Addresses of Hon. Allen G. Thurman delivered before the Maryland Agricultural and Mechanical Association, at Pimlico, near Baltimore, Md., October 8, 1874

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ADDRESS

HON. ALLEN G. THURMAN,

DELIVERS* BEH>RE THE

Maryland Agricultural and Mechanical Association,

PIMLICO, NEAR BALTIMORE, MD.,

OCTOBER 8, 1874.

WASHINGTON:

$X. & H. P. ^OLKINHORN, JOINTERS,

1874.

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2007 with funding from

Microsoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/addressesofhonalOJOthurrich

Rooms of Maryland Agricultural and Mechanical Association,
S. W. Corner of Fayette and Eutaw Streets,

Baltimore, October 8, 1874.

Hon. A. G. Thurman,

Dear Sir :— On behalf of the Executive Committee of Maryland
State Agricultural and Mechanical Association, I most heartily thank
you for the elaborate and instructive address delivered before our Asso-
ciation, this day, and ask for a copy thereof, for publication.
I am, dear sir,

Very truly yours,

A. B. DAVIS,

J'resident.

October 8, 1874.
Dear Sir :

In compliance with your polite request, I herewith send you
a copy of the Address.

Very truly,

Your obedient servant,

A. G. THURMAN.
Hon. A. B. Davis,

l*resident.

ADDEESS.

To speak of the importance of agriculture would be
as superfluous as to speak of the importance of the
atmosphere. Man cannot live without air or without
food, and the pursuit that furnishes the latter needs no
rhetoric to demonstrate its value. Nor would it be much
less futile to dilate upon the importance of the mechanic
arts ; for that which is obvious needs no proof. Were
I speaking to barbarians whose inventive faculties had
produced nothing but rude instruments of war and
of the chase, and the simplest of domestic utensils, it
would be well to show them that better works than theirs
can be fabricated by the skill of man. But I address an
audience acquainted not only with the common imple-
ments of husbandry and the arts, but familiar with those
wonderful inventions of genius that seem more like
revelations of omniscience than productions of the finite
facultiesjof man. To auditors who daily behold the steam
engine, the printing press, the electric telegraph, the cotton
gin, the power loom, the sewing machine, the reaper and
mower, the various smelting and metal works, the flour-
ing, cotton, woollen and paper mills, the elevator, the hy-
draulic press, the canal and railroad, the sailing vessel
and steamship, the photograph and lithograph, the
watch, the compass, the level, the sextant, the telescope
and microscope, the thermometer and barometer — who
are surrounded by the triumphs of architecture and the
ever varying and wonderful productions of science and
the arts — before such an audience, why should I dwell
upon the importance of mechanical science and skill?
Every one of you not only knows their importance but

6

you feel it most sensibly every day of your lives ; for
they, combined with agriculture, contribute your daily
bread, and not that alone but also a multitude of com-
forts and pleasures that tend to solace the toil of labor
and to make life pleasant and desirable. Grateful, then,
as the theme would be to the speaker ; wide as is the field
it offers for oratorical display; agreeable as it would be
to you to listen to a beautiful and harmonious discourse
upon it, as you would listen with delight to a strain of
glorious music, I, who am but a plain spoken man, and
by nature and habit an economist of time, must leave it
to others more highly gifted by nature and improved by
practice, in the pleasing and winning arts of eloquence.
But if I do not appear before you as a rhetorician much
less do I staud here to-day as a teacher. I see before me
hundreds, perhaps thousands, better qualified to instruct
me in the arts of agriculture and mechanics than I am
to instruct them, and I shall not be so presumptuous as
to attempt to teach my masters. I am fully aware of
the wonderful proficiency in agriculture achieved by
politicians since the Granger movement began, — an acqui-
sition of knowledge whose rapidity has no parallel since
the Almighty bestowed upon the. apostles the gift of
tongues. But as no miracle has been performed in my
behalf, my previous ignorance unfortunately remains,
and should you see fit to subject me to an examination
in either agriculture or mechanics, I very much fear that
I should fail to pass, even though your rules were as
flexible, convenient and accommodating as those of a
civil service commission.

