3te ADDRESS, DELIVERED BEFORE THE WORCESTER AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, OCTOBER 12, 1820, BEING THEIR Anniversary Cattle Show and Exhi- bition of Manufactures. BY HON. LEWIS BIGELOW. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES*, tWlVVMWWWMVW IBoreejrter: Printed by manning & trumbull feb. 1821. I • °-J 5Li5 A 2, 1*2, ADDRESS. 1 HE particular objects which have fur- nished the occasion of the transactions of this clay, and which now present themselves to the attention and consideration of this assembly, may claim a competition, as to utility and importance, with any other that has ever exercised the physical or mental energies of man. Whether we regard the profes- sion of agriculture for its antiquity, as the great and almost only source of human sustenance, or for its moral and social advantages, the subject is entitled to a preeminent rank among the pursuits of a civil- ized and enlightened people, and will command for its votaries the most exalted respect and veneration. It is coeval with the divine sentence, which pro- claimed to our first parents the necessity of manu- al labour as the means of supporting life — a neces- sity which was instituted not only as a punishment for their disobedience, but was designed, in the wisdom and mercy of Divine Providence, as an in- citement to attain that intellectual and moral excel- lence, which should compensate, in some measure, for the loss of an earthly paradise. It was ordained for the purpose of disciplining that temper and dis* position, which had become prone to evil works, of counteracting the power of sloth and sensuality, and preparing man for his redemption from the thral- dom of sin, and for his restoration to a state of vir- tue and happiness. By abusing the bounties of Heaven, and disre- garding the commands of his Creator, man had forfeited his life. He was sent forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken, which was cursed for his sake ; and his pos- terity, to the lastest generation, are obliged to contend with thorns and thistles in procuring the fruit of the tree and the herb of the field. Not- withstanding the sentence denounced against man for his disobedience has been thus executed; al- though he is compelled to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow, and to eat his food in sorrow ; yet he is not left without the means of fulfilling the great purposes of his creation, and of retrieving his lost estate. He is promised a seed-time and harvest, which shall never cease while the earth remains, and by which he may satisfy all his rea- sonable wants, if he will hearken to the voice of nature, and direct his powers to objects, and reg- ulate them in the manner dictated by the light of reason. And still greater hopes and consolations await him, if he will obey the voice of Him, who prepared and taught the way to escape from the heavier punishment of sin. Through the mercy and benevolence of Divine Providence, the earth has hitherto brought forth grass, the herb yielding seed and the tree bearing 3U fruit abundantly sufficient to reward the labour be- stowed upon it by the husbandman ; and he has the assurance that he shall not toil in vain, nor his hon- est industry be repaid with poverty and emptiness. The laws which nature has established for regulat- ing the economy of the vegetable kingdom, will ap- portion the harvest to a judicious expense of means employed in obtaining it. It is thus that individu- als and nations, by directing their attention to those pursuits to which they are so encouragingly invited, may not only obtain all the necessaries of life, but may supply themselves with every comfort and lux- ury of food and of raiment which can please the sense, or gladden the heart of man. Whatever may be the prevailing genius and hab- its of a people, or the particular character of their pursuits, it is the cultivation of the soil which is the great source and basis of national wealth, power and grandeur. For in what consists the real wealth of a nation, unless it be in the ability and means of supporting a greater number of the human species than those who compose it? What can be more effi- cient to that support than the products of the soil ? And how shall the power and grandeur of a nation be measured, unless by its wealth and population ? It is true there are other sources of subsistence resorted to by a portion of mankind, who, like the wild beasts of the forest, scarcely direct their thoughts to any higher enjoyment, or to the attain- ment of any other object, than a supply of their present wants and the gratification of their animal appetites. But no people, which have made any advances in the arts and refinements of civilization, will ever place any considerable dependence upon sources so precarious and so inadequate to the sup- port of a condensed population. The employments of hunting and fishing may serve to sustain animal life in a people diffusely scattered over a large extent of territory ; but are totally incompatible with that improvement and cultivation of the mind and of the social affections, which, more than any thing else, distinguish man from the brute, and lead to the highest enjoyments of which human nature is capable. It is because any given amount of labour, when directed to the cultivation of the soil, will furnish sustenance for a greater number of human beings than it would if employed in any other manner, that those nations who devote the most attention to Ag- riculture possess the greatest advantages and op- portunities for improvement in other arts and sci- ences. Hence it is, that where we now behold the most