107 



competition with the first fruits of the richer soil of our 

 younger States. Moreover, a spirit of discontent has 

 prevailed ; said some, the lot of our Pilgrim Fathers did 

 not fall in a goodly place ; the promised land of this 

 Western world lies beyond in the great valley; why 

 delve we here amid these many hills, rocky fields and 

 sterile plains ? let us go and possess it ! Others said, 

 money can be made easier and quicker in the factory, 

 the work-shop, or counting-room, and we will go hither! 

 Our business men have spoken contemptuously of till- 

 ing such a soil as this ; Eastern capitalists largely inter- 

 ested in Western railroads and in the sale of lands, have 

 urged on emigration from our rural districts ; every man 

 thus withdrawn from the farm is a material loss to our 

 agriculture. When the ranks of our farmers have been 

 continually thinned by the removal of the young and ro- 

 bust, what could our old men do ? Where was the en- 

 couragement for them to remodel their buildings, buy la- 

 bor-saving machines, smooth down their rough fields, un- 

 derdrain and adopt all the new improvements of the 

 day? Where would our manufactures be were it not 

 for the young men crowding into every department 

 ready and willing to rise early and bear the heavier bur- 

 dens, and who have the courage and spirit to try the 

 new projects ? If under such circumstances our farms 

 have held their OAvn, they have done well ; if they show 

 a decrease it is not surprising. 



It is well known that the production of food in our 

 State is not equal to the consumption, and from the fore- 

 going it will be seen we are less and loss able to meet 

 the demands of the yearly increasing population. Our 

 markets are so regularly supplied at all seasons of the • 

 year that it is difficult to tell how much comes from 



