Excerpt from Address on Progressive Agriculture, and Industrial Education: Delivered Before the Mississippi I appear before you to-night the view of presenting some considerations of Improvement in Agriculture, as connected with Indus trial Education. If in so doing I confine myself to the subject of Agriculture proper, it is not because I underrate the necessity and importance of providing for the professional education of those pursuing the several branches of the Mechanic Arts; but simply because with us, at the present time, agriculture is the overshadowing interest, claiming the first consideration; and because the vastness of the whole subject would, were I to do it justice, impose too severe a tax upon your patience. It might seem superflous to demonstrate the necessity of a serious change in our agricultural habits and practices. Yet there are too many who, though in general admitting this, fail to appreciate the pressing necessity, and the extent of the change required. In an agricultural commonwealth, the fundamental requirement of continued prosperity is, beyond any possible cavil, that the fertility of the soil must be maintained. Whenever this condition fails, wholly or in part, of fulfilment, agriculture must, to a corresponding extent, cease to be the occupation of its inhabitants, especially if other countries compete with them in the same pursuit, under more favorable circumstances. The population must, in that case, turn to other pursuits, if the natural resources of their country permit them to do so while purchasing their supplies abroad - as happens, e.g., in mining regions. But when there is no such choice of pursuits, the result of the exhaustion of the soil is simply depopulation; the inhabitants seeking in emigration, or in conquest, the means of subsistence and comfort denied them by a sterile soil at home. The Lessons Of History. History, both ancient and contemporary, furnishes abundant examples of the working of these causes. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.