splendid monuments of human genius, their production has always been preceded and aided by a considerable acquaintance with rural economy. Although mankind have been employed in tilling the earth from an earlier period, and in greater numbers, than in any other profession or business, it is a remarkable fact, that the subject has derived less aid from the light of science than many others of inferiour importance. While the powers of the mind have been exerted to their utmost extent in making improvements in the art of war — while the resources of human ingenuity are, perhaps, exhaust- ed, in contriving the means and implements of de- struction--the art of Agriculture, from which the 3?e most valuable temporal blessings are derived, has been suffered to remain, until a comparatively recent date, in its original rudeness ; and, like the religion which teaches the way to avoid the moral conse- quences of the curse that rendered the cultivation of the soil necessary to our existence and happiness, has maintained its influence by its intrinsick excel- lence. An investigation into the causes of this peculiari- ty of habit might gratify a speculative curiosity, but can be no farther profitable than as it might enable us to apply a remedy to an existing evil. To sup- pose that the mind finds more powerful incentives to exertion and activity in those projects which have their origin in the malignant and wicked passions of man, than in those which proceed from the benev- olent affections of the human heart, would by no means be honourable to our nature ; vet if " the imagination of man's heart be evil from his youth," the hypothesis would not be destitute of probabili- ty. Other causes, also, may have contributed to produce the same effect. So long as the earth would yield a competent supply of food for its inhabitants, without any increased exertions of theirs, a supera- bundance might not present inducements sufficient to counteract their natural love of repose. Neces- sity, which is significantly called the mother of in- vention, may not have been prolifick enough to ad- vance the art of Agriculture to that perfection which it will probably attain at no distant period. Anoth- er cause of this inattention to an important subject may be found in the circumstance, that those who are practically engaged in rural pursuits, and take the 8 deepest interest in their success, have no time to devote to philosophical inquiries into cause and ef- fect, and the various principles upon which depends the growth of different plants. No opinion has ever prevailed, which the present enlightened age will more certainly pronounce to be founded in ignorance and errour, than that the prin- ciples of rural economy are so simple and so easily understood, and have so little connexion with other subjects, as to reject the extraneous aids of physiol- ogy ; and it is this vulgar prejudice, which, disdain- ing to seek or receive instruction, has co-operated, with the other causes already enumerated, to check the progress of improvement in this branch of industry. Considering the great variety of soil, climate and situation, in connexion with the various characters and constitutions of different plants, and the pecu- liar adaptation of one to another ; considering also the many diseases to which the vegetable tribe is liable, and for which remedies are to be administer- ed ; and that the same culture and treatment is sel- dom applicable to different species of plants ; it must be perfectly obvious to every reflecting mind, that few subjects are more complicated in their prin- ciples than Agriculture, or require a greater variety of knowledge to raise it to the standard of perfec- tion. It builds its superstructure upon a knowl- edge of natural philosophy, mineralogy, geology, botany, and chemistry. Almost the whole circle of the sciences are embraced within its sphere, and even the mechanick arts are subservient to its purposes. 39S It is not to be expected that beings of our limit- ed capacities can ever acquire such an intimate ac- quaintance with the laws of nature as to understand the mysterious manner of their operation ; to trace effects to their immediate causes ; point out their connexion and dependence in all their minute de- tails ; and unfold the intricacies in which Infinite Wisdom has seen fit to envelop the works of crea- tion. Nor is it necessary, in order to accomplish the important objects of improvement in the art to which our attention is now directed, that we should aspire to such abstruse and extensive knowledge. It is sufficient for us to understand the means by which particular effects are produced, and what are the natural and probable consequences of the applica- tion of specifick agents to specifick objects. With- out inquiring into the secret causes of vegetation, or understanding from whence plants derive their nutriment, how it is prepared, or how imbibed, how the functions of the plant are performed, and what sets its organs in motion, the essential proper- ties of different soils, in relation to their effects up- on different seeds, may be sufficiently known from their practical results. It may also be remarked, by way of analogy, that this is the only method by which the properties of any medicine can be ascer- tained, and by which its peculiar efficacy in eradi- cating disease can be tested. All the knowledge we can ever hope to acquire on these subjects must re- suit from experimental philosophy ; and all we can ac- complish in practice is to use the means, which God has placed in our hands, in the manner dictated by 10 experience. Still, to pursue the analogy, the phy- sician