1880.] TRANSACTIONS. 19 



every luincl,the faithful old apple-tree, nearly dead from over-crop- 

 ping; breaking down beneath its latter burden; betraying the neg- 

 lect that has reduced it to its apparent condition of waste ; and 

 silently reproaching the owners — whether of farmstead or modern 

 grange, who arc too lazy to restore and maintain them in their 

 original state of vigorous fecundity. And where recuperation is 

 hopeless, to replace them with a younger and thrifty growth. 



Tcrrse-culture and Commerce, — children of labor and kinsmen 

 of adventure, — are united by a closer than Siamese ligament. Of 

 what use is it for the Farmer to sow or reap, if he can be forbid- 

 den the profitable disposal of the surplus that he will not need 

 for his own use! The load upon his market wagon, — the manifold 

 freight in the hold of the ship, — what are either or all but tiie 

 manifestation upon a greater or less scale, of that irrepressible 

 tendency in man to wander over the earth, travelling and traffick- 

 ing, enlarging his own faculties by observation ; diffusing knowl- 

 edge among the people that he meets ; and, at the same time, 

 turning an honest penny as the net result of his venture. There 

 are, who gauge the prosperity of a country by the duress that it 

 suffers to be imposed upon its Commerce. Who claims that 

 thrift is in proportion to the rigidity and weight of the shackles 

 wherewith industry can be hampered ! To such, the old-fashioned 

 virtue of saving is of less account, since the potent arm of the 

 Commonwealth can Ije invoked to foster a single artificial class 

 of business ; which, in return, out of simple volition and pure 

 benevolence, will scatter around a paternal influence and alms. 

 Manufactures, stimulated and made drunk by bounty, will allow 

 a few drops to ovei-flow from their cup that the unprotected com- 

 munity may be intoxicated. The Granger harvests his swedes 

 by the sweat of his brow and would fain disperse them for the 

 sustenance of the nations. The manufacturer corrals his Swedes 

 and imports them by the ship-load for cheaper production of his 

 wares and ! — the better protection of Home Industry ! The Farmer 

 and Orchardist may look for their compensation to the home- 

 market, assumed to be the creation of a tax ! as though taxes were 

 ever aught but consumption and loss. The expenditure of sums 

 raised by taxation may, of course, be directed with greater or 

 less wisdom. But who will pretend that Taxation, for its own 



