MR. HAZEN's address. 11 



to be increased in still greater proportion than this increase of 

 the population, from what shores, and by what navies should the 

 provisions for her supply be freighted ? England, on an extent 

 of territory considerably less than that of New England, contains 

 a population equal to that of the whole United States at the last 

 census. Yet such is her confidence in the resources and products 

 of her own agriculture, that the importation of all such articles 

 as they can supply is restrained. How wonderful is the specta- 

 cle, when having provided for her own consumption, we see that 

 narrow island, loaded and crowded with its millions, excelling the 

 world in arts and commerce, imparting from the stores of its 

 abundant fertility, grain for the food of the people scattered over 

 this broad continent. What an illustration is this of what agri- 

 culture may be made to accomplish ! Yet all the improvements, 

 that have made the agriculture of that country so productive, 

 date back to a period little beyond the last half century. Before 

 this time land was looked upon as a source of power, rather than 

 of revenue. The object of cultivation was a mere and a very 

 wretched subsistence. The only modes of cultivation were those 

 which descend^, like their religion and their laws, from their 

 ancestors. Sura however, since that time, has been the progress 

 of improvement, it is now doubtful, whether with all the advan- 

 tages of labor saving machinery, the advances made in manufac- 

 tures have much exceeded those made in agriculture. In the 

 meantime the increase of her population has only been equalled 

 by that of the United States. The stock to be maintained from 

 the products of the soil has multiplied in a still greater ratio. A 

 greater luxuriance in the productions of the earth, the fruit of a 

 richer culture, has added to the size and improved the symme- 

 try of the domestic animals. At the beginning of the last centu- 

 ry, the average gross weight of the cattle brought to the market 

 in Smithfield, did not exceed three hundred and seventy pounds, 

 and that of sheep, twenty eight pounds ; the present average 

 weight of cattle in the same market, is eight hundred pounds, and 

 of sheep eighty pounds. And the limits of improvement are by 

 no means supposed to be attained. It is the opinion of practical 

 men best acquainted with the subject, that the raw produce of 



