358 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



and by the improvement of our agriculture, 

 by its extension, and by the introduction of 

 new sources of prosperity, depending on our 

 industry and our soil, to place ourselves 

 above the fluctuations of trade, or the liability 

 of being dunned by foreigners. In the first 

 place we must raise our own bread. Every 

 section of the Union can do this; and tlie 

 south as well as the north must engage in 

 the business with spirit. If the south raised 

 but half the cotton they now do, and turned 

 the surplus labor to tlie production of bread, 

 they would probably realize as much profit as 

 they now do when forcing their millions of 

 cotton upon the glutted markets of Europe. 

 So far as the fanners of the north are con- 

 cerned, they have personally nothing to com- 

 plain of; but they must be sordidly blind to 

 their true interests to desire wealth, or suc- 

 cess in agriculture, at the expense of any 

 section of our country, or body of our citi- 

 zens. They feel that the failure of every 

 liouse in New York or New Orleans is a 

 blow aimed at public confidence, and that as 

 members of the same great family, what is 

 felt by one must eventually more or less be 

 felt by all. 



An anxiety to be rich Vi/ithout labor has 

 become our besetting sin ; and those who of 

 all others ought to know and feel differently, 

 farmers and farmers' sons, have been among 

 the most active in bringing about this state 

 of things. The professions have long been 

 crowded to over-flowing, yet our young men, 

 as if the cultivation of the soil implied dis- 

 honor, or to handle the axe or the plough 

 was a disgrace, still cling to the hope of a 

 professional living, and as a natural conse- 

 quence we have among us too many idle 

 drones, too many who are willing to get their 

 living by hook or by crook, rather than by hon- 

 est, persevering and honorable industry. This 

 unhealthy state of feeling must be corrected; 

 and the mind of the young impressed with 

 the truths, that of all aristocracies, a moneyed 

 one is the most oppressive, but an aristocracy 

 of idleness is the meanest and most detestable. 



We must extend our agriculture until it 

 shall furnish abundance of the necessaries of 

 life, and with the blessing of Providence, 

 place beyond the possibility of want all classes 

 that are willing to be industrious and live 

 within their means. We must depend on 

 agriculture in a great measure for our remit- 

 tances abroad, and this surplus should be 

 made as large and available as possible. No 

 matter what may be the forms or modes 

 adopted to procure it, the origin of wealth is 

 the earth ; and the more extensive and per- 

 fect the culture of the soil, the more sure 

 and firmly based is the individual or national 

 prosperity. 



In addition to this, we must develope new 



sources of productive industry, and render 

 ourselves to the utmost independent of the 

 favor or the caprice of foreign nations. No 

 man in his senses will at this time of the 

 world advocate the Chinese or terrapin sys- 

 tem ; yet there can be little danger of a want 

 I of exchangeable articles sufllcicnt to give the 

 Icommercial interests full activity, even when 

 :\vc shall produce for ourselves all the import- 

 ant necessaries and luxuries of life. Few 

 farmers have an idea of the immense drain 

 constantly made on the capital and prosperity 

 of the country, in paying foreign nations for 

 j commodities which, with a little skill and ex- 

 'ertion, we might abundantly produce among 

 ! ourselves. Wc shall not be accused of ex- 

 ^aggeration when we say that fifty millions of 

 [dollars are annually required to pay France 

 and Great Britain for things which w^e can 

 'produce better than they, were the enterprise 

 land industry of our people but sufficiently di- 

 jrected to one or two points, and that toovv'ith- 

 lout interfering in the least, or but very little, 

 with any of our present sources of profit or 

 industry. 



We have room here to refer to the single 

 itemofsiV/c; though we might with equal 

 propriety embrace ordinary woollen goods, 

 sugar, and iron, as things we should furnish 

 not only for ourselves, but for exportation. 

 The letter of Mr. Judson, Member of Con- 

 gress from Connecticut, to Mr. Adams, as 

 chairman of the committee on manufactures, 

 is a valuable document, not only as exhibiting 

 the importance of the silk business as a branch 

 of national industry, but also showing the 

 progress already made in this new, and as 

 we believe, most profitable investment of 

 labor and capital in this country. In one re- 

 spect the silk business is different from most 

 others; it requires little or no money for its 

 introduction into families, and experience in 

 France and Italy conclusively proves that it 

 is here carried on with the least care and the 

 greatest profit. Unlike other farming pur- 

 suits, the silk manufacture is best managed 

 by females and children, and the labor of only 

 a few weeks is required to convert the mul- 

 berry leaves into an article fit for market, 

 and commanding a price of ample remunera- 

 tion. 



The importance of the silk manufacture to 

 us may be inferred from the fact, ascertained 

 by a reference to the collector's returns, that 

 the importations of manvfactnrcd silks dur- 

 ing the year ending on the 30th of Septem- 

 ber, 1836, amounted to seventeen millions, 

 four hundred and ninety-seven thousand, 

 nine hundred dollars. This sum, saved to 

 us, as it might be by home manufacture, 

 would have in a great measure prevented 

 that rude commercial shock which is crush- 

 ing the prosperity of the principal cities to 



