24 ON FARMS. 



upon so small a capital. They prefer speculating in stock to 

 raising stock, and are more disposed to fleece the farmer than to 

 fleece the sheep. In a luxurious community it is natural to ex- 

 pect an aversion to labor ; and where wealth becomes with all 

 classes the paramount object, it is a matter of course that the 

 small and humble gains of the farmer should be looked upon 

 with indiflxsrence if not disgust ; and a profession disdained, which 

 however honest and satislactory its gains may be to a humble 

 mind, holds out no golden promises either to avarice or ambition. 

 The circumstances of our County likewise forbid our engag- 

 ing in the production of any great staple. We can grow neither 

 Wheat, nor Indian Corn, nor Hemp, nor Tobacco, nor raise Live 

 Stock, — nor fatten Beef or Pork extensively. We are favored 

 with numerous markets in the County and its vicinity ; and yet 

 there is scarcely an article, which we can produce, with which 

 there does not come into immediate and strong competition the 

 same article from some more favored clime. The products of 

 the rich alluvions of the West, and the new lands of our East- 

 ern neighbors, pouring in upon us in every direction by their nu- 

 merous rivers, canals, and railways, have essentially injured our 

 own agriculture, and diminished to an extraordinary degree the 

 value of our lands. These circumstances, together with the in- 

 creased price of labor owing to the demand for it in manufactur- 

 ing establishments, or the lessening of the number of hands by 

 emigration and commerce, very much cripple our agriculture ; 

 and put those among us, who with their families must either live 

 or die upon their land, to their wits' end, to know how to sup- 

 port themselves and obtain even a humble remuneration for their 

 labor ; compel them to raise whatever will sell, and to sell wiiat- 

 ever others will buy ; and, like retail merchants, to keep a va- 

 riety to suit the wants of the various customers to whom they 

 may have access. These circumstances make our farming ap- 

 pear to men accustomed to agriculture on a large scale a small 

 business ; and in many cases forbid men to make it an exclusive 

 pursuit and compel them to unite with their farming, that they 

 may find the means to live, the laboring on hire for others, or the 

 practice of some mechanical trade. It will not be denied on the 



