498 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



be wide and the soil deep, Nature, in her greatest exuberance, 

 may be exhausted by extravagance or wasted by neglect. 



Our land policy is governed more by the spirit of acquisition 

 than by the duty of improvement. Annexation, and not cultiva- 

 tion, is the great effort of both government and people. Such a 

 system may acquire a wide domain, where millions of men may 

 for a time luxuriate upcm the bounties of Nature and erect 

 temples to Liberty and altars to Bacchus ; but without the 

 educated efforts of an intelligent yeomanry to apply the aids 

 of arts and science, to renovate the soil and multiply its pro- 

 ductions, temples and altars, like the shrines and palaces of 

 Rome, may survive in majestic poverty the productive energies 

 of the land, and these great acquisitions become a barren 

 domain of worn-out lands — a mighty waste of Nature disfigur- 

 ing the map of the world. 



The danger which threatens the prosperity of our agricul- 

 ture lies in the superabundance of its resources. Ignorance 

 and indolence may enjoy, in common with intelligence and in- 

 dustry, the overflowing fountains of Nature ; the abundance of 

 our lands and the liberal policy of our legislation may give to 

 every man a farm ; but neither land nor laws can make every 

 man a farmer. Nature, more prudent than governments, hus- 

 bands her resources, and will only continue to yield her treas- 

 ures when sought for by the cunning hand of skilful labor. 

 Barbarians may for a time feast upon the primeval fruits of 

 the earth, and the brute force of a higher association, sufficient 

 to deal with Nature's rough and rugged materials, may clear 

 the ground of trees and rocks, and gather large crops from new 

 lands ; but progressive husbandry requires other and higher 

 agencies ; art must come to the aid of manual labor, and science 

 to the relief of exhausted nature. The farmer must be educated, 

 and his employment elevated to its appropriate sphere as a 

 liberal art, that our fields may be saved, not only from reckless 

 waste and premature decay, but renewed and strengthened in 

 their productive powers, to meet the wants of an increasing 

 population. 



Under this comprehensive view agriculture presents itself 

 to the contemplative eye in three distinct aspects — as a neces- 

 sity, as an art, as a science. When viewed as a necessity, the 



