159 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
■worse, but because it is inconsistent with the duties of patriotism. 
There is but one means by which it can be checked and controlled; 
and that is, the diffusion of knowledge. When the great body of Ame¬ 
rican citizens become as highly enlightened as they may, and certainly 
ought to be, when they understand and justly appreciate their distin¬ 
guished privileges, they will not fail to defend and maintain them. No 
longer subject to being misled by others, but accustomed to follow the 
dictates of enlightened reason, they will scorn to be, what there is other¬ 
wise but too much danger of their becoming, the Wind instruments of 
political aspirants. 
Let every American who loves his country strive to hasten on this 
happy period. Let him ask himself whether it is fitting—whether it 
is consistent—whether itis not disgraceful, that ignorance and delusion 
should be suffered to endure among this youthful, but already great 
and powerful people; a nation pre-eminently favored of heaven; bless¬ 
ed with every natural and political advantage—with no external dan¬ 
ger to fear—with a vast and fertile country, and a salubrious climate 
—with a form of g.overnment admirably adapted to its genius and cha¬ 
racter—justly boasting itself the freest, and as yet, thanks to a kind 
providence, the happiest nation upon earth, and aspiring to the proud 
distinction of governing itself by wise and equal laws. 
What say you then, my young countrymen? Will you qualify 
yourselves to discharge the high duties that await you? Will you lake 
care to know your rights, and firmly and faithfully to maintain them? 
To learn your obligations and religiously to fulfil them ? Do not, I be¬ 
seech you, prove recreant to your trust. By all that you ought for 
yourselves to hold most dear: by the glorious memory of your ances¬ 
tors ; by the debt you owe to your common country: by the just claims 
of the friends of liberty in other lands, who look to America for en¬ 
couragement and guidance in their struggles for freedom: In the name 
of the whole family of mankind—I conjure you—do not permit the no¬ 
ble inheritance, won by the heroic valor of your sires, to perish in your 
hands,—hut take care that it shall descend, like, the unclouded sun, 
bright and glorious to your posterity. Suffer not the fairest prospect 
the Almighty has ever yet vouchsafed to his creatures on the earth, to 
be shrouded in darkness; thus, not only impiously drawing down un¬ 
speakable calamities upon our own country, but quenching, perhaps 
forever, the flame of liberty, wherever it has been kindled by our ex¬ 
ample, throughout the world.— Young Citizen’s Manual. 
THE CULTIVATOR-FEB. 1837. 
TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
SEVEN REASONS 
WHY AGRICULTURE SHOULD RECEIVE THE PATRONAGE OF GOVERNMENT. 
1. Agriculture feeds all. Were agriculture to be neglected, popula¬ 
tion would diminish, because the necessaries of life would be wanting, 
Did it not supply more than is necessary for its own wants, every other 
art would not only be at a stand, but every science, and every kind of 
mental improvement, would be neglected. Manufactures and com¬ 
merce originally owed their existence to agriculture. Agriculture fur¬ 
nishes, in a great measure, raw materials and subsistence for the one, 
and commodities for barter and exchange for the other. In proportion 
as these raw materials and commodities are multiplied, by the intelli¬ 
gence and industry of the farmer, and the consequent improvement of 
the soil, in the same proportion are manufactures and commerce bene- 
fitted—not only in being furnished with more abundant supplies, but in 
the increased demand for their fabrics and merchandize. The more 
agriculture produces, the more she sells—the more she buys ; .and the 
business and comfort of society are mainly influenced and controlled by 
the results of her labors. 
2. Agriculture, directly or indirectly , pays the burthens of our taxes 
and our tolls ,—which support the government, and sustain our internal 
improvements; and the more abundant her means, the greater will be 
her contributions. The farmer who manages his business ignorantly 
and slothfully, and who produces from it only just enough for the sub¬ 
sistence of his family, pays no tolls on the transit of his produce, and 
but a small tax upon the nominal value of his lands. Instruct his mind, 
and awaken him to industry, by the hope of distinction arid reward, so 
that he triples the products of his labor, the value of his lands is in¬ 
creased in a corresponding ratio, his comforts are multiplied, his mind 
disenthralled, and two-thirds of his products go to augment the busi¬ 
ness and tolls of our canals and roads. If such a change in the situa¬ 
tion of one farm, would add one hundred dollars to the wealth, and one 
dollar to the tolls of the state, what an astonishing aggregate would be 
produced, both in capital and in revenue, by a similar improvement 
upon 250,000 farms, the assumed number in the state. The capital 
would be augmented two millions,, and the revenue two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars per annum. 
