The Hawk-eye and Iowa patriot. (Burlington, Iowa) 1839-1843, 1840-12-10

SOuuy1 ~ sASAC& dlIuOSt dill our estates
are held by allodial titles. improperly
called estates in fee simple, and every
man feels secure that whatever improve
ments he makes in agricultural pursuits.
are for his own benefit and that Of his
posterity. Here he is not borne down
by weight Of taxes, which consumes
the principal portion of the income from
his labor to pay. Here he has no gripping
landlord to dread, nor fears of raising
of his rents, or of being elected from his
farm, and losing the benefits Of his labor
and improvements: great drawback up
on agricultural improvement and enter
prise, wherever leasehold tenures prevail,
with short or contingent limitations. as is
the case in most European countries. II
we could but induce our citizens 10 feel
how much more honorable, as well as
profitable, it is to become a skillful and
successful farmer, and live and move
about with the air, manner and spirit of
independent yeomen, than it is 10 be the
drudge of official station, or be compelled
to breathe the impure, confined air Of
professional study, we should not see
such an injudicious zeal displayed TO spoil
good farmers and intelligent mechanics
by pressing into some insignificant Office.
of most uncertain tenure, making petit
Jogging lawyers, quack doctors, or dron-
ing, inanimate preachers, doomed to dab
BILE in sciences they cannot learn, or I'M
ri ors orI E,D,r,
practice. If our citizens would but duly
the healthful, honorable and
life of the farmer, who de-
votes himself to his calling with the same
zeal and industry that any professional
man must bestow upon his pursuits, few
young men, it is believed, would embark
in profession, whose talents and ac-
quirements did not eminently qualify
them to succeed. 1t is not the commune
ty alone, but the individuals themselves,
suffer most seriously by trying these pro-
fessional experiments. One of the strong
est incentives to this course, in this coun-
try, is the mistaken notion, every where
prevalent, that there is something more
honorable and gentlemanly in a profess
sional life than is attached to agricultural
pursuits.
1t was my intention 10 have extended
this historical sketch to the agricultural
Improvements of the United States, but
that branch alone would furnish copious
subject for an entire discourse, and one
much more interesting to an American
audience than any view that can be given
to the same subject as it exists abroad.
l shall, therefore, out of regard to my au-
dience, as we'll as to save some share of
labor to myself, conclude by calling your
attention home, for few moments, to
our own fair province of Iowa.
When our forelathers first landed upon
the various points of our Atlantic coast.
iii search of distant and future home,
and examined the surrounding country,
their hearts swelled with delight and gra-
titude at the bright prospects thai opened
before them. They beheld country
uncultivated, it is true. but for native
richness and luxuriance, compared with
those they had left, they had reason 'sto
rejoice and be glad" at the superior pros
.pect of the new world. And yet, com
pare the most favored spots at the East
or South, as they were at that day, with
the soil and local advantages of the great
valley of the Mississippi--wirh the rich,
luxuriant prairies of Iowa, for beauty,
capacity to produce and bear continued
cultva,ion--wi.h the different amounts Of
labor required in each TO produce the
same results--with climate equally
genial to animal and vegetable life--and
how much more have the emigrants tc
Iowa reason to rejoice, and in the Ian
guage of the grateful psalmis,, exclaim
'Surely our lives have fallen to us ir
pleasant places, and we have here a
goodly Inheritance
Here the emigrant from the Emerald
Isle, when he buries his hoe in the tur
and opens to his delighted view the rict
products of the potato field, may well ex
claim, in the JOY of his heart, "Och
indade this is the land for pralies!'
where we can produce Rohans of the
weight of six pounds, and a yield Of Ter
bushels from the planting of single
potato.
| Here the honest peasants from the
Netherlands may feast their ravished
senses with an unrivalled display of tina
luxury Of all German luxuries, "Cabbage
and Sour Crout,' and feel sure of an in
exhaus.ible supply; and here they may
regale their ears with music in full cho.
rus, bursting forth from all quarters ir
lofty strains, from our innumerable herd:
of Fat porkers, and content themselves
that here there is no lack of this indis
pensable accompaniment to their favorite
dish. and no stint to the feast of ''fa
things
And here, too, is JOY unspeakable fol
the Yankees heart, when he proudly ane
fondly gazes upon our lS7 pound pump
kins, with their golden surfaces glistenine
in the sun, in rich perfection and majestic
luxuriance. Here he is no longer re
stricted to single annual holyday, bu
may enjoy a thanksgiving every week il
the year, and revel in an endless feast o
pumpkin pies! Here. too, our poets may
find abundant food for their fancies, whel
ltbey raya over orr rich 1vayinr corn