The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1857-11-21

GIL BLUFFS, SATIJRD
hon. 'EDwAnDEvRRErrs ADpkEss he
TOME IllE n. \. STATE AGRicuLTUhllAL
tOCl1TY. s';f 4A
Below, will be'found small portion Of
the Hon. EDwARD EvERE1r's address, before
the New York State Agricultural Society,
held at Buffalo, ON the oh Of October. We
regret that our space will not permit us 20
copy it in full. Il opens with complement
ary sketch Of Buffalo, and thence gradually
rises to the full magnitude Of the theme
Wc have taken but few Of the admirable
passages, and prefxed such headings as the
respective topics required:
TINE PARAMOUNT IMPORTANCE or AGRIcuLTuRE.
Without derogating from the importance
Of any Of the other pursuits and occupants,
We may safely, think, claim for Agriculture
in some respects Q certain precedence over
them all. Il has been said to be the great
and final object Of the government to get
twelve impartial and intelligent men in the
Jury box by which, Of course, is meant that
the administration Of equal justice between
man and man is the primary object of civil
lied and sociallife. But the teacher secular
or spiritual, might plausibly urge that it is
Of prior importance that the community
should have the elements, at least, Of men,
tai and moral culture, and be taught the
obligations of an oath before any twelve Of
its members should take part in the admin
istration Of justice. The physician might
contend that health is Of greater importance
than the trial by jury; and with greater rea-
son it might be claimed for agriculture that
it supplies the FIRST want of our nature; the
daily call of the great family Of men for his
daily bread-the call that must be answered
before the work of life, high or low, can
begin. Plaintiff and defendant, judge and
jury, must break their fast before they meet
in court; and, if the word Of witty poet
can be taken, certain very important conse-
quences sometimes happen to culprits, in
order that jurymen may get to their dinners.
But, to speak in q more fitting and serious
strain, must confess that there has always
seemed to me something approaching the
sublime in this view of Agriculture, which
[such is the effect of familiarity does not
produce an impression on our minds in pro-
portion to the grandeur of the idea. The
human race is usually estimated at one thou
sand millions Of individuals. If the susten-
ance Of a portion Of these multitudinous
millions is derived from other sources than
Agriculture, this circumstance is balanced
by the fact that there is q great deal Of ag-
ricultural produce raised in excess Of the
total demand for food. Let then the thought
full husbandman, who desires to form Just
idea Of the importance Of his pursuit, reflect,
when he gathers his little flock around him
to partake the mornings meal. that one
thousand millions Of fellow men have awak-
ened from sleep that morning, craving their
daily brad, with the same appetite which
reign q his family board; and that If, by q
superior power, they could be gathered to-
gether at the same hour for the same meal,
they would fill both sides of FIVE tables reach
ing all around the globe where it is broadest,
seated side by side, and allowing eighteen
inches to each individual; and that these
tables are to be renewed twice or thrice
every day. Then let him consider that, in
addition to the food Of the human race, that
Of all the humble partners Of mans toil-the
lower animals-is to be provided in like
manner. These all wait upon agriculture,
as the agent Of that Providence which giyeth
them their meat in due season; and they
probably consume in the aggregate an equal
amount of produce; and finally let him add
in Imagination to this untold amount of
daily food for man and beast the various
articles which are furnished directly or in
directly from the soil for building materials,
furniture, clothing, and fuel.
SCIENCE VS.. THE INSECTS.
The insects and vermin injurious to veg
citation present . curious and difficult SUBJ
ject of inquiry. A very considerable part of
every crop of grain and fruit is planted, not
for tho mouths of our children, but for the
fly, the curculio, and the canker-worm, or
some other of these pests Of husbandry.-
Science has done something, and will no
doubt do more, to alleviate the plague. 1t
has always taught US not to wage equal war
on the wheat fly and the parasite which preys
upon it; and it will, perhaps, eventually
persuade those who need the lesson, that a
dessert on the cheerful little warblers who
turn our gardens into concert rooms, and
do SO much to aid US in the warfare against
the grubs and caterpillars which form their
principal meal. ~-s .-5.- -..
GRAPE CULTURE IN AMERICA.
The culture Of the grapes, and the manu-
facture Of wine, have already become con-
siderable branches Of industry, and afford
great scope for the application of chemical
knowledge. The vineyards in the neighbor-
hood of Cincinnati and St. Louis, though
limited in extent, already bear, in other re-
spects, creditable comparison with those
Of Europe. All the processes of manufac-
ture rival those Of the province of Cham
payne and the Rhine, both in integrity and
skill, u remark which venture to make from
some opportunities of personal comparison.
Time, no doubt, will eventually bring to
light belt Of territory-probably in the in
terror or Western portion of the continent
{ for we 10 not find wine in the Eastern por-
ton Of Asis) which will equal the most del
icate vintages of Burgundy, Bordeaux, or
Heres.
TOWN AND COUNTRY.
1t would be absurd to deny the manifold
Importance of great commercial towns in
our social system. They are not the mere
resort of calculation; they grow up an ire
sistible necessity. The interior life which
springs from their stern competition un-
doubtedly performs most important Office
in the progress of civilization. The facul-
Ties axe cuhS pcucu w VIC uAAo0e Sou"sOS "Au
collision of Kindred minds. The great ac-
cumulations of capital, which almost exclu-
sively takes place in commerce and the occu-
pants connected with it, exercise IN all pow
erful influence in the community, and are
felt in all its enterprises. The social SYM
pathies gather warmth and force from the
generous contagion Of eongenial natures
But society in its happiest state when town
and country act and react upon each other
to mutual advantages; when the simpler
manners and purer tastes of rural life are
brought to invigorate the moral atmosphere
Of the metropolis, and when a fair propor-
ton of the wealth acquired in the city flows
back and is invested in landed improvements;
transferring cultivated tastes and liberal
art from crowded avenues and ringing pave
ments to the open, healthful country, and
connecting them with its subtantial interests
and calm pursuits. e< 4
as GAMBLING IN BREADsTuFrs 'aa
In acknowledging, as l do most cheerful
", the important relations of city life and
commercial pursuits to tho entire social sys-
tenn of tho country, leave Of course out