580 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



Is not this of itself a desirable life, and does it not become 

 most exceedingly attractive, when the farmer possesses that 

 knowledge which I have advocated before you ? When he 

 can look upon his soil as the great laboratory, in which his in- 

 telligent skill shall direct and control the preparations for the 

 benefit of his plants ; when he knows of what those plants 

 should consist, and with what he must furnish them ; and when 

 he sees clearly their connection with the animal economy, so 

 that he can intelligently direct every operation in feeding and 

 fattening, his occupation assumes an engrossing interest, and 

 with his pure air and bright green landscape around him, he 

 need envy no other mortal being. 



The Importance of Agriculture and the Means and Mo- 

 tives roR ITS Promotion. 



[Ext7'ad from an Address, hy Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, at the last Fair of 

 the Hampshire Jlgricidtural Society.] 



The importance of Agriculture appears from its paternal 

 relation to other employments. It is the central wheel of the 

 great industrial machine. Accelerate or retard its motion, and 

 you change the action of all the rest. Agriculture is industry's 

 eldest child, the primary element of social organization, and 

 the foundation of property, order and civil institutions. Twice 

 in the history of the world, has the human race consisted of 

 a single family conducting all the arts of life, and depending 

 exclusively upon this primeval pursuit for support. In every 

 period, its praises have been celebrated both in poetry and 

 song. Scripture also abounds in illustrations and scenes from 

 pastoral life. The rewards of this art have blessed the past 

 and its promises gild the future. It is the almoner of heaven's 

 bounty, distributing to all with a liberal hand. How has it 

 converted the noxious bog and barren waste into highly culti- 

 vated fields, and made the dreary wilderness to bud and blos- 

 som like the rose ! How have its benign influences illumined 

 the dark abodes of want and misery ! Oft has it fed the hun- 

 gry, clothed the naked, and caused the desolate heart to shout 



