AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION,
AN INDIVIDUAL, STATE AND NATIONAL NECESSITY;
WITH
Suggestions for the Establishment and Endowment of an Agricultural Colege in Michigan:
AN ADDRESS
3EFOR2 THB
Agritaitarad SictQg of tCaluiut Countfft
ROBERT F. JOHNSTO NE,
Editor of the Michigan Farmer,
DELIVtlEZD AT
MARSaALL, OCTOBER 12, 1854.'* How can he get wisdom that holdeth the plough; that glorieth in the goad; that dr4teth oxen, and is occupied in their labors, whose talk is of bullocks.-Ecc xxxviii: 25."
Published by Order of Calhoun County./gricultural Society.
DETROIT:
FIUNTED AT THE DAILY DEMOCRAT ESTABLISFIlMEB.,
Comer of Jefferson Avenue and Shelby Street.,...








Mr. PRESIDENT, and Members of the Agricultural Society of
Calhoun County:
Almost thirty years ago, on the occasion of laying the foundation stone
of that mighty column which commemorates one of the most wonderful
struggles recorded in history as incident to the birth of nations, the most
distinguished statesman of the age, and certainly one of the most illustrious
citizens to whom our country has given birth, after declaring that we could
not all expect to stand by the side of Solon or Alfred, or compare with
Washington and Franklin, and other great men who were their companions
in laying the foundations of our government, made these remarks: "There
is opened to us a noble pursuit to which the spirit of the times strongly
invites us. Our proper business is improvement. In a day of peace let us
advance the arts of peace, and the works of peace. Let us develop the
resources of our land; call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests, and see whether we, also, in our day and generation may not perform something worthy to be remembered."
Such, nearly thirty years ago, were the words of the great New England
statesman.
When they were spoken there were in our State but feeble symptoms of
that rapid and vigorous growth which has since characterized western
progress and improvement.
The great experiment of canal navigation was untried; and the question as to whether communication by that means could be carried on with
profit between distant portions of the country, was yet undecided. The
Erie Canal, that artery along which pulsates the life-blood of states and
communities, and especially of our own, was not completed. No great
line of railroad had been laid down in either the Eastern or Western
Hemispheres. The scream of the locomotive had not been heard in the old
world or the new. The crossing of the ocean by steam was looked upon
as an impossibility; and no electric telegraph had stretched its skeleton




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T'i es tfrom one end of the conti-wim t'.no.thr, tr amEi',tig'Kl:a litningg,.         e e  o.,,...................:.-......':~.h.......
Thirty years ago the whole population of the State of Michigan was
not equal to that contained in the twenty towns which are comprised in
the present county of Calhoun.  Thirty years ago the boundaries of
Michigan were not established by law, and white settlers in the interior
were almost unknown. The beautiful oak openings and fertile prairies that
lie around us, now thickly dotted with farms, had not tempted the emigrant so far from the lakes which connected him with the friends he had
left behind; and no villages with their churches, their institutions of learning,their busy humming mills, and broad populous streets occupied the places
where Marshall, Albion and Battle Creek now stand. No plow had turned a sod on the prairie; no axe had leveled the sturdy growth of your timbered lands. Not even a road had traversed your county; and the venture.
some explorer who came out to gratify his curiosity by a view of the
interior, trusted himself solely to his compass and the Indian trails, then
the only pathways through the wilderness. Such was the condition of this
portion of the territory of Michigan, when, before the assembled multitudes
on Bunker's T'ill, ilir. Webster declared that "Our proper business is impro ement."
Let us now, by a few inquiries and investigations, endeavor to ascertain
to what extent in " our day and generation" this "business" has been prosecuted; and also trace to their true cause the rapid advances that are
being made in the condition of the country and its inhabitants.
Behold, where then was an uncultivated wilderness, where no sound was
heard but the cry of the beast of the forest, the song of the wild bird, or
the whoop of the Indian hunter, we see now a gathering of intelligent
farmers, mechanics, and artists, who have brought hither the productions of
their industry and skill, and who seek with friendly emulation to obtain the
rewards that shall be adjudged to those who are foremost in the ranks of
improvement. Looking upon these evidences of progress, may we not say
of those who conquered the wilderness and forced it to yield its fruits to
their peaceful arts, that they, in their day, have done " something worthy
to be remembered?" and does not such a scene as this bear ample testimony
to the foresight, the industry and zeal with which the duties imposed upon
them by the "spirit of the times" have been fulfilled?
Within these few years past the face of the country has undergone an
almost entire change. Is not this in a great measure to be attributed to
the revolutions that have taken place in agriculture as an art? That this is
the "noble pursuit" to which, more than to any other, "the spirit of the
time' is directing the attention of this generation, all will concede; and




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a glance at the different principles which have governed the pioneer and
his successor will at once exhibit the true secret of our present prosperity
and rapid advancement, as contrasted with the comparative snail-like pace
of our predecessors.
The great object with the pioneers, was to economise labor and dispense
with capital. The principle by which they were guided merely taught
them to cut down the forest and till the land in the most primitive manner.
Their successors, on the contrary, by the application of capital in accordance with the discoveries of experience reduced to science, are enabled to
give increased fertility to lands already subdued, but the natural productiveness of which has been either impaired or exhausted.
The practice of the first is ccmprised totally in local, traditionary experiences handed down from father to son. It can be reduced to no standard;
it is governed by no rules; improvement in it is only the result of necessities which force those who follow it to depart from their usial routine to
overcome some new and unexpected difficulty. This was the method of
the pioneers. They knew they had nothing to do but to make use of the
treasures which lay at the surface. Like the first explorers of gulches and
canons of the auriferous Pacific state, they had only to turn up the soil
anywhere, and in the most unskilled manner, to obtain the reward of their
labor. Their achitecture was as rude as their husbandry. The art of
building the log house, the log barn, and brush fence, was not to be learned
from works of science. No treatise on architecture ever taught how log
was piled upon log, nor did any agricultural economist ever explain the art
of making brush fences. The implements they were obliged to use, and
the stock they raised were all in keeping with their times and their necessities. Their hands were their capital; their expenditure the sweat of -the
brow. Their income was not reckoned by dollars and cents, but by the
increase of cleared acres, and by the additions made from year to year to
the stock which grew up around them. The prices in the markets gave
them no concern, for they were too far off to be affected by any fluctuation
that might occur. They had enough for their own consumption, and sometimes a surplus to barter away with any new settler who might chance to
come among them, for some article which, to the new comer, was a superfluity-to the pioneer a luxury. When a piece of land was worn out, the
idea of enriching it from the barn yard never swept across their minds except as a far off vision of something that might be practised where land was
dear, and help might be had for the asking. Cattle were seldom yarded,
or kept where their manure could be made available even if wanted; and
if, by chance, a horse made his nightly lodging in the log stable, the mound
that grew up beneath the square hole that served for a window in the rear




