The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-11-23

uously contended by some of the mos,
scientific men in our country, that 'foi
r want of more system and more science in
the cultivation of our lands, we are rapid.
ly exhausting the soil of its productive
qualities, and are in danger of leaving il
to those who come after us, destitute OF
all those ingredients and elements upon
which they must rely for bread. | fear
sir, that we have all been too long ac.
customed to think of the soil we cultivate
as an imperishable and indestructible
thing. And it is true that by no acts or
emissions of ours can we annihilate the
solid ground beneath our feet, or remove
from its strong foundations the sure and
firm set earth which we inhabt. 1t is
true the same hills and valleys, the same
mountains and plains which are before
us and around us now, will remain fixed
and steadfast long after we are buried in
their dust, and will be trodden by gener-
alton after generation of our SUCCESSORS.
But 1t Is not less true that the productive
elements Of the soil are as perishable as
the plants and fruits to which they give
life "ad nourishment. 1t is not less true
that the fertilizing ingredients of the
earth stand as much in need of renewal
as the seeds of our annual harvests. And
that unless we pay back to the ground,
seasonably and punctually, the full amount
that we draw from it, there will be q
fearful accumulation of arrears to be SET
tied by our posterity. Our neglect can
not, indeed change the substantial forms
OF nature. We cannot shake Camels
Hump and old Pico from their rocky
thrones, and remove them into the river.
3utwe can destroy their verdure and strip
them OF their foliage. We can make
their glorious beauty fading flower, and
leave them and the valleys below them, so
exhausted of their natural elements of
production and fertility, that when in af-
ter years our children shall go to them
for bread they shall only find stone.
Why, Mr.. President, it has been estima-
ted that it would require not less than
thousand millions Of dollars, judiciously
expended to restore to that richnes of
mould and strength of fertility,which they
originally possessed, the one hundred
millions of acres of land in this country
which have already been partially exhaust
ed. Now if there be truth, or any ap-
Proclamation to Truth, in this calculation,
how vastly important has it not become.
that our agriculture should hencetorth be
conducted on more scientific and syste-
matte principles. How vastly important
has it not become, as an act Of sheer jus.
tice to our children and our children's
children, and lest they should rise up in
judgment against US, as having robbed
them of their rightful inheritance, that
the practical farmer Of our land should
be instructed, should instruct themselves,
should in some way or another become
informed as to the true nature Of the soil
they cultivate, and should learn by what
processes and appliances, by what man
ures and fertilizers, it may be kept in a
condition not merely for furnishing food
for themselves, but for supporting that
long SUGGESTIONS of generations which, We
hope and believe, are destined by Gods
blessing, to maintain for thousand years
to come, populous, and prosperous, and
glorious commonwealth, on the spot where
it was first founded by our fathers
" Plant for posterity," was the saying of
the old Roman philosopher and patriot
when he was setting out trees at 80 years
of age. And there is something delight
ful in the idea, but "maaure for poste,iiy,"
may well be the more homely, but far
more important maxim of the provident
and patriotic farmers of the present day.
In feeding your children take care that
you do not starve your grandchildren.
Let every landlord, every proprietor of
acres, remember and realize, that
though the fse-simple of his farm is in
himself, and that no court Of law or equi-
ty can sustain an action against him for
waste, he yet holds the soil in strict NOR
al trust, and is accountable in the eyes
of men, and at the bar of God, for the
degree of fertility or barrcnness which he
may bequeath to his descendants. And
more especially Mr.. President, is such
sense of obligation and responsibility
needed in our own beloved commonwealth.
In other and newer and larger states,
there may be less immediate call for such
precautions. They have richer original
soil to draw upon, and much of it is still
in its virgin strength. If they exhaust
their farms to-day, tomorrow they may
repair "to fresh fields and pastures new,"
but we have no such ample territory or
luxuriant soil. Our lands are limited in
extent and more limited in fertility. And
unless intelligence and science shall do
and something seasonable and
effective, to supply the deficiencies of ma
ture, and arrest the progress Of exhaus-
ton, We shall leave little but desolaion
and destitution to our descendants, so far
at least as our own agriculture is con-
cerned. If we mean to retain within our
borders prosperous and numerous ag-
ricultural class, an intelligent, indepen-
dent, and virtuous rural population,
"A bold yeomsnry, their countrys pride,
Which once destroyed, can never be supplied"
We must take good care to hand down our
soil as well as our institutions-to trans
NIT our lands as well as our liberties un-
impaired to posterity. But, my friends.
important as are the interests of agricul-
ture in this young and growing Republic
of ours, you, fellow-citizens, and farmers
of Chittenden county, have duties to per-
form which are higher and holier than
any we have yet contemplated. Our
g. ~ ara t.apa.,;tta1 to ,,a ban&:.ol Z. ~ -: |