338 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



tion, while the great basis on which stands the 

 public prosperity, is wholly neglected. 



There is but one thing needlul to make agricul- 

 ture in Kentucky the surest road, boih to wealth 

 and lame ; and that is, to raise the standard o( 

 education among the farmers. When this is done, 

 our educated young men will not all crowd the 

 learned prolessions, but will soon find that the oc- 

 cupation ol" a larmer is more sure than any other, 

 to lead to competency and honorable distinction. 

 Whenever the opinion shall prevail, that the cul- 

 tivation of the earth gives greater scope lor ihe 

 exercise of a highly cultivated mind, than any 

 occupation in the world, the landed interest will 

 learn its true power. It will have its statesmen 

 and orators every where, in primary assemblies, 

 and in legislative halls, to defend and protect its 

 interests. The vast elemental power of agricul- 

 ture will then be brought out of that chaos, in 

 which it has been so long buried, and shaped into 

 system. 



Behold the millions of minute streamlets, issu- 

 ing from the sponges of the Alleghany and Rocky 

 mountains, without any apparent connexion ! 

 Yet, by-and-by, they form themselves into a thou- 

 sand noble streams, and these thousand unite their 

 mighty volumes of water in the Father of Rivers, 

 which pours his resistless floods into the ocean ! So 

 shall the scattered, and, at present, apparently 

 disconnected interests of the farmers, Irom the 

 Atlantic to the lar west, and from the great Lakes 

 to the great Gulf, be formed into a union that will 

 riffhifully and salely control the destinies of Ame- 

 rica, and perhaps of the world. 



This enlightened interest will not seek, in the 

 least, to depress the favor whish manuliictures 

 and commerce have in the government, but to 

 place their mother, agriculture, one step above 

 them. Then agricultural colleges, experimental 

 farms, geological surveys, reports on productive 

 industry, and premiums ibr new and improved 

 implements, will occupy the time of congress, 

 and the state legislatures. 



We have seen, that all the eminent states of 

 antiquity made agriculture the chie'care of their 

 governments. We have seen all the modern 

 nations of Europe lie in poverty and ignorance, 

 and despotism, until they discovered thai God 

 had connected the virtue, and intelligence, and 

 properly of mankind, with the cultivation of the 

 earth : until they discovered that the power and 

 resources of the government must act directly on 

 the subject. 



The question may be asked, in the promotion of 

 agriculture, what should be left to individual in- 

 dustry, and what should be performed by the 

 government 1 1 answer, whatever individuals 

 can do, they will do, better than the government. 

 But whatever the interest of the whole people 

 requires should be done, and which is beyond the 

 means of individuals, should be performed by the 

 whole people, through their government. 



The industry and finances of France were in 

 a wretched condition ; the nation in poverty and 

 ignorance, until that country happened to have a 

 great king and a great minister ; they saw what 

 was the matter. Henry IV. and Sully applied 

 the remedy ; they applied the funds of the govern- 

 ment to raise agriculture ; and by stimulating a 

 eingle branch of industry, they raised France to 

 opulence. They gave bounties lor raw silk, and 



for rearing mulberry trees. The result is, that 

 besides the supply of her own vast consumption, 

 she annually exports ^25,000,000 worth ol silk.; 

 Thus by the application of a small premium, 

 which no otie felt, the prospects of France were 

 changed. The silk culture gave an easy and 

 pleasant employment to millions of indigent peo- 

 ple, and criaied a vast home market lor all the 

 products of agnculiure, and changed the habits of 

 the people Irom indolence to activity. 



ii IS now agreed that America is belter adapted 

 to the culture ol' silk than Europe or Asia ; and it 

 is perlecily ceriaiu, that judicious legislation would 

 iniroducc it iiuo these states, to the saving ol ibe 

 drain of ^20,000,000 of specie, which we annually 

 send to the east lur that article. In our own time, 

 and within our own observation, the- industry, 

 finances and powers ol ihe world have been 

 revolutionized Dy the culture of a single, plant, 



(cotton.) Russia was unknown among the 

 civilized naiiont!, until the government of that 

 country, by bounties, induced agriculturists from 

 other nations, to setlle in their dominions. In 

 1783 Catherine II. established schools, and as 

 early as 1793, Russia became an exporter of grain 

 to tiie amount of millions of bushels. There are 

 now Americans in Russia conducting farming 

 operations on a large scale. Belore the power of 

 the Russian government was brought in aid of 

 individual industry, in the promoiion of agricul- 

 ture, there were bui a lew fishermen's huts on 

 ihe Neva, where now stands the most splendid 

 capital in the world. 



Sweden was a semi- barbarous and half-starved 

 nation until Charles XII. made agriculture an 

 affair of state policy, and established agricultural 

 colleges. 



Agriculture was in a very low condition in Aus- 

 tria, uniil the sovereign of that couniry discovered 

 the true basis ol legislation ; and to make the proper 

 impression upon her subjects, of the importance of 

 agriculture, she caused medals to be struck and dis- 

 tributed among them, containing this inscription, 

 " The art which nourishes all other cris." 



The government of England has incorporated 

 agricultural societies, and endowed them with 

 ample funds-^geological and agricultural surveys 

 are made— an analysis of all the soils, with the 

 best modes of improving them, and reports 

 descriptive of all the modes of industry and im- 

 plements used, are made at the expense of the 

 government, and England derives an income of 

 annual millions, by supplying the world with her 

 surplus live stock. 



The distinction which 1 take of what should be 

 left to individuals, and what should be performed 

 by the government, is plain. The very many 

 thincs connected with agriculture, which the 

 public interest demands, and which is beyond the 

 power of individuals, will readily occur to tiie 

 mind of every reflecting man. But above all, it 

 is not in the power of individuals to make ade- 

 quate provision lor the education of the people. 

 From all past indications, it is not at all probable, 

 for a long time to come, that we shall be able to 

 bring into practice any efficient plan of geiieral 

 education, unless we can connect il with agricul- 

 ture. The great, invaluable end to be accom- 

 plished, by the joint action of the government 

 and individuals, is the education of the children 

 of the elate. 



