RELATION OF AGRICULTURE TO THE STATE. 49 



satisfaction upon the gentlemen now here, and who participate 

 in the festivities of the institution which introduced them into 

 the line of business they have so successfully carried out, and 

 trust they will never be oblivious to the filial attention due to 

 their foster parent. 



Why have the manufacturers excelled so greatly in their 

 calling, and agriculture hardly maintained its foothold, making 

 but slight if any progress ? " They have kept their eye," as 

 the saying is, "upon their gun." They adapt their manufac- 

 tured articles to the wants of the community. They are not 

 content to run in one rut and trust to Providence for godsends, 

 but sell high or sell low as the demand for their goods increases 

 or abates ; change from one style to another as public tastes 

 fluctuate ; and above all they observe closely, adapt their 

 machinery to the reduction of manual labor as much as pos- 

 sible, and take advantage of every new improvement, any new 

 suggestions which may tend to lessen the cost of their products 

 and enable them successfully to compete with their fellow- 

 laborers in the same department. If they need more looms 

 or other machinery they are not content with duplicating the 

 old pattern, but look about, and whether the article is native 

 or foreign, if it is an improvement, if it will do the work bet- 

 ter, if in the end, though the present price is greatly beyond 

 the old one, it will reduce the cost of their fabrics, they intro- 

 duce it. Every steam-engine, every new loom, every ship that 

 is newly built, is an improvement upon its predecessors, because 

 not only those employed in its construction as artificers, but 

 those who will make use of it for profit, are on the alert to 

 take every advantage of the constantly improving skill and 

 knowledge of the day. 



Here, my friends, is where the farmers fail. They are too 

 content to walk in the footsteps of their fathers ; too much 

 afraid to experiment even with the new implements brought 

 to their doors. They are hardly emancipated from the old 

 superstitions that it is unnatural to grow large crops by artifi- 

 cial means; that the art of printing is an invention of the Devil, 

 and all knowledge derived from books supernatural, and not to 

 be employed in advancing their calling ; that a lecturer on agri- 

 culture who is not a practical farmer is a " carpet-bagger," who 

 should be reconstructed out of the county ; and many are just 

 7* 