3. Agriculture is the principle source of our wealth. It furnishes more 
productive labor, the legitimate source of wealth, than all the other 
employments in society combined. The more it is enlightened by sci¬ 
ence, the more abundant will be its products; the more elevated its cha¬ 
racter, the stronger the incitements to pursue it. Whatever, therefore, 
tends to enlighten and increase its labors, must proportionably increase 
the wealth of the state, and the means for the successful prosecution of 
the other arts, and the sciences, now indispensable to their profitable 
management. 
4. Agriculturists are the guardians of our freedom. They are the 
fountains of political power. If the fountains become impure, the stream 
will be defiled. If the agriculturist is slothful, and ignorant, and poor, 
he will be spiritless, dependent and servile. If he is enlightened, in¬ 
dustrious and in prosperous circumstances, he will be independent in 
mind, jealous of his rights, and watchful for the public good. His wel¬ 
fare is identified with the welfare of the state. He is virtually fixed to 
the soil; and has, therefore, a paramount interest, as well as a giant 
power, to defend it from the encroachments of foreign or domestic foes. 
If his country suffers, he must suffer ; if she prospers, he too may ex¬ 
pect to prosper. Hence whatever tends to improve the intellectual con- 
dition of the farmer, and to elevate him above venal temptation, essen¬ 
tially contributes to the good order of society at large, and to the per¬ 
petuity of our country’s freedom. 
5. Agriculture is the parent of physical and moral health to the state — 
it is the salt which preserves us from moral corruption. Not only are 
her labors useful in administering to the wants, and in dispensing the 
blessings of abundance to others, but she is constantly exercising a sa¬ 
lutary influence upon the morakand physical health of the state, and in 
perpetuating the republican habits and good .order of society. While 
rural labor is the great source of physical health and constitutional 
vigor to our population, it interposes the most formidable barrier to 
the demoralizing influence of luxury and vice. We seldom hear of civil 
commotions, of crimes, or of hereditary disease, among those who are 
steadily engaged in the labors of agriculture. Men who are satisfied 
with the certain and abundant resources of their own labor and their 
own farms, are not willing to jeopardize their enjoyments, by promot¬ 
ing popular tumult, or tolerating crime. The more we promote the in¬ 
fluence of the agriculturist, by developing the powers of his mind, and 
elevating his moral views, the more we shall promote the virtue and 
happiness of society. 
6. Legislative patronage will increase the products of agriculture, and 
consequently advance the prosperity, promote the moral improvement, 
and elevate the character of the state. Look at the disparity, in the 
products and profits of labor, on the well managed and ill managed 
farm—or in the well cultivated and ill cultivated district. The one, we 
say, netts a profit of twelve or fourteen per cent per annum, on the 
nominal value of the land,—the other but two or three per cent—and 
abundant examples may be furnished of both extremes. The rural im¬ 
provement of a country indicates, pretty correctly, besides, the intel¬ 
lectual and moral condition of its population. Now if by raising the 
standard of public instruction, by holding out rewards to successful com¬ 
petitors in improvement, and by establishing schools of practical and 
scientific agriculture, all of which come within the purview of legisla¬ 
tive duties, we could render all our improved lands as productive as 
those of a like quality, which are well managed, our agricultural pro¬ 
ducts would be quintupled. This we do not expect; but alter making 
due allowance for all drawbacks, it must be apparent to ever]’ reflect¬ 
ing mind, that the advantages to the state, from a judicious application 
of a portion of public moneys to promote agricultural improvement, 
would be manifestly great. We have seen,, from a combination of local 
causes, and in a short period, the agriculture of old settled counties, 
doubled and trebled. General causes, operating upon the whole slate, 
cannot fail of producing results alike favorable. 
7. Agriculture is entitled to special patronage, as a matter of equal 
justice, as well as from considerations of sound policy —because she 
lias nothing special, while other classes have had much. She shares, 
in common with all, in the advantages of common schools, and public 
improvements, and she did receive, in 1817, a pittance, a special pittance, 
which she has refunded to the treasury, in the form of revenue, with 
compound interest. The state may be likened to a large family of boys. 
Five-sixths of these have charge of the faim; othersgare taught trades 
and handicrafts; and to these two classes is confided the task of pro¬ 
viding for the wants of the famil]’. But, as a necessary appendaae to 
a large family, one son is set apart as a doctor, another as a minister, 
and a third as a lawyer; and to qualify these the better for their re¬ 
spective duties, it is agreed that a portion of the family lunds shall be 
applied to the establishment and maintenance of a school, for their ex¬ 
clusive benefit. Thus while the farmers and mechanics are getting 
their trades, by labor, in the field and in the shop, the doctor, the par¬ 
son and the lawyer are getting their professions in the public school. 
[By and by the working boys discover, that, owing to the rapid im¬ 
provements of the age, school knowledge is as advantageous to the 
| trades as it is the professions ; that there have been great improvements 
|made abroad in their several arts of labor, and that without a know¬ 
ledge of these improvements, and of the laws upon which they are 
