4 



least cultivated and improved, have considered agriculture the 

 most important of the arts of life, because it provides for the 

 support of life. To do honor to the employment, and encour- 

 age the pursuit, Roman dictators followed the plough ; and the 

 emperor of China, with the grandees of his empire, make an 

 annual appearance in the field, to sacrifice to their god, that 

 he may be rendered propitious to the labors of the husband- 

 man. But it is not my purpose to trace the progress of the art. 

 I would contemplate it as it now exist;^. 



Gentlemen, I feel incompetent to the task assigned me, possess- 

 ing neither that theoretical or practical knowledge necessary to 

 furnish me for the occasion. As I have gleaned but sparingly 

 from experience, and not had opportunity to consult the writings 

 of those who have attended scientifically to the subject, you 

 may expect only a few common-place remarks. 



No country holds out greater allurements to agricultural pur- 

 suits than the United States. Nature has obviously designed 

 this for a great farming nation. With a population spread over 

 a vast extent of territory — blessed with a soil rich and fertile — 

 the inhabitants distinguished for habits of industry and persever- 

 ance — the country intersected with rivers and canals, opening a 

 tree communication with Ihe sea-coast, which skirts our whole 

 border — our merchants surpassed hj none ibr calculation and 

 enterprise — with ports open to all nations — we have every pos- 

 sible encouragement to nourish and improve the arts of agricul- 

 ture. It is the life of cur commerce, and commerce richly re- 

 pays the industrious husbandman. Too often has there existed 

 a spirit of jealousy and rivalship, between the commercial and 

 agricultural interests. They are as intimately connected in this 

 country as cause and effect. England is a commercial nation, 

 but of produce she is often a purchaser. It is her manufactures 

 that cherish her commerce. In America, it is the farm which 

 gives activity to ccrcmorce, and commerce which makes 

 the flirmer rich. Though agriculture is of vital importance 

 to the prosperity of our country, }et from its first settlement, 

 till a recent period, this art has been left to itself, neglected and 

 unencouraged, and been under the management of those who 

 retiected nothing more on the subject, than just sufficient to per- 



