42 



TRANSACTIONS 



by men who have gained their fortunes and formed their tastes under 

 other influences than those of husbandry. A farm cottage, in New 

 England, built by one who has been a farmer from his youth, and 

 adorned with the appliances of taste, is even now a rare object. Few- 

 men, in these communities, have the means to gratify a taste for rural 

 ornament, if it existed. They are obliged to study the strictest econ- 

 omy, in every thing, and have acquired a fixed habit of despising 

 ornament. A man, who has a family to support, taxes to pay, and 

 old age to provide for, is thought to be in poor business when he 

 spends time and money merely to make his walls, fences, grounds, 

 and buildings, look better. Many a house still stands, innocent of 

 paint, though there is economy, as well as beauty, in it ; unprotected 

 by a single shade-tree, though there is health, as well as ornament, 

 in its shade and foliage. The roadsides, in these communities, are 

 rarely adorned with trees. The population have been too busy to 

 think of them ; or perhaps have feared the encroachment of their 

 roots upon the adjoining fields. Even gardens for fruits and vege- 

 tables are sadly neglected, though they are so essential to health. 



Agricultural science will also have a tendency to condense popula- 

 tion upon a given territory, and thus to afford greater facilities for 

 the mental, moral, and. re/igious cultivation of the people. If the 

 teachings of science are at all reliable, the present productiveness of 

 the soil is no measure of its capacities to yield sustenance to man and 

 beast. It is not extravagant to suppose that scientific husbandry 

 would double the population of the old parish; and, at the same 

 time, increase the wealth of individuals 



This is not mere conjecture, for improved husbandry has actually 

 realized the density of population Ave have supposed. The kingdom 

 of Belgium maintains a population three or four times more dense 

 than that of New England ; not because her soil is naturally richer, 

 but because it is better cultivated. Scientific agriculture has made 

 large portions of that country a garden. This density of population, 

 with our thrift and civil and religious institutions, would give a per- 

 fection of human society, that has never yet been realized. 



We have seen, in the discussion, that agricultural science will dis- 

 sipate the darkness and ignorance, that now prevails in our rural dis- 

 tricts, upon the subject of husbandry ; that it will give a healthful 

 excitement to communities now stagnant and monotonous ; and prove 

 in itself a means of intellectual culture, and by other means, will 

 stimulate that culture ; that it will make husbandry lucrative and 