Without further preface, I propose, my hearers, to
offer for your consideration some reflections that have
no claim to originality, but which may, nevertheless, bear
frequent repetition, and to state some facts in relation to
our own country that seem to me to be worthy of your
attention .

He who has not read and thought upon the subject is
likely to be startled at the asjertion of profound and
learned men, that the oldest pursuit of the human race
has been the slowest in its scientific developement, and
that, although the art of agrie ulture has been practiced
with success for many thousand years, the science of
agriculture is of recent origin and dates back but little
more than a century. But strange as the assertion may
seem, and unwilling as we may be to give it our full
assent, yet the more thoroughly and candidly we investi-
gate and study it, the more strongly we become con-
vinced of its probable truth.

The reflections that arise upon a consideration of this
fact, if fact it be, instead of being gloomy and despond-
ent are precisely the reverse. Instead of being dis-
couraged by the slow progress formerly made through
so many centuries, we naturally say that if agriculture
thrived and grew while laboring under the disadvantaees

OB ^

of imperfect knowledge and unscientific methods, what
must be its progress in the future when aided by the dis-
coveries and application of science, the general dissemi-
nation of knowledge and the combined efforts of able,
earnest and instructed minds. It is the utterance of a
truism to say that the human intellect is limited in its
scope, but it is no less true to affirm that in no depart-
ment whatever of kuowledge has it reached its limit.
And certainly he would be a most short sighted reasoner
who should affirm that agriculture is an exception to the
general rule of progress, and that in respect to it there
is nothing more to learn. It would be much more philo-
sophical to conclude that old as it is in years it is yet in
its infancy.

That the cultivation of various parts of the earth was
successfully carried on in very ancient times, is manifest
from the historic fact of their great populations, whose
food must have been mainly supplied by a productive

agriculture. That it was carried to a very high decree
of excellence in Egypt, we learn from history, both
sacred and profane. That it was well-known and practiced
in India is attested by her wonderful system of irriga-
tion, yet extant, and unequalled in extent in any other
portion of the globe.

The most ancient writings of the Chinese, old as they
are asserted to be, fail to give us an idea of the remote
antiquity of their successful agriculture. We read in
the Old Testament of the corn and the threshing floors,
the vineyards and the wine presses, the flocks and the
herds, nay, of the cattle upon a thousand hills of the
Hebrew people.

We find in our libraries Greek and Roman works on
agriculture, written before the christian era, and from
which instruction may be derived by the most enlight-
ened and skilfull farmer of to-day. What should be the
size of a farm ; what its proportions of arable, pasture,
meadow and woodland ; what crops and manures are best
suited to different soils ; what advantages are derived
from open and underground drainage ; when should irri-
gation be practiced, and what are its results ; what are
the benefits derived from land lying fallow ; from deep
and frequent plowings ; from a rotation of crops : from
turning under green grasses ; from burning the stubble ;
are questions, among many, discussed in these works,
and which are subjects of yet more elaborate discussion
after a lapse of more than two thousand years. Nor was
stock breeding and the care and preservation of stock
overlooked, and when we read of raising pigeons, not for
their flesh merely, but for the very superior manure they
furnished, and when» we learn how carefully this man-
ure was pulverized, prepared for use by an admixture
with earths, and then skillfully and without waste ap-
plied, the modern word " guano " almost involuntarily
comes to our lips, and we think of the wonders it has

9

achieved upon many an exhausted field of our native
land.

But gratifying as this picture of ancient cultivation
may appear, there is another side to it in which it was
lamentably deficient. For want of the mechanical in-
vention and skill by which our age is so justly and
highly distinguished, the implements of agriculture
used by the ancients were so far inferior to ours that
could they be produced before you to-daj*, not all the
good they once accomplished could save them from your
wonder and ridicule. Here it is that inventive genius
and the mechanic arts have contributed directly and
most beneficially to promote the cultivation of the soil
as we see it practiced in our day, and this is another
proof of the universal rule that the benefits of knowl-
edge and skill in whatever department of human effort
are not confined to that department alone, but are surely
felt, in a greater or less degree, in every other human
pursuit.

