46 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



of vegetation are known, when every part of the earth capable 

 of cultivation is snbdued, when every soil has its appropriate 

 cultivated productions, then this science will have erected its 

 monuments of triumph, as enduring as tlie earth itself. 



Its trophies will be " the everlasting hills " and ever fruitful 

 vales. The signs of national glory will only be made more 

 attractive, while the relics of unjust tyranny will moulder in 

 the dust. We cannot, of course, expect to see this day, nor 

 will those after us, for many generations, behold its dawn. But 

 shall we not have its brightness before us, as an ultimate aim of 

 action ; an aim nearly as worthy and noble as the perfection of 

 human government, or the intellectual and moral renovation of 

 the race. 



I might allude — as an incidental illustration of the dignity 

 of this science, coming more properly under this head — to the 

 multitude of its devotees. That religion — in human view, at 

 least — is the most flourishing, which has the largest number 

 of adherents. So in science. The sculptor and the painter 

 practice an art, the principles of which, few master. Few 

 arrive at eminence in the knowledge of the sciences ; many 

 learn the mechanical arts, and become acquainted with the 

 principles of mechanism. But the most by far enter literally 

 upon the field of labor, and while they till the soil by manual 

 exertions, also feed the mind with those facts and theories 

 which the earth reveals. Scientific men, as such, have done, as 

 yet, but little, to advance the interests of the husbandman. 

 The most has been done by practical experimenters upon the 

 properties of the soil and its vegetable productions. Farmers 

 are led to the necessity — not however to so great an extent as 

 formerly — to learn their own science. The pursuit of agricul- 

 ture is older than any other pursuit. Every generation of men 

 have known something concerning it. We find also another 

 fact, and that is, that the noblest and truest of every rank 

 and profession, not only honor this work, but actually engage 

 in it. Philosophers, statesmen, and the wisest and best men 

 have handled the spade, a)id have wielded the scythe. Our 

 lamented Webster, I need not remind you, took a noble interest 

 in the great cause which we are laboring to promote. Only the 

 weakest men regard it as a disgrace to till the soil. On the 

 contrary, the dignity of labor is here most manifest. 



