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Title 



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DELIVERED AT THE 



EOIEENIil ANNUAL FAIR AND CATTLE SHOW 



OF THE 



Ren^elaer Co. Agriciiltu'l Society 



HELD AT 



GREENBUSH, N. Y., 



SEPTEMBER 16, 1859, 



k' 



By Hok. L. CHANDI.ER BALL. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



TROY, N. Y.: 

FROM THE PRESS OF THE TROY DAILY TIMES, 208 RIVER STREET. 

1859. 



ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE 



[IGHTEMTH ANMUAL PIIR AND CITTL[ SHOW 



OF THE 



RcDsselacr Co. Agricultu'l Society, 

f HELD AT 

GREENBUSH, N. Y., 

SEPTEMBER 16, 1859, 

By Hoir. L. CHANDLER BALL. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



TROY, N. Y.: 

FROM THE PRESS OF THE TROY DAILY TIMES, 208 RIVER STREET. 

1859. 



e>4'i 



.^^>'^ 



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Errata— Page f. : 24th line, in lieu of -formed '" read "performed." 
Page 8 : 20th line, read " lights up" for " light up." 



ADDRESS. 



Ladies and Gentlemen: — 

I am obliged by the position in wbicli the Society 
has placed me, to deliver the Address on this occasion ; hav- 
ing endeavored unsuccessfully to procure a speaker from 
among the distinguished authors and lecturers of the country 
— some of whom, recognizing the immortal brotherhood of 
learning and labor, are happy at this season of ripening fruits 
and maturing harvests, to greet the husbandman with words 
of fraternal cheer, and set gems of glowing thought amid the 
pearly drops that gather upon the brow of toil. Honor to 
these noble men, who having ascended Pisgah, and seen the 
promised land, return to guide the sons and daughters of toil 
out of the wilderness of ignorance and humiliation, and in- 
troduce them to the golden fields, where their possessions lie. 

The place in which it has been our good fortune to hold 
this annual festival, is full of historic interest. These grounds, 
now filled with the products of industry, employed in the 
peaceful pursuits of agriculture, were once devoted to the 
purposes of war, and bristled with weapons for human slaugh- 
ter. Within sight are the highlands of Saratoga, where was 
fought one of the most important battles of the Revolution — 
a battle that arrested the march of hostile invaders, and con- 
secrated to liberty the land it was fought to defend. 

It is to that victory that we are indebted for the privilege 
of tilling these fields in peace, and eating our bread in secur- 



ity ; that instead of turning onr plough-shares into swords 
and marching up to the harvest of death, our hands hold the 
implements of husbandry, and gather into bursting garners 
the fruits of peaceful labor ; that instead of the morning drum- 
beat and the evening gun, birds sing the reveille that invites 
us to our daily toil, and lowing herds call us to our evening 
rest. 

Grateful though we are to the men who by God's favor 
achieved our national independence, though earnestly hoping 
that on every field that human blood enriches, will grow 
wreaths to deck the brow of freedom — that Magenta and Sol- 
ferino will be inscribed with Lexington and Bunker Hill on 
the scroll which liberty exhibits to her followers — we have 
not assembled here to offer our tribute of praise to the men 
who have won great victories and achieved imperishable 
renown upon the battle-field. We are not here to erect a 
statue to Mars and pour bloody libations around his smoking 
altars, but to bind with fresh garlands the brow of Ceres, 
and exhibit the trophies by which Peace proclaims her victo- 
ries. 

Though the occasion is one for thankfulness and congratu- 
lation, though I might dwell with pride upon the achieve- 
ments of labor, and point with satisfaction to the evidences 
of taste and skill which these grounds exhibit, I shall indulge 
in no special laudation of Agriculture, nor describe those 
who work in her service, and live by her bounty, as having 
reached the summit of earthly felicity. 

I shall rather use the point we have gained to ascer- 
tain our real progress in the art of Husbandry, and discover 
our relative ])Osition among the several coiys <Varmee who are 
bearing the banners of a higher civilization round the world. 
The first thing to be considered in looking at any 
business, is the means which those engaged in that business 
possess of prosecuting it with success, and of working out 
amid its trials and conflicts the happy results of a well-spent 
life. It is to this thought in its special relation to ngricul- 



ture, that I propose to devote the half-hour which I shall ven- 
ture to occup3^ on this occasion. 

Let us see if the farmer possesses the means of prosecuting 
his business with success, so that all his professional duties 
shall be promptly performed, the claims of citizenship and of 
humanity honorably discharged, the demands of learning 
and religion fall}^ satisfied; so that, after crossing with flying 
feet the brilliant boundaries of youth, after climbing to those 
serene heights on which mature and vigorous manhood achieves 
its triumphs, and records in the world's book of heraldry its 
honors, he shall go with quiet dignity down the hill of life, 
and watch with calm delight the glowing sunset that will 
gild and hallow life's closing day. 

Now, gentlemen, you know that 1 am myself a farmer, 
sensitive to the reputation, and jealous of the honor of the 
class to which I belong. What I shall say, therefore, you 
may be sure is dictated by a sincere desire to benefit those to 
whom I speak. It is necessary sometimes, however, to pre- 
sent unpleasant truths, which if kindly taken will improve 
and beautify the human character, as bitter medicines strength- 
en and establish the human constitution. 