Another difficulty with the ancients was a want of sci-
entific knowledge. " Science," says Whewell, "is a body
of principles and deductions to explain the nature of
some matter. An art is a body of precepts with practi-
cal skill for the completion of some work. A scieuce
teaches us to know ; an art to do." Or, as defined by
others, science is knowledge, art is the application of
knowledge to some useful or ornamental purpose.

An art maybe highly productive though some of its pre-
cepts be false ; but it will inevitably be more productive if
all of them be true. And here comes in the great office of
science which is to discover and teach absolute verity.
And then it is the office of art to apply the discoveries so
as to produce the greatest practical results. Science
without art is ati unused treasure — a diamond buried in
the earth. Art without scieuce is work without knowl-
edge— a ship without a compass. It is frequently said
2

10

that there is no absolute verity outside of the mathe-
matics, or rather that mathematical truths are the only
truths that can be certainly demonstrated; and hence the
application of the term, " exact science, " to the mathe-
matics. But the observation is entitled to little weight;
for there are truths in all the sciences as capable of sat-
isfactory demonstration for all practical purposes as any
problem in geometry. For that demonstration is sufficient
and may be safely acted upon, that leaves no room for a
reasonable doubt. Hence we properly speak of scientific
agriculture, meaning a cultivation of the earth in accor-
dance with indubitable principles discovered by science.
But a discovery of these principles involves deductions
from a vast body of facts that must be collected, studied,
analyzed and compared; and it is, perhaps, not going too
far to say that this could not be done before the dis-
covery of the art of printing. With the same propri-
ety we speak of mechanical science, or that body of
learning that enables the inventor to invent and the
artisan to work in obedience to fixed and immutable
laws of nature.

What I have just said will suggest some of the reasons
for the tardy growth of agricultural science, but there
are many others to be taken into the account. The more
important of them are admirably stated by Hoskyns
in his able introductory essay to Morton's Cyclopedia
of Agriculture, and I feel that I cannot do better than
to briefly repeat the substance of some of his observa-
tions:

"Applauded,"' says he, "from the earliest chronicled
ages as the first of arts, agriculture had reached our own,
perhaps the least advanced of any, by direct scientific in-
vestigation. "Laudator, et alget" the terse expression of
the satirist, might be taken as its truest motto, and its
antiquity and importance be asserted in no very triumph-
ant tone; for if both be, as they always have been, ad-
mitted, its history compared with that of other arts from

11

the earliest ages, seems only to present the greater anom-
aly to the mind of the enquirer. If we trace the progress
of what are called the physical siences, those for instance
of astronomy and geometry, from the early days of Egypt-
ian learning, or the history of navigation and commerce
from the Phoenicians, the tine arts from the Athenian
age, the art of war, Colonial conquest, ami civilization,
from the Romans, mathematical science from the age of
Saraceuic conquest, or follow the course of advancing
knowledge in Europe, from a point no further back than
the invention of printing — it is impossible to escape the
unfavorable comparison exhibited by that very pursuit
whose universal necessity, while it affords the strongest
excitement to progress, might reasonably be expected to
have furnished the fullest development of its resources."

He then proceeds to enumerate some of the causes
that " have operated to retard the accumulation of agri-
cultural knowledge," namely, variety of climate, variety
of soil, the geological structure of the earth, difference of
elevation, isolation of the farmer, and the length of time
needed for experiment, to which it seems to me should
be added the prevalence of war, the lack of intercourse be-
tween nations, the want of the "art preservative of arts,"
printing, the comparative ignorance of geology, miner-
alogy, chemistry and phjsiology, and the non-existence
of the thermometer, barometer and wonder revealing
microscope.

Obviously all these causes operated to prevent that
accumulation, analysis and comparison of facts on a
grand scale, by which alone great and general truths and
principles can be discovered and established.

The cultivator of the rich valley of the Nile naturally
felt contempt for regions unfruitful when compared with
his own, agd without seeking to penetrate beyond the
limits of his vision, was content with the knowledge and
skill that seemed all sufficient for him.

