance of manufactures, of commerce, 

 of banks, and corporations and the like. The pub- 

 lic press teems with paragraphs, essays and disqui- ; 

 sitions in relation to those interests. The halls j 

 of legislation re-echo with the clamors of their ad- 

 vocates. They clamor for the favor and protec-l 

 tion of the government. They are distressed andj 

 demand relief. They are pinched for money, be-| 

 come frightened, and are afflicted with panics. If 

 we may belive the public press, they are in just 

 such a quandary now. And from the noise, clam- 

 or, distress, and panic with which those interests 

 are auncted even lew years, the public mind has 

 become impressed with the idea that those inter- 

 ests are indeed greater, more important, and more 

 essential to the well-being of the country than ag- 

 riculture ; because agriculture is patient, quiet, 

 and makes no complaint. Yet, the actual fact 

 is, that all those interests combined, — manufac- 

 tures, commerce and corporations, — are in bo re- 

 spect so vast, nor so important and essential to 

 ■ lfare of the country, as agriculture. All 



of them combined do not employ so much capital, 

 nor so large a number of the people of any civil- 

 ized community, as agriculture. To establish this 

 proposition, I will refer to a few facts which I 

 find in the economical history of the three most 

 productive and wealthy nations of modern times, 

 I mean Great Britain, France, and the United 

 States. 



The statistics of our own country furnish similar 

 results. Owing to some cause or other, we have 

 not been able yet to see the results of the census 

 of 1850. In 1840, according to the estimate of 

 Professor Tucker, the annual value of the pro- 

 ducts of agriculture was $054,387,597. Annual 

 value of the products of manufactures and the 

 mechanic arts §239,836,224 ; or less than one- 

 half the amount produced by agriculture. At the 

 present time, the annual value of agricultural pro- 

 ducts cannot be less than $1,000,000,000, while 

 that of manufactures will not exceed $400,000,- 

 000. The capital invested in agriculture, in the 

 United States, at the present time, will probably 

 amount to about $6,000,000,000, while that invest- 

 ed in manufactures will not exceed $500,000,000. 

 According to the census of 1840, the whole num- 

 ber of persons employed as laborers in agriculture 

 was 3,710,607, while the whole number employed 

 in manufactures and the mechanic arts of all kinds 

 amounted only to 791,545. Thus, in the United 

 States, as well as in Great Britian and France, 

 the great preponderating interest is agriculture. 

 In all the countries which I have named, it is 

 greater than all other interests combined, wheth- 

 er we regard the amount of capital invested, the 

 value of its annual products, and the number of 

 persons employed in, and dependent upon it. And 

 in this country, if we could obtain even an ap- 

 proximation to the actual facts, we should find the 

 agricultural interests greater in proportion to all 

 other interests, than in England and France, in- 

 asmuch as the United States is pre-eminently an 

 agricultural cduntry. 



I allude to these facts, not because I would dis- 

 parage the great interest of manufactures and 

 commerce ; but, on the contrary, I refer to them 

 and institute the comparison between them and 

 agriculture which I have, only for the purpose of 

 showing that the latter is the great predominating 

 interest of all nations, and of impressing upon the 

 minds of all who hear me, a correct and truthful 

 idea of its transcendant importance, and of the 

 high responsibility, dignity, and honor of the oc- 

 cupation of an agriculturist. — Burke's Address at 

 Unity, N. H. 



NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The Pennsylvania State Agricultural Society, at 

 its recent annual meeting, adopted a preamble and < 

 series of resolutions setting forth the great import-' 

 ance of the formation of a National Agricultural 

 Society, and proposing the calling of a National 

 Convention of Agriculturists at Washington, for 

 the purpose of taking the initiative steps in tin; 

 organization of a National Society. The follow] i i g 

 resolution will explain the means in which I ,• 

 friends of the measure are invited to co-operate, b 

 carrying forward the project : — 



Resolved, That all States or State societies will- 

 ing to co-operate with us in this laudable enter- 

 prise are requested to inform the President of this 

 Society of such fact ; and so soon as five States 



