44 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
view of his importance in our social, civil, and political edi¬ 
fice; in virtue of the policy and spirit of our institutions; 
and in consequence of the many examples of real worth and 
merit which he is enabled to bring forward. 
Among the most prominent of these, is the name of the 
late esteemed and lamented Jesse Buel; a name which must 
ever furnish a fitting theme for eulogy wherever intelligence 
is prized, or well directed industry respected, or high moral 
Worth meets with its due appreciation. Since the last annual 
meeting of your Society, he, who so justly constituted its 
ride and its ornament, has passed from among us. It has 
een deemed proper at this time and place, to pay a tribute 
of respect to his memory; and surely, if his name and de- 
eerving worth be any where entitled to consideration, it is 
here and by you. 
In reference to his individual history, I propose to be brief 
and general, conscious that although the partiality of friends 
may dwell with deep and intense interest on minute particu¬ 
lars, yet that the attention of the public generally, ought 
rather to be directed to such facts as may instruct by their 
practical application to the common affairs of life. 
The subject of these remarks was born in Coventry, in 
the State of Connecticut, on the fourth day of January, 1778. 
He was the last born, and the last that has died, of a family 
of fourteen children. His father, Elias Buel, held the com¬ 
mission of Major in the war of our revolution, and was a 
fair sample of the plain, unassuming, straight-forward cha¬ 
racter of the New-England farmer. 
As an instance in proof that the end of the good man is 
peace, it deserves to be mentioned, that the advanced years 
and declining strength of this excellent sample of New-Eng- 
land’s earlier population, together with his aged consort, re¬ 
ceived for the last five years of their lives, their stay and 
support from the filial affections of their youngest child; un¬ 
til, fully matured, and at the advanced age of 86 years, they 
both left this world, and as if their union had become indis¬ 
soluble by bonds that had been tightened by nearly three- 
fourths of a century, they left it within the brief period of 
six weeks of each other. 
From early boyhood, Judge Buel seems to have had the 
direction of his own course; his parents wisely leaving to 
his own disposition and inclinations, the choice of that which 
should mainly constitute the business of his life. In this it 
is to be hoped they have many imitators. Let young, unso¬ 
phisticated nature always speak its own language, and follow 
its own original bias, and success will be likely to reward its 
exertions. When he had arrived at the age of twelve years, 
the family, including himself, moved from Coventry to Rut¬ 
land, Vermont, and two years afterwards, when he had com¬ 
pleted the age of fourteen, he became an apprentice to the 
printing business, in the office of Mr. Lyons of Rutland. 
When the youth, possessing the qualities that are to eno- 
ble the future man, has silenced all mental debate by his 
irrevocable determination as to what particular pursuit or 
calling the great energies of his life shall be devoted, he im¬ 
mediately applies himself with unwearied ardor and assidui 
ty, to carry into full effect his firm, high, undeviating re¬ 
solve. 
The young apprentice distinguished the first four years of 
his term by a close, assiduous, and unremitted attention to 
the attainment of the printing art. At the end of that peri¬ 
od, such had been his devotion to business, that he had ac¬ 
quired as perfect a knowledge and mastery of the routine 
end all the details of that art, as are ordinarily acquired by 
others during the entire term of their apprenticeship. Con¬ 
scious of the sufficiency of these attainments, and entertain¬ 
ing a realizing sense of the immense value of time, especial¬ 
ly to the young, he succeeded, at the expiration of the first 
four years, in purchasing of Mr. Lyons the unexpired three 
years of his regular term, and thus at the age of eighteen he 
was ready to exchange the apprentice for the journeyman; 
and to earn, in the latter capacity, sufficient to pay the ex¬ 
pense of the exchange. He immediately found his way to 
the city of New-York, and was there laboring as a journey¬ 
man during the desolating ravages of the yellow fever. He 
subsequently worked as a journeyman with Mr. McDonald 
of this city, and was a short time at Waterford and Lansing- 
burgh, until June 1797, when he formed a connection in bu¬ 
siness with Mr. Moffit, of Troy, and commenced the publi¬ 
cation of the Troy Budget. This was continued until Sep¬ 
tember, 1801, when, at the age of twenty-three, he married 
Miss Susan Pierce, of Troy, and immediately removed to 
Poughkeepsie, where, in connexion with Mr. Joiner, he 
commenced the publication of a weekly paper, called the 
Guardian. This was continued about a year; after which, 
he entered into another co-partnership, and commenced the 
publication of the Political Banner. This last proved to be an 
unfortunate business connection; and after about a years 
continuance, either through the mismanagement or dishon¬ 
esty of his partner, he found himself reduced to utter bank¬ 
ruptcy. 