The cultivator in less favored lands also plied his art
according to the local traditionary precepts that had been

12

handed down to him from the fathers, little knowing and
little caring what knowledge had been acquired or what
modes were pursued in other parts of the earth. And
when at length intelligent men began to observe, and to
record and compare observations, the field of their in-
quiries was generally very limited and their conclusions,
however valuable in their immediate localities, were often
of little or no use elsewhere ; and their reflections, how-
ever brilliant, acute and profound, served to discover and
establish but few rules of general, much less of universal,
application.

"The modifications of practice," says Hoskyns, "oc-
casioned by climate on a large scale have been again par-
celled over smaller areas by variety of soil. Not only
does the agriculture of a southern temperature vary ma-
terially from that of the north, but even in the same coun-
try and province the code of practice which would ap-
ply to a light soil would be immediately at fault when
attempted on a clay : and thus, the geological structure
of the earth, again subdivided by difference of eleva-
tion, occasioning effects analogous to those of different
latitude or climate, would all tend, as we find they have
done, to retard that codification of results by which the
edifice of a science can alone be reared."

The isolation of the farmer is the next cause assigned
by the writer, and which, before the discovery of print-
ing, operated with far greater force than it does now.

Collision of mind with mind is one of the most fruit-
ful agencies in the acquisition of knowledge, and is in-
dispensable for the correction of errors into which the
solitary thinker is so liable to fall. And, therefore, a
mode of life that tends to segregate men has been very
generally considered a serious obstacle to the progress
of science. That this obstacle has been almost overcome
in modern times is a cause for profound congratulation,
and that one of the chief agents in overcoming it are
the Agricultural and Mechanical Associations like that
which I now address, is patent to even the most casual

13

observer. But no such associations, nor anything like
them, were known to antiquity. In all that vast body
of writings, called Ancient History and Literature, there
cannot be found, I believe, a single trace of such an insti-
tution.

The next cause assigned by Hoskyns can be best
stated in his own words, whose brevity and point cannot
be improved. He says : —

"But even under the pressure of increasing numbers,
advancing intelligence, and the utmost comparative uni-
formity of soil and climate, another retarding influence
clogs the wheels of agricultural progress : namely, the
length of time needed for experiment. A main cause of
the brisk advancement and general spirit of improve-
ment observed in other arts and manufactures is to be
found in the rapidity with which, in their case, effects
follow their causes. The advantage of a simpler or
more compendious process is at once seen in result ; and
the invention is speedily applied by others who are in-
terested in its adoption ; but such could hardly be hoped
for in the case of an art where each question that we ask
of nature takes a year or more for its solution ; and up-
on which no ordinary degree of exact memory, patience
and cooperation for experiment, are required, even to
put them in such a manner as to render the replies ser-
viceable or conclusive." * * * * *

"Yet, though exalted powers of perception, supported
oy indefatigable zeal and labor, have enabled individual
minds to overthrow and reconstruct the received opin-
ions of mankind in particular departments of human
knowledge, this could only happen where the results
achieved by intuitive genius or great inventive powers
could at once make apparent and attest their own truth
and accuracy. A Newton, a Hervey, a Columbus, a Watt,
a Davy or a Bacon, might each revolutionize, in the span
of a single life, the opinions of mankind, upon the great
subjects of their respective inspiration ; but it was scarce-
ly within the compass of a single mind to achieve dis-
coveries of corresponding magnitude, in an art whose
experiments reach over periods which exhaust human
life for their solution, and refer to the whole catalogue
of the sciences for the principles on which they depend."

14

I have alluded to the prevalence of war as a potent
obstacle to agricultural progress. "War and the chase"
have been called " the two ancient and deadliest foes to
agriculture," and, unfortunately, the history of mankind
fully justifies the observation. To say nothing of those
great wars of conquest in which whole countries were
ravaged and laid waste, and barbarism, or semi-barbarism,
supplanted civilization ; or of civil wars that banished
for the time almost every security of life or property;
it would be sufficient to reflect that waste is an attendant
of every war however well and humanely conducted ;
that the rank and file of every army are able bodied
laborers withdrawn from productive industry ; and that
every war, however brief, involves increased taxation, and
every modern war an increase of national indebtedness;
to see that war is a deadly foe to agriculture. When
the taxes levied in a country are no more than is neces-
sary to support a government honestly and economically
administered, the people are amply repaid for what they
give, by the preservation of order, the protection of per-
sons and property, and the due and proper administra-
tion of justice. When the amount levied exceeds this
sum, but the excess is wisely expended in permanent
works of improvement, the taxpayer has some remunera-
tion, large or small, for his contribution to the State.
But when millions, tens of millions, perhaps hundreds
of millions are levied, not to defray the ordinary expenses
of government, not to improve and enrich the Territory
of the State, but to pay the cost of havoc and destruc-
tion, then, however just the tax may be, it cannot fail to
burthen industry in all its ramifications. No honest peo-
ple will repudiate their obligations whether of war or of
peace, and hence the greater the necessity for cultiva-
ting a spirit of harmony and avoiding the dreadful and
costly arbitrament of the sword, as long as the honor
and interest of the country will permit. But such are

