NEW ENGL.AND FAKMEK 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO, 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aouicui.tukal Warkhousk.) — T. G. FESSENDliN, EDITOR. 



B.OSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 9, 1835. 



NO. 2». 



ADDRESS 



Before tkc Massachtisells Society far Promoting Ag- 

 riculture. 



EY HEiNRV A. S. DEARBORN. 



Gentlemen of the Society and Fellow Citizens: — ' 



The first Hct of tlie Almighty, after " the dry land 

 appeared," was the creaticui of a jilant, and sow- 

 ing its seed, that of savage man, in his progress of 

 civilization ; and the earliest achievement in the 

 indnstrioiis arts was the construction of a plough. 

 Whether we refer to the mythology of antiquity, 

 or the authentic records of historians, agricultui-e 

 has been the harbinger of the highest state of 

 moral and intellectual improvement, which has 

 ever been reached in any age or climate. Those 

 pursuits which were commenced merely for the 

 purpose of furnishing the necessaries of life, and 

 were long held in degraded estimation, have ulti- 

 mately claimed an elevated rank among all na- 

 tions, at the most glorious period of their existence. 

 No matter lio>v various may have been the char- 

 acter of once barbarous tribes, or how dissiiiiilar 

 their countries, habits and customs, still they have 

 all followed the same route, in the career of refine- 

 ment ; and those which have become most cele- 

 brated for exalted attainments in literature, science 

 and the arts, have also been equally distinguished 

 for their superior skill in the cultivation of the 

 earth. Not only the rich valleys and ))lains were 

 converted into luxuriant fields and splendid gar- 

 dens, but the rugged mountain, arid desert and 

 stagnant morass successively yielded to the labors 

 of tillage, and magnificently harmonized with the 

 developements of mind, the sumptuousness of 

 wealth, and the embellishments of taste. 



The vicissitudes to which nations have been 

 subjected, form memorable eras iii the liistory of 

 agriculture. In the primitive ages, it was limited 

 in the objects embraced within its attention, and 

 confined to the simplest operations of the husband- 

 man. At times it has nearly ceased to exist 

 throughout the globe ; and even when carried to 

 the highest practical point of perfection in one 

 region, it has been imknown elsewhere, while it 

 has again fallen into desuetude, after having been 

 for centuries the general occupation of the people, 

 the greatest source of private affluence, and the 

 chief cause of national prosperity. As a science 

 and an art, it has not only been intimately con- 

 nected with the condition of man in all his social 

 relations, but is blended with the wondrous his- 

 tory of his creation, and the revelations of his 

 religion. 



After the expulsion, the first wants of the pro- 

 genitors of the human race were food and cloth- 

 ingj and the duty of providing them devolved 

 upon their sons — the one becoming "a keeper 

 of sheep," and the other "a tiller of the ground." 

 But there was this remarkable limitaiion in the 

 sentence for disobedience, as to the application of 

 the products of their industry — those of vegeta- 

 tion only being allowed as food : " Tliou shalteat 

 the herb of the field, till thou return unto the 



ground." This interdiction continued during the 

 antediluvian cycle ; but after the flood, all ani- 

 mals were formally delivered over to the surviving 

 patriarch, with this beneficent declaration : " Ev- 

 ery moving thing that liveth shall be rncat for you. 

 Even as the green herb, have ! now given you all 

 tilings." 



Notwithstanding the precedence which the cul- 

 tivation of the earth necessarily claimed anterior 

 to this momentous epoch, still, for many genera- 

 tions, the descendants of Noah lived a pastoral 

 life, and were nomade in their habits, a'though on 

 receiving the sceptre of the oarth, " he began to 

 be a husbandman," and one of his first acts was 

 " to plant a vineyard." 



Advancing from the mountainous regions of 

 Ararat, into the fertile and sunny vales of the Eu- 

 phrates, the acquisition of large flocks and herds, 

 with wide ranges of pasturage, inducc<l a less 

 laborious mode of subsistence than must have 

 been indispensable under the austere conditions 

 which the primeval inhabitants were iiermitted to 

 live. These wandering habits were continued 

 tlu-oughout Chaldea and Canaan, down to the pa- 

 triarchal ages of Isaac and Jacob, and still prevail 

 in the East, among the Arab and Tartar shepherds 

 of the present day. Like the ofls|)riiig of Jabel, 

 they "dwell in'tents," and seek, as of old, foun- 

 tains of water, in the palm groves of the plains, 

 and the refreshing streams of shaded valleys, as 

 temporary places of encampment. 



