1847.] Gov. Wright's Address. 179 



of his class, an independence for himself. So the mechanic, who, 

 from a more thorough instruction in the principles and handicraft 

 of his trade, or a more intense application of mind and judgment 

 with labor, can improve the articles he fabricates, or the ma- 

 chinery and modes of their manufacture, and can thus produce the 

 best and sell the cheapest, has always been seen to reach the same 

 advantage over his competitors, with equal readiness and certainty; 

 and that these results should follow these means and efforts, has 

 been considered natural and unavoidable. 



Still the agriculturist has been content to follow in the beaten 

 track, to pursue the course his fathers have ever pursued, and to 

 depend on the earth, the seasons, good fortune, and providence, 

 for a crop, indulging the hope that high prices may compensate 

 for diminished quantity or inferior quality. It has scaicely oc- 

 curred to him that the study of the principles of his profession had 

 anything to do with his success as a farmer, or that what he had 

 demanded from his soils should be considered in connection with 

 what he is to do for them, and what he is about to ask them to 

 perform. He has almost overlooked the fact that his lands, like 

 his patient teams, require to be fed to enable them to perform 

 well, and especially has he neglected to consider that there is a 

 like connection between the quantity and quality of the food they 

 are to receive, and the service to be requiretl from them. Ready, 

 almost always, to the extent of their ability, to make advances 

 for the purchase of more lands, how few of our farmers, in the 

 comparison, are willing to make the necessary outlays for the 

 profitable improvement of the land they have? 



These and kindred subjects, are beginning to occupy the minds 

 of our farmers, and the debt they owe to this society for its ef- 

 forts to aw-aken their attention to these important facts, and to 

 supply useful and practical information in regard to them, is 

 gradually receiving a just appreciation, as the assemblage which 

 surrounds us, and the exhibitions upon this ground, most gratify- 

 ingly prove. 



Many of our agriculturists are now vigorously commencing the 

 study of their soils, the adaptation of their manures to the soil 

 and the crop, the natures of the plants they cultivate, the food 

 they require, and the best methods of administering that food to 

 produce health and vigor and fruit; and they are becoming con- 

 vinced that to understand how to plow and sow and reap, is not 

 the whole education of a farmer; but that it is quite as important 

 to know what land is prepared for the plow, and what seed it 

 will bring to a harvest worthy of the labors of the sickle. Ex- 

 perience is steadily proving that, by a due attention to these con- 

 siderations, a better article, double in quantity, may be produced 

 from the same acre of ground, with a small proportionate increase 



