DEMANDS OF AGRICULTURE. 483 



of generation after generation pass down the long track of time 

 in perpetual succession without the -lightest change in agricul- 

 ture. The ploughman who fastens his plough to the tails of 

 his cattle will not own that there is any other mode equal to 

 his. An agricultural people will he in the neighborhood of 

 other communities who have made the greatest progress in 

 husbandry without advancing the slightest degree." There is, 

 perhaps, some comfort in the subsequent remark he makes — 

 namely, that " many parts of our country are one hundred years 

 in advance of Sweden in the cultivation and improvement of the 

 soil." 



We doubt not our farmers of the present day, compared with 

 their predecessors, are mending in regard to the accepting of 

 improvements ; but their tastes and habits in this respect are 

 greatly susceptible of advancement and further culture. 



Agriculture is a great national concernment. It has a right, 

 therefore, so far as it is constitutionally practicable, to require 

 the fostering care of government; and that this care, to a 

 greatly beneficial extent, may be given, need not be disputed. 

 Permit me here to present the sentiments and language of the 

 '•'father of his country." Says Washington, in his message to 

 Congress in December, 1796, "It will not be doubted that, 

 with reference either to individual or national welfare, agricul- 

 ture is of primary importance. In proportion as nations ad- 

 vance in population and other circumstances of maturity this 

 truth becomes more and more an object of public patronage. 

 Institutions for promoting it grow up, supported by the public 

 purse ; and to what object can it be dedicated with greater 

 success than the establishment of boards composed of proper 

 characters, charged with collecting and diffusing information, 

 and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids to encour- 

 age ami assist a spirit of discovery and improvement? This 

 species of establishments contributes doubly to the increase of 

 improvement, by stimulating to enterprise and experiment, and 

 by drawing to a common centre the results every where of in- 

 dividual skill and observation, and spreading them thence i 

 the whole nation. Experience accordingly has shown that 

 they are very cheap instruments of immense national bene' . 

 And he then proceeds to urge upon the consideration of Con- 



