ADDRESS. 273 



The want of a sufficient outlay in the management of 

 our farms ; and 



The low estimation in which the employment has been 

 held by all classes, including farmers themselves. 



Agriculture has too generally been considered a busi- 

 ness requiring mere physical power, with which the prin- 

 ciples of natural science had little or nothing to do. To 

 plough, sow, and gather the crop, has been the general 

 routine of farming operations, regardless of the poverty 

 which our practice was inflicting upon the soil and upon 

 our children. Like the reckless heir of wealth, we found 

 ourselves in possession of a treasure ; and without inquir- 

 ing for what purpose it came into our hands, or realizing 

 our obligations to husband and preserve it, for others, we 

 have squandered it lavishly, through our ignorance or our 

 folly. True, we have been occasionally admonished of 

 our error, by the schoolmen ; who, wrapped in abstract 

 science, and knowing little practically of its application 

 to husbandry, have as often tended to confuse and mysti- 

 fy, as to enlighten and instruct. Hence the prejudice 

 which has arisen, against book-farming. But science and 

 art are now uniting their labors, and are deriving mutual aid 

 from each other, on the farm, as they have for some time 

 been doing in the manufactory and in the shop of the ar- 

 tisan. A new era is dawning upon the vision of the far- 

 mer ; a new light is illuming his path, and a new interest 

 and new pleasures are urging him on to improvement. 

 He begins to study the laws which Providence has or- 

 dained for the government of improved culture, and he 

 finds, in their application to his labors, the means of in- 

 creasing profits and high intellectual enjoyment. And 

 the more he studies and is guided by these laws, the more 

 does he become satisfied of former errors, and of his 

 comparatively limited sphere of usefulness. Science is 

 probably capable of rendering more important services to 

 husbandry than to any other branch of labor, and presents 

 a wider field of useful study to the cultivator of the soil, 

 than to any other class of society. 



The deficiency in farming capital, or rather the stin- 

 giness with which capital is employed in improving and 



