:i34 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRIL, g isJ ■ 



worker of lace, who, in lier exquisite workmansliip, 

 plies a needle in fineness almost rivalling a pencil 

 of light; to tlie chemist, who examines the variuns 

 soils anil manures in his crucibles and filters, and 

 explains tlieir needs and uses ; to the mathemati- 

 cian, who points out to the farmer in respect to the 

 mould-board of his plough the precise angle of in- 

 cidence or flexion by which the sod may ho elevated 

 and turned over with the least power of drauglit, 

 and placed in the position in which it is desirable it 

 should be laid, so as to expose the greatest amount 

 of surface to Ihe light and air; and lo the philoso- 

 ])her, «ho calculates the planetary changes, and in- 

 strucls the farmer as to the times and seasiins of 

 his various operations — all may bo considered joint 

 laborers in producing the means of subsistence and 

 in fitting them for the use of man. 



Hut none of these considerations affect the fun- 

 damental position that agriculture is the great source 

 of weal'.h, of individual and of national wealth and 

 power. Look around you, and of the tilings which 

 you call your own, which you use, which minister 

 to your pleasures or yuur comfort, what a vast pro- 

 portion of them are the direct products of agricul- 

 ture. Look at your tables, and what is there that 

 you eat or drink, save the simple beverage of na- 

 ture, which does not come from the field,' Look at 

 your dress, and what article either of comfort or or- 

 nament, of necessity or use, which is not the direct 

 product of agriculture ? Even the silken fabric, so 

 bright, so f.ne, so beanliful, so brilliant, in its chang- 

 ing colors reflecting the gorgcousness of an autum- 

 nal Bunset, and the plaited straw of the most exqui- 

 site fineness and finish ; and even the paper of your 

 books, radiant with the visions of the imagination, 

 or beaming and burning with the flashes of genius 

 and eloquence, what are all these but the products 

 of agriculture ? Ah, indeeil, how is philcjsophy it- 

 self to subsist, how is tiie machinery of thought to 

 go on, how is eloquence itself to pour forth its gush- 

 ing and blazing torrents, without the products of 

 the earth.' 



V\ hat constitutes national wealth ' What are 

 commerce and trade and manufacturer- all concern- 

 ed with but the products of the field .'- A single 

 article of the produce of southern agri^ilturc is ra- 

 ted this year at 80,000,000 of dollars. .But va.st as 

 this value of the cotton crop may seem, it is little 

 compared with the value of the wheat and the corn 

 crop, and the amount of vegetables and grasses, of 

 dairy produce and of pork and beef and wool that 

 are required and produced for the use and trade of 

 the country. It is impossible to come at any exact 

 estimate of these matters; but every individual may 

 approach an estimate by considering what is tlie 

 expense of cotton to him in the year, compared 

 with other expenses incidental to his clothing and 

 subsistence. 



We have, it is true, in modern times invented 

 another mode of increasing national wealth, and 

 that is by the creation of bills of credit, bank notes, 

 promises to pay.— Many of us are simple enough 

 to believe that we grow rich just in proportion as 

 we multiply and can circulate these promises to 

 pay. Now, I admit, that to a certain extent and 

 within rigid limits tins may bo a wholesome opera- 

 tion ; but is it any actual increase of wealth? Does 

 B man grow rich in proportion as he multiplies his 

 promissory notes of hcnd? In private life, this 

 would be deemed an Jrish way of gettino- rich ; i^i 

 associations it does nut differ from this. I mean 

 wliere it is mere credit ; not resting upon actual 

 accumulations^ nor based upon prospective results, 



which are as certain as any thing future in human 

 calculatious can be. But when these promises to 

 pay are once made, who is lo pay them ? If they 

 are ever paid at all, it must be by the hand of pro- 

 ductive labor — by the products of the field or tl e 

 sea. If productive labor does not make tliem good, 

 they will never be good for any thing. Every bill 

 of credit that is issued is an assessment upon the 

 industry of the country. It would have been well 

 for the public bad they seen this before they in- 

 curred the tremendous losses which they have al- 

 ready suffered. It would be well ifthey could see 

 it now in season to guard, as well as tbey may, 

 against the tremendous explosions which nmst ac- 

 company the extravagance and reckless extension 

 of a system fraught with innumerable evils to the 

 honest industry of the country, and adapted to frame 

 the profligate idler's pahice out of the laborer's 

 bones ! 



But when will men learn any thing from expe- 

 rience .' What we call the public is a long-eared 

 animal. The crafty understand him. They go in- 

 to the pasture with their measure of oats, the same 

 decoy which has caught many silly animals before 

 liini, and shake it before his eyes, holding the bri- 

 dle behind their backs, and coming up the blind 

 side of him, before he can touch his nose to the 

 grain he finds the bits in his mouth. Then it is all 

 over ; and he must take patiently the whip, which 

 ■sometimes at every stroke brings blood, if he at- 

 tempts by rearing or kicking to throw his rider. 



'I he manufactures lean upon agriculture as their 

 main support. Who turns these thousand spinning 

 jennies, in gyrations which no other Jennie, not 

 even a Vestris or Celeste, could ever dream of ri- 

 valling ? Who moves the power wheel, the migfety 

 mammoth, which revolves in thundering circles in 

 his subterranean cave, hoary with the glittering 

 jewels that trickle from his crown, and pour them- 

 selves down his sides ? It is his noble sister ; the 

 elder sister of the household of industry. Agriculture 

 — without whose aid and bounty all the operations 

 of the family must cease at once. 



