nificent view of a large extent of mountainous 

 country, which bounds his vision: some of the most 

 prominent peaks are the Wachusctt, Monadnoc and 

 the Peterboro' mountains. The valley of the Nash- 

 ua is spread out like a map under his feet, its ex- 

 tensive intervales, ornamented with noble elms and 

 other trees, sinsle or in groups or groves, which, 

 enlivened by the villages of Lancaster and the nu- 

 merous farm houses in the distance upon the swel- 

 ling hills beyond, forms one of the tinest scenes 

 for^the landscape painter imaginable. The inter- 

 vales of the Nashua are fertile and produce grass 

 and grain in abundance when well managed. Some 

 of the intervales have a fine growth of the shag- 

 bark walnut, which yield fine crops of nuts. We 

 know of one farm from which have been gathered 

 nearly 100 bushels in a season. There is consid- 

 erable land in Lancaster that is wrt and cold, which 

 mitrht be greatly improved by drainage : it is gen- 

 erally so situated that it could be easily effected. 

 We were on one farm where considerable improve- 

 ment had been made in this way, and was assured 

 that the produce was fourfold. One gentleman 

 said he was much pleased with the Indian wheat- 

 had good success in raising it, and thouglit it equally 

 as good for his horse as corn, and that when prop- 

 erly ground, makes fine flour for warm cakes. We 

 have a promise of a communication from him on the 

 subject. 



It was in this town we spent five or six years in 

 the cultivation of " Lancaster garden," which is sit- 

 uated near the junction of the two branches of 

 Nashua river, having a fine alluvial soil and ' well 

 adapted to the growing of garden seeds : it is now 

 owned by J. D. Huntington, Esq. and occupied for 

 the same purpose. When under our care, we had 

 an extensive collection of hardy and half hardy 

 herbaceous plants, embracing the most of our fine 

 native American species, as well as all the exotics 

 which could be obtained. As the present proprie- 

 tor is not a botanist, nor much acquainted with tho 

 cultivation of plants, many of the varieties have 

 been lost, but there still remain many fine ones, 

 which are off"ered for sale, and may be bought low. 

 The o-arden was commenced by Mr J. B. Russell, 

 the former proprietor of the N. E. Farmer and Seed 

 Store, and has furnished to the amount of twelve to 

 fifteen hundred dollars worth of seeds annually for 

 this establishment. J- B. 



[For the New England FaTmcr.] 



THE AGRICULTURAL PROFESSION. 



Mr Editor : My mind has long been made up 

 to the belief, that of all callings and professions, 

 atrriculture is the most healthful, the most pleasant, 

 the most honest, and what will weigh most with 

 the o-reatmassof the community, the most projltnble ; 

 yielding the largest returns in health, happiness, 

 virtue, a.uA— money. I wish particularly to impress 

 tliis truth on the community, at present engaged in 

 a devit-may-take-the-hindmost race fur wealth, sud- 

 den, rapid, inordinate wealth — money told by mil- 

 lions and measured by cartloads — obtained by spec- 

 ulation, (gambling were the more appropriate term,) 

 and lost probably by the revolving of the same er- 

 ratic wheel of chance. Regardless of the silent 

 lesson we may take from the Creator's works, in the 

 fact that in the natural world ephemera are insig- 

 nificant by the side of those things of which are re- 

 markable for durability, the gourd in the shade of 

 the cedar of Lebanon, the poplar beside the oak. 



the linnet beside the bald eagle, we go on attempt- 

 ing to accomplish in a year or the half of it, that 

 which were better done in twenty, and more pleas- 

 ant to the conscience and more beneficial in its re- 

 sults, when made the labor of the best part of a life. 

 I have no good opinion of sudden fortunes. Sel- 

 dom do they abide with those who made them. Ob- 

 I tallied by all sorts of risks, (often not very honora- 

 ble ones,) they may be classed in the category 

 witli lottery fortunes and the thrift of the privateers- 

 man— both proverbial for the suddenness and sure- 

 ness with they are translated to other pockets. — 

 Now the best method of being installed into that 

 eagerly coveted predicament, rich, is the buying of 

 a ftirm to be trebled in value by skill and industry 

 —by the silent though slow— observed yet unfelt 

 progress of growth, improvement, and amelioration 

 —the colt becoming a horse— the calf an o.x — the 

 oak coppice a lumber lot— tlie sloughy moor a pro- 

 ductive meadow. 



An industrious and prudent farmer whose family 

 are in good health, and are brought up to active 

 habits, necessarily grows rich. Whilst he sleeps 

 the work of enriching goes on — his being the only 

 stock of trade which necessarily improves in value. 

