00-2 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



conveys as much pleasure as that Vv'hich causes palaces to spring 

 out of the rough stones of the quarry. There are those whose 

 well directed sentiments lead them in this direction : and the 

 land wiiich they have subdued to tillage, and adorned with love- 

 liness, whilst it has been a noble monument to their taste and 

 masnificence, has excited emulation, diflused more correct and 

 useful ideas, and has been a subject of study and improvement 

 to surrounding admirers. Some opulent men, of extensive in- 

 formation aud liberal views, have by their intelligent and ad- 

 vanced modes of cultivation, conferred immense benefit on a 

 large region. The spot which they have selected as the sub- 

 ject of their operations, and upon which they have bestowed 

 their successful skill, has been a school of instruction to a 

 whole community. In proportion as farming assumes a higher 

 rank and becomes invested with new attractions, such in* 

 stances will be multiplied : and we shall see those splendid 

 monuments of wealth and intelligence adorning the surface of 

 the country. 



Mr. Webster might have expended the funds which he has 

 devoted to his farm of fifteen hundred acres, at Marshfield, to 

 the erection of a splendid mansion in Boston. But the farm is 

 a nobler monument to his republican and old Roman taste, 

 than would be a palace in the metropolis, whose architecture 

 should surpass all Grecian fame. 



Lastly. As a necessary consequence, farming would become 

 more productive and profitable, particularly in the older parts 

 of the country. 



I have alluded to the influence of slavery in this country, in 

 producing a constant deterioration of the soil. But the land 

 has become much exhausted in the free states also. If, as it is 

 confidently asserted, a thousand millions of dollars are required 

 to repair the effect of injudicious and wasting culture, and to 

 restore the lands to their original fertility, it is high time that 

 an improved system should be introduced. Be it remembered 

 that this deterioration has arrived at its present point under the 

 labors of practical farmers, so called: those men. of whom it 

 has been said that they possess all the knowledge which is of 

 any value to field culture. If the only valuable knowledge 



