36 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



> 



has bestowed upon us in such profusion — in short, 

 if we would be truly independent, not only in name 

 but in reality, we must profit by the experience of 

 others ; and from the improvements made in foreign 

 countries, select such as are adapted to our soil, 

 chmate, and liabits. It is high time that we ask 

 ourselves the question in earnest, whether we are 

 to become tributary to foreign nations for the neces- 

 saries of life "? whether, with the finest soils, the 

 most varied climates, the most unliiiiited sources of 

 production, we are still to be dependant on the boun- 

 ty, caprice, or self-interest of others "? in fine, we 

 should consider which is the most honourable im- 

 portation for such a nation as ours — knowledge or 

 bread. 



CHAPTER III. 



BTATE OF AGRICULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Its Depressed Condition. — Rate of Production.— Causes of its 

 Depressed Condition. — Means of improving our Husbandry. 



That the agriculture of the United States does 

 not, to use a commercial phrase, rank with that of 

 the most favoured nations, is perhaps generally ad- 

 mitted ; that it might, with proper care, be made to 

 do so, does not admit of controversy ; and it may be 

 well to inquire into some of the causes that lead to 

 this state of things. With one of the most fertile 

 countries by nature on the face of the globe, we do 

 not, in the amount of our products, equal that of 

 countries far less favoured, but which, by superior 

 skill in cultivation, have attained a fertility unknown 

 among us. As examples of this, -we may name 

 England, Belgium, and a portion of Germany; in 



