AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BKECK & CO., NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Wabehoise.) 



lOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 28, 1S38. 



NO. 34. 



1 Address before the Essex Jlo;ricMurnl Society, 

 at Topsjletd, September 27, 1837, fit their annual 

 Cattle Show. By Nathaniel Gage. 

 (Continued.) 



You are associateil, genlleiiien, to eiicoiirnge 

 I ini|)rove a de|)artii)ent of industry entitled to 

 cial respect, ns the supporter and i)rotector of 

 lost all other arts and pursuits. VVIiat would 

 oine of commerce, important as it is, were ag- 

 iilture, generally, in a depressed condition; did 

 nation produce more of any article than was 

 iiisite for it.s own consumption ? What would 

 the eouili'.idn of the numerous manufacturers, 

 o have exhihited such commendnhle ingenuity 

 nultiplied, so much, the coiuforls of life — liarl 

 griculture aftbrded tliem the means of siil)- 

 enee, while exerting their skill in their various 

 )artments? Indeed, sufter this pursuit to lan- 

 sh, and th') wheel of national indu.stry must 

 se to revolve. 



[f he, who causes two blades of grass to grow 

 ere hut one grew lielbre, is a public benefactor ; 

 surely, who improves the quality of agricultural 

 ducts; the form and value of stock; the ap- 

 ranee and fertility of farms, is one of the most 

 ritorious of ciiizeus. He not only ad^ls to the 

 ans of luiinan support, ho also contributes to 

 comforts and embellishmenta of life. Who- 

 r is a friend to industry and the countless 

 3sings of which it is the parent, should encour- 

 agriculture ; for its products not only furnish 

 ny of the materials, upon which skill and labor 

 Bp|)lied in other departments, but give strength 

 be sinews and muscles of the right arm of in- 

 itry itself. The higher the degree of cultiva- 

 1, the more abundant the means of subsistence, 

 ence provision is afforded for the greater nuin- 

 of laborers in other branches of enterprise. — 

 improving agriculture, you are nerving the arm 

 human industry with new strength ; you are 

 s promoting results of tha utnost importance 

 lie general improvement of society. For, im- 

 providence, there is truth in the observation 

 the poet — 



" VVIiate'er exalts, embellishes, 

 And renders life dehglitful, 

 All is the gift of industry." 



t is ninong tlie many circumstances, which 

 uld highly recommend agriculture to our re- 

 d, that it is conducive to health. ".\ sound 

 id in a sound boily " — not only a great blessing 

 tself, but necessary to our full enjoyment of 

 ry other blessing — is characteristic of the culti- 

 ors of the soil. And what is the glitter, by 

 ich multitudes have been dazzled in other lines 

 ife — with their unceasing struggles; their oft- 

 ippointinents ; the wear and tear of their liealth 

 spirits — compared with the equanimity and 

 rgy of mind, and health of body, which are the 

 iner's lot ? 



And, it ia a consideration of no small import- 

 ance, that agriculture is highly favorable to the 

 formation of a viituous character and iiahits. — 

 Your constant employment and attention, guard 

 the mind from many of the dangers to which, in 

 some other pursuits, it is exposed. The contagion 

 of corr.ipt example, so destructive often to the 

 moral health of densely peopled places, can act 

 but in a much smaller degree, upon the scattered 

 inhabitants of agricultural communities. You are 

 favorably situated, in a remarkable degree, for a 

 direct parental influence upon your children. And 

 then, again, you labor amidst the beautiful anil 

 magnificent works of God. The wonders of veg- 

 etation, — from the first buddings of the tender 

 plant, through ull the changes wliich terminate in 

 the ripe and mellow harvest, — these are, admirably 

 fitted to stauip religious impressions upon the 

 mind. In a good degree, removed from the sour- 

 ces of luxury and excess, you partake of those 

 simple and Irugal pleasures best adapte<l to the 

 health of the bo<ly and the soul. While multi- 

 tudes, eager to traverse a shorter road to wealth, 

 press on in a more exciting career — while 



They mount, they shine, evaporate .ind fall," 



you jnirsue the path of steady application, free 

 l>om their temptations and perplexities. Embued 

 with the right spirit, surrounded by such obvious 

 proofs of the Divine Agency and Beneficence, how 

 warm should be your hearts with gratitude, as you 

 consider ; 



•' How good the God of Harvest is to you, 

 Who pours abundance o'er your flowing fields." 



