236
TIIE All AT 01!.
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: R0Jl THE ADDRESS OF NICHOLAS 'DIDDLE, and popular pretensions, and oop own example is tb
IJEFOUE THE PHILADELPHIA AGKI-
i;L71 UKAL SOCIETY. OCT. J 840. ; , .
Dssides lime and other enriching substances, the
cost of the mcrejanimal manures applied to the soil
of England, amount to three hundred millions of
dollars ; being more than the value of. the whole of
Its foreign commerce. Yet the grateful soil yields
back with interest all that is thus lavished upon it.
And so it would do here, if we would onlv trust the
earth with any portion of our capital. l!ut this we
rarely, do. A farmer who has made any money
spends Knot in bis bnsincss, but in some other oc
cupation. He buys more land when Jie ought to buy
more manure j or he puts out his money in somo
joint stock company, to convert sunshine into moon
shine or she bny&sharcs in some gold or lead mine.
Hcly upon it, our richest mine is the barn-yard, and
that whatever temptation stocks or shares may oficr,
me uest invca mini iur.& lanucr is i.vc iloci: aau
jjfovghsharca. , '
No soil can withstand a succession of grain crops;
mid instead of letting it lie fallow in order to re
cruit from its exhaustion, as was the old plan, the
fetter practice now is to plant in the same field a
crop of pools. These draw their nourishment from t
n lower region than the grain crops do j they derive
n great part of Ihir food from the atmosphere, by
their large leaves, which at the same time shelter
the soil from the extreme heats ; they prov ids a fresh
and juicy food for cattle during the winter, us en
abling us to keep a large stock, which, in addition
to the profit on them, furnish abundant manure with
which to return to the grain crops. Now tliia should
be our effort more roots mor cattle more ma
nurethen nioro grain. v
All these improvements which may adorn or ben
efit bur farms, nre recommended to us hot only by
our own individual interests, but by the higher sen
timent f our duty; to the country. This is essen
tially a nation of farmers. No where cLc is so large
- ti portion of "the community engaged in fanning;
SiCMvhcrc clscarc the cultivators of the earth more
" independent or so powerful. One would think that
In Europe the great business, of Jife w as to mit each
other to death ; for so large a proportion of men arc
. drawn from the walks of productive industry and
trained to no other occupation except to shoot for-
, ciuvrs at way, tuiu iuur ywu iruuuirj uivii vciwaw-
ally ; while here, the w(iole energy of all the nation
common theme of applause or denunciation. It Is
the more important then for the farmers of this,
country to be true to their own principles. The soil
is theirs the government is theirs and on them
depends mainly the continuance of their system.
That system is that enlightened opinion, and the do
mestic ties arc more stable guarantees of social
tranquility than mere force, and that the govern- ,
racnt of the plough is safer, and, when then! is need,
stronger than the government of the sword.,
WHAT GIVES VALUE TO THE LAND OP ;
ENGLAND?
Seen is the question asked by an intelligent cor
respondent in one of the late English Jo urnalsj and
as most of our readers are land owners, and there
fore directly interested in understanding what it is
that gives value to land, we think we cannot do bet-
ter than lay before tncra tne answer tnat is given to
the question :
"Why, I. ask again, is the price of land high in
England generally ? Why, evidently, not because
the land itself is better than in other countries, but
i because a ready market for all torts of produce u with
in reach j by means of, roads, canals, railroads ; that
labor is cheap and ab undant j th at life and property
arc secure ; that we have close at hand the means
of cr race, and education, and improvement : in short.
c i . i
that circumstances are favorable for such a life as
shall bo convenient and desirable here below, and
shall prepare us for eternity hereafter. Thus the
same land may be almost worthless or very valua
ble, according 03 it is wll or ill provided with theso
things." '
lly some of. our readers it may be said that. there
is here one requisite that cannot be obtained by them
that labor cannot in this country be "cheap and
abundant." Directly the reverse is chc fact. High
priced labor 'is, cheap labor, whilo low-priced labor
is dear labor The Hindoo who works for a dollar
a month, out of .which he find3 himself, cannot com
pete with the well-fed laborer of Alabama, nor the
well-fed, well-clothed and well educated workman
of Lowell. His when the labor is largely produce
live mai lauuici to wvu uu uiar
be his wages, his labor is cheap by comparison with
the unproductive labor of other cbuntfies. It is, too,
when labor is largely productive that labor is abun
dant, because to render it thus productive it must be
aided by machinery ; aud we know well that a sin
gle steam-engine will do more work than a hundred
or even five hundred men. The reaping machine
is directed with intenso force upon peaceful labor, j
. A strango spectacle this, of one, and one only, un- enables one man to do "ie work of ten ; and the
armed nation on the face or the earth I There id (threshing machine and the grist-mill dispense- with
abroud a wild gtrtigjfs. between existing authorities. labor, the performance of. which,would require r