346 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Mat 8 IS39. 



ingly alive to moral beauty) occupied his master eloquent Clay the great unsurpassed of modern states- j be content to fill up the lowest class in the com 

 mind in delineating the paradise whicli Adam was men, and our own veteran Harrison, whoso patriotic I monwealth, to form the base of the pyramid of sub- 

 directed to " dress and l<eep ;" and Thompson has p.dicy founded and whose skilful valor defended the I ordination and lie buried in obscurity their^elves 

 presented uftertimos with a surpassingly beautiful vast North-West— these all have manifested a deep while they support all that is splendid, conspicuous' 

 scene in his Autumn, where he introduces among solicitude for the interests of the great cause which or exalted." 



j we have this d;iy convrned to promote. Peerless woman, in aU her high and holy influ- 



1 To descend to our own history as the first re- cnces. has contributed to give diirnity to the pur- 

 ; public in the wilderness of the. great west, we have suits of agriculture. Throughout tlie succession of 

 A sentiment as descriptive of the benevolence which I '"Wiy noble examples of our most distinguished | time in all civilized nations, she has been man'; 

 belonged to the period of harvest as it is illustrative 



the gleaners of the harvest, 



" The lovely young Lavinia, who niire hiul f'r 

 And f'lriuiie smiled deceiiful on bet lilrili." 



of the career of thousands upon whom the sunshine 

 of prosperity in early life has only dawned t6 ren- 

 der the gloom of adversity more conspicuous in 

 their declining days. 



Anc'ient and modern patriots have been devoted 

 to the cultivation of the soil. Cincinnatus, Denta- 

 tus and Regulus, La Fayette, Washington, and our 

 own Shelby, are ilUistriuus examples of tliis inter- 

 esting fact. They repaired from the plough to the 

 defence of their country, and from the defence of 

 their country returned to the plough ; and although 

 they were renowned warriors, we must suppose 

 there was a redeeming spirit in the nature of their 

 avocations as cultivators of the soil, whicli caused 

 their lo^ of country to be superior to all selfish 

 considerations. Considered in this aspect, their 

 fame i\ ill live undimmed in the records of time, 

 whilst the memory of the CiEsars and Alexanders, 

 the Bonapartes and Iturbides will rot, like " the 

 memory of the wicked." Of Ciesar, nothing is 

 left but his accomplished commentaries and his un- 

 hallowed ambition. Of Alexander, who shed tears 

 because lie had no more worlds to conquer, no mon- 

 ument remains but the city of Alexandria, in Egypt, 

 once the pride of the world in its unrivalled libra- 

 ry, and when it commanded the commerce of the 

 Mediterranean sea and the Arabian gulf, but now 

 only a scene of magnificent ruin, since the discov- 

 ery in the 13th century, of a new route to the East 

 Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. It a few years 

 posterity will only speak with approbatJan of Bona- 

 parte as having left a valuable code of laws for 

 France, and as having established agricultural so- 

 cieties and professorships, and the National Garden ; 

 whilst the frequent and inexplicable revolutions in 

 former Spanish America will only serve to proclaim 

 the succession of military tyrants, countenanced 

 alone in countries where the system of religion pre- 

 scribes the rights of conscience aa well as the lights 

 of knowledge. 



The most distinguished individuals in our coun- 

 tiy, including nearly all of our Presidents, have de- 

 lighted in tlie pursuits of agriculture. Washing- 

 ton, whose career piesents the brightest example 

 of true glory recorded in ancient or modern histo- 

 ry, was impatient to retreat from the toils of war 

 and the cares of State, to betake liini.self to the pure 

 and unalloyed joys of rural life. Jcfl^erson, whose 

 fame is identified with the independence of his 

 country, rejoiced in the opportunity of mingling 

 the avocations of the farm with the sweets of polite 

 literature. Madison, whose monument is found in 

 the matchless constitijtion he contributed to form 

 and which lie administered in peace and in war, 

 was always anxious to retire to the mellow pursuits 

 of agriculture, as the most congenial in their influ- 



citizens devoting thetnselves to the pursuits of ag- I solace in every condition of life, and to no class of 

 riculture. At an early period, Shelby, Nicholas | men more eminently than to the cultivators of the 

 and Breckenridge were conspicuous in their efforts I soil. It is in the domestic circle of the farmer, that 

 to advance this great object. The first, renowned j woman shines in all her glory, guidino- the distaff 



in the war of the revolution, and in the early as 

 well as the after history of the State ; the two lat- 

 ter, his equal in vigorous intellect and patriotic de- 

 votion, whilst they were scarcely excelled in the 

 whole Union in their enlightened advocacy of the 

 principles of constitutional law. In our own day 

 we find the whole commimity in its civil, political 

 and religious character, coming up to mingle its 

 tears with ours over the graves of the lamented 

 Garrard and Green, who, after signalizing their 

 valor in the North-West, considered it their proud- 

 est claim to distinction in devoting tbeir strong 

 minds and patriotic hearts to the great cause of ao-- 

 riculture. And passing from our own country and 

 our own age, we may refer to the fact which is ex- 

 hibited in bold relief in the history of every nation 

 claiming to be civilized, that men of every profes- 

 sion, in all ages, liavo contemplated at some period 

 of their career, to retire to the repose to be found 

 only in the pleasures of rural life. The statesman, 

 the civilian, the philosopher, the physician, the 

 luerchant, the handicraft tradesman, the county 

 court pettifogger, the village constable and the 

 heartless usurer, all fix in their minds some future 

 day in which they hope to realize what their imag- 

 inations have depicted of the joys of retirement in 

 the country. 