Tske that most beautiful of all artificial creations, 

 the combination of the noblest triuniplis of human 

 art, that magnificent sea-bird, a gallant ship, with 

 her wings spread to the favoring gales, flor.ting in 

 silent majesty over the crested wave, dashing the 

 glittering gems from her sides, now calmly mount- 

 ing the heaving surges, and now gracefully plung- 

 ing into the azure valleys, fearless alike whether 

 the zephyrs make her masts their lute, and utter 

 their sweetest notes among her strings, or whether 

 the tempest, pouring its violenas among them, cau- 

 ses hor spreading wings to echo and re-echo its 

 voices of thunder — look, I say, at this beautiful, this 

 grand object, when she leaves your port to explore 

 iriany a trackless sea, and to carry your sympathies 

 into lands many a sun's journey from your own, and 

 ask yourself, what are her timbers, her masts, lier 

 sails, her ropes, her supplies, her cargo — but the 

 products of agriculture ? and how could they wlio 

 build, and they who load, and they who navigate 

 her, live a day without these products? 



Agriculture, under God, is a creator. She speaks 

 and it is done. She stretches her mighty wand 

 over the earth, and countless beautiful and glorious 

 forms rise at her bidding. She casts the seed into 

 the ground ; perhaps it is the least of seeds; but 

 see how soon it becomes a tree, and its branches 

 arc glittering and ))endant with fruit. What amaz- 

 ing miracles does she work before oureyes ! With 



what a boundless profusion does she compensati 

 the labors of industry and skill! What marvellou 

 products does she pour out, in fifties, in hundreds 

 in thousands ! Tlie product of a single grain o 

 wheat in a single season, was ascertained to bi 

 21,109 cars, measu-ing three pecks and three quar 

 ters of grain, and producing no less than ;">7C,84( 

 kernels. What instrument secondary to the Al 

 mighty agent, is a creator like agriculture ? am 

 what ii; all the real, substantial, useful wealth o 

 the coumiunity but its products ? The agricultun 

 of a country is the great source of its riches, ani 

 the right arm of its power. 



Consider agriculture as a profession or occupa 

 tion. I do not wish to speak invidiously of any o 

 the occupations which .society permits. I arroga'ci 

 to myself the keeping of no man's conscience ; it i 

 employment enough for each man to take care o 

 his own. There are men living without any occu 

 pation whatever. Is this honorable ? Is it ai 

 Aonps/ mode of living ? I would not ruffle, evei 

 with a feather, the smooth waters of this day's fes 

 tivity ; and therefore I shall n"t say what I thinl 

 of such a life as this. There are men who live up 

 on the vices and corruptions of other men; vice 

 and corruptions which they themselves help first I 

 produce. These are the carrion birds of society 

 to whom the more putrid the carcase of their vie 

 tiui becomes, the more and the sweater the gus 

 with which they seem to hover round it. Neei 

 any thing be said of professions which require, a 

 their inevitable price, the sacrifice of what ought l 

 be far dearer to a man than his life, I niean hi 

 •self-respect, his conscience, his moral nature am 

 dignity ? Ther^ are professions in society whosi 

 tendency is to absorb the whole soul in the pursui 

 of mere pecuniary gain. 'I here are pmfession 

 which tax all the powers of body and mind to min 

 ister to mere frivolity, show, fashion, and parade 

 There are professions and occupations, where day; 

 and nights are dragged out in never-ending toil, ii 

 the noisy streets or the subterranean hiding place; 

 and vaults of cities, where the glorious sunrisini 

 and sunsetting are never seen; and where thi 

 balmy air of heaven, as it sweeps over the greet 

 and dewy fields, is never breathed ; but only pes 

 lilential vapors of a thousand commingled and de 

 testable odors. There are professions called learn 

 ed and honoiable pnifessions, too often the object 

 of a mistaken envy ; for they are full 'of headache 

 and heartaches ; of feverish days and sleeplesi 

 nights ; of sorrowing bosoms and throbbing teni 

 pies ; and deeply cankered and poisoned by ava 

 rice, and envy, and ambition, and the lust of power 

 nnd the hatred of competition, and the chagrin o 

 disappointment; and the countless evils which tha 

 inexorable and capricious tyrant, public opinion 

 whose bond slaves they are and must be, has al 

 ways at hand to pour out of his Pandora's box. 



Physic is an uncertain practice, where few cat 

 tell whether they kill or cure; where doubts hove: 

 in thick clouds over the reflecting mind ; where ai 

 experience increases, distrust of one's ownskillan( 

 the power of medicine itself it. creases ; where un 

 corrupted modesty and incorruptible integrity shal 

 often go feelcss, when quackery .shall change iti 

 labelled and gilded pill-box into a coach and four 

 and where to be an "Indian doctor," or a " bline 

 doctor," or a " rain water doctor," or to be an olc 

 woman and descended from the seventh son of some 

 seventh son, or, better still, not to have been bori 

 at all, and to have had neither father nor mother 

 bnt perhaps to have come into the world as was 



