AND HORTICULTUrtAL REGISTER. 



PUIJLISHED BY' JOSEPH I5RECK & CO., NO. 52 NOllTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehouse.) 



roL. xvm.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 11, 1840. 



[NO. 36- 



N. E .• F ARM ER. 



We have the pleasure of giving to our readers 

 lelow, the speech of Gen. H. A. S. Dearborn at the 

 ievonth Agricultural meeting, and do not doulit 

 ur fricnd.-s will have miicli pleasure in its perusal. 

 Ve have reported it as «oU as we could from our 

 tnperfect notes and imperfect recollections, but we 

 ope we have not failed to present its substantial 

 eatures. H. C. 



SPEECH OF GEN. H. A. S. DEARBORN, 

 It the Seventh AgncuUiind Meeting, Feb. 28, 1840. 



He began with expressing his diffidence in ap- 

 learing on such an occasinn, rnd addressing so re- 

 sectable an assembly of iuteiligent and practical 

 len. He felt likewise the disadvantages under 

 /hich he labored in succeeding such men as had 

 n former occasions addressed them ; meu cmi- 

 ent in the walks of science, and distinguished 

 y their particular and most successful, application 

 3 sciences of a profound character, but which had 

 n immediate connexion with agriculture. Cheinis- 

 •y and Geology, as well as the branches of vegeta- 

 le physiology, were intimately associated witli 

 griculture; and on the.=e topics they had the higli 

 ratitioation of hearing from some of the most dis- 

 nguished men in the country. 



They had likewise been addressed by that omi- 

 ent statesman, who is the just pride of the t;om- 

 lonwealth and of the nation, who had re ocr.' y 

 Bturned from Europe, like Anacharsis from Greece, 

 3 enrich his country with the treasures of wisdom 

 'hich he had been gatheiingin foreign countries — 

 n the Athens and Byzantium of modern Europe. 



But however much these considerations might 

 'eigh with him, j'etthey did not allow him to refuse 

 ny contribution which he might be thought capa- 

 le of rendering to a cause uhich he deemed so im- 

 ■ortant, and which had so deep hold upon his affec- 

 ions, as an improved agriculture. Others had en- 

 ered the field before him and gathered the abun- 

 lance of the harvest ; he would come as a mere 

 fleaner, satisfied if he could bring with him but a 

 ingle sheaf. 



It is a common remark that agriculture has not 

 .dvanced with a rapidity equal to that with which 

 lie other arts had gone forward. Under .the cir- 

 JUmstances of the case, it was not to him so much 

 natter of surprise that agriculture had not gone far- 

 her, as that it had gone so far. 



New England was settled under peculiar circum- 

 itances. The departure of the pilgrims from Eng- 

 and differed from the E.Kodus of the Israelites, in 

 iiat when the latter !■ ft Egypt they went into a 

 country highly cultivated, after their journeyings 

 n the wilderness wero over, and in a climate high- 

 ly favorable to comfort and industry ; hut the pil- 

 grim fathers came into a country wholly barbarous 

 ind untiUed ; into a climute perilous and severe : 

 ili«l to a scene of extraordinary and accumulated 

 hardships, and where the great struggle to be had 

 was a struggle for existence. 



The colonies sent out by the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans, werrt out for purposes of conquest. Inmost 

 cases they went among a people already advanced 

 in the improvements and arts of life, and the tran- 

 sition was little more than a change of place and 

 property. The Romans penetrated into Germany, 

 Gaul, and Britain merely for purposes of conquest, 

 and left colonies only in Gaul. Their colonies 

 were an oppressed and conquered people; but they 

 were the iidiabitants of a country already cultiva- 

 ted and improved. 



The settlement of New England is an auoinuly 

 in the history of civilization. The pilgrim fathers 

 entered into a wilderness not preceded by an army 

 to open their way ; nor protected in their settle- 

 ment by a military force ; but where all were call- 

 ed upon to rely upon their personal virtues and ener- 

 gies — their muscular strength, their industry, their 

 economy, their trust in a divine Providence, lliis 

 was their protection and this their capital. 



The whole country was to be conquered by la- 

 bor. There were no bright|ipots of cultivation and 

 improvement to cheer the prospect. They had no 

 wealth to invest in improvements. Each man had 

 to struggle hard for a subsistence from day to day 

 for himself and his childrLMi. They must do this 

 or perish. They did indeed by the blessing of God 

 surmount these great, obstacles ; but that under 

 such circumstances agriculture should not have 

 advanced here as it did in other countries, aboun- 

 ding in wealth and advanced in the arts of improv- 

 ed life, is not matter of just surprise. The art of 

 agriculture, though first in importance, seems to 

 have been the last to reach a high degree of im- 

 provement in any country. 