Two items make up all the capital employed in business ; 
or I might better say that two partners compose the firm by 
which the business of the world is formed and conducted — 
Head and Hand. These should contribute equal amounts to 
the capital stock, and each invest all its earnings in the exe- 
cution of Grod's command, to subdue the earth and exercise 
dominion over it. In a word, each should be educated up to 
the highest point of human achievement. 

This great truth lies at the foundation of all successful 
human pursuits. It arrests the farmer at the very threshold 
of agricultural life — it meets him at the gate, follows him to 
the field, walks behind the glittering plough-share, drops with 
the falling seed, and accompanies the reaper as it gathers the 
golden harvest. 



6 

But in looking at the agricultural population of the coun- 
try as a class, it is impossible, after according to it, as I cheer- 
fully do, the possession of sterling worth, untiring industry, 
high morality, and devoted patriotism, it is impossible not to 
confess that it ignores and overlooks the great truth here 
announced — the relation of labor to mind. Hand asks no 
aid of Head, wlio is only a sleeping partner in the concern. 
Learning, in its higher signification, forms no part of the far- 
mer's capital. Land, oxen, plough, are obtained ; but a know- 
ledge of the principles of agriculture and the laws of organic 
life, an acquaintance with science and the arts, are overlooked 
and dispensed with. 

While no business in which man can engage, not even the 
professions of medicine, divinity and law, is more dependent 
for success upon deep and extensive learning, none has de- 
rived so little benefit from the great discoveries and inven- 
tions of the age as the business of farming ; and while no 
class of men so much need, from their isolated situation and 
few social advantages, the refining, liberalizing and ennobling 
influences of education, none really obtain so little. No 
persons avail themselves so tardily and so reluctantly of 
those agents of human progress, which inventive genius and 
artistic skill have given to the world. 

Commerce, manufactures and the mechanic arts are far in 
advance of agriculture in the extent of their researches, and 
in the readiness with which they a23propriate to useful and 
beneficent purposes the discoveries and inventions of the age. 
Merchants, manuflicturers and mechanics have a higher appre- 
ciation of the power of knowledge, and as a consequence 
occupy higher positions in society, and obtain more of the 
world's regard. 

Merchants have their libraries, reading rooms, and lecture 
halls ; mechanics have the same, and their evening schools, 
where, after the labor of the day is ended, after fashioning 
at the bench or the anvil, and fitting for human uses the 



brilliant conceptions of genius, tliey assemble to obtain from 
books and teachers the information wliicli is indispensable to 
success and honorable consideration. 

Except the county fair, which does not receive half, nor a 
tenth part of the attention which its importance merits, can 
you show me the farmers' association for mutual improve- 
ment? Do farmers meet at the district school house, the 
village hall, or other convenient j)l^ces, for instruction and 
improvement in agricultural science? Do they even employ 
at home those hours of leisure which occur in the most labo- 
rious life, in reading and study ? Every household has means 
which, to an earnest lover of learning, are alone sufficient for 
the acquirement of a very respectable education. 

Books which contain the accumulated knowledge of sixty 
centuries burden your library shelves. The great events, the 
rounds in the giant ladder by which the people have raised 
themselves from savage to civilized life, are recorded for your 
instruction. The lives of great men, whose deeds flood with 
glory the pathway of nations, are spread out upon the |)rint- 
ed page and invite your perusal. Science, in embroidered 
robe and starry crown, offere passports to her imperial realms. 
Poetry, radiant with pearls and gems of unimaginable beauty, 
solicits your acquaintance. Music, breathing celestial har- 
monies, unfolds her purple wings and strikes the key note of 
earth's rejoicing hymn. 

Yet all these attractions and advantages fail to induce the 
farmer to make suitable preparation for the duties of a life 
cast in the most eventful epoch in the history of the human 
race. Shield and helmet hang neglected on the wall— the 
sword of truth lies rusting in the scabbard — dust covers the 
trophies of intellectual achievement, and the bugle-call for 
volunteers to attack the strong holds of ignorance, and plant 
triumphal banners upon their dismantled towers and broken 
walls, is unheard, or, if heard, is disregarded. 

Did the thought ever occur to you, gentlemen, that farmers 
are more interesled in the diffusion of knowledge and in the 



8 

growth and permanency of free institutions, than any other 
class? Are you familiar with the fact that farmers every- 
where, in all nations and climes, form the substrata of socie- 
ty, which if the sun of liberty and the light of knowledge 
do not penetrate, if not broken into and permeated by science 
and the arts, will forever remain like the undisturbed sub- 
soil of your native hills, poor, cold and unprofitable? 
The farmer, who in all ages has done the least to plant and 
sustain liberal institutions throughout the world, owes more 
to liberty and learning than any other class, because they have 
raised him from a greater depth of suffering and degradation. 
Under despotic governments, where learning is prohibited to 
the masses, where the light of freedom only penetrates in 
fitful gleams, which like the lightning's flash to the sinking 
mariner, only serves to reveal the horrors of the scene, the 
condition of the agricultural laborer is miserable in the 
extreme, and degraded beyond expression. Not where the 
star of empire gilds with lurid light, crown and sceptre, high 
raised battlement and moated gate, but where the sun of free- 
dom light up the halls of learning and the chambers of leg- 
islation with its heavenly splendor, is the farmer's mud-walled 
hovel changed into the neat and cheerful cottage ; the abject 
and crouching serf into the erect and fearless citizen, and in- 
vested with the honors which belong to virtuous and inde- 
pendent manhood. 