may administer his medicine with all the skill and judgment which can result from human wis- dom and experience ; but, without the blessing of Heaven, its virtues will remain inert, and human effort become impotent. The husbandman, also, may till the ground, he may plant and he may wa- ter, and nurse his growing crops with the most as- siduous care, and cherish them with the most un- remitting attention ; but God only can give the in- increase. If He withholds from the tender plant the sun's genial rays, visits it with disease or nox- ious insects, or sweeps the earth with violent winds, it will languish in defiance of human means to pre- serve it, and perish without yielding its fruit. But these considerations ought not to produce any relaxation in our exertions to promote the growth and improvement of vegetable food ; for much may be accomplished by artificial means ; and as the spontaneous productions of the earth will not suffice for the wants of its inhabitants, much is re- quired from the labour of man. It has been re- served for the enlightened policy of the present age to redeem the profession of Agriculture from the despotism of bigotry and ignorance, to nurture it with the benign influence of science, and to cheer it with the liberal patronage of publick spirit and dignified affluence. The measures recently adopted in Europe and America, by States and by individu- als, have already removed the film which obscured the eye of prejudice ; and the consentaneous exer- tions of the wise and munificent, in both countries, have prepared a foundation for one of the most use- 11 ful and splendid fabricks that ever adorned the civ- ilized world. The great and lasting benefits which will perpetually flow to mankind from the establish- ment of a Board of Agriculture in England, an in- stitution which owes its origin to the persevering efforts of a few patriotick individuals, will enroll the names of its founders among the greatest bene- factors of their country, and emblazon them with its prosperity and grandeur. The laudable exam- ple of these men has not been disregarded here ; and although we can boast no National Institution for the improvement of rural economy, many of the State governments have extended a liberal patronage to the art — and this legislative encouragement, co-op- erating with the enterprize and munificence of in- dividuals, has brought into existence a multitude of associations which have already given assurance of their vast utility in advancing the interests of Agriculture. These societies are constantly collect- ing information upon agricultural subjects, and dif- fusing it among the people — they excite a spirit of inquiry and emulation among practical formers by publick exhibitions, and encourage useful experi- ments by a distribution of premiums. Thus they infuse light, and life, and vigour, and health into the most important and profitable members of the body politick. They are fountains from which will issue streams to fertilize and enrich the country, and by their genial influence " the wilderness and the solitary place will be made glad, and the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose." If there be any so sceptical as to doubt the ben- efits resulting from these institutions, he need not 12 search for evidence to dissipate his doubts beyond the confines of the County of Worcester. Let him point out the causes of that proud spirit of industry and enterprize, which now so strikingly prevails among our farmers — let him explain why that am- bition to excel in rural pursuits, and that zeal and devotion in the profession, which he now observes, have never been awakened until since the organiza- of this Society, and the commencement of its op- erations. If this great work has been accomplish- ed, by an association of a few individuals, in little more than a year, it is but an earnest of still great- er achievements hereafter. The force of publick opinion, and a developement of our strength and resources, have given an impulse to the progress of agricultural improvement in this county, which cannot fail to terminate in the highest prosperity. The patronage which the interests of Agriculture receive from the publick is like good seed sown in good ground. It repays the deed with a plentiful harvest of "fruit after its kind" — it increases the ability of the cultivator to sustain the burdens of government— it opens and expands his heart with thankfulness and gratitude, and induces to liberal actions and a reciprocation of benefits. The boun- ty thus bestowed, is conveyed back to the publick coffers, with cheerfulness and alacrity, in the same channels through which it was originally received ; and, by its kindly influence, serves to enrich both the patron and the objects of protection. These remarks are not made with a design to in- culcate the doctrine, that they have an exclusive ap- plication to agricultural pursuits, although it may be 13 assumed as an axiom, sanctioned by universal expe- rience, that this branch of industry is entitled to the first and highest attention, as being the basis and support of every other. The policy, however, of encouraging any particular species of enterprize, by publick bounties, depends upon considerations which are so numerous in themselves, and so com- plicated in their details, that it would ill comport with the present occasion to attempt to discuss them with minuteness. Nor would it become the author of an occasional Address before a Society which embraces within the scope of its policy the encour- agement of manufacturing as well as agricultural enterprize, to contend that either is entitled