Various

“ If we had not "despised the day of small things," and sought too eagerly after brilliant speculations and splendid fortunes, thousands of us might now be blessed with ease and competence, and still animated by a sober and useful spirit of industry, who are, on the contrary, plunged into embarrasment, stripped of our property, and paralyzed in our energies.
We began the world with fair prospects, and we thought, at the same time with firm resolutions not to blast them by seeking too eagerly after fairer ones; but man is rarely contented with what is simply good or bright ”

“ On my return to the country, I visit my plants—and gratefully acknowledge and admire the liberal presents of my friend Bassend. My garden appears proud of the variety and vigour of its trees. I waste my life in contemplating my plants, and grow old with the desire of possessing new ones—Pleasing delusion! who will give me the large-leaved linden tree of Bohemia, and that of Silicia, more extraordinary, with folio cucullato. Thus riches serve only to increase the thirst for wealth, and the covetous man abuses the liberality of his benefactor. ”

“ There are few sentiments stronger, or more natural to the human heart, than that of indignation at oppression. So predominant is it, that it is to be found, not with the good and virtuous only, but even amongst the most unprincipled and vicious. If there is any thing that addresses itself to all that is generous in the heart, it is this sentiment. What is more, it is the solemn duty of every man, to set his face against injustice. ”

“ A youth, the son of one who is competent to defray the expense of his education at a boarding school, or college, is sent from home at the age of sixteen; is absent three or four years; has formed new associations, and contracted new notions; he returns to his birth-place; he has outgrown the recollections, and intimacies of his childhood; he feels a sort of elevation above the children of his neighbourhood, who have been groping in ignorance during his absence; he stands aloof; jealousy takes hold on the minds of those who observe this difference, and every evil passion begins its operation ”

“ There is not a sufficiently fixed, or steady proportion, between arable and pasture land.—The production of grain is the great object of culture—often with too little regard to the nature of the soil, and generally without any to its improvement. "Where pasturage is scanty, where natural meadows are bad, where artificial are rare, and root husbandry little extended, cattle cannot be either numerous or well conditioned; and as without these there can be no manure, so without manure there can be no abundance." ”

“ The traveller who climbs her mountains, is struck with admiration when he beholds vineyards and rich pastures in those places, which before appeared naked and barren rocks. The traces of the plough are perceived on the border of precipices, where the most savage animals do not pass without danger; in one word the inhabitants appear to have conquered all obstacles, whether arising from soil, position or climate and to have drawn abundance from territory, condemned by nature to perpetual sterility. ”

“ We may indeed almost venture to assert, that if pure and rational happiness is any where to be found, except in the temples of religion, she resides in the studies of the learned, and sweetens all their labours. The cultivation of a literary taste is the source of rational and innocent entertainment; it is a powerful preservative from vice, and contributes to exercise in the soul a love of virtue. The pleasures of sense are all transitory in their nature, and have a direct tendency to debase the mind ”

“ There is always some tree whose fruit is forbidden, or beyond his reach, but of which he cannot rest easy till he has tasted. He can never think of resting upon the clear declivity, whilst the "cloud-capped" summit is above him, veiling something which he has not seen, and which may be, as he is apt to imagine, a pleasing, a valuable or a wonderful discovery. ”

“ He is privileged at all places and in every family. Childhood loves and fondles upon him; and age and fashion, the man of pleasure and the man of business, alike consult and confide in him: above all, he is the particular favourite of the ladies, and is supposed to be knowing in all the labyrinths of the female heart, and all the points of etiquette and gallantry. ”

“ The FARMER who clears more land than he can cultivate to advantage, destroying the present and preventing the future growth of timber to no purpose; who keeps his produce on hand, when he can get a good and saving price, in hopes it may rise; who sells it at last for less than he could have had at first; and who is not as grateful to God for a scanty harvest, as he is for a plentiful one. ”

“ I am influenced by no other motive than that which would induce me to be the humblest agent in promoting the true interests of our country, and enlarging, if it were in my power, the circle of human happiness. ”