 And then expense, the leech which continually sucks 

 at the main artery of men of substance of every 

 other profession, has little to do with an industri- 

 ous and prudent farmer. The wants of such a man 

 are few beyond what his own lands can supply, nor 

 yet acquire for him the reputation of being a nig- 

 gardly housekeeper. The means are almost en- 

 tirely within himself of living gentlemanly and well 



nay more, luxuriously ; and without Corporal 



Trim's "here to-day and gone to-morrow" — the ex- 

 travagance to-day, and destitution to-morrow, which 

 very frequently (and for the two last years but too 

 commonly) accompany a business less certain than 

 that of husbandry. Our country has been lately, 

 and no doubt will be again, prosperous exceedingly, 

 and of wealth redolent ; but throughout those years 

 of prosperity, the fabric of national greatness lacked 

 the solid foundation — the granite basement The 

 atrriculture of the country evinced but little of the 

 spirit which animated and directed the other branches 

 of industry. Towns sprung up in the wilds, but 

 ao-riculture had nothing to do with them— they 

 w'ere begotten of Utopian scheming: fleets bespread 

 the ocean, but disowned any acquaintance with the 

 great primeval art which is the source of all wealth. 

 Men cared only for rapid fortunes, and so dealt 

 more in the bargain and sale of lands than in their 

 usufruct. 



It cannot be disputed that never can we become 

 truly great, or truly rich, or truly powerful, or truly 

 independent, till agriculture shall be a more honor- 

 ed and coveted employment amongst us. Shame 

 on us if we continue *o neglect it. What ! shall 

 we, proprietors of most sunny and benignant skies, 

 and of soils rich and various — in our own estima- 

 tion t4ie wisest and greatest of nations, and by all 

 accounted very shrewd, enterprising and clever — 

 pride ourselves upon our independence, whilst we 

 are occasionally indebted for the very necessaries 

 of life to those who may abridge us of them at a 

 V eek's warning. And this vile subservience exists 

 whilst we have the means of making our physical 

 independence as complete as our personal and po- 

 litical. No, my dear sir, we mitsflay tlie founda- 

 tion for a production commensurate with the wants 

 of quadruple our present population. We must em- 

 ulate the Dutch and Flemings, — at least adopt our 

 models from our father land. 



Apart from its promising less rapid fortunes, 

 there is another cause for the low state of farming 

 amongst us, and that is, it is not the fashion. It 

 has been, possibly is now, supposed by many, that 

 other callings are more respectable— other profes- 

 sions of a higher caste. Mistaken men ! false opin- 

 ion ! blind public ! If we look at tliose countries 

 where a genuine aristocracy prevails — England. 

 Germany and Hungary, we shall find that landec 

 possessions, especially patrimonial acres, are the 

 i.iost coveted species of wealth— that they have ar 

 imaginary over and above a real value, as conferring 

 honor upon their possessors which other species o 

 property do not have— the fee simple of land beinj 

 the most honorable kind of wealth. From my owi 

 personal observation daily made for near three years 

 I can say that in Europe every thing has been doni 

 to elevate agriculture, and that public opinion b; 

 assigning to the pursuit the greatest and yet no 

 over-estimated importance, has created that nationa 

 taste which has produced the well known results 

 " Citizens," says the author of ' Rural Economy 

 " who breathe' the air of London five days in th 

 week, are farmers the other two. Numbers eve 

 desert the occupations to which they have been brei 

 and apply themselves to a trade so much moi 

 pleasing and independent. All sorts of people m 

 absolutely fixed in other employments, partake ( 

 the fashion, and turn farmers— physicians, lawyer 

 clergymen, soldiers, sailors, merchants." 



Tlie consequence of the great honor paid to a| 

 riculture may be guessed. England, from tl 

 Land's End to the Scottish border, and half of tl 

 Scotch counties, is one continued garden. Nnti 

 rally fertile, and made surprisingly more so by tl 

 use of manures, it exhibits such surpassing beauti' 

 of cultivation that it is worth a voyage across tl 

 Atlantic but to see and admire them. 



Farming has with me ever been a passion. 



commenced it at a very eariy age. I can recolle 



going amongst the reapers at six years old, equipp 



1 with\ jack-knife, and giving them my Hercule 



aid, with the cheering exclamation, " we shall so 



be done now." I had a set of miniature tools ma 



forme, and they were put into my hands to be ui 



1 too. I had a share of every thing raised on t 



farm or growing upon it — small indeed, but in I 



estimation of the boy, larger than the rents Crass 



received from his provinces, or Prince Paul Est 



hazy from his patrimonial domains. The longi 



ridge-iow of corn, and so of every growing crop 



lambs made peculiar by some spot or mark — 1 



my toll was gathered from every thing. From I 



ing so soon a proprietor, I grew up with the,ke« 



est love for the pursuit — happiest when occupi 



with rural tasks— happier when I saw buds unf( 



and germs expand — lambs frisking down the slo] 



of the ravine, and other concomitants of rural li 



than the driveller in the king's gate or those ts 



in the language of scripture, are clothed with p 



pie and fine linen. And then, whilst I was enga| 



in rural life, I had many pleasures which were 



the purest kind. I can remember with what ti 



pleasure my occasional absences weie fraught. 



returned to the most numerous and the most aff 



tionate body of friends that ever welcomed a wi 



derer. My flocks and herds remembered the 1 



eral hand, and came round with low and bleat to 



ceive their accustomed caresses and bounties. 



was joy in my out-door household : actually I hi 



shed' tears as I received the greetings of thi 



friends whose tones were to be translated into ' 



language of unstudied and untaught afifection.i. 