to pat- ronage to the entire exclusion of the other. Their comparative merits are, perhaps, sufficiently under- stood by the people to give that direction to indus- try which will be the most conducive to the inter- ests of the whole. The subject has already em- ployed the pens of the most enlightened statesmen of this country ; and, as it will receive the attention of the united wisdom of our National Councils, we ought to have such confidence in the integrity of our publick servants, as to feel an assurance that the measures they shall adopt in relation to it will sub- serve the general good. Nevertheless, it is of the very essence of our free government that the people should exercise the right of inquiring and judging for themselves as- to all questions of publick interest. Without per- plexing the mind with the abstruse argumentations and refined subtilties of theoretick politicians, there are certain obvious and acknowledged truths, which H every plain practical man, of common understand- ing, will find but little difficulty in applying to the prominent subjects of political economy, and, by this simple and easy process, he will rarely fail of arriving at accurate results. It is inseparable from the nature and disposition of man that individual enterprize should find its way to that species of em- ployment which is the most lucrative ; and thus pri- vate interest will seldom err in designating those arts to which the fostering aid of government may be safely and profitably extended. It is also true that the particular cases in which any branch of labour may be beneficially encouraged by premiums, boun- ties or protecting duties, depend upon their effect, when thus aided, upon other branches. If these forcing expedients should render another branch of industry less productive than when all were left free, and the increased product of the favoured profession should be insufficient to compensate for the conse- quent deficiency in another, it must be perfectly ob- vious, independent of other considerations, that such policy would not promote the national interest.— The leading principle, therefore, by which wise and faithful legislators will be directed, in enacting laws for the regulation of industry, is to adopt such meas- ures as will have a tendency to increase the aggre- gate wealth of the state ; and, in determining this question, they will have regard as well to its situa- tion and natural advantages, as to the genius, temper and habits of its citizens. Let us pause here for a moment, in order to ap- ply these principles to the subjects of Agriculture, Commerce, and Manufactures. None will deny that 15 each of these, when unshackled by fiseal regula- tions, is an important and productive source of na- tional wealth, and deserves a suitable patronage— They mutually assist each other, have an interest in each other's prosperity, and neither ought to be sac- rificed or depressed to accelerate the growth of anoth- er. Indeed, Manufactures are almost as necessary to the comfort, convenience and happiness of man, as agriculture. But it is not by such comparisons that we can ascertain the true value of either, as it respects ourselves. The true question is, in which of these employments, having a regard to our situa- tion, can the labour of our citizens be most profit- ably engaged ? If a person, by a given amount of manual labour, when employed in the cultivation of the soil, is enabled, by exchanging its products, to procure a larger and better supply of manufactured articles, which he may want, than he could have fabricated by the same labour, surely he would be unwise to become his own artificer, instead of mak- ing an exchange of commodities with his neighbour, which might be mutually beneficial. And if a sys- tem of measures should be adopted by a State, hav- ing for its object the encouragement of Domestick Manufactures, at the expense of Agriculture and Commerce ; if the effect of such system should be a diversion of the whole labour of the community into new channels ; and if it should prove less produc- tive than when left to its own direction, there would evidently be a positive loss, which would sufficient- ly prove the system to be unwise, unless its injuri- ous effects should be countervailed by others of a. favourable character. 16 While, then, there are nations, who, in conse- quence of the density of their population, or the barrenness of their lands, are under the necessity of devoting themselves to Manufactures, and can fur- nish the various articles of their labour at a less price than could be afforded by our own artificers ; while they are in want of the products of our soil, and are willing to exchange with us on reasonable terms, we may enjoy, by the aid of Commerce, the principal benefits of manufacturing establishments, without experiencing their concomitant evils. The profits, also, which our merchants would derive, from becoming instruments to effect the exchange, would perhaps exceed those of the farmer or man- ufacturer, and furnish, at the same time, no incon- siderable portion of the publick revenue. But if this exchange should be interdicted by protecting duties, or other expedients, for the purpose of en- couraging Domestick Manufactures, the measure would operate as an odious tax upon other branches of industry for the benefit of the favoured class ; and in this way all the mischiefs of monopolies would be realized, a valuable portion of the com- munity would be deprived of a lucrative employ- ment, the publick revenue would be diminished, and national prosperity would be swallowed up in a distorted system of unequal and unnatural