cultivated. At least, we have in these swamps and lowlands, invaluable sources of fertility, sources which are inexhaustible because supplied with food for the plants of a thousand generations.

I asked a farmer in this county sometime since, why do you not improve your waste lands, such as peat swamps and meadows? Why, says he, we cannot obtain manure enough for our uplands; five dollars a cord is too high a price to pay and get a living by it. The idea of a want of manure here, was to me, I must confess, no less astonishing than ridiculous, when I called to mind that these same "unimprovable lands," as they are styled upon the records of the town, contained manure enough in some sections to cover all your tilled lands a foot deep-manure enough to render every acre of soil as fertile as the prairies of the west;-manure enough to cause two tons of hay to grow where now grows but one, and an equal increase in all the other productions of the farm. There are few portions of the state where the sources of fertility are more abundant than they are in this county. Let it be granted, if you please, that these lands are unimprovable as soils, (which is by no means true, many of them being the most valuable for this purpose,) still, they are vast repositories of vegetable food, which, by the application of science and skill, may easily be converted into manure, and placed upon the neighboring sand hills, thus changing the whole county into a fertile garden. Were strict justice done, the owner of peat meadow* and swamp muck, instead of being assessed for thirty or forty acres of "unimprovable land," considered valueless on the town records, should be taxed for forty acres of manure, from one to fifteen feet in depth, and worth five dollars per cord as soon as converted into the food of plants. By making agriculture a

*The value of peat bogs may be stated in few words, says Mr. Mathews, in his fourth annual report of the Geology of the State of New York. 1." Peat is equal to oak wood, bulk for bulk. 2. Peat lands are more productive by far than uplands. 3. Peat manure is more valuable than stable manure.'

+ See letters of Elias Phinney, Esq. of Lexington, and Dr. N. C. Rush. In Dr. C. T. Jackson's Third Annual Report of the Geology of Maine, p. 129, and

study, a profession, and diffusing its principles abroad, those and other means of fertility will necessarily be developed and applied. The labors of the farmer will be more bountifully rewarded, and a motive furnished for the investment of capital in farming operations.

The broad foundation of progress and success being laid in the intelligence and skill of the farming community, we shall hear no more complaint of our hard fortune in being placed on granite and barren rocks. We shall have no occasion to envy the western farmer with his rich bottom lands and ague fits; no desire to leave the hills, the vales, and crystal streams of our own happy New England, which are associated in our earliest and most sacred recollections; no wish to be divorced from the friends we love, the institutions in which we have been educated, the altars of God where we have often worshipped, to leave, in fine, our glorious heritage, than which the sun doth not shine upon a better or fairer, for the uncultivated wilds of the west, shut out from society, religion, and law. And yet, such must be the case, unless efforts are made to increase the fertility of our soil. We never can sustain our increasing population, and your sons must go west from necessity. Let it be remembered gentlemen, that Yankee character is exceedingly flexible; your sons will not be a race like their fathers, but will be liable to become contaminated by the influences which surround them. It is a subject which appeals to every interest, social, moral, political, and religious. Let us then make agriculture a science, a profession. Let us establish institutions where our sons may be qualified to become scientific farmers, thus furnishing a motive, by increasing the rewards of industry, which shall fix them to their native soil, that when they assume our responsibilities, they may be better prepared to discharge their duties as citizens and as freemen.

"Then may our sons be as plants grown up in their

Mr. Finney's letter, in the Geological Survey of Rhode Island, p. 246. See also Professor Hitchcock's Final Report on the Geology of Massachusetts, vol. 1, p. 109, seq.

youth, our daughters as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace. Then may our garners be full, affording all manner of store, and our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets. Then may our oxen be strong to labor; there shall be no breaking in nor going out, and no complaining in our streets."

The introduction of agriculture into our literary institutions will tend to render the employment more reputable. It will give it a professional character. A greater number of men will engage in it, and a necessity created for a higher state of intellectual and moral culture in the community, in order to practise the art successfully in its advanced and perfected state. Hence, it will tend to elevate and enlighten the popular mind.

