The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-09-26

realized the ancient liable ana
snatched from Heaven the Prone
thean fire with which to animate
metals orr from the bowels of the
earth, and put them to work to do
mans work. and save from drudg-
ing the millions that once were
chained to toll and the other piod
along in the steps their fathers
trod. content to do as they have
done. and careless Of higher ann,
so long as the former and the latter
rain shall fall, and the earth shall
give her increase at her own good
pleasure?
The opportunity of the farmer is
a grand one why should he not
seize upon it The conditions OF
human societies are undergoing
vital changes. Human populations
are steadily increasing, constantly
pressing upon new sources OF sup
ply: constantly creating new and
artificial wants; constantly enlarg-
ing the area of luxury; constantly
multiplying the numbers OF non
producers. And it is certain that
with the growing demand upon the
sources of supply, agriculture,
chained to the routine of past gen
erations. must fail to meet this de-
mand. How can it be otherwise,
when the forests of a continent
have fallen almost within the brief
compass of an average human life,
to provide new stores for food, and
have, in the same brief period,
lapsed into the solitary desert, the
| ill-omened cold field" that SO mars
the American landscape, and
speaks with such prophetic warn
ing of the desOlation that is to
come. and the saddened end that
is to bar all further progress, I'M
less the farmer wakes up to the
right appreciation of his avocation,
| and combats matter with brain,
and brings the fores OF his intel
lect to counteract the destroying
agencies of natural forces always
and inevitably tending to decay:
As upon the agricultural indus
try is su%perimposed all the grand
structure of national greatness /; so
upon hat industry will fall most of
the responsibility of national decay.
Is the wastes Of lands worn out by
rude and thriftlcss culture are not
repaired to meet the wants OF a
population called into existence by
the promise of boundless areas yet
to be- opened up for cultivation, or
of soils presumed to be exhaustless
in their virgin fertility; if the cry
that goes up for food is not silenced
by the giving forth of that abund-
ance, which, in the time not now
far remote, can only be given by
lands fed by hands directed by
higher instrumentalities than ira
ditional practices and hardy muscle,
then agricultural industry will have
to bear the burden of a decay so
deadly. 1t stood still while all else
was moving forward. 1t, the great
motive power of human progress,
moved, changeless. and unimpres-
sionable, only by the ris inerti@ OF
its primitive impulse.
But surely this cannot be so.
The spirit that pervades the MODERN
world, stimulating every idea to
change and elevation, must pervade
even that seclusion, sacred to lib.
erty, to personal independence, to
private happiness, but a seclusior
now inconsistent, in its relative
bearing upon the welfare of Others
with the duties which coordinate
branches of the great scheme O
human advancement bear to on,
another. The farmer must NOV,
as other industries move. Science
education, modern improvements
are as much objects of his duty, a
much attachments within his reacl
as that of all other avocations
5 Pride of pursuit is as much an Oh