162 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMEH. 



Next to an abunJnnt provision for domestic 

 wants, the greatest desideratum to the farmer is 

 a convenient market, to which the surplus pro- 

 ducts of his labor m^iy be transported with facil- 

 ity, and disposed of for a fair equivalent. A 

 very small proportion of our annual crops is re- 

 quired for family consumption ; the residue must 

 either be disposed of by sale or barter, or tve 

 lose the inducement to raise it. The limited 

 demand I'or flour, corn, and other products of the 

 field, during the last two or three yeare, ha? not 

 only occasioned an immense depreciation of lan- 

 ded property, but, in many parts of the country, 

 has, to a most alarming extent, palsied the hand 

 of industry, and allayed the ardor of enterprize. 

 It is then an inquiry of no little interest to the 

 friends of husbandry — how can a more ready 

 and commodious market be provided fir our 

 crops? Without attempting to sugp^est any new 

 measures of policy, 1 shall detain you for a mo- 

 ment, while I hastily review one or two of that 

 multitude of plans wiiich the wisdom of some, 

 and the folly of others, have [iroposed to remove 

 the distresses of the times. It has been thought, 

 and 1 conceive very justly, that the encourage- 

 ment of domestic maiiuficture-, by increasing 

 the number of conKUUiors, would occasion a cor- 

 responding increase in the home demand for 

 our produce. An immense population located 

 among us, eng.iged in employments dilTercnt 

 from our own, and compelled, from the very cir- 

 camstances of their case, to purchase their pro- 

 visions from us, or to exchange for our grain, 

 &c., such manuiactured commodities as we may 

 require, would afford us a safe and accessible 

 market. The foreign demand can but inade- 

 quately supply the phice of this domestic mark- 

 et. A considerable |>art of our crops is loo 

 bulky and unwieldy for transportation ; and, in- 

 dependent of this diflTiculty, much is of loo per- 

 ishable a nature to be sent from home. The ma- 

 nufacturer will take them off your hands. You 

 can furnish him with the raw material, and you 

 can pay for its manufacture with your corn, hay, 

 oats, butter, cheese, and other minor articles, 

 thus sparing your staple, the wheat crop, from 

 the encroachment of ordinary expences, and lea- 

 ving it clear and whole for more important [lur- 

 poses. Notso if you rely upon the British ma- 

 nufacturer. You send the raw material to him, 

 •nd you must send along with it as much flour 

 as will pay all costs of a double transportation 

 (to Europe and back again) — of converting the 

 rough article which you furnish, into the fine 

 goods which you receive in return; and, in ad- 

 dition to this, you must pay whatever, in the 

 share of profit, the original artist and the numer- 

 ous salesmen through whose hands it must pass 

 before it can reach you, think proper to exact. 



But, until the manufacturing establishments 

 in our immediate neighborhood become suffi- 

 ciently numerous and extensive to furnish a de- 

 mand lor our [iroduce equal to the supply, it is 

 necessary to look elsewhere for a market for the 

 surplus. To (Tur rich and populous commercial 

 cities on the seaboard, the inhabitants of the in- 

 terior are compelled to resort, in order to find a 

 purchaser and a price for their commodities. — 

 The city of Baltimore, the cities in the district 

 of Columbia, and the town of Fredericksi)urg, 

 are now, and from their location will probably 

 continue to be, the principal marts to which the 

 redundant productions of this part of V^irginia 

 will be convcved tor sale. How tofacilitate the 



means of transportation, and to bring those mar- 

 kets nearer to our doors, is a subject worthy of 

 attentive investigation. Next to money the most 

 important facilities of commercial intercourse, 

 are turnpike roads, navigable rivers, and artifi- 

 cial canals. To descant upon the incalculable 

 benefits, private and national, which flow 

 through these mighty channels, would be more 

 than superfluous. They are felt, and acknowl- 

 edged, and proclaimed all over the world. The 

 means of free and easy and unrestrained commu- 

 nication among the various [lortions of the same 

 country, either for the pur[]Oses of commer- 

 cial traffic, or of friendly intercourse, creates an 

 unity of interest, a sympathy of feeling, and a 

 harmony of sentiment, which not only contri- 

 butes to the wealth and coml'ort of a people, 

 but cements the social compact — suppresses 

 sectional hopes, fears and jealousies — augments 

 the moral and intellectual resources of a nation, 

 by encouraging a constant and familiar intima- 

 cy among the wise and good — and finally, con- 

 duces to its physical power anil political great- 

 ness, by presorting it from civil broils and in- 

 testine commotions. Those countries in Eu- 

 rope which are eminently distinguished for 

 denseness of population — for social and literary 

 refinement — or for aflliience or commercial en- 

 ter[irizp, — are, without exception, bountifully 

 supplied by nature with deep navigable sireams 

 intersecting their territories, or furnished by 

 art with the kindred blessings of smooth turn- 

 pike roads, or well constructed canals. With- 

 out her ditches, Holland, instead of exhibiting 

 rich and verdant plains, studded with neat farm 

 houses and beautiful villasfes, or large and mag- 

 nificent cities teeming with an active and indus- 

 trious population, would have been to this day 

 a waste and uninhabitable morass. 



