AGRICULTURE.

Thou first of arts, source of domestic ease, Pride of the land, and patron of the seas, Thrift Agriculture! lend thy potent aid; Spread thy green fields where dreary forest's shade; Where savage men pursue their savage prey, Let the white flocks in verdant pastures play; From the bloom'd orchard and the showery vale Give the rich fragrance to the gentle gale: Reward with ample boon the labourer's hand, And poor thy gladdening bounties o'er our land. Columbia's sons, spurn not the rugged toil; Your nation's glory is a cultur'd soil. Rome's Cincinnatus, of illustrious birth, Increas'd his laurels while he tilled the earth: E'en China's monarch lays his sceptre down, Nor deems the task unworthy of the crown.