Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/177

 ¬when agriculture has declined. — In an island like Armata, where the earth and the climate are so propitious, no man ought to be able to set his foot upon the ground, except upon the public roads, or the streets of cities, without treading upon human sustenance ; and it ought to be a fundamental policy to bring your entire surface into the best considered use by prudent and appropriate culti- vation. — Well directed bounties, and skilful relaxations of your imposts where they press tod severely, might still accomplish this object; and the unnatural state of your country for so long a period most imperiously demands the attempt; as, without some immediate exertion, thousands, perhaps millions of acres, will soon fall back into the desart more rapidly than they were reclaimed. ¬" This retrogression of agriculture would be ¬portentous, if the causes were not obvious. — ¬The lands I principally speak of were not ¬brought into cultivation by a natural course of ¬M 4 bus- ¬