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concealed, that too many farmers are ruined by their families. On the other 

 hand, the instances are numerous, where the farm is saved, and the husband's 

 ruin averted by the energy, industry, and thrift of the woman at home. 



The institutions of many of the States happily render tlie homestead sacred. 

 Neither the heartless and brutal grasp of rapacity and extortion, nor the rude 

 brush of misfortune, nor fell disease, nor sudden calamity, can deprive the 

 family of a homestead once honestly acquired. There is one spot in which 

 the family can nestle, one secure resting place, allowed by the Providence of 

 God, and sanctified by the laws of man. That spot should be made more 

 attractive than all other haunts and resorts. The more comfortable and 

 healthy, the more cleanly, the more fascinating to the eye it is rendered, the 

 more firmly it is protected and girt around, the more it will be cherished. 



Our countrymen, too many of them, are restless and migratory. Although 

 we are nearly all emigrants, T think you will agree with me that one migration 

 is enough. It would become us as a people to heed the wisdom contained in 

 the doggerel of Poor Richard, 



" I never saw an oft removed tree, 

 Kor yet an oft removed family. 

 That throve so well as those that settled be." 



When a man buys and sells residences, and rudely severs their every cling- 

 ing association, as he buys and sells horses, and vessels and merchandize, he 

 sacrifices many of the liveliest charms of labor, conquest and possession. 

 a man pitches from abode to abode, with no more affection than the crow in 

 its flights, rests now upon one dry limb and then upon another, his labors 

 must be aimless and cheerless, and he voluntarily deprives himself of much 

 of the keenest satisfaction which life and trial afford. One of the first objects 

 then of a fanner, should bo to secure an eligible farm, which he is willing to 

 cultivate, develop, embellish and enjoy as a home in the most comprehensive 

 sense of that term. 



Horticulture is embraced as one of the objects of your association. It is 

 too much neglected. While a few pursue it intently and as a passion, the 

 many neglect it. Before urging this topic upon your attention, let me say, 

 if it will afford any encouragement, that I personally made a critical compari- 

 son of the fruits and vegetables exhibited at the recent State Fairs at Roches- 

 ter and Detroit, and I could not avoid the conclusion that the fruits of Michi- 

 gan excelled those of New York in beauty, health and perfection, though not 

 perhaps in variety. The samples however in both cases were mostly exhibit- 

 ed by amateurs and nursery men. They should have been poured out from 

 every farm house. Many a man leaves a waste around his dwellings, wlien 

 if he heeded the suggestions of interest, health, taste, or comfort, he would 

 surround himself with a garden and an orchard. Fruit should be cultivated 

 for profit. No expenditure will enhance the value of a farm so much in pro* 

 portion to the outlay as the investment in an orchaid. Fruit is a cheap luxury. 

 The tree is growing, while we are sleeping. Once planted, witli trifling, but 

 <X)ntinBous care, and the bestowal of odd hours from time to time, the orchaid 

 rapidly matures. One prolific year repays the whole expense. I last yeht 