As in civil liberty, so in the arts. Every discovery and 
invention, every improvement in machinery, every addition 
to the means of travel and transportation, and the transmis- 
sion of intelligence, are of greater importance to the farmer 
than to any other class ; because they tend to distribute and 
equalize the elements of wealth and power, of civilization 
and refinement, and to place him on an equality, social, political 
and intellectual, with the people who dwell in the great cen- 
tres of business and of population. Let learning cease among 
the people, let knowledge die out among the masses, liberty 
would at once be dethroned— -the Stars and Stripes, the flag 



" by angel hands to valor given," would be the winding slieet 
of freedom. Then wealth and power would be seized by a 
few — -the laborers of the nation would be the first and great- 
est sufferers, and the tillers of the soil would be reduced to 
their old condition of hereditar}^ serfs and bondmen. 

These are the mighty truths which the farmer ignores and 
overlooks, while he permits the world's harvest of knowledge 
to be gathered hj a few, to be retailed to needy applicants at 
usurer's prices, or thrown out to starving beggars, like crumbs 
from the rich man's table. 

The consequence of this inattention to intellectual wants is, 
that farmers as a class not onl}' do not possess the means of 
prosecuting their business with success, but they fail to rep- 
resent in their own lives and characters the intelligence and 
the inspiration of the age in which the}'' live. 

In this age of progress, the man who stands still a single 
day will be left behind in the grand march of human im- 
provement. The people, I do verily believe, have taken 
their final exodus from the bondage of ignorance and error, 
and with priest, and prophet, with fire and cloud, are pushing 
on through wilderness and sea, to take possession of that glo- 
rious heritage which they hold b}' promise. 

More has been achieved during the pi'esent century than 
had been obtained before since the first feeble rays of intellec- 
tual light Ijroke in upon the dark ages of the woi'ld. The 
rapid strides which science has made within the last few 
years, the perfection to which art has reached, the intellectual 
activity of the people, who like an invading army, nightly 
bivouac on the battle-field, with sentinels posted and watch- 
fires burning, and with the first glinting of the sun on shield 
and banner, move on to another and greater victory- — ^these, 
while they strike the mind with wonder and admiration, fill 
the heart with thanksgiving and open the mouth with praise. 

It is eas}^ to see that in an age so prolific in useful discov- 
eries, so fruitful in inventions adapted to the business of life, 

to lessen its burdens, increase its profits and multiplv its plea- 

2 



10 

sures, education cannot possibly be overlooked. I don't mean 
that education only wliicli is obtained in the school room, but 
that enlarged and comprehensive training which consists in 
acquiring habits of neatness, order, and useful employment ; 
in establishing principles of truth, justice and honor ; obe- 
dience 1o law, and a just regard for the conventional rules of 
polite social intercourse; a correct estimate of one's own 
character, and a clear j^erception of the position one has a 
right to take, and is qualified to maintain ; a watchful eye to 
the discoveries of genius, and a prompt application of all 
useful inventions to the business and the elevating enjoj^ments 
of life — this, added to that acquaintance with science and the 
arts which it is the peculiar province of the schools to teach, 
is the kind and amount of education which every American 
citizen, be he flirmer, merchant, manufacturer, or artisan, is 
bound to obtain. 

There can never be any considerable space between the 
great body of the people and the educated men of the coun- 
try, without endangering all the cherished institutions of civ- 
ilized and christian life. The further, therefore, that genius 
and learning penetrate the mysteries of nature and unfold 
the principles of eternal truth and justice, the more impera- 
tive is the duty, and the more absolute the necessity for the 
people to jjress up and secure and make forever their own, 
the knowledge that has been thus obtained. Don 't let the 
great truths of philosophy and science, the wonderful crea- 
tions of art, remain .the exclusive property of the discoverer 
and inventor ; but make yourselves the depositaries of all 
the important fixcts which genius and skill have acquired, 
and use them to improve and extend your business, to edu- 
cate and ennoble yourselves, and enrich and exalt the na- 
tion. Until this is done, until the farmer obtains an amount 
of information adequate to the highest demands of this pro- 
gressive age, he will not possess the means of securing that 
pecuniary independence, which is one of the necessary ad- 
juncts of free citizcnshi[), and he will also fail to reach that 



11 

elevated social position, wlierein man's best and highest pow- 
ers are developed and exercised, and the happiest results of 
a well spent life worked out. 

There is a physiological fact connected with this subject of 
learning, which is worthy of your consideration. An educa- 
ted man, all else equal, can perform a greater amount of labor, 
work more hours, produce greater results, and resist longer 
the antagonist forces of nature, than an ignorant, uneduca- 
ted man. If you examine the subject, you will find that the 
history of all great enterprises, all difficult and hazardous 
undertakings demonstrate this fact. 

It was observed in the Mexican war that in acts of bravery, 
in the performance of those heroic deeds which required un- 
usual and long co]itinued bodily exertion, the West Point Ca- 
dets bore the palm. The exploring expeditions of Lieut. Strain 
in the wilderness of tropical America, of Colonel Fremont 
among the desolate gorges of the Rocky Mountains, and of 
Dr. Kane amid the eternal snows of the Polar circle, where 
the physical powers of the men were tasked to the utmost 
limit of human endurance, show the same result — that upon 
the educated men of the parties, who performed the greatest 
amount of labor, and preserved the most buoyant and hope- 
ful spirits, the safety of the expeditions depended. 

