The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-11-10


take charge of the statistics OF all their public
works, in which the State is interested as stock
holder sponsor
much better would Congress be employed in
erecting monument to Washington, in the estab-
| llshment OF a bureau recommended by him, TO
enlghten the Government in respect of its agricul-
tural resources and interests, than III rearing per-
ishable piles of stone and mortar, vain memorials,
when built in honor of one whose fame already eN-
tends TO the utmost verge of civilization, and will
endure as long the love of liberty shall remain
unextinguished in the hearts of men.
"But let us return, my friends, in search Of that
worm-that mining moth-which in the old States
is gnawing at the yitals of the of agriculture,
giving IL, not the venerable and yet hearty look
OF green old age, but presenting il to the view Of
the anxious observer, 'scklied DER with that sad
aspect of premature decay which you have seen
some valued friend take on in the prime of man
hood. when struck inwardy with some deadly dis
order.
''Resuming, then, the inquiry as to the actual
condition and prospects of Pennsylvania agrcul-
ture, after many efforts To assure for il gene
raj and progressive Improvement, and going back
to the formation of the Agricultural Society of Phil
adePhia, more than fifty years ago, including all
their volumes of essays by such public spirited pa
triots and farmers Worth, and West, and Buck
ley, and lngham, and McAlister, and Morrison,
and Moore, including the practical writings OF Lo-
rain, and more recently the jealous and intelligent
abors of Tatum, the valuable edition and addition
of Doctor Emerson to the farmers Encyclopedias,
notwithstanding all the costly, we'll selected, and
valuable mportaons of animals by Col Powell
and others, let me again you, that it is not
sleek imported bull, nor pampered stallion, nor
square built Dishey ram, nor no bone pig, that
will, any of them, or all united, answer this
important problem; by far the most important, if
not the only question worthy of the consider
alton of the statesman or the farmer, as have
already said, is, as to the real foundation, the
Lam If agricultural economy, Let not be drawn
of in admiration of this rich mans farm, or of
that mans pet stock, as evidence of increasing
knowledge and prosperity; but let us look around
and abroad over the whole commonwealth, and let
the inquiry be in regard to the community
whole, not much whether produce more but
do they find better market for what they do pro-
duce? for supply to Jolloto adequate demand
Do men live in better houses themselves, and their
cattle? labor Diversified, and all classes
able to consume more of what each class produces?
Are orchards throughout the State more extensive,
more numerous, and better cared ior?-your en-
closures more substantial and perfect Are your
swamp lands cleared up, and Doggy lands more
| thoroughly drained? Are the farmers over the
State making more of potatoes, and carrots, and
cabbages, and things that, being sold close to the
plough and the harro,c, sell by the ton; in lieu of
hausting crops that, being sent to distance, must
be sold by the pound and the bushei? In word,
are your young people coming earlier together in
holy wcdlock, and your population increasing and
contented; and school houses and churches becom-
ing more and more numerous-for these are the in
| fallible tests of prosperous community? Alasl
here and there it is that improvement may be
seen; but, on the other hand, here and there, and
almost everywhere in the old States, deterioration
| is obvious
'We are told, on the authority of candid and in
telgent inquirer before the Revolution that wheat,
in many parts OF the province ofNew York yiededa
larger produce than tcds common in England. Upon
good lands about Albany they reaped from 20 to 40
bushels to the The latter quantity, said he,
SIS not often had, but from 20 to 30 bushels are
common and this, with such bad husbandry
would not yield the like in England. Does Albany
county average 10 bushels of wheat the acre?
| In what other department of industry has there
been such deterioration' And why is it SO in agri
culture?
GAS TO Pennsylvania, the same American writer
remarks: 'In the productions commonly cultivated,
wheat is the grand article of the province. They
sow immense quantities about the latter end of Sep
TENDER, rising from two to three bushels of seed to
the acre, which on good lands yield from tcenty-
ue TO thirty ttco bushels per acre. fields of inferior
quality, or such ms are almost exhausted by yield
ing corn, they get from 10 TO 20 bushels
els it not we'll worthy of remark, as connected
with the subject of this DISCOURSE that the rate of
decennia increase of population in both these great
States, with all their magnificent natural resources,
has been constantly falling off for the last fifty
years; and though the decline in that respect has
been not so marked in Pennsylvania in New
! York, and neither of them comparable with what
has occurred in Virginia and South Carolina, free
trade States, yet here, in Pennsylvania, il is the
more remarkable, in consideration of her magnifi-
| cent agricultural and mineral capabilities with
her expanded lake coast and noble rivers draining
thirty millions OF acres of naturally superb land and
then remarkable for the water powers these rivers
present, if pointed at by the finger of God him
self, for the domestic manufacture and consump-
ton of every thing that her farmers supply or
require! Now the average product of wheat in
New York is under Is bushels: that of Indian corn
not exceeding % bushels; and OF potatoes less than
| 100"
'ln lS45, the average produce of the State of New
York, of the same articles, has been put down at
wheat Ia bushels per acre, rye 81 potatoes go peas
Is. Now look at all the other arts and industries
except that of cultivation. Have they not all inn
proved and advanced, notwithstanding our policy
| always fuctuating, but, as General Jackson said,
always too much subject TO the policy Of the Brit
| ish merchantsE Why should not have i'm
proved in the practice and productveness of agri-
| culture as we have in ship building and house
building, and in all the manufactures, and all the
arts, in the prosecution of which together
and combine their forces, their capital and their tai
! ents, instead OF dispensing and flying from each
other, has been and still is the case in agri-
culture? Does it not show that there is something
rotten in the state of Denmark; some blghting in
huencc, some defect in the la,c of the case, which
retards the development of resources more various
and abundant than ever was showered by the bounty
OF Providence on any other people? Has the fault
been with yourselves your tcachers' Alas, my
friends with sorrow somewhat akin to shame, adj
NIT that q speak alone for mysel the fault has been
tcih your teachers! We began at The ,crone end
We may be likened 10 the farmer who, seeing the
fruit of high promise dropping prematurely from
the tree, would attempt TO cure the evil and re-
store il 10 life and vgor, by washing the body and
pruning the branches; forgetting that canker-
worm is gnawing at the root, which must first be
discovered, cut out and destroyed, and that being
done, health, and yigor and ruitfulness will cnsue
Our great misfortune has been i'm endeavorinR 10
find out and teach you only how to become produ-
GERS; without giving thought TO the great prob
lem-bow we should raise up close around you pros
porous consumer 10 take ichdt you 10 produce
" sure Of adequate retcdrdi Had VIC bestowed the
same time and the same labor in endeavoring TO
teach you TO bring consumers TO your side, thus
furnishing market the land for the
products Of the land, the result would have been
widely different.
agriculture, my friends, has made pro.
gress in the absence of consuming popula.
ton, has it ever failed 10 improve ,chen
The constun0 brought, recommended by Mr..
Jefferson, 10 take his place By the side of the pro
duc1. The sandy wastes of Belgium have been
converted into the richest fields of Europe by
policy directly the Of that which has
exhausted the rich soils Of New York, and Ma
ryland, and Virginia, and Carolina, and is now
cxhausting Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio. In
Belgium the consumer and the producer are side
by side, close at hand, and the farmer saves all
the cost of transportation and thus is he enabled 10
return to the land all the refuse Of its products and
the land increases in it, power from wear 10 wear