Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1858-11-27

spring. 1t would be folly to speak of the exis-
tence. or beauty, or power of these things, with
out agriculture
The pulpit, the professors chair the scien-
tifc laboratory, the tripod the library the ship,
the trip-hammer, the loom and the anvil-all
would go down without it-in one generation
1t is by the superintendent produce and stability
OF agriculture that all these things exist Nor
gold. nor diamonds could replace them. The
state of husbandry in any country is the test of
its enlightenment. The thermometer of eviliza-
tion rises and falls as drives the plow. lyon
must first send the plow," exclaimed a man in
my hearing who had travelled all over christian
missionary grounds in heather lands. barbar-
ian nation needs but to be plowed up-deep, sub
soied, continued, sOwed, planted, and the ine-
vitable harvest will be an enlightened empire
A practical working agricultural society will dig
barbarism, and mental, and physical, and spiritual
poverty out Of a nation as efectually as any grub
bing machine " snakes out F" the stubborn stump.
The Jewish people were an agricultural society
as well as religious congregation. Moses, their
great lawgiver, - learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians" doubtless borrowed the idea originally
from Egypt.
% Mark the most marvellous results; Egypt gave
civilization, and Judea gave religion to the world
In modern times what have agricultural societies
achieved For there Is little advancement in
merely tlling the soil It is essential that there
be the development of mind connected with these
sOcleues-mental growth, as well as the growth
Of plants. The intellect must be plowed deeper
than the burrows of the field, or the farmer is
mere serf of the sofia superior kind Of dray horse
"a kind OF clown, but without his supineness of
wit or limb.
"a few centuries ago. before a modern agricultu-
raj society was known, learned writer describes
the times in these words a. Rude were the man.
ners then, the man and his wife ate off the same
trencher, few wooden handled knives, with
blades Of rugged iron, were a luxury for the great
candles were unknown. One, or at most, two
mugs of coarse, brown earthenware formed all the
drinking apparatus in house. Rich gentlemen
wore clothes of unllned leather. Ordinary ler-
sons scarcely eVer touched flesh meat. In noble
mansions Il little corn seemed wealth.
'This is history. Any one Of our neighbors COM
PEELED now to live as the highest and wealthiest
of mankind in those days-such a neighbor would
excite our sympathies. We would consider him
as good as starving would carry in gifts to sup
ply his wants-and start subscription among
our friends to feed and clothe him.
" In the kingdom of England, not more than
century and Il half ago-nOt quite two long life
times-Ma:auly writes .: Wheat was then cul-
tlvated only on the strongest clay, and consumed
only by those who were in easy circumstances.
Many routes which now pass through an endless
succession of orchards, then ran through nothing
but fens, heath and swamp" In describing the
country gentlemen of those days, he says Z" He
troubled himself little about decoratong his abode,
and if he attempted decoration seldom produced
anything but deformity. The litter of farm
yard gathered under the windows of his bed-cham-
Der, and the cabbages and gOOseberry bushes grew
close to his hall door. His wife and daughters
were in tastes and requirements below a house
keeper or a still room maid of the present day"
Thus testifes the great historian, writing of but
a century and half ago.
"a few hundred years ago, as well as in ancient
classic times, and all the wealth of kingdom
could not buy loaf Of bread, such as YOU will
see on any California table-the fine -four could
not be made. The table of our farmer is much
more princely in its furnishing than was the table
Of monarch then. We have now in common use
several species of most delicious fruits then un-
known. We raise several kinds of grain not then
in use. The very word corn then applied to wheat;
and barley is now applied to a grain undiscovered
at that time. Man then lived upon few vegeta-
bles, with flesh on extraordinary occasions and,
at their great feasts, the chief viands were flesh
and wine. Their crops, as well as in the palmiest
ancient times, rarely yielded over ten or twenty
fold. Now, a hundred fold is a very small re-
turn Then, as in the ancient world, they gath
cred the harvest by pulling off the heads, pulling
up the stalk, or by the almost as slow process Of
reaping with the sickle. Compare those methods
over acres in an hour, and leaves but the yellow
5tubble of the golden harvest on the fields of a
farm in day. Then, as forever before, the low
ing OK slowly tamped out the grain, week after
week and the winds of heaven, and the fan in
the hands of the labOrer, slowly and imperfectly
separated the kernel from the chaff and straw
Now, the mighty thresher, with tumultuOus whirl,
takes into its crashing teeth thousands of sheaves
in a day, and scattering the emptied heads, and
4 II obuTi in inb II
golden grain runs out upon the ravished sight,
Ill ready for the marts of trade for food for man,
md fowl, and beast, and for the hopper, and the
upper and neither stone, swift driven by the vast
wheel of the ponderous mill From its mighty
pouch comes out -four as white the light, which
makes the kneaded bread better than the fabled
lmbrosia of the Gods. Since then, the amount
md varieties of nutritious and wholesome food
Iave increased at least thousand fold. This
lbundant and varied food, connected with the
advance of science, has doubled the average dnra-
ion of the life of man. And so far superior are
We in all physical respects to our iorelathers,
ome few generations ago, that 1t IS well known
hat the armor of the great warriors of the middle
Iges, preserved in the tower of London, will not
% on to the bodies or limbs of their superior de-
And vet there are those among US
Who affect to sigh for the good old times
Y hen were those good old days Never never |
There never were days in all the world as good as
low. Yes, now, and even here, with all thefaplts |
f the times. There never were days as good as |
hese-for he who now turns the clOd Is no longer |
clodhopper he has become responsible
,rince-a free American sovereign, tiling his own |
ee simple farm. And a richer array of the boun-
les of the earth was before beheld than sur
ound us at this great Fair Say not thou,
avs Solomon. Say not thou what is the cause /
hat the former days were better than these for /
hou dost not inquire wisely concerning this
f this were true in the time of the sage of Israeli
t is a hundred fold true to day.
- POSITION 1.-THE FARMER IS KING.
Cotton is king" says a Senator of these
tates. Nav" replies another Senator, - Gold /
Nn. Ike liuinr