Year: 1864

Agricultural So. in 1928.


Gentlemen Of Tie Agricultural Society,"


l could have wished that you had Sc
lected to address you on the present oc-
casion some member of our Society ac-
customed to public speaking and more
conversant with literature. But as you
have laid your commands on me, | may
not shrink from the task for the pros
pcrity of our Society must depend in a
great measure upon the alacrity OF its
members to discharge the duties devolving
upon them. If we are faint hearted or
reluctant, We shall scarcely proceed in the
object of our institution.


After the multitude of addresses that
have emanated from the various agricul-
tural societies dispersed through the Uni
ted States, it would be in vain for me to
aim at novelty. Every subject connected
with agriculture has been exhausted-not
only has the field been reaped, and the
harvest gathered, but the cleaners have
passed over it, and have not left blade,
no not grain to reward the diligence Of
search.


The objects that institutions similaa
to our own have had in view in their pub
/ lie addresses, appear to have been to vim
dicatc the formation Of agricultural socie-
ties to suggest improvcmcnts,ln husbandry,
to attack old prejudccs, and to redeem
the first and noblest art from the disrcpute
and neglect into which it had fallen. 1t
is indeed subject Of curious remark that
in this the only free country in the world,
the peculiar and most appropriate pursuit
Of frecmcn should not be estimated at Its
proper value, and should not receive the
rank to which it is justly entitled Thanks
| to the exertions of our agricultural socle-
ties. the clouds which have ob5curcd the
/ Importance of agriculture begin to dis
pcrse. But if we call to mind the speeches,
the writings, and the conversations, which
have been most familiar to us from our
birth. we must allow that commerce in
stead of q ariculture has been put in the
first place, that commerce has been con-
sidercd the chief, nay, the only good, and
that accordingly everything has been
made to bend to the interests OF
trade. The farmer has been taxed for
the benefits of the merchant, debt OF
which the farmer must pay more than
/ four fifths, has been contracted on account
of the merchant, and the hood OF the
farmer has been poured forth IN the cause
Of tie merchant. Nay, an administration
which expended one hundred and thirty
millions OF dollars for commercial objects,
has been charged with being unfriendly
to the commercial interest. Indeed 50
completely were all our ideas absorbed in
the all prevailing one, that commerce was
everything that young man OF good
sense, graduate Of Harvard a doctor
of medicine, and who is now celebrated
in his profession, expressed to me his
wonder how half million Of people could
ful the means to subsist in the city Of
Paris, because, forsooth, that city was not
situated upon naylgab.c waters And
what is the relative Importance OF aGrI-
culture and commerce, if we consider the
latter in the restricted sense of the inter-
change of commodities with foreign Ia
tions? The difference is not greater be-
tween a cock boat ana man OF war =
\ few instances will suffice to prove this
position. 1t was ascertainel that the
consumption of grain of all kinds IN
France, at the time her population was
30,000.O00 amounted to upwards Of
l,00o. 900. of tons, and the consumption
ot ireat Britain is estimated to be re.a-
tive}y greater now allowing our con-
sumption to be only IN the same proper
ton to our population with that OF France
it would require more than four times the
quantity Of tonnage cmployed III the for
cign trade of the United States to supply
US with grain Again, allowing our con-
sumption of beef to be in proportion to
/ that OF Paris, and surely no one here will
doubt that the lneal descendants of John
Bull, inheritins all his relish for roast
beef, do, and must of right, consume more
meat than the soup eating Frcnch-but
allowing that We only eat as much as
they do month from month, the value oil
all the beef, tallow, hides and live cattle
that We export in year would not pur-
chase the beef that we eat in week.
"t . flOQr Is one Ol Tue llOsI lIOl NatiN @At'-
ccs that we export, and yet what We send
abroad is only equal to I per cent OF
what we consume at homo. And not
withstanding our domestic exports bear
so small proportion to our domestic con-
sumption, more than four htths OF them
are derived from agriculture, while less
than four per cent of the value OF our
exports is furnished by the fisheries, with
all the care Of the federal government by
the payment of bounties to give them ac-
tivity and vigor. Look at what agricul.
ture has done in the single article OF cot
ton, the cultivation of which Was scarcely
known in the United States thlrty-tour
years ago. In the year 1892, the who e
United States did not export one quarter
part as much cotton as is now manutact-
urel in the Watham factory whereas,
the amount at present exported Is more
than two Gfths of the whole value OF all
our domestic exports, and employs IN its
transportation more than one quarter OF
all the vessels that We have engaged In
foreign trade,


After this statement Ct facts | may be
permitted to assert that It is to agrlcu,-
ture that we are indebted for the wonder
ful increase of wealth in this country, and
that to attribute this Increase to COM
merce, would be like giving the merit OF