Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1857-10-21

First let me speak of soil robbery which in spite of the
efforts of eminent agculturs and the better judgment of
its votares is still extensively practced The man
who entrusted with public funds approprates the smallest
fraction thereof to his private purposes condemned
a defauter and meets feons doom-but the who
year by year unscrpulous drains the very life blood of his
counys so and thus embezzles portion of the nations
wealth. suffered 90 almost uprebuked The effects of
this not yet apparent here the east yet the
causes surely at work. and stimulated by the
whemng desire of the farmer extend his labo
over wider field than he can properly care for.
Imagine the New Engander whose visions of farm life
have dared to expand beyond the grown WALL
which enclosed his boyhoods home who regards the
ing of stones upon the surface, and the ng of fields up
edgeway part of the primal universal cuse where the
soil must be uncovered before it could be cultivated and the
few patenal hung upon the mountains sde scat
tered in of fertility among the rocks demand the
ceasng labor of the husbandman yield scanty
tenance. Let such stand for the first time beside one
OF our mighty western rivers; not madcap noun
tain torrent tumbng down the mountain side, and vanish
ing nstantaneousy among the rocks but calm, majestic
stream winding gracefully through varying Of
beauty, bearing the burdens, and nteacng with silver
cord the interests and sympahie of all who dwell along its
shores Or let him backward into the solemn stiffness
of forests where the gigantic trees of almost tropical
uxuriance heavng their mighty boughs aoft and inter
twning their corded beneath have for many fed
upon the exhausess fatness of the SOIL yet again let him
lift his eyes for the first time upon ten thousand of
PRAIRIE streachng away until it meets the very disc of the
setting sunthe native stock yards of the wet and he
gazes how instnctvey will he long for mighty land
to sweep up stroke the whole of these Alad
dinke regions He feels aggrieved that dame Nature
should long have offered him what the Geoogs in his
too truly calls the crust of the earth scratch
upon, very dry unpaaabe crust while to her favorite
children here she had given richly butered slice. He
cevcs the obstacles successful farming be here all
moved, and imagnes that in soil nearly selfproducve
the increase of his wealth will be measured bv the dimen
of his land without reference to the labor expended
it, Accordingly he contents himself only with small ter
tory sufficient for the establishment of grand duchy and
process of scang and eechng upon the SOIL analogous
to that OF any other grand duchy upon the people com
That eager desire for acquisition which in the land of
steady habits expended itself in the enrichment and careful
nursing Of the so-here oveshoots its aim, and the
natural result, careessy planted careessy tended
essy reaped and careessy stored crops appear in
ket; epidemic rheumatism assas the fences gaun
worked and lily fed cattle lift their desponden faces in every
coner and long regiments of noxious wears dropping about
the door way the solemn the departed
thrift of the New England farmer The hope that the
derng mode of life had been abandoned resigned the
Bedouins be deferred while the farmer and
jusfes himself with the reflection, that when the fields
around him longer productive he has but to strike
his tent and move farther on, where and virgin soil
awaits the plow to be in its turn wasted and deserted
Intimately connected with this matter and arising from
the source overwhelming desire for speedy wealth.
another defect western fethe of taste and
in the architecture, arrangement and adornment of the
country home Men slow to be persuaded that it costs
no to build well formed house than an ungainy,
shapeess one, to train the fragrant brer
around the door and window than have them bare and
open to the sum- to saghten and clear up path
way from the door and line it with the violet and margod,
than to wilderness of dock and pigweed These do
not indeed add to the Righteousness of the grain CROP they
do not in any way percepby increase the farmers material
wealth. but they add to the growth of that inner life which
better than food and ramen they plant the seed Of
tender recoectons which will twne about the tender heart
of childhood and through thousand varied years
far hence will bring the wanderer back hours and
which never safely be forgotten Let then des
pise useless Improbable the tase which
ment and render attractive the surroundings of his home
To another point gentlemen let very briefly call
your attention to the value of your forests There i'm
regions westward of you whose nobes forest growth
would be disdained by you unworthy of your steel
whose immense of unexceled fertility, yet
less for human occupation except by the introduction of nc
ing and building materials from abroad The supplies for
these territories Providence has placed in your keeping
and placed between you and them noble inland for
their transportation. Those supplies though vast not
without limit The eastern states covered with dense
forests have many sections long been almost barren of
TIMBER and felt seriously the injurious effects of its indis
crminate destruction Considerations of health well
economy have of late years attracted public attention to this
and necesated the repantng of the sites of form
er forests. When have called your attention to the i'm
mensey increased consumption of wood for manufacturing
and railroad day. and especially to the peculiar
demands upon your from the region have
toned trust have said enough convince you that
the wealth of forest growth which has avshed here
will be adequate the wants of yourselves and your neigh