222 



Agricultural Address. — Fruit Trees. 



Vol. VIII. 



lent intruders have been introduced from 

 abroad. Hence it is indispensable to neat 

 farming, to possess a knowledge of all that 

 ought to be excluded from our premises, as 

 well as of those deserving culture. We 

 should not only have this knowledge, but it 

 must be accompanied by unceasing vigilance. 

 The utmost care should be observed in the 

 selection of seeds ; and whenever a plant of 

 strange, or suspicious character, -makes its 

 appearance, it should be promptly attended 

 to. Many weeds are disseminated in a sin- 

 gle season, so as to cause much labour and 

 trouble in getting rid of them ; and a few 

 years of slovenly neglect, will often render 

 their thorough extirpation an almost hope- 

 less task. There should be a cordial co- 

 operation among the whole fraternity, in 

 resisting noxious invaders ; for the careless- 

 ness of one individual may be a source of 

 grievous annoyance to a whole neighbour- 

 hood. The sloven should be shamed out of 

 his negligence — and the ignorant induced 

 to seek knowledge, by the successful exam- 

 ple of his brethren ; for example will ever 

 be found contagious — as well for good, as 

 for evil. 



The perfection of beauty, in a farm, con- 

 sists in fertile fields producing nothiny but 

 what is valuable to the proprietor, with en- 

 closures neat and strong, and the very cor- 

 ners of the fences clear of all weeds and 

 rubbish. The literal attainment of this, 

 may be as difficult as the perfection of the 

 human character ; but it is certainly in our 

 power, by means of industry, vigilance and 

 skill, to approximate that condition, — and I 

 hold it to be both our interest, and our duty, 

 to make it our constant aim and effort. 



Believing the great fundamental truths, 

 or first prmciples of agriculture, to be well 

 understood and successfully carried out, I 

 have deemed it altogether superfluous to 

 dwell upon them on this occasion; and have 

 ventured, hastily and imperfectly, to urge 

 the acquisition of what some may be dis- 

 posed to consider as mere ornamental know- 

 ledge, or the unprofitable accomplishments 

 of the profession — yet which I do verily be- 

 lieve should be regarded as the crowning- 

 attainment of the intelligent farmer. It is 

 the Corinthia7i capital, required to complete 

 the noble column of agricultural science ; 

 and I trust it will yet appear, that we are 

 not the people to rest contented with an im- 

 perfect work. While the physical sciences, 

 in every other department, are advancing 

 with gigantic strides, the proud profession 

 of agriculture should disdain to be found 

 loitering in the rear. Let us, then, resolve 

 to vindicate its just claims to the rank of an 

 intellectual pursuit. Let us expunge from 



our vocabulary the philological stigma, by 

 which the manly Bauer, of our Saxon an- 

 cestors, is degraded into the Boor of the 

 vernacular, — and made synonymous with 

 clownish stupidity. The term may have 

 meaning in the old world, but should never 

 be applicable here. It is the especial duty 

 of American farmers, to keep pace with 

 the march of improvement, and to be dis- 

 tinguished for their general intelligence: 

 for upon them, unquestionably, depend the 

 permanence and stability of our free institu- 

 tions. Possessing the soil by an absolute 

 title, they are the real proprietors of the 

 country; and to them we must look for that 

 fixedness of character — that steadiness and 

 firmness of purpose, which are essential to 

 the maintenance of rational liberty — and 

 which can never be expected from a floating 

 population. How important is it, then, that 

 they should cultivate every species of useful 

 knowledge; that knowledge which is justly 

 defined to be power, — which enables mind 

 to triumph over matter, and to control the 

 destructive energies of brute force. 



So long as our agriculturists shall duly 

 sustain the character, and meet the respon- 

 sibilities, which belong to their position in 

 society, just so long may we hope to see a 

 people, competent alike to guard the purity 

 of the Republic, and to 



" Scatter plenty o'er a smiling land." 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Fruit Trees. 



The spirit for planting fruit trees is be- 

 ginning to revive, after having lain almost 

 dormant for twenty or thirty years. Our 

 ancestors sixty or eighty years ago, planted 

 fine orchards, which have gradually died off" 

 with those who planted them, and their suc- 

 cessors for the last quarter of a century, 

 have been moving from place to place, or 

 been kept in perpetual motion by the spirit 

 of speculation, and have much neglected 

 this important and interesting duty. We 

 now begin to witness a demand for the best 

 kinds, and during the late autumn, many 

 thousands of fine fruit trees were sold by 

 auction in Philadelphia, to numerous pur- 

 chasers, and were dispersed through the ad- 

 jacent country. The adoption of this plan 

 we think highly advantageous to the nurse- 

 rymen and the farmers ; many thousands of 

 trees have by. this means been sold to per- 

 sons who would not have taken the trouble 

 of ordering them from the nursery. The 

 large quantity of apples brought from New 

 Enofland and the State of New York to the 

 Philadelphia market, to make up for the de- 

 ficient supply furnished by the contiguous 



