this address, had he been present at the late meeting of the so- 

 ciety, intended to have proposed the inviting and declaring all 

 the clergymen in the county to be members ; but exempt from 

 pecuniary contributions. Formerly, parsonages (like glebe lands 

 in England) were provided for our clergy in the country ; and 

 their cultivation was necessarily to depend on the direction, and 

 in some measure on the manual labour, of the incumbents — the 

 clergy themselves. At this day, many clergymen, from the 

 scantiness of their salaries, are required to imitate St. Paul, 

 •working with their own hands^ to tninister to their necessities, 

 A great proportion of our clergy are the sons of farmers, and in 

 early life were acquainted with the practice of husbandry. Its 

 principles, as a branch of natural philosophy, cannot fail to in* 

 terest them. And were their attention drawn to the subject, it 

 ■would be in their power easily to obviate the complaint so often 

 m3.de— -That practical farmers cannot be persuaded to communicate 

 to the public {through agricultural societies^ or otherwise) their suc- 

 cessful improvements. Unaccustomed to write, they naturally 

 shrink from the task. But it would not cost clergymen much 

 time to make themselves acquainted with every improvement 

 in husbandry among their parishioners ; nor much labour jto des- 

 cribe and communicate them for publication. And I cannot sup- 

 pose that such attentions would render them less acceptable to 

 their people ; while they would tend to give efficacy to their 

 prayers, that "the earth yield her increase." "God helps 

 them that help themselves." 



