NEW ENGL.AND FARMEiift, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultukal Warehouse.) — T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XIV, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 16, 1835. 



NO. as. 



ADDRESS 



Before IJie Massachusetts Society for Prntnoiinf^ Ag- 

 riculture. 



BY HENRY A. S. DEARBORN. 

 (Conlinued from our Inst.i 



There are two cliief modes, in wliicli im])rove- 

 menls are effected in agriculture : one, the intro- 

 duction of new or valuable species, or varieties of 

 the vegetable and animal kingdoms, and the other 

 a more perfect theory in the science and a better 

 application of labor to the art in all their diversi- 

 fied compartments. The latter includes the re- 

 qui.site implements, as well as the manner in 

 which every kind of cultivation is to be conducte<l, 

 and the great object of both is to obtain the largest 

 amount of products, which the earth is capable of 

 being made to yield, by the most approved man- 

 agement, and at the lowest possible expense. 



So simple and common are these positions, so 

 self-evident and familiar are they, that it may 

 seem irrelevant as the utterance of truisms to 

 repeat them. They were early proclaimed by 

 Bacon, Tull and Evelyn, and have been emphati- 

 cally illustrated by Cuke, Young, Bakewell and 

 Sinclair — names which will ever be illustrious 

 in the annals of agriculture. Yet how little have 

 they been regarded here, and how few among all 

 those, who have spent their lives in cultivating 

 Jihe eurth, can say, that they have attempted the 

 fulfilment of the requisitions implied, although so 

 indispensable to their own advancement. Rou- 

 tine has been more influential than precept, and 

 custom has domineered over truth and reason. 

 We. have been quiescent jjupils in the observance 

 of what has been, rather than anxious inquirers of 

 what should and can be done. The mind has 

 been slavishly restrained by prejudice, erroneous 

 example, and that dread of change, which has 

 been so universal and so fatal to the improvement, 

 rights, dignity and happiness of man. Something 

 more, then, is required, than a mere knowledge 

 of principles, to insure their salutary influence, 

 and of duty, that it be well performed. There 

 must be independence of thought, and freedom of 

 action, with an energy of disposition which con- 

 stantly aims at improvement and is never satisfied 

 until it is reached. And where are we to look for 

 the greatest display of these qualifications ? where 

 are they most certainly induced ? Is it not in 

 those climates which are embraced between the 

 southern and northern extremes of the temperate 

 zones, and in those localities too, where the soil 

 is not naturally the most remarkable for its fertili- 

 ty, or the physical conformation of its area, the 

 most favorable to the eflTorts of tillage ; for there 

 the greatest intelligence, genius, skill and industry 

 are required to produce the desired effects ; and 

 it is most common, that in countries where these 

 difficulties are to be encountered, the best farmers 

 are to be found, and the most instructive, as well 

 as valuable results are obtained. This arises from 

 the constant demand of expedients, to surmount 

 the numerous obstacles to complete success, which 

 the asperities of the soil, the rigor of the clinsate, 



and the labor of fertilization, present ; as impedi- 

 ments in this, as in all other pursuits, have a direct 

 tendency to challeiige enterprise, and create the 

 means for overcoming them. Activity is thereby 

 given to talents, ingenuity is roused, and that de- 

 terjiiination of character formed, which neither 

 admits of impossibilities, yields to adverse circum- 

 stances, or halts in its course, until the object 

 sought is attained. 