The fact miglit be stated still stronger. Persons of feeble 
constitution and poor health, confirmed invalids, have by 
the mere force of education, high mental discipline, performed 
valorous deeds, and exhibited bodily powers, such as belong 
to the very Anaks of the race. William of Orange, afterward 
King of England, and the French Duke of Luxembourg, are 
examples ; both had weak, sickly constitutions — both were 
enfeebled by disease, and racked by cruel pains. Macaulay, 
describing a terrible battle in which these two sickly beings 
were opposing commanders, says that "among the hun- 
dred and twenty' thousand soldiers marshalled around Neer- 
winden under all the standards of Western Europe, the two 



12 

feeblest in body were tlic Inincbbacked dwarf wbo urged on 
the fiery onset of France, and tlie asthmatic skeleton who 
covered the slow retreat of England." 

If education can prodnce such effects as these, if learning 
can increase the vigor of the body, and so exalt the powers 
of life as to overcome pain, sickness and disease, is it not 
worthy the attention of the farmer, whose whole life is one of toil 
and exposure ? If the farmer knew that he could use with 
more effect the shovel and the hoe, remain longer at the 
plough and in the harvest field, and endure with less danger 
summer's sun and winter's storm, by being educated, he would 
doubtless bestow more labor upon the cultivation of the mind, 
and give a more liberal support to institutions of learning. — 
And if boys knew and appreciated this fact, that learning 
quickens, concentrates and strengthens man's bodily jjowers, 
that it does really send the blood along its crimson channels 
in swifter currents, and returns it in fuller volumes to reno- 
vate and exalt the powers of life, they might perhaps devote 
to the lofty parposa of education, those hours which are now 
spent in hanging about taverns and street corners, in driving 
fast horses, and in urging to a more vigorous growth the vices 
and base passions of their nature. 

Yet such is the fact : the boy who learns most can do most 
— the boy who leads his class in the school room, will lead 
his fellow men in the battle of life, whether that battle is 
fought with the pen, the bayonet or the plough. 

Learning is a diamond in the crown of labor ; not placed 
for ornament alone, but to shed effulgent light around the 
footsteps of toil, and draw from the soil of humanity those 
choicer fruits and larger crops, which, after perfuming the 
earth with fragrance, will be gathered by the Divine Hus- 
bandman, presented at the last great Exhibition, and receive 
premiums in Heaven. 

The education of whicli I have spoken relates exclusively 
to the head, and is not simply nor mainly to enable its pos- 



13 

sessor to superintend and direct the labor of others, but 
to make more perfect and complete the work of his own 
hands. These, therefore, must be educated and trained, and 
compelled to perform their part in producing those grand re- 
sults which mark the progTessive movements of the race. 

Manual skill and dexterity must be acquired, — habits of 
industry fixed,— regular, continuous, effective labor perform- 
ed. Too many men, and especially 3'"oung men, attempt to 
evade that universal law which makes wealth depend upon 
labor, and endeavor to obtain riches by other and ignoble 
means; by that shrewdness which entraps the credulous and 
the unwary ; by sharp bargains and cunning devices ; by prac- 
ticing the unworthy arts of the speculator, whose hands were 
never hardened by contact with the implements of toil, whose 
brow was never moistened by the sweat of honest labor. 
Some crowd into those avenues which should be exclusively 
devoted to females ; and though formed to wield the axe, 
hold the plough and swing the flail, are ambitious to measure 
tape and sell laces. Som'e refuse to work and provide the 
necessaries and comforts of life, on the arrogant assumption 
that the world owes them a living. 

The world owes no men a living but those whose sublime 
deeds have benefitted the world, and whose modesty prevents 
them from claiming their great reward. All we can justly 
claim, or have a right to receive, is the fruit of our own labor 
— that which our own hands have made, or our own brains 
wrought out. 

But nothing is denied to faithful, intelligent, well directed 
labor. It is the " open sessame" to nature's profoundest se- 
crets, and earth's richest treasures. Power and dominion 
wait upon it, and higher honors than were ever paid to roy- 
alty and its costly pageants. The time has passed when idle- 
ness, whatever its rank and lineage, can take precedence of 
the sons of toil. The age of chivalry, of pastoral indolence, 
and fairy legend, has gone by. The pomp and glory of the 



14 

Crusaders, the renown of the victor at the 0]_ympic games or 
ghidiatorial combat, the shout that welcomed war's conquer- 
ing hero home, and gave him a niche in the temple of the 
Gods— these, with the tilt and tournament and gay song of 
the troubadour, have all passed away with the times that gave 
them birth, and it has become the settled conviction of the 
present age, that to be pre-eminently great, it is necessary to 
be pre-eminently useful. 

Though this is an age of high intellectual development ; 
though learning and refinement gild the rougher features of 
life, and shed a golden lustre round the brow of toil, it is no 
less the age of plain, practical, calculating industry ; having 
definite aims, and producing positive and beneficial results. 
The column that art rears and genius decorates, must rest on 
solid foundations, and form a necessary support to the struc- 
ture it adorns. The principle of utility has at length come to 
be recognized as embraced in that divine injunction, "Six 
days shalt thou labor." 

The noblemen of this age, therefore, are those who use to 
the fullest extent and for useful purposes, all the powers of 
bod}^ and mind with which God has endowed them. No 
herald's college can confer a better patent of nobility than 
this — no stars or ribbons on broidered garment worn, no de- 
vice emblazoned on panel cup or shield, give higher evidence 
of greatness than labor writes upon the manly form and open 
brow of its sincere and intelligent followers. 

