New-York daily tribune., 1865-09-27
FIGHTING AND FARMING.

being almost extinct and the land in the posses.
sion of great proprietors who were also slave
holders, Virgil, at the request, it is supposed, OF
Augustus, wrote his Georges, to quckenthe
interest of the Roman people in the production
of grain to diffuse taste for country life among
the patricians, and to create nurseries Tor VET
eran soldiers whose idleness might leopard the
quiet of the empire. 1t was an expeoieh'
worthy of a great and accomplished prince,
but it presents an example which IN mod
em times, we fear, can hardly be followed.
There have been many English limitations
of the Georges" such as Dyer's FLEECE
and Granger's "Sugar Cane" but we 40 not
believe that the finest possible poem on the
cultivation of cotton, would now IN the least
stimulate the production of that staple. We
have, however, something better than verses
for provoking an interest in agriculture; ana
the stout, prosaic farmer, who never read
poem in his life, understands the beauty OF pre-
MUM pumpkins and the profit OF prize potatoes.
We have the State Agricultural Fairs; and we
| have what, perhaps, are better still-the County
Cattle Shows. There is tendency in some
parts of the county toward permitting these to
degenerate into mere meetings for horse-racing
"a tendency which we hope to see wholesomely
and speedily checked. Farmers need horses
for the plow and the field, and not for the
Itrotting wagon and the race-course.
Rome took her great man from the plow, and
made him dictator-we must now take our
soldiers from the camp and make them farmers.
Gen. Hooker, who is popularity supposed to
have as much {" fight in him as any man who
ever scented satpeter, said the other night at
the fair of the American Institute, that he was
most anxious to get back to the vocation oil
/ farming. in which he was always "fhe most
contented and happy" We trust and believe
that the General is not our only Cincinnatus.
: We know that thousands upon thousands OF oul
!. brave soldiers will return gladly to the pruning
ID hooks and the plowshares. The country re
ts lies upon them now not less than she did whei
they were confronting the serried rank
of RebellioD-relies upon them to fight famine
~ ~ to keep down prices, to make homes contente
he and happy, to preserve other departments Q
ire production in good heart, and to so increase tn
wealth of the land that payment of our deb
co will not press hardly upon the poor and indus
" trious. The first necessity Of society is to eat
!, There is no public deirium so dangerous as tina
be proceeding from public hunger. When mel
talk of peace they always couple plenty with II
le and SO we have the fine scriptura antithesis t
r which we have just alluded, of swords an,
- spears, Of plowshares and pruning hook S
10 The great question of Slavery or Freedom nov
before the country has, it is true its moral
e its clearly ethical aspects; but in tn,
IN minds OF most men, it is chiefly
o. question Of production; for if it could bt
' beaten into the brains Of all doubters, thai
q emancipation will not bring pauperism and fam
le inc and famne-prices at the South, we should
le hear no more scriptural sOphisticatons OF the
:, problem. Now, any man who produces 50
much as potato in any part Of the country
helps us toward that condition in which we
4 shall not be tempted by selfish wants to require
4 more Of the freedmen than can be reasonably
cxpected of them. Men grow hard and selfish
: as they grow hungry; and with anything like
ent prices, the public i'll. humor will be sure to
vent itself upon the colored man, and the
whole question of treating him with the COM
monest kind Of justice will become complicated.
It's easy to see how this may lead to dissension,
faction, and to countless political follies. The
country needs long season, not merely Of re-
pose but of recuperatiye industry and prOduc.
ton. Mines, manufactures, commerce, win do
much, but successful steady intelligent agri-
culture more than all; and without this, money
is useless, and trade and productive labor are
almost impossible. o
| Gen. Hooker made very pertinent remark
when he said at the American Institute, "You
don't want me to talk of war, nor of politics,
nor anything else of that kind. You want me
to talk Of the wealth, the prosperity and glory
OF this country. When have seen what there
Is in this room will talk to you as long as you
want 10 hear me-" We are often charged by
foreign critics with long, loud and continuous
boasting; but so far as our own observation has
extended, self.laudation is by no means char
acterlstic Of the United States Something of
tne Kind is sometimes heard in France, and now
and then faint whisper Of the sort in England.
Our glory" at least is safe, if hard and sue
cessiul lighting constitutes "gory;" but
wealth and prosperity" will constitute the
noblest possible glory if they save every
human heinO within onr a.,