()
of his domicil, was andisturbed year after year, except by the weekly addi
tion to its size, and finally descended to the next purchaser of the premises,
a grass-grown moument to the unskilled system of the pioneer.
You have all seen these mysterious mounds, they are rich in hidden trea,
sures; some of you perhaps, taught by the cunning arts of chemistry, have
forced them to yield back those treasures to the land they had helped to
impoverish. But the pioneer had not learned that art. It was easier and
cheaper for him to clear off another portion of the forest, or turn over a
new sod on the prairie, than to attempt to renovate an old and worn out
field.
This is the method of culture still pursued on new lands at a distance
from market, where the soil is luxuriantly fertile; producing large crops
with but little labor; and such was the condition of farmers here before
the introduction of railroads. Corn grew rank but was not worth transportation to market. Wheat was grown, but not in quantities to more
than satisfy the demand of the population of the small towns and villages
sparsely scattered over the state. Oats were raised, but only to feed the
horses that were raised on the farm; and cattle, sheep and wool were cared
for only to supply home necessities.
The advent of the locomotive was a signal for, or rather the begining of
a revolution for which the pioneers were not prepared. They were shrewd
enough to see that they were out of place in the midst of improvements
which were being made around them by the introduction and application
of capital to a business for success in which they had been taught to rely
only on their strong arms and unbending constitutions.  They did not
cho,ose to become students, or to unlearn what they had been taught; or
rather, they had become too old to learn aught that was new in an occupation to which they had been trained from earliest youth. They did not like
innovations; they could not endure to see their toilsome, hard-fisted efforts
set at naught by the introduction of senseless gearing and machinery; new
implements were not to be tolerated in place of the old and tried. They
laughed at the idea of Merino sheep being better than the coarse wooled
breed they raised, and which were as choice as any at the East when they
left that somewhat indefinite region.  The hardy, half-wild cattle which
came without cost, and required little care in keeping, they considered far
more profitable than the high-bred, high-fed animals whose ponderous frames
they imagined would consume more food during the winter than their carcases would be worth in the spring.
All were not so; but the class we speak of made up their minds that
they could do better by accepting what they considered a fair compensa



tion for their improvements, and moving to some other locality, Where they
could again commence, and carry on that system  of pioneering which
required no capital but their sturdy frames, and no learning but that transmitted to them by their fathers, or which they had picked up while conquering some of the difficulties incident to the life of the backwoods
pioneer.
No disparagement to this class, as individuals, is meant by alluding to
them in this manner. They have had their counterparts in all ages and
amongst all nations; but it is a settled fact that wherever their mode of
culture has prevailed to such an extent as to become a national characteristic, the result has been the same-where no advances have been made in
agriculture, no innovations upon old systems ventured upon by agriculturists,
theie has been a corresponding national stand-still, or, more properly speaking, a national retrogade movement. For an example or illustration of this
you need not look beyond the past unwritten history of your own county.
Think you, that if instead of the tomahawk, the bow and the scalping
knife, the dusky aborigines that you have driven from these forests, had
possessed the axe, the plow, and the reaper, they would so soon and so
easily have yielded to your advances? No, had these broad, fair fields been
tilled by them; had their roof-trees been as deeply rooted in the soil as yours
are now, they would have bid defiance to your puny attempts at supplanting them,- as you have since to their threatened return to their ancient hunting grounds. Their tomahawks and their arrows passed through the air,
and left no trace of where they had been; their foot-paths through the unbroken forest, narrow,, devious and darkened as their own minds, have disappeared under your furrows, and their very existence is fast becoming a
tradition of the past.
It is true that their mode of life was a grade or two below that of the
pioneer, but each in its degree produced the same results.  They did not
"advance the arts of peace," and theirs was not "an age of improvement."
They fled at the sound of the pioneer's axe, as that very class of men to
which allusion has been made, have voluntarily exiled themselves to still
farther western wilds before the scientific innovations which result from the
advancement of the arts of peace. Yet the mission of these men was in
its degree as noble as yours, as faithfully performed, and as necessary to
your comfort and success, as is the proper application of the sciences andi
systems you have intrdduced, to tthe perfectidevelopement of the resources
of: your land.
All honor to the pioneers of the west! the breaking-up team of the age!
still'pushing sturdily on in advance of the lighter implements with which




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science comes to cultivate their rudely broken furrows, to scatter the seed
for you with unconscious hands, to gather up the bountiful harvest in her
arms of wood and steel, and lay it submissively at your feet!  Some who
were pioneers are yet amongst you, to witness, to share in, and be benefited by these triumphs of art; but they are, generally speaking, men of the
age, men of improvement,-those who are willing not only to advance with
the world, but to do all in their power to aid in its advancement.
This, friends of agriculture, is a slight sketch of that system, if system it
may be called, which was practiced by the early settlers, which still prevails
in many of the partially settled counties, and which will continue to prevail to a greater or less degree, so long as land is cheap, labor scarce, wood
an incumbrance, and markets are at a distance.
Now let me give you a few comparative statistics by way of contrast,
and to show the changes that have been made in the value of your agricultural products since the construction of railroads.  The two great staples
of your state are wool and wheat.  By examining the census tables of
1840 and 1850, we find that the increase of the number of sheep in the
State during those ten years, was 650,000; and the increase of the number
of pounds of wool in the same time was 1,789,908. Of wheat in the.same
period the increase was nearly 3,000,000 bushels.
Look now at the difference made in the value of a single bushel of wheat
by the two different modes of transportation.  On the ordinary highways
of the country, it was seldom that more than fifty bushels of grain were
brought to market at a single load; and whatever the distance from market
might be, the value of that load was decreased in proportion to the cost
of its transportation.  Thus, when wheat was worth $1.50 per bushel in
Detroit, a load of thirty-three bushels, or one ton, if already in the market,
would have brought $49.50, while in the granary of the farmer, thirty
miles distant, it would only have been worth the same money minus the
expense of marketing, which is estimated by some at the rate of fifteen
cents per mile, making the cost of transporting one ton thirty miles, $4.50.
This would not be far out of the way, taking into account the wear and
tear of the team, harness, wagon and man; especially when it is remembered that as there were then no commissioned agents stationed along the road
to receive the grain, and forward it to the great marketing emporiums, the
farmer was obliged to take it there himself, and thus risked the temptation
to appropriate a part of the money for liquid returns which frequently
floated off a goodly portion of the proceeds of the harvest, as, possibly,
some of you have had occasion to know!
At the distance Marshall is from Detroit, with which market it is most




