500 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



Perhaps, in strict parlance, agriculture is too practical, and 

 not sufficiently abstract, to be classed among .the sciences. It 

 is rather a concentration of principles and facts collected from 

 every source and applied to the most extensive and beneficent 

 of possible purposes. If not a veritable science, it is an art, 

 upon which every science has set its seal to certify the beauty 

 and dignity of this foster-mother of mankind. The bird which 

 perches upon any branch of the tree of knowledge is, and has 

 a right to be, esteemed noble. Whence comes it, then, that 

 the votaries of a pursuit, demanding industry, learning, and in- 

 telligence, fail to enjoy that deferential regard which envelops 

 the learned professions in an atmosphere of respectful consid- 

 eration ? Before an answer could be framed for this query, it 

 is necessary to clear away an impediment which obstructs the 

 very threshold. A cant phrase has of late become current 

 among demagogues, who burn incense before a wooden idol, 

 which they are pleased to christen as the " dignity of labor." 

 This complimentary adulation may catch voters at the polls, but 

 conveys a fallacy inadmissible when we are in search of ster- 

 ling truth. There exists neither dignity, nor a phantom of 

 dignity, in labor unconnected with intelligence. On the con- 

 trary, sheer muscular effort converts a man into a machine — 

 the instrument by which the power of inertia is overcome, and 

 particles of matter removed from one position into another. 

 This function may be performed by every mule, water wheel, 

 and steam engine in the land ; but when strength is actuated 

 by a laudable object, and guided to its intended results by 

 combined intellect and knowledge, then indeed labor becomes 

 venerable. Only as the joint offspring of mind and matter is 

 it clothed with dignity. To consummate this nuptial union of 

 action with study and reflection, to connect labor, thought, and 

 science by a holy alliance, and thus to confer a real dignity and 

 efficiency upon three-fourths of the human race, is the high 

 problem reserved for solution by this nineteenth century. Let 

 us review some of the means of achieving an enterprise which, 

 if any thing mortal can be so characterized, is indeed godlike. 

 Had man been created without the gregarious instinct, he would 

 ever have remained a mere barbarian. The ideas and experi- 

 ence of a solitary savage perish with him; the ideas and expe- 