16

the passions of mankind, and such have been the ambi-
tion or folly of rulers, that we cannot point to a single
day since the history of the race began to be written,
when peace prevailed in every part of the Globe.

That the want of communication between different
peoples, and even between the people of different por-
tions of the same country, materially retarded the acqui-
sition of knowledge, is obviously true, and presents a
contrast between ancient and modern times so striking:
as to excite feelings approaching to wonder. In ancient
literature we find volumes upon volumes of history,
politics, the art of war, philosophy, mathematics, and
the drama; and poems whose grandeur and beauty
have never been surpassed, possibly never beeu equalled,
by any similar productions of human genius. But, with
a few meager exceptions, we look in vain for books of
travels ; and those we do find are almost, or wholly, des-
titute of practical, much less scientific, value. But in
our day there is no expense too great to be incurred, no
hardships too great to be endured, in order to extend our
knowledge of even the remotest portions of the globe.
Neither the heat of the Torrid Zone or the ice of the
Arctic Circle, the hostility of savages or the yet greater
dangers of disease, serve to deter our adventurous
travellers, who, in the interest of commerce or of science,
penetrate every spot accessible to the human foot. The
highest mountains of the world have been measured by
human science, the greatest rivers followed and explored
from their fountains to the sea, the most extensive and
barren deserts traversed and described, and almost every
island of the ocean, perhaps every one, visited, designa-
ted, and marked upon our charts. But what shall we
say of the intercourse between the civilized portions of
earth: of the thousands of travellers who annually pass
from one country to another, for either profit or pleasure,
and who return to their homes with an accumulation of

16

knowledge derived, not from the relations of others, but
from their own actual observations. Add to this the
changes of residence produced by an unexampled peace-
ful migration; see hundreds of thousands of hardy emi-
grants leaving the old world for the shores of America
or far distant Australia ; witness the multitudes in our
own country who annually remove from the older
to the newer States, or yet newer Territories; and reflect
that each of these emigrants carries to his new home
something of the knowledge, both theoretical and prac-
ical, of the home he left, and you will have some idea of
the vast diffusion of intelligence that necessarily results
from these causes. Ancient history presents no such
spectacle, nor anything approaching it; for though we
read of vast migrations stretching from the mountains
and plains of Asia to the shores of the Mediterranean
and the Atlantic, the story is always the same — it is of
war and of conquest, of havoc and of destruction, of the
overthrow of civilization and the spread of barbarism,
and not of the diffusion of knowledge, the progress of
arts and of science, the improvement of the earth and
its greater yield, the bettered condition of the human
race and the spread of peace and good will among men.
But it was not in remote times alone that the want of
intercourse among the cultivators of the soil was serious-
ly felt. It is felt even to this day, and was experienced
in a far greater degree as late as fifty years ago. In an
address delivered in 1869, Professor Buckland, said:

"I can remember the time when large numbers of Eng-
lish farmers seldom went beyond the boundary of their
own county ; some even hardly passed the limits of
their own or the adjoining parish. What a change
has been effected since the introduction of the railway?
Farmers may now be seen travelling hundreds of miles
to an exhibition, or in company as members of a club
paying periodic visits to inspect the practices of distin-
guished individuals of their craft in differents parts of

17

the country." And he adds with great truth, "A little
perambulating of this sort has a most salutary eftec-t in
enlarging the tanner's circle of observation, enabling
him to gain new ideas, to break loose from traditional
prejudices, and to improve his practice by adapting it to
the new lights which science and enlarged experience
throw across his path."