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naturally connected by geographical position, a bushel of wheat was thus
reduced in value from  $1,50 to ninety-nine cents, and were it worth only
seventy cents in Detroit, the farmer of Calhoun county would expect to
realize but nineteen cents per bushel for his labor and expense of raising
it.  So with corn; when it was worth fifty cents per bushel in Detroit, it
could not from this distance be marketed there and leave a profit, even
though the raising of it cost nothing.  But the locomotive, and the iron
track, stretching from point to point, across valleys, through hills, and over
prairies, has changed all this by bringing the markets of the world to your
doors. The bushel of wheat which realized to the producer but nineteen
cents, became worth the whole seventy, minus only the railroad freightage,
which at present is but about eleven cents per bushel, leaving in the hands
of the cultivator a fair return for his investments in land and labor.
In regard to live stock the change was still more to the advantage of
the farmer. Cattle, which previous to the introduction of railroads would
not pay their own transportation, suddenly rose in value.  But the enhancement of the value of native stock was not altogether satisfactory. It
was soon found that a steer worth 60. or 70 dollars at the Bull's Head in
New York or Brighton, cost no more for carriage from the oak openings
of Michigan, or the prairies of Indiana or Illinois, than one worth but 35
or 40, and shrewd dealers discovered that they could afford to pay a better
price for good animals of improved breeds than they could for the rawboned, thick-hided, half wild brutes which grew up without care and with
but little expense to the owner. The means of rapid communication now
afforded, brought western farmers into closer competition with their more
advanced brethren at the east, and rendered the introduction of improved
breeds of cattle of the utmost importance.
Eastern agriculturists had already taken several decisive steps in the
way of progress. Canals and other public works, by increasing the value
of their lands, had also added to their taxes; and this, acting as a spur to
their ingenuity, led them to seek out a different and more profitable system of culture than that which thelr fathers had pursued.
They had encouraged the invention and use of new implements; they
had tried the horse rake and horse hoe, and pronounced them indispensable. New cultivators, scarifiers, improved plows, and various other implements had come into use, and been adopted as necessary to aid in the labors
of the farm.  They had also learned that much was to be gained by the
introduction of breeding cattle superior in all the points which make such
animals valuable to the agriculturist; such as early maturity, capacity to
put on flesh and fat, hardiness of constitution, and increased size and weight.
2




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All this the agriculturists at the east had learned and commenced to practice upon, and profit by, before the farmers of Michigan had fairly got out
of the woods, or opened their eyes to the necessity of any such improvements. And when the snort of the locomotive announced that it had brought
in its train, not only the cars laden with new comers seeking western
homes, but also the markets of Boston and New York, and Liverpool, and
London, close to the barn yards of Michigan farmers, it took some time for
the tillers of the soil to realize the new duties it imposed upon them, the
new relations it gave them, the new advantages it created for them, andthe
vast field of enterprise it opened before them for their benefit and enjoyment.
Many, as we have said, could not submit to these changes, and they
moved away farther towards the setting sun; but others courageously looked the innovation in the face, and acknowledged the truth of the statement made by the New England sage, that this was a " day of progress,
and an age of improvement."
While the emulation created by a nearer proximity to market, as well
as to their more advantageously situated neighbors in the eastern States,
thus affected the outward condition of the western farmer, it made necessary also a corresponding change in his mental cultivation.
It became evident that an acquaintance with an entire new range of
subjects was indispensable. To be a successful agriculturist one must learn
things that were never taught or even dreamed of by the plain, straightforward, strong-handed farmers who had hewed their way tb a home, axe
in hand, and who were still contented wlth the work of the old-fashioned
wooden plow, and the equally antique, triangular harrow.
To acquire that knowledge, both mental and physical, which these new
relations, new duties and new privileges have made necessary, to give it a
proper, practical application to the business of every day life, to make use
of it in developing the resources of our land, calling forth its powers, building up its institutions, promoting all its great interests, and making our
day and generation one worthy to be remembered, this is what is meant by
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.
Agricultural Educationl  How long is it since such a term came into
use?
Let us for a moment take a backward glance at the state of agriculture
amongst the earlier nations of the earth, and, observing its effect upon the
human race for successive ages, trace the dawning idea of its fuller development by education, up to our own times.
We have proof that the ancients had acquired a degree of skill in cultivation, far back in the times when Medea and Bactria, and the plains of




Assyria and Babylonia were clothed with the luxuriant crops which the
teeming soil and warm climates of those lands awarded to.,the husbandman.   But the ruins of their mechanical ingenuity, the works constructed
to convey the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates into the distant furrows
of fields that are now a desolation and a wilderness, are all that remain.
Layard speaking of these in the narrative of his travels over that country,
says, "the embankments of innumerable canals, long since deserted by their
waters, crossed our path, bearing witness to the skill and industry which
once made these barren plains one vast garden."  Their implements of husbandry were rude, their method of tillage not progressive, and the result is
what the traveler sees, an impoverished soil, and a degraded people amidst
the ruins of past greatness.
The same, in effect, might be said of that fertile valley through which
flows the mysterious and marvelous river, on whose banks stand the pyramids.  The Egyptian husbandman knows nothing beyond the mere me.
chanical performance of those duties which experience taught his forefathers were necessary to obtain the simplest results; and though that land
of corn from the fertile Delta to the cataracts of Nubia, has been known
for fifty centuries to produce crop after crop, yielding the most ample returns, there has been no improvement in the implements used, the mode of
working, whether in sowing, irrigating, harvesting, winnowing or storing
the grain its exhaustless soil produces. The same crooked stick is used to
scratch the ground now by the fellah, which was used when the foundations
of the pyramids and of the sphinx were laid. The same rude shadouf and
sakia which were then employed to irrigate fields on which no drop of rain
ever falls, are still in use to raise the water from the Nile to the fields along
its banks. In vain has the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Roman, Saracen and
Turk, in turn swept over the land; no progress has been apparent in its agriculture, and national degeneracy has been the inevitable consequence.
While art and architectural science stand immortalized by the everlasting
pyramids, the wondrous cities and magnificent temples built in honor of the
gods, and which, century after century, whether in the full splendor of their
pristine beauty, or in a state of grand and solemn ruin, have excited the
curiosity and challenged the admiration of the world, we have no evidence
that the idea of agricultural education for the purpose of improvement ever
entered into the minds of those who, without the labors of the husbandman, could have raised no conquering army, won no victory, celebrated no
triumph; and whose career would not have been worth recording, either on
the rolls of papyrus which the antiquarian rescues from the catacombs, or
with their mysterious hieroglyphs on their more lasting monuments of stone.




