106 



Peter A. Browne's Address. 



Vol. VIII. 



pursuits. And the miner! — how long would 

 he be able to delve into the earth, in search 

 of the precious or useful ores, the earths and 

 combustibles, if the provident farmer was 

 not, in the mean time, employed in pro- 

 viding for his daily food 1 



In every well governed and prosperous 

 country, those who till the ground ought to 

 be — in this country they are — a numerous 

 class. The last census shows that over 

 3,700,000, or more than one fifth of the 

 whole population of the United States, are 

 male labourers. "This," says Mr. Ells- 

 worth, " is nearly three times more than are 

 employed in manufactures and trade, com 

 merce and navigation, taken together." 



There is nothing in the life of a farmer 

 which necessarily impairs his morals. If it 

 is true, — as has been alleged — that long ap- 

 plication to commerce blunts the fine edge 

 of benevolence, and paves the way to sordid 

 views of inordinate gain, from these baneful 

 influences the farmer is, comparatively, free ; 

 for his is a sure, but slow and gradual road 

 to opulence. If it is true, as has been said, 

 that the collection together of so many ot 

 the rising generation in a manufactory, has 

 a tendency to weaken the bands of the moral 

 law, the children of the farmer are pre- 

 served from that disastrous contamination. 



The labour required at the hands of those 

 who till the earth is not incessant. Nature 

 is bountiful to those who are moderately in 

 dustrious, and after every rural pursuit has 

 been assiduously attended to, ample time is 

 left to improve the mind, to cultivate the 

 morals, and to attend to those religious du' 

 ties that are indispensable to a finite and re^ 

 sponsible being, under every condition of 

 life. 



The cultivation of the earth, would, there- 

 fore, appear to be a most desirable employ- 

 ment — combining health, usefulness, mo- 

 rality and prosperity in an eminent degree 

 Agriculture has long been in a gradual state 

 of advancement, but there is still much room 

 for improvement. To go no further back 

 than the year 1785, we have only to read 

 the addresses and remarks of the patriots, 

 who, fifty-eight years ago, founded this, the 

 Jirst Agricultural Society in the United 

 States, to learn how much the art, which 

 we are now met to commemorate, has been 

 advanced. Art, did I say? At the time 

 above alluded to, agriculture was so simple 

 and irregular, that it scarcely deserved the 

 name of art. It certainly had no claim 

 to be considered a scientific art. At that 

 time of comparative darkness, when, as 

 we were told by your late venerable Presi 

 dent, Judge Peters, men were so blind to 

 their own interests, that even that eminent 



agriculturist, as well as statesman, the im- 

 mortal Washington, failed in his endea- 

 vours to prevail upon the National Legisla- 

 ture to establish "A National Professorship 

 of Agriculture ;" when even the wise Madi- 

 son laboured, without success, to cause a 

 similar Professorship to be engrafted upon 

 the plan of the Virginia University. At 

 that early period, when the people of the 

 United States had just made themselves po- 

 litically independent, did the founders of this 

 Institution, aided by these and such great 

 men, toil to render them practically inde- 

 pendent. It excites our surprise to read of 

 the almost unconquerable prejudices under 

 which the practical farmers suffered against 

 what was then called " Book Farming." 

 Speaking of the original members of this 

 Society — " Their task," says Judge Peters, 

 'was difficult; for their influence among 

 practical farmers was neutralized by almost 

 unconquerable prejudices. Few believed 

 that those who did not follow the plough, 

 could possibly advise the tillers of the soil. 

 They persevered, with unremitting endea- 

 vour, until many among the intelligent farm- 

 ers, not only in our own, but other States, 

 were convinced of, and asserted their use- 

 fulness." 



But the dark night of prejudice has passed 

 away, and the mighty sun of science has 

 risen nearly to the zenith of the agricultural 

 hemisphere. And, as the glorious orb of 

 day, by Divine permission, shines upon, not 

 only the just, but the unjust, so the sun of 

 science sheds his invigorating beams, not 

 only upon the unprejudiced, but upon the 

 prejudiced. 



It is miraculous how practical men should 

 have so long maintained their unnatural hos- 

 tility against scientific information ! If the 

 earth is to be tilled at all, it must be tilled 

 according to some rule. But that rule, we 

 are told, is founded upon experience. And 

 upon what is natural science founded, but 

 upon this same experience, aided by experi- 

 ments, and the whole digested and arranged 

 by talent and industry'? It is rare to find 

 any one so very prejudiced as to reject the 

 wisdom of his own experience ; how blind 

 and selfish, then, to reject the experience of 

 others ! How exceedingly blind and preju- 

 diced, if the experience of himself and 

 others is admitted, to refuse to receive it, 

 because the facts upon which it is founded 

 have been examined, compared, digested, 

 weighed against each other in the balance 

 of reason, and arranged in due order, so that 

 they can be best understood. If there were 

 no other advantage, the time saved by sub- 

 stituting experiment for experience, when 

 it can be done to advantage, is of the utmost 