What is here said of the perambulations of the far-
mers of England may be repeated, with more emphasis,
of our own countrymen ; for of all the dwellers upon our
planet there are none so addicted to locomotion as the
people of the United States. In a country with 13,000
miles of coast along which thousands of vessels ply from
port to port; in a country traversed in every direction by
navigable streams on which the steamboat is seldom
long out of sight; in a" country with 70,000 miles of
railway in operation and uncounted miles of turnpike
roads ; in a community of thirty seven States and ten
Territories, between which unrestricted free trade exists ;
with a population whose related members are scattered
from the Atlantic to the Pacific — a father, for instance,
in Maryland, a son in Missouri, a grandson in Cali-
fornia or Oregon, all drawn by natural affection to desire
from time to time, each other's society — it is not strange
that Americans are by far the greatest travellers in the
world. And as to the inducements offered to the far-
mer, by agricultural and mechanical societies and exhi-
bitions, to leave his home for a brief period each year,
and improve his knowledge by discussion, observation
and comparison, in no country are they so great as in
the United States ; for in no other country do such asso-
ciations and exhibitions abound to the same extent.

But if the friendly personal intercourse of mankind

has increased in so wonderful a degree in modern times,

the growth of their intellectual intercourse is yet more

remarkable and striking. Compare, or rather contrast,

the slow and toilsome practice of manuscript writinsr, by
3

18

which facts and thoughts were formerly recorded, with
the marvelous product of the steam printing press, and
your wonder will be not that the ancients knew so little,
but that, with such imperfect means, they learned so
much; and you will readily acknowledge that not until
the discovery of the art of printing was it possible to get
together and compile a grand record of facts and ex-
periments, under different climates, at different altitudes,
in different soils, and under a multitude of varying con-
ditions, from which the man of science might deduce
general agricultural truths, and without which his
efforts would be comparatively vain.

I have thus very briefly and imperfectly remarked upon
some of the reasons for the slow growth of agricultural
knowledge. But there is one or* them which I have only
mentioned, about which a word, at least, should be said.
" Chemistry," says the Encyclopedia Brittanica, " as a
regular branch of natural science, is of comparatively re-
cent origin, and can hardly be said to date from an ear-
lier period than the latter third of the past century. * *
From the very nature of chemistry it was impossible that
it should take a truly scientific form until the balance
was applied to it," which was first done by Lavoisier a
little more than one hundred years ago. But, in the
opinion of many of the ablest writers on the subject,
there cannot be, without the application of chemistry,
a true and perfect scientific agriculture ; and hence Ag-
ricultural Chemistry forms a part of the regular course
of instruction in all schools in Europe and America, in-
stituted for the purpose of promoting agricultural knowl-
edge. And here it may be well to notice an objection,
which though often made and often answered, is yet fre-
quently repeated and perhaps will ever be.

How, says one, can a farmer, engaged from youth to
old age in manual labor on his farm, acquire this scien-
tific knowledge, so much vaunted and said to be so ne-

19

cessary ? How can lie find time and opportunity to mas-
ter geology, chemistry, botany and physiology, aud ap-
ply them in his daily pursuit ? And if success in his
calling is dependent on his profound knowledge of these
sciences, how can he ever hope to succeed? The an-
swer to these questions is plain to him who observes and
reflects. Every farmer is not expected to master either
of these sciences, any more than he is expected to mas-
ter astronomy. But it does not follow because every
man is not, and caunot be an astronomer, that therefore
the truths of astronomy are useless, aud Galileo, Kepler,
and Newton lived in vain. Every man cannot become
a mathematician, but who is there bold enough to deny
the value of mathematical science ? And so every man
cannot become a chemist, but the truths of chemistry
may nevertheless prove immensely serviceable to him.

In all the sciences there are numerous principles and
results that may be learned and remembered by a little
application and that men habitually recognize and act
upon without being able to demonstrate the truth of a
single one of them. How many ships are safely navi-
gated from continent to continent, in accordance with
rules deduced by astronomical aud mathematical science,
which rules the navigator obeys without understanding
the reasons of their existence.