" To her turnpike roads and similar conven- 

 iences, England owes not only a considerable ! 

 part of her opulence, — but she owes what is | 

 equally valuable, — many of those moral and i 

 lileiary institutions, and much of that refined 

 and liberal feeling which adorns and does hon- 

 our to her national character. In America too, 

 where the progress of internal improvement 

 has been slow and tedious, their advantages are 

 abundantly manifest. To her grand canal. New 

 York is chiefly indebted for her acknowledged 

 supremacy in the union; and b^' the projection 

 and execution of that stupendous work, CLIN- 

 TON has enrolled himself among the greatest 

 benefactors of mankind. To the mere passage 

 of a good road through it« territory, the coun- 

 try intersected by the great western turnpike 

 may fairly ascribe that unparalleled prosperity 

 which is marked by the grneral appearance of 

 improvement, and by tliose numerous towns and 

 villages -.vhich, within a few years, have risen, 

 as if by enchantment, on its borders. 



* * * * * 



" But until the public spirit of our people, 

 and the wisdom of our legislators, have assign- 

 ed their proper rank to American manulactures 

 — or have improved and ornamented this coun- 

 try with canals and turnpikes, it becomes us to 

 resort to other expedients to promote our pros- 

 perity. The most eficctual antidotes to hard 

 times and pecuniary embarrassments, are indus- 

 try and diligence in the prosecution of our bu- 

 siness, and a proper measure of economy in the 

 use of what these have acquired for us. The 



creative and wonder working power of indus- 

 try, is frequently manifested in that sure and 

 steadl'ast advancement which we occasionally 

 observe conducting some poor and obscure in- 

 dividual from indigence and wretchedness, to 

 ease and affluence. The salutary effects of do- 

 mestic economy, and the never failing bane of 

 dissatisfaction and extravagance, are plainly il- 

 lustrated when the frugal tenant of the cottao-e 

 exchanges his humble abode for the gorgeous 

 palace of his former landlord. But while we 

 acknowledge the^e as sound speculative truths, 

 I fear too few of us are disposed to lest their 

 virtues experimentally. Though we have it 

 from sacred authority, " Ihat the hand of the 

 diligent maketh rich" — that " he that gathereth 

 by labour shall increase" — that " a man addict- 

 ed to sloth will have his fields all grown over 

 with thorns, and nettles shall cover Ihe face 

 thereof, and the stone walls will be broken 

 down," — yet how few among us either hear or 

 heed this prophetic admonition. We go on in 

 our courses of idleness, seduced by some delu- 

 sive hope, OF by the have of present ease, with- 

 out adopting a single measure necessary to re- 

 alize the one or to confirm the other. And 

 here let me ren\ark, that industry does not con- 

 sist in mere bodily labour. We may devote 

 ourselves to the drudgery of farming, anch ply 

 our daily work with unremitted diligence; yet, 

 without mental attention and management — 

 without a judicious and systematical arrange- 

 ment of our various duties, — our utmost efforts 

 will be useless and un|)rotilable. Economy, Ion, 

 admits Ihe same latitude of mean.ng. We may 

 lie strict economists in saving what we have, 

 hut we must be more — we must be economists 

 in time, by taking advantage of every moment 

 ns.it flies, and by assigning to each hour some 

 specific task. We must be economists in labour, 

 by its proper division and distribution. Where 

 we have slaves or hirelings, we must give the 

 light >vork, to the weak— the heavy to the 

 strong: remembering always this excellent 

 maxim, " never postpone until to-morrow, what 

 ought to be done to day." Those who have 

 fostered these precepts, and applied them to 

 practice, can attest their efficacy by the wealth 

 and comfort, tind haj>piness which invariably 

 surround them. Providence seems to smile up- 

 on theii^laudable exertions; Ihe grateful soil, 

 pleased with the flattering attention of the in- 

 dustrious tiller, bountifully yields its increase ; 

 nature hails with joy the sincere worshipper as 

 he approaches lier shrine, and sends him forth 

 laden with the richest fruits of her munificence. 

 In concluding this branch of the subject, 1 will 

 appeal to that portion of the community whose 

 admonition can never be imparled without ef- 

 fect, and whose example, 1 am sure, can be 

 still more beneficially exerted. The evils by 

 which our country has for several years been 

 rendered desolate, are intestine and domestic, 

 and the remedy must be applied at home. To 

 the matrons of the lands, to whom is specially 

 allotted the direction of household matters, and 

 to their fair daughters, who are, and of right 

 ought to be, " rulers in Israel," we look for 

 physicians to administer the nostrum, and to ef- 

 fect the cure. We call upon them to furnish 

 examples of industry and economy to their fam- 

 ilies and friends, and both by precept and by 

 practice, to reform the principles and amend 

 the habits of those whose conduct nature has 



