ADDKESS. 37 



the ethics of no school in theology will directly meet. Were their 

 hearers 



" all ear 



And took in strains, that might create a soul 

 Under the ribs of deatli," 



they could not make of them flourishing congregations. The souls 

 are not there, to be converted. There is not capacity in the wretched 

 husbandry that prevails, to sustain them, and make them energet- 

 ic and thriving parishes, if they were converted. Religion corrects 

 the maladies of the heart. It does not promise, directly, to remedy 

 the defects of the mind, or to reform the bad results of a wrong men- 

 tal training. Piety will not give a man the results of experience and 

 business tact. It will not, directly, make a man a better farmer. 

 But, finding a farmer, or mechanic, intelligent in his business, it will 

 furnish him with new motives for its vigorous prosecution, and teach 

 him to make a wiser use of his accumulations. There is a physical, 

 rather than a moral cause, for many of these spiritual wastes, and 

 waning parishes, in New England, and there must be corresponding 

 appliances, to remedy the evil. 



The one thing wanted, to renovate the soil, and to bring back 

 prosperity to these parishes, is scientific agriculture. This will make 

 husbandry as profitable as other callings, and will change it, from 

 dull plodding and drudgery, to a business of intelligence and taste. 

 The aspiring sons of our New England farmers, finding employment 

 for mind, as well as muscle, in husbandry, can easily be retained at 

 home, to improve and adorn this heritage of the pilgrims. This nur- 

 sery of n^on and women for our country, and for. the world, Avill be 

 enabled to send out, still, the men and women the world needs. 



The first results of this science Avill be the dissipation of the thick 

 darkness, that broods over nearly all our farming communities. The 

 husbandman, instead of being a stereotyped fixture in society, as he 

 now is, will become a learner, like the men, who follow other pur- 

 suits. It may be said of this science, as was once said of higher 

 truth, " The light shincth in darkness, and the darkness comprehend- 

 eth it not." So far as the large majority of this portion of the com- 

 munity are concerned, such men as Stephens, Johnston, Jackson, 

 Norton, Teschmaker, Harris, and many others, write and talk to no 

 purpose. There is no communication between them and the agricul- 

 tural world, that so needs the truths they are bringing to light, and 



