IMPROVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE. 
137 
How can a State expect to flourish when the foundation of 
her prosperity is neglected ? Clods aud plow shares ! ye lie at 
the foundation of health and good society. “ The first cred¬ 
itor in every State is the plow.” Let us tell our statesmen to 
look well to the farming interest, and choose only such to 
represent us who will dare to demand our rights. Farmers ! 
let us no longer be the mere mass of society—regulated and 
handled as an immense political machine in the hands of the 
few ; but exercising the spirit of inquiry which will teach us 
our rights as members of the body politic, let us then rise 
in our strength and demand of our legislators that protec¬ 
tion in our art, which has been so long denied. The char¬ 
acter of a Cincinnatus may be found among modern as among 
ancient farmers. 
Agriculture should no longer be kept out of her place. Nay, 
she should take her place. That place is the first among the 
professions, first in importance, and first in honor. 
* * * * 
To a more thorough cultivation and manuring of the soil, we 
would next call your attention. 
Thoroughness is a special requisite to the successful prose¬ 
cution of any business of life. If it is worth doing at all, it 
is worth doing well. The ancient adage, “Dig deep to find 
gold,” is very applicable to the farmers’ vocation. This prin¬ 
ciple, applied to the tillage of a field, will give the crops thereon 
a greater space in which their roots may forage for sustenance 
and support—will operate favorably upon an excess of mois¬ 
ture, by putting in action a system of filtration, and will pro¬ 
tect to a degree, governed only by the depth of the soil, from 
the disastrous effect of drouth. Deep tillage may, to some, 
seem a hackneyed subject,' but when men will obey the injunc¬ 
tion, “Go, and sin no more !” it will be time enough to cease 
alluding to it. The testimony in favor of deep ploughing is 
so abundant, and so frequently brought before the farmers, that 
it seems strange so few farms arc brought to the light of the 
sun yearly, through the agency of the sub-soil plough. 
