Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and the HouseJiold Arts. 



Agriculture is the nursing mother of the Arts. I Tillage and Pasturage are the two breaf^ts of 

 — XenopJion. \ the State. — Sully. 



J. E. AVILLIAMS, Editor. AUGUST & AYILLIAMS, Prop'ks 



Vol. XVIII. RICHMOND, VA., SEPTEMBER, 1858. NO. 9. 



Agriculture and Commerce. 



EY CHARLES D. BRAGDON. 



American agriculture is the base of Ameri- 

 can commerce. No argument is necessary to 

 prove this. Agriculture and commerce are 

 mutual dependencies ; one cannot exist except 

 the other thrives, and the other cannot thrive 

 without the existence and perfection of the 

 ^ first. Then the relations that exist between 

 the producer and the exchanger or conveyer 

 should be of the most harmonious character. 

 Neither can afford to lose the good will or good 

 offices of the other. Charity shouhi be exer- 

 cised by the one and rceiprocate^d by the other. 

 Tie who would disseveV a singde bond of good 

 feeling between them can understand little of 

 the wants and relations of agriculture and 

 commerce. There is necessity for the eleva- 

 tion of the average character of the represen- 

 tatives of both these great interests. Educa- 

 tion must do it — education alone can do it. — 

 AVhatever tends to such result is education. — 

 Kind of employment, elevates no one — there is 

 no caste in honest labor. The' closely shaven, 

 neatly clad merchant behind his counter, is no 

 more refined than the roughly clad, bluff beard- 

 ed plowman. Position never elevates men ; 

 capacity docs. Intelligence and integrity ele- 

 vate the position — elevate a class — alone can 

 create caste. In proportion as knowledge is. 

 added to the muscular power of the farmer, in 

 like proportion will the farmer's occupation be 

 honored. In proportion as husbandry receives 



33 



the attention of the best minds, in like propor- 

 tion will the husbandman's occupation appre- 

 ciate. So long as it is believed that the balance 

 of intelligence and refinement is found in the 

 ranks of commercial men, so long will recruits 

 be found to swell those ranks. Men desire to 

 rise. They will work late and hard to do it ; 

 and it matters not what they do if the peg they 

 hang their coats on is higher in the world's es- 

 teem than the peg they took them from. — 

 Then, in order to elevate an occupation or in-, 

 terest, the men engaged in it must ascend, and 

 they must not cease to ascend. With all the 

 sensuality of the present day, it is not th-3 

 characteristics of Americans to grovel. Ilarl 

 work and success are synonomous. The Ame- 

 rican farmer and the American merchant bota 

 understand this. They need to nndersland 

 better how to work. The current of labor i-: 

 conceded l)y the intelligent. But that dignity; 

 depends for degree upon the direction and 

 channel it pursues. There is dignity in iiitei- 

 ligent labor ; there is no dignity in an3^ otho*'. 

 The exercise of muscular power in the pr(?s»- 

 cution of enterprises possesses only meehani-' 

 cal merit. The mind that guides and controlM 

 the movements of a thousand men may be ena-' 

 bodied in a single person. The will of a sin- 

 gle man, ba(da'd up by his intelligence, may 

 accomplish what the thousand uneducated mmi 

 would fiiil to do, what they wo\ild never con- 

 ceive possible, without education. It is the 

 light which burns within, tlie character of that - 

 light, and the motives and influences whicb 

 modif}'- it, that -give power, and add t<:' 'tkr.v 