This is that high order of physical training, that education 
of the hand, which should accompany and be joined to the 
learning of the head, and complete that character for jjersever- 
ing effort and successful achievement, which belongs in an 
eminent degree to the American citizen. 'I'liough the far- 
mer may obtain all the information that books can give, and 
leave the halls of learning crowned with collegiate honors, 
yet if he has not graduated in the field and obtained a diploma 
from nature, if he has not performed the labor necessary to 
fiiniiliuri^c himself with all the operations of husbandry, to 



15 

give Ileal til to tlie body, strength to the muscles, skill to the 
hand, and confidence in the success of manly effort, he lacks 
one of the indispensable elements of agricultural success ; for 
only by a union of the greatest skill of the hand, with the 
highest powers of the head, can success, complete and satis- 
factory, be obtained, and those sublime results which crown 
a life of useful labor be secured. 

There are, doubtless, a few individuals in the country who 
possess in an eminent degree these qualifications. But these 
stand like Saul among the Israelites, head and shoulders 
above the class they are supposed to represent ; while we are 
obliged to acknowledge that the great mass of farmers have 
not sufficiently educated either the head or the hand, and 
consequently do not possess the means of prosecuting their 
business with success, nor of working out, amid its trials and 
conflicts, the happy results of a well-spent life. 

It has not been my intention to attempt to instruct the far- 
mer in the special duties of his profession ; but if I should 
venture to name any act of farming, to which knowledge and 
skill can be applied with more profit than to any other, it 
would be the treatment of the soil, which is impoverished 
and worn out by ignorant and unskillful management. 

There was once a peasant who owned a goose, that every 
day laid a golden egg. This small supply of gold was suffi- 
cient for the daily wants of the peasant and his family, and 
their only care was to preserve the life of the remarkable 
animal from which they derived their support. But at length 
the peasant, stimulated by unnatural desire, required more 
gold, and unwilling to wait the tardy operations of nature, 
cut open the body of the goose to obtain the coveted treasure, 
and thereby killed the animal, and lost his means of support. 

The soil is the goose that annually deposits a golden egg 
in the lap of the farmer. While properly fed and tended, 
this operation will not cease ; as years roll on, true to the ap- 
pointed hour, it will pay its annual tribute down ; age will 



16 

not dim its plumage, nor diminish its productive power, for 
it contains within itself the elements of unfading beauty and 
immortal youth. 

But there are some farmers who, like the peasant in the 
fable, are in haste to grow rich ; and in their attempts to an- 
ticipate the rewards that follow patient toil, in their efforts to 
grasp to-day the wealth that belongs to and is necessary to 
the enjoyment of to-morrow, destroy the means by which 
that wealth is obtained — they starve and kill the goose that 
laid the golden egg. 

If the soil is neglected, overtasked or otherwise improperly 
treated, in vain will be the labor of the husbandman ; the sun 
may warm, the air permeate, and the dews of heaven moisten, 
and yet no increase will reward the farmer's toil — no golden 
harvest crown the year. 

The preparation and management of the soil are points 
upon which farmers are most deficient. Notwithstanding 
man has been laboring upon, and drawing his support from, 
the soil ever since he was driven from the garden which God 
planted, yet he is at this moment, with few exceptions, as 
ignorant of its origin, composition, capacity, and the means 
necessary to be used for its renovation, as he was on that day 
when with a crooked limb for a plough, and a sharpened stick 
for a spade, he first attempted, mid thorns and thistles, and 
in the sweat of his face, to draw his support from the bosom 
of his mother earth. 

This fact is proved by the vast quantity of deteriorated 
land which is left to recover, by the unassisted operations of 
nature, its former fertilit}'. Man ainiuall}^ records upon the 
soil he cultivates, the evidence that is to establish his power 
to subdue, and his claim to hold domin'ion over the earth and 
its lower forms of animal life ; or in crooked lines and mis- 
shapen characters he fuiiiishes testimony to con^•ict himself 
of disobedience to the divine command, and cut him off from 
among the inhei'itors of the promise. 



17 

The diflference in fertility between lands in a state of na- 
ture and tliose which have been brought under the plough, 
should be laro-elv in favor of the latter : nevertheless the 
contrary is the feet.* In the older portions of the country, 
it is not uncommon to witness the abandonment of farms 
once rich in all the elements of fertility, and yielding to the 
husbandman an annual tribute of sixty and a hundred fold, 
now impoverished, worn out, incapable of supplying the 
necessaries of life to those who were born upon it, or whose 
stalwart arms reclaimed it from the wilderness and the savage. 
These worn out lands are sold for any sum they will bring, 
and a new home obtained in a new State, where the glittering 
plough-share has not penetrated, nor the song of the reapers 
been heard. 

Here, while those substances which nature during long 
ages had prepared for the support of vegetable life last, the 
new home puts on the appearance of comfort and substantial 
prosperity — grass clothes the meadows, grain waves in the 
breeze, fruits load the orchard. 

But one after another the ingredients required to produce 
these results, to clothe the fields with herbage, and till the 



*The following table in some measure shows the falling off that has taken place 
within a period of ten years in the annual yield of wheat in several of the states : 



The number of bushels produced was, in 

Connecticut, 

Massachusetts 

Rhode Island, 

New Hampshire, 

Maine, 

Vermont, 

Tennessee, 

Kentucky, 



1840. 



18-^0. 



