The Belmont chronicle, and farmers, mechanics and manufacturers advocate. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1848-1855, 1853-10-21


Independent of our towns We can welisup-
port in Belmont County in all the comforts
Of civilized life, our hundred thousand Of q
population.
This is no fancy sketch, there are those
living who will witness the reality.
Let, therefore, the ambition of every Far
mer be to double the quantity Of bushels Upon
the soil he cultivates rather than double his
acres, and there is nothing easier TO do, in
vte you at least 70 try the, experiment. In
the days Of wooden mould boards and bar
shares there wss some excuse for the furrow
only being sir inches deep--but now that we
have the sub. soil and other valuable improved
poughs, the farmer is without justification il
he does not turn up the virgin clay, and con-
vert it into healthy productive soil.
We have agricultural and commercial ad-
vantages of the very highest charactere and
we have but to reach out our hanas
our means, and our energies, and our hills
and valleys will unlock the cofirs of their
wealth. .....
Sir, did the eye of man ever rest upon a
scene (save the Upiverse) which filled his
heart with SO many sublime emotions, as upon
the face of a County covered with neat farm
houses, well arranged and highly cultivated
fields, fine stock and fruit in abundance !
Cities are necessary as places Of Merchandise
and Commercial dealing, but he who does not
seek the country for his own habitation and
for the education and training of his children,
denies himself. OF one half of the true bless
ings Of life and tskes the imminent hazard of
bequeathing to posterity the vice and infu-
ence of bad example.
have spoken ofthe agricultural interests
Of the country, but am not to be understood
as overlooking other branches Of mechanical
industry, or in the least undertaking their
equal Importance. For whether man be a
tiller of the soil, digger in the mine, mer-
chant at the counter, or a mechanic or laborer
in any branch Of useful industry; he is enti-
tied to equal respect and equal protection.
"Honor and shame from no condition rise,
Ac, well your part, there all the honor lies"
If the ladies' were not present and I were
capable, it would be my duty as well as pleas
ure to speak praises unto them for the i'm
portant part they have taken to make this
occasion SO interesting; and we should open
our eyes with. congratulation that they are
seeking wider range and larger influence
that the preIudises -engendered against her
equality in feudal times is like the mist from
the mountain top fnst passing away. To the
women of Belmont County do we, therefore
earnestly appeal for the prosperity and per.
petual continuance of our Fair, their pres.
ence and patronage will place it beyond the
possibility of u failure. Without wishing to
trespnss long upon your time, let us look be.
yond the limits of our own County to that o
| our State.
Ohio was admitted into the Union in 1902
with her soil ever dedicated to Freedom un.
der the ever. blessed Ordinance of 1857. She
is now the third State and in the next census
will be the Cd. She has nearly two millions
OF population, SO, 1854 50. miles, 10000, 900 Of
acres Of land in cultivation, at a cash value
OF 81 800 ,O00, 900; in the number of bushels
Of wheat and corn, sheep and horses she is
the premium State in the Union. The whole
amount Of revenue derived from exports in
the United States ID $26 1000 900; while that
Of Ohio is annually over $40, 900 ,OoO-$l6,-
0OO, 900 of which 10 from the sale Of wheat and
ffonr alone. ''
shall not attempt to portray our future
destiny, bright and glorious it will be just in
proportion as we obey that Divine Maxim,
"that righteousness alone exalteth a nation,
while sin is reproach to any People," 1t
always has been SO, it always will be SO, that
national sins and transgressions will meet the
day of retrbutive Justice, Il is as necessary
and as cer'an in its coming as Dea,h. Thos.
Jefferson said that il God had chosen peo-
pie it was the tillers Of the soil; yet there has
been no interest SO shamefully neglected by
the Government as this. About eighty per
cent of the entire revenue is spent to keep up
the Army and Navy Departments; and with
the exception Of a few hundred dollars in the
shape Of Patent Office Reports, nothing for
Agriculture. 20 81
Millions have been spent in exploring un-
known seas; and filcbing from barbarous and
savage tribes some useless relic unto us, but
precious unto them; while the great interest
of mankind could not get from our rulers one
favorable notice.
These UNITED STATES, whose territory is
now encompassed with the waters of both
oceans-with the best form Of Government
ever tried upon ear,h-the asylum for the op-
pressed Of every land--with Bennington,
Yorktown and Bunker Hill, watered with the
blood Of Patriots falling in defence of Heav-
ems truths; has great mission and duty to
perform,
To establish Justice, provide for the CON-
mon defence anu promote the general welfare
was put in the very Preamble Of the Consti-
tuition MS che main inducements for the for
nation OF the Union. How is the Govern
ment TO be sustaisedl how are the People to
live, and be made happy and prosperous, en-
eept through the lnstrumentali,y of agricul-
ture!--it is our life blood, and the fountain
that supplies all the necessaries as well as
blessings of life. Premiums are sometimes
offered for the best essay on rains, the motion
or direction Of some planet, or some other
speculative question, which m,st forever re-
main inscrutable tn tinie minds; but when
did the Government ever Offer premium for
the best essay on the science OF Agriculturel
What we want, aud what il is the duty of