No. 244.] 261 



other, and the very difficulty of a critical season offers a field for ex- 

 ertions by which he is frequently a gainer. "In twenty-four years 

 experience upon a considerable scale," says Mr. Pitt, an English far- 

 mer, ''I always made the most money in difficult seasons." Possess- 

 ing on his land all the means of life, he is under no corroding 

 anxiety regarding his daily subsistence; he is removed from those col- 

 h'sions of interest and those struggles for precedence which rouse 

 the worst passions of the human race; and his constant observation 

 of the wise provisions of nature, for the care of all her creatures, 

 can hardly fail to impress him with a full belief in, and reliance up- 

 on, that God which made " the round world, and they that dwell 

 therein." 



In fervid language, the poet advocates the claims of Agriculture 

 to public consideration: 



"Thou first of arts ! source of domestic ease, 

 Pride of the land, and Patron of the seas — 

 Thrift agriculture ! lend thy potent aid. 

 Spread thy green fields where dreary forests shade; 

 Where savage man pursues his savage prey. 

 Let the white flocks in verdant pastures play; 

 From blooming orchard and from flowery vale, 

 Give thy rich fragrance to the gentle gale ; 

 Reward with amplest boon the laborer's hand, 

 And pour thy gladlening bounties o'er the land. 

 Columbia's sons ! spurn not the rugged toil — 

 Your nation's glory is a CULTURED SOIL ! 

 Rome's Cincinnatus, of illustrious birth, 

 Increased his laurels while he till'd the earth. 

 And China's monarch lays the sceptre down. 

 Nor deems the task unworthy of the crown." 



It may be safely said, that nothing is better calculated to enlarge 

 the mind, and to extend the sphere of our rational pleasures than 

 the contemplation of the economy of nature ; while to those who 

 set a due value on intellectual enjoyment, the study of agriculture 

 offers an inexhaustible fund of amusement, as well as instruction. 

 The mere occupation of the mind in tracing the origin and progress 

 of any new improvement, will be found productive of the purest 

 gratification. It has been well observed by Sir Humphrey Davy, 

 that " the frequent failure of experiments, conducted after the most 

 refined theoretic views, is far from proving the inutility of such 

 trials ; one happy result, which can generally improve the method of 

 cultivation, is worth the labor of a w-hole life, aiid an unsuccessful 

 experiment, well observed, must establish some truth, or tend to re- 

 move some prejudice." 