This is, I am sorry to say, rather a common history; and 
many, thus situated, abandon hope, and yield themselves up 
to fatal despondency. Not so Judge Buel. With the un¬ 
shaken assurance of success which naturally results from 
the firm determination to deserve it, he saw, with apparent 
indifference, the slow, labored, and rather scanty accumula¬ 
tions of some six or seven years suddenly swept from him; 
and read, in this lesson of mutability, at least the chance of 
elevation, as well as depression, in individual condition. 
He never, for one moment, lost confidence in the general 
integrity of men, nor in the ultimate success of industry 
and application. He left Poughkeepsie and removed to 
Kingston, where he established a weekly paper called The 
Plebian. Here he continued during the period of ten years, 
from 1803 to 1813, applying himself with diligence and acti¬ 
vity to his business. During a part of this time, he sustain¬ 
ed with reputation the office of Judge, in the Ulster county 
court; and by his persevering industry, and well directed 
application, he not only retrieved his losses, but also acquir¬ 
ed soma considerable real and personal estate. 
In 1813, his reputation as an editor and a man having 
made him favorably known to the public, he was induced, 
through the exertions of Judge Spencer and some others, to 
remove to the city of Albany, and to commence the Albany 
Argus. The next succeeding year, 1814, he was appointed 
printer to the State, the duties of which, together with the 
editorship of the Argus, he continued to discharge until the 
year 1820; at which time he sold out with the determination 
to abandon the printing business. 
It is worthy of remark, that while engaged in this business 
he always performed himself the labor essential to its suc¬ 
cessful prosecution. He was always the setter of his own 
type, and, until he came to Albany, the worker of his own 
press. Is there not something in the very nature of the 
printing art, that tends to originate and perpetuate habits of 
severer industry than any other occupation or calling ? 
After disposing of his printing establishment and business, 
he purchased a farm of eighty-five acres of land near the 
city of Albany, which then helped to compose that tract of 
land lying west of the city, and appropriately denominated 
the “ Sandy Barrens.” That which, for some years past, 
has been so extensively and favorably known as the “Alba¬ 
ny Nursery,” then lay an open common, unimproved, cover¬ 
ed with bushes, and apparently doomed to everlasting ste¬ 
rility. These unpromising appearances, which, to a com¬ 
mon mind, would have presented insuperable obstacles, 
served to increase the efforts, rather than damp the ardor, of 
Judge Buel. Difficulties, hindrances, obstructions, were 
with him every day familiars. His mind had been, in some 
measure, formed under their influence. He recognized and 
acted on the doctrine, that where God has done little it is in¬ 
cumbent on man to do much; and that nothing in this world 
is ever lost by courting situations, that require the expendi¬ 
ture of unremitted effort. Man was made to labor, both cor¬ 
poreally and mentally, and his happiness in life depends 
much more than he is generally aware of, on the strict obe¬ 
dience which he yields to this primal law of his being. 
On this farm he continued to reside until the time of his 
death. Under his untiring and well directed industry, the 
most unpromising indications soon disappeared, and as a 
practical commentary upon the truth of his agricultural doc¬ 
trine, and in proof that he in reality practised what he preach¬ 
ed, it may be mentioned that the same acre of land, which 
in 1821 he purchased for $30, is now worth, at a moderate 
estimate, $200. 
While residing on his farm, since 1821, he has several 
times represented the city and county of Albany in the popu¬ 
lar branch of the legislature of this State; has been for se¬ 
veral years, and was at the time of his death, a Regent of 
the University; and in the fall of 1836, received the whig 
support as their candidate for the office of Governor of the 
State of New-York. 
On the political course of Judge Buel, I do not design to 
enlarge. He was a believer in the old fashioned doctrine, 
that office, instead of being made for men, should be made 
by them; that it conferred far less privileges than it imposed 
duties; that it was a trust reposed, and the incumbent a trus¬ 
tee, and responsible for the proper performance of the trust; 
that instead of operating as a license to live and fatten on 
the public spoil, without the necessity of labor, it imposed 
the severe obligations of more incessant effort, and of acting 
under deeper and heavier responsibilities; and that it was no 
further honorable than as an indication of trust and confidence 
on the part of those, whose intelligence and moral worth 
were the vouchers for its value. The introduction of many 
modern improvements, is tending to render that doctrine some¬ 
what antiquated, and to diminish the number of its adhe¬ 
rents. 
