236 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



AN ADDRESS 

 Read on October 9th, 13-22, at Hallowell, before the 

 Agricultural Society of Maine, on the dny of its An- 

 nual Meeting, and after the Agricultural Exhibition 

 of the year had taken place : — by WlLLIAJl 

 LADD, Esq. of Mvtcl. 



When we look around on mankind, and con- 

 template on the great yarietj' of occupations in 

 which they are busily engaged, in their eager 

 search at'ier happiness ; we naturally inquire, 

 which, of all these various pursuits, is best 

 adapted to obtain the desired end? And when 

 we consider man as a social being, our inquiry 

 will not end in his individual happiness 5 but 

 will be extended to the society, the nation, and 

 finally to the whole race, of which he is a mem- 

 ber. 



If we trace back the history of almost any 

 nation, we shall find it originating in the savage 

 or hunter state, in which inan wages continual 

 war with savage beasts, and men more savage 

 still ; and lives in a state of perpetual alarm or 

 aggression, without any regular means of sup- 

 port ; sometimes gorged with his prey, but 

 more frequently pinched with hunger ; without 

 natural affection ; and destroying his aged pa- 

 rent* and helpless infants when they become 

 burlhenfome to him. 



In the first stage towards civilization, we find 

 families and tribes of wandering shepherds, 

 without any fixed habitation or bounds of landed 

 property : without any law but force ; among 

 whom bread is a luxury, and wine unknown ;— 

 who are ignorant of almost all the arts and sci- 

 ences ; and strangers to most of those enjoy- 

 ments which make life desirable. 



Let the visionary sophist who delights to 

 wage war against common sense ; lei the fantas- 

 tic poet whose food is fiction, eulogize the hun- 

 ter and the shepherd state, as the gold and sil- 

 ver ages of the world : Though we may be 

 amused with the ingenuity of arguments which 

 do not convince us, and pleased with brilliant, 

 but false coloring, which does not deceive us ; 

 and though we do not feel uneasy at encomiums 

 on characters which we do not envy, yet the 

 generality of mankind allow, that we are never 

 happy until the '• bounds of our habitation" are 

 established by known laws, and we return to the 

 employment of our first parents in Paradise. 



We have not time to compare the pursuit of 

 agriculture with those occupations, which ne- 

 cessity or ambition induce others to embrace: 

 but to prove ils superiority, we refer to the 

 practice of the most enlightened nations, in 

 which we find a great majority of the people 

 actually engaged in husbandry ; and those who 

 have been prevented by necessity, real or im- 

 aginary, fly to it as soon as they have obtained 

 a competency ; and if it be not so generally the 

 case with the ambitious, it is because ambition 

 is more insatiable than avarice. 



What occupation is se healthy, so innocent, so 

 delightful, so truly honorable, so independent on 

 man, so (lependant on God?— What so produc- 

 tive of national wealth, population, military 

 strength, general knowledge, equal fortunes, 

 steady habits, and all the essentials of republi- 

 can government ? If it is not so productive of 

 individual wealth it is because it has so many 

 other attractions which induce many to enter 

 on it, who are willing to give up a greater pro- 

 ■St, for the sake of more valuable considerations ; 



and because the happy circumstances of this 

 section of our country, (where the hardy yeo- 

 man tills his own soil with his own hands, and 

 where slave and peasant are equally unknown,) 

 do not permit any great extension of agricultu- 

 ral capital. jNevertheless, as far as my own ex- 

 perience goes, I am bold to assert, that invest- 

 ments in agriculture have of late years been 

 more productive, than capital employed in 

 commerce ; and it is to be doubted, whether 

 manufactories have been more profitable. — How 

 thankful then ought we to be, that the great 

 Disposer of events has suited the occupation of 

 the bulk of mankind so kindly to their natures! 

 What reason have we not to exclaim, like the 

 Mantuan bard, O happy fanners, Jidwc but know 

 our happiness .' 



But agriculture is a science to be studied, and 

 husbandry is an art to be learned. As well may 

 we expect to be able merchants, or expert ma- 

 riners, without diligent application to the nec- 

 essary studies, as to be successful farmers, while 

 we wholly neglect the theory and but negligent- 

 ly attend to the practice of .^gricultu^e. Our 

 mistakes are not so immediately obvious, as 

 those of the merchant and shipmaster ; for hap- 

 pily we may sleep away the night, reckless of 

 protested bills or latent rocks; but the eiTcct of 

 our errors is no less certain in the end. View 

 the snug and comfortable mansion, surrounded 

 by well filled barn.s and durable fences ; the 

 abode of plenty, peace, and happiness; and con- 

 trast it with that slab covered hovel, where old 

 hats and rags out number the panes of shingles 

 and broken glass ; the abode of want, discord, 

 and misery ; surrounded by fenceless fields, and 

 a doorless barn. The masters of both these 

 tenements, came together into this State ; each 

 with an axe on his shoulder, but not a cent in 

 his pocket ; equal in health and bodily strength 

 and laborious habits, and in advantages of soil ; 

 but unequal in discernment and knowledge. — 

 The one has already paid for his farm, and set- 

 tled many of his children ; while the other owes 

 twice as much as u'hen he felled the first tree; 

 and is in a manner the servant of his richer 

 neighbor, i'or " knowledge is power." 