“ The CLERGYMAN—and what shall we say of the Clergyman, who "despises the day of small things;" who forsakes and forgets the poor, but pious flock, which first cherished him, to gratify his pride and ambition, and acquire those robes and riches which moths may corrupt and thieves may steal; and who is so eager withal to make converts, that he does not stop to be satisfied that conversion is the offspring of conviction, forgetting how much joy there is in Heaven over one sinner that truly repenteth ”

“ France is probably the country of Europe, which most unites the great desiderata of an extended and profitable agriculture; fertility of soil, mildness of climate, a dense population, an enlightened government, and facility of exportation. Within her ancient limits, she boasts of a surface of more than one hundred and fifteen millions of arpents, and a population of twenty-two millions of inhabitants. ”

“ A supposed resemblance between the earth and animals, gave rise to fallows; because men and horses required repose after labour, it was supposed that after cropping, the earth also required it. Faithful to this absurd analogy, the French landlord binds down his tenent by lease, not to crop the soil more than three years in four, which in effect is to consign to barrenness or weeds, one fourth of the whole arable land of France yearly! ”

“ All the pleasures of life are so many poisonous ingredients in our cup, till religion purifies and destroys the noxious qualities with which they are tainted. Let religion mingle with our pleasures, and every thing of an evil tendency vanishes before it. ”

“ The wines of Castile, and other interior districts of Spain which are consumed at home, and are not exported, are from places also north of Xeres. We can have no reason to doubt, then, that, as our country now is, and shall in future be cleared and drained, and if ridges, hills, and mountain sides, with south exposures, shall be carefully selected, the most southern of our states, territories, and districts, will be as suitable for the vine, its wines, and dried fruits, as the most proper and fruitful parts of the peninsula of Spain and Portugal. ”

“ Think of this, ye giddy, ye thoughtless young men, who are squandering your precious moments in idleness and vice, dishonouring yourselves, disgusting your friends, disappointing the expectations of your country, breaking the hearts of your fond parents, and bringing their "grey hairs with sorrow to the grave!" ”

“ But there are many manufactures that we cannot carry on to advantage, though we were at entire liberty. And after all, this country is fond of manufactures beyond their real value: for the true source of riches is husbandry. Agriculture is truly productive of new wealth; manufacturers only change forms; and whatever value they give to the materials they work upon, they in the meantime consume an equal value in provisions, &c.; so that riches are not increased by manufacturing ”

“ The advantages of being able to plough open channels through the shoals which so frequently form in many of our immense rivers, would, alone, be an object of very great advantage to our southern and western states; but, when we consider the invention as extending to opening channels for large ships to enter the harbours and rivers throughout our whole sea-board, the advantages presented to view are incalculable. ”

“ Where a state, or part of a state, from soil, climate, manners, or geographical position, draws its principal subsistence from the fishery or the chase, as in the more northern parts of Europe, agriculture will not succeed; when a state is from any cause both essentially maritime or manufacturing, as in England, or principally manufacturing, as in Prussia; where public opinion has degraded manual labour, as in Spain, Portugal, and the Papal territory ”

“ To liberalise the public sentiment, to enlighten the public mind, in fine, to make men better, and by a necessary consequence, to promote public and private happiness, shall be his cardinal and favourite object. Human life and its incidents, men and things, literature and morals, will all be kept in view ”

“ But, instead of human colonies, we encounter troops of horned cattle and of mares, wandering, self directed, over plains, to which the eye can discover no boundary or barrier, and which brings to one's recollection the days when the beasts shared with man the empire of the earth. ”

“ Where lands are in grasses of the fibrous rooted kinds, it is the generally received opinion of the best cultivators, that barn dung, as well as every other kind, should be applied as a top dressing, that is, by spreading it on the surface; but that for tap rooted grasses, or those whose roots extend deeply, as well as for all grain and root crops, this manure should be buried in the soil, at such depths as are best suited to the nature of the roots of the plants to be cultivated. ”

“ Is it not a fact calculated to awaken the most profound regret, that many of our fellow citizens, particularly in the wealthy metropolis of Pennsylvania, who are invested with an elevated rank in life, and enjoy in profusion its good things, appear to live only for themselves? Men of this description, are really blanks in existence; and mistake most egregiously, the great errand of life. They may appropriately adopt the language of Pomfret:
Custom the world's great idol we adore ”

