THE CULTIVATOR. 
145 
than fortunes made in a day, and lost in a night—made by trick, and dis¬ 
sipated by folly. Rural life is exempt from a crowd of evils, of rivalships 
and jealousies, which often cloud and embitter the lives of men in other 
professions. 
“ The husbandman should hate no one, for he should dread no rivals. 
If his neighbor’s field is more productive than his own, he borrows a use¬ 
ful lesson.” If his own field is the most productive, he has the satisfac¬ 
tion of knowing that he is teaching and benefiting his neighbor by his 
example. He learns to consider his own welfare as intimately identified 
with the prosperity of all around him. A gentleman highly distinguished 
for fortune, talents and usefulness—who participated largely in the honors 
and duties of public life, and who, by his example in rural improvement, 
and his writings, mainly contributed to raise the agricultural character of 
his district to a state of perfection excelling that of any other district in 
the Union—I allude to the late Chancellor Livingston—has said, with 
much truth, that “If happiness is to be found upon earth, it must cer 
tainly be sought in the indulgence of those benign emotions” which are 
the reward of rural cares and rural labors. “As Cicero,” he continues, 
“ sums up all human knowledge in the character of a perfect orator, so 
we might, with much more propriety, claim every virtue, and embrace 
every science, when we draw that of an accomplished farmer. He is 
the legislator of an extensive family, and not only men, but the brute 
creation, are subject to his laws. He is the magistrate who expounds 
and carries these laws into execution. He is the physician who heal 
their wounds, and cures the diseases of his various patients. He is the 
divine, who studies and enforces the precepts of reason. And he is the 
grand almoner of the Creator, who is continually dispensing his bounties, 
not only to his fellow mortals, but to the fowls of the air, and the beasts 
of the field.” 
With a conviction of these truths upon his mind, no farmer should re> 
pine at his lot, or envy the specious or substantial prosperity of his neigh¬ 
bor; but aim contentedly to fulfil with fidelity, the high duties imposed 
upon him as a cultivator of the soil. 
The condition of the agriculturist imposes upon him other duties than 
those which regard the welfare of his household. He is to provide for 
the subsistence of the great national family. Most of the necessaries of 
civilized life are drawn from the soil, the supervision and management of 
which he has taken upon himself. Our population is divided into profes¬ 
sions and trades, to each of which belong particular offices; and the wel¬ 
fare of the whole depends upon each fulfilling, with fidelity, its respec¬ 
tive relative duties. A mutual dependence and obligation exists among 
the various classes, which can neither be neglected or slighted by one 
class, without serious detriment to the whole. The obligation is particu¬ 
larly mandatory upon the tiller of the soil; for, upon his labors, the other 
classes mainly depend, for many of the absolute necessaries of civilized 
life. If the farmer is industrious and intelligent—for intelligence serves 
greatly to abridge labor, and to multiply its products and its profits—the 
bounties of the soil, with the blessings of Providence, will be abundant., 
and plenty will spring up in every corner of the land. But the soil w 
withhold its treasures in proportion as ignorance prevails, t>r as rural la¬ 
bor relaxes its efforts, and the consequent suffering is felt, with the cer¬ 
tainty and force of an electric shock, through the whole social circle_ 
We want nothing but the melancholy experience of the last year to per¬ 
suade us of this truth. 
Society is dependent upon the farmer, not only for the necessaries, but 
indirectly for many of the refinements of life. Agriculture furnishes 
most of the labor which creates our wealth; it provides most of the raw 
materials for the manufacturing arts; it freights the bark of commerce; 
and, by receiving in exchange the fabrics of the one, and the commodi¬ 
ties of the other, it sustains and enriches both. 
He who does not appreciate his social obligations, or knowing, neglects 
to fulfil them, and lives only for himself, perverts his noblest faculties, 
and lives and dies a stranger to the best feelings which dignify human na¬ 
ture. 
Our agriculturists are also specially charged with the guardianship of our 
freedom. They constitute the fountains of political power, and are the 
conservators of the whig principles which made us an independent 
nation. If the fountains are impure, the stream of power will be defiled 
and corrupt. The farmers compose the great body of our population, and 
must ever, while we remain a free people, control the destinies of the re¬ 
public, and give the impress to our national character Their republican 
and independent bearing—their sober good sense, unostentatious habits, 
and love of order, must protect us alike from the wily encroachments of 
ambition, the enervating and corrupting influence of wealth, and the tu¬ 
mult and violence of the mob. They are to a free state, what the main 
spring is to the watch—the great moving and regulating power. Rome 
remained free while her middling classes retained a controlling influence 
in her public affairs, and she sunk to despotism, in proportion as this bar¬ 
rier between her patricians and her plebeians, was broken down and de¬ 
stroyed. “The corruption of Rome began,” says Sismondi, “from the 
time that the middle class ceased to impress its own peculiar character on 
the whole nation; this corruption increased in proportion as the interme¬ 
diate ranks disappeared; it was carried to its highest pitch, when the 
whole empire consisted of men of enormous wealth and populace. It is 
in fact,” he continues to remark, “in the middle classes, that the do¬ 
mestic virtues—economy, forethought, and the spirit of association— 
mainly reside. It is in them, that a certain degree of energy is incessant¬ 
ly called into operation, either as a means of rising, or of keeping the po¬ 
sition already acquired. It is in them alone that the sentiment of social 
equality, on which all justice is based, can be kept alive. Grandeur 
isolates a man; vast opulence accustoms each individual to look upon 
himself as a distinct power. He feels that he can exist independently of 
his country; that his elevation, or his fall, may be distinct; and, ere long 
the servile dependents by whom a man who spends as much as a petty state, 
is sure to be surrounded, succeed in persuading him, that his pleasures, 
his pains, nay, his slightest caprices, are more important than the thou¬ 
sands of families, whose means of subsistence he engrosses.” 
