14 THE IMPORTANCE OF 



not only in being furnished with more abundant supplies, 

 but in the increased demand for their fabrics and merchan- 

 dise. The more agriculture produces, the more she 

 sells — the more she buys ; and the business and comfort 

 of society are mainly influenced and controlled by the 

 results of her labors. 



^Agriculture, directly or indirectly, pays the burdens 

 of our taxes and our tolls, — which support the govern- 

 ment, and sustain our internal improvements ; and the 

 more abundant her means, the greater will be her contri- 

 butions. The farmer who manages his business igno- 

 rantly and slothfully, and who produces from it only just 

 enough for the subsistence of his family, pays no tolls on 

 the transit of his produce, and but a small tax upon the 

 nominal value of his lands. Instruct his mind, and awaken 

 him to industry, by the hope of distinction and reward, 

 so that he triples the products of his labor, the value of 

 his lands is increased in a corresponding ratio, his com- 

 forts are multiplied, his mind disinthralled, and two thirds 

 of his products go to augment the business and tolls of 

 our canals and roads. If such a change in the situation 

 of one farm, would add one hundred dollars to the wealth, 

 and one dollar to the tolls of the state, what an astonish- 

 ing aggregate would be produced, both in capital and in 

 revenue, by a similar improvement upon 250,000 farms, 

 the assumed number in the State of New York. The 

 capital would be augmented 25 mihions, and the revenue 

 two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum. 



^Agriculture is the principal source of our wealth. It 

 furnishes more productive labor, the legitim.ate source of 

 w^ealth, than all the other employments in society com- 

 bined. The more it is enlightened by science, the more 

 abundant will be its products ; the more elevated its char- 

 acter, the stronger the incitements to pursue it. What- 

 ever, therefore, tends to enlighten the agriculturist, tends 

 to increase the wealth of the state, and the means for the 

 successful prosecution of the other arts, and the sciences, 

 now indispensable to their profitable management. 



Agriculturists are the guardians of our freedom. 

 They are the fountains of political power. If the foun- 



