FARMER'S COMPANION. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURE TO A NATION. 



There is no business of life which so highly conduces 

 o the prosperity of a nation, and to the happiness of its 

 entire population, as that of cultivating the soil. Agricul- 

 ture may be regarded, says the great Sully, as the breasts 

 from which the state derives support and nourishment. 

 Agriculture is truly our nursing mother, which gives food, 

 and growth, and wealth, and moral health and character, 

 to our country. It may be considered the great wheel 

 which moves all the machinery of society ; and that 

 whatever gives to this a new impulse, communicates a 

 corresponding impetus to the thousand minor wheels of 

 interest which it propels and regulates. While the other 

 classes of the community are directly dependant upon 

 agriculture, for a regular and sufficient supply of the 

 means of subsistence, the agriculturist is able to supply 

 all the absolute wants of life from his own labors ; though 

 he derives most of his pleasures and profits from an in- 

 terchange of the products of labor with the other classes 

 of society. Agriculture is called the parent of arts, not 

 only because it was the first art practised by man, but 

 because the other arts are its legitimate offspring, and 

 cannot continue long to exist without it. It is the great 

 business of civilized life, and gives employment to a vast 

 majority of almost every people. 



The substantial prosperity of a country is always in 

 the ratio of its agricultural industry and wealth. Com- 

 merce and manufactures may give temporary consequence 