It is a singular fact, that bread is not mentioned 

 as an article of food, until it was offered by AJira- 

 ham to the angels, who appeared to him as " he 

 sat in the tent door, in the heat of the day " ; 

 showing it was the most rare and precious gift 

 which could be presented. So late even as that 

 period, the wealth of individuals consisted chiefly 

 in flocl^is and herds ; and the niostafducnt had no 

 fixed o<* permanent residence, but were obligwl to 

 roam oijer the country, as a large extent of terri- 

 tory was required for the maintenance of compar- 

 atively a small population, when the cultivation 

 of the soil was so little relied upon for support. 

 Even when Abram and Lot removed to the fertile 

 borders of Palestine, it was found that " the land 

 was not able to bear them, that they might dwell 

 together ; for their subsistence was great," as each 

 had vast nundicrs of "sheep, and oxen, and men 

 servants and maid servants, and camels " ; so that 

 these distinguished and long associated friends 

 were obliged to separate from each other. Lot 

 choosing "all the plain of Jordan, that was well 

 watered, even as the garden of the Lord," while 

 " Abram removed his tent to the plain of Mamre." 

 Thus, after a lapse of more than a thousand 

 years, the Hebrew race appears to have made but 

 little progress in the arts of civilization, and ex- 

 hibits only the migratory herdsman, and the in- 

 cipient efixjrts of the agriculturist. So precarious 

 even were their means of subsistence, that their 

 most renowned chieftains were conij elled " to go 

 down into Egypt and dwell there, because there 

 was a grie\oiis famiue in the land." 



Egypt! now for the first time mentioned by the 

 sacred historian. What vivid reminiscences does , 

 that n!(me call up. Egypt! the birtlipbice of sci- 

 ence, the cradle of the arts, the wonder of antiqui- 

 ty, the paragon of nations. A country and a 

 |)eo[)le which have been subjects of the decprgt 

 interest, and the most exciting inquiry, from the 

 time of Joseph to the travels of Herodotus, and 

 from the visit of Diodorus to the learned researches 

 of Champollion. At the talisjnanic name of Egy|»t 

 the ponderous gates of all jiast time are thrown 

 open, and how fresh, clear, and palpab'e does the 

 whole history of the world imfold befVire us — 

 For a long succession of ages, it was the focus of 

 knowledge, aiid at the same time the centre of 

 that intellectual radiance, which lighted onward 

 the nations of the earth, in their march from bar- 

 barism to refinement. There were nurtured the 

 vast tribes of Israel, — there were they trained to 

 fulfil the high destinies which awaited their mi- 

 raculous Exodus. From thence went forth that 

 wonderful nation, — those chosen people of God, 

 whose present existence, whose language, faith, 

 and identity of character, is a perpetual testimony 

 of the prophets, and of the truth of those revela- 

 tions, which constitute the religion we ])rofess. 



Egypt! who can hear that word without being 

 excited ? It seems to embrace the entirety of the 

 past. What throngs of ideas, — what multitudes 

 of events, rush upon the memory, — vvliat mus- 

 tering conceptions does the aroused imagination 

 embody forth ! The gorgeous courts of the Pha- 

 raohs, the conquests of Sesostris, the disastrous 

 invasion of Cambyse.s, the triumphal march of 

 Alexander, the tplendid reigns of the Ptolemys, 

 Pompey's tragic death, the victories of Ciesar, the 

 fate of Mark Anthony, the devastations of the 

 Saracens, the Ottoman subjugation, and the bat- 

 tles of Napo'eon, all pass in rapid review, like the 

 magic pageantry of an illuminated scene. 



it was on the banks of the Nil ', that the inornj 

 powers of man were first and most successtuily 

 developed. There were laid the deep an<l broad 

 foundations of an e.ipire, which stn-passed all 

 others in the extent of its jiower, in the range of 

 commercial enter) rise, in the nundier and gran 

 deur of its cities, the magnitude and elegance of 

 its palaces and triumphal monuments, — in wealth, 

 intelligence, and the arts, — in all that reflects 

 fflory on a people, and gives eternal lustre to na- 

 tions. There, too, was established the dominion 

 of Agricultme ; there sheiconimenced her reign ; 

 and yet how long was that mighty kingdom wraja 

 in obscurity, until revealed in the ever-intercsti;g 

 and instructive ta'e ot that adventmfWus shepherd 

 boy, Israel's dariing son. Then, inileed, does it 

 burst forth with imposing magnificence, and the 

 holy aunals are filled with its ini] ortance, and tlie 

 gigantic influence which it possessed over ail the 

 nat ons of the East. Subsequently we are very 

 exactly instructed, by both Greek and Roman au- 

 thors, as to its vast agricultural resources ; and the 

 It-rtirate de ineations on the still existing tombs of 

 the kings, confirm the:r glowing accounts of the 



