I can give you another illustration of the superiority of that intellectual 

 equality which is found in America, applied to agriculture. The introduc- 

 tion of Merino sheep took place in France and America about the same 

 time. In France the famous Rambouillet flock was reared with all the 

 care possible and regardless of expense. It offered to the farmers of the 

 empire the strongest inducements to improve their flocks, and the offer was 

 rejected. In America the first importations sunk into neglect and disre- 

 pute. They languished in the hands of those whose wealth was greater 

 than their agricultural skill, and not until the strife for their improvement 

 commenced among farmers themselves here, were they brought to perfec- 

 tion. And so rapidly was the work done, that when the French Merino 

 and the American Merino were bronght into competition at the world's 

 Fair, last year, the latter took the lead in every valuable point, — shape of 

 carcass, weight of fleece, and general constitution. While the wealth of 

 France has labored in vain to bring about any really valuable improve- 

 ment, and the farmers of France had looked idly on, the intelligent yeo- 

 manry of Vermont had taken the matter up, and with a skill and foresight 

 seldom equalled, had created the best fine wooled sheep in the world. No 

 more striking sight was ever witnessed than the triumph of George Camp- 

 bell, an unobtrusive Vermont farmer, modestly presenting the sheep of his 

 own State, and representing the sense and perception of the New England 

 mind, — over the pretentious and unsuccessful exhibitors of animals reared 

 without accurate knowledge of their wants, and shown in the ornamented 

 pens of the Emperor of France. 



In considering the future prospects of American agriculture we cannot over- 

 look the fact that wherever the American farmer goes, he carries with him 

 the right of freehold, the responsibilities of a citizen, and the sole direction o* 

 his own fortunes. In this respect he is distinguished from all other people. 

 And on account of this, his labor as a farmer differs, and his opportunity 

 differs, from the labor and opportunity of others. This may seem to be a 

 mere idle speculation — but if you will imagine the difference between a hun 

 dred thousand square miles of Russian territory, inhabited and cultivated 

 by serfs, and a hundred thousand square miles of American territory inhab- 

 ited and cultivated by American freemen, you can understand precisely 

 what I mean. On the one hand ignorance, hovels, rude implements of 

 husbandry, tribute to a. master, want of ambition, an ill-cultivated skill, and 

 ordinary crops — on the other intelligence, neat cottages, school-houses and 

 meeting-houses, greater and less degrees of thought, a desire to be a good 

 citizen, an opportunity for good farming, good crops, and a share in all the 



