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Agricultural Address. 



Vol. XL 



almost impossible that soal and body can be 

 maintained in unbroken soundness." 



In the present enlightened state of the 

 public mind, it is requisite that we cultivate 

 the intellect as well as the soil ; and restore 

 to our profession a shadow of its ancient 

 dignity; when prophets, poets, and states- 

 men, gloried in an art which has been 

 trampled upon and despised, only in ages of 

 ignorance and barbarism. There is in fact 

 no better standard, by which to measure the 

 intelligence of a people, than to observe the 

 estimate which is placed on agricultural pur- 

 suits. Illustrations from classical literature, 

 as well as sacred history, crowd upon us at 

 this juncture. All the polished heathen na- 

 tions of antiquity placed agriculture under 

 the special superintendence of some favour- 

 ite deity. 



The Isis of the Egyptians, and the Ceres 

 and Proserpine of the Greeks and Romans, 

 presided over every production of the hus- 

 bandman: and the beautiful allegory of the 

 retirement of Proserpine to the shades of 

 Pluto, for half the year, typified the dormant 

 condition of nature in winter, and her re- 

 turn, its brilliant revival in spring. Abra- 

 ham, David and Elisha, the latter of whom 

 was found ploughing in his field, with a yoke 

 of oxen, are sufficient e.xamples of the prac- 

 tice of the Hebrews. Hesiod, the contem- 

 porary of Homer, wrote in its praise, and 

 Xenophon, one of the great names of anti- 

 quity, not only was a farmer, but the author 

 of a beautiful account of rural life 2,200 

 years ago. The Romans practised the arts 

 of tillage, with a zeal only secondary to 

 their military pursuits, as the example of 

 Cincinnatus, and the writings of Cato, Colu- 

 mella, and Virgil, sufficiently attest. There 

 cannot be a better illustration of the honour 

 attached by the Persians to the art of agri- 

 culture, than the account given of the inter- 

 view between the younger Cyrus and the 

 Greek General, Lysander, who being led by 

 Cyrus through his grounds: "All these," 

 said the Persian, " I have myself planned, 

 and even planted many of the trees with 

 my own hands;" and when the Spartan 

 General replied, by an incredulous glance 

 at his splendid robes and chains, and armlets 

 of gold, he sware to him by Mithras as a 

 good servant of Ormuzd, that he never tasted 

 food till he had fatigued himself by labour. 



Tradition has rescued from oblivion and 

 transmitted to us, the rudiments of almost 

 all we yet know and practice, notwithstand- 

 ing much that must have been lost. The 

 remains of ancient sculpture and pictures, 

 also help to enlighten us, and it is interest- 

 ing to view the first rude attempts in form- 

 ing the hoe, spade, reaping hook, and plough. 



The plough, especially, exhibits every grade 

 of improvement, from the wooden beam, 

 with a hard knot for a coulter, down to the 

 efficient and scientific implement manufac- 

 tured in this village by your friend and 

 neighbour, Seth I. Roberts. 



The tyro in agriculture may also be sur- 

 prised and enlightened by the discovery, 

 from the few agricultural works that have 

 come down to us, that nearly all our ordi- 

 nary manures were well known to the an- 

 cients. This is sufficiently exemplified by 

 a description of a Roman manure heap that 

 would do no discredit to our own times: 

 " Almost every material capable of decom- 

 position, which modern science or experi- 

 ence has suggested, animal, vegetable, or 

 mineral, was carried to the manure heap. 

 Their manure yards were slightly hollowed 

 and paved at the bottom." They were also 

 favourable to ploughing under green crops ; 

 drill husbandry was in full operation, and 

 threshing machines were invented more 

 than two thousand years ago. Though we 

 do not find any direct mention of plaster, 

 yet the use of lime was common in various 

 nations. Thus it will be seen, notwithstand- 

 ing our astonishing strides in other branches 

 of knowledge, which consists, however, 

 chiefly in the combination and application 

 of well known principles, — yet that in the 

 science of agriculture, we are still in our 

 infancy. 



We are indebted for much that has been 

 handed down, to the monasteries of the mid- 

 dle ages; whose sacred character preserved 

 them from the violence of the feudal Barons, 

 in whose libraries were sheltered the ancient 

 books, and on whose lands were carried on 

 almost all the agricultural operations that 

 could be safely practised. 



In one important branch of our profession 

 we are indeed far inferior to the Egyptians 

 and Assyrians, and that is " irrigation." It 

 is true, in this region, favoured by the late 

 and early rains, we are not under the abso- 

 lute necessity of following this system, 

 though we know its benefits, from the high 

 value of our watered meadows. In Egypt, 

 there are yet rude attempts made to follow 

 in the ancient track, by pumping the waters 

 of the Nile into reservoirs and canals. But 

 the system of artificial irrigation, was per- 

 haps best understood in Mesopotamia, the 

 land first inhabited by man ; a region famous 

 for its early civilization and fertility. That 

 country, lying between the Tygris and Eu- 

 phrates, and which must have been the 

 granary for the stupendous cities of Babylon 

 and Nineveh, is now almost a desert, and 

 its teeming population replaced by tribes of 

 wandering Arabs. The happy situation of 