But there never has been any thing great 

 achieved where there were not difficulties to be 

 encountered. It is thus that the noblest faculties 

 of the mind have been wrought up to the exercise 

 of their highest powers, and man to the display 

 of his immeasurable resources. Every concep- 

 tion of an important truth is accompanied by the 

 cheering belief of witnessing its verification ; and 

 the triumph over obstructions in its developement 

 is as exhilarating to the philosopher and artist, as 

 victory to the warrior. It matters not what is the 

 exaggerated magnitude, or apparent insignificance 

 of the inquiry, it cannot be prosecuted with any 

 prospect of success, unless there is an ardent dis- 

 position, accompanied by that indomitable spirit 

 of perseverance, which puts at defiance all hazards 

 and all odds. Whether the object of accomplish- 

 ment or investigation be the construction of a 

 Romap aqueduct or the stringing of a lute, the 

 geology of the globe or the anatomy of a beetle, 

 the discovery of a new world or u new plant, 

 there must be brought into vigorous action the 

 highest powers of intellect and the most zealous 

 determination of purpose. There is nothing val- 

 uable to man, or honorable to nations — not an 

 addition has been made to the fund of intelligence 

 — not a step taken in the progress of civilization, 

 which has not been the result of intense thought 

 and infinite research. U is one of the conditions 

 of our existence — the fiat of Omnipotence — 

 that to attain excellence in even the humblest vo- 

 cation, there must be untiring industry, sanguine 

 hopes, and great labor. What, indeed, were we 

 but for that unquenchable thrist of knowledge 

 v>'hi;;h no acquisitions can abate — that restless 

 demand for action, which is but increased by fru- 

 ition, and that aspiring reach of imagination, which 

 finding no terrestrial bounds, ranges from the far- 

 thest constellation in the zodiac to the realms be- 

 yond the skies — to an existence as illimitable as 

 eternity, and an elevation transcendant as the 

 archangels. Were we not thus created, and so 

 endowed witl. an intuitive credence in the immor- 

 tality of the soul, the human race must have 

 remained in a state of the most abject ignorance 

 and degraded barbarism. It is the inspiration of 

 divinity itself which animates and irrges us on, in 

 the interminable career of intellectual attainments 

 and moral grandeur. 



What is the biography of those mighty men 

 who have illumined the past and the present, and 

 thrown forward into the obscurity of the future 

 the eftulgence of their glory .^ Is it not the record 

 of genius struggling with misfortune, and battling 

 with prejudice and ignorance, to evolve some mo- 



mentous fact, establish some fundamental prin<'i- 

 ple in morals, jiroclaim some invaluable discovery 

 in science, or perfect some brilliant experiment in 

 art ? The very temerity of their enterprise, the 

 cold indifference of anticipated patronage, the 

 desponding thraldom of penury, and that unwear- 

 ied perseverance which knows not despair, are 

 the alternate subjects of our praise and commis- 

 eration. Our admiration is constantly excited by 

 that boldness of mind and that fearlessness of 

 heart, which are neither smitten down by the iron 

 mace of arbitrary power, the withering influence 

 of fanatical persecution, or the disconragemenvs 

 of unrequited merit ; that, " unaided, unfriended 

 and alone," they rose superior to the storms of 

 fortune, and became the ornaments of their age 

 — the benefactors of mankind. It is from these 

 causes that we honor the names, and dwell with 

 such profound interest upon the characters, of 

 Galileo and Tasso, Hampden and Milton, Watt 

 and Arkwright, Rittenhouse and Fulton. 



Let not the hardy sons of New England, then, 

 doubt of success in the application of efficient 

 means to ameliorate the condition of their tillage, 

 either from the rudeness of their climate, or the 

 less favorable character of their soil, compared 

 with the fertile savannahs of the South and the 

 beautiful prairies of the West. They have shown 

 what the Saxon blood can achieve, in the battle 

 field and on the deep, in science and in the arts, 

 in cofHmercial adventure and mechanical skill, 

 and they will not incur the stigma of degeneracy, 

 by failing to rival their own lineage of another 

 hemisphere, in that pursuit where they have at- 

 tained such marked distinction. 



It should be recollected, that it is not the geo- 

 graphical position or sterility of our inheritance, 

 which have thrown us in the rear of other nations ; 

 for that vast and favored region which lies under 

 more propitious skies, in the other extremity of 

 the Union, is not in advance of the North. 



There are many causes wliich have retarded 

 agricultural improvements throughout the United 

 States, other than the, natural difficulties which 

 are to be encountered. None, howevijr, have 

 operated more unfavorably, than the indifference 

 which has too generally prevailed in relation to 

 the subj ;ct, but more especially among those who, 

 from their ample means, distinguished attainments, 

 elevation of character, and the time which they 

 ndght devote to experimental inquiry, could ren- 

 der such essential service, both by their practical 

 operations and tVie powerful influence of their 

 example. There arc, it is true, illustrious excep- 

 tions to this lamentable and inexcusable neglect 

 of the noblest pursuit in which man can be en- 

 gaged, when taken in the widest scope of its in- 

 tellectiial, moral and physical influence. 



Strenuous and commendable exertions have 

 been made in many of the States, to induce a bet- 

 ter disposition. This society bears upon its roll 

 of members, the names of individuals, whose long 

 and faithful public services carmot be too highly 

 appreciated, whose patriotic ardor has experienced 



