' MAINE STATE SOCIETY. 2T 



result of your outlay of means and labor — but added to all this, 

 great as it may be, is the substance gathered from the atmosphere. 

 Providence does not breath life and vigor into the feeble crops 

 growing upon a neglected, worn out field ; but Providence does aid 

 the growth of harvests springing from the soil that has been enriched 

 arid tended with pains and watchfulness. Besides^ by a little knowl- 

 edge you are enabled to obtain from Providence other help than that 

 which comes from the invisible,^yet powerful properties of the air. 

 What wonderful and pleasing changes are wrought by the simple 

 and unexpensive process of plowing in a dressing of clay on sandy 

 soil, or a dressing of sand on clayey soil, or of hauling the dark sedi- 

 ment of the lowlands to the uplands, or of spreading the decomposing, 

 decaying matter of the swamps and bogs upon the cultivated fields, 

 or by ditching and draining the lands that are wet and cold. 



It is by an intelligent, diligent and generous husbandry that the 

 grandest success is attained. This kind of toil is profitable even in 

 those countries where the farmers are subject to the heaviest expen- 

 ses. Of course, then, it is here, where the expenses are not so great. 

 I have an acquaintance, who, but a few weeks since was traveling 

 in England. Recently a letter was received from him, in which he 

 states, that he visited a small farmer one day, whose hired domain 

 consisted of 27 1-2 acres, for which he had to pay <£5 rent for each 

 acre ; that, besides the expense of cultivating this farm, of the poor 

 rate he had to pay £15 ; of the highway rate, X3 14s 5d ; and for 

 his dog, X2 8s ; and that notwithstanding all this burden of rent and 

 taxes, this man was clear from debt, and that there were very many 

 men in England who had no such a " fine opportunity to get a live- 

 lihood," who "would leap for joy to exchange situations with him." 

 What may not be done, then, by an intelligent, industrious, frugal 

 and enterprising farmer here in Maine 7 His hardships and draw- 

 backs are few compared with his advantages and helps. I rejoice 

 that there are so many farmers in the State, who look on the bright 

 side of their affairs, and annually prove that an enterprising and 

 courageous application of means and skill to their cultivated grounds, 

 nets them a noble and handsome compensation. 



The department of horticulture, on the farm, is a profitable and 

 attractive sphere of labor. A garden of fruit trees, and vines, and 

 flowers, is an Eden, in whose winding walks all the members of the 



