330 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL 30, 1834. 



possess good buildings, permanent leaves, and to 

 see his lands ornamented with fruit trees, and cov- 

 ered with seventy bushels of corn, and three; tons 

 of hay to the acre, with life and a common bless- 

 ing, will certainly accomplish his plans. 



You are perhaps most of you familiar with the 

 history of Sir William Phipps, who raised himself 

 from a wood coaster from the then wilderness of 

 Maine, to be knighted by King William, and made 

 Governor of Massachusetts. 



He used to say when in his lowest state, that he 

 should live in a brick house in Green lane, (now 

 Brattle street,) and command better men than he 

 was then thought to be himself — and his own con- 

 fident perseverance accomplished what he had plan- 

 ned. He had his brick house in Green lane, and 

 commanded in chief the State of Massachusetts. 

 Now all cannot be Governors, nor raise from the 

 ocean a Spanish galleon laden with gold as he did, 

 hut all by good plans with industry, economy and 

 health, can obtain that which is just as good, 

 comfortable dwellings, good farms, and a compe- 

 tency of other appendages. 



A third requisite for success to the farming in- 

 terest is that the farmer's mind should he in his 

 business. That man who is above his business. 

 is in danger of soon finding that he has got below 

 it; for no business will long sustain a man when 

 his mind has got above it. That fanner who de- 

 votes his mind and his energies to his farm, till it 

 is so far improved that it elevates him above the 

 necessity of constant labor, is the most indepen- 

 dent and enviable character in our country ; free 

 from the responsibility of office, and the toils and 

 cares of a profession, he eats the fruit he has rear- 

 ed, with more zest than can be realized by any 

 Other class. A good firm coverred with llnck.sand 

 herds and fruits, is a truly enviable possession, and 

 like Robinson Crusoe, the farmer is often " mon- 

 arch of all he surveys." 



Another requisite to prosperity, is the keeping 

 of good accounts. Farmers not being under that 

 constant necessity of using the pen which attach- 

 es to men of business, are too apt to throw it quite 

 ■side ; ami it is believed have often suffered by 

 trusting to other's accounts, to memory, or to 

 marks on their doors and wainscots. 



To record in a bonk kept fir the purpose, all 

 their labor and experiments upon their farms, as 

 recommended by a distinguished agriculturist in 

 your last annual pamphlet, I have no doubt would 

 richly compensate the labor, but it is my present 

 purpose to urge the necessity of keeping a fair and 

 exact account of the date and circumstance of ev- 

 ery money or barter transaction between man and 

 man. It would save many of (hose uncharitable 

 thoughts and hard speeches which often alienate 

 friends, and disturb the peace of neighborhoods. 



If every person kept exact accounts of all bis 

 debts and credit, law suits would be very unfre- 

 quent, and our friends the lawyers would be re- 

 lieved from the disagreeable necessity of sending 

 their uncharitable " Greetings," or writing " your 

 goods and chattels are attached," or " for want 

 thereof take the body." And as I always rejoice 

 when the bodily health of the community is such 

 as to relieve physicians from the care of the sick, 

 to turn their attention to their books, their farms 

 and their gardens; so will I rejoice when the 

 health of the body politic is such, that our much es- 

 teemed friends the lawyers, may be entirely relieved 

 from professional cares, to devote their distinguish- 



ed talents to employments more profitable to the 

 community. 



One more requisite to prosperity you must per- 

 mit me to name, and that is the disuse of ardent 

 spirit. 



I am sorry that I cannot name this subject with- 

 out exciting some unpleasant feeling ; but 1 can- 

 not, in justice to this Society, or my profession 

 omit to mention a cause which has so long hung 

 like a mill-stone to weigh down the prosperity of 

 the country. No portion of the community have 

 paid a heavier tribute to the distillery than the 

 farmers. Their laborious occupation and expo- 

 sure to heat and cold, fostered the belief that ar- 

 dent spirits were necessary to them. But this er- 

 ror is now nearly exploded, and I rejoice that the 

 hour of their emancipation has arrived. Too long 

 have you submitted to a tax which neither you nor 

 your fathers were able to bear — a tax ten times 

 more burdensome than Great Britain ever attempt- 

 ed to impose, when it was resisted by a seven 

 year's war. • But what is worst of all is, that this 

 tax is not like the tax on tea, merely collected and 

 carried out of the country, but it returns in anoth- 

 er form to curse the payer and make him an 

 idiot and a slave. Here some will object, and say 

 they still use spirits, and have neither spent their 

 property, nor destroyed their intellects. I allow 

 the truth of the assertion ; some can bear the ex- 

 pense without serious embarrassment, and regu- 

 late their appetites so that they are never drunken. 

