226 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I 



of those profits whereof it is the source ; and 

 Manufactures sliould bestow a willinj? tribute 

 to the art, on which their subsistence depends. 

 Tliose who devote themselves to the learned 

 professions, should render to it, both homage 

 and contribution. Their usefulness, or gains, 

 would be small indeed, among shepherds and 

 hunters — and those were for the most part, 

 the [employments of man, before agriculture 

 widely difibscd its blessings, and mainly con- 

 tributed, not only to the civilization, but to 

 the happiness, wealth, subsistence and safety 

 of our race. Those who minister at the Al- 

 tars, and are our instructors and examples, in 

 our most exalted concerns, are also bound to 

 animate, instruct, and encourage the cultiva- 

 tors of the soil. Many of them, in other coun- 

 tries, have been highly meritorious, both in 

 precept and example, on this subject. And 

 they peculiarly know, that the exercise of 

 this art, is venerable for its antiquity; — was 

 enjoined by a dispensation of Providence, and 

 established by an ordinance of Heaven. 



Those who have a peiTnanent residence in 

 our towns and cities, should be more con- 

 vinced, than they have hitherto been, of the 

 obligations they owe to agriculture. Their 

 daily subsistence, and their necessary comforts 

 and even luxuries, depend, either directly or 

 consequentially, on this first of arts. — The 

 better the style of husbandry, the more bene- 

 fits they derive from it. It is no reasonable 

 excuse for withholding their assistance, or 

 encouragement, that they are not agricultur- 

 ists. They possess, and should bestow, the 

 means of promulgating encouragement and 

 information to those who are engaged in the 

 labors of the field. 



On us, whose happy lot is cast in a free 

 country, the extension and encouragement of 

 agricultural improvement, is most impres- 

 sively incumbent. Montesquieu has, with 

 truth, observed, that "countries are not culti- 

 vated in proportion to their fertility, but to 

 their liberty." 



The Athenians, among the first of the 

 Greeks who acquired a free government, and 

 the polish of civilization, and science, were 

 famed for their knowledge in agriculture. 

 Xenophon, one of their distinguished citizens 

 and celebrated historians, has many years ago 

 remarked, that " Agriculture is the nursing 

 mother of the arts. For, where it succeeds 

 prosperously, there the arts thrive ; but where 

 the earth necessarily lies uncultivated, there 

 the other arts are extinct." 



In the early periods of the Roman Repub- 

 lic, when liberty was a substantial blessing, 

 and not an empty sound, the highest praise 

 tliat could bo given to any citizen, was to say 

 of him, "that he well cultivated his spot of 

 ground." And the leading propensities of her 

 greatest men, were to cast off their robes 



of state — lay aside their truncheons, and en 

 signs of power — to " cultivate their spots o 

 ground." 



Let it not be understood, that the encoui 

 agement and improvement required for ag 

 nculture, is intended for the mere persona 

 emolument of the farmer. Those who tak 

 an incorrect or improper view of the subjecl 

 allege, that " farmers are doing well enougl 

 — and want no improvement." Every on 

 acquainted with political economy, know 

 well, how extensively it adds to the gener? 

 advantage of the community, when the sam 

 portion of labor is made to produce an ii 

 creased number and quantity of supplie 

 And eminently distinct from all other emploi 

 ments is that of the husbandman, whic 

 brings into existence, by a kind of creatioi 

 additions to the public stock, drawn from th 

 earth. Whereas most, if not all other occi 

 pations, are employed on materials pre-e: 

 isting. Farmers are truly called, by tl 

 best writers on political economy, " the pn 

 ductive class," whilst all others are justl 

 styled, "the unproductive classes" of tl 

 community. 



It is not necessary to cite opinions, < 

 proofs, from great authorities, to show thi 

 whilst able and intelligent farmers enlarj 

 the mass of property and wealth in the soc 

 ety in which they live, — they also increai 

 the public security and happiness. 



It will be seen at once by every one wl 

 passes through a country productively ar 

 neatly cultivated — that quietude, conten 

 ment, morals, and exemplary submission 1 

 law and good government, are striking! 

 conspicuous. But in a district inhabitc 

 by a negligent, and ignorant population, tl 

 picture is disgustingly, and even dangerousl 

 reversed. iSo that it behoves every goi 

 citizen, for his own security, as well as fro 

 motives of patriotism and moral obligation, 

 assist in furnishing the means of warning tl 

 negligent, stimulating the indolent, and e 

 lightening the ignorant husbandman. 



Maamrc. 



There is nothing of greater impor 

 ance to the Agriculturist, than a C0| 

 rect know^ledge of those substanc(| 

 best adapted for producing an increaij 

 of crop. These are denoniinated witl 

 nurcs, and consist of vegetable or an' 

 mal matters. We are indebted to Sj 

 II. Davy, in liis Lectures on Agricul 

 ture, for the best explanation of tl 

 manner in which they accelerate veg 

 tation. As this valuable work is on 

 in the hands of a few, we have thoug! 





