Various

“ The inroads of luxury, and the inordinate influence of wealth, are anxiously to be deprecated, as destructive to rational liberty. Titles of nobility are not within our reach; but the glitter of wealth may equally awaken our ambition, and monopolize our attention. Here there is danger, against the approach of which it is the part of prudence and of wisdom to be vigilant.
When an individual is supposed to be affluent, have we ever known his merit to be unjustly overlooked or disregarded? ”

“ The events of the season are full of interest, and it is peculiarly delightful to observe how Providence still delights to bless. Shortsighted and presumptuous that we are, we are constantly auguring this or that misfortune—lamenting the unpropitiousness in some respect or another of the year; and yet from harvest to harvest are our barns filled, and our granaries laden. The labours of the country do not, like those of the city, deform the body, and undermine the constitution ”

“ I delay not a moment in expostulating against a doctrine so unphilosophical, and so injurious to the interests of agriculture. Every farmer knows that grain, as food for animals cannot be made too fine. Upon the same principle, plaster, which is food for vegetables, affords the most nutriment when reduced to the finest powder. Heat so far from injuring the properties of plaster, is the best agent for bringing them into action. ”

“ Such a blind devotion to its charms, casts a reflection upon our character for good sense, equally just and severe with that which properly belongs to a retailer of the stale and pointless bon-mots of monarchs, for wit, merely because they issue from the fountain of royalty. ”

“ We have seen that the earths have a threefold capacity; that they receive and lodge the roots of plants and support their stems; that they absorb and hold air, water and mucilage—aliments necessary to vegetable life; and that they even yield a portion of themselves to these aliments. But we have also seen, that they are not equally adapted to these offices; that their parts, texture and qualities are different; that they are cold or warm, wet or dry, porous or compact, barren or productive, in proportion as one or other may predominate in the soil ”

“ Men and things are professedly estimated, in this region of sturdy republicanism, in exact accordance with their true character. Our just and beautiful theories inculcate the doctrine, that VIRTUE and TALENT are the only proper grounds of distinction in society; and if this were faithfully illustrated in practice, merit would not be opposed by serious obstacles, in emerging from obscurity. If such a desirable state of things were realized, how rapidly would our country advance in prosperity! ”

“ All his arrangements are predicated upon this artificial system. The thought, if it ever occur to him, of the great God of nature, is as much shut out by it, as the fair face of creation from the alleys and courts of the city. And in proportion as he becomes impressed with a deep sense of that overruling Providence, will these things become hateful in his eyes. No doubt the mind is, as Milton has it, "its own place," and can transform the natural aliment of vice into a medicament of virtue. The noblest examples of active goodness are generally to be found in a large metropolis ”

“ It is obvious, that fibrous rooted plants, which occupy only the surface of the earth, can subsist on comparatively stiff and compact soils in which those of the leguminous and cruciform families would perish, from inability to penetrate and divide.
2d. Plans of the same, or of a similar kind, do not follow each other advantageously in the same soil. Every careful observer must have seen how grasses alternate in meadows or pastures, where nature is left to herself. At one time, timothy, at another clover, at a third red-top, and at a fourth blue grass prevails. ”

“ Mr. de Fellenberg was first known merely as an agriculturist, and still keeps up his original establishment of husbandry at Buchsie, an old chateau near Hofwyl; but agriculture was always with him a secondary object, and subservient to that system of education to which his thoughts were very early directed. He is a man of an unusually ardent as well as persevering turn of mind, and conceals a character of deep and steady enthusiasm, under a very calm exterior and manners. ”

“ But as the temptations of the more selfish passions are the strongest, that state of society in which we are the most exposed to them, is the most dangerous; and we have more need of having our eyes and our hearts fixed upon pure and lofty objects, than of having excessive stimulants applied to that activity, of which every condition in life requires a steady and vigorous application. ”

