The Winchester home journal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-06-06
Eseautics Of agriculture.

The pursuit oil agriculture. II, Of al
others, most ennobling and graf r.
ing employment, aud particularly
calculated to draw out the purcst and
most exalted energies Of The human
mind. intimately connected rs this
subject is, with the natural and un'
sophisticated afinities ofour nature,
and from the visible, daily and con-
stantIy developing effect OF the good
ness and power of the great Source
and Spring Of beauty and IuXurIanc"
in the natural world, it leads the con-
templativc and iDquiriog mind through
all the wondrous works of naiure, up
to natures great Author himself.
1t is truly pleasing feature to
trace through all the past ages q.
history, the delightful! scenes Of agri-
cultural and pastoral life so bcau'i-
fully and peacefully depicted, that
often, like green isles of yerdaot beau
ty, surrounded by the dark daShmg
pillows of political and bloody strife,
present striking and smiling contrast
with the blood stained battlefield
valleys devastated by fire and sword,
or the sterile and barren waste laid
bare by invasion, and its luXuriant
ycrdure crushed by the iron heel Of
conquest.
There is something in the very ma
ture OF agricultural pursuits, calcula-
ted to smooth the asperiticS Of our
nature, and divest The mind Of those
selfish propensitcS, too often attend
ant on other and more highly pretend
lag, but far less ennobling employ,
ments; and we envy not that man,
who, amid the bright fields and sni-
ling valleys, fertile with the teening
flowers, and waving with the golden
harvest, all given to bless his own
humble yet delightful fundamentally
in their production, can forget in the
spontaneous ef'usions ofhappy feeling,
the great Giypr Of all their bOunIies,
and cannot feel, instinctively, his heart
drawn out in gratitude, and JOY for
such distinguished blessings.
Agriculture is a most delightful, as
well as salutary employment How
pleasing amid all the vicissitudes Of
after life are the associations that
cluster around our early homes and
the rural scenes Of our buoyant child
hood How memory recalls the
bright and sunny spots Of our exist
ence amid the fields and bowers of
our youth. We can think ofspots like
paradise, when in comparative inno-
cence we sportcd and gambolled like
the sportive lalnbkins of the Aocks that
furnished our clothing, or listened to
the sweet tinkling Of the cow-bel"
as the gentle herds grazed quietly
amid the verdant meadow. How
vel! we recall TO mind the pretty white
cottages, the deep green blinds, the
painted treliis, the climbing shrub, tie
neat garden fence, the sweetly scented
flowers, the entire air Of oontort-and
how we long again to enjoy the bliss
of quietness and repose.
! A distinguished writer cbserves;--
u believe q garden spot eXerts salu-
tary influence, not only in early life,
but in the advanced periods Of human
existence. o, bow much sweeter IS
it to me- says Madame Genlis, ITO re-
call to my mind the walks and sports
Of my childhood. than the pomp and
splendor of the palaces ! have. since
inhabited
Agriculture, 80 far from being I'M
worthy the name, is one of the most
noble Of sciences. The president OF
one Of our colleges remarks, 81 have
long thought that our graduates mis-
take their path to hopor, and useful
ness in making choice of a learned
profession instead Of con ver,ing agr-
culture into one, as it ought to be-
Agriculture not sciencel Why,
there lie hardly science that's not
I s,,hsa-vian. IN ,ha nron,otion Of arri