1852. 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
71 
another j they had added to previous knowledge, and 
cultivated a previously improved soil, until they stood 
acknowledged at the head of well farmed districts. With¬ 
in the same twenty years, the Island on which we were, 
had emerged from a state of almost absolute barbarism, 
with respect to its agriculture ; with no previous know¬ 
ledge, with no degrees of excellence to stimulate, and 
scanty facilities of intercourse, the enterprise of a few 
individuals had disseminated right principles through the 
Island, until it had assumed a highly respectable and 
flourishing condition. Had not the advance in this lat¬ 
ter case been many times more decided and creditable 
than in the former? These people felt that they had 
done a great work, and were proud of it, and even a lit¬ 
tle too much pride might well have been excused in such 
an instance; it surely was not wise to disenchant them 
rudely, to compare them at once with the best farmers 
of the world, and to make them feel an overwhelming 
sense of deficiency. 
This was a case for warm and emphatic praise; every 
step of progress that had been made should have been 
commended and noted; encouragement should have 
breathed in every word. Such a course need not have 
made them self-satisfied and sluggish; on the contrary, a 
hint now and then thrown in among judicious praises, 
would have stimulated to farther exertion, and the peo¬ 
ple who went away discontented and discouraged, would 
have gone on to new improvements and new exertions. 
How, I think that the same course described above has 
too often been pursued in this country, and with the like 
ill effect. Foreigners, looking not at our comparative 
advance, or our circumstances of situation and cli¬ 
mate, compare us absolutely with some high standard, 
and finding of course, a difference, exhaust their wit, iro¬ 
ny, and sarcasm upon us. lam not to be understood as 
advocating or wishing unqualified praise from our visi¬ 
tors, for that is nauseating, because undeserved, but I do 
desire to see a man who can do us justice, who can praise 
as he ought, the great advances which many of our far¬ 
mers have made, and appreciate the desire for improve¬ 
ment which prevails in so many districts. Hints of de¬ 
fect in certain points, and suggestions for improvement in 
others, would come properly from such a man, and would 
be thankfully received. Human nature is alike in all 
lands, and the majority of men will not accept even of 
good advice, when given in a censorious or dictatorial 
spirit. If a man obstinately refuses to see the good that 
really exists, and dwells constantly on the other side of 
the picture, we are insensibly disposed to combat all 
his criticisms, and to distrust the soundness of his opin¬ 
ions. 
The farmers of the United States, as a class, are un¬ 
doubtedly subject to some serious charges on the score 
of imperfect agriculture; there are whole counties, and 
even states, where a proper system of cultivation is al¬ 
most unknown; and there are many broad and fertile 
districts undergoing a species of management which tends 
directly to exhaustion; these are melancholy statements, 
but true, and yet I contend that a noble minded man, 
free from all little prejudices, would find much to praise 
even among the most slovenly of our farmers, in the new 
states. The broad acres now smiling with golden crops. 
were but a few years ago, an unbroken wilderness ; all 
the marks of civilization around, scattered and fragmen¬ 
tary as they may be, are the result of the pioneer’s toil, 
and the cultivation, rude though it is, may perhaps, be 
better for a new country than the efforts of the most fin¬ 
ished agriculturist of Europe, 
We have existed as an independent nation not yet three- 
fourths of a century, and with all the commercial resour¬ 
ces of an immense continent to develop, with the attrac¬ 
tions of foreign trade, with unparalleled internal improve¬ 
ments to occupy the attention and draw forth the ener¬ 
gies of our people, with our way to fight through un¬ 
touched forests, is it to be wondered at that our agricul¬ 
ture has not yet attained a finished and perfect character? 
I maintain that quite as much has been done as could 
possibly have been expected—more than any other people 
has ever accomplished in the same length of time, upon 
a similar territorial expanse. Our crops, even now, are 
sufficient to supply the wants of many foreign countries, 
and the production is only limited by the demand. Let 
England experience a famine, and she will find that we 
can fill all the ships that she can send. 
Our implements are in some classes confessedly superi¬ 
or to those of any other nation; such axes, forks, shovels 
and scythes as ours, are no where to be seen; our plows 
have lately taken a high stand at the World’s Fair, and 
our reapers will soon cut the crops of all Great Britain. 
In stock, too, we now have not only representatives from 
all the best blood of Europe, but whole flocks and fami¬ 
lies of high pedigree, may be found in most sections of 
the Union. 
Agricultural papers are more numerous, and more li¬ 
berally patronised than in any other country • there is 
probably no foreign paper devoted purely to agriculture, 
that has half the circulation of The Cultivator. The whole 
number of our papers that labor exclusively in this field, 
is, I suppose, considerably greater than all the rest that 
can he mustered in Europe, or, indeed, in the world. Ag¬ 
ricultural societies also are numerous, active, and power¬ 
ful; the Hew-York State Society attracts a far greater 
multitude to its shows than I have ever seen in England, 
and the shows themselves would do credit to any people. 
These facts prove that we are awake to our situation, 
that we are aware of imperfections, and are striving to 
remedy them. They ought, coupled with the general 
and remarkable intelligence of our farming population, 
to excite in the breast of a generous, liberal traveller, 
some sentiments of admiration and respect. If a man is 
not capable of this, he should he somewhat restrained by 
salutary fear of his own reputation as an observer, for it 
must be obvious to any unprejudiced mind, that in a com¬ 
munity where such papers as The Cultivator, Am. Agri¬ 
culturist, Genesee Farmer, Prairie Farmer, &c., flour¬ 
ish, where such a Society as that of Hew-York State has 
grown up, that there is a steady and rapid improvement 
in progress. 
But if injustice is done ns, we must endeavor to show 
it to he injustice, not by declaiming against the inconsis¬ 
tency and obstinate prejudice of foreigners, blit by re¬ 
doubling our efforts to excel. Words will never prove 
us to be good farmers—actions and results may. Let us, 
then, swallow our resentment at misrepresentation, and 
