THE CULTIVATOR. 
185 
The superior importance of agriculture, has been recently proved, in a 
manner so convincing, and unanswerable, that the question ought, now, 
to be forever put to rest. It is well known, that all the resources of the 
country were put to the test, by the strict manner in which the tax on 
income was exacted. By analysing, therefore, the produce of that tax, 
under all its several branches, the real foundations of our national wealth 
and prosperity, may be ascertained, with a degree of correctness, previ¬ 
ously unattainable. The result of the inquiry is as follows: 
1. Taxes on landed property,......£4,257,247 
2 Ditto on the farmers or occupiers of land,. 2,176,22S 
Total agricultural classes,.£6,433,475 
3. Taxes on commercial property,.£2,000,000 
4. Ditto on professions, .. 1,021,187 
-3,021,187 
Difference in favor of the agricultural classes,..... £3,412,288 
Hence it appears, that during that eventful period, when the ignorant, 
and the prejudiced supposed, we existed solely by trade, and that we 
ought to be considered merely as a nation of shopkeepers, it was the 
wealth arising from the productions of the soil that chiefly enabled us to 
go on; it was successful agriculture, that furnished us with the means of 
carrying on the contest, and of bringing it to a triumphant conclusion. 
Nor is this subject to be dwelt on solely in a financial point of view. 
Let it at the same time be considered, that it is the land which furnishes 
the raw materials of the greater part of our manufactures; that the pro¬ 
prietors and occupiers of land, supply the best markets to our manufactu¬ 
rers and merchants; and that through them, the greater part of all other 
professions gain their livelihood. Numbers of the fundholders are little 
aware, that upon the prosperity of agriculture, the regular payments of their 
dividends must principally depend. For it is to be observed, that as the 
property tap was imposed on all the classes of the community, in pro¬ 
portion to their wealth or income, hence, the taxes payable in every other 
way, by each class, and every individual in each class, who spent his 
income, must be paid, in nearly the same proportion, as the tax on pro 
perty. 
It cannot, at the same time, be doubted, that the agricultural classes 
are much indebted to those employed in trade and manufactures, for con 
suming the produce of the soil. But still, it is the surplus productions .of 
agriculture, raised under the superintendance of the owners of the soiL 
and by the skill and industry of those who occupy it, which constitute the 
real basis of our national prosperity; and exported manufactures, are no¬ 
thing else, but so much beef, mutton, wheat, barley, &c. converted into 
another, and more convenient shape. Where manufacturers, however, 
are maintained, by the productions of foreign industry, and in particular, 
'when the articles they manufacture, are produced from foreign raw mate¬ 
rials, as fine wool; instead of being an advantage, they have the effect of 
depreciating the value of domestic agricultural productions, and bringing 
in foreign articles, into competition with them, by means of British capital. 
The paltry profits of the manufacture, are nothing compared to the mis¬ 
chiefs which are thus occasioned, to the real sources of our prosperity. 
It is to be hoped that these statements, w’ill satisfy every impartial in¬ 
dividual, that the strength and resources of this country, principally-arise 
from the productions of the soil;— -that the land, is the basis of our na¬ 
tional wealth, and that on the amount, and the value of its productions, 
our commerce and manufactures, and the payment of the public creditors, 
must in a great measure depend. The revenues of the church;—by far 
the largest proportion of the payments to the poor;—and various other 
public charges, are likewise payable from the same same source. Hence, 
nothing can be more impolitic, than to neglect the adoption of any mea¬ 
sure, by which the interests of agriculture can be promoted; or more ha¬ 
zardous, than to take any step, by which its prosperity can be impaired, 
or those who live by it, impoverished, much less brought to ruin. 
The means, therefore, by which the agricultural prosperity of a country 
can best be promoted, merit our peculiar attention. 
It has long been considered, as an incontrovertible proposition, and ap¬ 
proaching to the nature of an axiom, “ That whoever could make two 
ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow upon a spot, where only one 
grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential ser¬ 
vice to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.” 
There never was a greater instance of sophistry, than this doctrine of 
Swift’s, who seems not to have been at all aware of the immense bene¬ 
fits conferred upon agriculture, by a judicious system of civil policy. In 
fact, the prosperity of agriculture, depends upon the politician. The bet¬ 
ter and the more equitable the civil policy of a country, the more perfect 
will its agriculture become. Those politicians or statesmen, therefore, 
who, by removing every obstacle, and furnishing every proper encourage¬ 
ment to'agriculture, promote its advancement, have a higher claim to the 
gratitude of mankind, than those who have merely performed a secondary 
or practical part, which part, they never could have performed at all, but 
under the protection-of wise laws, regularly administered, and executed 
with impartiality and vigor. 
This leads to the most important discussion, perhaps, in the whole range 
of political inquiry, and respecting which, the most ill-founded prejudices 
are unfortunately entertained, namely, “ What public encouragements, 
for the advancement of agriculture, ought a wise government to bestow?” 
