Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1860-11-10
AGR,gULTUR III.

annual festival ofthe New York farmers
Even the casual inspection on these .occas-
ions, OF fine specimens Of the best breeds Of
domestic animals, ct the most approved i'm
Elements, and Of remarkable samples oil
production, diffuses knowledge and excites
emulation. Besides the interest in agricul-
ture which is exhibited by persons whom
the community has learned to respect in
other relations, adds 70 the respect which
farmers feel for themselves and their honor
able vocation. Moreover, cordial senti-
ments are awakened between those who as
sist at these exhibitions, and pleasant Iecot
lections are carried away to become the
topics of conversation in countless rural
neighborhocds, from Long Island to Lake
Erie.
We do not, however, allude to the State
Fair for the sake Of repeating these com
mon-places, but to express our regret that
among the many evidences we meet Of iln7i
proved agriculture, that branch Of industry
has not yet become sufficiently attractive to
check the excessive influx OF our rural pop
uIaiion into cities ana Villages, and Of our
capable young. men into the oyerstocked I'M
tellectual professions. Wesuppose the cen
sus takenthis year will also show, what APP
peared by the preceding one, that in many
parts of the country the towns alone grow
while the agricultural population is either
stationary or declining. The greater ex-
tent to which science and mechanical inyen-
ton have abridged labor IN other employ
ments than it has been able to do in agri-
culture, ought to have wrought out a re-
suit the reverse of what we witness. In
as manufactured goods are pro
duced with less labor; in proportion as the
Of commodities to market is
the industry which i released
from these enployments should be devoted
to the cultivation of the soil. 1t may be-
said that an absolute decline Of our agricul-
tural population has taken place only inl
some Of the older States, and it may be in
part accounted for by the emigration from
those States to the cheap and fertile lanls
of the West. But after all circumstances
ia mitigation of the evil have been allowed
for, it viii remain true, that one Of the most
prominent facts ia the physical develop
nent Of this country, is the accelerated
growth of our urban, as compared with our
rural population.
Among the causes to which this is part
ly owing, one of the most prominent is an.
incidental peryersion Of the better advan-
tages for education now enjoyed BY our
youth. We do not complain that knowl
edge increases the self-respect Of our young
men, and creates distaste for stupid drudg-
cry, in which all is done by music and moth
ing by mind. What we do complain offs,
that the high education they acquire is mis-
by IN cncrafting on its scions,
which are not native to the tree. Young
people should not learn to despise labor,
but to perceive how science may dignity it
bY improved methods, which it requires IN
to adopt. Our farmers sons, In
stead of acquiring an itching for trade be-
cause they think it more genteel, Or for the
professions because they think them moreI
and therefore more respectable,
ought to be made to perceive what is en-
tirely true, that agriculture is one of the
most suitable cmpIoyments for educated
men, and that the knowledge of chemistry, /
animal and vegetable physi logy, etymol- !
ogy and meteorology, which form its scien-
tific basis, elevate it to the rank ola liber-
al profession when it is intqlligently pur-
sued.
Another reason why so many young men
forsake the plow, and flock 70 the cities and
villages, is the lack of taste and refinement,
in and about our farmers homes. We dol
not advise our rural population to build, |
decorate and furnish beyond their means.
But is it too much to ask that an air ofl
taste shall surround their homesteads; that
neat but inexpensive fences and tidy gates
shall inclose them; that ornamental trees
and shrubs shall render theirground attrac-
tive: that flowers shall bloom about their
windows and along .neii walks 7 These
cost but little except .abor, which ought to
be so pleasant as to be considered a recrea-
tion. and they would fill theminds Of grow
inc boys and girls with pleasant assccia-
tons, which would make then homes seem
very different from the sloyenly and rcpul-
sive abodes from which so many are glad
to escape While our farmers were thus
their holnesteads, they would
be cultivating themselves. There would i
be more courtesy between the members of
the household, more refinement Of feeling,
more selfrespect, itsome skill in landscape
gardening were shown about their premises
How much happier it would be for multi
tudes who earn scanty pittance belindl
or vainly wait for clients or pa
tients in small, obscure Offices, ifthey had
been nafsured in a genuine love Of rural oc-
cupation.
Agriculture it SO much more favorable to
health and virtue to ROBUSTNESS OF body
and manliness of sentiment, than many oil
the pursuits for which it is abandoned, that
every lover Of his country must iegret the1
growing distaste for il which is manifested
81 the disproportionate growth Of our cities
and villages. Our confidence iii the perpe
tuity Of our republican institutions rests, inI
Il great degree, on the sobriety and good
sense Of the cultivators Of the soil, and we
think every reasonable means shopld be
used to make theirs the most attractive, as
- f..f afl