 Hut to such I would say, you incur a useless ex- 

 pense, and encourage by your example your neigh- 

 bor,, who can neither bear the expense nor regu- 

 late his appetite. Let me entreat such to change 

 their example to the other side of the question, 

 and lend their aid in drying those tears of heart 

 rending anguish which flow without mixture, 

 where a husband ami a father is spending his es- 

 tate, wasting his lime, and converting himself in- 

 to an idiot or a savage. We have all seen those 

 that thought the same — that they knew what did 

 them good and could govern themselves; thai 

 they were in no danger of being drunkards, anil 

 resented even the suspicion of danger. But slid 

 they are lost, their business neglected, their prop- 

 erty spent, their farms mortgaged, their families 

 ruined ! I would that this were only imagination, 

 but I know, and you all know, that it is the truth, 

 and that in numerous instances. 



But some say this is a land of liberty, and they 

 scorn to he even persuaded not to exercise it in ev- 

 ery particular. 



What a glorious liberty it is for a man to exer- 

 cise, to leave his business, travel four miles and 

 back, under a burning sun, to vindicate his right 

 lo spend twenty cents for ruin ! to tickle his palate, 

 intoxicate his brain, and burn up his liver — hiding 

 his bottle and hanging his head like a thief when 

 he meets those whom he owes and cannot pay. 



My friends, I paint from real life ; but I hope 

 such farmers are scarce. 



Now, who enjoys real liberty! He who con- 

 sumes only the produce of his farm, or drinks 

 pure water from the cooling spring, and returns 

 to his labor sober, thriving and independent— 

 or he whose every shilling is mortgaged to the 

 retailer before it is earned — who is too head-strong 

 lo he persuaded, and too far gone to make a self- 

 moved and independent resolve to be free ? Were 

 I the subject of any government, or the servant of 

 any master on earth who exacted as heavy a trib- 

 ute as I have seen paid, or as hard service as I have 



seen performed, or imposed as heavy sufferings as 

 1 have seen endured by ardent spirits, I would re- 

 sist at the hazard of my life. I would organize a 

 rebellion to the extent of my influence. I would 

 die in the last entrenchment, and ensure the ex- 

 termination of my posterity, before I would sub- 

 mit to it. 



But some farmers yet say they cannot hire la- 

 borers unless they give them ardent spirits. This 

 does for an excuse when both the owner and the 

 laborer are desirous to use it; hut no man who is 

 firm and unwavering, leaves his crop ungathered 

 for want of help ; but hundreds of farmers are now 

 ready to testify that they never had their work 

 done when spirits were used, so easy and so well. 

 Seventy Physicians of Boston have fixed their 

 names to the opinion that ardent spirits are never 

 necessary to persons in health ; and my own ex- 

 perience in labor and exposure, in cold and heat, 

 by night and by day, confirms me in the opinion, 

 that a dose of spirit is no more necessary in health 

 than a dose of calomel or tat tar emetic. 



The expense of a gallon of rum a week, to a 

 farmer is no small consideration ; in twenty years 

 if saved it would make him a handsome estate, or 

 the want of it may make him a beggar. Wheth- 

 er we therefore consider it on the s. oie of health, 

 morality or expense, it becomes among the most 

 important considerations in the prosperity of a 

 farmer. 



Finally, my friends I congratulate you on the 

 prosperous condition in which tl is anniversary 

 finds your Society. How the exhibition of this 

 day may compare with preceding ones, in its de- 

 tails ( am unprepared to slate ; but that the Soci- 

 ety ,')as exalted the standard of agriculture, called 

 into exercise a great amount of female ingenuity, 

 promoted harmony and useful intercourse, diffus- 

 ed the knowledge of useful facts, and exerted a 

 beneficent influence I have no reason to doubt. 



The formation and support of societies is among 

 the most efficient means of improvement, in all 

 the useful arts of the present day. It encourages 

 and rewards a spirit of enterprise ; it diffuses the 

 knowledge of useful experiments, and introduces 

 the use of important inventions ; and tends by 

 multiplying opportunities of social intercourse, to 

 do away these illiberal feelings, and groundless 

 jealousies which often exist between different sec- 

 tions of country, and sometimes even disturb the ., 

 harmony of towns and neighborhoods. 



Some have entertained doubts of the utility of 

 this annual festival, US a useless expense of lime 

 and money. Let such remember that man is a 

 social being, 'that a constant unvaried inniul of 

 solitary labor is unfitted to bis nature, and by no 

 means adapted to the- highest developeinent of his 

 intellectual and physical energies. Divines, law- 

 yers, physicians, have their societies, in which 

 they meet to discuss their professional operations, 

 and brighten their minds by friendly collision. 

 .Merchants daily assemble on 'change to ham the 

 interests and improve the facilities of trade. And 

 shall the farmers deny themselves a day on which 

 all who take an interest in agriculture can meet on 

 common ground, merely because they do not han- 

 dle the direct and palpable income of a day's la- 

 bor? No! Their necessities do not demand it, 

 and the place they occupy in our community for- 

 bids the slavish idea. 



Societies are found the most direct means of ac- 

 complishing almost every enterprise in our grow- 

 ing republic ; and annual or periodical festivals, 