“ The less informed attribute this uninterrupted succession of harvests to the inexhaustible fertility of the soil; but intelligent and well-informed travellers attribute it, on the contrary, and with the best reason, to the indefatigable industry of the inhabitants, and to a highly improved mode of culture, of the details of which they themselves are ignorant, and which beside, from their complication, and the great variety of the productions of the soil, require a profound study, of many years duration, to which few of them have either the inclination or the leisure to apply. ”

“ No tree, of the deciduous class, is more elegant in appearance, and but few grow more rapidly, or live to a greater length of years. Its shade is but little injurious to the growths of grain, and still less to those of grass. For fuel it is inferiour to no wood whatever. It may be cultivated in mowing and pasture lands, probably as closely as at the rate of 20 trees on an acre, without any essential injury to the pasture, or growth of the meadow. The quantity of sugar to be made yearly from the sap of the tree must, however, depend on its size, and on the rapidity of its growth. ”

“ In truth, to say that there exists a vast province, in which the price of lands has been quadrupled within fifty years, and which is neither placed under a more favourable climate, nor enjoys a greater fertility of soil, than England; from which fallows in general have been banished from time immemorial; in which the greater part of the lands produce in 9 years at least 15 harvests, of which those of grain yield, one year with another, as high as 32 bushels of wheat per acre ”

“ Long habits of self-restraint, too, will enable them to look out with comparative patience for a suitable establishment, before they burden themselves with a family. In short, if the only check of the mild kind to an excessive increase of population is self-restraint, from motives of prudence and morality, where may we look for it with better hopes than among the pupils of Mr. de Fellenberg? ”

“ In books we have the choicest thoughts of the ablest men in their best dress. We can, at pleasure, exclude dulness and impertinence, and open our doors to wit and good sense alone. Without books, I have never been able to pass a single day to my entire satisfaction ”

“ The higher and middling ranks scarcely keep up their numbers any where; while multiplication goes on, unrestrained by any consideration of prudence, precisely among those who are least able to support a family. The poor may, in the bitterness of want, exclaim against taxes and ill government, and certainly not always without reason;—but the worst government is their own of themselves.
Agricultural labour is not the only occupation which can be made the base of such an education. ”

“ He accomplishes himself for one object of pursuit; and although profoundly ignorant of all others, is enabled thereby to fill his station, to keep his place as a key-stone in the arch of society. It never occurs to him how helpless and impotent he would be by himself. He is accommodated to things around—the artificial creature of an artificial system. ”

“ Our eyes, though exceedingly useful, ask, when reasonable, only the cheap assistance of spectacles, which would not much impair our finances. But the eyes of other people are the eyes that ruin us. If all but myself were blind, I should want neither fine clothes, fine house nor fine furniture. ”

“ If we have voluntarily substituted, for what in other countries results from the exercise of despotic power, an idol of our own creation, and bow to it with the same deference and fealty, what becomes of our claim to the title of independence? ”

“ The iron mould boards have great advantages over the wooden, particularly when they, the shear and the soc, form one piece, as in the plough of Mr. Cook.
It is a general opinion, that a heavy plough is more disadvantageous than a light one; because the draft of the former, being greater, will be more fatiguing to the cattle: but the experiments of the agricultural society in London, establish a contrary doctrine, and show, that in light grounds, the labour is more easily and better performed, with a heavy, than with a light plough. ”

“ In the country, the silent and manifest workings of the Deity are constantly before us, and meet our eyes in every phase of organized life: The mind must be worse than insensible that does not feel and respond to the voice of praise, which seems to be constantly ascending, as from one great altar. ”

“ Every means in his power is used to thwart the original decree, "By the sweat of thy brow," &c.—He looks into futurity, and calculates the unfruitfulness of the seasons—not as a motive to humble dependence—not as an incentive to prayer and repentance—but that he may build his fortune upon the wants and the casualties of his fellow creatures. He even grapples with death itself—calculates with unfeeling selfishness the days and the infirmities of his neighbours, and wagers upon the length of his life. ”