How mauy artisans shape their works in obedience to
geometrical laws who never in their lives saw a demon-
stration of the truth of those laws. And so when the
chemist, botanist or physiologist discovers a truth of
value to the agriculturalist, the latter may learn the fact
and successfully apply it though ignorant of the process
by which it was discovered. We all of us act upon this
principle every day of our lives. We take that to be
law which the judge declares is law, because we have
confidence iu his honesty, ability and learning. For the
same reasons we take the potion that our physician pre-

20

scribes, although we know nothing of its elements or the
reasons for giving it.

We build a machine in conformity to a drawing fur-
nished by the inventor, and it accomplishes the desired
purpose, however ignorant the builder may be of the
mechanical laws that make it effective.

In like manner the cultivator profits by the discove-
ries of science, however small may be his own scientific
knowledge. But while I insist upon the obvious truth
that it is not necessary that every farmer should be a
scientist, I am very far from going to the opposite ex-
treme and asserting that it is immaterial whether he has
any scientific knowledge at all. On the contrary, I believe
that every intelligent farmer and mechanic unavoidably
acquires a large amount of scientific knowledge, and
which is none the less science because he may not call it
by that name.

And I believe that this knowledge may be largely and
beneficially increased without encroaching too much on
the time necessarily devoted to manual labor. Science
is another name for knowledge, and art, as I have said,
is an application of knowledge and skill to produce a
desired result. And it is precisely by this combination
of science and art, of knowledge and practical skill, that
the highest excellence is attained and the greatest re-
sults are achieved. I know many intelligent, laborious
farmers who may with truth be called scientific cultiva-
tors, and many clear-headed, hard working, mechanics,
who may, with equal truth, be called scientific artisans ;
audit is one of the most pleasing and encouraging facts
of the age that these classes of men — thanks to the diffu-
sion of knowledge and a higher estimate of the dignity
of labor and of the useful arts — are steadily on the in-
crease. And it is by far the greatest merit, gentlemen,
of associations like yours that they promote the growth
of such men and increase their usefulness from year to

21

year, nay from day to day. When we reflect that not
one farthing can be added to the wealth of the world
without the intervention of labor, we must, were we but
selfish men, rejoice at whatever tends to elevate the call-
ins:, promote the knowledge, increase the usefulness,
and add to the comforts and well-being of the laboring
man. But there is a higher principle than selfishness
that calls upon us to rejoice at his prosperity — a princi-
ple of kindness, of benevolence, of humanity; an as-
piration for a brighter future, and an increase of happi-
ness for all mankind.

Of the wonderful progress made in the agricultural
and mechanical arts within the last hundred years, I
have no time to speak in detail. The progressive move-
ment has not been confined to any one country — in a
greater or less degree it has pervaded, and yet pervades,
the whole civilized world. One hundred years ago there
was not a mile of iron railroad on the globe ; not a boat,
ship or mill propelled by steam; no electric telegraph; no
cylinder press ; no stereotype ; no cotton gin ; no steam
power loom — the improved plough now in use, the culti-
vator, the reaper and mower, and the grain elevator,
were all unknown, as well as a multitude of other in-
ventions that now lessen or facilitate the labors of man-
kind.

But these are not the only evidences of rapid and in-
creasing improvement. Some idea of the growing de-
votion of mind to agricultural studies may be derived
from .the fact that out of one thousand and thirty-two
volumes on agriculture and its closely related arts and
sciences, now in the library of Congress, nine hundred
and forty w,ere printed within the present century. More
than one hundred periodicals, newspapers included, de-
voted to the same subjects, are now published in the
Uuited States alone, not one of which was published
before the year 1800. Over oue thousand four hundred

