204 



NEW ENGLAND FAR^^IER, 



Jan. 11, 1832. 



DR FISKE'S ADDRESS. 



Concludod I'roni page 197. 



Tlius,_by the exertions of public spirited imli- 

 vidiials, and the operation of the mental machinery 

 embodied iu our agricultural and other popidar 

 societies, we have already attained au elevated 

 standing, and may soon compete vt^ith any country 

 of similar soil, climate and population. Having 

 conducted my auditory to this commanding height, 

 it will doubtless be gratifying to our love of coun- 

 try, and national pride, to make it an observatory 

 from whence we may descry the first footsteps, 

 and trace the courses of our early progress. 



The science of agriculture, in our country, is 

 necessarily of modern origin. Our Pilgrim fathers 

 did not, like their descendants, explore a wilder- 

 ness for a more congenial climate, or more fruit- 

 ful soil — but to plant the seeds and enjoy the 

 fruits of civil liberty and religion — a better inher- 

 itance to their children, and legacy to their pos- 

 terity, than all the riches and cultivated posses- 

 sions they abandoned in the old world, or could 

 hope to acquire in the new. This hallowed en- 

 terprise gave beauty to a sterile soil, on a bleak 

 and dreary coast, iu the depths of a rugged win- 

 ter. It infused tranquility and joy amid the roar- 

 ing of the elements, and tJie more hideous din of 

 these first disturbed, and prior occu])ants of the 

 wilderness. Had their ex])edition emanated from 

 any secular views, this disheartening s])ectacle of 

 the country, presented at tin ir first laiiiling, woidd 

 have driven them back in des|)air, leaving not even 

 their dead to possess it ! Thanks to a sustaining 

 Providence fpr their unconquerable zeal to estab- 

 Ush on eartli a heavenly inheritance. This, in the 

 form of civil and religious institutions they have 

 transmitted, with the soil, to bless and sustain an 

 empire which they founded. 



Doubtless many of our progenitors brought with 

 them a competent knowledge of husbandry. But 

 the display of agricultural skill is only to be ex- 

 emplified on permanent possessions, in a season of 

 ])ubhc tranquility. Its great efforts are to be known 

 only iu fertile and populous regions, where the 

 soil is tasked to sustain au undue accumulation of 

 inliabitants. 



When our ancestors had I tcome suflicicntly 

 potent to carry a war of extermination into the 

 territories of their savage foe, with a foresight 

 cliaracteristic of their descendants, they cast a 

 scrutinizing eye upon the soil, with the lurking 

 hope of possession. This resulted in their occu- 

 pancy of the rich valley of the Connecticut, and 

 other fertile regions which they traversed. 



Farms were laid out, and iu a manner cultiva- 

 ted. But in the early period of their establisli- 

 luent, the best system of husbandry could not be 

 adopted, if known, until experience had tested the 

 capacity of a new soil, and its congeniality to pro- 

 ductions for tlie various uses to which they were 

 to be applied. 



The art of husbandry has beeu preserved through 

 tlie dark ages, and most cultivated in the enlight- 

 ened, by the clerical profession. The Norman 

 clergy, particularly the monks, after the conquest 

 of England, were greater improvers than any oth- 

 er class ; and the lands of the church were con- 

 spicuous for their superior cultivation. It was so 

 much the custom of the monks of this period, to 

 assist in the cultivation of the lands, especially in 

 seed time, haying, and harvest, that the famous 

 Thomas Becket, after he was Archbishop of Can- 

 terbury, was accustomed to go out to the fields 



with the moidis of the monasteries, where he ha)i- 

 pened to reside, and assist iu rea])ing their grain, 

 and maliing their hay. This is a trait of the mod- 

 ern clergy, and arises alike from their superior 

 improvement. In our history of agriculture, in 

 New England more especially, it will be perceived, 

 also, that the spirit of husbandry, like the vestal 

 flame, has been preserved, or enkindled, through 

 the instrumentahty of the priests. 



The Rev. Mr Elliot, I apprehend, was tlio first 

 and best practical farmer found in the country, at 

 his day. His system of husbandry, proljaldy the 

 oldest American production on agricidture, is not 

 only venerated for its antiquity, but quoted as an 

 oracle whose responses are adapted to most of the 

 inquiries of the present period. 



' No work upon the subject of agriculture has 

 perhaps ever been published in the United Sta<es, 

 which has sustained so great, and so well-founded 

 reputation, as Dr Dean's New England Farmer, or 

 Georgical Dictionary. — And its being adai)ted to 

 our own soil and climate, must give it a decided 

 advantage, in point of practical utility, to the 

 American cultivator over foreign publications.' — 

 A third edition, much enlarged and improved, 

 was published in 1822. This is the production 

 of a Clergyman. 



One of the oldest Societies of this Common- 

 wealth for the promotion of agricidture. Was 

 founded by the Clergy of Brookfield, Charlton, 

 Western and NiwluainU'ee, assisted by some of 

 their public spirited p.uisliioners. Public meetings 

 were holden for the furtherance of the object, in 

 these towns alternately. At one of them I had the 

 honor and gratification to deliver my first agricul- 

 tural address. This association gave a spirit ai\d 

 impetus to the system of farming, which was soon 

 apparent, and is still progressive. Essays were 

 furnished by members, and published in some of 

 the early numbers of the Massachusetts Repository 

 of Husbandry. This Society was in operation until 

 the general one of the county superceded its use. 