Agriculture should ever stand high in the esti- 

 mation of tri^ patriots. I would not speak ilis- 

 paragingly of other pursuits. I look with admir- 

 ation tipoii the progress made in the mechanic 

 arts. I hail, as signs of good, the great advances 

 effected in manufacturing skill. I delight to see 

 commerce opening broad pathways from nation to 

 nation ; but still, us the foundation of national 

 [iros[)erity ; as the great source whence other 

 branchts of iudiiatry must draw their materials ; 

 as the nurse of simple habits, manly virtues, and 

 an inde[iendent spirit, we must look to agriculture. 

 And I know not in wliiit better way you can shew 

 your patriotic spirit, than in your exertions, as a 

 Society, to encourage this important branch of in- 

 dustry. You not only thus enlarge the means of 

 human support, and multiply the national resour 

 ces ; you also fan the flame of public zeal. Far- 

 mers are looked to for sound sentiments touching 

 the public interests. Your situatimi, your pursuits, 

 •your general respect for moral and religious prin- 

 ciple, are favorable to the cultivation of such .sen- 

 timents. The greater the good influence you ex- 

 ert, the better for our land. And whatever im- 

 provements are made in your important pursuit, 

 will be the means of increasing your general in- 

 fluence. All the ripe fruits of ym:r past experi- 

 ence ; every Anniversary of your Association, by 

 which a spirit of inquiry, in your pursuit, is awak- 

 ened ; effort encouraged ; good feeling among one 



another promoted, is a public benefit. And should 

 true patriotism slumber elsewhere, have we not 

 reason, in the past history of our land, to believe 

 it will continue to warm tho hearts and nerve the 

 arm.s of our husbundmeii ■ 



The improvements, which skill and effort have 

 already effected, in agriculture, not only cimfer a 

 well-merited encomium upon its intelligent friends, 

 but also afford the strongest incentives to perseve- 

 rance. The benefits resulting from an improved 

 scientific made of cultivation have been signalfy 

 shewn in the British Isles. In France, two thirds 

 of the laboring people, we are told, are employed 

 in agriculture ; while so much more perfect is 

 the system in Great Britain, that less than one 

 third are occupied in ibis pursuit — hence, the 

 multitudes engag. d in commerce and iiianufac- 

 tures. The value of the annual excess of British 

 over iFrench agricultural products, a few years 

 ago,was estimated at twenty -four millions sterling ; 

 while the surfiice in the former country, under 

 cultivation, was less than half that of the latter; 

 and this, while the advantage, in point o.f soil and 

 climate, is acknowledged to be on the side of 

 France. 'I'his fact speaks volumes in favor of 

 indivi<liial and associated effort for improvement. 



The quality of productions and stock has been 

 much i:nproved by skill and care. ' It is pr»bable,* 

 sayslSir Joseph Hank.-*, ' that wheat did not bring 

 its seed to perfection in England, till hardened to 

 it by repeated sowings.' We are told loo, thai, 

 by attention, the crab apple has been converted 

 into the golden pi|ipiii. .^nd the pear, probably a 

 native of the South of Europe, has lieen natural- 

 ized in Britain. That the quality of the fruit is 

 much affected by the <piality of the seed, is a well 

 known fact, whi.ch, were all farmers to practice 

 upon it, in their husbandry, would abundantly re- 

 pay them (or all their trouble. 



In England, such pains have been taken, by 

 enlightened public spirited individuals in improv- 

 ing their stock of cattle, that since 1750, we are 

 told the weight of cattle and sheep has a good 

 deal more than doubled.* The prices at which 

 cattle have been reeeatly sohl near Philadelphia, 

 as well as the spee'mien ofl'ered at this day's exhi- 

 bition, shew that similar improvements, in this 

 respect, are in progress in our own country. 



Improvements in the modes of cultivation have 

 been already very great. The graiiil improvement 

 in modern agriculture in Great Britain, the intro- 

 duction of greeH crops, by which an abundant 

 supply of food has been secured for stock, might 

 doubtless, lie carried much farther than it hag 

 been, amongst us; it is said to have eflected an 

 great and beneficial change in that country, as the 

 introduction of the steam-engine and spinning- 

 frame has done in manufaetures.f High as is the 

 present system of cultivation in Scotland, not 

 many years since, we are infi)rnied, in parts of it 

 at least, that their mode of ploughing was with 



* Edinburgh Review. 

 I Edinburgh Revieir. 



