258 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



FEBRUARY 20, 1830. 



happiness ; and in the competitions of life, we are 

 left to fall short of it ; no philosophy, and, I had 

 almost aaiil, no relij^ion, can save tlio strongest , 

 mind from a degree ol disappointment. 



Now it was the policy of antiquity to give agri- { 

 culture Ihc first place among the professions ; I | 

 allude not to pastorals ; but retrospective pleasure j 

 with which, from the courts of princes and in an ■ 

 age of refinement, men look back npc^n incrrdible 

 scenes of virtue in Elysian fie'ds of bliss. But [ 

 the most sober calculators, the orator and the his- i 

 torian, delighted to relate the story of Cincinr.utus, 

 passing from his plough to victory ;;iid from victory 

 back to the plough — IriumpJutlis c^rkula. The 

 possibility of uniting the highest njontal qualities, 

 with tliat pruCtical sWll which makes the dtstrt 

 blossom like the rose, was strongly inculcated. It 

 was the leading article of ancient faith ; and must 

 be so again. The man, who makes agriculture, 

 not merely productive, but honorable, who surrounds 

 his farm with the images of the ui'st attractive 

 happiness ; who dwells in a neat abode, such as re- 

 publican wisdom might build and rejjublican si.m- 

 plioJto ought to desire ; who, in addition to the song 

 of tne robin, can make the music of contentment 

 flow around his calm abode ; can unite it witli the 

 intelligence of a citizen who knows his rights and 

 is determined to defend them ; who shows that this 

 biitiness h favorable to mental culture and as fair 

 a road as any to political eminence ; — such a man 

 does more to encourage the jirofcssicn than all 

 other causes combined. He touches the springs of 

 action in their centre and Wesses his coiintry and 

 mankind. He plants the laurel beside the plough, 

 and allures thousands to come, and after having 

 toiled within its fragrance, to sit beneath its 

 shade.* 



There is still a fourth exjiedient. Tlie rettt'li 

 of those, who have been disappointed in the loatned 

 professions or commerce, to agriculture ; and being 

 happy in the return. Your lather's farm ! — it sup- 

 sported your cradle and may perhaps be destined to 

 JMKJlose your grave. I am aware, that these resump- 

 trolfe of an old employment iiave not always been 

 successful. The body long disused to labor, melts 

 beneath tlie Summer sun ; aches as it follows the 

 plough ; and the soft hand, which has worn the 

 glove, becomes blistered as it bandies the pitch- 

 fork or the spade. The stillness, too, of a coun- 

 try life, so soothing at a distance, becomes tasteler^s 

 when it is the forced choice of men, who have trod 

 the mart and been honored in banks. Even the 

 song of the robin, which warbled so sweetly in 



" After all, mankind, esppcially llie young, will bo 

 governed by tlieir ideas of the beautiful more than utility ; 

 in politics, morals, religion, and general life; nor would 

 a benevolent men wish to cxleniiiTiiito this Hmdanienlal 

 principle of our nature. But tliere is all the dilferencc 

 in the world, between conventional lieauty,the beauty of 

 fashion and oxpenae; and that, which is niuiple, natural 

 and eternal. Let us loot at a few particulars : — a rich 

 shawl to a young lady's eye is beautiful; so is a rose. 

 But the one is a convciuional beauty ; the other a natural. 

 The one lasts while tlie fashion lasts ; the other, i. c. its 

 essential beauty, until llowcis shall be no more. Take 

 the fluctuations of female dress : soinctiiiies its beauty 

 depends solely on the fashion ; sometimes it approaches 

 to the everlasting laws of" nature The old stays and 

 high-heeled shoes of Queen Ann's day, were mere con- 

 ventional beauties ; the Grecian dress is natural and es- 

 sentially beautiful. Now it seems to me, what we are to 

 seek is— that cheap, simple, essential beauty, which pro- 

 motes the progress of mental refinement, but never leads 

 to the expense which plunges families and nations in ruin. 

 Let the conventional and natural meet in one line of in- 

 separable union. 



pastorals, becomes harsh discord when a man hears 

 it from a house, under a heavy mortgage ; and it is 

 the on'y music, which his poverty can afford. But 

 let us not be discouraged ; life is a conquest over 

 dilliculties. These returning farmers ; these pro- 

 digals, who, having spent their substance, at last go 

 home to their father's house; these shipwrecked 

 mariners on the golden sea of Fortune, who swim 

 to the shore on the last shivered plank — after all, 

 have some advantages. They have increased their 

 skill; they know mankind; they have seen the 

 world ; and should they be endowed with genius 

 and glow with a new ambition — what discoveries 

 might they not make ! Though the triumphs of 

 mechanical skill have as yet been chiefly confined 

 to manufactures, and some say can never be ex- 

 hibited ill agriculture, yet as an ofiset to this ad- 

 vantage, there is the composition ; the improve- 

 ment of soils. What a field is here open ! How 

 little do we know of it ! How important the pur- 

 suit ! How rich the reward 1 All the difference 

 there is between ten bushels of corn to the acre 

 and an hundred, is before us to awaken our inven- 

 tion and activity : and suppose a Newton, a Davy, 

 a Franklin, a VVhitney, to be thrown on such ex- 

 igencies, how would the treasures of nature be 

 opened I How would the best spots for the largest 

 crops be sought out and found. Let no man de- 

 spair of reaping his substance in his last days from 

 the rugged earth, who retains either of those 

 best instruments, a healthful body or a vigorous 

 mind. 



