The daily gazette., 1880-01-23
Governor Seyns0sss's -AOricul-.
z tet7.dl address,

Mr. Seymour has been for the last
year president OF the New York State
Agricultural Society, and, in accordance
with custom, lie delivered last evening a
retiring address. 1t 10 q production of
more interest than ordinary addresses of
the kind BY the superior intelligence
aud breadth OF view which Mr.. Seymour
always brnLs to such discussions. A
| farmer himself as well as statesman,
having keen enjoyment of rural life
and yet being impelled by the bent of
his mind to consider the wider relations
OF whatever engages his attention, he
is, perhaps, better qualified than any
other citizen to discourse instructively
on agriculture, and to present IL In
such manner as will not merely bene-
tit those who are engaged In its pursuit,
but invest it with the dignity which be-
longs to it as the greatest of our indus
iries and the most important OF our ma
tional Interests. The vigor of mind
which Mr.. Seymour has exhibited, in
admirable address proves that he suffers
no decay of his faculties from advancing
years. There is, indeed, no reason why
bis intellect should not be at Its best
under the weight of his seventy years.
He has never been an overworked man;
his rural and temperate life, spent
mostly on his farm, should be conducive
10 longevity and intellectual Preserva-
ton.
Governor Seymours ad iress takes q
wide range. He compal es our country
with Europe, and poin.s out the advan-
tages It enjoys in net being parcelled
out, like Europe, among several nations
whose Jealousy of each other eompels
them to maintain burdensome standing
armies for mutual defence. He shows
how navigation by steam hrs practcal-
| lv hrnnnhf EurApa xxrit
thousand miles of our own coast, as
measured by the shortened at on OF
voyages and how this practical shorten
ing OF the distance makes our agricuJ
ture dangerous competitor TO that Of
Europe, Besides the cheapness of trans
portatiOn We have other advantages
scarcely less important. Land in Amori-
ca has only to support those who actual
ly till it Land in Europe hss its pro-
ducts divided among four or five differ
ent reeiplen nts. The owner, the tenant
and the farm labOrers must have their
respective shares; another share goes &
the Church establishment and the poor
laws, and still another to support vast
| army. American agriculture has q still
greater advantage. In Europe the val
ne OF farming land Its stationary, or
| rather 1t has of late been declining un-
der the influence OF American competi-
ton, whereas in the United States not
My does the whole product of the land
10 TO the cultivator, but tho land itself
constantly rises in value.
Mr.. Seymour discusses the home as
poets of our agriculture in an equally
large way. he points out the tendency
to cultivate particular crops In partieu-
lar sections, as cotton and tobacco in
the South. grain In the West, beef cat
tie In Texas and on the plains, dairy
products in New York and New Eng
land, and so on, showing the stimulus
TO intellectual activity which Ii thus
supplied when farmers are compiled to
study the wants ami the markets of dis
tant sections as means Of regulating
their own industry. There bas peen no
agricultural address delivered in recent
years which is so rich in thought and
suggestions as of Governor 6eym our
n. Y. Herald.