24 



regret ; and deem it no small abatement of the advantages, 

 which the establishment of extensive manufactures has obvi- 

 ously yielded to the country, that it removes the daughter from 

 the shelter and security of the paternal roof, and places her in 

 a situation, which certainly furnishes no means of qualifying her 

 for the proper department of woman ; to preside over our do- 

 mestic establishments ; to perform her part in the joint labors 

 of the household ; and to know how and when and where to 

 use, prepare, and to apply to the best advantage within doors, 

 the products of man's labor without doors. Many occupations 

 of female industry, strictly domestic however, of a healthy and 

 agreeable nature, are constantly presenting themselves, so that 

 there is little danger that the race of industrious women, and 

 accomplished wives, at least among the country girls, will soon 

 be extinct ; and the silk culture, fast gaining ground among 

 us, promises to furnish an unexhausted resource and a profit- 

 able employment of female labor. 



IV. A variety of important topics press themselves on this 

 occasion upon our attention ; but I forbear, having already 

 trespassed too far upon the candor of my respected audience. 



Agriculture is a great subject. The first of all the arts, it 

 may derive aid from them all. The foundation of human sub- 

 sistence, comfort, and enjoyment, the origin of all wealth, and 

 the basis of commerce and manufactures, it deserves the pro- 

 found attention of enlightened and philanthropic minds. That 

 attention it has often and will continue to receive. Agricul- 

 ture is already greatly in debt to science. Ignorance and pre- 

 judice may deny the obligations ; but all the great improve- 

 ments, which have ever been made in agriculture, have been 

 effected by the inquiries and experiments of men of enlighten- 

 ed and active minds, of wealth and public spirit. Their ex- 

 periments have been made often at a serious expense to them- 

 selves, but at a proportionate gain to others. They have often 

 been wholly unsuccessful ; but in an art so entirely practical 

 as agriculture, it is as important to know what cannot, as to de- 