87.000 

l.-)7.923 

3.098 

422.124 

84^,161; 

495.800 

4,.-.69.692 

4.803,162 

Greora;ia, , 1,801.830 

Alabama, 838,0.2 



41,000 
31,211 
49 
18i,6..8 
269,2")9 
f.3\955 
,616.386 
,142.822 
,088,.i34 
294,044 



Sum total, i 14,026,847 ! 6,204,918 

These figures show pretty conclusively that in all parts of the Union the land 
must have been deprived of some of its most essential elements, and that its fertil- 
ity is constantly on the decrease. There can be no doubt but that three-fourths 
of the arable soil of the Union are undergoing, to a greater or less degree, this 
exhaustion process. 



18 

barns with grain, disappear from the soil. Crops dwindle, 
orchards deca}'', animals deteriorate ; and before the forest is 
fiiirly removed, or the tough soil of the prairie completely 
subdued, the farm presents the old picture of poverty and 
dilapidation. 

That man's occupancy of the soil should be followed by 
deterioration and loss, is opposed to the laws of organic life, 
and the object of man's creation. The power to conquer and 
subdue includes the duty to enrich, to improve, to bless. 
Otherwise the possession of power would be an evil and a 
curse. Man's conquering march over the earth should be 
conducted by science, accompanied by the arts, and marked 
by annual ovations to Ceres, whose blooming garland and 
golden cornucopia diffuse fragrance and scatter plenty over 
the land. 

It could not have been the design of the Creator that the 
soil should ever become exhausted of its fruit and grain-pro- 
ducing qualities, nor that the introduction of the human race 
should violate the laws of life, and disturb the balance of 
organic nature. Provision has been made for the preserva- 
tion of all the substances which compose the earth, and the 
plants and animals it contains. In fact, no atom of matter is 
or ever can be destroyed. Though earth and air and water, 
under the direction of the Great Designer, are constantly en- 
tering into new combinations, and building up new bodies, 
now forming the tender herb that a single frost destroys, now 
building the oak that braves the storms of a thousand winters, 
now composing the flower whose breath lends fragrance to 
the gale, now forming the fruits and grains which human 
hands tend and garner ; yet in the countless forms in which 
matter is exhibited, it is not fixed for a single moment. Built 
into forms which apjjear solid and indestructible, yet appoint- 
ed agents are unceasingly at work, liberating from rock and 
ore, from plant and animal, the ingredients of which they 
are composed. These are converted into their original ele- 
ments, and return to that exhaustless reservoir from whence 
the materials of all earthly bodies are drawn. 



19 

A few substances, barely a dozen in number, contained in 
the earth and in the air, unite in the vegetable and form 
starch, sugar, glutiu, oil, &;c., «&c., these consumed by animals 
are converted into blood, muscle, bone. But the animal can- 
not retain for a single moment possession of the substances of 
which its body is composed ; it is compelled by the laws of 
its being to give up and restore to the earth and the air, all 
the materials it has consumed. 

But you will observe that these dozen substances removed 
from the soil by cultivation, must be restored to the particu- 
lar fields from whence they were taken, or else those fields 
will become exhausted, and fail to yield remunerative crops. 
Every ton of hay, every bushel of roots or grain, every ani- 
mal taken from the farm, removes a portion of those ingredi- 
ents upon which its fertility depends, and enriches the dis- 
trict in which they are consumed. 

Though the elements of fertility are always the same, and 
cannot be diminished, yet they may be so distributed and 
appropriated, that while one farm or district is clothed with 
verdure and enriched by bountiful liarvests, another may be 
stripped of its gorgeous vesture, despoiled of its wealth, and 
left to exhibit in barrenness and dilapidation, the ignorance 
and folly of its owners. 

The soil must be kept in a high state of fertility by restor- 
ing to it all its annual loss by tillage, and by putting it in 
such a mechanical condition as regards depth, lightness and 
permeabilit}?-, as will allow the fertilizing ingredients it con- 
tains to enter freely into the growing crop. 

This leads me to add that drainage and irrigation are sub- 
jects of such great importance that they cannot be much longer 
overlooked by the intelligent farmer. Water forms a very 
large portion of all organized bodies, and is the chief element 
in causing fertility ; I mean that however complete may be 
the number, and however large the quantity of other ino-redi- 
ents, they would without water be entirely useless for the 



20 

wants of vegetation. Where water is absent vegetation dies ; 
where it exists in excess, useful plants and grasses disappear. 
This is sufldcient to show that water should be supjDlied to the 
soil in definite proportions, to be regTilated by the wants of 
the growing crop. If there is an excess, it must be removed ; 
if a deficiency, it must be supplied. 

Another subject of great practical importance, is the culti- 
vation of grasses, both for pasturing and for winter forage. 
At present, the farmer relies principally upon such grasses as 
he finds growing naturally in his fields, without reference to 
their nutritive qualities, or the season of their maturity. The 
result is that in early spring, the pastures are nearly destitute 
of herbage, and in mid-summer are thinly covered with hard, 
dry, innutricious plants, which do not give sufficient nourish- 
ment to the flocks and herds that are expected to live and 
fetten upon them. Successive crops of sweet, wholesome, 
and nutricious grass, adapted to different seasons, and reach- 
ing from early spring to the killing frosts of autumn, would 
enable the farmer to increase his stock of sheep and cattle, 
and render them more valuable for the uses to which they 
are put. Such crops maj" be grown at small cost, and will 
double the value of any farm on which they are sj^stemati- 
cally introduced. 