( 12 )
Both Jewish and Egyptian Legislators appear to have been governed by
the sentiment expressed by the apochryphal writer, when he exclaimed:
"  ow can he get wisdom that holdeth the plow-that glorieth in the
goad; that driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labors; whose talk is of
bullocks?'
In that land whose bright galaxy of warriors, statesmen, historians, philosophers, poets, painters and sculptors has for ages out-shone all others,
we find nothing on record concerning the condition of agriculture, except
the honors which were paid to the divinities who presided over the growth
of the field, the orchard and the vineyard.  What we learn of the festivals given in honor of the corn goddess Demeter and the wine god Dionysus, is about all that is left us of the manners, practices and customs of
the agricultural population of ancient Hellas.  Their great festivals, such
as the Olympic, Isthmian and Pythian games, at which the whole male
population of the several States were often present, made no such display
as we here behold. The only distinction which agriculture enjoyed, was
the presence of the priestess of Ceres and her attendant virgins. We read
of the swift-footed horses of Alcibiades and Iiero, but have no record that
the art of breeding those wonderful coursers that won for the victor in the
chariot races, the cherished crown which the proudest king deemed it an
honor to bear off. was thought worthy of a single inquiry.  While the
swiftest runner was considered worthy to have his name recorded in letters
of gold upon pillars of the marble of Pentelicus, the tiller of the soil was
deemed unworthy of public notice by the great mass of the fickle Greeks.
Historians, poets, and artists received honors due to their genius, but we
read of no exhibition of the fruits of the earth to encourage improvements
in agriculture.  While the choicest oxen, the finest bulls, and the fattest
rams, blazed upon the altars in honor of the gods, no word was ever said as
to what reward was due to those whose patient and plodding care had reared and fattened the animals for sacrifice. To those who raised the fleeces
and figs of Attica, the wheat of Marathon, the honeyed wealth of Hymettus, no praise was given. The gods fashioned from wood and stone-those
forms of classic beauty, shaped by the genius ot a Phidias or a Praxitelesreceived divine honors, while the tillers of the soil, the men whose industry
furnished the priests with their most valuable offerings, were esteemed but
as a portion of the clods which composed the soil, and capable of no improvement.  As a nation, the Greeks neglected the true ground-work of
permanent national greatness, and the consequence was inevitable.  They
exist now amongst the ruins of a glorious, but too short-lived past. It was
but too common with the ancients to consider the cultivation of the soil




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an unworthy occupation for those who aspired to defend their country, or
to make war upon neighboring nations, and suited only to the capacities of
an enslaved and conquered race. As a striking and ready example, we need
only cite you to the condition and employments of the Helots amidst their
Dorian conquerors.
What we find upon the pages of such writers as Cicero, Cato, Pliny,
Varro, Columella and Virgil, relative to agriculture, gives us no reason to
suppose that the Romans deemed it an art susceptible of improvement by
the education of the agriculturist.  The invention of new implements, the
adoption of easier methods of cultivation, the better instruction of those
who had the charge of landed estates, or the art of improving the breeds of
domestic animals seem never to have occupied their thoughts. We know
that much of the patriotic virtue for which the earlier Romans were distinguished, is ascribed to the fact that they belonged to a class who tilled
their own possessions with almost penurious care; and the names of some
of their most illustrious families,'as the Fabii, the Lentuli, the Pisones and
Cicerones were significunt of their origin from amongst the farmers in the
neighborhood of the Eternal City.  But whatever tendency there might
have been towards agricultural. improvemnenat, either in the citizens or their
government, it was checked in the outset by the heavy drafts made on the
population for their wars of conquest, by which freemen were taken from
their homes, and in return the victorious legions supplied their places with
enslaved prisoners from foreign lands: and froni the introduction of that
system we may date the commencement of Roman degeneracy.
We have no record of any nation ever having improved its agriculture,
or perpetuated its national greatness, while the cultivators of the soil were
in a state of ignorance or thraldom.  In confirmation of this, I might, if
necessary, still farther refer you to the condition of Europe during the dark
and middle ages, when the relation of the tiller of the soil to the estate on
which he labored, and to its owner, was aptly expressed in the terms by
which he was recognised in law; vassal, villein, thrall, serf, bondman. During the prevalence of the feudal system, the land-holders by their tyrannical and incessant demands and drafts upon the agricultural population. entirely precluded the possibility of improvement in that class, and agriculture was in its most degraded state. From this condition it did not revive
* till the necessities of commerce in England gave it an impetus in the reins of
Henry VIII., and of Elizabeth, after the civil wars had ceased, and men
began to feel that there was some security against the power and grasping
avarice of the rapacious nobles, who had heretofore reaped what the husbandman had sown. But it was not till after the middle of the last centu



