The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1850-12-28
q GG E 4 4 I'll e r. .
from The Germantown Telegraph
HISTORY OF AGRICULTURE.


Having been constant as we'll as an
interested reader of your valuable paper,
and with great satisfaction observed the
deep interest you take in the promotion
Of the agricultural prosperity of the
country, and also deeming all such as
the benclactors of mankind-I propose
to furnish you with few numbers upon
the history of Agriculture for publica-
ton.
Agriculture is no doubt the most an.
ciant of arts, and in its broadcast sense
may be defined the cultivation of the
earth. Adam our first parent, and this
seems to have been contrast with his
Creator and the very condition Of his
existencc. The earliest date Of the inn
provement in agriculture cannot, think
be ascertained from any historical records
extant. The Chaldeans-Phnnicians-
Persians-Grecians and Ro-
mans, not only practised it with success,
that encouraged it is an honorable and
noble employment the people-but
there were many able treatises written
both by the greatest Grecian and Ro.
mans, among the farmer was Hesiod,
and Xenophon, and with the latter Vir-
gil, Cato, Varro, and others,-some of
which almost rival the best productions
Of modern times. Look at the great
Cincinnatus retiring to his plow and
farm, after restoring the liberties of the
country; or the great Regulus in Africa,
begging his government to recall him
after conquest, lest his farm might suffer
from his absence;-or even the kings Of
Persia who annually threw off the dia-
dem Of royalty that they might eat and
rejoice with the husbandmen. Even
the digniGed Senator'S of Rome employ.
ed their leisure intervals from public
duty to the cares of horticulture and
huSbandry. The veneration for this
employment was carried so far by the
Egyptians that they worshipped some Of
the products Of the earth and even some
of the animals used in their tillage.
have thus far shown ancient agriculture
but why, let me ask, has not agricul-
ture advanced more rapidly in this coun-
try, with its wide field for operation,
aided by the most valuable agricultural
journals and energetic societies TO
this question | would answer that there
are two prominent causes which tend to
impede the progress of agricultural in
dustry throughout the U. States.
The first which | shall mention may
perhaps appear somewhat pardoxical.
In country OF limited extent and dens,
population there is necessarily resort
to artificial means TO augment the pro-
duce of the soil, and this tends to the
advancement Of husbandry. 1t is hard
" to be imagined, then, that very rapid
advances will be made in the science Of
agriculture, while so much good land
can be procured at so low price, and
where its products can be obtained with
so little labor.
Another cause of bad husbandry in
this country, is that spirit of speculation
the 'aura sacra .fames' which is abroad.
All classes, and among them the farmers,
are induced to neglect straight forward
industry, and to embark in extraortlina-
ry and hazardous enterprises, or seek
the glittering but deceitful 'placcrs' in
fa--famed California. Imaginary cal
culations and expectations with regard
to the shining shores Of the Pacific, and
similar illusions, may feed the midnight
visions of the greedy speculator, but
they will not feed the body. Let the
farmers then return to their plows, give
up their foolish expectations of speedy
wealth, and they will not subject them
selves to the bitter disappointments
which must always follow in the paths of
visionary speculation. Let them re-
claim the wilderness, and scatter over its
broad surface the golden harvest, and
bleating aocks, and their gains, if less
rapid, will be more solid. Let them re-
collect that Washington was farmer,
and returned to his uorh after he had
worked out the salvation of his country
that it is an honorable and virtuous
employment-that it was the farmers
of the Revolution, who, graspcd their
Inuskets from the hooks of their cottages,
were the most important instruments in
accomplishing their independence, and
that they, as a class, have ever been
considered as the bone and muscle Of
the Republic.
LIME AND IT'S PROPERTIES.