One of the earUest premimns from the Massa- 

 chusetts Society for promoting agriculture, was 

 awarded to the late Rev. Mr Holcomb of Sterling, 

 for the best crop of wheat. The Rev. Dr Crane 

 of Northbridge, has for many years relinquishi-d a 

 portion of the small compensation for his parochial 

 services, to enjoy a better independence, if not a 

 more successful culture, on the abundant produc- 

 tions of his little farm. 



It was generally observable through the conn- 

 try, until within a few years, that the clergyman 

 of the town, or ])arish, was the best farmer within 

 its limits. This was not only conspicuous on his 

 farm, but in the arrangements of his liomestead. 

 The fact, if not already explained, admits of easy 

 solution. 



This order of men were generally more scien- 

 tific than the most of their parishioners. Tliere 

 were few lawyers to take the lead, at that day, in 

 any commendable work — and the physician, not of 

 the learned profession, was lield in respect for no 

 quality, except the all-sufficient one, of having 

 been horn a doctor. The clergy, of whom I am 

 now speaking, usually possessed small, but good 

 farms. They had the means of obtaining such in- 

 formation from books, or otherwise, as woidd af- 

 ford them aid in their practical avocations. Hav- 

 ing this foundation, they are stimulated by a laiula- 

 ble incentive. They have been proverbial for 

 their obedience to an early command ; and their 

 calling restrains them from becoming ' worse than 



au infidel.' Under these circumstances, they feel 

 the necessity of husbanding their resources arising, 

 generally, from their inadequate salaries ; and of 

 making the most of them, by the assistance of their 

 T/oi(Hg uperatives, in causing their farms to be pro- 

 ductive iu the ratio of their families. This neces- 

 sary and delightful occupation need be no impedi- 

 ment to their parochial duties. While it imparts 

 health to the frame, it gives vigor to the mind. It 

 renih IS the minister a pattern to the people on his 

 f'iiiiH, wliilc it Ijetter prepares him for the more in- 

 teresting and prior duties of the pulpit. 



I am aware that this fascinating employment 

 may become inordinate, and engrossing, and usurp 

 too nmch of that time which ought to be devoted 

 to the religious instruction, and moral improve- 

 ment of the people. That the dearth of healthy 

 and palatable nourishment, where they have been 

 accustomed to find it adnunistered, may induce 

 the flock to remain in their folds, or to stray into 

 belter pastures. This, though a rare perversion, 

 caiuu)t be too severely rebuked. 



I have dwelt on the connection between good 

 farming and good preaching perhaps longer than 

 may have been useful, to illustrate my position, 

 tliat science is essential to the character of a good 

 farmer, 



I may be permitted to speak gratefully and af^ 

 fectionately of this order of men, having derived 

 my jmrentage from one of this class, and find a 

 covert from many of the ills of life, by an early 

 ai)j)rcnticeship on his farm. Under so competent 

 an instructer, I imbibed a taste for rural occupa- 

 tions, and some experience of their practical ap- 

 plication. I cannot be too thankful to a benefi- 

 cent Providence, that my lot was cast under cir- 

 cumstances so propitious, for the knowledge of an 

 employment whicli was the best substitute to our 

 progenitors for their loss of Paradise ; and the 

 best solace to their posterity for the miseries they 

 entailed ! This sustains me under all reverses ; 

 more especially, in the deprivation of a faculty, 

 which I once valued as the source of tlie best en- 

 joyments of social life. In my rural occupations, 

 I hold communion witli natm-e, and enjoy its de* 

 lights ; and often iu nmte precepts, acquire more 

 wisdom from the material creation, than could have 

 been ini])ai1ed from an intercourse with the intel- 

 lectual world. 



In this pleasing employment, it requires but 

 faint picturing of the imagination to conceive my- 

 self the principal of a juvenile establishment, where 

 goml habits are to be formed, and wrong propen- 

 sities corrected, by the controlling discipline of the 

 master. Here are the infant and Primary Schools, 

 in this Assylum, for the deaf and dimd), in their 

 successive gradations, up to the period of maturi- 

 ty, when they are transplanted, a blessing and or- 

 nament to the world, by their futiu-e productions. 



Enjoying this refuge and comfort for my dechn- 

 ing years, you will pennit me to press on your 

 consideration the importance of combining a rural 

 with the mechanical and intellectual education of 

 your children. This will afford them a resort, 

 when riches and honors fail. A healthful exer- 

 cise promotes a cheei-ful mind. In this retreat, the 

 rust of indolence, so wasteftd to life, and the can- 

 ker of all its enjoyments, will be kept from accu- 

 mulating and corroding by constant attrition. — 

 Here, soUtude will offer attractions, when society 

 has ceased to charm. In this sanctuary, the mind 

 is both harmonized and inured to ' look through 

 Nature, up to Nature's GOD.' 



