Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-02-13
@grtcultural.
Importance Of Agriculture.

Importance or Agriculture.
Agriculture has been aptly styled the
nursing mother of all the arts 1t is the
basis, the soul of our national prosperity.
Commerce and manufactures conduct, in
a great measure to wealth but the cult
vation of the soil ever has been, and ever
will continue to be, the fountain head of
the streams Of a country's resources.
There can be no strength in state, and
no moral health among the people, when
the tillage of the land is neglected. We
can date the decay of power and virtue
of many nations, from the decline of their
agricultural industry. In Rome, for in
stance, when the wise policy of fostering
agriculture was pursued, a healthful spirit
pervaded the whole state. Then the laws
were impartially administered, and justice
done 10 all. Then labor was accounted
honorable, and statesmen and generals,
and philosophers cultivated their farms
with their own hands. It was then that
from among the tillers of the soil arose
Regulus, Cincinnatus, and an invinci-
BILE soldiery. 1t was then that the 'seven
hilled city breathed defiance to her ene-
mics, and caused nation after nation to
yield to the resistless power of her legions,
until the Roman eagle waved over the
known world. But when the largesses
of corn were bestowed upon an idle popu-
lace when agriculture was neglected, and
war laid waste the fertile fields of Italy,
then Roman virtue and Roman vigor fed.
Soon intrigue, vice and venality took firm
hold in the state, until finally the spale
mother Of empires was abandoned to her
enemies, and the palaces of the Caesars
echoed the tread of the victorious barba-
rian. History abounds in examples illus
tratiye of the important fact, that the en-.
during greatness of a nation is mainly
founded upon its agriculture, and rulers
will do well to increase the prosperity Of
those who swing the scythe aud hold the
nlow:
That country which does not possess
within itself the means of afording sub.
sistance to its own inhabitants, is, if we
may trust the voice of experience, destin,
ed to sink to early ruin. National power,
based upon commerce alone, unsupported
by a Aourishing industry, that ministers to
human wants and qualifications, must fall
to the ground. Merely commercial states,
dependent upon contingencies for their
very life-blood, and imbued with that spirit
of speculation which tends to eneryate the
body and corrupt the mind, contain with
in their own bosoms the seeds of dissolu-
ton. Phenicia, Carthage, Genoa, Venice
and Holland, of the 18th and l7th centu-
ries, all bear witness to this fact. THERE'S
much truth in these verses of Goldsmith :
Grades proud empire haste to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labored mole away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
AS rocks resist the pillows and the sky"
To her unsurpassed agriculture, Eng
land is most indebted for her support in
the midst of those tremendous pressures
which so often have threatened to crush
her. 1t is the unparalleled cultivation of
her soil that has enabled the British peo.
pie, placed upon the rock.bound island,
to excel the world in every article of fa-
brio >; TO maintain an unrivalled navy and
plant their power in every quarter of the
globe. Firm are the foundations of the
strength of that nation, which in time of
peace is nourished from the resources of
its own industry, and in war can rely up
on the strong arms and undaunted hearts
of its yeomanry, to sustain its rights in
the din of strife or in the roar of battle &!
Upon agriculture, in addition to the
necessaries and common comforts of life,
depends the success of every other en-
ployment, 1t is agriculture that builds
up our crowded cities, covers our fields
with yellow grain, and diffuses life and
vigor throughout the land. It's agricul-
ture that supports our gigantic manuEacto.
ries, ringing from the basement to the attic
with the music Of free labor, and causes
our ten thousand ships to dance upon
every rolling billow, and spread their sails
to every propitious gale.-Says Lord Frs.
kline, in his political romance, called Ar
mata: ou might as well hope to see
the human body in active motion when
palsy had reached the heart, or a tree
nourishing after its roots were decayed,
rs expect to see manufactures, or arts, or
industry of any description, progressive,
when agriculture has declined" Para.
lyze it, and you weaken the pulse of en-
terprize. stifen the fingers of machinery,
and clip the wings of commerce. De-
stroy it and you bury in one common
grave, national power and individual pros
perity.-Martin's Address, Yale College.
IMPORTANT TO LAD1Es.-The following
is recommended as sure way of render
ing the coloros in calicoes permanent,
and prevent their fading by subsequent
washing; infuse three gills of salt in four
quarts Of boiling water, and put the cali.
Goes in while hot, and leave until cold.