168 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



gregate amoimt in such a case throughout the State, would be 

 immense ; and this all obtained without any expensive advances 

 or any great risks, or any labor, but that which is now compar- 

 atively unproductive and otherwise unavailable. It may be 

 considered in such case, as almost a clear gain ; and whether it 

 pays as well for labor, as other branches of agricultural or man- 

 ufacturing pursuit or not, is of little consideration, compared 

 with the fact, that it pays something and a reasonable compen- 

 sation, where otherwise nothing would be obtained. 



XXXII. Silk Culture FOR THE Clergy. — L There is another 

 class of persons, to whom the culture of silk would afford peculiar 

 advantages, and prove in no way inappropriate to their condi- 

 tion, or inconsistent with their duties ; I mean the clergy. 

 Every intelligent person, acquainted by experience and inter- 

 course with society in New England, especially in its rural de- 

 partments, knows what an invaluable blessing, viewed merely 

 in a social aspect, this order of men together with the religious 

 institutions, which rise or fall in a measure as they rise or fall, 

 have proved to the community ; and how much it is indebted 

 to them for the good order, the good manners, and the highly 

 improved condition which distinguish it. But that the min- 

 istry may be useful, it must be, in a degree, independent ; and 

 that, at the same time, it may retain its hold upon the commu- 

 nity, it must not be felt to be burdensome. In the present 

 condition of society, nothing has become more precarious than 

 the tenure of the ministerial relation ; and nothing more dis- 

 couraging in the discharge of their responsible duties, than the 

 state of dependance upon public caprice, not to say public 

 charity, in which they are now placed. To a truly pious and 

 benevolent mind, it will be always grateful and delightful to 

 dispense the gospel, as far as possible, without charge ; and, if 

 an apostle, that he might do this, served at his trade of tent- 

 maker, a good minister will esteem it a privilege to be able, 

 where it can be done without interfering with his professional 

 duties and improvement, to supply, in a measure, by his own 