Other subjects, if time would permit, might be mentioned. 
Nearly all the details of farming are important, and might 
with great benefit receive jour attention. There is probably 
no department of husbandry, whether it relates to the soil, 
the plant or the animal, which is not susceptible of great im- 
provement, both in its manual operations, and in the principles 
upon which the necessary labor is conducted. It would be 
strange if it were not so. Agriculture was not born, as many 
seem to suppose, like Minerva, full-grown and armed for 
conquest. Lilce ever}' other business, it has advanced from 
rude and imperfect beginnings to its present condition ; which 
though not one for much self-laudation, is nevertheless in 
some degree creditable to those engaged in it, and indicative 



21 

of that complete and crowning victory wliicli it is destined to 
achieve. Though at present somewhat behind other institu- 
tions in the skill and knowledge with which its operations 
are conducted, yet this position is unnatural and temporary ; 
for when farmers display the same zeal that characterizes men 
engaged in other professions, the same patient investigation, 
the same earnest seeking after higher truths and better modes, 
and the same willingness to be instructed, then agriculture 
will be placed in advance of every other institution as an 
agent for the extension of knowledge, the sj^read of liberal 
principles, and the subjugation of the world to the influences 
of enlightened christian civilization. 

"Whenever I have had the honor of addressing my brother 
farmers, I have embraced the opportunity to inculcate a taste 
and love for the beautiful, both in nature and in art ; believ- 
ing that where this taste and love exist, they will be exhibi- 
ted in a better system of cultivation, more comfortable and 
happier modes of living ; in increased means of enjoyment, 
and a more rational use of the blessings which God has spread 
over the earth, — a more pleasing personal demeanor, higher 
graces of speech and manner, and a more correct perform- 
ance of all social and christian duties. 

I beg leave to introduce the subject to your notice, as one 
of great practical importance, affecting the value of property 
and the habits of the people. 

Let the farmer increase the natural beauties of his farm by 
suitable ornamentation — let him adorn and embellish his 
house and grounds — let him have genial intercourse with his 
fellow men, and practice in their presence the highest forms 
of politeness and good breeding. Let him build neat school- 
houses, that shall give visible expression to pure and lofty 
thought — ^let him erect beautiful churches, and incorporate 
into their walls and towers and rising spires, the spirit of 
piety and devotion. If this was a proper occasion, and time 
would permit, I could demonstrate that a small, dirty school- 



22 

house, and a homely, ill-constructed cbuTch. edifice, instead 
of being what such buildings ought to be, objects of taste 
and beauty, and helpers in the great work of human improve- 
ment, are positive injuries to society; because they lower and 
degrade and bring down to the level of animal desires and 
brutish instincts, the exalted idea of human intelligence, and 
the holy sentiment of religious hope and trust. 

It is not without a purpose that learning has been repre- 
sented to us under forms of transcendent beauty, with her 
seats fixed in pleasant places, by the side of sparkling foun- 
tains, and amid groves garlanded with roses and amaranth. 
It is not without a purpose that religion has been invested 
with pure and shining robes, crowned with glory, and with 
golden harp, filling the courts of Heaven with praise. It is 
not without a purpose that the earth has been beautifully 
formed and gorgeously apparaled — divei'sified with hill and 
plain, mountain and valley, forest and prairie, lake and river, 
and singing brook — arrayed in robes of more than royal 
magnificence, forever changing, yet forever new, perfumed 
with the spices of Araby, jeweled with dew drops brighter 
than the gems of Golconda, and performing its majestic rev- 
olutions in company with ten thousand glorious orbs, — 

" Forever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is divine." 

Physical beauty is a power in the world before which the 
highest human intelligence bows in homage. Goodness has 
superior charms, virtue stronger attractions, and wisdom 
greater power when moulded into forms of beauty, and 
draped in the flowing robes of elegance and grace. 

For this reason, because it is one of the essential elements 
of power, let the farmer cultivate and acquire a taste and 
love for all the bright and beautiful things of earth. Let 
him build handsome dwellings, neat school-houses, and beau- 
tiful churches ; let him adorn and embellish the field and the 
road side ; let him multiply objects of grace and beauty, 
until ihc whole land glows and brightens in the light of a 
pure and exalted taste. 



23 

Then will his fields put on a richer vesture, and yield a 
more abundant harvest. Then will liner flocks and better 
herds feed in his pastures and lie in the shade of his woods 
and groves. Then will blither songs and words of loftier 
cheer mingle with the sounds of labor. Cords of sympathy 
will unite in one electric circle, whose continuity will never 
cease, the industry, the genius and the skill of all nations. 
Then the unity of the world's great Army of Occupation 
will be declared, the claims of universal brotherhood recog- 
nized, and humanity achieve its last and greatest triumph. 



Previous to the delivery of the foregoing Address, a select- 
ed choir of ladies and gentlemen sung the following original 
ode, written for the occasion by Mrs. L. H. Sigourney, 
America's favorite poetess : 

ODE FOE THE AGRICULTUEAL EXHIBITION OF 
EENSSELAER COUNTY. 

When Man was in his pristine strength, 

Unstain'd, unfallen, undismayed, 
His Maker gave a genial task. 

To dress and keep the garden glade. 

Then angels deign'd his guests to be. 

By sinless Eden's crystal springs. 
And oft at hush of day he heard 

The hovering of celestial wings. 

E'en now, though thorns and thistles claim 

Dominion o'er the uncultur'd soil, 
From Nature and from Grod he finds 

A blessing on his rural toil. 

