138 



NEW ENGLAND PARMER. 



Nov. 23. 1827. 



The emperor, Diocletian, iioiiowned for his mil- 



nry virtues, anJ as the patron of letters, resign- 



■il, voluntarily, the sceptre of the world, for the 



juininion of a little farm at Salona. When urfjed. 



it must bo owintr, chiefly, to the bold, but judicious 

 enterprise, and sleepless industry of American ag- 

 riculturists. 

 Should war and pestilence — those cormorant de- 



-ifterwards, "to re-assumc iho imperial purple," i vourers of man, not be suffered again to rage for 

 what was his reply ? "That ho now took more | two conturies ; and should the arts of husbandry 



delight in cultivating his little tield, than ho for- 

 merly ei.joyod in a palace, when his power was 

 .■extended over all the earth." A poet says — 



and horticulture move onward, with as quick a 

 step as they have done for twenty of the last years, 

 the event might occur. 



Before a long period shall have passed, the wes- 

 tern forests will all be levelled: — The valleys of 

 the iMissisippi and Missouri will be crowded with 

 inhabitants; — the Rocky Mountains will be skirt- 

 I ed with numberless farm-houses, and bustling vil- 

 lages, checkered, here and there, with magnificent 

 Can it be credited, that husbandry was held in domes and temples, pointing their glittering spires 

 low repute, when Virgil put forth his immortal ' towards a holier world ; — Commerce, with her in 



" -Methiuks I see great Dioclelian v.alk 

 In die Salonian garden's noble shade, 

 Which by his own imperial hands was made 



I see him smile, metliinks, as lie docs talk 

 Wilh die ambassador, who came in vain 

 T' entice liim to a throne again.'' 



t'astorals and Georgicks — when ho sung — 



" What makes a plenteous harvest, when to turn 

 The fruitful soil, and when to sow the corn j 

 The care of sheep, of oxen, and of kine j 

 And how to raise on elms the teeming vine .'" 



These admirable poems, characterized by cle- 

 ;;ance, and sprightliness, and keen rustic wit, and 

 r.art repartee, may be read, with profit, even by 

 ■armers of this enlightened age. They will find, 

 .n them, jiiilicious directions for ascertaining tlie 

 qualities of different soils ; for meliorating tliosc 

 which are steril ; for the raising of cattle, and sheep, 

 and bees ; and for the growing of grain, imd fruit 

 Tees, and vines; wilh innumerable other useful 

 nperaiions. 



There are spots on the earth, where agriculture 

 Attained to a higher perfection, before the Christian 

 •ra, than it can in any country boast, at the pre- 

 sent hour. In illustration of this sentiment, I beg 

 you, Gentlemen, to cast your eye on anciealhgytt, 

 and to look, also, at the land of Israel, at the time 

 when David, tlio shepherd king, committed the 

 reigns of empire into the hands of tlie wisest of inen. 



The Jews, always an agricultural nation, had 

 ijttle commerce, and few manufactures, sud yet 

 what a vast multittide were maintained on the pro- 

 ducts of their soil.' When Joab gave up the cen- 

 sus of the people to his royal muster, there were, 

 ia the realm, no less than thirtern hundred tliou- 

 i-and men, fit to bear arms; — more than ten times 



numerable attendants, active and bustling, will be 

 seen blowing her silver trumpet along the shores 

 of the Pacific ; a New York of the west will spring 

 up at the mouth of the Columbia, and monopolize 

 the trade of that unmeasured region ; — her streets 

 will resound with the rattling of carriages and the 

 ceaseless din of business ; — her ports will be 

 thronged with steamboats and merchant ships and 

 men-of-war, assembled from all nations. Then will 

 the West re-act upon the East. The tide, which 

 has long been setting in that direction, will flow 

 back towards the Atlantic. Our population will 

 then be quadrnply dense — every hill and dale, and 

 nook will bo occupied — every spot of earth will 

 be tilled and made to teem with e.xuberant har- 

 vests. But I am wandering in a fairy field. 



The employment of the husbandman cannot be 

 too highly extolled for the salutary effect it pro- 

 duces on the mind and on the body. 



The scholar, who, with untiring zeal, has, for 

 months, been poring over the musty records of an- 

 cient lore, and has, like Aristotle, denied himself 

 the reIa.\ation that nature demands, at length be- 

 comes worn down by the burden of hard mental 

 labor. IJis body is debilitated — his mind has lost 

 its energy, and he is, apparently, posting to the 

 grave. With strong reiuctance he quits his books 

 and returns home, to engage in the business of 

 cultivating his father's farm. He holds the plough 

 at first with trembling hand — he then plies the 



ihe number, that our country ever had in the field hoe-swings the scythe, and wields the ax. And 

 "t once, during her struggle for independence. ^^^^^ '^""°"-^? Soon he e.vpenences a physical and 



These were the warriors of Israel only. What 

 •'.hen, must have been the amount of tlic entire 

 .Tewish population? It could not liavc fallen far 

 Ijelow ten millions ; and yet the nation possessed 

 but a very limited territory ; — a territory, which, 

 »n Us broadest dimensions, never equalled, in size, 



penences a physical and 

 intellectual regeneration. The shattered frame is 

 re-bt;;lt — his limbs gather strength — his mind vi- 

 gor and elasticity, ai;d soon he returns to pursue 

 his academic course with increased zeal :ind re- 

 doubled success. 

 The lauyer, iminured in a contracted apartment. 