Many able men, reasoning solely from the abuses to which the system 
of encouragement is liable, have thence been induced to condemn th ; 
policy, and to recommend, that of giving to individuals the entire freedom 
of exercising their industry, in their own way, without any legislative in¬ 
terference whatever. They dwell much, on the reply once made by some 
of the principal merchants of France, to the celebrated Colbert, who hav¬ 
ing asked, what government could do for them 1 was answered, “ Lais- 
sez nous faire,” (Let us alone.) On the other hand, they totally repro¬ 
bate the mercantile system, as they call it, (or a series of laws which have 
been enacted in this country, for promoting the prosperity of commerce,) 
as in the highest degree impolitic; though, under that very system, the 
commerce of Great Britain, has arisen to a height altogether unexampled 
in history. But as our legislature have wisely deemed it expedient, to 
protect both out manufactures and commerce, which, under such a sys¬ 
tem, have so eminently flourished, no good reason can be assigned, why, 
in a like manner, and on the same principles, agriculture ought not to be 
encouraged in Great Britain, where it produces such a great revenue;— 
where, with a thousand millions of national debt, we still have above 
twenty millions of acres, lying-in a state comparatively waste and unpro¬ 
ductive;—where the population is rapidly increasing;—and where it has 
beei^ found necessary for .some years past, to import no inconsiderable por¬ 
tion of the means of our subsistence. 
It is certainly better to let agriculture alone, than to establish injudicious 
regulations respecting it. But if a government will make such inquiries, 
as may enable it to judge of what can be done with safety and advantage; 
and will promote agricultural industry, not only by removing every obsta¬ 
cle to improvement, but by granting positive encouragement; agricul¬ 
ture will prosper with a rapidity, and will be carried on to an extent, 
which is hardly to be-credited; and in a much superior degree, than by 
| the “ let alone system,” under the torpor of which, ages might pass away, 
! without accomplishing, what might be effected in the course of a few 
years, under a judicious system.of encouraging regulations, 
j The principal encouragements, which a wise and liberal government, 
will naturally be anxious to bestow, for the purpose of advancing'the agri- 
j cultural prosperity of a country, may be classed under the following heads. 
I. Removing obstacles to improvement; 2. Promoting the collection and 
diffusion of useful information; 3. Giving a preference to domestic pro¬ 
ductions in the home market; 4. Encouraging the exportation of any sur- 
■plus produce that may remain on hand, after the demands at home are 
supplied; 5. Extending, by every prudent means, the cultivation of waste 
lands, in order that the productive territory of the country may be con- 
jstantly on the increase; 6. Granting public aid to substantial improve¬ 
ments, such as roads, bridges, canals, &c. on which the agricultural and 
general prosperity of a country so essentially depend; and, 7. Counte¬ 
nancing the establishment of corporations, to furnish the means of carry¬ 
ing on such improvements, as are beyond the power of individual wealth 
or enterprise.— Sir John Sinclair. 
From the Hampshire Gazette. 
BEES. 
Mr. Hawley,— Sir: As it is customary when notice of a marriage is 
sent to the printer for insertion, to accompany it with a slice or loaf of the 
bride’s cake, I lately took some honey from a bee hive, and I think there 
is no impropriety in offering a bit of honey to the printer. Therefore-1 
take the liberty of so doing. I,compare the diligent editor of a-public 
newspaper, in some measure, to the industrious honey-bee. By the as¬ 
tonishing insinct in the nature of bees, they labor all the day, and gather 
sweets from every opening flower, and other things,'and convert it into 
that delicious article, honey. So the industrious and diligent editor toils 
day and night, hot or cold, rain or shine; sometimes perplexed (I con¬ 
clude) to select and write such matter as may please those who patronize 
his paper; and it seems to me that sometimes they must hesitate to de¬ 
cide what will please, and what will not; and after all the pains taken, 
and the best possible selections made, there will be a small pack of grum¬ 
blers, condemning the paper;—but I have noticed that such characters are 
very tardy to pay lor their paper. 
I took up a hive of bees not long since; the swarm came out in July, 
and it was about eleven weeks from the time it swarmed. The hive con¬ 
tained sixty-three pounds of honey-comb, and all of it, excepting four 
pounds of dry comb and bee bread, was filled with as nice honey as I 
ever saw. I do not know it to be an extraordinary yield; but it seemed 
to be a large quantity for a middling size swarm to collect in less than 
three months. I shall now briefly state, in part, the method I pursue in 
the management of bees. To secure and protect the bees from the ra¬ 
vages of the miller or bee-moth, which has been so destructive to them 
of late years:—Early in the spring, before the millers appear, the swarms 
that I have kept through the winter, are placed on the bare ground. I 
scrape the ground smooth in a dry place, and there set the hive for the 
season. When a hive is so situated, the millers do not deposite any of 
their eggs, either under or in the' hive. In that position the honey is also 
