PRACTICAL FARMER 



135 



ADDRESS 



Be/ore the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Ag- 

 riculture. 



BY HENRY A. S. DEARBORN. 



Gentlemen of the Society and Fellow Citizens: — 



The first act of the Almighty, after " the dry land 

 appeared," was the creation of a plant, and sow- 

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

 civilization ; and the earliest achievemetit in the 

 industrious arts was the construction of a plough. 

 Whether we refer to the mythology of antiquity, 

 or the authentic records of historians, agriculture 

 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 g'orious period of their existence. 

 No matter hovv various may have been the char- 

 acter of once barbarous tribes, or how dissimilar 

 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 ])Iains 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 

 develojiements of mind, the sumptuousness of 

 wealth, and tlie embellishments of taste. 



The vicissitudes to which nations have been 

 subjected, forfn memorable eras in the history 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 l>een unknown elsewhere, vvhile it 

 has again fallen into desuetude, after having been 

 for centuries the general occupation ol" 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 Ittmian race were food and cloth- 

 ing 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 limitation in the 

 sentence for disobedience, as to the application of 

 the products of their industry — those of vegeta- 

 tion only being allowed as food : " Thou shalt eat 

 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 meat for you. 

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

 things." 



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, although on 

 receiving the sceptre of the earth, " 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, induced a less 

 laborious mode of subsistence than must have 

 been indispensable under the austere conditions 

 ■which the primeval inhabitants were permitted to 

 live. These wandering habits were continued 

 throughout Chaldea and Canaan, down to the pa- 

 triarchal ages of Isaac and Jacob, and siill prevail 

 in the East, among the Arab and Tartar shepherds 

 of the present day. Like the "t)fFspring 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 

 temjiorary places of encampment. 



It is a singular fact, that bread is not mentioned 

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

 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 flocks and herds ; and the most affluent had no 

 fixed or permanent residence, but were obliged to 

 roam over 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 numbers 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 