Earth is his friend, and freely yields 

The treasures of her fruitful breast. 
And Industry, the nurse of health, 

Sheds sweetness o'er his nightly rest. 

No sword of flame, no guarded gate 

Excludes him from his home of love, 
But Peace and Hope, like angels wait, 

And point to Pai'adise above. 



2-i 

His Excellency, Gov. E. D. Morgan, having arrived upon 
the Fair Grounds, he was escorted by the officers of the Soci- 
ety to the President's stand, wliere he was welcomed by the 
President, Mr. Ball, in the following remarks : 

Governor Morgan : I am very happy to meet you on the Fair Grounds of this 
Society ; amid these implements of our art and surrounded by the trophies 
we have won from field and orchard and garden, from stall and pasture, 
which proclaim the certainty with which bounteous Mother Earth rewards 
her skillful and industrious children. You, sir, have gained a fortune, and 
won a distinguished name in another and broader field of labor, in which tal- 
ent, industry and perseverance reach their highest development ; yet you must 
have observed that tlie springs of commercial prosperity rise far away from the 
great centres of business. Like the rills that feed brook and river and fill the 
ocean, they rise deep in the country ; amid the fields, along the slopes and on the 
mountain side, where the patient husbandman performs his daily toil, and converts 
by nature's subtle alchemy, soil and air. sunlight and dew, into fine sheep and fat 
cattle ; into luscious fruit and yellow grain. But if Agriculture is the parent of 
Trade and Commerce, these hardy children have not failed in love and duty to 
their common mother. While Trade, with busy hands, fills up the deficiencies of 
one district from the surplus of another, and equalizes the means of human subsis- 
tence. Commerce, spreading her adventurous sails, and kindling her gleaming fires, 
crosses the ocean, ascends rivers, explores the earth from the tropics to the poles, 
for spoils to weave into the robe of Agriculture, and braid among her golden tresses. 
We acknowledge with gratitude the obligations of the world to Trade, to Commerce, 
to ivlanufactures, and the Mechanic Arts ; and we intend to compete with them for 
the prize which will henceforth be awarded in blessings upon that department ot 
labor, that does most to develope the arts of peace, extend Christian civilization, 
and increase the happiness of man. Every exhibition that represents the industry 
of the district in which it is held, must be interesting ; because it shows the pro- 
gress, and relative position of the people, and the condition of those arts that belong 
to the higher developments of civilized life. In the examination which I invite 
your Excellency to make of this Exhibition. I hope you will find that Rensselaer 
is not behind her sister counties, in the extent and variety of her productions, nor 
in her contributions to the substantial prosperity of the State and Nation. 

Gov. Morgan replied in the following very sensible and 
well delivered remarks : 

Mr. President : — It is my agreeable duty to acknowledge the cordial and kind 
manner in which you have welcomed me to the Rensselaer County Fair. I esteem 
it both a privilege and a high honor to be present upon this occasion, to listen to 
your address, and to examine these implements of art and these trophies won by 
the good people of Rensselaer, from " field and orcliard and garden, from stall and 
pasture." You have alluded to the fact that my occupation has been other than 
that of agriculture, and have been pleased to say tliat I have occupied a somewhat 
broader field in the pursuit to wh.ich I have devoted the most of my life. It is 
true that for many years I have been engaged extensively in commercial pursuits; 
but I have been a farmer also— not a mere theorizer, but a genuine, practical, hard- 
working farmer— [applause,] — during my youth, and what we learn in our youth, 
we are not apt to forget. I think I can safely assert that there is not and never 
has been, a man in the county — and I say it for the encouragement of young men— 
who worked harder and had fewer privileges, both of time and money, than I had 
prior to my seventeenth year; and if, as remarked, I have attained any measure of 
success in life, I owe it all to the principles inculcated and the habits formed on my 
father's farm. [Applause.] There is no occupation more necessary, useful or hon- 
orable, and none more neglected, than the cultivation of the soil ; and it is very 
much to be dejilored that so many young men leave the country for a clerkship or 
a profession in the city, not more than one in an hundred of whom are successful, 
and whose time and labors are but poorly requited in the pursuits they follow, 
when the same expenditure in the more moral and healthful calling of the fanner 
would have secured them an abundant reward. I thank you for your indulgence 
and for the invitation to visit your exhibition. 



25 

The exercises closed by the siuging of the following hymn, 
written by Kev. John Pierpont, D. D, : 

AGKIOULTURAL HYMN. 

To God, the gracious Giver, 

Of sunshine, dew and rain, 
Of hill-side, vale and river. 

And broad and fertile plain — 
Who giveth to our mountains 

The glory of their trees, 
And poureth out the fountains 

That fill our inland seas — 

Who wrappeth Winter's bosom 

In His soft, wooly snows, 
And openeth every blossom • 

That Spring around us throws, — 
To Him, our tribute bringing. 

Of thankful hearts, we come. 
With joy and gladness singing 

Our hymn of " Harvest Home." 

Shall we, Thy sons and daughters. 

Withhold our grateiul lays. 
While all Thy winds and waters 

Are vocal in Thy pi-aise ? 
No ! while all earth rejoices 

In Thy parental care. 
Will we lift up our voices. 

Oh God, in praise and prayer. 

God, who our patient labor 

With plenty crown'st thus. 
Help us our suffeiing neighbor 

To bless, as Thou do'st us ; 
And while Thy gifts we gather. 

From field and fold and stall, 
So serve the good All-Father. 

Who giveth all to all. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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