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ry, when some progress had been made in the two sciences of Chemistry
and Geology that, as an art, agriculture began to show unmistakable signs
of that vitality which now pervades it, and which, gaining as it does each
day, additional energy and power, promises soon to place it where it belongs-first on the list of sciences, itself the life and mainspring of all others.
Chemistry with her wonderful powers of analysis and comparison, and
with such priests at her shrine as Scheely, Priestly, Lavoisier, Galvani, Volta, Berselius, Sir Humphrey Davy, and a host of gifted men of a more
recent date, to explain her mysterious processes, has done much, and will
still do much more for agriculture. Geology too, with an equally illustrious array of talent to aid in its development has toiled among rocks of error, surmounted Alps of stubborn difficulties, and steadily progressed
through strata after strata of ignorance and superstition, till it not only
stands of itself a science with its own symbols, and its own language, but it
has also lent its aid in laying broad, and deep, and permanent, the foundations of a thorough agricultural practice. While these sciences were being
moulded into tangible forms from the chaotic masses of facts which had
been discovered and brought into contact from time to time by the intelligent minds of ihe age, it was hardly possible that agriculture so intimately connected with both should lie dormant. Indeed it was the necessity of
infusing new life into the latter that aroused the spirit of inquiry and research which so far perfected the former.  The lands worked were yearly
becoming less productive, and the prospects were that the crops would soon
be insufficient to sustain the increasing population.  A resort to science
and the application of principles there unfolded, led to experiments which
were successful in restoring fertility to the worn out soil. These successes
awakened a new interest in the cause of agriculture.  It became a study,
a fruitful field of new and exciting experiments, which, soon attracted the
attention of men of genius, and enlisted their active services in its behalf.
As the benefits arising from the adoption of popular improvements became
more apparent in the increased fertility of the soil and the abundant harvests, the necessity of making corresponding improvements in the various
animals reared for sale or use, began likewise to force itself upon the minds
of agriculturists. The art of breeding became a part of their study. Some
turned their attention almost wholly to that subject, and became successful
breeders of those superior varieties which are now not only spreading over
all England, but the United States.
No one can deny that it is to Great Britain we must look for examples
of the most successful application of that system of agriculture which is
taking advantage of scientific discoveries and mechanical inventions to make
the land repay by its increased productiveness, the immense amount of




[ 18 ]
capital expended upon it. The drill system, alternate husbandry or rotation of crops, drainage, the application of special manures, and the use of
the sub-soil plow have each and all been carried into practice there on the
most extensive scale.  Geology, chemistry, zoology, botany, entomology,
comparative anatomy, animial and vegetable physiology, hydraulics, mechanics, meteorology, and book-keeping are there each and all called upon
to aid in rendering the education of the farmer perfect.  They are made
to assist him in developing soils and bringing them to their utmost fertility, and also insuring the highest profit, by surveying, draining, manuring,
cultivating and securing the crops, with the least possible waste of land,
time, labor and capital.  They aid him too in breeding, rearing, feeding,
managing and marketing stock, as well as in rendering the produce of the
dairy of the best quality and the utmost profit.
Novel experiments in various branches of husbandry have recently given
a new and enthusiastic impulse to the cause of agriculture in Great Britain.
But as yet, as far as the eastern continent is concerned, this enthusiasm
is, with few exceptions, limited to that island, and the prosecution of those
extraordinary experiments confined to a class who have all the advantage'
of wealth and leisure.  In speaking of these advancements, therefore, it
must be remembered how small a part of the world England is, and how
many centuries elapsed after her existence as a nation, before even she began to understand where her true strength lay, and to direct her attention
to that noble pursuit upon whose proper development is based the strength,
and intelligence, and independence of any people.  Look over the monarchies and despotisms of entire Europe, and you look in vain for anything
like general education amongst the tillers of the soil. The very class from
which those despotisms draw their life, and their power to oppress, have
not sufficient intelligence to maintain their independence should it be granted to them.   Would this be so, could it be so, if they were not degraded
almost to a level with the brutes that share their labors?  Their manner
of cultivation and their implements are sadly at variance with the pretensions to civilization made by the governing class.  An American resident
in Paris, the very centre of European civilization, writing from that place
during the past summer, says; " I sometimes wonder that anything grows
in France, the tools used in gardening and in agriculture are so uncouth
and unhandy."   And another traveler, an accomplished writer, and an experienced and accurate observer, who within a few years past has visited
nearly all the countries of Europe for the purpose of noting the improvements in agriculture, lately] declared in an address before the Agricltural
Society of New York, thatwhile in one or two localities where schools had




been established, much good had been effected, yet, with few exceptions,
in spite of an imposing array of institutions and professorships, there was
very little improvement in the general agriculture of the country. And this
is the testimony of all travelers.
In our own country, we find that political and social institutions make a
wide difference in the condition of its farmers compared with those of Europe. The very fact of their self-dependence gives them a shrewdness of
discernment and an aptness of application for which tie European tenant,
who is in reality the practical agriculturist of that country, can never know
the necessity.  This fact will also contribute greatly to the rapid diffusion
of scientific agricultural education, when it is once known that it can be
obtained, and to what extent it can be applied with advantage to the business of every day liCe.
There is a spirit of emulation and inquiry abroad in the land; and this
spirit is daily becoming more prevalent and inquisitive, and less easily satisfied with ordinary operations and ordinary results. There are secrets in.nature,, influencing the success or failure of the farmer which only science
can discover; and it has been the study of some of the best minds of the
age to investigate the laws by which she governs her most successsul operations; to pry into the secrets of her laboratory, to watch, to experiment,
till by patient toil and research they have in a degree become masters of
the arts by which she excels.  Throughl the instrumentality of the Press,
the fruits of their labors, like the good seed of the thrifty and generous
handed husbandman, have been sown broadcast over the land.
See what has been done for agriculture by these means within the last
twenty years. In 1835. there was but one periodical devoted solely to its
interests in the United States; now they are almost as numerous as the
States themselves.  One of the first efforts made to arouse the minds of
farmers of this coantry to their own interests was that of the few, but infuential and persevering men who organized the New York State Agricultural Society in 1838. Those men had observed the good effects of the
Royal Agricultural Society of England, and resolved to awaken in their
own State and country a spirit of inquiry similar to that which had been
aroused by their English prototype. The result of that effort is well known.
-The first step was taken in the grand march of improvement; State after
State came into the ranks; communities and counties marshalled their companies of independent yeomanry and wheeled into line; now, all are actively,engaged in battling the common enemy, the allied legions of ignorance and
error. At their annual gatherings on public parade grounds like this, they
exhibit the trophies of their victories, compare the spoils they have won




