MASS. BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 759 



of both the farmer and his profession. Where is the states- 

 man, philosopher, or politician, even, so blind as not to per- 

 ceive, that, should the plough stop, and the farmer relax, or 

 pause from his exertions but for a single year, not only would 

 all these boasted professions cease, but life itself. Over all 

 this beautiful earth, so teeming with riches, the pall of desola- 

 tion would be spread wide and deep. It is the hand of the 

 patient, but neglected farmer, who fills, by his labor, the golden 

 spoon of the capitalist. 



It is his labor that builds and freights the proud argosies of 

 commerce ; it is his labor that sustains our manufactures, and 

 spreads over the surface of the globe that net-work, upon 

 which the iron horse "annihilates space," and along which the 

 lightnings of Jove convey messages of love and hope, literally 

 from the "rivers to the ends of the earth." 



No scheme of improvement, no project of national aggran- 

 dizement, can be consummated without aid and assistance 

 from the farmer. Yet is he neglected ! Statutes and appro- 

 priations of public funds, for the dissemination of knowledge 

 immediately associated with the practical pursuit of agricul- 

 ture, are among the last things which will engross the mind, 

 or enter into the schemes of the partizan legislator. And this, 

 too, in a republican government, where the people are taxed 

 annually more than eight millions for the support of the 

 military. 



How differently, and with how much wiser discrimination 

 they order things in France — monarchical France I maybe 

 seen by the following extract from a letter written a few years 

 ago by Mr. Walsh, who was residing in Paris : — 



" We have regular reports of the sittings of the Convention 

 of Agriculturists of the North. The government lends it all 

 countenance and aid, and manifests a strong desire to estab- 

 lish societies and committees in every district of the realm. A 

 general scheme for this purpose was submitted on the 7th 

 instant by the inspector-general of agriculture, and was freely 

 and fully discussed." 



But it will, perhaps, be said, that the appropriation of money 

 for this purpose would be injudicious, because farmers, as a 

 class, have no desire to improve. That there is a reluctance 

 on the part of many agriculturists to avail themselves of the 



