•250 



NEW ENGLAND FAR M E R , 



FEBRVART 13. 1S39. 



cus and the premature nomination ; the demagogue banks or bankruptcy ; by discontents and factions 

 in olVicc and tlie general spread of political cor- within ; or by invasions and foes from abroad. Not 

 ruption ; a surplus revenue in the midst of national that following agriculture is itself a virtue or for- 

 baukruptcy ; and the dreadful shakings of credit . saking it essentially a vice ; but a due replenishing 

 in the con)mercial world ; the jealousies between | of this employment is an indication of a healthful 

 the opposite parts of our lepublic ; the justling of | state in the public sentiment. It shows that the 

 the wlieels in oej dolicale and complex machine ; j foundation of the mountain is broad ; and that the 

 all these are evi'S — eajt.hquakes, which shake our top thereof, though lofty, may alike defy the elec- 

 moral ground ; afld yet itseemsto me the cldefevi] trie fires and the sweeping winds of the summer 

 ■of thes/d mortifying c,aianiitie3 is not seen. The and the winter cloud. 



*''!,rit' evil is, that they go to destroy that confidence | Such is the imperfect character of our most sol- 

 in the permaneuty of our institutions, whicli is ofjemn invcsligHtions and so greatly are we blifided 

 itself a part of their spirit Every bad election ; | by party spirit and passion, that whenever we are 



promiscuous crowd — there will be a rush. Tliej 

 inverted cone of Society, instead of standing on I 

 its natural base, will tremble and spin on its almost 

 pointed top. 



(To l>c conliniied.) 



every wild experiment ; every mob in a great city ; 

 every act of political injustice, tends to destroy 

 that F.vn-H which is at once the spring of our 

 activity and the source of our salvation. If I can 

 discern aright the signs of the time.s, we are now 

 in danger from a wide-spreading skepticism re- 

 specting the stability of repub.ican institutions and 

 even the value of liberty itself. It is the dry-rot, 

 wliich has seized the beams of the building, from 

 the sills to the ridge-pole ; and liowever silent in 

 its MDgress, is seen in its mortal effects. It is as- 

 tonismng how many are infected with this criminal 

 distrust. It quenches all enthusiasm ; it destroys 

 all principle ; it leads to political corruption ; it 

 makes parties a mere contest for place ; in a word, 

 it cuts off the stream of action in its liead-spring, 

 and leaves to the citizen, in his prospects, a dreary 

 and fountainless waste. Alas ! this political infi- 

 delity has crept from heart to heart, until it has be- 

 come more extensive than we allow ourselves to 

 confess. How different is this spirit from that of 

 the last generation ! Then all was credulity, 

 principle, confidence, enthu.siasm. Every oration, 

 on the Fourth of July, was filled with the most 

 fulsome promises. A great empire ! A free peo- 

 ple ! An intelligent majority ! Wise rulers ! The 

 best of laws! A new e.xample ! An imitating 

 world ! ! Such were the first visions of a new- 

 born nation. Now the note is entirely changed. 

 Presumption has been followed by despair ; and it 

 is to be feared, that as some disastrous facts have 

 weakened the principle, so the weaker principle 

 may produce new fact?, still more disastrous, until 

 e.tertion ceases and Liberty is lost. 



The cures of these evils are many ; but a very 

 important one must come from a well-prized and 

 well-regulated agriculture. 



Society has often been compared to a pyramid, 

 •which owes its durability not only to solid materials, 

 hut to its skilful shape. Agriculture is the base; 

 the ground is the fruitful mother of the best of our 

 comforts. And it is necessary, for tlie welfare of 

 any tretion, tliat the majority of its citizens should 

 jfollow tlie profession of tilling it. It produces the 

 Ttaw material. Thence come the bread and meat 

 anij wool, which nourish and clothe our bodies. It 

 is the silent steward of the (ireat Father of nature, 

 offering a kind of temporal omnipresence to tlie 

 solicitations and wants of its inhabitants ; various 

 in its gifts; permanent in its location; reasonable 

 in its restitutions and most just in its rewards.* 

 No man that «as willing to cultivate the earth and 

 thence derive his support by the sweat of his brow, 

 ever perished by hunger ; and no nation, whose 

 citizens kept the ranks of this profession propor- 

 tionably supplied, was ever known to perish by 

 wars or treasons, jjr commercial confusions ; by 



** Justissima tdlus^ is 

 Georgic. 4(50 line. 



Virgil's fine expression. 11 



called (as we think) to oppose and overthrow any 

 public institutions, we inflame our zeal by exposing 

 all their defects and allowing none of their excel- 

 lencies. Never was there a revolution when 'he 

 merits of a conquered dynasty were carefully es- 

 timated by the victorious party. Even in institu- 

 tions where the balance of evils is on the whole 

 great, it is always found, when they are abolished, 

 that some unthought of benefit, is lost, by a removal ; 

 nor is it until long after the excitement of the 

 change is passed away that mankind can foot the 

 account and fairly estimate the exact magnitude of 

 their loss and gain. 



So it was in our American revolution. We re- 

 jected the institutions of Great Britain. We threw 

 ofl^ those aristocratic chains, they were binding 

 upon us. We altered the foundations of society ; 

 and liberty started on a new career of more daring 

 experiments. She was wider in her sweep ; deeper 

 in her franchises; more radical in her maxims. 