and incite each other to bolder exploits and nobler efforts in the future.
The farmers of twenty years ago enjoyed none of the advantages these social gatherings afford. They had no opportunity of learning what you may
learn each year, from the published reports of such societies, in relation to
the improvements being made in the methods of tilling the soil; or of examining new implements, or comparing the merits of the various breeds of
foreign and domestic animals.  They leveled the forest, broke up the sod,
and prepared the way for you.
Compare such a scene as you here behold, with those witnessed by the
pioneer of twenty years ago, and ask yourselves if, as a county, your progress is in proportion to your increased advantages.  Truly, with regard
to soil and situation, " the lines have fallen to you in pleasant places; you
have a goodly heritage."  Nature has cone her part, and he who imagines
he could improve on her handiwork must think himself a being of superior
order.  M!echanical art and inventive genius have done their share by
bringing the markets of the world to your doors on the iron track, and by
giving you tidings from  distant lands by the spirit-like rappings of the
electric telegraph; implements have been furnished for your hands and
thoughts for your brains; have you made them subservient to your interest-which is the interest of agricuilture-which is the interest of your country?  You have been progressing it is true; you could not well do otherwise with these improved means of communication open to you; but are
you prepared to take advantage of all the facilities within your reach, to
increase your own knowledge by the addition of valuable and successful
experiments, that you may transmit it, thus enriched, to your children?
In the simple art of growing grass, is there one here who feels satisfied.
that he has arrived at perfection?  You think you have done well when
you have made your fields average three tons to the acre, but can any of
you say there is any reason why, by the proper application of skill and
capital, you might not as well average five tons as three?  If by some improved system of cultivation, you might increase the products of your grass
lands sufficiently to enable you to send from each acre, two head of improved cattle annually to the New York market, instead of the one or half or
three quarters of one you now do, would not that, besides being something
to your own private advantage, be worth telling of, even in presence of
such an assembly as this?  I believe that it will be done in a few years;
and that such is the spirit of emulation and progress amongst the farmers
of Calhoun, it will be done by some of them.  You may deem this visionary, but it is no more so than what has already been accomplished by you
might have seemed fifteen or twenty years ago.  Let your memories run
3




back to that period; think what the ground you stand upon looked like
then; and think if, looking into the future then, you could have realized the
possibility, in so short a time, of an exhibition like that we have here witnessed to-day! Could you have believed that the wilderness would have
been made to yield such superior productions in such abundance, or that
you could have made such a goodly show of blooded cattle, horses, sheep
and swine; or that it would ever have entered into the minds of men to
contrive such implements as you here behold, for the use of agriculturists
who had taken up their abode, as it were on the very outskirts of civilization? Where then were the reaping and mowing machines, the cultivators,
the plows, the harrows, the threshing machines and horse powers, the construction of which adds so much to the industrial wealth of the country,
aside from the advantage their possession affords you by increasing your
power of tillage.  The idea that such things might be in your day, would
have seemed visionary to you then; but believe me, you have not seen the:
end yet.
Let us now take a brief view of the present condition of agriculture in
Calhoun county; indeed, I ought not to confine myself to this county alone,
for the farmers in all the southern and central portions of the State are in
nearly the same relative position,-all more or less flourishing as they have
been able to profit by the advantages which the general progress of the
country has placed within their reach.  I am tempted here, by way of introduction, to repeat a remark recently made by a friend of mine who is
here with you to-day. In speaking of your prosperity now, he exultingly
declared that the time had gone by, when to meet the expense of reaping
his crops, it frequently happened that the farmer's only resource was a
chattel mortgage on his standing grain; and he rejoiced at the idea that
such a legal instrument would soon become so obsolete that even the older
limbs of the law would scarcely be able to recall the phraseology necessary
to make one out!
The times that made such an expedient a necessity to the farmer are indeed past. And now, in passing along your smooth country roads, bounded by neat, well-built fences, or by long lines of walls composed of stones
gathered from the adjoining fields, we see those fields almost free from the
remains of the original forest, with scarcely a stump to disfigure their green
expanse, clothed with waving crops, or luxuriant with rich pasturage, or
the cultivated grasses; and when in those pastures we behold flocks whose
progenitors came from the royal stocks of Rambouillet or the Escurial, or
from the still more distant and finer wooled Saxon races; and when we discover the grazing herds to be of the improved breeds which it has been the




[ 19]
tare of the wealthy landholders of Great Britain to originate and  rear;
when orchards of choice fruits greet our eyes, and well arranged yards where
cribs, granaries, stables, sheds and barns bear ample testimony to the thrift
and economy of the proprietor; and lastly, when we see the residences themselves, in all the elegance of their fair proportions, adorned by the skill and
taste of the architect, elaborate with ornament without, and fitted up with
the comforts and luxuries of life within-we may well judge that agriculture has outlived the doubtful period of its infancy and is ready to enter
upon a new phase of its existence.
This is a fair picture of your prosperity here; and a type of the condition of agriculture generally throughout those portions of the State which
have been longest subjected to cultivation. Muscular strength, and what
knowledge you possess, have wrought out their good effects; but does not
experience teach you that still to advance, more capital must be applied;
and that to obtain profitable returns for increased expenditures, more mental energy must be thrown into the occupation of the farmer than has ever
yet been devoted to it? That mental energy must be nourished and strengthened by giving to it the knowledge for which it hungers-the learning necessary to its existence; and in order that this may be done, is it not evident to you that we must summon to our aid a thorough practical system
of agricultural education?  Let that summons be issued by you; see you
to it, that it is respected and obeyed; then will the present farming population of Michigan not only prove themselve worthy successors of their
honored pioneers, but they will be able also to perform something worthy
of being remembered.
We often hear of instances where the best lands of our own State, as
well as of others, have deteriorated; where the great staple crops do not
grow as luxuriantly as formerly, or average as large a yield of sound grain
to the acre. Now, the reflective farmer knows very well the limit to which
his own knowledge and experience will lead him in attempts to remedy such
an evil, but is not sure how far beyond that he may venture with safety.
Progressive in his nature, he regrets his want of that knowledge which
might serve as a guide beyond the circle to which he has all his life been
confined. It is true he may feel that even if the mleans to gain it were now
at hand, it would be too late for him to profit by them; but he has sons
and daughters who will soon occupy his place, and he knows that to be
successful in the future, they must be wiser than he has been. Besides these,
there are other instances where further light and knowledge are required.
In close proximity to some of our most thriving towns, and lying around,
and among the improved lands, occupying often most valuable locations.