Nor is the advantage of agricultural knowl- 

 edge more obvious in individuals, than in na- 

 tions. Look at the land of our forefathers, 

 whose princes and nobles have delighted in the 

 cultivation ofthe soil ; and whose late monarch 

 «as one of the most able and successful farmers 

 in his kingdom. Contemplate their Board of 

 Agriculture, their Agricultural Societies, their 

 •Agricultural Surveys, their periodical Agricultu- 

 ral Publicatious, their expeditions to every 

 quarter of the globe in search after unknown or 

 untried plants. See their philosophers aiding 

 and emulating their statesmen, and adapting 

 chemistry aud other sciences to the purposes of 

 rural economy. Think of their exploring the 

 bowels of the earth for minerals, to add ver- 

 dure to the surface — ol their draining morasses 

 and irrigating hills — now boring their drains, 

 like moles underground — and then heaping ihe 

 top soil into ridges and beds — and not only 

 cleansing their cities to fatten their fields — but, 

 for manure, importing from the continent whole 

 cargoes of bones, many of them doubtless hu- 

 man — so that perhaps ere long, the myriads thai 

 (ell at Waterloo, may sprout up like the armv 

 of Cadmus, on British fields, and give bread to 

 their conquerors. 



Nor has the result been unequal to the paini 

 but has exceeded the most sanguine expecti 

 tions. The progress of England in affriculturi 

 knowledge has been so rapid, that the produc 

 tions of the soil are more than quadruple whL 

 they were under the boasted reign of Elizabetl 

 — and very far exceed the produce of her gi 

 gantic commerce, her innumerable manufac 

 turcs, her fathomless mines, and her productivi 

 fisheries, all added together.* 



Now for a contrast : turn your eyes to a sistc 

 kingdom, a neighboring island, blessed with as 

 good a soil and climate. But the proprietors o 

 the land have neglected its cultivation, whil 

 they have been rioting on luxuries abroad. 

 Her peasantry have been uninslructed and undi- 

 reeled ; each one tilling a few acres of ground, 

 instead of many laboring under the direction 

 one intelligent man, as in England. — I span 

 you the disgusting detail of the consequences ; 

 but you cannot be ignorant of the fact, thai 

 thousands of Irish peasants have this very last 

 summer died of absolute starvation ; while the 

 granaries of (he English farmers have been 

 overllowing, so that they have not had " where 

 to bestow their goods ;" and this, without any 

 very unusual failure in one country, or abun- 

 dance in the other. I grant that much of this 

 distress is owing to political oppression ; but it 

 is more owing to the low state of agricultural 

 knowfinige, and the neglect of rural economy. 



Yet, Gentlemen, do not think, that, though 

 the English farmer pays a rent greater than 

 the average fee simple of our farms, and a bur- 

 thensome tax, and oppressive tithes, and high- 

 er wages of labor, than any other farmers in 

 Europe, and yet often acquires a princely for- 

 tune ; that therefore I would hold up his prac- 

 tice, as an example for us blindly to follow. By 



no means. The circumctancec of tho tn-o COUQ- 



tries being very ditferent, the practice must be 

 as ditfercut. Though from him we may Icam 

 the great utility of agricultural knowledge, and 

 the general theory of husbandry : Our practice 

 must conform to our circumstances; and it is ia 

 very few instances of detail, that we can success- 

 fully imitate his. Circumscribed by the ocean 

 and abounding in population, the rent of their 

 land is necessarily high ; a;Hl when compared 

 wtih ours, the wages of (heir labor is proportion- 

 ably low : while we are bounded by endless for- 

 ests and possess extensive tracts of'the finest soil 

 the world can boast of; our population is thin, 

 our labor high, and our land cheap ; the crop of- 

 ten costing more than the field it grows on, and 

 worth double its value. It is obvious therefore 

 that in England, the cost and consequent price 

 of an agricultural commodity, must chiefly de- 

 pend on the rent of land ; as more is paid for 

 rent than for labor. But in this country the 

 cost must chiefly depend on the price of labor; 

 as more is paid lor labor than rent ; rent, labor, 

 and profit of stock, making in all countries the 

 whole coirt of an article. For these reasons, 

 articles which require much labor, are cheaper 

 in England than here ; and practices which are 



*Notwith5t;inding the destructive wars in which G. 

 Britain has latily bi en engaged, her population ha? in- 

 creased in 20 yiars,(viz. from IBOO to 1820) not less than 

 thrt f and a half luiilions. Horses and other usrfi.l an- 

 imals have also so much increased, that some individu- 

 al cartiers now own more horses, than Quceu Elizabeth 

 rould muster, when in danger of invasion from the 

 Spanish armada. This amazing increase cau only be 

 attributed to iiaprovcmmts iu agriculture. 