“ Every man who has travelled half way up the hill of life, and has gained its fortieth milestone, will have amassed stores of thought and observation, which he is apt to think of inestimable value:—at least I find it so with me. ”

“ It is a hopeless task, and may seem full of vanity, to enter the lists where so many have been foiled, and where all the great prizes have been born away by the master spirits of former times. But not to mention that fame is no object of my pursuit; the lofty rewards I speak of, were gained by the finest geniuses in our language, and conferred by the approbation of the world. My humbler attempt is to please villagers and farmers ”

“ The land is generally worked by farmers, hired for that purpose, or by renters on short leases; which in neither case betters the condition of the soil; the one having no interest in improvements, and the other too small a one to justify any expense in making them.
4. A good rotation system, adapted to the soil and climate, is not absolutely unknown, and may be found even in whole districts (as in French Flanders) but much too rarely. We have seen wheat and fallows alternately for years; and wheat, rye, hemp, and rye, and many others equally ridiculous. ”

“ Although the south is the proper sphere of the grape, its cultivation there will leave the bread grains, tobacco, hemp, the grasses and cattle, to the more exclusive and profitable culture of the states north of the proper region of fine and abundant crops of wine. We pay annually to foreign nations a sum of money for wines, spirits, and materials to make spirits, and for fresh and dried grapes, as great as our whole specie medium. ”

“ These endeavour to raise man to a state of immortal felicity, those, to sink and degrade him to a level with the brutes. Whatever pleasures, therefore, tend to increase the predominance of reason over the sensual desires, are favourable to the interests of virtue and religion. The pleasures of literature are of this nature; they strengthen and invigorate the faculties of the mind, and render it capable of manly exertion; they inspire cheerfulness and serenity, and produce an exquisite gratification to the mental powers ”

“ It is, therefore, extremely desirable, that experience should not be lost upon us; but that her beacons should serve as a polar star, by which to steer our course with safety, through the dangerous and perplexing labyrinths of life. ”

“ Many of those giddy young men, to whom these remarks apply, may perhaps sneer at the idea of being brought up at last, in their mad career, by the arm of the public executioner. But let them turn, in some hour of solitude, if such hours ever bless them with the sweets of calm reflection, to the pages of the Criminal Recorder! ”

“ It is not the ponderous volume, the learned and elaborate dissertation, the abstruse researches of the ontologist, that moulds the sentiments of the great mass of any people, and implants in their bosoms the every-day principles of action ”

“ Between our New Vevay, in Indiana, and the Gulf of Mexico, the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana, and large parts of Virginia and Kentucky, must give us all the vine climates of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Upper Italy. This vine district of the United States is much larger than all those vine countries of France, Germany, Switzerland, and Upper Italy. The crop of wine and brandy in the vine country of France alone—though our vine country is more than twice the size—has been estimated at 100 millions of dollars. ”

“ When once she turns her back upon us, she is soon out of sight, and we vainly attempt to overtake her. She mocks at our folly, and leaves us to brood, in hopeless amazement, over our own blindness and imbecility. ”

“ The culture of this vegetable is different, according to the purposes for which it is raised; if for grain, the ground has two ploughings and twenty-five pounds weight of seed to a square of a hundred toises: if for manure, one ploughing is sufficient. Like our buckwheat, its vegetation is quick and its growth rapid; whence the farther advantage of suppressing, and even of destroying the weeds that would have infested any other crop. In the neighbourhood of Florence, they are in the practice of burning the soil ”

“ It seems, from the excellence of the French Cognac brandy, the best, and the farthest north of any denomination of brandy which we know, that the extreme south is not the most favourable for the delicacy, though it is for the quantity of that spirit. The Cette brandy of France is not liked here, but it has been said that much Armagnac brandy is used in Paris. The celebrated French chemist [21] of the grape and of distilled and fermented wine spirits, was a native of Montpelier, and took very great pains to improve the vine, and all its liquors, in that southern region. ”