[20o]
are large tracts yet untouched by the hand of labor.  Untouched, not because they are valueless; the farmer knows there is wealth under the bogs
and standing pools of those wild morasses, but how shall he set about to
make it available?  He too lacks the knowledge which his brother on the
exhausted field is wanting. But where shall they go to obtain that knowledge? You all know it is not to be had in the State; in fact itis not to be
had to its full measure in the country. To improve these swamps properly
and profitably will require on the part of the agriculturist an acquaintance
with practical engineering, and a knowledge of hydraulics, and of surveying applied to the art of draining. He must understand too, the nature of
the vegetation which now occupies those lands as well as of that he would
cultivate on them, which he cannot do without a thorough knowledge of
botany, vegetable physiology, and the principles and application of agricultural chemistry.  By these means alone can be made available the fertilizing properties which lie like outspread and untold treasures of ungathered
wealth all around us, in every hollow and basin, where they have been accumulating for ages.  We would stock the rich fields into which those
swamps should be converted, with flocks and herds whose welfare demands
that we should be prepared to guard them against disease, and provide for
all their wants; to do this, is it not necessary that we should also have the
opportunity to learn something of animal physiology and veterinary science and practice?  All this knowledge, or the means to obtain it, should
be at our command. Those who preceded us did not need it; we have not
yet felt the want of it; but does not a wise foresight, a prudent sagacity
tell us that the time is approaching-nay, is now at hand-when it will be
found indispensable to us, as well as to those who are destined to take our
places?  And can we be satisfied that we have accomplished all that our
position at the present day requires of us, if, with the means in our hands,
we permit to be neglected the great first duty of furnishing to the rising
generation an adequate and fitting opportunity to obtain scientific and
practical instruction in all that relates to the theory and practice of agriculture? I say, wits the means in our hands; for there never was a
State more richly endowed with the means of giving to her sons and
daughters such instruction, than is, at the present time, the State of
Michigan.
Our State needs an Agricultural College. That college should be
founded on a basis separate from, and independent of, all others. Such
an institution cannot be established without an ample endowment; and
what more ample endowment could be desired than the gift which the
United States Government has already made to Michigan of the swamp




(21 )
lands within her borders? This grant is made with the^ simple understanding that it is to enable the State to construct the levees and drains
necessary to reclaim those lands and render them susceptible of cultivation.
Five million two hundred and seventy-six thousand acres have already
been confirmed to the State; and more are still to be set off to her. Of
this immense territory, as yet, but one hundred and forty-four thousand
eight hundred and fifteen acres have been sold, amounting to the sum  of
$114,607-$53,597.26 of which has been paid into the Treasury, leaving,
outstanding, but drawing interest, some $61,000. For this money the
State has no immediate pressing use. Should the whole of the lands be
sold at the same rates as those already disposed of, thbere would be a fund
of over four millions of dollars at the disposal of the State. Surely
nothing could be more reasonable than that a portion of this immense
fund should be set apart for the purposes of education, when that education is designed to be of such a nature as would tend to increase the value
of those very lands which furnish the endowment of the institution where
it is obtained. Would it not be better, by some organization on -the part
of the farmers of the State, thus to devote a part of the proceeds of these
land sales to the increase and diffusion of knowledge adapted to their own
necessities, than to have it lie in the State Treasury, a bait and a temptaCion to greedy and grasping political adventurers? And are the farmers
of the State not entitled to at least four or five per cent. out of this
swamp land fund, for the purposes of agricultural education, when the
very investment of this per centage will, in a few brief years, double the
principal from which it may be taken?
The establishment of an institution that would supply our present
wants, ought not to cost over $50,000, and need not, if managed with
that economy which a prudent indiv!.du,.l of good judgment would deem
necessary in his own business. Give it a farm of a thousand acres, give it
all the necessary buildings, and the professors competent to teach all that
is required, and is it too much to say, that after the first initiatory years, it
would annually send out at least two hundred graduates, well versed and
skilled in all the arts that would enable them sucessfully to cultivate
whatever lands might come into their own possession; capable men, also,
into whose hands might be entrusted the drainage of those very swamps
which the State, by its acceptance of the gift from the General Government, has engaged to improve.
I believe the whole annual cost of an institution like this, for salaries,
professors, and apparatus, after it reached its highest possible developen.ent, would not be over twelve or fifteen thousand dollars. Should the




(22)
State refuse to grant a sufficiently large appropriation, the balance might
easily be made up by stock subscriptions from the friends of the pupils and
of the institution. In any event the necessity for such a college is beyond
all question,-I say let the experiment be tried. To make it answer the
end in view, it is of vital importance that the school system and discipline
should be thoroughly practical. The students ought to be trained in a
course of actual practice, in the management of tools, implements, machines, animals and land, in the tillage of fields, the application of manures,
the sowing of seed, the raising of crops, getting them ready for market,
and their sale; and also in the raising, fattening and marketing of stock.
No hired help should be employed to do any part of even the most toilsome and most disagreeable labors; but the several classes should feel a
pride in endeavoring to excel each other in the management of the sections
committed to their charge.
In the improvement of land by draining, the students should not only
be taught the art of surveying, levelling and laying out the drains, but
with pick and spade in hand, let them open the trenches, lay the tiles, and
perfect the work. If horse power is used, let them learn the art of managing the machines. They have a right to this knowledge, and should not
submit to be defrauded of it, as too many have been.
I do not believe in that species of agricultural education which is taught
only by lectures, or by study in the closet. VWhat can the in-door student
know of the qualities of soils, the lay of the land, the nature of animals,
or of the various expedients to which the fluctuations of the weather
may drive the quick-witted and active out-of-door farmer? or last, and not
least, what would such a student know of the market value of his crops,
or of the state of the markiet-s themselves? It is as preposterous to say
that a farmer can be made withoIut thlte practice of his business, as that a
divine can be made without the study of the Scriptures. The military
establishment at West Point is a standing comment on the folly of the
course that has heretofore been pursued in our academies and institutions of learning in regard to.agricultural education. There, no cadet is
considered worthy of promotion to the most trivial command in the regular
army, till he has been well drilled in the performances of all the duties of
the common soldier. Does not common sense teach us, that at least equal
care and pains should be taken with the education of those who form a
much more numerous and necessary class of community, and upon whose
success so much of the happiness of life depends?  Hitherto what has
been taught of agriculture, has generally been made to come in after the
regular course of study, as though it were only of third or fourth rate