 She professed to comprehend all men in her oflfered 

 privileges and blessings. It was freedom in man- 

 ners as well as in laws ; her powerful sun, now in 

 the meridian, was to melt away the last floe of re- 

 strictive ice and set every human creature on the 

 career of wisdom as the waves dance together on 

 the sea in equal space and freedom. But it is now 

 found that this universal enterprise has its evils. 

 There is danger, that the necessary professions 

 should not be kept full ; that multitudes should for- 

 sake the plough for the pen ; that the splendid pro- 

 fessions should be chosen rather than the useful : 

 — I have some suspicion ihat, in our present con- 

 stitution of manners, even the multitudes of col- 

 leges in New England may be an evil ; certainly 

 no man should hope to hide his laziness under a 

 pretended love for literature and religion. 



In in the old system of casts, whether seen in 

 its severity as it was established in the East, or 

 mitigated as found in the Gothic governments of 

 later Europe, there was a latent purpose, which 

 they accomplished by establishing and we lose by 

 abandoning thera. Perhaps we ought not to con- 

 tend for the son's following the profession of his 

 father invariably, as in ancient Egypt. But per- 

 haps also the passes to distinction may be too free 

 and be no test of exertion or ability. At any 

 rate, it is no libel on modern liberty to say, with 

 all her blessings, she mixes some evils ; and one is 

 her influence on the professions. In the univer- 

 -sality of her invitations she may inspire too many 

 with a fatal ambition. The prizes may be too few, 

 the candidates too many. If a man can trade or 

 acquire the learned professions without the check 

 of a previous capital, or, as an offset, witliout the 

 exhibition of great industry and abilities, why of 

 course freedom opens the door to desperate exper- 

 iments. These must fail ; and the private ruin 

 must finally shake the government. It is like 

 opening the doors of a privileged assembly to a 



(From tile Genesee i^armer.) 



DICTIONARY OF TERMS USED IN AGRlJ 

 CULTURE, ' 



AND IN THE SCIENCES MOST i:«TIMAT£LY CN- 

 KECTED WITH ITS ADVANCEMENT. 



(Continued.) 

 Jlir. In a state of purity, air consists of nitro- 

 gen and oxygen, in the proportion of 76 of the 

 former and 23 of the latter, but as it exists in, the 

 atmosphere, it contains about one part in 500 o) 

 carbonic gas, and also aqueous vapor in the forni| 

 of an elastic fluid, the proportion varying from the 

 merest trifle, to 11 grains in a cubic foot. Aii 

 acts a most important part in the processes of ger- 

 mination, and subsequent vegetation, not only fur-, 

 nishing the oxygen required to decompose the car- 

 bonic gas consumed by the plants, but the ni05t o: 

 the gas itself. The water held in the air is aisc 

 easily parted with, and hence the great advantag< 

 of aeration or frequently .stirring the earth, to brini 

 its particles in contact with the atmosphere. J 

 s(juare foot of earth in a solid form exposes but ! 

 amall surface to the action of the air, and heuci 

 absorbs from the atmosphere but little ; pulverisi 

 this mass, and the surface exposed to the action o 

 the air is increased a million fold, and its powers o 

 absorption from the atmosphere in the same pro 

 portion. This shows the absurdity of those wh- 

 refuse in hot dry weather to stir the earth aroun- 

 plants under the apprehension that it will rende 

 them more dry. Multiplying the absorbing surfac 

 by stirring the earth is the only way of obtainin; 

 the moisture which in greater or less quantitie 

 always rises in the atmosphere. 



Albumen. A colorless insipid fluid, coagulatinj 

 at a heat of 120°, existing in the loaves, juices 

 and fruits of most plants, but most abundant ii 

 animal products. The white of eggs is nothinj 

 but pure albumen, and the blood contains larg- 

 quantities of the substance. Its principal use i: 

 domestic economy, is in clarifying or cleansinj 

 fluids ; such a.-< sugars, &c. for which purpose it i 

 unrivalled. Milk contains albumen, and hence i 

 sometimes used for cleansing syrup, but it is infe 

 rior to the white of eggs. These, carefully incor 

 porated with a fluid when cold, and then submitle 

 to a coagulating heat, will lift nil impurities to th| 

 surface, where they can be easily taken off b| 

 skimming. Albumen is more abundant in the bar| 

 of the red or slippery elm, than in any other vegei 

 table product, hence its value for medicinal put 

 poses. Albumen is composed of carbon 52, oxyge 

 93, hydrogen 7, and nitrogen 15. 



Alburnum. Wood of trees is usually compose | 

 of three distinct parts ; the pith or central pari 

 having a loo^e spongy texture ; the heart-woo( 

 the most durable and valuable part of the treei 

 and the sap wood or alburnum. This last is usti 

 ally whiter than the heart-wood, is more poroiin 

 and through it the circulation of the sap is princ:i 

 pally performed. It is the soonest attacked by th| 

 borer or powder post, and in exposed situations i 

 always first to decay. 



Alcohol. The purely spirituous part of all liquoj* 

 It is the product of vinous fermentation, and oa 