It is the greatest objection to a farmer's life, that it furnishes too little excitement for the mind; his body works; there is little else but an exertion of muscle, there is nothing for the brain to do. The reason is, he has no scientific principles to apply; but give him a knowledge of these; let him feel that he has observations to make and principles to apply, nice and difficult questions to settle, and you at once furnish him with something to excite his intellect. You will thus create an interest in his mind, and an exertion of its powers, which will soon transform him from a condition but a little above the tardy beasts which drag his plough, to that of one whose powerful intellect shall correspond to the giant and sinewy frame which his occupation usually produces.

The lawyer employs his mind about his profession. It affords him matter for thought, and stimulates his faculties to effort; so it is with the physician, the minister, the mechanic and the merchant; these pursuits, being based on scientific principles, require constant exercise of the mind, the habit of patient observation and reflection is cherished, and the intellect made vigorous and strong. Hence, the interest which men of these professions feel in their employments. They have something to task the mind. But the case is quite the reverse with the farmer. His thoughts are rarely employed about his profession; other subjects excite his interest, and not

his own business; or rather, his employment is not the absorbing business of life, and he often submits to labor from necessity rather than from choice; but only give a soul to his efforts, by presenting him the subjects of thought, and his employment rises at once in his own estimation; he will respect himself, and respect his profession, and as a necessary consequence, be elevated in the scale of intelligence and respectability. There is a feeling among our young men, that they must go into some more reputable employment, some more royal road to wealth and fame than their fathers trod. They must leave the field, and rush to the mart of trade; they must dip into speculation; they must make haste to be rich, and raise themselves to a more honorable station by an increase of their wealth rather than by means of intelligence and virtuous principles. In the commercial disasters of the last few years, Providence seems to have rebuked this grasping spirit, and driven thousands from our cities back to the soil, thus teaching them that "the way of the transgressor is hard," and leading them to respect an institution which he has established, as the natural and most honorable means of gaining a support.

Let me assure our young men, that it is an entirely erroneous view to regard agriculture as an ignoble employment, fit only for those who have not brains enough to obtain a living in any other way. Some, I know, thus regard it, and are disposed to look down from the elevation of a pedlar's wagon, a stage-coach box, or a tin cart, upon those who are doomed to the toils of the field.

Such, of course, must be left to enjoy their self-complacency; they are incapable of better sentiments; we may pity their weakness, but cannot respect their opinions. But there are others, who, from their peculiar position in society, are disposed to indulge the secret feeling, at least, that they are above such menial employments. Nothing can be more absurd than such a feeling; it can be indulged only by those whose minds are narrow, or ill-informed, from prejudice or ignorance, or if there is any ground for such an opinion, it does not arise from the employment itself, but from the manner in

which it is practised, and from the character of those who engage in it.

It becomes the farming community to consider well how much foundation there is for the light in which many are disposed to regard their profession. Every individual is bound to take care of his own character. If he does not do it, who will? The same rule applies to the professions; those who practise them are responsible for the character which they sustain. If there is any justice in considering agriculture as the lowest of the employments of life, the responsibility rests upon the farming community, and not upon the profession itself. it be established on scientific principles, let it be made an indispensable part of an education; let the farmers themselves guard it from reproach by their intelligence and skill, and such a feeling will be banished from the minds of all whose opinions are worthy of confidence or respect.

Let

It is a noble employment. It is best fitted for the complete developement of all the powers of man. It is an honorable employment. It was practised in Eden ere man fell from a state of innocency. Noah and Abraham, and all the patriarchs were farmers. The sweet singer of Israel was a poor shepherd's boy. The wisest king that ever sat on a throne was a most extensive agricultural writer as well as cultivator of the soil. Many of the Grecian and Roman princes had large estates. Cincinnatus was called from the plough and placed at the head of the government of Rome, when a foreign invader threatened to subvert her liberties. The Kings of Scotland set their people an example by tilling the soil with their own hands. Burns, the sentimental Burns was the "Ayrshire ploughman;" Washing

* It should be borne in mind, in this connection, that the character of any profession is formed before the practitioners are aware of it, and of course without their intention. The profession is estimated by the character of the great mass, and not by that of the few who may be in extremes, either very good or extremely bad. After the character of any professon is formed, and its position defined, it is extremely difficult to alter it, especially to raise it above its established dignity and mercantile value. Hence, great efforts are necessary to render agriculture any but the lowest employment, although we know it is capable of ranking among the highest.