THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. 243 



ence to the laborer." — But what, says the impatient " practical man," has this to 

 do with Agriculture ? Why, 07ili/ihat it shows how Agriculture thrives and sub- 

 sistence is augmented, and with it population, when roads and canals provide easy 

 transportation to market, and save for direct production the labor that had been em- 

 ployed in exchanging. The saying is imputed, we believe, to the late Nathaniel 

 Macon, that he would not like to live in a State where the population was so dense 

 that any farmer could " hear his neighbor's dog bark ;" and we can believe it, as 

 he once told us himself that he would not live where there was a laro against dogs ! 

 " Each of my negroes keeps one, and I keep thirteen," said he. But where would 

 this country have been if all had been, like him, advocates of the stand-still policy ? 

 Hence has it, in part, happened with his State, North Carolina, that with an area 

 of 26,832,960 acres, within a fraction of New-York, she has only one-third the 

 population ; and (speaking of dog laws) she has 538,279 sheep against 5,118,777 

 in New- York — so stood the account in 1840. New- York had, two years since, 

 increased her flocks to 5,443,855. How much has North Carolina increased hers 

 in the same time, with every negro his dog, and every master his thirteen ? 

 New- York clipped, in 1845, of wool, 13,864,828 lbs., which at 33 cents a pound 

 was worth $4, 621, 602 ! ! Let us here ask, as not inapposite 1o the subject in 

 hand, how many farmers in North Carolina have read the very able and conclu- 

 sive letters by H. S. Kandall, now appearing in The Farmers' Library, demon' 

 strative of the resources and capacity of the Soutiiern States for successful Sheep 

 Husbandry ? We pray you, reader, is there not something of a " practical " as- 

 pect in this view of the question ? But again, as to the practical advantages of 

 a populous over a sparsely settled State, if each enjoyed an isolated, independ- 

 ent existence, not united under one government, with power according to popu- 

 lation, we are not sure that we, too, would not prefer for personal comfort a thin 

 settlement, where one could barely hear the shrill note of his next neighbor's old 

 gander in a clear, frosty night, or just see the smoke from his chimney rising over 

 intervening woods and hills at daylight in the morning. But be it remembered 

 that ours is a ^at/;-manufacturing country, and more than half the year is spent in 

 making new laws and tinkering those that are not yet old ; and when the conflict 

 of local interests and local policy, likely, unfortunately, to be more and more invet- 

 erate — ^when that comes on in the halls of legislation, does not population tell? 

 Besides, the law of Nature is that with prosperous and increasing population, all 

 industries thrive, all arts improve, and the sources of comfort and happiness 

 multiply. 



But we are rambling into views of the subject of political power and resources, 

 which we did not here propose to touch ; nevertheless, we have it ia contempla- 

 tion to give, as far as materials offer, similar sketches of the agricultural condi- 

 tion of all the States, as they will present facts connected with the husbandry 

 and politico-agricultural power of each, with which every young man ought to 

 he familiar ; and we shall persist in writing for them, whether their fathers 

 choose, or not, to let them see what we offer. In fact^ we mean (thanks to the 

 liberality of our Publishers, and our abundance of materials !) to present such 

 matter for the benefit and instruction of the rising school of American husband- 

 men, as must force its own way, whether channels are opened for it or not. — 

 Those who don't take The Faiimkrs' Library now, will have to go back for it 

 by-and-by, v/hon the amount will tell, besides losing the benefit in the mean 

 time for themselves and their sons. But preliminary to an exhibition of the 

 agricultural resources and products of the State of New- York, it occurs to us to 

 make one other reoiark, for the benefit of those of the stand-still school, who 



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