AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 501 



rience of millions of congregated during thousands of 



years, thrown by juxtaposition into one fermenting ami teem* 

 ing mass, have transformed this Bavage into a philosopher. 

 Armed with the telescope and the microscope, the chemical bath 

 and the electric battery, the pristine barbarian now unveils 

 Nature, traces her combinations on this our globe, ami an- 

 nounces her laws amid the inaccessible orbs of the Milky \ 

 The smooth marble is not self-polished, but derives its lustre 

 from the friction of another similar fragment. The rough mind 

 becomes polished by friction against other minds equally rough. 

 Association, then, reciprocal movement, interchange, are the 

 sole basis of improvement, alike in rational and material, in 

 mental as well as in physical, constitution. 



The operation of this gregarious tendency is counteracted 

 among farmers by the very nature of their pursuits. Their 

 residence must necessarily be separated by considerable dis- 

 tances; and the brief intervals of labor can be enjoyed only 

 occasionally in familiar intercourse. 



Hence the distinction between urban and rural population — 

 between the acute, bustling, sharp-witted, speculative artisan, 

 and the slow, steady, reflective, sagacious husbandman. To 

 compensate this disparity, the social principle must be sum- 

 moned into activity; and agricultural societies seem the best, 

 nay, the only, practical remedy. Celebrations, then, such as 

 this, which now concentrates a wide district, may be considered 

 as the preliminary step towards the realization of the true dig- 

 nity of labor. Remote friends are here collected to interchange 

 ideas and experiences, to compare machinery and practices, to 

 distribute novel seeds or exhibit choice animals, and, beyond 

 all, to exalt the intellectual faculties by emulation and re- 

 ciprocal contact. This goodly company is a whetstone to 

 sharpen ingenuity, a stimulant to amicable and honorable 

 rivalry, a friction of mind against mind, polishing and in 

 rating at every encounter. 



Thus can the union be consummated between reflection and 

 action, between acute mind and indefatigable body. The dig- 

 nity of labor will cease to be mere cant when the sound mind, 

 actuating a robust body, reconciles the maximum of produce to 

 the minimum of effort. 



