118 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



in the steps of his father. He is too conservative easily to con- 

 sent to innovation. His fields lie out of doors, and he dislikes 

 to be laughed at by his neighbors. He is too much disposed to 

 disregard or treat with levity the labors of the laboratory. He 

 stands too l^ravely by the errors of the past. He thinks no light 

 can be gained in his vocation except from him who has trodden 

 the furrows. Eut science is gaining upon him, in spite of him- 

 self. He is driven in from one error to another. He is com- 

 pelled to receive the light. Here and there a farmer of science 

 and study, introduces new theories, imports new ideas, and 

 advances his neighbors in the knowledge of their calling. The 

 published discussions of your Institute contribute materially to 

 this improvement. And the opportunities your fairs afford, for 

 the display of the choicest productions, encoui-age rivalry and 

 stimulate ambition. 



To help bend public attention to the importance and love of 

 agriculture, is a duty of patriotism. How many attestations 

 have we, of its influence on character, in most of those men, in 

 whose memories our country rejoices, and whose words and deeds, 

 in peace or war, have added to her renown. Their early years 

 have generally passed in the discipline of the farm. By its 

 healthful labors, their muscles were hardened and their constitu- 

 tions confirmed. Here they breathed the air of freedom, and 

 learned the great lesson of reliance on themselves. How Wash- 

 ington delighted to lay aside the insignia of chieftainship, and 

 retire to the peaceful labors of his farm. A man who works in 

 the soil, of which he holds the muniments of title, and who 

 watches and receives its growth, has an intenser attacliment to 

 the land, than he whose interest dies out with the expiration of 

 his lease. A greater love for agriculture would counteract the 

 tendency of oiu- countrymen to gather on the rim of the Atlantic, 

 and exempt us from such tender sensibility to the changes, the 

 reverses, and the oscillations of Europe. 



For more than thirty years, efforts have been made in our own 

 State, to establish an Agricultural College, but they have not 

 yet been successful in founding any school, in which the science 

 can be adequately taught; yet, the cultivators of her soil number 

 half a million. Nor has any other State been more fortunate. 

 State Legislatures are deaf, and Congress will not hear. In 

 other countries the subject is better appreciated. Agricultural 

 schools and colleges are established in England, Ireland and 

 Scotland, in France and other Continental nations. The one at 