Mere political pre-eminence is, at best, extremely equivo¬ 
cal. It may be enobled by the solid qualities of the states¬ 
man, or debased by the crafty arts of the politician. Its 
highest attainable summit, has been not inaptly compared to 
the apex of a pyramid, which can be reached by the soaring 
eagle, or the crawling reptile. The durable reputation of 
Jesse Buel depends on that which politics can neither give 
nor withhold; which is at a high remove above the little 
tricks of little men; which is far beyond the reach of the aristo¬ 
crat, and above the highest possible conceptions of the mere 
demagogue. It reposes on that strong sense of obligation 
which a people feel themselves under, to a high and gifted 
mind exerted for their benefit. It is the grateful homage ren¬ 
dered by mind to mind; the most desirable, the most endur¬ 
ing, the most esteemed, of earthly homage. It arises from 
the feeling of benefits conferred on the one side, and receiv¬ 
ed on the other. It serves to connect the great mass of 
man with the few master spirits, who are pioneering on¬ 
ward in advance of their age. The highest mere political 
distinctions dwindle into insignificance, when compared and 
contrasted with this highest attainment of a laudable ambi¬ 
tion. To those acquainted with the arcana of politics, it 
will be sufficient to observe, that Jesse Buel never merged 
the man in the politician; that he never gave up his indepen¬ 
dence of thought, of expression, or of action; and that he 
preserved throughout that perfect integrity of purpose, that 
never, through his whole life, ceased to be the guide of his 
action. To those ignorant of such arcana, I can only say, 
that, 
“ Where ignorance is bliss, 'twere folly to be wise.” 
It is in the labors of Judge Buel in the advancement of 
agricultural and horticultural pursuits, particularly the for¬ 
mer, that the people of this Union have a deep and abiding 
interest. He retired to his farm at the age of forty-three; a 
period of life when the mind has attained the full maturity of 
its varied powers. He carried with him a sound body, the 
result of a good original constitution, of strictly temperate 
habits, and much active exercise in the prosecution of his 
business; and a mind well stored with valuable information 
of a character the most available for the common uses and 
purposes of life. So far as his pecuniary circumstances were 
concerned, he might, at this period of time, have been justi¬ 
fied in dispensing with further labor either of body or mind. 
He was no longer compelled to act under the spur of neces¬ 
sity. But his ready perceptions, and accurate feelings, con¬ 
vinced him of a truth, which others are often doomed to ac¬ 
quire from sad experience—that a life of labor is, of all other 
kinds of life, the last that should be terminated by an age of 
inactivity. Men violate the laws impressed by God upon the 
condition of things, when they assign to their declining years 
an inglorious ease in the expenditure of that fortune, which 
the successful industry of their manhood had accumulated. 
There is also in all highly gifted minds, that are endowed 
with clear, strong intellect combined with conscientiousness, 
a deep feeling of responsibility for the due exercise of their 
powers, in a manner the most advantageous to their fellow- 
men. God has placed a double safeguard over the advance¬ 
ment of man, by leaving the means that conduce to it, in 
charge both of the impulses that originate from self, and of 
the promptings derived from his high moral nature. 
The mind of J udge Buel fortunately had the sagacity to 
perceive hoth where his industry was the most required, 
and could be rendered the most available. Of the three 
great interests that divide between them the labors of men, 
viz: the agricultural, the mechanical and manufacturing, 
and the commercial; it is not difficult to perceive that the 
first has long been the most important, and the most neglect¬ 
ed. The last, or commerce, is much dependent on the other 
two, and may always be expected to flourish where either 
agriculture, or mechanical and manufacturing arts yield their 
multitude of products. Between the other two, there is a 
mutual dependence; agriculture furnishing the supports of 
life, and the mechanic arts, in their turn, supplying the in¬ 
struments of agriculture. Of these two, the mechanic arts 
had received relatively much the most attention. To advance 
them, man’s ingenuity and inventive powers had been se¬ 
verely tasked; and science was required to furnish its con¬ 
tributions; and the devising and employment of labor-saving 
machinery attested in a variety of instances, the triumphs 
of mind over the inert materials every where abounding in 
nature. But while the mechanic and manufacturing arts 
were thus prospering, agriculture was allowed to labor on 
unaided, and unenlightened in the knowledge of itself. The 
new and virgin earth on this continent, that had been for 
ages rearing and receiving back into its bosom the tall tree 
of the forest, and the waving grass of the prairie, required, 
at first, in many places, but a small quantity of labor to en¬ 
sure ample returns. When the soil began to give evidence 
of exhaustion, instead of attempting its restoration, new 
fields were brought under the dominion of the plow. The great 
mass of agricultural population, so far as their business was 
concerned, were little more than creatures of habit. Men 
lived, and labored, and trod the same paths, and performed 
the same circles of action, with scarcely a single well settled 
principle for their guide, except that the same field ought not 
to be taxed to grow two successive crops of flax. The prin¬ 
cipal, and almost the sole object in view, was to realize as 
great immediate returns as possible from the smallest amount 
of labor, without any regard whatever to the exhausted con¬ 
dition in which they might leave the soil; much like the 
traveler, who seeks the accomplishment of a long journey, 
by driving so far the first day as to destroy his horse. 
