152 SELECTIONS FROM ADDRESSES. 



sentiment of Cicero. I maintain, that there is a mutual depend- 

 ence between agriculture and the other important pursuits and 

 interests of society. 



I might have derived this principle from a higher authority 

 than Cicero ; for Solomon has said, " the profit of the earth is 

 for all; the king himself is served by the field"; as much as 

 to say, no class of the community, from the lowest to the high- 

 est, can live independent of agriculture. And on the other hand, 

 it is easy to show that agriculture is dependent in a great meas- 

 ure, for its successful cultivation, upon other pursuits. To prove 

 and illustrate both parts of this proposition, will be my object 

 on this occasion. 



The mutual dependence between the arts, manufactures, com- 

 merce and agriculture, will need but a few words of illustra- 

 tion, because familiar to all. In order to success in any impor- 

 tant pursuit, it is necessary that a man should give to it an 

 undivided, constant, and nearly exclusive attention. Neither 

 the farmer, mechanic, or merchant, can be thriving and suc- 

 cessful, if he do not rise up early and sit up late, and make his 

 business a leading object of pursuit. He cannot successfully 

 combine two or more of these branches of labor, unless it be as 

 mere over-sight. What, then, could the merchant, mechanic or 

 manufacturer do, without the products of the soil? and how 

 could he obtain them, were there not a class of men exclusively 

 devoted to their growth ? Take a single example. The ex- 

 ports of the United States, in 1835, amounted to more than 101 

 millions of dollars ; of which about 75 millions, or more than 

 three quarters, were agricultural products. Let the farmer then 

 cease his labors, and it would almost sweep commerce from the 

 ocean, shut up almost every merchant's shop, and starve out 

 most of our mechanics and manufacturers. 



On the other hand, let not the farmer imagine, because he is 

 the principal producer, that he is independent of commerce, 

 arts, and manufactures. His existence might, indeed, be con- 

 tinued without them ; but it would be only existence as a sav- 

 age; and of course only a small fraction of the present popula- 

 tion of a country could in this way even exist. Besides, they 

 would owe their sustenance, not to agriculture, but rather to 