In the beginning and in the first steps in the pro- 

 gress of society, men from barbarism passed into 

 the nornadian state, and became herdsmen and 

 shepherd?. This was the condition of the patri- 

 archs. It is still the condition of the Arabs. Tar- 

 tary, from the Euxine sea to the walls of China, is 

 still in the same condition. The traveller Clark 

 says the Cahuuc Tartars as they were in the days 

 of Herodotus, still live in tents, tending their flocks 

 and herds, and do not till the earth. The ancient 

 Greeks and Romans were absorbed in commerce, 

 in the mechanic arts, in the arts of ornament, in 

 literature, poetry and eloquence. These had made 

 great advances before agriculture was justly appre- 

 ciated. Rome was devoted to military conquest 

 and glory, aiid had become " the mistress of the 

 world," before any due honors were paid to the no- 

 ble art of agriculture. There were indeed distin- 

 guished men, who as is common to distinguished 

 minds, had a just taste for rural occupations, scenes 

 and pleasures. Ciceio and Lucullus, Tacitus and 

 Seneca had their charming villas, to which they 

 were delighted to retire from the noise and bustle 

 of the capital. 



The philosopher Seneca, at his country scat of 

 Nomentanum, and in the midst of his groves, re- 

 ceived the sentence of d?ath. His life presents an 

 example which will continue to guide and stimu- 

 late men to virtue, when the memory of the infa- 

 mou.5 tyrant whu. ordered his death, will perish in 



oblivion or bo remembered only to be execrated. — 

 Tacitus wrote his history in the countty ; and there 

 he composed the biography of liis father-in-law, Ag^ 

 ricola. 



Agriculture at length rose in the estimation of 

 the distinguished Romans. The Senate patronised 

 the rural arts. Cincinnatus was taken from the 

 plough. Cato wrote a book upon agriculture. The 

 Georgics of Virijil and the writings of Columella 

 are rich in the science of husbandry and rural cul- 

 tivation. The Carthageniaus wrote several works 

 on agriculture. But it had not even then attained 

 to its just rank. • 



In France and Italy other arts preceded this 

 great art, and it remained far in the rear. Until 

 the reign of Elizabeth, agriculture had been greatly 

 neglected in England. The vegetable products of 

 the soil were very few ; and their tables were most 

 scantily supplied. They were before her time de- 

 pendent upon o'her countries for bread. Vet Eng- 

 land was better cultivated than any country upon 

 the globe, excepting some parts of China. 



But England has made rapid and extraordinary 

 advances in this useful and beautiful art, and now, 

 in her cultivation, presents an example of all that 

 is exact and careful in cultivation, useful in pro- 

 ductions, and charming and tasteful in embel- 

 lisliments. We are the descendants of Englan'd ; 

 yet in some things we have at least in lliese mat- 

 ters reversed the order of sentiment which prevails 

 ■with thei'i. 



In Ec ;lan6, the pleasures and privileges and 

 blessings of the cofintry seem properly understood 

 and valued. No man there considers himself n free- 

 man unless he has a right in the soil. Merchants, 

 bankers, citizens, and men of every description, 

 whose condition in life allows them to aspire after 

 any thing better, are looking forward always to re- 

 tirement in the country, to the possession ol a gar- 

 den or a farm ; and to the delicious enjoyment of 

 rural pleasures. The taste of the nobility of Eng- 

 land is all this way. Tliere are none of them, who 

 with all the nienns of luxury which the mo.U enor- 

 mous wealth oe i afford, ever think of spending the 

 year in Londoi:, or of remaining in the confiue- 

 incnt, noise a-id confusion of the city, a day longer 

 than they arc compelled to dc* by public duty or 

 imperious necessity. 



There is, in this respect, a marked difference be- 

 tween England and France. Formerly, in France, 

 the nobility were scattered broadcast over the ter- 

 ritory, ami had their vilhis, their castles and cha- 

 teaux iq all the provincei;. But the inonarchs, anx- 

 ious to increase the splendor of their courts and. to 

 concentrate around them all that was improved and 

 beautiful in fashion, luxury and wealth, collected 

 the aiistocracy in cities. The natural consequence 

 was that the country was badly tilled, and an im- 

 proved agriculture made no advances. 



Spain was formerly the granary of Europe. The 

 great means of enriching land, irrigation, was prac- 

 tised thereto a great extent; and manuscripts of 

 great antiquity now to be found in the libraries of 

 their princes, show that the knowledge as well as 

 the practice of the art, had made great progress. 



