28 QUARTERLYJOURNAL, 



mental decorations."* No country can — and this country especi- 

 ally cannot, foster too fondly its agricultural interests. It is now, 

 and must continue to be our national wealth. And this is at the 

 present time eminently the direction of public feeling. To what- 

 ever cause it may be attributed — whether to the wish to be free 

 from the anxieties and cares and insecurity of commercial life — to 

 the sense of the greater security of the landed interests — whether 

 to these selfish considerations, or the return of a healthy state of 

 moral feeling, urging the conviction of the holier and happier in- 

 fluence of rural pursuits upon themselves and their children — to 

 whichsoever of these circumstances it is attributed, it is a gratify- 

 ing fact that many wealthy and intelligent men are forsaking the 

 laro"e cities, and devoting themselves to agriculture. And to them 

 much of the credit is due for the improvements that have already 

 been made. What farther duties devolve upon them we shall have 

 occasion to consider hereafter. We rejoice that they have begun 

 to raise the farmer to his proper position in society. 



But the education of the present generation of farmers we re- 

 gard as of small importance compared with that of their children. 

 Here is our great reliance. This subject is one which has of late 

 been much discussed, and has arrested the attention of the execu- 

 tive committee of the New-York State Agricultural Society, and 

 the officers of the common schools of that state. They have taken 

 some action upon it, and have recommended the introduction of 

 agricultural books into the district libraries, and that society has 

 offered premiums for text books to be used in the schools; with 

 what result is yet to be determined. But laudable as this move- 

 ment is, we regard it with comparatively little anxiety. The mere 

 agricultural education of the young is a matter of small moment 

 in comparison with their general education. In our common 

 schools, a large majority of the pupils are children of farmers. 

 Three fourths of our whole population are employed in tilling the 

 soil. Upon these in a great measure, depends the prosperity of our 

 free institutions. In civil relations no class ranks higher, or can 

 command more power. Our legislators are — or should be — large- 

 ly chosen from among them, for theirs is the commanding interest. 

 How important then, that they should be well instructed in all that 

 concerns the citizen as well as the farmer. Education does not 



• London Quarterly Review, March, 1844. Article— Agriculture. 



