42 



cliisively for immediate results, and to adopt a sys- 

 tem of management which, while it enriched the 

 fathers, must inevitably impoverish the sons. The 

 vast fertile and unoccupied areas of the Westj 

 yielding for a while bountiful crops with little 

 care and expenditure, have, doubtless, tended to 

 retard the healthy development of agriculture in 

 the Eastern and Central Stales, and this cause 

 will continue to be felt, more or less, till tha,t 

 immense region, — of the extent and resources of 

 which we are beginning now to form some defi- 

 nite conception, — becomes peopled with an indus- 

 trious and thriving population. When that period 

 shall have arriv(;d, and the progress is assuming 

 immense rapidity and proportions, the motives 

 to exhaust land here, remove and commence a 

 similar operation on new and fertile soils there, 

 will be reduced to a minimum, and American 

 agriculture, as a whole, will assume a high and 

 homogeneous character, ultimately working out 

 for itself a position, whether for magnitude or 

 excellence, that will be unsurpassed by any por- 

 tion of the habitable world. 



From a pretty intimate acquaintance which I 

 may be supposed to have of Canadian agricul- 

 ture, which in its leading features must resemble, 

 more or less, that of these Northern States, there 



