XVi ADDRESS. 



means not yet understood, become springs of water ; 

 the deserts, not absolutely and incurably barren, may 

 rejoice and blossom as the rose ; and improved modes 

 of cultivation may multiply many fold the harvests of 

 the husbandman. The present population of the globe, 

 according to the most reliable estimates is a little less 

 than 1,300,000,000, (1,280,000,000.) 



At the rate at which Belgium is peopled, the terri- 

 tory of the United States would nearly suffice for this 

 entire number. And I have no doubt our country 

 could sustain, even at the present rate of productiveness, 

 if all our available land was under cultivation, a popu- 

 lation as dense as that of Belgium, which is nearly four 

 hundred (383) to the square mile. It is true that 

 Belgium does not raise sufficient food for its present 

 population ; but it is also true, that only about two- 

 thirds of the land in that kingdom is under cultiva- 

 tion, — less than five millions of acres out of seven 

 millions two hundred and fifty thousand. Even in 

 England, to say nothing of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, 

 there are about 3,500,000 acres of waste land that 

 might be improved. This is more than one-tenth of the 

 whole area of the country, and more than one-eighth of 

 the amount actually under cultivation. With all avail- 

 able land under improvement, and with the increased 

 fertility which improved culture will bring, I think we 

 may safely assume that the earth will be able to feed 

 and clotln nany human beings as there are acres of 

 cultivable land upon its surface. This would be equiv- 

 alent to six hundred and forty p'ersons to the square 

 mile, a density of population more than sixty per cent. 

 greater than that of Belgium, which is now the most 