In view of the high duties and responsibilities which devolve upon the 
farmer, as a parent, a tiller of the soil, and a watchman on the citadel of 
freedom, it becomes us to inquire, what are the best means of enabling 
him to act well his part on the theatre of life, in the several capacities 
that have been enumerated. 
The duties of a parent to his children may be comprised in a brief sen¬ 
tence:—teach them what good men in every age, as well as divine inspi¬ 
ration, have defined to be the cardinal virtues —love to God and 
good will to man— teach them to be industrious, to be frugal, to be 
temperate, to be humble, to be honest, to be kind hearted—and teach 
THEM BY EXAMPLE. 
Health is among the first blessings of life, and the prudent man will 
always endeavor to secure it for himself and his family. This may be 
promoted by many little attentions which some do not know how to value, 
and which others, knowing, shamefully disregard. 
Temperance, in ail our animal indulgences, as well as in our passions, 
particularly promotive of health. The human frame is so delicately 
and wonderfully made, that any excess or violence which may impair 
the functions of one part, may cause irremediable injury to the whole sys¬ 
tem. 
The air we breathe, though essential to life, becomes vitiated, and pre¬ 
judicial to health, by respiration, by putrifying vegetable and animal mat¬ 
ters, by stagnant waters, and by a state of rest. Hence our dwellings 
should be located in dry and healthy situations, our apartments should be 
roomy, kept in a cleanly order, and frequently aired; every species of 
putrifying substance should be removed from our house-yards and cellars, 
and the latter kept dry, by drains, if necessary, and often ventilated. 
The offices of the skin are all important to health. Lavosder has 
shown, that upon the lowest estimate, the skin is endowed with the im¬ 
portant charge of removing from the system, by the process of insensible 
perspiration, about twenty ounces of waste matter in every twenty-four 
hours, while the maximum has been found to amount to five pounds a 
day. These excretions are greater in amount. Dr. Combe adds, than the 
united excretions of the bowels and kidneys. These facts admonish us, 
that if the functions of the skin become suspended, by a disregard to 
cleanliness, by too great indulgence in sedentary habits, by exposure to 
sudden transitions of temperature, or other causes, and the impurities 
which are ordinarily thrown off by this channel, are suffered to remain 
and accumulate in the system, health must be impaired, and life endan¬ 
gered. So important is a clean skin considered in the economy of health, 
that frequent ablutions have been enjoined as a religious duty among 
many eastern nations. A like attention, among us, to keep in wholesome 
exercise, the important functions of the skin, cannot fail of being highly 
conducive to health. 
Vegetation purifies the air, and health, as well as beauty and comfort, 
are essentially promoted, by surrounding our dwellings with fruit and 
shade trees, and ornamental plants. The splendid elm which stands on 
yonder common, is alike the ornament and pride of the town. What a 
lesson of instruction does this afford! Every man may plant an elm and 
a maple—ah apple tree and a vine—a lilac and a rose-bush, in a leisure 
hour, and may live to enjoy their shade, their fruit, and their fragrance; 
or should Providence otherwise ordain, may leave them as a grateful in¬ 
heritance to his posterity. Our fathers planted for us, and we should re¬ 
quite the obligation, by planting for our children. 
Most of the diseases which afflict our species, may be traced to impure 
air, obstructed perspiration, or intemperate indulgences. 
Another source of high, but rational gratification to the farmer, is the 
garden. This may be made to administer largely to the variety of his 
viands, the subsistence and health of his family, and the recreation and im¬ 
provement of the mind, without materially abstracting from the labors of 
the farm.- So strong is my conviction of the economy and salutary influ¬ 
ence of a well cultivated garden, that, when I chance to see one in tra¬ 
velling abroad, I involuntarily ascribe to its occupants, economy, good 
taste and domestic enjoyment. 
The best preventive of gossip and tale bearing, the common recreation 
of the idle and the ignorant, and the bane of those good feelings and kind 
offices which sweeten and augment the pleasures of good neighborhood, 
is to inculcate, in early life, a taste for useful reading. Books remind us 
of our duties, instruct us in our business, and afford useful employment 
