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DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE AND ITS KINDRED ARTS AND SCIENCES. 



VOL. XVI. 



BOSTON, JANUARY, 1864. 



NO. 1. 



NOURSE, EATON & TOLMAN, Proprietors. 

 Office.... 102 Washington Street. 



SIMON BROWN, Editor. 



THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY JANUARY, 



That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth ; that 

 our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the 

 similitude of a palace: 



That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store ; 

 that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands 

 in our streets : 



That our oxen may be strong to labor ; that there be no com- 

 plaining in our streets. 



Happy is that people that is in such a case. 



Psalm CXLIV-. 12, 15. 



A N V A R Y , 1864 ! 



Happy, indeed, 

 must be the "peo- 

 ple that is in such 

 a case." And there 

 is no reason why 

 all the people in 

 the free States 

 should not be in 

 such a condition, 

 except our own im- 

 perfections. H e 

 who created us, 

 has given us all 

 that can possibly 

 be necessary to 

 satisfy every phy- 

 sical want. An extensive 

 — and diversified country, 

 teeming with the richest and most 

 substantial productions, when gener- 

 ously treated. A varied and delightful climate, 

 capable of bringing to perfection every grain and 

 fruit that man can desire, or that is required to 

 develope his highest physical powers. He may 

 find in it whatever degree of cold or warmth his 

 particular temperament may demand, and still see 

 around him the most ample means for subsistence, 

 and for mental and material progress. Everywhere 

 the soil yields her increase, when wrought by 

 skilful and industrious hands, while seas and for- 

 ests contribute in a thousand ways to gratify his 



tastes and supply his wants. 



What can we ask more ! Only this, — the pu- 

 rity of Him who taught among the hills of Naza- 

 reth, and that our social systems be so perfected 

 that none can be poor among us. The ancient 

 Peruvians could not claim the exalted purity of 

 which we speak, but their government, though per- 

 fectly arbitrary, made it impossible that any of its 

 people should ever want for food, shelter or cloth- 

 ing. Under their laws, every one was obliged to 

 work. If not with his hands, then with his head 

 — in some way, certainly, so that every person 

 who was a consumer must do something to pro- 

 duce supplies, or in some form promote the public 

 welfare. Each head of a family had his special 

 allotment of land, and he was obliged to cultivate 

 it, when in health ; if rich, his neighbors tended 

 it for him, so that, every allotment was produc- 

 tive. Government granaries were established, so 

 that if flood, or drought or tempests destroyed 

 the crops in any particular section, the people 

 were supplied from the public granaries, until the 

 sufferers could sow and reap their usual. crops. 



The inclemencjes of the season lead: us natur- 

 ally to these thoughts, and we are pained with 

 the reflection, that any should ever suffer, for the 

 common necessities of life, in a, land' so crowded 

 with all that we need, and where all might-enjoy 

 it, if our social systems were so perfect as to com- 

 pel all who consume to produce, in one form or 

 another. Wc do not mean that this product shall 

 be limited merely to that which goes directly to 

 sustain life- — for he who introduces order or econ- 

 omy, teaches the arts, or imparts any useful in- 

 formation, is a producer, and is entitled to God's 

 sunshine and showers and; to enjoy the fruits of 

 the earth. We are radical on this point. It is 

 wrong, in our opinion, to consume the earnings 

 of others, when we have had the "ability, and yet 

 have failed in some way to promote the welfare 

 of our fellow-man. Had we the power of the 



