Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1851-10-16
VOL. XI.
lFrOm the Detroit Free Prcss-E1trs.J
Address bv Hon. Lewis cass.

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, AT ITS THIRI
ANNUAL FAIR, HELD AT DETROIT, SEP
TENDER "a, 25, AND 26, 1851.
That the lines had fallen him in pleasant places
and that he had goodly heritage, subjects o
congratuaton with the royal psamst Of Israel CRATE
fully acknowledged end beautifully expressed in one o.
hoss outpourngs of the imagination which have come
down to in the pages Of the Scripture, and whose
hold upon the human affections is powerful as
che brightest days OF the chosen people of God And
where is the American who does feel that his
try offers goodly heritages and pleasant paces-and
equally, tOO-tO all who seek them from the shores
where fathers first commenced their stern contest
with Nature, to that distant which their descend
ants have reached by like trials and exertiOns and
which separates from the islands and continent of
Asia! And no where higher rewards offered to hu-
man industry and enterprise, we'll by the physical
by the moral and political advantages within reach
than meet at every step of progress upon our
own beautiful peninsula. Around us is of those
PLEASANT PLACES, Of those GooDLY HERITAGEs.
Few positions present obi acts of agreeable con-
temptation than does the spot where this assem-.
blage is now convened, in peace and prosperity to
celebrate victory to eXtOl conQuerOT but 10
commune together upon OF the most interesting SUBJ
jects that engage the human attention. Above and
below US are vast internal seas, unequaled the face
Of the globe, stretching away 10 other regions and dis
rbutng their bountes far and wide and already bear
ing rich products, cnrn the sand of the )" from
the gTanary OF the Northwest to supply the wants of
other portions of the world less favored by Nature
more haIIshly ruled by man
The first of man is food and his first care is to
supply it. The rude modes of agriculture originally
prevailing have gradually given way to improved sys-
TENS combining sound theoretical principles with en-
arged experience and observation In the dspensaton
OF Nature increasing population always presses up
the means OF subsstence and if the supply does not
augment with the demand famine and the terrible evils
It brings in its train, will to teach igno-
rant, or oppressed improvdent community that it is
the province of Nature to minister to the wants Of
by aiding his exertIOns and not minister to his ndo
lence by rendering them unnecessary For wise pur-
poses, doubt, there regions of exuberant fertility,
where articles of food may he obtained without culture
there others of irrecaImabe serility, where
industry conquer the obstacles of soil and climate
and render these stricken portions of the earth desirable
residences for the human family But in the natural
in the moral world the system Of creation is of CON-
pensatIOns-gOOd and evil 90 hand-in-hand together.
Where lives without exertion industry he lives
without virtue or intelligence and dies as indifferent to
the future he has been the past. But where ne
cessY-his real friend though sometimes apparently
stern one-requires him labor. he attans his po
sItiOn, and iuhs his destiny by the proper employ
ment of his faculties physical and moral and by their
nober development, which is to follow. Expert
ence has shown that in the temperate of the earh
where industry is essential subsistence and where
rewards ample, there only the human have at
talned their true position and have advanced in the
reer oil intelligence and Improvement marked out by the
Creator, and the limits Of which are known Him
alone. The great deeds the great names, the great
discoveries OF the world there, telling in language
not to be misunderstood that there is intimate
nexon between the progress of the human faculties and
the motives for their exertion.
agricultural products suited the subsistence of man.
and with little labor compatible with the object
should be the great effort Of intelligent agrcultursts
The progress of hage is Of the most interesting
chapters in the while record Of human society. It's
origin Is lost in the Obseurty Of time and fable has usurp
ed the place Of authentic history That the food of
IN his primitive state was the spontaneous products OF
the earth equally assured by Scripture and by
reason. IL would be curious subectTof inquiry
certain, if the in power, the various
steps by which the yielded its place to paa
table and succulent food and finally the cereal grains
and bread their best orm the great staple of human
support But the Of destruction have always exerted
much more power the imagination than those of
preservation that while battles and bate-felds and
querors crowd every page Of history till they have be-
come almost as undistngushed their victims,
compelled TO gropc way amid the mist OF fable and
tradition in vain search alter the progress OF the human
intellect IN these discoveries and improvements which
make essential part of civilization ITSELF aud many Of
which must have been early in their introduction
they have proved general in their The morast and
the philosopher have equally exposed the tendency and
the folly Of this love of military glory; but it is deeply
Inrooted in human nature and operates powerfully
this day in the earliest times when plastic mytho
ogy gave the victorious DESTROYER a niche n statue
and altar in the Pantheon Of the gods.
Ii were rash attempt to undertake TO set limits to
the productive powers Of the earth has been greatly
increased by human knowledge and labor and the dis
coveres OF modern science and especially OF chemistry
have still further enlarged its sphere and promises yet
beneficial results for the future We know but little
of the agriculture of the ancents The scattered notices
and unsatisfactory and certainly inspire but little respect
for the practice practical philosophy of the cuvators
Of the SOIL The twelve yoke of oxen that Elisha left
IN the furrow when called TO higher duty furnish very
unavorabe commentary upon the quality Of the Jewish
stock well upon the instruments Of tlage, which
required snch prodigous waste of animal labor.
For ages agriculture stationary, and probably ad-
vanced but little from the time Virgil his Georges
till the last century We told by the best authority
that Scotland, within hundred years, 'there
rotation of crops; allOws unknown, except in
counties; the processes and implements of
husbandry alike wretche the occupiers were in
extreme Poverty and iamines were every now and then
occurring that sometimes laid extensive districts
That s'the about three times the seed and
that so late 1921 field of wheat OF eight in
the vicinity Of Edinburgh considered great
rOsity that excited the attention of the whole neigh
bOrhOOd and that numbers Ol persons came from great
distance to see it' And If such the condition of
one Of the most enlightened countries in Europe may
well believe what indeed the fact, that elsewhere
the Of agriculture equally deplorable and de-
gradnz and well It is for the OF humanity that
improved systems Of age have been adopted and the
quantity Of food greatly increased meet the augment
ing demand Of enlarged population and thus spare
from amnes like those which the scourge of the
world in ancient and madiRval times
The canses which led the rapid Improvement of ag-
rcuture in portions Of Europe after it had been station
ary for cenur shall detain you by Investigating.
They are connected with the general progress Of opinion
the meloraton Of political institutions. and wonderful
advance in all the arts and sciences and especially in
those which relate husbandry and with the spirit
Of which has brought the nations OF the
earth much closer together, and made them much more
useful than at any former period in their history.
Time and have banished not all, indeed, but
many Of the idle and supersttious notions which
prevailed and which mpeded both the theory and the
practice Of hus 3andry. Men to their own
observation and to the deductions Of enlightened science
and less those e4acies Of dark period which long
held in bondage the cultivators Of the SOIL The
is left perform the proper functions assigned to her by