THE CULTIVATOR. 
131 
the creation, one of the greatest blessings with the Supreme Author 
has endowed the laborious man who is devoted to the cultivation of the 
earths 
Young' Men’s Department. 
HINTS TO YOUNG FARMERS. 
I don’t know a principle more important to be cherished, by all ages 
and conditions, than an habitual reliance, under Providence, on one’s 
own exertions, for the comforts and enjoyments of life, and the respect 
and good will of society. Stimulated by this principle, and governed 
by a rigid adherence to honesty and virtue, the mind and body are 
kept in healthful exercise, and the best faculties of our nature are call¬ 
ed into action. How many of our first men have earned a name for 
usefulness, and risen from poverty to wealth, by the practice of this 
salutary rule. And how many others can we recognise, who have sunk 
into indolence and vice, and lost the dignity of freemen, from the want 
of its vivifying influence—from a slothful dependance upon patrimoni¬ 
al or public aid, for a character and for subsistence. Wealthy parents 
are apt to forget, and their sons often do not learn to appreciate, till 
too late, the importance of those habits in youth which can alone se¬ 
cure comfort and respectability in manhood. Neither our fortunes nor 
virtues are likely to descend, unaccompanied by the habits which pro¬ 
cured and established them, as patrimonies to our children. 
The mutability of fortune is thus beautifully described, I may say 
drawn, by the pen of Kennedy, in his late address before the American 
Institute 
V Our country is a country of busy men. Whatever gives facility and 
expansion to labor, benefits every class of the community. Unlike the 
European States, we have no piles of hoarded wealth to be transmit¬ 
ted in mass to our posterity. Opulence, among us, is a gilded pyramid 
that stands upon a pedestal of ice, and its foundations are perpetually 
melting in the sun:—-the stream that flows from them may fertilize the 
land, and may spread bloom and beauty over barren places ; but the 
pyramid itself falls in its appointed time, to be built up again by other 
hands and to adorn other sites. Our laws, which forbid the accumula¬ 
tion of hereditary treasure, have reiterated to the American citizen, 
that ‘sad sentence of an ancient date,’—that, Mike an Emmet, he must 
ever moil,’—and they have promised to labor fulness of honors. In 
providing, therefore, for the industry of posterity, we but hew out for 
ourselves and our posterity a better and more auspicious destiny.” 
Frank Stevens was the youngest of seven sons, whose common fa¬ 
ther was considered a man of some fortune, and lie belonged withal to 
one of the learned professions. The elder boys, left pretty much to 
their own guidance, grew up in habits of indolence, and failed to raise, 
upon a good farm, the necessary provisions for the family. Frank, 
finding himself taxed with all the chores, and most of the labor on the 
farm, resolved to take care of himself. With this view he applied, at 
14, to be put to a trade5 and although rather humiliating to family 
pride, he succeeded in obtaining his parents’ consent. From that mo¬ 
ment, Frank abandoned all hope of family aid; and resolutely deter¬ 
mined to depend on his industry and good conduct alone for success in 
life. Without detailing his history, it is sufficient to say, that he has 
been eminently successful; and now enjoys a goodly share of the com¬ 
forts of life, and of the respect of all who know him. He supported 
his aged parents during the last years of their lives; and has been the 
happy instrument of relieving his brothers from pecuniary embarrass¬ 
ment. Frank has often told me, in relating his adventures, that but 
for the early determination he made, to rely upon himself, he should not 
now probably have been worth a sous, in money or reputation. And he 
has settled it as a maxim in-his own mind, that a sprout is not likely to 
do so well, or produce so fine fruit, when left to grow under the shade of 
its parent tree, as when early removed, and accustomed to depend upon its 
awn roots for nourishment and support. My observation in life has in¬ 
duced me to believe that Frank’s rule is not far frombeing true. 
To the enterprising young farmer and mechanic, the example of 
Frank Stevens should not be lost. Habits of youth, be they good or be 
they bad, almost invariably retain an influence through life. The 
young mind is like a sheet of white paper, on which every one writes 
his own character, which it is extremely difficult in after times to alter 
or obliterate. It is the acquisition of knowledge, and the useful appli¬ 
cation of time, that elevates the civilized above the savage state; and 
the further we would be from the latter, the greater should be our ex¬ 
ertions to be wise and virtuous. The public are ever most disposed to 
help them wfio evince an ability to help themselves. 
OUR SCHOOL HOUSES. 
