98 



Silas Wrighi's Address. 



r 



Vol. XII. 



chera, embarked on board the ship Albion, 

 and landed in New York June 27, 1827. In 

 1828, I received eighty more from the same 

 flock, selected by a friend of mine, an ex- 

 cellent judge of sheep. I first drove them 

 to Shaftsbury, adjoining the town of Hosic, 

 where I now reside. On their arrival they 

 stood me in $70 a head, and the lambs half 

 that sum." — Farmers^ Library. 



Silas Wright's Address, 



At the Exhibition of the New York State 



Agricultural Society, 9lh mo. 16, 1847. 



Mr. President, and Gentlemen of the 

 State Agricultural Society: 



Had it been my purpose V) entertain you 

 with a eulogium upon the great interest 

 cpnfided to your care, the Agriculture of the 

 State, I should find myself forestalled by the 

 exhibition which surrounds us, and which 

 has pronounced that eulogy to the eye, much 

 more forcibly, impressively, eloquently, than 

 I could command language to pronounce it 

 to the ear of this assembly. 



Had I mistakenly proposed to address to 

 you a discourse upon agricultural produc- 

 tion, this exhibition would have driven me 

 from my purpose, by the conviction that I am 

 a backward and scarcely initiated scholar, 

 standing in the presence of masters, with the 

 least instructed and experienced of whom, it 

 would be my duty to change places. 



The agriculture of our state, far as it yet 

 is from maturity and perfection, has already 

 become an art, a science, a profession, in 

 which he who vvould instruct must be first 

 himself instructed far beyond the advance- 

 ment of him who now addresses you. 



The pervading character of this great and 

 vital interest, however; its intimate connec- 

 tion with the wants, comforts, and interests 

 of every man in every employment and call- 

 ing in life; and its controlling relations to 

 the commerce, manufactures, substantial in- 

 dependence, and general health and pros- 

 perity of our whole people, present abundant 

 subjects for contemplation upon occasions 

 like this, without attempting to explore the 

 depths, or to define the principles of a sci- 

 ence so profound, and, to the uninitiated, so 

 difficult as is that of agriculture. 



Agricultural production is the sub-stratum 

 of the whole superstructure; the great ele- 

 ment which spreads the sail and impels the 

 car of commerce, and moves the hands and 

 turns the machinery of manufacture. The 

 earth is the common mother of all, in what- 

 ever employment engaged, and the fruits 

 gathered from its bosom, are alike the indis- 

 pensable nutriment and support of all. The 

 productions of its surface and the treasures 



of its mines, are the material upon which 

 the labor of the agriculturist, the merchant, 

 and the manufacturer, are alike bestowed, 

 and are the prize for which all alike toil. 



The active stimulus which urges all for- 

 ward, excites industry, awakens ingenuity, 

 and brings out invention, is the prospect or 

 the hope of a market for the productions of 

 their labor. The farmer produces to sell; 

 the merchant purchases to sell; and the 

 manufacturer fabricates to sell. Self-con- 

 sumption of their respective goods, althouorh 

 an indispensable necessity of life, is a mere 

 incident in the mind impelled to acquisition. 

 To gain that which is not produced or 

 acquired, by the sale of that which is pos- 

 sessed, is the great struggle of laboring man. 



Agricultural production is the first in or- 

 der, the strongest in necessity, and the high- 

 est in usefulness, in this whole system of 

 acquisition. The other branches stand upon 

 it, are sustained by it, and without it could 

 not exist. Still it has been almost uniformly, 

 as the whole history of our .^tate and coun- 

 try will show, the most neglected. Appren- 

 ticeship, education, a specific course of sys- 

 tematic instruction, has been, time out of 

 mind, considered an indispensable pre-requi- 

 site to a creditable or successful engagement 

 in commercial or mechanical pursuits; while 

 to know how to wield the axe, to hold the 

 plow, and to swing the scythe, has been 

 deemed sufRcient to entitle the possessor of 

 that knowledge to the first place, and the 

 highest wages in agricultural employment. 



A simple principle of production and of 

 trade, always practically applied to manufac- 

 tures and commerce, that the best and cheap- 

 est article will command the market, and 

 prove the most profitable to the producer and 

 the seller, because most beneficial to the 

 buyer and consumer, is but beginning to re- 

 ceive its application to agriculture. The 

 merchant, who, from a more extensive ac- 

 quaintance with his occupation, a more atten- 

 tive observation of the markets, better adapt- 

 ed means, and a more careful application of 

 sound judgment, untiring energy and prudent 

 industry, can buy the best and sell the cheap- 

 est, has always been seen to be the earliest 

 and surest to accomplish the greatobjectof his 

 class, an independence for himself So the me- 

 chanic, who, from a more thorough instruction 

 in the principles and handicraft of his trade, or 

 a more intense application of mind and judg- 

 ment with labor, can improve the articles he ': 

 fabricates, or the machinery and modes ofi 

 their manufacture, and can thus produce the 

 best and sell the cheapest, has always been 

 seen to reach the same advantage over his 

 competitors, with equal readiness and cer- 

 tainty; and that these results should follow 



