THE CULTIVATOR. 
great trust, his obligations to disinterested patriotism as the citizen of 
a free state. 
Again, to educate a man is to cultivate his imagination and taste, to 
awaken his sensibility to the beautiful in nature and art, to give him 
the capacity of enjoying the writings of men of genius, to prepare him 
for the innocent and refined pleasures of literature. 
I will only add, that to educate a man is to cultivate his powers of 
expression, so that he can bring out his thoughts with clearness and 
strength, and exert a moral influence over his fellow-creatures. This 
is essential to the true enjoyment and improvement of social life. 
According to these views the laboring classes may be said to have as 
yet few means of education, excepting those which Providence furnish¬ 
es in the relations, changes, occupations and discipline of life. The 
great school of life, of Providence, is indeed open to all'. But what, I 
would ask, is done by our public institutions for the education of the 
mass of the people? In the mechanical nature of our common schools, 
is it ever proposed to unfold the various faculties of a human being, 
and to prepare him for self-improvement through life ? Indeed, accord¬ 
ing to the views of education now given, how defective are our insti¬ 
tutions for rich as well as poor, and what a revolution is required in 
our whole system of training the young ? 
The great aim of philanthropy should be, that every member of the 
community may receive such an education as has been described. To 
bring forward every human being, to develop every mind, is the great 
purpose of society. I say of society, not of government, for govern¬ 
ment is a mere instrument for holding society together, a condition of 
its existence, and not the great power by which its ends are to be 
accomplished. One of the pernicious doctrines of the day, very perni¬ 
cious to the working classes, is, that government is to regenerate so¬ 
ciety, and exalt the individual to his true dignity. Government ena¬ 
bles us to live together in society, and to make efforts for our own and 
others’ welfare. But social progress depends on the spring in each 
man’s breast, and not on the operations of the state. Government may 
be compared to the foundation and walls of a manufactory, which en¬ 
close and protect not the moving and guiding power, but the necessary 
condition of their action. The people must not look to it for what 
their own energies can alone effect. * * * * 
TO THE PATRONS OF THE CULTIVATOR. 
Gentlemen: —Custom sanctions the usage of an address, at the 
opening of each year, from a publisher to his patrons. On such occa¬ 
sions, it is usual to depart from the particular topics commonly treated 
of in his paper, whether that be political, scientific or agricultural, and 
to embrace the occasion offered for mutual gratulations and a free com¬ 
munion of feelings, interests and prospects. Although we speak gene¬ 
rally to all our patrons, still we hope the remarks we are about to 
make, will, by each of them, be considered as addressed to himself, 
for, following a common pursuit, we look upon each and all of you as 
our co-laborers and friends. 
It is almost three years, since we commenced the publication of this 
paper. By putting the subscription at a very low price, we expected 
to diffuse its circulation very extensively; among our farmers. In a great 
measure we have succeeded, and now issue eighteen thousand copies 
of each number; but if there is any merit in the paper, and it fills the 
sphere of usefulness we designed for it, of which we have had many 
public and flattering testimonials, during its brief existence, still there 
is a vast void yet open, which neither our sheet nor any other fills, for 
there are thousands and thousands of farmers who never read upon 
subjects of agriculture, and whose conceit, ignorance or prejudice are 
insuperable bars to their improvement. In our labors, the object al¬ 
ways has been, and will continue to be, practically, and, as far as circum¬ 
stances will warrant, scientifically useful. It is to pay, in imparting 
intelligence, gathered from many sources, ten fold, for the little pit¬ 
tance we receive from each subscriber. Appreciating the benefit de¬ 
rived from reading, in the pursuit of our avocation, a natural warmth 
of feeling for those who labor with us in the same cause, would induce 
us to wish to communicate to others that information from the acquisi¬ 
tion of which we have derived both profit and pleasure. It is likewise 
pleasant, incomparably pleasant, to feel, that we have succeeded in 
our efforts, and to have others acknowledge that we have aided the ad¬ 
vancement of agriculture amongst us. And, gentlemen, addressing 
you as farmers, what shall we say, what can we do, to rouse us all to 
that high achievement, that noble emulation, which becomes us as labo¬ 
rers in the first and most useful employment conferred by the creator 
on man? Each is held responsible to the community for the assiduity 
and success with which he conducts his farm. Each exercises an in¬ 
fluence in the welfare of society. No business can b,e nobler than ours, 
for we have principalities of our own;—our farms are our domains, 
Vol. III. 19* 
145 
our houses our castles, our families our subjects, where we have free 
uncontrolled power for great good or evil. God will hold us responsi¬ 
ble for a proper exercise of these important trusts, and we, under him, 
are the authors of peace or disturbance, of plenty or famine, of health 
or disease, with which the community may be blessed or cursed. We 
have simply to cultivate the faculties of our minds, and apply the pow¬ 
ers of our bodies, to follow out His designs for the promotion of our 
happiness and prosperity, or, do nothing, and ignorance with idleness, 
which are always followed by poverty, want and disease, will soon 
carry us into all the horrors of barbarism, and debase us with the vi¬ 
ces of demons. Industry is one of the greatest blessings ever imparted 
to man, when it enters with him into the arena of life, and leaves him 
only at its termination. In childhood, it opens his faculties—in youth, 
it fits for the labors and responsibilities of manhood—at mature age, it 
is health to his body—it gives peace to his mind—respectability to his 
name—comfort to his family—education to his children—to society it 
gives a good member—to the poor it is bread—whilst to a nation it is 
wealth, respectability and power. If God did ordain that in the sweat 
of our brow we should earn our bread, he has wisely ordered, that 
all these, and many more blessings, should flow from its exercise. It 
is industry that exalteth a nation, but idleness is the curse of a people. 