22

agricultural societies and farmers' clubs now exist in the
States and Territories, but very few of which existed
only fifty years ago, and the number rapidly increases
with each revolving year. Agricultural colleges and
schools, and mechanics' institutes, are almost everywhere
to be found, and no one can foresee a limit to their num-
bers or usefulness. Thousands of patents are annually
granted by the Government for mechanical inventions or
improvements, and though comparatively few of them
may be either novel or useful, the value of others is uni-
versally acknowledged, and the activity of mind and in-
crease of knowledge they display cannot be too highly
appreciated. Each census shows an enlarged agricultu-
ral and mechanical production ; and though, from time
to time, it may be retarded by temporary causes, the
grand result shows a ratio of increase at least equal to,
if not greater than, that of the population. From 1850
to 1860, the increase of population was a fraction over
35^ per cent. In the same ten years the number of
farms increased from one million four hundred and
forty-nine thousand and seventy-three to two million
forty-four thousand and seventy-seven, being an increase
of 41 per cent. ; and the area of improved lands from
one hundred and thirteen to one hundred and sixty-
three million acres, being an increase of over 44 per cent.
From 1860 to 1870, owing to the war, the ratios of in-
crease diminished, that of population being only 22T6Tr per
cent., that of the number of farms 30^ per cent., and
that of the area of improved lands 15T8¥ per cent. —
another striking proof of the injurious effects of war upon
agriculture. But, nevertheless, there were one million
two hundred and ten thousand nine hundred and twelve
more farms in 1870, than there were in 1850 and seventy-
five million, eight hundred and eighty-eight thousand
four hundred and eighty-five more acres of improved
land — an increase in twenty years that, under the cir-

23

cnmstances, is without a parallel in the history of the
world.

And here I desire to call your attention to another
fact of much significance. It is a very general opinion
that a subdivision of land into small farms is highly con-
ducive to good cultivation, and we hear the remark fre-
quently made that the farms in the United States are too
large.

I do not propose to discuss the question "how minute
should be the subdivision of the land," or in other words,
" what is the best average size of farms," but I wish to
say that the evil of farms of too great size in our country
is much less than seems to be generally supposed, and is
steadily diminishing from year to year as is conclusively
showu by our census reports. Thus, of the whole num-
ber of farms in 1860 nearly 41 per cent, were farms of
less than fifty acres each; of the whole number in 1870,
nearly 50 per cent, contained less than fifty acres each.
In 1860, 70£ per cent, were under one hundred acres.
In 1870, 78 per cent. Between 1860 and 1870, the num-
ber of farms of three acres and under ten was more than
doubled; those of ten acres and under twenty increased
from 162,178 to 294,607 ; over 81 per cent. Those of
twenty acres and under fifty, from 616,558 to 847,614,
equal to 37| per cent, nearly; those of fifty and under one
hundred acres from 608,878 to 754,251, 24 per cent, near-
ly ; those of one hundred and under five hundred, from
487,041 to 565,054 — equal to 16 per cent; while those
of five hundred acres and under one thousand, decreased
from 20,319 to 15,873; and those of one thousand
acres and upwards fell off" from 5,634 to 3,720. It
is thus apparent that the small farms multiply much
more rapidly than the large ones, and that the smaller
they are, the greater is the ratio of their increase, while
the number of the very large ones, instead of increasing,
is undergoing a rapid diminution. The economist will

24

find in these facts some alleviation of his fear that our lands
will be too much engrossed, while the statesman, observ-
ing how large a proportion of farms are owned by their
cultivators, will see in this happy circumstance one of
the most powerful conservators of peace, order, freedom
and good and stable government.

Mr. President and gentlemen, I am neither an opti-
mist nor an enthusiast, but, despite the clouds that lower
o'er our horizon, I think that I can see a future for our
country more prosperous and happy than has yet befallen
any portion of the human race. ' I think that I can see
more bread for the hungry, more education for the igno-
rant, more enjoyment for the weary, more respect for
labor, a more widely diffused intelligence and a greater
material and intellectual progress than the world has yet
known* It may be a dream of the fancy, but it is one
that I cherish and fondly hope that I may never see dis-
pelled. Should it prove to be reality, one of its chief
causes will be the continued growth of those arts whose
promotion is the object of your time honored association.
And as a grateful posterity will not fail to- honor the
memories of the men whose intelligence and energy fur-
thered the mighty work, I may safely predict for your
society — already ^so distinguished and so worthy of your
great State — that title — the noblest of all earthly dis-
tinctions— A Benefactor of Mankind.

-«^3S£igH