These humble institutions, standing upon almost every acre of our 
land and scattering light in every direction, are the guardians of free¬ 
dom, and strength of our country. From every one of our one hundred 
thousand school-houses in this republic, there goes forth a stream of 
light that falls upon, and cheers, and improves, every farm, and work¬ 
shop, and family hearth in the neighborhood. The school-house is the 
former and the nourisher of the mind in the district. It is the place 
where the farmer, the mechanic, and the mothers receive their educa¬ 
tion. The school-houses of this state have given us prosperity, out 
enterprise, and our controlling station among the stales. They have 
made it the “ Empire State;” for What are natural facilities unless 
there is mind to take advantage of them ? Blow out the light of these 
institutions—let darkness rest upon the buildings, and we would soon 
grope our way to the savage state. Shut the door of the school-house, 
and agriculture is forgotten, manufactures cease, and commerce stops. 
Strike from existence these intellectual fountains, which are daily pour¬ 
ing light and liberty over the land, and all is night —the darkness of 
midnight and barbarism. 
Friends of education! to neglect these school-houses is as criminal, 
and shows the same want of patriotism and philanthropy, as to destroy 
them. Have you thought of this? —Common School Assistant* 
THE CULTIVATOR-DEC. 1836. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE BIIND. 
LEGISLATIVE ENCOURAGEMENT TO AGRICULTURE. 
We think it is pretty well settled, that the law for distributing, among 
the several states, the surplus moneys which shall remain in the na¬ 
tional treasury on the first day of next month, will not be repealed; 
and that this state will receive, as her distributive share of the fund, if 
her legislature do not reject the proffered boon, more than SIX MIL¬ 
LIONS of dollars. The suggestion that this money is to be received 
in the nature of a loan, to be returned again to the national treasury, 
we deem fallacious. It is an excess, above the reasonable wants of 
the government, and if not distributed, it is apprehended, will be use¬ 
lessly expended. If expended by the states, in education, internal im¬ 
provements and the encouragement of agriculture, its benefits will be 
palpable and abiding. We shall at all times be obliged to contribute 
our share, in one way or another, of the expense of the general go¬ 
vernment, even if we decline to take the six millions—and we shall 
have to contribute no more than our share if we do take them. Hence 
it admits of no doubt that we ought to take the money. But were it 
even a loan, to be refunded, the' money will be expended, and will 
have to be paid, directly or indirectly, by the consuming land-holding 
interest; and it is therefore right, from this consideration alone, that 
a portion of it should go to increase the value and products of the land. 
It is important, therefore, to every class of our citizens, that in the 
application of these moneys, by our legislature, some permanent pro¬ 
vision should be made to encourage and improve the labors of agricul¬ 
ture. The present time is full of admonition, which cannot be misap¬ 
prehended, that the substantial interests of the state are mainly depend¬ 
ent upon her agriculture—that this is in fact the commander, or ba¬ 
lance wheel, which controls and regulates all the minor machinery of 
society. The present high price of every article of farm produce, and 
our humiliating dependence upon foreign nations for bread stuffs, to 
avert the evils of famine, should surely teach us the necessity of giving 
to that great branch of national industry, which feeds and enriches us 
all, the substantial aid which shall stimulate its exertions, instruct and 
aid its labors, and multiply its products. Every dollar judiciously ap¬ 
plied to this object, will be like seed deposited in a good soil—it will 
yield its fifty fold and its hundred fold ; and the increase will alike add 
to the wealth and comforts of all—to the rich and the poor—to the 
merchant, mechanic, manufacturer and farmer. It will benefit all, 
because all will participate in the general prosperity, which nothing so 
much promotes as a high state of agricultural improvement. 
We will venture to suggest a proposition for public consideration; 
and we would impress it upon the farming community, and upon all 
others who may approve of the suggestion, to take immediate steps to 
memorialize the legislature, and to instruct their representatives, in 
the matter. The proposition is this, that the legislature be asked to 
appropriate two hundred thousand dollars, or one thibtieth part, of 
the sum which we are expected to receive in January, for the improve¬ 
ment of agriculture; and that a portion of this sum, say one-half or 
more, be especially set apart to sustain, for a term of years, county 
agricultural societies. 
We will not now stop to prove the utility of agricultural societies. 
It would be supererogation. They have won for themselves a reputa¬ 
tion for usefulness. They have produced the greatest benefits, to the 
moral habits as well as to the pecuniary interests, of all communities 
where they have been well conducted. For proof of this, we refer to 
Great Britain, to France, to our sister states, and our own state. But 
they want here, what they receive elsewhere, to develop all their use¬ 
fulness—the aid and patronage of the government. Massachusetts has 
adopted a liberal policy in these matters, and experience has demon¬ 
strated its wisdom; she gives to her county societies a sum equal to 
what the inhabitants of each respectively raise for this purpose.; and 
