The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1854-12-08


strains have been feebiy Initiated ever since
philosophers and statesmen, whose words Of
wisdom will be heard with rpvtfence to the
end Of time; warriors whose deeds laade Their
mopyi2 and Marathon the watchword Of the
free; and orators,
ssWbo welded the fierce democratic az will
Shook the arsenal, and fulynined over Greece
They were not unmiadful OF the bpnetac-
tress, who had given the first impulse 70 their
high career. They assigned her celestial pa
rentage. Temples We're erected 10 honor her.
They believed, that though her home had long
been fixed among the stars, she still presided
over their affairs and pleaded their cause in the
Senate of the Gods. They painted ber figure,
as they imagined it, all radiant with silpeFna-
tural beauty-her band bearing The horn Of
plenty, and her head garlandrd with ears Of
wheat. They worshpPed her with all the fer
vor of idolitfous veneraton, and for a long
lapse of centuries they knew not, that he la
bors of The farm were blessed and rewarded by
greater deitv than CERES. 70 this day we
Keep her memory alive by calling the most use
ful Of agricultural products after her name-the
csyeal grains.
Such, wa may suppose, was the transition
state of aggicuture-the passage fom ignor
ance, bar5arisr,, sloth and hunger, to systrn.at-
ic industry, refinement and plenty. 1t was
only beginning. 1t has been advancing some
what ever since, though the arts which spraug
from it have outgrown their parent. Number
less instruments for the saving Of labor and time
have been invented Preparing ;he ground,
sowing, harvesting aud thrrShing may all BE-
done now with machinery vastly improved.
are better understood New breeds of stock
are introduced Chemistry analyses every soil,
and shows precisely what elements it needs to
increase lis fertility. Highly concentrated ma
nurrs are imported from the most distant parts
of the world, and others are manufactured at
shome, out Of substances, which, once, were not
only wasted, but suffered TO rerk their otErnsve
odors on the atmosphere, and poison the health
of the people.
In the days Of Augustus, the fields Of Italy,
Chen the centre OF cviIization,1 were cuIti-
waited with an instrument resembling what we
call shovel plough-only it seems 20 Rave had
no shovel. The immediate pred 4eEsaS~ of tue
patent plough, in use at the presa isfA was
not much better. Most of YOU r. 2ST 1t
ga low, long, rakish looking cra Me-
wooden monldboard had TO be cleaned every
ten rods, and its wrought iron share and eoulter
taken to the blacksmith shop at least once a
week
The most important Improvements yet made
in agriculture have never been adopted here.
A simple fact will show how much they have
done for another country. Mr.. MalthuS, one
of the profoundeSt thinkers Of his dav, caicu-
lated that the population Of England would in
crease SO rapidly, suPposing IFS natural growth
TO be unchecked, that at ;he end of q certain
time the soil world not yield subsistence for
the half of the people. For the other half star
walton was the only prospect, unlrss a mfrci-
ful Providence would kindly send war, pes.i-
lence and plague to thin them out and reduce
their numbers to a level with the quantity Of
food, which they could produce. This dismal
theory was believed by the foremost men in
the world and it would have been true, if the
land had not, afterwards, been cultivated with
greater skil than before. But it turned out 10
be total mistake. The population OF England
did increase as rapidly as Malthus predicted;
but the agricultural products oi the country
have increased in a ratio two hundred and fifty
per cent. greater than the population. The
people, who were 10 hr starved long ago, or
else prrmaturely cut off by millions at a blow,
are living better than ever, with two and half
times as much food for each individual, as th-v
bad when this theory was announced.
With the system of cultivation practised now
in some parts of Europe, the soil Of PenpsYiva
MIA could be made to support fifteen millions Of
persons. There are large regions IN Scotland,
naturally poorer than any land we have in this
country, and under sky far less genial than
ours covered all over with crops, which the
richest valleys in the West would not be a
Shamed Of; and wheat is produced, bashel for
bushel, at less expense than il is here.
This is but the beginning Of the end All
that has VT been done is as nothing compared
10 what NAV vet come Hitherto Agriculture
has beck travelling over rough reads, in an old
fashioned slow coach. She is about to take the
railroad, and, with mighty train of her sister
arts, she will 60 sweeping along. Not being
either 4 prophet, or the son Of a prophet. !
have no right 10 predict anything. Bot one Of
these days we may be startled by Some grand
discovery, which will burst upon the world,
ike the light of a new sun. Very sober-mad-
ed men live in the hope Of such things One
of the most successful farmers in this State has
declared his conviction, that, before long, ma
nuFes will BE- so concentrated, that q man may
carry out, in his pocket handkerchief, what
will enrich the land as much as hundred wa
gon loads would now. This is very extrava-
gaut, no doubt, and quite as foolish as it would
have been thirty years ago to prophe>y Of rail-
roads, telegraphs, or ddauerfeotvpps. About
fifteen yeats since, person, whose name
have forgotten, said, that hp knew how any
plant, from the talest forest tree. 10 the tinirst
blade of grass, could be made grow four times
as fast as i: does naturally, and with almost no
additional trouble. The government refused
to buy his secret, though the most distinguished
men at Washington, to whom it was confidently