Du Buque visitor. [volume] (Dubuque, Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1836-1837, 1836-10-26

FARM1Nc.-If one half the zeal, en-
ergy, and expense that blots so many
gazettes with low and coarse abuse,
setting the community by the ears for
the sole gain and the pahry purposes OF
a few demagogues and Office keepers,
were bestowed on the advancement OF
agriculture-if the people were half as
ambitious oimprove and beautify their
fields, as they are to settle the nation,
and half as angry with thistles, thorns,
and poor fences, as they are with their
political opponents, who probably wish
as well to the country as to themselves,
we should have more productive fields.
less complaints Of poverty. more abili-
ty to be charitable and muni6cent, and
abundantly more good feeling. From
Pittsburg to New Orleans, the son
ploughs as his father did before him.
and the great mass of farmers as sta
tionary in theory as they are in prac-
tice. Nine in ten of them believe at
this moment, that beck farming is the
mere useless visionary dreaming OF
men that know nothing about practical
agriculture.
We would tell them that England
is the garden of Europe, simply be-
cause almost every acre Of ground is
cultivated scientifically, and on the
most rigid and exact experiment We
would tell them that New England, of
whose soil and climate they arc accus-
toned to think as consigned by Provi-
dence to sterility and and inclemency,
is the garden of the United States, on
ly because the industrious and calcula-
ting people do not throw away their
efforts in the exertion of mere brute
strength-but bring mind and plain
system and experience to bear upon
their naturally hard and thankless soil.
On every side the passing traveller
sees verdure, grass, and orchards in the
small and frequent Enclosures of inn
perishable rock, and remarks fertility,
won from the opposition of the cle-
ments ana nature. After an absence
of teu years, on our return to that coun-
try, we were struct with this proud
and noble triumph conspicuous over
the whole region.
The real benefactors of mankind, as
st. Pierreso beautifully said, are those
who cause two blades of wheat to ma.
ture where one died before. The field.
ought to be the morning and evening
theme of Americans that love theil
country. To fertilize and improve hi.
farm, ought to be the prime Temporal
object of every owner of the substan
tialsoil. All national aggrandizement
power, and wealth, may be traced t,
agriculture, asitsultimate source. Com
merce and manufactures are only SUI
] bordinate results OF this main spring.
We consider agriculture % ever1
.tways ubGdiary- not Only y sSys: Gsssce
Industry, and health, but 70 good mo
lr1ls, and ultimately evento religion
We shall always say and sing, "Spcce
the plough. We shall always regare
the American, stripped to his employ
ment, and tilling his grounds, as be
longing to the first order Of noblemer
among us. We shallalways wish boun
tiful harvests, good beer, and modcr
ate use of cider, and, if he will rear i
himself, Of the grape, but none Of the
pernicious gladness Of whiskey, and we
shall only invoke upon his labors thu
blessing of Goo, and say Of him, sEpeact
be within thy walls.''
Timothy Flint.