'.ne fourth of New England ; nor was it, bj) notnre! ! '" "'° "^'J'^' "^ ^^ thr«"gcd city, gives himself, night 



' and dav, to the duties of his arduous profession. 

 The knotty points of the law perplex him ; jaded 



more produclivn. The land not only yielded foo( 

 suflicient to fill tlie mouths of these ten millions 



r . 1 ■ 1 ui .-.• r . •• ' i bv the calls of louni'crs, and en:ptvpocketod cli- 



liut also considerable quantities for exportation. "•' "'^ '"^''^ "' '""' c. ;'. k j p 



Solomon, in e.xchange for "timber of cedar, and <="'=' "^"""^'^""'.'"f, T""*^' but smoke and dust, 

 timber of fir, from Mount Libanus," gave to the and a mi.tturc ot all the gases that ever saluted the 

 King of Tyre yearly for the maintenance of his 



household, "twenty thousand measures of wheat, 

 nnd twenty measures of pure oil." 



nostrils of the chemist, he shortly sickens and is 

 nigh unto death. The prescriptions of the physi- 

 cians arc without use — medicine only hastens his 



Who can tell, but New England-the asylum of i I^'^e ^°''^''^^ '^e tomb. Perhaps, he is not pre 



♦ ho oppressed — a refuge for the perseciitcsi pil- 

 grims, — will, o;ie day, be as thickly populated, 

 snd as productive as Palestine once was? Who 

 can tell, but our hills and mountains will, hereaf- 

 ter, be terraced, like those of Jndea, and crowned 

 with rich gardens, and luxurious vines, and golden 

 corn ? To you, gentlemen, it belongs to solve this 

 ()uestion. If that auspicious event ever be present. 



pared to meet, without dread, his ghostly majenty 



the king of terrors. Perhaps, liis heart is unre- 



concilcd to his God, and he trembles at' the 

 thought of being speedily arraigned at the Judg- 

 ment Bar. In a word, the prospect before him is 

 awfully gloomy. 



As a dernier resort ; as the last hope of recovery 

 and that hniie is fast dying away in his bosom- 



he retires to the country; places himself in the fa- 

 mily of an agricultural friend; partakes of hi& 

 wholesome fare ; shares in his labors and toils, 

 and, ere two short months have taken their flicrht,. 

 his gloom is turned into joy ; — he is in the posses- 

 sion of vigorous, robust health. 



Yes, my friends, rural labor and rural air are a 

 far better restorative than all the drugs of the 

 apothecary. They are the true panacea — long ea- 

 gerly sought by the alchemists — a sovereign re- 

 medy for half the maladies, that assail our species. 



They give new life to the laid up clergyman to 



the sickly merchant — to the drooping matron, and 

 to the lily-cheeked damsel. 



Who in the city docs not sometimes covet the 

 enjoyment of country air, and country scenery? 

 At the approach of the sultry season, does not 

 Boston pour forth her thousands, and New York 

 her tens of thousands, to inhale the fragrance of 

 the new-mown grass, and the health-generating 

 breeze of the mountain and of the forest ? Is not 

 your profession. Gentlemen, an enviable one? 



Of what importance are farmers to the commu- 

 nity, except as iiUers of the ground? They are the 

 bone and muscle and nerve of our republic. They 

 are our bulwark, and, under God, our defence. 

 Had it not been for their courage and hardihood, 

 what would now have been our condition? Slaves 

 to arbitrary power — vassals to a foreign despot. 



Who was the American Fabius. who conducted 

 our arinies to victory, and gained for the nation in- 

 dependence, and for himself imperishable fame r 

 He was a farmer. And who were his illustrious 

 companions in arms? Who was the death-daring 

 Putnam? The valiant Gates? The persevering 

 and dauntless Lincoln? All farmers. And who 

 composed their armies? Who constituted that 

 noble phalan.x, that scorned their enemies, and 

 trod them under their feet? Our brave and en- 

 lig^itened yeomanry. 



And should the Almighty ever curse the nation 

 by bringing upon it the neeessity of another 

 mighty army, for our defence, or for our protec- 

 tion ; from what quarter must its generals and its 

 soldiers be derived ? Chiefly from the cultivators 

 of the soil. We are not to look to the children of 

 the opulent, whose childhood and boyhood have 

 too often been spent in the cradle of luxury: — 

 who have been fed upon ambrosia and quaffed nec- 

 tar — for brave soldiers, or skillful generals, for 

 those who will cheerfully breast themselves against 

 a hostile foe, and dare the cannon's mouth. Thev 

 have not the soul of a Putnam, nor his herculean 

 arm. — There are, it is true, exceptions, and illus- 

 trious ones, but they are few, and far asunder. 

 These doughty warriors of the parlor would, it is 

 likely, conform to the prudent instruction of the 

 poet. 



" He that fights and runs aw-ay 

 May live to fight another day.'' 



And this. Gentlemen, is not all. Our pulpits are 

 to be filled principally from your ranks. From 

 your number, too, are to come most of our future 

 physicians, and lawyers, and philosophers, and 

 foreign ambassadors. 



The generation of talented men — of men fit to. 

 occupy the highest stations in our countty — is 

 shortlived. Money may be accumulated — over- 

 grown estates may be created ; and, in monarch- 

 ical governments, transmitted from father to son, 

 through a long succession of centuries. But our 

 happy government allows of no entailments. We 

 have no monopoly of wealth, that is of more than- 

 ephemeral duration. 