The new system of agriculture, with which the name and 
reputation of Judge Buel is essentially identified, consists 
in sustaining and strengthening the soil, while its produc¬ 
tive qualities are put into requisition; in rendering the farm 
every year more valuable, by annually increasing both its 
products and its power of producing; like the traveler, who 
instead of destroying his horse the first day, should so regu¬ 
late his motion, and administer his supplies of food, as to en¬ 
able him to make additional progress every successive day, 
until the completion of his journey. This new system—new 
I mean in this country—has been principally carried into 
effect by manuring, by draining, by good tillage, by alter¬ 
nating crops, by root curture, and by the substitution offal- 
low crops for naked fallows. 
In testing the principles embraced in the new system, 
Judge Buel first made the practical application to his own 
farm. He compelled his sand-hills to stay at home, and be 
less obedient to commotions in the atmosphere. He was 
particular in observing the effect produced upon the soil by 
his mode of management. After satisfying himself by actual 
experiment., of the truth and advantages of the new 7 system, 
he became desirous of rendering it as generally known as 
possible. With that view, the paper, now so well known 
as “The Cultivator,” was first commenced under the auspi¬ 
ces of the State Agricultural Society, in March, 1834. A 
committee of publication, consisting of Jesse Buel, Doctor 
James P. Beekman, and James D. Wasson, w 7 ere appointed 
by the society, and under their direction, Judge Buel being 
the real editor, “ The Cultivator’ first made its appearance 
in the form of a small sheet, issued monthly, and at the very 
moderate price of twenty-five cents a year. So little, how¬ 
ever, did it become known; so very deficient w 7 as the taste 
for reading on agricultural subjects; and, consequently, so 
extremely limited was its circulation, that the same volume, 
which has since passed through three editions, and now re¬ 
poses on the shelves of more than 24,000 American farmers, 
was found, at the end of the year, to have arcumulated a 
debt, over and above its receipts, of nearly five hundred dol¬ 
lars. Entertaining, however, a thorough conviction of the 
utility of the undertaking, and never doubting its ultimate 
success, he made an arrangement with the society, by which 
he became sole proprietor of “ The Cultivator ,” assuming the 
payment of all its debts and liabilities. The superior merits 
of the paper soon began to render it more generally known. 
It was found necessary to enlarge it, and to increase the 
price to fifty cents per annum. Notwithstanding the in¬ 
crease in price, the subscription list for the fourth volume, 
published from March 1837, to March 1838, amounted to 
23,000. It w 7 as then deemed expedient, still further to en¬ 
large and improve, and accordingly in March 1838, at the 
commencement of the fifth volume—a larger, more expen¬ 
sive, and better executed sheet was issued at the subscrip¬ 
tion price of one dollar per annum. This increase in price, 
at first diminished, very considerably the number of sub¬ 
scribers. They were, how 7 ever, gradually increasing, and, 
at the time of his death, amounted to about 16,000. 
We might naturally expect that a mind thus active and 
gifted, could not long continue to exercise its powers, with¬ 
out acquiring a more or less extended and solid reputation. 
The new and vigorous impulse he was giving to agriculture 
and horticulture, awoke to activity a kindred spirit in the 
breasts of his countrymen. This call to renewed agricultu¬ 
ral efforts, met with a corresponding response from many 
portions of the Union. Societies, devoted to agriculture and 
horticulture, originated in various sections of our country; 
and among their first acts has usually been the recognition 
of their obligations to Jesse Buel, by electing him an hono¬ 
rary member. As examples of this, and also to show the 
laudable efforts that have been made to form agricultural and 
horticultural societies, I would mention the following: 
In 1821, he was elected a member of the Massachusetts 
Agricultural Society; in 1829, of the Horticultural Society 
of that state: in 1839, of the Monroe Horticultural Society 
at Rochester; in 1831, of the Charleston Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, in South Carolina; in 1832, of the Hampshire Frank¬ 
lin and Hampden Society, in Massachusetts, and of th« 
Hamilton County Agricultural Society, at Cincinnatti; in 
