And in no country
does the agricultural population exercise such a controlling political
power, contribute so much to the wealth, or tend so strongly to give an
impress to the character of a nation as in the United States. Hence it
may be truly said of us that our agriculture is our nursing mother,
which nurtures, and gives growth, and wealth, and character to our
country.... Knowing no party, and confined to no sect, its benefits and
its blessings, like dews from heaven, fall upon all.
... Our agriculture is greatly defective. It is susceptible of much
improvement. How shall we effect this improvement? The old are _too old
to learn_, or, rather, to unlearn what have been the habits of their
lives. The young cannot learn as they ought to learn, and as the public
interests require, because they have no suitable school for their
instruction. We have no place where they can learn the _principles_ upon
which the _practice_ of agriculture is based, none where they can be
instructed in all the modern improvements of the art.
Much injury has been done to the cause of agriculture by sanguine
speculations, which have only led to expense and disappointments; but
all works on agriculture are not of that character; nor should it be
forgotten that theory is the parent of practical knowledge, and that the
very systems which farmers themselves adopt, were originally founded
upon those theories which they so much affect to despise.
Pages:
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319