The last year has been marked by its peculiarities. Its winter gave 
us an unprecedented depth of snow—its spring was cold, and vegeta¬ 
tion backward and unpromising—the heats of summer have only par¬ 
tially remedied the injury, but its autumn has been about as cold and 
wet as usual, with two or three deep snows. The effect of this wea¬ 
ther on the vegetation of last season, was a diminished production of 
our crops. The prices, however, of all kinds of produce, have ad¬ 
vanced, and what the farmer has not received in the quantity of the 
different kinds of grain, has been made up to him in its price, as all 
his products have been more in demand, and sold higher, than in pre¬ 
ceding years. Indeed experience sanctions the remark, that in no one 
season, are all our crops equally abundant. The weather suited to 
the winter crops, does not bring those of summer to the greatest per¬ 
fection, and so vice versa, when the summer crops are good, those of 
winter are less so. It is the indication of Providence, that we are to be 
thrown upon our energies, both of mind and body, for the attainment 
of prosperity ; and if He gives us a soil admirably adapted to the sup¬ 
ply of our wants, and a climate suited to it, and to the maintenance of 
our healths, He makes us the agents of our existence and support. 
Faithfully to discharge this important duty is a great aim of our crea¬ 
tion. Let us, then, come nobly forward, cultivate both our minds and 
our farms with an assiduity, a care and perseverance that will overcome 
all obstacles, and convert this great state into the choicest fields of ag¬ 
ricultural wealth and beauty. Its products will make it the granary of 
the world, and the enterprise of our citizens will send those products 
to the remotest extremities of the habitable globe. We will then reap 
that harvest, which is always allotted to those who act well their seve¬ 
ral parts in the duties of life assigned them. 
AGRICULTURAL REPORT FOR 1836. 
The general products of the soil have been far less bountiful this 
year, than has been usual; yet there is still abundant cause of grati¬ 
tude for the providential care which we have experienced, and a suffi¬ 
ciency for our wants and comforts, if we husband well our means, and 
expend them with prudence and economy. A series of propitious sea¬ 
sons is not to be expected, and perhaps ought not to be desired,—as they 
would tend to relax industry, and to introduce a recklessness in our 
expenditures and mode of living, prejudicial to individual enjoyment, 
and to the good of society. We mean, that the occasional chastenings 
of adversity are oft times more beneficial than an uninterrupted flow of 
prosperity. They serve to recal us from our wanderings, and to ad¬ 
monish us, that the true enjoyments of life are likely to be meeted out 
to us only as we merit them, by the honest and lively exercise of our 
best faculties. They should teach us, too, our mutual dependence ; 
and that the best way to secure the aid and good will of others, in 
emergencies which happen to all, is to deserve them, by first dispens¬ 
ing to our fellows, and to society, those good offices which Providence 
has enabled us to bestow. 
The failure of our harvests may be ascribed to three prominent cau¬ 
ses, viz: 
The unpropitious season; 
The depredations of insects ; 
The diminution of agricultural labor. 
The first, as we have observed before, could not have been averted 
—it was a providential dispensation—but the magnitude of the evil 
which it has produced, might have been sensibly lessened, by intelli¬ 
gent industry. The unpropitiousness of the season resulted mainly 
from a severe winter, an excess of rain, at the critical period of seed 
time in spring, a diminished temperature in summer, and early frosts in 
autumn. The fields were generally too wet for the early deposite of 
seed, and when it was deposited, the germination and growth, from 
this cause, and the coldness of the season, were either prevented or 
THE CULTIVATOR-JAN. 1837. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
