500 [ASSEMBL\ 



to receive our government, always able to give us back all things 

 with usury ! How can I give an idea of the pleasure which 1 enjoy 

 in the planting, growing, and fruit of the grape-vine. I cannot satiate 

 myself with these delicious matters. What admiration have I in be- 

 holding the growth of the most minute speeds — of cuttings, grafts, 

 roots, transplants, layers, &.c. How beautiful the way in which the 

 grape vine manages to lift and sustain itself from the ground by put- 

 ting its fingers (tendrils) to clasp hold of the limbs of trees, climbing 

 and looking like a serpent — and how we use the steel to prune away 

 its useless shoots. 



" How I admire the deep and thorough digging of the soil, the 

 pulverizing of it to render it fit for plants. Irrigation, too, where 

 that is required — and what can I say too much in favor of perfect and 

 thorough manuring. I have written fully on this subject in my book 

 on rural affairs. It appears singular to me, that the learned Hesiod 

 said nothing about this book on agriculture. But Homer, who I think 

 was some ages before him, speaks of manuring as well as cultivating 

 the soil. The grain, the grass, the vines, the gardens, the apple or- 

 chards, the pasture of the cattle, even the flowers which supply the 

 bees with honey, all need proper manuring. As we grow old we be- 

 come loquacious. I do not pretend to be free of that fault, but I talk 

 of that which has continued wnth me to old age, agriculture. 



" What noble men have passed their lives to great age upon small 

 yet beautiful farms, made and preserved by their own skill and per- 

 sonal labor. Remember Marcus Curius, to whom the Samnites 

 brought as a bribe a large weight of gold, which he refused, (repu- 

 diated,) telling them that he considered that there was nothing im- 

 portant in having much money ones-self, — that he preferred com- 

 manding those who ha J it. 



" My opinion is, that agriculture is wholesome for the whole human 

 race — for the great pleasure of it, for the abundance and variety of 

 food produced by it, and for its intimate relation with the worship of 

 God. 



