Colman''s Jlsricultural Addresses. 103 



REVIEWS. 



Art. T. Agricultural Addresses delivered at JsTeio Haven^ 

 J\orivich, and Hartford, Conn., at the County Cattle ShoiPS, 

 in the year 1840. By Henry Colman, Commissioner of 

 the Agricultural Survey of Massachusetts. 8vo., 72 pages. 

 Boston, 1840. 



We have, within the two years past, noticed from time to 

 time, the agricultural reports which have been made by Mr. 

 Colman, the commissioner for conducting the agricultural sur- 

 vey of the State. They have been written out with a great 

 deal of labor, and have contained a great variety of informa- 

 tion relative to the practice of agriculture in Massachusetts. 

 We have now before us, three addresses, delivered last au- 

 tumn, at the County Cattle Shows of New Haven, Norwich, 

 and Hartford, each of which are very interesting productions, 

 and well worthy of perusal by all who feel any interest in the 

 progress of agricultural improvement. Mr. Colman has long 

 devoted his attention to this subject, and the information which 

 he has been able to treasure up while in the discharge of his 

 duties, as commissioner, has enabled him, by his close obser- 

 vation of facts, to give much interesting and valuable matter in 

 his addresses. We have not room for many extracts, but we can- 

 not pass over the addresses without selecting a few paragraphs. 



The address to the society of New Haven county com- 

 mences with a just view of the importance of agriculture upon 

 the prosperity of the country, which is deserving of attention. 



Agriculture is the great art of life. In an economical view, it con- 

 stitutes the subsistence of man. Eating and drinking are deemed 

 vulgar employments; yet who, even among the exquisite of the 

 transcendental school, is not compelled to conform to this fashion. 

 The body is often spoken of with disdain, as though there were 

 something degrading in its material elements. In such cases, a re- 

 flection is cast upon the divine skill and beneficence in one of their 

 most wonderful exhibitions. But is there not an electric chain of 

 sympathy between body and mind? What is to become of our phi- 

 losophy, without bread and meat? How is genius to speed her 

 flight, or the flres of the imagination to be kept bright, unless this 

 same body, the dwelling place of the etherial guest, be maintained 

 in its health, elasticity, and vigor? It is calculated, that if the har- 

 vests of a single year should fail, the whole of the human race must 

 perish. In our latitude, the earth yields nothing unasked and unwoo- 