As a further illustration of the value which high- 

 ly gifted men have attached to the pursuits of ag- 

 riculture, I venture to introduce an extract from 

 the essays of Dr Johnson, who stands at the head 

 of British literature. It is allowed that "vocations 

 and employments of vast dignity are of the most ap- 

 parent use ; that the meanest artisan or manufactu- 

 rer contributes more to the accommodation of life, 

 than the profound scholar and argumentative theo 

 rist ; and that the public would suffer less present 

 inconvenience from the banishment of philosophers 

 than from the extinction of any common trade." 



" Some have been so forcibly struck with this 

 observation that they have, in the first warmth of 

 their discovery, thought it reasonable to alter the 

 common distribution of dignity, and venture to con- 

 demn mankind of universal ingratitude; and what 

 labor can be more useful than that which procures 

 to families and communities those necessaries 

 which supply the wants of nature, or those conve- 

 niences by which ease, security and elegance are 

 conferred." 



"This is one of the innumerable theories which 

 the first attempt to reduce them into practice cer- 

 tainly destroys. If we estimate dignity by imme- 

 diate usefulness, agriculture is undoubtedly the 



ence upon the profound and classic efforts of his : first and noblest science; yet we see the plough 

 unrivalled pen. Monroe, who fought in both wars ' driven, the clod broken, the manure spread, the seeds 

 for the maintenance of his country's independence, [ scattered and the harvest reaped, by men, whom 

 and whose career is signalized by association with ' those that feed upon their industry, will never be pcr- 

 the purchase of Louisiana and Florida; the heroic j suaded to admit into the same rank with heroes or 

 Jackson, whose fame will live as long as the waters sages ; and who, after all their confessions which 



or leading lisping infancy in prayer. But it is not 

 to the farmer alone, that she is the richest of all 

 temporal blessings — her hand is ever open as day 

 to melting charity, her approbation gives rapture to 

 the statesman and the philosopher — her love ani- 

 mates the warrior on the field of battle — her heart 

 is often an altar dedicated to the service of the liv- 

 ing God, and her bosom is as the balm of Gilead to 

 the wounded spirit in the hour of trouble. 



But if the testimony of men of science and of 

 patriots in all ages fails to recommend the pursuits 

 of agriculture to our favorable consideration, there 

 is intrinsic merit in the profession itself to command 

 our unqualified regard. It is the nursery of patri- 

 otism, of wealth and of strength to the state. All 

 writers on political economy speak of the farmer 

 as the "productive class" and all others as the 

 " unproductive classes," and whilst he is creating 

 materials, nearly all other occupations are employ- 

 ed on pre-existing materials. If these views of the 

 general value of the agricultural interest be acknowl- 

 edged, how much more impressive will they be re- 

 garded in reference to our own state where the 

 products of the soil enter so pre-eminently into the 

 sources of her prosperity. We are in a latitude so 

 peculiarly blessed as to unite the growths which 

 belong to a Northern and a Southern climate. 

 The tobacco of the south is found by the side of the 

 hemp of the north, and the grass of the north grows 

 kxuriantly by the side of the corn which flourished 

 best in the south. This happy concurrence of cli- 

 mate meets upon a soil of unparalleled fertility 

 and of irrepressible energy ; presenting just the 

 undulations in surface which protects it alike from 

 baking or of washing in the cultivation. The corn 

 and grass of this rich region contribute, in the char- 

 acter of provisions and live stock, mainlv to the sup- 

 ply of the cotton planter of the south, who, in his 

 turn, supplies the raw material to the manufacturer 

 of the north, who, in his turn, with the merchant and 

 the seaman taking it to market, is fed chiefly by the 

 products of our soil ; so that in the circuitous ope- 

 rations of labor and of commerce, Kentucky with 

 the other states of the west, feeds all the operatives 

 of the north and of the south. How dignified then 

 should be the pursuit, and how controlling the in- 

 terest which effects these high objects. But with 

 a soil and climate so inviting, we do not realize 

 from our lands half the product which is found in 

 the northern states, where the cold soil and rock 

 surface is made to yield to the influence of the sci- 

 entific labor; and without a prospect of improve- 

 ment in the character of our husbandry, we are in 

 danger of being exposed to the remarks of Solomon ' 

 in regard to the slovenly farmer. "I went by the 

 field of the slothful, and lo it was all grown over 

 with thorns, and nettles covered the face thereof, 

 and stone wall was broken down." I\Iay we not, 



n, ,- --- however, hope that a better day is dawning upon 



ot the father of rivers roll on to the ocean ; our own ' truth may extort in favor of their occupation, must | us in all that relates to the means by which the 