“ It was finely remarked by an Indian, that the white man has not so deep and intimate a sense of his dependence upon God as the Indian. He owes more, apparently, to himself and his fellows. Entrenched in his palaces of stone, he can smile at the pitiless storm, and defy the blasts of winter. The great business of his early life, is to provide against its decline. He has artisans to administer to every want, and to alleviate every pain. Hence his own importance is magnified in his view; and he thinks less frequently of the great Being, from whom all his comforts spring. ”

“ Meal is sometimes mixed with hot water and fermented. All these are improvements in feeding, but these are not sufficient. Lately, a mill of cast iron has been invented, which converts both corn and cob into meal, and is used also by tanners in grinding their bark. This improvement is valuable. The cob, while it affords in [221] itself much nutriment, furnishes a degree of distension to the stomach, which is necessary to its proper action. If to this grinding of the cob and grain is superadded fermentation, or boiling, the economical process is nearly complete. ”

“ In Scotland, agriculture has progressed at least half a century beyond that of England, where the soil and climate is far more congenial to the productions of the earth than the "bleak mountains of Caledonia." But no where in the world is the contrast so marked as that between the Flemish and English mode of cultivation.
The average produce of a crop of wheat, in England, is 24 bushels per acre. In Flanders, it is 32 bushels. In England, the system of fallows almost universally prevails. ”

“ It is the endeavour of the master to encourage his pupils to express freely, both in writing and conversation, the opinions and feelings which have been suggested by their reading; and thus to enable them to rectify their mistakes, either as to facts or inferences; never dictating to them what they should think, and yet restraining and directing the flights of a young imagination. The pupils do not read the history of the last century before their twentieth year, when judgment is sufficiently matured ”

“ Though the flavour of the Alpine varieties is generally approved, they are not much thought of while the larger varieties continue in perfection, and are valued only as an autumnal crop. I was therefore led to try several different methods of culture, with a view to obtain plants that would just begin to blossom when the other varieties cease; conceiving that such plants, not having expended either themselves, or the virtue of the soil, in a previous crop of fruit, would afford the best and most abundant autumnal produce. ”

“ The machine I have built, is three feet wide. One horse will thresh with much ease, as much wheat as can be laid on it, by one man, (the straw to be taken away by another,) say, from fifty to one hundred bushels in a day, and the saving of grain will pay for the labour; for, I think, that with good attendance, not a particle of grain can escape with the straw.—The expense of the machine will be from fifty to seventy dollars, exclusive of the moving power, which is a wheel, about ten feet diameter, on an upright shaft, to which a lever is fixed to hitch the horse. ”

“ His genius and industry as a painter have never been surpassed, and his productions will long be admired for their great and unrivalled merit. He was much attached to his native country, and took great pleasure in conversing with his fellow citizens, and giving every facility to American artists—he viewed our progress in arts and in science, with deep interest, and his long absence did not alienate his affections from his native land. ”

“ Franklin, in the garb of a printer's boy, walking up Market Street, eating one of his rolls of bread, and carrying the other under his arm, could have believed, that at a future period he would become one of the most celebrated men of the age. ”

“ The study of Mathematics continues during the whole period of education, to an extent determined entirely by the individual capacity and disposition of each pupil, who is not hurried on or retarded for the sake of keeping pace with others. Every problem is analyzed and explained thoroughly before passing to another. The interest and attention of those of ordinary abilities, is kept up by practical applications of the science ”

“ Water and air constitute the entire aliment of vegetables, and give them bulk without diminishing at all the quantity of soil in which they grow. The perfection of feeding corn consists in preserving the cob, grinding the whole into meal, and in the cookery. The iron mill is excellent, but too expensive for most farmers. What is wanting, then, is to have the corn, with its cob, powdered by some cheap and simple method, that every one may avail themselves of. ”

“ The more disinterested our benevolence, the nearer we approach to the gods, was the sentiment of a reflecting heathen, who lived at a remote period of antiquity. Disinterested benevolence, though of rare occurrence, is nevertheless, to the honour of human nature, sometimes witnessed. ”