1817. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
317 
durability and steadiness of which it is impossible yet 
to measure with certainty. It is in our power to say. 
however, that a great body of provocations to counter¬ 
vailing restrictive commercial regulations, is now re¬ 
moved, in some instances permanently, and in others 
temporarily in form ; and it would seem to be the part 
of wisdom, for the agriculture of this country, by fur¬ 
nishing these markets to the extent of the demand, with 
the best articles, at the fairest prices, to show to those 
countries, and their respective governments, that re¬ 
ciprocal commercial regulations, if they offer no other 
and higher attractions, present to their people a safe¬ 
guard against starvation. 
Such is the connection, now, between our agriculture 
and the export trade and foreign market, and these re¬ 
lations are to be extended and - strengthened, rather 
than circumscribed and weakened, by our agricultural 
advances. The consumption of the country is far short 
of its production, and cannot become equal to it within 
any calculable period. On the contrary, the excess of 
production is to increase with the increase of population 
and settlement, and the improvements in agriculture 
and agricultural education. These appear to me to be 
facts, arising from the condition of our country, and the 
tastes and inclinations of our people, fixed beyond the 
power of change, and to which theories and principles 
of political economy must be conformed, to be made 
practically applicable to us. 
The American farmer, then, while carefully studying, 
as he should not fail to do, the necessities, the w’ants 
and the tastes of all classes of consumers of his produc¬ 
tions in his own country, must not limit his researches for 
a market within those narrow bounds. He must extend 
his observations along the avenues of commerce, as far 
as the commerce of his country extends, or can be ex¬ 
tended, and instruct himself as to the necessities, and 
wants and tastes of the consumers of agricultural pro¬ 
ductions in other countries. He must observe attentively 
the course of trade, and the causes calculated to exert 
a favorable or adverse influence upon it; watch closely 
the commercial policy of other countries, and guard 
vigilantly that of his own ; accommodate his produc¬ 
tions, as far as may be, to the probable demands upon 
the market, and understand how to prepare them for 
the particular market for which they are designed. 
Next to the production of the best article at the cheap¬ 
est price, its presentation in the market in the best order 
and most inviting condition, is important to secure to the 
farmer a ready and remunerating market. 
So long as our agricultural shall continue to be an ex¬ 
porting interest, these considerations, as second only to 
the science of production itself, will demand the careful 
attention and study of our farmers, and in any well di¬ 
gested system of agricultural education, its connection : 
with manufactures and the mechanic arts, with com¬ 
merce, with the commercial policy of our own and 
other countries, and with the domestic and foreign mar¬ 
kets, should hold a prominent place. A thorough and 
continued education in these collateral, but highly ne¬ 
cessary branches of knowledge to the farmer, will prove 
extensively useful to the American citizen, beyond their 
application to the production and sale of the fruits of 
his labor. They will qualify him the more safely and 
intelligently to discharge the duties of a freeman; and, 
if called by his fellow citizens to do so, the more bene¬ 
ficially to serve his state and country in legislative and 
other public trusts. 
I hope I may offer another opinion in this connection, 
without giving offence, or tresspassing upon the propri¬ 
eties of the place and occasion. It is that this education 
in the just and true connection between the agricultural, 
the commercial, and the manufacturing interests of our 
country, equally and impartially disseminated among 
the classes of citizens attached to each of these great 
branches of labor, would effectually put an end to the 
jealousies too frequently excited ; demonstrating to every 
mind, so educated, that, so far from either being in any 
degree the natural antagonist of the other, they are all 
parts of one great and naturally harmonious system of 
human industry, of which a fair encouragement to any 
part is a benefit to all ; and that all invidious and par¬ 
tial encouragement to any part, at the expense of any 
other part, will prove to be an injury to all. The edu¬ 
cation proposed will do all that can be done to mark the 
true line between natura and healthful encouragement 
to either interest, and an undue attempt to advance 
any one, at the expense of the uniteu system, merely 
producing an unnatural and artificial relation and action, 
which cannot fail to work disease and injury. 
The labors of this society, and of kindred associa¬ 
tions, have done much to inform the minds of our far¬ 
mers in these collateral branches of knowledge useful to 
them, and much remains to be done- The science of 
production claims the first place, and is a wide field, as 
yet so imperfectly cultivated as to afford little time for 
collateral labors." To secure a stable and healthful mar¬ 
ket, and to learn how to retain and improve it, also 
opens an extensive field for the mental labors and ener¬ 
gies of the farmer. Between these objects the relation 
?s intimate and the dependence mutual. The produc¬ 
tion makes the market, and the market sustains the 
production. The prospect of a market stimulates to 
activity in the field of production, and the fruits of that 
activity urge the mind to make the prospect real. Suc¬ 
cess in both contributes to the health and vigor and 
prosperity of agriculture, and of that prosperity com¬ 
merce and manufactures cannot fail largely to partake. 
All are willing to promote the cause of agriculture 
in our State and country. Most are ready to lend ah 
active co-operation, and all are cheerful to see accom 
plished any valuable improvement in this great branch 
of* productive industry The difficulty hitherto has been 
in adopting any general plan to effect this desirable ob¬ 
ject. Hence, most usually, when the public mind has 
been awakened to the subject, arbitrary, and in many 
cases visionary experiments have been introduced, based 
upon no philosophical investigation of cause and effect, 
but upon some accidental trial, by a single individual, 
of some novel mode of culture, which, under the cir¬ 
cumstances attending the experiment, has met with 
success. This single experiment, without an enquiry 
into or a knowledge of the cause which, in the given 
case, has secured the successful result, is at once re¬ 
commended as an infallible rule of husbandry. The publi¬ 
cation and dissemination of detached experiments of 
this character, for a long period, constituted the most 
material additions to the stock of literary information 
connected with agriculture, supplied to our farmers ; 
while many of the experiments were too intricate and 
complicated to be reduced to practice with any certainty 
of accuracy, and others were so expensive that the 
most perfect success would not warrant the outlay.— 
Unsuccessful attempts to follow the directions given for 
making these experiments, brought what came to be 
denominated “ book farming,” into great disrepute with 
the industrious, frugal and successful farmers of the 
country, and excited a jealousy of, and a prejudice 
against this description of information upon agricultural 
subjects, which it has cost years of patient and unceas¬ 
ing effort in any measure to allay, and which are not 
yet removed. 
In the mean time geological research, heretofore prin¬ 
cipally confined to investigations into the mineral king¬ 
dom proper, has-been extended to its legitimate office, 
and has brought within its examinations the formation 
of the various soils, and their minute constituent parts. 
Chemistry has eommenced where geology closed, and 
by a careful analysis of these constituents of the various 
soils, of the principal agricultural products, and of the 
usual manures,is laboring to establish upon philosophi¬ 
cal principles, the true relations between the soil and 
the manure to be applied, and between both and the 
crop to be planted and produced. It is seeking out, 
with rapid success, the appropriate food of the various 
vegetables cultivated by the farmer, the soils and ma¬ 
nures in which the food for each is found, and the way 
in which it may be most successfully administered. So 
with the food of the domestic animals, and the most 
economical manner of feeding it. 
These investigations are the reverse of the former 
system of arbitrary experiments. There a result was 
made to justify the arbitrary means adopted to produce 