('23 )
importance; indeed, as it was only in theory at last, it seemed to make
very little difference in the end whether it was studied at all or not.
Agriculture requires, and deserves, and calls for an institution of its
own. Let it have one! It is in your power, farmers of Michigan, to
establish one which will be an honor to yourselves and your State. Your
educational fends have already been too long, and too exclusively devoted
to fittingo out students for the learned professions, theology, medicine, and
jurisprudence. It is time there should be a change. I would cast no reflections on the learning, talent and skill engaged in these professions; nor
do I ask you to pull them down. That is not necessary. They are institutions built up by time and popular opinion, and are subject to them;
and whilst they deserve to be sustained, they will be, and with no grudging
hand. But it is for you to rear another, not to say more honorable, but
of as great utility, and more peculiarly your own. The State has neglected your interests in this respect; no care has been taken to aid in your
advancement; but now the means are in your power; use them in such a
manner as to elevate your calling in your own eyes, and the world will
soon learn to do it honor. These hints are not thrown out as though such
an establishment as I speak of, were some visionary project of an imaginative
brain-some far-off, impracticable theory for you to speculate upon; I
hope so see it built in reality, and these suggestions are intended for practical use. They are prompted by the necessities of the times. Farmers of
America must keep pace with other branches of industry and art, if they
would not have their nation add another to the list of those who have
flourished for a season on the fat of the land, run a career of transitory
splendor, and having robbed the earth of its power to sustain them,
withered away like a tree without root, leaving only the stark and blighted skeleton of what they might have been, a lasting memorial of their
own folly. And thinking-men are waking up to these necessities: from
every part of the Union they are calling for light and knowledge on the
subject of agriculture. The idea that farmers must be educated for their
occupation is everywhere rapidly gaining ground; and in uttering these
sentiments, and urging this matter upon your immediate consideration, I
am but giving expression here to what is becoming the popular opinion
of the times.
Members of the Society, and farmers of Calhoun! Your position is
an enviable one! Situated near the centre of a State which is rapidly developing its wealth andits capacities; with a climate sufficiently severe in
the extremes of its summer suns and wintry frosts to call forth your energies in counteracting its effects; connected, directly, at all seasons with




( 24 )
the east, and its emporiums of export and import; with a great iron thoroughfare in your midst, along which pours, in a ceaseless tide, the emigration and commerce of the growing west, and which the future promises will,
at no distant day, be the means of connecting you with the regions that
border on that mighty ocean whose limitless expanse is but just beginning
to be whitened with the sails of commercial enterprise; with States and
communities advancing, and great national interests arising on all sides;
you cannot stand still even if yol would. Bear in mind then your obligations to those who have gone before you, the duties you owe to yourselves
and your successors. The experience of all ages tells you that where the
mental cultivation of the tiller of the soil has been neglected —where
labor has not been honored-there have the people and the land together
sunk in the scale of civilization and importance. Wherever men have held
in contempt that great law which the Omnipotent gave to the first born of
the earth when he declared: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread;" there have the nations fallen; and no wealth or splendor has sufficed to save from desolation and ruin, the land where the obedient subjects
of that law have been despised and dishonored. While the earlier nations
respected that divine command, they increased in strength and might and
majesty, till their glory became the pride of mankind! Their rulers and
their men of power neglected to honor it; and the very grass refuses to
grow on the mouldering ruins, the deserted plains and barren deserts,.
which now mark where they once flourished in all their pomp and magnificence. The plains of Shinar-the great valley of the Nile-the hills and
vales of classic Greece-the slopes of Sicily, once the granary of the mistress of the world-the pontine marshes and maremna of Italia, all speak tot
us from the darkened past of the consequences of contempt for that eternal principle by which our tenure of the soil-fertile as when God gave it
to us-is continued from age to age; and Europe as she is stands a living and
present witness that there the mandate has not been, and is not yet respected! Why else do her oppressed and starving crowds rise up and'seek
our shores? and from what other cause springs that constant fear of disso.
lution which makes her banded despotisms tremble? Upon the progress
and prosperity of agriculture depends the permanence of all other progress..
Arts, sciences and commerce may all reach a certain point, may all live and
thrivefor a time on the stimulus accorded them by despotic power-that
ability to trample labor under foot-to repress the longing and earnest
desire for knowledge in those who live by it, by condemning them to hopeless and helpless ignorance; but the reaction comes-the "baseless fabric"
of their unsubstantial greatness falls-corruption and desolation are their;




[25 
end. But with an agricultural population whose "business is improvement," no tyranny can ever thrive; liberal institutions must prevail, and
freedom of speech and action be the inheritance of the tillers of the soil.
An old Greek myth represents that from a serpent's teeth, sown by thec
Theban lawgiver on the soil he had selected for his home, sprang the men
who built and guarded his city; so from the teeth you shall wrench from
the dragon of ignorance will spring the men who will guard the institutions
you bequeath to them.
Men of Michigan! to you is committed the sacred trust of educating
your youth to fit then to perpetuate unimpaired that prosperity of which
your fathers and yourselves have laid the foundation. The General Government has placed in your hands the means of establishing a noble institution, which, if wisely conducted, may be the pioneer and prototype of
many others which shall spring up in different and distant parts of this
wide spread Union. You have it in your power to elevate that noble
pursuit in which you are engaged; to extend its usefulness; to add new
treasures to the general wealth; to give salubrity to localities now deserted,
and to increase the productiveness of the land you have chosen for your
homes. From your midst go forth the young men whose enterprise and
talents and genius build up our cities, and add to the wealth and renown
of our State in mercantile and professional life; let them go with minds
imbued with respect for your occupationl, and a love for the rural scenes
amidst which they were nurtured. To you again will return the physician
from his office, the divine from his desk, the judge from his bench, the
merchant from his counting-room, bearing the wealth which has repaid
years of arduous toil, the reward of industry, to expend in the quiet of
country life. Make your homes and neighborhood attractive to men of
mind and capital, and the professions themselves, by their wealth and influence and intelligence, shall aid in advancing your interests.
Farmers, the destiny of the State rests with vou.! Place Michigan
where she belongs, in front rank with the most advanced of her sister
States in that noble pursuit to which the spirit of the times so strongly
invites; then shall our freedom as a people be perpetuated, the integrity
of our institutions be sustained, all our great interests promoted; and we,
too, shall leave behind us a monument more lasting than one of brass or
stone-a name and memory to be honored to the latest generation.
5