186 N. H. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tlie fertile fields of the tropics, laden with an excess of 

 life, and on the barren hills of the desolate north. It 

 exerts its power upon the rich proprietors of English soil 

 and among the tax-burdened holders of a single acre in 

 impoverished L'cland. The solitary patrimonial furrow, 

 tilled by the peasant of Lorraine, inspires as deep a devo- 

 tion to the soil, as the unmeasured acres in the broad val- 

 ley of the west. 



This love advances with advancing life. As our years 

 increase, titles and conveyances become the more absorb- 

 ing objects of our tlioughts. The old man will sooner 

 part with any property than convey to another the soil he 

 has tilled in the strength of his manhood. The tie is un- 

 broken in life and in death. Liidced to the dust by na- 

 ture's laws, we cling to the earth until the hand of the 

 Destroyer consigns us to her friendly bosom. 



Tiie possession of titles to land is favorable to local 

 attachment, and strengthens the power of early associa- 

 tions. What love of home is found in the bosom of the 

 ceaseless wanderer of the desert ? Wliat sympathies are 

 felt by the unstable tribes of the north? And what Ijinds 

 the denizen of the city to his cheerless walls and sunless 

 parlors ? 



No fields of freshness, no flowing streams, no upturned 

 furrow 01- waving plains of corn — no " felling of the tree 

 bciicath the woodman's sturdy stroke — no jocund driving 

 of the teams afield" — have charms for him who dwells 

 upon the sand or the glaciers, or within the city gates. 



Long occupancy or possession of a single rural residence 

 will render local attachments and associations vivid and 

 lasting in proportion to the period of their formation. In 

 the country, upon the farm, such associations convert the 

 whole of nature into a scene Avhich Avill never weary the 

 imagination. If the heavens anijivhcre move the mind to 

 a delightful sensation, it is here. If a landscape of hill 

 and dale and waving shadow anywhere captivate the eye, 