My Fellow Citizens, I rejoice, on the whole, in 

 the exhibition of this society, and believe its ten- 

 dency to be good. It reflects credit on the wisdom 

 and philanthropy of the men who suppoit it. Any- 

 thing that turns our attention to the great fimnda- 

 tion of our social happiness, must be benoficial. 

 But, I am deeply impressed with the conviction, 

 that we need a revolution in our ideas of public 

 and private life. 



Tlie road of enterprise must be new laid — new 

 paved — and conduct to other objects. We are 

 still misled by certain ideas of refinement and 

 felicity descending to us from ' the Gothic ages. 

 The public hive must have more working bees and 

 fewer drones ; and what is of equal importance, 

 the drones must cease to engross the profits and 

 the honors. The late concussions in the commer- 

 cial world are not without their moral. They 

 point to a different source of prosperity. Instead 

 of thinking that all talent is to be e.iiployed on the 

 sea or in speculation, we must turn it to a new 

 channel ; it must guide the plough ; improve the 

 soil, and carry agricultural skill to its last perfec- 

 tion. \'. e shall always be an enterprising nation ; 

 I hope we shall always be a moral one. But tliat 

 enterprise must flow in a wider channel ; that mo- 

 rality must be founded on a better faith. Perhaps 

 it would not be impossible to describe the circle 

 that bounds the last expansion of the republican 

 idea. When two young men, entering on life with 

 squal abilities and virtues, would not turn up a 

 copper for the choice of a profession to ensure tlu'ir 

 future success and distinction, then, and not till 

 then, will the republican idea be carried out to its 

 full perfection. 



"Marm, mayn't I go and play horse today ?" 



" No, child, you must stay in the house." 



'" Now, look here, inarm, if you don't let me, I'll 



go and catch the measels — 1 know a big boy that's 



got 'em prime !" 



Extrmts from Dr Jacksoti't Second Report on th 



Geology of the State of Maine. 



AGRICULTURAL GEOLOGY. 



CEOtOGICAL ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTION, CHE^l 

 COMPOSITION AND CAPABII.lTIr.S OF SOIJ- 



Consideiing the vital importance of a correc 

 knowledge of tlie science and art of Agricultur* 

 upon which man depends for his daily bread, w 

 shall willingly avail ourselves of any iiiformatio. 

 that may throw light upon the principles, by whic 

 we are to be guided in practical operations. 



It cannot be concealed that agriculture in thi 

 country is fiir below the stanrlard attained in Eu 

 rope, and that by their more scientific methods, th 

 French, German and Italian farmers are enabled t 

 raise larger crops, so as to supply us with man 

 articles of agricultural produce, at a lower rat 

 than we have been able to grow them upon on 

 own soil, and this too has been eficcted by peopl 

 whose soil costs vastly more than ours. 



It is well knowu, that for several years past, larg 

 quantities of wheat, barley, Indian corn and beam 

 have been imported, into this country from Franci 

 Germany, Venitiaii Lombardy, Tuscany and Egyp 

 while at the same time, orders have been sent oi 

 from France for the purchase of our refuse boiiei 

 and the bone black of sugar refineries — substance 

 used in that country for improving the soil. Thu. 

 strange as it may seem, the French farmers sen 

 out to this country for manure, and supply us wit 

 bread, while many remain ignorant of the value < 

 those very substances so eagerly sought for by oi 

 foreign brethren ! 



European science has been brought to bear upc 

 the art of agriculture, and hence the improvemen 

 are rapidly progressing there ; while we have i 

 yet done but little towards the development of th 

 most important of arts.- 



I know that many intelligent farmers dec; 

 "bookTarming" as useless, and their remarks a 

 certainly worthy of our attention, and we may pe 

 haps remove their objections. Good books on th 

 subject record the exjierience of many excelle 

 practical farmers, and concentrate all tlie inform 

 tiou that is scattered in various parts of the worh 

 while at the same time they give general rules I 

 which we are to be guided in practice. Whe 

 then is the objection tJiat has been raised again 

 such knowledge ? It will be found that there a 

 few such books in existence, although there a 

 materials enough on record to furnish a good tre 

 tise, and those books that have appeared, are de 

 cient in some of the most essential particulars, - 

 they are so teclinical that those who are unacquair 

 ed with the elements of science cannot understai 

 them. There are also imperfections in the cCi 

 tificates and rules, owing to no analysis havii' 

 been made of the soils in question. 



So also our own farmers are unacquainted wi 

 the composition of their own soils. Hence v 

 account for the uncertainty of the results obtaini 

 by those who make trials of new methods in fan i 

 ing, and we ought not to be surprised at their fr 

 quent failures. 



If, however, all the conditions of the proble 

 were understood by both parties, farmers won 

 readily join hands with their scientific co laborei 

 and' the art of agriculture would soon become 

 certain as any other art, while, by the npplicatii 

 of scientific principles, the business would becoB 

 of a more exalted character, and assume its tr' 

 rank in the consideration of all men. 



