8 MR. hazen's address. 



ately disappear." But if a farmer is unthrifty, the progress of 

 his decay is marked on his possessions ; these for years tell the 

 stcry of his decline to every passenger. In such instances, there 

 have commonly been defects in the character of the proprietor 

 which would much earlier have set the seal of ruin upon him in 

 any other vocation. There is probably no occupation which in 

 the aggregate has added more to the general wealth, and which 

 has so surely led to competency in manhood and to ease in old 

 age. A business which is attended with such results cannot 

 reasonably be suffered to decline because it is not sufficiently 

 profitable ; for where it is safe to calculate so much, superior 

 sagacity and enterprise may accomplish much more. This pur- 

 suit will always retain the advantage which it may justly claim 

 from its certainty. In some seasons, drought, excessive rains, 

 insects or frosts, may diminish or perhaps cut off the expected 

 crop. The vicissitudes of wet and dry injure some lands, and 

 benefit others. Frosts and insects are the only fatal and unspar- 

 ing enemies from whose visitation no good comes to any. But 

 the scarcity of one crop is supplied by the fulness of another, or 

 the abundance of one year compensates the deficiency of 

 another, so that an average of any five or ten years will not leave 

 much difference of profits. The surplus may sometimes be large, 

 and sometimes perhaps nothing may be left after paying the ex- 

 penses of cultivation and providing for the support of the family. 

 Still in the productions of the farm are found a very large pro- 

 portion of those things, the purchase of which constitutes the 

 expense of living. This advantage cannot be impaired by the 

 numbers who are competitors. But as speculations or specula- 

 tors multiply, their chances of success must be diminished. As 

 the ranks of the professions are swelled, support must become 

 more precarious. As the numbers of mechanics and manufac- 

 turers become disproportionate to those of the rest of the com- 

 munity, their profits will be decreased, — besides their constant 

 dependance on the state of trade and the general prosperity. 

 The very dereliction of husbandry, and the reliance of so many 

 upon other occupations, have a tendency to increase their risks. 

 When these chances of failure are better appreciated, when the 



