482 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



is the main and essential foundation of all agricultural wealth. 

 * * * The recuperative powers of Nature are indeed con- 

 tinually operating, and to a great effect, to repair the waste of 

 fertility caused by the destructive industry of man; and but 

 for this natural and imperfect remedy all these Southern States 

 (and most of the Northern likewise) would be already barren 

 deserts, in which agricultural labors would be hopeless of re- 

 ward, and civilized man could not exist." 



In support of the allegations thus brought into view a mass 

 of evidence might be adduced and a variety of illustrations 

 presented and enforced ; but it can hardly be deemed necessary 

 to do so. 



It is a singular fact, that, whilst suggestions of improvement 

 in the commercial and manufacturing departments of industry 

 are almost instantly appreciated and put in practice, those re- 

 lating to agriculture, no matter how valuable, are often for a 

 long time discarded. When Eli Whitney tendered his cotton 

 gin, preeminently beneficial to southern planters, they should in- 

 stantly have crowned him with riches and honors. He died in 

 indigence ; but the glories of his memory will not perish. 



When Jethro Wood tendered to the northern ploughmen his 

 cast-iron ploughshare, how often was heard the cold, incredu- 

 lous remark, " It may possibly work in some lands, not gener- 

 ally; the old-fashioned plough is, after all, best; it is not so 

 heavy ; there isn't so much iron about it to break; and besides, 

 the wooden chip and mould board of the old plough won't 

 rust " ! Thank Heaven, the iron plough is now the plough of 

 the age, and Jethro Wood deserves a place in history among 

 the benefactors of the world. 



Thirty-four years ago, Henry Clay, himself an ardent lover 

 of agriculture, in one of his eloquent speeches on the protection 

 of home industry — a topic forever worthy of being pondered 

 and studied by American citizens and American statesmen — 

 spoke thus : " In one respect there is a great difference in favor 

 of manufactures when compared with agriculture — it is the 

 avidity with which the whole manufacturing community avail 

 themselves of an improvement. It is instantly communicated 

 and put in operation. There is an avidity for improvement in 

 the one system — an aversion to it in the other. The habits 