regula- tions. Other considerations, however, may be urged in favour of Domestick Manufactures, of sufficient moment, perhaps, in the minds of some, to place the subject on higher ground than it occupies at the present time. It might be contended that by 17 multiplying and diversifying the objects of labour, so as to adapt and accommodate them to the variety of talent and skill which exists among every people, the sphere of human action would be enlarged, and the springs of invention and enterprize invigorated. We might be reminded, also, that the fertilizing current of foreign commerce does not always flow equally ; but that it is liable to be obstructed and turned aside by the fluctuating and discordant coun- cils of those with whom it is pursued, and by the ac- cidents and commotions to which they are peculiar- ly exposed, both as to their internal police and ex- ternal relations ; and that if we depend on them for our necessary .supply of manufactured articles, we may become the dupes of a capricious policy, and participate in those evils and embarrassments which interrupt their peace and threaten their safety. To avoid such an unpropitious state of things, to render ourselves independent of the smiles or frowns of foreign nations, and to separate our desti- nies from theirs, it might be deemed prudent to en- courage domestick fabricks to a certain extent, and not be governed by the maxim, that " sufficient un- to the day is the evil thereof." On the other hand, it cannot be doubted that we ought to be still more vigilant in avoiding the necessity of resorting to foreign nations for agricultural products, bearing in mind that the soil is the natural reservoir of our prosperity. The wayward policy of neglecting Agriculture for Manufactures, in our present con- dition, could only proceed from the wildest theories of the most distempered imagination. It would a 18 violate the clearest principles of political economy, and be a miserable perversion of our faculties in the application of means for the accomplishment of ends* It would be no better than an attempt to change the laws of nature, and to obtain her pro- ductions from other sources than those which were originally designed to yield them. Such a measure could no more consist with Wisdom and sound policy, than the cultivation of cocoa-nuts and pine-apples by factitious heat, that we might send them to the torrid zone, and there exchange them for ship-timber, when our own forests will fur- nish an abundance of that article of a much superi- our quality ; and, by pursuing such delusions, we should be as well deserving a diploma from the academy of Lagado, as those who should spend their lives in making experiments for the purpose of discovering a mode to raise melons from acorns, to extract sunbeams from cucumbers, or to calcine ice into gunpowder. Admitting, therefore, the wisdom of that policy, which, by a considerable sacrifice of present advan- tages, guards against remotely probable or even pos- sible evils, there can be no hazard in the assertion that so long as our commercial intercourse with Great-Britain, and other foreign nations, is free and unrestricted, and so long as trade is conducted upon equal and liberal principles, our interest cannot be advanced by a forced growth of Domestick Manu- factures, to be supported and kept alive by the arti- ficial aids of government. In comparing our situation with that of Great- Britain, and other manufacturing nations, we shall 19 readily perceive the causes of their superiority over us in the various arts of manual occupation. When- ever any territory becomes so crowded with inhab- itants as to be capable of furnishing more labour than is required for a profitable cultivation of the soil, the excess will necessarily be pressed into oth- er employments. It is the case with every country where manufactures flourish, that the arts of hus- bandry have led the way to excellence, and absorb- ed the first portion of the labour and enterprize of the people. But here, our citizens may yet find ample employment in tilling the ground. Immense tracts of fertile country, sufficient for the foundation of mighty States and Empires, are yet to be reclaimed from the pristine inhabitants of the wilderness ; and even where we now behold the incense of industry and refinement ascending from our towns and'cities, and proclaiming our rapid and majestick march to a high station among the most powerful nations of the earth, the soil has been but partially cultivated, and refuses to yield that abundance, with which its natural exuberance promises to requite the increas- ed labour of the husbandman. Here we have no re- dundancy of population to crowd into the demoral- izing work-shops of manufacturers, to export to other countries, or to force into foreign wars, in or- der to make room for the remainder. Here the fruit of honest industry is not wrung from the peasant by the tyrannical hand of government, to pamper the luxury of placemen, pensioners and hereditary no- blemen. Here are no sinecures, standing armies, nor an irreducible and discouraging national debt, to drain his garners and to devour his substance: 20 he is not oppressed with burdens heavier than he can bear, in the shape of rents, taxes, subsidies, ex- actions and tythes ; but he is protected in his prop- erty, his privileges, his liberty, and his life, by mild and equal laws, framed and administered by men selected for their wisdom, intelligence and integrity, and whose interests are identified with his. Under such a government, with the additional blessings of a salubrious climate and luxuriant soil, truly it may be said that